Chapter 9

Kangxi, having once again beaten Wei Tong flat, ordered him into the room to attend. Wei Tong had been rather surprised at the order; when Kangxi came to the training ground, no one but Liang Jiugong was ever allowed inside.

Only after entering to serve did Wei Tong truly grasp, firsthand, how earnest these training boys were. Anyone who had actually come into contact with them would never mistake this practice for child’s play.

Every strike as if to draw blood, every punch as if to fell the man before him, every heartbeat wishing the enemy dead the next second… Such violent training. Wei Tong quietly shut his mouth.

He would not speak of it.

The difference between being inside and out, Wei Tong soon came to know.

Inside, he had far more time near Kangxi, and Kangxi quite naturally began ordering him about.

Before, there had been no attendants in the room at all; Liang Jiugong had always been the only one at his side. Once Wei Tong existed, many errands naturally fell to him, and through them Wei Tong learned many of Kangxi’s small habits.

Kangxi liked to rinse off before stepping onto the mat, so the training ground did in fact have bathing facilities, and Kangxi usually did step onto the mat. Wei Tong hadn’t yet earned the trust to attend him there, and frankly he had no wish to…

Kangxi liked to drink Longjing tea, but was even pickier about the water, the tea, and the ware; the slightest difference in color, aroma, or flavor left him dissatisfied. The problem was that this big shot refused to let anyone into the training ground, and refused to bring a dedicated tea-brewing attendant along either. Under Liang Jiugong’s direction, Wei Tong began learning the craft of brewing tea, stroke by stroke.

Since when does tea need craft?!

Wei Tong was still a rough-handed lout at heart; having no choice but to learn, he could only make the best of it and treat it like homework. With time, he naturally improved. Though Wei Tong remembered that Kangxi’s true favorite was Biluochun tea, it hadn’t been renamed yet at this point; that should have happened during Kangxi’s southern tour…

“Wei Tong, hurry up and brew the tea. What are you standing around for?” Liang Jiugong shot him a glance, executing the advanced art of moving his lips not at all while his voice still landed in Wei Tong’s ears. Wei Tong marveled inwardly, then went off meekly to brew the tea.

By the time Wei Tong carried the tea in, Kangxi had just finished a round, sweat at his temples, Liang Jiugong attending at his side. Wei Tong set the cup and the pastries on the table, bowed, and quietly retreated into a corner.

Kangxi picked up the cup and took a sip, then pronounced after smacking his lips, “Wei Tong, your tea-brewing has finally improved somewhat.”

Wei Tong was awkward. If not for Liang Jiugong’s death-ray glare shadowing his every step, he might never have put his back into it; after all, Kangxi only made do with him because the training ground was too sensitive a matter to bring too many people into.

Wei Tong had of course learned tea arts when he entered the palace. His skill wasn’t awful, just insufficient before an Emperor who had tasted every delicacy under heaven. Liang Jiugong’s craft was of course far above his… but when the Emperor named a specific person, every other candidate was moot.

Wei Tong quietly made himself invisible. Vying for favor under Liang Jiugong’s nose was a very stupid thing to do. And yet Wei Tong discovered that at times, Liang Jiugong seemed to want him to perform before Kangxi.

“Xuan, tell me why my boss actively encourages me to show off in front of my boss’s boss. Is his brain addled?” Wei Tong vented to Xuan. Maybe Liang Jiugong had been running hot lately, clouding his mind?

“Or perhaps your boss’s boss has taken a liking to you,” Xuan said lightly, but Wei Tong refused to believe it. Kangxi, notice a junior eunuch like him? He wasn’t any Wei Xiaobao.

“If he’d taken a liking to me, surely it’d be because of some remarkable performance of mine. Lately I’ve been the very model of propriety.” Wei Tong couldn’t help boasting; terrified of letting anything slip, he hadn’t done a thing recently.

“Or is it precisely because you’re so well-behaved that your superiors value you?” Since talking with Wei Tong more, Xuan’s speech had picked up the occasional modern term, which Wei Tong found strange and funny every time he noticed.

“I just don’t think he’s that sort. If there were nothing in it for him, he wouldn’t be seeing me at all…” Wei Tong muttered to himself, and in the end could only set the matter aside for now.

Serious talk had become their standing opener, but Wei Tong was determined to steer things off course. “Xuan, lately your mood seems so much better than before. Did something wonderful happen?”

As he said it, Wei Tong was practicing punches before the folding screen. Days on end of being flattened without hesitation by Kangxi had bruised his manly pride somewhat; every night as he applied his salve, he couldn’t even meet Wenxi’s eyes. He’d only gone to wrestle, not to be abused!

Watching Wenxi’s ever more worried, pitying looks, Wei Tong had no way to explain.

“Indeed. Quite a few good things lately; the difficult matters have found their resolutions too. Things are better than before.” Rare joy threaded Xuan’s voice, and Wei Tong hoped his methods would truly come to pass.

His relationship with Xuan was growing closer and closer; Xuan showed more and more of his true temperament before him. Though a thread of guardedness could still be sensed, most of the time their interactions were easy. As for guardedness, it was only natural to be guarded; even facing Xuan, Wei Tong still held things back.

Merely two people each keeping their reservations, each looking for a place where they could pour themselves out freely.

“But there is one vexing matter of late.”

Pressing down into a stretch, Wei Tong asked, “Vexing how?”

“Though the court has enforced the sea ban all along, more and more foreigners have come to preach and trade in recent years. Even the Capital City has begun to see these goods from the West. If this spreads unchecked, who’s to say whether it bodes well or ill.” At these words, Wei Tong’s punches came faster and harder. He hadn’t imagined this was what Xuan was pondering.

Turning, he sat down on the couch, and only after calming himself for a while did he speak. “Xuan, from the way you put it, you’re actually inclined toward the sea ban?”

“Of course. Barbarian lands. One may trade with them, never trust them.”

“But Xuan, have you considered this: what did they rely on to come here in the first place?”

“Ships, naturally.”

“Does the court have such ships now?”

“Close enough.”

“Then let me put it another way. If the court keeps its gates shut like this and bans the seas without mercy, then at the very least there will be no need for traffic by sea. Two hundred years of that, and one day these nations that have been sailing the seas all along grow powerful. Could our fleets beat them then?”

Wei Tong’s words plunged the room into a heavy hush. Xuan’s side went utterly quiet, apparently mulling over what he’d heard.

It was now only the seventh year of Kangxi’s reign. One hundred and eighty years remained until the Opium Wars truly erupted.

Wei Tong wasn’t naive enough to think he could change history, but even the tiniest grain of effort, he still wanted to voice it. After all, the Qing Dynasty was still the most powerful nation in the world right now. Who would imagine that in barely two hundred years it would become fat meat under the iron hooves of foreign powers?

“I will consider what you’ve said, Wei.”

The matter, having only brushed the surface, quietly dispersed.

The next day, finally catching a gap at midday, Wei Tong slipped out secretly to see his sister. It had been a long time since he’d seen Wei Ning, and he didn’t know how she was doing. Besides, he’d gotten some news on his end that he needed to hurry and tell her about properly.

Yet the moment he saw Wei Ning, Wei Tong sharply sensed that something was wrong. Though she still smiled, her expression seemed shadowed somehow.

Wei Tong drew a deep breath, forcibly swallowing down all his suspicion, and asked softly, “Have you been sleeping badly? Or has someone been bullying you? A-Ning, your face looks terrible.”

Wei Ning touched her cheek and smiled, a little strained. “Older Brother, I’m really fine. The older sisters treat me well, and the work hasn’t been so tiring lately.”

“If nothing’s wrong, why are there tear tracks on your face? Don’t tell me this weather can blow sand into your eyes?” Wei Tong had no intention of letting it slide. Someone must have said something to Wei Ning, or something had happened to her these past days.

At last Wei Ning couldn’t hold back and threw herself into Wei Tong’s arms, sobbing pitifully.

“Half a month ago, s-someone came looking for me, said he was from our hometown. I was curious, so I went out to see. But that person said that if, if I didn’t behave and listen, Older Brother wouldn’t come to a good end. And said, said he’d transfer me somewhere else next month.” The little girl had evidently been bottling it up alone all this while; now that it came out, she wept uncontrollably, and Wei Tong’s heart ached at the sight.

It took a long while to coax Wei Ning out of her tears. Wei Tong’s heart was heavy, but he let none of it show. Before Wei Ning had even spoken, he had already guessed it might be something like this.

Liu Cheng had grasped his fatal weak point with perfect precision.

He should have anticipated this possibility long ago.

He spent more time reassuring Wei Ning. “If that man comes to find you again, just listen to what he has to say for now. Don’t be afraid, and don’t argue back. Older Brother promises you, before next month comes, I will come see you again.”

Far from making Wei Tong give up, the affair only steeled his resolve to break free. But with this, his plans would need careful revision.

And for now, Wei Tong had only one intention: it was time he paid a proper visit to Qingning Palace’s second-in-command.