Lu Chenzhou picked up the cup of tea that had long since gone cold, but he did not drink it.
He gazed at the tea leaves unfurling in the cup.
“Lord Cao.”
His voice was not loud, yet every word was crystal clear amidst the sound of the rain filling the hall.
“The Academy has only one plan.
And that is to teach and educate.
It was so one hundred and thirty-seven years ago.
It is so today.
And it will remain so in the future.”
He set the tea cup gently back on the red sandalwood table and looked up, his gaze as calm as water.
“Regardless of who becomes the Emperor, the Academy will only do this one thing.”
Cao Zhengchun stood in the center of the hall, his back to Lu Chenzhou.
That crimson-purple python robe looked exceptionally striking in the dim light.
Having heard these words, he did not turn around; he only tilted his head back slightly.
Looking at the plaque above the main hall that read “This Culture Resides Here,” he suddenly let out a soft laugh.
“Mountain Lord Lu, you are a man of character. I admire that.”
He slowly turned around, but there was not a hint of mirth in those bright black eyes.
“But I am different from you.”
He paced back to the Grandmaster chair but did not sit. He merely rested one hand on the back of the chair.
His fingers tapped rhythmically against the smooth red sandalwood.
“I am a eunuch.
Forty years in the palace taught me not the books of sages, but the logic of survival.
Does Mountain Lord Lu know the most important rule I learned?”
Lu Chenzhou did not respond.
“In all things, one must always have another plan.”
Cao Zhengchun answered his own question.
His voice maintained that same warm and soft tone.
However, every word felt as if it had been soaked in ice water during the dead of winter, making one’s spine tingle with cold.
“Therefore, my first plan in coming today was naturally to serve as a lobbyist for His Highness the First Prince.
Qingya Academy holds a pivotal position in the cultural lineage of Jiangnan, and Mountain Lord Lu has students and former subordinates throughout the Six Ministries.
If the Academy were willing to stand up and say a word for the First Prince, it would be more effective than any memorial.”
He paused, and the finger resting on the back of the chair stopped tapping.
“But I also knew that Mountain Lord Lu is a man of character.
I had already anticipated about seventy or eighty percent of what you just said while I was on my way here.
Therefore...”
He looked up, his gaze falling on Lu Chenzhou’s face. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly into a faint, ambiguous smile.
“I have a second plan.”
The rain outside the window suddenly intensified.
Raindrops as large as beans crashed against the tiles, crackling like someone was scattering a handful of pebbles across the roof.
A bolt of lightning split the sky.
A ghastly white light leaked through the cracks in the paper windows, making Cao Zhengchun’s fair face appear almost transparent for a moment.
“Does the Mountain Lord know that before I left the capital, I did not only see the First Prince, but the Second Prince as well?”
Lu Chenzhou’s hand holding the tea cup tightened slightly.
“His Highness the Second Prince is not the same kind of person as the First Prince.”
Cao Zhengchun lowered his voice even further, until it almost merged with the sound of the rain.
“The First Prince favors literature; the Second Prince favors martial arts.
The First Prince views the Academy as the foundation of the state.
The Second Prince, however, feels that you scholars only engage in empty talk that harms the state.”
He paused, every word sounding as if it were squeezed through his teeth.
“His Highness the Second Prince once spoke a few words in my presence.
He said that Qingya Academy is full of self-importance, priding itself for a century on not involving itself in court politics.
In reality, the students it nurtures enter the court one by one, yet they do not think of repaying the Emperor’s grace; they only know how to style themselves as pure officials.
They form factions to discuss politics, frequently using the words of sages to constrain the Sovereign and using the name of public opinion to coerce the court.
It is called lecturing, but it is actually forming factions.
It is called an academy, but it is actually a den of partisans.”
Lu Chenzhou’s expression finally changed.
“What is the meaning of Lord Cao’s words?”
“The meaning?”
Cao Zhengchun smiled slightly and slowly drew a letter from his sleeve, gently placing it on the red sandalwood table.
The envelope was bright yellow, stamped with a large vermilion seal.
“His Highness the Second Prince has long since ordered people to investigate in secret.
Last year, at a Jiangnan literary gathering, the Academy student Xu Yanping publicly attacked current affairs. His words showed great dissatisfaction with the court’s taxation policies, and the dozens of people present can all testify to it.
The year before that, censors from the Academy submitted a joint memorial to impeach a border general recommended by the Second Prince, causing a three-month delay in border defense.
Cases like these are too numerous to count.”
He looked up, his gaze sharp as a blade.
“The Second Prince said that the danger of the Academy lies not in its learning, but in its faction.
To rectify the court and cleanse the government, one must first rectify the Academy.
His Highness has already drafted a memorial, requesting an Imperial decree to thoroughly investigate Qingya Academy for the crimes of ‘forming factions to discuss politics and inciting the people.’
Once proven, the Academy’s gates will be sealed immediately, its school lands will be confiscated, its registered students will be sent back to their hometowns, and those already in office will be screened one by one.”
A clap of thunder exploded at that exact moment, making the window frames of the entire hall rattle.
Lu Chenzhou sat upright in the Grandmaster chair, his face as dark as still water.
He looked at the bright yellow letter on the table, remained silent for a moment, and then slowly spoke.
“I have read that article by Xu Yanping.
He spoke of the flaws in Jiangnan’s taxation; every sentence was grounded in evidence, and every word was true.
The Academy teaches students to read the books of sages so that they may understand right from wrong and distinguish good from evil.
If students see injustice and remain silent, that would be the true empty talk that harms the state.
As for those censors who submitted the joint memorial, they impeached the border general to fulfill their duties as speech officials.
This is called forming a faction?
This is called inciting the people?”
He looked up, meeting Cao Zhengchun’s gaze directly.
“If the Second Prince feels that by sealing the Academy and dispersing the students, no one in the court will dare to speak the truth anymore...
Then I have nothing to say.
But I wish to ask Lord Cao one thing.”
His voice was not high, yet every word was like iron.
“Does the Second Prince wish to shut down the Academy because its students said a few unpleasant words...
Or because the Academy has consistently refused to speak for him?”
Cao Zhengchun’s smile faltered for a moment before he returned to his warm and soft demeanor.
“Mountain Lord Lu is indeed a clever man.
Since we have spoken to this extent, I will not hide anything either.
I have come today to give the Academy two paths.”
He held up two fingers.
“The first path: the Academy stands up and speaks for the First Prince.
If the First Prince ascends the throne, the Academy will remain the head of the world’s cultural lineage.
The First Prince will naturally shield the Academy from the Second Prince.
Those so-called crimes of ‘forming factions to discuss politics’ will naturally vanish into thin air.”
He folded down his second finger.
“The second path: the Academy continues to be aloof.
In that case, I shall take up residence in the Academy today in the name of an overseer.
I will thoroughly investigate the students’ speeches and articles over the years and seize the correspondence between the Academy and officials in the court.
When that time comes, what is discovered will not be for me to decide, nor for Mountain Lord Lu to decide.
It will be for the Second Prince to decide.”
He paused and gave a meaningful smile.
“Mountain Lord Lu, shutting down the Academy means severing the cultural lineage of Jiangnan.
Once the cultural lineage of Jiangnan is broken, half of the civil officials in the court will lose their foundation.
When that time comes, the Second Prince can take the opportunity to install his trusted aides and seize control of the court.
His Highness has been setting this board for over half a year; he is not far from this final step.”
Outside the hall, the wind and rain raged.
Bamboo shadows swayed wildly against the paper windows, like countless hands drumming against the frames.
Lu Chenzhou fell silent.
He had lived for over seventy years and had experienced more than one storm.
But moments like today, where he was pushed to the edge of a cliff, were few and far between.
He slowly picked up the tea that had long since gone cold and took a sip.
The bitterness of the tea spread across his tongue, but his thoughts were racing.
The Academy’s century-old foundation could not be destroyed in his hands.
But if he agreed to support the First Prince, the Academy would break its hundred-year rule of not involving itself in court politics.
Once this opening was made, every future emperor who took power would use the Academy as a bargaining chip.
The Academy would no longer be the Academy.
If he did not agree, the Second Prince would strike under the guise of a thorough investigation.
The Academy’s students had always been known for their outspokenness; if their articles and speeches over the years were truly scrutinized word by word to find faults, how could they fail to find an excuse for prosecution?
This was a stalemate.
Just then.
A flurry of urgent footsteps came from outside the hall.
The footsteps splashed through the puddles with a frantic, messy rhythm.
A disciple of the Academy rushed in, drenched to the bone. Without even stopping to salute, he cried out breathlessly,
“Mountain Lord! It’s bad! Young Hero Chen is at the Academy gates, and he’s started fighting with the people Lord Cao brought!”
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