Holding the Emperor Hostage : Chapter 86: The Dragon Boat Festival

Knowing that the aristocratic families and nobility would certainly try to meddle when the court held the imperial examinations, Yin Shuhuai used the excuse that appointing and evaluating officials was the Prime Minister’s duty and handed the matter over to Shen Tu Yang.

Shen Tu Yang only knew how to lead troops into battle and had very little patience for handling court administrative affairs, so he transferred the task assigned to him by the Sovereign over to Yao Wenruo. His reasoning was that since Yao Wenruo was the Prime Minister of his State of Yan, he naturally had to share the burden for him as the Prince of Yan.

When superiors give a single command, subordinates run their legs off. Yao Wenruo had long grown accustomed to taking over administrative tasks that were passed down layer by layer from the Emperor and his master, only to inevitably land on his own shoulders. Leaving aside the trust and patronage shown to him by the Emperor and Prince Yan, the sheer political benefits hidden behind hosting the first national imperial examination of the Yin Dynasty on behalf of the court were more than enough to make Yao Wenruo work himself to the bone.

Once this undertaking succeeded, he, Yao Wenruo, would be the mentor to scholars across the entire realm. What kind of prestige and network connections was that? Even if the Emperor and Prince Yan did not say another half word, Yao Wenruo knew it clearly in his heart. As the saying goes, a scholar dies for one who truly knows him, and Yao Wenruo could not help feeling yet another wave of emotion deep down: he had truly backed the right boss.

After the initial excitement passed, Yao Wenruo also understood that while this piece of meat was exceptionally rich, it was not something he alone, or even the Prince of Yan’s estate, could swallow entirely on their own. He had to pull in allies.

Therefore, while preparing for the imperial examinations, Yao Wenruo did not forget to bring the Emperor’s true core faction—Grand Commandant Huo Quan and the Huo family clan as well as Imperial Censor Zhao Bushi, who had previously submitted a memorial suggesting that the court promote the imperial examinations, onto the same warship.

Yin Shuhuai was a person of meticulous thought who always planned for a rainy day. With this kind of preventive diligence on his part, it would not be easy for those aristocratic families and nobility to interfere with the examinations. With the full support of the Three Excellencies, the imperial examination decree issued by the court quickly spread throughout the entire realm.

In early May, before the Dragon Boat Festival had even passed, scholars rushing from all over the country to take the exams arrived in Jixian County one after another.

To display the boundless imperial grace of the Emperor to the scholars of the realm, Yao Wenruo specifically ordered the Minister of Ceremonies to provide dormitories for the exam candidates who had come to the capital. He also opened up the imperial libraries that the Emperor had ordered the court to build in previous years. Yin Shuhuai even issued an order stating that any scholars currently in the capital could enter the National Academy and Imperial College to audit classes prior to the examinations.

Once the decree was issued, the scholars of the realm were indeed deeply moved by the Emperor’s grace. When the civil and military officials strolled through the markets during their days off, they could hear scholars from all over singing the praises of the Emperor in restaurants and wine shops.

A considerable portion of the aristocratic families and nobility sneered at this, yet they took advantage of the gathering of scholars in the capital to buy off popular support on a massive scale. Yin Shuhuai also learned of the small maneuvers made by the noble clans through the reports of the Night Owl secret agents, but he merely smiled dismissively and paid them no mind.

On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the Dragon Boat Festival, local customs required eating rice dumplings, wearing scented sachets, drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats.

For some inexplicable reason, the brave and battle-tested Prince Yan suffered a sudden stroke of wild inspiration on the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival. He stubbornly insisted on wrapping rice dumplings with his own hands to give to his Emperor. Not wanting Yin Shuhuai to find out, he led the imperial guards to surround the Office of the Minister of the Imperial Household, slipped inside on the sly, and made the imperial chefs teach him how to wrap rice dumplings. He even forbade anyone from entering or exiting at will so as not to leak the news.

The entire staff of the Imperial Household was nearly scared out of their wits by the sudden intrusion of the Prince of Yan. They thought the Prince of Yan was finally staging a rebellion and usurpation, leading troops to force a palace coup. Yet throughout history, they had never heard of a rebellious high minister leading insurgent troops to surround a kitchen. Could it be that he wanted to poison the food and kill the Emperor? There was certainly no need to do that personally.

Surrounded by the imperial guards, the chefs turned pale with fright and let their imaginations run wild. Shen Tu Yang, however, was completely oblivious to their outrageous thoughts. Standing before the chopping board with high-spirited vigor, he declared, “His Majesty loves sweet rice dumplings filled with honeyed dates the most. Teach me quickly. I want the very first bite of the rice dumpling His Majesty eats when he wakes up in the morning to be the loving rice dumpling I wrapped for him.”

The phrase loving breakfast was something Shen Tu Yang had picked up from a certain loose-lipped Emperor. Applying what he had learned now, he felt it was entirely fitting.

Hearing this, the group of chefs felt their eyelids twitch violently from fright. Not daring to offer extra comments or criticisms, they could only step forward with trembling hearts to teach the Prince of Yan how to wrap rice dumplings.

Yet the Prince of Yan, who emerged victorious in a hundred battles on the field and wielded a massive saber with ferocious might that struck awe across all directions, never expected to be stumped by a tiny rice dumpling. No matter how carefully he handled it, the soaked sticky rice simply refused to stay obediently wrapped inside the reed leaves. The filling would poke out from one spot, or a honeyed date would squeeze out from another. When he finally managed to wrap one up clumsily, it burst into a messy soup during the boiling process. Shen Tu Yang wiped the sweat from his brow as he busied himself for over half an hour. Seeing that dawn was about to break, he still failed to boil a single perfect pot of rice dumplings.

Filled with exasperation and fury, the Prince of Yan simply ordered someone to pluck a few newborn lotus leaves from the pond. After washing the leaves clean, he wrapped a massive lump of sticky rice inside them, sealing it tightly.

“This time it won’t leak for sure!” Patting the giant lotus leaf dumpling, the Prince of Yan tossed it into the pot with absolute confidence.

And so, when the Emperor of Yin ate his morning meal at dawn, this was the football-sized lotus leaf rice dumpling delivered by the Imperial Household.

Yin Shuhuai: “…”

The Prince of Yan, who had been busy all morning, asked with feigned casualness, “Why doesn’t Your Majesty taste and see if this rice dumpling suits your palate?”

Yin Shuhuai understood the situation instantly, but outwardly pretended not to know as he teased, “Did the Imperial Household get a new chef? The way this rice dumpling is wrapped shows some genuine creativity. This person must be exceptionally skilled at making lotus leaf sticky rice chicken.”

With flickering eyes, Shen Tu Yang maintained his composure and advised, “Would Your Majesty care to taste the flavor of this rice dumpling? It might just suit your tastes.”

Yin Shuhuai smiled without speaking.

Zhuang Wuwei was sharp-eyed and quick-witted. He immediately stepped forward, peeled back the lotus leaf for the Emperor, cut a piece of the rice dumpling, and placed it into a bowl.

With a beaming smile, Yin Shuhuai glanced at Shen Tu Yang, whose tension was written all over his face, and then looked down at the slightly battered giant lotus leaf dumpling. Dipping the dumpling in his bowl with a little white sugar, he took a bite. “It is indeed quite good.”

The rice was rice and the sugar was sugar, carrying a faint fragrance of lotus leaves, and at the very least, it was fully cooked.

With that, he had Zhuang Wuwei cut off a large portion and hand it to Shen Tu Yang. “You should taste your own handiwork as well.”

Shen Tu Yang’s eyes flickered. “Did Your Majesty guess right from the start that I wrapped this rice dumpling?”

Yin Shuhuai smiled. “The cooks in the Imperial Household would never dare to present such a rice dumpling before me.”

Shen Tu Yang rose to his feet, walked slowly to the front of the Emperor, leaned forward, and asked, “Then does Your Majesty like it?”

“I like it. My Prince of Yan is becoming more and more domestic by the day.” As he spoke, Yin Shuhuai pulled a small, exquisite five-poison scented sachet from his robe and tossed it to Shen Tu Yang. “A reward for you.”

Shen Tu Yang instinctively caught the sachet and held it before his eyes to examine it closely. The sachet was made of Sichuan brocade. It was likely a special tribute style crafted specifically for the Dragon Boat Festival by the Sichuan Weaving Bureau, complete with woven five-poison patterns created right on the loom. Judging solely by the fabric used for the sachet, it was indeed magnificent and intricate, but the craftsmanship was truly crude—the stitches were so thick that the cloves and angelica packed inside the sachet were actually poking out, releasing a faint scent of herbal medicine.

The embroidery workshop in the palace was really getting more and more—

Shen Tu Yang originally wanted to make a flirtatious remark to tease the Emperor, but upon noticing the crude craftsmanship, he suddenly froze in place. Then, looking at Yin Shuhuai with sheer disbelief, he stammered, “Your Majesty—”

Yin Shuhuai smiled slightly. “Your cooking skills are poor, and my embroidery skills are also quite terrible. We are even now.”

Yet Shen Tu Yang was already so moved that both of his eyes turned red. Lunging forward like a fierce tiger, he wrapped his arms tightly around the Emperor’s waist. “Your Majesty…”

Yin Shuhuai patted Shen Tu Yang’s head and drawled leisurely, “What is it?”

Holding the Emperor tightly with his chin resting on the Emperor’s shoulder, Shen Tu Yang spoke in a muffled, aggrieved tone, “I just knew Your Majesty had me in your heart. We are truly devoted to one another.”

The two were so close that Shen Tu Yang’s loose strands of hair accidentally brushed against the Emperor’s cheek, causing a rather tickling sensation.

The early summer morning light poured in from outside the window, illuminating Shen Tu Yang’s hair so that it looked fluffy, resembling the sleek and glossy coat of a wolf. Yet at this moment, he was whole-heartedly curled up in his master’s embrace, showing not a single trace of rebellious spirit.

Yin Shuhuai absent-mindedly stroked Shen Tu Yang’s back. This fellow’s hair strands were a bit stiff, hanging half-wet and half-dry down his back, with the tips always stubbornly poking outward, feeling somewhat prickly to the touch.

Fortunately, Shen Tu Yang had been living in the palace frequently over the past few years, and Yin Shuhuai was naturally a man who indulged in extreme luxury. Even the hair wash and incense used for bathing were genuine top-tier goods worth thousands of gold. Using them as he rubbed against them, Shen Tu Yang had finally managed to nurse this head of dark hair until it was sleek and glossy—no longer looking like a tuft of dry straw like when he first returned from the Xiongnu.

As he stroked him, Yin Shuhuai sensed something was off and immediately pushed Shen Tu Yang away with an expression of disgust. “Why do you still have your hair down? Do you go around looking this unkempt when you wrap rice dumplings?”

Before Shen Tu Yang had fully enjoyed the Emperor’s pampering and tenderness, he was ruthlessly pushed away by Yin Shuhuai. Believing there was an important matter to discuss, he instead received this unexpected question from Yin Shuhuai, whose tone and words were full of disdain toward him—

Shen Tu Yang was left between laughter and tears, and could only explain with a docile yet aggrieved expression, “Of course I tied my hair up and wore a crown when making food for Your Majesty. How could I not know that Your Majesty loves cleanliness?”

It was just that after bustling about in the Imperial Household for over an hour, Shen Tu Yang felt disgusted by the sticky rice and reed leaves clinging all over his head and face, feeling sticky and grimy no matter where he touched. He had simply rushed to bathe and change clothes in the brief window before the Emperor’s morning meal, hoping to accompany the Emperor for breakfast looking fresh and clean.

He never expected the Emperor to be so heartless. The moment he finished eating breakfast, he started finding fault with the cook.

The Prince of Yan felt wronged, and the Prince of Yan chattered away endlessly without stopping.

Yin Shuhuai felt a headache coming on and raised his hand to cover Shen Tu Yang’s mouth. Shen Tu Yang, who had been full of complaints and grievances just a moment before, instantly brightened up and leaned forward eagerly, pestering the Emperor for a kiss.

Since the Emperor had not yet finished his breakfast, he naturally had no mood for romantic desires. With a casual deep kiss, he dismissed the unsatisfied Prince of Yan, while reminding him to keep a close eye on the imperial examinations.

“Do not let the aristocratic families and nobility interfere with the examination assessments,” Yin Shuhuai said calmly. “The Prince of Yan’s sword may be sharp, but his writing brush must be equally sharp.”

Squatting in front of the Emperor like an unsatisfied big-tailed wolf, Shen Tu Yang suddenly asked, “Your Majesty, do you like me?”

Yin Shuhuai retorted, ” Weren’t you quite confident just a moment ago?” Who was it that bragged to the world every day about the two of them being mutually devoted? He hadn’t even called him out on his wild boasting, yet here he was acting like an overgrown puppy in front of him.

“But you have never said that you like me.” Shen Tu Yang looked mournful and aggrieved, then suddenly sighed, “Your Majesty’s affections withdraw far too quickly.” Clearly, a moment ago they were whispering sweet nothings, yet the next second he could nonchalantly order him off to work. Looking down at the perky little Shen Tu Yang, he felt lost and heartbroken, feeling as though he were nothing more than a disposable tool used and discarded by the Emperor.

Summoned at a beck and dismissed at a wave.

Yin Shuhuai looked as though he had been struck by lightning. The way he looked at Shen Tu Yang changed entirely as if he had been possessed by some unclean spirit. “Are you stuffed before you even finished eating this early in the morning?”

Shen Tu Yang’s expression grew even more aggrieved.

Yin Shuhuai’s gaze landed on the five-poison scented sachet already hanging from Shen Tu Yang’s waist, and he said thoughtfully, “Should I have a jar of realgar wine poured down your throat?”

He suspected Shen Tu Yang might have been cursed by evil spirits. He wondered if drinking realgar wine could drive away the affliction.

Shen Tu Yang: “…”