The Great Khan

Author: Jin Xifeng

Message from the translator:

This is the English transation of Chapter 2 of the Chinese novel "The Great Khan" ,which gives a narrative of the main background where numerous wonderful stories will happen by telling the male character's visit of his mother together with his younger brother. The original Chinese texts for this chapter is extracted from the linkage :https://www.xiguasuwu.com/0/459/405820.html.

Chapter 2 Hide your Cleverness or Inadequacy ?

When Xue Chongxun was listening to a monk in a temple talking about Zen, he once heard his explaination of the theory of cause and effect advocated by Buddha as that :a person's fate in this life and the next life is the result of the karma of his past actions; and the theory of chance mentioned and claimed by Buddha means that: generally a person lives in a state of ignorance at the beginning of his life, but one day when the chance comes, he/she will suddenly realize why he/she has experienced such and such a fate.

Just two months ago, Xue Chongxun suddenly got the memory of his another life. Is this his chance mentioned by Buddha? He is now very confused about whether this memory come from his previous life or the next life – because what he can assure is the memory comes from 1,300 years later: for him who lives in this life, if this memory is the memory of his life in his previous life, then why will the fate he experienced in his previous life happen in the future? If this memory is the fate he will experience in his future life, what he will experience in the next life should not have happened yet, so he should not have this memory, right?

In his current view, this might be explained in the theory as below: before Pangu created the world in the land called China, both the heaven and earth were in chaos, time was also in chaos, so, regarding to the term/concept of time, there is no distinction between before and after of one’s life...

Is there really a Buddha in the world? Xue Chongxun, in this life or in the next, doesn't quite believe its existence.

But what he can be sure of is that :the memory is definitely not a dream he had, because it is too real to get anyone believe it is , and Xue Chongxun doesn't believe that a person can dream about the life another people experienced so clearly.

Since the distance from Qianfu Temple to the Princess Taiping Mansion was only two blocks, he arrived there in a short time.

At this time in Chang'an, the sun was about to set westward, and its last afterglow made the world seem to be gilded with a layer of gold. The orange-yellow light produced by its reflection gave him a dreamlike feeling. The layout of the Princess Taiping Mansion was comparable to that of the imperial palace. Its towering palace outline was like a fairy palace among the misty clouds; the lake and water in the mansion were like waves of silk and satin, which was extremely luxurious.

"While the Officials from the other regions of China are sending tributes and gifts to the great emperor in Chang'an every month, they also present our mother one of the gifts. In addition, in the event a foreign envoys are visiting Chang’an and give gifts to the great emperor, they will certainly send a gift to our mother as well. Therefore, at this family dinner with our mother tonight, my dear younger brother, maybe you and I will have opportunity to taste the delicacies from the the Jian’nan area!" Xue Chongxun said with a deliberately relaxed smile to the young man next to him who was wearing a purple silk robe with a large floral pattern.

The young man beside him was pale, with a completely different complexion from Xue Chongxun, who was tanned due to frequent martial arts practice. However, their facial features were somewhat similar- they both had broad foreheads, big eyes, straight noses, and square faces.

He was Xue Chongjin, a marquess, also Xue Chongxun's younger brother. Their mother, Princess Taiping, had been married twice with two sons and two daughters respectively from her each marriage. The reason for the failure of her first marriage was that her first husband was executed by the Empress Wu Zetian... In other words, Xue Chongxun's grandmother killed his father, but what did grudges and hatreds count for in the royal family?

As members of the royal family of the Tang Dynasty, their family affection was more superficial than that of the common people. For example, although Xue Chongxun and Xue Chongjin were brothers, they were actually very distant and rarely met each other. In comparison, Xue Chongjin and their cousin, the current crown prince Li Longji, were much closer. During the coup last year when Princess Taiping and the current emperor Li Dan joined forces to overthrow Empress Wei, Xue Congjin was the one contacting Li Longji, which did reinforce the relationship between the cousins .

(Note: Li Dan, the father of the current crown prince Li Longji, and Princess Taiping, the mother of the two brothers surnamed Xue, were siblings from the couple Wu Zetian and Li Zhi the then -Emperor of Tang Dynasty, so Li Longji is cousins of Xue Chongxun and Xue Chongjian.)

Since Xue Chongjian was not as strong as Xue Chongxun, he was a little out of breath after walking for a while, with his face getting paler. He panted and said with some difficulty: "during meeting our mother today, I want to advise her a few words, which might make her angry. I am afraid we can't have a family dinner together with her as you are expecting?"

"Since you know that your words will make our mother angry, why don't you just keep silent?" Xue Chongxun said casually.

"I can't help but speak out."

Xue Chongxun shook his head, showing an indifferent look on his face, but thinking to himself: My younger brother has been gloomy since he was a child, but he is very thoughtful and is definitely not a person who speaks nonsense for the sake of momentary pleasure.

Such kind of character is not a disadvantage for them, as royal nobles who may be in danger of a coup in the court. Xue Chongxun may share similar thinking as his younger brother , because the two are born of the same parents after all... But Xue Chongxun prefers the term "hide your cleverness and show your inadequacy/clumsiness".

The two brothers ,with their own thoughts, finally walked into the inner court of Princess Taiping's mansion while talking about family matters. The eunuch on duty reported their arrival and led them through numerous corridors and stone paths, and finally came to a spacious palace.

As the two of them climbed up the white stone stairs, a spotless wooden floor appeared in front of them. Princess Taiping, wearing a long dress, was standing alone between the red pillars of the palace with her back to the door, looking up to the west, while a team of eunuchs and maids were standing far away by the wall.

Her hair decorated with pearls and jade, and her luxurious long dress, made her look elegant and noble; and when people who knew her saw her, they felt an inexplicable pressure in their hearts, so all the servants bowed their heads and lowered their hands, respectfully.

"Mother, are you well recently? We brothers would like to pay our respects to you!" Xue Chongxun and his brother walked into the open hall and bowed together to their mother.

Hearing the brothers' greetings, Princess Taiping turned around, and the whole palace seemed to be brightened up all of a sudden: the princess, with high hair and a plump figure, was wearing a bright red open-collar dress, a long silk skirt that half exposed her chest, and her well-maintained skin was faintly revealed under her light gauze and silk. Although she was already in her forties, she was still very gorgeous under her gorgeous dress with luxurious gold, jade and jewelry.

"I'm fine, you brothers, come over here, come to your mother!" The majestic princess saw her two sons and showed a trace of kindness between her eyebrows.

This made Xue Chongxun feel warm in his heart... He might not have been able to experience this feeling before. Since he got the memories of his previous life, the strong family affection he experienced as an ordinary person in that life made him sigh: Although he is a royal noble in this life, he has never felt this kind of family affection that makes people miss it so much. This also made him realize that his current life is actually lonely and cold.

The two brothers walked towards Princess Taiping obediently, with a very respectful attitude. When Xue Chongxun quietly looked back, he found that his brother's face was still gloomy with a resentful emotion, which was not noticed by their mother merely because he lowered his head.

Pointing to the palace and landscape under the setting sun, Princess Taiping casually said, "Do you think the scenery in my palace is beautiful?"

Xue Chongxun raised his head and looked carefully for a moment. He felt that his mother's palace was really as beautiful as a fairy palace, and then he and his brother praised it together. However, compared with his elder brother's sincere praise, Xue Chongjian just commented casually in a social tone.

Hearing the brothers' reaction, Princess Taiping nodded slightly, then dragged her long skirt and walked slowly without saying a word. While seeing that, Xue Chongxun and his younger brother had no choice but to follow their mother and accompany her walking for a while.

At this time, Xue Chongjian suddenly said: "Mother, I heard that some high ranking officers, including Dou Huaizhen appointed to Zuo Pushe(note 2), Cen Xi appointed to Shizhong(note 1), Xiao Zhizhong appointed to Head of Secretary Department , Cui Shi appointed to Deputy of Secretary Department and others ,often appeared in your palace. I think these people must be slandering the current crown prince and persuading you to confront his Highness. Is that true?"

These words were like thunder, not only startling Princess Taiping and Xue Chongxun, but also making the warmth of mother and son disappear immediately.

Princess Taiping's face suddenly turned cold, and she turned back to look at her younger son and said, "Are you blaming me?"

Faced with his mother's pressure, Xue Chongjian was also very scared. He lowered his head again with a pale face, but still gritted his teeth and mustered up the courage to say, "I dare not blame you Highness my mother, but I am risking my mother's anger to advise Your Highness not to listen to other people's slander against the current crown prince."

Princess Taiping's face turned red with anger, and she sneered in anger, and asked back: "You are still trying to convince me not to fight against the current crown prince at this time. Do you want to watch this ambitious crown prince do whatever he wants without any precautions, and let all of us sit and wait till his slaughtering of us?"

"You traitorous son living on me while helping others secretly" Princess Taiping was furious, trembling and pointing at Xue Jiancheng and ordered, "Drag this traitorous son to the stairs and beat him! Beat him to death!"

Several eunuchs in the distance heard Princess Taiping's loud order and immediately rushed forward, grabbed Xue Chongjian's arms and pulled him out.

Only then did Xue Chongxun recover from his surprise. He pretended to be shocked and stood aside with his hands hanging down, not saying a word. He was wondering why his brother was like this: Could it be that he also realized that he would be killed in the future, so he deliberately behaved like this, using such a self-torture trick to please the crown prince for a survival opportunity in the future?

Xue Chongjian was physically weak and looked frail at ordinary times, but he was not a coward when faced with trouble. If it were someone else, facing the wrath of the Princess Taiping, who was known for her cruelty and ruthlessness, they would have been scared to death and retreated. But at this time, he still said stubbornly, regardless of life and death: "Mother, please listen to my advice! As you known my grandmother (Wu Zetian) ,holding great power at her reign era, killed and plundered the gentry in order to eliminate dissidents. So the gentry are still frightened nowadays. How can they accept that another woman like you be in power? Mother, you should stop your fighting with his highness as soon as possible, so that our family can be safe. Honest advice is unpleasant to the ears, but you must believe in my sincerity!"

"Shut up, you wicked son! Beat him, what are you still doing, use the whip to beat this wicked son to death!" Princess Taiping gnashed her teeth in anger.

Soon, there was the crackling of whips and Xue Chongjian's screams of pain from the bottom of the stairs. He had to roar out for help of his brother: "Brother! Why are you still standing there? You can't just watch me get beaten without saying a word. Please go and persuade our mother... Oh!"

After hearing this, Xue Chongxun thought to himself: I can't behave like you. You can lean towards and please the current crown prince to save your life in the future, but I can't, because according to my memory in my previous life, if I learn to please the prince like you, the final result will still be death!

Hearing her youngest son's cry for help from his elder brother, Princess Taiping's attention was immediately diverted to Xue Chongxun, who was silent and low-key. She turned her head and looked at him and asked, "So, you are going to betray me too?"

Xue Chongxun knew that his mother was saying so merely for her fury at that moment, so he hurriedly replied, "I dare not betray my mother."

Princess Taiping said coldly, "Today you secretly met Feng Yuanjun's fiancée Yuwen Ji at Qianfu Temple. Don't explain to me that it was just a coincidence!"

How could my mother know such a small thing? Xue Chongxun really didn't expect it, let alone that she would know it so quickly.

Since Feng Yuanjun( Yuwen Ji's fiancé) was the cousin of Gao Lishi, the eunuch who was very favored by the current crown prince (Gao Lishi's original name was Feng Yuanyi),so, as the eldest son of Princess Taiping, his behavior of meeting Yuwen Ji in a non-official occasion, could be suspected of passing on information to his mother's enemies and betraying his mother... Such means are not new for politicians in Tang Dynasty. For instance, in order to consolidate his imperial power and win over Empress Wu Zetian's family, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang actually let his wife Empress Wei to play chess with Wu Sansi , the nephew of the empress Wu Zetian on the same bed.

Xue Chongxun bowed his head and explained: "Today I came here just to meet you, my mother. However, I had to have a random walk to Qianfu Temple because I arrived your palace too early. It was really a coincidence that I met Yuwen Ji there unexpectedly... Mother, as a person who can see the slightest detail, could you tell me what's the benefit and advantage I can expect by betraying you and leaning towards the current crown prince?"

Although Princess Taiping was angry, she was not confused and felt that her eldest son's last words made sense. So she looked at him and said, "I'm not trying to spy on you. It's just that an official happened to come over there and saw you two coming out and mentioned it to me casually."

Xue Chongxun said again, "Please mother, please spare my brother. Besides, Each to his own, it does not work to change his idea merely by beating him, isn’t it?!"

At first glance, what he said didn't seem like he was trying to persuade his mother to forgive his brother, but rather he was trying to add insult to injury... But he could only say that now, because his mother was angry - in other words, if he didn't say so at this time, could he say that his brother was right?

... In his opinion, his brother's words might be reasonable to some extent, but his mother, Princess Taiping, as a senior royal member having significant impact in the court, had no other alternative choice under such tense circumstance. Moreover, her youngest son's opinion did not conform to her style of doing things. Therefore, it was not possible for the two brothers to change their mother's views and opinions on this matter with just a few words of persuasion. Xue Chongxun knew this, but didn't his brother know it?

(To be continued with Chapter 3)

Note:

1.?????? Shizhong - the name of an official position in Tang Dynasty of China, responsible for reviewing imperial edicts, signing memorials, and having the power to seal or refute the emperor's edicts.(Data Source: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BE%8D%E4%B8%AD)

2.?????? Shangshu Pushe - an ancient Chinese imperial official position, and in the early Tang Dynasty it became the de facto chief prime minister.(Data source: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%9A%E4%B9%A6%E4%BB%86%E5%B0%84)