Feng Xing: Chapter 99
《 Previous | Table of Contents | Next 》
Translation: marchmallow
Although Feng Sheng was aware that Prince Wei had instructed people to mend her health, she never anticipated to conceive in such a short time.
She had been taking medicine and religiously consuming the nourishing cuisines regularly prepared for her. Now, her body was in much better state than before. The winter used to chill her hands and feet, so she had always feared the cold. She still scorned the cold to this day, but her extremities were no longer as frigid as stone, and her complexion had improved tremendously.
Pregnancy had not been on her mind at all. Her monthly affairs used to come late back when she had posed as a man, sometimes only gracing a visit once every two or three months. Never had she once thought that her condition would be remedied. Over time, she was no longer heedful of this matter and ceased fretting about the timeliness of her monthly affairs. And so, her days carried on as usual. When Imperial Physician Wang headed over to feel her pulse, he diagnosed an abnormality.
It was still too early, and Imperial Physician Wang was uncertain. It took him much longer than usual to check her pulse, so long that Feng Sheng began to conjure dire thoughts. Zhi Qiu was starting to worry, and Prince Wei’s face had darkened. This elder lord hesitated and muttered that she might be expecting.
Might be?
Such an ambiguous statement was unacceptable to Prince Wei. He immediately ordered Xiao An Zi to enter the palace to report to Imperial Noble Consort Li and to summon several imperial physicians over.
Witnessing him making such a big fuss, Feng Sheng promptly thwarted him and said, “The matter is still indefinite. If you do it with such great fanfare, won’t others find it laughable if it turns out to be a misdiagnosis? Besides, Imperial Physician Wang is still uncertain. Perhaps it is indeed still too early to know. It would be better to wait for a while.”
Feng Sheng’s reasoning made a lot of sense. Moreover, although Prince Wei was not concerned about such frivolities, he knew that it mattered to Feng Sheng. However indifferent she appeared on the surface, if she truly didn’t care, Sun Wen Cheng’s ploy would not have partially succeeded. He then acceded and waited for a few days to check once more.
That having said, Prince Wei seemed to be convinced that Feng Sheng was pregnant. He normally had a voracious desire for lovemaking, but ever since the diagnosis, he wouldn’t touch even one of Feng Sheng’s fingers.
The servant girls were also prudent and solicitous. They especially sought Imperial Physician Wang to have the prescription of the tonic modified. Before, Prince Wei paid little mind to how frequently Feng Sheng jaunted outside, but this time, he prohibited her from visiting the academy. Both were stubborn in their ways, but Feng Sheng could only succumb to his obstinance. After half a month of cooping up in the manor, Imperial Physician Wang rushed forth once again to check her pulse. This time, it was absolutely certain.
After that, Feng Sheng and Prince Wei conferred about how her pregnancy came to be despite her consumption of birth control medicine. Imperial Physician Wang clarified that no medicine was perfectly effective and that the prescription prioritized her nourishment; as such, her conception wasn’t unusual. Fortunately, Feng Sheng’s health was now in a much favorable condition. Although it wasn’t the best time to conceive, it also wasn’t too bad.
Since then, Feng Sheng commenced her days of nourishing the fetus.
Feng Sheng didn’t find Prince Wei so clingy before, but now, he would follow her in everything she did. It was not that she disliked his clinginess, but she could barely accomplish anything with him treading on her heels.
The academy was currently going through a lot. She ought to go check, but she couldn’t even step out of the manor. However, what Prince Wei said was not unreasonable. The academy was in the outskirts of the capital. Although the distance wasn’t far, it also wasn’t close, and a carriage jolting around would be jarring to ride in. The first three months of a woman’s pregnancy was the most crucial. Everything had to wait until the fetus was stable.
Feng Sheng could only listen. As for the academy’s affairs, they could only be ceded to Prince Wei.
Prince Wei primarily couldn’t be bothered with such matters, but he had to settle them himself to prevent Feng Sheng from running to the academy.
Just like that, every day, she would open her eyes to eat then close her eyes to sleep. Feng Sheng was utterly bored. Fortunately, Zhi Qiu and other servant girls would accompany her and entertain her with tales, and Prince Wei would stay with her whenever he wasn’t occupied. Han Ying from the women’s hall would also often write to Feng Sheng about the occurrences in the academy.
Feng Sheng was fond of chatting with Han Ying. This woman walked the road she had once wanted to trudge on but didn’t. In this world where the three principles and five virtues reigned supreme, a woman who should have gone to marry but refused to had to bear a pressure unimaginable to others.
Han Ying was precisely like that. Originally from Jiangnan, she wend her way to the capital to seek her own livelihood, which to her was actually sort of a last resort. Despite the adversity, she still lived a good life owing to her own tenacity and breadth of mind.
Feng Sheng always found herself resonating with her whenever they engaged in discourse, so when she had nothing to do, Feng Sheng liked seeking her out for a chat. This time, Feng Sheng’s pregnancy made it inconvenient for her to go to the academy. If urgent matters arose in the women’s hall, she would especially write Han Ying a letter. Gradually, the more words they exchanged, the more congenial they grew, and their letter-writing eventually developed into intervals of every one or two days. Contained in the letters were the academy’s condition or the daily lives of the female students.
A woman’s mind had always been much more delicate than a man’s. In the men’s hall, the teacher’s only concern was to teach, and he paid no regard to other matters. However, these female students were burdened by their own rues and tribulations because of their discordant family backgrounds, compelling Han Ying and Feng Sheng to pay special attention to their overall constitution.
In fact, it was the girl named Xiao Yin Zi who propelled the two to do so.
This girl was extremely intelligent, but she had been through too much. Her years of begging rendered her reluctant to easily trust people. This seven-year-old girl would spout out lies whenever she opened her mouth, yet these falsehoods never harmed anyone. With Feng Sheng’s acuity in assessing human nature, she could detect that Xiao Yin Zi had no malicious intent. She was the type of child who wished for everything to turn out well. Because of such an inclination, she wielded lies as her weapon to masquerade that everything was just fine. How was this not a problem?
Because of their concern for Xiao Yin Zi, they discovered that other girls also more or less suffered misfortunes of similar nature. For Instance, there was a very timid girl named Hua’er who never took the initiative to speak to people. She had to be asked to do anything before she would even dare to do it.
Through Han Ying’s unremitting efforts, they learned that Hua’er’s timidity stemmed from her childhood experiences. She was born a girl in a destitute family with too many children. She often made mistakes at home, and every time she did, she would be chided, scolded, and beaten. Because she feared she would do wrong, her timorousness only intensified.
Han Ying did a lot to attempt to assuage her ordeal, but unfortunately, the effects were quite meager. The academy was closed once every ten days. As the women’s hall was comprised of very young girls, Feng Sheng instructed people to send them back home by carriage every time during the break.
There were only twenty of them who all lived nearby, so half a day sufficed. Every time Hua’er finally manifested some improvement after all the teachers’ endeavors, she would always revert back to how she was at the beginning after returning to the academy from home.
Han Ying grew extremely apprehensive and thought that things shouldn’t persist this way, just that there was no proper solution. All she could do was slowly observe. This time, the letter she sent had something to do with the books at the women’s hall.
After the most rudimentary education, these female students must study even more. They ought to learn how to read and write in order to grasp the principles of behaving with integrity.
But what did ‘behaving with integrity’ entail?
This had too broad an implication. What women were taught at present were only the ‘Lessons for Women’, ‘Instructions for Women’, ‘Important Principles for Women’, ‘The Analects for Women’, and ‘Quick Guide for All Rules for Women’. A few more options available for women to read were——’Biographies of Exemplary Women’, ‘Biographies of Persons of Modest Character’, and ‘Biographies of the Compliant and Chaste’. In other words, these books were what women were expected to peruse in the present climate.1
Only by absorbing oneself in such works could one know how to conduct oneself. If students enlightened themselves with these, they could just about master the humility and docility expected of women. For instance, from beginning to end, throughout the whole text, the contents in ‘Lessons for Women’ wholly indoctrinated women to be humble:
On the birth of a boy, he is given a jade tablet to play with, while on the birth of a girl, she is given a potsherd. Women have never been equal to men since birth; a man is honored for strength, a woman is beautiful on account of her gentleness. Regardless of right or wrong, crooked or straight, a woman should unconditionally obey her husband; a husband may marry again, but there is no canon that authorizes a woman to be married the second time.2
Up to this point, both Feng Sheng and Han Ying disdained Ban Zhao, the author of ‘Lessons for Women’. After reading the letter, Feng Sheng subconsciously drew the inference that since she was the one who opened the academy, she possessed the power to entitle the students to learn whatever they yearned to learn.
She quickly made up her mind and scurried to write a reply.
Amidst writing, Prince Wei suddenly arrived.
Now, in doing these things, Feng Sheng never concealed anything from Prince Wei. Prince Wei also didn’t permit her to do anything he did not already know. This man was exceedingly overbearing and seemed to delight in prying into her thoughts, so he was eager to participate in most of her activities. Of course, he was also keen to inform her anything about himself.
Feng Sheng was not such a petty person. If he wanted to know, then she would let him know. So when Prince Wei stood by her side to watch her brandish a reply, she didn’t cover it up.
After looking for a while, Prince Wei suddenly asked, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
He was referring to Feng Sheng’s reply to the letter, wherein she urged Han Ying to teach the female students the Four Books and Five Classics and other books men studied.
Prince Wei’s question stupefied Feng Sheng for a moment.
“Do you know why the Confucian school of thought stood out among the Hundred Schools of Thought during the Spring and Autumn Period?”
Feng Sheng naturally knew this. She had even pored over this particular subject meticulously. Because she had delved into it deeply enough, she often mused that her way of thinking did not accord with the current general situation.
In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, when various sages of the Hundred Schools of Thought were contending, it was still an era of relatively free thinking, so many people dared to philosophize and to create schools of thought and learning. The most widely circulated of the Hundred Schools of Thought were the Legalist, Mohist, Confucian, Taoist, the School of Diplomacy, and so on.
After several vicissitudes, Confucianism, Taoism, and Mohism represented respectively by Confucius, Laozi, and Mozi became the three conventional schools of thought. A long period of time later and throughout a change of dynasties, Confucianism represented by Confucius and Mencius became the conventional thought.
Why then did Confucianism triumph over others and become the conventional ideology, even favored by many sovereigns? The reason was that rulers necessitated it to control their people and to fortify their rule.
At the very beginning, the development of the Confucian school of thought was actually far from perfect. The Warring States period was a time of dispute among several feudal princes of vassal states. In an era where smoke billowed everywhere, the idea of benevolent policy and an anti-aggressive government could not satisfy the ideals of the feudal princes’ rule and their thirst for great unification. It was not until the Han dynasty that the Confucian school of thought was accepted as the new official ideology by those in power at the time, after Dong Zhong Shu expanded on it and advocated the Mandate of Heaven3 once more.
After a long period of time, Confucianism gradually drew closer to the rulers and assimilated into the doctrines of Buddhism and Taoism with new variations, such as the Three Principles and Five Virtues, Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind, and ‘to rule by the grace of heaven’,4 which, to be frank, were meant to make it easier for the rulers to govern and to beguile the people.
Feng Sheng was adept at analysis and deciphered all this, so she exploited it after bouts of studying but did not revere it. This was why she dared on her own to challenge the ruling class represented by the Crown Prince. As for Prince Wei, he was deemed to be part of the ruling class, so he naturally understood the core of it and would not be deluded by it.
“You may do so, but it deviates from the current convention. If you teach them those things, won’t they become deviants once they leave the academy and return to society?”
What was a deviant? Those who did not conform to the norm were deviants.
There was no place for deviants in this world, as in the case of Han Ying. She could be said to compare favorably with men in terms of ability, but although she was as such, she had to live far away from her hometown and struggle to survive in this world alone. Han Ying had done well by virtue of her sagacity and her firm and steadfast character, but not everyone had these qualities.
Take Hua’er, for example. She was already accustomed to the way her family treated her, even if she was pulled out by force, told that other people’s families were nothing like hers, that other people’s daughters didn’t need to be beaten or starved, and that they didn’t relinquish everything to their older and younger brothers. She understood all this because she was edified, but she lacked the ability to alter her circumstances. What could she do? When it came down to it, with her newfound awareness, being helpless was the most painful to her.
People, sometimes, it wasn’t that the more thoroughly they understood, the better. Living in a daze throughout one’s life also wasn’t too terrible. Being knowledgeable was painful as well. What this meant was probably the case above.
Feng Sheng was deep in contemplation for a long time. Seeing her like this, Prince Wei wanted to remind her that she had been seated for long enough, but he chose to be silent and left space for her to ponder.
He could perceive that she cared profoundly about this, so he was willing to allocate ideas to shy from some predictable mistakes.
Feng Sheng mulled over it for a long time, and only at dusk did she write back to Han Ying.
In the letter, she raised Prince Wei’s questions and jotted down some of her own thoughts. At the same time, she nevertheless made the decision to teach them everything. After learning what women should learn and then learning what men should learn, the distinctions would become obvious, and they would naturally lead to doubt. With doubt came reflection, and once the students were old enough, they would realize on their own what it was that they truly wanted.
After writing the letter, she ordered someone to deliver it to the academy. When everything was over, she was very pleased and sought Prince Wei to partake the evening meal together.
In the study, Prince Wei had just finished discussing with his aides and advisors. When he caught sight of Feng Sheng approaching, he bid everyone to disperse, and he and Feng Sheng ambled together toward the main courtyard.
Seeing the delight between her brows and sensing that her mood was quite sanguine, he asked, “Have you finished writing the letter?”
She nodded.
“Fortunately, she’s a woman.” Otherwise Prince Wei’s vinegar bucket would have been overturned. They exchanged a letter a day, which Prince Wei closely followed. He even ordered someone to look into that Han Ying, only that Feng Sheng was unaware.
Feng Sheng laughed, “I doubt I would speak to her if she were a man.” The appreciation and empathy they felt for each other as women with shared afflictions was the main reason why they even talked.
“Sixteen’s Zhuazhou5 will be in a few days. We will have to enter the palace.”
When she heard this, it suddenly dawned on her that the sixteenth prince was already one full year old. Time really flew by quickly.
“I’ll have someone open the storeroom later to see if there are any good additions for Little Sixteen’s Zhuazhou.” According to the customs of Great Zhou, if a child in the family or a relative’s family had to do the Zhuazhou ceremony, they had to add something to be used for the Zhuazhou to showcase the intimacy of their relationship.
So it was settled. Once dinner was over, the two asked to have the storeroom opened, and after a while chose a few suitable things to be stowed away to bring with them to the palace on the morrow.
*
The day soon arrived.
As the child was still young, it couldn’t be considered a big day. Little Sixteen’s Zhuazhou ceremony was limited only to their family to avoid compromising their good fortune from people with ill intent disguising themselves as servants and the like.
In addition to the noblewomen in the palace, Prince Wu, Prince Zhao, Prince Xiang and others were in attendance, as well as other princes and the womenfolk from their manor. Empress Chen was also present. After the Chen family’s kerfuffle, she hastily recovered and began showing her face in front of people.
This time, her attitude completely differed from how she was in the past. In all respects, Empress Chen was a proud person. Gently though she treated people on the surface, she had an astounding amount of pride deep in her bones. This time, however, she was peculiarly fervent, her zeal almost seeming like a fabrication. She ardently pranced about and expressed solicitude to every imperial concubine in the palace. As long as the matter was within the Empress’s duty, she would set her heart on it.
Just like this time, she was the first to endorse Little Sixteen’s Zhuazhou ceremony and personally directed people to handle it. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell how much Empress Chen adhered to this matter.
Feng Sheng and Prince Wei knew nothing of Empress Chen’s irregularity, so when they witnessed Empress Chen in Xianfu Palace solemnly and vehemently instructing the palace maids and eunuchs how to set up the scene and fill in the gaps, they instantaneously thought they were in Kunning Palace.
The atmosphere was so bizarre that only Empress Chen was probably unaware of it.
But she was the Empress, and the Jianping Emperor had always treated her with dignity, so it was hard for others to say anything. Prince Wei and Feng Sheng were from the younger generation, so they could only remain mum and observe from the side.
Feng Sheng quietly peeked at Imperial Noble Consort Li a few more times. Seeing the smile on her face, she couldn’t tell how the other felt.
With the arrival of the Jianping Emperor, the Zhuazhou ceremony began.
According to the rules, the father should also set something down to express his expectation of the child. No one was certain whether the Jianping Emperor had forgotten or that it was because of something else. When Empress Chen reminded him, he retrieved a jade pendant from his waist and handed it to Fu Lu to lay in place.
In an instant, the eyes of everyone in the palace hall gathered on that side.
Feng Sheng could not discern the glint in the eyes of Prince Wu and the others, so she shot Prince Wei a glance. Prince Wei gave her a look of ‘keep calm, don’t be impatient’.
It was the thirteenth prince who spoke out first. He was fourteen this year, not too young, not too old. He was slender and had a bit of hair above his lips, young and inexperienced, with the appearance of a soft and puerile youth.
“Imperial Father is really kind to Little Sixteen. Second brother asked your honored self for this jade pendant before, but your honored self refused.”
Prince Wu looked at him, chuckled, and admonished, “Thirteen, don’t implicate your second brother for every single thing. You’re the one interested in this pendant, aren’t you? How old is Sixteen for you to be fighting over it with him?”
“Second Brother, I’m not trying to fight over it with Little Sixteen. Imperial Father, I was just saying……”
Thirteen blushed furiously.
The First Prince at the side interjected in a rather deliberately ambiguous tone of voice, “Old Two, who doesn’t know that you’re the one who’s been covetous of this pendant for a while now, ah? What are you pressing this matter onto Thirteen for?”
Hearing the First Prince expose his lapses, Prince Wu’s eyes flashed a touch of annoyance. He uttered with an insincere smile, “What is eldest brother saying? I was just joking around with Thirteen.”
“Your tone didn’t sound like you were joking.”
“Then what does eldest brother think it sounded like?” Prince Wu spat out with a sneer.
Prince Zhao hurriedly marched forward to clear the air, “It’s almost time. Today is Little Sixteen’s good day. Imperial Father, Empress Mother, and all the Consort Mothers are here. Alas, eldest brother and second brother mustn’t steal the attention from Little Sixteen.”
As he spoke, he looked up and saw that the Jianping Emperor’s countenance had chilled. The First Prince and Prince Wu immediately shut their mouths.
1 These are all real books in ancient and imperial China. 女诫 Lessons for Women/Women’s Precepts; 内训 Instructions for Women; 女则 Important Principles for Women; 女论语 The Analects for Women; 女范捷录 Quick Guide for All Rules for Women; 列女传 Biographies of Exemplary Women; 节义传 Biographies of Persons of Modest Character; 贞顺传 Biographies of the Compliant and Chaste
2 ‘Lessons for Women’ is written by Ban Zhao. In this paragraph, some parts are taken from the actual book itself, and the english translation for that is by Nancy Lee Swann. Some parts are abridged versions of the paragraphs in the book, so that’s my own liberal translation.
弄璋: play with a jade tablet—a son is born (from the early custom of giving a baby boy a jade tablet to play with, symbol of male superiority)
弄瓦: play with a tile/potsherd—a daughter is born (from the early custom of giving a curved tile to a baby girl to play with, the tile was used as a weight for the spindle and symbolized the female)
3 君权神授: literally translates to “The Divine Right of Kings”, wherein Snowy says is similar to The Mandate of Heaven (天命), which is a Chinese political philosophy that was used in ancient and imperial China to justify the rule of the King or Emperor of China. Mandate of Heaven – Wikipedia
4 三纲五常: three principles and five virtues (idiom); the three rules (ruler guides subject, father guides son and husband guides wife) and five constant virtues of Confucianism (benevolence 仁, righteousness 義|义, propriety 禮|礼, wisdom 智 and fidelity 信), Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind – Wikipedia
5 抓周: lit. ‘grasping week’; a custom of placing a variety of articles (writing brush, abacus etc) before an infant on its first birthday to see which one he or she picks up (The article chosen is supposed to be an indication of the child’s inclinations, future career etc.) Zhuazhou – Wikipedia
