Chapter 139 — Settling Accounts (Extra Update — Begging for Pink Tickets)

Dou Yan was struck dumb, a vague sense that this was all quite superfluous creeping over her—what sort of man was this Ji Yong, that he should need anyone's sympathy? For a moment, silence fell.

"Since that's how it is, then take your time with your sums." She turned on her heel to go. "I have matters to attend to. I'll be off."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Ji Yong caught her by the sleeve. "What sort of temper is this? I said one thing, and before you'd even heard me out, you turned and walked away!" He was instantly his old vigorous self again.

Dou Yan was left speechless with fury. She flung off her sleeve. "Weren't you settling accounts? Surely my standing here would only disturb you—"

"No, no!" Ji Yong said hastily, releasing her and inviting Dou Chuan to sit beside him. "I was just wanting to consult with you about something."

Seeing that he was perfectly fine, what mood could Dou Yan possibly have left to listen to his nonsense? "Whatever you have to say, we can discuss it when we're back. the Second Madam is entertaining the ladies, and I must go and join the merriment."

"Oh!" Ji Yong nodded like a chicken pecking at grain. "Then off you go, quickly. Tonight we'll sit down properly and work this whole business out."

In such matters he always knew where to draw the line.

Dou Yan turned and left.

From behind the Taihu rockery, half of Dou Ming's face emerged.

That evening, Dou Yan and Ji Yong met in the garden.

The glow of the great red lanterns fell upon Ji Yong's face, rendering his brows and eyes all the more comely.

He counted off on his fingers: "I am sixteen this year. Next year I pass the metropolitan examination—seventeen. Three years in the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, when my term is up—twenty. Then three years observing administration in one of the Six Ministries, and I scrape together a post as a Right Remonstrator of the fifth rank, or perhaps a secretary in the Zhan Shi Prefecture or the Court of the Imperial Stud—that makes me twenty-three. Three years more, and I'm promoted to the seventh rank... By this reckoning, to reach the second rank proper, I'd be at least fifty-three!" He shuddered as he spoke. "Too dreadful, too dreadful... sitting for the metropolitan examination is not worth it at all! Had I known, I should have entered the spring examination the moment I passed the provincial one. At least that would have saved a few years—I might have made second rank proper by fifty."

Dou Yan was torn between exasperation and laughter, at a loss for what to say to him. "And what do you propose to do, then?" she asked sourly.

In her previous life, of course, he had become Vice Minister of Rites before thirty, in the third rank proper, under the name of Master Yuantong.

"I'm agonizing over it too," Ji Yong said—agonizing, though his eyes were bright and sparkling, with not a trace of agony to be seen. "Tell me, is there some shortcut that lets a man skip all this bitter grinding away at seniority?"

There was!

Become a monk!

The thought flashed through her mind, and Dou Yan's eyes went wide.

Could it be that in his last life, this was precisely why Ji Yong had gone off to become a monk?

But that would require enough luck to encounter an emperor who had come to the throne by confining his own father and killing his own brother, who could neither eat nor sleep in peace day or night, and who had therefore begun to believe most devoutly in Buddhism!

.

If only she knew when he had taken the tonsure in his former life!

Dou Yan drew out her handkerchief and dabbed at her forehead. "I've heard that Liang Qing entered the Grand Secretariat at forty-three, Sun Huai at forty-four, Wang Ji at forty-six..."

She could not simply stand by and watch the fellow go off and become a monk again, could she!

Whenever her Sixth Aunt mentioned him, she was so delighted, so proud! As though he were the hope of the Ji family, its very future. One way or another, she had to coax him into sitting for the metropolitan examination first.

"I knew I could only say this to you!" Ji Yong, thrilled, clapped Dou Zhiwei on the shoulder. Dou Yan's body sank, and her shoulder immediately blazed with pain.

"Speak if you must speak—what are you laying hands on me for?" she snapped irritably.

"I'm so happy, so happy!" Ji Yong apologized again and again. Then he bent down and fished a great roll of paper from beneath the stone table.

He spread the roll open and pointed to the dense columns of names. "I've listed the entire careers of every Grand Secretary of the past hundred years. Look!"

The lamplight was dim—how could Dou Yan possibly make anything out? But if she did not go along with Ji Yong's madness, who knew whom he would plague next? At least she would not be easily bewitched by him.

She told Sulan to fetch a lamp.

Sulan answered and went.

Ji Yong, however, could not wait to begin introducing the famous men: "...Liang Qing was once the tutor of Emperor Renzong. The moment Emperor Renzong ascended the throne, he promoted him from Junior Vice Minister of the Zhan Shi Prefecture, fourth rank, to Minister of Rites, second rank proper. His Majesty has six princes, and the youngest is thirteen this year, so even if I wanted to earn merit as a follower of a dragon prince, it's a bit late... that one's no good! Sun Huai—Emperor Xianzong wanted to reform the bureaucracy, and he happened to have a name for unbending integrity and spotless honesty, so the Emperor made him Minister of Justice. But before that, he had served a full twelve years as a county magistrate in Qiongzhou. I've no desire to go bake in the Qiongzhou sun just to become a minister... that one's no good either! Wang Ji—when Emperor Renzong was still Crown Prince and Emperor Taizong wanted to depose him, Wang Ji, then a censor in the Censorate, submitted a memorial defending Emperor Renzong. After Emperor Renzong took the throne, he promoted him to Minister of Personnel..." He trailed off, stroking his chin and pondering. "That trick of Wang Ji's might be worth a try—His present Majesty is a bit capricious, but on the whole he is a benevolent ruler, and he can tolerate censors' impeachments and such. But to sow discord between His Majesty and the Crown Prince... that would be rather difficult..."

Dou Yan was already drenched in sweat from listening.

Was this how one sought office?

Was he not a little too arrogant?

As though he were the greatest man under Heaven, and everything must bend to his will!

"Is it fame you want? Or office?" she asked Ji Yong. "Or is it simply to give your family an accounting?"

"What's the difference?" Ji Yong spread both hands. "If I want fame, then naturally I must hold office; and holding office counts as giving my family their accounting. I'm thinking I must find a way to become a minister before forty. That leaves me thirty years to do as I please, and no one will find me so baffling just because I go my own way..."

Dou Yan truly could not contain herself any longer. She eyed him sidelong. "Are you so sure you'll live to seventy?"

"Since ancient times, few men reach seventy." Ji Yong spoke without a shred of shame. "I should manage at least that much!" Then he added, "Though I rather think I'll live to eighty-one at the very least."

Dou Yan felt that being angry with him was a sheer waste of expression. "That is all a matter for later. You had better first think about how to place in the top three. If you don't pass the metropolitan examination, everything you've said is so much empty air."

"I think so too." Ji Yong nodded most earnestly. "But compared with plotting how to become a second-rank minister proper as quickly as possible, passing the metropolitan examination is a trifling matter."

Dou Yan laughed in sheer fury. "Then go and be a flattering minister or a treacherous one!"