From CEO to Concubine-Chapter 172: Wine and Madness
It took generations to build up a clan’s reputation but only a year to tear it down. Wu Shengqi could feel the difference keenly. In just one year, he had been investigated for the cheating incident regarding the imperial examinations. His job had been threatened more than once and even though he was eventually allowed to attend morning court again, he could tell that the emperor no longer held him in any regard. Naturally, his wily colleagues and subordinates, all experts at guessing and second-guessing the dragon’s hidden sentiments, started shifting their attitudes towards him as well. No longer did look up to him with respect or treat him with kindness.
As for his household, he had married off all his daughters of eligible age in the hopes that they would secure the family benefits but now, Wu Roushu’s belly carried a dangerous secret and Wu Yusi, the daughter he had placed all his hopes on, had managed to make it into the imperial harem but could not even compete against a mere slave for the emperor’s affection.
To add insult to injury, Wu Shengqi was out of daughters of a suitable age but it was looking like there was no way to stop His Majesty from expanding education to the masses. No matter how much the morning court nitpicked and rose new issues and difficulties, the left prime minister and his team had managed to circumvent all troubles thrown their way and proceed with the plan. It didn’t help that the old noble clans were not united on this front. Their emperor was notoriously impossible to curry favour with and sending their daughters into the imperial harem was proving ineffectual. Now that a potential new way to utilise them politically had opened up, it was only natural that a large number of officials, regardless of their faction, were considering sending their girls to school instead in hopes that they would have one more person to support their ambitions.
As Minister of Rites, Wu Shengqi was privy to more of the details of the new project than the rest of the ministries but not by much. The new principal graduate, Counsellor Tang, was so efficient that he couldn’t help but be resentful of his talents; new blood like this was half the reason why his son struggled to shine whilst carrying out his court duties. It was made even more infuriating that Counsellor Tang did not have to report back to him; this peasant’s son had the gall to treat him with a distant politeness but there was nothing Wu Shengqi could do to make his life difficult because he had the left prime minister to back him up.
Nothing was going his way. His wife couldn’t do more than fight with him every day and complain about the worsening aches and pains in her body. Sickened by the sight of her and to give his pregnant illegitimate daughter more standing in the fourth prince’s household, he had promoted Second Yiniang He Mianmian to the position of Side Concubine. Side Concubine He had been ecstatic to hear about it, gushing out her thanks and being faultlessly attentive that night, but Wu Shengqi had realised that looking at her just reminded him of the deceitful ploy they had implemented against the fourth prince.
Wu Shengqi had done many wrong things in his life. He didn’t regret them, saw them as a necessary evil. But he had never attempted to sully the imperial bloodline before. It was vastly more risky than choosing a prince to support in the war for the throne. Should the imperial family find out that the child Wu Roushu was carrying did not have the Liu Family’s blood running through its veins, nine generations of the Wu Clan would end with him at the helm.
Every day, Wu Shengqi sat at his desk and fretted about the future. And every day, Steward Yang came into his study, brows furrowed deep with worry, to submit a report on Wu Bin’s latest misdemeanours.
He didn’t even know what to say. This boy, once his pride and joy, had been reduced to a shadow of his former self, a drunken mess that frequented the brothels of the flower streets, having adopted the bad habits of the rich dandy sons that he once turned his nose up at. Wu Shengqi had tried everything, especially after Wu Bin had so thoroughly shamed their family at the imperial hunt. He had punished him to kneel in their ancestral shrine, had kept him under house arrest, but it was all to no avail. Wu Bin still had to attend work in the Hanlin Academy and once in there, it was impossible for the servants that Wu Shengqi sent to monitor him to truly control his movement.
All because of that slave boy. If Wu Shengqi had known that this would be the outcome of sending the boy away, he would not have been this keen to use him to forge an alliance with the fourth prince; look at how terribly that had turned out. Keeping the boy would have kept Wu Bin’s heart at home too and at the end of the day, a male bedwarmer would not have been able to bear any heirs and was no threat to the mistresses of the household.
But it was too late for regrets. And now, he had to live with the dread of wondering when Noble Consort Yue would finally deign to take revenge on the Wu Clan. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
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"Young Master Wu, why are you drinking alone? Come and play with nujia1!"
The chorus of rowdy laughter that accompanied the honeyed words of the prostitute were jarring to Wu Bin’s ears, aggravating the raging headache that already pulsated behind his eyes. He couldn’t recall how many days he’d been here and whether he had missed work today or not, time blurring together into a haze that numbed him to all the regret and bitterness he felt.
The stench of stale wine soaked into his clothes. It was nauseating, especially when combined with the incense that perfumed the air with a cloying suggestiveness; he didn’t have to check to know that he was already semi-hard from the mild aphrodisiac in the smoke. Just another one of those cheap tricks that the whorehouses resorted to to help set the right mood.
But no matter how many substitutes Wu Bin fucked, he knew it would be nothing like the real deal.
The worst part was the dreams that haunted him every night. In it, his little Yan Yun would still be sitting next to him as he worked at his desk in the evenings, demurely playing the part of his manservant as he ground ink for Wu Bin to use. In these dreams, Wu Bin knew what he tasted like, what his body would feel like pressed close, a tight hot intoxicating heat addictive to the senses. Sure, Wu Bin would have his wife and sons as part of his duties, but none of them would understand him like Yun Er could.
Every morning when he woke up with a raging headache and a resentful woman judging him for his past mistakes, he felt the regret ever more keenly. What had possessed him to think of letting Yan Yun go to further his ambitions? The Wu Family might not be as prestigious as they once were but surely they hadn’t reached such a low that they had to sell a slave to regain their pride.
"Young Master Wu is pleased to drown his sorrows?"
Wu Bin looked up blearily from his cup. His wine-addled brain could not tell him what day it was or whose gathering he was attending and it took him a while to recognise the speaker to be Envoy Zhang.
He would not have guessed. Envoy Zhang, the envy of the young and privileged elite of the capital. The Zhang Family wasn’t one of the six old noble clans but because they had one lucky son that had had the opportunity to befriend the emperor back when he had still been a prince, the entire family had now become blessed with good fortune. Even though it was no secret that the Zhang daughter had embarrassed herself in the inner palace, what did it matter? Envoy Zhang did not have to secure himself a prestigious position in the imperial examinations to enter the heart of the politics. He had made a name for himself by virtue of being in the right place at the right time, just as the emperor ascended to the throne and was lacking support.
If Wu Bin had been in his position, he was certain that he would have been able to do a better job. Maybe then, just maybe, he would have had more say in the Wu Clan and his father wouldn’t have been able to take his Yun Er away from him.
On any other occasion, Wu Bin would have been able to conceal his disdain and resentment but potent wine had a way of loosening his grip on his temper and he sneered at Envoy Zhang, who didn’t seem to notice as he took a seat opposite Wu Bin.
"What do you want?" he asked uncharitably.
Envoy Zhang remained unfazed by his hostility.
"Long before my return to the capital, this one had heard about the ruinous beauty of that person in the imperial city," he mentioned casually.
Wu Bin’s eyes narrowed. In his drunken state, he couldn’t bear to hear anyone speak of Yun Er’s nonpareil looks, the mere suggestion that they would covet what he coveted too much for him to take.
"Envoy Zhang would do well to recall that Noble Consort Yue isn’t someone that you can aspire towards," he snapped, his acerbic words hurting himself as much as it did others.
The corner of Envoy Zhang’s lips crooked upwards. "What some think is a prize could be poison to others," he murmured. "This one wouldn’t dream of having that which one cannot have...and besides, my inclinations lie elsewhere..."
"Then Envoy Zhang’s tastes are questionable." It was a dichotomy indeed. It irritated Wu Bin just as much to hear anyone so much as imply that his Yun Er wasn’t the most desirable creature in the kingdom. He arched an eyebrow at Envoy Zhang and gave him a thorough once-over. "Even His Majesty has failed to resist such temptation, does Envoy Zhang think himself above the dragon?"
Envoy Zhang chuckled. "Young Master Wu is quick to put words in this one’s mouth," he said, shaking his head. It grated on Wu Bin’s nerves that Envoy Zhang did not refer to him by his official title but he knew that if Envoy Zhang had addressed him as ’Compiler Wu’, he would have taken it as the other man flaunting his higher court rank. The dissatisfaction warring within him robbed him of what little reason he had left.
"Did Envoy Zhang just approach me this lowly one tonight to jest?" he said mockingly. "Or is Envoy Zhang practising the art of putting on airs in preparation for the day you raise your clan’s status?"
"Now, now. There’s no need to lash out at me, Young Master Wu." Realising that Wu Bin was not going to pour him a drink, Envoy Zhang reached out for the flask to help himself. "You could say that we suffer from the same illness and should commiserate with each other1."
"What can this lowly noble have in common with Envoy Zhang?"
"Well," Envoy Zhang replied with a laugh. "For starters, we both have sisters struggling to get a foothold in the imperial harem."
"Whatever you wish to say, just spit it out."
Envoy Zhang let out a lengthy sigh. "As Young Master Wu may be aware, this one has the opportunity to...how shall we say this...visit His Majesty in the inner palace more frequently than others."
Wu Bin clenched his teeth. He didn’t need Envoy Zhang to rub this in his face.
"As luck may have it, this one has made the acquaintance of Noble Consort Yue as well...but..." His brows furrowed with disapproval. "And as such, I have had a chance to observe...the interactions between His Majesty and this most pampered of consorts in recent times."
Annoyance leeched away at what remained of Wu Bin’s patience. "Then I am certain that Envoy Zhang has realised, as we all have, just how much standing Noble Consort Yue has with His Majesty," He retorted. He would never forget how he had been forced by his father to sit through meal after meal during the imperial hunt, just watching his Yun Er smile at another man, a man so powerful at that that Wu Bin could only fantasise about pulling him off his pedestal and cutting his throat for even daring to lay hands on what was rightfully Wu Bin’s.
Envoy Zhang’s smile turned funny. Wu Bin wasn’t sure what he was thinking. "Perhaps," he said lightly. "But if you ask this one...His Majesty’s affections are not necessarily...reciprocated."
Wu Bin felt his heart lurch. "What...do you mean by that?" If he had perhaps been a bit more sober, if he had perhaps been a bit less regretful, he might have placed less trust in Envoy Zhang’s next words. As it was, however, he could only feel the first stirrings of an incredulous hope come alive when Envoy Zhang added, "What can someone in Noble Consort Yue’s position do, after all? Whether he wishes for it or not, he is to play the part of the emperor’s favourite concubine, is he not? Longing for freedom beyond the walls, wanting a man that can dedicate his heart and soul wholly to him...what choice does he have?"
"W-what are you saying?"
Envoy Zhang glanced meaningfully at him. "Take this with a pinch of salt," he said casually. "But as you know, this one’s sister is a member of the harem and has sent word back that...Noble Consort Yue...seems to be pining after another. During spring this year, he had composed a poem about an old love whose affections had shifted to another. I believe it went something like ’the plum trees don a different dress for each lover, what was serendipitous to me was a mere coincidence to you’."
It suddenly occurred to Wu Bin that Envoy Zhang spoke the truth. This poem, why, it had to be about Wu Bin’s decision to marry his wife! Poor Yun Er, had he been pining all this while?
A frisson of excitement ran down Wu Bin’s spine. All this while, his poor Yun Er had no choice, no say in the matter. Wu Bin’s father had single-handedly forced him into a situation where he had to submit to the most terrifying man in the empire but what if...what if Yun Er hadn’t wanted to go? When they were younger, when his Yun Er had first lost his family and joined the Wu Family as a slave, hadn’t he always relied on Big Brother Wu Bin to save him?
As for the argument that they’d had in the past, well, it was obvious now to Wu Bin that Yun Er had only attempted to distance himself from him because he was disappointed that he had chosen to marry the Guo Family’s daughter for an allegiance. Why did Wu Bin ever get angry with him? Yun Er’s petty jealous tantrum must have been for him to see, a plea for attention that Wu Bin had been too self-absorbed and stupid to give to him back then.
It made so much sense in hindsight. Wu Bin could only hate himself for not noticing sooner.
"But what can I do?" he despaired, hitting his forehead repeatedly with his fists as he fretted. All caution had been tossed to the wind. "My Yun Er is now locked behind those tall walls." The urge to reclaim Yun Er and bring him home was overwhelming, the idea festering in his mind once it had been planted, taking root in his entire being until he was completely consumed with the thought of it. In the morning, he would wake up with a pounding ache in his skull. Suspicion would finally settle in belatedly and he would ponder over Envoy Zhang’s motivations—blatant in broad daylight— for telling him something like that.
Tonight, however, he let his greed show.
"Tomorrow evening is the state banquet for the Festival of Longevity," Envoy Zhang said softly, encouragingly. "If Young Master Wu looks hard enough, maybe you’ll see what you want to see."
Idiom that means to be able to empathise with someone in a similar situation. A deprecating term of self-address, meaning this servant/slave, usually used by women of a lower social ranking, such as prostitutes. It does not necessarily mean that they are actually in servitude. Used here by male prostitutes too. I couldn’t find the term of self-address used by male prostitutes in ancient times but I did find an interesting article that said they dressed much like the women did so I figured I’ll carry their self-address over also for this novel.
