Chapter Seventy-Four: Fortune Smiles, Prosperity Awaits!

Chapter Seventy-Four: Fortune Smiles

The little princess covered her mouth and giggled as she watched Tie Xinyuan, who seemed as stiff and lifeless as a clay statue. For some reason, she sensed that Tie Xinyuan was a little fearful of her father, the emperor, and this made her mood all the more buoyant.

"Princess, look at that fool—he's sneaking glances at the plantains," whispered Xiao Zhu'er.

The little princess took another look and indeed saw that Tie Xinyuan was eyeing the bananas arranged on the table rather than paying attention to proper conduct.

Tie Xinyuan stared at the gleaming yellow fruit, swallowing hard. He realized he hadn’t tasted such things in years; at this moment, his yearning for them was overwhelming.

Such fruit could still be found in Dongjing, but its exorbitant price deterred even Wang Rouhua, who was known for doting on her son, from buying it. Worse still, even if purchased, it must be left to ripen until its green tartness faded before it could be eaten. Hence, plantains circulated only among wealthy families, and commoners rarely had the chance to sample them.

He looked around; in this small hall, only he, the little princess, and two truly wooden eunuchs were present. The princess and Xiao Zhu'er would surely pay him no mind, and who cared for the gaze of eunuchs?

Thus, Tie Xinyuan began inching his foot toward the bananas...

“What is he doing?” the princess asked in puzzlement.

“I’m not sure, but he’s sneaking up to the plantains,” replied Xiao Zhu'er.

Master and maid, along with the two idle eunuchs, all fixed their eyes on Tie Xinyuan. He edged closer to the table, swiftly extended his hand, and the bananas vanished from the fruit plate. At the same instant, his stomach bulged high.

Seeing Tie Xinyuan puffing out his chest and belly like a goose, the little princess felt both embarrassed and angry. Xiao Zhu'er was laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

Under the princess’s glare, the two eunuchs straightened up, though their eyes remained fixed on the ceiling, their bodies as crooked as shrimp.

Tie Xinyuan cursed inwardly—behind the heap of bananas were two melons, each the size of a fist.

Who else but the royal family could eat fresh melon in the bitter cold of winter? Even those found in the market were stored in ice cellars for months; by now, such melons retained only their shape, lacking any trace of flavor and tasting like soggy cotton.

After two months of dried and salted vegetables, Tie Xinyuan decided to take the risk...

Stuffing the melons into his coat was utterly inelegant, and Xiao Zhu'er could only gasp for air, while the princess clenched her handkerchief so tightly it seemed she would tear it apart.

Wang Jian stood at the door holding a plaque, puzzled as to why the two well-trained eunuchs were swaying unsteadily. He decided to uncover the cause before reprimanding them.

As he approached Tie Xinyuan to hand him the plaque, it slipped from his grasp and clattered to the floor. Tie Xinyuan stooped awkwardly to pick up the engraved bronze plaque, hugging it tightly to his stomach and said, "Perhaps you could kindly have someone pack me in a basket and send me home?"

Wang Jian glanced at the fruit plate, now left with only two pears, shook his head decisively, and said, "I’ll have the eunuch escort you out, and the guards at the city gate will see you home."

Tie Xinyuan sighed, "You’re purposely making things difficult for me."

Wang Jian sneered, "If you’ve done it, don’t be afraid to let others know!"

Tie Xinyuan tugged his belt higher and whispered, "It's hard to walk with something pressing against my belly."

Wang Jian’s lips quivered, "Did you have to do this?"

Tie Xinyuan looked at him oddly, "Would you have given it if I asked?"

Wang Jian replied without hesitation, "No. Giving it to you would make it an imperial gift."

Tie Xinyuan nodded, "Exactly. I only wanted to eat these two things, not offer them at my ancestors’ shrine."

"Then walk out of the inner palace on your own!" Wang Jian said through gritted teeth, summoning a eunuch who was nearly dying of laughter and giving him brief instructions before turning away. He could hardly believe that such a promising prodigy would so easily ruin his own reputation. If not for the fact that Tie Xinyuan's face and head provided no place to strike, Wang Jian truly wanted to thrash him.

Stealing trifling items from the palace was common in Great Song. At the year-end imperial banquet, the emperor would routinely lose precious vessels or ornate decorations. Even at banquets for newly appointed scholars, it was typical for a few porcelain pieces to go missing. Those who succeeded in pilfering such items would boast about the lavishness of the feast.

The emperor always laughed it off; sometimes he even prepared extra utensils for convenience, showing remarkable thoughtfulness.

The emperor didn’t mind, and the officials considered it refined. Wang Jian, however, detested it—precious porcelain sets became worthless if a few pieces were stolen, greatly increasing the burden on the palace artisans.

Tie Xinyuan’s shamelessness rivaled that of veteran officials. Even when caught red-handed, he remained unfazed and even brazenly asked for assistance.

Tie Xinyuan cheerfully waved at the spot where the little princess peeked out and shuffled after the eunuch, his steps awkward. The fox obediently carried the large basket, eventually having to drag it backward.

Watching Tie Xinyuan and the fox’s clumsy departure, the little princess, her voice tinged with tears, said to Xiao Zhu'er, "He could have just asked me for it."

Xiao Zhu'er watched Tie Xinyuan’s retreating figure and smiled, "Princess, Brother Yuan is like this. He won’t take advantage of girls. When you gave him your treasures, he sent back things that even the lady praised as more than worthwhile, and kept praising your good sense. I think he took the plantains and melons because his family’s short of money. Remember, the lady said that suit of armor was worth at least a thousand gold. They only make a little selling soup cakes... I’ve heard that children at palace banquets have snuck food before, supposedly to honor their mothers..."

The princess breathed a sigh of relief, then glared at Xiao Zhu'er, "Don’t say Brother Yuan stole anything! Not a word—he took them!"

Xiao Zhu'er immediately nodded like a pecking chick.

They walked out along the corridor from the Grand Celebration Hall, and Tie Xinyuan was soon aware of the palace’s notorious gossip. When he entered, the hall was deserted; now it was crowded with palace staff craning their necks to watch the spectacle, laughing themselves breathless at his duck-like gait.

All along the way, he left behind countless swooning beauties.

The leading eunuch was decent enough, guiding him to avoid the central office and steering clear of the East and West Bureaus, as if they were tigers.

The little princess’s fierce gaze said it all—if this young master were spotted by officials from the bureaus, there would surely be an investigation.

Last time, when the emperor rewarded a troupe of performers, they stashed the silk in their coats, but Judge Bao caught them, confiscated the silk on the grounds that no official document had been shown, and beat the troupe leaders twenty times.

But today, this young master was... stealing.

Passing the Yellow Gate, Tie Xinyuan bowed toward a window and stepped over the lofty threshold, heading straight for the garden.

Inside, Xia Song’s hand trembled as he drank tea, causing it to spill. Sitting opposite, Secretary Zhang Yi glanced outside and pointed at Tie Xinyuan’s retreating figure, "Ziqiao, do you know this boy? Why does he walk like that?"

Xia Song wiped the tea from the table and smiled, "If I don’t speak first, that little worm wouldn’t dare utter a sound!"

"Oh? So the prodigy who wrote ‘Ode to the Frog’ has arrived. The poem was grand, but his bearing is lacking—a pity," Zhang Yi exclaimed, slapping the table.

Xia Song snorted, "His bearing lacking? Brother Hualu, you must be mistaken. As for appearance, I’ve seen few children in Dongjing as handsome as he."

"But he..."

"The duck-like walk? There must be imperial gifts hidden in his coat, making movement difficult."

"Ziqiao, how do you know so much about this child?"

Xia Song’s face darkened, "Before I left Hedong, I wanted to take him as my disciple. He refused."

"What? How rude! Ziqiao, your mastery of numerology and mathematics is unmatched—what teacher could possibly be better?"

Xia Song smiled wryly, "If it were one of the court scholars, I could confront them, but his teacher is an obscure Confucian. To challenge such a person would disgrace us."

Zhang Yi looked at Xia Song and smiled, "To be so humiliated and show no anger—your humility is admirable."

Xia Song laughed, "There’s more to it than I can say. Come, let’s not talk about him. Try the butter tea I brought from Hedong—perfect for winter."

In truth, if one crossed the imperial garden, Tie Xinyuan’s home was quite near. Yet even a seven-year-old was not permitted to pass through the rear palace, so Tie Xinyuan had to follow the eunuch out the main gate, climb the city wall, and finally circle around to reach home via the rooftop.

Wang Rouhua waited in the courtyard for her son, her heart anxious until his battered little face appeared atop the city gate, releasing her worries.

Tie Xinyuan leapt from the basket, waved the bronze plaque at his mother, "Mother, we’ve made it—we’ve really made it!"

Wang Rouhua barely glanced at the plaque, instead pulling two melons and a handful of bananas from his coat and frowned, "Did you take these from the palace?"

Tie Xinyuan replied sheepishly, "I was craving them."

Wang Rouhua sighed, "You know, getting these would have been easy enough..."

Tie Xinyuan grinned, "Things taste better when I get them myself. What others give, I don’t really care for."