Chapter 2 — The Divergence
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
Song Yan, courtesy name Yantang, was the legitimate eldest son of the Duke of Yingguo, Song Cen. His mother, of the Jiang clan, was the younger sister of Jiang Meisun, the Duke of Dingguo. His birth was exceedingly illustrious. At five he was granted the title of heir apparent; at fourteen, during the mourning period for his mother, he was impeached by a censor because a chambermaid in his household had become pregnant, and after the Duke of Yingguo drove him from the family gates, all trace of him was lost.
In the twentieth year of Chengping, Emperor Muzong fell ill. The Fifth Prince, the Prince of Liao, enfeoffed in Liaodong, under the intercession of his birth mother, Empress Wan, returned to the capital to inquire after the emperor's health, launched a palace coup, shot dead the Crown Prince born of the former Empress Shen, placed the emperor under house arrest, and, changing heaven for earth, ascended the throne.
Song Yan, who had long become a name people recalled only over idle after-dinner talk, reappeared before the world in the guise of the new emperor's confidant.
Single-handed, sword in hand, he stormed into the Duke of Yingguo's residence. In full view of his father he hacked off the limbs of his younger brother Song Han, made his father watch as Song Han bled without cease and wailed until he died, and only then struck off his father's head. So bloody were his methods, so savage his conduct, that the capital was thrown into uproar—so much so that after all these years his name could still stop children from crying.
The censors submitted memorial after memorial, demanding the emperor arrest the murderer and set right the record.
The emperor, after a token punishment, confined Song Yan in the Western Park within the palace walls.
Six months later, Song Yan entered the Embroidered Guard as a minor standard-bearer in the Northern Judicial Commission, a rank of the seventh grade.
A year after that, Song Yan was promoted to Commander of the Embroidered Guard, the third grade.
People in the capital whispered among themselves that Song Yan had been shown such extraordinary favor only because he had shot the Crown Prince dead during the coup.
As though to prove the saying true, throughout the twelve years of the emperor's reign—whether he lined his own pockets, framed the loyal and good, secretly suppressed remonstrating officials, bought men with favors, bullied the weak, behaved with overweening arrogance, or was greedy, lecherous, and lustful—Song Yan never lost the imperial favor. Indeed, many of the censors who impeached him were reprimanded by the emperor, stripped of office, or beaten to death in the courtyard.
To run into such a man, such a matter—Dou Yan's breath caught. Yet if Wei Fan were allowed to go on like this, it would be no more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot; it would ruin the whole family, and might even drag down their kin.
She murmured: "The Zhou family has fallen, but there's still the Cao family—where does it fall to you and Fourth Master Wang to step forward? Don't set fire to yourself! If you ask me, prudence is the better part..."
Before she could finish, Wei Fan gave a cold snort and said with contempt, "I don't have your sort of scheming. I only know that a gentleman must do some things and refrain from others. This matter I am resolved to take up!"
As though she were hard-hearted, indifferent to the fate of the Zhou mother and daughter for the sake of her own safety.
Wei Fan's attitude cut Dou Yan to the quick.