HLCOB C36

Chapter 36

Why can the Son of Heaven not be blamed.

The boy’s sudden words were clear yet struck to the heart; they were also the very words Jaheon had wanted, yet ultimately could not, say. They called out Xun Shang’s contradiction, words Jaheon could not easily speak while trying to win Xun Shang over and send him down-country.

“Yu, what are you doing here…!”

At that, Xun Shang rebuked the boy, and Jaheon—who inwardly agreed—looked up in surprise.

Yu?

This was the Xun residence.

And the name was Yu. Jaheon looked at the boy who had entered into his talk with Xun Shang.

Surely not…

A boy of striking looks, with a tear‑mole, bit his lip as he looked at Xun Shang.

Xun Yu?

The strategist who would be called Cao Cao’s Zhang Liang, the last loyal minister of Han—this Xun Yu was this youthful boy before him. Was not the Xun Yu of the record of events composed? Yet the Xun Yu before him seemed a little different.

Of course, Xun Yu’s words and manner were composed.

“Why is it that I may not speak?”

Only his actions were not.

“It is a minister’s duty to offer remonstrance so that the ruler may go aright.”

In short, the present Xun Yu seemed far from the cautious strategist of the record; he looked like a young lord suppressing his hot blood.

“And is not uncle now seeking to set aside that duty?”

At Xun Yu, who spoke only of ideals, Xun Shang at last burst out,

“…A minister’s duty is not for a minister to choose!”

Head of the Yingchuan Xun.

The weight that bore was not light. With one mistake by Xun Shang, the clan could fall. Had that not been why, when the Disasters of the Partisan Prohibitions erupted, Xun Shang returned home at once?

“If that is a minister’s duty, then why did so many scholars die in the Disasters of the Partisan Prohibitions?!”

This was an age that could not help but value a clan’s honor over an individual’s. With collective punishment, in an age when all of a house could die for one person’s fault; when an imperial order could make hundreds, thousands, as flies.

“Yes, you are right—the minister’s way is to set the ruler’s fault aright. To set it aright, even at the cost of all sacrifice!”

So Xun Shang had ever held back—to protect them all. For the first time, the ever gentle Xun Shang raised his voice and scolded Xun Yu.

“But if that sacrifice hangs on the entire clan, what then?!”

The bright Xun Yu knew what Xun Shang meant.

“…Then why.”

Yet it had been none other than Xun Shang who taught him not to bend even if reality was thus; who said that if one did not bend, the world would improve. Thus Xun Yu burst out,

“Why did you teach me so, uncle?”

Books and reality differ. The voice of the young boy, who had heard this from the elder he most respected, trembled.

“Why tell me to unfold a straight way rooted in loyalty and benevolence? Did you not say that then, one day, the world would change?”

At Xun Yu’s unsullied ideal, Xun Shang could not open his mouth.

…

But misunderstanding that silence, Xun Yu’s face twisted. Disappointed in Xun Shang, he turned his back and said,

“…I, Yu, have committed discourtesy before a guest, and will go to the annex to receive punishment.”

At Xun Yu’s uprightness to the last, Jaheon was impressed.

Heh.

In the record of events, Xun Yu met death by his own hand; because Cao Cao sent him an empty food box. Seen another way, Xun Yu’s character was not yielding; when told to die, he truly went and died.

So that was why…

By the look of it, such a disposition was fitting.

Knowing it too, Xun Shang sighed and offered Jaheon apology.

“He is yet young—my nephew—so forgive his rudeness.”

“Not at all. It is fine.”

Smiling at Xun Shang’s words, Jaheon shook his head.

“What is shameful is that one must stop him from speaking those words.”

Had not Xun Shang, from his cherished nephew Xun Yu, been given such direct remonstrance? Sensing his shame, Jaheon quietly added,

“The fault of failing in loyal remonstrance remains in history.”

One remains as one shameful to history.

It was what a scholar would find most disgraceful. Yet even at that, Xun Shang smiled hollowly and answered,

“…Then what of it.”

Before his cherished nephew, Xun Shang let out a self‑mocking laugh at showing a figure yielding to reality.

“I cannot, for the sake of keeping the way, cast that child into the flames.”

How many had died for raising direct words to the present Emperor? There were those whose clans were exterminated. The Emperor, for power’s sake, could carry out without qualm the deaths of the people, the extermination of clans.

“Now I am old—and I have neither the courage nor the strength to change this Han house.”

With even the face he had to keep gone, Xun Shang laid everything down and spoke truth.

…

At that, Jaheon was silent.

Since coming up to Luoyang, it seemed the first time he had heard such truth from another. In this Luoyang, were not all busy hiding their aims and deceiving each other? That he should hear such words from the very exemplar of the Qingliu, the head of the Yingchuan Xun—was it not to say, I care nothing for justification; I do not wish to drag Xun Yu into it.

Brother.

At that, Choseon’s face flashed up in Jaheon’s mind.

“…But that is not protecting.”

Jaheon spoke with a bitter smile. The Jaheon of the record, who could not recall modern memory, had thought and acted as Xun Shang now.

…?

And what had that brought?

“One will, one day, lose.”

In the end, he did not protect Choseon.

“Therefore, by any means and methods, I came up to Luoyang.”

So it is with the troubled times soon to come. By fleeing to protect, one could not save.

Thus Jaheon needed power.

Power only to protect Choseon. Power to secure the life his only sibling desired. That was needed. From the first, Jaheon’s aim was not benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. Jaheon was no gentleman. Being no gentleman, he was not even one worthy of Xun Shang’s hope.

“Therefore, my lord.”

Yet at times men move not for grand justification but for small reasons.

“Will you not think to join with me?”

So Jaheon asked Xun Shang not as Im Huaseo, who stood at the center of power, but as Choseon’s family.

Meanwhile, Xun Yu was copying out text.

“A gentleman must speak straight to the ruler.”

Copying out the classics had been a punishment Xun Yu had received from Xun Shang when he erred since childhood. “Copy the sages’ words and settle your heart.” “You have more anger than it seems, so your inner self must be governed”—so Xun Yu long had copying as punishment.

“If he will not speak, then let him leave that place…”

At first, the young Xun Yu could not hold back his anger and copied with crooked characters; but of late, even when punished, his hand did not go awry. Today was different. His usually neat hand kept slipping off the bamboo slip.

Biting his lip as he copied, Xun Yu thought,

Why.

When writing, one must settle one’s thoughts. But now his head was full of all manner of thoughts; thus his hand’s disorder was natural.

A minister’s duty is not for a minister to choose!

Moreover, Xun Shang’s words still drifted about his ear.

Tok—

At last, Xun Yu set down his brush.

In truth, there was no need to be so emotional. It was he who, made uneasy by Xun Shang’s doubts of Jaheon, had eavesdropped on their talk. The fault was his. There was no cause to resent Xun Shang. Not knowing why his emotions ran so high, Xun Yu let out a deep sigh when—

“…It seems Young Lord Xun’s anger has yet to abate.”

A clear, beautiful voice was heard.

…?

At the voice, Xun Yu turned his head.

Thump—

And the boy froze as he was.

Having been swept by emotion, he had failed even to offer proper greeting—now he faced Jaheon again, close at hand. A face as if painted; hair as flawless and black as the finest ink; even golden eyes. The Jaheon Xun Yu had imagined only in his head was more beautiful in reality.

“I came to convey my lord’s wish—that your punishment be stayed…”

Smiling at the sight, Jaheon softly asked,

“Will you continue to receive punishment?”