He starts walking out the door as soon as he says that.
"Father, where are you going?" Khac Tuan intervenes.
"Go and request His Majesty to revoke Nam Phong's Empress title." Sir Pham is enraged.
"Don't do that, Father." Khac Tuan stops him "You only create more advantages for outsiders. Do you want to show the Westerners that the Linh Nam court is in disarray?"
The Prime Minister has already raised his voice to demand that the Empress title should be abolished after only a few days of being ordained.
Sir Pham seems to falter when he realizes his son has a valid point.
"Besides, you said it. What's the point of talking about it now that the situation has been resolved?" Khac Tuan adds more.
"Hmph!" Sir Pham turns back to face the house. "It's such nonsense."
"Father, Nam Phong is not a bad person. He's not going to take over. Besides, he's a smart guy who knows how to play politics. You also know that this court can't rely on His Majesty, so wouldn't it be better to try to make peace with Nam Phong?" Khac Tuan says as he approaches his father and sits down next to him.
Seeing that his father calms down a bit, Khac Tuan gently advises. Sir Pham stops raising his voice and just snorts angrily.
"If I had known this in the past, I wouldn't stop him from taking the exam."
That sentence just now is a slip of the tongue, but the listener hears it.
Sir Pham never stopped Khac Tuan from taking the exam. He knows that well. His father always thinks that if you're a man, fame is a matter of lifelong effort, there is no highest, only higher. So the last sentence was not about him.
Was he talking about Huu Quan? Did his father prevent Huu Quan from taking the exam?
"Father... are you the one who stopped Nam Phong from taking the exam?"
Sir Pham sees his son ask again, he realizes he has slipped his mouth and quickly waves his hand away.
"Why are you asking such a stupid question? There's nothing."
"No, I just heard." Khac Tuan insists "Father said you have prevented someone's exam. You never intervened in my exam. Did you prevent Nam Phong from taking the exam? But aren't you very close to Nam Phong's family? How did you intervene in it?"
"I said it was nothing." Sir Pham tries to cover up.
Sir Pham's hiding increases Khac Tuan's skepticism. It's right, the old man has prevented Huu Quan from taking the exam for real. But he always said he wanted his son to fight fairly against Nguyen Huu's son, so why stop him? Huu Quan has an intelligent personality and a strong character, how can he keep him from succeeding?
Now that he thinks about it, Huu Quan has just returned from studying abroad in France when he received news that he was barred from taking the exam and sold into a brothel. Everything happened so quickly.
Sir Nguyen Huu's property was not blockaded by chance on that day, right?
"Father, are you involved in the case that Sir Nguyen Huu was wrongfully convicted of smuggling and had his properties blockaded?"
Sir Pham pauses, clears his throat, and moves his gaze elsewhere. If he could only say no. If he could only deny what his son is gradually claiming. But Sir Pham is speechless because that is correct.
"You truly are..." Sir Pham grumbles.
Khac Tuan has admired his father since he was a child. He thought that what his father did was right, and if it was a bit paradoxical, it was only because the old man had a way of thinking that he did not understand. For the first time in his life, he witnessed his father causing harm to others. He was also apprehended by himself. It's ironic and bittersweet.
"Why would Father do something like that?" Khac Tuan inquires angrily.
"So what if I did that?" Sir Pham explodes. "Will you be able to be a mandarin if I didn't do that? If you must point fingers, point them at Minh Dinh. Exam tradition for hundreds of years, to say cancel is to cancel, abandon is to abandon. Would I have to worry about your mandarin affairs over and over again if it weren't for Minh Dinh's pro-Western stance? Moreover, with such French-speaking competition, I'm not sure who will be more respected, Nam Phong or you?"
Khac Tuan sighs tiredly and hugs his brow. His father is still the same, everything he did, good or bad, had a reason. However, Khac Tuan is unable to agree at this time.
"That is not right, Father. Even if I can't continue to be a mandarin, I'll keep my head held high. Because that's exactly what I did. Furthermore, Nam Phong had to work hard at the time, was it because for the sake of your son's convenience, you had the heart to destroy Nam Phong's future? If you do that, how will I ever look Nam Phong in the eyes again?"
Sir Pham fixes his gaze on his son. Everything is messed up, so messed up. His son whom he gave birth to and raised does not understand his father's heart and go to fight for outsiders.
"You will understand when you become a father. But can't Nam Phong now become the Empress? He didn't become mandarin, but he can still be the Emperor's spouse. And you, look at you, what else can you do if you're not a mandarin?"
Khac Tuan sighs, no longer bothering to argue with Sir Pham. He takes the folding fan, bows to his father, and exits the room.
"Hey, where are you going? I haven't finished yet, have I?" Sir Pham asks aloud.
Khac Tuan stops, turns to face his father, and says:
"I'm looking for Nam Phong."
He left after saying that.
Soon after, Khac Tuan appears in front of An Minh Palace's courtyard.
Khac Tuan frequently visited the palace to meet the Consorts and Empress Dowager. The majority of the time, some of them were enjoying tea, while others were having fun with the palace maids. Or simply having time to do something else. Only Nam Phong, the first Male Empress, could not figure out what he was doing. Because those pointless activities don't suit him, and Nam Phong probably isn't interested either.
As a result, Khac Tuan is unsurprised by the peaceful scene in the palace. Nam Phong's long hair is no longer in a bun, as it was a few days ago. Perhaps, with a frail Huu Quan who can only accept his fate, that hairstyle will vanish forever. Nam Phong, who is sitting next to the courthouse, has sharp eyes that are more discerning than a few parts, short brown hair that is neatly cut down to the ears, a white short fur sweater, British trousers, and shoes.
Nam Phong appears to be both familiar and strange. He looks like a pastor who has removed his monk's robes, revealing his usual close face.
A palace maid stands by sharpening ink for Nam Phong and is occasionally queried about something.
"Sir Ministry of Rites." He is stopped by a maid. "Do you come to visit Empress Nam Phong?"
"That's right. Tell him I need to say something."
When the palace maid comes back inside, she whispers something into Nam Phong's ear. He simply nods, and the palace maid leads Khac Tuan inside.
"The Ministry of Rites." Nam Phong gives a nod. "Do you come here for anything?"
Khac Tuan is at a loss for how to begin the story. So all he wants to do is go round and round. He's in a vulnerable position for the second time in his life. Both are related to Nam Phong, come to think of it.
"What are you up to?"
"Ah, tutoring Tu Anh in reading." Nam Phong raises the piece of paper. "Tu Anh is illiterate and has no idea how to write her name. So I teach her some Vietnamese and French."
Khac Tuan steps closer and takes the paper from Nam Phong's grasp. The lines "Nguyen Tu Anh", and "Hello, my name is" are neatly scattered all over the page.
"Your handwriting is still lovely, isn't it?" Khac Tuan says.
The expression of loss on Khac Tuan's face hints at the reason for this visit, but Nam Phong chooses to ignore it.
"Yes. I haven't written in a long time, and holding a brush and writing Chinese characters feels awkward."
Khac Tuan is embarrassed to the point where he can't look straight, doesn't dare to look straight, and can only look at the neat lines on the paper, then shyly says:
"I already know the reason for your family matter back in the day."
Nam Phong stops his writing, looks up at the Ministry of Rites in front of him, and smiles, not sure if he is happy or sarcastic, then puts the pen down and asks:
"Did the Prime Minister say it already?"
Khac Tuan looks up, taken aback by the calm that pervades Nam Phong's bright brown eyes.
"So you're already aware?" Khac Tuan inquires. "Do you know everything?"
"Do I know what?" Nam Phong questions "That your father forged false trading papers to slander my father, or that my uncle's appeal was halted and could not reach the Ministry of Justice? Or how your father almost sent my father into exile in France before any of their trials could try him?"