Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warriors. Koei doesn't own the novel nor the records those are loosely based on.
A/N: I'm so occupied that one of my updates will have wait. Perhaps a new one shot shall exquisite your patient. This is another time I'm writing Zhen Ji based on her game personal, sure going to be a dark humor. This event DID HAPPEN in history. It wasn't on the wiki, but it was in another Wei history book that fits Zhen Ji's bio.
Bow Before Me!
In the fall of Han, the land continues to be plagued by violence and poverty. Throughout the crisis, literature has grown stronger during the Jian period. Critiques, lores, have dominated the opinion of world events and retold the tragedies of the past. The Cao family is proud to present its political faction with the grasp of Chinese society's finest scholars.
However, one such scholar is Liu Zhen. He's one of the Jian An seven. Quiet guy he is, but fairly intelligent. He is currently reading a document on Grand Histories. Wang Can had finished the Seven Sorrows; unfortunately, he's becoming gravely ill after working. He wants to visit Wang Can before he goes. Things aren't going well with the Jian An, the war rages to continue and Cao Cao's authority is starting to question the socialites.
"Is this war just to rectify Cao Cao's militarism or Liu Bei's outlaw influence? It's hard to tell whose side is walking toward the path of righteousness now. The Chancellor made himself Duke of Wei and Master Xun Yu was the one opposing it. I haven't the slightest idea how and why the Chancellor decided absolute authority over honor, loyalty and respect of the Empire. Was it all an excuse to bring peace to the forsaken land?" Liu Zhen thought.
He put the document on the desk after finish reading it and then prepares his leave to mourn Wang Can. Why did Wang Can let the former lord of Jing son to surrender to Cao Cao when all Cao Cao wanted to do is puppeteer his majesty? He will never understand, perhaps his words have lament the account. Kong Rong was dead for criticizing Cao Cao and Cao Pi's desires, Xu Gan had recently passed away after finishing Zhonglun, Chen Lin died of illness, Ruan Yu died five years ago, and he has not heard from Ying Chang. Perhaps what happened to Ying Chang?
"Great scholars of our period is fading due to these troubled times. If Huo Tuo hadn't died, he could heal Master Wang Can right now," Liu Zhen sighed.
Yes, the great physician, Huo Tuo is a phenomenon of his time; Cao Cao killed him for talking out of an impossible surgery on his head while avoiding contact with him. Why must great talents slave themselves from greed? It's been a series of tragedies lately with Empress Fu's plot to remove Cao Cao caused her family and herself perish and then the Cao family became the consort clan of his majesty.
"It's getting far worse than I imagine," Liu Zhen mumbled and gaze at the city filled with people in Ye.
Liu Zhen had entered Wang Can's grave with a couple of people paying their respects. Surprisingly, the Deputy Prime Minister is here with his son. Why did he have to be here after all the labor Master Wang went into traveling with his father Cao Cao?
"Prime Minister," Liu Zhen greeted.
"Master Liu, have you been well lately?" Cao Pi returned the greetings.
Should he lie to the Prime Minister? No, even the son of Cao Cao is as cunning as his father.
"No…." Liu Zhen shook his head.
"Is it because of Master Wang Can? I can see that," Cao Pi slowing turn his face to the gravestone of Wang Can.
"No…it's more than that…" Liu Zhen thought.
"Hm?" Cao Pi heard him mumbled.
"Did you remember the time we talk about those new laws he's been working on?" Liu Zhen asked.
He resemince Wang Can's merit and Cao Pi remembers that time. The old laws have been disused during the turmoil and the idea of new ones came, Wang Can often discuss it with the political faction.
Cao Pi nodded and gaze at the sky, "We've been discussing new things. He has done a great merit to my father."
"Yes," Liu Zhen nodded.
"I can't imagine how he'd be used if he didn't convince Liu Zong to surrender to my father," Cao Pi finally brought it up.
This is what Liu Zhen thinking about. If Wang Can served Liu Bei, would his merit be any different or would Liu Bei misuse him just like Chen Qun? He did know the reason Chen Qun left Liu Bei is because Liu Bei lacks the hindsight of talent!
"Chen Qun once served Liu Bei…" Liu Zhen mentioned.
Cao Pi let out a hollering laugh that disturbed the mourners.
"Liu Bei….Chen Qun and Liu Bei….Liu Bei does not have the hindsight to talent at all and then he gets Zhuge Liang!" Cao Pi clapped his hands while laughing. This is the ultimate joke of the debate.
The mourners keep staring at the deputy prime minister and as soon as Cao Pi stops laughing, he turns to Wang Can's grave and then resumes laughing.
"…." Liu Zhen frowned.
"Wang Can must be rolling on his grave right now. He's happy with his life here," Cao Pi smirked.
"That may be so, but he wished a life where there the land is at peace," Liu Zhen uttered.
"Yes…" Cao Pi icy agreed.
"May he rest in peace," Liu Zhen bowed at Wang Can's grave and Cao Pi did the same thing.
The two take their leave together walking towards to the palace, but Liu Zhen soon stopped his tracks.
"I must go back to my home, Prime Minister. Forgive me," Liu Zhen made a shrugging bow leaving Cao Pi puzzled by the sudden change of mind.
"Wait, will it be alright of you to visit me at a later date? I'm inviting some scholars to see my wife who loves literature," Cao Pi said.
Liu Zhen politely agrees and took his leave. A visit and seeing his wife Zhen Ji whom gossips are relating her to Daji as a beauty who will ruin the kingdom. Cao Cao took Ye and Cao Pi met her after the battle.
"He wants me to see his wife, but his wife is being ridiculed as another Da Ji after her marriage to the prime minister. Must I make up my mind seeing her?" Liu Zhen stumbles into a deep depression.
Meanwhile at the palace….
Zhen Ji is playing her flute with her daughter Dongxiang who is practicing the instrument with the mother. The palace attendants gossip the duo's comparison; the daughter is almost at the same potency as the mother.
Out the hall of the Tongxia palace, the husband and father of the duo walked proudly to where the palace ladies were watching and he smiled. To have such a beauty to render his marital status to fame, he owns it to her. Now those pesky Qiao sisters were single losing their famed husbands Zhou Yu and Sun Ce and Lu Bu and Diao Chan are no more, Cao Pi and his wife are the sole surviving famous couple of their time. Zhen's beautification and his influence will last forever, he will assure it!
The melodies ended and the observers applause, "Wonderful, my lady."
"Mother, I hope to really reach your potential when I get older," Dongxiang said.
"You will my daughter!" Zhen Ji giggled. Then she turns and saw her husband who returned from a funeral.
"Have I ever told you that your daughter was a splitting image of yourself?" Cao Pi gave her a starting look and then told her daughter to practice in her quarters with the maids.
Zhen Ji went to get his refreshment ready, but suddenly, her husband caught her arm and pulls her close to him in eye to eye.
"You're tired my lord," Zhen Ji shrugged.
"No need for the modesty, I have all the time to enjoy our…Art of bedmaking," Cao Pi hands then smoother her cleanness face.
"You naughty impatient poet!" Zhen Ji hit her husband on the head with the flute softly.
"I've been neglecting it since everyone in the court occupies me, my dear. Now, we can resume where we started our heavenly marriage. You asked me how many children I've wanted to be the herders of our land we will rule," Cao Pi mentioned the time they last made love.
"You wanted the same amount as my mother had," her naughty smile made him alittle dazed.
"At first, I wander my mind into thinking whether I complete with my father over a grand family or…well, if you don't have the energy to reciopate," Cao Pi said.
When she heard this, it sounds like he underestimates her. Zhen Ji had always wanted to have a large family like her mother did. Whether the pain will tolerate her or not, she's a strong woman.
"I can handle it, so don't fret! You didn't take me into your auspicious life for nothing and I own it to you for saving my boring life," Zhen Ji urged.
"Reproducing is so painful to women, I had no idea why the heavens made it too painful compare to a man dying from diarrhea," Cao Pi said curiously.
"So, you just wanted to have my petals bloom beneath you to understand childbirth from a beauty like myself?" Zhen Ji playfully rubbed his hard boned chest.
"I was barely legal back then," Cao Pi smirked.
"That's the point of marrying me. Tell me what I can be of service, my boytoy?" Zhen Ji giggled.
Before he can answer that, the matter of inviting Liu Zhen and some scholars came back into his mind, "Fu, I'll be inviting some scholars to have a social interaction here. Would you care to see them to express your desire to publish your works?"
Now here's a topic she can be satisfied.
"Why, of course I'll meet them! Why didn't you tell me this first instead of sex?" Zhen Ji gasped.
Then he let out a laughter just like at the funeral.
"I am a female scholar, before I am a beauty," Zhen Ji clears her throat.
"Hahaha, forgive me, wife. Cause I love it when you get frustrated like that," Cao Pi hugged her to subside her complaint.
"Who is coming?" Zhen Ji asked.
"Liu Zhen, among others," Cao Pi mentioned.
"Liu Zhen….?" Zhen Ji blinked.
"At first, he refuses to have a pleasant visit today. So I persuade him to come tomorrow with the scholars to have a social conversation. Liu Zhen was my instructor," Cao Pi explained.
"Ahh…," Zhen Ji nodded.
"Soon my dear, all these scholars will be the basic of a big project I'm planning in the future," Cao Pi said.
"I am already agitated," Zhen Ji said.
"This shall be written in our history," Cao Pi then gave her a kiss and she receive it warmly.
The next day….
And so the time has come for Liu Zhen to make a decisive move. A part of him wants him to not go and write a letter of excuse while the other part told him to go and see the wife of the Deputy Prime Minister.
He remembers what happened to Kong Rong, if something happened to him, history will consider him another Chinese idiom.
"Do I really have a choice? If I don't go, Cao Pi will think I'm not supporting him on the succession and thinks I'm supporting Cao Zhi…." Liu Zhen sighed.
Indeed, Cao Zhi's supporters were not among with the friends and sons of Cao Cao's friends. Cao Zhi's wife Lady Cui was related to the late Cui Yan. Cui Yan suffered under a harsh punishment for criticizing Cao Cao and died in prison.
"…" Liu Zhen slowly walked out of his house after fixing his cap and dressing in a low quality garment.
It's funny; he was named in both surnames Liu and Zhen.
"…"
Emperor Liu Xie is a mere puppet to the Chancellor to those who hate how he's being treated.
"…"
The value of Lady Zhen's marriage to the Cao family is the power of the Cao family.
"Even Liu Bang was a puppet to his wife Empress Lu who wields true power within her consort family on the earliest generations of Han emperors and now, we suffered 4 generations of distortion due to the eunuchs and their agents that led to The Great Rebellion," Liu Zhen thought.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion remains as one of the greatest events in history of mankind. Heaven help us all if mankind governments continue to fail.
He walked for 3 miles to reach the palace gate guarded by Cao Cao's men. He couldn't call them Imperial guards anymore, because the Imperial army is truly dead to him right now.
"Good morning sires, here's my tag. The prime minister invited me," what Liu Zhen wanted to say is, 'Here's my death warrant'.
He has signed his death warrant. Whatever happens, he expects to get the cruel treatment because the Cao family is cruel. They want to be positive, but don't tolerate other's opinion of criticism regarding to right or wrong.
It's already past morning and the couple dressed themselves for the guests today. Zhen Ji couldn't wait to talk with the masters of literature. Cai Yan, who often called Wenji by others already well known and liked by scholars, she wanted to be treated the same way in the future.
"You're excited, Fu," Cao Pi could tell her enthusiasm because she's finally going to make her mark on Chinese literature.
"I won't be far behind Cai Wenji, Pi. This is my moment to shine," Zhen Ji smiled.
"I'll go greet them first. You wait at the courtyard," Cao Pi told her.
She went to the courtyard while her husband brings the men to greet her.
"I'll finally be proven more than just a sexpot some fools dare ridicule me," Zhen Ji thought.
The men gather themselves before Cao Pi as he greets them. They bowed to him, especially Liu Zhen seeing that he was Cao Pi's instructor years ago. Cao Pi is already the top poet; it's no secret that all of Cao Cao's sons were talented except Cao Xiong.
"You're brave enough to come into a tiger's den, Master Liu. What's stopping you from coming into it? Are you scared of my father?" Cao Zhi jokingly taunted.
"No…." Liu Zhen answered in a low tone.
"Everyone fears my father, but know this, I will take care of my father's paranoid while you're here. That goes for every one of you. You have my gratitude and respect to come here and support me," Cao Pi was proud of his congregation of supports for his succession. There's no rivalry between him and Zhi except the fact that Pi is the oldest and he supports tradition over heaven's will.
No, that's not quite how to put it. There was no contest to begin with because he IS the eldest thanks to the death of Ang and Cao Zhang was not interested in politics that time. Zhijian on the other hand make mistakes that caused the blame of one of his supporters to get put to death. Cao Pi is the undisputed successor to Cao Cao. Cao Pi will be King of China and Zhen Ji his Queen, time was essential during his father's rise and now his father is getting old.
"Thank you all for coming here, now I will like you all to see my wife as she has something you all may discuss with her about," Cao Pi lead the scholars into the courtyard where Zhen Ji's at.
Zhen Ji heard the footsteps coming from behind her. She turned and see Cao Pi with the gathering.
"Gentlemen, my wife, Lady Zhen here had long waited to see the literature masters since she stayed at the palace tending my family. This is the greatest beauty of our time!" Cao Pi announced.
The men bowed on their feet and heads to the ground like they're worshipping her. Everyone except one….
"So this is the woman Master Kong Rong compared her to Da Ji where King Zhou won her as a wife…" Liu Zhen just stared at Zhen Ji leaving the scholars all in silence and shuddering.
"…"
Zhen Ji's world soon turn into a dark gloomy hast. She does not like this, she does not like the impolite scene of Liu Zhen's staring.
"How dare you? Do you have any manners or are you thinking of such adulterous things about my looks!" Zhen Ji erupted.
Cao Pi was surprised of Liu Zhen's actions. He insists not to bow to her while the other scholars did so. That could only mean Liu Zhen didn't want to come because of his wife. Does Liu Zhen have ill feelings over her?
"Of course, the way Cao Cao conquered Ye was just like how King Zhou of Shang conquered Yousu and took Da Ji as a prize. This is unbelievable, but to think the woman this beautiful could be the incarnation of Su Da Ji…..the very same woman who ruined Shang…..Maybe Da Ji is a real person by the presence of Lady Zhen of Zhongshan. Even King Wuling of Zhao took a prized woman from Zhongshan as his wife! But, this woman…this woman is the one who will bring the Han Dynasty to an end!" Liu Zhen's eyes began to shred tears.
"…" Cao Pi noticed Liu Zhen's tears. Perhaps it isn't a good idea to invite him to see his wife after all.
"Bow before me, you imprudent! I am the daughter in law of the Chancellor! You don't want to be left punished by my father in law!" Zhen Ji warned him harshly.
"….." Liu Zhen just stares at her and quietly kept his tear drop revealing.
"I said bow!" Zhen Ji stormed in front of Liu Zhen as the other scholars were terrified of her haughty behavior. She's already infuriated.
" Zhen….." Cao Pi called her.
"If you don't bow, I will have my husband send the guards and put you into prison!" Zhen Ji again with her voice of tolerance, Liu Zhen did not falter.
"Zhen….."Cao Pi's voice rose.
"Alert the guards! Is anyone out there!" Zhen Ji finally snapped. The rating of acquaintanceship is fading.
"Zhen Ji…let him go," Cao Pi stopped her with his hand placed on her shoulder.
"We have rules of courtship, I will not leave this unsettle and I am the princess of this palace!" Zhen Ji turn faced at her husband.
"You shouldn't have been born…." Liu Zhen finally spoke and the sounds of gasps thundered the yard between the couple, the scholars, the watching palace maid who escort with Zhen Ji, and the steadiness of Liu Zhen's stand.
SLAP!
"You may all leave. I'm sorry…." Cao Pi ordered. The scholars bowed and left the courtyard, however Liu Zhen face a penalty as the pain of Zhen Ji's slap infected his tears.
"Master Liu, leave us. I'll see you at another time," Cao Pi said, not trying to sound upset, but his wife was being insulted by Liu Zhen's mannerism.
Liu Zhen left the palace with the guards escorting him.
Zhen Ji felt so ill and hold her breath by the beating chest of her heart. She couldn't believe what she heard from Liu Zhen. 'You shouldn't have been born…' what write does he have to call out on her existence. It sounds like she never should have existed since she was on her mother's womb 3 years before the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
"Zhen Ji, it was my fault for bringing him…." Cao Pi sighed.
She slowly looked at him with glaring anxiety. All this time, she wanted to be depicted by scholars the same way as Cai Wenji. But, instead of social acknowledgement, she gets ridicule and this time from a scholar who didn't bow to her. He ruined the moment.
"Why didn't he bow to me?" Zhen Ji questioned.
"The same way Kong Rong criticized father when we got married," Cao Pi sat down on the chair and felt stressed of the incident. He was naïve about bring Liu Zhen.
"What the hell does that mean? He states that I don't deserve to exist and you're telling me it's because of Kong Rong's non sense!" Zhen Ji shouted. Her anger was rightfully committed.
"…."
This incident cannot go ignore and the gossips spread to Cao Cao's men and notify the Chancellor about what Liu Zhen did.
When Cao Cao found out about the incident, he became enraged and order Liu Zhen to be put to the parole for his bad manners and rudeness at his superiors.
Liu Zhen was taken by the authorities and was put into prison later afterwards. He did expect to be send there because fate has already cornered him. He laughed in the cell and sang;
O heaven, you have great humor!
You allow our kingdom to be perverted by a liaison and spawned our kingdom with grief!
Oh heaven, you have great humor!
You let a kingdom be formed out of a man that transformed into a woman!
Oh heaven, you have great humor!
That woman had deceived us all!
He sang the entire evening, irritating the guards and other prisoners. Finally, Cao Cao showed up and had enough of hearing Liu Zhen's 'music' and decided to leave Liu Zhen starved to death.
Liu Zhen died the day after tomorrow. Thus all of the Seven Scholars of Jian An passed away.
The End