◎Yu Qingwu, all beings suffer, you and I also suffer, no need for guilt◎

Although Minister Yu didn’t say what Liu Guan wanted Ni Tao to do, Yu Qingwu already understood.

But he couldn’t say he knew about this matter. The truth of the Ni Tao case had been suppressed.

Wu Qingchuan’s charge was murdering Su Xingzhou and inducing Ni Wanyuan to remonstrate unto death to frame the Crown Prince as the mastermind. Duke Songguo’s charge was being an accomplice in this case.

When the Ministry of Justice and Court of Judicial Review wrote up the case files, they didn’t dare mention twenty years ago in the slightest.

Yu Qingwu didn’t know why Minister Yu would know about this matter, or for what purpose he brought it up at this moment.

He put on a listening attitude and poured wine for Minister Yu, saying not a word.

But Minister Yu looked toward Fourth Master: “Brother Lan, what comes next relates to your Duke Zhenguo household’s military defeat. Do you want to continue listening? Once you hear it, you’ll never escape the entanglement in this life—there may be catastrophic disaster. Are you willing to listen?”

Hearing this, Fourth Master’s hand trembled, and the wine instantly sobered him. He urgently asked: “Does it relate to my father and brothers’ military campaign in Shuzhou?”

Minister Yu nodded: “You don’t believe they would be defeated in battle, do you? In this matter, there are indeed some reasons.”

Fourth Master’s mind was shaken. His whole person became somewhat dazed, and he slapped himself: “Am I dreaming?”

Minister Yu solemnly shook his head: “No.”

Yu Qingwu had remained silent the whole time. He secretly pondered Minister Yu’s background and official career path.

But thinking it over, there was nothing particularly special.

Minister Yu was from Shuzhou. Though his family background wasn’t prominent, he had considerable talent. So after passing the imperial examinations, he entered the Ministry of War and should have had great prospects.

Who knew that soon after, Shuzhou had its second rebellion. Shuzhou scholars and officials suffered neglect, destining him to be unable to advance at that time.

In the officialdom, once temporarily ruined, one is ruined for life.

This was the portrait of many Shuzhou officials and scholars back then.

Later he endured and endured, until Minister Xu began to emerge and started gathering Shuzhou officials to form the Shu faction, allowing them to advance.

Yu Qingwu remembered Minister Xu saying that at that time there were few Shuzhou officials with qualifications and ability. They wanted Minister Yu to step up, but Minister Yu felt his life would only be like this and was unwilling to move or participate in struggles.

Therefore, when Minister Yu showed intention to befriend Fourth Master, he didn’t refuse and was quite happy to connect these two people of similar temperaments.

But thinking carefully now, if Minister Yu had known about this matter from the start, then possibly approaching Fourth Master through him had been calculated all along.

Yu Qingwu poured another cup of wine for Minister Yu and looked toward Fourth Master.

Fourth Master was still frowning deeply in contemplation. All his life he’d been cowardly, retreating. Although this time he’d understood much because of Lan Shanjun’s matter, hearing Minister Yu so solemnly say “catastrophic disaster,” he became afraid to listen again.

Fortunately, Minister Yu didn’t urge him either. He let him think there, only drinking one cup of wine after another in gloom, drinking until both eyes were bloodshot.

Yu Qingwu didn’t try to persuade either of them, only waited quietly.

About a quarter-hour later, when he thought Fourth Master wouldn’t dare speak again, Fourth Master suddenly said: “I’m willing to listen.”

Minister Yu looked up sharply at him: “Truly?”

Fourth Master nodded: “Truly.”

He smiled bitterly with a trembling voice: “I’ve lived my whole life in confusion. It’s rare to have one chance to live clearly, to have someone give me such an important responsibility, let me know my own family’s secrets—then why not try?”

Then he looked toward Yu Qingwu: “That day when Nanny Qian came to our house seeking rescue, she also said Shanjun might have been raised by General Duan Boyan. Although no gossip spread afterward, I feel this matter is probably true.”

He said: “You two juniors suffered a great calamity in the eighth month. Seeing you survived, I closed my eyes and didn’t interfere, telling myself that surviving great calamity must bring future fortune. But thinking about it now, with the court situation as it is, if the Duke Zhenguo household truly has some secret, it’s a dagger pointed at you both. I cannot… cannot retreat anymore.”

Yu Qingwu’s eyes warmed: “Fourth Uncle, that you can say these words—Shanjun and I are both very grateful.”

Minister Yu slapped his thigh: “Good! Brother Lan, I knew you’re absolutely not among the cowardly.”

He drank down a mouthful of wine and spoke of matters from back then.

“It was early in the twenty-ninth year of Yuanshao. Violent rebellion arose in Shuzhou, and the court was about to deploy troops. But for some reason, the former Crown Prince and Duan Boyan ‘fell ill,’ especially the former Crown Prince, who remained in the Eastern Palace without emerging and didn’t participate in court assemblies. Ni Tao and I said at the time there must be something in this.”

“But this also wasn’t our business. At that time, we only wanted to survive, to get through that period of turmoil.”

He recalled: “One day, the Ministry of War was selecting generals and troops. Everyone was cursing Shuzhou people. Several who had issues with me pointed at the mulberry to curse the locust tree, making me unable to raise my head. I was disheartened at the time, my whole person somewhat dejected, so I went to the Ministry of War’s storehouse to check documents.”

Tired from checking, he sat behind the shelves to rest. Before long, Ni Tao and Liu Guan entered.

They each inspected the room. Ni Tao happened to see him.

“But he didn’t make a sound and even signaled me not to make a sound either. I didn’t dare breathe heavily or move at all. Thus, I heard a sentence I could never forget in this life.”

Fourth Master looked at him tensely: “What sentence?”

Minister Yu: “Liu Guan said, ‘Has the matter of the empty pay been smoothed over in the accounts?'”

Though Fourth Master wasn’t a fool, he immediately asked: “You mean… you mean in the twenty-ninth year’s military deployment, there were people eating empty pay… fake soldiers?”

Minister Yu: “Yes.”

Fourth Master took a deep breath: “How many?”

He said, a full one hundred thousand soldiers—how could one hundred thousand soldiers possibly fail to defeat Shuzhou?

Minister Yu: “Fifty thousand.”

Fourth Master closed his eyes: “Too audacious, too audacious! Did Prince Qi eat the empty pay?”

Minister Yu shook his head: “It was His Majesty.”

Fourth Master first froze, then his forehead and back began sweating cold sweat: indeed, knowing this matter meant catastrophic disaster.

He immediately became at a loss, his body going limp. He sought an anchor and naturally looked toward Yu Qingwu. But he saw Yu Qingwu looking thoughtful, suddenly asking: “Eunuch Liu didn’t discover you?”

Minister Yu: “No. At the time Ni Tao shielded me, and he didn’t notice.”

Yu Qingwu’s eyes slightly darkened. He asked again: “Minister Ni wasn’t afraid you’d speak out?”

Minister Yu’s expression became painful: “We’d always been on good terms, and we shared the same bitter fate. I understood his suffering. He had no choice—when the Emperor orders you to do something, do you dare refuse? Moreover…”

He said: “If I weren’t a Shuzhou person, this task should have fallen to me. I would have been even better at falsifying accounts than him.”

“And… Ni Tao actually hoped I would report him at the time.”

Ni Tao said: “Brother Zechen, I’ve never done something so contrary to conscience in my life. But with the sovereign above, I have no choice but to comply. I still have a household of old and young—I can’t let them follow me to death.”

But he himself suffered torment day and night.

He said: “If you report me, I’ll be free. If someone kills me, at this moment, I’d hope it would be you.”

But Minister Yu didn’t dare. He didn’t even dare associate with Ni Tao anymore. He slowly distanced himself from Ni Tao.

He did his utmost to disassociate himself. He even turned around to beg Ni Tao to keep the secret for him.

He said: “Brother Ni, I’m a coward. I beg you to show mercy and let me live out the rest of my life well.”

Ni Tao’s expression at that moment made Minister Yu feel he himself was the greatest criminal.

From then on, Ni Tao became increasingly silent, becoming a complete shadow person in the Ministry of War. But having helped the Emperor do such a great thing, he wasn’t promoted, nor was he executed—he just kept living.

Minister Yu’s lips trembled: “His Majesty must think that not killing Ni Tao is his mercy!”

“But living people have consciences!”

Minister Yu still remembered that after news of Duke Zhenguo’s military defeat reached Luoyang, on a day of heavy rain, Ni Tao suddenly appeared at his door, holding a pot of soup in his hands.

“Seeing him like that, I was so scared my legs couldn’t stand steady, terrified he’d do something that would implicate me. I brought him to the study and asked what happened. He said dazedly: ‘I bought a packet of rat poison… it’s in this soup.'”

Yu Qingwu’s hands slowly curled up, his eyes reddening.

He asked softly: “Minister Ni was planning to take his whole family to death in atonement?”

Minister Yu nodded, wiping tears: “He felt he was guilty.”

But looking at his mother who was young yet had white hair, his wife who only had one decent outfit per year, and his children sitting to the side reading, he suddenly couldn’t do it.

Those in power understood his nature well, knew he couldn’t abandon his family. He too had been calculated, compromising bit by bit.

Soaked through, he said to Minister Yu: “The rice for this congee—my mother wove cloth day and night to exchange for it. How dare I… how dare I use her suffering to kill her?”

Fourth Master wept uncontrollably.

Minister Yu took a deep breath: “From then on, he recovered some of his former vitality but walked an increasingly solitary path, especially when teaching his youngest son.”

His youngest son was Ni Wanyuan.

“Ni Tao taught him righteousness, taught him his eyes couldn’t tolerate a grain of sand, taught him to be fearless of life and death, fearless of family—sometimes I felt he was teaching someone who would eventually kill him.”

Yu Qingwu suddenly remembered that day he saw Ni Tao in prison.

Ni Tao said: “Yu Qingwu, why do you want to be a powerful minister rather than an upright minister?”

He said bitterly: “Minister Ni once said that when I entered Luoyang, he saw me on the street. He hoped I would become the blade that cuts him down…”

But at the time he hadn’t thought of so much.

Minister Yu was silent for a long time before saying: “Later, living became smoother. No one around spoke of matters from back then anymore—it was as if everything had passed. His days got better and better, so I stopped paying attention to him and continued distancing myself—until this year, before Ni Wanyuan’s death remonstration, he suddenly came to find me and gave me a letter.”

Yu Qingwu looked over sharply: “A letter?”

Minister Yu nodded: “Yes, a letter.”

He stood up, walked to below the bookshelf, and pushed upward forcefully. The bookshelf swayed, and Minister Yu quickly pried open a wooden board and took out a letter from inside.

Yu Qingwu and Fourth Master went over to help. Minister Yu placed the letter between them: “Ni Tao said, when he dies, this letter should go to Minister Yu or someone from the Duke Zhenguo household.”

Minister Yu received the letter but didn’t dare take another step. Sure enough, storms arose in Luoyang, only now concluding.

Minister Yu: “But I also didn’t know who among you to give it to, so let you decide.”

He said with relief: “At least I haven’t failed his trust.”

Yu Qingwu said dazedly: “When I went to see him that day, I thought he didn’t like me…”

Minister Yu then said solemnly: “His expectation of you was hoping you’d become someone like Duan Boyan. He’d also been secretly watching how you conducted yourself—Minister Yu, before his death, that he was willing to entrust this letter to you shows it’s not that he didn’t like you.”

He said: “Ni Tao as a person… was also very suffering. He hoped you would be the one to kill him.”

“He hoped what he did would be made public, letting him be reviled by ten thousand people, rather than becoming a tool in your factional struggles, fighting back and forth, attacking each other.”

Yu Qingwu had no words to respond. He said: “I truly cannot make it public at this moment.”

Minister Yu sighed: “So he also chose to compromise. He had his own unavoidable circumstances and understood your unavoidable circumstances.”

Thinking about it, when Ni Wanyuan decided to remonstrate unto death, decided to drag Ni Tao to hell together, his heart must have been happy.

Minister Yu shook his head: “Ni Tao said this letter is critically important, that I must deliver it to you. However, whether you’re willing to open and read it is your choice.”

Yu Qingwu then took the letter: “Still let me do it.”

Fourth Master froze, then after a long while shook his head: “Together. Otherwise, I too will be like Ni Tao, never finding peace.”

Minister Yu stood up and went out: “In that case, you discuss it.”

Yu Qingwu nodded and bowed to him: “Thank you.”

But after Minister Yu left, he opened the letter and discovered inside was only one sentence.

“He knows.”

Fourth Master frowned: “Who? Who knows?”

Yu Qingwu looked thoughtful and instructed Fourth Master: “This matter must absolutely be kept secret. We absolutely cannot show any slip.”

Though Fourth Master was also afraid at this moment, because Yu Qingwu was present, he had some confidence: “Rest assured, this matter—you know, I know, Brother Yu knows. Others absolutely cannot know. You also shouldn’t tell anyone else. The fewer people who know, the better.”

Yu Qingwu nodded.

After returning, he told Lan Shanjun.

Lan Shanjun thought it over: “You count as a disciple of old acquaintances. The Duke Zhenguo household are parties involved back then.”

“What both of you know should be Duke Zhenguo and his son.”

He knows—

Lan Shanjun said: “My guess is it might mean the old Duke Zhenguo knew about this matter, or perhaps knew some other matters.”

Yu Qingwu nodded and sat to one side, dejected and listless.

Seeing this, Lan Shanjun knew he still felt guilty. She walked over and rubbed his head: “Yu Qingwu, all beings suffer, you and I also suffer. No need for guilt.”