Not long after Su Jin returned to the Imperial Censorate, Sun Yinde was arrested and brought back.
The warm winter sun of the afternoon shone on the accumulated snow in the central courtyard. As soon as Sun Yinde arrived at the Imperial Censorate, he shook his arms vigorously to break free from the guards holding him, speaking dismissively: “Where is your Censor Su? Have him come see this official.”
After all, he was a Division Director of the Ministry of Works and had not yet been convicted. Though he had been summoned by a single indictment for questioning, when he acted so shamelessly like this, the censors really had no way to deal with him.
Su Jin strolled out from the public hall. Sun Yinde glanced at her, but as if he hadn’t seen her at all, he said again: “Minister Liu from the Ministry of Works pushed this official out to be the shield—that shows he has no discernment. Just because you want to arrest this official? You’re still too naive for that. If you don’t believe me, go ask your Censor Su who this official’s backing is.”
He spouted nonsense without any restraint. Yan Xiu couldn’t stand listening anymore and stepped forward, calling out “Lord Sun,” trying to reason with him. Unexpectedly, Sun Yinde used this opportunity to roughly swing his arm away.
Yan Xiu was nearly knocked over by him, but Sun Yinde himself sat down heavily in the snow and began wailing at the top of his lungs: “What’s this? The Imperial Censorate is resorting to violence now? Is this how you treat court officials?”
The surrounding censors were all dumbfounded. Even a scoundrel has some sense of shame, but this man surnamed Sun was utterly shameless.
The Imperial Censorate was not far from the offices of the Six Ministries. With Sun Yinde making such a racket, the people in the nearby government offices must have heard it all.
Several censors tried to help him up, but he swung his arms to push them away.
Su Jin watched coldly, neither stopping nor persuading. After a moment, she gave an order: “Go block the main gate. Let him make his scene. Let’s see how long he can keep it up.”
Sun Yinde had a short, stocky build. Though he had gotten a lucrative position in the Ministry of Works these past couple of years, he was still lean, yet had to wear these oversized official robes, which made him look particularly bloated and ridiculous.
Seeing that Su Jin was determined to deal with him, his gaze fell on a large water vat in the corner of the courtyard. He immediately scrambled up from the ground and embraced the vat, saying: “Su Shiyu, don’t think that just because you have a higher official rank you can frame this official at will. In any case, this official will not answer your interrogation, nor will I sign any confession. If you dare, order someone to put me in shackles right now. But this official warns you first—if your people dare to touch this official even once, watch this official dash his head against this water vat. When that happens, someone will naturally accuse you of murdering a court official.” He said this, then sneered coldly: “Don’t forget—when a censor breaks the law, the punishment is doubled!”
This was actually true. If a dignified fifth-rank Division Director died at the Imperial Censorate before his crimes were verified, especially at such an inauspicious time near the New Year, the Jingyuan Emperor might very well become angry. Combined with the Seventh Prince fanning the flames from his end, they really might charge Su Jin with a serious offense.
Song Jue had made a mistake this morning and felt guilty toward Su Jin. Afraid that this scoundrel might actually have a death wish and drag their Lord Su down with him, he hesitated, then stepped forward to try to stop him. Unexpectedly, Su Jin said calmly: “Let him dash his head.”
She looked at Sun Yinde and said in an unhurried tone: “Lord Sun, if you truly had the resolve to prove your innocence through death, how could you have fallen to this state today? Shouldn’t you have died of shame and indignation twelve years ago when you forcibly abducted your nephew’s lawful wife to be your concubine, causing her to hang herself to preserve her chastity?”
Back then, because of Sun Yinde’s baseless accusation that Xu Yuanzhe had committed fraud and deserved to die, causing his grandmother to drown herself in the river, Su Jin had already resolved to deal with him. She hadn’t been idle these past two years. Together with Zhou Ping and Liu Yichu, she had thoroughly investigated this villain’s past.
Hearing these words, Sun Yinde was unmoved: “She married into this official’s household because she coveted wealth and status. She killed herself because she couldn’t think straight—what does that have to do with this official? Don’t try to pin this filth on this official’s head.”
After all, he had been immersed in officialdom for many years. Seeing that Su Jin seemed to have already investigated him, he actually calmed down instead. He straightened his official robe and said, half threatening and half compromising: “Su Shiyu, when you served as Secretary at the Capital Magistrate’s Office, this official was Deputy Magistrate and served as your superior for two years, teaching you the rules and guiding you—that counts as having the grace of a teacher toward you. Is this how you respect your teachers and honor the Way? It won’t sound good if word gets out.”
Hearing these words, Su Jin couldn’t help but laugh.
She descended the stone steps and walked toward Sun Yinde step by step: “Oh, what exactly did Lord Sun teach this official? Was it how to flaunt official authority, or how to accept bribes? Was it how to beat subordinates indiscriminately without distinguishing right from wrong, or how to flatter and fawn over superiors? Was it how to shirk and slack off during duty hours, or how to be absent from duty while living a dissolute life along the Qinhuai River? Was it being too afraid of the powerful to allow me to investigate when a tribute scholar went missing, or hiding in the streets and alleys when student scholars caused trouble, disregarding the safety of the common people?”
Having said this, she suddenly dropped her smile and said harshly: “Someone!”
“Present!”
Su Jin clasped her hands behind her back and turned: “Bind him and bring him to the interrogation room!”
“Yes!”
A group of guards stepped forward and in no time had Sun Yinde trussed up.
Actually, this was against regulations—Sun Yinde was after all a fifth-rank Division Director. With such a position, before solid evidence was obtained, he could only be questioned, not subjected to punishment.
Several censors knew this perfectly well, but having learned their lesson from this morning, none dared to raise objections.
Just then, Liu, Zhao, and Qian happened to return from outside. Sun Yinde saw the three heads of the Imperial Censorate and took advantage of the guards beside him paying respects to rush forward and kneel at their feet, crying out: “I beg Lord Liu, Lord Zhao, and Lord Qian to uphold justice for this subordinate! Censor Su—he brought this subordinate here without distinguishing right from wrong, and now he even wants to torture this subordinate. This is clearly personal revenge, completely disregarding the law!”
Liu Chaoming looked at him coolly and said nothing.
Instead, Qian San’er smiled with crescent-shaped eyes: “Isn’t this Deputy Magistrate Sun from the old Yingtian Prefecture Office?”
Sun Yinde raised his fish-bubble eyes, delighted: “The Vice Chief Censor still remembers this subordinate?”
Qian San’er had always had refined features, and when he smiled he looked even more amiable: “I remember. Back when Lord Sun was drinking flower wine during duty hours, this official sent people to the Yingtian Prefecture Office to invite Lord Sun to the Imperial Censorate to explain himself. But Lord Sun never came—instead, Minister Zeng from the Ministry of Personnel came to make excuses for you. What’s this? Were you drinking somewhere again and got invited here this time?”
Sun Yinde cried out his innocence: “How could that be! These past couple of years this subordinate has been serving at the palace and has been diligent every single day. This time, it’s really because Secretary Su, due to past grudges, fabricated a baseless charge against this subordinate and insisted on arresting me for interrogation.”
Hearing him call Su Jin “Censor Su” one moment and “Secretary Su” the next, Zhao Yan was displeased and said: “The Associate Censor of our Imperial Censorate holds the rank of fourth grade. For Lord Sun, a mere Division Director, it wouldn’t be improper to at least address her as Lord Su.”
Qian San’er said with a smile: “Exactly right.”
Seeing that the two of them were inclined to protect Su Jin and unwilling to help, Sun Yinde could only look toward Liu Chaoming, pleading: “Lord Liu, will you speak a fair word for this subordinate?”
Liu Chaoming simply walked past him toward the public hall, dropping a single sentence as he passed Su Jin: “Handle it yourself properly.”
Su Jin bowed to him and said with a smile, “Yes.” Then she ordered coldly: “Why haven’t you bound him yet?”
Two guards pushed and shoved Sun Yinde into the interrogation room. Su Jin pointed to the torture rack nearby and said to the jailer inside: “Hang him up.”
The jailer acknowledged and, ignoring Sun Yinde’s desperate resistance, immediately bound his hands together and hoisted him up.
Su Jin then said: “Beat him.”
At these words, all the jailers and censors in the room froze for a moment. Yan Xiu stepped forward and bowed, saying hesitantly: “My lord, since this is an interrogation, shouldn’t we ask him something first?”
Su Jin looked at Sun Yinde, who was glaring at her with wide eyes, and suddenly smiled: “No questions. Beat him first.”
As if remembering something, she added: “Don’t beat him to death or cripple him. I still have matters to discuss with Lord Sun later.”
Having said this, she walked straight out of the interrogation room and headed toward the main hall of the Imperial Censorate.
Since the morning court session at the Fengtian Hall had concluded, officials from various government offices had been summoned to discuss New Year matters. Liu, Zhao, and Qian had just returned from this business. The three were sitting in the main hall for barely the time it takes to drink a cup of tea when Su Jin arrived.
As soon as Zhao Yan saw her, he held up his tea and said with a smile: “Speak of the devil and he appears.”
Su Jin first bowed to Liu Chaoming and Qian San’er, then looked at Zhao Yan: “Does Lord Zhao have business to discuss with this subordinate?”
Zhao Yan said quite amiably: “It’s nothing too important. Do you still have any younger sisters back in your hometown?”
Hearing this, Su Jin’s heart tightened.
After Chancellor Xie met with disaster, she had wandered alone to Jizhou and found an old friend of Chancellor Xie surnamed Su. From then on, she changed her surname to Su and gave herself the name Jin. To conceal her identity, she claimed to be an adopted son of this family.
Because only Master Su in the household knew her true identity, the family had considerable complaints about this person of unknown origins. Su Jin had never liked troubling others, so after living in the Su residence for only half a year and settling her household registration, she left on her own.
Recalling the past, Su Jin’s expression didn’t change much as she said quite naturally: “This subordinate was orphaned at a young age and raised in my uncle’s household. There is indeed a younger sister in the family, but because I left home early, we haven’t been in contact for a long time.”
Zhao Yan asked: “Where is she now? Jizhou?”
Su Jin replied: “Precisely.” After thinking for a moment, she added, “It’s this elder brother’s fault. Because we’re not close, I don’t even know if she’s married.”
Zhao Yan sighed: “Even if she’s not married, it’s useless. Jizhou is too far away—there’s not enough time.”
Seeing Su Jin’s puzzled expression, he explained: “This New Year banquet is being held together with the Longevity Banquet, so it’s a grand affair. Not only must all current officials of fourth rank and above attend, they must also bring their families.”
Su Jin was momentarily stunned: “This subordinate doesn’t understand.”
Zhao Yan took a sip from his tea bowl and said with a smile: “I thought you wouldn’t understand, otherwise how could you still be all alone until now?” He glanced at Liu Chaoming and Qian San’er, then continued: “On the surface, they say to bring family members, but in reality everyone knows full well—this is for selecting imperial consorts.”
Su Jin lowered her eyes. After a moment, she raised them again: “Is this… for the Thirteenth Prince?”
Zhao Yan said: “Especially for the Thirteenth Prince, but the other princes are not excluded either. The Eastern Palace still has only one primary consort. The Seventh and Tenth Princes, aside from their side consorts, only keep a few concubines. The Third Prince has many concubines, but none are proper—he probably needs a formidable wife to keep him in check. In any case, the more the merrier. Our Majesty believes in keeping it all in the family.”
These words had a deeper meaning. His Majesty believed in keeping it all in the family—even the imperial territory was divided up in fiefdoms for the various princes to share. Marrying ministers’ daughters into the imperial household was also a good way to consolidate imperial power.
Su Jin asked: “So these ‘family members’ refer to unmarried young ladies?” She thought for a moment and frowned: “But court officials are one thing, and the inner quarters are another. They shouldn’t be mixed together.”
Zhao Yan replied: “There are always ways. Attending the banquet is one thing, but after eating, there will be poetry and literary gatherings by the winding stream, sword dancing, chess playing, and music. I heard that if His Majesty’s health improves, they’ll even go winter hunting. Do you really think ‘a woman without talent is virtuous’ and that the two sides will have no interaction? Even my wife knows—there’s a doggerel poem circulating in the inner quarters. The first two lines go something like, ‘Among civil officials there are Shen and Liu, among military generals there are Qi and Wei’…”
As he was speaking, he suddenly heard Qian San’er cough. Looking up, he saw Liu Chaoming’s displeased expression and continued with an embarrassed laugh: “Speaking of you three, not one of you has any prospects settled. I’m worried for you all. This time it’s perfect—officials from other offices will be bringing their beautiful daughters to seek connections with the imperial family, while our Imperial Censorate is like a monastery full of monks.” He paused, then suddenly looked at Su Jin with brightened eyes: “Censor Su, how old are you this year?”
Su Jin replied: “After the New Year, I’ll be twenty-three.”
Zhao Yan said cheerfully with a laugh: “What a coincidence! You’re not young anymore either. I have two daughters—the elder is eighteen, the younger seventeen. How about I bring them so you can meet them?”
Su Jin was stunned for a long while, then lowered her eyes: “Lord Zhao, this subordinate hasn’t thought about such matters.”
Zhao Yan was about to say more when Liu Chaoming interrupted: “Leave family matters for later.” Then he looked at Su Jin and asked coolly: “Weren’t you interrogating someone? What are you doing here?”