On this day, after Su Jin finished her duties, she left the palace and headed toward the Court of Judicial Review. She had just reached Vermilion Bird Bridge when spring rain suddenly began to fall. She had brought an umbrella, but before she could cross the bridge, she saw someone alighting from a sedan chair at the other end.

During the period of national mourning, everyone wore blue robes with black sashes, making it impossible to distinguish official ranks. However, she recognized this sedan chair—it belonged to Left Chief Censor Liu, Minister Liu.

Someone held an umbrella beside the sedan. Liu Chaoming descended from the chair, paused momentarily, then walked straight ahead into the Court of Judicial Review without looking to either side.

Su Jin remembered that two years ago, when she first met Liu Chaoming, it had been amid wind and rain at this very Vermilion Bird Bridge.

Now two years had passed, the world had changed, yet this spring rain seemed endless, falling from yesterday until this morning.

Su Jin didn’t know what business had brought Liu Chaoming to the Court of Judicial Review. In any case, she was unwilling to encounter him face to face, lest after a round of formalities they be left staring at each other in awkward silence. So she closed her umbrella and took shelter from the rain under the eaves.

Under the eaves outside the office stood a row of minor officials who had been sent to wait. Though they couldn’t discern Su Jin’s official rank, seeing her extraordinary bearing, they hastily made room for her in a more spacious spot.

After a moment, someone beside her asked, “May I ask where your honor holds office?”

Su Jin was silent for a moment: “The Imperial Censorate.”

The speaker was a thin, tall man. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but exchange glances with the goateed man on his other side. After a moment, the thin man’s expression became more respectful, and he said, “Since your honor is a clerk from the Imperial Censorate, why are you waiting here?”

His assumption that Su Jin was a clerk was understandable. After all, the Imperial Censorate held supervisory responsibilities, and its official ranks were not comparable to those of ordinary government offices. Even an unranked clerk from the Imperial Censorate would have no reason to wait outside the Court of Judicial Review.

However, Su Jin didn’t want to answer this question, so she asked in return, “May I ask at which office you two gentlemen serve?”

The thin man pointed at himself: “This humble one is a supervisor at the various pasture inspectorates under the Court of the Imperial Stud.” He then pointed at the goateed man, “He is a registrar at the various pasture inspectorates under the Court of the Imperial Stud.”

The Court of the Imperial Stud managed horse administration and rarely had dealings with the Court of Judicial Review. For eighth or ninth-rank minor officials like these to come here, it could only be to file a case.

Su Jin originally had no intention of meddling in others’ affairs, but thinking that the Court of the Imperial Stud was where Shen Xi would soon take up his post, she couldn’t help asking another question: “May I ask what matter brings you two here?”

Hearing this, the two men seemed somewhat hesitant and exchanged another glance. After a moment, the thin man said, “Under the Court of the Imperial Stud, there is an assistant director named Qiu Ajiu. I wonder if your honor has heard of him?”

Su Jin shook her head.

The thin man let out a breath, as if relieved, and only then continued, “I might as well tell your honor the truth—the case that we two have been caught up in is truly unjust. Right now, isn’t the court requisitioning horses? This Qiu Ajiu was ordered to transport over a hundred civilian horses requisitioned from the Guangxi region to the Northern Encampment.

“Later, during the horse transport, they encountered bandits. He could have ignored it, but couldn’t bear to see a woman fall into the hands of brigands, so he acted righteously and saved her. Naturally, those bandits were clever—they knew that in these times, one horse is far more valuable than one woman. They immediately abandoned the woman and instead rushed forward to steal more than ten horses. Tell me, your honor, how is our Court of the Imperial Stud supposed to explain this to the Ministry of War?”

Great Sui practiced a universal horse-rearing policy (note): in the north, one household raised one horse, while in the south, eleven households raised one horse. When needed, these horses would be requisitioned by the government and sent to various encampments and frontier garrisons.

Hearing what these two said, Su Jin understood that the consequences of this matter were serious.

One must know that in the horse markets on the northwestern frontier, one horse was equivalent to thirty-six pounds of tea leaves. Losing more than ten horses in one go meant the court had lost thousands of taels of silver. And the silver wasn’t even the most important thing—with Northern Liang now mobilizing troops and war about to break out on the northern frontier, horses were the most crucial wartime resource, greatly enhancing military capabilities. Where could these lost dozen or so horses be replaced from?

Seeing Su Jin’s expression, the thin man continued, “I imagine your honor understands the gravity of this. When the Ministry of War heard that horses were lost, they demanded accountability. Since Qiu Ajiu was sent to transport horses by us two, the crime of dereliction of duty fell upon our heads. Moreover, with war breaking out in the north and horses lost at such a time, I hear the punishment is to be increased by one degree—exile.”

However, Su Jin said, “Since it was this Assistant Director Qiu who lost the horses, he should bear the crime of dereliction of duty. Though you two should also be punished, at most you’d only face a fine. How did you end up with such a severe sentence?”

“This is the most unjust part.” The thin man said, “That woman who accompanied them entered the capital with Qiu Ajiu. When she heard that Ajiu was being punished for saving her, in her desperation she said she had come to the capital to find her older brother who had left home years ago, and that this brother of hers is currently an official in the court.”

The thin man sighed heavily at this point: “Tell me, she’s just a poor woman—even if she has a father or brother serving as an official in the capital, how high-ranking could he be? At the time, we all thought this way and paid it no mind, until she revealed her brother’s name. Only then did we learn he was truly someone of formidable reputation who couldn’t be provoked.

“Since Qiu Ajiu saved that great lord’s younger sister, he had done him a favor. The Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud feared that severely punishing Ajiu would offend that great lord, so he shifted the crime of dereliction of duty onto us two. We suffered this unwarranted disaster and have nowhere to voice our grievances, so we could only come to the Court of Judicial Review to appeal.”

Su Jin was momentarily stunned. She was just about to ask who exactly this lord of formidable reputation was when a chief justice from the Court of Judicial Review passed by and, recognizing her, hurried forward to pay respects: “Since Lord Su has arrived, why are you taking shelter from rain here?” His expression turned stern as he looked toward the guards at the office entrance. “Did these blind fools slight you, my lord?”

Su Jin was silent for a moment before saying, “I just saw Minister Liu enter the office. Presumably he has matters to discuss with Minister Zhang, and I didn’t wish to disturb them, so I waited here. It’s no one’s fault.”

The chief justice said in alarm, “Lord Su, you’re being far too formal. Surely the Court of Judicial Review has a place for a censor lord to rest?” He bent at the waist respectfully. “Lord Su, please come inside.”

Su Jin couldn’t very well refuse. She turned to look at the two officials from the Court of the Imperial Stud and asked, “Would you two like to come in with me?”

Who would have known that the thin man was already full of shock: “Your honor—no, might my lord be Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Imperial Censorate, Lord Su Jin?”

Su Jin nodded slightly: “That’s correct.”

The two men’s faces changed completely. They dropped to their knees, kowtowing repeatedly: “This humble one has eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai. We didn’t know Lord Su was also taking shelter from rain under these eaves. In our thoughtless chatter, we’ve offended my lord. My lord, please don’t take offense, please don’t take offense.”

Su Jin said, “No matter.” Without saying more, she followed the chief justice to rest in a side hall of the Court of Judicial Review.

Actually, Liu Chaoming had come to the Court of Judicial Review merely to collect a document in passing and didn’t intend to stay long.

After exchanging a few words with Zhang Shishan, he emerged from the main hall and saw a chief justice approach him, asking, “Minister Liu, are you leaving already?”

Liu Chaoming paused and said, “Mm.”

Under normal circumstances, a sixth-rank chief justice like him wouldn’t dare casually speak with Liu Chaoming. But today was different—the Court of Judicial Review and the Imperial Censorate were at least brother offices, and everyone knew that Minister Liu and Lord Su of the Imperial Censorate had a deep relationship. It was said that the reason Su Jin had been able to attain the fourth-rank position of censor within two years was inseparable from Liu Chaoming’s mentorship and recognition.

The chief justice said with a smile, “What a coincidence—Censor Su, Lord Su, has also come today. Just now, seeing you alight from your sedan outside the office from afar, he feared disturbing your business and stood under the eaves outside to shelter from rain, not even entering the office gate. Fortunately, this humble official noticed and invited him inside. Minister Liu, would you like to see Lord Su?”

Liu Chaoming didn’t speak for a moment. After a pause, he turned his gaze and glanced indifferently at the slightly closed door of the side hall, then said, “No need.” He lifted his feet and walked toward the office exit.

The clerk waiting outside had already prepared the sedan chair. Liu Chaoming descended the steps from the office entrance. Before he could enter the sedan, two people suddenly came rushing from behind. Drawing near, they dropped to their knees with a splash, splattering mud all over themselves, and cried out, “Minister Liu, please do justice for us two!”

Liu Chaoming swept them with a glance but paid them no mind, merely replying, “Go write a complaint and present it to the supervising censor.” Then he entered the sedan.

These two were precisely the thin man and goateed man from the Court of the Imperial Stud whom Su Jin had just encountered.

However, hearing these words, the thin man became even more persistent. He crawled on his knees before the sedan, blocking its departure, and said, “Minister Liu, if this matter could be handled by a supervising censor, we two wouldn’t need to appeal before your sedan. It’s precisely because we truly cannot afford to offend Lord Su, cannot afford to offend Lord Su’s younger sister, that we’ve come to beg you to do justice for us.”

The sedan bearers had originally paid the thin man no mind, but upon hearing “Lord Su,” they stopped the sedan. A clerk traveling with them said softly from beside the sedan, “Minister Liu, they seem to be talking about Censor Su.”

The spring rain, once begun, had no end. After a long while, Liu Chaoming lifted the sedan curtain and looked through the curtain of rain falling across heaven and earth at the people kneeling outside. Without any expression, he said, “What matter? Speak.”

After seeing Liu Chaoming off from the office, that chief justice went to the side hall to invite Su Jin.

It was now near the end of the second month. Since the court reconvened on the fifteenth of the first month, Su Jin had visited various offices and ministries, hoping to submit a joint memorial to plead on behalf of the Thirteenth Prince or the Shen family. Many officials in the court had heard of this. Though some praised Censor Su’s loyalty as reaching the clouds, more people laughed behind their backs, saying that Censor Su, clever all her life, had fallen into confusion at this moment. With the current chaos in court, to whom should such pleas be addressed?

Therefore, when Zhang Shishan, Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, saw Su Jin, he said, “I know you’ve come for the Thirteenth Prince, and I know you have deep ties with His Highness and young Lord Shen. But the current situation is truly difficult—every step requires careful consideration. Even if I were willing to join you in making this plea, unless His Majesty awakens and you and I can deliver our memorials into his hands, everything would be in vain.”

However, after a moment of silence, Su Jin said, “Minister Zhang has misunderstood—this student has not come for the Thirteenth Prince.” She spoke frankly: “To be honest with my lord, this student’s visits on behalf of His Highness these past days have merely been a pretense. Today’s visit to the Court of Judicial Review is actually regarding the official selection two days hence.”

As Su Jin spoke, she lifted her robe and knelt: “This student humbly begs my mentor—two days from now, when the Grand Secretariat and the Three Judicial Offices deliberate on the appointment of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, please include this student’s name on the selection roster.”