Hearing these words, Su Jin immediately knew she had been set up.
Unfortunately, her household registration was indeed recorded under the Su family of Jizhou. If Su Wan had truly invoked her official rank to plead for someone, causing innocent people to be convicted, calling it an abuse of authority wouldn’t be excessive.
Things had already reached this point—she could only meet soldiers with generals and water with earth.
Su Jin returned the case file in her hand to the Imperial Censorate clerk, bid farewell to Liu Chaoming with a bow, and followed the Ministry of Justice officials back to the palace.
The Imperial Censorate clerk said to Liu Chaoming, “My lord, the Seventh Prince has long harbored dissatisfaction toward Lord Su. With concrete evidence in this case that’s difficult to refute, the Seventh Prince will certainly impose severe punishment. Lord Su faces grave danger on this trip. Should this humble one immediately go to the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters to request Commander Wei?”
Liu Chaoming was silent for a moment before saying, “No need.”
With troubles both within and without, troops were being mobilized everywhere. Fortunately, the court structure still existed—no matter how fiercely the palace factions fought to the death, at least someone was handling the great affairs of the realm. If at this moment the Jinyiwei and Yulin Guards came into direct conflict, throwing court administration into chaos, and those enemy bandits outside took advantage of the fire to loot, the first to suffer would be the common people.
Liu Chaoming’s expression was icy as he said, “Return to the palace immediately. See where they’re taking Su Shiyu and have someone delay them.”
The clerk acknowledged and asked, “And what about you, my lord?”
“I’m making a trip to the Marquis Wenyuan estate.”
Liu Chaoming knew there was only one way to save Su Jin—prove that Su Jin had been unaware of her Su family sister coming to the capital, so her invoking her brother’s official rank to plead was not at Su Jin’s instigation.
Years ago, Old Master Su had been indebted to Xie Xu and Qi Boyuan and had many dealings with them. Therefore, Marquis Wenyuan’s estate should have correspondence between him and Old Master Su.
The hour of You had already passed, and the rain gradually stopped. Su Jin returned to the palace, led by several Yulin Guards, and headed toward Fengtian Hall.
Zhu Zhaowei was already waiting for her inside Fengtian Hall. When he saw her enter, he glanced at Zeng Youliang. After the Yulin Guards closed the hall doors, Zeng Youliang said, “Censor Su, someone from the Ministry of War has accused you of abusing your authority to cover up crimes for Assistant Director Qiu of the Court of the Imperial Stud. The evidence is now conclusive. Do you acknowledge your guilt?”
Su Jin knew that Zhu Zhaowei was determined to deal with her. Though arguing would be pointless, she could only stall for time: “Minister Zeng is the Minister of Personnel. Even if someone accuses me, you shouldn’t be the one conducting the interrogation. It should be the Imperial Censorate or the Ministry of Justice holding me accountable, the Court of Judicial Review reviewing the case, and His Majesty making the final judgment.”
“Censor Su, you are mistaken.” Zhu Zhaowei said carelessly. “There is no Minister of Justice in the court currently. Liu Yun is your superior, and Zhang Shishan is your mentor—both should recuse themselves. As a censor, you knowingly broke the law, instigating your younger sister to abuse power and bully others. Everyone has the right to condemn you, yet you still want to argue here with this prince about who should interrogate you. Isn’t that superfluous?”
Su Jin said, “Since the Seventh Prince wishes to interrogate me, you must have already investigated this case and should know that I left home ten years ago and have had little contact with my family—only sending one letter home last year when my father passed away. I didn’t know my younger sister had come to the capital. What instigation or indulgence? What abuse of authority?”
Zhu Zhaowei said, “Censor Su is eloquent, and this prince has no desire to debate with you. Moreover, this case has witnesses and evidence, leaving no room for your denial.” As he spoke, he had the Yulin Guards present Su Jin’s letter home, Su Wan’s name card, and the testimony of the Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud on the hall floor, then continued, “This prince asks you only one question: do you acknowledge your guilt?”
Su Jin glanced at the so-called evidence: “So the Seventh Prince is unwilling to conduct an interrogation and wants me to confess directly?”
Zhu Zhaowei laughed once: “Evading the question.” Then he said indifferently, “Someone, apply torture.”
A Yulin general threw a set of finger presses onto the floor.
Meanwhile, on the other side, after that Imperial Censorate clerk followed Su Jin back to the palace, he saw the Yulin Guards clear all the palace attendants from Fengtian Hall and knew things were bad. So he pretended to pass by the side of the palace steps and bowed to Wu Chang, who was guarding below: “This humble clerk greets Eunuch Wu.” He added, “Today Minister Liu was handling a case outside and remembered an urgent matter to entrust to Lord Su. But Lord Su is nowhere to be found. I wonder if Eunuch Wu could ask the palace attendants below to help search? Otherwise, when Minister Liu returns to the palace and can’t find anyone, this humble clerk won’t be able to account for it.”
Wu Chang was extremely perceptive and immediately understood his meaning. He said, “The palace attendants under this servant all have their respective duties and ordinarily dare not neglect their posts to search for people. But isn’t Lord Su close to the Thirteenth Prince? With the Qingming Festival approaching, His Highness has been offering incense these past days at the nearby West Watchtower. This servant has noted Minister Liu’s search for Lord Su—this servant will immediately send someone to the West Watchtower to ask.”
The West Watchtower was located between the front palace and inner palace. Long ago, the late Empress had passed away there. Since then, every year before the Qingming Festival, Zhu Jingyuan would come to offer incense and mourn his deceased wife.
Now Zhu Jingyuan was gravely ill, but propriety shouldn’t be abandoned. Zhu Zhaowei was too lazy to manage this matter, so he had Zhu Nanxian go daily to mourn on behalf of his father.
Zhu Nanxian, dressed entirely in plain white with a cloth headband, knelt in the small Buddhist hall of the West Watchtower, just about to pick up incense sticks when he suddenly heard someone outside knock on the door three times: “Thirteenth Prince, this humble one needs to come in to change the incense.”
A small fire attendant pushed the door open and entered, knelt to bow to Zhu Nanxian, placed fresh incense from his bamboo basket on the altar table, swept away the incense ash, and as he bowed to retreat, said in a low voice, “Lord Su is in danger. Fengtian Hall.”
Hearing these words, Zhu Nanxian’s heart immediately sank.
Though he didn’t know who had sent this fire attendant, since he was currently under house arrest and this person had come to him, the situation must be extremely critical.
Zhu Nanxian’s gaze swept around. Taking advantage of the incense ceremony, he palmed a pair of scissors used for cutting incense from the altar table and tucked them into his sleeve. He turned with his hands behind his back: “This prince wishes to see Wu Yusheng.”
A Yulin Guard standing in the hall said, “I don’t know what matter the Thirteenth Prince wishes to see Commander Wu about?”
Zhu Nanxian said, “What? Does this prince need to seek approval just to see a mere commander?”
Though he had fallen from grace, he was still a legitimate imperial son. Moreover, the Yingyang Guards were also guarding the hall. That Yulin Guard didn’t dare question further: “This subordinate misspoke. This subordinate will go fetch Commander Wu immediately.”
Shortly after, Wu Yusheng entered the Buddhist hall and bowed to Zhu Nanxian: “I don’t know what matter the Thirteenth Prince wishes to see this humble official about?”
Zhu Nanxian stood in a patch of dim light and opened his mouth, seeming to say something.
Wu Yusheng didn’t hear clearly and bowed again: “Your Highness, please forgive me. Could Your Highness please repeat that?”
Zhu Nanxian was silent for a moment before saying, “This prince’s injuries haven’t healed, and having offered incense all day, I truly lack strength. Come closer, and this prince merely wants to ask about the Nanchang Prefecture troops.”
Hearing this, Wu Yusheng suspected nothing and walked several steps closer. However, at that moment, silver flashed—Zhu Nanxian raised his hand and pressed a pair of scissors against Wu Yusheng’s neck: “Tell everyone outside to get lost. This prince is going to Fengtian Hall.”
Though the scissor points weren’t sharp, under Zhu Nanxian’s precise force, they still pierced Wu Yusheng’s neck, drawing a line of blood.
The Yulin Guards and Yingyang Guards in the hall looked at each other. Wu Yusheng remained calm: “Does the Thirteenth Prince think he can subdue this humble official with just a pair of scissors?”
Zhu Nanxian said, “Of course, you could also fight this prince and suffer mutual destruction, or call in the Yulin Guards outside and kill this prince together—that’s fine too. But you were ordered to escort this prince to the West Watchtower to offer incense. If this prince dies, can you live? After all, what Zhu Zhaowei wants is just the Yulin Guards—he doesn’t need you as a commander. Moreover, your hands are too dirty, and the Zhaojue Temple case hasn’t been washed clean. If this prince also dies at your hands, he can conveniently push all the blame onto you while remaining clean and pure himself.”
Hearing these words, Wu Yusheng’s gaze darkened, and his expression seemed to soften.
So Zhu Nanxian said, “This prince merely wants to make a trip to Fengtian Hall. If I can’t go, then today you and I will die here together.” He laughed. “Anyway, this prince doesn’t care about his life anymore. Whether you care about yours—that’s up to you.”
Wu Yusheng pondered again, then shouted, “Yulin Guards, heed my order!”
“Present!”
“Immediately withdraw outside the West Watchtower. This official has important matters to discuss with the Thirteenth Prince.”
As soon as Zhu Nanxian entered Fengtian Hall, he saw Su Jin being pinned to the ground by a Yulin Guard. Her fingers were caught in the finger presses, and the fourth and fifth fingers of her left hand had already been crushed and were bleeding.
Aside from the Emperor, no one was permitted to inflict severe punishment in Fengtian Hall, so Zhu Zhaowei hadn’t used the rod or whip but instead employed this type of torture used on women to force Su Jin to confess.
Zhu Nanxian’s pupils contracted. He strode forward, kicked away the Yulin Guard restraining Su Jin, grabbed the torture officer by the collar and threw him to the ground, then crouched down and carefully loosened the finger presses, examining Su Jin’s fingers closely.
Fortunately, the torture had been brief and hadn’t injured the bones, but there were wounds all over the knuckles of her ten fingers—clearly she had suffered considerably.
Only then did Zhu Nanxian raise his eyes to look at Su Jin. Seeing her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat and her eyes scattered from pain, his heart felt as if someone had scraped it with a knife. His voice hoarse, he said, “I came late.”
Only then did Su Jin’s gaze gradually focus. Before she could speak, she heard Zhu Zhaowei say, “Thirteenth Brother, you’re truly outrageous. Years ago, when Father Emperor offered incense for Mother Empress, he kept vigil from the hour of Chen to the hour of Xu every day. The hour of Xu hasn’t even passed yet, and you’ve already left the West Watchtower without permission—truly unfilial.”
Zhu Nanxian wished he could cleave Zhu Zhaowei in two with a single blade, but he forcibly suppressed the fury in his heart. He straightened up, his gaze sweeping over the complaint documents on the floor, and said indifferently, “Imperial Brother misunderstands. This prince heard you were interrogating a case here and feared there might be wrongful judgments or errors, so I came especially to bear witness for Censor Su.”
As he spoke, he bent down to pick up the complaint documents from the floor and skimmed through them. Seeing that Su Jin’s fingerprint had been pressed in the lower right corner, he knew she must have been forcibly held down by the Yulin Guards. So he tore up the documents and added, “The handwriting on this complaint isn’t Censor Su’s, and its contents are pure nonsense. Censor Su’s letter home was delivered by this prince’s personal guards. She didn’t know when they arrived or returned. Moreover, Censor Su left home in her youth and hasn’t had contact with the Su family in Jizhou for ten years—how could she possibly know that the young sister from her former family wanted to come to the capital to find her? She probably doesn’t even remember what this Su Wan looks like.”
Having said this, Zhu Nanxian added another line unhurriedly: “I wonder if Imperial Brother has investigated clearly—is this Su Wan truly Censor Su’s younger sister? Or was she used by someone with ulterior motives and came to the capital specifically to frame her?”