The next day, Su Jin woke very early. She hadn’t slept well all night. Sitting on the edge of the bed platform, she watched the morning glow cover the window lattice with a pool of crimson light, and in a trance recalled that lingering shade of scarlet from her dreams.
A perfectly good crimson robe, wasted.
Su Jin remembered the last time she wore a crimson robe was in the winter of Jingyuan’s twenty-fourth year.
She had led the three censors Zhai Di, Yan Xiu, and Song Jue to impeach Zhu Jiyou in Fengtian Hall.
Wearing the vermilion crimson robe signified authority bestowed by the emperor—one could disregard rank, seeking only to hang a bright mirror before the world.
This robe that every censor wore with pride—Su Jin knew how difficult it was to take it off completely.
She had already inquired about the cause of Yao Youcai’s death last night. Now recalling it carefully once more, she took up her brush and wrote out a confession statement, then prepared to go out.
The guard outside the courtyard asked, “Lord Su, where are you going?” He added, “Today after His Majesty inspects the troops, he will likely summon people. It would be best for you to remain at the office awaiting the summons.”
She was a disgraced minister. Zhu Yushen would depart for the capital tomorrow—one way or another, he should give her a disposition.
Su Jin said, “I’m going to the reception hostel. Not far.”
The reception hostel was busy with people coming and going that day. Probably because the imperial envoys would depart with His Majesty tomorrow, there were too many pressing matters to handle. Several Shu territory officials, seeing Su Jin, bowed in salute before withdrawing to stand to the side. Censor Li Qiong came forward. “Lord Su, why have you come?”
While leading her into the hostel, he added, “His Majesty summoned Commander Tian of the Regional Military Commission for audience early this morning. Lord Shen also rushed over there and hasn’t returned yet.”
Tian You had escorted Zhu Nanxian out of Sichuan. Zhu Yushen’s summons was naturally to question his crime. Shen Xi rushing over was to protect Tian You—perfectly reasonable. But Shen and Su weren’t of Liu Yun’s faction. Li Qiong was Liu Yun’s confidant. This matter had nothing to do with him—he shouldn’t have been the one to inform her. Yet he casually revealed this news to Su Jin, probably hoping she could also help on his end.
Besides finding a way for Liu Chaoming to return to the Imperial Censorate, what else could the current Su Shiyu help with?
Su Jin understood Li Qiong’s meaning clearly. Without committing either way, she only said, “I’m not here to find Qingyue. Is Lord Liu at the hostel?”
“Yes, yes.” Li Qiong quickly said, leading her toward the east courtyard.
Though the reception hostel was noisy, upon entering the east courtyard it became quiet instead. Li Qiong passed through the corridor and paused not far from the study. He bowed. “Lord Su, Lord Liu is inside.”
Su Jin nodded once and was about to step forward to knock when Li Qiong called out again, “Lord Su.”
There was a wounded, bewildered look in his eyes. He took a few steps forward and said in a low voice, “Yesterday when His Majesty revoked the lord’s censor position, after returning to the reception hostel, the lord organized his crimson robe and the Imperial Censorate case files and handed them to this subordinate. He didn’t sleep all night, sitting in the study until dawn. This subordinate knows Lord Su and Lord Liu once had grievances. I hope Lord Su can, for the sake of once serving in court together, at least console him with a word or two.”
Hearing these words, Su Jin fell silent for a moment. Without responding, she went forward and knocked on the study door.
Afternoon light filled the room. Liu Chaoming was writing something at his desk with brush in hand. Seeing Su Jin, he asked coolly, “Why have you come?”
Su Jin closed the door behind her. “Shiyu has clarified the cause of Yao Youcai’s death. It was done by Jiang Jiutong, the master of the Jiang family from Cuiwei Town. He accidentally learned that his eldest son who had fled military service had died miserably in prison, with Yao Youcai as the chief culprit, and thus killed him in a moment of passion. The Cuiwei Town residents hated Yao Youcai to the bone. To provide cover for Jiang Jiutong, they fled the office together with him.
“But I suspect—how did Jiang Jiutong ‘accidentally’ learn the cause of his eldest son’s death? How could over ten townspeople leave the government office without being noticed? Behind this, someone must have interfered. Their purpose was precisely to use this as bait, mobilizing officials and troops to draw you, my lord, into blocking them with the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”
Saying this, she produced a confession statement and presented it before Liu Chaoming’s desk. “This is the statement Shiyu wrote, with attached testimony bearing the mark of Uncle Wu from Cuiwei Town.”
Liu Chaoming’s brush tip paused slightly, but he didn’t look up. He only said, “I’m no longer a censor. After returning to the capital, this case will be handled by the Ministry of Justice. They’ll dispatch an imperial envoy to Shu territory. You can hand over the statement and evidence then.”
Hearing that phrase “no longer a censor,” Su Jin’s heart twisted slightly.
“Shiyu is giving the statement and testimony to my lord not to ask you to try the case, but to ask you to present them to His Majesty. With His Majesty’s perceptiveness, he will certainly see the intricacies within.”
She pressed her lips together and continued, “His Majesty said outwardly that he could pardon your crime of unauthorized mobilizing the Imperial Guard, but that was false. Unauthorized mobilizing the Imperial Guard is tantamount to treason, punishable by extermination of nine generations. His Majesty said that because he wanted to preserve your life, wanted to keep you serving in court. But if you can prove that your mobilization of the Embroidered Uniform Guard yesterday was done under duress, if you can present solid evidence before His Majesty and the civil and military officials, then His Majesty might permit you to return to the Imperial Censorate and resume the censor position.”
“No need,” Liu Chaoming said coolly after Su Jin finished. “Do you really think His Majesty doesn’t know who interfered, doesn’t know the causes and effects?”
“He knows,” Su Jin said. “But he still punished you this way because he’s waiting for this piece of evidence.”
She looked at Liu Chaoming. “Or is it that you’re unwilling to present this evidence to His Majesty? Then shall Shiyu go present it personally?”
Liu Chaoming’s brow furrowed slightly. He set down his brush. “What exactly are you trying to do?”
“I’d like to ask what you’re trying to do, my lord,” Su Jin said. “Yesterday when His Majesty convicted you, he asked Shiyu’s opinion. You clearly knew that if Shiyu pleaded for you, His Majesty might not revoke your positions in the Censorate. You wouldn’t let me continue speaking—was it because you didn’t want Shiyu drawn back into these court disputes?”
Liu Chaoming said, “Since you’ve already left, court disputes have nothing to do with you. How I fare also has nothing to do with you.”
He placed the brush on the brush rest and rose to tidy up the paper and ink. “Furthermore, I did mobilize the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Zhai Qiguang killed Lu Dingze and I failed to deal with it promptly—I was guilty of protection. His Majesty’s disposition was not in error.”
Su Jin stepped forward two paces and picked up a paperweight to hold down one end of the white paper. “Then why did you mobilize the Embroidered Uniform Guard?”
“If you feel His Majesty’s punishment was appropriate, why did you prepare a crimson robe?”
“What are you writing right now?”
With one hand pressing the paperweight, she didn’t move an inch. She raised her eyes to look into Liu Chaoming’s. “Or let Shiyu guess—writing on white paper, you’re writing a letter of apology to the old censor.”
“Su Shiyu!” Liu Chaoming’s voice and expression darkened. “This official acts with his own judgment. I don’t need you meddling.”
“What kind of judgment is worth abandoning your lifelong aspiration?”
“When you entered the old censor’s tutelage years ago, inheriting his legacy and your Liu family’s scholarly tradition, you resolved to become a censor. It’s been nearly twenty years now. These years of hard walking haven’t been easy—how can you abandon it just like that? You clearly knew mobilizing the Embroidered Uniform Guard was a grave crime, yet you still did it. You clearly knew protecting Shiyu and being a censor couldn’t be reconciled, yet bound by your promise you still chose to protect.
“I know—today when Shiyu says this, it may seem like I’m benefiting while still complaining. But you, Liu Yun, aren’t you ruthless and unscrupulous? Why not be ruthless all the way through? When you confined Shiyu in that study, I saw not the slightest softness from you. Why are you unwilling to stain your hands with blood today? Don’t forget, my lord—the blood on our hands from before still hasn’t been washed clean.”
As Liu Chaoming listened to Su Jin speak, his originally silent expression suddenly dissolved in an instant. The corner of his lips curved, and he laughed aloud. “Su Shiyu, you think far too highly of yourself. You think I stopped you from speaking before His Majesty only to protect you? Do you know how many obstacles court governance has encountered since the land system was implemented? Though relocating civilians to settle townships benefits the people and governance, how many merchant-gentry and wealthy households’ interests were harmed in private, causing how much upheaval? After pacification, how many cases of official-merchant collusion, oppressing people and seizing land?
“So you privately mobilized the Imperial Guard?” Su Jin said. “Reform is never achieved in one stroke. Haste makes waste. Having the Embroidered Uniform Guard investigate cases of oppressing people and seizing land across regions was originally good, but without requesting imperial permission, privately using the Imperial Guard is burning the forest to hunt, draining the pond to fish. With your far-reaching vision, when you first dispatched the Guard, could you not foresee today’s consequences? Now you’ve been stripped of your censor position. The forty-seven land system cases have no one to try them. Is this what you wanted to see?”