What Xiao Wei said to Yuan Cheng, the lieutenant didn’t know. He only received orders to escort the bandit leader and his group to wait outside the Vermillion Bird Gate.
The Vermillion Bird Gate was the main entrance through which all officials entered for court. Those of low official rank with urgent matters for an audience would also be announced in through here.
“The Junior General won’t escort them personally?” By rights, since Xiao Wei was present, it wouldn’t be his turn to escort prisoners.
“I need to go to that alley where Supervisor Song killed people to find witnesses. Didn’t they say someone surely heard?” Xiao Wei smiled.
Seeing this smile, the lieutenant somehow felt his heart skip a beat. “Supervisor Song and those three assassins—”
“Before everything is determined, she remains a fifth-rank female official personally appointed by His Majesty, so naturally you won’t be the one escorting her. I’ll accompany her, and we can confront witnesses face-to-face. As for those three, they’re the most crucial witnesses in this case. Official Yuan from the Central Secretariat will be responsible for delivering them for interrogation.” Having finished speaking, Xiao Wei still brought his personal attendants and turned his horse’s head back along the road Mo Zi had come.
“Supervisor Song, please come with me.” He had someone separate out a horse for Mo Zi.
Mo Zi looked at Yuan Cheng.
Yuan Cheng nodded slightly to her. “You just go. This small wound doesn’t even need a physician—Huayi can treat it.”
Huayi’s narrowed eyes opened wide, staring at the back of Yuan Cheng’s head, seemingly unaware of when he’d become a physician.
Mo Zi pressed her lips into a line. “If I haven’t returned by evening, I’ll most likely be in the imperial prison. Yuan Cheng, remember to send me warm bedding.”
Huayi raised one eyebrow—serious words or joking language?
Yuan Cheng responded with a “good.”
Xiao Wei couldn’t quite bear to watch. He pulled the reins and urged Mo Zi in a heavy voice, “Stop dawdling. Let’s go.”
After they departed in two different directions, the lieutenant felt his limbs stiffen, his chest pressed by a large stone. He stood dazed in place for a long moment.
“Aren’t we leaving?” The bandit leader’s attitude was somewhat casual.
“What’s the rush? Eager for reincarnation?” The lieutenant was impatient and lost his temper with the bandit leader in front of the squad of soldiers behind him. The soldiers absolutely obeyed his commands—the silver he’d fed them over time was enough to support a thousand mouths, and they’d taken settling-in fees this time too.
“Reincarnate as a ghost!” The bandit leader spat. “Everything’s arranged. If anyone’s reincarnating, it’s that woman. Even if she doesn’t die, her reputation will be ruined, and then those above can manipulate her at will.”
“Stop spouting nonsense. Didn’t you see she has two people protecting her? The second son of the Xiao family, and Official Yuan, the assistant director from the Central Secretariat—which of them is easy to provoke? Especially that Yuan fellow—he was the one who exposed the Zeng Hai affair. From the slightest thread of evidence he can bite down hard on our rope, even those above don’t dare underestimate him.” He figured this scheme would probably be destroyed by these two. Xiao Wei’s intentions weren’t clear to him, but Yuan Cheng had obviously detected in his joking that he was an accomplice. The most troublesome thing now was that those three assassins had been captured alive. The organization’s discipline was strict—lower levels only contacted their direct superiors. Though the assassins didn’t know much, they’d received orders from the bandit leader. If they confessed, not one of the bandit leader’s group could escape.
Thinking of the instructions from his superior, the lieutenant made his decision and changed to a smiling face. “Whether we can bring down that woman still depends on your mouths. For authenticity, we need to bind you all. Pardon the offense.”
At first the bandit leader was unwilling. “We’re filing a complaint—why should we be bound?”
“You’re accusing an official and may be meeting the Emperor. If we don’t bind you, should we carry you in a sedan chair instead?” The lieutenant seemed to joke, but a flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes. “That rope just winds around a few times, for people to see.”
Eventually, this metropolitan garrison squad strung them into a long line. The lieutenant said they’d take a shortcut and headed into a quiet alley.
This trip, for the bandit leader and his group, was already the road to the Yellow Springs.
When Xiao Wei and Mo Zi returned with Zan Jin and others to the attacked alley, they saw corpses strewn everywhere, yet couldn’t find any of the opponents’ weapons—not even a single axe. Beneath the masks were all honest, haggard, suffering faces.
Zan Jin and Ding Gou went forward to look, then came back to tell her the bodies of the several assassins they’d fought weren’t there.
“Someone already cleaned the scene.” Mo Zi said with chagrin.
Xiao Wei was just hearing his attendant report that almost everyone had died by the sword. His gaze couldn’t help turning to the four people behind Mo Zi, all wearing long swords.
“These people weren’t killed by us.” Mo Zi stepped slightly forward, meeting his gaze. “Someone is framing me.”
Xiao Wei’s gaze didn’t shift. “Though Supervisor Song is Great Zhou’s first female official in a hundred years, you’ve only held the position for a few days, without power or influence. Even if court ministers have considerable criticism, they wouldn’t cause trouble this quickly. This Xiao cannot figure out who would frame you.”
Suddenly he walked straight up close to Mo Zi, leaned down near her ear, and said in a low voice, “The King of Daqiu came to shoot bells for entertainment. Those last three arrows—he seemed to have endless words with you. Song Mo Zi, who exactly are you?”
Mo Zi lightly withdrew a step, her eyes deep as water. “Who I was in the past isn’t important. Now, Junior General Xiao and I are ministers of the same court. Daqiu and Nande both harbor ulterior motives. Who knows how many conspiracies and provocations lurk in the shadows. We absolutely mustn’t fight among ourselves and let others profit.”
Xiao Wei’s handsome eyes fixed on her. “Miss Mo Zi, only today does this Xiao realize his own dullness in misjudging you repeatedly.”
The sound of hooves came from the alley entrance—many horses, many elite armored cavalry.
“Junior General, we’ve arrived.” The leader dismounted and saluted Xiao Wei.
“Search every household for me. If you discover suspicious gold or silver, demand an explanation for its origin. Those who can’t explain or whose words are evasive—bring them out to me. I’ll question them personally. Tell them there are treasonous bandits in the capital robbing officials’ wealth and hiding the gold and silver separately. We suspect this alley is where the bandits hide their stolen goods. Anyone who lies and argues for them will be considered equally guilty and executed on the spot.” Xiao Wei gave the order.
The cavalrymen responded with grunts, divided into small teams, and began pounding on doors.
This was clearly helping her. However, Mo Zi didn’t know what to say to Xiao Wei. Because he’d brought his own troops to threaten common civilians, and she couldn’t openly say thank you.
“No need to be grateful to me—this was Yuan Cheng’s idea.” He wouldn’t take credit for himself, and moreover, he disdained this completely unreasonable method. But Yuan Cheng had said Mo Zi was innocent, and if they weren’t more ruthless than the other side, they could only watch her be bullied until unable to fight back.
For a time, this alley was thrown into turmoil. The gold ingots searched out filled two hemp sacks, making several of the alley’s sharp-tongued troublemakers hang their heads and no longer dare speak a word against Supervisor Song. The twenty-some households were severely frightened by the cavalrymen brandishing bright blades, and each honestly confessed that someone had threatened their lives and tempted them with silver to lie.
By this time, the sky had fully brightened.
Though the light of sunrise couldn’t yet shine into this small alley, she was already cleared.
A fast horse came flying up. The rider whispered a few words in Xiao Wei’s ear, and his expression immediately turned cold.
“Those people who framed you are dead.” He said to Mo Zi.
Mo Zi wasn’t surprised, because she remembered Yuan Cheng’s words.
“Also, the lieutenant and his entire squad are all dead.” Only then did Xiao Wei finish.
“How… they’re dead too?” Saying she wasn’t surprised, she was still surprised.
Because of that word “too,” Xiao Wei raised his eyebrows but didn’t answer her question. He only said, “Although he helped you greatly today, there’s still something I must say. You’d best not get too close to him. His methods are capricious, disregarding law and proper ways, using any means to achieve his ends. Be careful not to be implicated by him.”
Mo Zi knew he was talking about Yuan Cheng. Anger rose in her heart, and she really couldn’t help but retort. “If not for his unscrupulous methods, Mo Zi would probably be pushed out the Meridian Gate by His Majesty for execution today. The Junior General is righteously stern, yet doesn’t know that in this world, only righteousness cannot save people from dire straits. Quite the contrary—self-righteous justice becomes a killing weapon others can exploit. Justice is good, but one must learn to wield it in reverse.”
Except for Yuan Cheng, no one could out-argue Mo Zi. Xiao Wei was no exception.
“Many thanks to General Xiao for helping Mo Zi escape from the trap. The lieutenant and bandit leader’s deaths are suspicious. I can only say that those who commit many injustices will bring destruction upon themselves. You’ll surely need to handle this matter. Please permit me to rush to the court hall first to report clearly to His Majesty. Moreover, Official Yuan’s injury also needs to be promptly reported to His Majesty. The person behind this spared no effort to assassinate court officials, showing there must be a shocking conspiracy. I’m worried about His Majesty’s and other important ministers’ safety. Better to prepare a moment earlier.” Turning the momentum around, pinning the crime of treason on the other side instead.
Xiao Wei naturally couldn’t say no.
Mo Zi brought Zan Jin and Ding Gou and rushed to the Imperial Palace.
Morning court was nearly dismissed, the eastern gate already lowered. She used her free-passage token to enter the palace, hastily wrote a memorial, and had a young eunuch urgently deliver it to Eunuch Liu, who attended by the Emperor’s side.
Eunuch Liu was most skilled at reading expressions. Knowing His Majesty greatly trusted Yuan Cheng and Mo Zi, he immediately secretly passed it up.
When the Emperor read it, he flew into a thunderous rage. First, before all officials, he read Mo Zi’s memorial, then summoned Mo Zi to the hall to present an account of what had happened that morning.
Mo Zi told everything truthfully.
All the villains were dead, while the alley residents had signed confessions admitting intent to falsely accuse her. There were two sacks of gold ingots as physical evidence, plus Junior General Xiao whose character was beyond question, and Yuan Cheng, highly popular among newly appointed officials. Most of the assembled ministers changed color and demanded the culprit must be found, otherwise people’s hearts couldn’t be settled. The minority faction didn’t dare sing a contrary tune and could only perfunctorily agree.
Thus, the Emperor ordered the Court of Judicial Review to lead the investigation, with the Censorate assisting, to thoroughly investigate the case and report in detail to the Central Secretariat. This time, the Six Ministries were excluded, only able to cooperate with the investigation without exercising any authority.
After court was dismissed, Mo Zi was kept behind and entered the imperial study.
“How is Yuan Cheng’s injury?” The Emperor’s deep teacher-student bond with Yuan Cheng’s father made him very lenient toward Yuan Cheng.
“He said it’s alright, but I looked and the arrowhead penetrated the shoulder flesh—it seems embedded quite deeply.” Entering the palace for the first time, entering the Emperor’s office for the first time, yet Mo Zi had no mood to look around.
The Emperor called Eunuch Liu and had him dispatch the best imperial physician to examine and treat him.
“The girl is alright?” The Emperor asked her again.
“Want the truth?” Mo Zi asked back.
“Who wants to hear lies?” The Emperor counter-questioned back.
“I was so frightened I couldn’t think or move, thinking I was surely dead.” The complete truth. “Your Majesty, please take back this official hat and seal. Thinking it over, it can only be because someone dislikes that you appointed me as an official.”
The Emperor liked her truthfulness, laughed, and shook his head. “I won’t take them back. Not only won’t I take them back, I’ve found an opportunity to promote you.”
“Your Majesty, I haven’t completed the task you assigned—how can I be promoted?” She’d accepted the official seal mainly to guard against the Daqiu people.
Who knew that once people became desperately vicious, they’d do anything.