The book confiscation officials arrived quickly.
A large squad of capital prefecture bailiffs first confiscated all pirated copies from book merchants who had stocked them, then interrogated the merchants, following the trail to that courtyard house.
When the bailiffs rushed in, there were many people inside with books present, but no printing blocks or such. The bailiffs confiscated all books as usual and were about to leave when someone stepped forward from the crowd.
It was a tall man wearing a mask who stood leisurely at the doorway, smiling: “Gentlemen, I am the mastermind behind the forged Chronicles of the Merciful Heart. I wrote the books, I hired people to carve the blocks, I hired people to print them, I sent people to peddle the goods door-to-door. You see this whole room of books—shouldn’t you arrest me?”
The lead bailiff said in bewilderment: “What crazy fool is looking to sit in jail? The higher-ups said to confiscate forgeries, not to investigate the writers and printers. Stop causing us trouble—go away, go away.”
The man said in surprise: “Huh? Not arresting anyone? Not taking me to the palace?”
“What’s wrong with you? Such a trivial matter—to the palace? Are you worthy?” The bailiff glared at him and turned around. “Let’s go!”
The bailiffs neither extorted nor blackmailed, nor took advantage to arrest and shake down anyone—they simply left. The man looked disappointed.
Mu Si walked past him from behind, scoffing.
Murong Yi wasn’t discouraged, turning around with a smile: “Look, she saw the book. I said we should print more—in a blink it reached the palace.”
“What good does reaching the palace do? In a blink she banned it.”
“If this volume is banned, there’s the next volume. If the next volume is banned, there are more tricks.” Murong Yi flipped through books carelessly, tossing them without a care. “If bookshops can’t sell them, we’ll sell them privately. Old He is shameless—does he really know nothing about me and Tie Ci? He’d rather write about that delicate Rong Pu, hinting at his relationship with Eighteen, without mentioning me at all!”
Mu Si said coolly: “Using the Crown Princess’s words, that’s the official pairing.”
“What official pairing? Eighteen and I are still engaged.”
Mu Si reminded: “Called off—thanks to your relentless efforts, it’s been called off.”
“Divorced couples can reunite, can’t broken engagements be remade?” Murong Yi waved his hand. “Go on, stop blocking me here opposing me all day. Go find out if the Crown Princess has any recent activities or outings—I want to create chance encounters.”
“The Crown Princess travels with three thousand escorts and processions stretching for li. You could probably only encounter the maid carrying the spittoon before being thrown out by the Crown Princess’s Nine Guards!” Mu Si said. “The spring examinations are imminent—the Crown Princess won’t easily leave the palace now!”
“If there’s no opportunity, create opportunity! What if I burn down the examination halls—wouldn’t she order my arrest and bring me to the palace? Then tie me to the dragon bed, with circles and crosses and crosses and circles, making me call heaven with no response, earth with no answer…”
“I think rather than burning the examination halls, you should burn yourself—at least it might dry out the water in your brain!”
…
Burning the examination halls was naturally impossible.
After all, the examination compound was now heavily guarded, surrounded so tightly not even water could leak through. Early this morning, He Zi, Duan Yande, and the other examiners had entered the compound under military escort, and the gates immediately closed tight. Until the entire metropolitan examination ended, these inner curtain officials couldn’t step outside the main gate.
According to Great Qian rules, examination questions were decided at dawn on the day before entering the compound by the chief and deputy directors, then submitted to His Majesty for review. After confirming the questions, the chief and deputy directors personally copied them out, sealed them in triple-locked treasure boxes, and went directly from the palace to the examination compound under military escort.
In this process, no one had any opportunity to approach the examination questions again, maximally preventing the possibility of question leakage.
Since establishing this rule, Great Qian’s imperial examinations had at least seen no cases of examination question leakage fraud.
The reason questions required imperial review was to avoid inadvertently offending imperial taboos. After imperial review, it was as if they had official approval, also preventing talented court officials like chief and deputy examiners from being criminally implicated due to mistakes that shouldn’t happen—also a way to avoid court losses.
On the day questions were decided, according to rules, it should end by the end of the yin hour. Tie Ci routinely went to pay respects to the Emperor at the beginning of the xu hour.
At the Chongming Palace gate, she encountered Xiao Liheng, who was on duty in the front court today.
Tie Ci looked at the sky—he was up quite early.
According to custom, the Crown Princess entering the palace also required announcement. Seeing her, Xiao Liheng immediately smiled and said to the little eunuch behind him: “Go announce to His Majesty.”
Then he personally accompanied her into the courtyard.
Seeing many guards in the courtyard today with a serious atmosphere, Tie Ci asked in surprise: “Why haven’t the people withdrawn yet?”
Heavy troops would guard during question deliberation, but should withdraw afterward.
Xiao Liheng said: “Since they’re here, no rush to withdraw.”
As they spoke, the two climbed the steps. The door-guarding eunuch pushed open the door, and Xiao Liheng suddenly slapped his forehead: “This subject still has urgent matters to handle—I’ll go deal with them now.”
Several cabinet scholars came to attend his departure.
Tie Ci watched his retreating figure, frowned, and stopped at the threshold without entering.
But the door-guarding little eunuch had already pushed the door wide open, and those inside turned around in surprise.
Tie Ci saw the two chief examiners were indeed still there, raised an eyebrow, and glanced at that little eunuch.
The little eunuch lowered his head, not daring to speak.
Tie Yan didn’t think much of it, just said in surprise: “You’re here? Early?” Looking at the Western clock, “Oh, we’re running late.”
Duan Yande hastily apologized.
Only then did Tie Ci learn that when Duan Yande took a sedan chair into the palace, the chair broke down halfway and had to switch to a carriage, delaying a quarter-hour, so the originally scheduled question deliberation time was also postponed.
“Since it’s not finished, I’ll wait.”
Tie Ci walked out decisively to wait in the corridor.
She stood right beside that little eunuch, who deeply bowed his head, body rigid, not daring to breathe heavily.
After a while, the two chief examiners came out with the locked box containing the questions.
According to rules, they couldn’t speak to anyone now. The two nodded silently in greeting and were about to leave under heavy military escort.
Tie Ci suddenly called them back.
The two turned around in surprise.
Tie Ci stepped down the stairs, glanced at that box, and nodded indicating they could go.
Both were somewhat puzzled. He Zi looked at Tie Ci, and Tie Ci smiled at him.
He Zi then turned away too.
Tie Ci watched them leave, then suddenly said: “Bring paper and brush.”
Immediately someone brought ink and brush. Without entering the palace, Tie Ci wrote several lines right there in the corridor, using the back of a nearby eunuch as support. She then sealed it and whispered instructions to Chi Xue.
Chi Xue nodded and went to handle it.
Only then did Tie Ci turn to enter the palace.
The little eunuch silently sighed in relief.
The moment Tie Ci stepped through the palace door, she suddenly turned back, directly meeting the little eunuch’s gaze as he secretly watched her retreating figure.
The little eunuch’s heart contracted violently, cold sweat instantly covering his entire body.
But Tie Ci said nothing, as if merely turning back casually, smiled at him, and entered the palace door.
With a creak, the palace door closed.
The little eunuch suddenly leaned against the door pillar, legs stretching forward to support himself from sliding down.
He didn’t know why he was so terrified.
He only knew that moment of turning back with a smile—though clearly very beautiful—made him feel as if facing floods and savage beasts, generating supreme fear from his heart’s depths. Trembling spread from his heart throughout his body, making him shake uncontrollably.
These third-class eunuchs had no opportunity to personally witness what happened at the palace gate plaza before.
Regarding various evaluations of the Crown Princess after her return, they had only smiled, thinking them exaggerated.
Not until this moment did he deeply feel that the Crown Princess who returned after a year of trials was truly different from before.
A sword sharpened its edge; a fierce beast escaped its cage.
…
Firecrackers burst in unison as examiners entered the compound.
The ceremony for chief and deputy directors and examiners entering was grand, with the long procession finally carrying a guillotine to demonstrate justice and strict legal warning. Previous dynasties had examination officials commit fraud and were guillotined on the spot within the examination compound—cut in half yet still using finger to write five “tragic” characters in blood. This bloody precedent intimidated all appointed examiners, who remained vigilant daily, not daring to make mistakes.
Many candidates would watch this excitement. Shen Mi also went, holding the cat named Rong Yi. He only brought this one because it was the smartest and couldn’t stay home, dog-like by nature, enjoying walks. Mornings it would bite the rope itself to force Shen Mi to take it out. Shen Mi had no choice but to bring it to watch excitement, stuffing it in the small book basket on his back when crowds were thick. Shen’s mother had specially woven a lid for the basket with a hole in the middle so Rong Yi’s round cat head could poke out.
There were too many spectators, and Shen Mi was jostled about. Without realizing it, he was pushed to the front of the crowd, watching the crimson-robed, purple-sashed officials file through the compound’s main gate. Leading was He Zi, and Shen Mi instinctively bowed deeply.
He Zi also saw him—he recognized this academy top student and smiled with a slight nod.
This interaction caught the eyes of surrounding candidates, immediately drawing many envious gazes, as well as some with complex expressions full of scrutiny.
After all, with spring examinations imminent, affecting candidates’ lifelong prospects, any details between examiners and candidates would be noticed and magnified.
He Zi’s reputation was too great, and he wasn’t known for being approachable. His mansion accepted no official or personal submissions, nor any social climbing or invitations. His appointment as chief examiner came quite late, and though people flocked to him after the news spread, no one had any opportunity to curry favor. Now seeing him return courtesy to an unknown scholar, whispers immediately arose.
Rong Yi struggled to poke its head out of the basket hole, curiously watching the loud gong and drum procession.
Someone on a nearby tavern’s upper floor looked down from above, their gaze turning to spot Rong Yi.
By now Shen Mi had noticed the surrounding stares and immediately retreated into the crowd. With so many people, retreating was somewhat difficult, so he didn’t notice that people were approaching from both left and right.
Just as Shen Mi stepped back, a great force from behind suddenly shoved him forward.
Shen Mi fell to the ground, scraping his elbow, looking down to see a pair of black official boots stopped before him.
Shen Mi immediately realized he’d fallen in front of an examiner, blocking the examiner’s path. Ignoring his pain, he quickly got up, not raising his head, apologizing while retreating into the crowd.
He quickly moved aside. He Zi, who had been about to help him up, left his hand suspended in air, smiled and continued forward. This was just a small incident—He Zi paid it no mind, and though surrounding people saw it, most didn’t care either.
Shen Mi retreated into the crowd, heart pounding, vaguely sensing something was wrong.
When he’d just fallen out, why hadn’t the cat cried out?
He reached back to feel—his scalp exploded.
Where was the cat?!
Rong Yi in the basket was gone!
Shen Mi looked around in panic. Amid the sea of heads, where could he find his cat?
…
In the crowd, Murong Yi held the cat in one arm while gripping a gray-clothed man’s wrist with the other hand.
The man struggled desperately but felt as if clamped by iron pincers—impossible to break free.
Murong Yi smiled, step by step dragging him closer, whispering in his ear with a smile: “Dear friend, what were you just doing?”
…
The examiner entry ceremony ended, and students all hurried back for final efforts—the day after tomorrow they would enter the compound for testing.
Some felt last-minute cramming meaningless, so teahouses and taverns filled with people, many discussing the recently released and quickly banned seventh volume of Chronicles of the Merciful Heart, with some trading privately.
Once books were banned, they became more sought after due to their mystery. Currently, black market prices for the pirated seventh volume had risen ten-fold.
Some, feeling hopeless about the spring examinations, gathered to chat idly. Recent conversation centered on the Crown Princess, and matters related to her spread throughout the capital in minutes.
Many discussed who exactly this Rong Wei was—the one with unusual feelings for the Crown Princess in the seventh volume. The book portrayed him as powerful, beautiful, intelligent, and wise—a peerless great man in the world. Such a character naturally made people yearn for him. Women’s eyes sparkled with admiration, while men’s emotions were much more complex—envy, jealousy, dismissiveness all present. Discussion centered on whether this character and the Crown Princess’s romantic history was fictional or real.
Most women thought it was real—the reason being the book was banned!
The book was banned, understand? The more one tries to hide, the more it’s true. The book being banned proves everything in it is real!
Most men thought it was fake—also because the book was banned.
What “more banned, more true”—didn’t they see the exaggerated writing style? Where in the world were such perfect characters? They’d probably call even his farts fragrant!
Men thought this was obviously exaggerated, while women argued that since the Crown Princess was such a character, why couldn’t she meet equally excellent men? You men are worthless yourselves and think the whole world should be as worthless as you!
Arguments ensued. Though men had broader shoulders and louder voices, those who could afford teahouses and taverns weren’t sheltered ladies either. Female wanderers might not have broad shoulders or loud voices, but they were much stronger than weaklings. Disagreements led to angry sword-drawing—with a crack, the world became quiet.
Only one table didn’t participate in this century’s great debate. A man with his back to everyone kept drinking, obviously quite content using gossip as drinking accompaniment, turning inferior spirits into the manner of fine wine.
Hearing sword-drawing and table-smashing behind him, his shoulders kept shaking. People’s casual glances made them think: oh, a weakling trembling with fear.
The weakling kept shaking.
Wine in his cup spilled on the table.
Across from him, a cold-faced tall youth looked at him disdainfully: “Stop laughing—you look sick.”
Murong Yi glanced at him: “Actually I was being modest—I haven’t even written about my peerless talent yet. Look how deeply my casual seventh volume moved hearts.”
Mu Si: “…Indeed, who could imagine you’d be so shameless.”
Someone who could write their own biography and shamelessly portray themselves as imperial forbidden fruit was truly unprecedented.
Fighting broke out upstairs. The tea server came to mediate from all sides, finally getting everyone to sit down angrily and change topics. This time they didn’t discuss the suspected imperial forbidden fruit—the peerless beautiful man—but the topic remained the Crown Princess.
Today’s discussion was yesterday’s Crown Princess banqueting classmates—all loyal followers who’d accompanied the Crown Princess since Dongming and Yongping. After the Crown Princess’s successful return to the capital, she gave faithful classmates considerable courtesy and rewards. She hosted them with family banquets in her own palace, with the Emperor and Noble Consort personally appearing, with individual rewards during the feast—everyone clicked their tongues in envy.
Naturally this led to discussing Rong Pu receiving the purple jade ruyi: “…That purple jade’s clear color without impurities is one thing, but crucially purple is the imperial clan color, and ruyi, ruyi—you all consider this, consider carefully.”
“Oh—” Everyone understood, meaningfully.
A woman rested her chin dreamily: “That Rong Wei is after all an ethereal fictional character. Speaking of it, Academician Rong is a living capital noble young master—gentle temperament, complete in talent and looks, noble birth, and unwavering loyalty to the Crown Princess. Such a person gaining imperial regard and receiving purple jade ruyi—perhaps in future he’ll indeed have his wishes fulfilled.”
These words made everyone nod regardless of gender, previous hostility vanishing. Obviously Rong Pu was an excellent atmosphere adhesive—his reputation was so good that men and women alike held him in high regard. People loved seeing golden boy and jade girl unions, all felt that in terms of status, talent, and looks, none could be better matched than these two. They were happy to see it happen.
Someone at the table with their back to everyone stopped shaking. The crude pottery cup spun dangerously in his fingers.
Mu Si rarely opened his mouth in great comfort.
Someone had a sudden inspiration: “Rong Wei, Rong Pu—both surnamed Rong! Perhaps this Rong Wei doesn’t exist—maybe the writer had some things inconvenient to say directly and simply borrowed a name to hint to readers!”
At these words, everyone suddenly understood and agreed unanimously.
“Crack.” The crude ceramic cup shattered into countless pieces, shooting out in all directions like sand, striking every person who had just nodded in agreement on their knees.
Bang bang sounds rang continuously as countless people clutched their knees and shot up, overturning tables, smashing teacups, splashing water and wine, causing even more people to jump up.
“Who hit me!”
“Ouch, you got my clothes wet!”
“Clumsy oaf! Be careful—you bumped into me!”
The teahouse immediately became chaotic—people crying out in pain, arranging clothes, holding legs, pulling tables in complete disorder. No one noticed that the two drinking customers who’d had their backs to everyone had vanished.