In the days that followed, Li Ying and Cui Xun spent a pleasant time at the bookstore, playing the zither in the gentle breeze and playing chess under the moonlight. Under Li Ying’s attentive care, his health improved considerably compared to when he had first returned to Chang’an. On the seventh day, during their final chess match, Cui Xun placed a black stone at the center point and smiled: “Mingyue Zhu, you’ve lost.”
Li Ying struck her head in frustration: “I shouldn’t have played there.”
She sighed and admitted frankly: “But once a stone is placed, there’s no taking it back. I’ve lost, and that’s that. It’s not like I haven’t won before.”
Her forthright manner exemplified the saying, “One’s chess style reflects one’s character.”
Cui Xun gazed at her jade-like face, reluctant to look away. After a while, he finally said, “Mingyue Zhu, I have to leave now.”
No matter how beautiful this paradise was, he eventually had to return to the mortal world. Li Ying looked at him and smiled gently: “Alright. I’ll wait for your return.”
This time, it was either success or martyrdom.
But she believed he would succeed.
Sure enough, when Cui Xun stepped into Cui Songqing’s residence, Cui Songqing was extremely surprised: “You still dare to seek me out?”
He said: “Don’t you know that the Emperor has been frantically searching for you?”
Cui Xun replied: “But Uncle is still willing to see me.”
Cui Songqing snorted, neither confirming nor denying. Cui Xun asked: “Uncle wants to know if the printed confessions were my doing?”
He admitted: “Indeed, it was my doing.”
Although Cui Songqing had already guessed as much, he was still somewhat surprised by Cui Xun’s frank admission. Thinking of how Cui Xun had spoken up for Ah’man at court and how, despite his illness, he had volunteered to escort Shen Que from Lingnan, he suddenly felt that he could no longer fully understand this nephew whom he had always despised.
After pondering for a moment, he asked: “Why did you do this?”
Cui Xun answered: “I want to clear the Tianwei Army’s name.”
“You?” Cui Songqing looked him up and down, seemingly incredulous: “Since when did you develop such integrity?”
Hearing this, Cui Xun did not remain silent and accept his uncle’s insult as he usually would. Today, he had come to persuade Cui Songqing, and to do so, he had to set aside his respect for his uncle and expose his uncle’s self-interest completely.
So Cui Xun calmly said, “Human nature is complex. Just as Uncle has the reputation of being an ‘incorruptible minister in plain clothes,’ yet can choose self-preservation over the grievances of fifty thousand Tianwei Army soldiers and the tears and blood of the people in the six prefectures. You stand by coldly watching a group of upright officials struggle alone, while you remain silent.”
Cui Xun’s words indeed struck at Cui Songqing’s inner thoughts. Being lectured like this by his junior made Cui Songqing lose face. He angrily shouted: “What do you understand?”
“I understand,” Cui Xun replied. “Uncle has his mission to fulfill—implementing new policies to benefit the people. To complete this mission, Uncle cannot risk involvement in the Tianwei Army case. If Lu Yumin were to identify you as the instigator of the confession incident and twist the case reversal as a means of factional struggle, Uncle would bear the wrath of the entire world, and your mission would be impossible to complete. So, for the sake of the living, Uncle has abandoned the dead.”
Having his private motives completely exposed, Cui Songqing flew into a rage and raised his hand to strike Cui Xun. But his hand stopped midair. He angrily withdrew it and paced back and forth in the hall before gradually calming down: “Since you know the living are more important, why do you stubbornly persist for the sake of the dead?”
“Because I also have my mission to fulfill,” Cui Xun said word by word. “That day when Shen Que tried to kill me, it was Uncle who saved me. Uncle asked why I didn’t commit suicide when I was captured by the Turks. I said I had my mission to complete, so I couldn’t die. Uncle didn’t understand what my mission was then. Today, I can tell you: my mission is to clear the names of the fifty thousand soldiers of the Tianwei Army. I want them to receive proper burials, their living family members to no longer suffer humiliation, and those who harmed them to receive their due punishment.”
His explanation was clear. Cui Songqing couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath. He scrutinized Cui Xun, this nephew in whom he had once placed great hopes, but who had later brought him endless disappointment. He said, “Don’t tell me that for these six years, you’ve been enduring humiliation for a greater purpose. You’ve been like King Goujian sleeping on firewood and tasting gall, like Yu Rang who lacquered his body and swallowed charcoal. You’ve stayed alive only for revenge.”
Cui Xun quietly replied: “Yes.”
Cui Songqing was stunned.
He stared into Cui Xun’s eyes. Cui Xun’s gaze was as calm as a deep pool, without the slightest hint of evasion. After a long moment of shock, Cui Songqing slowly said: “Very good.”
It wasn’t clear whether this “very good” was referring to Cui Xun’s answer or Cui Xun himself.
He said: “Tell me, what do you want me to do by coming to see me today?”
Cui Xun replied: “I want to ask Uncle to speak out for the Tianwei Army’s grievances.”
“Impossible,” Cui Songqing flatly refused. “Your mission and mine are incompatible.”
With these words, Cui Songqing essentially admitted that he would not hinder his path of implementing new policies for the sake of the Tianwei Army’s grievances. In his heart, the living were more important than the dead, and the majority more important than the minority. Thirty years ago, he could persuade Emperor Taichang to sacrifice Li Ying for the sake of the world; thirty years later, he could similarly sacrifice speaking out for the Tianwei Army for the sake of the world.
Cui Songqing had always considered himself a capable minister, not a sage or a virtuous one. He had his self-interest, which was the new policies. For these policies, he would coldly calculate Li Ying’s life and death, calculating what benefits her death would bring to the world. He would also cruelly ignore the grievances of the Tianwei Army and the people of the six prefectures who died in the conspiracy. And for his coldness and cruelty, he would never regret it, just as he had been thirty years ago, so he remained thirty years later.
This was a classic example of persisting on one path to the end.
Quite similar to Lu Yumin.
However, there was a difference between Cui Songqing and Lu Yumin. The difference was that although Cui Songqing had his self-interest, he maintained his integrity on major matters. Even though he was determined to follow his path, he could not bring himself to hand over the nation’s territory and people to foreigners to trample on. He had held the most important bottom line of the scholar-officials, which was also why Cui Xun was still willing to come and persuade him.
Faced with Cui Songqing’s refusal, Cui Xun was not discouraged: “My mission and Uncle’s are not incompatible. My mission would aid Uncle’s.”
“Oh?” Cui Songqing raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“In Uncle’s opinion, what is the biggest obstacle to implementing new policies at court?”
Without thinking, Cui Songqing replied: “Lu Yumin.”
“No,” Cui Xun said. “It’s the Emperor.”
Cui Songqing was slightly startled. Cui Xun continued: “Uncle must have heard the saying, ‘New emperor, new ministers.’ Throughout history, emperors who wanted to make their mark would, after inheriting the throne, redefine their policies, distance themselves from officials left by the previous emperor, and nurture their power base. The current emperor happens to have a wise and powerful father, as well as a strong mother who is still alive. To prove himself, he can only start with the new policies left by his parents. If the new policies are wrong, then he is right, and he would be an even more outstanding emperor than his father.”
Cui Songqing pondered this carefully and felt that the Emperor’s resistance to the new policies was indeed largely due to this reason. He sighed: “The Emperor is young and has been misled by Lu Yumin for a long time, which is why he has such thoughts. If Lu Yumin were to be executed, and with proper guidance from other teachers, the Emperor might still become a wise ruler who maintains his predecessors’ achievements.”
Although Cui Songqing was part of the Empress Dowager’s faction, his deepest loyalty was to the late Emperor. The current Emperor was the late Emperor’s son, so he still held hope for Emperor Longxing. Cui Xun didn’t comment on this statement but followed his train of thought: “The Emperor has already been misled by Lu Yumin. Even if Lu Yumin loses in factional struggles or even loses his life, the Emperor would simply cultivate another Lu Yumin to continue contending with the Empress Dowager, making the new policies inconsistent. If one day the Empress Dowager is no longer here, the new policies would inevitably be abolished entirely by the Emperor.”
After pondering for a moment, Cui Songqing deeply agreed. He asked: “What’s your idea?”
“Uncle, rather than preserving yourself, why not make a desperate fight? Use the Tianwei Army case to eliminate the Emperor’s power base. Make him a figurehead without real power, as he was six years ago. This way, he cannot nurture another Lu Yumin or hinder the implementation of the new policies. Even if one day the Empress Dowager is no longer here, by then the new policies will have taken root in people’s hearts, and the Emperor won’t be able to abolish them even if he wants to.”
After hearing this, Cui Songqing was both shocked and angry. He finally delivered a slap: “Outrageous! You’re suggesting a coup! This is not what a subject should do!”
Cui Xun staggered from the blow, his snow-white face instantly swelling red with a burning pain. But he seemed completely unaware of it, merely licking away the blood from the corner of his mouth and smiling gently: “Uncle, what is ‘not what a subject should do’? Thirty years ago, Uncle advised the late Emperor to drown Princess Yong’an. Was that what a subject should do?”
Cui Songqing was utterly shocked: “How… how did you know?”
“Before his death, Jin Ni was imprisoned in the investigation chamber, so naturally, I could learn of it.”
Cui Songqing’s face turned increasingly pale. He squeezed out a few words through his teeth: “Are you using this to blackmail me?”
Cui Xun shook his head: “Blackmail? I never intended to. I won’t mention the events of thirty years ago to anyone else.”
Cui Songqing breathed a sigh of relief. He seemed to have all his strength drained from his body and collapsed into a seat before the zitan wood table. Cui Xun continued: “Perhaps in Uncle’s heart, you only recognize the Emperor as the ruler, not a princess. But thirty years ago, Uncle was able to use various grand principles to persuade the late Emperor to kill his daughter for the sake of his mission. How is it that thirty years later, you’ve become confused?”
Cui Songqing gritted his teeth. Cui Xun continued: “Moreover, Princess Yong’an, with her life, gave the late Emperor the perfect excuse to weaken the great families and implement new policies. Clearing the Tianwei Army’s name would only make the Emperor lose power and prevent another Lu Yumin from appearing at court—it’s not taking the Emperor’s life. Compared to Princess Yong’an, at least the Emperor remains alive. Uncle has already disregarded a subject’s duty once. Are you now going to let a lifetime of work go to waste for the sake of the words ‘a subject’s duty’?”
Finally, he said, “This case reversal is the best opportunity to remove all obstacles to the new policies. If we fail, certainly all will be lost. But if we succeed, we solve the problem once and for all. From then on, no one could shake the new policies. Uncle should make a decision soon; otherwise, hesitation will lead to chaos.”
After he finished speaking, Cui Songqing remained silent for a long time. Eventually, he sighed: “So be it. I’ve already been a disloyal minister once. What does it matter to be one again?”
The next day, Cui Xun, who had been missing for seven days, once again donned his dark crimson official robes and attended the court session.
As soon as Emperor Longxing saw him, anger rose from his heart. Just as he was about to reprimand and question him, Cui Xun, holding an ivory tablet, stepped out from among the officials. He bowed once, then rose calmly and said: “Your Majesty, I have a memorial to present.”