This response was not within Li Ying’s expectations. She was stunned for a moment. During her sixteen years of life, she had been showered with love and had never been contradicted so directly by an official. She thought for a moment, then said hesitantly: “I know my request is somewhat abrupt, but I don’t want to remain a wandering ghost anymore. I want to reincarnate, so I need to find who killed me. Could you please help me?”

But her sincerity was only met with Cui Xun’s cold reply: “What does that have to do with me?”

Li Ying felt somewhat embarrassed. She wrung her hands and said, “If you help me, I will repay you.”

Cui Xun gave a light laugh: “What do you have to repay me with?”

“I…” Li Ying was at a loss for words. She was just a wandering ghost; indeed, she had nothing with which to repay Cui Xun.

She lowered her head, biting her lip, not knowing how to persuade Cui Xun. Seeing this, Cui Xun had no desire to deal with her and assumed a dismissive posture: “You should leave. I have no interest in helping a ghost.”

Li Ying didn’t want to leave. Cui Xun was the only living person who could see her, and he was the fourth-rank Junior Minister of the Investigation Department. Besides him, she couldn’t think of anyone else to turn to. She felt utterly lost and softly said: “But apart from you, I don’t know who else to ask…”

Cui Xun reacted as if he had heard something extremely amusing. He said: “Before you came to me, didn’t you inquire about what kind of person I am?”

Li Ying was stunned. Of course, she knew what kind of person Cui Xun was. He was called the Lotus Flower Gentleman, and true to his name, his appearance was as beautiful as a lotus. He had used his face to become her mother’s bedchamber attendant. People said his character was base, that he was vindictive—a thorough villain.

But even if he was such an evil person, who else could she turn to now? She was terrified of loneliness; she didn’t want to stay in the Lotus Pond anymore, didn’t want to sink back into eternal darkness.

Cui Xun seemed unwilling to waste more words with her and said, “I’m going to the Investigation Department to interrogate a case. If you want to follow, then come along. But nine times out of ten, you’ll soon change your mind.”

Li Ying didn’t quite understand what Cui Xun meant, but she still followed him step by step to the Investigation Department located in Yining Ward. Cui Xun went straight to the prison cells, with Li Ying following closely behind. Except for Cui Xun, no one could see her.

As soon as she stepped into the prison, Li Ying was immediately brought to a standstill by the miserable howls coming from all directions. The prison burned numerous braziers, upon which various torture instruments were placed. It was as hot as April, and the jailers were all bare-chested. Only Cui Xun, as he entered, wrapped his heavy black crane-feather cloak tighter around himself as if cold, his face as pale as an evil ghost crawling up from hell. The jailers bowed respectfully: “Greetings, Junior Minister.”

Cui Xun did not acknowledge them. Wrapped in his black crane-feather cloak, he walked to the innermost prison cell. Li Ying, having regained her senses, quickly covered her ears and ran after Cui Xun, entering the inner cell.

As soon as Li Ying entered, she was immediately nauseated by the heavy smell of blood and had to cover her nose. Then she was frightened several steps back by the bloody person hanging on the torture rack. No, the thing on the rack could no longer be called a person. He was covered in torture wounds, barely breathing, with white ribs exposed. His legs also seemed to have been broken by leg clamps and were bound at a twisted angle. Li Ying, having grown up in the palace and been pampered since childhood, had never seen such a terrifying scene. She fell to the ground in fear, covering her eyes with both hands, not daring to look again.

Cui Xun seemed to have anticipated her reaction. He paid no attention to Li Ying but instead extended his emaciated wrist from his black crane-feather cloak and used his bony fingers to methodically move the branding irons, pliers, long needles, and other torture instruments in the brazier, as if considering which would be more useful. The jailers in the prison cell didn’t dare to breathe loudly. After a moment, Cui Xun finally selected a red-hot branding iron from the brazier. He gripped the handle, expressionlessly watching the white smoke rising from the iron, then walked to the prisoner and slowly said: “I’ll ask you one more time: is Prince Han Yang planning a rebellion?”

The prisoner, tortured to the brink of death, still struggled to open his eyelids, which were caked with blood. His teeth had been pulled out with fire tongs, and his mouth was also bloody: “Cui Xun… I am a descendant of the Wang clan from Taiyuan, serving as Chief Secretary to Prince Han Yang. You arrested me without an imperial edict, intending to extract a false confession. Aren’t you afraid of being exposed and punished by His Majesty?”

Cui Xun merely said indifferently: “I’ll ask you one last time: is Prince Han Yang planning a rebellion?”

Chief Secretary Wang laughed loudly: “Prince Han Yang is not planning any rebellion. But you, framing court officials and extracting confessions through torture, will certainly meet a bad end!”

Cui Xun had no more patience. He suddenly pressed the red-hot branding iron against Chief Secretary Wang’s chest, where the torture had already exposed white bone. Wang let out an agonized scream so terrible it barely sounded human, and then fainted.

Li Ying, sitting on the ground, covered her ears. Her entire body was trembling. Cui Xun merely tossed the branding iron aside with disgust, then ordered the jailer: “Salt water. Wake him up.”

After instructing the jailer, he turned to look in Li Ying’s direction. The princess who had been sitting on the ground, covering her ears, had already disappeared, presumably frightened away.

This was also within Cui Xun’s expectations.

Chief Secretary Wang was awakened by the salt water. In extreme pain, he began to cough violently, with fresh blood spurting from his mouth and nose, splattering all over Cui Xun. The jailer hurriedly offered a handkerchief, and Cui Xun wiped his blood-splattered hands with disgust. The jailer said anxiously, “Junior Minister Cui, the prisoner is nearly finished…”

Having endured severe torture, Chief Secretary Wang was now barely breathing. Cui Xun carefully wiped his hands with the handkerchief, not looking up: “If he dies, then he dies. Doesn’t he still have a son?”

Upon hearing this, the dying Chief Secretary Wang widened his eyes and cursed indistinctly: “Cui Xun, you will die a miserable death…”

Cui Xun gave a light laugh: “How I die is not Chief Secretary Wang’s concern.”

He slowly walked up to Chief Secretary Wang and examined his mangled face, then whispered in his ear so that only the two of them could hear: “Wang Liang, six years ago, you served under Pei Guanyue, didn’t you? You must know about what happened at Falling Goose Ridge. If you tell me everything in detail, I won’t touch your son.”

Hearing Cui Xun’s words, Chief Secretary Wang’s pupils suddenly dilated. He was so terrified that his teeth began to chatter: “Falling Goose Ridge… Falling Goose Ridge… so that’s why you came…”

His speech was incoherent and unclear. Cui Xun frowned and moved closer to Chief Secretary Wang, trying to hear his mumbling words. But Chief Secretary Wang only repeated “Falling Goose Ridge” a few times in terror, then lowered his head and said nothing more.

The jailer quickly came forward, lifted Chief Secretary Wang’s head, and checked his breathing: “Junior Minister Cui, he… he died of fright…”

To die just like that from fright… Cui Xun’s fist slowly clenched beneath his crimson sleeve. He coldly looked at Chief Secretary Wang, whose eyes remained open in death, and said: “Throw him out. Feed him to the dogs.”

After that day, Li Ying, presumably terrified by Cui Xun’s distortion of truth and extraction of confessions through torture, never came to find him again. However, just two days later, the Empress Dowager summoned Cui Xun to an audience.

In Penglai Hall, incense burned in a phoenix-shaped censer, its fragrance wafting through the air. Behind the pearl curtain, the Empress Dowager reclined on her couch, resting her head on her hand with her eyes closed. The Empress Dowager had long suffered from headaches, and presumably her headache had flared up again, which was why she was using incense to alleviate it.

Cui Xun knelt on the ebony floor. Though he knelt straight, beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead. The Empress Dowager, seemingly deliberately making things difficult for him, did not tell him to rise for a long time. Eventually, she said: “Cui Xun, you’ve grown increasingly bold.”

Cui Xun lowered his head: “This subject acknowledges his guilt.”

The Empress Dowager gave a contemptuous laugh: “Acknowledge guilt? You took advantage of Wang Liang’s return to Chang’an to visit his family, sent Investigation Department spies to arrest him, tortured him to death, and then discarded his corpse in the wilderness. Do you know that what the Wang family recovered was an incomplete body? Now the Wang family is clamoring to submit a complaint to the Emperor, demanding an explanation.”

Cui Xun remained silent, only saying: “This subject is guilty.”

“Of course you are guilty!” The Empress Dowager’s tone already contained a hint of anger: “Though Wang Liang was only the Chief Secretary to Prince Han Yang, he was still a descendant of the Wang clan from Taiyuan. How dare you!”

Cui Xun lowered his eyes and said: “Prince Han Yang harbors dissatisfaction toward the Empress Dowager and intends to gather nobles to rebel. This subject was only thinking of the Empress Dowager’s welfare when arresting Wang Liang, hoping to make him reveal Prince Han Yang’s crimes. I didn’t expect Wang Liang to be so fragile, dying after just a bit of torture.”

After hearing this, the Empress Dowager merely laughed coldly: “Cui Xun, Cui Wangshu, do you think I’m old and confused? Do you think I don’t know what position Wang Liang held six years ago?”

Cui Xun pressed his lips together, his eyes still as calm as a mirror. He touched his forehead to the ground and mechanically said: “This subject is guilty.”

The Empress Dowager laughed coldly again: “You need not confess your guilt. Since you became Junior Minister of the Investigation Department, this sort of thing hasn’t been unusual. Now that the Emperor rules personally and the noble clans are powerful, I must give him and the Wang clan of Taiyuan an explanation. You shall kneel outside Zichen Hall until court is dismissed.”

This punishment, though not physically painful, was extremely humiliating. Zichen Hall was where court sessions were held, meaning Cui Xun would lose face in front of all officials. Despite this, Cui Xun still did not argue or beg for mercy, but silently kowtowed: “This subject accepts the imperial command.”

As he was about to rise, the Empress Dowager, with her eyes closed and head resting on her hand, suddenly said meaningfully: “Cui Xun, some matters have already been settled. What should be forgotten should be forgotten. Otherwise, you’ll not only harm others but also yourself.”

Cui Xun’s eyes changed expression for a moment but quickly returned to their usual calm indifference. He bowed his head and said: “This subject thanks the Empress Dowager for her guidance.”

With that, he rose with his stiff, injured leg, limping slowly toward the hall exit.

Behind him, the Empress Dowager, reclining on her couch, slowly opened her eyes and watched his thin figure through the slightly swaying pearl curtain. After a long while, she sighed and gently closed her eyes again.

At the time of the morning court session, Chang’an city had been blanketed by a heavy snowfall throughout the night. Outside Zichen Hall, thick snow had accumulated. The Great Zhou regulations required officials of the fifth rank and above to attend morning court daily. As officials entered Zichen Hall in small groups, they unexpectedly found someone kneeling outside.

The man had lowered his gaze, his crimson official robes dampened by snowflakes and clinging to his body, making his figure appear even thinner. His eyelashes, like crow feathers, were covered with snow crystals. Snowflakes falling on his brow instantly melted into cold water droplets, sliding down his nose ridge together with the sweat beading on his forehead. A few strands of hair had fallen from his official hat, wet and sticking to his jade-white face. His hands, exposed outside his sleeves, had turned red from the cold. His already bloodless face looked even more pale. He seemed to have been kneeling for a long time; his body was slightly trembling, but his spine remained perfectly straight. In the pure white snow, he knelt there alone, his figure appearing particularly solitary.

The officials were stunned, then began to whisper among themselves: “Isn’t that Cui Xun? What happened?”

“I heard he tortured Wang Liang to death, and the Empress Dowager punished him by making him kneel outside Zichen Hall until all officials disperse from court.”

Academic Lu, who had shown great contempt for Cui Xun at the New Year’s Eve banquet, said angrily: “For anyone else, being punished to kneel in front of all officials might be a real punishment. Someone with any sense of shame might commit suicide after such humiliation. But does Cui Xun have any shame left? How is kneeling any punishment for him?”

“Exactly! He beat the Chief Secretary of the Prince’s mansion to death, and yet he doesn’t even have to resign his position—just has to kneel for a while. The Empress Dowager is truly exceptionally kind to him!”

“Alas, poor Chief Secretary Wang. I heard that when his body was found, it had been eaten almost beyond recognition by wild dogs.”

Academic Lu clenched his fists: “Heaven’s principles are clear. Cui Xun will surely have his day of disgrace! When that time comes, we will have him cut into a thousand pieces to console the spirits of those wronged souls!”