Nanyi had thought that even though he was reviled by thousands, there were still many people who knew of Xie Queshan’s innocence, and these people would surely be willing to stand up and speak for him.

But first, the Xie family had chosen silence. The concept of monarch and minister had already seeped into the very bones of the aristocratic families. Xie Jun, considering the current predicament of the new dynasty and the Emperor, realized they could no longer withstand such turmoil. Once the court became unstable, the hard-won temporary peace with the Qi people would also be easily shattered.

Surely the entire Yucheng Army could testify for Xie Queshan? Then Nanyi was awakened with a single remark—that was an army. If Ying Huai were to bring so many Yucheng soldiers into the capital to cry injustice for a condemned minister, what would that be—forcing the palace or rebellion?

Nanyi’s judgment of many things had originally been extremely simple—black or white, good or bad—but when these politically complex entanglements were laid bare before her, she received quite a shock. She felt extremely frustrated, yet could not blame anyone.

But things were deteriorating daily. The front gate of Wangxue Cottage was surrounded by cursing citizens demanding that the Xie family sever ties with the traitor. The dignified gate was pelted with rotten eggs, spoiled vegetables, lime paste… making it a complete mess. Even though the person was already dead, the “righteous” people still refused to give up.

Nanyi tried to argue with them, only to discover that these people didn’t want an answer at all—they wanted to vent their emotions. So no matter what she said would be twisted, and some even cursed her as Xie Queshan’s concubine, trying to make her bow her head through the shame of being called a harlot. She finally understood how terrible public opinion could be, understood why someone as strong as Xie Queshan had chosen to remain silent from beginning to end—because proving one’s innocence was like fishing for the moon from the bottom of the sea, not only futile but also getting one’s clothes wet.

But should she just give in like this?

No.

Nanyi stubbornly insisted on going to Jinling. This petition, she must file. For her to admit guilt, she would have to die first.

Seeing that everyone who should advise had advised, and they couldn’t stop her, Xie Jun finally waved his hand powerlessly: “Let her go.”

This matter was already settled. The Xie family could do nothing. She, a mere woman, going to Jinling where she knew no one—what could she accomplish? Xie Jun thought this child was simply unable to accept the Third’s death and was making a fuss in this extreme way.

He felt both heartbroken and powerless. Perhaps only after venting completely could she move forward. Then let her go make trouble; once she hit the wall, she would know to come back.

But Xie Jun underestimated Nanyi’s determination. She had no intention of turning back at all. Even if she had only her own insignificant strength, she still believed that human effort could achieve anything, that Heaven had its way.

One day… one day she would restore his honor! For that day, though thousands opposed her, she would go forth.

Nanyi left alone on horseback.

As she reached outside the city gate, she suddenly heard someone calling her from behind. The clatter of hooves pursued her, and Nanyi thought it was someone from the Xie family having second thoughts to capture her, so she urged her horse forward even more anxiously.

Madam Gantang finally caught up with Nanyi and forced her horse to stop.

Nanyi’s heart was pounding as she looked warily at Madam Gantang. She saw her hurriedly dismount, anxiously placing a small package in Nanyi’s hands, gripping Nanyi’s hand with eyes full of compassion.

Nanyi was somewhat stunned—clearly she hadn’t come to persuade her to return.

“Nanyi, I’m sorry. We ourselves can do nothing, and instead let you run around for Third Brother like this. Please understand, Father has his reasons for doing this. Since ancient times, it’s been monarch is monarch, minister is minister. We’ve long been bound by these barriers and constraints, unable to break free…” Madam Gantang’s voice choked slightly. “However, today as you go to Jinling to vindicate Third Brother, you need an identity to facilitate your actions. Although you and he never married, I believe you both already regarded each other as the person to entrust your lives to. In the package is a new official document. If you’re willing, from now on, you are his wife.”

Tears streamed down Nanyi’s cheeks. She dared not say that actually, when setting out, she had no idea at all what to do or how to do it. She was so panicked that she had become jumpy at every sound, instinctively wanting to flee when she heard pursuit. And the Second Sister she thought would come to stop her had actually given her a stabilizing pill.

“Second Sister will make this short. Regarding whether Third Brother betrayed the country, the behind-the-scenes maneuvering is more complex. When Bianjing was breached last year, heroes in various places also rose in armed rebellion, but the former ministers and aristocratic families of the south still supported the Yue Dynasty’s imperial house in establishing the capital at Jinling. First, because of the century-old imperial house’s legitimate appeal, and second, actually to maximize southern interests. The south is prosperous and peaceful—they don’t want to fight. Frankly speaking, from the beginning they didn’t want to support Li Du Mansion. The current situation is Third Brother sacrificing himself to leave the opponents speechless, so the Emperor could overcome all opposition to send troops. But if the Son of Heaven’s decisions frequently err, will his ministers still support him? When you reach Jinling, remember one thing—what you must refute is not the imperial edict, which would be as difficult as ascending to heaven. What you must accuse are the ministers, that someone’s mistake created this wrongful case. Only then might there be a turning point.”

“Second Sister, I’ll remember this.” Nanyi nodded vigorously, looking at Madam Gantang with infinite gratitude.

Her arrival suddenly gave Nanyi confidence. Before this, she had actually been very disappointed in the Xie family, but now she realized they didn’t refuse to speak for Xie Queshan—they simply had no position to do so, fearing they might make a wrong step.

Only someone like her, drifting like duckweed, had such reckless courage and possibility to do this thing without considering the consequences.

“Take care on the journey, return safely.”

——

The wind of great victory also reached Jinling. The Emperor ordered the markets to remain open for three days in universal celebration. The capital was filled with singing and dancing day and night, with colorful lantern-decorated artificial mountains erected everywhere, gongs and drums thunderous. No matter how turbulent the undercurrents in the court, the common people’s joys and sorrows were simple—one victorious battle let them see hope for peaceful living and working.

Until the long-silent Dengyuan Drum sounded, its deep, resonant beats carrying into the ninefold deep palace.

For the monarch to show he would hear his subjects’ advice or grievances, drums were hung outside the court, allowing subjects to strike them to make their voices heard—this was called the “Dengyuan Drum.”

Whoever struck the Dengyuan Drum would have the Son of Heaven descend from his throne to personally hear the case.

This was the unprecedented first time since the new dynasty’s establishment. Good-natured citizens in the streets spread the news, saying the person beating the drum to cry injustice was a woman.

Someone curiously asked: “Then who is she?”

Nanyi knelt in the bright hall, facing the Son of Heaven, stating firmly: “This humble person is the wife of the condemned minister Xie Queshan.”

“What do you petition?”

“My husband Queshan never betrayed the country!”

This resounding declaration shocked all present. An accompanying minister rebuked: “Audacious shrew! How dare you speak such nonsense before His Majesty!”

Xu Zhou gazed at Nanyi and said: “Continue.”

He had been waiting for such a person to arrive, but he couldn’t imagine who in this world would still have such defiant spirit. If Xiaoliu were still here, that person would definitely be Xiaoliu. But fortunately, Xie Queshan still had a spirited widow in this world.

“…In the twenty-second year of Yongkang, he assumed a false identity to infiltrate Great Qi, during which he provided many important intelligence reports to the Bingzhu Bureau. Until the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month this year, he assisted the Bingzhu Bureau in completing the Nirvana Plan, destroying the Dragon Bone ships and sending over ten thousand Qi soldiers to watery graves. Because of this, his identity was exposed to the Qi people. Afterward, he remained with the army, dedicating himself wholeheartedly to defending Li Du Mansion. Unexpectedly, he was framed and defamed. For the greater good, he endured the humiliation of admitting guilt, dying thus unjustly. Please, Your Majesty, investigate thoroughly, catch the treacherous villains, and purge the court!”

Nanyi clutched her sleeves, her palms already drenched in sweat. Every word she spoke at this moment had been considered countless times, fearing she couldn’t express herself properly and miss by a thousand miles.

“What you say doesn’t match the facts the court has learned. Do you have evidence?” Xu Zhou patiently asked.

“I have no physical proof, but many people know what he did. As long as Your Majesty is willing to re-examine this case, we can gather witnesses from all sides!”

Obviously this argument couldn’t satisfy the accompanying Three Bureaus ministers, who whispered among themselves and shook their heads repeatedly.

Xu Zhou was still waiting. He couldn’t immediately show eagerness to re-examine the case. Once this opening was made now, it would certainly stir up discussion among all ministers, with the focus of debate becoming “whether re-examination is necessary,” extending to his governing policies in the court, the court’s structure… and such matters, rather than the case itself. Every action the Son of Heaven took would trigger many chain reactions, definitely not something he could decide at will, so he still needed a compelling moment that would make everyone shut up and nod.

But Nanyi couldn’t know what Xu Zhou was thinking. She looked despairingly at the silence in the hall, still kneeling on the ground physically, but her heart and soul were falling into an abyss.

She had brushed shoulders with this monarch in some past moments, but she had never seen him. When she finally saw the imperial countenance, the young ruler already had this mature and dignified appearance, with a natural sense of distance. She had no confidence at all whether the monarch could remember past merits and take a risk for Xie Queshan.

But why should he, just based on her few words? Even she felt it was like throwing an egg against a stone, overestimating her abilities.

Just then, a palace guard from the Front Palace Bureau rushed into the hall.

“Your Majesty! Outside the city…”

“What happened?”

“Hundreds of Yucheng Army soldiers have removed their armor and weapons, dressed in white, kneeling outside Zhuque Gate. To avoid suspicion, they dare not enter the city, but they’ve come here to… cry injustice for the condemned minister Xie Queshan!”

Nanyi looked up in surprise. Once she began understanding court affairs, she realized that an army so clearly crying injustice for a treacherous minister was extremely suspicious and risky—if they could organize to cry injustice today, couldn’t they rebel tomorrow? If they angered the dragon’s wrath, no matter how much merit they had from following the dragon, it would become a death warrant. But the Yucheng Army still came. She was in the city, they were outside—they were her support.

A torrent quickly filled her body. She had touched bottom in the abyss, but the expected complete destruction didn’t come—many people lifted her up, lifted them up.

Justice lay in people’s hearts. She wasn’t fighting alone. And his noble character and dedication hadn’t sunk like a stone in the sea.

But even so, His Majesty still didn’t agree to immediately re-examine the case, only saying the matter required careful consideration before making a decision.

When the Yucheng Army knelt like this, the people exploded first. This matter spread rapidly. Belief aside, curiosity was certain. Everyone gathered to comment, so more and more people hoped to reopen the case and investigate the truth.

Nanyi waited anxiously at the hostel, not knowing what His Majesty was still hesitating about or what more she could do. The next day, however, a servant from the household of Minister Hu Ruhai of the War Department came, saying that regarding Xie Queshan’s case, he requested her presence for a discussion.

Nanyi didn’t know what kind of person this was, but she had heard he was a former minister stationed in the south, and among the ministers who opposed sending troops, his voice was the loudest. She felt somewhat uneasy, but thinking that she was now in the public eye, he surely couldn’t kill to silence her. Moreover, she couldn’t let any possible opportunity slip by now, so she steeled herself and went.

Unexpectedly, Minister Hu wasn’t the sinister-looking person she had imagined, but rather a burly military man with a voice loud as a bell and a somewhat impatient nature. Upon seeing Nanyi, he looked her over, half-believing, obviously not taking a mere woman too seriously, and got straight to the point.

“Besides the Yucheng Army, are there others who can corroborate what you said?”

Nanyi hesitated, wondering if this was a trap to destroy evidence? But on second thought, the people she would mention were completely beyond Minister Hu’s reach.

“Princess Lingfu,” Nanyi met Minister Hu’s eyes directly without flinching. “Xie Queshan’s code name in the Bingzhu Bureau was Goose. I can tell you Goose’s contact method. You only need to ask the Princess—when Xie Queshan was recovering at Wanyan Jun’s house, did he have her make contact on his behalf? If the contact method matches what I say, then it can prove Xie Queshan worked for the Bingzhu Bureau.”

Hu Ruhai hadn’t expected this small woman to have such clear thinking.

He suddenly sensed from her a kind of fierce offensive desire. Where she stood was justice itself, what she said was truth itself. She was righteous and confident, open and aboveboard. She feared nothing, and any lies or darkness that approached her would be crushed.

Even before he had time to verify, Hu Ruhai already had an intuition.

—He had done wrong.

And the Princess’s answer proved that woman was right.

Hu Ruhai sat down with an ashen face, not bothering that Nanyi was still in the hall waiting for the result with him. His mind was in chaos—everything he believed in and had constructed was beginning to completely collapse.

Not long ago, he learned that Xie Zhu had defected to Great Qi, but His Majesty had suppressed this matter, forbidding any announcement. The reason was simple: if the Xie family produced another traitor at this critical juncture, the entire Xie clan would be doomed. His Majesty intended to protect the Xie family.

Hu Ruhai had never imagined that the seemingly upright and selfless Master Xie would be a treacherous rebel who colluded with enemies. But thinking of Master Xie’s previous attitude, he felt somewhat chilled. Regarding sending troops to Li Du Mansion and his nephew’s issue, he hadn’t expressed much opinion, but such silence precisely proved he already had a preference.

But now that Xie Zhu was a traitor, what about Xie Queshan, who was executed with his tacit consent?

The thought had already sprouted. Today, when Hu Ruhai heard someone had struck the Dengyuan Drum to cry injustice for Xie Queshan, his unease grew stronger. This was why he urgently invited this lady over—he wanted to verify what kind of person Xie Queshan really was, to know whether his insistence in court was right or wrong.

Only now did he confirm that those deserters who came with true and false information were a trap set for him. Someone had used his straightforwardness as a killing blade. At that time, he feared His Majesty was being deceived. He firmly believed what he saw—Li Du Mansion was a trap, he couldn’t watch the army walk into a tiger’s mouth, so he opposed more loudly than anyone.

This blade of his had actually killed a loyal minister and good general.

He was indeed a student of Shen Zhizhong, with the same literary heart and iron backbone as his teacher.

Nanyi didn’t interrupt Minister Hu’s silence either. She just felt this minister wasn’t like a bad person.

After a long time, Hu Ruhai looked up at Nanyi: “If Minister Shen were still here, His Majesty wouldn’t be walking on thin ice like this… nor would he let short-sighted people like me influence His Majesty’s decisions. Madam, fortunately you came.”

Nanyi seemed to grasp a thread of hope: “Then would you be willing to help me with this case?”

After long consideration, Hu Ruhai said: “His Majesty refuses to nod for re-examination because the time isn’t right. He wants to use public opinion to pressure the court so ministers have no words to refute. His Majesty is waiting for the right moment.”

Nanyi was stunned. Being in the situation, she indeed hadn’t thought of this level.

So even Minister Hu had no solution?

When leaving that day, Nanyi felt somewhat dejected. Although she could convince Minister Hu, they both knew this still wasn’t enough to convince the world. The most troublesome aspect of this matter was that it no longer had much to do with right or wrong. Too many people who knew the truth were forced to close their eyes and let injustice happen. Individual versus greater good—they were constantly in fierce conflict.

And when would be the right moment His Majesty was waiting for?