When the Marquis Changning’s estate carriage was returning to the city via Zhuque Street, it became completely gridlocked and couldn’t move an inch. Worried that Song Chuyi might feel stifled, Ye Jingchuan anxiously ordered Chang’an to go inquire about the situation.
Chang’an weaved through the crowd like a loach, and only after a long while did he pant his way back to Ye Jingchuan’s side, raising his voice to tell him: “Young Master, scholars have gathered ahead to cause a disturbance and blocked the road. It looks like we won’t be able to leave anytime soon.”
Ye Jingchuan’s brow furrowed. Just recently, students from the Imperial Academy had blocked doors and sat in protest, cursing Master Yuanhui as a bald meddler in state affairs. This time… He glanced back at the silent carriage behind him, then suddenly gained some understanding. He waved his hand to stop Chang’an’s rambling and calmly turned back to consult with Lin Hai and Qin Chuan: “How about we take Zhengyang Street instead?”
Looking at the momentum ahead, unless there was an uproar that turned heaven and earth upside down and the Five Cities Military Command and Shuntian Prefecture authorities came out, these students wouldn’t easily give up. Naturally, Qin Chuan and Lin Hai had no objections and hurriedly nodded in agreement. The carriage finally managed to change routes to Zhengyang Street, but by the time they arrived at the Marquis Changning’s estate, it was already past noon.
Song Jue hurriedly came out to greet them, and for the first time ever, he gave Ye Jingchuan a pleasant expression, even hospitably inviting him to stay for a meal: “With the weather so bitterly cold, why not stay for tea before leaving?”
The Princess Consort of Zhennan had been frequenting the Marquis Changning’s estate lately, and Song Jue, being perceptive, immediately understood the Princess Consort of Zhennan’s intentions. Previously, only Ye Jingchuan had been ardently pursuing this with youthful passion—when the young man’s hot-shaving-pole carried heat only on one end, Song Jue hadn’t particularly taken Ye Jingchuan seriously. But now that the elders had expressed their position, and Old Madam Song and First Madam Song had revealed a certain optimistic approval in their words, he naturally had to shoulder the responsibility of an elder brother, first getting along well with Ye Jingchuan and testing the waters.
Ye Jingchuan was somewhat flattered and naturally agreed eagerly. While dismounting and following Song Jue inside, he asked: “There are Imperial Academy students gathering and causing a disturbance on Zhuque Street…”
Song Jue wore an expression that was half-smiling, turning his head to look at Ye Jingchuan and asking: “Why don’t you guess the reason?”
Ye Jingchuan didn’t avoid the question and blurted out without thinking: “Master Yuanhui’s matter still hasn’t been resolved?”
Naturally it hadn’t been resolved. As long as Master Yuanhui didn’t die, this matter wouldn’t be concluded.
A bit later, news came from outside that the students had surrounded Shuntian Prefecture and beaten the constables and clerks who came out to establish a cordon until their heads were bloody.
Ye Jingchuan was somewhat puzzled about where these students’ anger was actually coming from. Master Yuanhui had merely discussed fate and physiognomy. He looked at Song Jue with some concern: “Just because of Old Master Song’s resignation and Sixth Miss’s fate reading, these students are creating such a scene. Will His Majesty…” Would he think that all this was the Song family pulling strings behind the scenes, and thereby blame the Song family in anger?
Song Jue just smiled: “How could it be for the Song family? They’re clearly upset that scholars throughout the realm feel disheartened. These scholars study hard to pass the imperial examinations and become officials to seek welfare for the people. The county magistrates of Linjiang and Jiujiang both froze to death while handling the disaster relief during the snowstorm, yet Master Yuanhui and the Imperial Observatory people pushed the responsibility onto some celestial anomaly. This is clearly slapping all officials in the face.”
This reasoning still sounded somewhat far-fetched, but that didn’t matter—students had always been the most hot-blooded group. They only needed to know that Master Yuanhui was someone who himself lacked private virtue yet still ran rampant, and after being detained by the Shuntian Prefecture for a while was released with complete impunity—a tyrannical person who looked down on scholars and attempted to meddle in state affairs through supernatural theories.
When Master Yuanhui’s unclear relationship with that woman in the wine tower had caused such a huge scene that everyone on the entire street had witnessed it, yet afterward Master Yuanhui had been silently released without a sound…
This was also why Song Chuyi had schemed to get Master Yuanhui into the yamen—she knew the yamen couldn’t hold Master Yuanhui at all. Her purpose from beginning to end was never to detain Master Yuanhui or hope that Shuntian Prefecture would pin any charges on him.
She only wanted to use this incident to let everyone in the realm see how the authorities, who supposedly maintained extremely strict control over monks and clergy, applied such double standards to Master Yuanhui, how lenient they were toward him.
Only by doing this would the matter blow up even bigger. The real killing move had always been here.
At the other end, Old Madam Song was also asking Song Chuyi about this matter: “I heard that bald donkey Master Yuanhui actually went to the country villa?”
“Yes,” Song Chuyi replied. “He went specifically to warn me, and said we’d meet again in the future. Too bad he doesn’t know—he has no future left.”
The only miscalculation was that Sister Huang and Mother Huang had been rescued. Originally Song Chuyi had planned to keep them under control as a precaution—to guard against precisely what happened yesterday when Master Yuanhui suddenly showed up at her door, unable to contain his fury and striking out recklessly.
But it didn’t matter. The other matters still proceeded according to plan.
Old Madam Song let out a cold laugh, her face showing disgust: “Don’t mind him. Spouting such ambiguous mystical nonsense—a monk still harboring such deep malice and resentment. He deserves to have fallen to this state.”
After saying this, she continued: “Right now, part of the reason the students are causing trouble is because Master Yuanhui lacks private virtue and presumptuously discusses state affairs, but there’s another reason—Master Yuanhui relied on Huangjue Temple’s influence to enable his brother-in-law to tyrannize the countryside and seize land… Did you arrange this as well?”
Nearly all the tenant farmers at the foot of Huangjue Temple’s mountain worked for Huangjue Temple, having to pay grain every year to maintain their livelihood. Yet Sister Huang’s husband still wanted to be a middleman and collect money again from them. This matter itself wasn’t anything special—most people just swallowed their grievances and lived with it. But the problem was that now Master Yuanhui was in trouble… So Song Chuyi hadn’t captured his brother-in-law, because Master Yuanhui’s brother-in-law was indeed rather disgraceful, just a troublemaking scourge. In the previous life, he had forced someone to death over land seizure and was impeached and arrested.
Unfortunately, in the previous life, with Prince Duan wholeheartedly protecting Master Yuanhui, Master Yuanhui’s brother-in-law not only escaped unscathed but even received an official position and lived prosperously. In this life, Master Yuanhui hadn’t yet managed to firmly latch onto anyone’s coattails.
Student disturbances were no small matter. Now that they’d even beaten Shuntian Prefecture’s constables, one could see how deep their anger ran. Emperor Jianzhang wouldn’t let this go unchecked. By now, whether Master Yuanhui was guilty or not, to quell public outrage he ought to be guilty. Otherwise, wouldn’t it chill the hearts of the court ministers who had been frantically busy with the Jiujiang and Pingxiang matters, and all the scholars throughout the realm? One Master Yuanhui wasn’t worth Emperor Jianzhang offending so many people.
When evening came, First Master Song returned home, bringing with him news that made everyone happy—Master Yuanhui had already been arrested by the Imperial Guard.