Su Yiyun knew that tonight was the most important moment of his life.

For this, he had prepared. For a very, very long time.

Hao Liu’s medicinal pills had cost nearly every last coin of his savings — but it had been worth it. After taking them, his body had undergone unbelievable changes from the inside out. His skin became luminous, his hair glossy black, his eyes bright and clear. When he gazed at his own reflection in the mirror, even he was struck into a momentary daze by the beauty that looked back at him. Most importantly, a certain attribute had developed into something genuinely extraordinary.

He had even slipped away to a pleasure house to put it to the test, and between that and the exclusive cultivation manual Hao Liu had given him, one night’s encounter had left the woman there utterly enraptured and devoted to him without reservation.

Su Yiyun was supremely confident. Given even one opportunity, he was certain he could draw the Female Emperor under the spell of his allure — and for him, for the Su Family of Suizhou, he would carve open a road to the sky.

That opportunity was tonight.

When the time came, it would not matter whether it was the nouveau-riche Hua Family of Yangdu, the matriarch-dominated Jiang Family of Ganzhou, the poverty-stricken Ling Family of Xingyang, or even the laughable Jiang Family of Taiyuan — all would be crushed beneath his feet. As for the fallen Bai Family of Longxi, he had never once taken them seriously to begin with.

A bookworm without the faintest appreciation for elegance and refinement — one who probably didn’t even know what a woman was — what grounds did he have to compete?

As for the two self-righteous female graduates, they were even more laughable. One was from a humble background; the other, from the Wan Family of Qingzhou. How could either be mentioned in the same breath as the Su Family of Suizhou? These people of lesser houses didn’t even understand the true significance of this Special Imperial Examination. They were sitting there pleased with themselves for having passed, without the least awareness that for women, without that one foundational, indispensable quality — passing the imperial examination was entirely useless.

Thinking of women, Su Yiyun’s mind landed abruptly on Lin Sui’an. That name was like a poison-tipped thorn lodged in his throat — acrid, bitter, tugging at his windpipe and churning up a nausea impossible to put into words.

That woman was infuriating. That woman was detestable!

The first time he heard her name was when the news of Su Chengxian’s death arrived. Before that, he had only known that the clan head had sent Su Chengxian to accomplish a certain task — the specifics, he was never told.

At the time, he had felt only indignation. Su Chengxian might share his surname, but that fool was never going to amount to anything. Sure enough, within just a few months, word came that he had died a violent death — and in the most ridiculous fashion imaginable.

The clan head had flown into a thunderous rage over it, smashing half the study — not even sparing his favorite Pingyao tea set. Su Yiyun had been puzzled. The clan head had never thought much of Su Chengxian in the first place; he shouldn’t have been so heartbroken over the man’s death.

It wasn’t until word arrived from Yangdu — that Lin Sui’an had gotten entangled with the Hua Family’s Fourth Young Master — that the clan head smashed the study a second time. Only then did Su Yiyun understand: the clan head’s fury was not over Su Chengxian’s death, but over Su Chengxian’s failure to bring Lin Sui’an back as his wife.

On the eve of Su Yiyun’s departure for the Eastern Capital to sit the Special Imperial Examination, the clan head had personally invited him up to the admiring-view pavilion for tea. There he was told that upon reaching the Eastern Capital, he must accomplish two things without fail. First: place in the examination, catch the Holy Sovereign’s eye, and enter the imperial harem. Second: find a way to win Lin Sui’an over.

Su Yiyun had been puzzled and asked what use, exactly, this Lin Sui’an could possibly be. The clan head had been evasive, unwilling to say more — as though there were something he could not bring himself to speak, or as though he feared something.

Frankly, Su Yiyun hadn’t taken it seriously. Even if Lin Sui’an were a woman of surpassing beauty — so what? He was no blundering fool like Su Chengxian. When he chose to make his move, winning a woman over was a matter of barely lifting a finger.

Later, at the Zither Master’s residence, he had finally laid eyes on Lin Sui’an — and been thoroughly taken aback.

Lin Sui’an was nothing more than a scrawny little thing, with no particular looks and even less to recommend in the way of charm or talent. As for that legendary Hua Family Fourth Young Master — he didn’t know what had possessed the man to treat such a woman like a priceless treasure. It was laughable. It was absurd.

So what if Lin Sui’an’s swordsmanship was terrifying and her strength was that of an ox?

She was just a woman. Sooner or later she would lie beneath a man, yield to a man, belong to a man, and be conquered by a man.

And yet!

This woman — this mere woman — had, time and again and again, disrupted his plans and destroyed everything he had so carefully schemed for!

The Golden Feather Guard fell to her. Jiang Dongyi fell too. The scroll-book was destroyed by her. She had even humiliated him in front of everyone in broad daylight — humiliated him and humiliated the Su Family of Suizhou. Then at Hao Liu’s residence, it was this woman again who had nearly brought ruin to his great undertaking. Insufferable beyond all measure!

And now, at last, he had placed in the examination and was on the verge of ascending to the heights — only to see her again!

On what grounds did a woman with no background whatsoever ascend Yingtian Tower ahead of him?

On what grounds?!

“Su Tenth Young Master — you are about to ascend the tower and face the Holy Sovereign. Allow me, Hua, to offer you a word of counsel: do not entertain thoughts you ought not to entertain.”

An irritating voice pierced his ears. Su Yiyun snapped his head up with a start. Hua Yitang, ranked third among the new graduates, was standing some distance away with his sleeves loosely folded, observing him with an expression of bland indifference — the corners of his mouth curved in a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. Su Yiyun loathed that expression. He had seen it at Vice Minister Lu’s banquet as well — as though Hua Yitang had seen through everything long ago, as though he looked down on him from the bottom of his bones, despised and mocked him.

Su Yiyun gave a cold inward laugh, checked his attire and bearing, and composed his expression.

No matter. After tonight, the Hua Family of Yangdu would be nothing more than ants groveling beneath his feet. Why waste even a glance?

The first group of officials had already ascended to the tower in sequence. Although the gathering was said to include officials from the Six Ministries, it was not a full assembly — since the newly ranked graduates were the true guests of honor at Yingtian Tower’s Lantern Festival banquet, only those officials with some connection to the new graduates had been invited to attend. These included the two Ministry of Rites Vice Ministers who had presided over the examination — Xiong Danian and Wen Zhong (the Minister of Rites himself had been imprisoned since taking up his post, and a suitable replacement had yet to be found); Ministry of Works Vice Minister Lu Yingjie; Chief Justice Chen Yanfan, Deputy Chief Justice Zhang Huai, and Court Inspector Ling Zhiyan of the Court of Judicial Review — these three were clearly there on account of Hua Yitang’s earlier assistance in breaking the case of the sunken corpses; and Ministry of Revenue Vice Minister Jiang Ruijin, the Eighth Young Mistress of the Jiang Family of Ganzhou and a close attendant of the Son of Heaven, who naturally also held a seat.

“Announcing — the seventeen newly ranked graduates of the Imperial Examination are summoned to ascend the tower!”

A female official’s clear voice rang out through the night sky. Su Yiyun felt a surge of exhilaration. He lifted his hem and began climbing the steps — with each step upward, he was one step closer to his path to the sky. One step, two steps, three steps… Before long, he could hear the wind above Yingtian Tower — the summons from the nine layers of the imperial palace. The view before him opened wide and brilliant: Su Yiyun looked out upon an ink-blue sky, palace lanterns swaying in the night, and the Eastern Capital lying prostrate beneath his feet.

The sight was so overwhelming that Su Yiyun felt a rush of almost ineffable majesty surge straight to his head. He stood, dazed, and, along with the others, performed the formal greeting in a daze, was led by a female official to his seat, and sat in a stupor for a good while before coming back to his senses. He looked around him — and was struck with alarm.

The Holy Sovereign sat at the highest seat. The officials of the Six Ministries and the new graduates were arranged in a shape like the character for “eight” on either side, their seating order determined by rank of office and placement in the examination. He was last among the new graduates and thus seated farthest away. The night was deep, the lantern light warm and ambiguous, and from his position he could not even make out the Holy Sovereign’s face clearly.

Bai Ruyi sat at the first seat on the left side; Hua Yitang was in the third position. That much was tolerable — but Lin Sui’an had a separate seat all her own, right next to Ling Sixth Young Master, Court Inspector of the Court of Judicial Review. What possible justification was there for this?!

A nameless rage filled Su Yiyun’s chest. He forced it down, reminding himself again and again: impatience ruins great ambitions. Once tonight was over, everything would be different.

He would very soon become the person second only to one, and above ten thousand others.

Very soon!

Lin Sui’an was oblivious to Su Yiyun’s fury. She was staring at a plate of roasted lamb leg on the table before her, troubled.

She happened to be sitting right beside the dashingly handsome Ling — as a new staff member, should she be asking the senior for some guidance on the job?

For instance — did Shadow Censors have KPIs?

What exactly were the specific work procedures?

Were there fixed office hours? Well… probably not, given that this was almost certainly a roving kind of role.

Was an annual work plan required?

Monthly, quarterly, and yearly performance summaries?

Where was the salary actually collected from?

What was the limit and process for reimbursing travel expenses?

And most critically — could the identity of a Shadow Censor be disclosed to those around her?

Lin Sui’an’s gaze shifted from the roasted lamb leg to Ling Zhiyan’s face. She let out a deeply exasperated sigh.

Ling Zhiyan was startled by the sigh and asked in a low voice, “Is something the matter?”

Lin Sui’an said: “Ling Court Inspector is not being straightforward. Your annual salary is clearly one hundred and forty thousand strings of cash, yet you told me it was only forty thousand.”

Ling Zhiyan paused. “My annual salary really is only —” Then his eyes flew wide open, practically bulging out of his skull. “How does Lin Niangzi know about those hundred thousand strings?”

Lin Sui’an gave him a look of weary resignation, drew the Shadow Censor credential from within her robe, and tapped it twice with her knuckle — clink, clink.

Ling Zhiyan blinked rapidly. The expressions on his face cycled through disbelief, dawning realization, helpless resignation, and then a kind of serene detachment from worldly concerns, all in rapid succession — and it was so entertaining that Lin Sui’an nearly laughed out loud.

The handsome Ling truly wore every thought on his face. What an endlessly amusing person.

Ling Zhiyan smiled as well. He clasped his fists and said in a low voice, “In that case — congratulations, Lin Niangzi.”

At that very instant, both of them startled at the same moment. They turned their heads — and there, across the table, was Hua Yitang, sleeves folded across his chest, brow furrowed, craning his neck forward to stare at them with the look of a turtle trapped in a pond and running out of air.

The two of them looked at each other. “Pfft!”

The banquet began. The proceedings were fairly conventional. First came the Holy Sovereign’s customary address, with a few standard themes:

First, the ritual pleasantries — Lantern Festival, celebrating alongside both officials and the people, great delight on all sides.

Second, celebration of the successful conclusion of the Special Imperial Examination, with congratulations extended to all who had placed. Special commendation was given to the Ministry of Rites for their excellent management of the proceedings, with grants of money and grain; Ministry of Revenue Vice Minister Jiang Ruijin, Ministry of Works Vice Minister Lu Yingjie, Deputy Chief Justice Zhang Huai, and Court Inspector Ling Zhiyan were each also rewarded for their merit in recommending candidates. Chen Fanfan basked in the reflected glory and was visibly delighted, his forehead nearly gleaming. (It was here that Lin Sui’an learned, for the first time, that the second-placed Ning Rui had been recommended by Vice Minister Jiang, and Wan Feiying by Vice Minister Lu.)

Third, a wish for the Tang Kingdom to be prosperous, the people at peace, and the nation flourishing.

The next segment was the much-anticipated “getting-acquainted” portion.

The Female Emperor would speak in turn with each of the new graduates in order of their ranking — asking after their well-being, with all the officials chiming in nearby, creating an atmosphere of warmth and familial harmony.

In general, this was the moment the new graduates had sharpened themselves for — their chance to showcase their finest qualities before the Holy Sovereign. Making a good impression might lead to a coveted appointment as a Collator in the Imperial Library, with a bright and unimpeded official career ahead. But a poor performance might result in being assigned to some remote, backwater county as a minor, unranked official, with no hope of advancement thereafter.

First: Bai Ruyi.

The scholarship of the Bai Family of Longxi was universally acknowledged. On top of that, Bai Ruyi had clearly not been sleeping well of late and had grown even thinner. Up on Yingtian Tower, with the wind blowing, he looked as though he might be carried away. The Female Emperor hadn’t the heart to make things difficult and chose an entirely domestic question:

“Two years ago, when I visited Longxi, the Bai Family head complained to me that the Bai Family’s young men do nothing but read and take no interest in practical affairs — he was quite worried about it. Thirteenth Young Master Bai is not so young anymore. Is there any young lady who has caught your eye?”

The color drained from Bai Ruyi’s face in an instant. He dropped to his knees. “In reply to Your Majesty — Thirteenth Young Master has no thoughts of starting a family at this time!”

The Female Emperor was somewhat surprised by Bai Ruyi’s extreme reaction. She paused, then said warmly, “No doubt it simply means Thirteenth Young Master Bai’s destined partner has not yet appeared. You are still young — there is no hurry. When you eventually find the right person, and the Bai Family head is too far away to see to things himself, you may tell me, and I will make the arrangements on your behalf.”

There were two layers of meaning in those words. First: the Holy Sovereign regarded him as little more than a child and had absolutely no interest in him. Second: the Holy Sovereign apparently intended to keep him in the Eastern Capital as an official.

“Thirteenth Young Master Bai gives grateful thanks to the Holy Sovereign!” Bai Ruyi was overjoyed, kowtowing repeatedly. When he returned to his seat, his color had improved considerably — and his appetite opened up: he proceeded to eat six large pieces of roasted lamb leg.

Second: female graduate Ding Rui. Her answers were measured and composed, her demeanor calm and self-possessed. The Female Emperor asked several academic questions and expressed clear satisfaction, offering generous praise.

Third: Hua Yitang, the foremost young rake of Yangdu.

From the moment he stepped forward, everyone present set down their food and drink, sat up straight, and looked over with the collective air of people who had come to enjoy a spectacle. Ling Zhiyan wore an expression of faint anxiety; Lin Sui’an only wished there were melon seeds available at a palace banquet.

The Female Emperor blinked and asked: “I understand that in the city of Heyue, you solved a case involving a physician who committed a series of murders. All the victims were elderly people from impoverished households — a grave case, with over two hundred dead. Yet the perpetrator used an unusual poison, and for two years no one detected anything amiss. I am quite curious: how did you discover it?”

Hua Yitang blinked in return. “In reply to Your Majesty — this particular case is not entirely appropriate to describe at the current moment.”

“Go ahead — it’s fine.”

“The most critical step in solving the case was the examination of the corpses. At the time, I engaged a coroner named Fangke. He opened up the body of one of the deceased, removed the heart, stomach fluids, and intestines, and placed them into porcelain jars —” Hua Yitang paused, looked around at the thoroughly green faces of the assembled company, smiled, and clasped his fists. “It is truly not suitable to continue.”

“Ahem, ahem,” said Chief Justice Chen Yanfan, hastily smoothing things over. “Discussing murder cases on the Lantern Festival is most inauspicious. Let’s speak of something else.”

The assembled officials nodded in fervent agreement.

The Female Emperor sighed with deep disappointment, considered for a moment, then smiled and asked, “I understand that when you entered the Eastern Capital, you engaged in a debate with a candidate from Suizhou on the subject of cultural lineage. It seems Fourth Young Master Hua expressed a certain… contempt for the concept of cultural lineage?”

Hua Yitang’s expression turned serious. “At the time, I was furious at that candidate for his willful blindness, his inversion of right and wrong, and his deliberate distortion of the truth — so my words were rather harsh.”

“Oh?” the Female Emperor said. “Then I wish to know: here and now, what are Hua Fourth Young Master’s views on cultural lineage?”

Hua Yitang was silent for a moment. “Fourth Young Master believes that the cultural lineage of a nation is the nation’s sinew and bone. When the sinew and bone are strong, the cultural lineage stands, and the nation is powerful. The foundation of cultural lineage does not lie with any one aristocratic family, nor with a handful of noble houses — it lies with the common people. The aspirations of a nation are seen only in the aspirations of its people; the character of a nation is forged only from the character of its people. If every household could read and reason, if every young child in the Tang Kingdom could enter a school and receive an education — why should we fear that the cultural lineage would ever falter, or that the nation would be without backbone? At such a time, the Tang Kingdom’s cultural lineage would flow unbroken, and the Tang Kingdom’s fortune would endure for a thousand, ten thousand years!”

The wind picked up. The palace lanterns beneath the eaves swayed gently, and the golden bells on their tassels rang out clear and bright. The Hua family crest along the hems and cuffs of Hua Yitang’s robe caught the light, glowing like white flower buds releasing one flame after another — translucent, delicate, drifting through the night sky.

Yingtian Tower fell quiet. Everyone looked upon this young graduate, petal-like in the moonlight, and felt a deep shock. The world had always said that Hua Family’s Fourth Young Master was an uneducated, worthless rake. No one had expected him to hold views of such remarkable distinction. Bai Ruyi in particular seemed to think of something — he froze entirely, as though his spirit had momentarily left his body.

The Female Emperor turned an astonished glance toward Lin Sui’an. These words of Hua Yitang’s were remarkably in accord with what Lin Sui’an herself had just said — these two young ones… she smiled to herself. Quite attuned to each other’s thinking, weren’t they?

Lin Sui’an was also genuinely surprised. What Hua Yitang was saying, translated into plain language, was “never scrimp on education” — who would have thought this young rake had such a broad grasp of the larger picture and such foresight?

“Fourth Young Master’s ambitions are admirable. We are greatly heartened.” The Female Emperor concluded Hua Yitang’s segment with a smile.

Following Hua Yitang’s deeply memorable performance, everyone who came after could only be described as unremarkable. The sole exception was Wan Feiying, who performed a sword dance and brought the whole gathering to applause.

Then came the last of them — Su Yiyun of the Su Family of Suizhou.

Lin Sui’an was tremendously excited. She crushed the lamb bone she had just finished gnawing into fragments, placed them one by one in her mouth and clicked them between her teeth to approximate the sensation of cracking melon seeds, while Ling Zhiyan watched from the side, equal parts amused and exasperated.

Su Yiyun glided forward, his white robes and bewitching beauty turning heads immediately. The gazes in the room shifted. Ministry of Revenue Vice Minister Jiang Ruijin laughed once, suddenly and without apparent reason.

“Su Yiyun of Suizhou pays obeisance to the Holy Sovereign!” Su Yiyun knelt, his voice flowing smooth and clear as water rippling over stone. Listening to him, Lin Sui’an felt an odd stirring of admiration — Su Yiyun had clearly invested real effort in this, even going so far as to refine his manner of projection.

The shadow of the golden crown’s pearl tassel fell across the Female Emperor’s face, making her true expression difficult to read. “I understand that Tenth Young Master Su is said to be the foremost master of the ancient qin in all of Suizhou.”

Su Yiyun was so agitated his entire back was trembling. He pressed his forehead low and called out with fervor, “By Your Majesty’s gracious indulgence, Tenth Young Master Su wishes to perform a piece for the Holy Sovereign — the Aspiration for Peace — to pray for the Holy Sovereign’s boundless years and for the great Tang Kingdom’s prosperity and the people’s well-being.”

The Female Emperor was silent again for a long moment. “Granted.”

Lin Sui’an began clicking her fourth fragment of lamb bone between her teeth.

So Su Yiyun could play the ancient qin as well — now that was something she hadn’t expected. This performance was going to be something.

In the warm, flickering lamplight, Su Yiyun’s posture was that of a white crane, a perfect smile on his lips, as he plucked the strings.

Lin Sui’an’s face fell. She couldn’t make head or tail of it.

Compared with the elaborate and ornate performance techniques of the modern era, Su Yiyun’s ancient qin playing was genuinely plain and bland. Lin Sui’an’s ears had long been spoiled, and she had absolutely no appreciation for this. To her, the languid, meandering melody seemed to awaken every dormant instinct for sleep within her body — droning on the left, droning on the right, making her drowsy beyond all endurance.

She barely managed to survive to the end of the piece. Lin Sui’an raised her sleeve to conceal her face and stealthily yawned — and then noticed that the atmosphere around her was somehow off.

Too quiet. Quiet in a way that sent a faint unease creeping through her.

Everyone was watching Su Yiyun in silence. Ling Zhiyan had his brow furrowed; Bai Ruyi was looking down with a sigh; even Hua Yitang had let his smile fade, and gave a slight, slow shake of his head.

Lin Sui’an thought: What does this mean? Did Su Yiyun hit a wrong note?

Su Yiyun was clearly thrown as well. Throughout his performance, he had worn an expression of self-satisfied pleasure. Now that expression had frozen on his face — a pale, eerie mask.

Vice Minister Jiang: “The piece Aspiration for Peace demands sweeping grandeur and vigorous, towering spirit. And yet in Candidate Su’s rendition, it was pervaded by a mood of ambiguous, cloying suggestion — overwrought and artificial. The foremost master of the ancient qin in all of Suizhou — that title has done more than justice to a very ordinary talent. It is genuinely disappointing.”

Lin Sui’an immediately nudged Ling Zhiyan with her elbow and cast him a questioning look.

Ling Zhiyan shaped two words with his lips: The music carried the manner of seduction — his intent was to ensnare the Holy Sovereign.

Lin Sui’an: “…”

Goodness. Su Yiyun was really going all out.

The Female Emperor sat upright on the throne, her expression grave and her bearing weighted with imperial authority — enough to make one’s heart go cold.

Su Yiyun scrambled to his knees in a panic. “Tenth Young Master Su’s skills are lacking. He has offended Your Majesty’s ears. The guilt is deserving of ten thousand deaths. Please, Your Majesty, be appeased!”

“Su Yiyun,” the Female Emperor said, “We thought of your years of diligent study and the modest talent you possess, and of the name of the Su Family of Suizhou — it was on account of all this that We granted you a place among the graduates. We had hoped you might yet turn from a mistaken path and serve the nation. But regrettably… regrettably —”

Su Yiyun knocked his head against the floor in rapid, desperate succession. “Please, Your Majesty, be appeased! Please, Your Majesty, be appeased! Tenth Young Master made an error in playing — I beg Your Majesty to give me another chance —”

The Female Emperor rose, descended the steps, and stood before Su Yiyun. In a low voice she said, “Half a month ago, I saw the wickedness in your heart and believed you had merely been led astray by a corrupt person. Seeing you again tonight, I understand now that your intentions are fundamentally corrupt. You are not fit for great use.”

“Half… half a month ago?” Su Yiyun’s kowtowing faltered. Trembling, he raised his head — and when he saw the face behind the pearl tassel of the crown, it was as though he had been struck by lightning. He crumpled heavily to the ground.

He recognized this face. It was the Seventh Young Mistress Jiang from the Yunshui River.

The woman who had been playing the role of Seventh Young Mistress Jiang on that day had not been the real Seventh Young Mistress Jiang. She had been the Holy Sovereign herself.

So by that day, his every shameful move had already been laid bare before the Holy Sovereign, with nowhere left to hide. Even if he had truly transformed himself completely — what would that have mattered?!

The Female Emperor heaved a deep sigh, turned away with a sweep of her sleeves, and departed. The assembled officials were terrified — they all dropped to their knees to respectfully see the imperial carriage off.

Su Yiyun’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell into a dead faint.

As expected, the next Ni You Qian Wo You Dao – Chapter will be wrapping up this particular case — wiping away tears.