Su Jin hadn’t dared let a physician examine her thoroughly—she had only gotten medicine prescribed for her symptoms.
If someone casually discovered her identity, she would likely end up dying before accomplishing her mission.
She hadn’t slept soundly all night.
After taking the medicine, she developed a high fever. Burning deliriously, she almost thought she would ascend to the clouds and transform into an immortal.
Fortunately, the medicinal herbs eventually diffused through her limbs and body, gradually soothing her boiling blood to coolness, like a powerful hand dragging her soul back from the underworld.
Su Jin remembered that over four years ago, when she had been beaten with rods by those killers from the Ministry of Personnel and left unconscious by the roadside, she had survived just such a life-or-death ordeal. The so-called insubordination warranting eighty strokes of the rod—that was merely the Ministry of Personnel’s public explanation. In truth, they had administered private punishment, thinking they had beaten her to death and casually thrown her onto a pile of corpses. It was by sheer willpower that she had crawled out.
Perhaps this life was destined to walk on knife’s edge, so heaven in its mercy had made her exceptionally thick-skinned and resilient. How fortunate indeed.
In the middle of the night after the examination candidates’ disturbance, rain fell throughout the entire capital.
The rain poured down torrentially, but unlike ordinary squalls that came and went quickly, it covered heaven and earth for two full days, clearly washing away late spring.
Sweltering summer was approaching.
The following day, the atmosphere throughout the capital truly changed.
Northern examination candidates and northern court officials jointly submitted a petition requesting a thorough investigation into the examination fraud case.
When the memorial reached the Emperor’s desk, Emperor Jingyuan flew into a rage. First, he ordered a joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices to clarify the cause and effect of the disturbances, identify instigators and accomplices, and severely punish all involved offices. Second, he removed the chief examiner of the spring examinations—Elder Qiu of the Hanlin Academy—from his position, nullified the conferral of titles for the top three graduates of this spring, and ordered over ten academicians from the Hanlin Academy to re-examine the spring examination papers.
Emperor Jingyuan’s handling appeared on the surface to give each side fifty strokes—holding the water level for north and south.
But during that day’s court deliberation, when Emperor Jingyuan asked the assembled ministers’ opinions, Vice Minister Shen Xi of the Ministry of Revenue merely probed by saying “the north-south disparity is likely a misunderstanding,” only to provoke the dragon’s fury and be ordered to receive thirty strokes of the rod.
Shen Xi’s father was the Minister of Justice.
It was said that these thirty strokes were personally administered by Minister Shen himself—probably wanting his son, who only knew how to put on airs, to learn a lesson, so he truly struck without mercy.
The result was that he broke Shen Xi’s legs.
When Su Jin’s injuries had improved enough that she could step out of her room and wander about the courtyard, Zhou Ping told her about these court matters one by one.
When Shen Xi was mentioned, Liu Yichu, sunning himself under the corridor eaves, interjected: “Both being sons of high officials, this Vice Minister Shen is far inferior to Junior Minister Yan. Just speaking of discerning the Emperor’s will—Junior Minister Yan stands unwaveringly on the northern side, and what happened? Not only was the dragon greatly pleased, but he was specially appointed to lead the investigation of the examination case. I reckon once this case concludes, the Junior Minister will soon be promoted to Minister of the Chamberlain, then to vice minister or minister of various departments, then to Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince, Junior Preceptor—the Grand Tutor Yan’s mansion will need to change its name.”
Hearing him mention Yan Ziyan, Su Jin felt momentarily melancholy.
That day, to protect Yan Ziqi’s safety, she had returned the jade seal to her. Presumably now that Yan Ziqi had the seal back, there was no reason for her to return to the office and tell her the circumstances of Chao Qing’s disappearance that day.
With her injuries, she couldn’t force her way into the Grand Tutor’s mansion. Young Marquis Ren Xuan hadn’t sent any more policy questions either—otherwise she could have risked her life to make another trip into the palace.
Liu Yichu beside her, seeing Su Jin looking sickly, started nagging again: “If you ask me, the entire court is full of ungrateful wolves. In this business with the examination candidates’ disturbances, you, Clerk Su, risked life and limb—shouldn’t that merit great recognition? Now you’ve been laid up for several days, just regaining consciousness, and only Young Marquis Ren from the Marquis Changping’s mansion has come to see you twice. But do you know, last month when Minister Qian of the Ministry of Revenue sneezed once at court, those big-tailed wolves bearing thousand-gold prescriptions nearly trampled down the threshold of the Minister’s mansion.”
Su Jin listened to his nonsense while pondering Chao Qing’s case in her mind. Not paying attention, she missed catching the silver lining, and couldn’t help asking: “The Young Marquis came to see me?”
Liu Yichu nodded, tarring everyone with the same brush: “His heart is the only one not completely black.”
Zhou Ping said: “He’s already been here twice. Seeing your door barred and you only sleeping, letting no one in, he said he’d come again in a few days.”
Su Jin was about to ask when Ren Xuan would come again when a young servant came from the front to report that Young Marquis Ren from Marquis Changping’s mansion had come to call on the invalid.
Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives.
Ren Xuan didn’t have the appearance one should have when visiting the sick.
At least what was locked between his brows was worry, not concern.
Upon seeing Su Jin, he stepped forward and grasped her hand, saying: “Brother Su, I’ve prepared silver for you. Choose a day and leave the capital, won’t you?”
Su Jin was stunned for a moment, then calmly withdrew her hand and asked: “Has something happened?”
They spoke in a side hall with no one around, but hearing her ask this, Ren Xuan still stood by the window and looked left and right before turning back and saying in a low voice: “Didn’t you help a palace prince write policy question responses before? Someone has discovered it!”
Su Jin ordinarily had no dealings with Ren Xuan. Just now seeing his worried expression, she had guessed that something had gone wrong with the proxy policy writing matter.
Having just walked the path between life and death, she could now be even more composed than Ren Xuan. She asked: “How was it discovered? Has a case already been filed?”
Ren Xuan said: “Not yet.” Then he sighed: “I won’t hide it from you—the policy question you wrote was answered on behalf of the Seventeenth Prince. You know the Seventeenth Prince—famously unlearned. I was guarding against this very point and deliberately helped you change the wording to be much more crude. Though the arguments were profound, princes and imperial grandsons have talented people all around them, so it could be taken as the Seventeenth Prince having consulted someone for guidance. The Hanlin old-timers could turn a blind eye. The problem lies with Yan Ziyan.”
Hearing this, Su Jin’s mind filled with doubts. Though Yan Ziyan had once been a Hanlin reader, he was now Junior Minister of the Chamberlain’s Office—how would the Seventeenth Prince’s policy essay fall into his hands? If one said he was deliberately targeting her, that would be one thing, but this matter was quite confidential. How did he happen to know this policy essay was written by her?
Seeing her look puzzled, Ren Xuan continued: “The current Crown Prince has two younger brothers—the Thirteenth and the Seventeenth. You know this. Because of the jade seal matter, you had some friction with Yan Ziyan. He also, because of this matter, somehow took note of you and specially found your ‘Discussion on Paper Currency’ to show the Crown Prince.
“That day was coincidental—the Seventeenth Prince happened to be at the Eastern Palace. After seeing your ‘Discussion on Paper Currency,’ he said he’d seen this handwriting before. You’re just a clerk with no connection whatsoever to the Seventeenth Prince—how would he have seen your handwriting? Yan Ziyan is a reincarnated weasel spirit. He immediately guessed the reason, found the Seventeenth Prince’s recent policy essays, and after the Crown Prince saw them and became furious, the Seventeenth Prince revealed the truth. Two days ago, Yan Ziyan even came specially to my mansion and took away the original of your policy essay.”
Su Jin was stunned for a moment and couldn’t help wanting to ask Ren Xuan why he had still kept the original—shouldn’t he have burned it immediately afterward?
But on second thought, everyone had their own way of surviving in the world. Leaving oneself an escape route at the right time didn’t seem particularly wrong.
Though the price was someone else’s life.
Ren Xuan, seeing Su Jin’s expression turn indifferent, said with momentary regret: “Brother Su, this matter is my fault—I wasn’t cautious enough. But the urgent matter now is that the faster you can leave the capital, the better. Do you know that half a year ago, Si Chen, who helped the Fourteenth Prince write policy question responses, was beaten to death? A few days ago, Minister Shen of the Ministry of Justice wanted to summon you to the palace for questioning. Fortunately, Censor Liu blocked it for you, saying you were severely injured and not yet recovered, letting you rest for a few days. In my view, no one in the entire court dares not give face to the Left Censor-in-Chief. Right now he’s blocking for you, you’re still invulnerable—why not take this opportunity to flee far away?”
Though Ren Xuan said this, he actually didn’t want Su Jin to flee.
Su Jin was merely a scholar—even if she fled, how could she escape the dragnet of a hundred thousand personal guards? Moreover, in these past year or two, the Embroidered Uniform Guard showed signs of resurgence. If the Crown Prince in his fury requested an edict for the Judicial Office to intervene and Su Jin was thrown into the imperial prison, wouldn’t she have to spill everything?
So his long discourse first mentioned Zhu Shisan, then mentioned Liu Chaoming.
He knew that the Thirteenth Prince had always valued Su Jin, and watching over the past half month, even Liu Chaoming, that iron-faced censor, had shown Su Jin considerable leniency—probably with an eye toward appreciation.
If Su Jin truly cherished her life, she shouldn’t flee—she should immediately seek these two golden Buddhas for protection.
Ren Xuan knew Su Jin had stubborn bones throughout her body. If he spoke too directly, he feared it would provoke her to immediately erect a memorial arch and wait for death.
It remained to be seen whether she could discern the elegant meaning behind the strings of the zither.
Su Jin thought for a moment and asked: “Didn’t you say no case has been filed yet? Why is the Ministry of Justice summoning me to the palace?”
Ren Xuan said: “The Ministry of Justice is summoning you because of the examination candidates’ disturbances—they want to ask about the situation that day. Right now there’s the joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices, which is why Lord Liu gave Minister Shen a heads up. Though there wasn’t much suspicion that day, Yan Ziyan took your policy essay away and will certainly want to submit it to the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice must already know about your situation by now.”
After Ren Xuan finished speaking, he carefully observed Su Jin’s expression, wanting to find answers in her brows and eyes.
He hadn’t expected that Su Jin’s mind was actually on another matter.
She had been troubled earlier about returning the jade seal to Yan Ziqi—though Chao Qing’s case had leads, the avenue had been cut off.
Now with the Ministry of Justice summoning her, this was an excellent opportunity. If the case of proxy policy writing could bring Yan Ziyan to confront her face to face, she could expose Chao Qing’s case before Liu Chaoming and Shen Tuo.
Then she need not fear that no one would be willing to handle the case of the missing tribute scholar.
In this world, one mountain after another, one river after another—the higher one climbed, the more worthless human life became.
The new ruler established the nation, having promoted benevolent government and love for the people for decades—but it was just a facade. Approaching the center of power, even finding one person required tremendous effort and countless twists and turns. If the common people fought desperately just to survive, what love and benevolence was there to speak of?
A trace of desolation rose in Su Jin’s heart, yet also like seeing a ray of light in the darkness—at least it wasn’t a dead end.
In any case, there was only one life. For Chao Qing’s case, she had already risked it once—what harm in risking it again?
She saw Ren Xuan off, asked Zhou Ping for the Ministry of Justice’s summons, and immediately went to the palace.
—
Author’s Note: Joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices means the Imperial Censorate, Ministry of Justice, and Court of Judicial Review jointly trying the same case, usually major cases requiring investigation.
This is roughly equivalent to the Procuratorate, Ministry of Justice, and People’s Court jointly trying a case.