The sky had already turned to dusk. Outside the Right Chancellor’s residence, the small disturbance spread in an instant.
After the battle for Bianliang, as though sifted by a great wave, only the most loyal guards remained close to Ning Yi. For a long time now, Ning Yi’s identity had been a complicated one — merchant and scholar both, a figure of ill repute in the martial world yet merely an advisor in official circles. During the famine, he had organized public contests to shame the grain-hoarding gentry; when the Jurchens came, he had gone to the very front lines to organize the fighting, and in the end had defeated Guo Yaoshi’s Resentment Army.
These deeds, these many identities — those willing to look could always see some part of the truth. To outsiders, some admired him, some scorned him, and honestly speaking, the scornful were likely more numerous. But those who followed at his side were different — they had witnessed every single one of these events firsthand. If the famine relief and disaster response had only been the beginning of their admiration for Ning Yi, then after the Jurchen invasion from the south, that loyalty had reached an entirely different level. Combined with how well he ordinarily treated them — in material terms, and in the spiritual rallying of this last great war — some of his guards’ admiration for him could fairly be called fanatical devotion.
These past days, watching the Right Chancellor’s household lose its standing, watching the Bamboo Registry come under one attack after another, had been one kind of frustration. But watching Ning Yi take a punch in public was something else entirely.
In the crowd, men like Chen Tuozi drew their twin blades and slashed straight at Tie Tianying!
The rest of the guards, all veterans returned from the battlefield, were sharp and alert. Ning Yi taking a blow was one thing that a rational man might still hesitate over — but once a comrade drew steel, there was nothing left to debate. In an instant, nearly everyone struck at once, blades flashing up. Then the Western Army soldiers drew their own weapons; Ning Yi shouted, “Stop!” Zhong Shidao roared as well, “Stop!” Tie Tianying had already drawn his great sword and clashed once with Chen Tuozi. The surrounding crowd erupted into chaotic shouting, scrambling backward.
The constables who had come with Tie Tianying only now hesitated and drew their own weapons to face off. Among them were, admittedly, some skilled men, but here in Bianliang, near the imperial palace itself, who could have anticipated a situation like this unfolding?
The surrounding crowd, badly frightened, retreated in large numbers, though fortunately not so densely packed as to cause a stampede. In front of the Qin residence, after that brief flash of drawn blades, everything froze again — the two sides faced off, the atmosphere grim and tense. In the end, the authority Ning Yi and Zhong Shidao commanded still proved effective; after their great shouts, everyone regained some measure of reason, though blades had already been drawn, and several Bamboo Registry guards now stood face to face with the constables, each side trying to intimidate the other with sheer presence.
Among the Bamboo Registry’s guards were many men of the martial underworld — some, like Tian Donghan, from the righteous path, others, like Chen Tuozi, from the darker fringes. After joining the Bamboo Registry, all of them had consciously tried to clean up their ways, though their methods still varied. Chen Tuozi, though once a skilled figure from the darker path, was far inferior to Tie Tianying in both skill and standing — but after several months of bloodshed on the battlefield, combined with his genuine admiration for what Ning Yi had accomplished, he now stood before Tie Tianying, his small eyes glaring with a sinister, unyielding intensity, showing not the slightest sign of backing down even before a Chief Constable of the Ministry of Justice.
Tie Tianying, holding his great sword, actually laughed. “Chen Tuozi, don’t think I don’t know you. You think finding yourself a patron means you’ve nothing to fear anymore — but can you really rely on him?”
“I’ve got nothing but this worthless life,” Chen Tuozi said, staring straight at him. “Once this business is settled, you won’t need to come looking for me — I’ll come looking for you. And for your whole family!”
Tie Tianying’s gaze turned sharp. Beside him, Ning Yi, wiping the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, had already stepped forward as well, his expression grown dark. “I said stop! Didn’t you hear me?!”
Only then did the Bamboo Registry guards each step back and sheathe their blades. Chen Tuozi lowered his head slightly and stepped aside on his own, and Ning Yi took his place in front of Tie Tianying.
The two men faced off for a moment. Zhong Shidao waved a hand, ordering his elite Western Army soldiers to sheathe their weapons as well, and the grim-faced old man went back to check on Madam Qin, while also pulling Qin Shaoqian back with him. The onlookers along the street hadn’t fully dispersed, and seeing that no real fight had broken out, they continued to watch with interest.
Tie Tianying’s gaze swept the surroundings, then settled on Ning Yi once more. “Can’t keep your own men in line, can you, Master Ning. Drawing blades in the street — I could haul the whole lot of them back to the Ministry of Justice.”
Ning Yi’s gaze remained calm; at this moment he didn’t seem particularly hard-edged, only pulled out two official documents and handed them over. “Orders from the Left Chancellor and the Ministry of Justice both. Best to take the win and go while you can, Chief Constable Tie — this matter’s already fallen apart. Better to make a graceful exit.”
Tie Tianying gave a cold laugh, raised a finger, and slowly tapped it against Ning Yi’s shoulder. “Ning Liheng, I know you’re a ruthless one — that’s why I never touched you while the Right Chancellor’s household still had power. But now that it’s on its way out, let’s see how many more times you can hold this line. You’re just a scholar — go write your poetry!”
Ning Yi tilted his head to look at the hand on his shoulder, then raised the official documents and placed them into Tie Tianying’s grip. “Watch him raise his crimson towers, watch him host his feasting guests, watch his towers come crashing down. All things in this world rise and fall in turn, Chief Constable Tie. I don’t want trouble — take these and go.”
Only then did Tie Tianying finally accept the documents. “So it’s my turn to rise while yours falls now, is it. We have a score between us — I’ll remember you.”
“Please show some mercy, Chief Constable.” Ning Yi nodded wearily, then spread a hand off to the side. “The Ministry of Justice is that way.”
“Hmph.” Tie Tianying gave a scornful laugh, then cupped his fists toward Zhong Shidao before leading his constables away.
With Qin Shaoqian’s crisis unfolding, the whole household had mobilized — Yao Zunian had gone to fetch Zhong Shidao, Ning Yi had gone to Li Gang, and Wenren Buer had gone to Tang Ke, as well as to see the imprisoned Qin Siyuan. Now that Ning Yi had finally arrived to resolve the standoff, the Qin family’s sons, along with Zhong Shidao and the others, escorted the elderly Madam Qin back inside. Ning Yi stood there, watching the crowd, and Cheng Zhouhai came over to speak with him. The onlookers, seeing the matter resolved, finally dispersed like a receding tide.
Once the crowd had scattered, it left behind a scene of scattered debris — during the tense moment when blades had been drawn, some onlookers had turned to flee and knocked into things; a passerby carrying vegetables had had his basket overturned and now crouched on the ground picking up the scattered leaves. Some households had already begun lighting their lamps. Watching from where she stood, Shishi felt the night wind turn bleak and sparse; Ning Yi, still standing there in his blue scholar’s robe, upright as ever despite having just faced down the Ministry’s chief constable, nonetheless seemed, in the depths of his silhouette, to carry a certain weariness.
Shishi had originally thought that, with the Bamboo Registry beginning to relocate south and the family’s holdings in the capital being harassed, boycotted, and sold off one by one, Ning Liheng’s entire household would likely be leaving the capital for the south as well — and that he hadn’t come to tell her himself left her feeling somewhat hurt. Now, seeing his figure before her, that feeling turned into a different kind of ache.
Some people, it seemed, always had to carry more than everyone else…
As she stood there lost in thought, Ning Yi and the Bamboo Registry men lingered a while longer outside the Qin residence; once most of the onlookers had left, he finally went inside to ask after the old matriarch’s condition. Compared to the intensity of the earlier confrontation, Madam Qin was now in no real danger — she had simply exhausted herself from standing at the gate, shouting and crying out, her emotions overwrought. Coming out from the old woman’s room, Qin Shaoqian sat in the courtyard outside; Ning Yi and Cheng Zhouhai went over and sat down with him at the stone table.
“Thank you, Liheng, and Brother Cheng, for today.” After sitting for a moment, Qin Shaoqian spoke first, his tone calm, though clearly holding back his emotions.
Ning Yi placed one clenched fist on the stone table and struck it down sharply. He said nothing at first. Cheng Zhouhai spoke. “Chancellor Li probably won’t dare say much more about this, I’d think?”
“Dodging it this once doesn’t mean there won’t be a next time,” Qin Shaoqian said. “There’ll come a time I can’t dodge it — I’ve already made my peace with that.”
“That’s not how it works. Dodge it enough times, and you might just get through it.” Only then did Ning Yi speak. “Even if the Qin family ends up brought so low it can never recover, you don’t have to be the one convicted, Second Young Master.”
“Better to go down myself, honestly. Otherwise, am I supposed to wait around for revenge later?” Qin Shaoqian said.
Ning Yi shook his head, not answering directly: “Everyone besides the Chancellor himself is just extra weight in this. Whatever can be saved, let’s save.”
After a few more exchanges, Ning Yi greeted Yao Zunian and then took his leave from the residence. By now it was already growing late; he hadn’t gone far when someone stopped his carriage and asked him to come over.
The Right Chancellor’s residence wasn’t far from the imperial palace, and the streets here were quiet and wide. The one who stopped him was a steward from the Prince of Guangyang’s household. He was led into a nearby courtyard, up to a second-floor terrace, where he found a man standing ahead of him — it was Tan Zhen, former Military Affairs Commissioner, now in charge of the Ministry of War. The last time Ning Yi had seen Tong Guan, Tan Zhen had been standing beside him. This time, he found only Tan Zhen alone, his expression far from pleasant, hands clasped behind his back as he glanced at Ning Yi.
“You’ve been busy these days, I hear.”
“Greetings, Lord Tan…”
“Greetings? Master Ning here moves so smoothly among all sides these days, I imagine even the Prince of Guangyang barely registers in your eyes. Whether you greet insignificant little Tan here or not hardly matters, does it?”
“Er, Lord Tan, what do you mean by—”
“Do you still remember what His Highness told you?” Tan Zhen’s tone grew sharper. “You, a petty merchant without so much as a proper scholarly title — do you think you’ve been handed some imperial sword, that nothing can touch you!?”
Given his current position overseeing the Ministry of War, for him to lose his temper at Ning Yi like this was truly unusual. Before Ning Yi could respond, another figure emerged from the side — tall and composed, wiping his hands with a cloth.
“Lord Tan, mind your position — that’s going a bit far.” Tong Guan’s voice carried a low warning, and Tan Zhen stepped back, cupping his fists in apology: “…I simply cannot bear the sight of such presumptuous behavior.” Ning Yi returned the gesture with a bow of his own. From this small terrace on the second floor, one could see the lamplight of the homes below, and in the distance, the bustling traffic of the streets.
Tong Guan looked Ning Yi over for a moment, then spoke. “One who accepts another’s food and pay ought to be loyal to that master’s affairs. Now that the Right Chancellor’s household is in trouble, that Liheng has stood by him without wavering, doing all he can — that’s admirable enough. But Liheng, sometimes good intentions don’t necessarily lead to good outcomes. If Qin Shaoqian is convicted this time, who’s to say he isn’t dodging an even greater disaster down the road?”
He paused, then continued. “You needn’t overthink this. As for the Ministry of Justice’s affairs, the one really in charge is Wang Fu — I have no part in this matter. I don’t wish to see things pushed to the absolute extreme, but I also don’t want the waters of this capital growing any murkier than they already are. When His Highness spoke with you over a month ago, things were still unclear — but there’s nothing more to say about it now. All favor and honor rest with those above. The Qin household won’t escape this, and setting aside the bigger picture, what exactly are you in all of this? You have no scholarly rank, no backing of any kind — nothing but the status of a merchant. Even with whatever talent you may have, when the great waves come crashing down, casually, carelessly — what could you possibly hold up against them? It’s only that no one’s chosen to move against you yet.”
Tong Guan’s gaze turned severe. “How does your standing compare to Yao Zunian’s? To Juemingheshang’s? Even Ji Kun of the chancellor’s own household has far deeper roots than you do. It’s precisely because you have neither backing nor connections that you’ve slipped through several disasters unscathed. I once thought you understood this clearly enough — but it seems you’ve grown a bit too pleased with yourself. Not even counting this latest business, the affair with Luo Shengzhou alone should have been enough for me to have you killed!”
His voice echoed across the terrace. Tan Zhen said nothing, gazing down with a look of contempt. Tong Guan pressed his lips together, then softened his tone somewhat. “Whatever standing Lord Tan holds, that he’d lose his temper with you shows he values your talent — he thinks of you as one of his own. I command troops; speaking such harsh words to you is only because I don’t want to see you bring ruin upon yourself. What you did today looked impressive enough on the surface — but I called you here not because you defended Qin Shaoqian, but because of who you went to: Li Gang!”
He pointed at Ning Yi sharply. “In this matter, going to Grand Preceptor Cai, coming to me, going to Lord Wang — all of these are ways to defuse the situation, showing you can read the state of things clearly. But going to Li Gang — either you fail to understand the situation, or you understand it perfectly well and still cling to false hope, which means you fail to understand your own position! That’s a path to your own destruction! Some days ago, when you had that Bamboo Registry of yours stop its flattering praise of the Qin family, I thought you’d finally grown wise. Now it seems you’re still not wise enough!”
Tong Guan paused for a moment, then finally clasped his hands behind his back and sighed. “Well, so be it. You’re still young, a bit stubborn — that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But you’re also a clever man. If, once you’ve calmed down, you still can’t grasp the depth of my concern for you, then you’re not worth my protecting after all. You young men, at this stage of your lives, I can guide you along for a stretch, and after I’m gone, men like Lord Tan can carry you further still. Only once you’ve walked that road long enough will you gradually be able to guide others forward in turn — only then will those ideals and ambitions of yours have any chance of being realized. Such is officialdom, such is the way of the world. I’ll say it again: chase the wind and the moon without mercy — show too much sentiment, and it changes nothing, only costs you your future and your life… Think on it yourself. Lord Tan’s earnest concern for you — you ought to appreciate it, and apologize to him.”
Tan Zhen said: “As if I deserve an apology from such a great talent!”
Tong Guan laughed. “See, that’s him treating you as one of his own.”
Not long after, Tan Zhen saw Ning Yi out. Ning Yi, ever amenable, offered both apology and thanks, and Tan Zhen only nodded slightly, his expression still stern, though he said: “His Highness was speaking about you, but also protecting you — you should understand the depth of his concern. These are things Grand Preceptor Cai and the others would never bother telling you.”
Afterward, when Tan Zhen returned to the terrace and found himself alone with Tong Guan, he said: “That young man strikes me as rather slippery. I wonder if he’ll actually appreciate His Highness’s concern or not.”
Tong Guan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, shaking his head with a faint smile, saying nothing. In truth, he understood perfectly well that Tan Zhen’s feelings toward Ning Yi had nothing to do with genuine concern — back during the affair of the Wu Rui Camp, when Luo Shengzhou had been gravely wounded and driven out in disgrace, Tan Zhen had effectively been publicly humiliated by it, and had flown into a rage, nearly moving against Ning Yi as the suspected mastermind behind it all — it was Tong Guan himself who had held him back. He still carried that grudge to this day.
Nor did Tong Guan himself necessarily hold Ning Yi’s talent in such high regard. A young man like this, full of drive but reckless, sharp but not yet seasoned — useful as a vanguard, perhaps, but not fit for greater responsibility. It was simply that, with Qin Siyuan gone, someone had to take over the affairs of the Right Chancellor’s household, and giving the young man a little warning in passing cost him nothing. In truth, whether it was Tan Zhen or Ning Yi, both were much the same to him — mere pawns, hopping about here and there. He found it all rather ironic and amusing to watch, and occasionally couldn’t help but sigh. Now, hearing Tan Zhen speak ill of Ning Yi, Tong Guan merely smiled faintly and offered no comment.
…
Ning Yi walked out from that courtyard, the night breeze brushing lightly against him, his gaze settling into calm.
He had already made up his mind to leave, and had already anticipated everything he’d have to face in the time ahead. If there was reason to sigh, or reason to rage, such reasons certainly existed — but none of it held any real meaning anymore.
These past days, all he had seen, in the open and in the shadows, was scheming and the trading of interests. Below him, the petty officials and clerks who came looking to make trouble for the Bamboo Registry or for Ning Yi himself, or old enemies like Tie Tianying; above him, whether it was Cai Jing, Tong Guan, or even Li Gang — what any of them cared about now, in the end, was simply the question of future interests. Of course, Ning Yi wasn’t Li Gang’s trusted confidant, and Li Gang had no particular reason to display grand passion on his behalf. With Qin Siyuan imprisoned and Zhong Shidao thoroughly disheartened, Li Gang might still want to hold up some corner of the sky, but even he could only operate through interests now — pulling in whatever allies he could, protecting himself as best he could.
But Ning Yi was going to leave.
Swallowing his pride and playing the meek subordinate wasn’t a difficult thing for him — though he hadn’t done it in a long while, it was a skill he’d mastered years ago. If he had truly been some wide-eyed young idealist fresh to the world, the words of men like Tong Guan, Cai Jing, or Li Gang — whether pragmatic or idealistic in their grand pronouncements — might have moved him somewhat. But at this point, he saw all too clearly what lay behind such words, and understood exactly what to do regardless of how unmoved he felt inside. Naturally, he could still put on the outward show of meek compliance when needed.
He didn’t even bother summoning up the will to feel contempt anymore. “Such are the times,” “such is the world,” “such is the will above,” “there’s no choice but to act this way” — whatever such phrases were offered, in his own mind, all he saw behind them was the image of Bianliang falling entirely: the men dragged north to live as slaves and beasts of burden, the women subjected to mass violation for sport. Against a vision like that, even cursing these people felt inadequate.
And so, faced with the many faces he wished he could simply put a bullet through, he mostly just let them be.
There were many things in this world that couldn’t be excused by claiming hardship, nor resolved simply through understanding and forgiveness. Understand too much, and those with their own hardships only end up deserving death — that was the cold reality, one that never accommodated the least bit of wishful sentimentality.
By now, he no longer even had the impulse to sigh. He walked on, and his guards had already brought the carriage around; just as he was about to climb aboard, at the crossing ahead, he spotted a familiar figure.
These past few days, one person after another had come to him, and he had gone to seek out one person after another in turn, rushing from one appointment to the next like a traveling performer, and could not help but feel, to some degree, exhausted. But the figure before him now didn’t feel like trouble at all. In the faint lamplight along the street, the woman wore a pale pink gown, her sleeves fluttering in the night breeze, graceful yet composed. Not having seen her in some time, she seemed to have grown somewhat thinner.
Seeing her glancing about somewhat cautiously, Ning Yi smiled and walked over toward her.