Chapter 10: In today's morning court, I shall bring her along to attend
The night wind was cool.
The imperial palace of Great Yuan was roiling with hidden currents.
Su Zhen had just returned to the Imperial Study from outside Zhaoyang Hall, striding so quickly that sparks seemed to fly from his feet.
He had not even taken an imperial carriage. He walked with such force that a gust of wind followed in his wake.
The eunuchs behind him had to jog the entire way, panting and utterly bewildered.
When His Majesty had gone to Zhaoyang Hall, he had been brimming with murderous intent, looking as though he meant to swallow Noble Consort Jing alive.
So how had he returned with a face still stern, yet steps so light and buoyant? He looked like a several-hundred-pound child in a fit of happiness.
With a resounding bang, Su Zhen kicked open the heavy, carved wooden doors of the Imperial Study.
“Every one of you, get out! Without My permission, no one is to come within fifty paces of the Imperial Study!”
The eunuchs fled as though they had been granted a pardon, scrambling out on all fours.
Soon, only Su Zhen remained inside the Imperial Study.
He could no longer contain the joy surging through his heart. He paced back and forth across the spacious room.
Three hundred thousand taels!
That was a full three hundred thousand taels of silver!
Great Yuan had been short of money everywhere these past few years. The treasury was so impoverished that even a rat would have to leave with tears in its eyes after entering.
The soldiers guarding the borders needed provisions and pay. Disaster relief funds had to be sent to every corner of the realm. Which of those things did not require silver?
As Emperor, he could not even repair a garden without being roundly condemned by the censors for squandering the people’s labor and wealth.
And yet—
The very man who cursed him day after day, proclaiming himself Great Yuan’s Foremost Incorruptible Official, had hidden a fortune of three hundred thousand taels beneath a withered well in his own backyard!
“You old bastard! No wonder you never lose weight, even though you drink nothing but thin gruel every day. So all that grease has been going straight into your belly!”
Su Zhen slapped the red sandalwood desk, his eyes gleaming like a hungry wolf’s.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down before shouting in a low voice, “Shadow!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the air in a corner of the Imperial Study twisted.
A commander of the imperial secret guard, dressed entirely in black, appeared before Su Zhen like a specter and dropped to one knee.
“Your subordinate is here!”
Shadow’s voice was as cold and hard as iron.
As the most mysterious and lethal imperial secret guard in Great Yuan, Shadow answered only to the Emperor.
The Emperor summoned them only when investigating a major treason case or assassinating an important official of an enemy state.
Shadow had already prepared himself for orders to slaughter an entire powerful minister’s household.
“Immediately gather the most elite Heaven-grade secret guards under your command and leave the palace.”
Su Zhen lowered his voice, his tone ruthless.
Shadow’s spirits lifted. He tightened his grip on the hilt at his waist.
“Your Majesty, which residence are we to purge tonight?”
“Not purge. I want you to keep watch.”
Su Zhen walked up to Shadow and issued his order slowly, one word at a time.
“Go to the residence of the Left Censor-in-Chief.”
“Surround that abandoned withered well in his backyard—the one covered by a slab of blue stone—and guard it with your lives!”
Shadow froze. Shock flashed through his eyes beneath his mask.
Keep watch... over a withered well?
Deploy the most elite assassins of the Heaven grade to watch a withered well in some old man’s backyard?
“Your Majesty, is there perhaps some weapon or group of hidden soldiers plotting rebellion concealed in that well?” Shadow could not help asking.
“It is more important than weapons!”
Su Zhen let out a cold laugh.
“That well contains My imperial treasury!”
Shadow’s heart jolted.
Although he could not understand the riddle, he did not dare ask any further questions.
“Convey My absolute order!” Su Zhen’s gaze turned incomparably cold, like an abyss.
“From this moment until the end of tomorrow’s court session, not even a fly is to leave the area around that withered well!”
“If so much as one brick goes missing from the well, or if anyone approaches it, I will exterminate your entire clans!”
Shadow trembled from head to toe and cupped his fists.
“Your subordinate obeys! We swear to defend the well with our lives!”
The night wind swept past, and Shadow’s figure vanished.
Su Zhen braced both hands against his desk and gazed into the darkness outside the window. No matter how hard he tried, he could not suppress the smile tugging at his lips.
Everything was ready. All that remained was for the east wind to blow.
Tomorrow’s court session would certainly be a magnificent spectacle.
—
The residence of the Left Censor-in-Chief, east of the capital.
From the outside, the house looked decrepit. The plaster had fallen from the walls, and the red paint on the main gate had peeled away in mottled patches.
It was even shabbier than the homes of the capital’s most down-and-out merchants.
This was precisely what the Left Censor-in-Chief took the greatest pride in. He used the dilapidated residence as a living emblem of his own uprightness and incorruptibility.
Whenever a colleague came to visit and saw the run-down gate, they would be moved to tears.
Yet deep within the residence, in a secret study, an entirely different scene unfolded.
The Left Censor-in-Chief sat behind a fine huanghuali wood desk.
A Donghai mermaid candle worth a thousand pieces of gold burned on the table, releasing a faint fragrance and illuminating the entire study as brightly as daylight.
He wore his trademark court robe, patched in three places.
But the robe’s lining was made of Jiangnan Cloudflow Silk, worth a thousand pieces of gold per bolt. It kept him warm in winter and cool in summer against his skin.
The Left Censor-in-Chief lifted a purple-clay teapot and leisurely took a sip of Wuyi Da Hong Pao, rushed to him by an express courier from a thousand li away.
He set down the teapot, picked up a white-jade wolf-hair brush, and began writing furiously on the memorial before him.
His expression shifted between deep anguish and righteous indignation.
His words flowed in grand, magnificent prose, as though he alone in all the world remained clearheaded and loyal.
Every line of the memorial was cutting enough to draw blood.
He was impeaching the Emperor for being bewitched by a Demoness, bringing the Bastard from the Black Market into the palace, and even conferring upon her the title of Crown Princess.
For the sake of that bastard, the Emperor had unjustly punished Noble Consort Jing, who assisted in managing the six palaces. Such conduct was that of a Tyrant.
“The Demoness has thrown the government into chaos, and the realm is on the verge of ruin! If Your Majesty remains stubborn and refuses to see reason, this old minister can only die to atone before all under Heaven!”
After writing the final sentence, the Left Censor-in-Chief brought the brush down heavily and tapped it against the inkstone.
He looked at the impeaching memorial, a masterpiece destined to last through the ages, and stroked his graying beard in satisfaction.
He could already imagine the magnificent scene at tomorrow’s court session.
Before all the civil and military officials, he would denounce the Tyrant with righteous indignation and condemn the Crown Princess of unknown origins.
When the Tyrant flew into a rage, he would pretend to dash his head against the coiled-dragon pillar in the Golden Hall, staging a death remonstrance.
Of course, it would only be an act.
He had practiced the angle at home countless times. At most, he would suffer a little scrape.
But once he made that single charge, his title as Great Yuan’s Foremost Upright Courtier would be recorded in the annals of history.
The scholars of the realm would revere him as a saint, and under the pressure of public opinion, the Tyrant would have no choice but to obediently compromise.
As for the dozen or so tens of thousands of taels his wastrel son had lost at the underground gambling den during the day...
The Left Censor-in-Chief gave a cold laugh, greed flashing in his eyes.
As long as his reputation remained intact and he retained his power, the silver could always be extorted back—multiplied several times over.
He carefully tucked the memorial into his sleeve.
At that moment, he was immersed in a beautiful dream of having his name remembered for all time and wielding power over the entire court.
The night slowly faded, and the eastern sky began to pale.
Dawn broke. Another morning had arrived.
Inside the Panlong Hall of Great Yuan’s imperial palace—
As was customary, at this hour the Emperor would still be asleep. No one dared disturb the Tyrant’s fearsome temper upon waking.
But today, everything was different.
For the first time ever, Su Zhen had risen a full hour earlier than usual.
The eunuchs and palace maids waiting outside the hall trembled as they carried in the bronze basins and warm water for his morning ablutions.
Had His Majesty risen so early because he had slept poorly the night before and was seething with anger, ready to begin another massacre?
The newly appointed chief eunuch pushed open the door with great trepidation.
Su Zhen was already fully dressed. He stood before the enormous bronze mirror, looking invigorated, his eyes shining brightly.
There was not the slightest trace of his usual morning temper.
He could hardly contain his excitement, as if he were about to attend a grand celebration!
“Move faster! What are you dawdling for?”
Su Zhen impatiently urged the eunuchs, who were still standing there in a daze.
“If you delay My morning court session or interfere with My important affairs, I’ll have your heads cut off!”
The eunuchs hurried forward in terror to help the emperor fasten his jade-inlaid belt and arrange his ornaments.
Su Zhen ran his hand over the jade-inlaid sword at his waist, a smile full of anticipation curling at the corners of his lips.
His fingers tapped lightly against the hilt, producing a chilling sound.
“You old bastard, I’m taking your three hundred thousand taels today, no matter what.”
Su Zhen muttered under his breath, sending a shiver down anyone who heard him.
Dong.
Dong.
The Jingyang Bell suddenly rang out above the imperial city.
Its deep, resonant tolls pierced the thin chill of the morning mist, announcing the beginning of a new day.
Outside the Meridian Gate, civil and military officials dressed in immaculate court robes entered in an orderly procession, treading over the morning dew.
Each wore a different expression.
The Left Censor-in-Chief held his head high and puffed out his chest, looking as though he were ready to make a great show of himself.
Outside the Hall of Golden Chimes, the atmosphere was solemn and grave.
Su Zhen stood behind the gilded screen at the rear of the great hall, listening to the sounds of the assembled officials paying their respects outside.
He turned his head toward the chief eunuch standing respectfully beside him.
A wicked glint flashed through the Tyrant’s eyes.
He said to the chief eunuch, “Go. Bring the Crown Princess here. I’m taking her to court with Me today!”