Chapter 215: The Wind Rises (III)

Chapter 215: The Wind Rises (III)

The dawn light was faint and cold, the water clock dripped steadily.

As he waited in the court chamber for the signal whip to crack, Xiang Zhiyun's gaze kept drifting over to Xiang Zhijie, who was sitting nearby, eyes closed, resting.

He couldn't help asking, "Little Six, you feeling okay?"

Xiang Zhijie opened his eyes, his gaze clear and untroubled: "Mm?"

Meeting his gaze, Xiang Zhiyun felt a sudden, inexplicable twinge of guilt and a catch in his breath: "Nothing. It's that time when winter turns to spring, and the weather keeps flip-flopping. I'm worried your old condition might act up again."

Xiang Zhijie said softly, "I'm doing just fine. Thanks for worrying about me, Fifth Brother."

Xiang Zhi snorted coldly from the sidelines.

Though he'd never had proof, he'd always figured Xiang Zhijie was a bad apple.

Even a nice word from him, pick it apart, and you'd find eight layers of scheming underneath.

Xiang Zhiyun had always steered clear of getting involved in the squabbles between his two younger brothers.

But today was a whole different story.

Hearing Xiang Zhi's snort, the Fifth Prince actually stuck up for Little Six for once: "Little Seven, Zhijie's still your older brother, no matter what. Showing respect, being polite, staying humble—that's what brotherly duty's all about."

Xiang Zhi: "...?"

Did Fifth Brother eat something that didn't sit right with him?

Hearing that, Xiang Zhijie shot a quick, fleeting glance at his visibly rattled fifth brother.

So-called brotherly duty—that was the path Fifth Brother wanted him to take, too.

Xiang Zhi hopped to his feet, quick and light: "It's Little Seven who spoke out of turn, offending my elder brother..."

He started to bow in apology, but halfway down, he turned his head and said with a grin, "Ah, Little Seven's slow on the uptake—I totally forgot Sixth Brother's a Daoist, so he's not tied down by all that Confucian mumbo jumbo."

Xiang Zhijie smiled, ignoring how stiff Xiang Zhiyun's face had gone, and reached out to grab Xiang Zhi's arm: "The other officials are all watching, Seventh Brother. Don't joke around."

Xiang Zhi pulled his hand back, casually flicking at his sleeve like he was brushing off dust: "Not like Sixth Brother, who's got real business to handle. It was so late last night—what were you doing going into the palace, Sixth Brother?"

Xiang Zhiyun's face tightened.

That was, in fact, exactly the question he'd been wanting to ask himself.

The night before, they'd been busy pushing Minister Geng of the Ministry of Justice to take four or five days of sick leave, to keep him as far from the mess as possible, and let Vice Minister Yu take the heat instead.

It wasn't until around 10:30 at night that word finally came about what Xiang Zhijie was up to.

He'd actually brought Jiang He into the palace!

Hearing that, Xiang Zhiyun's urge to back out swelled like a rising tide.

But when he learned Xiang Zhijie hadn't gotten to see the Emperor and had to leave the palace before the grain accounts were turned in, he let out a huge sigh of relief and doubled down on his plan to blow the whole thing up at the grand assembly:

Sooner is better than later.

If Little Six figured out things had changed and went to confess to Father Emperor, they'd miss their window for sure!

Today's big court assembly was the perfect chance to land this hit!

Xiang Zhijie, acting like he had no clue about his brother's inner turmoil, explained, "There's a military fund allocation from Fengzhou that's been waiting for Father Emperor's approval. The prefect there is getting pretty antsy. I wanted to get it wrapped up as fast as possible, so..."

Whatever Xiang Zhijie was going on about, Xiang Zhiyun had already tuned out.

To him, it was all just a cover story.

As long as Little Six didn't get sick over this, that was all that counted.

Xiang Zhiyun really wanted to make him lose the Emperor's favor, but he didn't want to wreck his health doing it.

After three cracks of the signal whip, the court chamber, which had been buzzing with whispers, went dead silent.

Officials filed out in pairs and small groups.

Xiang Zhijie tried to get up, but paused, bracing a hand on his knee for a second before he could take a step, then slowly followed Xiang Zhiyun toward Zhaoming Hall.

Xue Jie stood beside the Emperor, his voice ringing out like a bell: "Officials, present your memorials—"

Because of yesterday's robbery in the capital, none of the ministers dared speak above a whisper. Even the ones with stuff to report kept it to themselves, planning to wait till the dust settled.

The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture looked like he'd swallowed a bug, going through the motions as he reported yesterday's findings.

Zhang Yue knew the matter involved him. He'd spent the whole night tossing and turning, not getting a wink of sleep—cursing himself for not cutting his losses in time, leaving himself with endless trouble; grieving the sudden loss of paintings and calligraphy worth thousands of taels that could've been family heirlooms; and dreading that the Emperor might bring up the old Huangzhou case. He'd finally worked out a perfect speech in his head.

But before he could step out to own up to his mistake, he saw Vice Minister Yu step forward from the civil officials' ranks.

He looked totally different from the last court assembly. His face was still tired, but his eyes were unusually bright, burning with intensity.

"Your servant wishes to present a memorial!" Vice Minister Yu declared in a clear voice. "Criminal justice is about the law and people's lives—it can't be taken lightly! Right now, a case from Huangzhou is serious and far-reaching—no single office can handle it alone. After going through the case files, Your servant believes this should go to the Three Judicial Offices for a joint review—to show fairness, uphold the law, and settle things once and for all!"

On the dragon throne, Xiang Zheng, who'd been stone-faced, now narrowed his eyes, an air of authority radiating off him: "What case in Huangzhou?"

But Vice Minister Yu, head bowed, wasn't intimidated by that presence.

Fueled by a surge of righteous anger, he bit off every word with crystal clarity: "Back in the late Emperor's reign, there was a case of fake treasures in Huangzhou. When the local government was buying gold, jade, jewelry, paintings, and other valuables, twenty-eight merchant houses had the nerve to collude in making fakes, fooling the authorities. On charges of making and selling counterfeit goods, over two hundred people got thrown in jail."

Of course, Vice Minister Yu wasn't completely naive.

He left out the fact that the Huangzhou government had been buying the jewelry for the wedding of the former Crown Prince—the current Emperor.

And he made a point of bringing up the late Emperor.

It was the late Emperor who'd required local officials to present tribute jewelry.

He'd at least saved the Emperor a bit of face.

Zhang Yue could hardly believe Vice Minister Yu would air this out in front of the whole court. In his shock and rage, even his beard was shaking: "You...! Yu Xiuqun, digging up such an old case—are you saying the late Emperor got it wrong, that his investigation was sloppy?"

Normally, a mild-mannered civil official like Vice Minister Yu, hit with such a heavy accusation, would've backed off at least a few steps, even if not totally scared, his nerve at least a little shaken.

But he wasn't in this alone.

Last night, Minister Geng, sick as he was, had dragged himself to his house and begged him to present this memorial in open court, no matter what.

He'd said that Zhang Yue trying to move the paintings meant he must've gotten wind of something. Now that the works had been stolen in broad daylight, and the list of missing items was already in the hands of the Shuntian Prefect, it was clear Heaven itself had sealed his fate.

This was exactly the moment for a young guy like Vice Minister Yu to ride the wave, clear out the filth, and champion what's right!

Vice Minister Yu was flustered by the praise.

He simply couldn't bear to see the emperor deceived by treacherous men, ruining a reputation a century in the making.

As a minister, he ought to be loyal to his sovereign, preferring to follow in Wei Xuancheng's footsteps rather than end up like Le Youque!

His courage bolstered, his tone took on a note of finality, his voice rising, ringing clear: "This case has indeed been settled. But not long ago, fresh trouble stirred! Huangzhou's Xuan County filed a report: bandits had forged papers and travel passes, raided and burned a mountain temple. Once caught, their crimes called for the death penalty. But hidden inside that temple was the ledger of a certain art dealer surnamed Rao from the Huangzhou case. According to the ledger, every piece from Rao's shop had a clean provenance, backed by official appraisals—all of it genuine."

"I pulled the archived files on the Huangzhou counterfeit treasure case. Rao was implicated there too—of the ten paintings he submitted, five were fakes. I have to ask: how brazen could he be? When the authorities demanded paintings, he had the real ones in hand—and still turned in fakes?"

"Just yesterday, a brazen daylight robbery hit the capital. Taichang Zhang lost five private paintings, itemized on the pawnshop receipt: Zhang Benzhi's 'Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove,' Zhao Xuemei's 'Lone Autumn Waters,' and three more—each one matching, to the letter, the five forgeries Rao submitted in the Huangzhou case!"

Yu Xiuqun gathered his robes and knelt: "This case involves a current court official, spans a long period, and clues are hard to find. If the Ministry of Justice tries this alone, bias is all but guaranteed. But if we send it to the Three Judicial Offices for joint review, we can combine their wisdom and get to the bottom of it!"

"I beg Your Majesty to see the truth!"

Xiang Zhiyun, first among the civil officials, tilted his head a fraction.

Too bad he wasn't born in the Year of the Rooster—he couldn't swivel his head all the way around to catch the look on Xiang Zhijie's face behind him.

So far, everything was going exactly as he'd predicted.

Xiang Zhiyun rarely did anything wrong, and alongside the guilt, he felt a strange satisfaction.

So when he stole a glance and saw Xiang Zheng's face on the throne, gray as ash, he didn't think twice.

But he missed that even Xue Jie, at the emperor's side, looked utterly stricken, like someone had just slapped him across the face.

Last night, the Sixth Prince had come to the palace but never got to see His Majesty.

But he'd dutifully told Xue Jie everything he'd done on his own.

By the time the emperor heard Xue Jie's report, the palace gates were already barred for the night. He couldn't drag Xiang Zhijie back for a grilling, so he pressed Xue Jie: "Where did Xiaoliu get those five paintings?"

Xue Jie, thorough as ever, had already gotten every answer he needed out of Xiang Zhijie and replied without missing a beat: "The Sixth Prince said that while working at the Ministry of Revenue, he got a memorial from the Huangzhou prefect reporting that bandits had burned down a temple in Xuan County and funds were needed for repairs."

The emperor gave a small nod.

When a temple burned down, reports had to go to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Rites—each one separately.

Justice handled crimes, Revenue handled money, and Rites handled religion—so the prefect was right to send them all at once.

Xue Jie said: "The Sixth Prince said temple repairs are a goldmine, and he worried local officials might pad the losses to line their own pockets. So he went to pull the Justice files and Rites memorials to check how many monks lived there, how many statues were damaged, and whether the temple really needed that much silver. But per the Sixth Prince, the Xuan County case was fishy—seemed tied to that old Huangzhou case from years back..."

Xiang Zheng seemed to catch on, and the smile that had just crept onto his lips vanished.

Xue Jie pretended not to see it and went on: "The Sixth Prince once studied under... that person, and heard plenty of cases talked over, so he knew a thing or two about the Huangzhou case. The man who ran the Huangzhou case back then was none other than the current Taichang Zhang. The Sixth Prince privately suspected Zhang had sent men to stage the Xuan County business, but he couldn't figure out why Zhang would suddenly dig up old bones. He also worried that Zhang's incompetence might stir up sediment, reopening old cases and tarnishing Your Majesty's reputation. So he dispatched Guard Jiang to monitor the Zhang mansion's movements. If Zhang intended to harm anyone further, he was to secretly intervene."

Hearing this, Xiang Zheng understood everything: "...Then, today's robbery..."

"This is precisely why the Sixth Prince came to confess his fault," Xue Jie said with a wry smile. "Guard Jiang saw the Zhang mansion's steward going to Fujin Pawnshop to retrieve the items. His intention was to seize these paintings, giving Taichang Zhang a bitter pill to swallow—unable to complain—and quietly destroying the evidence. But the steward was quick, grabbing hold of him. Fearing exposure, Guard Jiang was forced to use force, which led to this whole mess..."

Xue Jie said: "The Sixth Prince knows he was wrong. Since entering Guanlin Pavilion, he has been kneeling in penance. No matter how I urged him, it was useless. Only when the palace gates were about to close did I persuade him to return home, saying we could discuss matters tomorrow."

Xiang Zheng stared at the flickering lamplight before him.

The night was still, the wind gentle, a single lamp like the moon, illuminating the subtle recesses of the heart.

He sighed: "Foolish boy, good intentions that turned into a blunder."

He asked: "Where are the five paintings now?"

Xue Jie replied: "The Sixth Prince said they are all safely stored in the prince's residence. Whether to destroy them or send them to the palace is entirely Your Majesty's decision. In any case, such critical items should not remain in the hands of a greedy, merit-seeking man like Taichang Zhang—they would eventually become a liability."

Xiang Zheng closed his eyes, a smile already forming at the corners of his mouth: "Understood."

...

For Xiang Zheng, the matter was already settled.

As for the so-called robbery, the Five City Patrol and the Shuntian Prefect would fail to catch the culprit and would naturally find a death-row prisoner to take the fall.

Xiang Zheng never imagined that someone would dare to stage such a public appeal for justice at the morning court.

Who had instigated this man surnamed Yu to insist on blowing this matter out of proportion?

Author's note:

Yaya: Whether good or bad, on the court, I am a legend.