Yan Tongshu said, "But sir, you have served as the Administrator of Kaifeng Prefecture for nine years."
Just one more year, and it would have been a full decade.
Kaifeng Prefecture was a difficult post—high in rank, heavy in responsibility, with everyone trying to get a foothold in it. The affairs were numerous, the personnel were complicated, and it sat right at the foot of the imperial city. Whoever took the position had a headache. Before Yu Ping, no fewer than four consecutive Administrators of Kaifeng had each held the post for less than a year. It wasn’t until Yu Ping came that things finally stabilized.
"And," Yan Tongshu said, fixing her gaze on Yu Ping, "you left behind Magistrate Li and Assistant Magistrate Zhang in Kaifeng Prefecture. Magistrate Li appears slick and worldly, but deep down he has principles and real ability. Though he isn’t skilled at judging cases, he has a deep understanding of people’s livelihoods. In matters of waterways and taxation, he always puts the people’s concerns first. Assistant Magistrate Zhang is upright and stern, meticulous in thought, and accomplished in both letters and martial arts. And the constables of Kaifeng Prefecture—they are well-trained, and though they may occasionally be harsh with the common folk, they never oppress them. If you truly were, as the rumors in the market suggest, a sycophant and a mediocre man, then the backbone of Kaifeng Prefecture would have rotted long ago, and the people currently serving there would all be flatterers and scoundrels."
Yu Ping listened quietly, then reached out to gently stroke the rough trunk of the plum tree. "Lord Yan, as Fulin said, you are indeed perceptive and observant of people. Not long ago, Fulin came to visit me at my residence and spoke of you at length. At the time, I already wished to meet you, but I never had the opportunity."
His tone grew heavier. "I dare say I have given Kaifeng Prefecture my all, but it grieves me that I could only do so much. Ah… I had the heart, but I was also mediocre."
After a moment of silence, Yu Ping’s voice dropped lower still. "Of the two men in Kaifeng, I am not worried about Fulin—he has a broad mind and knows how to let things go. The one I truly cannot stop worrying about… is Zhang Jiu."
Yan Tongshu looked at Yu Ping with confusion.
What about Zhang Jiu?
She felt that Zhang Jiu was full of vitality and drive.
Yu Ping could tell from her expression what she was thinking. "That is because, with you, Lord Yan, he has found something to strive for."
Yan Tongshu asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Yu Ping said, "I have wronged Zhang Jiu. In the twenty-sixth year of the Ganjeng reign, when the floods struck south of the river, the Late Crown Prince was sent to transport grain and relief supplies for disaster relief. While directing operations at Hong Bridge, the bridge’s foundation—which had been built with substandard materials—collapsed under the torrent, and he fell into the water and drowned. The Late Emperor was enraged and sent investigators to root out the corruption."
Yan Tongshu nodded slightly.
She had heard of this matter. When Qin Yi came to the Yan residence to catch her pretending to be sick, he had mentioned it as well.
Yu Ping looked ahead, his gaze distant. "At the time, the Prefect of Jiangnan was Song Shen. Song Shen’s daughter, Song Zhi, was Zhang Jiu’s betrothed. The imperial investigator searched and searched, but found no culprit. To shift blame from themselves, the various local factions piled all the guilt onto a single forty-year-old master craftsman who had overseen the bridge’s foundation work. Song Shen was upright and refused to watch the court rot any further, so he gathered evidence of the corruption from every faction and compiled it into a ledger. He had his daughter Song Zhi disguise herself and travel to the capital to petition the emperor directly."
"At that time, Zhang Jiu was also in the capital. Song Zhi found him and asked him to pass on the evidence. Zhang Jiu’s father had once studied with me, so Zhang Jiu brought the ledger to me." Yu Ping closed his eyes. "To prevent the evidence from being lost, Zhang Jiu copied out the ledger and also memorized it by heart. Later, I arranged for a contact to let Song Zhi submit the ledger to the Late Emperor through a friend in the Chancellery…"
Here, Yu Ping fell silent.
Yan Tongshu probed, "Did the Late Emperor not adopt the ledger?"
"The Late Emperor had always believed in the art of balancing power between factions, and he did not want any side to grow too strong." Yu Ping’s voice turned hoarse. "If he had punished according to the ledger, the factional balance would certainly have tipped, allowing one side to rise unchecked. The Late Emperor did not want to see such a situation. A confidant of the Late Emperor in the Chancellery switched the ledger and instead accused the Song family of forging documents and trying to evade their crimes. The entire Song household… was convicted and executed."
His throat bobbed. "Before Song Zhi was put to death, I destroyed the copy Zhang Jiu had transcribed. Zhang Jiu wanted to see the Late Emperor in person and recite the ledger from memory. I notified his father, who locked him in the house. After that, the case was completely buried. Later, Zhang Jiu passed the imperial examination and became a Tanhua. His father sent him to Kaifeng Prefecture. Many cases that touched on higher authorities were suppressed by me."
Yu Ping’s voice choked. "It was my incompetence. There was nothing I could do. Just like the scheduling of the joint patrol duty for the Divine Guard—I had to labor over it for over a month before I could barely satisfy everyone."
Yan Tongshu was silent for a long while. "Sir, it’s not your fault. It’s that everything from top to bottom was rotten. You simply couldn’t do more."
Yu Ping had tried his best—truly, he had done everything he could to protect Kaifeng Prefecture.
Otherwise, the prefecture would have been in chaos long ago.
He had also genuinely tried to help Song Zhi. He just hadn’t expected the Late Emperor to be so cold-blooded. In the end, all he could do was protect Zhang Jiu; otherwise, Zhang Jiu would have died too.
"The ironic thing is," Yu Ping went on, "the Late Emperor spent his entire life painstakingly maintaining the balance between factions, but as he grew older, he lost his grip and could only watch as Prince Ming grew more powerful. He looked up at the sky and said softly, "But thankfully, now… day is about to break."
Yan Tongshu looked up as well. "Is it?"
But to her, the sky still looked so gray.
Oh well. Winter skies were like that most of the time anyway.
Yu Ping took out a notebook from his chest and handed it to Yan Tongshu. "Over the years, I have heard many interesting tidbits. I’ve written them all down here. Take a look when you have time. And as for Zhang Jiu, I entrust him to you."
He sighed with feeling. "I will leave the capital tomorrow at dawn. I’ll never come back to this city again."
With that, Yu Ping turned and walked away, his silhouette growing smaller and smaller in the distance.
Yan Tongshu held the notebook and, facing Yu Ping’s retreating back, gave a deep bow.
That night, Yan Tongshu burrowed under her blanket and opened Yu Ping’s notebook. Barely two pages in, she already felt a herd of alpacas stampeding through her mind.
Holy crap, so that’s how it was?
Old Cheng, the Minister of Personnel, had quite a few skeletons in his closet.
Chu Lishen, the Minister of Justice, had apparently dabbled in some shameless family scandal in his youth.
Tsk tsk tsk, these people.
Yan Tongshu ate up the gossip with great relish. When she reached the end, she slapped her thigh. Too bad she couldn’t share any of this.
If Chen Meirong were here, the two of them could take a plate of melon seeds each and chat about this gossip for three days and three nights.
Yan Tongshu let out another internal sigh. If Chen Meirong ever found out she had all this juicy gossip and hadn’t shared it, she would surely get beaten to death.
Yan Tongshu flipped further. Oh, even the Empress Dowager had a scandal—something tangled with the peoples beyond the frontier, an affair she couldn’t control.
That old gentleman Yu Ping had eyes and ears everywhere, didn’t he? He even knew secret affairs from deep inside the imperial harem.
Hmph. From now on, if any of those ministers dared to provoke her without cause, she would impeach them—one by one, she’d impeach them all.
Yan Tongshu continued to savor the gossip with relish.
Eh?
Cao Jian?
Yan Tongshu shifted her body closer to the candle.
After Cao Jian had saved Prince Ming from under a tiger’s claws, he had also helped Prince Ming gather together a group of scattered soldiers who had fled in disarray.
Before those soldiers turned into bandits on Yunheng Mountain, their leader was the infamous outlaw Thunder-Chasing Tiger.
During one pursuit by the authorities, Thunder-Chasing Tiger was gravely wounded and happened to encounter Cao Jian, who was hunting in the mountains.
At that time, Thunderbolt Tiger had only two brothers left by his side. With Cao Jian blocking the way ahead and pursuers closing in from behind, Thunderbolt Tiger knew he couldn't escape, so he knelt and begged Cao Jian to spare his two brothers, promising to surrender willingly and let Cao Jian tie him up to claim the government reward money.
Cao Jian was moved by Thunderbolt Tiger's loyalty. Not only did he let him go, but he also actively led the pursuers away himself, helping him get to safety.
A year later, when Cao Jian's property was confiscated for colluding with bandits, Thunderbolt Tiger brought men to rescue him. Cao Jian then took his brother Cao Yang to join the mountain stronghold and became an outlaw.
Later still, Thunderbolt Tiger died during a government crackdown on bandits. Cao Jian led the remaining mountain bandits down the mountain, slaughtered several families, seized enough gold and silver to give the brothers their severance money, and everyone scattered to save themselves.
After that, Cao Jian was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Prince Ming. Once he rose to prominence, he gradually recruited all his old brothers back into the military camp.
Now, many of these men already hold important positions in the Divine Strategy Army.
At the end of Cao Jian's biography in the memorandum, there was one more line: "It is said that before Cao Jian became an outlaw, he once purchased a woman as a wife for his elder brother Cao Yang. Whether this is true is unknown."
Yan Tongshu rubbed his chin. Bought a wife for Cao Yang?
In this era, the poor had few rights, and poor women had even fewer. Trading or selling one's wife was indeed quite common.
But according to the memorandum, before becoming an outlaw, Cao Jian had made his living as a hunter. His family wasn't well-off—in fact, they were poor.
He had money but didn't buy a wife for himself—he bought one for Cao Yang?
Yan Tongshu pondered for a moment, then his eyes flew wide open.
No way?
Cao Jian hadn't lost his fertility later in life.
He had never had it from the very beginning.
That's why he bought a wife for Cao Yang. That's why, whether as an outlaw fleeing for his life or in times of wealth and glory, he always kept the simple-minded Cao Yang by his side.
Because he needed Cao Yang to produce him a son, to carry on his family line.
God.
So that meant Cao Jian had always believed Lady Cao's children were Cao Yang's bloodline, and he treated them as his own.
But then, unexpectedly, Cao Jinyue and Cao He turned out to be Xiao Jun's. That was why he went crazy trying to find another woman to bear Cao Yang a son.
And just at that moment, the fortune-teller told Cao Jian that Bai Qinglan was fated to have a son. So he had to force Bai Qinglan to marry Cao Yang.
Today at the Cao residence, she had taken Cao Yang's pulse. Cao Yang was born mentally disabled, and his physical development had never reached even the average baseline. Now that Cao Yang was over forty, his fertility had also begun to decline.
That made Bai Qinglan's uniqueness all the more important.
No wonder Cao Jian was clinging to Bai Qinglan like a drowning man.
As for Lady Cao and Cao Yang...
Yan Tongshu was utterly shocked.
Was Lady Cao forced by that beast Cao Jian to... with Cao Yang?
Yes. When Cao Jian married, he had already achieved some modest success. But Cao Jian, who loved wealth and power above all, didn't marry a woman who could help his career. Instead, he married the youngest daughter of a small merchant family that ran only a pastry shop.
He chose Lady Cao because she would be easy to control.
That was why Lady Cao had an affair with Xiao Jun.
It was her revenge against Cao Jian—and also because she refused to bear children with Cao Yang.
"Holy shit."
Yan Tongshu cursed silently in his heart.
That Cao Jian was a pure animal.
And what about Xiao Jun?
So far, everything was just speculation. Was there any evidence to prove that Xiao Jun was the biological father of Cao Jinyue and Cao He?
Was there anything about Xiao Jun in the memorandum?
Yan Tongshu searched through the memorandum.
There actually was.
Xiao Jun and Cao Jian really were brothers.
Not by blood—they were sworn brothers from when Cao Jian had been a mountain bandit.
No wonder Xiao Jun was so protective of Cao Jian and so kind to Cao Yang.
A former sworn brother not only climbed to a higher official rank than him, looming over him, but also had an affair with his wife. No wonder Cao Jian hated Xiao Jun with such passion.
Xiao Jun's grandfather was a barbarian, giving him one-quarter barbarian blood. His father-in-law was a distant cousin of Prince Ming, which made his path of promotion smooth sailing, even overshadowing Cao Jian, who had far more military merit.
Yan Tongshu suddenly remembered Xiao Jun's yellowed, curly hair.
Xiao Jun had barbarian blood, so his hair was different from a Han person's.
Yan Tongshu also remembered the hair on Xiao Jun's knuckles—denser than most people's, suggesting Xiao Jun was a naturally hairy person.
Cao Jinyue and Cao He did bear some resemblance to Xiao Jun in their features as well.
Yan Tongshu yawned and put down the memorandum.
It was too late. Time to sleep.
To confirm whether this guess was true or false was simple—he could go to the Cao residence tomorrow and test it out.
The next day, Yan Tongshu arrived at the Cao residence early in the morning with Zhenzhu and Jinbao.
Yan Tongshu ignored Lady Cao's utterly unwelcoming gaze and flashed her a friendly smile: "Lady Cao wouldn't mind a freeloader joining you for a meal, would she?"
Lady Cao smiled with forced politeness: "Estate Officer Yan isn't someone who lacks for food. Eat if you like."
Yan Tongshu picked up his chopsticks: "Then I won't stand on ceremony."
Yan Tongshu grabbed a meat bun and took a bite. Not good.
Not as good as the buns from Haoyouxiang on East Street.
Yan Tongshu scooped some pickled vegetables onto his congee and ate it with a spoon.
Not good either.
Forget it. He wouldn't eat.
Cao Jinyue and Cao He exchanged a glance across the table, said nothing, and kept their heads down eating.
Yan Tongshu stirred his congee with the spoon, just stirring, not eating, while using his peripheral vision to study Cao Jinyue and Cao He. Both had straight hair, with no hint of yellow.
As for body hair...
The hair on Cao He's knuckles was only slightly denser than an average person's.
That characteristic wasn't enough.
Yan Tongshu looked at Lady Cao: "General Xiao was very protective of Officer Cao yesterday. They must be quite close?"
Lady Cao smiled gracefully: "They both serve in the Divine Strategy Army, and there's a superior-subordinate relationship between them. After so many years of working together, it's only natural their bond would be closer than with others."
Yan Tongshu asked with a pointed undertone: "And is Lady Cao close with Lady Xiao?"
Lady Cao's smile stiffened slightly: "I'm not very sociable. I spend most of my time at the residence and rarely go out. I only see Lady Xiao once or twice a year, around the New Year."
Yan Tongshu nodded and returned to his meal.
Just then, a servant brought up a strange triangular-shaped steamed bun.
Yan Tongshu had never seen it before. Curious, he asked: "What's this?"
Lady Cao laughed: "Sweet meat bun. The general and I are both from Yinzhou. It was only later, when war broke out in Yinzhou, that the general moved our elder brother to another prefecture to make a living by hunting. This sweet meat bun is a Yinzhou specialty. The filling is made from sugar and pork, usually cured and set aside in advance. The outer wrapper doesn't matter much—whatever wild greens are available get mixed into the dough. It's all about eating in season."
Sweet meat bun. Never had one.
Yan Tongshu looked at Lady Cao with anticipation: "May I try one?"
Cao Jinyue curled her lip: "Go ahead, eat a few. These things are disgustingly greasy. In our house, other than Mother and Father, nobody likes them—"
As soon as she said that, the girl's face crumpled.
Her eyes reddened, and she murmured: "Father used to eat them every day. Now Father's gone..."
Cao He placed a hand on Cao Jinyue's shoulder, his own heart heavy with grief.
Yan Tongshu picked up a sweet meat bun and examined it from all sides.
These were only liked by Cao Jian and Lady Cao; no one else in the household ate them.
And in the Cao residence, apart from Cao Jian and Lady Cao, no one else showed signs of heavy metal poisoning.
Yan Tongshu took a bite and frowned. So greasy.
A lethal dose of sugar mixed with lard and deep-fried meat wrapped in dough—one bite floods the mouth with sugar and oil, sending insulin through the roof.
Very few people could truly appreciate this thing.
Yan Tongshu spat the bite from her mouth onto the plate, then sheepishly set the sugar-meat bun back in the bowl. “Tastes pretty good.”
Cao Jinyue shot her a sidelong glance. “With a face like that, and you say it’s good?”
Yan Tongshu’s main philosophy was that as long as she wasn’t embarrassed, it was everyone else who should be. She smiled. “I was speaking on behalf of a friend of mine from Yinzhou. And this Yinzhou friend of mine says there’s a special ritual to eating this kind of bun—if you perform the ritual, the sugar-meat bun loses all its greasiness.”
Cao Jinyue was only thirteen, her mind not yet fully formed, still a child. Hearing Yan Tongshu speak so mysteriously, she grew immediately intrigued. “What ritual? If we really do it, this oily, greasy bun will actually become delicious?”
Yan Tongshu nodded.
Cao Jinyue’s face was full of curiosity. Cao He tugged at her. “Are you stupid? She’s messing with you.”
Yan Tongshu said with complete seriousness, “Well, if you don’t believe me, I can demonstrate it right here on the spot.”
Hearing this, Lady Cao also looked over with curiosity. Such a ritual actually exists?
Why had she never heard of it?
Yan Tongshu shifted her body slightly to the side. “Lady Cao, may I borrow the hairpin from your head?”
Cao Jian was dead, and Lady Cao was in fresh mourning, with only a plain silver hairpin as adornment.
She stared suspiciously at Yan Tongshu, clearly unconvinced.
Yan Tongshu said, “True or false—isn’t a test the fastest way to find out?”
Lady Cao had Xiang Fu remove her hairpin and hand it to Yan Tongshu.
Cao Jinyue’s eyes were fixed on the hairpin without blinking. She wanted to see exactly what ritual could turn something unpalatable into something delicious.
Yan Tongshu took the hairpin, muttered some gibberish incantation, and inserted it into the sugar-meat bun. Before long, the bottom of the hairpin turned black.
Cao Jinyue was astonished. “It turned black—is it sucking out the bad flavor?”
Lady Cao’s face went cold. “It’s poison.”
Poison?
Cao Jinyue and Cao He sprang to their feet and rushed to Lady Cao’s side to protect her.
Cao He’s face was grim. “Who did the poisoning?”
Yan Tongshu returned the hairpin to Lady Cao. “Then you’ll have to ask who made this bun.”
Lady Cao pushed aside the two children shielding her and demanded angrily, “Bring me Wang Fu immediately!”
The maidservant Xiang Fu quickly fetched the steward Wang Fu.
Lady Cao was furious, her finger trembling violently as she pointed at the plate of sugar-meat buns. “Who made these?”
Wang Fu had no idea what was happening, completely baffled, but seeing his mistress in a rage, he didn’t dare ask questions. He quickly said, “I’ll bring the person here at once.”
Wang Fu hurried to the kitchen, asked who had made the sugar-meat buns, and brought back the two cooks responsible.
The filling and the wrapper of the sugar-meat buns had to be made separately. The person who made the filling was Ning Hui, who had been a kitchen maid in the household for ten years. The one who made the wrapper was Li Jian, a cook who had been employed there for five years.
Both were over forty.
Lady Cao picked up the plate of sugar-meat buns and hurled it at the two of them. “Speak! Who put in the poison?”
Poison?
Ning Hui and Li Jian, originally kneeling in fear, thinking they had upset their mistress in some way, were stunned at the accusation.
Both raised their heads simultaneously, faces blank. “We—we don’t know.”
Lady Cao demanded fiercely, “If you didn’t poison it, where did the poison in this bun come from?”
The two stammered and shook their heads.
Their utterly bewildered expressions showed no trace of deception. Lady Cao began to doubt it too. “Besides you two, who else touched these buns?”
Ning Hui said, “Madam, for the filling—the lard has to be rendered in advance, and the meat has to be fried in advance. After frying, it has to be marinated in white sugar. During the marinating, for ventilation, it has to be placed by the window for twelve whole hours. After marinating, it’s wrapped in lard, then coated with a layer of glutinous rice flour and set aside. The general must have it with his morning meal every day, and there’s no time to make it fresh each morning, so I always prepare seven days’ worth in advance, and every morning Li Jian wraps it and steams it directly.”
Li Jian pressed his hands to the ground, his body nearly flat against the bricks, face upturned toward Lady Cao. “Madam, I’m wronged. The dough I mixed this morning—there’s still some left in the kitchen. You can check it. I really didn’t poison it. How would I dare?”
Lady Cao ordered Xiang Fu to bring the leftover filling and dough from the kitchen and test them with a silver needle.
Well. Both were poisoned.
At this, Ning Hui and Li Jian were frightened out of their wits. The two kowtowed desperately. “Madam, we’re wronged! We’re truly wronged! We are utterly loyal to the General’s household—how could we possibly poison anything? Even if you gave us ten times the courage, we wouldn’t dare.”
Their reactions were too genuine. Lady Cao was confused herself.
Yan Tongshu spoke up at the right moment. “When you made this filling and dough, did you ever leave them unattended?”
Ning Hui nodded. “Once the filling was done, I set it aside. Whether anyone touched it in between, I don’t know.”
Li Jian: “I—I...”
Yan Tongshu’s senses were sharp. “What are you stammering about?”
Cold sweat poured down Li Jian’s forehead. “I—I… ah… the dough. I mixed the dough, kneaded it, steamed it, and carried it up—it never left my sight.”
That was strange. The filling was one thing—it was prepared well in advance, easy enough for a culprit to slip poison in.
But the wrapper? No other hands touched it. Why was it poisoned?
Unless…
Yan Tongshu narrowed her eyes. “Where did the water and greens used for the dough come from?”
The moment she asked, Ning Hui and Li Jian both tensed, their gazes darting away.
Yan Tongshu gave them not a second of respite and pressed forward. “Speak! Where from?”
Li Jian: “The greens… they’re—they’re—they were bought by the kitchen purchasing.”
Yan Tongshu: “And the water?”
Li Jian: “The water—the water…”
He stole a glance at Ning Hui, urgently signaling with his eyes. Ning Hui’s voice was evasive. “The water… it was drawn from the well.”
“Is that so?” Yan Tongshu didn’t believe it, and neither did anyone else in the room.
Lady Cao immediately ordered the water brought over. Yan Tongshu tested it with a silver needle—sure enough, poisoned.
Lady Cao flew into a rage. “How dare you! Tell the truth now! Where did that water really come from!”
Ning Hui and Li Jian were terrified out of their wits, kowtowing repeatedly, weeping and wailing. “Mercy, madam, mercy! We didn’t poison it, we truly didn’t! Madam, we really didn’t!”
Yan Tongshu’s voice was low and cold. “First tell us: where did the water come from?”
Li Jian lifted his head; his forehead was already split open from kowtowing, blood streaming down.
He spoke up. “That water—that water we drew from a small river outside.”
Lady Cao’s voice was harsh. “There’s a well in this household, yet you deliberately went out of your way to a river outside to fetch water—and you still dare to lie?”
Ning Hui said tearfully, “Madam, we’re not lying! That water really did come from the river outside. Everyone in the kitchen knows it. If you don’t believe us, you can call the kitchen staff and ask. We haven’t been drawing from that river for just a day or two.”
“Everyone knows?” Lady Cao was stunned.
Everyone knew Ning Hui and Li Jian were using outside water to cook for them—so why had no one said a word?
