“Catch the thief!”
Qin Yi had just reached the barbecue stall when he heard Yan Tongshu’s furious shout. Pearl and Jinbao were already sprinting ahead, chasing a man dressed in black.
The lean man darted around like a monkey, leaving Pearl and Jinbao far behind.
Yan Tongshu had drunk too much. Her head was foggy, and her legs refused to obey her, so she fell even farther behind.
As he passed her, Qin Yi grabbed her by the arm. “You daft fat goose. No wonder you can’t run.”
He was seething inside, so his words came out especially harsh. Under normal circumstances, Yan Tongshu would have cursed him as the dog emperor in her head and furiously pummeled a little figurine in his likeness.
But she was drunk now. She merely raised her head and glanced at Qin Yi. “Wh-who are you? Let go of me! You’re the daft fat goose… Urgh… You and the dog emperor are both daft fat geese.”
The hand Qin Yi had clamped around Yan Tongshu’s arm began to tremble with anger.
He knew it. Yan Tongshu must have cursed him plenty of times in her head.
“Yan Tongshu.” Qin Yi’s voice was cold enough to kill. “Wake up.”
“You’re so fierce.” Yan Tongshu whimpered. “I’m a third-rank official. How dare you be fierce with me? I’m going to have you caned.”
She was actually threatening to have him caned?
Qin Yi trembled with rage. He glanced around, then dragged Yan Tongshu to a secluded spot ahead.
There happened to be a water vat there, filled with icy water.
“Lu Xi!” Qin Yi ordered. “Hold her down and dunk her in.”
Lu Xi froze for a moment before softly trying to dissuade him. “Your Majesty, Lord Yan is drunk. She didn’t mean to offend you. It’s the dead of winter—if you really dunk her in, Lord Yan will surely come down with a fever tomorrow. Please forgive her unintentional offense.”
What was there to fear about a fever?
Wasn’t she fond of using illness as an excuse to shirk her duties?
He was giving her the opportunity.
Qin Yi reached his hand into the vat, intending to splash a handful of water onto Yan Tongshu’s face. Unexpectedly, the moment his fingertips touched the water, they went numb from the cold.
It really was freezing.
Half the vat was even water, while the other half was ice.
He dabbed some water onto his fingers and flicked it at Yan Tongshu’s face.
“Who’s that?”
Yan Tongshu looked around angrily. Drunk as she was, her vision was hazy and she couldn’t make out anything clearly. Feeling that she was being bullied, she charged at Qin Yi with her arms flailing. Qin Yi caught her by the face.
His hand, which had just touched the icy water, was freezing cold—cold enough to make Yan Tongshu shiver uncontrollably.
Yan Tongshu grew even angrier. This person was such a bully.
She furiously slapped Qin Yi’s hand away and shoved him with all her strength.
Qin Yi was a skilled martial artist, and he was tall besides. Yan Tongshu’s limbs were weak from the alcohol, so not only did she fail to push him, she fell backward and landed with a smack on the freezing ground.
That finally improved Qin Yi’s mood considerably.
He had suffered so many defeats at Yan Tongshu’s hands. At long last, he had managed to turn the tables.
Yan Tongshu patted her backside and stubbornly struggled to her feet. Then she charged at Qin Yi headfirst. Qin Yi sidestepped, and she missed him completely. She turned around and charged again, but Qin Yi dodged once more, watching her with amused interest.
“Yan Tongshu, open those daft eyes of yours and take a good look at who I am.”
Yan Tongshu let out a drunken hiccup and used her fingers to pry her eyelids open.
“Hee-hee.”
She pointed at Qin Yi.
“The detestable dog emperor.”
Lu Xi immediately held her breath and quietly moved to the mouth of the alley, in case anyone came by.
Qin Yi ground his teeth and pointed at Yan Tongshu. “Annoying dog emperor, huh? Annoying dog emperor…”
He reached out with his large hand, grabbed Yan Tongshu by the collar, and pulled her toward him. “I rescued you from Xianlin Hall and gave you rank and riches. I even indulged you while you impeached half the court during morning audiences. How exactly am I annoying? Huh? Explain yourself!”
Yan Tongshu gave a cold snort, slapped his hand away, and rose onto her toes. With her eyes wide, she glared straight at him. “Because you’re selfish and hypocritical. You keep saying you want to eradicate factional strife and build a prosperous, incorruptible age, but everything you do is the exact opposite of what you say. You want to bring down Prince Ming, so you disregard human life, act cruelly and deceitfully, form factions for your own gain, and cultivate your own power. When you strip it down, you’re no different from the Late Emperor. From beginning to end, all you’ve done is form factions and purge anyone who disagrees with you.”
Qin Yi’s face turned cold. “When have I ever disregarded human life? Yan Tongshu, get a hold of yourself. The circumstances are different now. The Meng clan is crucial to this game…”
“Feng Rang!” Yan Tongshu cut him off sharply. “Do you still remember Feng Rang? What enraged me most about Lady Qing’s case was Feng Rang. You had his body long ago, yet you never once thought of clearing his name or delivering justice for him. You took his body and thought only of how to contend with Prince Ming and the empress dowager. You had countless opportunities to vindicate him, but you insisted on waiting—waiting until you had a useful piece in hand, then using him and Lady Qing to test that piece, using his wrongful death as leverage in your negotiations with the empress dowager.
“If the empress dowager and Prince Ming had been willing to give way for Princess Tijia, you would have buried his case. You sent people to hunt down Lady Qing, and watched Feng Rang die with his eyes open. You schemed against everyone and everything. You won—but you never once considered that Feng Rang was a human being too. Your Majesty, human life is more important than anything! You keep saying you want to eradicate factional strife and give the common people a peaceful, prosperous age. But have you ever truly seen them? Seen the ants crushed beneath your feet? Their lives matter too.”
“So you’re dropping the act?” Qin Yi pointed at Yan Tongshu in fury. “You’ve been playing dumb from the very beginning. You deliberately pretended to be ill to shirk your duties. You deliberately stopped attending court. Yan Tongshu, do you know what the punishment for deceiving the emperor is?”
“Go on, then.” Yan Tongshu tugged open her collar, exposing her pale, slender neck. “Come on, strike me down right now. I’m sick of this. Every one of you is more infuriating than the last. You were the same with Feng Rang, and with Wen Qian too.”
Reeking of alcohol, Yan Tongshu’s breath washed over Qin Yi’s face. He shoved her away. “The Meng clan has served the dynasty for generations. They defended the borders, fought foreign enemies, saved the nation, and protected millions upon millions of commoners. Open the records of meritorious officials from this dynasty—there isn’t a single volume without their name in it.”
“Haven’t you already given them everything they deserve?” Yan Tongshu shouted back.
Yesterday, Yan Tongshu had been sober. Her words had been the tactful remonstrance of a courtier. But today, she was drunk. She took the figure standing before her for a hallucination, a dream conjured by the fury bottled up inside her, with nowhere else to go.
So she vented everything in her heart without restraint.
Qin Yi was genuinely enraged as well, and the two of them argued until their faces were flushed with heat.
“Yan Tongshu, listen carefully. Their accomplishments cannot simply be wiped away with the words ‘the treatment they deserve.’ Even if I abandon every intention I have, the amnesty is something the Meng family earned for itself. Do you understand or not? Merit can offset fault, yes—but the words ‘the Meng family has rendered service to the state’…”
“Bullshit!”
Yan Tongshu spat in his face, then cursed again. “You’re talking absolute dogshit.”
Qin Yi exploded. “Yan! Tong! Shu!”
“Merit offsetting fault—what a load of crap.” Yan Tongshu berated him. “All you know how to do is fool a few simple-minded commoners.”
Qin Yi closed his eyes. He really had to be insane, arguing here with a drunken woman who had no logic whatsoever.
Yan Tongshu stepped forward and seized him by the collar.
“I’m telling you, merits can offset mistakes. But merit cannot cancel out guilt. Merit can never erase a crime. A penalty may take the place of punishment, but punishment can never erase guilt. Don’t think that by granting Meng Yi amnesty, you can win. I’m telling you, you’re doomed to lose. Because you saved Meng Yi, everything you say is nothing but dogshit. No one will ever believe you again. Ever!
“I’ll come to hate you. Those who have been dragged into factional struggles will hate you. The people who follow you will abandon your ideal of eliminating factional strife. They may not say it aloud, but they’ll hate you in their hearts. And those common people who raise their heads to look upon the just heavens—the ants beneath your feet—they’ll hate you too.
“You think that by controlling the Meng family, you control the army? Hah. Do you really think one person can control an entire army? Do you think soldiers are pieces on your chessboard?
“I’m not. Neither is anyone else. There is no one in this world who is nothing but a mindless chess piece. Soldiers will hate you too—hate you, this new emperor who is no different from the Late Emperor, who only knows how to favor his own faction and purge all who stand against him. They’ll use every means at their disposal to enter the factional struggle, form cliques with all their might, fight one another, and protect their own interests. By then, you won’t be the supreme emperor. You’ll be nothing more than a puppet of factional strife.”
At the end, Yan Tongshu tugged at the corners of her mouth and gave a deeply mocking laugh.
“Just like when the Late Emperor was alive. A father who couldn’t even avenge his own son. A man too powerless to take revenge for his own Crown Prince. How laughable.”
Yesterday, Yan Tongshu’s words had been a tactful remonstrance. Today, they were blunt, biting ridicule.
After she finished speaking, the dark alley fell silent for a long time.
Qin Yi’s gaze grew heavy. “So you hate me.”
“Yes.” Yan Tongshu glared at him. “I hate you. I hate the way you treat human lives as blades of grass. I hate you for forming factions for personal gain. I hate you, you dog emperor, because you’re like a wall—I can’t budge you no matter how hard I push—and you made me fall.”
By the end, her voice had taken on a sobbing note.
“…I fell so hard. My butt really hurts.”
As he said this, Yan Tongshu rubbed his backside and walked over to the side. Hugging a pillar, he closed his eyes and fell asleep peacefully.
Qin Yi pressed his lips together. After a long silence, he forced out a derisive snort. “What a drunkard. Nothing but drunken nonsense.”
Qin Yi turned and left.
Lu Xi silently followed him.
Yan Tongshu rubbed his cheek against the large pillar. Finding it somewhat uncomfortable, he rolled over, tipped his head to the other side, and lay down on the ground.
After a while, Pearl and Jinbao returned after finding the thief and taking back the money. But when they came back, they couldn’t find Yan Tongshu anywhere. The two of them immediately panicked.
Their eyes filled with tears. How could they have searched everywhere and still failed to find him?
“Here.”
Cen Xu waved to them. He was supporting Yan Tongshu as he came over.
Pearl and Jinbao hurriedly took Yan Tongshu from him.
Thank heaven, thank heaven.
How could the two of them have been so careless as to chase after the thief together?
At least one of them should have stayed behind to watch their young master.
Pearl wiped away her tears. From now on, she would never let their young master drink again, even if it killed her.
After repeatedly thanking Cen Xu, Pearl and Jinbao helped Yan Tongshu away.
Cen Xu let out a long sigh and stood there, gazing up at the sky.
In a few more hours, dawn would come.
…
After returning to the palace, Qin Yi sat in Chuigong Hall for a long time.
Seeing that it was already very late, Lu Xi reminded him softly, “Your Majesty, it is time to retire.”
Qin Yi’s lips tightened coldly. Suddenly, he rose to his feet and began searching through the inner part of Chuigong Hall.
Lu Xi asked cautiously, “Your Majesty, what are you looking for? Shall I help you find it?”
“The records of the Jiangnan flood disaster in the twenty-sixth year of the Gan Feng era.”
Lu Xi froze for a moment, then immediately replied, “Your Majesty, there is no need to look. The records are on your desk.”
Seeing Qin Yi’s confusion, Lu Xi explained, “Two days ago, Zhang Jiu, the Kaifeng Prefecture Assistant Magistrate, submitted a memorial. Attached to it were the records of the Jiangnan floods in the twenty-sixth year of the Gan Feng era. He sent them through his father, Academician Zhang. At the time, Academician Zhang specifically instructed this servant to make sure Your Majesty read them. It was only that Your Majesty showed no interest then and did not pay them any attention.”
After hearing this, Qin Yi returned to the imperial desk. Lu Xi searched out the memorial and the records, then respectfully handed them to him.
Qin Yi opened them. The dossier was thick, and it was clearly not the official record kept by the palace. It had plainly been written by Zhang Jiu himself.
It contained a detailed account of Song Shen’s investigation following the Hong Bridge disaster during the Jiangnan floods.
It turned out that, apart from the Late Crown Prince, who had died at Hong Bridge, more than a hundred people had subsequently been held accountable. Thirty-three of them had been beheaded by the Late Emperor, while the remaining seventy-odd people had either been sent into exile or banished to the frontier.
Of those more than a hundred people, only a few had been local officials of any rank. Most had simply been ordinary craftsmen.
These people had parents, wives, and children, yet they had suffered wrongful accusations.
Could their families truly feel no resentment or hatred?
Like him, they had lived with their resentment for more than a decade.
The calamity caused by factional strife had never fallen upon merely a handful of people. It had harmed the countless subjects who were drawn into it and had no way to escape.
How had he never noticed this before?
And Wen Qian—how had he forgotten that Wen Qian had once been someone’s elder brother as well? He, too, had been a brother…
Qin Yi turned the pages one by one, his thin lips pressing tighter and tighter.
He remembered.
It was the bandit case.
That day, countless court officials, regardless of where they stood, voiced the same opinion.
The brother and sister in the bandit case were victims of the factional struggle.
Because Cao Jian had chosen the wrong side, the authorities had not dared to accept their grievance or bring charges against Cao Jian and Xiao Jun. That was why they had chosen to join forces and commit murder.
“Summon him.” Qin Yi spoke wearily. “Chang Zhengzhang.”
Lu Xi: “Yes.”
A little over half an hour later, Chang Zhengzhang, Left Chancellor of the Secretariat and concurrently Palace Aide, entered the palace.
Chang Zhengzhang bowed respectfully. “This old minister pays his respects to Your Majesty.”
Qin Yi’s gaze was deep and somber. “You personally investigated the Hongqiao case back then.”
At those words, Chang Zhengzhang seemed to understand what Qin Yi wanted to ask. He replied, “Yes. At the time, the Late Emperor personally appointed me as Imperial Commissioner. I led a number of officials all the way to Jiangnan to investigate the case of the Late Crown Prince. I worked day and night for many months, but found no mastermind behind it. After I reported my findings to the Late Emperor, he grieved for many days, could not swallow a single grain of rice, and fell ill for several months.”
Back then, consumed by the grief of losing his elder brother, Qin Yi had directed all his resentment toward the late emperor. He had believed that the late emperor simply did not wish to upset the balance between the factions or allow any one family to grow too powerful. He had thought the late emperor had been unwilling to eradicate the factional struggle.
But today, Qin Yi suddenly understood something.
It had not been that he was unwilling, nor that he did not want to.
It was that he could not.
By then, the Late Emperor had already been powerless.
He had become a puppet of the factional struggle.
A thoroughly helpless puppet—someone who could neither avenge his own son nor even take revenge for his Crown Prince.
The factional struggle had entangled everyone, including the Late Emperor himself.
Chang Zhengzhang took a memorial from inside his robes. “Your Majesty, this is the memorial the Late Crown Prince submitted to the late emperor at the time, proposing the eradication of the factional struggle. However, the Late Emperor still firmly believed in the doctrine of maintaining balance among the factions and did not accept it. Later, after the Late Crown Prince’s death, Your Majesty had already realized the danger of factional strife—but by then, it was too late.”
Lu Xi took the memorial and placed it steadily on the imperial desk.
Qin Yi’s gaze lowered to the bright-yellow memorial.
The moment Qin Yi had asked, Chang Zhengzhang had brought it out. That meant he had kept it all this time, perhaps even carrying it close to his person, waiting for the right moment.
But if Qin Yi had not summoned him today, if he had not asked, and if he had truly issued an edict granting a general amnesty, Grand Tutor Chang Zhengzhang would have sealed this memorial away forever.
This, too, matched what Yan Tongshu had said: wait and watch.
Qin Yi opened the memorial—
Father,
If the factional struggle is to be cleansed, the people’s support must come first. What the people desire is nothing more than clear and rigorous laws, fair administration, reward for labor, a settled place to live, and peace of mind.
Those who form factions must seek private gain. Those who seek private gain will inevitably bend the law. Those who bend the law will deceive the ruler above and oppress the people below. When the ruler does not know that the people are being deceived, order will collapse.
When order collapses, the people will no longer know what may be done or what should be feared, and everyone will be thrown into a state of danger. When the people are in danger, the officials will be in danger as well. Even those officials who deeply despise factional strife will have no choice but to attach themselves to one side in order to survive.
Thus the factions will grow stronger by the day, and factional strife will intensify by the day. The more fiercely the factions contend, the further order will collapse; the further order collapses, the more fearful the people become, and the more bitterly the factions contend…
So the cycle will continue without end, and there will never be peace.
After discussing the people’s support, the Late Crown Prince had listed many specific measures, such as whom to appoint as Acting Prefect of Kaifeng and how to use the intricate and conflicting interests within each faction to break the balance, among other things.
But times had changed. More than a decade after the Late Crown Prince’s death, Prince Ming had gradually grown powerful, and the other factions no longer had the strength to contend with him. Those specific measures were therefore no longer necessary.
But the first measure—winning the people’s hearts—was the foundation of every strategy.
Without the people’s support, factional strife would never come to an end.
Qin Yi waved his hand, dismissing Chang Zhengzhang.
He seized the amnesty edict that had been drafted long ago. The veins on his arm stood out like twisted dragons. He walked toward the brazier and was just about to throw the edict into the flames when his pupils suddenly trembled.
In the dispute over the law, he had already conceded.
But the Meng family had once saved his life.
Qin Yi closed his eyes.
He had prepared the amnesty from the very beginning, so he had never felt any psychological burden over it. He had never truly needed to consider how he would repay the debt for being saved.
But now, that question had finally begun to torment him.
The law could not exist apart from human feeling.
He wanted to say that. But the words had only turned once in his throat when he seemed to hear Yan Tongshu’s voice:
When people say that the law cannot exist apart from human feeling, the “human feeling” they mean is the helplessness born of morality and human nature. Is Meng Yi such a case? He killed someone out of his own greed and lust. The person he harmed was innocent.
Qin Yi’s grip on the edict tightened slightly.
Had things really come to this?
Did he no longer even need to face Yan Tongshu before he could hear her voice?
Qin Yi slowly opened his eyes. His hand relaxed, and the edict fell into the glowing coals.
The day of Meng Yi’s execution drew closer and closer.
The Meng family could no longer sit still. Meng Yi’s maternal uncle, General Guide; his father’s sworn younger brother, General Zhongyong; and Duan Duo, Deputy Commander of the Divine Guard, all knelt outside the Hall of Sagacious Governance, requesting an audience.
Qin Yi sat on the imperial throne, his face dark and brooding, saying nothing.
Lu Xi summoned the leader of the group into the hall. Qin Yi clenched his fists tightly, making it clear that the law was merciless.
He stood in the middle of the hall and spoke in a low voice. “If I am to eliminate factional strife, then I must not take part in it. The law is clear and impartial. No matter who a person is, how many merits they have earned, or whose support they rely upon, no one may disregard the law for personal reasons, hold justice hostage to self-interest, or use past accomplishments to offset a crime.”
His tone appeared calm and steady, but he had used every ounce of strength to say those words.
“Your Majesty!” the others pleaded.
“There is no need to say anything more.” Qin Yi shut his eyes in pain and ordered Lu Xi to take them away.
Everyone left the Hall of Sagacious Governance, yet they continued kneeling and refused to rise, pleading with Qin Yi to pardon Meng Yi.
Lu Xi returned to the hall. Qin Yi sat on the imperial throne, his face as dark as ink. When he opened his clenched hand, his palm was stained crimson with blood.
Human nature, the law, emotion, justice, politics—
Those being torn apart were Wen Taojun, Meng Zheng, and Qin Yi himself.
The Meng family knelt until the afternoon, but they never received a second summons from the emperor. Duan Duo could no longer keep kneeling. He rose and left, heading straight for the Kaifeng Prefecture.
“Yan Tongshu, get out here!” Duan Duo shouted.
Li Fulin and Zhang Jiu came out.
Li Fulin stepped forward. “General Duan, may I ask why you are making such an aggressive display?”
Duan Duo’s face was taut. “You know damn well why I’m here. Where’s Yan Tongshu? Tell her to get out here! His Majesty had clearly intended to pardon the general, so why did the pardon disappear after he left the palace yesterday and returned? Tell her to get out here!”
Zhang Jiu casually drew the long saber from the hands of a constable nearby and pointed it straight at Duan Duo. “General Duan, I’m warning you. Lord Yan is the Acting Prefect of Kaifeng, a third-rank official. Even if Meng Yi came here in person, he would still have to treat her with respect. If you dare insult her again, the Kaifeng Prefecture will not let it go.”
Duan Duo sneered. “You?”
“Everyone, calm down.” Seeing that they were about to come to blows, Li Fulin hurriedly stepped in to mediate. “We’re all officials serving the same court. Let’s talk this out.”
Li Fulin positioned himself between them. “General Duan, Lord Yan is on leave today and isn’t at the Kaifeng Prefecture.”
Duan Duo had never imagined that after rushing over to demand an explanation, this was the answer he would get.
Furious, he stormed off and went to Yan Tongshu’s residence to settle the score with her instead.
The gatekeeper blinked in confusion. “You’re looking for our young master? Our young master is on leave today and has gone out of the city to have fun.”
Duan Duo was so angry he nearly jumped. “Where did she go? When will she be back?”
The gatekeeper answered with complete candor, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I don’t know. Our young master goes out to have fun every time she’s on leave. She’s very spontaneous when she’s out, so no one knows where she’ll go or when she’ll return.”
Damn it! What a bastard!
Duan Duo was so stifled that his anger lodged painfully in his chest, unable to rise or fall, while he cursed furiously under his breath.
Out in the countryside, Yan Tongshu sat astride a tall, fine-blooded steed, striking what she considered the most handsome pose imaginable.
Inside the pavilion opposite her stood a small table covered with xuan paper.
Pearl was grinding ink, while Jinbao kept watch over the charcoal brazier to keep Lord Qu Bai warm.
At last, the first “artistic portrait” was complete. Yan Tongshu hurriedly dismounted and ran back to the pavilion, where Pearl immediately wrapped her in a silver fox cloak.
Yan Tongshu’s hands were numb with cold, but the very first thing she did was look for her perfect portrait.
It looked wonderful.
As expected of her personal “artistic portrait” painter—the work was simply magnificent. That was right: in men’s clothing, she was every bit as handsome, dashing, debonair, distinguished, and flawless as the portrait depicted.
“Lord Qu Bai.” Yan Tongshu gazed at Qu Bai with bright, sparkling eyes. “I have several more poses.”
Qu Bai: “…”
This child was already a third-rank high official. How was she still as lively as she had been when she first entered Xianlin Hall?
Still, that was exactly what he liked about Yan Tongshu.
He was thirty-five this year. Eight years ago, he had been twenty-seven, while Yan Tongshu had been only fourteen when she entered Xianlin Hall—a mere child, and the youngest person there by far. Everyone had either treated her like a little brother or regarded her as their own child. He was no exception.
Qu Bai waved his hand grandly. “I’ll draw five portraits for you today. Pose however you like.”
Wow.
Yan Tongshu’s eyes widened in delight.
Qu Bai set down his brush. “But I have one condition.”
Yan Tongshu blinked. “What condition?”
Qu Bai looked at her with a sly grin. “I want five of this year’s New Year limited-edition sets from Shikeji. One for me, one for my wife, and one each for your three younger siblings.”
“Deal!” Yan Tongshu agreed readily.
Finishing the “artistic portraits” did not mean they were completely done. Qu Bai still had to take them home to add finishing touches, refine the details, and paint in the backgrounds. Only after they were fully completed and mounted would he deliver them to Yan Tongshu.
The group stayed busy until dusk. As they were saying their farewells, Yan Tongshu said with a smile, “Lord Qu, if I’m demoted—or resign and move somewhere else—you must remember to have someone deliver these artistic portraits to me. I took them after braving the bitter cold and working so hard.”
Qu Bai looked at her worriedly. “Don’t say such ominous things.”
How could that be ominous?
It was a good thing.
That was what the dog emperor had said: he was going to banish her to the ends of the earth.
The ancient equivalent of the ends of the earth was a little hotter, a little more remote, and infested with miasma and poisonous insects. But that was fine. She was an optimist, and she liked the idea of going to the ends of the earth.
She could eat lychees and coconuts, gaze out at the sea, and collect seashells.
Besides, she was a doctor. Miasma and poisonous insects were right in her professional wheelhouse.
The little person in Yan Tongshu’s heart planted her hands on her hips and laughed: Oh ho ho ho ho!
By the time the three of them had finished tidying everything up and Yan Tongshu returned home, night had already fallen.
Duan Duo had worried that he wouldn’t be able to stop Yan Tongshu and would instead delay his efforts to plead with the emperor on her behalf. He had waited at the Yan residence for a while before leaving, so Yan Tongshu saw nothing of him.
While Yan Tongshu was having her artistic portraits taken, at the Kaifeng Prefecture prison—
Wen Taojun took out the dishes she had brought, one by one. “After what happened, Uncle and Aunt were deeply shaken, and their health has deteriorated considerably. They moved out of the Meng residence yesterday. I imagine they don’t want to have anything more to do with the Meng family.”
Meng Yi asked, “Do they resent you?”
Wen Taojun did not answer. She merely took out the chopsticks and handed them to him. “Your father’s and grandfather’s friends in court have all submitted memorials pleading for mercy on your behalf. It’s clear that the emperor intends to save you. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have tolerated so many memorials being submitted over so many days.”
“Mm.” Meng Yi acknowledged her and accepted the chopsticks. “Cen Xu came to see me this morning. He said the emperor may have changed his mind. Perhaps I really am going to die this time.”
He lowered his eyes. “Do you want me to die?”
Wen Taojun’s slender lashes trembled faintly, and tears slipped silently down her cheeks. She raised a hand to wipe them away. “I don’t know. The day I suddenly learned the truth, I stood outside Uncle and Aunt’s room for a very long time. I asked myself: You’ve treated me so well, and you’ve kept every promise you made to me. You’re Zheng’er’s father. Do I really have to force you into a corner?
“Meng Yi, I thought about letting it go. I thought I could pretend not to know anything and live out the rest of my life that way. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t get past my own conscience.
“You’re asking me now if I want you to die? I truly, desperately wished I could turn myself into a cold and heartless person. Then, no matter which side I chose, I could do so with a clear conscience. But I still couldn’t do it. I don’t want you to die, but I don’t want my elder brother, nor Uncle and Aunt, to remain wronged for the rest of their lives. So I exposed you. I didn’t stop the Meng family from trying to save you. I left everything to Heaven and let Heaven decide.”
“Heaven will be fair.” Meng Yi gave a bitter smile. “We’ve been married for so many years, and we even have Zheng’er. Did you ever love me?”
Wen Taojun looked up, the light in her bright eyes dimmed to nothing.
She had said that Uncle and Aunt were deeply shaken and that their health had deteriorated. How could she have been any different?
They were both over forty now.
Wen Taojun looked at Meng Yi. “Meng Yi, we’ve been married for more than twenty years. After more than twenty years, do you really think we could have stayed together this long if there had been no love?”
“But I didn’t dare ask. Because I was the one who wronged you.” Meng Yi pulled a letter from inside his robe. There wasn’t a single word written on the envelope.
He handed it to Wen Taojun. “Take it back. Read it tomorrow.”
