Chapter 18: Already Compromised

A hush lay over the Court of Judicial Review. Apart from the faint crackle of burning candles, a figure on the roof used the thick night as cover and slipped soundlessly from one rooftop to another, leaving only a faint afterimage.

Suddenly, in the tense silence of the night, a few partridge calls rang out, and three more shadows sprang out from concealment.

Fang Rui landed beside a secluded pond. The three figures seemed to materialize before him in an instant, clasped their fists and saluted, “Master.”

Fang Rui hummed in acknowledgment, looked at them, and asked, “What is it?”

These were the men Fang Rui had arranged through Rong Tai to protect Shen Yu, four hidden guards in total. They did not know Fang Rui’s true identity, only that this man was their master.

One of them said, “Master, we just noticed several people rushing in from the direction of the city. They went straight to look for Cui Hao. Afraid of alarming anyone, we didn’t approach to eavesdrop, but it seems to me they came because of Chen Chi’s matter.”

Hearing this, Fang Rui pondered briefly, as if struck by something. His eyes widened a little. “They intend to act tonight as well!”

“Master, what should we do now?”

Fang Rui suddenly curled his lips into a smile. “They can’t keep their patience, that’s a good thing. Then let them make the first move.”

The black-clad men glanced at one another, “Master, this…”

Fang Rui looked at them and said, “Cover me while I enter the prison.”

The three black-clad men answered in unison, “Yes, Master.”

…

Chen Chi, lying on the bed in the cell, suddenly heard the lock turn. On guard, he sat up, his face tightening with nervousness as he slowly shifted toward the corner against the wall.

The door suddenly opened, and a black-clad man with his face wrapped in a black scarf came into view. Chen Chi watched him warily and asked, “Who are you?!”

Earlier at the Court of Judicial Review he had appeared wearing a mask. If he was seen with that mask it would only implicate Shen Yu, so when he came out he had already removed it and wore only a black scarf. The cell was dim, and Chen Chi couldn’t make out his features.

Fang Rui had no intention of hiding his identity.

“Who am I?”

There was no disguise to the voice either. When Chen Chi heard it, he suddenly widened his eyes and, trembling, exclaimed, “Yo-Your Majesty?!”

Fang Rui removed the scarf and Chen Chi’s eyes grew ever wider. He climbed down from the bed, dropped to his knees and cried, “Your guilty subject pays homage to Your Majesty.”

Fang Rui looked coldly at Chen Chi kneeling on the ground, his tone like frost, “You actually know you are a guilty subject.”

Chen Chi remained kneeling with his head bowed, never daring to lift it, his whole body trembling.

The cell door was closed. The lock was not an ordinary lock but one that a disciple to a master locksmith had spent a year perfecting. A lock embedded in the door panel that, once closed, made it impossible for others to tell it had been opened, provided no one pushed the door open.

“Do you know the reason I have come here?”

Chen Chi hesitated for a long moment and shook his head repeatedly.

“Do you think I am unaware of how many heinous acts you have committed for the Empress Dowager?”

Hearing this, Chen Chi abruptly raised his head to look at Fang Rui. “Your Majesty, you…”

Fang Rui snorted coldly and looked down at Chen Chi with disdain. “Do you truly take me for a fool? Not a single thing the Empress Dowager has done has escaped my sight, including her privately training troops.”

The terror in Chen Chi’s eyes did not subside for a long time.

Fang Rui half-squatted so their eyes met. With contempt he said, “Not a single one of your deeds has escaped my eyes either. Counted one by one, you are not worth pitying in death. Even dying a hundred times would not atone for the crimes you’ve committed.”

When Fang Rui finished speaking, Chen Chi could no longer stay on his knees and collapsed to the ground.

His voice grew suddenly much older as he closed his eyes. “Your Majesty, even if you know my crimes, I am resolved not to expose the Empress Dowager. My life and my family’s lives are in her hands. If I slip up, neither my life nor my family’s will be spared.”

Fang Rui gave a cold smile. “So you think I cannot take your life and then your family’s? Taking your life is easy for me, but I needn’t do it myself. There are others who will.”

Chen Chi shook his head. “The Empress Dowager would not do that.”

Fang Rui stood up and narrowed his eyes. “Even if you have a weakness in the Empress Dowager’s hands, she will not necessarily let you blackmail her. Even if she spares your life, you’ll spend the rest of your days in this sunless cell. What difference is there between living and dying?”

Chen Chi closed his eyes and said nothing.

“The Empress Dowager is not someone who can be moved by your words alone, and I do not need you to expose her.” Chen Chi’s lone testimony could not convince others anyway, and the Empress Dowager’s foundation was already firm. Uprooting her in one fell swoop was impossible.

Chen Chi opened his eyes, confusion in them. “What does Your Majesty mean?”

Fang Rui placed his hands behind his back and, hearing very faint footsteps, fixed his gaze on Chen Chi and said inscrutably, “I will grant one opportunity. Not just you, but your family as well I can protect. It depends on the choice you make.”

After speaking, Fang Rui moved to the door, to a blind spot of the little window on it, and pressed his hand against the door to prevent anyone from moving it.

Seeing Fang Rui’s action, Chen Chi immediately understood: someone else had arrived.

Chen Chi, sensible to the situation, knew to cooperate with Fang Rui. He could not afford to offend either the Empress Dowager or the Emperor.

He lay back on the bed and pretended to close his eyes.

“Lord Chen.”

After a moment, a low voice came through the little window in the door.

Chen Chi opened his eyes, looked toward the small window, and asked warily, “Who’s there?”

“Lord Chen, that man had me bring you a message: if you want your family to walk away unscathed, you must end your own life.”

Chen Chi suddenly looked at Fang Rui by the door, then said stiffly, “Lord Wang promised me that if I remained silent, he would spare me!”

The man outside the door, still without a trace of emotion, replied, “Only the dead don’t speak. Don’t force that man to take matters into his own hands. Otherwise, not only you but your family cannot be saved.”

Chen Chi suddenly laughed aloud. “Ha, haha, of course, of course.” His laughter sounded like mockery at his own past trust in them.

“The message has been delivered, take care of yourself.” With that, the man turned and left, not noticing at all that another person stood behind the door.

Chen Chi took a deep breath, looked at Fang Rui, and had already made his decision. “Whom does Your Majesty want me to expose?”

The corners of Fang Rui’s mouth slowly lifted. A cold, faint blue light seemed to gleam in his eyes. “The Ministry of War, Lu Shangqing.”

These were people he would uproot them one by one. He would pull the Empress Dowager’s talons from her hand piece by piece.

Fang Rui made a promise to Chen Chi.

As long as he exposed Lu Shangqing, he would be allowed to leave unscathed, on the condition that he go to a foreign land and never set foot within Great Qi’s borders again.

…

From the voice he had just heard at the door, Fang Rui had already recognized it as Huyan Suoyun’s voice, the man he’d seen earlier today.

After leaving the cell and reaching the rear courtyard, Fang Rui immediately went on alert. Hearing more sounds, he leapt up into a tree, used the branches to vault over the wall, and slipped out of the Court of Judicial Review.

Fang Rui sprinted across the rooftops of the neighborhood, with a man in a prison warden’s garb pursuing him from behind.

Fang Rui paused in an open spot and waited for Huyan Suoyun.

Huyan Suoyun landed opposite Fang Rui, narrowed his eyes and asked, “Who are you, and why were you at the Court of Judicial Review?”

“Who am I? And why would I be at the Court of Judicial Review? You’ll know soon enough tomorrow,” the voice changed again, taking on the slick tone of a street ruffian.

Fang Rui had arranged for this contingency in advance.

“It matters not whether you confess. I’ll capture you and take you back to the Court of Judicial Review for questioning!” With that, Huyan Suoyun struck a punching pose and attacked Fang Rui.

Even from some distance, Fang Rui could clearly feel the gust of the incoming punches, a sign of how fierce those blows were.

Fang Rui’s reflexes were quick. He dodged Huyan Suoyun’s strikes, but the gust still swept past, and it felt as if a fist had lightly but solidly struck his face. Even the scarf trembled.

Huyan Suoyun’s title as ‘Great Qi’s Number One Fist’ was by no means undeserved. Fang Rui took several blows and began to lose ground.

If his hands couldn’t win, he would use his feet.

Fang Rui continued his hand techniques but intensified his legwork, constantly attacking Huyan Suoyun’s lower body.

Huyan Suoyun frowned. He had already seen that his opponent aimed to break his lower body and thought, This man is skilled, I must finish this quickly.

As they fought, a sudden pain struck Fang Rui’s chest. A punch landed squarely on his sternum, and he was jolted backward again and again until he struck a wall.

As Huyan Suoyun prepared another strike, Fang Rui pressed his chest, leapt onto the rooftop, and left a final line, “Tonight I won’t be staying to entertain you.”

Huyan Suoyun leapt onto the roof to pursue, but the silhouette was already far ahead and impossible to catch up.

Watching the receding, disappearing shadow, Huyan Suoyun suddenly remembered Chen Chi locked in the cell.

Sensing trouble, he hurried back to the Court of Judicial Review, glanced into the cell, and only then exhaled in relief to see the man still inside.