Chapter 49: Clear Wind, Bright Moon

Regarding the matters at the Department of Prudence, even though the investigation was not yet complete, Fang Rui had already stripped Song Zhe of his official cap, meaning that so many deaths had occurred on his watch that, even if he were uninvolved, the charge of negligent duty alone would be enough to damn him.

Early that morning, two elderly people knelt outside the Department of Prudence. They would not answer anyone and no one dared to drive them away by force. After all, many eyes were on the Department now, and a single mistake could implicate everyone.

Even the Emperor came to the department office from time to time to see how the case was progressing. If the matter of driving away the two elderly reached his ears, they would be in serious trouble.

News that two old people had been kneeling outside the office for half a day reached Fang Rui, and he did not delay. Upon hearing that someone was kneeling outside the office, he immediately ordered a carriage out of the palace. When he arrived and dismounted, upon hearing the crowd salute and cry “Long live the Emperor!” the old man’s eyes suddenly brightened as if he had seen hope.

He surged forward, shouting, “Your Majesty! You must vindicate us commoners! Your Majesty!”

A guard thrust out a spear to stop him, but Fang Rui called to the guard, “Let him in.”

The guard lowered his spear and allowed the old man, who dragged along a seemingly disturbed wife, to come before Fang Rui and, with a thud, kneel with his companion.

With a trembling voice he said, “Your Majesty, I beg you to vindicate us commoners!”

Fang Rui stepped forward to help him up. “Sir, if you have grievances, stand up and speak of them.”

But the old man refused to rise and pleaded, “Your Majesty, my eldest son Dalang three years ago was serving as a guard for a high official in the capital. They said he killed someone and was imprisoned in the Department of Prudence, but soon after they said he escaped, which is impossible. Dalang was obedient since childhood, aside from hunting he wouldn’t know how to kill, nor would he flee under the weight of a murder charge. When they said twenty-odd corpses were found at the bottom of the lake beside the office, though I did not believe it, I suspected Dalang had been murdered…”

When he mentioned Dalang, the old man’s companion’s eyes suddenly brightened, but it was a light of recollection as she gently stroked a tiger-head shoe and murmured, “My Dalang was so good. Every time he returned from hunting and sold his game he handed me the silver, said he was saving it.”

Fang Rui sighed softly in his heart and turned to Rong Tai with instructions, “Find a place for the two elderly to rest for now.”

“I won’t rest, I only beg the Emperor to vindicate us commoners!” the old man cried, voice choking with tears.

“Sir, first take your companion to rest. later you can come out and identify… see if you can recognize him.” Even if one of the bodies retrieved from the lake was the old man’s son, three years had passed and he would have long since turned to bones.

With no flesh on the bones, how could anyone still identify him?

Hearing this, the old man glanced at his companion’s dazed face and finally did not refuse.

After settling the two elderly, Fang Rui had Rong Tai take the old man to the communal mortuary to look. Because the identities of these people were not yet fully confirmed, their bodies had been placed in the mortuary pending burial.

The old man went to the mortuary and indeed found his son’s corpse. It was said he recognized him at once because his son’s little finger had been malformed since birth.

The old man’s discovery that his son, who had supposedly “escaped” three years ago, was among the bodies pulled from the lake spread. One after another people came to the Department of Prudence saying their relatives had been arrested and they were told they had escaped, or that they fled during exile, or that they died in prison but the body was never returned to the family for burial.

The submerged bodies scandal roared through the capital, and rumors spread that the head of the Department of Prudence was greedy, that over the years the head had covered up crimes for wealthy families, or helped them settle private scores by secretly framing people, locking them up and then disposing of them in secret.

Unsurprisingly, it was Fang Rui who had Rong Tai arrange for those rumors to spread.

Fang Rui stood outside the cell, peering through the bars with cold eyes at Song Zhe inside, a faint, icy sneer at the corner of his mouth.

And because of the cell’s orientation, Song Zhe could not see that Fang Rui had been watching him for some time.

Fang Rui lowered his voice and told Rong Tai beside him, “Tomorrow, bring all the evidence forward. As for Song Zhe, do not spare him.” Cold murderous intent seeped from his words.

“Your Majesty, after such a sweeping purge of court officials, I fear the Empress Dowager and Minister Wang will suspect Your Majesty himself.”

“To cleanse the court of so many ministers and not face suspicion would be rather strange, don’t you think,” Fang Rui spoke, surprisingly unconcerned.

He no longer looked at Song Zhe in the cell, turned and left the dungeons, saying to Rong Tai as they walked, “Prepare yourself: appointing you as head of the Department of Prudence will meet much opposition.” The Great Qi dynasty had only seen three emperors and there was no precedent of eunuchs holding such civil posts, so opposition was to be expected.

Rong Tai replied and after a moment’s hesitation asked, “Your Majesty, why appoint this humble servant as head of the Department of Prudence?”

At that, Fang Rui paused a step, then continued walking.

He smiled and said, “Perhaps because I trust you the most.” Because he trusted him most, he did not want Rong Tai to be bound in the palace for life like an ordinary eunuch, lonely as he aged, left with no one to burn incense for him after he died.

Rong Tai was destined never to be a man again in this life, but Fang Rui had always believed that was not the most important thing. What mattered was Rong Tai’s own feelings.

These past days affairs had occupied Fang Rui and he had not found time to meet Shen Yu at night. Today, having brought matters to their final stage, he did not rush back to the palace but had Rong Tai find an inn. At nightfall he changed into travel clothes, threw his usual outer robe over them, tucked his mask into his bosom, and slipped out the inn’s back door.

There was reason for Fang Rui’s caution: his hearing and eyesight were keen, and he felt he was being watched these past days from palace to the department office. He hadn’t exposed the watchers since he did not want to alarm them yet. They could watch if they wished. Fang Rui slipped into the Grand Guardian’s mansion, dodged a few patrol guards, reached the back of Shen Yu’s chamber, raised his hand to knock on the window, and then suddenly stopped.

His expression dimmed slightly. He could hear two different breaths.

There was someone else in Shen Yu’s room!

Fang Rui betrayed no emotion as he lowered his hand. Fearing his reflection would show on the window, he stepped forward a few paces and pressed himself against the wall where Shen Yu’s wardrobe stood, a place where his silhouette wouldn’t be reflected.

With his ear pressed to the wall, he wanted to know who was in Shen Yu’s room so late at night.

“Young master,” a sweet voice said, “I was called by the Old Madam to attend to you. If you send me away tonight, I don’t know how I’ll explain it to her tomorrow.”

The voice was sweet, but it was not Hengniang’s voice. Fang Rui was taken aback. He hoped that word “attend” did not mean what he feared.

Then Shen Yu’s chilly voice came from the chamber, “Leave.” There was no room for negotiation.

Upon hearing Shen Yu’s tone, Fang Rui relaxed. Shen Yu was not him, so there was no way Shen Yu could be easily corrupted. Moreover, the visitor was one of the ordinary, frivolous women who circled Shen Yu rather than men, and Fang Rui felt a small relief. But very quickly he realized that the situation was quite serious.

Originally Fang Rui had thought the maid would leave after being driven off, but he soon found he still did not understand these women sufficiently.

The room fell silent for a moment, and with his keen hearing Fang Rui suddenly heard the sound of clothing being removed, and his eyes widened.

“What are you doing?!” came Shen Yu’s slightly startled voice.

“Young master, I have admired you for years. I do not seek a title, I only beg to serve you for one night.”

Shen Yu was speechless.

Fang Rui too.

The maid had stripped down to a pale pink inner garment, her bosom full and exposing broad swathes of pale flesh, the sort that a normal man would find hard not to stare at, but Shen Yu was not a normal man.

But in Shen Yu’s eyes the maid saw no hint of desire, only an ever-colder gaze, and her heart chilled.

“I’ll give you one more chance: put your clothes on and leave, or do not expect to remain in this house tomorrow,” Shen Yu said, her voice laced with anger.

Why did she bother to strip? Whatever the maid had, she had them too, just a different size, that’s all. Nothing worth looking at.

The maid bit her lip, tears glinting in her eyes, as she choked, “I’ll take my leave,” then dressed, stepped back, and the door opened and closed.

Once she left, Shen Yu collapsed onto the table, exhaling deeply. Her eyes were wide and unfocused, as if lost in thought.

Before long, faint knocks sounded at the window.

After a while, Shen Yu reacted, assuming it was Jia Ming, and went to open the window.

When the window opened, Shen Yu listlessly turned back to the table, sat down and slumped again onto it, lethargic.

Fang Rui leapt in. Seeing Shen Yu in that state, he knew it was because of the maid earlier.

He came to Shen Yu’s side and sat, took out two cups, picked up the teapot and slowly poured two cups of clear tea. After setting the pot down, he pushed one cup toward Shen Yu.

“Have a cup of tea, steady your nerves.”

Shen Yu glanced at the cup, then at Fang Rui.

In a weary voice she asked, “Tell me, what method do you have to keep those women from coming to fawn over me?”

Fang Rui was a bit stunned at first. What method could keep women from fawning? He too wanted to know.

“There is no good method to control the heart, one can only hold to one’s own core beliefs.” He himself had kept to his own heart all these years: men and women had never been lacking around him, yet he could control himself.

Hearing this, Shen Yu withdrew her gaze as if Fang Rui had spoken nonsense, picked up the teacup, looked at the clear tea, gently swirled it, and murmured, “I want to drink something alcoholic.”

Hearing Shen Yu say she wanted wine, Fang Rui smiled. “What difficulty is there in getting wine? Come, I know where to find good liquor, I’ll take you.”

As he spoke, Fang Rui had already stood.

Shen Yu, slumped over the table, lifted her head and looked at him oddly.

Fang Rui thought Shen Yu was worried he might repeat what happened when Shen Yu got drunk last time, and hastily swore, “I promise nothing like that will happen again!”

Whether Shen Yu believed him or not, she rose, smoothed the folds of her clothes and asked, “How shall we get out?”

Fang Rui curled his thin lips and said, “Isn’t that simple?”

As he spoke, he wrapped an arm around Shen Yu’s waist.

“What are you doing?!” Fearing she might fall, Shen Yu grabbed Fang Rui’s neck.

“Of course, I’m taking you out for good wine.”

Shen Yu’s eyes widened. She released her grip and struck Fang Rui’s chest twice, annoyed, “Put me down at once!”

Fang Rui not only did not let go but with a hint of wicked delight said, “Don’t let go, if you fall from the roof I won’t be responsible.” Saying this, he opened the window with one hand, hugged Shen Yu and leapt out, frightening Shen Yu into clutching his neck tightly.

Clear wind and bright moon, the best nights for drinking and revelry.