Chapter 51: Turbulent Waves

Fang Rui removed the mask, put his previous outer robe back on, found an inn that was about to close for the night and stayed there. Early the next morning he rose and hurried to the place where he had arranged to meet Rong Tai.

Fang Rui had told Rong Tai that if he couldn’t return that night, they should meet in the small bamboo grove behind the teahouse where they had last invited Shen Yu for tea after leaving the palace.

After meeting Rong Tai, they went to the Department of Prudence.

Over the years the Department of Prudence had been mired in corruption. Song Zhe had quietly let certain criminals out, and though the case files recorded seemingly conclusive evidence for their crimes, a closer inspection could reveal many inconsistencies.

The evidence had long been in hand. This time they merely made it appear as if a clerk, while reading the files, had found suspicious points and reported them to His Majesty, after which Fang Rui had arranged for a full investigation.

Even if Wang Zhongyuan had secretly sent people to obstruct and mislead the investigators, he did not know that the evidence was already in Fang Rui’s hands and that this was only a formality.

So no matter how Wang Zhongyuan thought about it, he couldn’t understand how Fang Rui had so smoothly and swiftly gathered complete evidence.

Song Zhe’s abuse of power and disregard for human life were exposed for all to see.

Before Fang Rui personally opened court to try Song Zhe, Shen Yu had already arrived at the Department of Prudence.

A guard escorted her into a side hall and, after announcing her arrival, Shen Yu suddenly stopped at the doorway, her nose twitching as she caught a faint scent of alcohol in the air. A trace of puzzlement showed in her eyes.

The guard paused at the door, and seeing Shen Yu remain at the threshold, he lowered his voice and called, “Lord Shen? Lord Shen?”

Shen Yu snapped back to herself and glanced at the guard, who made a beckoning gesture toward the side hall. “His Majesty is inside.”

Shen Yu nodded, brushed away her curiosity, and stepped into the side chamber.

Fang Rui, having just changed his clothes, came out from behind the curtain as Shen Yu entered.

“I pay my respects to His Majesty,” Shen Yu bowed and cupped her hands in salute to Fang Rui.

Out of habit Fang Rui stepped forward to help her up, but as he approached Shen Yu, her brows ever so slightly knit.

The scent of alcohol was a little stronger than before.

After being helped up, Shen Yu, puzzled, asked, “Your Majesty, did you drink?”

Fang Rui’s hand, which had just let go, stiffened slightly under his sleeve, then he smiled and said, “I was troubled about Song Zhe’s matter this morning, so I had two cups to clear my head.”

When he lodged at the inn last night it had been too late and he didn’t want to disturb the other guests, so he hadn’t bathed. This morning he rushed out and only changed his clothes upon arrival at the Department of Prudence, with no time to freshen up. He hadn’t noticed his own scent, and if Shen Yu hadn’t mentioned it he wouldn’t have sensed it.

“Your Majesty, drinking in the morning is bad for your health,” Shen Yu said, though she was puzzled. She remembered getting drunk and falling asleep last night, but had woken briefly midway, realizing she had been lying on Jia Ming’s back and had faintly smelled the alcohol on his body. Now the scent on His Majesty matched Jia Ming’s from last night, and the more she smelled it the more alike they seemed.

Perhaps it was the same wine.

Shen Yu persuaded herself in her heart and stopped dwelling on it. She then asked, “Your Majesty, I have something to ask.”

Fang Rui walked to the desk and sat down, keeping some distance from Shen Yu to prevent her from catching any clues.

Once seated, feeling uneasy because Shen Yu had mentioned the alcohol smell, he placed his hand under the table on his thigh and nervously tapped his fingers against his leg, a classic sign of a guilty conscience, afraid of being found out.

He raised his eyes to Shen Yu and asked, “My beloved aide Shen, what matter do you wish to ask?” He just hoped that it was anything but a question about where he had been last night. He truly worried he might slip up.

Shen Yu hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and asked, “Now the officials of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Department of Prudence have all been implicated. Is there… something happening that I do not know about?”

Shen Yu had not intended to ask, but recent events had all started after her return from Suozhou: Minister of Personnel Chen Chi had been imprisoned on the day he impeached her, then Minister of War Lu Shangqing was implicated, and now Gu Changqing had begun investigating Lu Shangqing. She felt there would be more pulling at the threads of a network of dirty collusion, each link leading to another, until, like peeling silk from a cocoon, only the truth remained.

Fang Rui’s fingers, which had been tapping his thigh, froze. He flattened them, lifted his hand from under the table and placed it on the tabletop, his face taking on a serious expression.

He let out a long sigh and shook his head. “I don’t know where to begin with this matter. Once we have resolved the Department of Prudence case, I will explain it to you in detail.”

Things had come this far, so it was time to clarify to Shen Yu the profligate ambitions of the Empress Dowager and the Wang clan so she could be on guard. As for his other purpose, he would keep it hidden as long as possible.

Shen Yu did not press further, since she only wanted an answer, and the Emperor’s response was that her suspicions were not mere conjecture: there really were factions in the court secretly colluding in corruption.

After a moment, Rong Tai entered from outside and reminded him, “Your Majesty, it is time to ascend the court to try Song Zhe.”

Upon hearing this, Fang Rui stood and said to Shen Yu, “Let’s go and see how Song Zhe will try to wriggle out of it.”

Shen Yu nodded slightly and followed behind Fang Rui as they left.

In the Department of Prudence’s main courtroom, Fang Rui took the head seat. Kneeling below were the head of Department of Prudence and its officials, from senior clerks down to scribes. The entire hall was filled with kneeling figures.

Fang Rui presided personally and opened the court to the public, allowing commoners to stand outside and witness the trial.

At the outset, Song Zhe, head of the Department of Prudence, proactively confessed: “Your servant neglected his duties and allowed subordinates to commit such crimes. I beg His Majesty to punish me.”

Fang Rui looked coldly at Song Zhe’s seemingly sincere expression and scoffed, a laugh laced with a chilling sting. Did he really think the Emperor was a feeble puppet to be toyed with?

“Song Zhe, are you certain your only crime is negligence of duty?”

Having said that, he swept his gaze over those kneeling around Song Zhe. As expected, they all kept their heads down. No one dared look up to accuse him.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at the stack of files on the desk, casually picked up one, opened it and read its contents aloud, “In the third year of Qiyuan, a death occurred at the Chen cloth merchant’s residence. The body of a maid, her clothes disordered, was found in the lotus pond. Without any investigation process, Xiao Dalang, the residence’s guard, was taken as the murderer and brought into the Department of Prudence. In the same month, Xiao Dalang injured a jailer and escaped from prison.”

After finishing that file, he picked up another and read: “Again at the Chen cloth merchant’s residence, another maid was found naked in the lotus pond. Another guard was sent to the Department of Prudence and likewise escaped from prison in the same month.”

After reading ten files, Fang Rui stopped. Among those ten, three had occurred at the Chen cloth merchant’s residence.

As Fang Rui read file after file, a thin sheen of sweat appeared on Song Zhe’s forehead.

Fang Rui sneered, “With so many glaring irregularities just at the Chen residence, you tell me it was merely negligence. Do you think I would believe you?”

“Your Majesty, I truly did not know of these matters,” Song Zhe replied.

Fang Rui had anticipated Song Zhe’s denial and, unhurried, said, “The Chen residence’s eldest son beat an elderly oil seller in the main street of Jindu at the start of the month and intended to settle it privately, but the old man managed to barely survive for a few days before he died. This is a public killing in broad daylight. The son has been imprisoned and has confessed to killing the household maid.”

Song Zhe continued to protest, “I truly did not know about this matter.”

Fang Rui scoffed again, “What a convenient refrain: ‘I did not know.’ Besides taking bribes, framing scapegoats and quietly disposing of matters, what else do you know?”

As soon as Fang Rui’s words fell, there was an uproar outside the courtroom.

He picked up a single file from the desk, glanced at it, and threw it down onto the floor in front of Song Zhe. “Look at this. See if there’s any mistake.”

Song Zhe frowned as he looked at the file spread on the floor. His eyes widened more and more until finally he collapsed to one side, his lips trembling, his face pale with disbelief, muttering, “This can’t be real! This can’t be real!”

He crawled toward Fang Rui in a frantic scramble but was stopped by a constable’s club. Song Zhe’s expression and voice were full of panic.

“Your Majesty, this is all fake! All fake!!!”

Fang Rui ignored Song Zhe’s hysteria and said calmly, “Are the names recorded and the amounts of bribes on that file not off by a single jot?”

“Ha, as the saying goes, ‘if you don’t want others to know, don’t do it yourself’. Every immoral thing you did will not go unpunished. It’s not that we weren’t going to do anything about you, it’s just that it wasn’t the right time yet. And now, your time has come.”

Killing intent filled his eyes. Without hesitation he picked up the token from the bamboo tube, on it was written the single character for execution. He raised his hand, then loosened his grip, and the token clanged onto the floor.

His gaze was sharp as a blade as he spoke, “Execute without pardon.” Those words fell from Fang Rui’s mouth, each pronounced with grave and resounding force.

The commoners present and Shen Yu all thought inwardly: The Emperor is so imposing.

Shen Yu looked at His Majesty with the corner of her mouth slightly lifted. When she first met him years ago, he had always been someone who hated evil with a passion.

After achieving the title of Top Scholar and meeting this old friend in the Great Yuan Hall, who turned out to be the newly enthroned Emperor of the Great Qi, Shen Yu had known then that he would surely be a wise ruler.

Fang Rui’s on-the-spot execution of Song Zhe at the Department of Prudence instantly spread through the streets and alleys of Jindu, and nursery rhymes even sprang up singing, “The Son of Heaven is as bright as a mirror; demons and monsters have nowhere to hide.”

The Empress Dowager was in the Anyi Palace, counting prayer beads and silently reciting sutras, when suddenly the string of beads snapped and the beads tumbled to the ground with a clatter.

The Empress Dowager opened her eyes, and at that moment a palace attendant reported at the door, “Your Majesty, the head of the Department of Prudence was executed on the spot in the Department of Prudence courtroom.”

Hearing this, the Empress Dowager narrowed her eyes slightly.

So, had the emperor started challenging her?

After pondering for a long while, she told the attendant at the door, “Send word to Prince Zhan, have him return to the capital as soon as possible.”

It seemed Fang Rui had already noticed, so she would bring her other son into the city as well.

It didn’t matter that Fang Rui had no heirs. She still had her Zhan’er to rely on.

…

Meanwhile, Huyan Suoyun, who was at home attending his elderly mother, received instructions from Cui Hao.

On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, at the city outskirts, assassinate Shen Yu at the Shen family ancestral tomb*. Failure is not an option.*