CH 65

The two Imperial envoys had been on Imperial orders to investigate a case and were unwilling to disturb the region. The next day, they lugged two carts full of books and exited quietly out of the city without anyone noticing. After returning to the capital, one headed to the Imperial Censorate to hand in the Imperial decree while the other returned to the Northern Administrative Division to investigate a case. The Imperial Censor and Jinyiwei rode side-by-side, their entourage flanking each other. There were even some cheerful and jesting scenes that occurred on the road, severely shocking many a passerbys. 

As soon as Liu Zan returned to the local censorate bureau, his colleagues gladly welcomed him and jumped straight to the heart of the matter, “Brother Liu, how was the harvest? Has Qian’an released any new versions of 《The Six Talents and their Commentaries on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms》?

“Did you visit Qian’an county’s library? Compared to the painting in《Qi’s Travel Anthology》, is the interior and layout the same?”

“Were people allowed to visit the residence where the Cui Beauty once resided? Is there still the fragrance and spirit of a beautiful woman inside?”

Liu Zan’s return had caused his colleagues to amass in front of the doorway that even the Inspector General’s office was hard to reach. So, he could only deal with these people first: “The books and paintings are stored in the carriages that I have brought back to the capital. Once we get off work I will tidy them up and ask someone to distribute a portion of the goods to everyone here. In fact, no new editions have been released from the Peace of Mind Study over there. It seems that ever since the Cui Beauty left, they have only published 《Qi’s Travel Anthology》. Any other books and prints are reprinted from old works.”

There was a visible look of disappointment on the faces in the crows and they all lamented, “We have even bought the new edition of the 《The Six Talents and their Commentaries on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms》, if the goods are just these, then what fun is in those?”

Another young Imperial Censor asked, “Just what kind of character is Cui Beauty that she could just leave silently without leaving behind a single trace? Just how many of her old manuscripts are stored in that library?”

Liu Zan answered, “I actually did visit that library when I arrived in Qian’an——”

That one sentence caused the entire crowd to fall silent. Both the people standing inside and outside listened with bated breath. Liu Zan surveyed the scene and lightly grinned, “Her previous residence has been completely converted into a reading room and it was packed full of studious scholars. The room was completely without any femine quality and it possessed an upright, honorable and scholarly spirit. Most of the books on the shelves include collections of classics and history, as well as some color-printed books printed by the Cui Beauty.”

Sighs of disappointment encompassed the surroundings, but some people commented, “That Qian’an County Magistrate is quite lofty and arrogant, isn’t he afraid of someone of borrowing the book and not returning it?”

“Naturally, he is unafraid of this matter. That library of his has been thoughtfully planned and those who want to read books need to register their identities and present certification to read any of the books.

Liu Zan fished out a piece of translucent white oil paper from his sleeve. A three-dimensional flower and leaf pattern sprouted out from the surface and the cloud-colored card seemed to be of outstanding quality: “This is the reading card that was issued to me and one’s name, identity, behavior, appearance and stature is labeled on the back…. It was as detailed as the information put on examination papers. It is a pity that I cannot have someone take my place to borrow books, otherwise, I would have my servants travel to Qian’an once a month so that I can rest at home and read all the books in the collection.”

A few of the colleagues took the card and passed it around in appreciation, sighing, “How is that there is no such library in the capital? I just don’t know how that Qian’an County Magistrate came up with such an ingenious method.”

Liu Zan’s eyebrows pranced up in pride, “This is not the idea of County Magistrate Qi, but Cui Xie, the  child prodigy who had donated his bookstore.”

Investigating Censor Yang Ying inquired, “Is he really a child prodigy? Compared to Academician Li and Compiler Cheng, how does he compare? I have often heard of his name these days, but I have only read his book 《Antithetical Couplets from the Four Books》. Has he composed any worthwhile poems at his ancestral home?”

Thinking of this, Liu Zan felt inwardly distressed and waved his hand, ‘That Cui Xie is truly a child prodigy. Unfortunately, the family had hired two muddled and rotten scholars as teachers and had never taught him how to compose poems, hence delaying him until present. If the family had hired good teachers, or if his father personally instructed his son, then that child’s reputation today would have been no less than the child prodigies Cheng and Li back then.”

Everyone was confused after these words.

A child prodigy, ever since he published a collection of antithetical couplets last year, the youth had been hailed as a genius, but he was already sixteen years old and could not compose poems….then just what area was he a prodigy in? There were scholars who could read ten lines at a glance and there were plenty who were able to read a book and recite it from memory. In their Censorate alone, eight or nine out of ten were able to remember a book after reading it two times. Just this alone couldn’t be considered miraculous, right?

On the contrary, Liu Zan began to narrate the climax of the story, letting out a deep breath as he shook his head, “I need to report to the Right Imperial Censor-in-Chief da-ren first. If I have time later on, I’ll carve out some time and write down that child prodigy’s examination papers from the county examinations to let my fellow-workers evaluate…”

Liu Zan then squeezed and shoved his way out of the crowd, leaving behind the Imperial Censors as their gazes followed the departing figure. He pushed open the doors of Li Yu’s office, the Right Imperial Censor-in-Chief.

Li Yu had long received reports that Liu Zan had arrived, and had put down the report he was working on to give to the Ministry of Appointments so he could wait for him. Upon Liu Zan’s entrance, Li Yu raised his head and asked smilingly, “How was your assignment this time?”

Liu Zan dimpled, “This lower official, along with Colonel Xie, headed to Qian’an County and the Yongping Prefecture to obtain the testimony of relevant witnesses. All in all, it was enough to prove the innocence of Qi Sheng, the Magistrate of Qian’an. The bookstore had been donated by Official Cui’s son, out of his own good will, in order to make books widely available to the scholars in the county. Qi Sheng had never concealed the merits of the youth’s initiative. Those two get along together very well and there was no mark of threats or coercion. On the journey back, this lower official has already straightened out the paperwork, inviting the Censor-in-Chief to review it.”

He plucked out a thick roll of a written confessions from his sleeve as well as a pre-written memorial, and carried it to Li Yu’s desk.

Li Yu browsed through these oral statements and from time to time, he would ask clarification questions about the case. Once everything had been clearly verified, only then did Li Yu use his seal to sign the documents and prepared to head to the Imperial palace to present it to the Emperor. Liu Zan cupped his hands in a fisted salute and was just about to leave when Li Yu suddenly stopped him, asking, “Outside, I heard you talking about that Qian’an child prodigy. Besides that 《Antithetical Couplets from the Four Books》, is he really that talented? Did he write you any poetry?”

The Minister of War, Zhang Peng, had set Cui Xie up as a model student and even Vice Minister Geng of the Ministry of Appointments had also mentioned him after the large-scale audit. Even the Imperial Censor in their institution, who had made a trip to Qian’an, returned singing praises for the “child prodigy”——could it be that this reclusive child prodigy hadn’t been fabricated for the sake of gaining fame and was actually the real deal?

Liu Zan earnestly persuaded: “That Cui Xie has a true talent for learning. He has only been studying for more than a year and I am so fond of his essays that even I can’t bear to part with them. If he had been instructed by famous masters since his childhood and had been studying for a couple of years with them, I’m afraid that his essays would be no less than Wang Shouxi!”

At 16 years of age, Wang Shouxi, aka Wang Ao, had written an essay that had the students of the Imperial College scrambling over their peers to have the chance to recite it. He was also a character who had passed the provincial and metropolitan examinations with outstanding results in the whole of the realm and had narrowly ranked first place in the Imperial examinations at all three levels: provincial, metropolitan, palace. Even the zhuangyuan in the Imperial examinations, the top scorer of all the jinshi that year, Xie Qian, had been ridiculed with this line: “Wang Ao trumps the realm of writing while Xie Qian is only better in terms of appearance.”

Clearly at ease, Liu Zan added, “That Cui Xie was also born quite good-looking. If he can enter the Imperial College and study for a few years there and then take the next round of examinations, he will never have any regrets where others label him as “only better in terms of appearance”.

Li Yu shook his head and reprimanded: “Academcian Xie is a person who possessed both talent and virtue, how can one say such unkind words?”

Liu Zan lowered his head to admit his mistake and then addressed Li Yu again, “That Colonel Xie from the Jinyiwei is going to find out who notified the Imperial Censors to frame Qi Sheng. He also mentioned that the atmosphere in the capital should be rectified so that this method of manipulating the Imperial censors to denounce a political enemy will be abolished. To unite with those of the same views, but alienate those with different views will be harmful to the Imperial Censorate’s pure reputation. I am afraid that sooner or later, even the Vice Minister’s colleagues will have their residences searched by the Jinyiwei. Hoping that da-ren will notify them in advance so that they know what is going on and aren’t frightened.”

….In the past two years, the Jinyiwei had been the East and West Depot’s lackeys, helping the palace eunuchs rain calamity upon various court councilors. Now they planned on throwing themselves toward the Clearist Faction and wanted to safeguard the Imperial Censorate’s reputation? Li Yu’s intuition told him that the Jinyiwei was using this as a pretext to purge the ranks of the Imperial censors, so he hurriedly stood up and commanded, “Call them in, this official has matters to discuss.”

He not only summoned the Imperial censors to inquire about the identity and appearance of the person who had sent the message to the various residences of Imperial censors, he also used the not yet handed in Imperial memorials and took the chance to slip in a note pleading for their innocence. He hoped that he could save these people so as to prevent them from experiencing any injustices.

Not long after the folded memorials were sent up, the Jinyiwei’s Imperial memorial had also been sent into the palace. Instead, that memorial had been put on top of Li Yu’s memorials.

Since Wang Zhi had been demoted to head the Directorate of Imperial Horses in Nanjing and Shang Ming was sent to oversee the Imperial Eunuch Army this year, the Head Eunuchs of the East and West Depot had been toppled over. Since Gao gonggong had made great merit with the painting he presented, he was thus promoted to a Director of Ceremonials ‘wielding the brush’ directly serving the Emperor. He had also remembered Xie Ying’s contribution to the painting and seeing the other’s memorial had been sent over, he took the initiative to flip it over and put it on a conspicuous location so that Emperor Chenghua would be able to see it. 

When the Emperor saw the memorial’s loyal attitude of taking the public’s best interest in heart and how it claimed that it would strictly clean up the maladies of the Imperial Censorate, he lightly passed on a single word, ‘approved’. He gave permission for the Jinyiwei to thoroughly investigate this manner so that this could act as an example for later generations.

Li Yu’s memorial was then handed over. But upon hearing the Emperor’s agreement to have the Jinyiwei investigate who had started the rumors, it caused vigilance to rise in Li Yu’s mind and he made the necessary preparations to rescue his fellow Imperial Censors.

The court’s upright and honorable officials had already prepared their hearts and minds, but this was even more so for the Imperial censors who had already ordered their coffins ahead of time. Unexpectedly, the Jinyiwei never entered anyone’s home during their investigations and only asked the residents and their neighbors if they had seen any people delivering a post that day or if they had encountered any strangers wandering about in the vicinity. 

When did the Jinyiwei turn so good-natured? Was it because Wan Xi and Wan Da, these two Imperial relatives had saw that the crown prince had grown up and had learned to restrain their wings; or was it because the Head Supervisors of the East and West depots had simultaneously fell from power which inhibited the Jinyiwei from acting too presumptuously?

Or, was it because this case was headed by a Jinyiwei from the Depots and Guard that was of clean character?

This case had been pushed forward rather taciturnly: the Imperial Censors hadn’t sent in memorials to the Emperor yet and the Jinyiwei hadn’t yet searched a house and confiscated its possessions. Xie Ying personally handled the investigations as well as the interrogation and search assignments. With this, he overturned everything in the capital from inside to out, all the way through. The city was full of mounted soldiers dressed in red-pleated uniforms as they roamed the capital. But they did not disturb the common people too much. It was almost as if this case didn’t exist in the first place.

Just when Li Yu had just about forgotten about such a case and was leisurely performing his duties as an examiner for the metropolitan Imperial examinations, the Jinyiwei suddenly presented a memorial to the Emperor: the investigation had churned out some results. A hoodlum in the capital who had sent false accusations to various residences had been detained to make an appearance in court. Even the ones who had fled from the capital had been investigated by the Jinyiwei and were currently being escorted back to the city. The detained criminal had already been tried and the truth came out. The person who had prompted him to do such a matter was a person who had not a hair to do with County Magistrate Qi——

She was the wife of Official Cui, an official in the Ministry of Revenue in Yunnan. She was the daughter of Xu Pang, a retired Official Registrar of the Ministry of Ceremonies, a five-ranked yiren known as Xu-shi.

Since the other had an official appointment, Xie Ying first presented a memorial requesting that Cui Que was stripped of his position so it would be easier to summon people into the Northern Administrative Division for further questioning.

When the memorial was presented to the Grand Secretariat Cabinet, both Grand Secretary Wan’s and Vice Grand Secretary Liu’s expressions turned unsightly. Official Cui had been one of their disciples as well as the other’s subordinate. With such a matter that involved framing external officials, these two who acted as master and high-ranking superiors had dark expressions, without a trace of light.

Only Assistant Grand Secretary Liu Ji hadn’t been involved in the matter and said unhurriedly, “The two Grand Secretaries need not worry. Perhaps this matter has nothing to do with Official Cui and it was his furen who had acted on her own initiative. After all, she is a female from a small family and can only carry out matters in accordance to her limited point of view as a furen. She probably thinks it is nothing to slander others as one wishes. She most likely did not think it would unexpectedly hinder her husband’s future prospects.”

The Grand Secretary and Vice Grand Secretary had already long found one another unpleasant to the eye for many years, but this was the first time they had the same thoughts: that Cui Que truly did not live up to his appointment. If he couldn’t even control a woman in the inner residence, just what could he control and be in charge of then?

Vice Grand Secretary Liu Xu immediately presented a memorial to the Emperor impeaching himself to reflect on his shortcomings, stating that he hadn’t paid enough attention to a subordinate’s household affairs and had allowed a married woman to do evil; Grand Secretary Wan An, with an unwilling heart, also presented a memorial impeaching himself and in front of everyone, proclaimed that he was severing his master-disciple relationship with Official Cui.

Upon reviewing the memorials, Emperor Chenghua could not help but wrinkle his brows, and ask the attending eunuch, “This female, a woman capable of framing officials, just what use is she? That courtyard, wasn’t it her’s, that the son then donated? It is her residence, why regret it?”

Gao gonggong was currently attending to the Emperor and seeing the memorial, he suddenly recalled the time when he had traveled to Qian’an on Imperial orders to confer a decree to Cui Xie and proclaimed him as a loyal and righteous subject. For the sake of his own face and the benefits that Xie Ying had brought to him, he could not help but say a few words:

“Replying to the Emperor, That youth who donated the residence was Cui Xie, a loyal and righteous subject the Emperor himself personally recommended.That heart is filled with loyalty and righteousness, and he wishes he could just donate all of his family properties to the Imperial court. How could there be regret? It is just that that furen, Xu-shi is not a virtuous person and can’t bear to see the son of the previous furen perform a righteous act and make a reputation for himself. Hence, she secretly found people to defame Cui Xie and Qian’an County’s Magistrate.”