Chapter 76: Drum of Grievance

Only once Xu Shuqiao had left the imperial study did Song Juguang once more unhurriedly step through its doors. Along with her entered was maids from the imperial kitchens; it was already midday, just in time for lunch.

Jiang Changbai waved a hand to dismiss the maids, saying that, for the time being, she wasn't hungry and there was no need to bring in a meal. But the next moment, seeing Song Juguang come in, she halted the maids once more with a call. "Go ahead and bring the food in; We are a little hungry."

Song Juguang looked at the maids, then looked at Jiang Changbai, and suddenly, her lips split in a smile. "Many thanks for Bixia's worry; at the moment, this minister isn't too hungry either."

Jiang Changbai, hearing this, stilled, cursing to herself about Song Juguang getting carried away in her imitations—her face, it seemed, was even thicker than the city walls. She really wasn't hungry, but just now, having the food brought in just now wasn't because she'd worried Song Juguang was. The temporary meeting of just now was one that was originally meant to be convened in a remote study that Song Juguang didn't know about.

She'd initially not wanted to allow Song Juguang to be there. She'd feared that Song Juguang would grasp onto her saying there weren't enough capable people at hand and insert her own people in. Jiang Changbai had been on guard day and night these past few days, and only with great difficulty had she managed to thoroughly eliminate Song Juguang's group of devotees from the centre of authority; she couldn't allow her to grasp onto an opportunity.

But thinking it over, just as He Leyong had just said, a matter as momentous as re-evaluating the keju exam papers and re-selecting jinshi graduates would most certainly lead to a massive shock from the top to the bottom of the Great Li. If, at the time, there were some who wanted to make trouble out of dissatisfaction, she still had to rely on Song Juguang and her Cangwei army to pacify things, and rather than, at that time, once more carefully explaining the whole story to her, it would be better to let her participate from the start.

Weighing the two matters, Jiang Changbai in the end chose a method which had more room for manoeuvring. It was only thus that the location of this meeting was changed to the imperial study. Just now, only Xu Shuqiao had remained in the study, and Jiang Changbai had assumed that Song Juguang had left along with all the others.

Having a meal brought in was merely to take advantage of the "rule" of not speaking eating or sleeping, in order to completely obstruct the possibility of Song Juguang speaking.

Even if Song Juguang had even greater abilities, she absolutely couldn't hear Jiang Changbai's inner thoughts; but even so, she knew that what Jiang Changbai was thinking was most certainly not the meaning of the words she herself had spoken just then. But even so, speaking thusly was merely because she'd wanted to tease the Emperor she'd personally assisted to sitting on the Dragon Throne.

"Bixia seems to quite like this Xu Shuqiao," Song Juguang said strangely as she sat down on the low couch in a leisurely manner.

Jiang Changbai, hearing the tone of Song Juguang's speech, merely acted as if she hadn't heard it, and nodded with a smile. "Of course; she's capable, courageous, and strategic—a good seedling. If she's given some time, she'll certainly be of great use."

On remembering what all Xu Shuqiao had said just then in the imperial study, Jiang Changbai felt her mood grow particularly relaxed. When she was drowsy, there was a pillow—that was the thing which, in this world, most called one to happiness. But when this expression fell into Song Juguang's eyes, it had a different feeling.

The bottom of Song Juguang's heart felt a bit sharp and sour, and a bit of discontent billowed up. There was nowhere for her feelings to be let off, and she could only forcefully grasp the folding fan in her hand. As she did so, she plotted in her heart; as soon as she left, she'd have to investigate this Xu Shuqiao properly. After all, to her mind, Jiang Changbai wasn't someone without a guarded heart, yet this Xu Shuqiao, who'd barely qualified for a jinshi was even more clever.

Just now, when she'd been alone in the imperial study with Jiang Changbai, with Song Juguang's sharp hearing, she'd only been able to hear Jiang Changbai's voice, and hadn't heard the slightest sound of Xu Shuqiao's speech.

Jiang Changbai could see the difference in Song Juguang as well, and assumed that Song Juguang was plotting as to how to the excuse of helping her carry tribulations to insert her own people. Without realising it, she pressed her lips together, a plan in her mind as well.

As a result, when the kitchen staff brought lunch in, this scene occurred: Jiang Changbai, after a few minutes, had Xun Zhu bring the dishes at her own table to Song Juguang's, such that for the entire time the meal was being served, Xun Zhu didn't sit down properly for even a few minutes, and Song Juguang was baffled.

Song Juguang hesitated for a long while, and in the end said, "If Bixia wishes for this minister to do something, just say so, and this minister will most certainly not hesitate to jump into scalding water and plunge into raging flames."

Jiang Changbai, hearing this, startled, and thought to herself, I want you to give all the soldiers you have at your disposal to me. But when she raised her head to look at Song Juguang, she switched them out for an entirely different argument. "There's nothing I want you to go do; it's just that, seeing you've been a bit thin recently, I wanted you to eat a bit more."

Song Juguang couldn't make heads or tails of it, but no matter how she pressed, Jiang Changbai merely responded thusly. So, she left in bewilderment, and attributed all of Jiang Changbai's abnormalities to Xu Shuqiao.

But the next day, it wasn't merely Song Juguang, but seemingly everyone who knew of Xu Shuqiao's secret.

On the second day of the third month of the first year of Dao'an, the Drum of Grievance^[1] at the gates of the Yingtian manor, which had been silent for many years, was sounded. The one who sounded the Drum of Grievance wasn't someone else, but Xu Shuqiao, who had just earned a jinshi degree.

The one who sounded the Drum of Grievance would first have to endure fifty strokes in order to enter the hall to voice their grievance, and though the Prefect of the Yingtian manor had, beforehand, given warning and had the official administering the punishment hold back in force a bit, Xu Shuqiao was still a scholar who spent day and night sitting in a room reciting archaic literature, and, on enduring these fifty strokes, seemed as if she'd lost half her life.

The Yingtian Prefect's heart hammered as she watched Xu Shuqiao kneel before her, gasping and panting. This was the person whom her majesty had mentioned to her by name to look after; if she really were to die here, who knew whether the punishment she'd just endured would fall on her.

"Fetch a doctor to look her over; after all, she just attained a jinshi—she ought to be treated properly," the Yingtian Prefect said in the end after struggling for a long while.

Only once the doctor arrived and stuck in a few needles did Xu Shuqiao manage, with great difficulty, to stabilise. Kneeling on the ground, she said in a feeble voice, "This humble one wishes to file a suit against the examiners of this keju for being swayed by personal interests and engaging in fraud and grading exams at will!"

Though Xu Shuqiao had achieved a jinshi, she didn't have even the most minor of government positions; according to the Great Li's legal system, at this time, she was still a commoner, and thus had to use the self-reference of "this humble one". But the immaculately-groomed Yingtian Prefect, sitting upright on the platform before her didn't dare to merely treat her as an ordinary citizen.

Puzzled, the Yingtian Prefect asked, "Didn't you pass the exams? Why are you coming to file a case?"

"This humble one did pass the exams, but it was only barely. In the fourteenth year of Hejing, this humble one participated in the imperial exams before with the alias of Xu Lianzhao and earned the title of tanhua; this humble one believes, with her skills, she ought not merely be able to have such a rank."

With a pa, the gavel in the Yingtian Prefect's hand fell to the ground. The cases of the Drum of Grievance were all heard in public, and this time wasn't an exception. As soon as she finished speaking, a riot arose amongst the attending citizenry. The Yingtian Prefect couldn't pay any mind to picking up the gavel. Her gaze swept across the crowd hurriedly, and with a stern voice, she said, "What nonsense are you speaking? The matter of Xu Lianzhao has long since been settled. In the fourteenth year of Hejing, Xu Lianzhao obtained the rank of tanhua, and overjoyed at the good news, went mad—what relationship is there with you? This official knows you're dissatisfied with having ranked behind, but it's not to this degree. Hurry up and go home, don't cause trouble here!"

Of course in speaking these words, the Yingtian Prefect had her own reasons. Xu Shuqiao did have the qualifications of a jinshi, and entering the official sphere was merely a matter of time. Currently, the men in the court outnumbered the women; they were both women, and who knew whether, one day in the future, they'd need to help each other out.

Even if selfishness were to be discarded, she, too, hoped that the number of women in the official sphere would increase. But if Xu Shuqiao were to be implicated in a crime of deceiving the sovereign, even if her venerable majesty were magnanimous and didn't punish her, in the future, Xu Shuqiao's advancement would most certainly be hindered.

She had to do everything she could do stop her.

Yet Xu Shuqiao didn't understand the Yingtian Prefect's intentions in the slightest, and merely said once more, "Everything this humble one says is the truth; then, this humble one disguised herself as a man and only after earning the rank of tanhua did she had let things get out of hand to a point exceeding what she could control, and so created the falsehood of Xu Lianzhao's disappearance. Now that the keju exam rooms are impartial, I'm walking directly into the net myself; whether I'll be killed or have a limb cut off, I'm more than willing."

When she finished speaking, a figure suddenly pushed through the crowd of people. Yun Shanxing had raced the entire way there, and her hair was in a disarray. But didn't take her own sorry state into consideration, her mind and gaze filled with Xu Shuqiao, kneeling on the ground. "You must be too happy, and you're speaking nonsense out of joy, aren't you? Hurry up and apologise to the Yingtian Prefect, and I'll take you home."

As it turned out, just now, someone amidst the onlookers had recognised Xu Shuqiao, and gone to inform her family. Yun Shanxing had originally been packing away her belongings to leave, and hearing the news, hadn't been able to stay still, and had rushed over.

Though she was a bit envious that Xu Shuqiao had earned a jinshi and herself had not, but facing the current issue, she didn't wish for Xu Shuqiao to have any mishap.

Xu Shuqiao hadn't expected for Yun Shanxing to come, and, expending herself to raise her eyes to look at her, the emotions in her gaze were complex. When she'd left the imperial study the day before, Jiang Changbai had specifically instructed that she couldn't tell anyone else about what had been said there. As a result, though Xu Shuqiao knew that the keju exam papers would be re-graded, and that Yun Shanxing had the possibility of attaining jinshi, she didn't dare to tell her clearly.

She could only make insinuations, and say that she hoped Yun Shanxing would stay a few more days in the capital. It was just a pity that even if the night before she'd spoken until her mouth and tongue were dry, she couldn't make Yun Shanxing stay. However, at this moment, she had a new idea.

"A Xing, don't get agitated; everything I said is true. I believe in her majesty; nothing will happen to me. It's just that, in the next few days, I fear I won't be able to go home, and I'll have to trouble you to stay a few more days in the capital, and help me look after my family and matters."

Yun Shanxing's mind, at this moment, was a mess, and she had no ability to think it over carefully, merely nodding continuously, eyes murky. The Yingtian Prefect, seeing Xu Shuqiao was still persistent, cut off her intention to keep explaining for her, and, according to convention, sent Xu Shuqiao to the prison.

This matter spread like fire in the capital, and in a single night, everyone knew. It even disturbed her majesty, who lived in the depths of the palace, who specially instructed that she be brought before the court for questioning.

During the next day's morning court, Xu Shuqiao, wearing prisoner's garb and shackles, knelt wretchedly in the crowd of ministers.

"This humble one salutes her majesty!" Prison couldn't be compared to home, and she'd taken a beating; now, Xu Shuqiao's gaze had long since grown faint and blurred. But she still used all her might to kowtow and call out, "This humble one wishes to file a case against the keju examiners for being swayed by personal interests and engaging in fraud, taking bribes and abusing the law. Selecting jinshi holders at will has led to talents being lost amidst the common people! Bixia, please take charge!"

-

< LAST | HOME | NEXT >

-

Translator's notes:

[1]: 鸣冤鼓 (Mingyuan Gu), a type of drum in government offices in imperial times used to file a complaint of miscarriage of justice with the authorities.