CH 13

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“There is no need for you to know,” the man says, glancing through the window at the winding river the colour of the sky.

“Smuggling so much gunpowder, yet only storing it in the vault. Neither selling nor moving it away. Am I supposed to wait until somebody comes snooping around?” He grits his teeth lightly. “You want me to be your scapegoat?”

The man suddenly laughs and turns around to look at him. “Even if I do not do this, how much longer can you wait? How long can your wife wait?”

Tan Jing abruptly wakes up. He sits up and wipes the cold sweat off his forehead. He feels something heavy on his wrist, metal chains ringing with every movement. Underneath him is a bed of wet cattail. Tan Jing looks at the pale-white prisoners’ clothes on his body and is stunned as the memory from before he passed out comes slowly rolling back.

Everything had happened so quickly that he hadn’t had the opportunity to respond. In his fuzzy memory, he only remembers Su Shiyu’s smile, and then he’d lost consciousness, save for the twisting pain at the back of his neck.

One look at the state he is in would be clear enough. He lowers his head and lets out a bitter laugh.

A gentle and clear voice rings. “You’re awake?”

Tan Jing’s heart skips a beat. He raises his head to look across the cell. Someone stands tall and straight against the wall, gazing at him through the metal bars of the prison cell.

“The Grand Secretary truly is secretive about his martial art skills,” Tan Jing coldly says.

“You overpraise me.”

“Caught red-handed; why isn’t the Grand Secretary concluding the case, but instead coming to this unlucky place?” Tan Jing says.

“I came to see you,” Su Shiyu says.

Tan Jing icily laughs . “But I do not think there is any value in me worth your visit.”

“I recall the year you joined our ranks. You were full of ambition, willing to sacrifice for the people and society.” Su Shiyu looks at the sorry appearance of the person inside the cell. “Today you’ve fallen to this state.”

“I fear His Excellency the Grand Secretary will have to be disappointed.” Tan Jing casually sits up, and honestly says, “In the past, the present, even until the very moment I die, I don’t regret the things I have done. Including enrolling as an official, as well as smuggling and illegal trades, murdering innocent folk.”

“It sounds conflicting,” Su Shiyu flatly comments.

“It’s very simple, actually.” Tan Jing lowers his eyes and says, “His Excellency the Grand Secretary would have vaguely heard that my wife had once fallen into an ice pool. After she was rescued, she had a fever that didn’t stop, and she finally descended into madness. From then on, she is afflicted with a persistent illness; every time the illness attacks, the pain makes her break things, hurt others, and even injure herself out of control. The illness has no cure. It only relies on medicine to suppress the pain.”

“This is the reason you smuggled goods to gather money?”

“My position in the capital looked bright and filled with glory. How many people were envious? But compared to what was needed for that medicine, it was impossible. Yet, how could I just stand by and watch her die from pain?” Tan Jing bitterly smiles. “If I could not even protect her, how could I protect the lives of the people?”

“If your wife knew this is what you’ve become for her, she would rather die than let you walk this path,” Su Shiyu says.

“She would never understand these things.” Tan Jing stares at the teeth marks on his wrists, his voice softening a little. “I’ve spent an entire year making her remember me again, and another two years teaching her how to write my name. That time when her illness took hold again, she bit my hand bloody when I tried to hold her down. Once she came back to consciousness, she cradled my hand and kept crying, yet she couldn’t speak. All she knew was to shed tears as she called ‘A-Jing, A-Jing’.” Tan Jing suddenly pauses, suppressing the sob in his throat. He raises his head to look at Su Shiyu. “Had it been you, could you bear to see her in pain?”

Su Shiyu remains silent for a moment, then says, “Since it’s an incurable illness, the way you forcibly kept her in this mortal world is the true suffering.”

“Su Shiyu.” As if he’d heard something hilarious, Tan Jing laughs all of a sudden. “Don’t you have a heart?”

Su Shiyu looks at him quietly. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Hasn’t His Excellency the Grand Secretary ever fallen in love?” Tan Jing shakes his head and mocks, “Previously people whisper in secret that you have neither a heart nor love. I thought they were furious due to being unable to wed their daughters to you, but I couldn’t have guessed it was true.” He stares into Su Shiyu’s eyes, his tone dripping with contempt. “Truly pitiful and tragic.”

Su Shiyu looks at him, unaffected by his words. After Tan Jing’s laugh dies down, Su Shiyu speaks slowly once more: “I hold the post of supervision and judiciary. Since you claim that I have neither a heart nor love, I can only say it’s a coincidence.”

Tan Jing snorts and says nothing.

Su Shiyu slowly walks up to him. There is only a prison door between them. “You said it was all for your wife, but do you recall that, according to your crimes, she will also have to be executed.”

Tan Jing’s expression changes.

“This case of yours is fully in my control. Were the things you said to me for the sake of driving me into a fury, or to spare your wife?” Su Shiyu looks at him quietly.

Tan Jing opens his mouth and closes it, not speaking at all. After half a beat, he says, “What purpose has His Excellency the Grand Secretary come here for?”

Su Shiyu withdraws his gaze, raising a hand to brush the dust off his sleeves. “Who is the orchestrator of that batch of gunpowder?”

“Wouldn’t you know after you’ve seen the accounts?”

Su Shiyu gives him a glare and lightly laughs. “Whether the accounts are true or false, I have my ways.”

Tan Jing lowers his head to avoid Su Shiyu’s eyes, his heart racing.

In his memory, the man standing by the window had told him, “Just tell them what I told you to say, then I can guarantee your wife’s safety.”

The man before his eyes said, “I always thought that you were someone of good judgement.”

His heart sinks, and Tan Jing closes his eyes. Word by word he says, “The Prince of Huainan.”

In Xiaoshu1 of June, thin willows and lotuses float in the wind. The green colour of the trees ise like brocade clothes, the swallows and orioles swirl around each other. The young man absentmindedly caresses the open book on the desk as the carp leap from the shores of the green-coloured lake, as if reaching for the red lotuses on his robes.

Su Shiyu follows a maidservant into this scenery. The maidservant bows and leaves; Chu Mingyun lazily raises his gaze, and seeing that it was him, he smiles. “Yo, what a rare guest. How did His Excellency Su think of coming to my place?”

Su Shiyu walks up to him and smiles faintly. “Naturally, it’s for certain affairs.”

Leaving the vault, he matched those accounts and just as Tan Jing had said: written clearly  in ink was the Prince of Huainan’s name. Su Shiyu felt a little suspicious about it, so he flipped forward to read and realized that two pages were missing from the accounts. Those two pages were torn off cleanly, leaving only a few crumpled strips. If not for the fact that he’d looked at them closely, he would never have noticed them.

“If you said you’d missed me, I might be a lot happier.” Chu Mingyun looks at him with a smile and points to the peaches on the table. “Want one?”

“There is no need. After I’ve asked my question, I will leave.” Su Shiyu glances at him and says, “His Excellency Chu, do you still remember the account book you took in the vault two days ago?”

“I remember.”

“Two pages from that account book were torn off. Does His Excellency Chu know something about it?”

“Two pages were gone?” Chu Mingyun props his elbow onto the stone table, canting his head to the side and smiling at Su Shiyu. “Then, does His Excellency Su think that I’ve taken it, so he came here looking for me?”

“Preposterous; how would His Excellency Chu use that sort of underhanded method.” Su Shiyu meets his eyes, his smile faint, hinting at his words. “I have come here asking for clues, so it may help my search.”

After being implicitly scolded, Chu Mingyun’s expression does not change. He honestly says, “I don’t have any clue.”

“When His Excellency Chu flipped the accounts open, didn’t he notice that two pages were gone?” Su Shiyu asks.

“I do not know,” Chu Mingyun answers curtly.

“Since this is the case, did His Excellency Chu see anyone else in the vault?”

“No.”

“His Excellency Chu maybe you should think more carefully about it, there is no hurry to answer. I have the patience to wait for a moment,” Su Shiyu answers with a smile.

“If His Excellency Su refuses to believe me, why don’t you look for it yourself?” Chu Mingyun spreads his arms at him, smiling cockily. “As long as Your Excellency Su commands, I could even take off my clothes and let you search me thoroughly without hesitation.”

Su Shiyu looks away, his expression unmoving. For a moment, he says nothing.

“Are you too shy to ask?” Chu Mingyun blinks lightly, his eyes bright like the twinkling reflection of spring waters. He raises his hand to hold his own robes. “Then should I take them off myself?”

As he finishes speaking, he tugs at his robes. A fair and pale collarbone immediately comes into sight. Su Shiyu turns his head to the side to avert his gaze. He raises his hand to stop him, “……I’ve made a mistake. I will look for the missing pages elsewhere. I apologize for being a bother to His Excellency Chu.”

Obviously Chu Mingyun knows that there is nothing Su Shiyu could do therefore it gave Chu Mingyun the courage to dare to be so shameless and bold. Setting aside looking away from things that are inappropriate, he understands that Su Shiyu doesn’t want to get involved with him. It’s not only because he treasures his reputation, but because the Chu and Su Factions have been fighting for years; if he and Su Shiyu become too close, even the Emperor would suspect him.

Now, he truly thinks this rival of his is incredibly interesting.

The smile on Chu Mingyun’s lips deepens, as  he  studies Su Shiyu’s expression with keen interest. “That’s all right. It makes me happy to see His Excellency Su. Want me to escort you back?”

“There is no need for the trouble.” Su Shiyu still refuses to look at him. He turns around and leaves.

“Ah, right, Your Excellency Su,” Chu Mingyun suddenly calls after him, adjusting his robes with a casual smile as he says, “I forgot to say, His Excellency Su isn’t only beautiful in looks, your figure is just as attractive. Even when you’re displeased, you look cuter than normal.”

“……” With his back facing Chu Mingyun, a dark shade flashes across Su Shiyu’s irises. His voice is as indifferent as always. “Flattering. Goodbye.”

Just as he steps out of the Grand Marshal’s Residence, Su Bai greets him. “Young Master, how did it go?”

“As usual.” Su Shiyu says, “Those two pages of the account book will never be found. I came here just to test him. Now, we can be certain who it is who took those two pages.”

“But there is no evidence. We can’t just let him go like this, can we?” Su Bai suddenly has an idea. “Right, Young Master, couldn’t we accuse him of intentionally destroying evidence? At least we could give him a lesson!”

Su Shiyu sighs, feeling a headache. “I have no interest in letting others know how the account book fell into his hands.”

Su Bai’s face turns vacant. “Didn’t…… didn’t he snatch it by brute force?”

Su Shiyu gives Su Bai a profound look, but doesn’t answer him.

[1]小暑: The traditional East Asian calendars divide a year into 24 solar terms. Xiaoshu is the 11th solar term. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 105° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 120°.