Chapter 157: Success or Failure (1)

Zi Yongshou knelt prostrate on the ground, stammering but with unusual completeness, spilling Wei Yixian's scheme.

As the account deepened, the weight that had been lodged in Zi Yongshou's chest gradually dissolved.

Since returning from Wei Yixian's residence, he had not slept a single peaceful night, spending every day waiting for the truth to come out, nearly worn down into a nervous wreck.

Throughout the entire summer of the twenty-sixth year of Tianding, his body had been free, but his heart had been trapped in a lightless prison, thrashing about, howling and screaming.

Yet during the days he had been confined by Le Wuya, his mind had instead gradually grown clear and calm.

Plotting together with Wei Yixian was no different from asking a tiger for its skin.

If the scheme failed, Zi Yongshou would be thrown into prison on charges of defaming a sitting official.

If it succeeded, his heart would remain imprisoned in that dark cell for life, never to be released.

It was Prefect Wenren who had given him this second chance to see the light of day, and he had to cherish it.

The case of Prefect Qian's drowning and the case of Zhang Erlang, the farmer of Lingao Village, cruelly poisoned to death, were thus linked to the case of Zi Yongshou's disappearance.

According to Zi Yongshou's account, he had been dragged into this conspiracy by Wei Yixian, and when push came to shove, he had developed second thoughts. Wei Yixian, detecting this, had simply locked him up at home.

Given the summer heat, if Zi Yongshou had died, getting rid of the body would have been a hassle, and the city patrols were extremely strict. Wei Yixian had therefore thrown him into a dry well beneath the house, supplying him with food and water, waiting only for things to cool down before quietly getting rid of him.

It all seemed to add up, but Zheng Miao's gut told him it was all going too smoothly.

When Zi Yongshou finished his account, Wei Yixian rose to his feet and gave Zheng Miao a casual salute: "My lord, Registrar Zi has made a vehement accusation against me. Hearing this, I find it deeply chilling. Might I be permitted to ask a few questions?"

Zheng Miao gave a slight nod.

Now that Wei Yixian was willing to confront him directly in court, all the better.

Though rage and fury were boiling in Wei Yixian's chest, his face was a mask of calm, composed and unhurried.

No rushing.

Losing your cool at a moment like this was the surest way to die.

He walked slowly over to stand in front of Zi Yongshou: "Registrar Zi."

Zi Yongshou, hands braced on the ground, lifted his head with difficulty to look at Wei Yixian.

His lips were cracked and swollen, his face pale and puffy from days without sunlight, and he smelled of straw damp with sweat.

Seeing him in such a sorry state, Wei Yixian sneered inwardly at this self-inflicted martyr act, while his face showed just the right amount of sympathy: "Registrar Zi, who put you up to defaming this official?"

Compared to Wei Yixian's elegant, composed demeanor, Zi Yongshou naturally seemed to shrink.

He placed his hands on his knees and looked up with a trembling voice: "I'm telling the truth, my lord. I haven't slandered you."

"Do you have physical evidence?"

Zi Yongshou shook his head: "None."

"Witnesses?"

Zi Yongshou: "Everyone there that day was your lordship's trusted confidant. I have no witnesses either."

Wei Yixian let out a laugh, turned to Zheng Miao, and gave a slight bow: "My lord, I've asked what I needed to ask. The judgment is entirely yours."

Zheng Miao likewise said: "With nothing but your word, you accuse a fifth-rank official of bribing witnesses and suspicion of murder? Zi Yongshou, you have worked in criminal justice for years. You know what crime this is, don't you?"

Zi Yongshou lowered his head, deflated: "Your subordinate knows."

Mu Jiazhi, watching Zi Yongshou being so suppressed, was frantic with worry, his fist clenched tight inside his sleeve.

He had believed that he and He Qian, first as classmates and then as colleagues, shared a bond unlike any other, and that they knew each other inside and out.

But from the time He Qian had been threatened in early June until he was snatched, Mu Jiazhi had noticed not the slightest abnormality in him, nor had He Qian been willing to ask this "good friend" of his for help...

What does it really mean to be a friend?

At this thought, Mu Jiazhi rose resolutely and, hiking up his robes, knelt before Zheng Miao: "Lord Zheng, I've known Zi Yongshou since we were kids. He's timid and slow by nature, but he doesn't know how to lie. If the bribery never happened, he couldn't have recounted it in such detail. I can vouch for Zi Yongshou—on the afternoon of the first day of the sixth month, he did come to me to ask for leave. Earlier, you asked how Zi Yongshou could have foreseen events and requested leave on the first of the sixth month, then traveled through the night to Lingao. But if, on that first day, he learned of Zhang Erlang's death and, in a panic, went to Lingao to confirm it, then it all makes sense!"

"Assistant Prefect Mu is vouching for this liar?" Wei Yixian flicked his sleeve. "You say you two have known each other since childhood. Wouldn't it make more sense that he went to Lingao on your behalf to scout things out and confirm whether Zhang Erlang was dead?"

Mu Jiazhi's brow furrowed: "What does Assistant Prefect Wei mean by that?"

"What do I mean? Why is Assistant Prefect Mu playing dumb? The case of Prefect Qian was tried and closed by your own hand." Wei Yixian let out a cold laugh. "Assistant Prefect Mu, famed for judging cases like a god—who hasn't heard of that? Yet the case of Liang Huaimin, magistrate of Yunliang County, colluding with Garrison Commander Wu Xing to slaughter local thugs, had holes in it. It was on the basis of that case that you took away my military authority. Shortly thereafter, Zi Yongshou vanished without a trace, the whole city's garrison was deployed, and they still couldn't find him. Now this man inexplicably shows up in the dry well of my home. I must ask Assistant Prefect Mu: what is the meaning of this? Are you afraid you can't finish me off fast enough? Today someone stuffs Zi Yongshou into the Wei family well; tomorrow, who's to say someone won't plant deeds and land titles in my house to back up Zi Yongshou's story and make this scheme even more airtight?"

At this, Wei Yixian thundered: "I thought factional strife was a thing of the past. Who would've thought it would erupt in Tongzhou in our own time! It's chilling!"

This was a brilliant move by Wei Yixian—not only did he preemptively bring up the deeds and land titles that hadn't even been searched for, but he also conveniently slapped Mu Jiazhi with the charge of forming a faction.

When Zi Yongshou stepped forward to accuse him, there was at least some logic to it.

After all, he had been pulled out of the well on Wei's property.

Wei Yixian could not very well drag Le Wuya into this simply because Le Wuya had grinned at him for no reason, without a shred of evidence.

The only course now was to deny everything to the death, drag Mu Jiazhi down with him, and seek a chance at survival amid the chaos.

The heavy accusation came crashing down, but instead of driving Mu Jiazhi back, it only fueled his fighting spirit.

He considered himself never to have formed factions, and thus his conscience was clear: "Assistant Prefect Wei, by your logic, the saying 'catch a thief, catch the goods' becomes nonsense! A living, breathing man—you claim he was placed in your home by someone else. If that is so, then every grave sinner in this world could make the same excuse! How absurd and laughable!"

"Furthermore, regarding the Yunliang County case, it was Prefect Wenren who, upon reviewing the case files, detected the irregularities, and only then did I investigate in depth to uncover the truth. I am no Judge Bao or Lord Di—the reputation of 'judging cases like a god' is far beyond me. Moreover, even if Judge Bao or Lord Di were reborn, they could hardly be omniscient and infallible! You have no evidence, yet you force a connection between the two cases by strained association. Your only purpose is to expand the scope of the matter and strike at the heart!"

With that, Mu Jiazhi turned to Zheng Miao and bowed deeply: "I beg you, my lord, to focus on this case and not be swayed by Assistant Prefect Wei's inflammatory rhetoric!"

Wei Yixian said coolly: "Is Assistant Prefect Mu afraid?"

Le Wuya, sitting to the side, took a sip of his cold tea.

Fight on.

The livelier, the better.

Zheng Miao, watching the two men clash, was in no hurry to mediate or halt them. He turned instead to Le Wuya: "What does Prefect Wenren think?"

"Me?" Le Wuya raised his eyes from the rim of his teacup, his gaze remarkably innocent. "I have only just arrived and can hardly claim any great insight. A thousand words, a thousand correct—better to remain silent."

The meaning was simple.

I am innocent. I am just the newcomer. I will watch and say nothing.

Though Wei Yixian was verbally sparring with Mu Jiazhi, he kept a third of his attention fixed on Zi Yongshou, who seemed to have been overlooked.

And Zi Yongshou, still on his knees, had looked up at Mu Jiazhi when the man rose to speak up for him, then lowered his head and fell silent.

That look was loaded—full of guilt, surprise, and a quiet plea for help.

But that wasn't what Wei Yixian wanted.

He was dying for Zi Yongshou to look at the man he kept stealing glances at, but Zi Yongshou never once looked his way, as if the man were a total stranger.

...

Zi Yongshou kept his head down, playing the simple, honest man, while his mind drifted back to that cold, pitch-black cellar.

That day, Le Wuya had come to see him, bringing two tangerines, and sat across from him, chomping away.

Zi Yongshou stammered, "Sir, I'm scared..."

Le Wuya shoved a wedge of tangerine in his mouth and mumbled, "What are you scared of?"

Zi Yongshou said, "I have no evidence. When I'm questioned in court, if Wei Yixian presses me for witnesses and evidence, I—"

"'If' my ass. He's definitely going to grill you, and he'll slap some big charge on you too," Le Wuya interrupted. "For a regular family, producing even one *juren* is like their ancestors' graves smoking—a rare stroke of luck. Getting to the fifth rank? That takes the ancestors' graves belching out smoke like a signal fire. He's had it good for half his life. You think he's just gonna roll over and die the second you point a finger at him? Even if you dropped dead in his backyard, even if they found the deed in his house, he could still plead ignorance and claim someone set him up."

Zi Yongshou looked at Le Wuya anxiously: "Then what am I supposed to do, sir? Please, give me some guidance, Your Excellency!"

Without a word, Le Wuya chucked a tangerine at him.

Zi Yongshou fumbled to catch it but had no appetite, just staring at Le Wuya with desperate eyes.

"First thing: once you're in court, keep your eyes in line," Le Wuya said. "Technically, you and I aren't that close. Even if you need help, you should be looking at Mu Jiazhi—he's your boss and your friend."

Zi Yongshou quickly dropped his eyes, obedient as could be: "Yes, sir."

He hung his head, running through how he'd act in court, but still had a question: "Then, sir, should I not look at Liang Xian either? Assistant Prefect Wei can't stand Liang Xian. If I so much as glance at him, he'll say we were in cahoots..."

Le Wuya said, "If you don't look at anyone and just tuck your head in like a turtle, wouldn't that look even weirder? You're a born coward, plain and simple. Mu Liangxian is your friend. Looking at him in a pinch to ask for help? That's totally reasonable."

At that, Zi Yongshou could barely hide his guilt: "Can I even call myself a friend? I was thinking of betraying him..."

If Le Wuya hadn't stepped in, Zi Yongshou figured, with his spineless nature, he might've just gone with the flow and stabbed Mu Jiazhi in the back alongside Wei Yixian.

Le Wuya said, "It's never too late to pull back from the edge or lock the barn door after the horse bolts. Besides, you're not the only one who's a piece of work—is Mu Liangxian really any better as a friend? He works you like a mule, doesn't give a damn about your family's struggles, and keeps you grinding day in and day out. I've checked the attendance logs at the office. In the last few years, have you ever made it home before the *xu* hour? Every single day, he's like a man jacked up on adrenaline, and you're like a chicken with the plague. It's only natural you'd feel bitter and pissed off. Anyway, you're both about the same—a couple of bastards—so quit beating yourself up."

Zi Yongshou: "..."

That pep talk was a real mix of high and low, with sage wisdom and plain talk all jumbled together, and it actually took the edge off most of his guilt.

"Second thing: remember, your only target is Wei Yixian," Le Wuya said. "What I can do is cover the details for you. It's up to you to find a way to nail him. Think about it yourself—what hard evidence do you have to back up your story? Every wild goose leaves a trail. He's done way too much for there not to be traces."

Zi Yongshou thought it over timidly for a long moment: "I got to Lingao County on the second day of the sixth month, and Zhang Erlang was already dead by then. I don't think Assistant Prefect Wei could've poisoned him from a distance. He'd have had to send one of his trusted men to Lingao County. Lingao's pretty cut off. An outsider would have to dress up as a peddler or a traveling doctor, hanging around the Zhangs' place to sniff around. Maybe we could grab Wei Yixian's men and have Zhang Erlang's neighbors take a look, see if anyone recognizes them from before the murder."

Le Wuya gave an approving nod: "Mm."

Zi Yongshou stammered, "But... but sir, what excuse would you use to round up all of Wei Yixian's men? I'm just a low-ranking nobody. A verbal accusation alone could never bring him down..."

Back then, Zi Yongshou had no idea where he'd end up being stashed.

He himself was the spark that would set off the search of Wei's house.

Le Wuya waved a hand dismissively: "Don't worry about that."

Since Le Wuya said so, Zi Yongshou didn't doubt further.

He bit his lip, looking all timid and scared, mulling it over for a bit before hesitating: "...Well, sir, there's actually one more thing."

Le Wuya said, "Speak."

Zi Yongshou: "...Never mind."

Le Wuya chucked a tangerine peel at him: "What's that supposed to mean, jerking me around?"

Zi Yongshou quickly waved his hands: "No, no, sir, don't get me wrong. I'm just worried it's all talk... Besides, Assistant Prefect Wei might've already destroyed the thing by now..."

Le Wuya rolled his eyes: "Quit beating around the bush. If you don't spit it out soon, I'm shoving this tangerine down your throat."

Zi Yongshou licked his lips, looking scared stiff, and tucked the tangerine—now warm from his grip—behind his back.

...

As Mu Jiazhi and Wei Yixian squared off, ready to tear each other apart, Zi Yongshou suddenly made his move.

He slammed his head to the floor and recited: "The deed-maker Yuan Sanming, being short on funds, hereby sells his ancestral ten *mu* of open land, known as the Taicang Liang plot, bounded on the east by Zhang Qingdi's land, on the west by Liu Fenglai's land, on the south by Gaoling Road, and on the west by Tongtian Ditch, with clear boundaries on all four sides, willingly sold to Zi Yongshou in perpetuity. The agreed price is twenty taels of silver, paid in full on the same day, with no outstanding balance. No disputes shall arise hereafter; this deed serves as proof. Date of deed: the fifth day of the fourth month, in the twenty-sixth year of Tianding."

He recited it in one breath, then coughed violently.

Zheng Miao raised an eyebrow: "What is this?"

Zi Yongshou finally caught his breath and said weakly, "That day, when Assistant Prefect Wei gave me the land deed, what was written on it was... exactly this..."

Wei Yixian's heart slammed against his ribs.

His astonishment at this moment was no less than Le Wuya's when he had heard Zi Yongshou recite the deed in the cellar that day.

Even his confusion was identical.

In the cellar, Le Wuya had exclaimed in surprise, "Didn't you say you only glanced at it once and dared not look again?"

Zi Yongshou swallowed hard: "Yes. But I was also a bit curious, wanting to know where the land given to me was and how large it was..."

Le Wuya was speechless for a moment, then spotted the key point: "You're very good at memorization?"

Zi Yongshou gave a timid "Mm," but there was no pride on his face: "I can only memorize, not apply. Even if I could recite the Four Books and Five Classics backward and forward, what use would it be?"

Le Wuya: "...With such a good memory, why did you repeatedly go through the case files of Prefect Qian's drowning?"

For you see, one of the reasons Le Wuya had initially identified Zi Yongshou as the mole was that the ribbon on the case file of Prefect Qian, which no one had requested, had been worn to a faded color from repeated handling.

Zi Yongshou said weakly, "I thought, what if I had misremembered something? Taking it out to look would put my mind at ease."

Le Wuya: "..." A remarkable man, yet cursed with a cowardly appearance.

Wei Yixian also vividly recalled the day he had tried to win Zi Yongshou over.

Back then, Zi Yongshou had only glanced at the deed once before panicking and dropping it, and when he left, he had run off like a gust of wind.

How could he remember it so clearly?!

Wei Yixian forced himself to stay calm and continued to argue: "Registrar Zi recites it so fluently; he must have conspired with someone else beforehand to frame me."

Then, turning to Zheng Miao with a mournful tone, he said, "Your Excellency, surely there is already such a document in my home."

Hearing this, Zi Yongshou's thoughts began to turn.

Wei Yixian's words confirmed that he had not destroyed the land deed and house deed!

Indeed, Wei Yixian did not know that he had been taken away by force.

As far as Wei Yixian was concerned, it was more likely that he had gone back on his word and fled.

Therefore, Wei Yixian would have to hold on to the house deed and land deed, waiting only for Zheng Miao to investigate and order a search of the Zi household, at which point he could seamlessly mix them in with his own belongings to prove he had come into money from an unknown source.

As for keeping the deeds in his possession, Wei Yixian saw no danger in it.

After all, who would go out of their way to search the Wei residence?

With this thought, Zi Yongshou finally felt the weight lift off his chest, and his admiration for Le Wuya grew even stronger:

The prefect could foresee even such matters—truly a man of divine foresight!

He went over the two things Le Wuya had told him to do in his mind.

First, never look at the lord directly.

Second, stick to his story about Wei Yixian.

After speaking earlier, Zi Yongshou's tongue had loosened up considerably.

If he could not topple Wei Yixian in one stroke, he would never again have a chance to hold his head up in public!

Mustering every bit of courage he had, he kowtowed properly to Zheng Miao and said, "Lord Zheng, this land deed clearly bears the names of both buyer and seller. Please summon the seller, Yuan Sanming, and see if the buyer is really me, Zi Yongshou!"

Zheng Miao's eyes flickered: "You don't have to be there in person to buy land."

Wei Yixian, thinking Zheng Miao was speaking on his behalf, quickly piped up: "Indeed, you could easily entrust a broker to arrange it—why would you need to show up yourself?"

Zi Yongshou coughed twice: "As Assistant Prefect Wei says, if I wanted to cover my tracks and used a broker, why would I buy the land under my real name instead of a fake one?"

"When buying land, both parties have to show their ID documents. Even with a broker acting as intermediary, to purchase land in my name, he would have to take my identity document to get it done. The identity documents of clerks in the yamen have always been managed by the Household Office—they're never kept on the person. To get one back, you have to submit a written request stating why you need it, and the Household Office has to approve it before it's released. I would ask the Household Office clerk whether such an application is still on file."

As Zi Yongshou spoke, his face flushed: "Lord Zheng, I ask you to look into this—the one in charge of the Household Office in this prefectural office isn't Assistant Prefect Mu, it's Assistant Prefect Wei! If an application exists, I beg you to carefully verify the handwriting; if none exists, then either Wei Yixian has been lax in management, allowing a useless scholar like me to sneak the document out and put it back without anyone noticing, or someone got the document on the sly to purchase land on my behalf, intending to bribe me and frame Assistant Prefect Mu!"

Zheng Miao picked up a slightly creased document from the desk and held it up for him to see: "Zi Yongshou, look—is this the land deed?"

Le Wuya shot him a glance.

Good lad, quick hands—he searched fast.

Zi Yongshou crawled forward on his knees, took the document handed to him by the constable, examined it, and replied respectfully, "To answer your lordship, this is not the original but a copy made by someone else."

Zheng Miao was very pleased with Zi Yongshou's answer.

He gave a slight smile: "Good. So you really have seen the original."

With that, he picked up another yellowed land deed and flicked it with his fingertip, causing Wei Yixian, who was kneeling below, to flinch.

If the land had not been purchased under Zi Yongshou's real name, how could they have gotten him to bite? And how could they use it to control him?

But Wei Yixian still had a counterargument: "Lord Zheng, this could very well be a scheme cooked up by Registrar Zi and whoever's behind this. It's no surprise he knows what's in the document!"

Zheng Miao brushed past that: "Where's the clerk from the Household Office?"

Li, the Household Office clerk, was suddenly called out. He didn't dare dawdle and hurried into the hall, but in his nervousness, he stumbled and nearly went sprawling.

His face pale, his arms shaking as he propped himself up on the floor: "L-Lord Zheng..."

Zheng Miao asked directly: "In April of this year, did Zi Yongshou come to the Household Office to pick up his identity document?"

Li said weakly: "Yes, Registrar Zi's document was taken out..."

Le Wuya and Zheng Miao said at the same time: "Stop beating around the bush!"

Zheng Miao shot him a look and frowned: "Lord Wenren, if you have something to say, say it."

Le Wuya grinned at Zheng Miao, then said: "Clerk Li, just say who took it out—don't try to dodge the question at a time like this, or you might get burned yourself."

Li's cold sweat dripped from his temples onto the bluestone floor.

The way things were looking, Lord Wei was in serious trouble.

As the one who had handled the matter, should he take the fall for Lord Wei?

In that instant, he knew what to do.

He thumped his head on the ground and said: "It is true. It was taken out by Registrar Zi! There is an application written in Registrar Zi's own handwriting as proof!"

He said weakly: "It's just... just that the person who came to collect the document was not Registrar Zi himself, but a junior clerk from the Penal Office named Wu Qi. So even though the logbook has Registrar Zi's name on it, the handwriting doesn't really match..."

He wasn't taking sides!

Sticking with the "facts" couldn't be wrong, right?

Le Wuya looked at Zheng Miao: "Since there's a document, let's bring it in and take a look—what do you say?"

Zheng Miao said curtly: "Bring it to me."

The document was brought in quickly.

When the letter was handed to Zi Yongshou, he read it once, and his expression changed drastically.

When he read it a second time, his hands started shaking.

He almost couldn't stop himself from glancing at Le Wuya.

Zi Yongshou forced himself to steady his mind and, his voice trembling with tears, protested: "Your lordship, this is indeed my handwriting, but I never wrote such a document—please look into this carefully!"

Wei Yixian let out a cold laugh off to the side.

Even Zi Yongshou himself felt how absurd his words sounded, and in his panic, his cowardly nature took over again, leaving him too terrified to speak.

Zheng Miao took it, examined it closely, and couldn't help but scoff.

He waved Le Wuya over: "Lord Wenren, come take a look at this."

Le Wuya took it, looked it over the same way, and let out the exact same scoff.

He folded the document and told Yang Zheng, who was standing nearby: "Go get a basin of water."

Yang Zheng said "Yes, sir" and went off to do it.

Le Wuya leaned back in his chair and said lazily: "Back in the day—"

Once, a minor official lodged a false accusation against Prefect Pei Guang, alleging conspiracy to rebel, with a letter as evidence. Upon receiving the letter, Pei Guang was deeply alarmed and insisted the handwriting was his, but that he hadn't written the letter. At that time, cruel officials were rampant, and for someone this stubborn, torture would have been the standard treatment, but the judge was Minister Zhang Chujin, a man of integrity who disliked extracting confessions through torture. He kept the letter with him and studied it every which way. One day, during his afternoon nap, the western sun was beating down on his bed, and he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. With nothing better to do, he picked up the letter to look at it again. To his surprise, upon closer inspection, the letter showed signs of being pieced together—invisible when viewed straight on, but obvious when held to the light."

As he spoke, Yang Zheng bustled into the hall with a copper basin of water.

Le Wuya flung the document into the water without a second thought.

The seemingly intact "application form" dissolved piece by piece into fragments of text upon contact with water.

—It was clearly cut out from documents written by Zi Yongshou in his daily work!

"Now someone has imitated this case, forging official documents to access the identity papers of current officials, showing how rampant they have become." Le Wuya put on an extremely aggrieved tone, rose to bow to Zheng Miao, and made a full, round bow like a fox worshipping the moon. "As a newly arrived official in Tongzhou, barely a month in, I've encountered such a major case. I am deeply frightened and alarmed. If the waters in Tongzhou Prefecture run this deep, I might, like Prefect Qian, meet an untimely end in a foreign land for no reason. I beg Lord Zheng to uphold justice for me."

Zheng Miao, who had just been publicly hit with this act of playing cute: "..."

Zheng Miao dreaded people acting cute toward him.

That person rarely did so—maybe once a year—but whenever it happened, it was always with the determination to squeeze something out of him.

So much so that whenever he heard someone being coy, his fists would involuntarily clench, yet his heart would soften first.

Author's note:

Yaya: Alright, alright, alright.