Ning Chen pushed the silver note into the head jailer’s hand and clapped him on the shoulder. “Much obliged.”
The head jailer was no fool. Minister Li’s reaction plainly meant he was permitted to keep the money—or that the minister didn’t want to offend Ning the Silver Coat, and so had treated the whole thing as though he hadn’t seen it.
The head jailer knew at once what to do.
“Rest easy, Ning the Silver Coat. This small man will go right now.”
Ning Chen said with a smile, “Open the cell door first, then bring some food.”
The head jailer set the basin down, hurried forward to unlock the cell door, and withdrew.
Ning Chen went in.
Li Zhixing stayed at the cell door and did not enter.
Ning Chen crouched down in front of Zisu and looked at her small, bloodless face with something like pain. “How did you end up like this?”
Zisu shook her head faintly. “Ning the Silver Coat shouldn’t have come to a filthy place like this.”
“I’ve walked through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. It’s only a prison. It’s nothing to speak of… I’ve been in and out of the Inspectorate’s cells three times myself.”
Zisu looked at him, and the eyes that had been empty began to shine.
“When did Ning the Silver Coat get back?”
“Only today.”
“Aren’t you afraid of what coming to see me will drag you into?”
“It’s already dragged me in… you kept it from them that we knew each other, but Lord Li can find it out.”
An apology came over Zisu’s face. “I’m truly sorry.”
“It’s nothing. I have more trouble on me than I can count. When the debts pile up you stop worrying, and when the lice pile up you stop itching.”
Ning Chen looked at the marks on her. “Does it hurt?”
Zisu shook her head.
Ning Chen stood, unfastened his cloak, and laid it over her shoulders.
“Tell me. Why did you kill Xiuzhou’s Prefect and Governor, and go after Prince Duan?”
Zisu shook her head gently. “It doesn’t matter now. For the sake of our having known each other, I’d ask Ning the Silver Coat to speak to the lord here and give Zisu a quick end.”
Ning Chen frowned slightly. “Nobody assassinates a province’s Prefect and Governor for no reason. If you don’t speak, the court will honor them posthumously as loyal and steadfast servants.”
“And you’ll die with a filthy name on you. Are you content with that?”
Zisu’s beautiful eyes narrowed a fraction.
But she laughed lightly a moment later. “It makes no difference. Death clears the debt. Whether I die with a good name or a filthy one, I’m dead either way. It doesn’t matter.”
“That Ning the Silver Coat would come to see Zisu—this small woman is deeply grateful… but I’d ask Ning the Silver Coat not to come again.”
Ning Chen was getting angry. “Say it. There may still be a way out of this.”
“There is no need for Ning the Silver Coat to say any more. Zisu’s mind is made up. Let it end here, with this small woman’s death.”
Ning Chen was furious—grieved by her misfortune and angry that she would not fight.
He said in a low voice, “Prince Duan is still alive.”
Zisu had failed to kill Prince Duan, and she must badly want him dead.
Sure enough, something in Zisu’s eyes refused to accept it.
Then her white teeth caught at her red lip, and she looked at Ning Chen. “Young Master Ning, please go.”
Ning Chen was past holding it in. “Do you want to die that badly?”
Zisu smiled faintly. “For killing a province’s Prefect and Governor, Zisu could be put to death ten times over.”
Ning Chen said it one word at a time. “Things go the way men make them go.”
Zisu looked at him and said with a light laugh, “Ning the Silver Coat. Let Zisu go in peace.”
Ning Chen was past holding it in.
But he held the anger down and asked one more question. “Who is it you’re protecting?”
Zisu was an orphan, and Shang Lu was dead. She should have had nothing left to hold her back—and yet she was set on dying. Which could only mean one thing. She was protecting someone.
A flicker of panic went through Zisu’s eyes, but she still smiled. “Zisu is shut in a prison and can’t look after herself. What could she possibly do to protect anyone?”
“For the sake of Zisu having once treated Young Master Ning, please go, Ning the Silver Coat, and don’t come again.”
Ning Chen’s temper broke. “Fine. If you’re set on dying, then Ning here will stop meddling in what isn’t his business… look to yourself.”
Just then the head jailer came back with the bedding in his arms and a food box in his hand.
Ning Chen glanced at Zisu, turned, and left.
Once out of the cell, Ning Chen looked at the head jailer. “I’ll trouble you to look after her well, brother jailer. Drinks on me another day.”
The head jailer nodded and nodded again.
Ning Chen and Li Zhixing walked out of the cells.
“Lord Li, has she said nothing at all?”
Li Zhixing hesitated. The case involved two officials of the court and a prince of the royal house, and strictly speaking nothing should be disclosed to Ning Chen.
But things had gone this far, and offending Ning Chen on top of it would not be worth it.
“The woman looks delicate, but her character is hard… she is set on dying and will not say anything.”
Ning Chen frowned. “Zisu can’t be her real name. Can her real identity be traced?”
Li Zhixing shook his head. “It’s difficult. She won’t say anything, so there’s nowhere to start.”
Ning Chen’s eyes suddenly fixed. Could she be protecting her uncle in the craft—Lin Wen, Master Director of the Imperial Physicians’ Bureau?
No, that wasn’t right. Shang Lu had brought Zisu to the capital, and their connection to Lin Wen was hardly a secret.
“Does Lord Li know about the relationship between Zisu and Physician Lin?”
Li Zhixing nodded. “Physician Lin was taken into custody the same day Miss Zisu was brought back to the capital under guard. Their relationship is hardly a secret.”
Ning Chen asked, “What does Physician Lin say?”
“He’s been questioned. Physician Lin appears to know nothing.”
“Where is Physician Lin being held?”
“Right here, in the Ministry of Justice’s cells.”
Ning Chen and Li Zhixing went back down into the cells.
In one of them they found Lin Wen.
Lin Wen was somewhat unkempt, but there were no marks on him and his spirits seemed sound enough.
He was, after all, Master Director of the Imperial Physicians’ Bureau, and had attended members of the royal house. Without solid evidence tying him to Zisu’s assassination case, no torture would be used on him.
“Ning the Silver Coat?” Lin Wen was surprised to see him. “Weren’t you away fighting at the frontier?”
Ning Chen said with a smile, “I only got back today.”
“By the look of Ning the Silver Coat, it must have been a great victory.”
Ning Chen said, “Mangzhou is taken and the frontier is recovered.”
Admiration filled Lin Wen’s face. “Heroes really are made young. Ning the Silver Coat’s service will stand for a thousand years. This old fellow bows to you.”
“We know each other well enough by now—let’s do without the courtesies… how much do you know about the Xiuzhou assassinations?”
Lin Wen was taken aback. “Has the case been given to the Inspectorate?”
Ning Chen shook his head. “At Mangzhou I was badly wounded, and Miss Zisu was the one who saved me… now she’s shut in a prison. How could Ning here stand by and watch?”
“And the musket battalion is under my command. The muskets were lost, and I could hardly escape the blame for it.”
“So Ning the Silver Coat knew Zisu back in Mangzhou.” Lin Wen shook his head and smiled bitterly. “But I don’t know anything about it.”
“All I know is that Zisu is an orphan, taken in by my elder when she was small. The last time I saw her was years ago… as for why they would kill Xiuzhou’s Prefect and Governor, and go after Prince Duan? I truly don’t know.”
Ning Chen asked, “Think hard. Did Shang Lu ever let anything slip to you about Zisu’s real identity? Even a word or two?”
Lin Wen shook his head. “My elder only ever said he’d found her in Xiuzhou. Nothing beyond that.”
Disappointment filled Ning Chen’s face.
He talked with Lin Wen a while longer, got nothing out of it, and took his leave.
Walking out of the cell, Ning Chen glanced back, and saw Lin Wen holding a handful of dry straw and talking to himself:
名為神仙花，實為斷腸草。 血泣萬畝田，青苗變枯草。 抬頭問蒼天，隻手遮天眼…
They call it the immortals’ flower; it is the gut-severing weed. Ten thousand acres weep blood, and the green shoots turn to withered grass. I lift my head and ask heaven, and one hand covers heaven’s eye…
The rest dropped into a mutter and Ning Chen could not make it out.
Ning Chen’s step checked for an instant. He turned his head and looked at Li Zhixing, then followed him out of the cells.
(End of Chapter 289)