Having settled Yudie, Ning Chen came out of the courtesans’ quarter, mounted his beloved Diaochan, and went clattering off to the Inspectorate.

In Geng Jing’s room.

Ning Chen laid the whole matter out, keeping nothing back.

Geng Jing’s and Pan Yucheng’s faces turned grave as they listened.

Astonishment filled Geng Jing’s face. “I’d never have imagined it. They started growing the immortals’ flower more than ten years ago?”

Ning Chen said in a low voice, “This case isn’t as simple as two officials of the court being dead anymore. It’s risen to the level of the empire itself.”

“They started growing the immortals’ flower more than ten years ago, when His Majesty had not long been on the throne and his footing wasn’t yet firm… you could figure out what they meant to do with your backside.”

“Qian Wei, the gold coat who investigated the great Xiuzhou case at the time, died afterward. I doubt it was an accident. They killed the man who knew and closed his mouth.”

Pan Yucheng said, “But this case is more than ten years old. Investigating it again and finding the truth is going to be very hard.”

Ning Chen shook his head. “Not hard.”

Geng Jing and Pan Yucheng stared at him, astonished.

Ning Chen said with a smile, “I’d guess they aren’t growing a small amount of the immortals’ flower. Planting on that scale isn’t difficult to find.”

“Xiuzhou’s climate is damp and suits the immortals’ flower well. The stuff is certainly being grown inside Xiuzhou’s borders.”

Geng Jing nodded. “I’ll send men to Xiuzhou at once and start looking into it quietly.”

Ning Chen nodded slightly.

Geng Jing looked at him. “Does this have to be reported to His Majesty?”

“It has to be…” Ning Chen paused, then said, “This touches a prince of the royal house, and there are fifty thousand troops in Xiuzhou. On the face of it they’re the court’s army, but who they actually belong to now is honestly hard to say.”

“With His Majesty’s approval, investigating will be a lot easier for us.”

Geng Jing nodded. “Then I’ll go into the palace at once and report it to His Majesty!”

Ning Chen shook his head. “Better that I go! His Majesty summoned me yesterday to come into the palace today, and I was busy and forgot… I might as well make the trip and report it while I’m there.”

Geng Jing and Pan Yucheng were lost for words. Forgetting a summons from His Majesty? The man’s nerve was beyond measure.

“That reminds me, Old Pan—how did that business I asked you to look into turn out?”

Pan Yucheng said, “You mean Zuo Yaozu?”

Ning Chen made a small noise of assent.

Pan Yucheng said with a smile, “No need to look into anything. Zuo Yaozu has been on the Inspectorate’s list all along… the fellow has a fair number of charges against him, but none of them large, so nobody’s ever moved on him.”

Geng Jing asked, curious, “What did Zuo Yaozu do to you?”

Ning Chen told the story with a good deal added to it.

When Ning Chen had finished, Pan Yucheng asked with a smile, “You want to move on him?”

Ning Chen nodded.

Pan Yucheng said, “None of the charges is large, but neither is his office. Moving on him won’t cause any trouble.”

Geng Jing looked at the two of them, lost for words.

“When the two of you abuse your office for private ends, could you at least do it behind my back?”

Pan Yucheng said, “Lord Geng, this isn’t abusing office for private ends… Zuo Yaozu takes bribes, leans on people with the weight of his position, and forces respectable women into becoming his concubines. None of it is large, but it does break the court’s statutes in the end. Moving on him is entirely by the book.”

Ning Chen nodded and nodded again. “Pan the Gold Coat speaks sense! A dyke a thousand miles long is destroyed by an ant hole… the tigers have to be beaten and the flies have to be swatted. Watching over the officials and easing His Majesty’s burdens is our responsibility.”

Geng Jing looked at the two of them singing each other’s lines and had nothing to say.

Pan Yucheng said, “Shall I send Gao Ziping, then?”

Ning Chen made a small noise of assent and said, “And I need to get into the palace!”

The two of them came out of Geng Jing’s room.

Ning Chen suddenly lowered his voice. “Zuo Yaozu can’t be left alive.”

Pan Yucheng started. “What he’s done doesn’t merit death!”

Ning Chen said in a low voice, “He knows about Yudie and Zisu, and Zisu made an attempt on Prince Duan. If he decides to get his arms around Prince Duan’s leg and passes this to him… we’ll be in a very weak position.”

Pan Yucheng looked at him. “The reasoning sounds sensible enough… but are you sure you’re not killing him because he threatened you?”

“No. Absolutely not. I’m pure in nature. How could I put a man to death over a little thing like that? I’m thinking of the larger picture.”

The corner of Pan Yucheng’s mouth twitched. “If you hadn’t said the part about being pure in nature, I’d have believed you.”

Ning Chen laughed. “Shall I say it again?”

Pan Yucheng was lost for words. “Zuo Yaozu really doesn’t deserve death, but he’s done a fair number of disgusting things… if he were an ordinary man the harm wouldn’t amount to much. But he has power in his hands, and to the common people the harm is considerable.”

Ning Chen put up a thumb. “There’s a reason you’re a gold coat. I couldn’t catch up to that kind of conscience on horseback… as the old saying goes, don’t leave a good thing undone because it’s small, and don’t do a bad thing because it’s small. Killing him is a good thing.”

Pan Yucheng was puzzled. “The old saying? How is it I’ve never heard those two lines?”

“That isn’t important… what’s important is that killing Zuo Yaozu rids the people of a scourge. It’s a good deed.”

Pan Yucheng nodded. “All right! I’ll make the trip myself.”

“Good. Then I’m off to the palace… oh, and lend me your waist tally!”

Pan Yucheng tossed the waist tally to Ning Chen.

Ning Chen caught it and turned to go.

The truth was that since His Majesty had summoned him, he could get into the palace without a gold coat’s waist tally, but it would have to be announced, and from the palace gate to the Hall of Cultivated Heart and back again would take more than two hours even at a run. Too much wasted time.

With a gold coat’s waist tally he could go straight in.

Ning Chen rode hard to the palace, and by the time he got there the sky was dark.

Once through the palace gate he went at a jog, straight for the Hall of Cultivated Heart.

At this hour, His Majesty was generally in the Hall of Cultivated Heart.

In the Hall of Cultivated Heart, the Xuan Emperor set down the memorial in his hand, stretched, and glanced toward the door, only then noticing that the sky had gone dark.

He picked up his tea and took a sip. “Quan Sheng, is Ning Chen not here yet?”

Eunuch Quan said quietly, “Young Master Ning has not asked to be received.”

The Xuan Emperor frowned. “That boy hasn’t forgotten, has he?”

Eunuch Quan said quickly, “Perhaps Young Master Ning has been held up by something?”

Never mind that he was forever grumbling about Ning Chen stealing His Majesty’s favor from him. When it mattered, he still took Ning Chen’s side.

The Xuan Emperor snorted. “What could be more important than coming to see this emperor? To this emperor’s eye, that boy is presuming on favor.”

And whose favor would that be? Eunuch Quan grumbled privately.

Just then a young eunuch came in on tiptoe and knelt. “Your Majesty, Ning the Silver Coat is outside asking to be received!”

The Xuan Emperor snorted again. “So he does know how to show up. If it weren’t so late, and it wouldn’t cut into this emperor’s rest, this emperor would have him kneel outside the hall for four hours… tell him to get himself in here!”

“Yes!”

The young eunuch withdrew.

Before long there were footsteps, and Ning Chen walked in.

“Your subject, presenting himself to Your Majesty!”

The Xuan Emperor looked at him. “So you do know how to show up.”

You told me to come into the palace today, but you never said what hour, Ning Chen grumbled privately.

“Calm your anger, Your Majesty! Your subject acknowledges his fault!”

The Xuan Emperor glared at him. “Tell this emperor about the frontier. This emperor wants the details.”

Ning Chen had sent in a memorial, but most of it was flattery, and the remaining small part exaggerated wildly, blowing up his own merits without limit.

But then Ning Chen suddenly knelt. “Your subject is guilty. I beg Your Majesty’s mercy!”

That threw the Xuan Emperor completely. He had no idea what to make of it.

“What have you done wrong this time?”

Ning Chen was lost for words. What did he mean, this time? As though he were forever doing something wrong.

He looked at Eunuch Quan. “Eunuch Quan, would you withdraw for a moment?”

Eunuch Quan’s expression froze on the instant. This wretch. I was speaking up for him a moment ago and he turns around and puts a knife in me… aren’t we supposed to be on the same side?

The Xuan Emperor said sourly, “Stop making a production of it. Out with it. What have you done now?”

(End of Chapter 297)