The censors turned up their noses at what Ning Chen had said.
In the old days, when Ning Chen was the Idle Marquis and a general and the future consort of a princess… they had yapped a little in the hall of court, and meeting Ning Chen anywhere else they had not dared break wind.
After all, Ning Chen was the hard man who had cut down the Empress’s brother and come to no harm for it.
But today was not those days. Ning Chen was a base commoner now, and to touch so much as a hair of one of them would be a grave crime.
And their backbone, Fan Taihe, was back.
“Ning Chen, when you were the Idle Marquis we respected you. What sort of thing are you now? A base commoner, and you still dare threaten us?”
“I will give you ten men’s worth of nerve. Try laying a finger on me.”
“What you are now is not even an ant in our eyes.”
Ning Chen looked at the censors jabbering in front of him, and the smile on his face grew wider and wider.
He went forward in one stride.
Thud!!!
One heavy punch opened peach blossoms all over a censor’s face and knocked him flat on his back, screaming like a pig on the block.
Thud!!!
One savage whipping kick swept a censor several meters through the air.
He turned and drove an elbow into another censor’s face and knocked him flying, with several teeth going with him.
Against a pack of censors without the strength to truss a chicken, Ning Chen was a tiger loose among sheep.
One punch each.
In the space of a blink the censors were lying all over the ground, some holding their faces, some their bellies, some their heads, howling with the pain of it.
The screaming went up on every side.
“Ning Chen, you— you dare beat officers of the court. You are a dead man.”
“You base commoner. We will go to His Majesty and impeach you, and nothing will stop us.”
“Are you dead men? Do you not see this base commoner committing violence? Seize him for this minister!”
One of the censors bellowed it at the bailiffs standing at the doors of the Ministry of Justice.
The bailiffs of the Ministry looked up at the sky, with the air of men who had seen nothing whatever.
These hateful censors had been shouting outside the Ministry doors for hours, buzzing away like flies and never stopping… and scolding the bailiffs the whole time on top of it.
If their own standing had not been so low, the bailiffs would have taught them a lesson long ago.
And now the censors expected them to arrest Ning Chen. Not a chance.
Lord Li had given his orders long before: even with Ning Chen stripped of office, they were to show him respect whenever they saw him.
And they would have done it without Li Zhixing saying so… Ning Chen was a hero of the Great Xuan, and being reduced to commoner did not wipe out what he had done.
What was more, Ning Chen was open-handed. Every time he had come to the Ministry before, he had given the brothers something for a drink.
Ning Chen shook out his wrists, came over to one of the bailiffs, dug out a few pieces of broken silver and handed them to him. “Do me the favor of telling Lord Li that I will be back to see him shortly.”
“My lord marquis, you are in difficulties yourself now. We cannot take this silver.”
In the old days they would have taken it cheerfully enough, because in those days Ning Chen was a marquis and would not miss it.
“Take it. I still have enough silver to stand my brothers a drink.”
Ning Chen smiled and pressed the money on him.
Silver was the one thing he had no shortage of.
The bailiff could not hold out against him. He bowed his head. “Thank you, my lord marquis.”
“I am not a marquis anymore. Ning Chen will do… Until next time.”
Ning Chen laughed, swung up onto his horse, and rode off with Feng Qizheng in fine style.
The bailiff swept a contemptuous eye over the censors howling on the ground, spat inwardly, and then went in to pass on Ning Chen’s message.
In the main hall, Li Zhixing looked helpless.
“Lord Li, this old man has drunk several cups of this tea now. When do you start the torture?”
Old General Chen asked it holding his teacup.
Li Zhixing was close to tears.
How could he dare?
This was the god of war. This was Old General Chen, a pillar of the state. His Majesty himself had to give the old man a measure of face.
If he dared put Old General Chen to the torture, then quite apart from Ning Chen never letting the matter drop, the soldiers of the Great Xuan would not stand for it.
Those army ruffians would do anything.
Let him touch one hair on Old General Chen’s head and they would dig up his ancestors’ graves.
He wanted to go petition His Majesty, but the censors had the doors blocked and he could not get out.
They said the doors of the imperial study were blocked by censors too.
His Majesty probably had a headache of his own about now.
These censors were like maggots in the bone. Sickening and hateful, both at once.
“My lord. This small man has something to report.”
A loud voice sounded at the door just then.
Li Zhixing’s head ached worse. The censors had probably started cursing in the street again.
“Come in.”
A bailiff came in and bowed with his fists together. “My lord, Marquis Ning— Young Master Ning was here just now.”
“Ning Chen?”
“Yes.”
Li Zhixing brightened. Excellent. With Ning Chen here the thing could be solved. He was sure to have a way.
“Where is he? Show him in at once.”
The bailiff said, “Marquis Ning beat every one of the lords at the door, and then rode away.”
Li Zhixing stood where he was, the muscles of his face twitching.
Ning Chen had beaten the censors outside?
This was not a man coming to solve the problem. This was a man coming to pour oil on the fire.
Li Zhixing felt his head ache worse than ever.
Old General Chen’s business was not settled yet, and now Ning Chen had beaten people on top of it, and not one man either, but a whole crowd of them.
Would censors who had taken a beating let the matter rest?
Why was Ning Chen growing more reckless by the day? He had no office and no post now, and striking officers of the court was a grave crime.
And the point was that he had struck officers of the court at the doors of the Ministry of Justice. As Minister of Justice, could he pretend not to know about it?
Li Zhixing thought: what about reporting sick and hiding at home for a few days?
He could hardly have men arrest Ning Chen.
Just then the bailiff said, “Young Master Ning told this small man to tell my lord that he will be back shortly.”
Li Zhixing gave a slight start and looked at Old General Chen, at a loss. “Old General. What does Ning Chen mean by that?”
Old General Chen’s wide mouth opened in a cheerful grin. “He is worthy of the young man this old man picked out. He does a thing and stands by it… When he comes back it will be to confess and submit to the law. What else would he be coming for?”
The corner of Li Zhixing’s mouth twitched, and he went numb.
Old General Chen coming to confess had given him headache enough.
And now Ning Chen coming to confess on top of it… Li Zhixing did not dare think about it. Thinking about it made his head ache violently.
Was this not simply bullying an honest man?
Meanwhile Ning Chen and Feng Qizheng had ridden hard to Fan Taihe’s residence.
Fan Taihe’s nose and face were swollen and purple, his face and head were wrapped in bandages, his leg was in splints, and he was groaning with the pain.
Yesterday he had gone into the pillar, and after that Ning Chen had beaten him savagely.
But all of that was surface damage.
In fact he could have reported sick today and stayed away from court… but having brought Ning Chen down had put him in such good spirits that he went.
When the court broke up and he had just come out of the palace gate, he was thinking about how to celebrate that evening.
Then he looked up and saw Old General Chen standing in his way with a black face.
Before he could open his mouth, Old General Chen brought his stick down on his head and knocked him sprawling.
Then the stick came down on him again and again as though it cost nothing.
In the end the stick, as thick as a child’s arm, was broken.
If the officials had not held the old man back, he would not have escaped today with a broken leg. He would certainly have lost his life.
“Committing violence at the palace gate is a challenge to the imperial power. If this minister does not bring you down for it, this minister is not called Fan Taihe…”
Fan Taihe’s eyes were poisonous, and he said it with a snarl.
He had brought Ning Chen down, so he could bring Old General Chen down too… and even if he could not, he would make Old General Chen pay for it.
If he let it go this time, where would his face be? Beaten in front of every official in the court, and if he did not answer for it he could never hold his head up again.
(End of Chapter 377)