Ning Chen came out of the palace, went first to the Hall of the Four Barbarians, shut the door and talked with Li Hanru and Shen Min for a while, and then went back to the Inspectorate.

He found Pan Yucheng, Chen Chong and Feng Qizheng, and the four of them divided up the silver notes.

Pan Yucheng would go out to the camps himself and give the rest of the notes to the soldiers in Ning Chen’s name.

They had barely finished dividing it when a red coat came looking for him and said Geng Jing wanted Ning Chen to come over.

Geng Jing had not shown his face for days. He had been questioning Ning Ziming and the rest of them.

Ning Chen came to Geng Jing’s room.

“Sit down!”

Geng Jing pointed at a chair, and then made Ning Chen a cup of tea as well.

Ning Chen watched him suspiciously. “Does Lord Geng want something from me? Anything but a loan.”

Geng Jing set the cup down in front of Ning Chen, went back and sat down in his own place, hesitated, and then said,

“Your father’s case is more or less finished. I sent all the charges into the palace a little while ago.”

Ning Chen’s hand stopped on its way to the cup, and he said nothing.

Geng Jing sighed. “Most of the crimes the Left Chancellor committed, your father had a hand in.”

Ning Chen let out a small sigh. “He’s finished, isn’t he?”

Geng Jing nodded.

Finished was putting it mildly. For what Ning Ziming had done, a thousand cuts would not have been too much.

“Your second brother and your third brother are clean, though. They had no part in it… But any one of your father’s crimes on its own means the entire household to the sword. As for how it is finally judged, that rests with His Majesty.”

Ning Chen said nothing. He had done everything he could do.

The Ninth Princess had already spoken for Ning Xing and Ning Mao. Whether the Xuan Emperor was willing to let the two of them go was not something he could turn either way.

“Ning Chen, their time is almost up. Find a moment and go and see them.”

“Whatever Lord Ning was to you before this, he risked his life to bring the Left Chancellor down. He was a man about it.”

Ning Chen made a sound of assent and got up and left.

The prison, dark and close.

Ning Chen carried a stone box to the door of Ning Ziming’s cell.

He had the red coat on watch open it, and went in.

Ning Ziming had lost a good deal of flesh and his hair was down and he was in a sorry state, but his spirit was not bad.

Ning Chen opened the stone box, took out what was inside, and said offhandedly, “Your time is almost up.”

Ning Ziming blinked, then came over and sat down cross-legged facing Ning Chen and said quietly,

“I know. I have more than enough to be content with. At least I haven’t suffered before I go. Those colleagues of yours have looked after me for your sake and never put me to the question.”

Ning Chen poured him a cup of wine.

Ning Ziming lifted it and drank it off in one and smiled. “Osmanthus wine from the Heavenly Blessing Tower?”

Ning Chen nodded, smiling.

Ning Ziming smiled and tore off a duck leg and held it out to him. “Here. You always liked the roast duck from the Heavenly Blessing Tower best.”

Ning Chen went still for a moment. “So you knew all along?”

“I am your father. How would I not know? I only never had the chance to buy it for you.”

Ning Chen said heavily, “I can’t save you.”

“I know. Any one of my crimes on its own is enough for three generations of my family!”

“I never meant to live. I only want to go and see your mother as soon as I can… All my life I have been small and weak and looking two ways at once, walking on thin ice. This once I was a man about it, and at least I kept you safe, so I have a face to show your mother.”

Ning Ziming’s smile was open. He paused, and then went on, “If I had had the nerve then that I have now, the courage to refuse the Left Chancellor, perhaps none of this would have happened.”

“The truth is that when I first brought you back to the Ning residence I was very disappointed in you, because your nature was what mine had been — small and weak, trying to please everybody.”

“When you stood on that woodpile soaked in tung oil and threw the torch down at my feet and told me to burn you, do you know how happy I was?”

Ning Chen said, “Happy that you could burn me to death?”

Ning Ziming: “…”

Ning Chen turned it aside. “Last time you told me there was something wrong with the crown prince?”

Ning Ziming looked at him. “What have you found?”

Ning Chen nodded. “I don’t know whether it’s my own mind working on me. But whichever way I look at the crown prince now, something is off.”

Ning Ziming took a hard pull at the wine. “Do you know who your greatest support is now?”

“His Majesty!”

Ning Ziming nodded. “That’s right. Your greatest support now is His Majesty… But having His Majesty behind you is not enough by itself.”

“His Majesty will grow old in the end. He cannot shelter you all your life.”

“So climb as high as you can and build a following of your own, and above all earn more war merit… Then even when the crown prince comes to the throne he will not dare move against you lightly.”

“His Majesty is in the prime of his strength. You have time enough to build that following… And at the same time you must protect His Majesty with everything you have. Only while His Majesty is in that seat are you safe, and only then do you have time to do what you want to do.”

Ning Chen nodded slightly. He knew all of it.

Ning Chen thought for a moment, then said heavily, “When spring opens next year I will lead an army against Nanyue… If I come home in triumph, His Majesty will make me a marquis.”

Ning Ziming went still. “Out on campaign again?”

Ning Chen made a sound of assent. “Nanyue wants the Great Xuan’s Thirty-Mile Corridor. There is no help for it.”

“Are you sure of it?”

Ning Chen nodded.

Ning Ziming laughed. “Our house of Ning is going to have a marquis in it. Ha ha ha…”

“Don’t be pleased too early. I’m about to change my surname. I mean to take my mother’s, so my marquisate has nothing to do with the house of Ning.”

Ning Ziming’s laughter stopped dead, and he stared at Ning Chen in astonishment.

Then Ning Ziming smiled bitterly. “All right! Whatever surname you carry, you are my son. That much you can’t change.”

Ning Chen smiled. “I was joking with you. I’m not changing my surname.”

Ning Ziming looked at him and said nothing, and the tears came up at the bottom of his eyes.

“Hey? Come on. Is there any need to get worked up about it?”

“You wretched boy…” Ning Ziming wiped his eyes, took another hard pull at the wine, and murmured, “I can die without regret now. I can die without regret…”

Then something seemed to come back to Ning Ziming. “Besides the crown prince, there is one more you have to be careful of.”

“The Empress?”

Ning Ziming nodded. “The Empress is not the frightening one. Her father is.”

“The Grand Tutor?”

Ning Ziming smiled. “So you were on your guard already?”

Ning Chen smiled. “What did you think I was breaking my neck for war merit for?”

Ning Ziming’s face filled with satisfaction. “Grown up. You really have grown up… But be careful all the same. The Grand Tutor has military power in his hands. All you have is merit, and that is not enough to stand against him.”

“So keep up your visits to Old General Chen. With the standing he has in the army, at the moment it matters he can certainly help you.”

Ning Chen nodded and made a sound of assent.

“Is there anything else you want to say?”

Ning Ziming hesitated. “Ning Xing and Ning Mao?”

Ning Chen said, “I have done what I could.”

Ning Ziming nodded. “That’s enough. That’s enough.”

“Oh — when you get the chance, go to the Cloud Wind Inn and find the keeper. He knows you… I left some things there for you.”

Ning Chen asked, curious, “What things?”

“Go and you’ll know!”

Ning Chen nodded. He stood up and made ready to leave.

“Chen’er, on the day they take your father’s head, will you come and see to his body?”

Ning Ziming stood up and asked it carefully.

Ning Chen’s step faltered. He looked back at him. “I will!”

Ning Ziming smiled.

“If it can be done, could you bury me and your mother together?”

Ning Chen made a sound of assent. “Yes.”

Ning Ziming sat down, poured himself a cup of wine and drank it off in one. “Nothing left to regret… It was worth it!”

There was a sting behind Ning Chen’s eyes. He let out a long breath, turned and left.

In that moment he understood Ning Ziming a little. There is so much in a life that a man has no say in, and sometimes all he can do is keep himself safe first and keep other people safe afterward.

As Ning Chen walked out of the prison… in the imperial study, the Xuan Emperor was finishing the list of charges Geng Jing had sent in.

The Xuan Emperor’s face went livid.

Every count of evidence on that paper stood for hundreds or thousands of lives lost.

When his eye reached the names of Ning Xing and Ning Mao, it stopped for a moment.

“Quan Sheng. This Ning Xing and Ning Mao are Ning Chen’s two brothers, aren’t they?”

Eunuch Quan said quickly, “They are!”

The Xuan Emperor thought about it, picked up the imperial brush and drew a circle around the names of Ning Xing and Ning Mao.

Then he said, “These two had no part in it. Their crime does not go as far as death… Send them to Beilin Pass and let them build the wall.”

Something moved in Eunuch Quan. Ning Chen had just come home in triumph from Beilin Pass… and now the two of them were being sent to Beilin Pass, which made the intention plain enough.

His Majesty really did spoil Ning Chen.

“Quan Sheng, go and tell Huai’an about it. She can pass it on to Ning Chen.”

Quan Sheng bowed. “Yes, this servant will go now!”

His Majesty has worn his heart out over Ning Chen and the Ninth Princess!

And Ning Chen, the ungrateful thing, has refused the match His Majesty offered him again and again and thrown the imperial favor back in his face. He ought to be dragged out and given fifty strokes of the heavy rod.

Ning Chen, meanwhile, was in no good humor at all, riding through the streets with no destination in mind.

Riding along, he happened to catch sight of the sign of the Cloud Wind Inn.

But he did not stop. He rode straight past it.

He was not sure whether he had a tail behind him.

The crown prince could not be trusted, and the Empress watched him like a tiger. There might well have been men on him the whole time.

Better to find another day and another chance, and come back in some sort of disguise.

Before he knew it he had arrived at the courtesans’ quarter.

Ning Chen had nothing to say to that. He patted Diaochan on the head. “You randy horse. Every day you take me straight to the courtesans’ quarter… I’m a silver coat of the Inspectorate. What kind of behavior is it to come here every day?”

Diaochan let out a whinny, to say how ill-used she was.

Ning Chen had been wandering with no destination, and this was the road Diaochan had walked most often, so she had brought him here.

Ning Chen patted her head. “Remember this. From now on it’s the front gate at night and the back gate in the daytime… I have a face to keep too. It doesn’t look good if people see me coming here in daylight. Understood?”

Diaochan blew hard through her nose, and there was no telling whether she had understood or not.

Ning Chen rode Diaochan around to the back gate, knocked, handed the horse to the big teapot with strict instructions to feed her the good feed, and went upstairs to find Yudie.

“Young Master Ning?”

Xiaoxing was carrying a pot of hot water and about to go in. She saw Ning Chen and stopped quickly to make her bow.

“Is Yudie inside?”

Xiaoxing nodded.

Ning Chen took the water pot out of her hands. “Go on about your work. I’ll carry it in.”

He went into the room and did not see Yudie… then went through to the inner room, where Yudie was bent over the table with her back to him, busy at something.

Ning Chen set the pot down and walked softly over.

Yudie was painting.

Ning Chen stood behind her and watched without saying anything. Yudie painted well.

“You’ve made me look very handsome.”

Ning Chen said it suddenly and gave Yudie a fright.

But she knew his voice, and she looked back and said with pretty reproach, “How long has Ning, dear been standing there?”

She asked it and at the same time made a hurried grab to hide the painting.

“I just got here… Give it here and let me look!”

Yudie was shy about it, but she could not bear to go against what Ning Chen wanted, so she handed her painting over with her face red.

Ning Chen took it, and looked, and said, smiling, “I had no idea you painted this well.”

The painting showed a man and a woman. The man had one hand resting on the hilt of his sword and was looking off into the distance, and the woman leaned against his side, gazing up at him with her whole heart in her eyes.

“This is me, and this is you?”

Yudie’s little face was red and she nodded shyly.

Ning Chen looked at the painting and laughed softly. “A stream running, birds singing, flowers out, a little farmhouse yard, you in it and me in it… and then you and I settle down to three meals a day and no shame between us.”

“So that’s the life Yudie wants.”

Yudie hung her head, shy, and even her earlobes had gone red.

(End of Chapter 191)