The Xuan Emperor fought down the corners of his mouth and said mildly, “Get up.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
Ning Chen got to his feet and stood grinning at the Xuan Emperor.
He was thoroughly relaxed now.
Judging by the marriage the Xuan Emperor had granted him, the business with Zisu had not touched him.
And the business with the woman emperor had not blown up either.
For the moment, he was safe.
The Xuan Emperor studied Ning Chen, something like pity in his eyes. “Darker. But a lot stronger in the body.”
Ning Chen bowed. “There’s nothing like a battlefield for hardening a man.”
The Xuan Emperor inclined his head slightly. “This emperor has granted you a marriage. Have you anything to say about it?”
“Thank you for this great kindness, Your Majesty! The Ninth Princess is lovely to look at, lively and open-hearted. For your subject to marry the princess—there must be smoke coming off the Ning family graves.”
The corner of the Xuan Emperor’s mouth twitched.
“Every other time this emperor has granted you a marriage, you have found a reason to refuse. Why so quick to agree this time?”
Because this time you damn well issued an edict and didn’t give me the chance to refuse, Ning Chen grumbled privately.
“Because your subject has ‘seen the light.’ Before, your subject refused because he thought himself unworthy of a princess of such high birth… but after taking Mangzhou and recovering the frontier, your subject feels he may be worth something after all.”
The Xuan Emperor’s mouth curved and he nodded slightly. “Well, well. That elm-block head of yours has opened up at last.”
“Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty!”
The truth was that he did not dislike the Ninth Princess.
She was willful, yes, but her nature was sunny and she was very pretty.
Her figure was nowhere near Yudie’s, but she was young, and there was room for development.
Love was too strong a word for what he felt about the Ninth Princess, but he did like her.
None of which mattered anyway. There were many kinds of love. Some people did it first and loved after; some loved first and did it after. Only the order was different. The result came out the same.
On top of that, this world was not so generous toward women. Nobody asked a woman whether she loved anyone.
The command of the parents, the word of the matchmaker.
If the parents thought two people suited each other, then they suited each other. A woman had no choice in it, and a princess was much the same.
And going back ten thousand steps: never mind that His Majesty had granted the marriage—with a princess’s standing alone, who in her husband’s family would dare mistreat her?
“Very good. After the New Year, this emperor will have an auspicious day chosen and see you and Huai’an married as soon as may be.”
Ning Chen gave his thanks again.
The Xuan Emperor said with a smile, “You’ve had a long road too. Go home and see your household… come into the palace tomorrow and tell this emperor properly about the frontier.”
“Your subject obeys the edict!”
Coming out of the imperial study, Ning Chen pulled Nie Liang aside and asked in a low voice, “Commander Nie, do you know about the Xiuzhou case?”
Nie Liang nodded. “I do. Why are you asking?”
“The muskets were lost while they were in my hands. His Majesty hasn’t blamed me for it, but the responsibility is mine… where is the woman being held?”
“She’s acquainted with Lord Geng, so His Majesty gave the case to the Ministry of Justice.”
Ning Chen grunted. “I’ll be off, then. I’ll buy you tea at the courtesans’ quarter one of these days.”
Nie Liang snorted. “I never go to places like that.”
Ning Chen gave him a doubtful look. “So the man I ran into at the courtesans’ quarter last time really was Commander Nie’s younger brother?”
Nie Liang kept his face straight. “Of course! Who else would it have been—me?”
Ning Chen laughed. “Drinks on me another day. I’m off.”
Nie Liang watched Ning Chen’s back as he left and muttered, “That boy. How does he still remember that?”
Ning Chen came out of the palace, got on Diaochan, and rode straight for the Ministry of Justice.
It was almost the hour for letting off.
Li Zhixing, the Minister of Justice, had just come out of the ministry and was about to take his sedan chair home.
Li Zhixing had gotten half of himself into the chair when a burst of hard hoofbeats came up behind him.
“Who’s there? Stop at once!”
The bailiffs at the ministry gate reacted immediately, drawing their sabers and shouting.
Li Zhixing climbed back out of the chair and turned to look… to see which man tired of living would gallop a horse in front of the Ministry of Justice.
Ning Chen rode up to them and swung down.
He had been out in the wind and sun every day of this campaign and had gone considerably darker, and he was not wearing his fish-scale coat, so nobody recognized him.
Seeing Ning Chen striding toward them, the ministry’s bailiffs ran forward to shield Li Zhixing.
Ning Chen stopped and bowed. “Ning Chen, silver coat of the Inspectorate, greeting Lord Li.”
The constables all stared and pulled up short.
Li Zhixing was startled too. Wasn’t Ning Chen away fighting at the frontier? How was he suddenly standing here?
He came forward a few steps and looked carefully. It really was Ning Chen.
“So it’s Ning the Silver Coat. When did you get back?”
Li Zhixing knew about the great victory at the frontier. His Majesty had raised it at court every day for days.
But he had not known Ning Chen was back.
And he was hardly alone in that. Barely anyone in the whole capital knew Ning Chen had returned.
Ning Chen said with a smile, “Only just reached the capital.”
Li Zhixing was a man who rarely smiled, but he knew that the man in front of him was the rising star among the military officers now, and His Majesty’s favorite. Taking Mangzhou and recovering the frontier alone earned him everyone’s respect.
“Congratulations on your victory and your return, Ning the Silver Coat. What brings you to this official?”
Ning Chen cupped his hands. “There is something I want to ask of Lord Li. I hear the principal offender in the Xiuzhou case is being held at the Ministry of Justice. I’d like to see her… I hope Lord Li can make it convenient.”
Li Zhixing frowned slightly.
The truth was that the Inspectorate and the Ministry of Justice were rivals. Ever since the Inspectorate existed, the Ministry of Justice had counted for less.
If this had been an ordinary silver coat, Li Zhixing would have sent him away in a sentence.
But the man in front of him was Ning Chen: the rising star among the military officers, and His Majesty’s favorite.
Li Zhixing said, put on the spot, “Ning the Silver Coat, His Majesty has ordered that this case be investigated by the Ministry of Justice.”
Ning Chen smiled. “Don’t worry, Lord Li. Ning Chen hasn’t come to take the case away from you… it’s only that the matter already touches me.”
“I imagine Lord Li has sent men to Mangzhou to investigate?”
Li Zhixing said nothing. He had indeed sent men. The muskets had been lost at Mangzhou, so naturally the investigation started at the source.
Ning Chen cupped his hands. “I’ll be frank with you. I knew Miss Zisu in Mangzhou. I was wounded during the fighting and Miss Zisu was the one who treated me.”
“And the muskets were lost at Mangzhou. I could hardly escape the blame for that, so I want to see her.”
Li Zhixing’s eyes narrowed a fraction, fixed on Ning Chen. “Does Ning the Silver Coat know what he is saying? This is no longer as simple as a pair of lost muskets.”
Ning Chen laughed lightly. “I know. Those two lost muskets killed Xiuzhou’s Prefect and Governor and came close to harming Prince Duan. It reaches a long way.”
Li Zhixing said, “If Ning the Silver Coat understands how serious it is, all the more reason to keep his mouth shut.”
Ning Chen smiled evenly. “Are you telling me Lord Li couldn’t find it out for himself if I said nothing?”
Li Zhixing said in a low voice, “Since the matter touches Ning the Silver Coat, he ought to stand aside from it.”
“Ning here sits straight and walks straight. There’s nothing I need to stand aside from. Lord Li may report everything that happens today to His Majesty, in full… and if Lord Li doesn’t, I’ll report it to His Majesty myself.”
Ning Chen cupped his hands and bowed. “I ask Lord Li to make it convenient and let me see Zisu and ask her plainly… it may even help the case. Lord Li can be present throughout.”
That said, Ning Chen stepped forward and quietly pressed a silver note on him.
But Li Zhixing pushed it back. “This official may serve in a ministry of hard men, but he is not deaf to reason. This official will let Ning the Silver Coat see the prisoner. But this official will be present the whole time.”
Ning Chen nodded and smiled. “My thanks, Lord Li. Ning here won’t forget the favor.”
And with that he forced the silver note into Li Zhixing’s hand.
Li Zhixing was about to refuse again when Ning Chen said, “It’s only tea money. If Lord Li gives it back again, that’s Lord Li slapping Ning Chen in the face.”
Li Zhixing thought about it, and in the end tucked the silver note into his sleeve.
(End of Chapter 287)