Yudie said, with a perfectly serious face:
“Has Sister Zisu forgotten? We said once that we would marry the same man one day.”
“Ning, dear, is a good man and a fine one. Then Sister Zisu wouldn’t have to drift around the country on her own. Stay, and wait on Ning, dear, together with me.”
As she said it, Yudie looked over at Ning Chen. “Ning, dear, you’re willing to have Sister Zisu stay, aren’t you?”
“Er… You being happy is what matters most. If Miss Zisu is willing to stay, I have no objection.”
Yudie said happily, “Sister Zisu, Ning, dear, has agreed. Do stay.”
Zisu’s pretty face went crimson. She glanced at Ning Chen and thought, what a hypocrite.
She would stay and wait on him alongside Zhirou, and he would have the blessing of the man of Qi. How was he going to object to that?
Yudie, the silly girl, could not see how sly and crooked Ning Chen was.
“Yudie, let’s talk about this another time.”
Ning Chen’s eyes flickered. There was something in this.
He said with a smile, “Yudie, this python robe doesn’t fit me very well — the sleeves are a little long. Would you have time to alter it for me?”
“Then take it off, Ning, dear. This girl has just finished a new set of clothes for you. Try them and see if they fit.”
Yudie brought out the new clothes she had made for him.
Zisu said, “I’ll step outside a moment.”
“There’s no need, Sister Zisu. You’ll be seeing Ning, dear’s body soon enough anyway… Xiaoxing, you go on out.”
Zisu had absolutely nothing to say to that.
Ning Chen could not keep the corners of his mouth from going up. Yudie really was a sensible girl.
Still, a thing like this could not be rushed. Zisu had to be given a chance to get used to the idea.
“I’ll go and change in the inner room.”
Ning Chen went into the inner room, took off the python robe, put on the new clothes Yudie had made him, and came back out.
“Ning, dear, do they fit?”
Ning Chen nodded. “They fit perfectly.”
Yudie knew his body better than he did.
“You two talk. I’ll be going.”
Ning Chen left the courtesans’ quarter. Yudie and Zisu had been reunited at last after everything, and the two sisters were certain to have a great deal to say to each other.
He rode his beloved Diaochan, clop, clop, clop, to Old General Chen’s residence.
He stayed about an hour.
When he came out he went on to call on Li Hanru.
After that he went home and to bed.
The next day, the morning court.
“His Majesty approaches!”
At Eunuch Quan’s thin, high voice the ministers knelt and cried out in one voice, “Your subjects greet Your Majesty! May Your Majesty be in health!”
“Rise, beloved ministers!”
The Xuan Emperor sat straight on the dragon throne and swept a glance across them, and could not help a moment of surprise. Old General Chen had come too.
Old General Chen did not move easily, and the emperor had given him leave not to attend court when there was nothing of importance.
“Present your memorials, or the court is dismissed.”
Eunuch Quan’s thin, high voice rang through the great hall.
“Your Majesty, this old subject has a memorial to present!”
“Your Majesty, your subject has a matter to lay before you!”
Old General Chen and Li Hanru spoke at the same moment.
The Xuan Emperor was brought up short, then said with a smile, “Let Old General Chen speak first.”
Old General Chen bowed. “Your Majesty, your subject comes to ask for justice.”
The Xuan Emperor was curious. “What justice does the old general want?”
“Your Majesty, yesterday General Liang Jingwu’s daughter-in-law was in a difficult labor. Every physician in the city was helpless. At last a physician was found at the Tong’an Hall, and the son of Vice Minister Ren of the Ministry of Rites seized him off the street.”
“And the reason for seizing Doctor Chen was a laughable one. Vice Minister Ren’s most favored concubine had cut her arm.”
“Liang Jingwu holds Beilin Pass. Last year he joined hands with Ning Chen to break the army of Tuoluo and take the King of the Left Court alive. His labors have been long and hard… He holds the enemy off a thousand miles away for the Great Xuan and guards the lands and the people of the Great Xuan, and now his own family is trampled on. Where is the sense in that?”
“This old subject begs that Ren Qifeng be punished severely, so the men at the front are not left cold in their hearts.”
When Old General Chen had finished, Ren Qifeng’s face went white.
Yesterday, when his son came home and told him what had happened, he had felt at once that disaster was on him.
So he had spent the night calling on a good number of people.
He had assumed it would be Ning Chen who impeached him. He had never expected Old General Chen.
Old General Chen was a pillar of the state, the steadying weight of the army, and even His Majesty showed him a certain deference… This was serious trouble.
Just then Li Hanru stepped forward.
“A memorial for Your Majesty. What your subject rose to impeach is this same matter.”
“On one side a life was at stake, and two lives were nearly lost together. On the other side a woman had cut her arm… Vice Minister Ren let his son do murder and treated a human life as so much grass.”
“If the men at Beilin Pass hear of this, won’t it leave them cold in their hearts?… Your subject begs Your Majesty to issue an edict and punish him severely, to uphold the law of the realm and to set the record straight.”
Ren Qifeng’s face went white and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
At this, Ren Qifeng’s political enemies began jumping in, one after another, throwing stones on him in the well while they had the chance.
Ren Qifeng’s face went the color of dead ash, with the look of a man who had buried both his parents.
The Xuan Emperor’s face went iron dark.
The last time, at court, when the Nanyue envoys tried to shame the Great Xuan with a matched couplet, this Ren Qifeng had made no attempt to defend the honor of the Great Xuan at all. He had bounced up and down sneering at Ning Chen instead.
The emperor had wanted to deal with Ren Qifeng even then, and had simply never found the right chance.
“You worthless thing. Liang Jingwu holds Beilin Pass. He fights soaked in blood and defends the borders, and his labors have been long and hard.”
“You dog, with no law in your eyes. You are an officer of this court and you ought to keep to the statutes, and instead you let your son do murder and treat a human life as so much grass?”
The Xuan Emperor was in a fury.
Ren Qifeng was frightened clean out of his body. He dropped to his knees and cried out, “Your subject is guilty. Spare me, Your Majesty, spare me…”
The Xuan Emperor’s face was cold. “If this emperor spares you, how does he face the men who bend their backs to the work for the Great Xuan until the day they die? How does he face General Liang, who is away at Beilin Pass holding the border for this emperor?”
“Guards! Take him for this emperor. Strip him of office and put him under investigation!”
Ren Qifeng’s face went the color of dead ash. He sat slumped on the floor and, holding on to one last hope, looked toward the men he had called on the night before… hoping they would plead for him.
You can’t see me, you can’t see me… Idiot. Don’t you damn well look at me… The officials Ren Qifeng had called on the night before cursed him inwardly, every one of them.
They were not sick in the head.
Old General Chen and Li Hanru had both impeached him and His Majesty was in a rage… Anyone who pleaded for Ren Qifeng now would simply be looking to die.
Nie Liang came with his men and dragged Ren Qifeng straight out.
The Xuan Emperor looked at Old General Chen. “How does Liang Jingwu’s daughter-in-law stand now?”
Old General Chen bowed. “It was Marquis Ning’s doing. He came across it on his way home and took the Tong’an Hall physician back again… That is what saved the life of Liang Jingwu’s daughter-in-law. Mother and child both well.”
“Ning Chen?”
The Xuan Emperor was somewhat taken by surprise.
“It is!”
The Xuan Emperor could not keep the corner of his mouth from lifting. Ning Chen had done him another great service without anyone noticing.
Liang Jingwu was out on the field of battle fighting soaked in blood… If his family came to harm in the capital, at the very feet of the Son of Heaven, it would not only leave the soldiers of the Great Xuan cold in their hearts. It would bring criticism down on the emperor himself.
Ning Chen had not only saved Liang Jingwu’s family. He had defended the emperor’s own face.
But just then Li Zhixing, the Minister of Justice, stepped out of the ranks and bowed. “Your Majesty, your subject wishes to impeach Marquis Ning for disregarding the statutes of the Great Xuan and acting exactly as he pleased.”
The whole court fell silent at once, and the ministers turned to look.
Ning Chen had saved Liang Jingwu’s daughter-in-law, mother and child both well, and had defended His Majesty’s face… Could Li Zhixing not see that the dragon countenance was delighted?
Was Li Zhixing sick in the head? Impeaching Ning Chen at a moment like this — was that not going out of his way to bring trouble on himself?
(End of Chapter 330)