The Xuan Emperor’s face was blank, his eyes cold.

“Spying on this emperor’s movements, framing a marquis of Great Xuan with no evidence whatsoever — the man has some dark design.”

“Guards!”

Nie Liang dropped to his knees. “Your subject is here!”

“This one’s heart is poison and his design is dark… Take him under escort to the Inspectorate, hand him to Geng Jing, and have him questioned hard.”

“Yes!”

The censor was frightened out of his wits. He had counted on the law not punishing a crowd; all he had wanted was to make a name for himself… As for saying he would speak even if it cost him his life — that had been talk and nothing more.

“Mercy, Your Majesty, mercy and grace, spare me, Your Majesty…”

Nie Liang called for the guards, and the man was dragged out by force.

There was not a sound in the whole court.

The pack of censors had gone as quiet as cicadas in the cold.

But the Xuan Emperor had no intention of letting them off.

These censors had nearly enraged him to death just now.

What angered him most was that these hidebound, useless things had swallowed a rumor whole and used it to denounce the very consort he had chosen for his own daughter.

“You are officers appointed by the court. You eat your sovereign’s stipend, and instead of thinking how to ease this emperor’s burdens… you stand here with no evidence at all and frame a sitting marquis. Just what is it you are after?”

The whole pack of censors dropped to their knees in terror.

“Calm your anger, Your Majesty; have mercy, Your Majesty…”

The Xuan Emperor let out a cold snort and said furiously, “Guards — drag them out for this emperor and give them thirty hard strokes, as a warning to the rest!”

“Mercy, Your Majesty, forgive us, Your Majesty…”

The pack of censors went white with fear, cold sweat beading on their foreheads, and begged piteously.

But in the end the guards dragged them out anyway.

The Xuan Emperor kept his face stiff and swept a cold eye over his assembled officials.

He could not very well kill every censor he had.

These censors were a double-edged blade.

They might enrage him half to death now and then, but they were not without their uses.

Say he wanted to deal with some official: he had only to let a little something slip to these censors, and they would denounce the man like maniacs, and he could settle the matter under cover of the uproar.

There were times when these censors were extremely useful.

Which was exactly why the Xuan Emperor had kept them all along.

“Where is the Minister of Justice?”

Li Zhixing hurried out of the ranks. “Your subject is here!”

The Xuan Emperor said mildly, “Post notices throughout the city explaining the reason for it… Do not let people go on misunderstanding Ning Chen.”

“And make a particular point of this: if anyone dares slander and frame a man again without evidence, this emperor will show him no mercy!”

Li Zhixing said, “Your subject obeys the edict!”

You sly devil, Ning Chen. I did wonder why you were in no hurry at all, not a care in the world with a thing this big hanging over you — so you had this move up your sleeve the whole time.

Li Hanru, Shen Min and the others could not keep the smiles off their faces.

It really was a fine move of Ning Chen’s.

With His Majesty testifying in person, who under heaven would dare doubt anything?

Even a man with doubts in his heart would have to swallow them.

And it showed well enough how His Majesty doted on Ning Chen — the sovereign of a whole realm, clearing a subject’s name… Was there another man at this court who would ever be treated so?

That afternoon, the notices clearing Ning Chen’s name went up all over the city.

The truth was the common people had never believed Ning Chen could be a man out of his senses.

How could a man who had cut down the Empress’s brother for the sake of the people of Chongzhou possibly be a villain?

And Ning Chen’s war record was brilliant — he had taken the King of the Left Court alive and won back the frontier… He was a hero of Great Xuan.

Marquis Ning was not like other officials. Even eating a bowl of noodles at the roadside, he insisted on paying for it.

They said the Nurture Hall in the capital had been repaired and reopened, that it had taken in a great many homeless children, and that a teacher had been engaged to give them their letters — and every tael of it out of Marquis Ning’s own purse.

A man like that could not possibly be a villain.

So when the notices went up, the people were delighted, and ran around spreading the word.

Ning Chen’s persona was holding up nicely.

The Heavenly Blessing Tower was packed to bursting.

“I’m telling you, that Ning Chen is out of his senses. However bad Ning Ziming was, he was still the man’s own father — and he poisoned his own dad for wealth and glory. He’s no kind of human being.”

It was a sharp-mouthed, hollow-cheeked young man, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“That’s a mouth full of lies. I don’t believe Marquis Ning is a villain.”

“That’s right. You’ve no real proof of any of it, so don’t stand there slandering Marquis Ning.”

The customers around him were not having it.

The sharp-mouthed, hollow-cheeked young man gave a little laugh and said loudly, “You people have all been taken in by Ning Chen… He is nowhere near as good as he looks.”

“As the saying goes, you may know a man’s face and never know his heart. He was made a marquis at sixteen — do you know why?”

Someone could not help saying, “Because Marquis Ning’s war record is brilliant.”

The sharp-mouthed, hollow-cheeked young man laughed scornfully. “A boy of sixteen with a brilliant war record — do you really think that’s possible?”

“I’m telling you, I have a relative in the army, and according to him… those military honors were won with the lives of Great Xuan’s officers and men. Ning Chen was just going through the motions out there.”

“The man is selfish to the bone. He never once set foot on a battlefield, and yet he had the gall to gather up every last bit of the credit for himself.”

“He got his marquisate by stealing other men’s merit… and my relative says that for the sake of military honors, Ning Chen even butchered civilians — murdering the innocent to claim merit.”

“You think he’s a good man. He’s a hypocrite through and through, and you had better not be taken in by that show of kindness and virtue he puts on…”

Behind the counter, the manager of the Heavenly Blessing Tower was frowning.

He did not believe Ning Chen was a villain.

Every last one of the officials in the capital, high or low, wiped his mouth after a meal and walked out without paying.

Only Ning Chen and those few colleagues of his settled the bill every time they ate — and left extra silver on top of it.

The business with Zhang Kui above all.

He did not understand the whys and wherefores of it, but he could feel that he was still standing here, untouched by any of it, thanks to Marquis Ning.

The manager could not stand to listen to another word.

He was about to step forward and put a stop to the man’s nonsense when one of the waiters came charging in from outside, unable to hit the brakes in time, and nearly bowled him over.

“Watch where you’re going! What are you in such a panic about?”

The manager had been in a bad mood to begin with, and he scolded him with a stiff face.

The waiter had a notice in his hand. “Manager, you’d better take a look at this… The officers just pasted it up outside the door.”

“What is it?”

The manager took it and looked, and his eyes lit up at once.

“Come here, come here… give me a hand up.”

With the waiter steadying him, the manager stepped onto a stool and climbed straight up onto the counter.

He drew a deep breath and shouted, “Listen to me, everyone.”

Seeing the manager standing up on the counter, everyone turned to look, and the room went quiet.

The manager held up the notice. “Look at this, all of you — a proclamation the court has just issued… His Majesty has cleared Marquis Ning’s name himself. Marquis Ning was wronged.”

“His Majesty, mindful of Marquis Ning’s brilliant war record, let Ning Ziming keep his body whole and granted him the poisoned cup… Ning Ziming was already dead by the time Ning Chen got there. Marquis Ning was wronged.”

The customers crowded around, staring at the notice in the manager’s hand.

“Ha! What did I tell you — Marquis Ning is no villain.”

“I said all along Marquis Ning was wronged… His Majesty himself has cleared his name. I’d like to see who dares slander Marquis Ning now.”

“Anybody talks about Marquis Ning like that again, don’t blame my fist for not knowing your face.”

The sharp-mouthed, hollow-cheeked young man went pale. Seeing which way this was going, he tried to slip quietly away behind the crowd.

But the manager was standing up high and spotted him at once, and pointed at him, shouting, “This man means mischief. He’s been going around spreading filth about Marquis Ning — he’s no good at all… For all we know he’s a spy for an enemy state.”

“Get him for me! Nobody pays for anything today — break whatever you like, it’s on me… Now beat the living daylights out of this creature with his dark designs.”

(End of Chapter 343)