Ning Chen said, smiling, “Fan Taihe is the Censor-in-Chief. He is called the vice-chancellor, and he is the head of the censors. He is somebody in that court.”
“Graft, bribe-taking, filling his own purse… With his standing, the most it would cost him is his office.”
“If he gave up the man behind him and that man found out, he would die badly.”
“Between losing his office and dying, which do you think he would choose?”
“What is more, he has a hold on Old General Chen at the moment. If he set his teeth and impeached Old General Chen, His Majesty could not shield him openly.”
“One set of evidence for Old General Chen’s safety. Worth it. And we have not come off badly either. Fan Taihe’s leg is broken, and I gave those censors a beating they will remember.”
Feng Qizheng nodded slightly. “We have not come off badly… But how are we to find the man behind Fan Taihe?”
Ning Chen said in a low voice, “The man is hidden deep and will not show himself easily… The enemy in the dark and us in the light. He did catch me unprepared this time.”
“But it does not matter. I have no office now and I am at leisure, and I am much less of a threat to him. When he lets his guard down, digging him out should be easier.”
“And since I have the time now, in a few days we go traveling.”
Feng Qizheng said, puzzled, “What is traveling?”
“Wandering among the hills and rivers.”
Feng Qizheng said oh. “You mean going to the courtesans’ quarter. Why put it so deep?”
Ning Chen was taken aback. “What has that to do with the courtesans’ quarter?”
“Going to the courtesans’ quarter is wandering among the hills and rivers, isn’t it? The girls at the courtesans’ quarter have hills and rivers on them.”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched. He was struck dumb.
“Old Feng. Your grasp of those four words goes beyond every great scholar of letters in all of history… My respects.”
Feng Qizheng’s wide mouth opened in a look of pure self-satisfaction. “You are saying I have talent?”
“Talent hardly covers it. You have a god-damned mountain of talent.”
They came to the Ministry of Justice while they were talking.
When Li Zhixing saw Ning Chen, his face folded up like a steamed bun.
“Lord Li does not look very pleased to see me.”
Li Zhixing was close to tears. He thought: one Old General Chen was headache enough, and now you on top of it. How could my head not ache?
“Have you come to confess and submit to the law?”
Ning Chen said, astonished, “What crime have I committed?”
Li Zhixing gave a slight start, and then his face filled with delight. “You have not come to confess to beating those censors?”
“I beat those censors? Lord Li, that is not a thing to say lightly. Striking an officer of the court is a grave crime, and Ning Chen has always kept to the statutes. How could he do such a thing?”
Li Zhixing: “???”
Ning Chen went on. “Lord Li, I have no idea who is slandering me. I am a man at leisure now. I could not carry a charge like that.”
“I did see those censors lying on the ground earlier, and I asked after them out of kindness. They fell down themselves, by accident.”
Just then a bailiff came to the door. “My lord Minister, the lords who were blocking the gate have all gone.”
Li Zhixing was astonished. “Gone?”
“Yes.”
“That is not possible. Censors are the hardest men in the world to be rid of… They did not get what they came for. How could they simply leave? What did they say before they went?”
“In answer to my lord Minister, they said nothing at all.”
Li Zhixing was struck dumb and staring. It was some time before he came back to himself, and then he waved the bailiff out.
He turned to Ning Chen and asked, curious, “What did you do?”
Taking a beating and then leaving without so much as breaking wind… that was not the censors’ way at all.
Ning Chen shrugged. “I did nothing at all… Perhaps those censors woke up to themselves and realized that Old General Chen has worked hard and served greatly and ought never to have been impeached, and so they went home to reflect on it.”
Li Zhixing looked at him with an expression that said: guess whether I believe you.
Ning Chen had no office and no post and was a man at leisure, and he could still make those censors swallow their own broken teeth… Li Zhixing yielded.
Old General Chen was curious too. “What did you get up to, boy? These censors are like mad dogs on any ordinary day. This time they have taken a very heavy loss, and they have held their noses and taken the charge?”
Ning Chen said, laughing, “Old General, the thing is settled, and nothing else matters.”
With that Ning Chen bowed to Old General Chen, deeply. “Ning Chen thanks the Old General for sheltering him.”
At the mention of it Old General Chen went up in flames.
“Those dogs. Blind as rats and past all foolishness… Have they forgotten who made the Tuoluo Kingdom bow its head? Who took Mangzhou and won back the frontier?”
“Bringing you down is cutting off their own sharp sword, sinking their own halberds in the sand… These good-for-nothings who can do nothing but work their lips. This old man is only sorry the stick was not stronger, or he would have beaten them to death.”
Ning Chen said, laughing, “Do not let the Old General be angry… I am standing everyone a meal. Roast duck at the Heavenly Blessing Tower, and Immortal Dew to drink.”
“What did you say?”
In the Hall of Cultivated Heart, the Xuan Emperor’s face was blank with astonishment.
Eunuch Quan bent close and said quietly, “In answer to Your Majesty, word has just come in. Young Master Ning beat every one of the censors who were blocking the gate of the Ministry of Justice.”
The Xuan Emperor’s expression froze, and it was a long time before he came back to himself.
“Scoundrel. Where has all the boy’s usual cleverness gone? How could he do anything so stupid?”
“He has no power and no post now, and he strikes officers of the court… Is that not putting the knife into other men’s hands for them?”
The Xuan Emperor was furious.
Eunuch Quan said quietly, “Those men were blocking the gate of the Ministry of Justice and demanding that Old General Chen be punished severely… Young Master Ning was probably anxious about Old General Chen, and that is how he came into conflict with them.”
The Xuan Emperor said angrily, “Do not dress it up for me… What do you mean, came into conflict? He struck officers of the court, and more than one of them.”
“And this Old General Chen. A man of his years, and his temper still runs as hot as ever… Blocking the palace gate to beat an officer of the court. Is that not putting this emperor in an impossible position?”
“If you want to beat a man, find a place with nobody in it and beat him quietly… Instead of this, with every official in the court knowing about it. Is that not forcing this emperor to punish him?”
Eunuch Quan’s eyes went wide. Beat him quietly? Was that a thing that could be said aloud?
The Xuan Emperor’s anger would not go down. “The young one gives this emperor no peace, and now the old one is making trouble too.”
“Are those men still kneeling outside?”
Eunuch Quan bowed his head. “Yes.”
“If they like kneeling, let them kneel. Better still if they kneel themselves to death, and spare this emperor the annoyance of looking at them.”
The Xuan Emperor said it angrily.
Then he lay straight down on the couch and shut his eyes to sleep.
But before long the Xuan Emperor opened his eyes again, his face full of irritation.
“Quan Sheng. Draw up an edict.”
Eunuch Quan said quickly, “Yes.”
The Xuan Emperor rubbed the space between his brows. “Old General Chen struck an officer of the court and held the law in contempt… He is ordered to keep his doors shut and reflect on his faults at home for three months, with a year’s salary forfeit.”
The words had barely left the Xuan Emperor when a young eunuch came in quickly and knelt. “Your Majesty, an urgent memorial from Lord Fan, the Censor-in-Chief.”
The Xuan Emperor’s face darkened at once. He did not have to look to know it was an impeachment of Ning Chen.
“Your Majesty, the lords outside have already gone.”
“What? Gone?”
The Xuan Emperor gave a start, thinking he had misheard.
The young eunuch said quickly, “Yes.”
The Xuan Emperor could not make sense of it. Then he said, “Bring the memorial up.”
Eunuch Quan hurried to hand the memorial to the Xuan Emperor.
The Xuan Emperor opened it and looked, and his expression got away from him altogether. His whole face was astonishment. “Has Old General Chen beaten Fan Taihe’s brains loose?”
(End of Chapter 379)