Ning Chen came to Pan Yucheng’s room.

“Pan the Gold Coat. You wanted me?”

Pan Yucheng’s face was set. He frowned. “You should make your bow first.”

Ning Chen said, “Ah.” Then: “Presenting myself to Pan the Gold Coat.”

Pan Yucheng fixed him with a look. “Ning Chen. Do you know your fault?”

Ning Chen’s head filled with question marks.

“Pan the Gold Coat. What fault have I committed?”

Pan Yucheng said coldly, “Taking prisoners out of the hands of the capital magistrate’s office in the open street. Making enemies for no reason. Getting Geng the Purple Coat impeached for it and dressed down by His Majesty… And you have committed no fault?”

“The Inspectorate has the right to handle any case, but that does not mean stepping over other men’s work… A case the capital magistrate’s office cannot handle goes to the Three Courts. A case the Three Courts cannot handle is the one that comes to us.”

“The Inspectorate’s first duty is watching the officials. Working cases is the second.”

Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed. “Pan the Gold Coat. Are you always like this?”

Pan Yucheng didn’t follow it. He frowned. “Meaning what?”

“I mean, do you always fail to tell black from white this way — never asking the reason, and dressing a subordinate down before anything else?”

Pan Yucheng went off like powder. “Ning Chen. You mean I’m not fit to sit in this chair?”

Ning Chen said, without warmth, “On seniority, you’re fit. On ability, I have my doubts.”

Pan Yucheng’s face was terrible to look at. “You doubt my ability?”

“Ning Chen. You’re a small silver coat, and you dare question my ability. Who gave you the nerve?”

“Liang Jingru gave it to me.” (TL Note: a Taiwanese singer whose best-known song is titled “Courage.” “Liang Jingru gave it to me” is a stock joke answer in modern China to “who gave you the nerve?” — and nobody in this world has ever heard of her.)

Ning Chen couldn’t resist.

Pan Yucheng frowned. “Who is Liang Jingru?”

“The person who gave me the nerve.”

Pan Yucheng had no answer to that.

“Ning Chen. Setting everything else aside… taking prisoners out of the hands of the capital magistrate’s office in the open street is against the rules. Send them back at once.”

Ning Chen shook his head. “No.”

Pan Yucheng was furious. “What did you say? That is an order, not a discussion.”

Ning Chen hesitated a moment. “Yes, sir.”

Pan Yucheng was left blinking at him.

“If Pan the Gold Coat has nothing further, this subordinate will withdraw.”

Ning Chen turned and went.

When Pan Yucheng came back to himself, a small smile appeared on his face, and he said under his breath, “Geng the Purple Coat had it right. The boy’s temper is hard. He does suit the Inspectorate.”

Once outside, Ning Chen went straight to Geng Jing.

Geng Jing looked at him. “You wanted something?”

“Lord Geng. Look at this first.”

Ning Chen stepped up and laid the blood petition on the table in front of him.

Geng Jing picked it up and opened it, and his face changed. “A blood petition of ten thousand names. Where did this come from?”

“Yesterday I took two men from the capital magistrate’s office. They gave it to me… The pair of them are from Zhenyuan County.”

Geng Jing looked at the blood prints on it, which turned the stomach to look at, and for a long time he said nothing.

Ning Chen bowed over clasped hands. “I want to go to Zhenyuan County. I ask Lord Geng’s leave.”

Geng Jing folded the petition shut and looked at him. “For Tao Qizhi?”

Ning Chen said it one word at a time. “For Tao Qizhi. And for the people of Zhenyuan County.”

Then, inside, he added the rest of it. In fact I am doing it for myself. I need an achievement. I need the Xuan Emperor to see what I can do, and a chance to get hold of that thick leg of his — that is the only way I stand steady in this capital, and the only way I ever get to play against the Left Chancellor and Ning Ziming.

“Lord Geng. If there had been any way left to live they would not have come to the capital at the risk of their lives to lay a complaint… Seven of them set out. Two were alive by the time they reached the capital.”

“And yesterday, if I hadn’t happened on them… nobody would ever have known about Zhenyuan County.”

Geng Jing frowned. “A thing like this can be handed to the capital magistrate’s office.”

Ning Chen smiled coldly. “The capital magistrate’s office… They put the name of thief on two men who came to lay a complaint.”

“When I come back from Zhenyuan County, I want to investigate the capital magistrate’s office.”

Geng Jing’s face changed a little.

“Does Pan the Gold Coat know about this?”

“No.”

Geng Jing frowned.

Ning Chen went on. “I don’t trust Pan the Gold Coat.”

“Insolence. Pan the Gold Coat is your superior. Going over his head deserves thirty strokes of the rod.”

Ning Chen said heavily, “I admit to every charge. When I come back from Zhenyuan County, beat me or punish me as you please.”

Geng Jing’s face was dark. He waved a hand. “Enough. Go back.”

“Yes. Then I’ll go and get ready. I’ll set out this afternoon.”

Geng Jing had no idea what to do with that.

“Where are you going?”

Ning Chen said, not following him, “Zhenyuan County.”

“Who gave you leave to go? What I meant was: leave this alone. Go and do whatever it is you do.”

Ning Chen’s face changed a little. “Lord Geng. What do you mean by that?”

“Ning Chen. Mind your manner. I am your superior, and in the Inspectorate what I say goes… Don’t imagine that because you have His Majesty’s favor you can put yourself above the law and outside the rules.”

Ning Chen laughed instead, and shrugged. “Thank you for the reminder, Lord Geng. I had nearly forgotten I have His Majesty for a mountain at my back. If Lord Geng won’t let me go, then all I can do is take those two men and lay a complaint before the throne itself.”

That angered Geng Jing considerably. “You dare threaten me? Between you and me, which of us do you suppose His Majesty trusts?”

“Lord Geng, of course.”

“Then since you know it, get out. You will not put a hand on this.”

Ning Chen thought about it, and then his whole face went ingratiating, and he smiled like a dog. “Lord Geng, I truly wasn’t threatening you. What am I? What standing have I got to threaten you with? In front of you I’m nothing at all.”

Geng Jing looked at him, thoroughly uncomfortable.

Ning Chen went on. “Lord Geng, we both serve His Majesty. I’m begging you, let me go to Zhenyuan County. When I come back the credit is all yours, and I have a hundred taels of silver to offer you besides, by way of respect.”

Geng Jing’s expression went strange. “Are you bribing me?”

Ning Chen shook his head and said it perfectly seriously. “I admire Lord Geng’s character. This is the ordinary give and take between people. How could it be a bribe?”

Geng Jing wanted to laugh, and at the same time he was pleased. The Inspectorate needed men like this.

He understood Ning Chen well enough. In the bone the boy was extremely proud… and for the people of Zhenyuan County he had lowered his voice and swallowed his pride, and gone as far as trying to bribe him. It must have cost him something.

Geng Jing waved a hand. “Get out. I’ll think about it.”

Ning Chen said quickly, “Lord Geng, the matter is urgent. The people of Zhenyuan County have no way to live. Every day I get there sooner is another chance for them to stay alive.”

“One more word out of you and I’ll have you shut in a cell. Do you doubt it?”

The anger of it sat in Ning Chen’s chest, and all he could do was keep smiling. “I’m going now, Lord Geng, don’t be angry… But please think about it quickly. Lives are at stake.”

Ning Chen said it and withdrew.

What Ning Chen did not notice was that the moment he left, Pan Yucheng came out from around the corner behind him and went straight into Geng Jing’s room.

Geng Jing seemed to have known he would come in. He held up the blood petition and said:

“Old Pan. Stop wearing that ugly face all day like some villain… No wonder the boy doesn’t trust you.”

Pan Yucheng made a sound, his face as blank as ever. “You think he trusts you? He came to you because His Majesty trusts you, and he trusts His Majesty.”

Geng Jing’s mouth went sideways. He knew Pan Yucheng was right.

“Old Pan. It looks as though Zhenyuan County is worse than we thought.”

Pan Yucheng nodded slightly.

As a matter of fact they had begun looking into Zhenyuan County some time ago.

Geng Jing said, “Old Pan. You’ll take the team again this time.”

The two of them had joined the Inspectorate together and had known each other a long while. They understood one another, so they talked easily.

Pan Yucheng nodded. “Clearing out the woodworm and taking a burden off His Majesty is our work… Are we taking Ning Chen?”

“Ning Chen’s situation is a particular one. I’ll have to put it to His Majesty… I’m going into the palace now. You keep an eye on Ning Chen. The boy’s nerve is past all measure and I’m afraid he’ll set off for Zhenyuan County on his own.”

Pan Yucheng made a cold sound. “He’d dare? Is there no law left?”

Geng Jing laughed. “His nerve is bigger than you imagine.”

“He dared beat the Fifth Prince. The Fifth Prince was a fake, but he didn’t know that — as far as he knew he was beating the real one. He dared give the crown prince no face at all… Every one of those is a capital offense and he has done all of them. Would you believe it?”

That astonished Pan Yucheng. He had been out of the capital for a while and had genuinely known none of it.

Geng Jing said, “In short. Keep a proper watch on him until I get back… The boy’s nerve is past all measure. There is nothing he wouldn’t dare do.”

(End of Chapter 47)