The Inspectorate. The cells.
Ning Chen and Feng Qizheng and the others were working through what today’s business was going to cost them.
Gao Ziping said, worried, “Ning Chen grievously wounded Wu Dayuan. What I’m afraid of right now is that with the boss away, Chen the Gold Coat takes the chance to do something underhanded.”
“Chen the Gold Coat is very protective of his own. He’s also famously ruthless.”
Ning Chen smiled faintly. “What, you think he’d actually kill me?”
“Killing you, no. What I’m afraid of is that he finds some excuse to haul you up for questioning… Once the torture room has been through its whole repertoire on you, you’ll be a broken man.”
Feng Qizheng grinned nastily. “Stop scaring him. If you scare Ning Chen limp, Miss Yudie will come after your life.”
Ning Chen was about to fire something back when footsteps sounded.
They all looked out past the cell door, and their faces changed together.
Chen Lezhang had appeared, with two silver coats.
Ning Chen had absolutely nothing to say.
“Old Gao, you jinx. The good ones never come true and the bad ones always do.”
One of the silver coats opened the door.
Chen Lezhang pointed at Ning Chen with a sinister look and gave the two silver coats their order:
“Bring Ning Chen out for me.”
Gao Ziping put himself in front of Ning Chen at that and bowed over his fist. “Might I ask where Chen the Gold Coat is taking Ning Chen?”
Chen Lezhang’s eyes darkened and he snapped, “Gao Ziping, mind your place. Do I have to report to you about how I do my work?”
“This subordinate would not dare. Only, Pan the Gold Coat told us before he went out to look after Ning Chen… I’d ask Chen the Gold Coat to make it plain, so that I have something to say for myself when Pan the Gold Coat gets back.”
Chen Lezhang laughed coldly. “You dare use Pan Yucheng to threaten me?”
“Fine. Since you want to know, I’ll tell you… While we were carrying out the confiscation at the Vice Minister’s residence, a member of the Xu household informed on Ning Chen. He and the convicted official Xu Xinjue were closely connected.”
Gao Ziping’s face changed. “That’s not possible. It’s a frame-up, plainly.”
“He’s right. Ning Chen has never so much as met Xu Xinjue.”
Chen Lezhang smiled a smile that went no deeper than the skin. “Whether it’s a frame-up or not, we’ll know once he’s been questioned.”
“Gao Ziping, I’ve made myself perfectly clear to you… Obstruct me again and I have the right to suspect you of being Ning Chen’s accomplice and question you along with him.”
Gao Ziping’s brows knotted. “Chen the Gold Coat, could the questioning not wait until Pan the Gold Coat returns?”
“That isn’t yours to decide… Gao Ziping, my patience has a limit. Move.”
Gao Ziping’s face was grim. He knew what the Inspectorate’s tortures were better than anyone, and how few men came through them… If I move aside, once Ning Chen is taken into that room, if it doesn’t kill him it’ll take a layer of skin off him.
Ning Chen, for his part, looked perfectly calm. He got slowly to his feet, stretched, and said with a smile:
“Old Gao, move aside. Can’t you all see it yet? The little shit has made up his mind to work me over today.”
Feng Qizheng caught hold of Ning Chen. “You can’t go with him. I know those tortures better than anybody. Skinny arms and skinny legs like yours — you’d never last.”
Chen Lezhang gave a sinister smile. “You people know the Inspectorate’s rules. When a prisoner is taken up for questioning, no man may obstruct it. Do it and you’re charged the same as he is.”
“Ning Chen. Do you want all three of them questioned alongside you?”
Ning Chen shrugged helplessly. “All right. I’ll go with you.”
Chen Lezhang snarled a laugh. “Sensible of you.”
“Ning Chen, you can’t go with them!”
“They’re framing you and making no secret of it. If you die in that room, they can find a hundred reasons to walk away clean.”
Gao Ziping and the other two put themselves in front of Ning Chen again.
Chen Lezhang was past containing himself. “Gao Ziping, are the three of you starting a rebellion? Obstructing this gold coat’s case time and again — very well then, don’t blame me for what comes.”
“Someone take Ning Chen away for me… And if those three dare obstruct it, I’ll kill them where they stand.”
Ning Chen pushed the three of them aside and said heavily, “A man answers for what he does. I’m going with you.”
Gao Ziping’s face was frantic. “Ning Chen—”
“Don’t. I’m going with them.”
Ning Chen cut Gao Ziping off, stepped forward, and cooperatively held out his hands to the two approaching silver coats so they could put the manacles on his wrists and the irons on his legs.
And just as one of the silver coats was about to fit the manacles on him, Ning Chen suddenly looked out past the cell and called out, delighted, “Pan the Gold Coat! You’ve come at last?”
Chen Lezhang and the two silver coats turned to look without thinking.
But outside the cell there was nothing at all. No sign of Pan Yucheng anywhere.
Chen Lezhang realized at once that he had been taken in again.
He whipped his head back around, but it was already too late.
Ning Chen went like a hunting leopard — one savage, driving knee into the belly of the silver coat who had been about to manacle him, and a headbutt on top of it that landed hard in the man’s face.
The man screamed, doubled over and staggered backward, and discovered at the same time that he didn’t have enough hands, and could not decide whether to hold his stomach or his face.
Chen Lezhang, enraged, moved to act.
Ning Chen said coldly, “Chen the Gold Coat. Don’t move.”
Ning Chen had a sharp saber in his hand, and he had laid it against his own throat.
He had attacked the silver coat for exactly this — to take the blade.
“Chen the Gold Coat, whatever you do, don’t move. You move and I’ll die right here in front of you.”
Gao Ziping and the other two stood with their mouths open. What kind of insane maneuver is this?
Chen Lezhang would love nothing better than for Ning Chen to die, and Ning Chen is threatening him with his own life… Is he trying to save the man the trouble?
Chen Lezhang didn’t move — not because he felt threatened, but because Ning Chen’s maneuver had completely befuddled him.
“Ning Chen. You’re threatening me with your own life?”
My intelligence is not equal to this.
Ning Chen nodded, very seriously. “That’s right. As you can see, I am threatening you with my own life. So I’ll just ask you — are you frightened or not?”
Chen Lezhang’s eyes went slightly blank. He was beginning to doubt himself. Which of us has gone mad here? Me or him?
“Ning Chen, what kind of trick are you playing?”
Ning Chen’s face was all mockery. “Can’t you tell? I’m threatening you.”
“On what grounds could you possibly threaten me?”
“Now you’ve finally asked the right question… On the grounds that if I die, your entire household goes to the sword. No — you’ll be punishable to the ninth degree of kin.”
Chen Lezhang laughed coldly. He didn’t believe a word of it.
“Don’t believe me?” Ning Chen looked at him, teasing, and said with a smile, “There is one matter only I can take off His Majesty’s hands… Chen the Gold Coat might care to think about this. I killed the Empress’s brother. Why did I walk away from it whole?”
Chen Lezhang’s eyes fixed, and he sank into thought.
Ning Chen said scornfully, “Enough! Don’t stand there looking profound. With that pig’s brain of yours you could work at it your whole life and never get it… I’ll just tell you. It’s because the thing I am doing for His Majesty is worth more than the Empress’s brother’s life.”
“Chen the Gold Coat, is your life worth more than the Empress’s brother’s was? Think it over carefully. If I die… how will His Majesty deal with you? Nine degrees of kin looks light to me.”
“Would you like to know what it is I’m doing for His Majesty?”
Chen Lezhang asked it before he could stop himself. “What is it?”
A strange smile came to the corner of Ning Chen’s mouth. “Only His Majesty and I know about this. But since Chen the Gold Coat insists on forcing it out of me, I’ll tell you… It concerns the empire itself. It concerns the great work of a thousand years of the Great Xuan. What I am to do for His Majesty is—”
“Shut up!”
Chen Lezhang bellowed it in sudden terror, and his voice broke on it.
He was shaking all over and couldn’t stop, and there was horror all over his face.
Ning Chen said only he and His Majesty know about this, which means no third person is allowed to know… Whether what Ning Chen is saying is true or false, it is not for my ears.
And if it happens to be true, ten heads would not be enough to cut off.
Ning Chen looked entirely innocent. “Chen the Gold Coat, what’s the matter? I haven’t finished yet—”
“Ning Chen, you shut your mouth. Don’t say it. I didn’t hear a thing—”
Chen Lezhang went on shouting it in terror while he backed away, and then he turned and ran flat out, for all the world like a mad dog.
The two silver coats were left standing there, struck stupid.
The two of them looked at each other — and then something seemed to occur to them. A shudder went through them both, and their eyes filled with horror. Then they ran out at top speed, locked the cell door, and went after Chen Lezhang.
(End of Chapter 91)