Peng Pei sneered, and when Feng Zhi Wei was finished, he said sharply, “Wei Zhi, quickly confess how you betrayed His Majesty’s trust and stole the spring test questions….”
“Guilty official Wei Zhi, received a bribe of five thousand gold from Li Changyong, a student of Imperial Academy. On the second night of March in the fifteenth year of Tiansheng, he first took advantage of the banquet at Yanchun Restaurant to steal the keys from Official Yao and Official Zhang. He then immediately instructed fourth-ranking official Gu Nan Yi to enter the Ministry of Rites at night to abduct Official Ji Jiang who was on duty, tied him up, and placed him in the cellar under the south wall of the back kitchen of the Ministry of Rites. Official Gu Nan Yi then sneaked into the secret cabinets to steal Tiansheng’s fifteenth year’s spring exam. Gu Nan Yi handed the exam questions over to Li Changyong, who later made several copies with the intention of selling them but was seized by the night patrolling soldiers of the imperial capital…”
Under the stunned stares of her audience, Feng Zhi Wei spoke faster and faster, her tone was flat without any change in pitch, as if she was reciting a memorized passage from a book until she suddenly stopped at the end, raised her head, and smiled.
“…The above is the full text of the “criminal confession” that Official Peng Pei had ordered sixth ranking Official Gui Jianzhou to have prepared and written beforehand with the intention of forcing Wei Zhi to sign off under torture!”
“You!”
As shock vibrated through the hall, Peng Pei jumped up and slammed his hands on the table, “Nonsense!”
“How was it nonsense?” Feng Zhi Wei glanced sideways at him, “You used torture to force a confession from me by ordering your subordinate Gui Jian Zhou to use the ten thousand snake bites torture on me.”
“Nonsense!”
“Shameless!”
“Sprouting false accusations, you are begging for death!” Peng Pei sneered, they weren’t able to execute the torture anyway so there is no proof against him.
“Denying in public, you are not too smart!” Feng Zhi Wei sneered back. Did you think this miss could do nothing to you just because there is no proof? Fool.
“Official Peng.” Seeing the two of them glaring at each other like fighting cocks, Official Wu of the Cabinet couldn’t help but pipe up, “Where is prison officer Gui Jianzhou now? Things will get cleared up once we summon him here to testify.”
This was obviously done to help Peng Pei. Instead of asking Feng Zhi Wei if she had any wounds from the torture, the questioning was directed at Gui Jianzhou. Gui Jianzhou is not only Peng Pei’s subordinate, but he is also the prison guard, so he would certainly not admit it.
Peng Pei opened his mouth and stood there in a daze. Gui Jiazhou is already dead but there was no way to explain clearly how he died. Yesterday he was afraid he would get in trouble so he didn’t dare to disclose the incident publically and simply reported it as death by accidental drowning. If they were to discuss the cause of Gui Jianzhou’s death, then it would inevitably have to bring up Hua Qing and that would lead to the reason why he was killed…by that time, who could guess what might come out of that terrible mouth?
“Gui Jianzhou lost his footing, fell into the water last night, and drowned.” He deliberated for a while and finally said coldly, “The corpse has already been buried by his family.”
“What a coincidence…” Resting his head on his hands, the Tenth Prince muttered. His voice wasn’t loud but everyone could hear him clearly.
*BOOM!*
As soon as he finished speaking, there came a distant sound of a drum. The sound was heavy and loud. The sound came only once, followed immediately by a guard running in, “Someone is beating the drum of grievances–“ In imperial times, people would go to the county magistrates to beat on the drum (usually placed by the front door) to voice their grievances.
“Can’t you see we are busy, what grievances!” Peng Pei yelled furiously, “let the secretary office record it first!”
The guard didn’t leave but muttered instead, “They said the drum of grievances was beaten for the case of the leaked spring exam questions…”
Peng Pei’s heart sank and was about to find an excuse to send the petitioner away when Ning Yi jumped in to speak first, “Summon them!”
He said just one word, but it was firm with no room for objections. Even if there were some who wanted to stop him, but Ning Yi had the highest status of all who were present so if he really wanted to throw his weight around, no one could say anything.
Immediately after Ning Yi spoke, someone could be heard striding boldly in, laughing loudly all the while, “How is this the Ministry of Punishment? This is the dragon’s den and the tiger’s lair! From the dungeon to the main entrance, I encountered no less than ten groups of people who tried to stop me!”
Hearing this voice, Feng Zhi Wei felt a surge of warmth in her heart.
Peng Pei’s expression changed.
There was a flash of light at the door then Hua Qing’s figure came walking in, a drumstick tossing up and down in her hands. Spotting Peng Pei, she threw the drumstick over and laughed “Your drum of grievances is too flimsy! I hit it just once and it broke! This Ministry of Punishment can’t withstand much scrutiny!” (That last sentence was a play on words in Chinese.)
The drumstick came crushing in with a force, Peng Pei’s face lost all color from fright as he jumped backward. The drumstick fell to the ground, breaking in half.
“Hua Qing!” The Second Prince yelled in a deep voice, “If you want to sound the drum of grievances then go do it. If you cause trouble while we are holding a trial then you will be kicked out!”
“Who said I want to complain of a grievance?” Hua Qing gave him a side glance. Her words caused everyone to look at her with confusion.
“Then you…”
“I am here to turn myself in!” Hua Qing raised her head, looking more like she is here to receive an award instead of turning herself in, “I killed Gui Jianzhou!”
The whole hall was silent for another moment, with another opportune muttering from the Tenth Prince, “Eh, didn’t they say he accidentally fell into the water?”
“Who is saying nonsense and telling you that he accidentally fell into the water?” Hua Qing let out a chilling smile, “What he lost is his worthless life! Yesterday, Sixth ranking officer Gui Jianzhou, under the order of Official Peng, tried to use the ten thousand snakes torture to force a confession out of Wei Zhi, a high official of the imperial court. It coincided with my visit to Official Wei. I tried to persuade him, but who knew Gui Jianzhou would be insane enough to stab me with a knife—” She pulled up her sleeve to reveal the three-inch wound that has been bandaged up with so many layers that her forearm now looks like a big mallet, “I was forced to dodge but in the process accidentally killed Gui Jiazhou– so here am I today to turn myself in!”
“You!” Peng Pei was so angry that he almost fainted. Before he could say anything, Hua Qing suddenly took a step back, grabbed Feng Zhi Wei’s sleeve, and yanked it up, “There is no proof in words, here are the torture wounds!”
Everyone stretched their necks and saw Feng Zhi Wei’s arm was completely covered with deep and shallow wounds, all seeping with the reddish color of blood. Staring at the arm that looks like if something had feasted and chomped on it, there was a collective sharp intake of breath.
“Ten thousand snakes…” Eunuch Jia’s face turned pale, “Is there such a terrible punishment in the Ministry of Punishment?”
“Ten thousand snakes!” Seemingly resisting the urge to vomit, Tenth Prince said angrily, “Is it really necessary to be so vicious?!”
The moment Hua Qing yanked up Feng Zhi Wei’s sleeve, Ning Yi who had been leaning against his seat immediately sat up straight. After taking a careful look, an expression of amusement appeared in his eyes. Using the teacup to cover his face, Ning Yi went back to leaning against his seat even as he shouted angrily, “Peng Pei! Who allowed you to use unauthorized torture before the trial had even started?”
“My lords, your highness, Eunuch Jia– “ Feng Zhi Wei only managed to call out sorrowfully before tears filled her eyes as she bowed down.
Her thin fragile shoulders were like a crane whose wings were broken just as it was about to take flight, aggrieved, fluttering pitifully in the wind.
Except for some people, everyone was filled with sympathy. To see a first ranking national hero that was not long ago welcomed into the capital by all the court officials now be suddenly imprisoned, suffering such a disaster, it caused everyone to have a “hare dies fox grieves” sort of feeling.
“Hare dies fox grieves” is a Chinese idiom describing the sorrow of seeing the death of one’s own kind because that would cause one to think it might be the foreshadowing of one’s future. The hare and the fox are “one kind” because their common enemy would be the hunter.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Thanks for this week! I wonder how she inflicted the “snake bites”
Ning Yi was actually concerned for a second so she must have done a good job!
Thank you, Ninja. The perfect gift every Monday. I am curious to know how far we are into the book. Please let us know.
I think we are about 2/3 way in… That’s just a guess though since the chapters are not equal in length.
Hua Qing saves the day again, you go girl.