Jiao Niang’s Medical Record Chapter 434

“I do not know, my lord.”
“How did you come to know Lu Zheng?”
“I do not know him, my lord.”

The back-and-forth questioning echoed in the main hall of the Censorate, the tightly closed doors shutting out any prying eyes from outside.

Because the hall faced north, most of the rooms within the Censorate were shrouded in gloom.

The Imperial Censorate Deputy sat inside, with a lingering sense that today, the Censorate felt somehow different.

Footsteps sounded again outside the door, followed by a knock.

“My lord, Tong Neihan has arrived.”

Even before the words had fully fallen, the door was already being pulled open, and a tall, slightly stout figure stepped inside.

“Brother Ziwen, it has been far too long!” A hearty male voice rang out in the dim chamber.

Although his current rank was higher than that of Tong Neihan, he himself had once risen from the post of Hanlin Academician, and had maintained a decent friendship with Tong Neihan back then. It was only after becoming Imperial Censorate Deputy that he was obliged to act the solitary minister, keeping his distance from others.

Li Ziwen rose to his feet, showing Tong Neihan a faint smile.

“Those words should be mine. Brother Zhongzheng, you are the one who is rarely seen these days,” he replied.

“It’s just that my health has been poor,” Tong Neihan said with a laugh.

Tong Neihan was still as straightforward as ever – unlike the two men who had come earlier, circling around with needless chatter before getting to the point.

The Imperial Censorate Deputy allowed himself a small smile.

In an office hall some distance away from the Censorate, Gao Lingjun was also smiling.

“Fearing death is nothing shameful,” he said. “Even Emperor Qin Shihuang and Emperor Wu of Han sought immortals and the Dao. Now that this divine doctor is right before us – not some illusory, unattainable figure – it is only natural that everyone should treat her with respect.”

His close attendants smiled and answered in agreement.

“The more people who come to plead on her behalf, the better,” Gao Lingjun continued, tossing the memorial in his hand onto the desk. “Go, stir up some commotion on the streets. The arrest of the divine doctor is no small matter.”

His attendants answered at once.

The tightly shut gates of the Censorate did nothing to stop all kinds of rumors from spreading.

“Did you hear? That lady from the Cheng family has been arrested…”

“This is an outrageous injustice… Her brothers died in battle, and not only are they denied credit, even their family and friends must suffer for it…”

“But that divine doctor is said to be the direct disciple of True Master Li himself – aren’t they afraid of being struck by lightning…”

“…Come on, let’s go have a look. Who knows, maybe True Master Li will manifest a miracle…”

Watching as, under someone’s instigation, the people in the teahouse indeed surged noisily outside, Zhou Liu-lang set down his teacup, his expression heavy.

“These rumors spreading everywhere must be Gao Lingjun’s doing!” he said.

“This is bad,” Qin Shi’san replied, his face also clouded with concern. “If this gets tied to talk of gods and buddhas, then the sentiments of the people will completely change in nature.”

“That’s why she shouldn’t have treated anyone!” Zhou Liu-lang said irritably.

“That’s why she set down those three rules in the first place,” Qin Shi’san answered, shaking his head at Zhou Liu-lang. “Everything has its pros and cons. You can’t stop eating just for fear of choking. At the time, healing the sick gave her far more help than harm.”

“And now?” Zhou Liu-lang demanded angrily.

At first, the outrage over the five men who died in battle meant nothing much to the Emperor. But if it was because of the divine doctor that the masses came flocking in droves, then in the Emperor’s eyes – that was something entirely different.

“…First it was the Tong family, then the Peng family, and others as well – going to the Censorate one after another, openly or secretly trying to inquire and pass on messages…” Chen Shao said.

“They want to push the blame onto Lu Zheng, claiming that Lady Cheng and the others were merely used by him, and that the matter has nothing to do with them?” asked Old Master Chen.

Chen Shao nodded.

“Father, you should also hurry and help her,” Chen Shi’ba-niang couldn’t help but interject.

Chen Shao gave her a bitter smile.

“That is exactly what Gao Lingjun is hoping for,” he said.

Chen Shi’ba-niang froze, realizing belatedly that what she had just said was wrong.

“To speak on another’s behalf out of gratitude for a favor received,” Old Master Chen said with a sigh, “isn’t that the very thing His Majesty fears most – those two words, favor owed?”

For in all the realm, only the Emperor may bestow favors. If anyone else dares to share in that privilege…

“It’s just like when she cut down Master Ningde with a single stroke – sooner or later, someone will cut her down with a single stroke as well,” Chen Shao said.

Who was this Master Ningde?

When had she killed him?

Chen Shi’ba-niang’s face went deathly pale. None of that mattered. What mattered was the last sentence her father had spoken.

How had things blown up to such proportions this time? Wasn’t it only that she had buried a few sworn brothers? Wasn’t that simply human decency?

“This is the result of stepping forward – if you don’t, no one can even see you,” Chen Shao said.

“That’s not right. Can a person really spend their whole life hiding in the back? Since she dared to step forward, naturally she has the confidence to stand there,” Old Master Chen replied.

At this point, they could only think of it that way.

“I just don’t know if what she did is truly worth it,” Chen Shao sighed. “Over such a small matter – what harm in waiting a little, speaking a little later? Why be so rash and headstrong?”

“Great matters have their worth, small matters have their worth as well,” Old Master Chen said. “So long as one feels it is worth it, then it is worth it.”

Chen Shao smiled and saluted the old master.

“Then I shall also go do the things that are worth doing,” he said.

Watching her father leave, Chen Shi’ba-niang still sat there in a daze.

“Grandfather, was this whole affair really something Lady Cheng did on purpose?” she asked. “She really does have such courage.”

“Sometimes great courage is nothing more than having no way out,” Old Master Chen said with a sigh. “Don’t envy that. If she could, she herself would envy you instead.”

“What is there in me to envy? How could I ever compare to her?” Chen Shi’ba-niang said with a laugh.

“Of course you have things she does not, just as you envy the things she has that you lack,” Old Master Chen replied. “Everyone has something worth another’s envy. Don’t dwell only on what others have – look more at what they do not. That is what it means to keep a heart of compassion.”

The things she had that Lady Cheng did not…

From outside came the laughter and chatter of her sisters. Chen Shi’ba-niang looked that way and sighed. The more she thought about it, the sadder she felt, and her eyes grew red.

“What was once already gone was taken away yet again. If it were me, I too would refuse to yield no matter the cost,” she said, clenching her hands. “A ‘small matter’? When it is a matter of righteousness, a matter of human feeling, it can never be small – it is a matter as great as heaven itself.”

She turned her head to look at Old Master Chen.

“Grandfather, I’ve thought of what to write in the petition I’ll present to His Majesty.”

Old Master Chen was somewhat surprised, then he smiled.

“Don’t go making mischief,” he said. “Only what you can do is what is worth doing.”

“Grandfather, you’re overthinking it. I was only thinking of copying out a Buddhist scripture,” Chen Shi’ba-niang said with a smile.

Old Master Chen burst into hearty laughter.

“I always say your father startles too easily, but in the end, it’s you young women’s ways that still give me a fright.”

…

“Fan Jianglin, these are the things you did?” the censor asked, glancing at the record the clerks had handed up.

“Yes,” Fan Jianglin replied.

“Then how did you come to be connected with Lu Zheng?” the censor pressed.

“My lord, I do not know him. I only came to bring my brothers back to the capital for burial,” Fan Jianglin said.

The censor gave a cold laugh.

“Aren’t you people from Maoyuan Mountain? The capital is not your ancestral home. Why would you come here, after a whole month, just to bury them?” He suddenly struck the gavel on the desk.

“Speak! Who pulled the strings? Who made the arrangements? Who gathered the crowd?”

“I did.”

Fan Jianglin did not answer – rather, a girl’s voice rang out in the hall.

The censor’s gaze fell upon the young lady standing to the side. In truth, his eyes had been on her all along, unable to believe what he saw.

This little lady – she was the so-called divine doctor? Who would believe that? No wonder the rumors claimed her as a disciple of the Dao Ancestor, no wonder there was that tofu prized by Puxiu Temple, no wonder she was known in the capital for the ‘Passing Immortal’…

If it wasn’t the Zhou family backing her, then who was it?

Someone had already been sent to investigate her paternal clan, but for now nothing had turned up in the family records – more inquiries would be needed.

The young lady stepped forward, bent slightly at the waist, and offered a respectful bow toward the bench.

“You? You what?” the censor asked with a frown.

“It was I who wanted my brothers brought back to the capital for burial,” Cheng Jiao-niang said.

The censor gave a cold snort and was about to speak when Cheng Jiao-niang spoke first.

“It was I who had my brothers returned to the capital for burial, I who arranged the roadside offerings, I who gave out wine to gather the crowd,” she said.

She admitted it all, crisp and straightforward.

The censor gripped the gavel, ready to strike.

“No one told me to do it – it was my own decision,” Cheng Jiao-niang said, looking at him with a faint smile.

The censor was not bewitched by the beauty’s smile – rather, it was her words that left him stunned, so much so that he forgot to bring down the gavel in his hand.

“What did you say?” he asked.

“I wanted to make a spectacle of it. I wanted it to reach the ears of the throne,” Cheng Jiao-niang said.

In other words, she admitted that the wave of public outrage in the capital had been stirred up deliberately…

Just now, that man had denied everything, while this girl, before even being asked, admitted to it all. The censor was momentarily taken aback.

“Why would you do such a thing?” he asked.

“Because I want to claim merit,” Cheng Jiao-niang replied.

Within the Censorate, the doors were closed and all was quiet, but on the following day the court was abuzz with commotion.

“…Gao Lingjun wields power inside and out, so that many officials know the truth yet dare not speak it. Jiang Wenyuan and the like strut about, deceiving above and oppressing below, rendering service unrewarded. Your Majesty, the shameful blood by the banks of the Caochuan has not yet dried!”

It was the day of the Great Court Assembly, which was normally just a formality – but no one had expected that a censor would suddenly begin impeaching Attendant Scholar Gao right then and there.

His words were fierce, his expression impassioned, and he was all but pointing a finger in Attendant Scholar Gao’s face and shouting at him.

In the great hall, no other sound was heard but his voice echoing – yet even with heads lowered, the Emperor could still see the gleam of excitement in every man’s eyes: excitement at the spectacle, excitement at the chance to join the fray.

Of course it would be like this.

The Emperor’s gaze, whether deliberately or not, fell upon Chen Shao and Gao Lingjun. Both wore wooden expressions, as if they were clay idols, oblivious and unmoving.

Whose plan was this? Was Gao Lingjun sullying himself to retreat in order to advance? Or was Chen Shao bent on mutual destruction, dragging others down with him?

Whoever it was, the Emperor felt a surge of distaste.

All of this – born from that funeral procession!

That so-called divine doctor lady…

“Does the Imperial Censorate Deputy not care about such a breach of decorum in court?” one official, unable to bear it, called out.

The Imperial Censorate Deputy, seated to the side, wore a wooden expression.

“To submit a memorial based on what one has heard is the duty of a censor; it cannot be judged by the same standards of etiquette as other officials,” he said coolly, lifting a hand to point at the courtier. “Stand down. No clamor!”

The courtier’s face flushed crimson with anger, but he had no choice but to fling his sleeve and retreat.

Meanwhile, the censor’s speech continued, already moving on to accuse Attendant Scholar Gao of being unlearned and unskilled, of securing his position at court by sheer luck, and of failing to repay the Emperor’s grace…

“How goes the questioning into Lu Zheng’s case?”

The Emperor finally spoke, knowing that if he continued to indulge this, the court session would only grow more unruly. His words cut off the censor’s accusations.

At a Great Court Assembly, for the Emperor to personally raise the matter of Lu Zheng was the same as openly acknowledging the impeachment against him.

Attendant Scholar Gao cast a glance at Chen Shao, a flash of hatred in his eyes.

Forced to make the emperor speak up in front of all the officials – at last the assembly had limped its way through the required steps and dispersed. The officials then moved to another hall to begin the real deliberations of state.

“The relatives of those five men from Maoyuan Mountain in the northwest have already been summoned for questioning,” the Imperial Censorate Deputy stepped forward and replied. “The Censorate is currently copying and compiling the records.”

The Emperor nodded and pressed a hand to his forehead.

“Master Li, how many people visited your Censorate yesterday?” Attendant Scholar Gao suddenly asked.

The Imperial Censorate Deputy’s expression did not change.

“Seven,” he said without the slightest concealment.

“And how many of them came on behalf of this Lady Cheng?” Attendant Scholar Gao asked with a smile.

Of course, he could have said it himself, but having it spoken from the Imperial Censorate Deputy’s mouth carried far greater effect. Li Ziwen had always been cold and solitary, but precisely because of that, using him at such times was all the more fitting.

“All of them,” the Imperial Censorate Deputy replied without hesitation.

“This Lady Cheng’s medical skills must truly be remarkable – she certainly has won people’s hearts,” Attendant Scholar Gao said with a smile, turning his gaze toward the Emperor.