“Why was it Fan Jianglin, of all people, who happened to catch Li Mao? Why did it have to be the Imperial Armory that exploded? And why did they have to bring him back there, instead of investigating on the spot?”
“This is too much of a coincidence – so perfect it feels arranged.”
“The explosion destroyed only the Divine Arm Bows, yet no one was injured.”
“No great crime was committed, yet the entire court was shaken.”
“Lady Cheng – what a fine piece of work.”
Feng Lin spoke each word slowly and deliberately beside the throne, and the Emperor’s eyes grew all the more suspicious.
Yes, it truly was too coincidental.
Looking closely, it seemed that Cheng Jiao-niang had nothing to do with it – and yet, in every hidden thread, somehow everything traced back to her. Considering the situation now, it was indeed far too coincidental.
“So it would seem that Inspector-General Fan is indeed well suited to his post,” Feng Lin threw out another line.
The ministers nearby couldn’t help but draw in sharp breaths.
“This Judge Feng is not someone you want to cross,” someone whispered to his neighbor.
With just one sentence, the credit for presenting the Divine Arm Bow was completely erased – turned instead into a scheme of cunning intent and prior calculation.
The Emperor’s gaze was no longer merely suspicious; it now carried distrust – and a faint, simmering anger.
To be toyed with in the palm of a woman’s hand – and worse, to have his court affairs made a plaything – was something he could never tolerate.
Cheng Jiao-niang lowered her gaze and bowed.
“Matters of the state and military are of grave importance,” she said softly. “How could a common woman like me, versed only in small arts, ever presume to influence them?”
“You are too modest,” Feng Lin replied. “Li Mao saw your fireworks once and was able to craft those fearsome stone projectiles – surely that is your extraordinary art.”
Cheng Jiao-niang raised her head to look at him.
“No,” she said. “It has nothing to do with me. It is Li Mao’s own ingenuity. Otherwise, among the countless who have seen fireworks, why is he alone the one to make such weapons?”
“Then that,” Feng Lin sneered, “is a question for you to answer.”
“Perhaps,” Cheng Jiao-niang replied calmly, “the speaker was unintentional, the listener attentive; the maker unthinking, the observer perceptive.”
“Well said – ‘the speaker was unintentional’!” Feng Lin’s voice rose sharply. “Lady Cheng, do you dare claim that all you’ve done was with a pure and selfless heart?”
“I certainly would not dare,” Cheng Jiao-niang said. “Everything I’ve done was with desire, not selflessness.”
Feng Lin gave a cold laugh, raising his tablet as he looked toward the Emperor, just about to speak – but Cheng Jiao-niang spoke first.
“Master Feng, do you mean that I am guilty because I have desires?” she asked.
“To have desires is not a crime,” Feng Lin replied. “But to pursue them by improper means – that is a crime.”
“Then tell me, Master Feng,” Cheng Jiao-niang said, “if I sought something and did not take the proper path, is that truly my sin?”
“Of course it is,” Feng Lin said firmly.
“Master Feng,” Cheng Jiao-niang asked again, “and why would I not take the proper path?”
“That,” Feng Lin snapped, “is a question of your own intentions!”
“Wrong,” Cheng Jiao-niang said calmly. “The one you should be questioning is not me – but you.”
One of the officials in the next row tried to whisper something, but Attendant Scholar Gao raised his hand to silence him. His expression grew solemn as he tilted his head to listen.
It seemed the balance of the exchange had reversed.
Until now, it had always been Feng Lin asking and others answering – but now it was the girl who questioned, and Feng Lin who replied.
“Ask…”
“Ask you!”
Not only did she continue questioning, she even cut Feng Lin off mid-sentence.
The officials nearby started in alarm.
“Ask you – when my sworn brothers met their death, how did those who survived run up and down the hierarchy, seeking justice and finding no door open?”
“Ask you – when we sought help and found none, how were we thrown into prison and punished instead?”
“Ask you – when one honest official merely spoke a word about rewards and punishments in the northwest, how was he accused of ill intent and driven from court, while the meritorious generals were humiliated?”
“When the lowly cannot appeal upward, and the high refuse to be questioned – Master Feng, do you still ask why I did not take the proper path? Do you still ask what intentions I harbor?”
“If you dare to ask, I dare to answer!”
“If you dare to say my heart is impure, then I dare to admit it!”
The girl stood in the middle of the hall, her body slightly turned toward Feng Lin, hands composed before her, wide sleeves hanging heavy. Her words were sharp as blades, yet her posture did not waver in the slightest.
When her voice fell, the great hall seemed to echo with its lingering sound.
“My lord, we can’t let her keep talking.” An official in the next section whispered urgently to Attendant Scholar Gao, his expression changing slightly. “One Feng Lin is trouble enough!”
The matter of greed for military merit in the northwest had already been settled with the death of an official and Jiang Wenyuan’s reassignment – if it were brought up again, who knew how many others might be dragged into it?
Attendant Scholar Gao understood this well. His face grew grave; after a brief moment of thought, he raised his tablet, just about to speak – but Cheng Jiao-niang gave no one the chance to interrupt and went on immediately:
“That was the first charge Master Feng laid upon me – that I am guilty. The second, that I used my merit to threaten His Majesty and scheme for gain.”
Attendant Scholar Gao quietly lowered his tablet again.
Fortunately, she hadn’t seized upon that first point and refused to let go. He, Gao Lingjun, was not one to bite at random – if others left him be, he would leave them be as well.
Of course, grudges were still grudges, and they would be settled in their time.
He straightened his posture once more and listened intently.
“Have I spoken falsely? Do you deny that you’ve been scheming?” Feng Lin barked, his face dark with fury.
Cheng Jiao-niang bowed to the emperor, then straightened and looked calmly at Feng Lin.
“My lord has not spoken falsely. I have been scheming – and I feel no shame for it, nor is it something I cannot speak of openly.”
“I presented a weapon to win merit, yes – my heart was not without self-interest. I sought justice for my sworn brothers, and I could not accept the impunity of corrupt officials. I did seek reward for merit, and I did demand that punishment and reward be justly given.”
Her voice was slow and steady now, far gentler than before, yet still left no room for interruption.
Feng Lin’s face darkened to iron as he glared at the girl, who spoke on with quiet composure.
“His Majesty has granted precisely what I sought,” Cheng Jiao-niang said. “He has restored my sworn brothers’ name as a hero, rewarded them with high office and rich honors, bestowed titles upon my parents, and shown me the boundless grace of his imperial favor.”
Her gaze turned toward the emperor; she lowered her eyes slightly, then bowed once more.
“I am endlessly grateful for such sacred benevolence, beyond all words of thanks.”
“His Majesty’s kindness toward me, his intolerance and severity toward those who deceive the throne – all this I can see, Master Feng can see, the people of the realm can see, and every official in this court can see.”
“That is why some strive to emulate it; that is why some fear and hold it in awe; that is why Li Mao dared to offer his stone projectiles; that is why the officials of the Imperial Armory dared not conceal the matter but reported it straight to His Majesty’s ear.”
“All men harbor self-interest. The common people wish for safety; the soldiers wish for honor and reward. In this world there are pure hearts and impure ones alike – but one must not, because of a single choking, abandon all food. To act upon what benefits the people – even the skills of a chicken thief or a dog robber – can be turned toward righteousness.”
“If by such means the world may see His Majesty as a wise and benevolent ruler, clear in reward and punishment, eager to seek out the worthy – then His Majesty need not fear, and neither shall I. Let me be the horse’s bone, let me bear the names of ‘schemer,’ ‘deceiver,’ ‘witch,’ or ‘one whose heart is impure and brings ruin to the realm’ – so long as men like Li Mao keep arising, and the Divine Arm Bow and the stone-shot, and every weapon of the realm’s strength, keep arising with them!”
Good!
Though unwilling to admit it, Attendant Scholar Gao couldn’t help but cheer inwardly.
He hadn’t expected this quiet young lady to be so eloquent, so sharp in argument. Truly worthy of being a disciple of a worldly sage.
While he was silently applauding, on the imperial throne the Emperor’s face could no longer conceal his delight.
To spend a fortune for a horse’s bones – yes, that was it exactly.
Feng Lin had warned that indulging this girl would only teach others to follow her example and come to threaten him in turn.
But so what – if, in their “threats,” they could present him with true weapons of divine power, with inventions of immense merit for the nation and the people – what harm was there in being “threatened”?
Centuries from now, his name in the histories would still be that of an enlightened ruler.
And even putting that aside – so long as he gained the Divine Arm Bow, the stone-shot, and other such weapons, the nation would grow strong and the people prosperous.
With such great achievements to his name, who could dare say he was anything but a wise and brilliant sovereign?
Feng Lin stepped forward.
“How shameless your boasting is!” he shouted, his brows drawn tight.
The Emperor flinched at the outburst, his expression turning sour.
“Your heart is impure – you twist words with deceit and cunning–” Feng Lin roared, glaring furiously at Cheng Jiao-niang.
But Cheng Jiao-niang also stepped forward.
“My heart is impure,” she cut him off sharply, her voice rising to match his. “Then tell me, sir – is your heart pure?”
Here it comes!
Attendant Scholar Gao’s brow twitched.
The self-defense was over – now she was striking back!
“The speaker was unintentional, the listener attentive; the maker unthinking, the observer perceptive.”
“I, a mere woman, set off fireworks – and Li Mao, having seen them, was able to conceive of turning them into a weapon.”
“I asked him a single question – what he intended to use them for – and Li Mao was able to think of how to make them.”
“I spoke without intent, but Li Mao listened with intent.”
“I made fireworks only for my brothers’ sake, yet Li Mao, watching them, could transform what he saw into his own creation.”
“Li Mao watched, observed, reflected, and acted upon it – and you, Master Feng – you too have watched, observed, reflected, and acted – so tell me, what have you done?”
Feng Lin’s face was ashen, his body trembling slightly.
He seemed to want to speak, yet couldn’t find the words – his expression frozen in a daze.
It was as if he had been pulled back three years in time – back to that roadside station, standing before a roaring, furious crowd that looked ready to tear him apart.
“They strike without a word – these soldiers truly are villains!”
In the night, a lady cloaked in a heavy mantle appeared and vanished in the shifting torchlight; her clear voice struck straight into his ears.
“Just a passerby standing up for what’s right.”
“They forced you – those who came first – to leave your lodgings in the dead of night, just so they could sleep more comfortably. Tell me, who are the villains here? Tell me -don’t they deserve to be beaten?”
They are villains. They are villains. They deserve it. They deserve it.
The cries thundered across the square, drowning everything.
“Money? Sometimes it matters – but sometimes it doesn’t. When one is starving, what’s needed is a mouthful of food, not a handful of coins. They stayed at that inn just to have shelter for one night – if you drive them out, what good is money in their hands? At midnight, with the old, the weak, the women and children – where are they supposed to go? Tell me, do you truly need their money?”
No! No!
The answering shouts were deafening, unstoppable.
Feng Lin swayed where he stood, trying in vain to cover his ears.
“My lord, if there is guilt, then there must be punishment…”
“If there is wrongdoing, then it is for you, my lord, to judge clearly.”
The roaring tide of voices vanished in an instant, leaving only that lady’s calm, faint voice in his ears.
Once, her every word had been like a blade that cut through his confusion and saved him; now, her every word was still like a blade – but each stroke fell upon him instead.
Feng Lin raised his head and looked at the woman before him.
The girl standing there now – in wide robes and flowing sleeves, poised and composed – seemed to merge with the figure from years ago, cloaked and wind-tossed, fading into the night.
“No,” Cheng Jiao-niang suddenly said, taking another step forward. “No, I misspoke just now.”
“Which part?” asked the Emperor, already deeply engrossed, his question almost instinctive.
“What Master Feng has done today,” Cheng Jiao-niang said, “is in fact the same as what Li Mao did.”
The same?
Could it be that he too had offered some wondrous weapon? The Emperor frowned.
“When Master Feng first entered the capital and took up the high office of Imperial Censorate Deputy, he watched and observed what I did. Then he rebuked Your Majesty for being unclear in judgment and lax in investigation, accused you of indulgence, and denounced me as deceitful and corrupt. Truly, that too was done with intent.”
My heart, Cheng Jiao-niang seemed to say with a faint smile, is for myself – but Master Feng, for whom is yours?
My heart harbors designs; I sway the Emperor’s mind with my words for my own gain.
And you, Master Feng – you sway the Emperor’s mind with your words – what is it you seek?
I, Cheng Jiao-niang, pursue fame and recognition. And you, Master Feng – what are you pursuing?
I, a mere woman of humble birth, have done what I could – but you, a Imperial Censorate Deputy, a pillar of the realm, armed with the Emperor’s authority – what is it that you have done?
Cheng Jiao-niang’s gaze moved to Feng Lin, whose face had turned from ashen to ghastly pale, then to the emperor, whose brows were slowly drawing tight.
She lowered her eyes and stood still.
The grand hall fell utterly silent.
On the side, Attendant Scholar Gao felt a chill crawl over his whole body.
What a perfect reversal – “the speaker unintentional, the listener attentive; the doer unthinking, the observer perceptive.”
“Feng Lin is finished,” he muttered.
