Su Yan went with the Crown Prince’s guards to the Ministry of Justice’s prison, only to learn that in Nanjing, the Ministry shared its compound with the Dali Temple and the Censorate, located by the Back Lake outside the northern city walls.
Because he was personally overseeing matters, the interrogators treated the several merchants surnamed Qian more “civilly,” refraining from using torture tools.
After pacing back and forth for half a day between the row of single cells and listening in on the questioning, Su Yan concluded that none of these wealthy merchants were the “Philanthropist Qian” they were looking for.
Leaving the prison, he was about to return to the Crown Prince when a small troop of guards galloped up and reported, “Lord Su, Young Master requests that you come to the Yingtian Prefecture Office.”
The prefectural yamen stood in the heart of Nanjing, beside the Inner Bridge. When Su Yan entered the main hall, he saw the Crown Prince sitting boldly in the presiding officer’s seat.
Two men stood below. One, a middle-aged civil official in the robe of a third-rank officer, sallow-faced with a thin mustache, Prefect Guo Chang. The other, an elderly eunuch in his fifties, fair-faced and kindly-eyed. Su Yan had never met him, but by his attire recognized him as the Nanjing Garrison Yan Yiyi. The bright-red python-embroidered robe on Yan, a garment that, like the “flying-fish” coat, could only be worn by imperial grant, suggested that he had once served in the capital’s Directorate of Ceremonies, and held no low rank there.
“Well, Yan Gonggong, Prefect Guo, what’s all this?” Su Yan greeted them as an equal, smiling as he cupped his hands. “Someone bring two chairs for our honored guests!”
“Don’t dare, don’t dare! With His Highness present, how could humble officials presume to sit…” Prefect Guo’s forehead was damp with sweat despite the winter cold.
Yan Gonggong kept his hands tucked in his sleeves, his posture one of deferential caution before a master, his face calm. “One failed to recognize Mount Tai before one’s eyes and offended the Young Master, to be punished is only right, only right.”
“Never mind them, Qinghe, come here, sit.” Zhu Helin beckoned Su Yan to take the grand teacher’s chair beside him. “Today you and I are the presiding judges. They are the suspects.”
He then picked up the wooden gavel on the table, curiously toyed with it, and struck it down, PA! The crack thundered through the hall, startling everyone present.
The Crown Prince frowned at the palace guards lined along both sides. “Shout!”
“Sh-shout what?” their captain asked, flustered.
“Isn’t it supposed to be ‘Mighty!’, like in the commoners’ trials? Oh right, you’re supposed to pound the ground with your staves too. Come on, let’s try that again.”
Beneath the plaque reading ‘The Mirror of Justice Hangs High,’ the Crown Prince once more raised the gavel and slammed it down, louder than before.
The guards hastily beat the floor with their fire-and-water staves, a dull, pounding rhythm heavy with pressure, and bellowed, “Migh-ty!” Their shout crashed like thunder.
Prefect Guo trembled from head to toe. Why is it that when the seating is reversed, the very same ceremony suddenly feels so terrifying?
The Crown Prince lowered his voice to make it sound deeper and more imposing, and declared with mock-solemnity, “Hah! Who stands before the court? State your name and your crime, confess truthfully!”
Su Yan leaned his elbow on the table, covered his forehead, and sighed inwardly. So, our Young Master is just using this interrogation as a chance to play out his dream of being a magistrate, basically a cosplay session.
Prefect Guo opened his mouth but made no sound, utterly lost for words in the absurd scene.
Eunuch Yan bowed low. “This humble servant is Yan Yiyi, Nanjing Garrison Eunuch, guilty of pilfering what was not mine, I picked up a noble person’s lost deed to a residence and kept it for myself. I am willing to vacate the property at once, return it to its rightful owner, pay the statutory fine, and further compensate with one, no, three houses, gardens, or equivalent in gold and silver, to show my repentance and newfound virtue.”
The Crown Prince froze for a moment.
He’d been braced for pleas of innocence or cunning excuses, not this. The man’s character might be lacking, but his sense of self-preservation was first-rate; seizing the flimsy charge the Crown Prince had tossed out earlier, he had neatly confessed to it.
“Pilfering”, that was hardly a major offense, punishable at worst by a fine. And this eunuch not only agreed to pay, but even offered triple compensation. His posture was humble to the extreme, faultless, really.
But now, could the Crown Prince claim that the charge of “keeping a found property” was fabricated by himself? Wouldn’t that be slapping his own face?
Ah, children raised in the palace, bold and clever enough, but still too green… Su Yan’s lips quirked in a silent smile.
The Crown Prince, feeling his dignity slip, shot him a sideways look, if you’re so capable, you do it.
Su Yan smiled back, cleared his throat lightly, and said, “Yan Gonggong, are you aware that a palace maid from Chunhe Palace, who attempted to assassinate His Highness, fled and hid in your residence on Changliu Alley, where she was later discovered?”
Harboring an assassin is tantamount to sharing her crime. A charge like that would see any head roll.
Eunuch Yan hastily explained, “Your Highness, this humble servant truly had no idea anyone had entered that residence. Of late I’ve been busy patrolling within and outside the city to prevent miscreants from disturbing the imperial rites, and haven’t lived there. It must be that some servant, having a past connection with that maid, secretly harbored her. I will investigate thoroughly, whoever is guilty shall be bound and brought before the authorities without mercy!”
A clean deflection, washing his hands of it entirely.
Su Yan continued, “Yet one of your maids testified that this palace maid, called Taoling, was your adopted daughter.”
Eunuch Yan denied it at once. “Nonsense! Such slander deserves death! She must resent me for punishing her before and now seeks revenge by framing her master. If Your Highness and Lord Su doubt me, summon her here and confront us face-to-face.”
That maid, however, had shouted out in panic when the palace guards stormed into Taoling’s room, “Who dares be rude to Yan Gonggong’s adopted daughter!”
After all the servants were seized, realizing she’d said too much and fearing the eunuch’s wrath, she swallowed burning charcoal from the brazier to destroy her own throat. She was still being treated at the infirmary, how could she possibly appear in court now?
Su Yan quickly realized that Yan Gonggong was a tough nut to crack, not someone easily subdued, and said, “Since the real culprit is at hand, why not summon the main party directly? Bring Taoling to the hall.”
One of the Eastern Palace guards took the order, but after a while, he still hadn’t returned.
The Crown Prince grew impatient and instructed another guard, “Why is it taking so long? Go urge him.”
Before the second guard could leave the hall, the first returned in a hurry and whispered to the Crown Prince, “Taoling… has committed suicide in the prison.”
“Dead?” The Crown Prince furrowed his brows in displeasure. “How did she die? So many jailers, and yet they couldn’t watch over a single girl!”
“They say she struck her head against the wall when no one was watching. I just inspected the wound, indeed, a hard object caused it. She was extremely determined in her act, the skull caved in.”
At this point, scolding the jailers for negligence would accomplish nothing. The Crown Prince turned to look at Yan Gonggong below; the eunuch seemed to anticipate something, his expression even calmer than before.
Su Yan, hearing their murmurs, realized that without Taoling, a key witness, obtaining solid evidence would be tricky. He had to find another approach.
He flipped through the intelligence the guards had brought and suddenly asked, “I heard Yan Gonggong is unusually devout, visiting temples whenever possible. Tell me, has he ever been to Linggu Temple on the eastern slopes of Zhong Mountain?”
Eunuch Yan reflected, then replied, “It’s a bit far from the city, and up in the mountains. My aging legs make climbing difficult. I haven’t gone.”
Su Yan ordered the monks from Linggu Temple to be brought to the hall. They didn’t summon the abbot, nor the cautious stewards, but a few low-level young monks, the ones who had reacted most actively when the Crown Prince and others disguised themselves to gather information.
Never having been in a main hall before, the young monks were nervous. Su Yan kindly reassured them, “Answer truthfully. Once you’re done, you can return to the temple.”
He asked, “During some idle chat a few days ago, one young monk said he saw ‘Philanthropist Qian’, which one was it?”
A small monk clasped his hands and timidly said, “I… I am the one. But I didn’t look closely. The abbot received him personally; I only glimpsed him while serving tea.”
Su Yan pointed to Yan Gonggong below and asked, “Look carefully, is it him?”
The young monk squinted and quickly surveyed him from afar. “It seems… not.”
Su Yan frowned. “Look again.”
The monk squinted, turned left and right, and shook his head. “No, it can’t be. Philanthropist Qian had a long beard; this man is a eunuch.”
Su Yan furrowed his brow in thought.
The Crown Prince’s eyes lit up suddenly as he leaned closer, whispering, “You may be better at judging cases, but you’re no match for me on eunuchs.”
He then instructed the guards, “Feel his philtrum and chin, see if the skin feels different from the rest of his face.”
The guards obeyed, restraining Eunuch Yan as he tried to retreat, running their hands over his face. They reported, “Your Highness, the skin elsewhere is smooth, but the philtrum and chin feel rough, with a faint fishy smell.”
As expected, the Crown Prince smirked, then ordered the guards to search the Changliu Alley residence thoroughly. They indeed found silk robes worn by merchants and several strands of fake beards. Since the hair was human and well-maintained, it looked convincing.
Back in the hall, the Crown Prince had Eunuch Yan’s python robe removed, dressed him in silk robes and a small hat, and applied the fish-bladder glue with the fake beard. The transformation made him look like an elderly merchant. The young monks were called to identify him.
Squinting slightly, the monk stepped closer to inspect him and exclaimed, “It’s him! This is Philanthropist Qian.”
“Are you sure?” Su Yan asked.
The monk nodded firmly. “Monks do not lie. This is indeed the Philanthropist Qian I saw. Earlier, without the beard and with different clothing, I didn’t recognize him.”
The Crown Prince looked at Su Yan with a hint of pride. “These eunuchs, whenever they go out, fear others discovering their castration, so they glue on fake beards. Over time, that skin inevitably roughens and retains the fishy smell. The eunuchs attending me aren’t allowed to stick on beards in private.”
Eunuch Yan’s face paled under the fake beard, yet he maintained composure, saying, “I forgot… I once disguised myself as a merchant to worship at Linggu Temple and donated generously. That’s… not illegal, right?”
Su Yan smiled wryly. “Donating is not illegal. But bribing monks with money, under the pretense of constructing medicinal mountain roads while secretly opening mines and selling gold and copper, that is a capital offense, enough to ruin your family!”
Eunuch Yan protested, “What mines? I really don’t know! Zhong Mountain is the site of imperial tombs; even if I were bold, I wouldn’t dare dig there! Someone must have impersonated me at Linggu Temple. Relying solely on the testimony of a poor-sighted young monk to accuse me? I cannot accept it. If Su Shilang insists on framing me to Your Highness, I will petition the capital and seek justice!”
The Crown Prince slammed the desk and, feeling the sound insufficient, picked up the gavel and struck it again, exuding full authority: “Enough of that—”
Under the table, Su Yan kicked the Crown Prince’s leg.
The Crown Prince immediately changed tone: “Do not mention ‘baseless accusation’! It insults the memory of loyal ministers! And dare petition the emperor? I’ll do it for you, I’d sentence you to death by slicing!”
Su Yan said, “Yan Gonggong, face reality. Once we can expose you, we can convict you without doubt.”
“You have plenty who can testify against me: the abbot and stewards of Linggu Temple, Eunuch Yao and Supervisor Lin of the Divine Palace Supervision, the post station’s clerk, and even this one below…” He pointed at the trembling spatula, no, Prefect Guo, “an external official colluding with an internal eunuch, covering your crimes and turning the Yingtian prefectural guards into your private army.”
“You tell me, once the torture begins, do you think these people will be as loyal as Taoling? Will they rather die to protect you, or will they sell you out for leniency, confessing every last detail down to the color of your undergarments?” Su Yan’s tone was mocking as he looked at Yan Yiyi. “Why not start with Supervisor Lin from the Divine Palace Office? Let’s see after how many lashes he’ll confess that it was under your orders he went to the courier station and switched out Lu Shangshu’s memorial, committing the crime of deceiving the Emperor!”
Yan Gonggong shouted, “I never ordered Supervisor Lin to switch the memorial! Su Twelve, you’re slandering me!”
Su Yan feigned surprise. “Oh? It wasn’t your order? And here I thought that scholar always at Supervisor Lin’s side was one of your people. How strange. His handwriting mimicked perfectly, his tricks cunningly executed, if he wasn’t your subordinate, then who could he be? Looks like he’s the one who should be interrogated first.”
The Crown Prince’s guards had indeed arrested everyone from the Divine Palace Office, including Eunuch Yao and Supervisor Lin, but the ghostwriter scholar was nowhere to be found. He must have caught wind of the danger and fled early.
Su Yan was betting that the man had escaped before informing Eunuch Yan, so he seized the chance to bluff, and perhaps learn the scholar’s true identity.
Sure enough, Eunuch Yan fell right into the trap, gritting his teeth. “He forced me! He’s the real villain… no, the real demon!”
—
Everyone involved in the case was thrown into the Nanjing Ministry of Justice’s prison for interrogation. As for the use of torture this time, Su Yan turned a blind eye, pretending not to notice.
After a full day and night of questioning, most confessions were obtained.
It all began eight years ago.
Yan Yiyi, who wielded local power in Nanjing as the city’s defense overseer, once discovered a stone glinting with gold while touring Zhong Mountain. Suspicious, he brought it to a miner for identification, and sure enough, it was raw gold-copper ore.
At first, he intended to report it to the court. But then he met a fortune-teller who told him that this was a windfall destined by fate, if he didn’t take it, he’d be going against Heaven’s will.
The lure of sudden wealth is hard to resist, and this was a whole mountain of it. Yan changed his mind and decided to mine it secretly.
He roped in Eunuchs Yao and Supervisor Lin from the Divine Palace Office, claiming he needed to “strengthen the defenses of the imperial mausoleum,” and sealed off the entire mountain. Except for official rituals, no outsiders were allowed near.
The southern slope held the imperial tombs, so digging and roadwork there were impossible. Eunuch Yan instead chose the gentler eastern slope.
At the foot of the eastern slope stood Linggu Temple, an ancient temple from the Southern Dynasties, bearing a plaque inscribed personally by a former emperor, so demolishing it was out of the question. Eunuch Yan threatened and bribed the abbot, pretending to fund a “monks’ herbal path” for the temple, while secretly building a mining route and zipline to transport the ore.
To prevent leaks, he hired miners from other provinces and kept them isolated in a small, guarded village between Zhong Mountain and Tang Mountain.
The ore, however, couldn’t be smelted nearby, too noisy, too risky.
Just as Eunuch Yan was fretting, the fortune-teller reappeared, proposing a partnership: his people would handle smelting and transport, and Eunuch Yan would get ten percent of the profits.
“Ten percent? You’re toying with me!” Eunuch Yan raged, threatening to kill him.
But the fortune-teller was a skilled fighter, surrounded by ruthless killers. They beat Eunuch Yan half to death, nearly killing him.
With no choice left, Eunuch Yan relented. After bargaining, they settled on a 20–80 split, two for him, eight for the other side. Fortunately, the mine was rich enough that even twenty percent meant boundless wealth.
Eunuch Yan asked who they were. The fortune-teller claimed to serve under someone called “The Player.”
The Player? What kind of name was that? But after witnessing him assassinate the previous governor with brutal efficiency, Eunuch Yan dared not ask further. Instead, he recommended his own ally, Prefect Guo Chang, to fill the vacant position.
Thanks to generous bribes, this recommendation won support from the powerful eunuch Lan Xi of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs. Guo’s ability and credentials were sufficient, so the court approved.
As the imperial eunuch overseeing Nanjing’s garrison, Eunuch Yan already held great power, beyond the reach of the Six Ministries and feared by them besides. Once the local governor also became his subordinate and fixer, he acted with even greater impunity.
For eight years, the gold-copper mine on Mount Zhong Mountain operated in secret. The court never discovered it. Eunuch Yan grew bolder, his fortune vaster.
But late this summer, trouble struck. The miners hit a hard rock layer that blocked all shafts. Experienced hands said the vein lay beyond it, impossible to reach unless the rock was blasted through.
The layer was far too thick and hard for pickaxes. Only explosives could work.
“Then use them!” Eunuch Yan snapped, seeing his fortune cut off.
The miners warned that blasting was dangerous, it could collapse the tunnels and destroy the entire site.
If they didn’t blast, the mine was finished. If they did, they might lose everything anyway. Eunuch Yan agonized over the choice.
Then came word: the Crown Prince himself would come to Nanjing to lead the ancestral rites.
The fortune-teller appeared once more. He demanded that Eunuch Yan lure the Crown Prince near the waterfall by the mine during the ceremony, then detonate the explosives, first blowing open the mine, then the rock beneath the falls.
Eunuch Yan was horrified.
Stealing from the imperial mountain was already a capital crime. But to flood the imperial tombs and kill the Crown Prince in the process, that was an unpardonable offense that would wipe out nine generations! He shook his head in terror.
“You’re doomed either way,” the fortune-teller whispered. “Why not take a chance? If luck’s with you, the blast will break the rock and open the vein again. If not, the mine collapses, and the landslide and flood will cover everything.
“When the Crown Prince dies in a mudslide and the royal tombs are submerged, everyone will say it’s Heaven’s punishment for killing a sacred beast. Your secret will be buried forever.”
Eunuch Yan wavered. But it was the Crown Prince, the heir of the realm. To plot against him… it was a sin his heart could never bear.
The fortune-teller only smiled. “The emperor is young. If one son dies, another can be born, there’s still one in the palace, isn’t there? Besides, this is the Player’s command. Refuse, and…”
That night, he left without finishing the sentence. When Eunuch Yan woke the next morning, he nearly went mad.
The woman who’d shared his bed was torn to pieces. Every living thing in the mansion was dead, servants, animals, even the fish in the pond.
Amid that blood-soaked h*ll, only he remained alive, unharmed. The sheer intactness of his own body was more terrifying than any wound.
After that, Eunuch Yan never dared defy another order. Whatever the fortune-teller, whatever the Player commanded, he obeyed.
Following instructions, he transferred his foster daughter Taoling from the Divine Palace Bureau to Chunhe Palace.
Three months later, on the eve of the tomb rites, Taoling finally found her chance to approach the Crown Prince.
That night, the crown prince dreamed of the white deer of Mount Zhong.
—
Cold sweat dampened Su Yan’s back.
If not for the agony of torture outweighing his fear of death, Eunuch Yan would never have confessed.
“What’s the fortune-teller’s name? What does he look like?” Su Yan asked.
“He called himself Mr. Zhuge,” Yan said weakly. “Never gave a real name. He was… young, handsome, refined in bearing.”
A faint image flickered in Su Yan’s mind. “The scholar who switched Lu Shangshu’s memorial, was it him?”
“Yes… but Supervisor Lin didn’t know. He thought the man was one of mine…”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know… After leaving the post station, he vanished.”
“Did he tell anyone where he was going?”
“Supervisor Lin mentioned once, Mr. Zhuge said he was going to… to visit an old friend.”
An old friend? Who?
Su Yan walked out to the courtyard. On a stone table lay a Go board.
He picked up a black stone from the bowl, rolling it between his fingers. A thought struck him like lightning,
Old friend. Me.
That fortune-teller Zhuge, was Mister He!
Seven, eight years ago, the “Player” behind the Void Sect had already set eyes on the Nanjing gold mine. Could the Seven Kill Camp’s funding have come from there too?
And that immense wealth, what else had it been used for?
“The Player”… The codename he’d chosen for his unseen opponent. And now, that very opponent used it for himself. Coincidence? Or did he too see the world as his chessboard?
Who was this Player?
