SEHE Chapter 153

Fraud

“Last time he led us to defend the east city for most of the night, winning with a weaker force and prevailing with fewer numbers against many. He was truly amazing.” Wushu exclaimed in admiration. “I admire him, and many people really like him.”

“So you like him too?” Pei Yanci asked. “How does he treat you? Does he like you?”

“I don’t know. He only thinks of me as a man, treats me like a brother, in that righteous kind of way.” Wushu sighed like an adult.

Seeing Pei Yanci’s expressionless face, she put away her girlish melancholy and budding feelings, asking weakly, “Big brother, should I not get too close to him?”

“Why would you think that?” Pei Yanci asked her back.

“His father’s dereliction of duty led to the late Emperor’s death, the fall of Anjing, and Great Yu nearly being destroyed.” Wushu said. “These past days I’ve heard some gossip.”

“But it was only ‘nearly’ – in the end, the country wasn’t destroyed, was it?” Pei Yanci said. “His crime still needs to await the final judgment from the Three Departments’ joint trial. There’s no result yet, and His Majesty hasn’t clearly stated his position.”

“His Majesty will definitely have him killed, won’t he?”

“His Majesty has only been in that position for a few days. He can use killing Xu Xiangqian to establish his authority, with everyone praising his filial piety, or he can defy the masses, withstand the pressure, and spare the life of this capable military general.”

“It must be the former, does that even need to be said?” Wushu said. Putting herself in his shoes, regardless of timing or circumstances, she couldn’t think of a reason why the Emperor wouldn’t do that.

But seeing Pei Yanci’s expression, she asked, “Big brother would choose the latter?”

“If he chooses the latter, I would actually think more highly of him and begin to be wary of him.” Pei Yanci said. “Whether a battle is won or lost depends not only on human factors, but many other factors as well. Before such a grave crime that could lead to the execution of nine generations, this is a good time to win people’s hearts. His position is unstable. Gaining the trust of a military general with real power at this time is far more important than so-called filial piety and praise from civil officials.”

“Big brother wants to protect him?” Wushu understood.

A smile finally appeared on Pei Yanci’s face as he looked at her. “When you serve as His Majesty’s study companion, you can try to persuade him to spare General Xu.”

“Why is that?”

“Don’t you like that boy from the Xu family?” Pei Yanci said helplessly. “If you work hard to preserve your future father-in-law’s life, won’t that win you the favor of that brat Xu Du? Your in-laws will always side with you in the future.”

“Oh, I don’t like him to that extent.” Wushu said indifferently. “That boy can’t be allowed to hinder big brother’s prospects.”

Pei Yanci laughed heartily with satisfaction. “You can be taught indeed. Rest assured, whether His Majesty will listen to you is another matter. But your attitude and the effort you make for him must be known to Xu Du.”

Wushu nodded with half understanding.

Pei Yanci sent her back to her room, then had the kitchen send hot water and brown sugar ginger tea. He returned to his own room and had just started to change clothes when a resentful white figure drifted past behind him.

The next moment, his entire body was dragged into the dark night.

A room full of warm fragrance.

****

A few days later, Pei Yanci brought Wushu into the palace.

Wushu wore a young lady’s half-sleeve jacket and long skirt, with willow-green gauze draped from her shoulders over her arms to her elbows, looking charming and lively, her eyes full of curiosity.

Pei Yanci said gently, “This is this subject’s younger sister. She is about the same age as Your Majesty this year. The tutor at the residence has returned to his hometown to attend a funeral. Your Majesty has great scholars of profound learning here. Could she attend a few days of classes together with Your Majesty?”

Gu Yisui said nothing at first, studying Wushu. After a long while, he smiled and said, “Good! The palace has no companions of the same age. With her to keep company, Zhen won’t be so lonely in the future.”

Pei Yanci gave her a reassuring look, left two highly skilled guards to attend them, and departed.

He still had to discuss some matters with officials from the Court of Agriculture today. The degree of land reclamation by commoners and grain production had remained low all these years. If people’s lives weren’t prosperous, they wouldn’t think of doing other things.

For this matter, he had gathered together officials from the Court of Agriculture, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Revenue, erudite scholars from the printing house, and some learned students from the Imperial Academy to discuss for several days, but still couldn’t come up with a solution.

“Pei Daren, to be honest, we are far removed from the countryside. After talking here for so long, can the strategies we finally formulate really benefit the common people?” The Minister of Agriculture said with a bitter smile.

Having been summoned by Pei Yanci for several days in a row, staying from morning till night, and also afraid of inadvertently offending the Elu Bureau, they were on tenterhooks, as uncomfortable as if there were nails in their seats.

“The Minister of Agriculture has raised a very good question. It seems that visiting the Imperial Academy more often on regular days wouldn’t be bad – listening to the sound of the sages helps one’s ears and eyes stay sharp and awakens the mind.” Pei Yanci said with a smile.

The others could only accompany him with stiff smiles, then subtly praised the wisdom of Pei Yanci and the Minister of Agriculture.

Pei Yanci leaned back in his chair, hand supporting his chin, gazing in one direction.

Minister of Works Zhao Zhen immediately said, “How about this – each of our departments sends three to five people to travel incognito and make a trip to the countryside to see what exactly is causing the problem. What do you think?”

“Is that really necessary?” Minister of Revenue Liu Yan said with difficulty.

This was clearly a thankless task.

Yu Sucheng said, “Whether in Great Wu or among our predecessors, everyone knows wasteland is difficult to cultivate, and commoners are only willing to guard their one mu and three fen of land. When the population grows, this is never a solution. We must know the reason.”

Liu Yan was accustomed to avoiding responsibility, so he spoke reflexively. Now that Yu Sucheng had explained it, giving him a way out, he smiled and said, “Pei Daren plans for the people’s livelihood and cares about these trivial details – this is truly a blessing for the common people of Great Yu. How could I disagree? Tomorrow, I will submit the list of appointees to the Imperial Academy.”

“These students from my Imperial Academy will also go along.” Pei Yanci pointed to several young faces nearby. Some came from commoner backgrounds, some from wealthy merchant families, and a few had fathers who were minor fifth or sixth rank local officials.

The students quickly stood up and bowed in acknowledgment.

Just as they were speaking, someone outside reported that Li Ren’an had arrived.

Pei Yanci went out to greet him, with the other officials following behind. As soon as they came out, they saw the eunuch shout in a shrill voice, “It’s them! Imperial examination fraud! Arrest them all!”

The students who had just been sitting in the same hall with court dignitaries immediately panicked, crying out “Injustice!” and “Help!” as they were ruthlessly seized by the indigo-robed inner attendants and led away.

“Wait,” Pei Yanci spoke calmly and unhurriedly. “Taking away my people – shouldn’t Inner Attendant Li give me an explanation?”

“An explanation?” Li Ren’an’s thin body swayed left and right with these two words, as if he had drunk some wine and was still savoring it. “Pei Daren, the authority to coordinate this year’s imperial examinations was something your Imperial Academy forcibly demanded from the Ministry of Rites. Now, such a major flaw has appeared in the examinations. You’d best enter the palace immediately and explain clearly to His Majesty. Perhaps His Majesty will still be lenient with you.”

Every muscle in his face, every pore, was flaunting the power in his hands and his domination over Pei Yanci.

“I understand, but before that, your people from the Inner Attendant Ministry had better release my people.”

“This slave came bearing His Majesty’s oral decree.”

Pei Yanci took a step closer, emphasizing word by word, “I have not yet personally asked His Majesty.”

Gu Yisui’s oral decree was worth shit.

Li Ren’an’s nostrils flared violently, the muscles on both sides of his nose twitched several times. He pushed the unwillingness back into his eyes and squeezed out a smile. “Does Pei Daren wish to defy the imperial decree?”

“How can Inner Attendant Li slander a court official like this? Who told you to speak this way?” Pei Yanci said with amusement, the oppressive aura in his eyes not diminishing one bit. “As far as I know, His Majesty honored me as Grand Preceptor and has shown no sign of disrespect. Are you trying to say this is what His Majesty told you to do?”

Li Ren’an took a deep breath and roared in exasperation, “Release them!”

The students, sensing the hands restraining them loosen, immediately broke free and spat viciously at those castrated slaves.

“Inner Attendant Li seems unable to recognize his own status and position.” Pei Yanci smiled lightly and took a step closer.

Li Ren’an stepped back as if frightened.

“Is Inner Attendant Li afraid I would do something to you here in broad daylight?” Pei Yanci laughed. “Tell the real master behind you to come talk to me.”

“Isn’t he kneeling and crawling at your feet, wagging his tail and begging?” Li Ren’an sneered.

The next moment, his entire body was kicked to the ground, flying several zhang away.

“Pei Yanci! I am His Majesty’s cough cough cough… personal chief inner attendant. How dare you!”

“I’m sorry, my foot slipped, I didn’t stand steady.” Pei Yanci turned to look at the Imperial Academy and the various officials. “You can testify for me, right?”

Liu Yan and Zhao Zhen agreed with him and chimed in. The throne was pushed up by these high-ranking ministers who held real power – in their eyes, he was just a puppet.

“Someone come, quickly help Inner Attendant Li to the carriage. The Imperial Academy is a sacred place for students – we cannot let blood be spilled here.”

Whether blood would be spilled outside the Imperial Academy could not be guaranteed.

“Pei Daren, this slave was wrong. This slave should not have spoken disrespectfully to adoptive father.” Li Ren’an clearly understood his subtext easily and immediately tried to kneel, but was lifted from both sides by two strong guards and carried out.

The voice gradually stopped, but the turmoil he brought had not dissipated.

After seeing off Liu Yan and the others, Pei Yanci immediately sent people to investigate the examination fraud, while also conducting an internal investigation within the Imperial Academy to see what exactly was going on.

After Pei Yanci handled the Imperial Academy’s affairs, on his way home when he stopped halfway to buy a few boxes of pastries, even the common people on the street were spreading news of this year’s examination fraud.

The imperial examinations were normally held once every three years. This year, because the court had suffered severe losses of officials and urgently needed to replenish new ones, a supplementary examination was held with the late Emperor’s approval.

Now that this had happened, Pei Yanci, who had originally proposed it, was very likely the mastermind behind it all.

“The current Chancellor of the Imperial Academy is truly a great villain,” some commoners said. “He’s the Chancellor himself and also presides over the imperial examinations. Isn’t that just setting the questions himself and then giving the answers to his own students? Isn’t this just moving things from his left hand to his right? In the future, the entire court will be his students, just like those other great traitors.”

“A subject like that – doesn’t the Emperor care? If I were the Emperor and someone dared to ride roughshod over me like that, I’d directly have his entire clan executed!”

“You’re just boasting.”

“Just a twelve-year-old child – what could he know? I hear he can’t even write his own name, being bullied terribly by that great traitor.”

“You can’t casually discuss the Son of Heaven’s affairs. Have you forgotten about the Elu Bureau incident before?”

“Where would those castrated dogs of the Elu Bureau have time to bother with us? They’ve long been in cahoots with that great traitor, busy seizing power. Haven’t you noticed public opinion has relaxed a lot recently?”

“Anjing was just broken into by Great Xi, who killed people indiscriminately. Are they going to stage another coup? These officials are corrupt and break the law constantly – when will they actually care about whether we live or die? We can’t even afford food anymore, and now they still don’t consider our lives as lives.”

“Daren?” An Elu Bureau guard called out, his eyes seeking permission whether to arrest those who had spoken inappropriately.

Pei Yanci shook his head.

He wasn’t someone who would get angry after hearing a few words from ignorant people.

“Someone wants to start playing the game of public opinion with me,” he instructed. “I’d like to see just how capable this person is.”

Was it Gu Wanchong, who had expressed loyalty many times, or Gu Jiuqing, rumored to be drunk as mud?

Or perhaps there was another person standing in the shadows whom he had never noticed.

Pei Yanci had no leads for now.

The most urgent matter was still dealing with the examination fraud.

That evening, Tangxi Zhui also asked about this matter, finally saying, “What’s been discovered so far is that the exam questions were leaked. The little Emperor suspects someone of buying and selling the questions. Some people suspect you used your authority to coerce the chief examiners into revealing the questions to you, and then you gave them to your confidants in the Imperial Academy.”

Pei Yanci shook his head and laughed. “If I wanted to place people in the court, wouldn’t it just be a matter of one sentence?”

Just yesterday he had mentioned to Gu Yisui about having Xiao Yu enter the court as an official.

Although this person had previously made a living drawing spring palace pictures, and although he had made himself impotent, and although he seemed unreliable no matter how you looked at him, Pei Yanci really quite appreciated him.

Over the next several days, people were successively taken away by the Dali Temple, but on Pei Yanci’s side, aside from that day, there was never any movement.

Those with intentions in the court began to realize that such a major incident would ultimately amount to much ado about nothing.

Anjing was never peaceful. Watching one person after another fall, with colleagues who were pontificating in court one moment becoming prisoners the next, everyone was on edge.

The more chaotic it was, the more these shrewd people wanted to choose sides, betting everything to seek protection.

They looked around and found that the most powerful figure in the current court was none other than Pei Yanci.

Thus, visitors to the Pei residence became even more numerous, and Pei Yanci’s power and influence grew ever more ascendant.

After tormenting everyone for a period of time, the thirtieth birthday of the little Emperor’s birth mother, Empress Dowager Feng, finally arrived.

Early in the morning, Pei Yanci was still sleeping drowsily when, before he could even register what was happening, he was scooped up from the bed by a large hand.

“What are you doing?” He yawned leisurely, wrapped in a small blanket, eyes too sleepy to open, glancing out the window and grimacing, muttering softly, “It’s not even light yet.”

What sin had he committed to deserve this?

“Do you think this heavy purple gauze robe makes me look more imposing and robust, or does this ink-green floating brocade suit me better?” Tangxi Zhui looked at five or six rows of maids holding robes, very conflicted.

“Isn’t the banquet tonight?”

“Have you forgotten? During the day I’m accompanying you into the palace to explain the examination matter to the little Emperor.”

Pei Yanci patted his forehead – he wasn’t fully awake yet.

“How about this shaded silk brocade? It might be too gaudy, seeming insufficiently solemn. No, it should still be woven damask.”

“Whatever. Even if you went to the street and stripped the rags off a beggar to wear, you’d still look good.”

“That won’t do. Tonight is your first time formally attending a palace banquet. I’ll be walking beside you – we need to complement each other.”

A warm current flowed through Pei Yanci’s heart, and then he heard Tangxi Zhui say, “Besides, at the banquet there’ll be Gu Wanchong, Gu Jiuqing, and that Wang Lingche from a noble family – they’re either imperial princes and grandsons or children of powerful noble families. I don’t want to be outshone.”

Pei Yanci: “…”

Just as I thought.

“Just that purple one then, and put together a matching outfit for me too.” He never paid much attention to these things. His body tilted as he tried to lean back onto the gold silk and ivory mat, but was scooped back up to sit properly.

Pei Yanci softly punched his chest in annoyance and helplessness, having no choice but to let him make a fuss. “What else can’t you decide on?”

Tangxi Zhui excitedly yet conflictedly beckoned the people behind to come forward.

“Inner garments, hair crown, thumb ring, boots, waist ornaments, fan, body incense…” Tangxi Zhui excitedly picked up a mask. “Do you think I should wear a mask or just paint designs directly?”

Pei Yanci nervously swallowed, pulling his little blanket tighter around himself.