CH 37

Xia Yujin felt his whole world had gone haywire.

Yesterday he used a knife to gather some good points with his wife, and today he was accused of having killed someone and brought in for questioning by some sort of weasel. What kind of mess was this?

Consort Dowager An firmly believed that her daughter-in-law had badly influenced her son.

Concubine Yang thought that the heavens were about to confer a great office on this man.[1]

Meiniang said that this was an unlucky year.

Xuan’er was certain that the prince had not been praying diligently enough lately and hadn’t blessed Buddha enough.

“Accept it,” Ye Zhao said calmly. “You’ve always had bad luck anyway.”

Xia Yujin collapsed completely. “Damn you! Are you trying to make your husband die of anger?”

The Emperor thought that as long as the Eastern Xia delegation was there, it was a disgrace to have a member of the imperial family be accused of murder. He didn’t want the matter to spread and become public knowledge, so he summoned the city magistrate, the constables working on the case, Xia Yujin, and his wife to his study for interrogation to resolve the situation.

Xia Yujin was forced to describe the events of that night in detail, explaining that he had indeed had words with Master Li, threatened him, and run off after taking something from him by force, which had made him very angry, but that he’d absolutely not murdered him.

After listening, the Emperor frowned and told him he was ridiculous, then told the city magistrate to stay for questioning.

Reading the look on his face, the city magistrate understood: if he said that Xia Yujin wasn’t the murderer, he would be ordered by the Emperor to solve the case. And if he couldn’t find the truth, he would say goodbye to the black hat on his head. It was better to use their current suspect and quickly close the case. And last time, with the fake medicine case, he was forced by that puny city censor to judge impartially, which made his favorite concubine to throw tantrums at home for two weeks. There was a lot of anger in his heart, and he inevitably secretly enjoyed seeing Xia Yujin being down on his luck now.

After pondering and carefully considering his words, he said, “The cause of Master Li’s death was a stab wound, the weapon a short dagger left at his side, and his body showed no sign of struggle. The constable visited every neighbor, and although they said that no one except for the prince of Nanping had visited or fought with the victim, there is no evidence that the prince of Nanping directly killed the victim. If I may be so bold, I conjecture that Master Li couldn’t stand his resentment against the prince of Nanping after their quarrel and killed himself.”

The Minister of Justice, who was helping on the investigation and had a good relationship with Prince Qi, heaved a sigh. “Why do the underlings fret over so much? This sullies the prince’s reputation.”

Princess Changping, who’d come over to plead for her cousin on the Empress Dowager’s orders, pouted and smiled. “So what if he killed him? It’s not a big deal, he can just pay for the funeral rites. Absolve him and the family won’t dare say anything.”

The old Nurse Liu, also sent over by the Empress Dowager, heard the conclusion and said, clutching her chest, “Merciful Buddha, what a petty man, how hateful.”

They discussed it with each other, bringing up many of Xia Yujin’s previous misdeeds. Apart from the fact that he’d never killed anyone, they had everything they could have wanted to discuss his wrongdoings.

At the end of the commotion, even the Emperor believed that Xia Yujin had gone too far this time and that the victim had killed himself out of pettiness.

So he asked, with a somber look, “Listen, all of you. How do we conclude this affair?”

Princess Changping took the lead, simpering as she talked. “As Imperial Father did when he lectured his sons last time, dock his salary and place him under house arrest for three months.”

“Appease the deceased’s family and neighbors as soon as possible to prevent them from talking,” said the city magistrate.

“His Highness didn’t act on purpose,” the Minister of Justice said. “Even if you privately reprimand him, do not wound the Empress Dowager’s heart.”

A prince may have broken the law and committed the same crime as ordinary people, but it has simply never happened that a prince killed a commoner and paid for it with his life — unless the Emperor was already suspicious and looking for a pretext to put that prince or aristocrat to death. Even in fiction, authors only ever let the famous honest officials they wrote about execute the Emperor’s son-in-law or aristocrats who’d married into the imperial family. How could anyone dare have the head of a princess or a prince?

It didn’t matter if Xia Yujin was innocent, incidentally responsible, or guilty. At most, he would be lectured in private, fined, and confined at home. As long as he pleaded guilty, the case could be closed immediately, everything would be explained, and the victim’s family would receive a hefty compensation. Except for that poor dead man, it would all be fun and games for everyone.

The Emperor weighed the pros and cons, willing to pretend to be confused. He played along, downplaying the whole affair, and said, “Yujin, you’re really too messy.” Then he glared at Ye Zhao. “And your wife doesn’t take care of you well! It’s shocking that you let your husband run around outside!”

Ye Zhao frowned, none too pleased. “This is how this matter ends?”

“Do you want me to give him corporal punishment?” the Emperor asked. “Let him scram back and compensate the victim’s family, make sure to satisfy everyone, and stay at home for the next six months! You are not allowed to go out, so study up your books of virtues and assimilate the principles of good behavior! In six months, this whole thing will naturally have blown over.”

“Your Majesty’s verdict is wise and brilliant,” everyone said. “We wholeheartedly support it.”

Xia Yujin, who’d been silent all this while, suddenly spoke up. “No! I don’t accept it!”

“What do you want, this time, you scoundrel?” the Emperor asked, forgetting himself in his anger.

“His family?” Xia Yujin smiled. “Master Li was an orphan. He wouldn’t even clearly speak about his birthplace. He was obsessed with his work, without a wife nor children. Where does this family come from? Don’t tell me you didn’t even investigate this?”

Astonished, the city magistrate answered, “He settled in the capital from Shaanxi, that’s what’s written on his official birth register…”

Xia Yujin shook his head. “That register was forged! He lived in Luodong when he was a teenager. He earned money by cheating people with fakes, and offended an important person. Afraid of being tracked down, he forged himself a copy of Luodong papers, changed his last name, and settled in the capital.”

“Deceiving the authorities! Breaking the law!” the city magistrate exclaimed, discomfited. “This man deserves death!”

Xia Yujin threw him a cold look. “For forging official documents, he should indeed be executed according to the law. But he ought to have died in the marketplace, not murdered at home! This is still a murder investigation!”

The Emperor took a few breaths, puffing out in his beard. “So you think he was killed? Then who killed him?”

Xia Yujin shook his head. “I just know he didn’t kill himself.”

“What is the basis of your assertion?” asked the Minister of Justice.

“Master Li wasn’t an ordinary forger, he was a true master. He once cheated me of eight thousand taels for a beautiful lion’s head of white jade, but I didn’t hold a grudge and appreciated his talent instead. We used to drink together occasionally. He was my friend. Besides, he wasn’t a wealthy man and lived simply. He was only dedicated to his craft. Ye Zhao’s dagger is worth no more than five thousand taels. The reason why I argued with him was that because the person who saw through the counterfeit wasn’t Ye Zhao, he didn’t follow his principle of returning the original. We fought for a long time until I made a bet with him. Li Bonian’s paintings are the most difficult to counterfeit, I took the Autumn Outing at home to have him forge it. After he finished, he would place the two paintings together and I would guess which one was authentic and which one was the copy. If I guessed right, he would drop the matter of the dagger, I would give him Autumn Outing. How could he decide to kill himself without having Autumn Outing in his hands?”

“Your Highness,” the city magistrate said quickly, “don’t talk nonsense. If he didn’t commit suicide, how could there no traces of someone else’s presence on site? You must know that he had many neighbors with dogs.”

Xia Yujin was left without words for a moment.

Ye Zhao narrowed her eyes unhappily at the city magistrate’s neck. “You raise dogs as well, Your Lordship, right?” she asked, half-joking. “But if I wanted to break into your house in the middle of the night and put a blade on your neck, I wouldn’t leave the slightest trace. Would you like to try?”

The city magistrate suddenly felt a cold draft on his neck. He forced a smile. “I… You’re highly skilled, General Ye. You don’t have to try, I believe it.”

“Then why don’t you believe that the person who killed Master Li was also highly skilled?” she asked.

“He… He was just an ordinary and humble man,” the city magistrate stammered. “Why would someone so skilled deal with him?”

Understanding suddenly dawned on Xia Yujin. “What if someone asked him to counterfeit something important and then silenced him?” he asked eagerly. “Ah-Zhao, didn’t you say the Eastern Xia delegation might be up to something nefarious? What if their plan involves making a fake, then using it for their ends?”

What trouble could a master forger and an important counterfeit item cause?

Everyone thought about it and suddenly felt their blood run cold.

“Fear not the expected but the unexpected,” Ye Zhao said solemnly. “We need a thorough investigation.”

“Cousin,” Princess Changping said hesitantly, “you mean to…”

“I must avenge him!” Xia Yujin said in his most determined and most powerful voice.

Ye Zhao calmly stood beside him.

I’ve decided I’m going to update either every other day, or whenever I finish translating a chapter from my next project. So! Chapter today.

[1 ↑] Lit. 天将大任于斯人也 tiān jiāng dàrèn yú sī rén yě, from the Gaozi (II, 35), from the Menzi or Works of Mencius. Translation here. It means that whenever someone is about to become important, they must endure some hardships first.