CH 20

The sedan chair landed and tilted forward. The servant waiting outside lifted the sedan chair’s curtain, and Qu Feng got off the chair after dusting his robe.

“Why are you in such a rush? What’s the matter?” Qu Feng asked his father’s servant waiting at the gate. The servant was young, but experienced. “Distinguished guest,” he replied succinctly.

Qu Feng cast a sideways glance at the servant, shook his sleeve and walked inside. He bypassed the spirit screen1, crossed the courtyard, and directly entered the hall. His father was standing with his back hunched in front of the main seat, like an obedient servant. Qu Feng slowed down and, at a glance, recognised that the person his father was entertaining was Zheng Xian.

As always, Zheng Xian had a lavish appearance. He was dressed in a hand-drawn silk robe in the colour of fresh pine tree cones, wearing a smile on his face, and attentively listening to Secretary of State Qu’s cliched chatter, which was all about displaying his loyalty. Tu Yao was beside Zheng Xian, dressed in a brocade robe woven with silver threads and carrying a sword, standing upright.

Qu Feng’s face was completely frozen. The appalled expression on his face was vivid. He couldn’t believe that Zheng Xian was actually in his home, a distinguished guest of his father. He wanted to leave, but he didn’t dare to turn around just like that. When Zheng Xian noticed Qu Feng, he straightened his back in arrogance, posing an air of superiority. So Secretary of State Qu quickly gestured to him, “Feng’er2, come over and meet the honourable Lord Father3.”

Every hair on Qu Feng’s body was standing up. Honourable Lord Father? He glanced at his father quizzically, but Secretary of State Qu ignored him, and instead, turned to Zheng Xian to explain, “Honourable Lord Father, the junior is ignorant. Pray forgive him.”

Father! Qu Feng had heard about the ridiculous rumours of high-ranked officials in Beijing recognising the powerful eunuchs as their lord fathers, but such an embarrassing, scandalous situation was the last thing he had ever imagined to happen in his own home.

“Feng’er!” Secretary of State Qu’s tone became stern. “Come and show your respects!”

Qu Feng stood still in shock, motionless. Zheng Xian curled his lips slightly, “Looks like the young master is unwilling.” He pretended to get up, but was immediately stopped by Secretary of State Qu, who pleaded urgently, “Honourable Lord Father, please be calm!”

He then unleashed his temperaments towards Qu Feng. Apprehensively, his eyes widened in rage, his two frail legs trembling unsteadily, “You little beast!” he softly growled, “You’re trying to kill your father!”

It took Qu Feng a significant amount of effort to lift his eyes and look at him. “You’re accepting your enemy as your father4…”

“If I don’t accept, what else can I do?” From a close distance, Secretary of State Qu was clearly sweating profusely, obviously feeling helpless too. “If I don’t accept, he won’t let me join their side!”

Qu Feng remained obstinate and unconvinced. He stood sideways and listened to his father’s reprimand. “Because of that Xie Yilu of yours, Liao Jixiang is no longer accepting my invitations5. We can’t afford to lose this opportunity with Zheng Xian again!”

Qu Feng turned his head away with disgust. “Why must you join the eunuchs?”

“Don’t you see how powerful Yong Society6 has become?” Secretary of State Qu questioned, his wrinkled face showing a distorted ferocity. “If one doesn’t join Yong Society, one will be considered a member of the castrated7. If they have to identify me as a member of the castrated, I might as well truly become one of them!”

This is madness. Qu Feng thought to himself. Yong Society has driven the officialdom of Nanjing city insane.

“Yong Society does not belong to the Ministry of War!” Qu Feng suddenly barked, and even Zheng Xian heard it. Secretary of State Qu was astonished. He stared at Qu Feng apprehensively for quite a while before finally saying, “We’ve been on bad terms with the Ministry of War for years8. And now that they’re in power, we’ll surely suffer tremendous losses, even if we didn’t die!”

His father had it right. Qu Feng wasn’t so ignorant that he didn’t know the rules of the game. He hesitated for a moment, inclined to walk towards Zheng Xian. At that moment, Tu Yao interjected, “Dugong9, according to custom, tea should be offered when adopting a new relative10.” He ordered his subordinates, “Come, bring us a kneeling pad11.”

He was implying that Secretary of State Qu should kneel. As an elderly in his fifties, he was naturally reluctant to kneel in front of a younger man12. With an ingratiating face, he declined, “Honourable Lord Father, your son has suffered from his ailing legs for years. ‘Tis true that these knees really cannot bear to bend down…”

Zheng Xian nodded and turned to Tu Yao, “That’s true, This One13 has never seen him walk properly.”

Yet Tu Yao smiled like he sensed a breeze in spring gently caressing his face, which was exactly like how Qu Feng had smiled at him on that day at Xin Bridge14, “If the son can’t kneel, don’t we still have a grandson?”

Qu Feng felt as if he had been slapped in the face. His eyes immediately turned blood-shot. Without more hesitation15, he turned and walked away. Tu Yao was expecting this exact moment where Qu Feng flicked his sleeves and left. Seeing that, he immediately shouted, “How dare you defy me! Take him down!”

A group of seven or eight men dashed forward from below the dais, without drawing their knives, they caught Qu Feng by the arms, pinned him to the ground, and tied him up with ropes right away. Secretary of State Qu was so frightened that he dared not make a sound, whereas Zheng Xian frowned with annoyance. “What a disappointment!”

Zheng Xian dusted his cuff and stood up. Secretary of State Qu didn’t dare to stop him, so he could only grab Zheng Xian’s entourage, Tu Yao, and ask, “Where… where are you taking him?”

Tu Yao pulled his hand away. “To the West Yamen16.”

The West Yamen was located in the shadow of Mount Zhong17. As Nanjing didn’t have an imperial prison18, Tu Yao always liked to borrow the prison of the Ministry of Justice. Like a live pig, Qu Feng was bound by ropes, carried into the prison, and directly tossed into a dark chamber for torture. Tu Yao took care of Qu Feng personally. In fact, it shouldn’t be considered “personally” at all, as all he did was smile, leaving the instructions to “wash his feet”, before shaking his little riding crop and leaving.

The so-called “wash feet” referred to the torture of soaking the feet alternately in ice water and boiling water. Qu Feng was tied down to a large, black wooden beam, with heavy chains all over him. He was wearing a fine robe today, but those thugs didn’t care. They tore it apart, and removed all the valuable items worn on his head and hands, claiming them for themselves.

It was not necessary to mention two or three rounds, as Qu Feng simply couldn’t bear even the first round. The moment his feet entered the ice water, he screamed and screamed, asking the thug to call Tu Yao back. He had never experienced anything like this before. Growing up as a young master, he had never even been through a slightly stronger gust of wind.

“I have money! My family has been officials for three generations. I can pay as much as you want!” He shouted at the thugs. “I give up! Go and tell Tu Yao that I gave up!”

The thug, while boiling water, giggled and replied, “I know, I know. I can tell you have the money. Those without money aren’t even allowed in this room.” He stoked the fire to make it burn even brighter, and bubbles were seen to rise and burst on the surface of the water. “Just you wait. Boiling water is on the way.”

Qu Feng was so terrified that tears were streaming down his face. His feet were so freezing cold that he couldn’t feel the pain anymore, as if they were broken. He pleaded desperately, perspiration pouring down his forehead. “Please, find Tu Yao for me! I’ll give him money, I’ll kneel! Anything! I can do anything!”

“My young master,” the thug looked at him with concern, “you have to go through one round at the very least. If everyone’s dignity was so fragile19, then my job would be too easy.” Speaking, he removed the ice water, and brought forth the basin of boiling water.

Qu Feng let out a scream from the depths of his throat, writhing and turning futilely on the large wooden beam, shouting repeatedly, “I’ll give you money!” “I’ll give you money!” The thug looked at him with contempt, grabbed his feet and pressed them hard into the boiling water. Then came a sizzling sound of skin parting from the flesh.

Plenty of steam rose from the basin. The thug fanned the steam as he mocked, “You guys see money as such a big deal, but our Commander Tu20 is famous for taking money as nothing. Not just money, even the opera21 singers and women don’t catch his eyes.”

Qu Feng convulsed violently. After the convulsions, he collapsed abruptly like a slow-witted paralytic, splashing his urine uncontrolled. The thug looked at him and laughed, revealing a wide gap between his two front teeth. “Our Commander Tu likes to climb high and see far22. Can your family arrange that?”

Upon finishing the sentence, he stood up, went to the ice chest to fetch more ice again. When Qu Feng heard the noise of ice cubes hitting the bottom of the basin, he truly couldn’t endure any longer. Trembling, he burst into loud sobs.

After going through several rounds of “wash”, the thug ordered his men to untie Qu Feng from the wooden beam and securely bound him to a torture bed. Someone brought in two sacks of rice. The sacks were not large, each weighing about seven to eight catties23, which were stacked on top of Qu Feng’s chest. This was called “the pressing weight of the salary24“, which came in the form of “heavy press” and “light press”25. For most people, undergoing “light press” for a day and a night was enough to take their last breath away26.

Qu Feng didn’t have much knowledge about these things. He was even relieved when he first lay down. For a grown man, he thought twenty catties of rice was nothing, which was indeed the case at the beginning. Yet the longer it pressed on, the harder it became to breathe. Time itself seemed to have acquired power. It transformed into a soft, blunt knife, gradually cutting away his vitality. The feeling was even worse than “washing his feet”.

In less than two Shichen27 of pressing, Qu Feng wailed and sobbed, “Ex-excuse me…”

The thug, busy with some killing tools that Qu Feng couldn’t even name, replied without raising his head, “Speak.”

“Help me deliver a message… I’ll pay you.”

“I can’t do that.” The thug spoke in truth, his hands still occupied at work. “The Lord Commander forbids us to pay private visits to government officials’ homes.”

Qu Feng fell silent. After a ke28, he said again, “One hundred taels of silver, for a trip to the Weaving and Sewing Bureau.”

The thug put away what he was doing and stood up. “For a eunuch?”

Qu Feng nodded. “I want to write a letter.”

The thug wiped his hands, found a piece of paper and a pen, and watched Qu Feng as he wrote down a few trembling characters. He asked, “To whom?”

Qu Feng struggled to breathe into the compressed chest. “Jin Tang.”

The thug said nothing in return. He folded the letter and turned away. He left the torture room, went through the side passage and entered the rear hall, where Tu Yao was sitting on the dais, drinking with several low-ranked officials from the Ministry of Justice. The thug unfolded the letter and showed it to him. Tu Yao took a quick glance at it and nodded.

Mei Azha and a few of his subordinates had been playing Madiao29 all night long without getting a good hand. As dawn was breaking, he finally had a card featuring “‘Little Li Guang’ Hua Rong”30, but just before he played it, Jin Tang hastily pushed the door open and entered.

“Chief,” Jin Tang cut straight to the point. “I have something that needs your help.”

Jin Tang rarely acted this way. Like Liao Jixiang, he had that pride of a scholar deep in his bones31. Mei Azha dismissed his men, leaned further into his Luohan Bed32, making room for Jin Tang. “What’s the matter?”

Jin Tang didn’t sit, instead, he fished out a crumpled piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Mei Azha. There were three words written on it: “Chunchu33 save me.”

This particular type of paper. Mei Azha took the paper in his hands and examined it from both sides. “West Yamen?” He asked as he leaned comfortably on the cushion, clearly not taking the matter seriously. “Who was arrested?”

Jin Tang lowered his eyes. “Qu Feng, of the Ministry of War.”

Mei Azha straightened up, his back moving slightly away from the cushion. “There’s something between you and him?”

Jin Tang turned his face away, as if he was afraid of Mei Azha’s gaze. “Just a nodding acquaintance.”

Mei Azha leaned back again. “A nodding acquaintance, and he gave you this letter?” He casually toyed the crumpled piece of paper in his hand and smiled at ease. “Well, it doesn’t seem right if I insist you two aren’t nodding acquaintances, since he’s not really asking for your help.”

He was referring to the name “Chunchu” on the paper. Jin Tang slowly leaned in and sat on the edge of the bed. “Xie Yilu, courtesy name Chunchu.”

“Oh.” Mei Azha didn’t care at all. Such insignificant characters were unworthy of his attention. “Just do whatever needs to be done. Do you want to sort things out for this ‘Chunchu’, and get a favour from Qu Feng?”

Jin Tang remained silent, looking solemn.

“Don’t be a fool.” Mei Azha tossed the crumpled paper at him. “He won’t think highly of us. Even if you save him eighteen times, he still won’t hold you in high regard.”

“This Xie Yilu…” Jin Tang suddenly spoke up. “He knows Dugong.”

All of a sudden, Mei Azha sat up from the bed, glaring at him intently.

“They should be… very close.”

Very close? Mei Azha narrowed his eyes. “How so?”

“Well, they exchange letters every day, and meet once every few days… it’s that kind of close.” Jin Tang raised his head, his eyes darted briefly at Mei Azha. “Haven’t you noticed that Dugong has been visiting Liumanpo34 frequently lately?”

Mei Azha picked up the paper from Jin Tang and stared at that unfamiliar name. “How long has this been?”

“About a month or two.”

“Xie Chunchu,” Mei Azha was struggling to comprehend the situation. “Didn’t Dugong want to kill him before?”

Jin Tang shook his head, “I’m not sure…” He was about to say something else, but swallowed it back. For someone who was always patient, Mei Azha was so irritated that he nudged Jin Tang with his elbow. “Speak up.”

“I’ve read their letters,” Jin Tang appeared too embarrassed to talk about it. “The recent letters…” He blushed before he could finish his sentence, “Oh, it’s too inappropriate!”

What exactly was inappropriate, Jin Tang didn’t say it out loud, but Mei Azha understood the implication. He kept his mouth wide open in shock or even anger, but didn’t say anything. It was at this point that Jin Tang finally voiced his doubts. “Suppose I pass this letter to Xie Yilu, suppose he really goes to save Qu Feng and something happens to him… Dugong will definitely take my life!”

“No, no, no,” Mei Azha waved his hand repeatedly. “He’s just an insignificant sixth-rank official. What does he have to save someone from West Yamen? Besides…” He narrowed his big round eyes, “he’s a scholar, and a top scoring Tanhua35. How could he genuinely want to befriend Dugong?”

Almost instantly, Jin Tang frowned in alertness. “Are you saying…”

“Even if he doesn’t come with bad intentions,” Mei Azha grabbed Jin Tang’s wrist and held it firmly. “Did you forget what happened in Gansu36?”

Jin Tang’s eyes suddenly widened.

“Go,” Mei Azha shoved him towards the door. “Go, now!”

Spirit screen, or Yingbi, 影壁, is used to shield an entrance gate in traditional Chinese architecture. Spirit screens can be positioned either on the outside or the inside of the gate they are protecting.

Feng’er, 凤儿. Qu Feng’s name is 屈凤, so 凤儿 is his nickname. 

Honourable Lord Father, Fuzu Daren, 父祖大人. This can be translated literally to “the honourable Lord Father and Ancestor”. 

The original term here is Ren Zei Zuo Fu, 认贼作父, which literally means “to take a traitor/enemy as your father”. It’s often used metaphorically to suggest that someone is willing to trade his dignity to switch to the enemy’s side.  

The original term here is Mingci, 名刺, which is a short letter with the sender’s name, title, as well as an invitation or a request to meet the recipient. Mingci can be sent days in advance or handed in right before a meeting. 

Yong Society, or Yong She, 咏社, is a society established by officials, mainly the officials of the Ministry of War. Note: officials refer to the ‘real men’ working in the ministry. These officials often hate eunuchs and despise them. This society is standing on the opposite end of the eunuch’s party. 

The castrated, refers to Yan Dang, 阉党, which is the eunuchs’ political party. 

As mentioned previously, Qu Feng’s dad is the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Rites. The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War had been on bad terms for a long time. 

Dugong, 督公, a reverent title for powerful eunuchs such as Liao Jixiang or Zheng Xian. 

This is known as Jing Cha, 敬茶. When an elder of the family recognises or adopts a young member into the household, the young needs to kneel and offer tea to the elder. This is also a tradition in Chinese weddings, where the newlyweds need to offer tea to their new in-laws. After the elder accepts the tea, he/she will gift Hongbao, 红包, aka red packets containing money or a bit of gold, to the young.  

The Chinese term for kneeling pad is Putuan, 蒲团. Putuan is often used in zen practice or religious worship in China. 

Zheng Xian is approximately 27 years old. 

Capitalised “This One” is used only by eunuchs to address themselves. “This One” means Zajia, 咱家, which is a humble term to eunuchs use to address oneself. When “this one” isn’t capitalised, it is used by people who aren’t eunuchs to display their humbleness in a conversation. 

Xin Bridge, Xin Qiao, 新桥, the name of the bridge. 

The original term here is Yi Bu Zuo Er Bu Xiu, 一不做二不休, which means one shouldn’t do something if he’s still hesitating, but he should finish what he wants to do once he is determined. 

Yamen, 衙门, is the Chinese term for administrative office. In this case, the West Yamen is the office and prison of the Ministry of Justice. In the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Justice is in charge of judiciary matters. Although it is one of the six major ministries of the central government, the Ministry of Justice often had less power than the imperial embroidered uniform guards, Jinyiwei. 

Mount Zhong, or Zhongshan, 钟山, is now a tourist site in Nanjing.  

The imperial prison, Zhaoyu, 诏狱, is used to contain prisoners who tended to be high-ranked officials. Zhaoyu is run by Jinyiwei, 锦衣卫, or the imperial embroidered uniform guards. (Tu Yao is the commander of one thousand imperial guards.) Zhaoyu run by the imperial embroidered uniform guards was notorious for its inhumane punishments and tortures. FYI: the two large characters on the cover photo are the traditional Chinese characters for 诏狱.  

The original phrase here could be translated to “if everyone’s bones were so fragile”, the bones here symbolises one’s dignity, which is often used in Chinese literature. 

The original term here is Qianhu, 千户, which literally means the leader of a thousand soldiers. In the Ming Dynasty, Qianhu typically led 1120 people. Hence, Tu Yao is the leader of 1120 imperial embroidered uniform guards in Nanjing. 

The opera singer here refers to the Chinese opera performers, where male performers would dress up as females.  

To climb high and see far refers to obtaining a high position in the court. 

One catty is about 500 grams. 

The original term is Ya Lu, 压禄. Ya means “press”, and Lu means “food/official’s salary/reward”. The Chinese term for official’s salary is Feng Lu, 俸禄. In the Ming Dynasty, the officials’ salary was calculated based on the amount of rice, or the Lu, they received. Hence, Ya Lu literally means “to press one’s salary on the chest”.  

The original terms here are Da Ya, 大压, “large press”, and Xiao Ya, 小压, “small press”.  

When I was younger, I read a book about the tortures in ancient China. There were in fact so many more different inhumane tortures in the Ming Dynasty. If you wish to learn more, you can start with this link (check the section of Ming Dynasty) and use Google translate to convert it to English.

I’ll only talk about one of the cruellest torture in the Ming Dynasty, Lingchi, 凌迟. Lingchi is notorious for its inhumane and utterly brutal way of punishing the criminal. The executioner was specially trained and skilled in using a dagger, which would remove one small slice of flesh from the criminal at a time. A skilled executioner could make thousands of cuts on the criminal while keeping him alive. The highest record for the number of cuts in Lingchi was 3357 cuts over the course of three days on one man while he was kept alive. 

The original term here is Shichen, 时辰. In ancient China, a day was divided into twelve internals. Each interval is two hours and has a special name.  

One ke, 刻, is roughly 15 minutes.  

Madiao, 马吊, also known as Yezi Xi, 叶子戏 (literally ‘leaf game’). It is somewhat similar to poker, where there are 40 cards of four suits. Each card was illustrated with one of the 108 Stars of Destiny of the classic Chinese novel Water Margin attributed to Shi Nai’an. 

“‘Little Li Guang’ Hua Rong”, 小李广花荣, is a fictional character in Water Margin. He ranks ninth among the 36 Heavenly Spirits, the first third of the 108 Stars of Destiny. 

Similar to the metaphor of “fragile bones” above, here, having the pride deep in his bones means Jin Tang is a very proud and dignified man. 

The original term here is Luohan Ta, 罗汉榻. It’s also known as Arhat Bed. Arhat, in Buddhism, means a saint of one of the highest ranks. It’s believed that lying on the Luohan Bed makes one as carefree and comfortable as an Arhat. See pictures of Luohan Ta here. 

Chunchu, 春锄, is Xie Yilu’s courtesy name. 

Liumanpo, 柳满坡, the location of Xie Yilu and Liao Jixiang’s date. 

Tanhua, 探花, refers to the second place in the national Imperial Examinations. 

Gansu, 甘肃, a province in north-central China, known for its deserts, as well as its cold and dry climate. Gansu was an area of military significance in ancient China as it was the northern border of the country. 

Photo credit: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/522343612