CH 67

Xu furen had been seized into the Imperial prisons and within two days, she pleaded guilty and wrote a confession.

When she first appeared in court for trial, she was obstinate, with gritted teeth, she refused to admit that she had instructed people to secretly send official correspondence framing County Magistrate Qi. However, Xie Ying ordered the hoodlums and the Xu family servants who had undergone torture to identify her. Those flaps of rolled skin and flesh and dripping blood stains caused her courage to completely vanish.

The person she had dispatched to find a hoodlum to deliver the post was Xu Sheng, the son of Di mama, the mama having been one of her dowry servants. After the matter had been handled, she had even given this man three hundred taels of silver to leave the capital. But who could have expected that after not seeing a trace of Xu Sheng for so many weeks, their next meeting would be in the dark, lightless Imperial prisons of the Northern Administrative Division. 

That Xu Sheng had already been tortured to the point that he resembled a bloody calabash and upon meeting Xu furen, he pointed at her, “It is her, it was Xu furen, Xu-shi, who gave this servant three hundred taels of silver and told this servant to bribe the hoodlums and beggars in the capital to send correspondence to the residences of Imperial censors to frame someone! This servant was unaware that this was such a big crime and is only a servant. As long as my master instructs me, this servant must follow orders, and involuntarily….”

Just as Xu-shi wanted to quibble with the man, Lu Xi, a Judicial Colonel who had been listening the interrogation from the side sighed with a ‘tsk tsk’: “Back in the old days, the founding Emperor of Ming, Emperor Taizu, promulgated the Great Imperial Announcement to inform the common people in the realm and ordered for everyone’s family to have a set, so that they are aware of the national laws. You people did not listen to the holy decree, hence resulting in today’s outcome——When she had given you the official correspondence then, you could have taken it and handed it over to our Northern Administrative Division. This Colonel would have even rewarded you with ten or so taels of silver, isn’t it much better than facing this bout of torture?”

Although Lu Xi had a smile on his face, his penetrating eyes resembling black lacquer and the darkness seemed to possess a cold aura, as if they were drenched with layers of blood.

Xu Sheng shuddered and curled up, bending his head to the ground to admit his guilt. The hoodlums were even more so as it seemed as if there was only air out, but no air coming into their lungs. Xu furen, who was on her knees, shuffled a few steps back in horror, “It wasn’t me, he is falsely incriminating me! I don’t even know that County Magistrate Qi, how could I ask him to send the message framing him?! I am Official Cui’s furen, you can’t torture me!”

In the hall, Xie Ying’s harmonious and smiling voice sounded out, “The Emperor has already stripped you of your title and there is no precedent preventing you from undergoing further punishment. I already have two witness statements in my possessions and there are several hoodlums who have not been arrested yet that are pending trial. Additionally, outside, Official Cui has claimed that for the sake of entrapping your stepson, you framed the County Magistrate so as to trap him in a testimony of injustice. The only thing missing is your own confession——the Emperor’s decree made it clear that I was to try your case with care. If you refuse to confess, this official will have no better option but to use force.”

Lu Xi grinned, “What’s the use of telling her these things? Fetch the torture instruments specially used for married woman. Use them one by one on her all the way through and she will confess.”

A military officer had long since entered the room with a pig iron torture instrument daubed in layers of dark blood and rust. Xu furen gritted her teeth and continuously yelled that she was “wronged”, and insisted on not pleading guilty. Xie Ying added, “She is the daughter of an official family after all and was once a furen, there is no need to use these. To be a bit more refined, just bring in the zanzhi [1]to squeeze her fingers a bit.”

Someone approached with the zanshi in hand and stuffed those ten slender fingers and lily-white hands into the device. Both ends of the rope were pulled and Xu furen immediately let out a blood-curdling screech. It hurted to the point that she hated that she could not beat her head against the wall and die in one go. She vaguely heard Xie Ying say, “Loosen the device, don’t snap the fingers off. Qian’an’s  County Magistrate didn’t land a criminal name, her false accusations would at most result in 100 plank strokes and be exiled 930 miles out. The remittance payment is only 36 guan in copper cash. It would not look good if we got people killed just for this little amount of money.”

Lu Xi laughed, “There are many who make remittance payments for caning, and nowadays, copper cash is more valuable than silver. Isn’t that Official Cui extremely poor that he is unwilling to even donate a courtyard to the Imperial court? I am afraid that he will be unwilling to remit this sentence for his wife.”

Xu furen listened to the phrase, “36 guan” and couldn’t endure it any longer and repeatedly shouted, “I am willing to atone! I plead guilty! If Cui Que refuses to pay for remittance, ask my father and mother to fork out that 36 guan!”

Xie Ying signaled with his hands, ordered people to remove the device and asked her for an oral confession.

She really wanted to throw the criminal charge of framing an official onto Cui Que’s head, but was already under the careful watch of the Jinyiwei. Additionally, with Xu Sheng’s identification of her, she was afraid her criminal charge would be difficult to shed. If Cui Que lost his position and her son became the son of a criminal official, his future prospects would be done for. On the contrary, she was an ignorant furen and didn’t know law or regulations. Even if she did make some mistakes, she could pay money to atone her sins. Worst comes to worst she would be divorced——

But when the Jinyiwei  had begun the investigations, before she had been found out, hadn’t Cui Que hurriedly wrote divorce letters to separate?

If she was divorced, she still had her dowry to pass her days, but Heng-ge was still the official’s son. He could study and take the Imperial examinations, even enter the Imperial College…..perhaps it was better to suffer some implications, all in all, it was better than not having an official as a father. Otherwise, one would really become a commoner.

Xu furen was full of deep emotions that pitied her son and even though her heart contained countless knots, she grinded her teeth and shouldered this crime.

Xie Ying took her confession and brought her confidant, Di mama, Di mama’s husband and the Cui Residence’s inner and outer stewards into the Northern Administrative Division to stand trial. With this, the truth of the case was finally uncovered.

Cui Que, an official in the Ministry of Revenue’s Yunnan Division, had a second furen named Xu-shi who coveted the late furen’s dowry and resented that her stepson had donated one of the family’s bookstores to their ancestral county, Qian’an, to be converted into a library. Her hate and jealousy grew as County Magistrate Qi Sheng received a promotion as a result. Hence, she employed household servants to secretly bribe hoodlums and beggars in the capital, having them send messages defaming Qi Sheng for deceiving and swindling a commoner, under his jurisdiction, out of his assets.

Xu furen’s crimes consisted of two charges, ‘sending anonymous official correspondence’ and ‘framing falsely’. According to Ming law, ‘two charges should be treated severely and lightly’. The crime of sending anonymous official correspondence was punishable by severe punishment while the sentence of framing falsely was lightly punished by 100 strokes of the plank and exile by 930 miles. Although her title had been stripped, she still remained the furen of an official. If there was divine grace granted by the Emperor, then the remittance payment for execution by hanging was 42 guan. The remittance payment for exile was 36 guan. Currently, the total remittance amount summed up to 130 taels of silver.

After hearing the sentence, Cui Que planned to divorce Xu-shi, but because his claims did not agree with the Seven Outs or yijue[2], the Metropolitan Magistrate of the Shuntian Prefecture had yet to approve of his divorce. Therefore, although Cui Que had not reported Xu-shi’s crime, but by the precedent that “kin would tolerate each other’s secrets”, he was found not guilty.

A folding memorial was passed up to the Emperor and the entire Imperial court was shocked. This kind of major case involving Imperial censors had been presented in court and an Imperial Censor had been sent to the county to investigate while the Jinyiwei had rummaged through every corner of the capital all the way through….the truth uncovered was unexpectedly unlike the typical case where factions attacked each other by exposing each other’s faults. Neither was it the purging of officials by the Depot and the Guard. Instead, it was a lawsuit caused because a married furen of the inner residence made a fuss over a small residence that wasn’t even worth 200 or 300 taels of silver?

Such a furen that was regardless of the law and of natural morality was simply atrocious!

When the news reached the Censorate, Liu Zan couldn’t refrain from slapping the table and standing up, “I knew it was like this! Were it not for an unvirtuous furen, deliberately corrupting the younger brother to misguide the son of the first furen, how could Cui Xie only become a shengyuan at this age?!”

He wished he could just immediately pick up a brush and write a letter to North Zhili’s Provincial Educational Commission’s Supervisory Imperial Censor, Dai Ren, asking him to watch over this pitiful child prodigy wise beyond his years in his free time. After some time, he recalled that he was going to submit a memorial stating that Xu-shi’s brother, Xu juren, was one of dishonorable conduct, unworthy to be an official. A moment’s hesitation later, he concluded that it was better to put his personal feelings aside. For the sake of the common people of Qishui’s livelihoods, he ought to present a memorial asking to remove the Xu juren who was currently holding office as the County Magistrate there.

His letter requesting for Dai Ren to look after Cui Xie was ultimately never written because a letter sent to the capital from Dai Ren arrived a step earlier. In the letter, Dai Ren proudly told his fellow Inspector and Censor from the same hometown, “While I was supervising the interrogations, I stumbled upon a talent.”

This talent was Cui Xie, an examinee from Qian’an County.

Xu Jie stuffed a letter towards Liu Zan and said ‘here’, “That Qian’an child prodigy of yours will probably become a shengyuan now. Shouldn’t you feel at ease?”

Liu Zan pursed his lips and severely rebutted, “How is that my family’s child prodigy? It is merely because I cherish such talents for the sake of the Imperial court.”

That’s what he said, but Liu Zan still carefully unfolded the letter and peered at the contents once through. In the letter, Dai Ren had written that when he had first arrived in the Yongping Prefecture, he had encountered some small situations——

He had entered Yongping Prefecture incognito, dressed in plain clothes and did not notify the local officials to welcome him into the city. After he arrived in front of the yamen gates, only then did he reveal his identity. But, he discovered that the local Prefectural Magistrate, Vice Commissioner (tongzhi)  and the prefecture’s Confucian Professor were not present. There was only a singular Registrar Song and he brought out the administrative clerk, people from the Records Office, proofreaders and other similar departments to welcome him. 

Dai Ren was truly somewhat surprised and plainly asked, “Could it be that there is some shengyuan making a disturbance? How else would the Prefectural Magistrate, Vice Commissioner and Confucian Professor be out?”

That was not the case.

Since this year’s prefectural examinations had been held later than usual, Prefectural Magistrate Wang da-ren and several examiner officials were grading the papers at the examination rooms so they could release the results before the Educational Supervisor arrived.

And ever since Zhang tongzhi had escorted the two Imperial envoys back to the capital, he had also Cui Xie summoned into the Confucian Temple for further discussion.

Ever since he had heard Imperial Censor Liu praising Cui Xie’s essays, Zhang Gui’s mind couldn’t help but to conjecture the other’s intentions——Was Liu Zan hinting that Cui Xie’s essays were sufficient to deserve the ranking of anshou[3]?

The more he sunk into the abyss of his thoughts, he felt that Imperial Censor Liu thought extremely highly of that student and the Jinyiwei seemed to possess some sentiment towards Cui Xie as well. Moreover, Zhang Gui also felt that the argumentation of the classics in the two essays had been utterly brilliant, the vigor of strokes were sophisticated and steady. It seemed as if there wasn’t the slightest degree of haughtiness or fickleness typical in the works of gifted youths. That student was also a beloved subject, one who was loyal to friends and generous to the needy. His moral character was suitable for scholarship; Acting in a calm and measured manner, neither servile nor overbearing in replying to high-ranking officials, it was not an exaggeration for Cui Xie to become the anshou.

Although Zhang tongzhi had such existing thoughts, he was afraid that Prefectural Magistrate Wang would think Cui Xie was too young and would deliberately suppress him in the rankings. As such, he breached the Dragon Gates and informed Prefectural Magistrate Wang the matter of the two Imperial envoys coming to investigate the case of Qian’an County Magistrate Qi Sheng swindling the Cui family’s bookstore. 

Prefectural Magistrate Wang inquired worriedly, “Did the Imperial envoys condemn them of something, so he is not allowed to take the examinations anymore?”

Zhang Gui replied, “That’s not the case. After reading and seeing that Cui Xie’s essays from the county examinations were too good, Imperial Censor Liu suspected that the Qian’an County Magistrate had divulged the prompts to Cui Xie and cheated. As such, he personally tested Cui Xie himself. This subordinate saw….”

Wang Wen angrily asked, “How could he cheat? If his excellent writing is to be considered as cheating, then wouldn’t the prompts from my prefectural examinations have been leaked as well? Forget it, you don’t have to tell me, I will absolutely not dismiss these articles, nor will I deliberately lower the rankings——this is certainly an exceptional article and it cannot be ranked any lower than it deserves!”

As he declared this, it seemed like Prefectural Magistrate Wang Wen was about to return to his study to rummage through some more examination papers, so Zhang Gui quickly held him down, “Da-ren has misunderstood. In the presence of the two Imperial envoys, Cui Xie recited his examination papers from the past three days from memory. His recitation was fluent and his writing was excellent. Liu da-ren had incessant praises for him and boasted that he deserved to be called a child prodigy. Hence, this lower official feels that these examination papers deserve to land the ranking of anshou, right?”

The flames of anger in Wang da-ren’s heart was extinguished and returning to the airs of an examiner, he lightly coughed, “We cannot make Cui Xie a shengyuan just because the Imperial Censor praised him. Otherwise, if people caught wind of this matter, wouldn’t they accuse this Magistrate of harboring favoritism? I see that the essays of Li Zongshang from Laoting County were not bad and he is also a few years older, seeming more steady. There is also Wang Ting from Luan County….”

Zhang Gui contended, “Cui Xie is also prudent. He had no timidity when facing the Patrolling Imperial Censor and Jinyiwei. He calmly answered the Imperial Censor’s questions and recited the four essays from the three rounds of examinations from memory without error. Isn’t this seldom seen?”

Prefectural Magistrate Wang refused to comply and insisted on first selecting the five jingkui[4] and then comparing to see which one was more fitting to become the anshou. Zhang tongzhi simply waited outside the examination room and the two people did not return to the government office in the end. But, they hadn’t expected that the Educational Commission’s Supervisory Imperial Censor would choose exactly this time to pay a visit, and by coincidence, they had given him the cold-shoulder at the yamen.

Registrar Song and the rest weren’t informed on what was going inside the Confucian Temple and only knew that two Imperial envoys had come to question an exam candidate. The envoys had even asked the student to stay to accompany them for a meal. After the two Imperial envoys left, Zhang tongzhi had expressed his condolences to the student for a spell and then headed towards the examination grounds to find Prefectural Magistrate Wang da-ren.

After heating this, Dai Ren creased his brows and asked, “Is it the Imperial Censor Liu or Jinyiwei that plans to support this student? Since the results haven’t been decided yet, take me to the Confucian Temple so I can take a look.”

He wanted to see for himself just how profound that exam candidate’s background was and just how the Yongping Prefecture was going to evaluate him!

Dai Ren changed into the court robes of an Imperial Censor, put up an air suiting that of an Educational Superintendent and charged straight towards the Confucian Temple. He was the Provincial Education Commissioner of North Zhili and was responsible for correcting the style of study. Even if it was only a prefectural examination, he would absolutely not allow powerful officials from the capital coerce and intimidate the local examiners into passing a talentless and unvirtuous tongsheng!

He broke into the examination room where Zhang tongzhi was sitting outside the door and Prefectural Magistrate Wang and other examiner officials were carrying the five jingkui papers and discussing who should be the anshou. Upon the unforeseen arrival of the Educational Superintendent, they realized they hadn’t greeted him or even known of his arrival. Wang Wen and Zhang Gui were terrfied and promptly got up to welcome him.

Dai Ren waved his hands, “No need to be overly courteous. Just follow me into the examination room. Are there examination papers for the student that was personally tested by an Imperial Censor Liu?

Just look, for the people valued by a Patrolling Imperial Censor, how could an Educational Superintendent Imperial Censor ignore it?

Zhang Gui glanced at Prefectural Magistrate Wang. Wang Wen silently turned his head and picked out the examination paper on the Four Books and handed it to Dai Ren: “This student’s essay can be regarded as a master of the scriptures, a jingkui. This lower official and several colleagues were just discussing that among his and the four other jingkui’s essays, which one comes out on top and is the most worthy of being anshou.”

Dai Ren accepted the examination paper and as he simultaneously observed the official positions and the three generations of patriarchal names written on the front, he also asked, “Just how did Imperial Censor Liu evaluate this paper, and evaluate the person?”

Prefectural Magistrate Wang was unaware of the details, so Zhang Gui replied on his behalf, “Liu da-ren said that his essays were simple and unadorned, pure and clean. The youth is good at using both ancient and contemporary prose. He also claimed that the examinee is bound to become a shengyuan…..”

Zhang Gui quietly raised his head and peeped a look at Dai Ren, but found that the Educational Superintendent da-ren was no longer listening to him. The entire person was immersed in the essay, his fingers tapping out rhythmically against the examination paper as he recited out the words in his head. Wang Wen drooped his head to look at the papers on the desk and was similarly silent. The other instructors and examiners were afraid to even let out a breath and stood on the side with their hands clasped in front of them.

After a long while, Dai Ren set down the paper and the entire room seemed to come back to life. Prefectural Magistrate Wang bowed, “Does da-ren think this candidate is acceptable?”

Dai Ren released a long sigh, “Not only is it acceptable, even if it had been in South Zhili, this would have been more than acceptable. This esteemed xiong has discerning eyesight.”

Zhang tongzhi faintly straightened his back and Dai Ren continued, “Although Prefectural Magistrate Wang’s prompt is not difficult, one can still discern the author’s ability to deduct and judge questions. Take me to see the other articles, I want to see if there are any better ones.”

He then read the other four jingkui’s articles. 

The method of ‘weaving and crossing’ in the text had been employed well and was actually quite impressive. After the introduction, the eight pairs of comparative couplets were correctly formatted and well-structured, rigorous in using quotations and the rhetoric was elegant and pretty. It could be regarded as remarkably good essays.

However, in comparison to Cui Xie’s essay, they lacked the smooth flow and rigorous and careful dialectical analysis forged after ten years experience of writing argumentative essays that were more than 800 words, as well as a 5,000 word academic thesis and 10,000 word graduation thesis. It was also missing the force that would make the reader become unconscious and gradually immersed into the article. Eventually, they would believe Cui Xie’s writing as a powerful persuasive message that originated from their own hearts.

Dai Rent set down the essays, pointed to Cui Xie’s examination papers and said, ‘These essays are better. After the Prefectural Magistrate releases the results, you can post a copy of the papers to let people compare.”

Wang Wen had long kept an eye on this essay himself. But, it was just that he had once corrected Cui Xie’s essays and their relationship was inadequately pure. He was afraid that someone would say that he had guided such a youth to please the Imperial Censor, so he was always hesitant regarding this. Since the Educational Superintendent da-ren had already ordered him, so what if he made Cui Xie the anshou?

After publishing the list of successful examinees, he would post all of the five jingkui’s articles to the public. Even if there were failed students who wanted to make a scene, he could keep a clear conscience.

Later, when the Shuntian Prefecture announced the results, Cui Xie was listed as the anshou again. The tongsheng of Qian’an County basked in this glory and crowded around him to congratulate Cui Xie. There were even people who shouted the slogan, “Little Tertiary Winner” (having placed first at three levels: county, provincial and prefectural exams), but this caused exam candidates from other counties to be somewhat unconvinced. They squeezed themselves up to the posted paper and wanted to pick out a few faults to make a scene at the yamen.

The results did not allow them to make a scene nor did it allow them to celebrate. As such, the prefecture was direct and efficient in posting another announcement: The Educational Superintendent paid a visit to the Yongping Prefecture and three days later, he will be assessing every single tongsheng in the prefecture. Anyone who behaves disorderly or maliciously before the examination will be uniformly disqualified from taking the yuanshi.

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