Chapter 18: Bodhisattva Man (VI)
"I have asked the Ministry of Personnel and found out that Ni Qinglan is indeed a candidate from Que County."
Pei Zhiyuan, the secretary of the Central Secretariat, held a porcelain bowl and sprinkled fish food in front of the fish tank. "But he was not on the list of the winter exam, so the Ministry of Personnel did not pay attention to him anymore, and they didn't know that he disappeared after the winter exam."
"However, didn't the people from the Night Bureau catch a jailer who wanted to kill someone to silence him in the Records Bureau of Guangning Prefecture?" Pei Zhiyuan put down the porcelain bowl, rubbed his hands, and turned to look at the purple-robed man, "The murderer was afraid that this woman would go to Dengwenyuan..."
If the woman named Ni Su goes to Dengwenyuan and beats the Dengwen drum, the matter will be officially placed on the government's desk and asked to make a judgment.
"There are rules in Dengwenyuan. No matter if a man or a woman beats the drum to file a complaint, they must first be caned to prove their sincerity. This rule alone has stopped countless people," Meng Yunxian lowered his eyes and looked at a policy paper nonchalantly. "The murderer saw that Miss Ni could even withstand the beating of the Guangning government office. If she got out of the Silusi in good condition, she would not be afraid of being caned again in Dengwenyuan. Otherwise, the murderer would never rush to bribe the jailer Qian Saner to silence her."
"How did the jailer Qian San'er get interrogated during the night trial? He didn't reveal anything?"
"He committed suicide by biting himself with poison before Han Qing could even torture him."
Before Qian San'er even entered the gate of the Night Palace, he was so frightened that he bit the poison between his teeth and died on the spot.
"Yes, it would be too shameful if the murderer revealed his true colors so easily." Pei Zhiyuan was not surprised. "But should we say that Ni Qinglan's sister is very courageous? She still made the same excuse after entering the Night Palace. Could it be that her brother really had a dream for her?"
Meng Yunxian raised his eyes upon hearing this, facing the bright light coming from the carved window, and suddenly said, "If it is true that the wronged person came to me in a dream, that would be great."
"What do you mean?"
Pei Zhiyuan took out a green date from his sleeve and took a bite.
"If that's the case, I would also like to invite someone into my dream,"
Meng Yunxian put away the essay on his knees and said, "Please ask him to tell me whether he was wronged or not."
The pit slid down Pei Zhiyuan's throat, making him unable to move up or down. His face turned red and he coughed for a long time, waving his hands and saying, "Ahem...Mr. Meng, be careful with your words!"
"Minxing, you've been in the East Palace for so many years, but you're still timid. There's no one in the back hall except you and me, so what are you afraid of?" Meng Yunxian admired his embarrassment and shook his head with a smile.
"Since Mr. Zhang came back, the emperor has repeatedly tested him. You'd better be careful about the gossip!" After all this trouble, the date pit was swallowed. Pei Zhiyuan, also known as Pei Minxing, broke out in sweat on his forehead and bowed to Meng Yun helplessly.
"Look at this."
Meng Yunxian handed him the policy paper on his lap.
Pei Zhiyuan took the opportunity to unfold the article, scanning it line by line in the bright sunlight. He was surprised, "Mr. Meng, what a good article! It criticizes current ills and has its own unique ideas for the new laws. Even the parallel sentences are really beautiful!"
"Written by Ni Qinglan."
Meng Yunxian picked up the tea bowl and said, "There is a scholar named He who is still in the capital. After Ni Qinglan came to the capital, he had a lot of contact with him. This is from him."
“It shouldn’t be like that.”
Pei Zhiyuan held the policy paper and read it again and again. "If it was really written by Ni Qinglan, then why was he not on the list of the winter exam? Such a talent should never be like this."
"You said that,"
Meng Yunxian stopped smiling, and steam rose from the tea bowl. His expression became even colder, "Such a talented person shouldn't be like this."
Pei Zhiyuan followed Meng Gong when he entered officialdom at a young age. How could he not know the importance of the new policies in Meng Gong's heart, and how much Meng Gong cared about the talents who could implement the new policies.
Seeing that he was no longer smiling, Pei Zhiyuan probably knew that Meng Gong had investigated the matter, so he didn't say much and took out a green date from his sleeve to chew on.
"Where did you get the dates to eat?"
Suddenly, Pei Zhiyuan heard him ask this.
"Mr. Zhang gave it to us this morning. He said that the jujube trees in his yard had a lot of jujubes, and he couldn't bear to let the birds peck them all, so he had them picked and shared with us. They are really sweet."
Pei Zhiyuan spat out the pit and said, "You didn't share it? That's right, Mr. Zhang broke off his friendship with you a long time ago, so why would he be willing to give you dates?"
"Mr. Meng, all the gentlemen are here."
There is a famous official knocking on the door outside.
Meng Yunxian ignored Pei Zhiyuan, put down the tea bowl heavily, and walked out with his hands behind his back.
When he arrived at the main hall, Meng Yunxian took a quick look and saw that many officials were eating dates, but his desk was clean and empty.
"Mr. Meng."
As soon as they saw Meng Yunxian, the officials stood up and bowed.
"Um."
Meng Yunxian strode in, ignoring their frantic behavior of spitting out the date pits, and sat down on the chair next to Zhang Jing. He endured it again and again, but still spoke out: "Why don't I have a share?"
"Mr. Meng has a lot of knowledge about eating. I heard he even wrote a cookbook. How come the green dates growing in my yard are so attractive to you? It's just right that they are all gone now that they are in your hands."
Zhang Jing didn't look away.
When the officials in the government hall heard these words, they all looked at each other, holding their breath and not daring to make a sound.
"Zhang Chongzhi,"
Meng Yunxian laughed in anger, "I want to eat a few of your dates, but you're excluding me?"
…
Ni Su was recuperated in the Taiwei Mansion for some time and was barely able to get out of bed. During this time, Zhou Ting from the Night Police came to visit. In addition to the news that the jailer Qian Saner had committed suicide, there was another very important thing.
Han Qing, the envoy of the Night Bureau, wanted to check Ni Qinglan's test paper from the winter examination, but the Imperial Examination Hall happened to have lost several test papers that were not on the list, including Ni Qinglan's.
Although failed test papers are not considered important, according to Qi law, all test papers should be sealed and kept and can only be destroyed after one year.
The Imperial Examination Hall punished several people involved, and the clue seemed to be cut off.
"Miss Ni, I really didn't think of it in a bad way at that time, because he had caught a cold those two days and was not in a good mood in the Imperial Examination Hall... I just thought he was unhappy because of his failure, so he left without saying goodbye," said a young man in a dark blue robe at the tea stall with a face full of regret, "If I hadn't slept so soundly that night, maybe he..."
He was He Zhongping, the scholar from Yanzhou who delivered the letter to the Ni family in Que County.
Since He Zhongping sat down, he had only said these things. As a candidate who had taken the winter exam together with me, he really didn't know more about the inside story. "However, a senior official named Zhou from the Night Office took a policy paper from me before. It was written by Brother Ni. I borrowed it to read but hadn't had time to return it. Now it's in the hands of the Night Office. I think they will definitely give Brother Ni justice."
Ni Su held the tea bowl in her hand and said after a moment, "But justice can only be given based on evidence."
After hearing this, He Zhongping felt a little depressed and didn't know what to say for a moment.
Ni Su didn't stay too long and said goodbye to He Zhongping before finishing his bowl of tea.
Yu Wen and several guards from the Taiwei Mansion were waiting under the big banyan tree across the street. Ni Su walked towards that place slowly. There was a child being carried by someone. He walked several steps away, his eyes still staring at her.
Ni Su lowered her eyes, and a furry glow flickered on the ground.
She stopped and he didn't move.
Ni Su's bloodless lips twitched.
"Miss Ni, the lady asked us to go directly to Yanhui Cottage. Several ladies from their poetry club are here, including Miss Sun."
Yu Wen helped Ni Su into the car and said to her.
"good."
When Ni Su heard "Madam Sun", her expression changed slightly.
The literary culture of the Great Qi Dynasty flourished. In the prosperous Yunjing, it was not uncommon for women to set up poetry clubs. Bookstores often copied poems written by women in poetry clubs and collected them into collections for circulation. Therefore, Yunjing had several talented women of considerable reputation.
One of them was Jiang Shao, the wife of the prime minister Meng Yunxian.
The Ruqing Poetry Society was originally founded by Jiang Shao and several of her close friends in Yanhui Village. However, fourteen years ago, Mr. Meng was demoted due to some reasons, and she followed him to Wen County. The few friends she had left also dispersed. Only the wife of the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, Ms. Zhao, still maintained the poetry society and invited some young ladies to join.
Cai Chunxu was one of them, and Madam Sun had only started to associate with them two years ago.
"I heard from my wife that Madam Sun had her period yesterday. Fortunately, your prescription worked, otherwise she would still be suffering from abdominal pain and unable to go out today."
When they arrived at Yanhui Cottage, Yu Wen carefully supported Ni Su and walked towards the porch overlooking the water as she spoke.
Ni Su was about to open her mouth when she heard a bright female voice: "Sister A Xi!"
Looking up, Ni Su met the smiling eyes of Cai Xuchun who was writing at the table in the porch. She was wearing an orange-red double-breasted shirt embroidered with fluttering butterflies and flowers, with her hair in a bun and a pearl hairpin with beautiful flowers inserted diagonally.
"Come on, sisters, this is my benefactor's younger sister Ni Su, nicknamed Ah Xi. She reads a lot on weekdays, so I asked her to come with me today."
Cai Chunxu put down his pen and brought Ni Su to the ladies in cloud-like hair and silk clothes, introducing her with a smile.
The woman, who was about forty years old and wearing a dark green shirt, put down the flowers in her hand, looked Ni Su up and down, and said kindly, "You are very good-looking, but you are so thin. Are you sick?"
Such gentle words, with a touch of appropriate concern, made the other wives of officials look at Ni Su again and again. Only a young lady in her twenties had a strange expression on her face.
Ni Su was about to answer when someone spoke first: "Madam Cao, you don't know that she got this injury in your husband's Guangning Mansion."
As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the porch suddenly became cold.
"Madam Sun, what do you mean by this?"
Madam Cao's expression froze.
The one who spoke was Madam Sun whom Yu Wen had just mentioned. Now everyone was staring at her, and she felt a little uncomfortable. "I heard that she was talking nonsense and was punished in the Records Department of Guangning Prefecture..."
"Sun Yun," Cai Chunxu interrupted her, the smile that was always on her face gone, "I think you've been sick at home for the past year and have lost your mind!"
"You don't have to remind me."
Sun Yun murmured, raised her eyes to glance at the clean and pale girl standing beside Cai Chunxu, and turned her face away, "If you hadn't brought her here, I would definitely not say this."
A young lady sitting by the railing was confused and asked softly, "Madam Sun, what is the reason? Why don't you explain it clearly?"
"You don't know,"
Madam Sun pressed her hair with a handkerchief and said, "This girl is acting like a medicine woman."
What? Medicine lady?
Several wives of officials looked at each other, and then looked at the girl at the same time. Their expressions were different, but in the perception of these officials, the name of medicine woman was indeed not a good thing.
"Sun Yun."
Cai Chunxu's face darkened. "Don't forget, you haven't had your period for so long, and you stayed at home all day with abdominal pain. Who took your pulse and prescribed medicine in the teahouse? She is a daughter of a medical family, and she has been exposed to medicine since she was a child. It's not surprising that she knows some pharmacology. It's hard for you to say thank you that day, and it's fine if you deny it now, but why do you have to insult her with words?"
The ladies in the porch only knew that Sun Yun had been ill for the past year and had not gone out to interact with them, but they did not know that she actually had this illness. All eyes were on her.
Sun Yun was even more embarrassed when Cai Chunxu exposed what she had been hiding. "If a woman does this, what else can she be but a medicine woman? Has she only treated me?"
She simply stood up and took off all the jade bracelets and gold bracelets on her hands, and stuffed them all into Ni Su's hands. "Since I have treated the disease and used your prescription, I will give you the money!"
"Sun Yun!"
Cai Chunxu was about to explode, but the girl next to him, who had been silent the whole time, grabbed his wrist.
"yes,"
On a sunny day, the water sparkled. Ni Su faced the unpredictable gazes in the porch. "I have not only treated you, nor have I only learned a little about pharmacology. Men study for ten years to achieve fame, but I have spent ten years in the medical field to achieve my ambition. I am indeed different from you. I have read the most books, not poetry, but medical books. There is nothing I dare not admit."
"I was able to leave the night shift earlier because of Sister Cai's favor. I diagnosed you because Sister Cai mentioned that you were not feeling well. If you really want to discuss the consultation fee, you can consider that Sister Cai has already paid for you. I will not charge you for this."
Ni Su threw them lightly, and everyone saw the jade bracelets and gold bracelets falling to the ground. There was a crisp sound when the gold and jade collided, and the jade bracelets broke into several pieces.
"I'd rather not disturb you all any longer. Ni Su will go ahead."
Ni Su pulled up a faint smile on her lips and bowed to the ladies.
"Sister Cao, everyone, I will send my sister Axi back first." Cai Chunxu glanced at Madam Sun, nodded and saluted with the other people, and then hurriedly chased after Ni Su.
The porch was quiet.
"No matter how I look at that girl, she doesn't look like a medicine woman..." A lady suddenly spoke up while looking at the back of the young girl on the corridor.
In the impressions of these people, medicine ladies are mostly old women with their bodies half buried in the ground. There is no such a young and well-mannered girl.
But they had just heard it clearly from the girl's own mouth that she was indeed a doctor.
"Sister Axi, this is my fault. If I had known, I would not have let you go there and be humiliated by her for nothing..." On the carriage back to the Taiwei Mansion, Cai Chunxu held Ni Su's hand with a frown.
Ni Su shook her head. "Sister Cai, you know I have something to ask Madam Sun, but Madam Sun doesn't go out often, and it's not convenient to visit her. I only have this opportunity today. I am very grateful for your help, but I'm sorry that you are unhappy."
"Now I hope your prescription is less effective. It would be best if Sun Yun is in so much pain that she can't even open her mouth!" Cai Chunxu said angrily, rubbing his handkerchief.
After returning to the residence in the Taiwei Mansion, Yu Wen hurried to open the door, but was filled with a strong smell of incense, which made the three of them cough.
"Sister Ah Xi, why did you light so many incense sticks in the house before you left?" Cai Chunxu coughed and waved her sleeves, "I don't see you have any Buddha offerings."
"ah?"
Ni Su's eyelids were slightly red from the smoke, "I offered one."
"Where?"
Cai Chunxu only dared to look outside and did not go in.
Ni Su didn't know what to say, so she said vaguely, "I've got it in mind..."
If Yu Wen hadn't closed the window before leaving, the room wouldn't have been filled with smoke from the burning incense.
The house could not be entered for the time being, so Yu Wen placed a cushion on the stone bench under the shade of a tree for Ni Su to sit on. Several maids and servants were sweeping and talking at the corner of the corridor.
Yu Wen was gone, and Ni Su propped up her chin with one hand: "Xu Ziling, Madam Sun, this path is not feasible."
In order to put an end to cheating in imperial examinations, every examination paper was required to be copied under the examiner's name before being sent to the chief examiner for review.
That lady Sun's husband, Jin Xiangshi, was one of the Fengmi officials who was responsible for copying the examination papers under false names during this winter examination.
"The determination is not differentiated by gender."
In the thick shade of trees, Ni Su heard such a voice. She looked up and saw the corner of his frosty white robe in the flickering sunlight.
Ni Su looked at him, "I know. I knew from a very young age that in addition to the narrow-minded men my mother mentioned, there are also some women who are destined not to understand me."
Just like Madam Sun, after using her prescription, she completely classified her as a kind of old woman who should not be approached too much in her heart, and naturally she could not tolerate Cai Chunxu taking her to the Ruqing Poetry Society.
"But I think I am better than my brother."
She said, "I am a woman, and the world cannot use the barriers between men and women to restrain me, so they can only accuse me of the lowest class. But why should I confess my guilt? Is it written in the laws of the Great Qi Dynasty?"
"They think I should be ashamed of this and shrink from it, but I won't. I want to live with my brother and my own wishes in the world and live uprightly."
The scattered light from the branches was a bit dazzling, and Ni Su couldn't see his face clearly: "Why don't we go directly to Master Jin Xiang?"
"What do you want to do?"
The branches and leaves rustled, and a young man with cold eyebrows lowered his eyelids in the shade of the tree and his eyes met hers.
"You are pretending to be a ghost..."
Ni Su felt halfway through what he said that he was not quite right. He was a ghost to begin with. "Let's go scare him at night, okay?"
