#86: The Galaxy Overflows (Part 5)

Zhou Xuechu entered the capital on the night of the second day of the new year. The snow had stopped, and the sandy ground was a shimmering silver. The snow from the day before had frozen into ice this morning and refused to melt.

She first went to Chang Zhao’s residence, then took a small path straight to the Ye residence. The doors of the residence were tightly shut. The imperial city had a three-day banquet to start the new year, and the residents had not yet returned home.

Knocking on the door directly would likely cause too much of a commotion. The winter night was cold, so Zhou Xuechu circled the residence and finally found a spot where a rockery was built partially into the wall. She prepared to climb over the wall.

She threw her light luggage over and tiptoed up. Just as she was climbing over the wall, she heard a voice say, “Xuechu.”

She was startled and her foot slipped. She could have easily regained her balance, but she couldn’t be bothered, so she just let herself fall from the top of the wall. Sure enough, someone rushed over and caught her in their arms.

Zhou Xuechu hugged Bo Sen-sen’s neck and said with a smile, “Sen-sen!”

In this residence, she was probably the only old friend who didn’t call him “Ling Cheng.”

Zhou Xuechu looked him over and continued, “I’ve missed you very much.”

Bo Sen-sen coughed awkwardly, his face slightly flushed. “I wanted to leave the gate unlocked for you, but it’s probably not a good idea to leave it open all the time. I’ve been waiting by this wall for five days since I got your letter.”

Zhou Xuechu looked up and saw the fire brazier by the corridor used for warmth. She was very touched. “You’re the best. Here, I’ve brought you a gift.”

She picked up the bag she had thrown aside and took out a needle case. Bo Sen-sen took it and saw that it was made of black iron from the northern border, a set of needles that must have been sharpened for a long time to be so sharp.

Just as the two were about to say a few more words, they heard a weak voice from on top of the wall. “You two, let’s talk inside.”

Zhou Xuechu then remembered Qiu Xueyu behind her and apologized with a lack of sincerity. “Ah Fei, I’m sorry. I was so happy I forgot about you for a moment.”

Bo Sen-sen happily put away the needle case and led Zhou Xuechu and Qiu Xueyu to the front hall. When he pushed the door open, he saw Zhou Chuyin had just finished arranging his ancient zither. Seeing the three of them appear abruptly, he was a little bewildered. “You...”

“Brother!” Zhou Xuechu threw her bag aside and rushed over, marveling, “So you really came to the capital. I didn’t dare to believe it when I got Luo Wei’s letter. His Highness isn’t dead? If he’s not dead, and you’re all rebelling together, why didn’t you just tell us? Don’t you know that she was all alone in the palace...”

She talked so fast that Zhou Chuyin was miserable. But Bo Sen-sen was helping her, chiming in with, “Yeah,” “I said the same thing,” and “He was so eager to come to the capital back then, completely different from how reluctant he was when you told him to go traveling.” He endured it as long as he could, then finally slapped the zither strings. “Shut up! What do you mean, ‘rebelling’?”

Zhou Xuechu pretended to ask, “Brother, what are you so angry about?”

Bo Sen-sen repeated after her, “Brother, what are you so angry about?”

Seeing Zhou Chuyin’s expression turn sour, Qiu Xueyu quickly interjected before he could speak. “Where did Luo Wei go?”

Zhou Chuyin took a deep breath, his expression becoming much more peaceful. “There’s a banquet tonight, and only officials of the sixth rank and above are required to attend. She took this opportunity to go out and meet someone.”

Pei Xi, who was holding a scroll and reading behind him, was stunned. “She went to see Su Shiyu?”

The three of them then noticed that there was another person in the room. Zhou Xuechu waved at him and teased, “Cuozhi, you actually look quite dignified in your official robe.”

Zhou Chuyin ignored her comment and answered directly. “Yes.”

Pei Xi gave Zhou Xuechu a look and then continued, “I told the Young Master before that Su Shiyu has been on good terms with Chang Zhao recently and has also received attention from Song Lan. Even with the friendship they built when they were young, I’m afraid it’s not safe.”

Zhou Chuyin said, “Right now is the busiest time at Fengle Tower. The fact that she dared to go means she has a good reason.”

Hearing this, Zhou Xuechu interrupted. “Speaking of which, Luo Wei and Young Yan asked me to investigate this Minister Chang, and I did find some things.”

Zhou Chuyin’s eyebrows moved. “Tell me.”

Zhou Xuechu became serious. “The official records say that his family is originally from Yanzhou, and his father was once the Yanzhou prefect. Later, his family fell into decline, and he came to the capital with his wet nurse to study. After passing the imperial examination and entering officialdom, he bought a house in Yanzhou and sent his wet nurse back.”

Bo Sen-sen said, “That’s the information I found.”

Zhou Xuechu shook her head. “That identity is false.”

Everyone had already suspected this but didn’t know the details. Zhou Xuechu explained, “His father on the household register is Chang Mu, the Yanzhou prefect. We all thought that the Chang family fell into decline after Chang Mu was punished, but that’s not the case. I personally went to Yanzhou and found out that the entire Chang family was slaughtered overnight, and only Chang Zhao and his wet nurse were left. That’s why he was considered to have a clean family background and was able to enter officialdom through the imperial examination.”

She took a sip of the tea by her hand to moisten her throat. “After hearing these old stories, I became curious. Who was it that slaughtered the entire Chang family, and why did they spare this young master? Weren’t they afraid that he would grow up to seek revenge? I even went to the house he bought for that wet nurse, but it was already empty. That wet nurse probably didn’t even make it back to Yanzhou before she was killed. It was then that I became convinced that Chang Zhao’s identity must be fake, because everyone who knew his true identity is now dead. Otherwise, why would he be so ruthless?”

Bo Sen-sen asked nervously, “Then who is he?”

Zhou Xuechu shook her head. “The Yanzhou prefect had too many connections. Chang Mu was a crude man who made enemies everywhere, so there are no clues for now.”

Zhou Chuyin nodded and asked again, “How is Shukang?”

Zhou Xuechu said, “I met her outside Luoyang. She’s fine. Xueyu and I took a slower route to avoid the checks in the various prefectures. Fortunately, there have been foreign envoys coming and going in the capital since before the new year. I heard that since Luo Wei escaped from Mount Guyou in September, the capital’s lockdown has been quite strict, which has caused dissatisfaction among the people. If it weren’t for the new year, we don’t know how long the lockdown would have lasted.”

Zhou Chuyin sneered. “So Luo Wei wrote to you to take your time returning. If you had come before New Year’s Day, would you have been able to get into the city?”

“I see,” Zhou Xuechu didn’t talk back. She just pushed Qiu Xueyu forward. “I at least managed to bring Ah Fei back from the northern border safely. Can’t you praise me a little?”

Zhou Chuyin looked up and gave Qiu Xueyu a complicated look, saying softly, “Although the Remonstrance of Jinghe Autumn greatly damaged Song Lan’s reputation and prestige, Chang Zhao’s identity is unclear, and the court is in a state of flux. Everyone is trapped in the fog. Even Luo Wei and Ling Ye are gambling. This is extremely dangerous. Aren’t you afraid?”

Qiu Xueyu, however, smiled. “I escaped from the palace and survived against all odds for this very day.”

Zhou Xuechu didn’t know what the two of them were talking about, but seeing everyone else sigh with regret, she couldn’t help but hold Qiu Xueyu’s hand.

Qiu Xueyu continued, “If we were afraid, why would we be standing here?”

From the front courtyard, there was the sound of official boots stepping on melting snow. It was unclear whether it was Luo Wei or Ye Tingyan who had returned first. The howling wind made one sound before it was completely blocked by the heavy mansion gate, swirling and then disappearing.

The morning of the seventeenth day of the first month of the fifth year of Jinghe in the capital.

A thick fog lay over the Bian River. Along the river, there were still remnants of the wax from the lanterns lit the day before, spreading out in a crimson hue.

The Great Yan Dynasty had a seven-day holiday for the new year and another seven days around the Lantern Festival. The holiday just ended on the seventeenth. Some early-rising shopkeepers had already opened for business, but the streets were still mostly quiet.

By the time, the morning court should not have even ended yet.

A girl came out of Fengle Tower and poured a basin of water, stained with lead powder and rouge, into the Bian River. Winter had not yet ended, but the weather had been warm for the past few days, and the thin ice on the Bian River had melted. The water was flowing rapidly.

However, in the midst of the swift current, she still heard the distant sound of a drum mixed in with the wind.

Thump, thump, thump.

She shivered and stood up to look into the distance, but the sky was hazy, and she couldn’t see anything clearly. But along the river, many people had already been woken up by the sound of the drum and were gathering, chattering excitedly.

Someone had actually struck the Dengwen Drum?

In the early days of the Yan Dynasty, drums were set up in front of Mingguang Gate, in the main hall of the Ministry of Justice, and at the end of the imperial street, to allow ministers and common people to lodge complaints. With the changes in the legal code, the requirements for striking the drum became stricter and stricter. By the time of Emperor De’s reign, an unwritten rule had been formed: the Ministry of Justice would hold a court session, then the drum would be struck on the imperial street, and then three courts would jointly hear the case. Fewer and fewer common people lodged complaints by striking the drum, and many were punished with court beatings for violating the drum-striking regulations.

After the Flower Cutting Reforms, although the requirements for striking the drum were still strict, they were effectively meaningless. The hall drum of the Ministry of Justice was removed, and a Dengwen Drum court was set up at the end of the imperial street. During Emperor Ming’s reign, people even dared to strike the drum for minor matters like lost property or brawls.

This trend continued for many years until foreign affairs became tense, and the number of people striking the drum gradually decreased. After the Assassin-Begonia case, the young emperor took power, and the court was unstable. In fact, the drum hadn’t been struck in many years.

At this time, for someone to dare to strike the drum, it must be a matter of great importance and urgency that needed to be heard by the Son of Heaven.

After thinking about this, everyone ran to tell others, and the imperial street suddenly became lively. There was snow on the steps of the drum court, with only a string of women’s footprints left.

It was then that everyone saw clearly that the person striking the drum was a woman.

Although the woman was thin, the sound of her drumming was very heavy. There had been no guards outside the drum court for a long time. After she had been drumming for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, guards and two officials in Censorate robes rushed over.

One of the censors spoke first. “Who is in front of the drum, and why are you striking it? Do you know that if it is not a major case, the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate will first punish you for disturbing the peace before you can meet the Son of Heaven?”

The other censor tugged at his sleeve and whispered urgently, “Didn’t His Majesty say not to ask about this person’s background for now and to bring her to the court? Young Master Pei...”

The woman turned around with neither servility nor arrogance, facing the gate, and slowly knelt down. She took a petition from her sleeve, took a deep breath, and although her voice was not loud, it was just clear enough for the surrounding crowd to hear.

“I am the commoner Qiu, daughter of the late Censor-in-Chief Qiu Fang. In the third year of Tianshou, I was betrothed to the scholar Liu Fuliang from the south. Later, I was implicated in the Assassin-Begonia case, and my entire family was executed. As a female family member, I was fortunate to be sent to a courtesan house in an outer prefecture and escaped with my life. Now, I have proof that the assassinations by Liu, Zuo, and Yang in the Assassin-Begonia case were a fabrication. I ask to meet the Son of Heaven to re-examine this case!”