Censor Li kowtowed violently, his forehead thumping against the bluestone slab. "Your Majesty, please calm down! I...I also reported based on the account books. Now it seems this may have been a misunderstanding..."
"Misunderstanding?" Su Jinli suddenly raised her voice, the pearl pendant on her hairpin sweeping the air. "My son donated money out of kindness, but was accused of embezzlement. If it hadn't come to the palace today, he would have lived with this stigma for the rest of his life! Can Censor Li's words of misunderstanding erase the injustice my son has suffered?"
As Jiang Yan kowtowed, the coiled dragon pattern on his jade belt hook scraped against the moss on the ground. "Your Majesty, although my son is young, all the money he donated, whenever and wherever, is recorded in the account. Censor Li impeached me without a thorough investigation. This action not only hurts the child, but also chills the hearts of all those who do good deeds."
Prime Minister Su slammed his imperial tablet on the ground. "I second the motion! I implore Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate this matter and clear Si Yan's name!"
"That's right!" Young Marquis Su suddenly jumped up, nearly dropping the toy sword at his waist. "My nephew is only twelve years old. What does he know about corruption? This old censor must be seeking revenge!"
Su Qingyao rolled her eyes and took a half step to the side, her gilded armor sliding through the air: "If you don't have a brain, don't come out and embarrass yourself. Aren't you afraid of biting your tongue?" As soon as she finished speaking, the filigree and gem-inlaid phoenix hairpin on her head shook, and the pearl tassels swept across Li Yushi's pale cheek.
The emperor looked at the clamoring crowd below and suddenly burst into laughter. In the shadow of the bright yellow umbrella, the smile lines at the corners of his eyes shone with resignation. "Alright, alright, everyone, get up." He kicked Censor Li's official boots, the tangled branches on the soles rubbing against his trembling fingers. "Lord Li, you are indeed responsible for oversight in this matter. Go down and write a self-criticism, and I will fine you three months' salary."
As Li Yushi kowtowed, the wings on his black gauze hat trembled: "Your Majesty...Your Majesty obeys..."
"Si Yan," the emperor suddenly squatted down, the hem of his bright yellow robe brushing the blue bricks, "you are so kind-hearted at such a young age. It's truly rare. I want to thank you for these twenty taels of silver on behalf of the children of the charity cemetery."
Siyan's cheeks flushed red from the praise, and she twisted the tassel of the abacus at her waist with her fingers: "Your Majesty, then... then can I still go to the Imperial Academy to help with the accounting in the future?"
"Of course you can go!" The emperor laughed and patted his head. The sun pattern on the cuffs of his dragon robe just covered Si Yan's red eyes. "You, are the good man I personally appointed!"
Si Yan's head snapped up, the abacus beads clattering against his waist. As he turned and threw himself into Su Jinli's arms, the porridge stains on his moon-white gown rubbed against the hem of her skirt, only for her to gently rub the top of his head. "Okay, it's okay. Go home and let Mom make you sweet and sour pork ribs."
"I want osmanthus cake too!"
"All for you!"
Jiang Yan watched his wife and children laughing and playing, his fingers quietly lacing with Su Jinli's. He looked at the abacus tightly clasped in Si Yan's arms, and suddenly remembered how the child had secretly copied books for the bookstore last year to save money for a new abacus. It turned out that behind those "little money-grubbers" he had mocked, there lay such a soft heart.
As the group left the Meridian Gate, Young Marquis Su insisted on carrying Siyan. The child swung her legs on his shoulders, and the tassels of the abacus brushed against Su Qingyao's newly made rouge box, earning a laugh and a scolding from her. Prime Minister Su walked in front, stroking his beard, his ivory hut tapping out a brisk rhythm in his palm.
Jiang Yan slowed down his pace and watched the hairpins on Su Jinli's temples tremble in the wind. She suddenly turned around, her eyes reflecting the vermilion palace walls of the Meridian Gate. "What are you looking at?"
"Look at you," he whispered. "Look at us winning this battle."
Su Jinli chuckled, the ruby pendant on her hairpin gleaming. She reached out to straighten his slightly disheveled collar, her fingertips brushing against the coiled dragon pattern on his jade belt hook. "Of course. Don't you see whose family we are?"
The wind lifted the hem of her skirt, and the lotus pattern swept the sunlight across the bluestone slabs. Jiang Yan watched his wife and children playfully playing, and suddenly felt that the late spring breeze was sweet. Perhaps he should teach Si Yan again how to use the abacus to calculate a broader range of goodwill, just as he had spent his entire life calculating that marrying Su Jinli was the most correct decision of his life.
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