Chapter 70 Midwinter Frost "This is the price I paid"...
After pondering for several days, Ming finally came to Xinghua Ward.
He met Xue Guangting through the imperial examination and regarded Xue Guangting as a confidant. He did not believe that Xue Guangting would bully a commoner's daughter, let alone that he was colluding with a prince.
He was extremely anxious after hearing that Xue Guangting had been imprisoned. However, he had no official position and had no connections with the sons of noble families. In the past few days, he had made inquiries from various sources, but ultimately came up empty-handed.
He had also sought help from Master Tao, but Master Tao dismissed him with a dismissive remark: "Teach only the classics, don't concern yourself with court affairs." He despised those who were scheming and opportunistic, and now he was trying to send some money to the Ministry of Justice in hopes of getting a meeting with Xue Guangting.
Now, he has to ask the person he least wants to ask.
Yue Shanling returned late. It was the first time Zhou Zhuang had met Shen Siming. Hearing that he had come to find General Yue, Zhou Zhuang assumed he was a friend of the general and warmly welcomed him into the house.
The small courtyard has two sections. You can see the whole thing from the entrance. The two north-facing rooms at the front are where the Zhou family lives. The middle room is used as a study. Further inside is Yue Shanling's bedroom.
Chen Siming sat stiffly in his chair, watching a boy of about eleven or twelve years old bring him tea and snacks back and forth, thanking him repeatedly.
After the young man finished carrying the fruit, he ran off without looking back, without saying when he would return from the mountains. Only Chen Siming was left in the house.
Shen Siming waited anxiously. The faint sound of a woman scolding him could be heard from the front yard. It was too quiet inside, and Shen Siming unconsciously pricked up his ears, wanting to hear what was being said outside. The thought had barely formed when he inwardly berated himself; how could he eavesdrop on others? It was utterly ungentlemanly.
He waited a while longer, his back aching from sitting so long. What time was it? Why hadn't Yue Shanling returned yet?
He looked around listlessly. The room wasn't spacious, and although the floor was paved with bricks, they weren't made of durable, wear-resistant blue bricks. Over the years, the edges and corners of the bricks showed signs of wear, and some bricks had even cracked in half.
A painting or calligraphy hangs on the wall to the left as decoration. The door is closed, so the lighting is poor, and Chen Siming can't see it very clearly.
He wanted to stand up and stretch his muscles, but then he felt that this was Yue Shanling's place, and given his relationship with Yue Shanling, wandering around the house would seem impolite.
Chen Siming stared blankly at the armrests of the chair. The armrests were of varying shades of color, with a white mark on their surface. He tapped on them and realized that it wasn't the grain of the wood, but rather the yellowish-white wood underneath that had peeled off from the varnish over the years due to wear and tear.
The courtyard where Shen Siming now lives is not large, but it is much more exquisite than the one in Yueshanling, and there are several more rooms. Otherwise, he would not have been able to accommodate Xue Guangting and Liu Gongsheng to stay there permanently.
Shen Siming rubbed the mottled marks on the armrest with his thumb. He had been an official for more than ten years, crossing mountains and ridges, yet he still lived in such a simple house.
Before the sun had fully set, the room became dark. The young man who brought the snacks came in again and lit all the lamps.
Shen Siming called out to him and asked when General Yue would return.
The young man replied that it was still early, and then asked, "My mother asked if you want to set out a meal."
Reminded by him, Shen Siming realized that if he stayed any longer, it would be dinnertime. But he hadn't even seen Yue Shanling yet; if he left now, would he have to come back tomorrow?
Shen Siming decided to wait a little longer and told the young man that there was no need to prepare a meal for him.
That's what they said. When it was time to eat, Zhouzhuang ordered four dishes and a soup from Huiyuan Restaurant and had them delivered.
Chen Siming could no longer sit still. He kept opening the door to look at the night sky and paced anxiously back and forth in the room.
As the first drumbeat of the night struck at the beginning of the day, Chen Siming finally met the person he was waiting for.
"Zhou Zhuang said you've been waiting for some time, but what happened? Why didn't you send someone to the South Office to call me?" Yue Shanling was still wearing his official uniform. With a few long strides, he walked up to Shen Siming.
Upon actually seeing Yue Shanling, Chen Siming felt like retreating. Thinking of his friend suffering in prison, he took a deep breath and pleaded with some difficulty, "Xue Guangting is in the Ministry of Justice's prison. Do you have any way to help him?"
Yue Shanling hadn't expected that Shen Siming had come for Xue Guangting. He looked at Shen Siming with some surprise and saw that he was pursing his lips tightly and looking resolute, as if he were about to do a heroic act of sacrificing himself for righteousness.
Yue Shanling found it amusing. His younger brother was stubborn and always the most competitive in front of him. Now, even though he had to swallow his pride and beg him, he still couldn't say a few soft words.
Unfortunately, Yue Shan couldn't agree to this, and could only tell Shen Siming, "I can't help."
Shen Siming didn't understand for a moment why Yue Shanling couldn't help: "You've been an official in the court for many years, you must have some connections. Xue Guangting must have been wronged, I can assure you."
“Ze Rui,” Yue Shanling interrupted him, “I can’t help.”
After being rejected repeatedly, Shen Siming became somewhat anxious: "Is it because of me that you are unwilling to help him? I know you have grievances against me, but the grudges between us have nothing to do with Xue Guangting. If you don't want to get involved, just tell me what to do, and I can do it myself."
Yue Shanling calmly watched Chen Siming plead urgently, and only after he finished speaking did he reply: "The imperial examination is just around the corner. You should study hard and prepare for the exam. Don't worry about things outside."
As he spoke, he walked out, saying, "It's already curfew. I'll have Zhou Zhuang take my fish tally and send you back."
Shen Siming stepped forward and grabbed Yue Shanling, then knelt down in front of him with a heavy heart: "Everything that happened in the past was my fault. You can blame me, hit me or scold me, I just ask that you listen to me finish."
Yue Shanling was startled by Shen Siming's sudden action and took a half step back. She reached out and grabbed Shen Siming's arm to pull him up, saying, "What are you doing! Whatever you have to say, get up and talk first."
Shen Siming exerted force with his hands, resisting the pull of Yue Shanling, and pleaded loudly: "I have read Xue Guangting's articles. He is talented and of noble character. He will be an upright and honest official."
He kept pulling away the hands that had pulled him up from the mountains, his body sinking down, his knees rooted to the stone bricks: "He should have become a wise minister assisting the government, but he suffered imprisonment and ruined his career because of false accusations. It is truly disheartening. Criminal laws and regulations are the standard for judging right and wrong. Now that there is no evidence, how can he be detained before trial? Where does this place the law?"
Shen Siming, a mere scholar, was no match for the strength of someone who had practiced martial arts for many years. The warrior, using his increased strength across the mountain ridge, pulled Shen Siming up from the ground.
"Contemplate clearly!"
While Chen Siming was still struggling, a low growl suddenly came. He stopped moving and looked up at Yue Shanling.
He hadn't heard his own name from Yue Shanling for a long time. Since Yue Shanling had guarded the border, whenever they met again, the other party would always greet him with a gentle smile and call him "Ze Rui".
Yue Shanling sighed at Ming, who was staring blankly into thought, and explained in a low voice, "It's not that I'm unwilling, it's that I can't help."
This time, Ming finally realized the subtle difference between "unwilling" and "unable".
“Why not?” he asked.
Yue Shanling loosened his grip on T's hand, pondering the words.
He felt there were some things he needed to make clear to Shen Siming: "Do you really think Xue Guangting was imprisoned because of those two deliberately mysterious cases? He was imprisoned because of the conflict between the Sage and the Wang family. Getting involved in this kind of thing will only bring trouble upon yourself."
Shen Si knew that there were many conflicts between the emperor and the aristocratic families, and he also knew that Xue Guangting had impeached the Wang family. But he never expected that Xue Guangting would become a victim in the power struggle between the emperor and the aristocratic families. He questioned incredulously, "How can the lives of innocent people be used as a raft in court disputes?"
Yue Shanling grabbed Chen Siming's shoulder, glared at him to silence him, and whispered, "You've read history books too. It's always been the same in every dynasty."
Shen Siming had naturally read history books, but at this moment he hated that he had read them. It was precisely because he had read them that he understood more clearly that what Yue Shanling said was true.
His eyes were glazed over, and he staggered backward, moving about the room in a daze, muttering to himself, "How could this be... how could this be..."
Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he turned around and ran towards Yue Shanling, grabbing Yue Shanling's arms eagerly. His wide eyes were filled with the excitement of a desperate gamble: "His case hasn't been decided yet. If it can be proven that he was wronged, as long as it can be proven that he was wronged, even a saint cannot disregard the law."
“Yes, that’s right.” It was unclear whether Shen Siming was speaking to Yue Shanling or to himself. “I need to find evidence. With evidence, we can overturn the case and prove his innocence.”
Prince Mu wisely secluded himself to reflect on his actions, but he refused to give up. In the struggle for imperial power, one wrong step could lead to utter ruin. Yue Shanling couldn't bear to see Chen Siming follow the same old path: "Ze Rui, you're not young anymore, don't be willful."
Shen Siming's voice was already a little hoarse. He looked at Yue Shanling with a puzzled expression: "Why didn't you try if you clearly had a way? Did you expect me to just watch my friend be wrongfully killed?"
Yue Shanling is an official in the imperial court and needs to be wary of the power of aristocratic families. He has no official position, so what is there to fear? Why must Yue Shanling stop him?
"Because I was willful!" Yue Shanling tilted his head back and pointed to the side of his neck.
A scar lay across his taut neck, its dark color clinging tightly to the skin like a crack in the floor tiles of a room.
"This is the price I paid." Yue Shanling's tone was very light, so light that it was as if only a soul was standing in front of Shen Siming.
Chen Siming stared intently at the wound. Of course he remembered that Yue Shanling was only fourteen years old at the time, lying in the courtyard of the Yue family mansion, with blood gushing from his neck as if it would never stop flowing, staining half the courtyard red, so red that he thought Yue Shanling was beyond saving.
Later, that place could never be cleaned properly; the glaring red seeped into the cracks in the stones and remained there forever.
Within the Yue family mansion, Yue Shanling was never to be mentioned again, and outsiders no longer referred to him as the Third Young Master of the Yue family. Yue Shanling never returned until the death of the old Marquis of Yue.
That bright red color seemed to reappear before his eyes, gushing out from the crack, endlessly staining every stone slab red.
In a daze, Chen Siming heard Yue Shanling say, "If it weren't for this sword, the Yue family might have been destroyed long ago because of me. Ze Rui, the Yue family is not just about you and me. You should think about your mother and A Ling."
Chen Siming slumped weakly into his chair. He had written countless policy essays and talked at length about government decrees and laws, but for the first time he truly felt how difficult it was to do something.
"Is he destined to die? He is a newly appointed scholar, favored by the emperor. Even the emperor... cannot save him?" Shen Siming murmured.
A saint is not someone who can or cannot be, but someone who is willing or not.
The Wang family was the head of all aristocratic families, enjoying considerable prestige among officials. If the Wang family were to back down, even the emperor would have to give face to all scholars and provide an explanation to the aristocratic families. Therefore, if the Wang family lived, Xue Guangting would have no choice but to die. But if the Wang family died, Xue Guangting could live.
To save him, Wang must die.
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The author says: He is the Prince of Jin, Xue Guangting, and Yue Shanling in his youth.
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