Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Ji Hanyi once again did not visit her mother-in-law that morning.
She sat quietly behind her desk, painting.
After several days of medicine, she had fortunately recovered a great deal, and her cough was gone as well.
At noon, she received a letter from the Gu Residence. It said that Cousin Xun had already been released from the Northern Pacification Office and told Ji Hanyi not to worry. Her second aunt also sent a letter thanking her, explaining that her cousin was too badly injured to come in person.
Ji Hanyi had not expected Shen Si to have the Northern Pacification Office release him so quickly.
Then again, given his current position, it truly was a very simple matter for him — one that hardly required any effort at all.
Elsewhere, after mulling it over that morning, Xie Yuheng made a rare visit to his brother-in-law, Lu Yuan, on Ji Hanyi’s behalf. To his surprise, Lu Yuan told him that Gu Xun had already been released first thing that morning.
Xie Yuheng paused, then pressed him for the reason.
Lu Yuan pulled Xie Yuheng into the room and said rather mysteriously, “Who would have thought Gu Xun had such a powerful backer?”
Xie Yuheng frowned. “What powerful backer could the Gu Family possibly have now?”
Lu Yuan shook his head. “That, I don’t know.”
“In fact, this business nearly got me into trouble.”
Lu Yuan proceeded to tell Xie Yuheng about being summoned to the Censorate Office by Shen Si. He then added, “After I returned, I thought the matter over carefully. What struck me as strange was that the Left Censor-in-Chief not only took notice of such a trifling matter involving a Banner Officer under me, but even knew Gu Xun.”
“Given Marquis Shen’s background, he associates only with imperial relatives and the highest nobility. Why would he pay attention to an insignificant man like Gu Xun?”
“Gu Xun is merely a Hereditary Student at the Imperial Academy. His academic record may be outstanding, but it still shouldn’t be enough to draw the attention of someone like Marquis Shen, much less prompt him to mention Gu Xun’s case specifically.”
“I can’t help feeling that Marquis Shen was warning me over Gu Xun’s situation, but at the same time, something about it doesn’t seem quite right.”
Xie Yuheng frowned at Lu Yuan. “Then why did you release him?”
At the question, Lu Yuan’s expression grew even more guarded. Lowering his voice, he said, “After Marquis Shen summoned me yesterday, I’d already decided to release Gu Xun.”
“If Gu Xun was someone even Marquis Shen knew, how would I dare keep him locked up?”
“I planned to release him today anyway, but who could have guessed that the Commander would come to see me first thing this morning? The first words out of his mouth were an order to release Gu Xun.”
“The Commander looked extremely stern. How could I possibly refuse?”
Xie Yuheng frowned. “Did he give a reason?”
Lu Yuan shook his head. “The Commander said nothing. He merely ordered me to release him.”
“Anyone who can make the Commander come in person to demand a prisoner’s release must be anything but ordinary.”
Xie Yuheng slowly leaned back in his chair.
Lu Yuan bent closer and asked, “Why don’t you go home and ask your wife? Could the Gu Family have some powerful backer we don’t know about?”
Xie Yuheng looked at him. “If they had another backer, the Second Madam of the Gu Family would never have come to the Xie Family.”
Lu Yuan clicked his tongue, then nodded in realization. “True. This whole affair is exceedingly strange.”
Xie Yuheng pursed his lips. For some reason, he recalled what Ji Hanyi had told him the night before — that she did not need him or the Xie Family to help her cousin.
A suspicion rose unbidden in his mind. Could Ji Hanyi have asked someone else for help?
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
Ji Hanyi had been married to him for three years and hardly ever left the residence. Even when she accompanied his mother to banquets, she met only women of the inner court. Who could she possibly know? And who among those people could command enough influence to move the Commander of the Jinyiwei?
Besides, after the Ji Family’s downfall, all their former connections had avoided them like the plague. Nearly every tie had been severed. He did not believe Ji Hanyi possessed such an ability.
Now that he had heard Gu Xun had been released, Xie Yuheng could not quite tell how he felt.
Lu Yuan sighed. “When I came to you before, I told you Gu Xun had some connection to you and asked if you would help him, but you refused.”
“Now, through a strange twist of fate, it turns out he has someone powerful backing him. Who could have known?”
Xie Yuheng tapped his fingertips against his knee, then rose. “I have to make a trip to the Censorate this afternoon. I should head back and prepare.”
Lu Yuan looked up. “What are you going to the Censorate for?”
Xie Yuheng lowered his voice. “With the year drawing to a close, His Majesty the Emperor has ordered the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate to jointly examine and oversee the robbery and theft cases that have accumulated at the Ministry of Punishments over the past two years. The review began two months ago, and I am in charge of it. The case files have now been organized, so I will take them to Lord Left Censor-in-Chief this afternoon for his review. Once everything has been confirmed, we will present them to His Majesty.”
Lu Yuan nodded. He asked no further questions and let Xie Yuheng leave first.
When Xie Yuheng went to the Censorate that afternoon, he could not help feeling somewhat nervous.
Although the Court of Judicial Review often had dealings with the Censorate over various cases, this was in fact his first time meeting the Censorate’s Senior Official.
He waited in the Censorate Main Hall. Lord Liu, the Investigating Censor working with him to review the Ministry of Punishments’ cases, told him that Lord Shen was still resting in the Censor’s office and asked him to wait outside the Second Hall with him until they were summoned.
Neither knew how long the wait would be. After a while, Lord Liu struck up a conversation with Xie Yuheng. “Lord Xie is certainly blessed in matters of romance. You married a wife as lovely as a flower and have another beautiful confidante at your side to keep you company. Only Lord Xie could enjoy the good fortune of having both.”
Xie Yuheng immediately frowned. “Lord Liu, please refrain from saying such things. I have only one wife. What other woman could there be?”
Lord Liu gave him a knowing smile and lowered his voice. “That night, I was in a hurry to leave the city on official business when I saw Lord Xie at the city gate, sharing a horse with a beautiful woman in your arms. The way you held her was most intimate, yet you claim there is no such thing?”
Laughing, he patted Xie Yuheng on the shoulder. “There is one thing you ought to thank me for, though. After I rode on that night, I happened upon your wife, who was still trapped in the snow. Her maid stopped me and asked me to send word to the Xie Residence, but I had official duties to attend to and could not spare the time. It was only after I reached the relay station that I sent someone back to call the Street Administration Office to clear the snow, saying it was obstructing official travel out of the city. Otherwise, while you rode off with your charming confidante in your arms, your beautiful wife might have been left freezing in the snow until she fell seriously ill.”
Lord Liu clicked his tongue as he looked at Xie Yuheng. “As for your lawful wife, even my wife always says she is the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. Though I have never had the fortune to meet her myself, I have certainly heard of her famed beauty. You truly are a fortunate man. Alas, I do not have your handsome face or fine looks.”
“Still, you showed far too much favor to one over the other. Did your wife make a scene when you returned?”
Xie Yuheng’s entire body went rigid. His mind had gone completely blank.
He stared numbly at the floor, no longer knowing how to answer.
Seeing his silence, Lord Liu nudged him again. “We are only chatting. It is not as though I am demanding a gift of thanks from you. Why have you gone silent?”
Xie Yuheng’s throat felt painfully constricted. Just as he was about to explain, he heard Lord Liu beside him hastily offer a greeting. He turned to look behind him and received a terrible shock.
Was that not Lord Shen, the Lord Left Censor-in-Chief?
Xie Yuheng hurriedly followed suit, bowing to greet Lord Censor.
He kept his head lowered, not daring to so much as glance up. An inexplicable chill seemed to bear down on him from above, pressing so heavily that he nearly dropped to his knees.