After Rescuing The Sickly White Moonlight - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Rebellion, Praying for Blessings, Malpractice; Damn Whoever Slandered Big Brother!

Time passed quickly. Everyone tacitly avoided discussing what happened on the day of the autumn hunt. After two months of recuperation, Liang Yi’an fully recovered.

The Emperor investigated repeatedly, but the findings suggested that the appearance of the tiger and wolf was merely an accident. As for the Crown Prince’s horse suddenly going mad, it was attributed to a lapse by a medicine boy in the Imperial Academy of Medicine, who had carelessly placed She Chuang Zi into the insect-repellent sachet. Though he realized the mistake and quickly removed them later, he had missed the one belonging to the Crown Prince.

Anyone with a brain knew it wasn’t that simple, but when men were sent to seize the medicine boy, they found he had already committed suicide out of fear, leaving behind a suicide note confessing his actions.

Liang Jin was infuriated. He conducted a top-to-bottom investigation of the “placeholder” officials in the palace who were merely drawing a salary without doing work, leaving many positions vacant.

The newly entered palace servants all underwent several rounds of vetting. However, Liang Yi’an felt the people around him were sufficient; having more would only be irritating, so he did not add any more servants.

According to Zheng Yanzhang, the Emperor dispatched the Black Armor Cavalry to explore that mountain hollow. Consequently, they were attacked by dead soldiers in the deep mountains. The dead soldiers set a massive fire to cut off the only path forward; by the time the fire died down, the place was already empty.

A large hole had been artificially excavated in that mountain. The traces left behind indicated that someone was privately manufacturing military weapons there. The Emperor was thunderstruck with rage, but the mastermind could not be found. The captured dead soldiers all committed suicide by taking poison, and they carried nothing on them that could prove their identity they were completely clean.

But this was enough to prove that someone in the state of Rong intended to rebel.

After the autumn hunt, Lin Yu returned to the Zheng manor and checked Zheng Qingyun’s prescription meticulously once more. He still found no problem. Together with the manor physician, he inspected the medicinal ingredients one by one; still, there were no issues.

Zheng Qingyun had not been drowsy or lethargic these past two days, and his spirits seemed quite good. Lin Yu wondered if he was becoming a bit paranoid.

Although he knew Suo Lou would certainly not stop, his suspicious behavior made even Zheng Qingyun feel a bit helpless, telling him not to be so tense.

Every bout of autumn rain brings a bout of cold.

With the onset of autumn came several consecutive days of torrential rain. The weather was as heavy as their moods.

Zheng Heng entered the palace more and more frequently, and the expression on his face grew increasingly somber.

In private, he had called the four of them together to have a heart-to-heart talk.

“The Second Prince’s faction is restless. I only fear he will act against you. Furthermore, Suo Lou views our Zheng family as a thorn in his side and a needle in his flesh. You must remember to protect yourselves.”

From beginning to end, Lin Yu could not understand why Suo Lou was so obsessed with the Zheng family and refused to let them go. The only explanation was likely that the Zheng family was close to the Crown Prince and loyal; only by toppling the Zheng family would the Crown Prince’s greatest supporter disappear.

Lin Yu was truly somewhat tired. He didn’t understand how Suo Lou could come up with so many sinister tricks.

Zheng Heng sighed from time to time at home, which prompted his young daughter to mimic him, sighing like a little adult.

Deng Yuan irritably gave Zheng Heng a few swats: “Can’t you even let people eat in peace! Haven’t I said not to bring official business to the dinner table? If you won’t eat, go to the study.”

Deng Yuan’s grumbling made the children present burst into laughter.

The young daughter babbled along: “Go… thtudy… go!”

Zheng Heng didn’t dare speak. He simply stopped sighing and finished his meal peacefully.

After dinner, Zheng Qingyun pulled Lin Yu back. The two had agreed to memorize books.

Zheng Heng was in the room conversing with his wife about something.

Occasionally, sighs and Deng Yuan’s gentle words of comfort drifted out.

Zheng Yanzhang was spot-checking Zheng Zhili’s homework. Zheng Zhili complained incessantly, his voice buried in the sound of the rain.

Under the dim yellow candlelight, two fuzzy heads were bent together, practicing calligraphy with serious expressions.

The ink was filled and depleted, depleted and filled; the candlelight was extinguished and relit. Snowflakes and raindrops appeared intermittently. Outside the window, the branches slowly grew over the eaves, turning green and then yellow.

In the twelfth year of Yongqing, the name of the top scorer on the Metropolitan Examination list became “Zheng Yanzhang.” Another spring had arrived.

Four years passed. The childishness gradually faded from the faces of the two children, replaced by a touch of youthful spirit.

“I’m not practicing anymore! Brother Xiao Yu! You’re a bully!”

Zheng Qingyun threw the wooden sword down and shouted at Lin Yu.

Lin Yu was somewhat helpless.

After these years of conditioning, Zheng Qingyun’s health had gradually improved. Physician Chen regularly checked his pulse and adjusted his prescriptions.

Ever since his health improved, Lin Yu had been dragging him to practice, wanting his body to get even better. However, Zheng Qingyun would sometimes refuse to practice, requiring Lin Yu to coax him for a long time.

This time, Lin Yu had managed with great difficulty to coax him out, only for Zheng Qingyun’s wooden sword to be flicked away within a few moves. He quit.

Zheng Zhili entered from the doorway, took a long spear from the side, balanced it in his hand twice, and said to Lin Yu with a smile: “Come, Xiao Yu, Second Brother will spar with you.”

Hearing this, Zheng Qingyun sat on a small stool to the side, prepared to watch the battle.

Ten-year-old Zheng Qingyun was a bit shorter compared to Lin Yu, who was two years older. Fourteen-year-old Zheng Zhili had grown much taller and sturdier; to Lin Yu’s eyes, he was nearly 1.7 meters tall, perhaps even a bit more.

Lin Yu picked up the wooden sword from the ground and met him head-on: “Alright!”

Holding the spear with one hand, Zheng Zhili narrowly grazed Lin Yu’s upright wooden sword. The spear shaft suddenly turned like a spiritual snake; with a slight twist of Zheng Zhili’s wrist, the eight-foot long spear lunged straight for Lin Yu’s chest with the sound of breaking wind.

Lin Yu took a step back, raised the wooden sword, and slashed diagonally upward. The spine of the sword struck the spear shaft with a crisp sound. Zheng Zhili swept out with his leg while his spear plunged deep into the ground. Lin Yu jumped to evade and leaped half a step back.

Lin Yu watched as Zheng Zhili pulled at the spear a few times without it budging and couldn’t help but want to laugh.

Zheng Zhili decisively gave up on pulling the spear and started fighting bare-handed.

During the struggle, the weapons of the two flew off one after the other, and they directly began to grapple.

Zheng Qingyun sat to the side, shouting “Second Brother is so amazing” one moment and “Xiao Yu is great” the next; the title of Best Spectator belonged to no one but him.

The youngest sister, Zheng Zelan, her hair styled in two cute buns, pitter-pattered over to Zheng Qingyun and sweetly called out “Third Brother.”

Zheng Qingyun took his little sister into his arms to watch together. His hands weren’t idle either, taking a few pieces of dried fruit from Zheng Zelan’s pouch.

Ever since Zheng Zelan stumbled upon Lin Yu feeding Zheng Qingyun sugar-preserved seasonal fruits every time after he finished his medicine, she would always pester Lin Yu to give her some too. Unable to withstand the pestering, Lin Yu eventually made some dried fruits for her, but Zheng Qingyun found out about it, so Zheng Zelan’s dried fruits were always stolen by Zheng Qingyun.

By the time the two stopped fighting by mutual agreement, Zheng Zelan discovered the dried fruits in her small pouch were gone. Her lip trembled, and she looked at Zheng Qingyun with tearful eyes.

Zheng Qingyun gave a guilty smile and caught a glimpse of Zheng Yanzhang returning. He pointed his finger: “Zelan, Big Brother is back. Go find Big Brother; he’s sure to have something delicious.”

Upon hearing this, Zheng Zelan immediately ran over and hugged Zheng Yanzhang’s calf, shaking it: “Big Brother… Big Brother, Lanlan wants to eat something delicious!”

Zheng Yanzhang gave a helpless look to Zheng Qingyun, who was snickering in the background, and pulled a paper bag from his robes, handing it to Zheng Zelan: “Dried pork. Don’t eat too much.”

With that, he had Guanqi carry Zheng Zelan back.

Zheng Yanzhang had Guanyi bring a cloak for Zheng Qingyun and lectured him: “The weather isn’t that warm yet. Wearing such thin clothes aren’t you afraid of catching a cold?”

Zheng Qingyun obediently put on the cloak.

Lin Yu and Zheng Zhili wiped their sweat, rolled up their sleeves a bit, and used a palm-leaf fan to fan themselves.

While brewing tea, Zheng Zhili said: “The Crown Prince sent someone today to say that several more nameplates have been found in the outskirts of the capital. Over these few years, quite a few have been found intermittently, but except for that one piece that matches the map, there are no clues for the others no matter what.”

Lin Yu used the fan to cool the teacups and comforted Zheng Yanzhang: “Look on the bright side. At least no major incidents have happened these past few years.”

Zheng Yanzhang gave him a look, pointedly saying: “You mean you and Qingyun being ambushed in the outskirts, the Crown Prince being assassinated while traveling incognito, and that whole series of events aren’t ‘major incidents’?”

Lin Yu choked, saying haltingly: “Aren’t we all perfectly fine.”

His volume grew lower and lower until it was almost inaudible.

Seeing this, Zheng Yanzhang shook his head inwardly and said with a hint of worry: “For some reason, I’ve been feeling a bit unsettled these past few days. The Palace Examination is approaching; I hope nothing goes wrong.”

Zheng Qingyun volunteered: “Big Brother, Brother Xiao Yu and I will go to Jing’an Temple to pray for blessings for you.”

Zheng Zhili said irritably: “Why didn’t you ask me!”

“Ah, and Second Brother too!” Zheng Qingyun added.

Zheng Yanzhang poured them a cup of tea and called out their true intentions: “If you want to go on a spring outing, just say so. There’s no need to use the excuse of praying for me.”

Zheng Zhili defended: “Praying for Big Brother is the main event. The spring outing is just incidental. Once at Jing’an Temple, we’ll also go pay our respects to the statue of Confucius; that’ll guarantee Big Brother takes the title of Zhuangyuan!”

Lin Yu didn’t speak, watching the three of them joking and bantering.

The magnolias in the courtyard were blooming beautifully. When the wind blew, the pure white blossoms swayed gently.

Just like the peach blossoms at Jing’an Temple.

The petals weighed the branches down until they were slightly curved; the wind stirred up by the passing crowds would carry away a few petals.

After school, Zheng Qingyun called Lin Yu and Zheng Zhili, and the three went to Jing’an Temple together.

There were many people out for a spring excursion—men and women, old and young, crowded together.

Once the three had finished praying, they donated some incense money to the temple and received three peace amulets.

Ultimately, all three peace amulets ended up in Zheng Yanzhang’s hands.

Zheng Yanzhang carefully tucked the three peace amulets away and placed them on his bookshelf.

The Palace Examination takes place one month after the Metropolitan Examination results are posted.

Zheng Yanzhang was at home calming his mind and practicing calligraphy when there was a knock at the door urgent, as if there were an emergency.

Zheng Yanzhang opened the door to find Guanqi speaking at a rapid-fire pace: “Eldest Young Master, more than thirty scholars have struck the bell at the Bureau of Statutes, risking their lives to accuse that the questions for the Metropolitan Examination were leaked. The candidates who didn’t make the list have gathered in a crowd, sitting in protest outside the Bureau of Statutes, clamoring for an explanation.”

Zheng Yanzhang’s pupils contracted.

The imperial examination is a vital matter of the state. Countless scholars rely on it to transform their lives.

In the morning a commoner in a thatched hut, in the evening entering the halls of the Emperor.

Leaking the examination questions this was an astronomical matter. Once it was confirmed that the questions were indeed leaked, he, as the top scorer (Huiyuan), would be the first to bear the brunt.

The sky that had just been clear now turned somewhat somber.

In the imperial court, the hundred officials were in a fervor of discussion upon learning of this.

Officials from the Ministry of Rites, along with the Director of the Department of Educational Affairs, knelt on the ground shouting of their innocence, weeping as they implied that such a thing was simply a fantasy.

The Chief Examiner of the Metropolitan Examination, the Minister of Rites, went so far as to swear a deadly oath: “May the Emperor be the judge. If this is true, my entire clan shall not die a natural death!”

The Emperor quickly intervened: “Minister Wang, those are heavy words. There is no need for this, no need for this.”

the Director of the Bureau of Statutes of the Ministry of Justice stood up: “Your Majesty, currently several candidates are sitting in protest before the gates of the Bureau of Statutes. Where does this leave the face of the Imperial family? I request an imperial decree to seize the ringleaders as an example to others.”

The Director of the Bureau of Merit of the Ministry of Personnel objected: “They all hold academic titles. How can they be seized directly? Your Majesty, I believe we should issue a public proclamation to the world, stating that the court will strictly investigate this matter. Calming the people’s anger must come first.”

Zheng Heng felt a growing worry in his heart, but he could not rashly speak out and could only wait.

By the end of the discussion, no satisfactory conclusion had been reached.

The Emperor had no choice but to announce the dismissal of the court.

“Rumble”

A light rain began to fall.

A piece of news spread silently among the common people.

At night, Zheng Yanzhang woke with a start from his sleep.

His heart felt unsettled, and he tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

He threw back the covers, got up, and opened the window. The rain outside had been falling for several days.

The biting spring wind was still quite cold.

The next day, Zheng Yanzhang developed a bit of a high fever.

In the imperial court, arguments were raging over the news just received.

The rumor among the people: “The person who leaked the examination questions was Lu An, the teacher of Zheng Yanzhang, the son of Zheng Heng, Scholar of the Hall of Manifest Literature.”

In an instant, the Zheng Manor became the target of public criticism.