Chapter 16:
Tempest
AS XIAO CHIYE SET OUT, the wind rose; rain soon followed. He galloped straight through, arriving at the Imperial College just in time to hear one of the scholars, Gao Zhongxiong, shouting over the crowd: “Until the traitor is executed, the wrath of the public will not be appeased!”
The mass of students kowtowed and echoed in unison. “Until the traitor is executed, the wrath of the public will not be appeased!”
The rain spattered against the ground; the students’ robes were drenched.
Xiao Chiye reined in his horse so sharply it danced in place. He looked down at those bent backs for a moment, then raised his voice. “Where were you five years ago? If you gentlemen had knelt to make your case back when that traitor’s son first entered the capital, he would never have lived to this day.”
Gao Zhongxiong’s chest heaved. “Lord Supreme Commander, as they say, better late than never. The Shen remnant has yet to spread his wings. As long as His Majesty is willing to retract his pardon and punish him to the fullest extent, the loyal souls lost in Zhongbo will still be consoled!”
“An imperial edict from the Son of Heaven cannot be issued at dawn and rescinded at dusk,” Xiao Chiye said. “You are not beseeching His Majesty by kneeling, you are threatening him. All you gentlemen here are loyal and filial men of the world. There are a hundred ways you can make your appeal—why insist on this unwise course?”
“Your Excellency.” Gao Zhongxiong looked up. “Men who wield swords die in battles, while men who wield brushes die in remonstrations! If we watch helplessly while His Majesty is deceived into such decisions, we might as well let our blood spill on the terrace tonight. Let our death prove our faith!”
“You threaten death with every sentence.” Xiao Chiye scoffed. “After all this time, is that all civil servants are capable of?”
The rain grew heavier. The students didn’t budge.
Xiao Chiye dismounted and squatted before Gao Zhongxiong. Water poured down in sheets. He leaned in and asked, “Who put you up to this?”
A look of great resolve came over Gao Zhongxiong’s face. “I am driven to action by my loyalty to my sovereign!”
“I don’t think so,” Xiao Chiye drawled. “Of course, if you want to protect an outsider, you can. It’s just that your actions today have implicated all three thousand of your fellow students behind you. If this angers the Son of Heaven, and it turns into a bloodbath, the lot of you will be no different from that wretched remnant of the Shen Clan—sinners condemned through the ages. And that isn’t even the worst part. What’s worse is this: even if your head rolls, His Majesty still won’t rescind his edict. For a dozen years you devoted yourself to your studies, all to be someone else’s tool?”
Gao Zhongxiong lifted a hand to wipe the rain off his face. “I am doing this out of loyalty and righteousness; this is nothing like the Shen Clan’s treachery! Even if all three thousand of us were to die here tonight and our blood flooded the terrace, it would all be for the sake of His Majesty!”
“The palace has neither withdrawn Shen Zechuan’s post, nor have they issued any edict to appease these students,” Xiao Chiye said. “Do you not understand His Majesty’s intent?”
“For each day His Majesty does not rescind his order,” Gao Zhongxiong persisted, “we will neither rise, eat, nor retreat!”
The thunderstorm raged overhead. Xiao Chiye straightened. Chen Yang stepped forward with an umbrella, but Xiao Chiye raised a hand to stop him. Rain soaked his robe; even the token hanging from his belt dripped with water.
“My lord,” Chen Yang murmured, “the Embroidered Uniform Guard is here!”
Xiao Chiye turned and saw Qiao Tianya arriving on horseback through the rain. He dismounted and cupped his hands in salute.
Murmurs rose among the students as they recognized the Scarlet Cavalry.
“What a thorny problem. Nothing to trouble Your Excellency the supreme commander over.” Qiao Tianya put a hand to his blade and smiled. “A member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is the target here, so naturally we should be the ones to resolve this.”
“Resolve this.” Xiao Chiye raised an arm almost thoughtlessly and rested it on Qiao Tianya’s shoulder. “How does Your Excellency propose to resolve this? It’s just some unarmed students; nothing to trouble the Embroidered Uniform Guard over.”
“The emperor is the highest authority in Qudu.” Qiao Tianya glanced sidelong at him. “Any with the gall to defy His Majesty become enemies of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”
Xiao Chiye looked him in the eye. After a moment, both men burst out laughing. “My good man,” Xiao Chiye said, “you’re certainly of true heart.”
“It’s cold and wet out here.” Qiao Tianya tightened his grip on his blade. “I’ll send someone to escort the supreme commander back to your manor.”
“I just got here.” Xiao Chiye’s hand was heavy on Qiao Tianya’s shoulder, preventing him from unsheathing the blade. Still smiling, he said, “There’s no harm in staying a little longer.”
“This is a tricky situation. Why does Your Excellency insist on wading into these muddy waters?”
“It’s precisely because it’s tricky that I’m wading in; we can’t deal with all of them at once,” Xiao Chiye said. “Besides, these students are all great minds of the state. None of us can shoulder the blame of losing even one.”
At the back of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a man in a thin, wide-sleeved robe dismounted his horse. He carried no blade; amid the others, he stood out like a sore thumb. Qiao Tianya loosened his grip on his hilt and shouted, “Lanzhou, come here a moment.”
Shen Zechuan turned and exchanged glances with Xiao Chiye.
Qiao Tianya shrugged Xiao Chiye’s arm off with a languid roll of his shoulders. “The supreme commander’s concern is valid. However, the Embroidered Uniform Guard do not simply bludgeon our way through our tasks. I already made arrangements; the imperial order should arrive any minute… Ah, here he is. The two of you are old acquaintances, are you not? Stay with the supreme commander a while, Lanzhou. The students have frightened him.”
Shen Zechuan gathered his sleeves and looked out at the students kneeling in the rain. Xiao Chiye shot him a glance. “You sure wasted no time picking up your token.”
“Er-gongzi’s token was returned quite briskly as well,” Shen Zechuan replied.
Xiao Chiye smiled, though his eyes were cold. “This protest appears to take aim at you, but the real target is the palace. You didn’t win enough for yourself yesterday and had to whip up this storm the moment you escaped your cage?”
Tipping his head, Shen Zechuan looked at him with eyes full of innocence. “Er-gongzi thinks too highly of me. I certainly haven’t the ability to cause such a tempest. If the real target is the palace, one wonders who is praying for His Majesty to fall out with the Hua Clan. Surely Er-gongzi would know better than I.”
“I don’t,” Xiao Chiye said. “All this convoluted stuff is beyond my understanding.”
Shen Zechuan smiled. “We are old acquaintances; there’s no need to put on an act with me.”
Xiao Chiye didn’t answer. Instead, he lifted a finger and flicked the token at Shen Zechuan’s waist. “The Elephant-Training Office is a good place. You must be pleased.”
“That I am,” Shen Zechuan said. “It just so happens I have some insight on taming ferocious beasts.”
“Wouldn’t call that insight,” Xiao Chiye said. “More like a conversation between two like creatures.”
“I daren’t entertain such conversation.” Shen Zechuan coughed quietly. “If our talk breaks down and I receive another kick, wouldn’t all my efforts be for naught?”
“Use your fangs, then.” Xiao Chiye took the umbrella from Chen Yang and held it overhead, covering Shen Zechuan too. “Don’t you have sharp teeth and a sharper tongue? What are you afraid of?”
“I value my life.” Shen Zechuan heaved an affected sigh. “As they say, the kindness of a drop of water shall be repaid with a gushing spring. There is so much more I wish to repay Er-gongzi for.”
Xiao Chiye scoffed. “You must have the wrong person.”
“That can’t be.” Shen Zechuan cast a sidelong glance at Xiao Chiye and said calmly, “I recognize you.”
“Fine, then.” Xiao Chiye looked askance at him as well. “I also want to see how much I owe you.”
The voices beyond the umbrella fell away. The two men stood shoulder to shoulder, accentuating their stark difference in height.
“Regrettably, there’s no way you can stay out of this matter.” Xiao Chiye gazed at the students in the rain. “If even one of them dies tonight, the blame will fall on you.”
“Thirty thousand wrongfully perished souls and counting,” Shen Zechuan said nonchalantly. “If they’re afraid to die, they shouldn’t have become someone else’s weapon. Even if someone tries to pin this on me, who says I have to lie down and take it?”
They fell silent again, waiting in the rain.
Qiao Tianya had been sitting under a shed eating melon seeds; when he saw the expected sedan chair approaching, he casually shook the shells off his robe and stood, watching the silhouette sway toward them in the gloom of night.
The curtain lifted, revealing Pan Rugui within. A junior eunuch supported him with a hand, while Ji Lei kept pace at his side, holding an umbrella. Wearing a robe with a mandarin square of tiger, mugwort, and five poisons and a black, wide-brimmed hat, Pan Rugui let Qiao Tianya guide him toward the students.
Qiao Tianya reined in his glib demeanor. “What a downpour. To think they managed to draw the director out in this weather.”
Pan Rugui cast a glance at Gao Zhongxiong and asked Qiao Tianya, “He won’t back down?”
“Scholars are bullheaded,” Qiao Tianya replied. “They’re neither enticed by the carrot nor cowed by the stick.”
“Then I’m afraid the stick isn’t sturdy enough.” Pan Rugui had lost his right-hand man only the day before and had nowhere to vent his pent-up anger. With the junior eunuch supporting him, he came to stand before Gao Zhongxiong. “You are well-read in the classics. How is it you can’t comprehend the words ‘overstepping your bounds’? Affairs of the imperial court are to be discussed in the imperial court. Brats as green as grass have no business meddling!”
On seeing this familiar lackey of the Hua Clan’s faction, Gao Zhongxiong couldn’t help but sit up straight. “Every man has a duty to his country. Since students of the Imperial College benefit from the imperial stipend, we must serve the imperial throne! These days, treacherous toadies abound in every corner of the palace. If we don’t—”
“Treacherous toadies!” Pan Rugui sneered. “What a fine way to put it! Who directed you to slander the imperial court and malign His Majesty?”
“It was a loyal—”
“Enough,” Pan Rugui snapped. “You act on the instigation of traitors with sinister motives and publicly defy an imperial decree. You incite your clique to slander the imperial court and the people. If this goes unpunished, what use is the law? Men, take him!”
Gao Zhongxiong had never expected Pan Rugui to be so brazen as to arrest him without cause. He braced himself there in the rain and cried, “Who dares lay a hand on me! I was chosen by His Majesty himself to study at the Imperial College! Villains stand before us, and eunuchs endanger the state!” Hoarsely, he continued, “The empress dowager exerts control over state affairs and refuses to return governance to its rightful master. If anyone should be arrested, it’s treacherous ministers and traitors like you!”
“Take him away!” Ji Lei snapped, seeing Pan Rugui’s temper flare.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard stepped forward; Gao Zhongxiong’s attempt to climb to his feet was thwarted. He raised his arms in the direction of the palace and shouted, “Take my death today as a remonstration to the state! If the eunuch wants to kill me, then let him! Your Majesty…”
Qiao Tianya locked his arm around Gao Zhongxiong’s neck. The scholar struggled for breath yet still croaked out, “Your Majesty—! With treacherous ministers ruling the court, is there any place for the loyal and righteous?”
Xiao Chiye had a single thought: Oh shit.
What happened next was just as he expected. Sorrow and indignation surged through the three thousand students. They gave no thought to life and death amid their fervent aggrievement. As the storm raged above them, the students climbed to their feet and charged the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
“Eunuchs endanger the state!” The young men yanked the pouches off their belts and hurled them at Pan Rugui. Bitter cries rang out: “Treacherous ministers rule the court!”
Ji Lei instantly shielded Pan Rugui, retreating with him toward safety. “What are you doing?” he called back furiously. “Staging a rebellion?!”
“Here is the real traitor to the nation!” The students flung themselves against the Embroidered Uniform Guard holding them back. Their fingers jabbed toward Ji Lei’s face, and specks of saliva flew as they shouted, “State traitor! Traitor!”
Xiao Chiye tossed the umbrella to Shen Zechuan and hurried down the steps.
Shen Zechuan stood alone at the top of the stairs and watched the fray with cool detachment. Pan Rugui had been shoved back into his sedan; in the chaos, Ji Lei had even lost one of his shoes. So softly that he could barely be heard, Shen Zechuan said, “Turbulence seethes below the surface. An impressive showing, Lord Ji.”
A chuckle rose from beneath the umbrella. He spun the handle leisurely, then turned to watch Xiao Chiye’s receding figure.
Grand Mentor Qi and Ji Gang sat beneath the eaves, drinking wine and tea.
“Was killing Xiaofuzi a ploy to get Chuan-er out?” Ji Gang drank his tea.
As though he couldn’t bear to drink it all at once, Grand Mentor Qi took tiny sips of his wine. He hugged the gourd and said, “Who knows? Guess if you wish.”
“No matter what, his safety comes first.” Ji Gang said, turning to him.
Grand Mentor Qi shook his gourd. “On the battlefield, obtaining the element of surprise requires risky maneuvers. You taught him martial arts so he could remain calm and protect himself as he wades into danger. Sometimes, we must cast safety aside; only out of the most desperate situations can one grasp true victory.”
Ji Gang watched the rain grow heavier, worry clouding his face. “I’ve already made arrangements for the task you entrusted me with.”
“We’re casting a long line.” Grand Mentor Qi scratched his foot. “If you don’t weather the waves for a few years before you haul it in, all you will catch are foul fish and rotten shrimp. Should there come a day, before this is over, when you and I lose our lives, then today’s arrangement will be the killing move that will preserve his life.”