Chapter 34:
Interrogation

 

“YOU—WHAT EXACTLY are you…” Ji Lei took one look at Shen Zechuan’s smile and backed swiftly away from the bars. “What is it you want?!”

“You’re asking me?” Shen Zechuan said cheerfully. “Are you asking me?” Shen Zechuan’s gaze turned ominous as he beckoned haughtily to Ji Lei. Ji Lei was frozen in place. He pressed his back to the wall and refused to move a fraction closer to Shen Zechuan.

“Prisoners are livestock waiting to be slaughtered,” Shen Zechuan said. “Shishu, how dare you ask me?”

“What can you possibly do?” Ji Lei countered. “Kill me?”

“It’s not often this martial uncle and nephew have a chance to come together. There’s scarcely time for us to play as it is; how could I kill you so quickly?” Shen Zechuan slid his thumb across the bars and softened his tone. “You’re keeping your lips sealed because you think your secrets are your salvation—as long as you keep them, no one will risk laying a hand on you. Your days in prison will be more comfortable, and you won’t worry over daily necessities or fear for your life. You’ll have Pan Rugui for company and plenty of leisure time. A carefree and happy life.”

Ji Lei broke out in cold sweat. He plastered himself to the wall, no longer meeting Shen Zechuan’s eyes.

“But happy days are so often fleeting. As long as the tongue still works, it shouldn’t much matter if a leg is missing, an arm is broken, or both eyes gouged out. A few months ago, Shishu treated me to a donkey roast. I didn’t get to taste it then. But we have a long night ahead of us, and it’s the perfect time for wining and dining.” Shen Zechuan slipped a thin blade from between his fingers and tapped it on the bars. “Ji Lei. Let’s feast.”

“You—are—insane!” Ji Lei stretched his neck out and enunciated each word. “Shen Zechuan, you’re insane!”

“I’m insane,” Shen Zechuan agreed, looking at him steadily.

“You wouldn’t dare lay a finger on me!” Ji Lei snarled. “The empress dowager holds your life in her hands. You wouldn’t dare touch so much as a strand of my hair!”

This seemed to cheer Shen Zechuan up again. He smiled. “Shishu, you’re so funny tonight. Who do you think sent me here?”

Enraged, Ji Lei thundered, “Don’t even think of bluffing—”

“Shen Wei is dead. The day Shen Wei set himself alight, I heard the Prince of Jianxing’s manor in Dunzhou went up with him. His body was burned beyond recognition when the Embroidered Uniform Guard dragged him from the ruins and hung him atop the city walls to be reviled by all. I didn’t see it with my own eyes, but I’ve attempted to imagine it over the years. After turning it over and over in my mind, I finally realized something.”

Ji Lei gulped.

“His grand plan to collude with the enemy had succeeded. Would it not be preferable to defect before the battle? Duanzhou had already fallen. If he led his troops out of the city to receive their conquerors with a welcome, he could have joined forces with the Biansha Horsemen and toppled Qudu before the Libei Armored Cavalry crossed the Glacial River. Yet he didn’t do this; he recoiled in fear and retreated.” Shen Zechuan stood. “If his goal was to hand Zhongbo to the enemy, he had already done so. Forward was the only way out, but he withdrew again and again. Even if he was an idiot, he should have known that retreating would lead to his doom.”

“Because he didn’t have the balls,” Ji Lei’s voice dripped with loathing; he was panting heavily. “Who in the Twelve Tribes of Biansha would give a damn about him? The moment he sold his nation to the enemy, he was a dead man!”

Shen Zechuan tossed the eastern pearl into the cell, where it rolled and knocked its way to Ji Lei’s feet. He observed Ji Lei’s face as it gradually drained of color.

He laughed.

Ji Lei’s hands shook. He stared at that eastern pearl and said with difficulty, “No… Impossible…”

“The Xiande Emperor is dead.” Shen Zechuan leaned forward. “So is Shen Wei.”

Ji Lei kicked away the pearl. “You conniving snake, don’t even think of deceiving me!”

“Hua Siqian committed suicide by biting off his tongue,” Shen Zechuan said blithely. “Who will be next? You, or Pan Rugui? Shall we draw lots? Shishu, you first.” He flipped two more thin blades up between his fingers and presented them to Ji Lei through the gap. “If it’s chipped, we’ll kill Pan Rugui. If it isn’t, we’ll feed your flesh to the dogs. Don’t be afraid. Draw one.”

Ji Lei looked at the cold glint on the blades. His lips opened and closed. “Ridiculous…”

“The empress dowager instructed me to be quick.” Shen Zechuan stared at him. “Yet I’m letting you choose. Shishu, as long as you’re alive, there’s a chance for things to take a turn for the better.”

After being tortured for days, Ji Lei was already half-delirious. Now, in this bizarre circumstance, Shen Zechuan’s words confused him until he couldn’t tell truth from lies. He fixed his eyes on the two blades. Finally, as if compelled, he raised a hand. As his trembling fingers touched the thin blade, he saw the corners of Shen Zechuan’s lips slowly curl.

“Ah.” Shen Zechuan smiled, all regret. “I forgot I only brought along new blades today. The chipped ones have already been disposed of.”

The shame of being played overwhelmed Ji Lei. He finally lost control, throwing himself forward and shouting hysterically as he yanked at the bars, “Go ahead and do what you want—kill me, cut me to pieces! I won’t say a word of what you want to know! Do it, kill me!”

“Wrong.” Shen Zechuan remained in firm control. “I’m not the one who wants to kill you.”

“You are!” Ji Lei’s fingers dug into the bars. “It’s you!”

“Me?” The eastern pearl had rolled back between the bars; Shen Zechuan nudged it over and stepped on it. Looking coldly at Ji Lei, he asked again, “Is it really me?”

Ji Lei held his head and tore at his unkempt hair. He slid down the bars and repeated over and over again, “It’s you…you…”

“Shen Wei killed the crown prince,” Shen Zechuan said abruptly.

Ji Lei looked up at him in terror, shivering as if he had plunged into a cave of ice. “You—”

“You and Shen Wei killed the crown prince together,” Shen Zechuan continued.

“It wasn’t me!” Ji Lei clutched at his hair. “It wasn’t me! It was Shen Wei who killed the crown prince!”

“You conspired with him to frame the crown prince for treason,” Shen Zechuan said, the words rushing out now. “You were the one who forged the documents. Your people forced the crown prince into the Temple of Guilt. He wanted to see the Guangcheng Emperor, but you drew your blade and killed him.”

“It wasn’t me!” Ji Lei was mad. He raged in the face of Shen Zechuan’s relentless interrogation. “I wasn’t the one who drew my blade! It was Shen Wei—Shen Wei who insisted on killing him!”

“That’s why Shen Wei is dead,” Shen Zechuan repeated. “Shen Wei set himself on fire and was burned beyond recognition. And now you are the only one left.”

Ji Lei cowered under the weight of these insinuations until kill was the only word remaining in his mind. He could still see clearly the former crown prince’s face as he was cut down. Then, he had stood just where Shen Zechuan was standing now, looking down at the crown prince from above as if looking at swine. Tonight, by a stroke of fate, his position had been reversed. The cell gave him the feeling of a caged beast. He had become the ant under Shen Zechuan’s boot. All he could do was stretch out his neck and wait for the slaughter.

He didn’t want to die.

His desire to survive had never been so strong. He beat his forehead against the bars. “We were all just following orders. We had no choice! You want to avenge Shen Wei? I can help you! Shen Wei killed the crown prince and was conferred the title of Prince of Jianxing. He fled to Zhongbo!”

Ji Lei became a sniveling mess as he started to heave with sobs. He had no idea where this fear came from; it was as if he had really become livestock at the mercy of his master’s blade. He craned his head back to look up at Shen Zechuan. “I didn’t kill the crown prince; I wanted to save him! But my father died unexpectedly,” Ji Lei said, helpless. “My father died, and they wanted to pin it on me! If I took the blame, my eldest brother would kill me, and so would Ji Gang. What could I do? I begged Pan Rugui for help! In exchange for his protection, I had to forge the documents. I was trapped. I only wanted to live!”

“How did Ji Wufan die?” Shen Zechuan asked abruptly.

“I don’t know. I don’t know how he died. He fell ill because Ji Gang left—the sons he favored were both gone.” At this point, Ji Lei turned vicious again, his hatred boiling over. “I was the one who was with him until the end! Yet he said I was rotten to the core. He regarded Ji Gang and Zuo Qianqiu as real sons and passed the mental cultivation techniques to them, but not to me. But my surname is Ji too; I did nothing wrong. How could he treat me like that?!

“Shen Wei couldn’t sleep at night after killing the crown prince. He was afraid. When we went drinking, he told me he sensed someone watching him. He said he could hear someone moving on the roof of his manor in the middle of the night. I told him it wasn’t us Embroidered Uniform Guard, but in the capital, what could hide from their eyes? I presumed there were traitors in the Guard; men from the Eight Great Clans were everywhere.

“The Hua Clan was already in power, so we were careful. But Shen Wei’s paranoia worsened. He wanted to flee, so he bribed Pan Rugui, hoping to leave Qudu. In those years, Libei was a rising force to be reckoned with. The empress dowager had no army aside from the Eight Great Battalions. To guard against the Xiao Clan, Shen Wei was conferred the title of the Prince of Jianxing. He went to Zhongbo, the prefecture one must pass through to travel between Qidong and Libei, and Libei and Qudu. The empress dowager made him her watchdog with his eyes on Libei and Qidong.”

Ji Lei spoke with increasing urgency. “Who would have expected Shen Wei to turn? He was asking for death! He saved all his correspondence with Qudu. If the documents fell into Libei’s hands, Xiao Jiming wouldn’t waste the opportunity to deal Qudu a heavy blow! Shen Wei had to self-immolate! Do you understand now? Shen Wei turned to the enemy because he was no longer willing to be controlled. Back then, the Hua Clan had a son of common birth. According to the empress dowager, once that child came of age, there would be no need for outsiders to govern Zhongbo. Shen Wei had committed so many heinous deeds in Qudu on behalf of the Hua Clan. If Zhongbo no longer needed him, he would be nothing but a discarded pawn. He was driven into a corner, but no one expected him to lash out so disastrously. To let the Biansha Horsemen in to massacre the cities…that was his vengeance! It was his revenge on Qudu, on the empress dowager, and on our Great Zhou!”

Ji Lei grasped the bars and pleaded, “I’ve said all I have to say. The empress dowager was the one who drove Shen Wei to his death. She was also the one who drove the crown prince to his death. And the Guangcheng Emperor, the Xiande Emperor, Hua Siqian—all of them were weiqi pieces discarded by the empress dowager! And now you’re doing her bidding too. Look at me. I didn’t tell her you’ve already thrown in your lot with the Xiao Clan. You saved Xiao Chiye that night, didn’t you? But the Xiao Clan won’t help you. So long as Xiao Chiye is in Qudu, the Xiao Clan can’t lift a finger. They can hardly look after themselves; why would they care about you?!”

He had wanted to prove his usefulness, but after this confession, his fear only intensified. His defenses had crumbled; he was utterly defeated. And the more inferior he felt, the more terrified he became.

Shen Zechuan asked him one last question through the bars. “Five years ago, my shiniang died when Duanzhou fell. No one knew about this, so how did you come to know it so well?”

In the awful silence, cold sweat trickled down Ji Lei’s back as he saw the look in Shen Zechuan’s eyes.

 

Xi Hongxuan waited so long he fell asleep. It wasn’t until a stack of paper smacked him in the chest that he jolted awake. He took the papers that had been tossed at him and shook them open for a look; even in the dark, the fingerprints at the bottom were a vivid red. He let out a perfunctory laugh. “You really are good.”

A faint metallic smell lingered around Shen Zechuan. He smiled and said, “Whether or not this confession can be submitted to the top will depend on what Secretariat Elder Hai thinks of it.”

“This is quite the favor you’ve done me,” Xi Hongxuan said. “Surely it wasn’t for nothing?”

“There’s a man named Qiao Tianya in the Embroidered Uniform Guard,” Shen Zechuan said calmly. “He’s good with the broadsword. I want him.”

“Not a problem.” Xi Hongxuan hesitated for a moment. “I’ll talk to Yanqing.”

“Thank you for taking the trouble,” Shen Zechuan said. “It’s late. I should go.”

With that, he opened the door and took his leave.

It was a rainy night. Xi Hongxuan thought to call Shen Zechuan to join him in his carriage home, but suddenly changed his mind. It occurred to him that everything had gone too smoothly. He flipped through the confession statement and read it over. Thinking he should show it to Xue Xiuzhuo before anything else, he said to his attendant, “Go. Drag Ji Lei out and send him back.”

The attendant acknowledged his order and went to open the door to the cell. He had taken but one step inside when he collapsed backward onto the ground, screaming as though he’d seen a ghost.

Looking through the open door, Xi Hongxuan saw Ji Lei. His stomach churned and he covered his face as he retreated, desperately knocking aside tables and chairs as he dashed out into the rain and violently retched.

 

Shen Zechuan scrubbed his hands until they were raw before wiping them with a handkerchief. His white robe was unstained, but the stench of blood lingered. Taking the front hem of his robe, he frowned as he sniffed it.

Disgusting.

Heedless of the rain, Shen Zechuan squatted by the edge of the water; he was almost immediately drenched. He slowly turned his face up to the starless sky and gazed until his neck was sore. Then, he rose to his feet and walked back.

When Shen Zechuan reached the alley where the Imperial Army’s office stood, he saw a figure waiting at the entrance. Shrouded in darkness, Xiao Chiye leaned against the door with arms folded, watching him like a cheetah.

At some point, snow had begun to fall with the rain, its damp chill seeping down to the bone.