Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

After Xu Yanmiao said, “Not quite,” he continued in a light-hearted tone, all while the Prefect of Xinghua maintained a smug “Let’s see what nonsense you’ll come up with” expression:

“You might not know this, but that wealthy gentleman greatly admires scholars. He especially admires you—thinks you’re highly cultured, efficient, and incredibly determined and courageous…”

“Wait, isn’t he supposed to be provoking him? Why does it sound like praise now?”

The Ministry of War clerk looked utterly puzzled: “Could it be a tactic of building up before breaking down?”

The Prefect of Xinghua thought the same. Mentally prepared, he even sneered inwardly: This greenhorn doesn’t know what he’s doing. If you want to anger someone, you need to catch them off guard. Dragging it out like this only gives your target time to brace themselves. How do you expect to provoke anyone?

Xu Yanmiao continued: “So, this gentleman has been trying very hard to get close to you—intimately close.”

“And every time you’ve spent the night with courtesans, famous entertainers, or young attendants, as soon as you left, he would immediately pay double or triple the price to book them. But he insisted they not bathe or freshen up beforehand—just so he could experience your lingering scent, hoping to absorb some of your scholarly brilliance.”

“So, when he thought that this courtesan was your new flame, he…”

“Wait, why are you vomiting? What can I say? If you refuse to redeem them after your trysts, of course, others will come knocking!”

“Ugh—!”

The Prefect of Xinghua desperately wanted to lash out at Xu Yanmiao: How is this the same? Having new clients the next day is completely different from not bathing and basking in the… scent…

“Ugh—!”

The Prefect collapsed onto the ground, retching miserably.

When he was done vomiting, he clenched his teeth and took a deep breath: “Who is it?! Which gentleman?! Tell me! How do you even know about this?!”

“A lot of people know,” Xu Yanmiao replied, brazenly lying with a straight face.

“While visiting the homes of the common folk to discuss disaster relief, I happened to hear this while chatting with them. Perhaps you’re the only one who didn’t know?”

The Prefect of Xinghua’s breathing grew ragged, his chest heaving violently as his fingers clawed at the cracked dirt beneath him.

“As for which gentleman… why do you care? He hasn’t broken any laws. I know you value cleanliness—you even carefully selected a virgin courtesan as a bride for the River God. But no matter how much you care about cleanliness, you can’t go around retaliating against people!”

The Prefect’s face turned crimson. To the onlookers, it was clear his anger was boiling over—but something about it seemed even more severe…

“Oh, right! It’s almost mealtime. You must be hungry, right?” Xu Yanmiao grabbed a piece of wild vegetable flatbread from the mat and offered it to him: “This kind of wild vegetable flatbread is your favorite, isn’t it? Go ahead and eat it—you won’t even have this to eat in the future…”

“Waaaaaah—!”

Xu Yanmiao quickly pulled back his hand as the Prefect of Xinghua spat a mouthful of blood, which splattered onto the yellow earth.

The Ministry of War clerk clicked his tongue in disapproval: “Well, well…”

Sure enough, that earlier flush on the Prefect’s face wasn’t just anger—it was a surge of blood. In other words, Xu Yanmiao had literally provoked him into spitting blood.

Xu Yanmiao placed the flatbread back on the mat and smiled pleasantly: “If you’re not hungry, let’s discuss your crime of privately inciting the villagers to use a human sacrifice.”

“When did I commit a crime?”

The Prefect of Xinghua wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse: “The imperial court issued an edict banning human sacrifices and illicit shrines in Sichuan, Jinghu, Lingnan, and other provinces. Yes, Fujian is in Lingnan, and yes, worshipping the River God is considered an illicit shrine practice. However… when did I ever use a human sacrifice?”

Xu Yanmiao narrowed his eyes at the Prefect.

The Prefect allowed a faint smirk to appear: “It’s true that I wanted the River God to take a bride, but I never intended to kill the bride. I was only planning to hold a wedding ceremony and then create a statue of the bride to place in the shrine as an offering to the River God. At most, I’ve committed the crime of engaging in illicit shrine rituals. Shameful, truly shameful.”

[Liar!]

Xu Yanmiao stared at the Prefect expressionlessly.

The Prefect struggled to maintain his composure, but traces of smugness still lingered on his face.

He had clearly left himself an escape route. Even if rain eventually fell and he reported his success to claim credit, he could argue that a statue—not a live person—was used.

As for the villagers? They weren’t fools; they would never admit they intended to use a human sacrifice.

The punishment for such a crime was death, but if one confessed, the law allowed for a reduced sentence. The Prefect wasn’t worried about these officials from the capital coercing the villagers into admitting guilt.

Sure enough, the handsome young man walked over to the villagers and said: “Using a human sacrifice is a capital crime, but if you confess and are considered accomplices, and since no harm was actually done, the penalty is reduced to ‘full servitude.’ This means three years of forced labor in a province hundreds of miles away.”

Predictably, the villagers unanimously denied the accusation: “We weren’t planning to use a human sacrifice! We were just going to make a statue!”

The Prefect of Xinghua barely suppressed his laughter.

Naive.

As long as they insisted they hadn’t done anything, there would be no crime. Why complicate things by admitting to a lesser charge?

Liang Rui lowered his gaze, his brow tightly furrowed.

From the moment the Prefect of Xinghua refused to admit his guilt, Liang Rui had been pondering how to break the stalemate. Yet, no matter how he thought about it, the only solution seemed to be the most drastic one: using the imperial sword to execute him on the spot.

But… that approach would be hard to justify to the public.

What other options were there? Let them go? Charge the Prefect with bribery instead?

It was possible, but the thought left an unsatisfied bitterness in his chest.

As Liang Rui and the others wrestled with their thoughts, unable to find a way forward, they saw Xu Yanmiao speak again.

Xu Yanmiao spoke as if casually chatting: “Droughts heavily impact waterways, don’t they? Although Tingzhou is located in the mountains of western Fujian, far from the sea, it is close to the Ting River. There are quite a few Mazu temples around here, aren’t there? You often work as boatmen, transporting goods from Tingzhou to Chaozhou, braving the 500-li stretch of dangerous rapids and waves… You’ve prayed to Mazu often, haven’t you?”

The villagers, not understanding why he was saying this, instinctively nodded.

“Indeed…”@@novelbin@@

Xu Yanmiao fixed his gaze on them and suddenly said, “If you insist that you never intended to perform human sacrifices to worship the River God—”

“Then swear it before Mazu! Swear that you didn’t do it!”

The villagers froze instantly.

Xu Yanmiao raised his voice: “As long as you swear before Mazu that you’ve never been involved in human sacrifices, the case will end here! Think carefully—Mazu is listening!”

The villagers: “…”

“… Actually, we did it.”

The village chief’s expression shifted repeatedly before he stomped his foot, sighed, and pulled a small cloth pouch from his chest, tossing it toward the Prefect of Xinghua.

“Here’s your money back!”

The other villagers followed suit, pulling out their pouches and throwing them at the Prefect.

The Prefect of Xinghua, who wasn’t a native of Tingzhou, didn’t work in navigation, and had no strong religious beliefs, was utterly baffled.

“You… why—”

Why are you taking this so seriously?! It’s just swearing an oath! You immediately confessed?!

The village chief looked slightly guilty, his voice weaker than before, but there was still a clear determination in his words: “We Tingzhou folk cannot lie to Mazu.”

“…”

The Prefect of Xinghua opened his mouth, then closed it again, struggling to find words. His face turned bright red, and after a moment, he spat out another mouthful of blood.

The painstakingly planned path to promotion and his carefully calculated escape route—destroyed!

And in such a ridiculous way?!

Author’s Notes:

Some context on superstitions and rituals:

• “When fortune comes, buy land and marry a wife.”

  This was commonly seen in divination practices.

Source: “Meng Liang Lu”

Regarding the River God, it likely falls under “illicit shrines”:

• In the 23rd year of a certain reign, it was reported:

  “The sage rulers stipulated that only those who had been loyal to the state or contributed greatly to the people could be honored with official sacrifices. Recently, the ban on illicit shrines has been strictly enforced. However, ignorant commoners persist in their misguided practices, even going so far as to sacrifice humans to ghosts and spirits. This has long been prevalent in Hunan, Hubei, Kui, and Xia regions. Recently, this custom has spread elsewhere, with individuals secretly kidnapping people from afar under the guise of slave trading. They kill them during leap months as offerings. Even close relatives are not spared.

  Currently, in Zhejiang, people are sacrificing humans to the Sea God; in Sichuan, they are sacrificing humans to the Salt Wells. If local officials fail to strictly prohibit this, innocent people will continue to suffer.”

Source: “Song Huiyao Jigao”

Relevant Laws:

• In certain regions, such as the Ba Gorge, it was customary to use human sacrifices for ghost worship. They recruited these “sacrifices” through money. Those involved in such acts were punished.

Source: “Song Huiyao Jigao”

Self-Confession in Qing Law:

• For those who voluntarily confess to crimes (except for banditry and robbery, which have specific provisions), the penalty is generally reduced by one degree.
• From “Compilation of Criminal Cases, Third Edition”

[The confession in the text refers to “hearing of pursuit and turning oneself in,” meaning surrendering to the authorities upon learning they are actively pursuing the individual.]

“From Tingzhou to Chaozhou, the rapids extend for 500 li.”

— “Geographical Overview”