Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

The Jinyiwei bit the tip of his tongue hard, silently reciting the names of everyone from eighty-year-old mothers to three-year-old children to keep himself from losing composure.

Then, he continued his report: “Additionally, there are fifty pure gold vessels, weighing over 150 taels, more than 200 pearl bracelets, and over ten century-old ginseng roots.”

“More than 90,000 taels of silver, seventeen bronze artifacts, twelve iron artifacts, thirty-three lead artifacts, and twenty-five tin artifacts.”

“One hundred and twenty chests of clothing.”

“Thirty-two horses and twenty-four mules.”

“And…”

He listed an extensive inventory and presented the itemized record.

The old emperor furrowed his brows, disgusted by how the gentry exploited the common people, yet he couldn’t help but chuckle: “The gold, pearls, ginseng, and similar items—send them to the Directorate of Imperial Supply.”

“The silver, money, and metals such as bronze, iron, lead, and tin—send them to the Ministry of Revenue for minting.”

“Salt, liquor, and taxable goods—send them to the Taxation Bureau.”

“As for the remaining vessels, clothing, livestock, and miscellaneous goods—send them to the Censorate for further handling.”

The spoils were being divided!

—This is exactly why confiscating an entire household doesn’t cause too much upheaval in the court. The emperor and his ministers split the seized wealth among themselves. This time, they had confiscated the assets of 150,000 people in one go. Whether for the emperor’s private treasury or the government’s coffers, it was another windfall.

The old emperor sighed, “What a pity.”

Xu Yanmiao looked at him blankly.

[Pity what?]

The old emperor seemed to be talking to himself: “Pity that we won’t be able to confiscate more households anytime soon. Though there’s never a shortage of people wanting to be officials, both bureaucrats and clerks take time to train.”

[Ah…] Xu Lang blinked.

The old emperor enthusiastically opened a chest and started counting his “income.”

The Jinyiwei happened to catch sight of a crow landing on the windowsill to rest. He cursed the bad omen under his breath and was about to chase it away.

At that moment, he heard the old emperor clicking his tongue in appreciation: “This jade bottle is of fine quality.”

The next moment, he heard Xu Lang’s inner voice: [That Vice Minister of War embezzled the confiscated wealth from the Fifth Ang family, altered the official records… The old emperor just said there wouldn’t be more confiscations soon, so does that mean he won’t go after the Vice Minister of War either?]

The old emperor’s grip tightened, and the jade bottle made a faint creaking sound under pressure.

—Who embezzled what? Who altered what???

[Oh ho, so that bottle in the old emperor’s hand—its genuine counterpart is made of pure mutton-fat jade. But since the old emperor can’t tell the difference, the Vice Minister of War just swapped it out for a cheap imitation.]

The Jinyiwei’s face turned pale. He no longer dared to shoo away the crow. Instead, he tried to minimize his presence, sweating profusely.

Meanwhile, with his back to Xu Yanmiao, the old emperor’s face darkened.

He put the jade bottle down after handling it long enough. Then, he opened another chest filled with paintings and calligraphy collected by the Fifth Ang family. The old emperor was neither skilled in art appreciation nor fond of pretentious elegance, so he had no interest in hanging these works in his quarters. However, gifting these to civil officials would earn him much more gratitude than simply giving them gold and silver.

Perfect—he could keep the gold and silver for himself.

The old emperor picked up a scroll of Magu’s Portrait, which contained exquisite calligraphy from the late years of the legendary Calligraphy Sage—its strokes sharp as hooked gold, forceful as a drawn bow.

Xu Yanmiao: [Fake.]

The old emperor sneered, put it down, and picked up another painting, Peonies, created by the famous Eastern Chu painter Lu Qingcheng. It was once sold for an astonishing 200,000 taels, causing a sensation at the time. Somehow, it had ended up in the Fifth Ang family’s collection.

Xu Yanmiao: [Fake.]

The Jinyiwei’s heartbeat instantly skyrocketed to 180 beats per minute, while the old emperor’s gaze slowly swept across the antiques in the chest. He then picked up the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month Calligraphy, one of the three greatest running script masterpieces in the world.

[Fake!]

Next, he picked up a handwritten copy of the Avatamsaka Sutra by Xu Yong, one of the Four Great Masters of Western Chu.

[Fake!]

The emperor’s face grew darker and darker, a storm brewing in his expression.

—The Vice Minister of War, huh?

—Trying to deceive him, huh?

“Bestow death.”

The Jinyiwei cupped his hands in salute and swiftly departed.

Xu Yanmiao snapped back to reality.

[Bestow death? Just like that?]

He instinctively reached for the system, hoping to dig up some gossip.

The old emperor glanced at him, rolled up the counterfeit sutra, and tapped it against the chest. “Can’t figure out why I suddenly ordered an execution?”

Xu Yanmiao cupped his hands and said, “That is indeed the case…” Then, after some hesitation, he asked, “Your Majesty, whom do you wish to execute?”

“Vice Minister of War, Fu Luzu.”

“But why…”

“He thought I wouldn’t recognize that the jade bottle and those calligraphy paintings were all fakes?”

The old emperor scoffed, acting as if he had noticed the deception long ago. “Since he dared to deceive me, he must pay the price.”

Xu Yanmiao was too stunned to respond, his mind racing.

[The old emperor noticed all this from the beginning? Well, that makes sense—he’s been emperor for so many years; his appraisal skills must be top-notch by now.]

[But what if it wasn’t Vice Minister Fu who did it?]

The old emperor shot him another glance. “What? You think I’m acting like a tyrant, ordering an execution before confirming who’s responsible?”

[Why is he making it sound so serious now?!]

Xu Yanmiao immediately replied, “I would never dare!”

[But wait… how did he know what I was thinking?]

The old emperor clicked his tongue. “Your thoughts are written all over your face.”

Xu Yanmiao’s eyes widened.

[R-really?!]

[But now that I think about it, I have heard that some people are easy to read if they lack social experience…]

[Damn it, why didn’t I ever take a class on facial expression management?]

The old emperor leisurely watched the shifting expressions on Xu Yanmiao’s face, amused. Tossing the counterfeit sutra back into the chest, he continued, “I haven’t investigated who did it because he was the one leading the household raid. If it were the Jinyiwei, there’s no way they could swap out so many items without the Vice Minister noticing. The only one who could tamper with the inventory records is him.

“And if he colluded with the Jinyiwei? That doesn’t matter either. There’s a saying—‘punish the big, spare the small.’ If they get away with it, they’ll know I deliberately chose not to pursue them. In the future, they’ll act more cautiously and serve with greater diligence.

“Besides, with this Vice Minister of War being executed as an example, any official leading future confiscations will think twice before touching the seized wealth.”

—As for secretly pocketing an item or two, that was inevitable. As long as it wasn’t excessive, he would simply turn a blind eye.

After saying this, the brat in front of him suddenly grinned and said, “Many thanks, Your Majesty.”

The old emperor was puzzled. “Why are you thanking me?”

Xu Yanmiao blinked. “Isn’t Your Majesty teaching me the way of governance? Focus on the big, let go of the small…”

The old emperor chuckled but didn’t claim credit. Instead, he sat back down at his desk to continue reviewing memorials. He grabbed a handful of peanut sesame candy from a dish on the table and placed it in Xu Yanmiao’s palm. Then, he started chewing on some himself, all while reviewing the documents.

Xu Yanmiao popped a piece into his mouth, his eyes lighting up. He gave it the highest praise a Chinese person could give to a dessert: [Delicious! Not too sweet!]

As for digging up gossip about the confiscations, he lost interest and didn’t continue searching.

He was the type who, once he got a general grasp of the truth, wouldn’t bother to dig further—though there were exceptions, of course. But this time clearly wasn’t one of them.

The old emperor continued reviewing the memorials, writing at varying speeds—sometimes fast, sometimes slow. The fiery clouds in the sky cast their glow, creating tree shadows on the paper-covered windows, resembling the delicate patterns of preserved egg yolks.

Then, in the middle of writing, the emperor suddenly paused.

Wait a minute…

That little brat Xu Yanmiao—could it be that he already knew the Vice Minister of War had tampered with the confiscated goods and had just come to watch the drama unfold?!

The more the emperor thought about it, the more convinced he became.

Otherwise, when had this little scoundrel ever been so diligent? Usually, the moment the government offices locked their doors, he was either playing with his cat at home, wandering through the East Market or West Market, strolling through Tiger Alley, watching operas, enjoying street performances, or traveling to the countryside—all while eating and shopping his way through the city. Oh, and recently, he’d been obsessed with eating drunken shrimp at Yuan Garden, the most famous restaurant in the capital. The emperor was even starting to worry whether he’d get parasites from all that raw seafood!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

“Give me back my candy!”

Xu Yanmiao stared down at his now-empty palm—his candy had just been snatched away. With his other hand, he rubbed his head in confusion.

[What’s with the old emperor now?]

[Confused.jpg]

Meanwhile, Vice Minister of War, Fu Luzu, was wearing his black satin hat, holding his European-style snuff bottle with a painting of a Western lady on it, leisurely enjoying a pinch of snuff.

On the table before him lay a Peony Painting, stretching about thirteen feet long, painted entirely in ink. The double-outlined peonies, left in blank ink, appeared white; the light ink represented yellow and purple peonies; the heavily applied ink formed deep red ones. The entire spectrum of peony colors was captured within the subtle shifts of ink tones.

“So noble, yet not gaudy… Truly beautiful…” Fu Luzu murmured in admiration, his voice barely above a whisper, as if afraid of disturbing the ink on the paper.

This was one of the treasures he had risked his life to smuggle out, right under the noses of the Jinyiwei and that damn little Bai Ze.

He dared to do it only because he was sure that Xu Yanmiao had no interest in the bloodshed of confiscations and wasn’t attached to wealth—possessing that unique detachment only a divine beast could have. There was no way he’d pay attention to someone else’s loot.

Fortune favors the bold. I did it!

And looking at the results, he had succeeded spectacularly. As long as he was careful and understood the divine beast’s mindset, he could deceive even him.

As for the emperor…

Well, the emperor didn’t care for the arts anyway. Poetry, for example—unless it was about farming or education, he considered it nothing more than pretentious drivel.

Back then, Scholar Yue once recited a poem praising the grand river before them and even told His Majesty how beautiful the waters were.

But after hearing it, the emperor curled his lips and said, “Beautiful? What’s beautiful about it? Every summer, it floods. Villages get submerged, farmland is ruined, and it stays underwater for months. Crops can’t be planted, and countless people starve to death. When I was young and begging for food on my way to the capital, I met countless families doing the same. Half of them had lost their fields to floods—no money, no grain. Generation after generation, the common folk have suffered because of this river.”

Honestly, what does other people’s flooding have to do with those of us simply enjoying the scenery? When he was reciting poetry, the river hadn’t even flooded yet!

Such a buzzkill!

Even the Vice Minister of War felt sorry for the embarrassed look on Scholar Yue’s face.

After that, landscape poetry became a rare sight in court.

“Sigh…”

Forget it. No use thinking about it. Better to just keep admiring the—

Then suddenly, there was a loud bang from the door.

The Vice Minister of War: “?”

Before he could even react, the study door was slammed open, and a group of Jinyiwei stormed in.

The leader of the group casually cracked his knuckles and strolled up to the table. He took a look at the Peony Painting laid out before him and smirked, his expression cold and unreadable. “Vice Minister Fu, you’ve got some guts.”

The Vice Minister of War had only one thought running through his head.

It’s over. I’ve been caught.

Panicking, he tried to take a step, but as soon as he moved, his muscles went numb, his legs gave out, and he collapsed straight onto the ground.

His legs were so weak he couldn’t even stand up. So instead, he grabbed onto the Jinyiwei’s pant leg and urgently asked, “How does His Majesty plan to deal with me? Exile? Or…”

“Death.”

The Vice Minister of War immediately scrambled back to his knees, kowtowed fiercely in the direction of the palace, and shouted, “Thank you for Your Majesty’s great mercy!”

No extermination of his clan, no mass execution of his extended family—he was so relieved he could cry.

But he couldn’t help asking, “How exactly was I exposed?”

The Jinyiwei explained, “It all started because of the vacant Prime Minister position. The Grand Secretaries were fighting over it. The Minister of War found out you were siding with the Minister of Rites. The two of them just so happened to be watching a horse race in the same place and nearly got into a fight.”

“Attendant Xu entered the palace, possibly to report this incident to His Majesty, but for a moment, he didn’t know how to bring up the fact that his Minister was about to brawl in the streets.”

“So he helped His Majesty review memorials instead. But His Majesty already knew about the matter.”

“At that exact moment, the confiscated goods from the raid were presented to the emperor. He noticed you had secretly swapped out the jewels and paintings. Furious over both issues, he ordered us to come and execute you.”

The Vice Minister of War: “…”

He understood now.

Because of the Prime Minister dispute, Xu Yanmiao got curious and started digging into the drama between the two Grand Secretaries.

And in doing so, he just so happened to stumble upon the fact that he, the Vice Minister of War, was involved with the Minister of Rites.

That, of course, piqued His Majesty’s curiosity… and now here he was.

Then, with one more search, they discovered he had secretly swapped out the confiscated goods.

—As for the rest of the explanation, only half of it was true. These words had been carefully crafted to cover up any inconsistencies, ensuring that Xu Yanmiao wouldn’t notice anything wrong when using his divine artifact.

The Vice Minister of War was overwhelmed with grief, wishing he could grab those Grand Secretaries by the neck and shake them.

You were the ones fighting over the Prime Minister position, which caught Bai Ze’s attention—so why am I the one suffering for it?!