This response was not within Li Ying's expectations. She was stunned for a moment, her ethereal form wavering slightly. During her sixteen years of life, she had been showered with love and affection, never once contradicted so directly by an official. She thought for a moment, then said with growing hesitation, "I know my request is somewhat abrupt, but I don't want to remain a wandering ghost anymore. I want to reincarnate properly, so I need to find who killed me. Could you please help me?"
But her sincerity was only met with Cui Xun's cold reply, delivered without a trace of warmth, "What does that have to do with me?"
Li Ying felt her heart sink with embarrassment. She wrung her hands nervously and said, "If you help me, I will repay you. I promise."
Cui Xun gave a light, mocking laugh. "What do you have to repay me with?"
"I…" Li Ying was at a complete loss for words. She was just a wandering ghost without form or substance. Indeed, she had nothing whatsoever with which to repay Cui Xun.
She lowered her head, biting her lip, not knowing how to persuade this infuriatingly cold man. Seeing this, Cui Xun had no desire to waste more time dealing with her and assumed a dismissive posture. "You should leave now. I have no interest in helping a ghost."
Li Ying didn't want to leave, couldn't bear to leave. Cui Xun was the only living person who could see her, and he was the fourth-rank Junior Minister of the Investigation Department. Besides him, she couldn't think of anyone else to turn to in her desperate situation. She felt utterly lost and adrift, softly saying, "But apart from you, I don't know who else to ask…"
Cui Xun reacted as if he had heard something extremely amusing. He said with a hint of cruel curiosity, "Before you came to me, didn't you inquire about what kind of person I am?"
Li Ying was stunned silent. Of course, she knew what kind of person Cui Xun was. He was called the Lotus Flower Gentleman, and true to his name, his appearance was as beautiful and delicate as a lotus bloom. He had used his face to become her mother's bedchamber attendant, trading on his looks for position. People said his character was base and corrupt, that he was vindictive and cruel—a thorough villain in every sense.
But even if he was such an evil person, who else could she turn to now? She was terrified of the crushing loneliness, terrified beyond reason. She didn't want to stay in the Lotus Pond anymore, didn't want to sink back into that eternal darkness that threatened to swallow her completely.
Cui Xun seemed unwilling to waste more words with her and said flatly, "I'm going to the Investigation Department to interrogate a case. If you want to follow, then come along. But nine times out of ten, you'll soon change your mind about seeking my help."
Li Ying didn't quite understand what Cui Xun meant by those ominous words, but she still followed him step by step to the Investigation Department located in Yining Ward. Cui Xun went straight to the prison cells with purposeful strides, with Li Ying following closely behind like a shadow. Except for Cui Xun, no one could see her ghostly presence.
As soon as she stepped through the entrance into the prison, Li Ying was immediately brought to a standstill by the miserable howls coming from all directions—sounds of agony that barely seemed human. The prison burned numerous braziers throughout the space, upon which various torture instruments were placed, glowing red with heat. It was as hot as the height of summer despite the season, and the jailers were all bare-chested and sweating. Only Cui Xun, as he entered this inferno, wrapped his heavy black crane-feather cloak tighter around himself as if cold, his face as pale as an evil ghost crawling up from the depths of hell itself. The jailers bowed respectfully upon seeing him. "Greetings, Junior Minister."
Cui Xun did not acknowledge them with even a glance. Wrapped in his black crane-feather cloak, he walked with measured steps to the innermost prison cell. Li Ying, having regained her senses from the initial shock, quickly covered her ears against the screams and ran after Cui Xun, entering the inner cell.
As soon as Li Ying entered, she was immediately nauseated by the heavy, overwhelming smell of blood that permeated everything and had to cover her nose with trembling hands. Then she was frightened several steps backward by the bloody figure hanging from the torture rack. No, the thing on the rack could no longer properly be called a person. He was covered in countless torture wounds, barely breathing, with white ribs exposed through torn flesh. His legs also seemed to have been broken by leg clamps and were bound at a twisted, unnatural angle. Li Ying, having grown up sheltered in the palace and been pampered since childhood, had never seen such a terrifying, nightmarish scene. She fell to the ground in fear, covering her eyes with both hands, not daring to look again.
Cui Xun seemed to have anticipated her reaction exactly. He paid no attention whatsoever to Li Ying but instead extended his emaciated wrist from his black crane-feather cloak and used his bony, skeletal fingers to methodically move the branding irons, pliers, long needles, and other torture instruments in the brazier, as if carefully considering which would be most useful for his purposes. The jailers in the prison cell didn't dare to breathe loudly, standing frozen in fearful silence. After a long moment, Cui Xun finally selected a red-hot branding iron from the brazier. He gripped the wooden handle firmly, expressionlessly watching the white smoke rising from the glowing metal, then walked slowly to the prisoner and said in a measured voice, "I'll ask you one more time: is Prince Han Yang planning a rebellion?"
The prisoner, tortured nearly to the brink of death, still struggled to open his eyelids, which were caked with dried blood. His teeth had been pulled out with fire tongs, and his mouth was also bloody and ruined. "Cui Xun… I am a descendant of the Wang clan from Taiyuan, serving as Chief Secretary to Prince Han Yang. You arrested me without an imperial edict, intending to extract a false confession through torture. Aren't you afraid of being exposed and punished by His Majesty?"
Cui Xun merely said with chilling indifference, "I'll ask you one last time: is Prince Han Yang planning a rebellion?"
Chief Secretary Wang laughed loudly despite his agony, the sound echoing off the stone walls. "Prince Han Yang is not planning any rebellion. But you, framing court officials and extracting confessions through torture, will certainly meet a bad end!"
Cui Xun had no more patience remaining. He suddenly pressed the red-hot branding iron directly against Chief Secretary Wang's chest, where the torture had already exposed white bone beneath. Wang let out an agonized scream so terrible it barely sounded human, filled with such pain that it seemed to tear reality itself, and then fainted.
Li Ying, sitting on the cold ground, covered her ears desperately. Her entire body was trembling uncontrollably. Cui Xun merely tossed the branding iron aside with obvious disgust, then ordered the jailer in a flat voice, "Salt water. Wake him up."
After instructing the jailer, he turned to look in Li Ying's direction. The princess who had been sitting on the ground covering her ears had already disappeared, presumably frightened away by what she'd witnessed.
This was also within Cui Xun's expectations. He'd known she wouldn't last.
Chief Secretary Wang was awakened by the salt water poured into his wounds. In extreme, unbearable pain, he began to cough violently, with fresh blood spurting from his mouth and nose, splattering all over Cui Xun's pristine robes. The jailer hurriedly offered a handkerchief, and Cui Xun wiped his blood-splattered hands with obvious disgust. The jailer said anxiously, wringing his own hands, "Junior Minister Cui, the prisoner is nearly finished…"
Having endured such severe torture, Chief Secretary Wang was now barely breathing, more dead than alive. Cui Xun carefully wiped his hands with the handkerchief, not looking up from his task. "If he dies, then he dies. Doesn't he still have a son we can use?"
Upon hearing this casual threat, the dying Chief Secretary Wang widened his eyes in horror and cursed indistinctly through his ruined mouth, "Cui Xun, you will die a miserable death…"
Cui Xun gave a light, unconcerned laugh. "How I die is not Chief Secretary Wang's concern."
He slowly walked up to Chief Secretary Wang and examined his mangled face with clinical interest, then leaned close and whispered in his ear so that only the two of them could hear, "Wang Liang, six years ago, you served under Pei Guanyue, didn't you? You must know about what happened at Falling Goose Ridge. If you tell me everything in detail, I won't touch your son. You have my word."
Hearing Cui Xun's words, Chief Secretary Wang's pupils suddenly dilated with recognition and terror. He was so terrified that his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably. "Falling Goose Ridge… Falling Goose Ridge… so that's why you came…"
His speech was incoherent and unclear, mumbled through broken teeth and blood. Cui Xun frowned and moved closer to Chief Secretary Wang, trying to hear his mumbling words more clearly. But Chief Secretary Wang only repeated "Falling Goose Ridge" a few times in terror, then lowered his head and said nothing more, falling into silence.
The jailer quickly came forward, lifted Chief Secretary Wang's head, and checked his breathing with practiced efficiency. "Junior Minister Cui, he… he died of fright…"
To die just like that from fright… Cui Xun's fist slowly clenched beneath his crimson sleeve, knuckles white with tension. He coldly looked at Chief Secretary Wang, whose eyes remained open in death, and said without emotion, "Throw him out. Feed him to the dogs."
After that day, Li Ying, presumably terrified by Cui Xun's distortion of truth and brutal extraction of confessions through torture, never came to find him again. However, just two days later, the Empress Dowager summoned Cui Xun to an audience in the palace.
In Penglai Hall, fragrant incense burned in an ornate phoenix-shaped censer, its smoke wafting through the air in delicate spirals. Behind the pearl curtain, the Empress Dowager reclined on her couch, resting her head on her hand with her eyes closed. The Empress Dowager had long suffered from terrible headaches, and presumably her headache had flared up again, which was why she was using incense to alleviate the pain.
Cui Xun knelt on the polished ebony floor. Though he knelt with his spine perfectly straight, beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead despite the cool temperature. The Empress Dowager, seemingly deliberately making things difficult for him, did not tell him to rise for a long time. Eventually, she spoke in a voice heavy with displeasure. "Cui Xun, you've grown increasingly bold."
Cui Xun lowered his head in submission. "This subject acknowledges his guilt."
The Empress Dowager gave a contemptuous laugh. "Acknowledge guilt? You took advantage of Wang Liang's return to Chang'an to visit his family, sent Investigation Department spies to arrest him, tortured him to death, and then discarded his corpse in the wilderness like garbage. Do you know that what the Wang family recovered was an incomplete body, half-eaten by dogs? Now the Wang family is clamoring to submit a complaint to the Emperor, demanding an explanation."
Cui Xun remained silent, only repeating, "This subject is guilty."
"Of course you are guilty!" The Empress Dowager's tone already contained a hint of genuine anger. "Though Wang Liang was only the Chief Secretary to Prince Han Yang, he was still a descendant of the Wang clan from Taiyuan. How dare you!"
Cui Xun lowered his eyes and said calmly, "Prince Han Yang harbors dissatisfaction toward the Empress Dowager and intends to gather nobles to rebel. This subject was only thinking of the Empress Dowager's welfare when arresting Wang Liang, hoping to make him reveal Prince Han Yang's crimes. I didn't expect Wang Liang to be so fragile, dying after just a bit of torture."
After hearing this obvious lie, the Empress Dowager merely laughed coldly. "Cui Xun, Cui Wangshu, do you think I'm old and confused? Do you think I don't know what position Wang Liang held six years ago?"
Cui Xun pressed his lips together, his eyes still as calm as a mirror reflecting nothing. He touched his forehead to the ground and mechanically repeated, "This subject is guilty."
The Empress Dowager laughed coldly again. "You need not keep confessing your guilt. Since you became Junior Minister of the Investigation Department, this sort of thing hasn't been unusual. Now that the Emperor rules personally and the noble clans are powerful, I must give him and the Wang clan of Taiyuan an explanation." She paused for emphasis. "You shall kneel outside Zichen Hall until court is dismissed."
This punishment, though not physically painful, was extremely humiliating. Zichen Hall was where court sessions were held, meaning Cui Xun would lose face in front of all the officials of the land. Despite this public shaming, Cui Xun still did not argue or beg for mercy, but silently kowtowed. "This subject accepts the imperial command."
As he was about to rise, the Empress Dowager, with her eyes still closed and head resting on her hand, suddenly said with meaningful weight, "Cui Xun, some matters have already been settled. What should be forgotten should be forgotten. Otherwise, you'll not only harm others but also yourself."
Cui Xun's eyes changed expression for just a moment but quickly returned to their usual calm indifference. He bowed his head and said, "This subject thanks the Empress Dowager for her guidance."
With that, he rose with his stiff, injured leg, limping slowly toward the hall exit.
Behind him, the Empress Dowager, reclining on her couch, slowly opened her eyes and watched his thin figure through the slightly swaying pearl curtain. After a long while, she sighed deeply and gently closed her eyes again.
At the time of the morning court session, Chang'an city had been blanketed by a heavy snowfall throughout the night. Outside Zichen Hall, thick snow had accumulated in drifts. The Great Zhou regulations required officials of the fifth rank and above to attend morning court daily. As officials entered Zichen Hall in small groups, talking quietly amongst themselves, they unexpectedly found someone kneeling outside in the snow.
The man had lowered his gaze, his crimson official robes dampened by snowflakes and clinging to his body, making his already thin figure appear even more skeletal. His eyelashes, like crow feathers, were covered with snow crystals. Snowflakes falling on his brow instantly melted into cold water droplets, sliding down his nose ridge together with the sweat beading on his forehead despite the cold. A few strands of hair had fallen from his official hat, wet and sticking to his jade-white face. His hands, exposed outside his sleeves, had turned red from the cold. His already bloodless face looked even more pale and ghostly. He seemed to have been kneeling for a long time; his body was slightly trembling, but his spine remained perfectly straight. In the pure white snow, he knelt there alone, his figure appearing particularly solitary and abandoned.
The officials were stunned into silence, then began to whisper among themselves. "Isn't that Cui Xun? What happened?"
"I heard he tortured Wang Liang to death, and the Empress Dowager punished him by making him kneel outside Zichen Hall until all officials disperse from court."
Academic Lu, who had shown great contempt for Cui Xun at the New Year's Eve banquet, said angrily, "For anyone else, being punished to kneel in front of all officials might be a real punishment. Someone with any sense of shame might commit suicide after such humiliation. But does Cui Xun have any shame left? How is kneeling any punishment for him?"
"Exactly! He beat the Chief Secretary of the Prince's mansion to death, and yet he doesn't even have to resign his position—just has to kneel for a while. The Empress Dowager is truly exceptionally kind to him!"
"Alas, poor Chief Secretary Wang. I heard that when his body was found, it had been eaten almost beyond recognition by wild dogs."
Academic Lu clenched his fists tightly, his face flushing with anger. "Heaven's principles are clear. Cui Xun will surely have his day of disgrace! When that time comes, we will have him cut into a thousand pieces to console the spirits of those wronged souls!"
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