THE MISTRESS'S FAMILY was poor. After she'd caught Cui-san's eye, he'd taken care of her and given her a brief taste of the good life, but she'd never witnessed a scene like this before. By the time she arrived before the magistrate, her legs had gone weak.
An hour passed, and the assistant magistrate returned with the constables. Sure enough, he held a small bag of silver.
"There you have it," Lady Lu crowed. "Everyone knows Doctor Sun is an upstanding doctor free from corruption, and that his generosity with his patients has left his family on the brink of poverty. Where did he get so much money?"
Magistrate He weighed the silver in his hand. It was about thirty taels, more than his own annual salary. It couldn't be payment for simple medical expenses.
The mistress had begun to weep. "A few days ago, I was feeling unwell. I did send someone to ask if Doctor Sun could come examine me, but I only paid the pharmacy's fee. I've never seen this bag of silver in my life!"
The assistant magistrate remained unmoved. "Traveling from your house to Baoning Hall requires crossing half of Anping, and there are two other Cui family pharmacies along the way. Yet you insisted on going to Sun Jimin. Why?"
The woman stammered, starting to speak and then stopping. She looked timidly up at Cui-san.
His wife's belligerence had stoked Cui-san's fury. "Because she's pregnant!" he shouted. "I asked her to see Doctor Sun because he's good at preventing miscarriage!"
Lady Lu sneered. "It's crystal clear what happened. She was pregnant and favored, so she wanted to get rid of the wife. She went to Doctor Sun and bribed and threatened him into killing me!"
"Nonsense!" roared Cui-san.
The mistress wept piteously. "I didn't! I wouldn't dare!"
"What wouldn't you dare? Did you not persuade Sanlang to marry you and bring you into the Cui family?!" Lady Lu held her head high. "Lord Magistrate, respected officials. After learning that this woman was secretly in contact with Sun Jimin, I sent someone to investigate. It was a simple matter to discover that Doctor Sun is old friends with this whore's father. That along with the silver is proof enough!"
The county magistrate looked at Doctor Sun. "Is this true?"
Doctor Sun sighed. "Her father was my patient for a long time, and we often played weiqi together. We keep in touch; that's all."
Lady Lu scoffed. "'Keep in touch?' Is that what you call it?"
"Doctor Sun," Magistrate He said softly, "I've heard about your good reputation since I became magistrate. Becoming confused in your old age and miswriting a prescription is one thing. But Lady Lu claims you killed a woman for money. That isn't manslaughter; it's murder. If you're found guilty, the sentence is death. Do you have anything you wish to tell us?"
Doctor Sun smiled bitterly. "At this point, what more can I say? Only that, as a doctor, I can cure people's bodies of ailments, but I can't cure their hearts of wickedness!"
Magistrate He frowned in confusion. What mattered in a court of law was evidence. Sun Jimin's words had been to vent his anger rather than explain himself. Had he given up in the face of conclusive evidence? "Then you're pleading guilty?" he asked.
Doctor Sun closed his eyes and remained silent.
Magistrate He turned to Cui Buqu and Governor Yuan. "Is there anything your lordships wish to add? If not, I will take them into custody."
"Lady Zhou is pregnant," said Cui-san anxiously. "Can't you grant her probation?"
The county magistrate was displeased. "She's suspected of murder, and you wish to grant her probation?"
Before Cui-san could answer, Cui Pei arrived in a rush. Some men moved to bar his way, lest he incite even more chaos.
"Please forgive me for my lateness!" he panted from the doorway.
From the moment he heard the charge had changed from manslaughter to murder, he'd been running about outside, searching for some way to exonerate Sun Jimin. "These are the prescriptions I found at Baoning Hall and in Doctor Sun's house. There are over a thousand of them, records of the medicine he's prescribed to patients over the years. I've yet to collect them all, but none of these contain a single mistake. As for the accusation of murder, I have here a letter of appeal I wrote myself, containing the fingerprints of over fifty residents of this county. All are patients who have been treated by Doctor Sun. That's all I could collect on short notice. Please give me more time, and at least half of Anping's population will be willing to add their fingerprints!"
Gathering fifty fingerprints in an hour was no mean feat. Cui Pei hadn't wasted a second—he was drenched in sweat from running back and forth.
Magistrate He sighed. "Cui-gongzi, I don't have the authority to pass judgment on a crime as serious as murder. It must go through the Three Bureaus and be reported to the emperor for the final verdict."
"I know," said Cui Pei, "But the prescriptions and this letter of appeal might be enough to help Doctor Sun. Perhaps they may lighten his sentence!"
Sun Jimin silently looked at the stacks of prescriptions and scarlet-inked fingerprints. His eyes reddened at the rims.
"Brother-in-Law!" Lady Lu snapped. "Sun Jimin and Lady Zhou have conspired to kill me, yet you're running around pleading for clemency?"
"Sister-in-Law," said Cui Pei. "I believe Doctor Sun. He would never do such a thing."
His righteousness drove Lady Lu to greater fury. She threw her head back in a scornful laugh. "Wonderful! Just wonderful! The entire Cui family is against me!"
"Are you through making a spectacle of yourself?!" Cui-san shouted. "If you are, then leave!"
He made a grab for Lady Lu's wrist, but she flung his hand aside. "If I'm making a spectacle, what about you?!" she asked through gritted teeth. Her eyes were bloodshot, and Cui-san was momentarily stunned to silence.
Magistrate He thought a moment. "This is a complicated case. We'll have to sort through the evidence before I make any recommendation."
He did sympathize with Sun Jimin, but sympathy couldn't absolve a man of his crimes. The best he could do with his limited authority was stall the case for a few more days.
"There's no need to wait," Cui Buqu said. He looked at Lady Lu with a smile that contained no mirth. "There's one thing I don't understand."
Lady Lu pursed her lips and drew herself up. The hands clasped primly over her stomach secretly tightened on her handkerchief.
"Cui-san is a mediocre man of great ambition," said Cui Buqu. "He brims with resentment, and the stringent standards he applies to others are never applied to himself. Over the years, he's disgraced himself and humiliated you again and again. On top of all that, he now has a pregnant mistress and wants you dead. Why, then, are you defending him and helping cover up his lies?"
Lady Lu's face went pale.
Cui Buqu pointed to Cui-san. "Is a piece of trash like this worth lying for? Is he worth sacrificing your life to protect?"
"How can you say that about me?" Cui-san raged. "You unfilial little—"
Cui Pei didn't wait for him to finish; he kicked his brother to the ground.
"This is a court of law!" Cried Magistrate He. "What do you think you're doing?! Lock them all up!"
"Cui-san raised his voice in court, flouting the law. What is the punishment for his infraction?" asked Governor Yuan coldly.
"Thirty lashes!" said Magistrate He.
Two men stepped forward and stripped Cui-san's trousers without a word and began whipping his back and legs. When he screamed, the county magistrate waved a hand. A constable stuffed his mouth with cloth, leaving him to groan impotently.
Cui Pei lowered his eyes and frowned, as if he neither saw nor heard.
After the thirty lashes, Cui-san was covered in cold sweat. He had no more strength to speak, let alone shout. All he could do was whimper. No one called him a doctor. Cui-san dragged his bloody buttocks over to sprawl on the courtroom floor, half-dead.
Lady Lu's eyes shone with tears. She looked away.
Cui Buqu picked up the prescription that had cost Lady Chen her life, then pulled another from the stack. "Sun Jimin has been practicing medicine for decades. He's never made a mistake. If he had, the citizens of Anping County would have drowned him in their spittle by now. Isn't that so, Magistrate He?"
The country magistrate nodded. "That's right."
Cui Buqu smiled. "The handwriting and the paper match that of Doctor Sun's previous prescriptions. There's no difference there. But even the most well-crafted forgeries have their flaws."
"What flaw?" Magistrate He asked.
Cui Buqu pointed at the prescription. "The ink. Smell them."
Governor Yuan took the two prescriptions and sniffed one, then the other. "They do smell different."
"Doctor Sun's previous prescriptions were written in a low-grade ink, known as shenyan ink. Though shenyan ink is also made in ink-firing sheds, the same as top- and middle-grade inks, the soot it's made from is that closest to the fire. There's no need for a pharmacy to use high-quality ink when writing prescriptions. Other than the standard prescriptions in constant use, all the prescriptions in Baoning Hall will be written in shenyan ink.
"As for this prescription"—Cui Buqu gave it a shake—"it's written in top-grade ink. The handwriting is nearly identical, but the ink is rich, the strokes smooth, and it smells faintly of pine. Surely Doctor Sun wouldn't have purchased a high-quality inkstick and ground himself some ink just to kill someone?"
"You're right," said the county magistrate. "Men, send someone to the Sun residence at once. Bring back all the brushes and ink!"
"Once you have them, don't hurry back," said Cui Buqu, speaking slowly. "Go to the Cui manor and also fetch the inkstones in Cui-san's study."
Cui-san abruptly raised his head.
He'd been lying there limp as a dead duck hanging in a meat cellar, but now he stiffened, his eyes filled with fear and panic. He couldn't miss the meaningful smile on Cui Buqu's lips. Cui-san's expression was that of a man whose death was imminent, frozen in place as he watched a demon about to pounce.
Cui Pei looked at Cui-san in disbelief. His brother was a poor actor—his expression said it all. Governor Yuan and Magistrate He also saw the truth from his reaction.
Cui Buqu smiled. "From what little I know, Cui-san's home life is in perpetual turmoil. Husband and wife are constantly at odds, and quarrels make up their daily routine. Yesterday, while entering the Cui manor as a guest, I saw them pushing and shoving as they complained about each other. Cui-san has been keeping a mistress in the city, something that was impossible to conceal from Lady Lu. As a result, the discord between them intensified. Sun Jimin didn't write this fatal prescription; Cui-san did. The one he wanted to poison was not the innocent Lady Chen, but his own wife, Lady Lu."
Cui Pei had already realized the truth, but hearing it spoken aloud still stunned him.
Some muffled moans emerged around Cui-san's gag that sounded like nonsense.
"According to Sun Jimin's testimony, he did write such a prescription, but it didn't include toad venom. Which is to say, someone went behind his back and added toad venom to the assembled ingredients. Alas, due to the encounter at the gate, the packets were mixed up, and Lady Chen was killed instead. Upon learning what had happened, Cui-san was terrified. He quickly had someone destroy the original prescription, then mimicked Sun Jimin's handwriting to write a new one that included the toad venom, hoping to frame him for the crime." Cui Buqu looked at Cui-san, smiling. "Am I right?"
Cui-san couldn't speak; he could only madly shake his head.
Cui Buqu turned to the pharmacy assistant, who'd begun to quiver in silence. "See that? If Cui-san doesn't plead guilty, the Cui family will let you take the fall. Do you imagine you can put your head back on once it's been chopped off?"
The assistant fell to his knees. "The boss did it!" he cried. "Sanlang was the one who added toad venom to the medicine packet. I don't know anything!"
"Why would he do that?!" asked Magistrate He.
"I don't know," said the assistant. "I… He wanted to kill the madam!"
"Were you the one who copied the doctor's handwriting?" he pressed.
"No, no! It wasn't me! He wrote the prescription and handed it to me. He warned me not to tell anyone!" The assistant kowtowed desperately to Doctor Sun. "Doctor Sun, these were the actions of a beast, but I didn't have a choice! If I lose my job at the pharmacy, my family will end up homeless!"
Doctor Sun sighed and closed his eyes, saying nothing.
The assistant magistrate soon returned from searching Cui-san's study with the constables. At his heels was Cui Fei, the eldest grandson of the Cui family. After everything the Cui family had already gone through, when the magistrates showed up at their door, Cui Yong must have realized Doctor Sun's case was more complicated than it seemed and sent Cui Fei over to listen. Upon arriving, however, Cui Fei was stopped at the door and forced to wait outside.
The assistant magistrate was an efficient man. Not only had he brought back the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones from Cui-san's study, he'd also returned with all the scrolls and files from his desk, and even the wastepaper.
One by one, he arranged and classified the items. Cui-san's daily exercises were mostly copies of famous calligraphy from aristocratic families across various dynasties, while the papers Cui-san hadn't managed to dispose of in the waste were all copies of Doctor Sun's prescriptions.
Cui-san had been confined to Boling all these years and had spent his life amusing himself. It appeared the only hobby he excelled at was his ability to produce flawless reproductions of other people's handwriting.
Governor Yuan shook his head. "A pity. Your carelessness wasted all Lady Lu's efforts to frame someone else for the murder. Had you been a bit more prudent, you might have faked your innocence a little longer."
Cui-san's face was pale as death. He finally stopped struggling. Seeing he'd calmed down, Magistrate He ordered his gag removed, then turned sternly to Lady Lu. "My lady, do you still insist on lying? When did you realize he wished to kill you?"
Lady Lu laughed shrilly. "When the person sleeping beside you wishes to kill you, how can you fail to notice?" she said in despair. "What I said earlier is true. Yu Song, the maid who serves Lady Zhou, is my spy. That day, a series of coincidences rendered his murder attempt a failure. When I learned my medicine had been swapped with a harmless one, I knew something bad would happen to whoever had received the poison in my stead. My husband was terrified and called a confidant into his study without realizing I overheard them discussing it."
Magistrate He was furious. "You knew an innocent woman was harmed, yet not only did you fail to report it to the authorities, you helped the criminal conceal his crime!"
"A single day of marriage begets a hundred days of affection," said Lady Lu. "I always wanted to give him a chance. I thought if he saw I was loyal to him, he'd look back at me." Tears slid down her cheeks. The years had worn away her former beauty, and she wept a moment in silence. "If this incident came to light, we, the third line of the Cui family, would be done for. Our children would never be able to hold up their heads. I thought I would just help him this once…help him conceal the truth…"
"I don't need your help, you treacherous woman! You're just looking for a chance to kill Lady Zhou!" Cui-san roared, the veins bulging in his neck. "Who would believe you! You won't fool me!"
"Enough!" Cui Buqu clapped his hands thrice, still smiling without a hint of warmth. "Lady Lu, if you love him so much, when Cui-san is executed, you can follow him to the grave. You can be together in death, and we'll all be spared this revolting scene."
He turned to the Magistrate He. "Cui-san killed Lady Chen and her unborn child, and Lady Lu was his accomplice. How should they be charged according to the laws of Sui, and what kind of memorial will you submit? I trust you have some idea already."
Magistrate He cupped his hands. "Worry not. I will oversee this matter with complete impartiality."
Cui Buqu nodded. He rose to leave, and Governor Yuan followed.
"Cui-gongzi, may I have a word?" Cui Pei called after him.
"No." Cui Buqu didn't look back or pause in his step. Outside the county office, the Zuoyue guards were waiting with his carriage.
Governor Yuan stopped Cui Buqu. "The Yu family showed me immense kindness. Though I was gone for many years, I never forgot it for a moment. It was only much later I learned what happened to Shimei.9 At the time I was only a simple commoner; I was no match for the Cui family, and I couldn't avenge her." He smiled wryly. "Perhaps in my current position, I could have put some pressure on the Cui family, but I couldn't have achieved what you have. The young surpass the old; everything I wished to do, you've done. You have my sincere gratitude."
Yuan Sansi bowed solemnly to Cui Buqu.
"He merely reaped what he sowed," said Cui Buqu coolly. "Even I never expected Cui-san to try and kill his wife, fail, then frame someone for the attempt."
Yuan Sansi smiled grimly. "Cui-san is no more than a great termite that's attached itself to a massive tree. Cui-dalang is the future head of the Cui family. Once he's convicted, the entire Cui family will be in hot water. Shimei can finally rest in peace. I wish to visit her grave and pay my respects, but as the Cui family didn't allow her to be buried in the family cemetery, I've never been able to find it. May I ask Cui-gongzi to show me the way?"
Cui Buqu nodded. "Come with me."
His quick response surprised Yuan Sansi. Considering the ruthlessness he'd just displayed, Yuan Sansi had assumed he'd hold a grudge against him for failing to return to avenge the Yu family.
The grave wasn't far by carriage. Very quickly, the two of them arrived at Lady Yu's resting place. When Yuan Sansi saw the simple, almost crude gravestone, he asked, "Do you plan on relocating her? I can help find a place with excellent feng shui, or we can reinter her at the Yu family cemetery. I believe Shimei would be happy to be with her parents again."
"Nothing remains after death, much like a flame that has been extinguished," Cui Buqu said indifferently. "The idea of spirits in heaven is just a construct people use to deceive and comfort themselves. Her life was difficult; nothing can change that fact. What's the point of doing any of that when she won't even be aware of it? If you had followed through with the engagement rather than leaving without a word of farewell, she'd have married you. That would surely have been better than marrying Cui-er."
Yuan Sansi squatted next to the brazier set before the grave. He fed the paper money he'd bought on the way into it, burning it piece by piece. The firelight threw half his face into shadow and swallowed up his words.
The flames danced before him.
For a brief moment, he imagined Yu Mo's spirit giving him some hint or comfort through the flames. But in the end, he had to admit that Cui Buqu was right. Yu Mo was dead. Everything else was meaningless self-deception. She didn't need any hollow reparations. What she needed, he would never be able to give her.
"All these years, I've remained unmarried," he said, voice hoarse. It seemed as if he spoke to Lady Yu and Cui Buqu both.
"Because you're a descendant of the Wei dynasty's imperial Yuan clan?" asked Cui Buqu. "Or because you're carrying information about a certain treasure in addition to the burden of restoring your nation?"
Yuan Sansi's head jerked up in shock. "You! You…" His voice rose, then dropped abruptly, unsteady in his surprise.
Cui Buqu stood with his hands behind his back and looked at him in silence, almost as if he hadn't spoken at all.
"Of course," said Yuan Sansi, putting the pieces together. "You're in charge of the Zuoyue Bureau. Naturally, you know everything. And if you know, the emperor must too. Did you come to Boling under orders to arrest me?" His smile was more wretched than tears would have been. "If I told you I've never had any designs on the throne, would you believe me?"
"And if I told you I haven't yet reported this to the emperor, would you believe me?"
The two of them regarded each other in silence. Then Yuan Sansi collapsed to the ground, sitting back and wiping cold sweat from his brow. "You scared me half to death!"
"I didn't think Governor Yuan would be so timid."
"Anyone carrying a secret like that for decades would be paranoid, all right?"
After the Han dynasty had come the Three Kingdoms era, which in turn had been followed by the Wei and Jin. The unification of the Central Plains under the Jin dynasty had been short-lived. The Western Jin dynasty moved eastward and became the Eastern Jin dynasty, but by that point, it only occupied a small territory in the southern Central Plains. Another large chunk split into sixteen separatist regimes, collectively known as the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty.
Those long divided must one day unite. As they made war on each other, the various small states eventually coalesced into two separate nations, forming the northern and southern dynasties that would carry on to the present. One of them, the Wei dynasty founded by the Yuan clan, was a predecessor to the current Sui dynasty.
Few people wished to remember the turmoil of those times. The downfall of the Wei dynasty was like that of any decaying regime, a parade of officials usurping the throne and emperors moving the location of the capital. Yuan Sansi, however, was a legitimate heir to the Yuan family and a descendant of Yuan Xiu, Emperor Xiaowu of Wei.
"By my generation, the power of the Yuan family had waned. Though some members still served as court officials, it made no difference. Before I was taken in by the Yu family, my father, who was gravely ill, summoned me to his deathbed. He told me the Yuan family had a hidden trove of treasure filled with gold, silver, and armor. It was meant for future uprisings. Even if it won't be put to use in my generation or the next, I must still pass down the secret. It is the will of our Yuan family ancestors, and I cannot betray them."
He sighed. "It was such a huge secret to suddenly learn. I was constantly anxious. When I was with the Yu family, despite my master's careful guidance, and despite Shimu10 and Shimei's warmth, my heart was heavy. I didn't dare tell anyone what I had learned. One day, my master said he wished to betroth Shimei to me. After much thought, I decided I had to leave. I was afraid that someday, someone would learn of the treasure and hunt me down. Setting aside my own fate, no one in Shimei's family would have been safe. If Shimei married me and we had a child, there would have been one more person in the world forced to bear the burden of this secret."
"Fickle and mistrustful rulers have existed since the dawn of time," said Cui Buqu. "You're afraid that if you reveal this secret, the emperor will suspect you have something up your sleeve. He'll never fully trust you. You would have to watch your back at all times."
"Correct," said Yuan Sansi. "You are close to the emperor, so you're familiar with his thinking. All powerful people are the same. If I say nothing, at least I have a glimmer of hope. But I didn't expect that, despite my efforts, you'd already know everything."
"Someone sold you out. A man who had saved your life when you were at your most wretched. You became sworn brothers, as close as true siblings. Once, when you were drunk, you let the existence of the Yuan family's treasure trove slip, and he remembered. Much later, he offended someone in the jianghu and sought refuge at Liuli Palace. There, he met my master and shared this secret with him."
Yuan Sansi smiled wryly. "I'd guessed it was him. I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since that day."
"At first it was just something I happened to know," said Cui Buqu. "It wasn't until you arrived in Boling and investigated your background that I connected you to the hidden treasure of the Yuan clan."
Yuan Sansi remained quiet for a moment. "I've never gone to see if the treasure is really there. I can give you the location and the clue, but out of consideration for Shimei, can I ask that you not mention me in your report to His Majesty?"
Cui Buqu nodded. "I won't mention you."
Yuan Sansi breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you very much." He fed the last of the paper money into the brazier and stood, patting life back into his legs. "Please rest assured. Now that I'm serving as an official in Boling, I'll visit Shimei often and send people to look after her grave. I won't let Cui-san cause any more trouble." He laughed bitterly. "That's the most I can do for her now."
"I'll come find you later," said Cui Buqu. "I wish to remain here a little longer."
Yuan Sansi sighed, patted Cui Buqu's shoulder, and took his leave. Only the coachman and two Zuoyue guards remained. They kept their distance, leaving Cui Buqu undisturbed.
He crouched and took out his handkerchief, painstakingly wiping the gravestone clean. His face was blank, his patience infinite. He didn't hurry, even as afternoon dimmed to dusk.
The world contained many so-called fools like Lady Yu and Sun Jimin. They were kind and helped others, yet they lacked the strength to protect themselves. Cui Buqu wasn't like them. His heart was stone and his mind was cunning. He could help those kind fools slay all the jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards of the world. He'd eradicate all the thorns that grew in the darkness.
Cui Buqu smiled coldly. "Go. Reincarnate well. In your next life"—his voice dropped to a whisper—"don't be my mother."
The moment he finished speaking, a length of silk hair ribbon dropped down before his eyes. It was light blue and inexplicably familiar.
Cui Buqu looked up.
Cloaked in the last glow of twilight, a handsome face hung upside down between the branches of the tree. Feng Xiao smiled. "Oh, my good brother! Fancy meeting you here!"