Chapter 21: Bamboo Leaf Tea

Xie Yu sent someone to invite Ma Bing. When she arrived, she found Yuanpei following Xie Yu. The young man seemed somewhat listless.

“Oh, did someone get scolded and cry?” she teased with a grin.

“You’re the one who got scolded,” Yuanpei glared at her and gave Xie Yu a resentful look. “I was delivering documents to Magistrate Song.”

Xie Yu pretended not to hear.

Bosses’ hearts are always cold.

Ma Bing understood immediately. Oh well, he had been scolded, so she laughed heartlessly.

Yuanpei was almost driven mad with anger.

He had missed the delicious chicken soup yesterday morning, and today he had been unjustly blamed by Magistrate Song. How miserable could one get!

After Ma Bing had her fill of laughter, she asked, “Why did Magistrate Song scold you? There’s no reason for that!”

Yuanpei’s face remained expressionless. “Does he need a reason?”

Magistrate Song always felt that the Kaifeng Prefecture took on too much work. He questioned why they didn’t pass things on to others and was extremely frustrated at their inability to live up to expectations.

“Even herdsmen know not to milk just one cow repeatedly. There are so many capable officials in the Ministry of Personnel. When former officials get into trouble, can’t they just shrug it off and ignore it completely?”

Yuanpei explained patiently that the current timing coincided with the triennial palace examination, with a large number of new officials awaiting assignments and evaluations. They were overwhelmed with work and had no time for this.

Magistrate Song scoffed and scolded the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review again.

Yuanpei patiently explained that Magistrate Song’s anger was misplaced, as it was clearly not their responsibility.

Therefore, the only ones with both the capacity and authority to handle it were the Kaifeng Prefecture—the milk cow.

Magistrate Song muttered that this was clearly retaliation. Since the person was already dead and his anger had dissipated, why not just close the case without forcing the Fan family to have the son pay for the father’s debts?

“What are you going to do? Make the person accompany your father in death or help bury him back?”

It’s all meaningless!

Besides, if something were discovered later, it might ruin Fan Shixi’s remaining good reputation. Why go through all this trouble?

Finally, Magistrate Song succinctly concluded, “All civil officials are sneaky and bad!”

There aren’t many truly innocent ones.

Well, with that sentence, he insulted nearly half the imperial court.

And aren’t you currently a civil official yourself?

Yuanpei chose to feign deafness.

Ma Bing listened in astonishment, “My apologies, truly a fascinating person.”

Xie Yu, walking ahead, suddenly said, “Miss Ma seems to favor that method?”

“Are you referring to the method of exhuming graves, hanging corpses, and exposing them in the sun?” Ma Bing, her hands clasped behind her back, turned her head sideways to look at him, speaking chilling words while her steps remained unusually light. “Perhaps.”

Xie Yu slightly furrowed his brow, clearly disapproving.

Magistrate Song had once been imprisoned for defending justice when young, but was later released during a general amnesty and joined the army. Over the years, his fiery temper and bloodthirsty aura remained, so such remarks were not surprising.

However, for a young girl like Ma Bing to speak in such a manner was somewhat unsettling.

The Kaifeng Prefecture had professional gardeners, and all the flowers and trees grew beautifully. Ma Bing casually broke off a willow branch to play with, carelessly saying, “You come from a noble background, naturally believing in the law.”

This sounded slightly off, and Xie Yu’s beautiful thin lips flattened noticeably.

Ma Bing smiled, “The law is made by those in power, naturally serving their interests. Please don’t rush to refute it, sir. You’re certainly a good official, but have you heard of political infighting? Have you seen common people with grievances having nowhere to appeal?”

Though smiling, her eyes showed no trace of amusement.

Xie Yu wanted to argue, but recalled Xu Maocai’s arrest and the countless citizens crying out in protest, which confirmed Ma Bing’s words.

For years, Xu Maocai had been acting tyrannically right under the emperor’s nose. Was there truly no one in the imperial court who knew about it?

If not for Xu Lang’s unexpected exposure, perhaps a few more years would have passed before he retired honorably, becoming a respected local elder with children and grandchildren around him, dying peacefully.

Retiring honorably… Xie Yu suddenly thought of Fan Shixi again.

What kind of person was he while alive? Was his reputation truly deserved?

Or was he like the former Xu Maocai, merely lucky that his misdeeds hadn’t been exposed yet?

Yuanpei looked from one to the other, puzzled how the conversation had veered into legal discussions.

Honestly, he thought Miss Ma made some good points!

Rarely leaving Xie Yu speechless, Ma Bing suddenly smiled again, her eyes curving into crescent moons, thick lashes hiding her pupils, making her true emotions unreadable.

“But as the saying goes, ‘too clear water holds no fish.’ I was just joking, sir. Please forget what I said.”

Having said that, she strolled away happily.

The wind rustled the bamboo by the wall, making a swishing sound. Several bamboo leaves trembled, twirling into the air.

Xie Yu stood in the swaying bamboo shadows watching her leave, half his face bathed in flickering light and shadow, alternately bright and dark.

Yuanpei scratched his head. “Sir, are we still going to see Li Qinghe?”

Xie Yu turned his gaze back, brushing bamboo leaves off his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

People tend to drink more water when nervous. By the time Xie Yu and Ma Bing arrived, Li Qinghe had nearly emptied the teapot.

The servant boy outside almost popped his eyes out—had they come here to quench their thirst?

Li Qinghe first saluted Xie Yu, recognized Ma Bing as the physician who had treated him the other day, and thanked her on behalf of Mu Sheng.

Those with academic titles were exempt from kneeling before officials. Since Li Qinghe’s sentence had not yet been decided, Xie Yu invited him to sit and talk.

“…I met Mu Sheng at the county school. Later, we progressed together to the prefectural and provincial schools. Thinking back, we’ve known each other for nearly ten years. I know him better than anyone. His mouth is indeed somewhat sharp, never letting go once he’s in the right, but he does have talent and is extremely proud. He’d rather die than commit fraud.”

Seeing that Li Qinghe had become gaunt within two short days, Ma Bing felt some sympathy. “That may be true, but legal cases require evidence. Have you noticed any suspicious people or unusual events?”

She had walked a long way and talked a lot, feeling thirsty. Just as she picked up the teapot from the table, she froze—it was empty?

The servant hurried in to replace it with fresh tea.

As the weather grew warmer, the prefecture office recently served bamboo leaf tea. At first taste, it was slightly bitter and bland, but after swallowing, one felt a fragrant, refreshing aroma, calming the mind.

Yuanpei stretched his arm to receive tea for Xie Yu. “Maybe he made too many enemies with his sharp tongue. Did he offend anyone before?”

Indeed, sharp words provoke hatred. For example, Magistrate Song in the office—if not for his seniority and military achievements, he would have been stuffed into a sack countless times already.

“Enemies, suspicious people, suspicious places…”

Li Qinghe thought while slowly recounting several past incidents, mostly quarrels during literary gatherings, trivial matters.

But based solely on these, could someone truly harbor such intense hatred, going to great lengths to meticulously plot a series of traps to ruin another’s future?

Li Qinghe thought for most of the day. Bored, Ma Bing changed sitting positions countless times, eventually playing Go with Yuanpei by dipping their fingers in tea water.

In the middle, Xie Yu even left twice to handle official business, returning with a stack of paper and writing brushes for them.

Ma Bing: “?”

Li Qinghe hadn’t said anything useful yet. Was there really a need to record a statement?

Xie Yu glanced down at the table, his disdain evident.

Ma Bing and Yuanpei looked too:

The tea water had wet and dried repeatedly, leaving countless water stains crisscrossing the table, looking rather dirty.

So they began drawing battling soldiers on paper.

Xie Yu: “…”

The waiting felt unusually long, so much so that Li Qinghe became increasingly uneasy, sweat slowly beading on his nose.

Success or failure hung in the balance. If he really couldn’t produce evidence…

“Sir!” Eventually, a constable ran in with news. “A message from the prison says that Mu Sheng just recalled something. On the exam day, when passing a tavern, the owner set off firecrackers and tried to hang red flowers on every student passing by. He declined due to the heat. Also, while queuing at the palace gate for identity verification, someone bumped into him…”

To plant the cheat sheet, physical contact was necessary. He hadn’t thought much of it then, but now it seemed suspicious.

Both leads needed investigation. Xie Yu immediately ordered people to check the tavern and asked who the student who bumped into Mu Sheng was.

The constable said, “He said he didn’t suspect anything at the time, and the person immediately apologized. He only glanced slightly and didn’t recognize the person. He remembers him as tall and thin, with a long face and a downturned mouth, looking somewhat gloomy.”

Taizhou Prefecture was large, with over ten examinees entering the palace examination. Previously scattered across various areas, it was normal not to recognize a fellow examinee.

Not recognizing him, however, posed some difficulties.

Xie Yu slightly pondered. “Yuanpei, take my badge and go to Governor Tu to get a permit, then fetch the examinees’ records from the palace.”

From the county examination onward, each stage of the imperial examination had records, documenting the examinees’ names, hometowns, and general physical features.

After becoming a juren (successful candidate), the court would commission special artists to draw portraits, collected in archives.

One reason was that juren were eligible for official posts, and one of the court’s requirements for selecting officials was “proper appearance”—meaning they couldn’t be too ugly, as superiors would check during recommendations. Another reason was further prevention of proxy examinations.

Yuanpei rose to accept the order but paused when Li Qinghe suddenly gasped.

Everyone turned to look. His face changed expressions repeatedly, seeming to want to say something but hesitating.

Xie Yu signaled Yuanpei to wait. “Did you remember something?”

Li Qinghe rubbed his hands, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly. “This… this…”

He seemed unable to sit still anymore. He stood up, clasping his hands and pacing several circles before hesitantly saying, “Logically speaking, this shouldn’t be said.”

Yuanpei, impatient by nature, was nearly driven mad by the suspense, urging, “You’re clearly teasing us on purpose! Are you going to speak or not?”

Scholars have too many issues. What’s with “I have something to say but don’t know if I should”? If you shouldn’t speak, then don’t open your mouth in the first place!

“Me!” Li Qinghe’s face flushed crimson. He stamped his foot, finally resolving himself. “Might I trouble Your Excellency to also check the roster of scholars in Taizhou Prefecture to see how many are named Guan Qing?”

Once the words were out, there was no turning back. Li Qinghe followed with anxiety.

At this point, there was almost no evidence. Every word he and Mu Sheng spoke was crucial. If Guan Qing was innocent, then he had acted like a petty person, putting someone else in trouble. How could he face him afterward?

But after hearing Mu Sheng’s description, he couldn’t help but suspect.

Li Qinghe clearly remembered that on the day of the palace examination, Guan Qing arrived late. He had worried about missing the time and kept looking back.

Later, Guan Qing rushed in, and since he only knew Li Qinghe well, they stood together. Li Qinghe himself had originally been close to Mu Sheng, so now Guan Qing was only about a foot away from Mu Sheng.

Most crucially, Mu Sheng’s description: tall and thin, long face, gloomy expression… wasn’t that exactly Guan Qing?

Ma Bing noticed another detail he mentioned. “You said on the day of the palace exam, Guan Qing arrived very late?”

Li Qinghe didn’t know about the ashes at the inn and couldn’t understand the connection between the two events. “Yes, he lived far away. I even regretted not arranging to walk together.”

“Which inn was he staying at?” Xie Yu asked.

After Li Qinghe mentioned the name, Ma Bing and Xie Yu instinctively exchanged glances, both seeing a certain signal in each other’s eyes:

Something’s wrong!

During the spring examination period, Beijing’s inns were packed. Examinees came from various backgrounds and arrived at different times, so some inevitably stayed at cheaper, more remote inns. This was normal.

The exam time had been set long before the spring examination, and inns usually provided wake-up calls. As long as they calculated the time properly, most could arrive early at the palace gate.

Guan Qing’s inn was indeed somewhat remote but not so far as to risk being late.

This was the palace examination! Was he so careless?

But what if he had left early?

The time difference could be enough to go to Ruyi Pavilion and do something!

“But what does this have to do with the scholar records? Do you know that falsely accusing an examinee of impersonation is a serious crime?”

Xie Yu sat while Li Qinghe stood, naturally creating a height difference. Yet the latter felt immense pressure, his every hair standing on end.

Li Qinghe naturally knew, but with his future at stake, the arrow was already on the string, needing release.

He clenched his palm and gritted his teeth. “Because years ago, we met another scholar named Guan Qing. Logically, with so many people in the world, having the same name isn’t rare. But having two Guan Qings taking the imperial exams in the same Taizhou Prefecture is indeed uncommon.

Logically, being from the same hometown and attending numerous literary gatherings, we should have met this Guan Qing several times. But strangely, among everyone I know, not one person recognizes this Guan Qing.

Also, when I visited him, I noticed his hands were very rough, with injuries and calluses. Indeed, many poor scholars have such hands. I myself helped with household chores when young, but after years of care, such marks had long faded. Yet Guan Qing’s wounds and calluses looked like they were added recently, within the past couple of years, perhaps even lately.”

He claimed the injuries were from seal carving, but Li Qinghe doubted it.

Even if the wounds could be explained, the location of the calluses didn’t match.

“Isn’t this a bit far-fetched?” Ma Bing asked. “What if his family is really poor?”

Some poor scholars let their families work themselves to death while keeping their hands clean, while others kindly help with chores, getting calluses from minor injuries. Isn’t that normal?

Li Qinghe shook his head. “Do you know, the emperor’s grace grants juren two taels of silver monthly, plus rice and cloth. When traveling, they can stay at government inns for free. Just the annual 24 taels of silver is enough for an ordinary family to live comfortably.

If that’s not enough, many wealthy families hire juren as tutors, providing food, accommodation, and seasonal clothing, with annual salaries of dozens of taels. There’s no need for us to do manual labor anymore, so where would these calluses come from?”

If one studied for decades and still had to do manual labor, that would be a huge joke, and the court would be the first to oppose it.

Previously, he thought the other party just didn’t want to talk deeply, so he dismissed it. But now, with a major case, every unreasonable detail was magnified.

So later, the constables split into two groups. One followed Yuanpei to the palace for records, while the other searched for Guan Qing.

However, before the group heading to the palace returned, news came from the inn:

Guan Qing was gone.