Judge of the Song Dynasty

At that moment in court, everyone could see that things weren’t as simple as they appeared.

After one night, the whole process had transformed, becoming dramatic and fascinating.

Those who opposed Wang Anshi’s reforms didn’t try to turn black into white, but cleverly portrayed Zhang Fei as a tragic hero.

Zhang San, the pen-in-cap, was portrayed as righteously denouncing his own ally, sacrificing himself for justice in court by turning against and accusing the Finance Planning Commission of violating ancestral law.

A true hero indeed! You couldn’t say they were lying – this was certainly one way to interpret Zhang Fei’s behavior in court.

No one could be certain what had actually happened.

This indirectly reflected Wang Anshi’s unpopularity.

Those who follow the right path gain support, while those who stray lose it.

They argued that if even Wang Anshi’s own employees opposed his reforms, how could these new laws be good? Using this as justification, they began heavily criticizing Wang Anshi.

However, due to the previous case involving the Shi family, the common people still hoped Wang Anshi could reform the corvee labor system. A considerable portion of the public supported his reforms. These supporters began attacking Zhang Fei as treacherous and despicable.

It was like killing two birds with one stone – striking at both Wang Anshi while making Zhang Fei a pariah.

After stirring up public opinion, they began submitting memorials to the emperor, using public sentiment to demand the immediate dissolution of the Finance Planning Commission.

Of course, many also submitted memorials defending Wang Anshi. Su Zhe, who had just returned to the capital, submitted a memorial discussing current affairs. While not directly defending Wang Anshi, he expressed that the nation’s problems could only be solved through reforms.

But it was futile – the opposing memorials outnumbered supporting ones several times over.

Under pressure, Emperor Zhao Xu finally issued an edict dissolving the Finance Planning Commission.

When this imperial edict came down, almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Some could hardly believe it.

Was it really that simple?

Was it a dream? Or was there some conspiracy? But the emperor had indeed ordered the Commission’s dissolution.

This was a fatal blow to the reformist faction.

It would be nearly impossible to recover from this.

It was over.

Everything was over.

Zhang Fei chose to hand the law firm over to Fan Li and shut himself away, ignoring the rumors outside as he had no interest in them.

He was still waiting for news from Dengzhou.

At the Zhang residence:

“People outside are saying you betrayed the trust reposed in you, but I don’t believe it,” said Ma Xiaoyi, lying on the table and looking at Zhang Fei with bright, aggrieved eyes as if he himself was the one who had lost the case.

Zhang Fei asked, “You don’t believe that?”

Ma Xiaoyi snorted, “With Brother San’s litigation skills, why would you need to betray anyone? If you really opposed Academician Wang, you could have just helped the other side win the case directly – why go to such lengths?”

Zhang Fei blinked and suddenly smiled at Ma Xiaoyi, “You make quite a convincing point there, kid.”

Ma Xiaoyi immediately grinned and sat up straight, asking, “Brother San, so what really happened?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Zhang San must have been blackmailed into stabbing Academician Wang in the back,” said Cao Dongdong, putting his foot on a stool while peeling an orange and shaking his head.

Zhang Fei looked at Cao Dongdong, “What makes the Young Master say that?”

Cao Dongdong winked at Zhang Fei: “It has to do with a woman, right?”

Zhang Fei frowned: “Young Master! So you’ve been pretending to be foolish all this time?”

Cao Dongdong pushed back his headband that had slipped to his neck, “What? I’ve never pretended to be foolish!”

“Ahem!” Zhang Fei asked, “Then how did you come to this conclusion?”

Ma Xiaoyi also looked curious: “Yes, yes! Big brother, how did you know?”

Cao Dongdong waved dismissively: “I’ve heard plenty of such cases. Zhang San has no family but is such a womanizer – he must have been led astray by a woman. It’s obvious!”

“Wait a minute,” Zhang Fei said puzzled, “You can say whatever you want about me, but how am I a womanizer?”

Feeling extremely wronged inside, he thought, “If we’re counting from my transmigration, I’m still a virgin!”

Cao Dongdong looked at him with disdain: “If you weren’t a womanizer, why wouldn’t you let me have Lady Gao?”

Zhang Fei glared at him, “Young Master, if you keep talking like this, we can’t remain friends.”

“Fine, fine, it’s just a widow – there are plenty of widows in the world, I’m not worried about finding one.”

Cao Dongdong kicked aside the stool beneath his feet, and Taozi quickly slipped a clean stool under him just as he was sitting down.

Cao Dongdong sat down smoothly, tossed an orange slice in his mouth, and said indistinctly with an air of worldly wisdom, “Zhang San, I’m telling you – you’re just a commoner. Keep trying to mix with those above you, and you’ll eventually get into trouble.”

Zhang Fei found this both annoying and amusing: “Then in the Young Master’s opinion, who should I associate with?”

Cao Dongdong swallowed his orange and said, “Come to my house.”

Zhang Fei asked curiously, “What for?”

Before Cao Dongdong could answer, Ma Xiaoyi said, “Big brother has always wanted to hire you as his henchman, Brother San!”

“Not a henchman – a strategist,” Cao Dongdong winked at Zhang Fei. “Zhang San, come be my strategist. Just make sure that no matter what I do, my grandaunt won’t punish me. I promise no one will dare bully you or your woman. How about it?”

He had always had his eye on Zhang Fei – truly persistent in his desires.

Zhang Fei smiled slightly: “No.”

“Why not?”

Cao Dongdong exclaimed excitedly: “I have plenty of money and women – why won’t you agree?”

Zhang Fei said, “Because this is the worst possible plan. I have a better one.”

Cao Dongdong quickly asked, “What plan?”

Zhang Fei said, “Just like the Ma family here,” he pointed his thumb at Ma Xiaoyi, “hire our law firm to provide legal services. Before you do anything, you can consult me, and I’ll tell you if it’s illegal.”

Cao Dongdong rolled his eyes: “Do I need to ask you whether something is illegal or not?”

“Let me finish!” Zhang Fei clicked his tongue and continued, “I can tell you how to achieve your goals legally.”

Cao Dongdong’s eyes darted around, “Achieve goals legally?”

Zhang Fei nodded, “And that way, you won’t be implicated by me. Someone as shrewd as you should know I’ve made quite a few enemies lately!”

Cao Dongdong’s eyes spun around a few times before he immediately asked, “How much?”

Zhang Fei said, “Five hundred strings per year.”

“Taozi!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Later, get five hundred strings from home.”

“I’ll remember, sir.”

“As expected of the Young Master – so decisive.”

“Alright! Alright!”

Ma Xiaoyi impatiently interrupted: “Big brother, we came to help Brother San find a solution, how did you end up doing business?”

“What help?”

Cao Dongdong snorted: “This is beyond our help – we’re just here to watch the show.”

“You have hit the nail on the head.”

Zhang Fei chuckled, then said to Ma Xiaoyi: “Little Ma, I know you are a loyal friend – coming here at this time is enough. Don’t get involved in the rest, just watch the show.”

He added mentally, “Though I wonder whose show it will be.”

Cao Dongdong rubbed his nose and said to Ma Xiaoyi: “You heard him? Zhang San himself said so. It’s not that I’m being disloyal – there’s just nothing we can do to help.”

As they were talking, Xu Zun and his daughter suddenly walked in.

Xu Zhiqian secretly winked at Zhang Fei.

Seeing this, Zhang Fei excitedly stood up, about to go welcome them, but suddenly remembered Cao Dongdong and Ma Xiaoyi were still there. He held back and said, “Young Master, Little Ma, please head back first – I have some matters to attend to.”

Ma Xiaoyi wanted to stay, but seeing Xu Zun there, he could only bid farewell with Cao Dongdong.

After they left, Zhang Fei immediately went forward and asked, “Benefactor, Miss Xu, do you have news about Fang Yun?”

Xu Zun nodded with a smile.

Xu Zhiqian handed a letter to Zhang Fei, smiling: “This came by urgent courier!”

This time Emperor Zhao Xu had spared no expense, sending people from the Capital Security Office to rescue Fang Yun. The Capital Security Office was the Song Dynasty’s intelligence agency and quite formidable, though they couldn’t compare to the Ming Dynasty’s Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Zhang Fei took the letter and asked, “Were they just trying to scare me?”

Xu Zhiqian shook her head: “Not exactly. They really did send people, but they pretended to be people you had commissioned to look for relatives in Dengzhou. They claimed to be unfamiliar with the area and tricked Fang Yun and the Wei brothers into guiding them. Fang Yun and the others only returned home on the fifth day after that court case ended.”

Zhang Fei felt a wave of relief – fortunately he hadn’t gambled then.

Xu Zun said, “But they haven’t found any clues yet. Those people may have already left Dengzhou.”

Zhang Fei smiled bitterly: “Those people are just pawns – the real enemy is both far away and right before us. I’m just glad Fang Yun is safe.”

He didn’t care who the mastermind was – they would all be eliminated eventually.

Xu Zhiqian was also happy for him, saying, “At least they had some conscience and didn’t harm Fang Yun.”

“Conscience?”

Zhang Fei laughed coldly: “Their conscience was eaten by dogs long ago. Letting Fang Yun return home is actually their way of silencing witnesses.”

Xu Zun immediately understood, “Indeed! If something had happened to Fang Yun, you could have used that as grounds to petition the court again, and with Lord Fu and others already suspicious, you might have had a chance to overturn the case. Now that Fang Yun is safe and sound, even if you claim someone kidnapped her, there’s no evidence. They really thought this through thoroughly.”

Xu Zhiqian frowned: “I see. Here I was thinking… how could people capable of such ruthless acts suddenly show mercy?”

Zhang Fei snorted: “Fortunately, I wasn’t planning to appeal the case anyway. Instead, I’ll show them what it means to be a rogue pen-in-cap.”

Xu Zhiqian giggled at this, then suddenly glanced toward the door. “Madam Zhang?”

Zhang Fei turned his head to see Gao Wenyin standing in the doorway. “Do you need something, my lady?”

Gao Wenyin hurriedly said, “I… I didn’t mean to interrupt. I… I just wanted to ask if your relative was rescued?”

Zhang Fei nodded with a smile: “Safe and sound.”

“That’s wonderful!”

Gao Wenyin was immediately excited, her watery almond eyes glistening with joyful tears.

Late that night.

Zhang Fei sat alone by his bed, slowly opening the letter. Though the handwriting and composition weren’t as refined as Xu Zhiqian’s, the neat rows of delicate characters and simple wording made it feel as if Fang Yun was speaking directly to him.

This was Fang Yun’s first letter to him. She explained that over the past six months, she had been learning to read and write, hoping to be able to write to him.

Fang Yun also told Zhang Fei that she had finally gained forgiveness from the Wei brothers. The three were now as close as siblings, looking after each other. Wei Ada had even married – though his wife was a lame widow, she was very kind-hearted and kept the household in good order. Everything was well so he needn’t worry.

As for the people Emperor Zhao Xu had sent to bring her back to the capital, Fang Yun expressed her wish to remain in Dengzhou to observe mourning for her mother.

Clearly, Fang Yun didn’t know that the previous group had actually meant to harm her.

For a long while, Zhang Fei was reluctant to close the letter. He smiled and said, “Caring for someone is also a kind of happiness.”

In the palace.

“Hehe haha!”

Emperor Zhao Xu was writing an edict while laughing merrily. Google seaʀᴄh novelfire(.)net

The eunuch beside him looked on curiously, waiting until the emperor put down his brush before asking, “Why does Your Majesty keep laughing?”

“There’ll be quite a show tomorrow. Haha!”

Zhao Xu handed the edict to the eunuch.

The next day.

Emperor Zhao Xu suddenly issued an edict establishing a temporary Commission for the Reorganization of the Two Departments,[1] jointly led by Chen Shengzhi and Wang Anshi to continue the reforms.

Su Zhe, Lu Huiqing, and Zhang Duan were appointed as Document Examiners to assist Wang Anshi in drafting new regulations.

Zhang Duan was recommended by Chen Shengzhi, Su Zhe was personally appointed by Zhao Xu, and only Lu Huiqing was Wang Anshi’s man.

Li Chengzhi, Li Chang, Wang Ruyi, Du Chun, and Wang Zishao were appointed as Policy Assessment Officers to supervise the implementation of the new laws. These were all young officials recommended by Wang Anshi who had expressed support for the reforms in recent days.

Everyone was stunned!

The entire court was dumbfounded.

Their minds filled with “WTF!” and “Holy shit!”

Could he really do this?

Emperor Zhao Xu, you’re not playing fair!

[1] The previous Finance Planning Commission’s full name was Commission for the Reorganization of the Three Financial Bureaus. This “new” commission is nominally for the reorganization of the Two Departments, the Palace Secretariat and Military Commission.