Chapter 180 — Secretly Tripping Him Up

"A fox spirit and a dragon qilin running wild at Jade Dragon Lake? Not only bathing in the lake, but beating you as well?

" Pei Wujiu had just returned from the imperial palace when the Daoist who guarded Jade Dragon Lake came to lodge a complaint. Pei Wujiu was shaken to the core and blurted out, "The king of the red dragon carp was carried off by that dragon qilin too? Whose fox spirit and dragon qilin are so bold? I have been in office barely a month, and this has to happen? Who is fitting me with tight shoes?

" Before he had time to digest the news, another man came to report: "Grand Libationer, the fox spirit kept by Shen Mu, Erudite of the Grand Academy at the Scholars' Lodge, cut down the Advancement Tree and used it to roast a fish. That fish looked like the king of Jade Dragon Lake -- it has been roasted and eaten! Shen Mu and the Grand Academy scholar Wei Yong are right now gathering up the fish bones, trying to destroy the evidence. " Pei Wujiu was both startled and delighted. He laughed: "That boy -- I was just worrying that I had no way to get a grip on him, and now he has delivered himself right to my door.

This is enough to have his head cut off a hundred times over. Now that blockhead Bashan should have nothing to say, eh? " He was in high spirits and rose at once: "Come, follow me to seize the man! Bring both the material evidence and the witnesses; escort him straight to the Court of Judicial Review, let the Chief Justice interrogate him, and sentence him to have his whole family executed!

Then send a memorial into the palace to report the matter! " "That scholar called Wei Yong. . .

" "Seize him too, and charge him along with the rest!

" Pei Wujiu laughed: "A moment ago I was asking who was fitting me with tight shoes.

Now it seems the shoes are not small at all -- they fit perfectly. " Pei Wujiu and his men burst into the Scholars' Lodge, but Shen Mu was not in the courtyard -- only a fox and a dozing dragon qilin.

Pei Wujiu roused the dragon qilin: "Where has that boy Shen gone? " The dragon qilin raised its head, glanced at them, and said slowly, "He was here a moment ago. Someone came from the palace and invited him away.

" "Could it be that the Emperor already knows of this and has dragged him into the palace to be beheaded? " Pei Wujiu chuckled: "The boy still has my Chubao Sword on him; beheading would be letting him off lightly.

What are you standing there for?

Seize the fox and the dragon qilin! I am going into the palace to see the Emperor, and to watch with my own eyes how this boy dies. " With that, he hurried off. The several Libationers who had come with him and the Daoist who guarded Jade Dragon Lake hastily worked a chain and bound the dragon qilin.

The snow fox tried to flee, but was caught as well. Pei Wujiu swept into the palace in a flurry and asked for an audience with the Emperor.

After a moment the guards announced: "His Majesty is in the Imperial Garden. He asks Lord Gu to come over.

" Pei Wujiu was astonished: "Beheading the man named Shen in the Imperial Garden?

His Majesty must truly be enraged. " He came to the Imperial Garden and heard laughter. Pei Wujiu, alarmed and uncertain, walked up and saw Emperor Yanfeng supporting the Empress Dowager, with several officials following behind. Shen Mu stood to the Empress Dowager's left rear; he had said something or other, and the Empress Dowager was laughing.

Emperor Yanfeng caught sight of him, waved, and called him forward, saying gently, "What brings you here, my dear minister? " Pei Wujiu hesitated, then said: "Erudite Shen allowed a dragon qilin to leap into Jade Dragon Lake, seize the king of the fish, and eat it.

Jade Dragon Lake is the source of the imperial household's drinking water, and the red dragon carp is imperial fare. Erudite Shen has acted with reckless audacity; this is a capital crime. Your servant dares not conceal it, and so has come to report it to Your Majesty. " "Such a thing happened?

" Emperor Yanfeng looked at Shen Mu beside him: "What does my dear Shen have to say?

" "Your servant is a man from beyond the pale and does not know the customs of the capital, and so I have been rash.

" Shen Mu said: "I did not know that Jade Dragon Lake belonged to the imperial house, nor that the fish in it must not be eaten.

I feel the weight of my guilt deeply. I ask Your Majesty to pass sentence.

" "This is a capital crime.

" Emperor Yanfeng glanced at him: "Though I think highly of you, the law is the law. How would you have me sentence you?

" Pei Wujiu said with an ingratiating smile: "Your Majesty, by law it should be the execution of his whole family.

.

.

" The Empress Dowager laughed: "Emperor, this widow also thinks the little divine physician ought to be beheaded. " Emperor Yanfeng was slightly taken aback, then laughed: "Mother, why do you say so? " The Empress Dowager walked forward unhurriedly and said leisurely: "Of course he ought to be beheaded. If the little divine physician is not beheaded, how will the world know that the Emperor prizes fish above men? If the Erudite of the Grand Academy is not beheaded, how will the world know that the Emperor prizes water above men? Behead him, and only then will the world know that for a mouthful of water and a single fish, the Emperor killed the divine physician whose fame fills the court and the countryside, who cured this widow -- only then will the world know that the Emperor is a benighted ruler.

" Emperor Yanfeng laughed heartily and waved his hand: "Lord Gu, for such a trifling matter you still come to bother me. Withdraw.

" Pei Wujiu was dumbfounded: "This.

.

. " "Go on, go on. " Emperor Yanfeng waved his hand: "You failed to keep proper watch over Jade Dragon Lake, but I will not punish you -- after all, you have only just arrived at the Grand Academy. What you did today has already given me enough of a headache; you even went and fought a bout with Libationer Bashan and made me lose face badly. If you had won, that would have been one thing, but you did not even come close -- a Grand Libationer who cannot beat a Libationer. You have shamed me to the bone.

Go home and reflect on it properly.

" "Your will be done. " Pei Wujiu, deeply aggrieved, was about to leave when Shen Mu said: "Lord Gu, as for my fox and that dragon qilin, please do not make things hard for them.

" Pei Wujiu's heart skipped a beat. The Empress Dowager laughed: "I doubt he would dare.

By the way, Emperor, the little divine physician cured this widow, and you have not yet rewarded him. " "Mother, he is already Erudite of the Grand Academy, an official of the sixth rank; he cannot be promoted further. He is still young, after all -- let us wait a few years, lest the court officials say I favor him.

" "Little divine physician, tell me more amusing stories of your childhood.

. . " Pei Wujiu walked off.

Leaving the palace and returning to the Grand Academy, he had a bellyful of pent-up anger and nowhere to vent it. The Daoist who guarded Jade Dragon Lake hurried up: "Grand Libationer, has the criminal been beheaded?

" "It is all your meddling.

You were supposed to watch your lake, and you had to stir up this mess and leave me covered in stink! " Pei Wujiu glared at him and shouted: "Release that fox and the dragon qilin! " The lake-keeping Daoist felt deeply wronged, not knowing how he had offended him, and had no choice but to release the snow fox and the dragon qilin. He said: "Grand Libationer, we have already sent men to arrest Wei Yong, but Wei Yong follows Libationer Bashan, and Libationer Bashan will not let us take him.

What do you make of this.

.

.

" "What is Wei Yong's background?

" "He is of the Duke of Wei's household. . .

" "Do not go looking for trouble where there is none!

" In the Imperial Garden, the Empress Dowager talked with Shen Mu for a while.