"Hold it right there!" Young Master Zhou barked, whirling a furious glare on the green-robed official. "This man assaulted me on a public street and sought to do me in. I am the injured party."
He narrowed his eyes, loaded with meaning: "This official, do not meddle in what is not your concern."
The man was of regular fifth rank — nothing beside his own father, as far as heaven is from mud. Yet he was still an official of the Ministry of Justice, which had nothing to do with the Ministry of Revenue. Young Master Zhou could hardly sever all ties; he only hoped the other man would take the hint.
To his surprise, the green-robed official showed not the slightest fear. Instead he gave a sneering laugh: "Young Master Zhou may take that sentiment and tell it to the Minister himself."
Zhou Li frowned, his gaze meeting the old servant's. Steward Chen murmured: "Minister Sun and your honored father are old acquaintances..." The unspoken rest: barring some unexpected turn, the Minister would not concern himself — and if he did, there was something wrong.
Loath to let the cooked duck fly away, Young Master Zhou hurried close behind. So long as the matter was not serious, he would snatch Xu Qi'an back, press him with torture, and finish him off.
As they left the Ministry of Justice prison, the bright sunlight blazed down. Xu Qi'an narrowed his eyes, giving his pupils time to adjust.
He followed the green-robed official into a great courtyard of the Ministry of Justice offices. A crowd had gathered: officials in robes of every hue; more than a dozen young men in white; two carts and a pair of dead horses; and two old scholars in plain cotton robes, of remarkable bearing. Young Master Zhou saw them all and was at a loss.
He heard the clank of shackles fall still. The accursed Xu Qi'an stopped, turned, and spoke, word by heavy word:
"You should be glad you never laid a hand on me. Allow me to reintroduce myself — I am the newly accepted disciple of the Chief Astronomer."
The old servant's face drained. Young Master Zhou's expression shattered at once. Impossible — he could not possibly be a disciple of the Chief Astronomer. But the courtyard was full of the white-robed men of the Directorate, and the pair kept their silence.
Xu Qi'an paid the pair no mind. He strode forward, cast a glance over the white-robed men, and was surprised not to find the oval-faced Miss Caiwei among them.
Warden Wang had delivered the alchemy manual, but Miss Caiwei wasn't here... Yet the Directorate's alchemists had seen the contents of the book and come to his rescue? Or was Miss Caiwei caught up in something and had begged her fellow disciples to save him?
Xu Qi'an drew a deep breath. Amid the clank of his shackles: "Xu Qi'an greets his senior brothers."
Song Qing blinked, studying Xu Qi'an. "You wrote that book?" Something unreadable in his look... Xu Qi'an nodded. "This is no place to talk. Once we leave the Ministry of Justice, whatever Senior Brother wishes to ask, Ningyan will answer without keeping anything back."
Seeing Xu Qi'an speaking with the white-robed men of the Directorate, Young Master Zhou's face went slack. He hurried to Minister Sun's side and whispered: "Minister Sun, these men of the Directorate..."
Minister Sun glanced at him. "They have come to demand the man."
Young Master Zhou swayed on his feet.
The gaunt old servant's breathing came short and fast. He really is a disciple of the Chief Astronomer?! That's impossible — and if he were, the tax silver case could never have ensnared the Xu family at all.
A possibility struck him. What if he had been taken on by the Chief Astronomer only after the tax silver affair? He had indeed uncovered the secret of the tax silver, had forged counterfeit silver from it. A genius who had conjured up alchemy with no teacher — for the Chief Astronomer to be moved to talent and take him on against all precedent was rather likely.
Besides, if he were not a disciple of the Chief Astronomer, what reason would those white-robed men have to gather here?
It was then that the gaunt old servant noticed the two silent Grand Confucian Masters and the horses that had died so strangely. He stared for a long moment, and stiffened — recognizing the two Grand Confucian Masters of the White Deer Academy.
The gaunt old servant swallowed. "Minister Sun... those two Masters..."
"They, too, have come to demand the man." Minister Sun's face was unreadable.
Young Master Zhou's features turned to stone. Inch by inch, he turned his head toward the old servant.
.......
"Are you Xu Qi'an?"
Xu Qi'an turned. The speaker was an old man in a grey robe with a goatee, someone Xu Qi'an knew nothing of."I am Cijiu's teacher." The other, a blue-robed old master, spoke, his smile warm as he sized up Xu Qi'an: "'Who fears that ahead there is no one who truly knows him? Across the whole world, is there a man who does not know your name?' Did you write these lines?"
"Merely the scribblings of your junior; forgive me if I presume." Xu Qi'an said: "My courtesy name is Ningyan." Offering a stranger one's courtesy name was basic courtesy, for being addressed by one's given name was a grave breach.
The smile on the blue-robed old master's face deepened.
"This business is settled — let us be leaving the Ministry of Justice." Over on their side, Song Qing could not hold back from urging.
A turnkey immediately unfastened Xu Qi'an's fetters and wooden cangue. "Good!" Xu Qi'an nodded.
The faces of the Directorate's men broke into smiles. Their goal was met, the man recovered, and they could hardly wait for the talks to come.
Li Mubai and Zhang Shen had no wish to linger either, for what awaited them was a fierce tug-of-war.
"Hah!" Seeing Xu Qi'an leave with the others, Young Master Zhou let out a breath, his heart full of a dread he refused to admit.
"Wait a moment!" Xu Qi'an suddenly halted. The Directorate's men and the two Grand Confucian Masters watched him.
"I have one more matter to settle." Xu Qi'an clasped his fists, turned, and walked straight toward Young Master Zhou. As he passed a turnkey, he snatched the plank-like wooden cangue from the man's hands.
"Wh-what do you mean to do?" Young Master Zhou stumbled back in fright.
"Xu Qi'an — my father is the Vice Minister of Revenue! Would you dare lay a hand on me? Dared you raise a hand within the Ministry of Justice? Minister Sun — Minister Sun, seize this bandit!... Steward Chen — save me..."
Boom!
Xu Qi'an swung the cangue in a vicious arc and smashed it down on Zhou Li's skull. Splinters flew through the air.
Young Master Zhou's eyes rolled white in his head, and he toppled straight backward, dark blood seeping from his hair.
Xu Qi'an fixed the gaunt old servant with a blank stare: "Crush me."
Dead silence fell across the courtyard!
"Do it before my senior brothers and the honourable gentlemen of the Ministry. Before the two Grand Confucian Masters — crush this ant of mine. Go on, be quick."
The tide of fury surging up his face receded like ebbing water. The gaunt old servant stood frozen, not daring to move a muscle.
......
Truly, I have walked the gates of hell today... Only an official's scion can deal with another official's scion, and the fairness of the law extends only to the small fry... Xu Qi'an bathed in the pale winter sunlight, feeling reborn.
The moment he left the Ministry of Justice gates, he saw two fast horses hurtling down the street — Xu the Second and his Second Uncle, the tautness visibly draining from Xu Pingzhi's set face.
Why are the Directorate's people here... A flicker of doubt crossed Xu Pingzhi's eyes. He was a master at the peak of Qi Refining, a veteran of the Shanhaiguan campaign — he would not view the Directorate's diviners with the awe of a common man.
Xu Xinnian reined in his horse, taking an unobtrusive measure of his elder cousin before releasing a small breath of relief. He bowed deep: "Many thanks, Teacher — and Master Mubai."
Xu Qi'an could only clasp his fists toward the Directorate's men first, then, together with his cousin, bow once more to the two Grand Confucian Masters.
Li Mubai made a sound of regret: "With such poetic talent, how ever did you end up a mere runner? Ningyan — would you care to come to the White Deer Academy and study the Way of the Sage?"
They had met barely a quarter of an hour, and already he was calling him Ningyan... Zhang Shen added: "And you could conveniently take this old one as your master."
Xu Qi'an: "???"