Autumn Reckoning

The imperial carriage had already departed. No one in the hall spoke again. A moment later, Wen Ying silently stood up and walked out of the classroom.

The Emperor's verbal edict had been issued. That same day, Wen Ying was struck from the list of scholars by the Ministry of Rites, and there was no longer a place for him in the Imperial Academy.

Wen Ying returned to his room to pack his belongings. Pan You'an followed him again, mocking him with cold sarcasm, the smugness on his face completely unconcealed.

Wen Ying didn't spare him another glance, his ever-lowered lashes concealing the emotions in his eyes.

The other two roommates looked like they wanted to speak but hesitated, guilt written on their faces. In the end, they said nothing at all.

They too had returned to their dormitory at noon and had seen it clearly: Wen Ying had never taken out that thumb ring. After changing his clothes, he had only grabbed two books before leaving. He had been framed.

But in front of the Emperor and the Crown Prince, they had timidly chosen to protect themselves, not offering even half a sentence of explanation for Wen Ying.

Director Lin was waiting especially for him outside. Wen Ying walked up to him and handed back the book he had gifted him in the past.

Director Lin did not take it. “What are your plans for the future?”

Wen Ying's gaze was calm as he said in a hoarse voice, “I'm going to join the army.”

Director Lin was stunned. He hadn't expected him to have already figured out another path in such a short time. He hesitated, trying to persuade him, “...Are you really going to join the army? His Majesty only said to strip you of your scholarly honor, he didn't say you couldn't take the examinations again. You are still young. Even if you start over, it would only be a matter of a few years. Why must you do this?”

“I don't want to take the examinations anymore.”

Wen Ying didn't explain further, nor did he want to.

Having reached this point, he wanted to distinguish himself more than ever before, and he absolutely had to. Sooner or later, he would grasp power and rise to the highest echelons of the court.

Even if he took the exams again and passed, he would have to start as a minor official. He didn't want to waste ten or twenty years; he would rather fight for a future with his blood and his life.

Director Lin let out a long sigh. “I told you long ago, Prince Yu would be your ruin sooner or later.”

A fleeting darkness passed through Wen Ying's eyes before they returned to the stillness of stagnant water. He didn't reply.

Seeing that his mind was made up, Director Lin stopped trying to persuade him. He took the book, pulled out two hundred taels in silver notes from his bosom, and stuffed them into Wen Ying's hand. “Take this. Consider it a loan from me. If you truly manage to secure a better future for yourself, just pay me back double.”

Wen Ying did not refuse. He accepted the silver notes and gave Director Lin a deep bow. “Teacher, please take care.”

Director Lin was choked with emotion and couldn't speak. Wen Ying had already straightened up, his shoulders and back ramrod straight, and walked out of the Imperial Academy step by step.

From beginning to end, he never once looked back.

When Ling Qiyan returned to his manor, a maid had just served hot tea when he violently smashed it to the ground.

Earlier, after following the Emperor back to the palace, he had been scolded again. That bastard Ling Qiyu had pretended to speak up for him, but the smug look on his face clearly said that this whole affair was his doing.

How outrageous!

In the evening, Xia Zhixing came to the main courtyard to pay his respects to Ling Qiyan. Just as he bent down, a eunuch from behind kicked him in the back of his knees. Caught off guard, Xia Zhixing fell heavily to the ground on both knees.

A flash of anger crossed his face. Ling Qiyan stared at him coldly. “You still dare to return to this prince?”

Xia Zhixing quickly composed himself, reverting to his subservient and fawning demeanor. He explained to Ling Qiyan, “Regarding today's matter, this student was truly just anxious to retrieve the thumb ring. I never expected His Majesty to go there. This student truly did not do it on purpose...”

Ling Qiyan threw the hot tea in his hand directly onto his face.

“Do you take this prince for a fool? That I'd believe your pack of lies with a little coaxing? This prince knows you never intended to follow me forever, and this prince wouldn't have minded you using Prince Yu's Manor as a stepping stone. But you shouldn't have been a traitor who helps outsiders while still under my roof, helping others to screw this prince over!”

“This student did not...”

“You know perfectly well whether you did or not!”

Today's grand performance was clearly arranged by Ling Qiyu for him to see!

Specifically telling Father Emperor to bring him along to the lecture, suggesting they stay at the Imperial Academy for lunch, and then inciting Father Emperor to go to the classroom—it was all planned by that bastard. Who knows how many people were cooperating in this play, and this Xia Zhixing before me was definitely one of them!

Xia Zhixing still repeated the same line, “This student did not. This student's sincere loyalty is all for Your Highness. I would never dare to betray my master.”

Ling Qiyan's eyes held only disgust for him. Loath to waste any more words on such a creature, he ordered Jiang Lin, “A silver fox pelt gifted to this prince by Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has gone missing. Send a few men to find it for this prince. Search the entire manor and see which blind fool stole it.”

Jiang Lin acknowledged the order and left.

Xia Zhixing's eyes widened in disbelief, and he blurted out, “Your Highness, what is the meaning of this?!”

Ling Qiyan ignored him, leaning back languidly into the couch, not even bothering to lift his eyelids.

Xia Zhixing gritted his teeth so hard they audibly clicked. The eunuch behind him held his shoulders, rendering him immobile.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Jiang Lin returned, holding the silver fox pelt in both hands. He presented it to Ling Qiyan. “Your Highness, it's been found. It was discovered in this Provincial Graduate Xia's room.”

Ling Qiyan sneered, “What's all this about? His Majesty just said that petty thieves are unfit to be officials. How could such a thing happen in this prince's own manor?”

Xia Zhixing argued indignantly, “This silver fox pelt was clearly a gift from Your Highness to this student!”

Ling Qiyan glanced at him with a smile that wasn't a smile. “Was there such a thing? How come this prince himself doesn't know about it?”

Xia Zhixing wanted to say more, but Ling Qiyan gave him no further chance. He directly summoned the chief steward of his manor and commanded, “This prince has made a mistake in judgment, taking in a retainer of depraved character who stole a tribute gift from the Empress Dowager. Although this matter is shameful to speak of, to make an example of him, it must be handled impartially. Personally take him to the Shangjing Government Office and hand him over to the authorities there. Let them deal with him as they see fit.”

The chief steward acknowledged the order.

Xia Zhixing was overwhelmed with grief and indignation. He struggled to get up and, in his fury, began to curse loudly.

He had barely uttered two words when the eunuch holding him down slapped him hard across the face.

Ling Qiyan let out a cold laugh. “What do you think you are? Did you really think the person you sided with would come to save you? You're nothing more than a pawn, to be used and discarded. If you dared to screw this prince over, you should have been prepared to bear the consequences. Have all the books you've read gone to a dog's belly? Utterly foolish!”

After he spoke, he gave the other no chance to argue, waving his hand. “Take him away.”

The room finally fell quiet. Jiang Lin quietly asked Ling Qiyan how to dispose of the reclaimed items, including the jade thumb ring. Ling Qiyan frowned impatiently. “Throw them in the storehouse. Don't bring them before this prince to be an eyesore again.”

He closed his eyes, the frustration in his heart finally dissipating a little.

That day, Xia Zhixing was escorted by the chief steward of Prince Yu's Manor to the Shangjing Government Office and charged with the crime of stealing a tribute gift. The Shangjing Government Office informed the Imperial Academy and the Ministry of Rites. Xia Zhixing was likewise expelled from the Imperial Academy and stripped of his scholarly honor. In the end, the case was closed at the government office level, and he was sentenced directly to exile.

With Wen Ying gone from the Imperial Academy, Pan You'an was quite smug for a while. He had no intention of studying for the exams and befriended a group of rich merchants' sons in Shangjing City, spending his days seeking pleasure with them. Later, he was lured into a gambling addiction and lost all the money his family had sent for him to squander. He was held in an underground gambling den, locked away from the light of day for several days and repeatedly beaten. By the time he was rescued by officials, he was barely clinging to life.

Naturally, his scholarly honor was also lost.

At the same time, a scandal concerning the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace suddenly began to spread through the streets and alleys of the capital.

Since next year was the year of the triennial Capital Examination, the capital was currently filled with students who had come to take the exams. It started in the inns where these students gathered. A storyteller recounted a tale he'd heard elsewhere, about a crown prince from a previous dynasty who took a fancy to a poor scholar studying in the Imperial Academy. With sweet words, he tricked the man into falling in love, only to quickly grow tired of him and cast him aside. He then threw the scholar to his sycophantic noble scions to be toyed with. Unable to bear the humiliation, the scholar tried to expose them but was thrown into the back lake of the Imperial Academy and drowned. Later, those noble scions met their retribution, contracting unspeakable venereal diseases in brothels and being expelled from the Imperial Academy. Unfortunately, the crown prince escaped unscathed. After all, he was the Crown Prince of a nation; even the heavens dared not retaliate against him.

When the storyteller told this tale, his voice was full of cadence and emotion, easily making the students listening below identify with the character and become filled with indignation.

This story was told in that inn for three consecutive days. Afterward, the storyteller noticed he was being watched and fled overnight, his whereabouts unknown. But the story had already spread completely among the examination candidates in the capital.

Soon, someone discovered that the story was not some tale from a previous dynasty, but a true event that had happened right here in Shangjing City!

There really was a student who had fallen into a lake and drowned at the Imperial Academy at the beginning of the year, and there really was a group of profligates who were expelled from the Imperial Academy shortly after for venereal diseases.

That storyteller must have been an insider, using the guise of storytelling to accuse the current Crown Prince and those noble scions of their beastly atrocities.

Even without conclusive evidence, and incited by those with ulterior motives, these students quickly became enraged. They knew no other way to act, so they picked up their brushes and wrote essay after essay with sharp words, overtly and covertly satirizing the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace and those children of powerful families, publishing them anonymously.

Ling Qiyu was so furious he smashed things and cursed in the Eastern Palace, but he was helpless. These pedantic scholars were the easiest to deal with, and also the most difficult. A single essay from each of them could drown him, yet he couldn't do anything to them. After all, the law does not punish the masses. If he were to really do something, it would only confirm his guilty conscience.

Afterward, the matter spread even wider, from the mouths of those students into the great noble houses of the capital, becoming a joke for countless people. Even the Emperor heard about it from a eunuch by his side.

The Emperor summoned Ling Qiyu and gave him a thorough tongue-lashing. Even though Ling Qiyu refused to admit it, he couldn't deny it either.

In the storyteller's tale, the love token that the so-called crown prince of a previous dynasty gave to the poor scholar was an imperially bestowed snuff bottle. He even gave a detailed description of how exquisite and magnificent the snuff bottle was. Others might not know, but how could the Emperor not recognize something he had personally bestowed? It was clearly the very same snuff bottle that Ling Qiyu had begged from him at the beginning of the year!

The Emperor asked Ling Qiyu where the snuff bottle was and told him to bring it out for a look. Ling Qiyu lowered his head and stammered, unable to answer. Seeing his reaction, the Emperor knew at once that the matter must be true.

If Ling Qiyu's previous desire to interfere in military affairs had made the Emperor feel this son had grown ambitious, then these recent events, revealing that his so-called upstanding virtue was actually an act to deceive him, disappointed the Emperor to the extreme.

His eldest son was useless, and his second son was no good either. He had truly failed as an emperor.

“To screw over your older brother, you used insidious means to ruin an innocent person's future. I can favor you and cover for you once or twice, but if it happens too many times, there will come a day when even I cannot protect you.”

Ling Qiyu looked at the Emperor, stunned, and subconsciously argued, “Your son did not...”

“You know perfectly well whether you did or not. Don't let me find out you dare to do the same thing a second time.” After the Emperor finished speaking coldly, he waved his hand, telling Ling Qiyu to get back to the Eastern Palace and reflect on his misdeeds behind closed doors.

Ling Qiyu walked out of Xingqing Palace with a dark face and ran into Ling Qiyan, who had also been summoned. As they passed each other, Ling Qiyu asked sinisterly, “This matter, you had someone do it behind the scenes, didn't you? It seems I have underestimated you.”

'Xia Zhixing, Pan You'an, and even him, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace—Ling Qiyan had come to hate them all. Was this because he had lost face, or was it because he wanted to take revenge for that poor scholar who had been driven away?!'

'Was that person really worth all this?!'

Ling Qiyan gave him a cold look. “This prince doesn't know what you're talking about. This prince only knows one thing: he who is unjust is doomed to destruction.”

He paid Ling Qiyu no more mind and stepped through the door.

He knelt to pay his respects, but the Emperor did not tell him to rise. He immediately asked, “Why did you release those rumors to ruin your second younger brother's reputation?”

Ling Qiyan's face was cold, and he refused to answer.

“Speak!”

Ling Qiyan argued resentfully, “Your son does not understand what Father Emperor means. Your son only knows that those rumors are not necessarily false, but what does that have to do with me? The one who ruined the Crown Prince's reputation was not your son, but himself.”

The Emperor was instantly angered. “You still dare to say you don't know?! Do you really think I can't see through those petty tricks of yours?! That I'd let you fool me as you please?! You! And the Crown Prince! Just because the Crown Prince screwed you over before, you have to be this vengeful?!”

Ling Qiyan snapped his head up, looking at the Emperor in disbelief. Meeting the Emperor's icy gaze, he instantly understood. His Father Emperor had known about the previous incident. He knew everything Ling Qiyu had done.

Rage flared in his heart. Ling Qiyan angrily questioned, “Since Father Emperor knew that Wen Ying was wronged, why did you still strip him of his scholarly honor?! Wen Ying achieved first place in four consecutive exams and has the talent of a top scholar. How could Father Emperor not cherish such a person, and dispose of him so lightly?!”

“You still have the face to ask me? Who was I doing it for?!” the Emperor cursed angrily. “What do you think I should have done?! Investigated the matter thoroughly and let everyone know that students of the Imperial Academy were fighting over you out of jealousy? Let them know you and the Crown Prince are brothers at odds?! Let all the officials and students out there point fingers at you? Would that make you feel comfortable and happy?!”

Ling Qiyan sneered contemptuously. How nice it sounded. Was it for him? It was clearly for the Crown Prince's reputation, for his, the Emperor's, own face!

At the fifth quarter of the yin hour, the morning bell rang, and the city gates opened wide.

Holding the travel permit Director Lin had arranged for him, Wen Ying led the horse he had bought and left the city smoothly.

He now had no scholarly honor to his name; without a travel permit, he couldn't take a single step. He had stayed in the capital for over half a month just to wait for this permit and to procure some supplies.

Shedding the long robes with wide sleeves worn by scholars, he changed into a practical, short, coarse-cloth jacket with a slanted placket. He also gathered some medicinal herbs, prepared enough dry rations, and used the money Director Lin gave him to buy a good horse. Once everything was ready, Wen Ying delayed no longer and left Shangjing City without a trace of lingering.

One day, he would return.

He traveled for half a day. At noon, Wen Ying stopped to rest in a deserted spot on the mountain path. He drank some water, ate some dry rations, and remounted his horse. Just as he was about to set off again, three tall steeds suddenly appeared from around a bend ahead. The riders held sharp swords and approached him step by step.

Wen Ying's expression turned cold. He tightened the reins, watching them warily, and remained still, not making any rash moves.

“Who are you?”

The leader said with an indifferent face, “You don't need to know. You have offended someone you shouldn't have. Today, you must die.”

Wen Ying's pupils constricted slightly. He already recognized him. The time he had accompanied Ling Qiyan to the princess's manor for her birthday celebration, this man was a personal guard who followed the Crown Prince.

Wen Ying's expression remained unchanged, showing no panic.

Back in the county school, that old general had been very enthusiastic about teaching his martial arts skills to the students. His favorite thing was to instruct the few talented ones in close combat on horseback. Every time, Wen Ying was the one who emerged victorious.

The Crown Prince thought he was a powerless scholar and only sent three men.

One against three, he was not without a chance.

Abruptly drawing the short Mobei blade from his waist, Wen Ying dug his heels into his horse's belly and charged forward under the astonished gazes of the three men opposite him.

A quarter of an hour later, Wen Ying raised his hand to wipe the blood splattered on his face. The three men were wailing on the ground, unable to get up.

His left arm had been slashed by a sword. It wasn't too serious; he just needed to apply some hemostatic herbs later.

Wen Ying paid it no mind. Fearing others might come, he didn't linger. He picked up the three men's swords and spurred his horse on.