"Hu Shouxin. Veteran general of Tianyuan, war hero, one of the first batch of high-ranking officers to hang up his armor and return home in honor after the war. Known in the army as a fierce line-breaker, born with divine strength, his valor a match for ten thousand men. In all of Mingzhou Province, the men who'd dare claim they could certainly beat him number no more than three." Liang Bufan, Chief Constable of the Six Gates in Mingzhou City, regarded the fuming little lady before him with some exasperation. Of an eminent house, and a prized disciple of Lingjiu Palace besides — he couldn't strike her, couldn't curse her, and couldn't even put on a superior's airs, so all he could do was reason with her gently. "A thorn like that, neither power nor force can suppress. Even if you bring out the Startled Swan Sword, even if you call on your clan for aid, you'll get nowhere with him."
Zhang Yinluo said hotly, "Even if he's a war hero, even if he's formidable, does that let him shield a suspect?"
"Don't underestimate him, my young miss." Liang Bufan sighed. "He's far more than a war hero. In his day he won the great merit of being first to scale the walls twice, cut down generals and seized banners three times, and charged the enemy alone sixteen times — a peerless, valiant general. Even retiring to the fields, he received the court's highest honors for a meritorious old soldier of Tianyuan: his deeds carved on the Yanran stone, his name listed in the Pavilion of Soaring Clouds. Most important of all, even struck from the active rolls and his twelve scrolls of military service stricken, he was still permitted to keep his Imperial Arm — which signifies the highest trust and gratitude of the imperial house and the court. Such extraordinary honor stems, first, from the sheer scale of his merits in those days, and second, from the fact that he has people above him."
"The Imperial Arm 'Break the Battle Line' — the Thunder Bow with its Crashing Lightning String, which draws down the thunder of the Ninth Heaven to shake a thousand armies. The story of Hu Shouxin and that bow, the elders of your house have surely heard, and they certainly won't let you run wild." Liang Bufan tapped the desk and went on slowly. "At court these days, dark currents surge. The war heroes ennobled for merit in the Tianyuan War — some stand at court, some have retired home, and each, by his own merits, martial strength, fame, and power, has built up his own faction. They echo one another across the jianghu and the court, forming their own bloc, checking and balancing their political rivals. Hu Shouxin is one of them... So he's right: even if Lingjiu Palace's Fairy Wu spoke up for you, she'd be turned back, because his backers are even tougher than yours."
"Sir!" Zhang Yinluo could hold back no longer. She cut Liang Bufan off, a note of irrepressible anger in her voice. "What I want to know is not his background, and I don't care about Hu Shouxin's backers. The crucial point is this: a criminal we'd already apprehended was forcibly snatched away while being escorted back to the Six Gates. Should we not pursue the matter to the very end?!"
"That Qin Yu is nothing but a thief, not worth all this fuss. Blow the matter up, and apart from exposing the Six Gates as incompetent, what good does it do?" Liang Bufan frowned. "And as you said yourself, this involves the Errant Guild. That suspect is someone Hu Shouxin means to protect, and if you push ahead willfully, you'll easily set the errants and the authorities at odds — the aftermath would be endless. Were it anyone else, fine, but as I just said, that Hu Shouxin is a genuine handful..."
"So it's all right for the Six Gates to have a prisoner intercepted? It's all right for such a thing to happen on our watch?"
"She's only a thief!" Pressed so hard by a subordinate, formidable background or no, Liang Bufan couldn't help darkening his face. "Constable Zhang, you're still too young. The world seldom bends to our wishes; all we can do is act with a clear conscience. You know how many old cases the Six Gates has piled up — several murders left unsolved, wanted criminals guilty of grave crimes still at large. A city's peace, the people's livelihood — there are no end of places that need our manpower. Would you cast aside people who more deserve justice and help, and lead a great mass of precious manpower off to chase a thief who was never any good to begin with? And at the risk of offending the errants, no less?"
Zhang Yinluo paused, then said gravely, "Then leave this matter to me alone!"
"..." Liang Bufan drew a deep breath, irritation surfacing on his face. "Did you not understand me? Your own clan won't approve of this matter. And besides — why must you wade into this muddy water? That woman was a thief to begin with. In this trade, if she's caught in the act and beaten to death on the spot by the wronged party, so be it; even if she's carried off and tortured to death, that's the road she chose for herself. Why must you stick your neck out for her?"
"Because I am a woman too!" Zhang Yinluo said loudly. "In a world where even women turn a blind eye to the dangers and sufferings other women endure, what right have we to demand that men respect us? Are we to sit waiting for some man to take pity and speak up for her instead? Thief or not, she should be punished justly according to the law — not spirited away to who-knows-where, her body, soul, and dignity brutally violated and abused, to die quietly and miserably in the dark! All I ask for is the two words 'fair' and 'just.' Even a thief — only the law may decide her life or death. No one else, neither the Errant Guild nor any other skulking phantom, has the right to harm her!"
"Where do you get this..." Liang Bufan smiled bitterly. "It may well be her own associates who rescued her."
"Unlikely! Theft is one thing; assaulting constables and violently fleeing after capture is another entirely! She's a thief, not a robber. After being caught, she ought to be thinking how to argue her way to acquittal and an early release — why would she openly defy the authorities? The cost of the two crimes is worlds apart! This is no ancient age — corporal punishment for theft was abolished long ago!" Zhang Yinluo said through gritted teeth. "I let the suspect slip away. For the sake of duty and of conscience both, I must get to the bottom of this! And if the suspect Qin Yu really did flee to escape punishment, then I have all the more reason to bring her to justice!"
"Then go, Miss Zhang." Now that it had come to this, Liang Bufan's tone turned cold as well. "But understand this: the reason I'm permitting you to do this, the reason I've patiently let you prattle at me here, comes down to your being the Zhang family's pampered jewel and a prized disciple of Lingjiu Palace — all of which runs rather counter to the fairness you pursue... To put it bluntly, if you had no roots, just a backerless greenhorn who came to argue with me so pig-headedly, I'd not have spared you a lesson in what the order of high and low means."
"Thank you for indulging me, sir." Zhang Yinluo's expression was calm. She cupped her hands and bowed, her voice clear and cold. "I am no longer a naive, innocent girl. I understand well enough what kind of world this is. The deals and stories hidden beneath this yamen, I know a thing or two of as well. And I understand the principle that water too clear holds no fish. It's only that we children of great houses, who represent the very greatest unfairness in the world, are born into fine clothes and rich food, possessing resources and power that ordinary people couldn't reach in a lifetime. If even we take all of this as our due, and with easy conscience bully the weak and sow injustice, then this world truly is beyond saving."
"I won't strike a precious pose and call my birth and station a burden, nor do I wish to cast them aside. But since I occupy advantages so many in this world can never attain, then I must, as far as I can, leave this world a little fairer... If those of us who have unfairly held vast resources and advantages since the day we were born feel nothing at all, then carry on long enough, and this nation will have no fairness left to speak of... You surely know what will happen then."
Watching Zhang Yinluo turn and walk away, Liang Bufan snorted, picked up his teacup, and slowly took a sip — then frowned faintly. This foreign way of drinking tea, with milk and sugar added, really wasn't to his taste... though, savored carefully, it did have a flavor of its own.
Mulling the strange taste in his mouth, he slowly broke into a cold, grim smile. "I hear this young miss even studied abroad. Hmph — quite the eloquent set of principles. A pity. Such a pity..."