I Want the Great Liang Code to Save the Common People. …
But was he more miserable than Yu Lin?
Zhang Yao looked at Yu Lin’s back. Beneath the tattered prison uniform, several whip marks that had already begun to age were still swollen.
She had gone back to eating the remaining half of the peach, bite after bite, just as she had at that imperial banquet years ago. Every time she took a bite, her shoulders lifted slightly. Her shoulder blades showed clearly through the thin fabric.
In truth, the skeletal structure of women and men was different. If someone was dressed lightly enough, Zhang Yao could tell seven or eight parts out of ten simply from the contours of their bones. Unfortunately, the heavy official robes of Great Liang’s bureaucracy had concealed Yu Lin all the way until now.
Just as Du Lingruo had said, her personality really was good. She did not have the explosive temper common among the self-proclaimed upright officials, and she was more straightforward and sincere than people like Zhao Heming.
Unfortunately, aside from that chance encounter before Shenwu Gate, he had never had any personal connection with Yu Lin. If he had…
Then he certainly would have recognized her identity.
And then…
Then what?
Zhang Yao hesitated inwardly.
Wouldn’t the court be better off with one more official like Yu Lin?
He specialized in private interrogations and punishments. He was not part of the mainstream governing factions of the dynasty. Yet precisely because he stood outside them, he could see things very clearly.
Whether it was the upright officials, the Grand Secretariat, or the factional scholars clustered in Liangjing’s academies and literary societies, after enough years of participating in politics, every one of them became more self-assured than the last, and more irritating than the last.
So irritating that when Zhang Yao faced them in the imperial prison, he often didn’t want to speak.
He just wanted to die.
Wouldn’t the court be better off with one more Yu Lin?
The thought startled him.
“Ah.”
Zhang Yao sighed to himself. He brushed the dust from his knee, tugged at the iron chain around his neck, and looked once more at Yu Lin as she ate her peach.
“Thank you for treating me to a peach.”
“No need. My sister gave it to you. If you want to thank someone, thank her.”
“Oh.”
Yu Lin asked curiously, “And what is your sister’s name?”
“Zhang Min.”
“Min as in diligent and eager to learn?”
“No.”
For a moment, Zhang Yao himself did not know why he was sitting in this prison room chatting with her so leisurely.
He had come here to die.
“It is Min as in compassion for the world.”
He lowered his voice, but in the still room, even a falling needle would have been audible.
“Very well. If I have the chance, I will repay her kindness.”
“You’re a condemned prisoner. Did you forget?”
Yu Lin did not answer. Instead, she said, “You should leave.”
“If I leave, someone else will come…”
“Come to buy me?”
She finished the sentence for him.
Zhang Yao suddenly didn’t know what to say.
Yu Lin continued, “Why are you meddling in my business?”
Good question.
Zhang Yao wanted to ask himself the same thing.
“How about I kill Wang Shaolian for you?”
“And then?”
Once again, Zhang Yao fell silent.
Yu Lin laughed softly.
“You save a courtesan from the dust, and she still dies in the dust.”
“You really don’t know what’s good for you—”
“No.”
Yu Lin cut him off.
“It’s because I hate private punishment. I hate it more than anything.”
As she said those words, her voice trembled slightly.
Within that tremor, Zhang Yao heard pain.
Fortunately, she was also an expert interrogator. She had complete control over her emotions. After only a brief pause, her voice steadied again.
“I don’t need you to kill him. I’ve already prepared a courtroom for him.”
“Where?”
Yu Lin raised her head.
“Right here.”
“Here?”
Zhang Yao raised an eyebrow.
“And where is the judge?”
“Me.”
She lifted her other hand and rested her chin upon it. Her shackles clinked softly.
“Originally, you were supposed to be one of the defendants as well. Who would have thought…” She sounded somewhat helpless. “You came here asking me to kill you. Fate is strange.”
“You didn’t harm me, so I can’t judge you. Leave.”
Zhang Yao remained seated.
Yu Lin nudged his calf with her elbow.
“Hurry up and go. If you don’t leave now, you won’t be able to later.”
“What happens if one defendant is missing?”
“Nothing.”
She finished the last bite of her peach. Her tone was surprisingly relaxed.
“A makeshift courtroom. A condemned prisoner serving as judge. I’ll do my best.”
A bitter smile appeared on her face.
“I want to save myself. I also want to save the other women imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice prison. But in the end… besides depending on me, it also depends on fate. I’m someone who believes in the Dao. That’s all. We’ll talk no more about it.”
“Fine. Then I won’t leave.”
“That’s a genuine mental illness.”
Yu Lin turned around as she spoke.
The two of them looked at each other through the black veil hanging from Zhang Yao’s hat.
The light beside the bed fell perfectly across Yu Lin’s face. Her skin was dirty, but Zhang Yao could still see the elegance of her features.
“You don’t care about your reputation anymore?”
“In your eyes, does Zhang Yao of the Northern Pacification Bureau even have a reputation worth mentioning?”
“Even the worst reputation sounds better than ‘customer of prostitutes.'”
Zhang Yao froze.
“I’m investigating men’s crimes of lust. So leave. If you don’t go now, it really will be too late.”
The moment she finished speaking, hurried footsteps echoed through the prison corridor.
Struggling to her feet, Yu Lin bent down among the scattered obscene objects littering the floor. She casually picked one up and, completely unconcerned that Zhang Yao was standing right behind her, lifted her prison robe and hid it on her person.
At the same time, she urged him again:
“Hurry and go.”
“Take that thing back out!”
Zhang Yao’s voice rose.
“Take it out! Doesn’t treating yourself like this make you miserable?”
“What’s there to be miserable about?”
Yu Lin turned and asked.
A sharp pain shot through Zhang Yao’s back, almost forcing him to close his eyes and hold his breath.
He hated the fact that he had unnecessarily bound his own hands earlier. Otherwise, he could have rubbed the aching spot.
Yu Lin continued:
“When women want to save women, when a condemned prisoner wants to bring down a prison warden, when someone of low status resists someone of high status, it’s already as difficult as reaching heaven. Do we also have to worry about whether the killing looks pretty? Whether dirty methods make people feel bad? If the goal can be achieved at all, we should be thanking heaven!”
Grabbing the chain around his neck, Zhang Yao yanked Yu Lin to his side.
“Take it out. I’ll help you.”
“Let go! Are you insane?”
Ignoring her curses, Zhang Yao said:
“That makeshift courtroom of yours—if I kneel there, then it won’t be makeshift anymore. Tell me what to do. I’ll cooperate.”
Yu Lin did not answer.
Zhang Yao felt somewhat speechless with himself.
She had already made it clear that she intended to investigate men’s crimes of lust.
Both of them worked in law enforcement. Though his methods were dirty, he had still devoted himself to the work for many years. Even if she said nothing, how could he not understand the trap she was trying to set?
With that thought, he snatched the object from Yu Lin’s hand and stuffed it into his waistband.
“Zhang Yao, have you gone mad?”
At that exact moment, the footsteps arrived outside the prison room.
Zhang Yao turned his head.
The prison superintendent of the Ministry of Justice, Song Yinbing, burst through the door with several constables.
Immediately afterward, Du Lingruo was tossed in like a sack by the officers and landed at Zhang Yao’s feet.
Clutching Zhang Yao’s leg, Du Lingruo struggled for quite a while before finally managing to sit up.
He wiped the mud from his face and shouted toward the doorway:
“Minister Zhao, this is all a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!”
The Zhao Heming who entered from outside completely ignored him.
Removing his official robe, he strode directly to Yu Lin’s side, shook the robe open, and wrapped it tightly around her.
He was normally a refined and well-mannered man.
At this moment, however, his face was ashen.
Du Lingruo continued trying to explain, but after only a few words, Zhao Heming interrupted him.
“Tie them up.”
Du Lingruo immediately grabbed Zhang Yao’s arm and shook it.
“Brother Yao, say something.”
Zhang Yao raised both hands, removed the chain loop Yu Lin had fastened around his neck, and without a word, knelt down.
Du Lingruo stared in disbelief.
After a long moment, he finally shouted:
“No, Brother, are you sick in the head?!”
Zhao Heming showed Zhang Yao no mercy.
“Take him.”
Then, wrapping both robe and woman together, he lifted Yu Lin into his arms and headed for the door.
As he reached the doorway, he accidentally kicked one of the wooden implements lying on the floor.
He looked down.
Then he looked back.
His gaze locked onto Zhang Yao and Du Lingruo.
Zhao Heming had spent many years in the Grand Secretariat. As an imperial brush eunuch responsible for annotating memorials on behalf of the Emperor, Du Lingruo was not among the highest-ranking figures, but the elder statesmen of the Grand Secretariat generally showed him some respect.
Zhao Heming was relatively young and lacked seniority, so he had always treated Du Lingruo even more courteously.
Yet after so many years serving beside the throne, Du Lingruo had never seen such murderous fury in Zhao Heming as he saw tonight.
Seeing signs that Zhao Heming might lose control, Song Yinbing quickly stepped forward.
“Teacher, please calm yourself. Take Xiao Fu outside first. Leave this place to me. The way they treated Xiao Fu…”
Song Yinbing had also come from Zhao Heming’s school. He and Yu Lin had sat the Liangjing spring examinations in the same year, studied together, and passed in the same cohort.
He had always looked after her.
After Yu Lin was imprisoned, she never again called Zhao Heming “Teacher.”
But she still called Song Yinbing “Senior Brother.”
Now, seeing the special thin shackles on Yu Lin’s body and the wreckage scattered across the floor, Song Yinbing nearly lost control of himself.
His fists clenched tightly as he barely suppressed the urge to beat Zhang Yao and Du Lingruo on the spot.
Only after swallowing his anger did he finish speaking.
“Rest assured, Teacher. I won’t overlook a single item in this room.”
Only then did Zhao Heming turn and continue carrying Yu Lin away.
Yet just as he lifted his foot, the “customer” who was obediently allowing himself to be bound suddenly spoke.
“There’s water outside. And a clean set of prison clothes.”
Song Yinbing immediately barked:
“Shut up!”
Zhang Yao fell silent.
Zhao Heming lowered his eyes toward the washbasin and clean prison uniform outside the door and frowned.
“Take her away.”
The woman in his arms finally spoke.
“I want to wash my face and change into clean clothes.”
Zhao Heming remained silent for a long time before finally responding.
“All right.”
The hundreds of hanging bells in the prison corridor rang softly.
Carrying Yu Lin in silence, Zhao Heming walked toward the front hall.
It was the height of summer. The air was stiflingly hot.
Moisture had seeped into the prison passageways, making the stone floor slick.
Though Zhao Heming was already walking slowly, every step still hurt Yu Lin.
“Wang Shaolian has already been arrested.”
Zhao Heming looked down at her, trying to comfort her.
Yu Lin merely responded with a quiet “Mm.”
Looking at her indifferent expression, Zhao Heming recalled a scene from earlier that day.
At that time, the smell of blood at the execution grounds had not yet dissipated.
Zhang Yao knelt on the platform as though no one else existed, scrubbing away with great focus.
Meanwhile, Zhao Heming was preparing to return to the Ministry of Justice offices.
The prison cart carrying Yu Lin passed in front of his carriage.
Suddenly, the prisoner inside called out to him.
“Zhao Heming.”
Ever since her imprisonment, she had addressed him directly by name.
Zhao Heming had accepted it.
He did not want those around him to rebuke her, so he said nothing.
Unexpectedly, she changed her form of address.
She called him “Teacher.”
Zhao Heming froze.
Even when he had personally entered the prison to care for her, disregarding the dignity owed to a teacher, she had refused to show him the slightest sentimentality.
Yet now, with a single “Teacher,” Zhao Heming forgot entirely that crowds of commoners were still watching.
He abandoned his carriage, instructed his attendants to wait, and personally walked beside her prison cart.
“Do your injuries hurt badly?”
Yu Lin looked at him and revealed a faint, pale smile.
The prison cart moved quickly. Zhao Heming, traveling on foot, could barely keep up.
Finally, he lifted his robes and jogged several steps.
“What do you want to eat? Or whom do you want to see? Teacher will arrange it.”
Yu Lin raised her weary and exhausted eyes toward him.
“I want Li Gong peaches.”
“Fine. Li Gong peaches. I’ll buy them for you.”
“Will you deliver them to me personally?”
“The night before a condemned prisoner’s execution—”
“Teacher.”
She interrupted him.
“Break the rules for me once.”
And so, for an entire afternoon, Zhao Heming searched all across Liangjing for Li Gong peaches.
Because flooding had disrupted canal transportation, Li Gong peaches had not been seen in the city for a very long time, outside of the Imperial Palace.
Zhao Heming and his family searched the entire City God Temple district.
By the time darkness fell and the city curfew approached, he had managed to find only a basket of ordinary white peaches.
He had originally been worried that Yu Lin would be disappointed.
But now…
He gave a bitter laugh.
White peaches or Li Gong peaches—what difference did it make?
His student was far more ruthless than he was.
Ruthless enough to exploit his guilt and sympathy without caring in the slightest.
“Zhao Heming, postpone my death by dismemberment.”
She was once again addressing him by name.
“I want to put Wang Shaolian on trial.”
“Yu Lin, you are no longer a judicial officer.”
“Then break the rules once more.”
Zhao Heming looked away.
“Xiao Fu, you won’t fool me a second time.”
“Then I’m begging you.”
“…”
Zhao Heming’s footsteps halted.
Yu Lin opened her eyes in his arms.
“When I was still an official, I already knew about Wang Shaolian’s activities.”
As soon as she spoke, she raised both hands before Zhao Heming.
But Zhao Heming immediately snapped:
“Put your hands down!”
Yu Lin shook her head.
Unable to endure any longer, Zhao Heming said:
“What are you trying to do? If you had only told me about Wang Shaolian’s crimes, would you have ended up like this tonight? You—”
“Listen to me.”
Zhao Heming’s heart ached unbearably.
Seeing her covered in wounds, he could no longer bring himself to scold her.
Seizing the opportunity, Yu Lin continued:
“These special thin shackles on my wrists once restrained countless female prisoners in that room. Among them, some were executed the next day and never had the chance to speak. Others survived and saw daylight again, only to throw themselves into wells and rivers out of shame and despair.”
“I have no witnesses. Without precedent, no case can be established. Even now, Wang Shaolian’s actions have no corresponding crime listed in the Regulations on Criminal Judgments.”
She smiled faintly at Zhao Heming.
“Now, I can be the witness.”
“So?”
Still smiling, she said:
“So I’m begging you. Help me one last time.”
“I want to use myself as the precedent. I want to amend the Regulations on Criminal Judgments that you and I were never able to revise.”
“I don’t want private punishment.”
“I want public law to crush him.”
“I want the Great Liang Code to save the common people.”