PCA Chapter 172

Su Cen walked to the jujube tree and looked down at the pit, gradually furrowing his brow: “How could this happen?”

 

Ning Santong also came closer to examine the depth and length of the pit: “The pit is over seven feet long, just enough to bury a person. It seems Tian Pingzhi’s body has already been dug up by someone who came before us.”

 

Feng Yiming asked: “Who else knew Tian Pingzhi was buried here?”

 

“People from the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy? Or people from the Dali Temple who handled the case back then?” Ning Santong counted on his fingers. “Who else could it be?”

 

“There’s one more person,” Su Cen suddenly said.

 

Feng Yiming and Ning Santong both looked at him. Su Cen stared at the pit for a long while before softly saying: “Tian Pingzhi and Liu Cheng were close friends. Regardless of whether Liu Cheng was involved in Tian Pingzhi’s death or not, he couldn’t have been unaware that his good friend died in the examination hall and couldn’t leave.”

 

Ning Santong had a sudden realization: “You mean Prime Minister Liu stole the body?”

 

Feng Yiming nodded in agreement, “And the Ministry of Rites is Liu Cheng’s territory. If he really sent someone to dig up the body, he could easily get the key to the examination hall.”

 

But Su Cen didn’t look relieved. He crouched down and rubbed some of the piled earth between his fingers. The soil was loose and dry, yet it had rained just the night before yesterday!

 

“But how did he know we were investigating Tian Pingzhi’s case, and manage to steal the body before us?” Su Cen dropped the soil from his hand, dusted his hands off, and quietly looked up at Feng Yiming and Ning Santong, his eyes veiled with an indiscernible coldness.

 

“Brother Su… what’s wrong?” Ning Santong felt uncomfortable under Su Cen’s gaze and nervously rubbed his nose. “Have you discovered something?”

 

Su Cen slowly withdrew his gaze, “Nothing.”

 

Feng Yiming asked: “What do we do now?”

 

Su Cen thought for a moment, then said: “Let’s go to the Ministry of Rites.”

 

Deputy Minister He Zhongqing of the Ministry of Rites was known among officials for his good temper. Serving in the Ministry of Rites, he truly embodied the saying “When thinking of a gentleman, gentle as jade,” treating everyone with courtesy. Yet such a person had repeatedly been driven to the edge by Su Cen.

 

He Zhongqing insisted that in the past half year, no one except Su Cen had borrowed the key to the examination hall.

 

“Never lent it out?” Su Cen bowed respectfully, “Then might we see the Ministry’s lending records?”

 

He Zhongqing frowned slightly: “You don’t believe me?”

 

“Of course we believe you, Lord He,” Ning Santong said, “But the Ministry of Rites handles so many affairs, and everyone can overlook something. Letting us take a look ourselves would set our minds at ease, instead of continuing this back and forth.”

 

He Zhongqing sighed helplessly. These visitors clearly had ulterior motives. One Su Cen was enough, but there was also Ning Santong. Regardless, he had to give face to the Imperial Tutor’s residence.

 

He instructed a servant to bring the Ministry’s lending records, then handed them to Su Cen.

 

The group carefully reviewed the recent entries and indeed found no record of the examination hall key being borrowed. The examination hall had sturdy walls over two feet thick, with thorny barriers on top. If not through the key, how was the body taken out?

 

Su Cen looked up and asked: “Besides the Ministry of Rites, does anyone else have a key to the examination hall?”

 

He Zhongqing shook his head: “Although both the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy oversee the examination affairs, the key has always been kept in the Ministry of Rites. If there’s no record here, then no one has entered.”

 

Su Cen casually flipped back a few pages, about to return the records when he suddenly noticed something. He flipped through several more pages, comparing them, and finally examined the binding’s seam carefully before saying: “A page is missing here.”

 

He Zhongqing’s face turned pale, “Perhaps there was a mistake before, and it was torn out?”

 

“But the entries don’t match up. The previous page contains records from the first month of this year, and the next page jumps to the third month. Did the Ministry not lend out anything during the entire second month?”

 

Su Cen fixed He Zhongqing with cold eyes, making the man feel chilled to the bone. Just as He Zhongqing was about to defend himself, Feng Yiming said from the side: “The year before last is the same, a page for February is missing.”

 

The group examined several more volumes and found that pages for February were missing from records of several years, and the tears looked fresh, suggesting they had been removed recently.

 

Ning Santong said: “But last year’s is complete.”

 

Su Cen furrowed his brow in thought, “Last February coincided with the triennial metropolitan examination. The Ministry of Rites and Hanlin Academy were coming and going in the examination hall, preparing for the examinations. With so many people around, one could easily enter without a key.”

 

Feng Yiming said: “This means someone has been visiting the examination hall every February, but the records have been destroyed.”

 

Su Cen turned back to look at He Zhongqing: “Does Lord He care to explain this to us?”

 

Though the day was clear and cool, He Zhongqing was sweating profusely. After wiping his sleeve across his brow several times, he stammered: “I don’t know, these records aren’t under my management, I really don’t know anything about this…”

 

“Is it Prime Minister Liu?” Su Cen asked suddenly.

 

He Zhongqing’s expression froze, and he fell silent.

 

Su Cen understood in his heart. The only person He Zhongqing would protect so diligently was his superior, the current Right Prime Minister—Liu Cheng.

 

“But the lending records are from February,” Ning Santong didn’t understand. “The soil in the examination hall was clearly dug up recently. It couldn’t have been dug in February.”

 

“I’m not saying it was dug up before,” Su Cen tapped his finger on the book cover. “What I’m wondering is how he knew we were going to investigate him and could destroy the records in advance. And if he could erase previous records, why couldn’t he erase the recent ones?”

 

Su Cen raised his head and stared directly at He Zhongqing: “Who exactly told you to do this?”

 

Though he hadn’t said anything particularly severe, He Zhongqing inexplicably felt a chill throughout his body. That gaze was almost tangible, causing him to stagger back a step as he stuttered: “I don’t…”

 

“Would Lord He prefer to discuss this at the Dali Temple?”

 

“It was Prime Minister Liu! It was… Prime Minister Liu…” He Zhongqing’s shoulders slumped dejectedly. “Just before you arrived, someone came claiming to be sent by Prime Minister Liu, instructing me to erase all records related to him. I was just following orders, with no choice of my own. But truly, there were only records from February of previous years. Prime Minister Liu really hasn’t entered the examination hall in recent days…” He added at the end: “I’m telling the truth, I’m not lying to you…”

 

Su Cen listened quietly, then nodded, “Thank you.”

 

He Zhongqing finally came to his senses. He was an imperial official, and without real evidence, Su Cen couldn’t do anything to him. Moreover, this person was half a rank below him. After dominating the official arena for decades, he had ended up being manipulated by this young upstart.

 

With his lifelong reputation ruined in an instant, He Zhongqing couldn’t bear to stay any longer. Just as he reached the door, he heard Su Cen call out from behind: “Lord He.”

 

He Zhongqing shuddered despite the clear day and turned back hesitantly. He saw the young man with a jade-like face smiling gently at him, “I’d like to see the examination papers from the 22nd year of Yonglong.”

 

In the dim storeroom of the Ministry of Rites, the three men each guarded a stack of examination papers and began reviewing them. After more than a decade, the ink on the paper had blurred from moisture, and some had even grown moldy. They had to identify the writing carefully to see what was written.

 

Ning Santong’s pace was noticeably slower than Su Cen and Feng Yiming’s. He could examine a corpse for a day and night without tiring, but after looking at these few pages of paper, he began nodding off. Forcing himself to stay alert, he tried to make conversation: “Are you examining these papers because you think there was a problem with the examination that year? Did Liu Cheng steal Tian Pingzhi’s paper and take his top scholar position?”

 

Su Cen replied while continuing his work without pause: “It’s unlikely that Liu Cheng stole Tian Pingzhi’s paper. Those ‘cages’ you saw today were locked from the outside once people entered, with guards stationed outside the doors. Unless one submitted their paper and left, there was no way to get out from inside. Trying to swap papers in the examination hall would be too difficult, almost impossible to accomplish.”

 

 

“Could someone have helped him?” Ning Santong asked again. “Perhaps by bribing the guards outside the door or the Hanlin scholars supervising the examination?”

 

“But at that time, Liu Cheng was just a poor scholar from a humble background with no money or connections. Where would he get the money to bribe someone?” Su Cen finished his stack and took half from Ning Santong. “Moreover, the Hanlin scholar responsible for copying the examination papers once said that Liu Cheng ‘had no real talent and was a fraud,’ which means Liu Cheng’s writing that day must not have been very good. Would Liu Cheng go to such lengths, even to the point of murder, to steal a mediocre essay?”

 

Ning Santong bit his brush pen and frowned, “Then I really don’t understand.”

 

Feng Yiming suddenly raised his head from the moldy examination papers, “Look at this.”

 

Su Cen and Ning Santong leaned over to look. They saw the paper Feng Yiming had pulled out, signed by Tian Pingzhi, with bold and free semi-cursive handwriting. It analyzed the problem of regional military governors dividing territories and frontier generals amassing troops and power, cutting straight to the core with penetrating insight. Even after many years, one could still see the youthful spirit between the lines. But such a flowing essay came to an abrupt halt in the middle, with several drops of blood on the paper, which had darkened over the years and blended with the ink, making them difficult to distinguish clearly.

 

A star surrounded by other stars, perishing just as it began to rise, in a tiny examination cell less than ten feet wide, falling silently without a sound.

 

Feng Yiming sighed silently. Only between equals does one find true appreciation. If Tian Pingzhi had lived until now, would the court have a completely different landscape?

 

Su Cen lowered his eyelids to hide the emotions in his eyes and said softly, “Let’s continue looking.”

 

By the end, Ning Santong had long since fallen asleep hugging a stack of books. As dusk approached, Su Cen and Feng Yiming both put down the examination papers in their hands, exchanged a glance, and both shook their heads.

 

Liu Cheng’s examination paper was not among them.

 

Liu Cheng, as the top scholar of the last imperial examination of the Yonglong era, yet his winning examination paper could not be found.

 

Suddenly, Ning Santong raised his head from the books, looking around in confusion: “Where’s the fire coming from?”

 

Feng Yiming was taken aback and couldn’t help teasing: “Are you confused from sleeping?”

 

Ning Santong sniffed, “No, there really is a smell of smoke.”

 

As soon as he finished speaking, a tongue of flame suddenly shot up from a corner of the archives, instantly engulfing a bookshelf.

 

Su Cen’s expression darkened: “Let’s go quickly!”

 

After taking a few steps, he saw that Feng Yiming was still standing in place, vainly hoping to find Tian Pingzhi’s examination paper again from among thousands of papers.

 

Su Cen turned back and pulled him, “It can’t be saved, let’s go!”

 

Almost instantly, the flames swept up, reducing everything to nothing.

 

The three men tumbled out of the archives, and looking back, they saw billowing smoke, raging flames reaching the sky. Under the vast smoke and dust, everything had ceased to exist.

 

 

---

 

 (advanced chapters available on kofi)