All the civil and military officials in court were stunned. Only a pair of deep eyes looked down from the front, and Su Cen suddenly felt detached from everything.
Fulfill his duty, do what he should do—all he wanted was to restore the truth. As for the rest, he wouldn’t force it, nor could he.
Zhang Jun quickly pulled in his stomach and said in a low voice: “Su Cen, go back!”
Su Cen stood in the court hall looking straight ahead, letting people point and whisper, remaining composed.
The young emperor perked up upon hearing there was a story: “Minister Su, speak quickly.”
Zhang Jun turned back urgently: “Your Majesty…”
The young emperor waved at Zhang Jun: “Minister Zhang, wait a moment. Let Su Cen finish first, then you speak.”
Zhang Jun was so angry he nearly fainted—what would be left for him after Su Cen finished speaking!
“Lord Zhang,” Su Cen stepped forward and bowed deeply to Zhang Jun. When he raised his head, his eyes were clear as water, as if they could cleanse all the world’s filth and dust. He said softly: “Let me handle this.”
Zhang Jun stared at those eyes, and suddenly his own filled with mist.
He had always thought Su Cen resembled his teacher, but now he realized they weren’t just similar—they were the same person in essence. Before the Ministry of Justice, both were the law itself. Their eyes couldn’t tolerate any flaw that corrupted the Great Zhou Code—one wrote it with his life’s blood, the other practiced it with his loyal heart.
Zhang Jun finally stepped back, knowing in his heart that he couldn’t stop him.
Everyone held their breath and listened intently.
Su Cen began to speak slowly.
“In the spring of the 22nd year of Yonglong, coinciding with the triennial metropolitan examination, two remarkable young men came to the capital. Both were outstanding among their peers, and upon meeting, they immediately appreciated each other, sharing meals and lodging. At the time, there were rumors in the capital—’With Tian and Liu taking action, the top two positions are assured.'”
The young emperor nodded seriously: “These two were Tian Pingzhi and Liu Cheng?”
“Precisely Tian Pingzhi and Prime Minister Liu. One was well-versed in ancient and modern learning, the other had practical governing talent. Their bright futures were already half in hand when something happened that disrupted everything. It was because of this incident that Tian Pingzhi died miserably in the examination hall, Liu Cheng became the top scholar but never again wrote a memorable verse.”
The young emperor frowned: “What exactly happened?”
Su Cen shook his head gently: “Before explaining this matter, I want to first identify the murderer. I later found Tian Pingzhi’s body in the examination hall, proving he was buried while still alive. How could a person vanish without trace in an examination hall filled with thousands, and how could this remain uninvestigated for so many years? It’s all because the murderer in this case was very special.”
The young emperor frowned: “Su Cen, stop being mysterious. Just tell us who killed Tian Pingzhi.”
Looking at the court officials, they all appeared eager with anticipation, their eyes gleaming with interest, quite different from their drowsy state during earlier reports.
Su Cen said slowly: “Five people killed Tian Pingzhi.”
The entire court erupted in astonishment.
What kind of immortal was this Tian Pingzhi that it took five people to kill him?
“The first person was the other rising star who was as famous as Tian Pingzhi back then, the current Prime Minister Liu—Liu Cheng.”
“Back then, Liu Cheng used his close relationship with Tian Pingzhi to put hazelnut powder in the sugar water Tian Pingzhi drank. This hazelnut powder meant nothing to others, but for Tian Pingzhi, who had chronic asthma, it was deadly.”
“Prime Minister Liu, he…” the young emperor gritted his teeth in hatred.
In a corner, a person dressed as a eunuch clenched his fists tightly. He had just moved half a step when someone dragged him back.
Zheng Yang gently shook his head at the eunuch-disguised person, firmly holding down the man’s slightly trembling hands.
Early that morning, Su Cen had come to find him, asking him to bring someone into the palace. When he saw who Su Cen had brought, he was completely stunned. Since Su Cen had sought him out, there must have been compelling reasons, so he had gone early in the morning to bargain with his mother, pestering her until she agreed to let the person enter the palace for a family visit.
Princess Taining had lived to this age, and most of her peers had been assigned residences and moved out of the palace. Now in the palace, the only relatives left were Empress Dowager Chu and the young emperor. Since she had always looked down on Empress Dowager Chu’s domineering manner, after much consideration, she decided to visit her nephew.
As it turned out, the young emperor didn’t recognize her at all.
The Grand Princess was calculating how to deal with her son when she returned, completely unaware that one of the attendants following behind had gone missing.
Su Cen shook his head at the young emperor: “Although Liu Cheng was the first murderer, he actually wanted to save Tian Pingzhi. Because even if he didn’t kill Tian Pingzhi, someone else would have, and the amount of hazelnut powder he gave Tian Pingzhi wasn’t enough to be fatal—it would only make him temporarily unconscious, thus creating a diversion to help him escape disaster.”
The young emperor breathed a sigh of relief.
“The second murderer was indeed the direct killer of Tian Pingzhi. Building on Liu Cheng’s actions, he took the unconscious, seemingly dead Tian Pingzhi and buried him alive in a pit dug behind the examination hall.”
The young emperor’s relief was immediately sucked back in, nearly choking him.
Su Cen continued: “The person who could commit such a callous murder in the examination hall without being discovered was the chief examiner of that year’s imperial examination—Zhang He.”
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This is now one of my favorite blog posts on this subject.
What I really liked is how easy this was to follow. Even for someone who’s not super tech-savvy, it made perfect sense.