Chapter 342: Ze and Fire Become Ge: Pruning Evil and Clearing the Wasteland (With thanks to the first Alliance Master, 37 Tianxia Wus

Once the sun has risen, it will not confine itself to a single corner.

Inside the 00 farm in the Western Park.

Zhu Youjian, dressed in coarse plain clothes, was bent over tending the spinach field that was gradually turning green.

He moved along the ridges with a stooped back, carefully carrying out the second thinning under the guidance of an old farmer.

Thinning, in simple terms, means pulling out the excess spinach at set intervals.

Only by doing this can the remaining seedlings absorb enough nutrients during the spring green-up period and grow strong.

The thinning done before winter was sparse, because the plants needed to huddle together for warmth.

But now that the weather is warming and the spinach has entered its true growing season, a proper thinning is essential.

It was precisely through these months of farming that Zhu Youjian gained a deeper understanding of the Confucian classics.

Why is it that the true sages of ancient China could derive the principles of statecraft and governance even from farming or carpentry? As the Zuo Commentary says: governance is like farm work — one must ponder it day and night.

The great Dao of philosophy nurtured by China's ancient agrarian civilization, though inevitably tinged with a certain musty pedantry by the present day,

still has, at its source, a most simple and essential truth for managing human affairs and governing the world, sufficient to guide the operation of all things.

Having finished one ridge, Zhu Youjian straightened up and rubbed his aching lower back hard.

Gazing at the neat, orderly spinach field before him, a trace of pride welled up unbidden in his heart.

In truth, thinning was only one small task for the spinach as it entered the spring green-up period.

Over the next month, he would still need to apply fertilizer, water, regulate temperature, and turn the soil — not a single step could be handled carelessly.

Only by hitting the right rhythm with every measure could he truly welcome a bumper spinach harvest by mid-March.

And that would be the first bumper harvest of his life — the life of this former "city bumpkin."

Zhu Youjian stretched his arms, loosened his muscles, then stepped over the ridge, bent down again, and silently began a new round of work. But this was not, after all, a body accustomed to farming.

Although he did the work himself, the labor involved in growing spinach was indeed lighter than that for regular rice or wheat, yet Zhu Youjian still had not fully adapted to this kind of stoop labor.

After gritting his teeth and thinning several more ridges, Zhu Youjian's lower back finally protested. He climbed onto the ridge and, with no regard for appearances, sat down directly on the ground. The group that had long been waiting at the edge of the field immediately stepped forward and began reporting various matters according to procedure.

Today, the principal heads of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the Eastern Depot, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard were all absent.

Their various deputies had come to report instead.

The content consisted roughly of brief memorial summaries and some gathered "morning news."

This allowed certain matters to be dealt with before formally approving memorials for the day.

The first to speak was Liu Ruoyu of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

This was his first time undertaking the duty of reporting before His Majesty.

"Your Majesty… the first matter concerns the current metropolitan examination."

"Everything is proceeding normally so far. The examiners have set the questions and had them printed on schedule, and the candidates have entered the hall in an orderly fashion and begun writing." "The Minister of Rites was waiting at the palace gate long ago; the moment the gate opened, he immediately submitted the sealed envelope of examination questions."

Zhu Youjian raised an eyebrow and dusted the dirt from his hands. "Is that so? What questions did the examiners set? Read them out."

Liu Ruoyu held out the sealed envelope with both hands, broke the seal on the spot, unfolded the copied paper scroll, and read aloud respectfully:

"First question from the Four Books: 'In the age of Tang and Yu, how abundant it was.'"

There were three questions from the Four Books and four questions for each of the Five Classics, making twenty-three questions in total.

By the time Liu Ruoyu had finished reading them all, Zhu Youjian, sitting on the ridge, had more or less recovered his strength.

Nodding with satisfaction, he placed both hands on the ground and swung himself back down into the field.

Today, he absolutely had to finish the thinning in one go.

Even a single day's delay would allow those weak seedlings destined to be pulled to suck away one more mouthful of nutrients that should never have been theirs.

"Not bad… these questions are all set at a very high standard."

"It seems I did not choose the wrong examiners this time."

This was a lie.

How could the Yongchang Emperor Zhu Youjian possibly tell good questions from bad?

As for the Confucian classics, he had only crammed them once, during his first Daily Lecture, when he needed to find a legal basis for the "dispute between man and land."

After that, he merely skimmed through them once, grasped the general meaning of each passage, and never opened them again.

For one thing, this sort of line-by-line textual analysis was a bottomless pit once you delved into it.

With the development of Confucian scholarship to the present day, for a single sentence from the Sage Confucius, masters of various schools could derive four or five entirely different interpretations. These analytical definitions had long since moved beyond the original theories of Confucianism, incorporating the philosophical dialectics of Daoism and Buddhism as well.

If one truly wanted to read deeply, what one read would certainly not be the true intent of the venerable Confucius, but rather the "true intent" as redefined by each school of thought.

For another, Zhu Youjian now needed to use these classics less and less in his daily handling of government affairs.

Even when issuing edicts or drafting decrees required citing the classics for embellishment, there were the Grand Secretariat, the Directorate of Ceremonial, and the Hanlin Academy to ghostwrite for him.

All he needed to do was sit up there, point out "this is no good," "that is no good," "this is better than the last one," "let's go back to the first one," and that was enough.

Naturally, there was no need to waste precious time among piles of old papers.

With that spare time, carefully studying the Ming bureaucracy, rites, laws, and social customs was far more useful for the profession of emperor.

It would also spare him from making low-level mistakes like the one about the Thirteen Provincial Administration Commissions.

Especially the laws.

This was the area where Zhu Youjian had focused his energy this month.

After all, reform must inevitably be accompanied by adjustments to and interpretations of the law — this was an indispensable escort for implementing new policies.

The Great Ming Code was the "ancestral institution among ancestral institutions" laid down by the Exalted Emperor, the Great Ancestor — sacred and inviolable, and indeed untouchable for the moment.

But the Regulations for the Adjudication of Penal Matters, which served as a supplement and amendment to the Great Ming Code, could be put on the agenda for revision without any hindrance. After all, both the Jiajing and Wanli reigns had revised the Regulations, which served perfectly as a legal basis.

This was what one called following the ancestral institutions in order to amend the ancestral institutions.

Zhu Youjian continued pulling, ridge by ridge.

The deputies from the Eastern Depot, the Directorate of Ceremonial, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard waited respectfully at the edge of the field.

When the Emperor rested, they took turns stepping forward, reporting one matter after another without pause.

Come to think of it, this scene rather closely resembled the Tianqi years.

"When the Late Emperor was hewing and planing, stripped down and sprawled out, none but his closest intimates were permitted to look on." "If there was an urgent memorial, the bodyguards and others would present the document; while attending to his humble pursuits, he would incline an ear and listen intently."

"The report finished, the Jade Voice would say: 'Go and carry it out with all your hearts. I take note of it.'"

Only, what my brother held in his hands were axe, chisel, plane, and saw — while what this Emperor holds in his hands are spinach seedlings pulled for thinning.

Some things are the same, but in the end they are not the same.

On the eighth day.

While Zhu Youjian was huffing and puffing in the Western Park, back aching, thinning seedlings;

while Song Yingsheng was in the examination hall cubicle, gnawing his brush handle and racking his brains to devise an opening argument;

while Song Yingxing was in a side room of the Academy of Sciences, going over the manuscript of *A Small Register of Physical Knowledge* word by word with Li Tianjing;

a great purge long in the making was simultaneously and unhurriedly unfurling its curtain across the capital.

The Chief Grand Secretary Huang Liji and the Second Grand Secretary Li Guopu convened the three judicial offices — the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review — together with the responsible heads of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot. At the meeting, Li Guopu read out the Emperor's decree in full:

the *Edict to Excise Corruption and Purge the Court and Provinces*, which had passed through the Grand Secretariat's draft rescript and the Directorate of Ceremonial's red endorsement procedures.

After confirming the decree was correct and consulting on the spot the thick volumes of detailed subsidiary rules and the first batch of purge lists,

the heads of the three judicial offices, the Depot and the Guard, and the two Grand Secretaries collectively raised their hands, approving the immediate activation of the plan.

The edict was affixed with seals and issued down to the Six Offices of Scrutiny corridor.

The Supervising Secretaries of the Six Offices completed the fair copy of the edict and forwarded it to the Office of Transmission for the record.

The Supervising Secretary of the Office of Scrutiny for Justice, Yang Wenyue, led his colleagues in completing the signing and dispatch of a total of one hundred and thirty-four arrest warrants.

An arrest warrant is, under the Great Ming Code, the official credential by which the Embroidered Uniform Guard seizes an offender.

Is an arrest warrant absolutely necessary? Through every dynasty and reign, so long as the Emperor willed it, it could be dispensed with.

But for a great purge that is regular, orderly, and repeatable, it is absolutely necessary.

The various squads of the Embroidered Uniform Guard at last received the arrest warrants sent out from the palace.

The mounted guardsmen, who had been waiting with hands on their sword hilts since nine in the morning, now surged out of the yamen like a flood through opened sluice gates.

The arrests formally began.

Conference Room 132, west of the Thousand-Pace Corridor.

The fourth discussion session on *Proposals for Improving the Ministry of Personnel's Selection and Appointment of Officials* was underway.

The door was flung open with a bang. A squad of mounted guardsmen poured in, instantly packing the already cramped conference room to the brim.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard Assistant Regional Commander leading them, Zou Zhiyou, swept his gaze over several stupefied officials.

"Pardon the intrusion."

"If I may ask, which of you is Zhang Guaifang, Bureau Director of the Appointments Bureau of the Ministry of Personnel?"

Several officials' eyes turned simultaneously toward a middle-aged official sitting in the second seat, his face ashen.

Zou Zhiyou looked at him, gave a slight smile, and revealed a set of gleaming white teeth.

"Bureau Director Zhang, you'll be coming with us."

"There are some matters that require you to explain yourself in person before the three judicial offices."

Zhang Guaifang's hands gripped the armrests of the grand tutor chair tightly. Forcing himself to stay calm, he squeezed out a dry laugh:

"A matter for the three judicial offices... why is it the Embroidered Uniform Guard who come to invite me?"

He cast a beseeching look toward his colleagues. "Could there be some misunderstanding here?"

Yet the other officials all averted their eyes from his.

Some stared at the inkstone on the table; some leafed through the official documents before them.

The era when Wei Zhongxian's single hand blotted out the sky and the Depot and Guard's mounted riders ran rampant over the land had ended a mere half year ago.

People's memories had not yet faded so quickly!

Without knowing the cause of the matter, to stand against the Embroidered Uniform Guard for a colleague was truly unnecessary.

If there really was a problem, one could always submit a memorial after the fact, depending on the situation.

Zou Zhiyou gave a cold laugh, drew from his breast a sheet of paper stamped with a vermilion seal, and with a snap shook it open in the air.

"See clearly, Sir Zhang. This is an arrest warrant issued by the Office of Scrutiny for Justice, with seals and chops all in order."

"Our Embroidered Uniform Guard's arrests this time are entirely lawful and in accordance with regulations."

"As for the doubts in Bureau Director Zhang's heart, when you reach the Ministry of Justice shortly, you may ask the officials of the three judicial offices to your heart's content. Asking us, however, is asking the wrong people." With that, he said not another word of nonsense and tilted his head.

The two wolfishly fierce mounted guardsmen behind him immediately stepped forward, one on the left and one on the right, directly hoisting up Zhang Guaifang, who had gone limp in his chair, and half-dragging, half-hauling him out the door.

The same scene was at that very moment unfolding in the duty rooms, courtyards, and conference rooms of every ministry and bureau across the capital.

The Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, the Censorate, the Capital Camps Military Headquarters...

Some mounted guardsmen had even mounted their horses and were riding out over a wider range.

The six imperial shops in the eastern district of the capital fell within the scope of this purge.

The seventeen thousand qing of imperial estates around the metropolitan region were to be inspected by eunuchs of the Eastern Depot and brush-holders of the Directorate of Ceremonial leading the teams.

The mounted guardsmen who rode the farthest even headed straight for the Tianjin Garrison.

Because there lay the man holding the highest official rank on this list of corruption targets.

Governor-General of the Liaodong Levy, Minister of Revenue, and Governor of Tianjin — Huang Yuntai!

Who was this gentleman?

He was precisely the minister who, on the day of the Emperor's enthronement, had submitted a memorial requesting that the Ji-Liao horse fodder be commuted and paid out in silver.

Zhu Youjian's memory was in fact very good. Most of the time, the blade not falling was not a matter of the account being forgotten — only that the time had not yet come.

As the entire arrest operation spread out like quicksilver seeping into the ground.

By the afternoon at the latest, this — the greatest earthquake to hit the capital since the new year — had finally rippled layer by layer through the entire officialdom. And it was at this moment that the officials of every rank finally noticed the new notices posted on the bulletin board outside the Gate of Heavenly Succession.

"By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees:"

"Since Our ascension, We have instituted new governance, promulgated new policies, rectified the civil service, and granted respite to the people, originally hoping that all within and without the court would cleanse their hearts and renew their ways, uphold their duties in the public interest, and together bring peace to all under Heaven." "Yet now there are officials great and small, greedy and corrupt villains, who instead of repenting their errors cling stubbornly to evil without remorse, still engaging in acts that gnaw at the state and harm the people, neglecting governance, flouting the benevolent intent of the new policies, trifling with the law for private gain, spreading poison through court and country."

"Now We are resolved to purge the palace precincts, sweep clean the court, rectify the laws and discipline, and bring order to the four seas. We hereby command the responsible offices to immediately investigate all officials within and without, great and small, and all persons implicated, to arrest them all and bring them to justice, without indulgence or favor…"

Yet what was posted here was not merely an imperial edict of a hundred-odd characters.

Posted alongside it, covering the entire wall in dense, packed rows, were several supplementary plans so meticulously detailed as to be hair-raising!

This Emperor had never believed that merely issuing a stern edict and shouting a couple of slogans could push forward something like anti-corruption, which touched the interests of an entire class.

The bureaucratic system of the early dynasty might have managed it — but the present one… clearly could not.

The new policies' way of doing things was quantified performance, was responsibility assigned to specific individuals, was plugging every loophole before the operation even began.

"Comprehensive Explanation Regarding the Spring Rectification and Anti-Corruption Campaign of the First Year of Yongchang"

"Detailed Explanation Regarding the Joint Trial, Asset Recovery, Punishment, and Other Procedural Stages for Disciplinary and Corrupt Personnel"

"Explanation Regarding the Second-Phase Internal Anti-Corruption and Rectification Special Work Plan for the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard Systems"

"Explanation Regarding the Special Rectification of the Six Great Imperial Shops of the Capital and Subsequent Reform Plan"

"Explanation Regarding the Phased Implementation Plan for Rectifying Delinquent Estate Managers on Imperial Estates in the Capital Region, Transferring Imperial Estate Lands to Local Land Registers, and Placing Them Under the Unified Taxation of the Northern Metropolitan Region"

"Notice Regarding the Launch of a Special Rectification of Capital Debt Abuses and the Regulation of Official Borrowing Practices"

"Explanation Regarding the Five Wards Troops and Horses Office Special Rectification Plan for Eliminating Organized Crime and Vice in the Capital"

"Explanation Regarding the Patrol and Arrest Battalion Special Operations Plan for Quelling Disorder and Suppressing Banditry in the Capital Region"

Eight entire plans, over a hundred detailed provisions!

Covering the Imperial Household, the Depots and Guards, officials, estate managers, local thugs, bandits, and merchants — every group!

In fact, there was one more plan targeting the sub-official clerks in the capital.

But unfortunately, the selection examinations for clerks in the Northern Metropolitan Region could not be completed until late in the fourth month — there was not enough time — so it was not included in this phase of operations.

The officials standing beneath the notices came and went, whispering among themselves.

But what they discussed was rarely the details of the plans — rather, it was…

"How are things in your ministry?"

"For the moment, two Bureau Directors and three Bureau Secretaries have been invited away — no telling if there'll be more… What about your side?"

"The Ministry of Justice hasn't arrested many here, but… Vice Minister Chen has been invited away…"

"Chen Jiuchou?"

"Who else but him? The other high officials have all been fairly restrained since the new policies began — only this Vice Minister Chen seems to have had his heart smeared with lard." The man beside him lowered his voice: "What about the Imperial Household? What about the Depots and Guards? Who's been purged there?"

"Who knows! News from the inner court is watertight now, and the Depots and Guards are arresting more of their own people than outside officials — you ask me, but who do I ask?" The sun gradually shifted westward, and soon it was the hour of the monkey.

Yet outside the Gate of Heavenly Succession, the stream of officials coming to read the notices continued without end.

Some had been in meetings all day and were only now free.

There were also some pitiful souls who, being on the margins of power, had only just now caught wind of it.

There were even those who had been unable to squeeze in earlier and had changed their timing, circling back now to enjoy the spectacle.

When the twilight surged like a tide over the glazed tiles of the Forbidden City, the soldiers on duty finally lit the lanterns flanking the notices.

And the lanterns atop the city gate were already lit; the lights across the capital, slowly, one after another, began to glow in turn.

The sun was about to set.

And at this moment.

Within the Shuntian Prefecture Examination Hall, the first session of the metropolitan examination was also finally drawing to a close.

The Ministry of Rites' general regulations for the metropolitan examination stipulated:

"On the day of examination, juren shall be searched and admitted at the fourth watch, and shall submit their papers at dusk."

"Those whose drafts are incomplete by the first quarter of the hour of the monkey shall be escorted out."

"For those transcribing their final papers, if at dusk one or two sections remain unfinished, a single candle shall be granted, and no more."

To put it bluntly: finish the exam that day, leave that day.

The time outside the three examination sessions — on the ninth, the twelfth, and the fifteenth — was for the candidates to rest and prepare.

As for the notion of spending the night in the examination compound, or even staying locked in for seven or eight days straight — at least in the Great Ming, such a thing could not possibly exist.

Just think about it: six thousand candidates eating, drinking, shitting, and pissing in cramped examination cells — how complex a management nightmare would that be?

Since the questions were issued only a single day in advance, the time window already provided a high safeguard against leaks — why would the examiners trap the candidates inside and make trouble for themselves? Better to make trouble for the candidates than for oneself.

So, the candidates entered before dawn, received their papers at daybreak, submitted them at dusk, and then all scrambled home to wait for the next session to begin.

The authorities' core principle was always just one: finish the exam and get the hell out — absolutely no lingering permitted, lest a fire break out!

"Transcribe quickly! One last quarter-hour!"

Muffled bells tolled from the surrounding drum towers; the patrolling proctors beat brass gongs, shouting urgent reminders.

Song Yingsheng sat in his examination cell, his forehead beaded with fine sweat, yet he still strove to calm his mind.

His timing here was somewhat tight, but still manageable.

All seven major essay questions were complete, and he had entered the transcription stage.

And of the transcription remaining, only the final question — on the Book of Changes — was left.

The Marsh-Fire Revolution Hexagram: Nine in the third place — "Advancing brings misfortune. Perseverance brings danger. The talk of revolution has thrice gained assent, and there is trust."

Marsh-Fire Revolution — this was the classic hexagram of transformation.

Marsh-Fire was the hexagram image itself: with Dui above and Li below, water and fire overcoming each other, thus transformation must arise.

Nine in the third place — this was the third line among the hexagram's six lines, often symbolizing the middle phase of the matter in question.

"Advancing brings misfortune" indicated that if one acted rashly (advanced), it would be very dangerous (misfortune).

"Zhen li" means that if one clings to the old ways (zhen), danger (li) still looms. The final line means one must listen widely to counsel (ge yan san jiu) before a good outcome can be achieved (you fu).

Song Yingsheng's opening argument was:

"The way of reform values prudence, not rashness; a sovereign's governance rests on sincerity, not speed."

"'Campaigning brings misfortune; holding fast brings danger' — these set forth the warnings of transformation. 'Reform words thrice weighed bring trust' — this reveals the method of renewal."

This approach to the opening argument, Song Yingsheng felt, was supremely ingenious.

The ideas of prudence and sincerity could correspond to the New Policies' "cultivate oneself, regulate the family, govern the state, pacify the world," and also to the principle Your Majesty had repeatedly expounded: "found the state upon trust." Following this direction, the subsequent exposition would naturally extend into the course of the New Policies and reform.

Song Yingsheng continued his careful transcription and at last reached the concluding section.

"Your subject, a raw recruit from the grass and thatch, has the honor to witness His Sacred Majesty's grand renewal. May Your Majesty hold to constancy amid danger, judge the moment to devise plans, extend a heart of sincerity and trust, and bring to completion a governance of transformation." "Thus, all under Heaven shall be most fortunate; the altars of the state shall be most fortunate."

Having written the final character, Song Yingsheng set down his brush and let out a long, deep breath.

In this essay, taking steadiness, prudence, sincerity, and deliberation as its core, integrating the tenor of the New Policies with the canonical meaning of the Ge hexagram, he was confident he had answered to the very best of his ability. Truly, nothing more could be refined, nothing more could be altered!

By the light of the candle, Song Yingsheng meticulously examined all his previous answer sheets once more, confirming there were no taboo characters, no wrongly written words. Only then, under the impatient urging of the circuit proctor, did he reluctantly hand in his examination papers.

The act of handing in papers at the provincial examination hall — he had done it four times in this life already.

Yet never once had he felt the disquiet he felt today.

A sage sovereign had ascended the throne, New Policies had sprung up abruptly — yet he himself was already fifty years old.

If he missed this chance, he did not know whether he could endure until the next examination cycle.

Carrying his examination basket, Song Yingsheng walked out of the examination hall gate with unsteady steps, carried along by the crowd.

Just as he turned the street corner, he saw his younger brother Song Yingxing standing beneath a lantern, craning his neck in expectation.

"Elder Brother! Over here!" Song Yingxing came forward to meet him. "How did it go?"

Song Yingsheng's face, taut all day, finally relaxed. He smiled frankly. "I have done all I could. The essay was pushed to its utmost; the reasoning was kept as close to the New Policies as possible. As for passing or not passing — that can only be left to Heaven's will."

At these words, Song Yingxing burst into hearty laughter. "Elder Brother, your talent is ten times mine — that essay must be superb. How could it not pass!" He casually took the examination basket from Song Yingsheng's hand and began walking out.

"Since the first session is over, don't dwell on it anymore. We need to quickly put our heads together on the policy question topics for the next two sessions!"

"Elder Brother, let me tell you — shut inside the examination hall today, you wouldn't know. Something monumental has happened outside!"

Song Yingxing lowered his voice, but his eyes glittered with an intensely excited light.

"His Majesty has issued an open decree! To root out the borers and purge the wicked!"

"This morning Grand Secretary Li convened all the ministries for a meeting and got it passed. Then the Embroidered Uniform Guard fanned out in all directions — in a single day, they arrested over a hundred officials in one sweep!" "I told you! The reason Grand Secretary Li is not the chief examiner — this is why!"

"He has to preside over the great anti-corruption campaign! Of course he couldn't enter the examination hall and be sealed off inside and out!"

Song Yingxing's mind raced, and his mouth chattered on without pause.

"This matter will definitely affect the judgment questions in the second session, and the policy essays in the third!"

"Let's hurry back, grab a quick bite, and then properly sort through all the topics related to corruption!"

Song Yingxing's face was full of delight; his words brimmed with high spirits. Judging by his attitude, he wholeheartedly approved of this great purge!

Why?

A man's attitude is determined by where he sits!

Never mind Song Yingxing's support — among all the young officials in the secretariat, was there a single one who did not support it?

Once the "Edict to Excise Corrupt Borers and Purify the Court and the Realm" was issued, the guilty officials with ghosts in their hearts were naturally plunged into constant terror.

But what did that have to do with Song Yingxing?

Ever since he entered the Academy of Sciences, he had not put a single copper coin into his own pocket!

He was clean and spotless — what did he have to fear?

His only regret was that these thunderous measures had come too slowly, and the purge was not yet ruthless enough!

Regrettably, however much these thunderous measures swept back and forth, they had little bearing on him, a scholar of the Academy of Sciences.

He, Song Yingxing, could never walk the path of officialdom in this life; he could only walk the path of seeking the Dao.

But this kind of purge was a fine thing for his elder brother.

With so many rotten radishes pulled from the court, a great number of vacancies were bound to open up.

Once Elder Brother passed the examinations this time and entered officialdom, the bureaucratic world he faced would be clearer than ever before.

His prospects would surely be far smoother than those of any previous cohort of new jinshi!

At this thought, Song Yingxing could not help a knowing smile.

He was just about to turn back and share this excellent situation with his elder brother when he suddenly sensed something amiss.

Behind him, it was too quiet.

He turned around and only then realized that, at some point, his elder brother had fallen seven or eight paces behind.

Twilight had fully descended upon the long street.

Song Yingsheng stood there, all alone, beneath the signboard of a herbal medicine shop.

The large red lantern just lit beneath the eaves swayed slightly in the early spring chill.

Its dim, reddish glow flickered with the wind, again and again veiling Song Yingsheng's face, cutting his expression into indistinct fragments. From the distance down the long street came the faint clamor of the crowd and the rumble of cart wheels, yet the man standing there in the lantern's shadow seemed forgotten by the surrounding noise. The cold wind whipped at his somewhat thin scholar's gown, making it billow, empty and hollow.

"Elder Brother?" Song Yingxing walked back a couple of steps, puzzled. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

A gust of wind swept past, making the candle flame inside the red lantern dim sharply for an instant.

In that fleeting moment when light and shadow flickered between brightness and darkness, Song Yingsheng's Adam's apple rolled, agonizingly slowly.

It was only an instant.

When the candle flame brightened again, Song Yingsheng had already resumed his stride, walking step by step out from beneath that shadowed signboard. "It's... it's nothing."

Song Yingsheng's voice sounded somewhat parched, as if the wind had blown his throat hoarse.

"Just now..." He lowered his eyelids slightly, avoiding his brother's gaze, then raised his head again, meeting Song Yingxing's eyes, so full of vigor, and forced a gentle smile.

"Just now, a direction for a policy essay suddenly came to mind, and I stopped without thinking to consider it for a moment."

He walked over to his younger brother, stretched out the hand that no longer trembled, and gently patted Song Yingxing on the shoulder.

"Let's go… the wind is strong out here, we should hurry back."

"Quickly go over the corruption exam topics once more and get them properly organized…"