Chapter 336: Sima Xin

Sima Xin, the Prison Officer of Xianyang's South Market, had finished a wearying day and returned to his home near the north bank of the Wei Bridge. He stretched out his arms, half-closed his eyes, and let his maidservant remove his xiezhi cap and black official robes.

When he had changed into everyday clothes and stepped into the inner chamber, he saw his wife, Lady Cao, coaxing their son.

"Don't cry, don't cry. Try a taste — what is this?"

The child, who had been crying and fussing, had the small lacquer bowl brought to his lips by Lady Cao. After one sip, his eyes widened, and then his tears turned to laughter. Babbling, he waved his hands, wanting more.

Normally, the child would only be this happy after eating honey or malt sugar.

Sima Xin broke into a smile. He went over, scooped his son into his arms, lifted him high, and then, without a word, pressed his stubble-covered mouth to the boy's tender cheek in a kiss — which set his son wailing again.

After Lady Cao took the child back, he looked at the reddish-brown liquid in the lacquer bowl, sniffed it, and frowned. "What is this?"

"It's something fresh my bondmaid went out and bought this morning. It's called brown sugar."

Lady Cao handed the child to the maid and began chattering on about the novel item that had become all the rage in the South Market these past few days.

"Honey is dear — good honey from Mount Zhongnan costs seven or eight hundred cash a jin! Malt sugar is cheaper, but it's not sweet enough…"

The reason such sweets were so expensive was that, ever since Shang Yang's reforms, the Qin state had decreed: "Make wine and meat dear, tax them heavily, and set their price at ten times their cost." Raising the price of luxuries both curbed the merchants and conserved grain.

Honey and malt sugar were also counted as luxuries. Malt sugar, in particular, was made from malt and glutinous rice, and was considered a waste of grain, just like wine.

But looked at another way, if one could obtain a license to sell them, sugar and honey could yield enormous profits!

The wealthy households of Xianyang had been grumbling about the high price of sugar and honey for more than a day or two. Now that a cheap substitute had suddenly appeared, how could they not be delighted?

As if she had gotten a tremendous bargain, Lady Cao told her husband, "Brown sugar is different, though. It's only four hundred cash a jin, and there's plenty for sale."

Four hundred cash — that was a month and a half's wages for a petty clerk on a pittance. Ordinary families could only gaze at brown sugar and sigh.

But for a household like Sima Xin's — a hereditary military-merit aristocratic family, a "wealthy household" worth a million — brown sugar was a fine thing, excellent quality at a fair price.

In ten days, over a thousand jin of brown sugar had been sold to many similar wealthy households, and as a result, malt sugar had lately found no buyers at all.

"I truly wonder how this brown sugar is made. I've never seen anything like it before." Lady Cao had finally finished her rambling, but her curiosity was not yet sated.

Sima Xin had listened quietly. Now he told his wife to put their son to sleep, and then said to her, "Today, someone reported to the market clerk that the price of brown sugar is irregular, its method of manufacture is suspect, and eating it may be harmful."

"Ah!"

Lady Cao was horrified. She rushed to shake her son awake and even tried to stick her finger down his throat to make him vomit the sugar water he had drunk. Amidst the frantic fuss, she wept and scolded, "Why didn't you say so sooner?"

Sima Xin stopped her and said with a laugh, "This case falls under the jurisdiction of the South Market Prison Office. I've already had my subordinate clerks investigate thoroughly. They found that those who made the report were all honey and malt sugar traders — likely acting out of envy, and most of their claims were unfounded. Some of the clerks have eaten brown sugar themselves and noticed nothing amiss. As for why its sweetness far surpasses malt sugar and can compare to honey, that merchant Yan from Nan Commandery explained that the production method is entirely different from malt sugar, and that it is not made from grain…"

Hearing this, Lady Cao's mind was set at ease. Curious, she asked, "In that case, won't those who made the false report face the penalty of having their accusation turned back on them?"

"It's not that simple."

Sima Xin had his wife close the door, then said to her quietly, "The honey in the South Market mostly comes from Mount Zhongnan, secretly managed by the Shi clan, who hold the rank of Fifth Grand Master. As for the malt sugar, it is boiled from wheat grown by the Mai clan, who hold the rank of Left Chief of the Masses. These two families have been in this trade for over ten years — it's an accepted custom in the marketplace."

"Last month, those merchants from Nan Commandery suddenly barged in, elbowing their way into the market with brown sugar and making honey and malt sugar hard to sell. How could the Shi and Mai clans not be furious? Those market folk were merely put up to it by the two families!"

"So that's how it is."

Lady Cao was somewhat astonished. She had never imagined that behind simple sugar and honey lay such deep entanglements.

"Then what does my husband intend to do?"

Lady Cao had been married to Sima Xin for quite a few years and knew that he always tread carefully, navigating between the law of the land and personal ties.

Sima Xin said, "I'll set it aside for now and see. Though the younger members of the Shi and Mai clans hold no high offices with real power, their noble ranks are not low. They are not people a minor Official Grand Master like myself can afford to offend."

Lady Cao asked worriedly, "Are you going to bend the law for personal gain? Don't let the Censor catch you…"

"That is precisely what worries me."

Sima Xin's face showed hesitation. "If they were ordinary merchants, an injustice would be an injustice. Even if they petitioned the Magistrate of Xianyang for a review, I could suppress it. And if the matter came to light, I could shift the blame onto the clerks who tried the case."

"But the strange thing here is that the background of those merchants from Anlu in Nan Commandery is a mystery. If they dare come to Xianyang to do business, they must have something to rely on. Yet no matter how the clerks questioned them, they refused to name the person behind them. The more they hold back, the more uneasy I become. If I offend some important figure by mistake, that would be disastrous…"

So Sima Xin had not spared his curses for the Shi and Mai clans and the merchants under them, calling them blinded by profit. They had probably grown accustomed to bullying small traders over these ten-odd years, and now they had dumped this problem right onto his head. Did they really think that because they secretly gifted sugar and honey to officials all the time, they would be shielded in every matter?

Sima Xin was no longer willing to indulge them. He decided to stall the case and wait until he had investigated the power backing those Nan Commandery merchants. The safest course was to draft an official dispatch and send it to Nan Commandery to get to the bottom of things.

However, just as he and his wife were about to fall asleep, a servant came knocking at the door, saying that Lord Dong had sent his younger brother to deliver a letter to Sima Xin.

Annoyed, Sima Xin got up and dressed, grumbling, "That Dong Yi — what letter could he be sending in the middle of the night?"

Beside him, Lady Cao was drifting in and out of sleep. She mumbled, "Perhaps he's finished his palace guard duty and finally has leave, and is inviting you out for drinks again."

"That makes sense. Since Zhang Shaorong left, he and I haven't gathered for a long time."

Sima Xin, Zhang Han, and Dong Yi were all from Xiayang in Neishi, of similar age, and the three had joined the army at nearly the same time. Because Zhang Han and Dong Yi came from better family backgrounds, after a few years of service they were selected to serve as Gentlemen in the palace. Only Sima Xin had followed the promotion path of a minor clerk on the outside, and had at least managed to reach the positions of Official Grand Master and Prison Officer of Xianyang's South Market.

The three had always been on excellent terms — not brothers, but closer than brothers. It was a pity that after Zhang Han was posted away, their gatherings had become rare.

But when Sima Xin, still grumbling, opened the letter tablet, his eyes went wide!

This was not a letter from Dong Yi — it had been delivered on someone else's behalf!

Sima Xin forced himself to calm down. He walked over to the candlelight and looked closely. There, at the head of the bamboo slip, was written a line in bold characters:

"Heifu, Chief of the Gentlemen of the Palace, bows twice and addresses you!"

…

Sima Xin stared at that name, stunned for a long moment.

No matter how ill-informed he might be, he could not possibly have missed the recent affair in which the Emperor had ordered the assembled ministers to "deliberate on an honorific title." He naturally knew who the two men were who had stolen the limelight.

"This Heifu has lately been much favored and trusted by the Emperor…"

He read on, only to find the contents entirely inconsequential.

This Chief of the Gentlemen of the Palace rambled on about how he had "long admired Sima Xin's great name," saying he often heard his good friend Zhang Han and his subordinate Dong Yi speak of Sima Xin's mastery of the laws and ordinances, his strict and impartial handling of cases, and how he yearned to meet him. After arriving in Xianyang, however, he had been promoted by the Emperor and required to stand guard in the palace, and so had been unable to befriend Sima Xin.

"Strict in handling cases? Impartial in enforcing the law?" Sima Xin sensed something amiss. He searched his heart — when he had first graduated from the legal academy and donned the xiezhi cap, he had indeed been exactly that.

But gradually, he discovered that even in Xianyang, at the very feet of the Son of Heaven, there were many shadows the laws and ordinances could not reach.

There were too many powerful nobles here, and the web of social connections was hopelessly tangled. Although even princes and royal grandsons would not dare openly oppress the people, minor transgressions and violations of the law still occurred from time to time…

The fairness of Qin law was relative. When the status of the two parties was grossly unequal, the laws and ordinances often could not function.

Steeped for too long in the great dye vat that was Xianyang, Sima Xin had grown worldly-wise and slick. In some cases, he had begun to turn a blind eye.

He shook his head and read on.

Heifu finally got to the point, saying that he had at last managed to get some leave, and he hoped that after Sima Xin finished his official duties, the two of them could meet for a gathering and get acquainted, introduced by Dong Yi.

The letter ended with: "A few humble gifts from my rustic hometown — hardly worthy of your regard..."

The letter's tone was modest; it named him directly and sought his friendship. Overwhelmed by the unexpected honor, Sima Xin hastily ordered a servant to hand him the small casket that had been delivered along with it.

Waving the servant away, he carefully opened the lacquered casket — and nearly bit his own tongue!

What lay inside was nothing other than a piece of reddish-brown brown sugar! Exactly the same as the sugar lumps his wife had bought to feed their son!

"No mistake about it!"

Looking at the letter, then at that lump of brown sugar, Sima Xin suddenly understood.

"The Gentleman Cadet of the Palace Gates, Heifu, is from Anlu in Nan Commandery!"

"And those merchants selling brown sugar — they are also from Anlu County!"

Half a shichen later, after sitting in the courtyard letting the cool breeze blow over him while pondering life for a full half of the night, Sima Xin finally slipped back into the warm bedclothes.

After a long silence, he wrapped his arm around his wife, Lady Cao, who was sleeping groggily, and spoke a single sentence into her ear that jolted her completely awake.

"Tomorrow, I shall handle official business impartially! I will clear the injustice done to the Anlu merchant Yan!"

(End of chapter)