The Mystery of Zhang Gong

Lan Hui Raised His Eyes and Looked at Lan Jue Before Whispering, “Uncle Bought a Brush Pot. He Said it was Made With the Cremains of Dead People, So It’s Haunted By Ghosts.” 

After Lan Jue finished eating the Zongzi, he paid the bill and returned straight to his residence, not saying anything more to Zhang Ping. 

Zhang Ping had silently accepted the money, not saying anything to him either. 

In the evening, Lan Hui returned from the Liu Residence with a miserable scowl on his face; he said to Lan Jue, “Diedie, in the future, can I not go to uncle’s residence?” 

Although Lan Jue’s discipline towards Lan Hui was strict, he rarely busied with ministry work within his residence; in addition to the family tutor’s good temper, Lan Hui was used to being spoiled. Each time he visited the strict and well-disciplined Liu Residence, he’d feel terribly stuffy, and would always complain he didn’t like to go.

As usual, Lan Jue began lecturing him. “Your mother passed away early. Whenever your grandmother, uncle, and auntie sees you, it’s like they’re seeing your mother; they all feel great care and concern for you. Even if you’ve grown up, you must remember to show filial respect towards them. Your biao-ge Tong is filled with good knowledge; you should learn more from him.”

Lan Hui’s lips tightened; he glanced up at Lan Jue with a wronged expression before lowering his head again and left with another miserable scowl. 

At midnight, while he was still asleep, Lan Jue heard a fearful cry; he hurriedly got up and rushed next door. Lan Hui was curled up on the corner of his bed, clutching his blanket as he shivered, several servants gathered in front of his bed to comfort him. 

Lan Jue looked at his tearful face and took a handkerchief from the hands of a young child standing aside; he soaked it in a basin of warm water and wrung it before walking towards the bed. 

“You are a dignified young man. If even a nightmare can scare you into tears, how will you accomplish great things in the future?” 

Lan Hui buried his face into his blanket, unspeaking. 

Lan Jue’s brows furrowed as he passed the handkerchief to him. “Take it. Wipe your face and go back to sleep.” 

Lan Hui didn’t move nor spoke. Lan Jue’s brows furrowed deeper. The young child standing aside hurriedly said, “Master, Young Master cannot be blamed. While the Young Master was celebrating at the Liu Residence today, he heard about a strange matter and was frightened. Even the elders there said the matter was strange. Young Master is young and pure-hearted, it is pardonable for him to have nightmares at night.”

Lan Jue smiled. “How could there possibly be so many mischievous ghosts and demons in this world? They’re all just wild fantasies in people’s hearts. Besides, (1) we have mugworts stuck on our doors and realgar in our bodies, how could you still be afraid of them?”

Lan Hui’s shoulders trembled before he slowly raised his face, both his eyes a bright red. “I saw it creep over.”

Lan Jue helplessly said, “Then come sleep with me and let diedie gain more insight into what a ghost looks like.”

At lightning speed, Lan Hui climbed out of bed, took the handkerchief from Lan Jue’s hands to wipe his face, and followed Lan Jue to his bedroom. He stood by the bed before timidly raising his eyes to look at Lan Jue. 

Lan Jue raised his eyebrows. “Sleep on the inside. That way, when the ghost comes, it’ll have to crawl over my body first.”

Lan Hui giggled before making his way onto the bed and laid close to the wall. 

Lan Jue laid on the bed and let the servants turn out the lights and leave. When the candles went out and the door closed, Lan Hui trembled. 

Lan Jue closed his eyes whilst Lan Hui clung wordlessly to the wall. Lan Jue evened his breathing. A long while passed before Lan Hui turned over with a rustle and gently moved beside Lan Jue; he reached out and grabbed Lan Jue’s sleeves. After a moment, his breathing evenly lengthened as he soundly entered his dreams. 

Lan Jue, on the other hand, wasn’t able to sleep that well. He briefly took a shallow nap; when he guessed it was time to attend court, he gently got up. Lan Hui was still sleeping soundly. When Lan Jue pulled out his sleeve from his clutches, he slightly moved a little and clutched his thin blanket before continuing to sleep. 

After court, Lan Jue immediately went to the Ministry of Rites’ yamen and ate breakfast there. He continued working until the evening when he came back home. 

When he arrived at the hall, Lan Hui stepped out from behind the folding screen and greeted him. Lan Jue raised his eyebrows and looked at him. “You’re not afraid of ghosts anymore?”

Lan Hui silently drooped his head.

Lan Jue sat on the chief chair. “Would you like to tell me exactly what story you heard at your uncle’s residence yesterday?” 

Lan Hue raised his eyes and looked at Lan Jue before whispering, “Uncle bought a brush pot. He said it was made with the cremains of dead people, so it’s haunted by ghosts.”

Lan Jue frowned. His late father-in-law, Fu Liuxian, had never believed in the supernatural; those from the Liu Residence wouldn’t dare to even mention the word ‘ghost’. Whenever the women in the family went to the temple to burn incense, they all had to hide it from the old man and secretly leave – acting more cautious than thieves. Although Liuxian had passed for many years now, his remaining influence still hovered around the residence. Even during Chinese New Year or other festivities, those from the residence would burn incense and paper offerings for the old man whilst repeatedly murmuring things like – ‘we know that you don’t like this, but please accept your children and grandchildren’s filial piety.’ Since this matter could even make his brother-in-law, someone his father-in-law had personally disciplined, spit out the word ‘ghost’, it must truly be unusual. 

Lan Jue asked, “Have you personally seen this brush pot?”

Lan Hui shook his head, the rim of his eyes turning red again. “I saw the brush pot placed on uncle’s desk, so I touched it; as a result, auntie started crying and said it’s haunted by a vengeful spirit that wants to take revenge against uncle. She even had me wipe my hands with the incense ashes from their ancestral hall and told me to not eat meat for the next few days.”

Lan Jue asked, “What does the brush pot look like?”

Lan Hui replied, “It’s just a white porcelain pot that doesn’t even have decorative designs on it. It broke before, so there’s a mark on it.”

“Could it be that the mark looks like a branch?”

Lan Hui nodded with flattened lips. 

Lan Jue rubbed his forehead. “Understood. I will have to continue investigating this ghost’s origin. Go to the study first and continue studying.”

Lan Hui blinked his rabbit-like eyes. “Diedie, I’ve studied for the entire day. I’m scared.”

Lan Jue responded with a stiff expression. “Why do I always tell you there are no ghosts or demons in this world? Whether it be demons or evil spirits, if your heart has no openings – if you don’t believe, think, listen or ask about them – they won’t approach or harm you. Right now you’re not listening to such teachings, so you’ve been infected by corruption; even your uncle is afraid. For now, I won’t surrender. Right now, you can only stand in front of Sage’s portrait, read Sage’s books, resist with your overwhelming righteousness, and never let your distracting thoughts return, otherwise…”

With a sallow complexion, Lan Hui turned around and went straight into the study.

Lan Hui slept all night in the study; even his meals were eaten inside. The next day, after court, Lan Jue directly encountered Wang Yan. Wang Yan hummed with laughter as he said, “I’ve heard that Minister Lan’s brother-in-law has been caught by a vengeful spirit.”

Lan Jue grudgingly said, “Don’t mention this matter. Even my son has gotten frightened, always crying that there’s a ghost. I’m wondering what kind of Taoist instrument I should buy back to amuse him.”

Wang Yan smiled. “Your brother-in-law has never committed anything that should warrant a guilty conscience. Just one miscarriage of justice, yet he’d never forget it in this lifetime. I’d say either he’s thinking too much, or someone’s playing ghost.” 

Lan Jue said, “Six years ago, I was still a small official in the (2) zhongshu yamen; I only vaguely heard that a participant of the imperial examination had been wronged. The court hadn’t investigated well and made a misjudgement. But because I didn’t know the full details, I’ve always had suspicions. At that time, who was the one responsible for this case? Everything had to be carried out with rigour and care, so how could there be a misjudgement?”

Wang Yan sighed heavily. “Alas. I’ve read over the files for that case; if it happened today without guidance from our predecessor’s mistakes and the case was handed to those old pedantics, the case might still be misjudged. At first, it was just an ordinary case; the source was from the fundraising literary meeting. This matter you should know about.” 

Lan Jue nodded; everyone knew about the literary meeting from six years ago. At that time, several northwestern counties were suffering from severe droughts. The court took advantage of the upcoming imperial examination – the opportunity to gather all the scholars in the Capital – and allowed the Ministry of Revenue to pioneer the unity of several large trade associations. They set up a half-court, half-private literary meeting; using ‘calamity’ as the topic, they enlisted poems and paintings, limiting one per person. They chose the best work to auction off among the trade associations and the funds raised were used for disaster relief. 

The judges were either famous, virtuous and prestigious members of the gentry or scholars of far-reaching reputations. 

Winning this literary meeting was equal to gaining an extra opportunity of getting your name placed on the imperial examination’s listing, or maybe even end up as one of the top three by default, hence, all examinees scrambled to participate.

Eventually, Jiangxi examinee Chen Zizhen’s《Plum Blossom Poem》won. 

On the second day, a group of scholars jointly complained to higher authorities that Chen Zizhen’s《Plum Blossom Poem》wasn’t created by him, but stolen from an article belonging to Ma Hong, another scholar. 

Ma Hong said he’d been thinking hard for many days. One night, he suddenly dreamt of a beautiful verse; he worked on it for the entire night. His mental and physical energy withered, he became ill in bed, so he missed the submission deadline. He didn’t expect Chen Zizhen to steal his article during his visit. 

“Because the dates were too close, it was impossible to judge who was the original creator from their handwriting. The Ministry of Justice, together with the Ministry of Rites, made a detailed investigation on these two examinees. The ones organising this case were the Ministry of Justice’s Chief Minister and your brother-in-law who, at that time, was the Ministry of Rite’s Assistant Minister.”

After the investigation, they found that Ma Hong was an examinee selected from northwest Ganliang Country. His family was poverty-stricken and was willing to sacrifice everything they had to provide for his education. He was diligent and simple, careful and modest. Chen Zizhen, on the other hand, came from a wealthy family. His grandfather once worked as a prefectural magistrate, his father was a member of the gentry from the wealthier part of Jiangxi County, and his mother was also a lady of a distinguished family. 

Chen Zizhen was arrogant, willful and undisciplined. After he arrived at the Capital, he rented a luxury property to reside in and would paint the town red all day long; those honest examinees who arrived around the same time as him never interacted with him and he’d often ridicule people with humble backgrounds.  

More than a dozen examinees jointly wrote a letter to the authorities testifying for Ma Hong; they said when Ma Hong wrote his poem, he’d discussed words and sentences with them several times. Everyone could prove this poem was indeed written by Ma Hong. They accused Chen Zizhen of stealing it.

《Plum Blossom Poem》expressed one’s experience of improving themselves with practice and their unyielding feelings of ambition to make progress. Several officials that presided over the case felt Chen Zizhen wasn’t someone who could write out this kind of literary work. 

The Ministry of Justice then investigated Chen Zizhen’s previous literary works and exam papers from his participation in the state and county examinations, and found that Chen Zizhen’s previous literary works were mediocre, far too different from the writing style of《Plum Blossom Poem》. In addition, there were many omissions on his state and county examinations’ exam papers; after further investigations, it was found that during the state and country examinations, Chen Zizhen’s father gave the judges weighty gifts. 

Wang Yan said, “That year, Grand Tutor Yun was still the Prime Minister; he always argued that there were suspicions in this case. For Chen Zizhen’s supposed theft of an article, the evidence was insufficient after all; as for his father’s gift to the judges, although it violated the law, it may not necessarily have been a bribe – it could’ve been an expression of thankfulness. To determine whether this really was a case of fraud, they should take out all exam papers from both examinees and compare them.”

Lan Jue said, “If they listened to Grand Tutor Yun, there wouldn’t have been any future injustices.”

Wang Yan sneered. “Exactly. But those who managed the case back then, including your brother-in-law, all said a hedonistic son of rich parents who relied on bribing his examiner to gain a scholarly honour couldn’t possibly have written《Plum Blossom Poem》. They even said there were rumours Chen Zizhen’s father had entrusted someone to toss about in Minister Yun’s bed for social connections. Hence, the previous Emperor instructed Minister Yun to not interfere in this matter.”

As a result, the Ministry of Rites cancelled Chen Zishen’s eligibility to participate in the imperial exam; Chen Zishen’s reputation was swept away. For a while, everyone reviled him as a literary thief. The Ministry of Justice ordered the Jiangxi County to thoroughly investigate any fraud cases for their state and county examinations. Chen Zizhen’s father was arrested by authorities for interrogation. They even investigated Chen Zizhen’s grandfather’s time as a prefectural magistrate and his old affairs where he was suspected of accepting bribes. The Chen Residence was destroyed. 

Of course, the name behind《Plum Blossom Poem》was changed to Ma Hong. Everyone in the Capital clapped their hands in satisfaction. 

Chen Zizhen committed suicide by throwing himself in the lake; before his death, he used his blood to cover an entire pavilion by the lake with words describing his injustice. 

At that time, Chen Zizhen’s father was already locked up in prison and his mother, Chen née Bai, went to the Capital to collect his body. By the time she arrived at the Capital, she’d already become blinded by tears. 

Chen Zizhen’s body had decayed in the lake, so it’d already been incinerated. Due to the situation at that time, those who’d become friends with him didn’t dare publicly collect his body; instead, they secretly kept some of his cremains, hidden in a white porcelain pot brush. 

Chen née Bai (3) beat the drums to complain about her son’s death but was driven out by the ministry and beaten to death in front of the Ministry of Justice’s yamen entrance. 

Then, the comparison results between the two examination papers came out from Jiangxi County; it was revealed that although Chen Zizhen’s literary works indeed had omissions, compared to the other examinees, he was definitely eligible for the imperial examination’s listing. 

Several people couldn’t put up with it any longer, so they stood up and testified for Chen Zizhen. They said, on the day he visited Ma Hong, he’d already submitted his《Plum Blossom Poem》; in addition, he hadn’t even entered the inner room – he left straight after putting some things down in the central room. 

The court reopened the case, with Prime Minister Yuntang presiding over it. After months of investigation, of comparing all kinds of evidence, they found out Chen Zizhen was indeed wrongly accused. 

The dozen or so examinees who testified for Ma Hong also confessed they had very good relationships with Ma Hong; because they disliked Chen Zizhen, they faked their testimonies. 

《Plum Blossom Poem》was truly written by Chen Zizhen; he wrote this poem because of his mother. 

Chen Zizhen was the only child in his family; although arrogant since childhood, he was a filial son. After his mother married into the Chen Family, she couldn’t give birth for many years; she was ridiculed by her mother-in-law and jeered at by her sisters. It wasn’t until she gave birth to a son did she finally begin living a good life with her in-laws. Chen Zizhen studied and participated in examinations for a rank, hoping to make his mother a lady with a distinguished title so she could hold her head high in front of her sisters. 

During those years Chen née Bai was ridiculed, she’d embroider plum blossoms. She was a lady from a distinguished family, so she was also quite talented and created a few poems about plum blossoms. In Chen Zizhen’s《Plum Blossom Poem》, he used a few verses from his mother’s poems. 

After the case’s truth came to light, the imperial examination had already passed; Ma Hong was made a successful candidate and was conferred an official rank. The Ministry of Justice sentenced Ma Hong to immediate beheading; even to death, he insisted that it was Chen Zizhen who stole his work. 

“After the case closed, Minister Yun’s prestige flourished further. Dou Fang committed suicide as an apology and your brother-in-law resigned, his guilty conscience holding up even to this day. It’s only because of this so-called ‘suffering from serious injury’ that the court is in today’s situation. Truthfully, Ma Hong and others gathering to make false accusations make this an extremely ordinary case – it’s common to see such tricks with each passing generation, so it’s not clever. But because Chen Zizhen came from a wealthy family and Ma Hong from poverty, most people thought this is a case of the rich bullying the poor. In addition, Chen Zizhen usually didn’t know how to conduct himself with integrity so many of the scholars who accused him were poor. This is the so-called (4) ‘three men talking makes a tiger’ and (5) ‘public clamour can melt metals’; where there’s a peak, there’ll be agitation for momentum. The common people who didn’t understand the situation were agitated – all of them called Chen Zizhen a criminal. The imperial court thought they were complying with the public opinion, but instead, they settled an unjust case.” 

Lan Jue asked, “What happened to the people who participated in the false accusation?” 

Wang Yan replied, “A few of the masterminds were beheaded or (6) tattooed on the face and sent to exile, but then it was found that many people were just going with the tide to hit a person already down, so either their sentences were lighter or they could never obtain a rank for the rest of their lives. The lightest sentence was dispensing one’s rank and ordering them to not participate in the imperial examination for the next few years. The court even built a memorial hall by the lake Chen Zizhen suicided and conferred title to his parents. The ancestral hall in Chen’s Residence at Jiangxi was also rebuilt. Said person was already dead; doing all this was just to keep up appearances.”

After saying all this, they reached (7) Duan Rui’s entrance. Lan Jue cupped his hands in farewell towards Wang Yan before leaving for his ministry yamen. The sky was overcast, the ashy horizon hung with dark clouds that appeared like vengeful ghosts unwilling to leave. When he arrived at his ministry yamen, a subordinate reported to Lan Jue that the Ministry of Rites received an anonymous letter. 

The letter arrived very strangely; yesterday, Lan Jue was the last to leave the ministry, yet he hadn’t seen the letter. Early this morning, the scribe found the letter on the inner courtyard’s door lock. 

The letter paper was ordinary rag paper, the handwriting crude and blotched. With everything broken and in disorder, it wrote-

Examinee Ma Lian is a literary thief. Stealing works and robbing reputation, he’s not worthy of participating in the imperial examination. 

(1) Mugworts and realgar – during the Dragon Boat Festivals, many people would participate in activities such as hanging mugworts and drinking realgar wine (also known as ‘rice wine’) as it’s thought to prevent disease and evil whilst also promoting good health and well-being. 

(2) Zhongshu – a title for civil servants. Zhongshu’s are usually responsible for assisting the one in charge, compiling laws and regulations, recording, translating, and other transcription works. 

(3) Beat the drums – in front of courthouses in ancient China, there’d be a large drum people could hit to alert the people inside they’ve suffered from injustice or a crime. 

(4) Three men talking makes a tiger – an idiom meaning ‘repeated rumours become fact’

(5) Public clamour can melt metals – an idiom meaning ‘too many rumours can confuse what’s right and wrong’

(6) Tattooed on the face – this was a punishment during ancient China called ‘ink punishment’, where criminals would (usually) get the character for ‘prisoner’ tattooed on their faces. Crimes that would usually lead to such a punishment were adultery and robbery. 

(7) Duan Rui – this is a nickname, but this translator doesn’t know for what orz