The Mystery of Zhang Gong

Zhang Ping Said, “The Scapegoat Matter is a Rumour, Not To Be Believed.” 

The subordinate asked Lan Jue what to do with this letter. 

Lan Jue threw the letter into a drawer. “Just act as if we didn’t see it.” 

The subordinate replied, “But why was this letter on the door? How about we invite the Ministry of Justice-”

Lan Jue waved his hand. “It might be a prank, so there’s no need to fuss over it; how could anyone with the ability to insert a letter on the Ministry of Rites’ doors not understand that the eligibility of an examinee to partake in this exam cannot be influenced by such little reasons? According to the imperial orders, our Ministry of Rites is only responsible for organising the imperial examinations. Even our Chief Minister cannot make such a big decision as to determine if an examinee is eligible.”

Lan Hui slept in the study for two days. On the evening of the third day, Lan Jue returned to the residence and handed him a brocade box. “This is a Taoist instrument I purchased for you. If you wear it next to your skin, you’ll no longer need to be afraid of the ghost.”

Lan Hui delightedly opened it. Inside the brocade box was a wild boar carved from white jade, a pair of tusks protruding from it; on its back was a hole with a string of red rope tied through it. 

Lan Jue hung the wild boar around Lan Hui’s neck and rubbed his head before speaking his sincere and earnest wishes, “The monster you provoked at your uncle’s house is a dryad. Wild boars can specifically damage (1) trees, so they’re fated to be ill-matched.” 

When Lan Hui first saw the wild boar, he wore a doubtful expression; after hearing Lan Jue’s words, he immediately cheered up and turned the wild boar over a few times in observation, stroking its tusks. “Diedie, does eating more pork lead to the same effect?” 

Lan Jue respectfully replied, “That’s right, but eating ordinary, domestic pork is useless; you have to eat wild boar meat. You can stop listening to your auntie’s advice to practice a few days of vegetarianism – I asked the kitchen to prepare a Wild Boar and Yunnan Ham Shreds dish tonight. Eat more; stop being picky.” 

Lan Hui nodded vigorously; he went to the front hall and ran to the garden to gambol happily. 

After the Dragon Boat Festival, Zhang Ping discontinued his business. Wife Jin had prepared a generous gift for him as gratitude, but Zhang Ping declined some of it – the rest he had no choice but to accept, yet it was still enough for him to stop worrying about food and clothing until the examination’s result announcement. (2) Chen Chou also basked in the light. 

After the Jin Family case, Zhang Ping’s reputation experienced a great tremor; even the examinees who claimed to despise him had to admit he had some talents. It was a pity he lacked character. Such talent, yet the heavens actually bestowed it upon someone with such a sloppy character – it was truly a great pity. 

Chen Chou would angrily say, “As soon as that Ma Lian and those sons of bitches who pretend to be all noble and virtuous sees someone, they’d say they feel sorry for your talents and character. Truthfully, they just can’t bear to see the good in others, so they’ll act sinister in roundabout ways. In fact, they’re the most shameless. Every day, they’d say other people have bad characters, but who knows what dirty tricks they’ve performed countlessly behind everyone’s back. It’s just, ordinary people aren’t like them; they just stare as these people wickedly tarnish others. Sooner or later, there’ll be performing a dog-eat-dog show. Let’s just talk about that Ma Lian – just that small reputation of his was from plagiarising. Right now, every matter involving him accepting money for nominal works has been exposed, yet he’s still jumping with no sense of shame. Why aren’t the Heavens taking him?!” 

Zhang Ping went into the chicken coop without a word. He’d originally wanted to tell Chen Chou that this matter couldn’t be blamed on Ma Lian; it was Mr and Mrs Jin who asked him for the nominal works rather than Ma Lian seeking someone out himself to write them. Since Ma Lian accepted, it could only mean he was greedy for money. 

But Chen Chou had always found Ma Lian to be particularly displeasing to the eyes; if he said it, he was afraid Chen Chou would spiral into another tantrum of temper, so Zhang Ping decided to stay silent and concentrate on investigating if Aunt Fang’s little chick was swallowed by Senior Wang’s old, black cat or Cripple Ma’s San Hua. 

Chen Chou stomped his feet by the chicken coop. “However, Ma Lian must definitely be hating on us both. Because of this matter, he was forced to admit that you wrote the play for him; even if he goes around saying you assumed his name and took his place, he isn’t familiar with the facts. Anyone sharp-sighted would probably not believe him, heheh~” 

»»————-¤————-««

Examination day came in the blink of an eye. According to the rules, after setting the test questions, Lan Jue and any other officials who participated in setting the questions or knew the answers were locked up in unity, not to be released until the end of the exam. 

Hence, Lan Jue wouldn’t be able to return home for several days. He was worried about leaving Lan Jue in the residence alone, but since the eldest grandson of the Liu Family, Liu Tongyi, was participating in this exam, he couldn’t leave Lan Hui with them and arouse suspicion. Lan Jue considered for a long time before he decided to ask Wang Yan. 

Wang Yan agreed with extreme ease, so Lan Jue immediately ordered someone to pack Lan Hui’s luggage and personally took him to the Wang Residence. 

Lan Jue always felt Lan Hui’s temperament was a bit stuffy and listless. Deliberately sending Lan Hui to the Wang Family was also to make him more vigorous. Although Wang Yan’s sons were mischievous, they were superior in terms of liveliness. 

Wang Yan’s Assistant Minister Residence was at the Capital’s north, on Rong’an street. Whilst Lan Jue was sending Lan Hui to the Wang Yan residence, he saw, at the courtyard, several heads stretched out from a big tree’s branches, making faces and throwing stones at them. 

That old tree couldn’t be considered stout; the branches trembled. 

Wang Yan loudly yelled at the tree, telling them to get their asses here to greet Senior Lan; several children made eye signals at each other before climbing down the tree. They yelled out ‘greetings, Senior Lan’. Wang Yan lifted the ears of two of the older children and apologetically said to Lan Jue, “These monkey brats from my family have never been disciplined – please excuse us.” 

Lan Jue smilingly swept his gaze over the five children before him and said, “Brother Mo Wen, don’t you only have three sons? These two are…?”

Wang Yan coughed and loosened his clutch on one ear. He pointed to the shorter two buffoons. “I also have two daughters.”

Hearing that there were girls, Lan Hui blushed and stammeringly greeted them. The two girls curled their lips; the bigger one threw a small stone at him. 

Wang Yan pulled a long face and shouted, “Tut, stop making trouble!” Then he roared to the corridors, “Why aren’t you women taking care of your children?! Always making me lose face in front of outsiders!” 

From the corridors, there’d always been a ringing ‘hula-hula’ sound of mahjong tiles being rubbed and women giggling. The sound of mahjong tiles paused before a woman’s voice leisurely sounded, “Then according to Master, it’s as if the one restraining and not letting us take care of the children are ourselves.” 

Wang Yan’s complexion turned purple. Lan Jue quickly found a topic to change the subject; he suddenly caught a glimpse of a youth standing on a veranda in the distance wearing light clothing, their features outstanding and gorgeousness incomparable. The youth distantly smiled at Lan Jue and cupped their hands in greeting before turning around back to the side room. Lan Jue returned the greeting and said to Wang Yan, “It turns out your honourable little brother is also at the residence. I saw him once a few years ago. At that time he was still young; now he carries such magnificence.”

Wang Yan replied, “A-xuan, that bastard – the more he grows the more he becomes like my dad; how could he be magnificent? This is Grand Tutor Yun’s second son, Yun Yu. A-xuan has been staying here for the past two days, so he invited him over for tea.” 

Lan Jue suddenly understood. “Turns out it’s Grand Tutor Yun’s second child – he’s definitely an outstanding youth. It seems it won’t be long before he can attend court. The younger generations are formidable.”

After Lan Jue placed Lan Hui at Wang Yan’s residence, he felt reassured when locked up. The examination day had finally arrived. Zhang Ping and Chen Chou got up early in the morning to arrive outside the exam venue, where they waited in line for their clothing inspection. They drew out their exam groups and room number. 

This year’s imperial examination participants were nominated across eleven counties and the Capital; there were three hundred and sixty in total. The exam questions were divided into four categories: one’s moral principles, ethics, virtue and understanding of the law. Every ninety examinees would be tested on the same categories. One’s exam room number was arranged according to their exam category; neighbouring rooms all held different exam questions to prevent cheating. 

Chen Chou stood on his tip-toes and looked forward before breathing a sigh of relief. “It’s good that we came early; we can still draw from the exam categories. Those at the back can only pick up the remaining.” 

After their clothing inspection, while they were waiting to draw out their exam room number, there was the sound of slight clamour at the front. Chen Chou went on his tiptoes again and took a look; he laughed. “Hey, hey, Brother Zhang, Ma Lian got lucky – he managed to draw that haunted room, number fourteen. That exam room is particularly cursed. I’ve heard there was an examinee who couldn’t answer the questions and died from anxiousness in there; those who enter will become scapegoats.” 

Zhang Ping said, “The scapegoat matter is a rumour, not to be believed.”

The examinee in front of them turned around with a smile. “This brother is right. Ghosts are formless and invisible, how can people see them? These so-called ghosts are just the heart’s delusions.” 

Chen Chou said, “You’ve never seen anything odd before, so you naturally don’t believe in them. But if cursed things truly exist, maybe there’d be a day you’ll encounter one.” 

Zhang Ping didn’t say anything. The examinee replied with a smile, “This brother’s words are also reasonable.” 

He looked very young, his clothes plain and simple. He was graceful and refined in a way Chen Chou had never seen in his entire life; listening to his modest words, Chen Chou decided to make friends with him, so he began to make chatter. “I’m Chen Chou; the one beside me is Zhang Ping. We’re both examinees from Xichuan County. What’s your name?”

The examinee’s eyes brightened. “Could it be you’re the Young Master Zhang who solved the Great Yellow Immortal murder case? I’ve admired you for a very long time…”

He hadn’t finished speaking before the person in front of him entered the exam venue. The examinee smiled regretfully before turning around and drawing out his exam category and room number; the examiner looked at his name card and only took out three exam tablets for him to draw from. Chen Chou was slightly puzzled. When the examinee entered the exam venue and Zhang Ping began to draw, he whispered, “There’s clearly still four exam categories to draw from, so why is he only given three?” 

There was a moment of silence around them. Someone from the back gently pulled on his sleeve and softly said, “It turns out you don’t know who he is – he’s the former Grand Tutor Liu Xian’s grandson, Liu Tongyi. The law exam papers were written by his uncle, Lan Jue, so they obviously couldn’t put that in the draw.” 

(1) Wild boars and dryads – dryads are known as ‘tree demons’ (树妖), which is why wild boars are their nemesis. 

(2) Chen Chou – okay, was anybody going to tell me I’ve been switching his name between two spellings this whole time or was I just supposed to find out after my blind ass re-read the novel two times myself?