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Chapter 35: The Gambit
Yizhen.
So that was her given name. It was unexpectedly beautiful.
Yet, the very next breath after Tan Ting learned his wife’s name from another man’s lips, he saw that same man, standing under the eaves, beckon to her.
"Do not be afraid. Come here."
Tan Ting felt a sudden, sharp constriction in his chest. He could not stop himself from turning his gaze toward the woman in the courtyard.
Xiang Yi had only just managed to recover from her initial shock, yet here she was, caught in the act. She stood in the center of the small yard, her sworn brother under the eaves, and the Master looming at the gate.
The weight of both men's gazes fell heavily upon her.
Xiang Yi knew her brother feared Tan Ting might harm her, but she was not one to shrink from the consequences of her actions. Her only fear was for her brother; his wounds had not yet healed. If the Master chose to denounce him now, he would have no hope of escape.
She remained where she stood, her gaze meeting Tan Ting’s with quiet composure.
"Since the Master knows everything, how do you intend to handle this?" She took a deep breath, looking him straight in the eye. "Will you inform the local authorities, or the Brocade Guard?"
The wind in the courtyard seemed to die down. Gu Yansheng’s eyes fixed on Xiang Yi, noting her reaction.
Tan Ting, however, felt his heart stall at her words. She had spoken only two sentences, but if the first was ambiguous, the second laid her heart bare, her first instinct was not for herself, but for another.
The corners of Tan Ting’s mouth pressed thin. He did not answer her. He closed his eyes as if weary, and when he opened them again, his voice was a low, heavy rasp.
"So. Who is he, exactly?"
He was asking Xiang Yi, but his eyes were locked on Gu Yansheng.
Previously, there had been the aliases, the talk of sea pirates, and even the "Taoist" beside the Crown Prince to serve as a shroud. But Tan Ting’s question now pierced through to the core, the one secret that even his enemies in court had failed to uncover.
Xiang Yi had not expected the Master to be so direct; she remained cautiously silent.
Gu Yansheng, however, let out a low laugh. From the moment Tan Ting entered the yard, his eyes had rarely left Xiang Yi. If the man truly intended to denounce them without a second thought, he would not be standing there like this.
Gu Yansheng’s mind whirred. "Since Master Tan wishes to know, why not come inside for a talk?" He raised a hand in a gesture of invitation.
Xiao Guan stepped forward quickly, whispering, "Master, be careful of a trap."
This man was at the end of his rope; if they turned him in, he was finished. But if he took the head of the Tan clan or his wife hostage, he would gain leverage.
Tan Ting raised a hand to silence his guard. "It is no matter."
If this man’s methods were limited to blades or hostages, he would never have gained a foothold beside the Crown Prince, nor would he have stirred the court enough to make the Chen clan of Fengling act so desperately.
Tan Ting did not say more. He accepted the invitation and walked forward. Xiao Guan could only signal the guards to surround the courtyard, ready to strike if anything happened to the Master or Madam.
As Tan Ting stepped into the yard, he passed close to Xiang Yi. She lowered her head in a bow. He wanted to say something to her, but the distance she maintained left him at a loss.
At least she had not hidden behind the other man. But she also showed no intention of explaining herself.
The wind grew colder. She had slipped out in secret and was dressed far too thinly. Tan Ting was about to say, “You should come inside as well,” but the words were snatched from his mouth by another.
Gu Yansheng signaled his servant, Qiu Ying, who stepped toward Xiang Yi. "The wind is high out here. The Master requests that the Madam come inside to speak as well."
Xiang Yi nodded and thanked Gu Yansheng.
The words Tan Ting meant to say remained trapped in his throat. The line of his jaw tightened further.
The room was sparsely furnished, but the moment Tan Ting entered, he was met with the familiar scent of medicinal herbs.
He grew more silent. Gu Yansheng had Qiu Ying serve tea. For a time, the room was still; no one was in a rush to speak.
Seeing the man so composed, Tan Ting felt a flicker of grudging respect. Gu Yansheng did not beat around the bush.
"Who does Master Tan believe I am?" He threw the question back at him.
Xiang Yi glanced at the Master. Her brother’s identity was a state secret; surely this man could not have guessed it.
She saw Tan Ting’s cold expression as he spoke. "Your surname is Gu, is it not?"
Xiang Yi’s breath hitched. After her brother gave a slight nod, Tan Ting continued.
"If I am not mistaken, it is the 'Gu' of the former Brush-Holding Eunuch, Gu Xianying."
Silence fell like a hammer. Xiang Yi was stunned. A secret that had baffled half the court had been unraveled by him simply through her connection to her brother.
Gu Yansheng raised an eyebrow. "It seems Master Tan is indeed exceptionally perceptive."
"I would not dare claim so," Tan Ting replied tonelessly.
A man Xiang Yi called "Brother" who was not one of the Xiang cousins who had fled after her father’s fall, and a man she would personally tend to with medicine... it could only be a sworn brother.
If he remembered correctly, after Gu Xianying lost his power, his nephew had been protected by Xiang Zhiyuan for a time. And only a man with the Gu family’s mettle would dare embed himself beside the Crown Prince and meddle in the affairs of state.
Tan Ting did not think the guess was difficult, but he wanted to know Gu Yansheng’s true intent. He remained silent, looking at the man until Gu Yansheng let out a soft laugh.
"Master Tan surely wishes to know what I was doing in Jiangxi," Gu Yansheng said, his peach-blossom eyes lifting. "Was I seeking justice, or was I preparing to throw the court into chaos?"
It was exactly what Tan Ting was thinking. He gave the man a sharp, cold look.
It was improper for a Taoist advisor to meddle in state affairs, and his constant urging for the Eastern Palace to reopen the old Jiangxi examination fraud case was suspicious. Even without the Chen clan’s pursuit, Tan Ting would have doubted his motives.
Yet, the Chen clan was clearly tied to that case, and their frantic hunt suggested they had much to hide.
Tan Ting spoke. "The Chen clan claims you are using fabricated evidence to delude the Prince. Many in court believe the same. What is your version?"
By entering this room, he was giving Gu Yansheng a chance to speak. Xiang Yi felt a slight loosening in her chest. Whatever punishment she faced for her deception could wait; her brother was working for the sake of the commoner scholars, and he should not fall here.
Would the Master give him a chance? Tan Ting saw the flicker in her eyes and read her thoughts clearly. He felt a wave of stifled annoyance, but he simply waited for Gu Yansheng’s explanation.
Gu Yansheng felt a similar relief. The Tan clan had no stake in the Jiangxi case, which meant their leader’s stance would be different from the guilty Chens. Perhaps he could be won over.
"Since Master Tan asks, I have no reason to hide the truth," Gu Yansheng began. He spoke of the old fraud case, of how commoner scholars with brilliant essays were left off the pass list, while idle sons of prestigious families took the top spots.
It was not a one-time occurrence. Doubt had curdled into despair. The scholars had eventually gathered at a tea house after the exams to rewrite their essays from memory, inviting the public to judge them. A profligate noble had mocked them and joined in, writing his own subpar essay. Everyone agreed it wouldn't even pass the lowest county exam.
Yet when the results were posted, none of the scholars' favorites had passed. Instead, that noble had sailed through with his "shameful" work.
The scholars had rioted. The government had used blades to disperse them. One young man, demanding an answer, had his throat slit by a guard’s sword.
The news reached the Emperor, who sent an imperial commissioner. The scholars had lined the roads to welcome him, hoping for fairness. But the commissioner’s "thorough investigation" concluded that the noble had simply written a bad essay at the tea house to "tease" the scholars, and that he had only passed the real exam by cheating with hidden notes.
The "investigation" ended with the noble being stripped of his rank and a low-level clerk being flogged. A mountain of corruption was reduced to a molehill of petty cheating.
The commoner scholars of Wuming fell silent. By the time they realized the injustice, the commissioner was gone. To protest further was rebellion. The case was buried.
But in the years that followed, the conflict between commoners and prestigious families in that region turned bloody. Scholars grew few, and bandits multiplied. Wuming, once a cradle of learning, became a wasteland of outlaws.
"Master Tan," Gu Yansheng asked after finishing his account, "do you believe such a case should be reopened?"
Tan Ting did not answer immediately. Gu Yansheng gave a sharp, mocking laugh.
"If the scholars had not lost all faith in the examiners, why would they have gone to the public? Does Master Tan truly think a few hidden notes could destroy an entire region's faith in the Imperial Examinations?" His voice grew cold and sharp. "The most laughable part is that after the commissioner’s visit, the people lost all faith in the government. They abandoned the path of the scholar and took to the woods as thieves and rebels. Is that their fault?"
The atmosphere in the room was electric. Xiang Yi’s hands were clenched so tightly her knuckles were white.
"Master Tan," Gu Yansheng repeated, "should this case be reopened or not?"
The room was silent, save for the wind rattling the window frames. Gu Yansheng’s words were stirring, and Tan Ting could imagine the despair of those scholars. But that very emotional fire made Tan Ting uneasy.
"And after you reopen the case and return to the capital," Tan Ting asked, "what then?"
Xiang Yi looked at her brother. She remembered him saying he would "muddy the waters" to win over the Prince. He had said, “Blood debts must be paid in blood.”
But now, her brother did not answer. He only gave a light, enigmatic chuckle.
Tan Ting’s brow furrowed deeper. He understood the plight of the commoners, but Gu Yansheng’s laugh reminded him of his friend Li Chengyun’s warning, that after the new year, the court, and perhaps the entire country, would fall into chaos.
Gu Yansheng took a sip of tea. "And what does Master Tan intend to do now?"
Tan Ting remained quiet. To denounce him now would be to side with the Chens in persecuting the scholars. He looked at Xiang Yi. But to protect him based on his word alone?
He stood up abruptly, his gaze solemn as it fell on Gu Yansheng.
"I will not denounce you, nor will I aid you. But I have one thing to say."
Gu Yansheng raised a hand. "Please, Master Tan."
Tan Ting was not smiling. "The conflict between our classes should not have come to this. The reasons for this sudden escalation of late are still unknown. If you rashly incite further hatred and throw the country into turmoil... if the nest is overturned, can any egg remain unbroken?"
Tan Ting rarely spoke with such heat. The room fell into a stunned silence. Xiang Yi looked at him, remembering her father. Her father had stood for the commoners, but he had never sought to crush the prestigious families, for every great family began as a commoner house. The recent hostility was indeed strange.
Gu Yansheng’s smile faded. He looked at the Tan clan leader for several long moments, then stood and bowed. "I have heard your words, Master Tan."
Tan Ting did not linger. "I have said my piece."
He turned to his wife. When his gaze fell on Xiang Yi, his voice softened, a change even he did not notice, though a trace of stifled anger remained.
"Come home with me."
Xiang Yi hesitated. She was grateful he hadn't turned her brother in, but she had still deceived him. If he wished to divorce her, she could say nothing. Did "going home" mean another form of punishment?
Regardless, she would accept it.
Seeing that his wife did not intend to stay, Tan Ting felt a secret wave of relief. But as he turned to lead her away, Gu Yansheng stepped forward.
With that same smile that Tan Ting found so grating, the man blocked Xiang Yi’s path.
"Master Tan, a moment."
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