Top Scholar

Chapter 647 The Vengeful Top Scholar

“It’s not that I want to trick you, Brother Shizong.” Yang Tinghe sighed, “You know that there are Imperial Guards guarding outside my mansion, and they also have their spies inside. You’ve been here for so long, they’ve already found out everything about you.”

Yang Yiqing sneered, "Yes, if I don't turn myself in, you won't be able to escape responsibility when the truth comes out."

"Don't worry, your case has been decided. You'll still be punished according to the rice fine regulations. And retired officials will still get half the fine as usual!" Yang Tinghe comforted him.

"Thank you so much," Yang Yiqing said irritably.

"You're welcome. I've calculated it for you. If you combine all three cases, after the discount, it'll be 1,200 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain, and you can be released from prison. Of course, the prerequisite is that you have to turn yourself in first," Yang Tinghe said with a smile.

"Where am I supposed to get 1,200 shi of rice?" Yang Yiqing immediately began to cry about his poverty. "Last time, I emptied my savings to give 300 shi. Now I'm so poor I've even had to sell my wife. I had to beg my way to the capital!"

Yang Tinghe almost spat out his tea. Yang Yiqing's wife was his first wife, and she was only a year younger than him? Who needs a grandmother?

Yang Yiqing continued to bow repeatedly to him, saying, "Friends should share money. Brother Shizhai, please help me out of this predicament and pay this fine of rice."

“This is the capital, not my hometown of Xindu.” Yang Tinghe spread his hands, helpless, and said, “Rice prices in the capital are soaring these days. Even if I sold everything I own, I still couldn’t raise that much rice.”

"Wouldn't I be stuck in jail for life?" Yang Yiqing said with a bitter face. "How about you help me borrow some money?"

“It’s no use asking me for this kind of thing,” Yang Tinghe advised him helplessly. “You’d be better off asking my fellow townsman who’s currently very popular.”

"What? Su boy? Does he have more influence than you?" Yang Yiqing asked, his face full of surprise. "You're the Emperor's teacher!"

"That's not entirely true." Yang Tinghe felt a pang of pain, but forced a smile. "In short, he is now a close advisor to the emperor, and it's actually less convenient for me to see the emperor often after I join the cabinet. If he's willing to put in a good word for you, this matter might be completely waived."

"Hey, it's completely free? I have to beg him!" Yang Yiqing was finally persuaded and took another step back, saying, "I'll stay at your place tonight, otherwise I'll get robbed if I go out in the dark..."

"Stop dawdling. I advise you to go out and turn yourself in right away." Yang Tinghe remained unmoved and said, "To tell you the truth, the people from the Northern Garrison are already waiting outside. If you make them wait all night, they'll take their anger out on you. You'll be in for it."

“That makes sense,” Yang Yiqing said, but she still pursed her lips. “But I always feel that you are becoming less and less humane.”

“In the current situation, if we don’t want to be finished, we must not make mistakes. Personal relationships will only affect our judgment.” Yang Tinghe said slowly, “Don’t worry, I will help you pass on a message to Scholar Su.”

"Then you'd better hurry, I don't want to suffer any more pain." Yang Yiqing urged worriedly, "Last time I almost lost my life in the imperial prison, and I was left with heart palpitations at night. If you leave too late, I'm afraid I'll die in there."

Yang Tinghe was getting impatient and almost kicked him out on the spot. He waved his hand and said, "I know, I know, go on now."

~~
The main gate of the Prime Minister's residence slowly opened, and Yang Yiqing stepped out.

Sure enough, a group of Imperial Guards carrying lanterns were blocking the door.

The head officer of the Imperial Guard raised a lantern to illuminate his face, then compared it to the portrait on the wanted poster—the man in the poster also had no beard and looked exactly like the man in front of him. He immediately demanded, "Are you the fugitive Yang Yiqing?"

"I am indeed Yang Yiqing, but I am not a fugitive. I came here specifically to surrender after seeing the arrest warrant. Minister Yang can testify for me!" Yang Yiqing said, shouting towards the gate of the mansion:
"Lord Yang! If you're not going to lend me money, at least say something!"

Unable to bear being called out to by him in the mansion, Yang Tinghe had no choice but to have his brother, Yang Tingyi, come out and testify on his behalf, saying that Yang Yiqing had indeed come to voluntarily surrender himself...

The Imperial Guards didn't immediately put him in a trap; they simply shoved him into a prison cart. Yang Yiqing huddled inside, muttering to himself the whole way: "Do you know Scholar Su? I'm his sworn brother!"

The name worked, and the Imperial Guards were immediately hesitant to act rashly upon hearing it, though they couldn't help but be suspicious. "Are you kidding me? At your age, you could easily be the grandfather of Scholar Su."

"Hey, don't you understand? We're friends despite the age gap! Let me tell you, Su Zhuangyuan's success today is all thanks to me!" Yang Yiqing shouted in a gruff voice, "I'm also his grandmaster's junior brother, and I often treat him to meals..."

Although the Imperial Guards didn't respond to his words, they quietly improved his treatment after he entered the Imperial Prison—he was given a single room with a bed and blankets, two meals a day, three dishes and a soup, and they even gave him books to read, although they were erotic novels from the streets.

The treatment he received on his second visit was a hundred times better than the first time he came in!
Seeing that Su Lu's reputation was indeed effective, Yang Yiqing spent his days boasting to the jailers about how good he was to Su Lu, how he helped, cared for, and looked after him, and how he even gave him money to spend...

Although the jailers were skeptical of his words, who was Su Zhuangyuan? He could kill them with a sneeze.

Therefore, they would rather believe it exists than not, and they treated Yang Yiqing with increasing respect, even secretly buying him wine and meat.

But no matter how long they waited, the scholar Su, who was there to save them from their suffering, never arrived. Faced with the jailers' doubts, Yang Yiqing asserted that the messenger had made a mistake, so he wrote a passionate letter himself, asking them to deliver it to the scholar's residence.

But it still vanished without a trace, leaving no trace...

"Damn it! Are you kidding me?" The jailer finally lost his temper and slammed his rice bowl on the ground.

"Last time someone asked Scholar Su for help, he came the very next day! It's been half a month and you haven't even seen a trace of him?!" "Is it because the letter didn't reach him?" Yang Yiqing squatted down, turned over the rice bowl, and carefully put the rice that had fallen to the ground back in. Even the grains of rice covered in dust were blown away before being put into his mouth…

"Alright, skipping one meal won't make you starve," the jailer said, scoffing.

“In this year of great disaster, wasting even a single grain of rice is a sin.” Yang Yiqing shook his head and put the rice grains on the ground into his mouth.

Then he spat out sand...

According to Gong Li, Old Yang's personal charisma is quite strong; in the past two weeks, even the prison guards have become somewhat infatuated with him. The cell boss, upon hearing this, felt quite guilty and secretly resolved to lick his bowl clean from now on...

I immediately realized what I was thinking; I'm not a dog.

He then glared and said, "Stop interrupting! I personally handed the letter to his chief guard!"

“Then I’ll write another one! I must have been too nonchalant last time, making him think I wasn’t in a hurry…” Yang Yiqing said.

"Don't even try! I'm not sending you any more!" The jailer spat and said, "When Lord Su sends someone to pick you up is up to him! We'll just deliver the message; why would we urge him for you? Dream on!"

He said viciously, "If he doesn't come soon, you just wait! All those good things I've fed you these past few days, you'll have to spit them all out! Men, take his bed away! Make him sleep on the floor!"

"Sigh, why are you in such a hurry?" Yang Yiqing said calmly, "The good relationship we built is gone just like that, and it can never be repaired."

"How rare!" The jailer rolled his eyes at him.

~~
In fact, Su Lu had already received Yang Yiqing's letter for help, as well as Yang Tinghe's letter, but he did not immediately step in to help. He only instructed Song Xiaoyi to inform the Northern Garrison Command not to make things too difficult for Yang Yiqing.

"Sir, why not just rescue him?" Zhu Zihe asked, puzzled.

"Brother, you can't be too vengeful, but you can't be completely indifferent either. Have you forgotten how long he made me go to jail? I haven't!" Su Lu said irritably.
“I had only been married for a few days then, and I ended up in jail. Your sister-in-law suffered with me. If I don’t settle this score with him, then Confucius should be invited to put me in jail.”

“That’s right, Confucius had quite a temper…” Zhu Xi said with a smile.

"Don't worry, I've already had Commander Song inquire about this case. It's nothing serious. It's just Eunuch Liu dredging up old grievances, trying to squeeze some money out of officials to supplement the national budget," Su Lu said with a smile.

"To be honest, I'm quite supportive. They all claim to be as pure as water, but once they're locked up in the imperial prison, they'll burst out of their shells no matter how many meters they're thrown at them."

“But not everyone has money. What if Yang Yiqing is genuinely poor?” Zhu Zihe asked, “Should we just let him stay squatting like this?”

"Not at all," Su Lu laughed. "He'll stay in the imperial prison for the same number of days I was imprisoned... then add ten more days as interest. Keep track of the days and remind me when it's time."

"Okay." Zhu Zihe quickly jotted it down in his notebook and then continued to remind Su Lu of the unfinished business for the day.

As the two were talking, Su Dan entered the signing room and reported, "Sir, Eunuch Zhang has arrived and says it's urgent."

"Okay." Su Lu nodded and quickly followed Su Dan to the reception room next to Donggui Hall.

"What's wrong, Father-in-law?" Although Su Lu didn't address him as "Uncle" in the office, he still bowed before speaking, showing full respect.

"Something's happened!" Zhang Yong said in a low voice, "Empress Wu has passed away!"

Su Lu was taken aback: "Which Lady Wu?"

“Empress Wu, the deposed empress of Emperor Xianzong,” Zhang Yong hurriedly said, “the one who had raised the late emperor.”

Su Lu suddenly realized that this was Empress Wu, the one who had been deposed for offending Consort Wan. This empress was so naive back then, thinking that becoming empress meant she was the rightful head of the six palaces. She even publicly flogged the favored Consort Wan, resulting in her deposition and confinement to the West Palace…

Later, the palace maid Ji gave birth to Prince Zhu Youcheng, who later became Emperor Xiaozong. Before Xiaozong was five years old, he was secretly raised in Anle Hall by the palace servants because he was afraid of Consort Wan's poisonous hands.

Anle Hall was essentially a cold palace. After learning of this, Lady Wu frequently went there to care for and raise her. After Emperor Xiaozong ascended the throne, he was grateful for her nurturing kindness and ordered that her food and clothing be provided according to the rites of an empress dowager.

These were common knowledge, so Su Lu asked in confusion, "The Empress has passed away. The palace has its own procedures, and she should be buried according to the rites. Why does the eunuch want to see me?"

"The problem is, that scoundrel Liu Jin doesn't want to follow the proper rites!" Zhang Yong said urgently. "He wants to burn Consort Wu to the ground!"

"Holy crap..." Su Lu couldn't help but swear. "Did a donkey kick his head?"

(End of this chapter)