Wu Wei was lost deep in thought when she suddenly heard Magistrate Chang raise his voice. “Oh? There’s such a matter?”
Wu Wei felt puzzled. What matter?
She then felt Zhang Meng, who had been standing protectively by her side, give her a gentle nudge. Wu Wei snapped to attention at once. She looked up to see Dongfang Rui’s profound gaze fixed on her—like a serene mountain pool carrying a thread of cool detachment.
Taking the hint, Wu Wei composed herself. At that moment, she heard Magistrate Chang ask again, “Is the person Zhang Kuan mentioned present?”
Zhang Meng stepped forward, cupping his hands in a fist toward Magistrate Chang. “My lord, the witness Wu Wei has been brought here.”
Wu Wei followed suit and stepped out. With her brows slightly furrowed, she silently knelt to the ground.
Magistrate Chang’s stern voice rang out once more. “Wu Wei, were the words Zhang Kuan just spoke true?”
Heaven knew what Zhang Kuan had said earlier. Wu Wei pretended to cower, letting her body tremble slightly as she stammered, “This… this humble one was just so awestruck by your lordship’s thunderous judgment that… that I was scared silly. I didn’t hear a word of what… what Lord Fang… Lord Zhang said.”
Wu Wei’s voice was neither too loud nor too soft. It carried through the courtyard, reaching the many commoners gathered at the yamen gates. The hall itself remained solemn and still, but laughter erupted from the crowd outside.
Magistrate Chang stroked his beard and cast a sidelong glance at Dongfang Rui before repeating, “Zhang Kuan just said that you could testify the Qinglu County clerk was abusing his position and deceiving his superiors—that he himself was deceived by the clerk?”
Wu Wei couldn’t help cursing inwardly: That damned slippery eel Zhang Kuan! He’d nearly framed her with his abuse of power for personal gain, and now he had the gall to drag her into his testimony in open court. Shameless to the core!
In the brief pause as Wu Wei held her silence, the yamen runner Zhang Xing suddenly spoke up. “My lord, the clerk once instructed this lowly one and Li Liu to bribe Wu Wei. I can also testify that Lord Fang knew nothing of it.”
With a sharp bang of the gavel on the desk, Magistrate Chang rebuked him. “It is not yet your turn to speak!”
He turned back and pressed Wu Wei relentlessly. “Wu Wei, are the words of Zhang Xing and Li Liu true?”
“They are true.”
Wu Wei thought to herself: Fine, keep asking. Pull in the matter of the coroner’s handbook being falsified, then bring up the stolen auspicious omen case. Let’s see how you all wrap that up.
“And… where is the bribe silver now?” But to her surprise, Magistrate Chang abruptly changed tack, skipping the details of the bribery and going straight to the location of the stolen funds. A bolt of realization flashed through Wu Wei’s mind, threads of suspicion sparking to life.
The bribe money?
She had first handed the silver to Gao Ningxue. Gao Ningxue hadn’t cared for such a pittance and let Wu Wei keep it. Later, she had passed it to Dongfang Rui, who had taken the illicit funds back to the Bright Mirror Division as evidence. And now, of all times, Magistrate Chang was asking about its whereabouts. Could it be…?
Alarm bells clanged wildly in Wu Wei’s heart. Amid the ensuing turmoil, two words blazed forth: a trap!
From the very start, everyone’s unspoken agreement to ignore the stolen auspicious omen; then Fang Shaotang brazenly accusing her in court despite knowing she was a Bright Mirror Division informant; and now Magistrate Chang’s evasive line of questioning…
Why go to such lengths for a nobody like her? Their real target was Dongfang Rui!
She had no time to puzzle out the full why of it all, but Wu Wei knew the theft of the auspicious omen was no small matter. She absolutely could not let them have their way!
“Wu Wei? This official is asking you a question.”
Wu Wei pretended to shrink back. “The silver… it’s in the county yamen hall…”
“Absurd!” Magistrate Chang scolded.
Wu Wei swallowed and continued, “What Lord Zhang said is true. The clerk did indeed bribe this humble one with twenty taels of silver. But later, this humble one reported it to the prefectural yamen and handed the silver over to Lord Zhang Kuan as evidence. Then I heard… the clerk had taken his own life out of guilt.” She added promptly, “Had this humble one not come forward first, how would Lord Zhang have known of the clerk’s bribery? And if this humble one hadn’t made amends for my crimes, how could I be kneeling here unscathed? Lord Zhang Kuan, ever sharp-eyed, would have punished me long ago.”
Manor intrigues, palace plots—she’d devoured countless dramas and novels like that back in her university days, slacking off with them as her spiritual sustenance. And Wu Wei had no doubt Zhang Kuan would play along.
His courtroom accusation against her wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny anyway. Since he’d shamelessly pulled her in as his witness, she wouldn’t hesitate to turn the tables and make use of the fool.
Zhang Kuan had clearly seen her Bright Mirror Division command medallion. He wouldn’t dare bring up Dongfang Rui himself. Well, Wu Wei wouldn’t either. If he had the guts, let him spill the whole story solo and drag even more into it.
Wu Wei twisted around to kneel facing Zhang Kuan directly, her expression a mix of sorrow and shock. “Didn’t Lord Zhang say that, in light of this humble one’s meritorious report and surrender of the bribe silver, I was free to go home innocent? Why today… Lord Zhang, speak up! If this humble one had truly taken the bribe, how did I leave the yamen in one piece? And if not for my report, how would Lord Zhang even know of the bribery? Weren’t those two yamen runners the clerk’s men?”
Zhang Kuan’s face flushed white, then green. He caught Wu Wei’s gaze flicking briefly toward Dongfang Rui and muttered, “Yes… that’s what… I said.”
Wu Wei rolled her eyes dramatically at Fang Shaotang, then turned back, kowtowing firmly to the ground. She declared loudly, “I beseech Lord Qingtian to grant this humble one justice. I know nothing else!”
Zhang Kuan probably hadn’t witnessed her tearful performance before Village Head Liu back when she’d first transmigrated to Little Locust Village. That had been far more convincing. The solemn courtroom atmosphere this time hampered her acting a bit.
Dongfang Rui remained seated with perfect composure, her expression calm, her eyes deep and unruffled. Even Magistrate Chang could detect no flaw in her demeanor. By contrast, brothers Zhang Wei and Zhang Meng both bowed their heads in unison, hiding their gazes—and the faint smiles tugging at their lips.
In truth, if Wu Wei had faltered even a moment longer, Zhang Meng would have followed Dongfang Rui’s instructions and cleared her name. He never would have let her stay trapped.
Still… this worked just as well.
Zhang Wei and Zhang Meng inwardly praised Wu Wei’s quick wits and loyalty. Their admiration for her only grew.
Magistrate Chang ordered Wu Wei to rise and step aside.
…
In the end, Zhang Kuan was judged guilty of negligence: suspended for half a year, confined to reflect on his errors, and docked three years’ salary. With the main culprit already “brought to justice,” the remaining yamen runners, clerks, and others were convicted as accomplices—sentenced to punishments ranging from beatings and dismissal to flogging, branding, and exile, according to the severity of their offenses.
As for Zhang Kuan, his suspension left him unscathed by physical punishment, protected by his official status. He emerged whole.
Ultimately, it was because the matter of the stolen auspicious omen—and the lives it entangled—hadn’t been dragged into the light that he escaped disaster.
By the trial’s end, Wu Wei’s initial surge of passion had long faded, replaced by bone-deep exhaustion. She left the yamen with no appetite for shopping and let Zhang Meng escort her home.
Along the way, hunger struck. She even shared the meal she’d brought with Zhang Meng.
Seeing her pallor, Zhang Meng hesitated before consoling her. “Miss Wu needn’t take it too much to heart. This trial was just a formality—to tie up loose ends, punish the guilty, and offer some solace to the wronged dead.”
Wu Wei’s lips twitched. She wanted to ask: What about those Forbidden Army soldiers buried in the Desolate Burial Mound? Where was justice for them? But she thought better of it. The matter implicated too much; it wasn’t for a humble commoner like her to question. She held her tongue.
Zhang Meng praised her. “You stayed cool under pressure, loyal to the core. Admirable. I’ll see you home first. I know you have a head full of questions—best save them for Lord Dongfang once she’s free.”
Wu Wei nodded. “I spouted all that nonsense earlier. I hope I didn’t cause trouble for the Bright Mirror Division?”
Zhang Meng laughed heartily. “Miss Wu, your clever ploy was brilliant. Lord Dongfang had prepared lines in advance. Had you hesitated longer, I’d have spoken up for you. Our lord is hardly the type to… well, anyway, ask her yourself later. She called you here today partly to let you vent your spleen.”
Wu Wei understood what he’d left unsaid: Dongfang Rui wasn’t one to sacrifice a pawn to save the commander; she wouldn’t abandon her. Wu Wei believed that. After all, Dongfang Rui had once traveled a thousand li at her request to come personally.
…
After a bite to eat, the pair mounted up again. Zhang Meng regaled Wu Wei with tales of the capital’s curiosities and passed on Pingjia County Princess’s fond regards to her and the Embroider Maiden. Wu Wei chatted and laughed easily on the surface, but her chest felt tightly constricted.
As someone from the modern world with a passing knowledge of history, Wu Wei understood the weight of those two words: “auspicious omen.” In a feudal society, they embodied “heaven’s will.”
In the long river of history, how many founding emperors had seized power on the strength of “heaven’s mandate”? How many fallen rulers had perished under its prophetic curse?
The auspicious omen had been stolen some time ago. With Gao Ningxue safely back in the capital, the Imperial Court must have received word long since. Yet there was still no follow-up.
Still waters run deep. Beneath this calm surface, who could know what sort of whirlpools lay hidden?
…
At that moment, Wu Wei was anxious to hurry home, back to the warm little home she shared with the Embroider Maiden.
When she arrived outside Zhang Family Village, Wu Wei reined in her horse and dismounted. She said to Zhang Meng, “Second Brother Zhang, you can leave me here. I’m not much of a rider, and the road is crowded with people right now.”
Zhang Meng nodded. He tied off the reins, clasped his hands in a fist toward Wu Wei, and rode away.
Wu Wei turned and entered the village. The sun was dipping toward the western horizon, and wisps of cooking smoke were already rising from some of the homes. On the dirt village road, farmers trudged back from the fields in groups of three or five. Play-weary children heard their mothers calling and scattered with laughter, promising to meet up again tomorrow.
“Miss Wu, heading home?”
Wu Wei glanced at the speaker—a villager she didn’t recognize—but she smiled and returned the greeting anyway. Several more villagers offered her warm hellos along the way, though she knew only one of them by name.
Gradually, Wu Wei found herself touched by their sincere, simple kindness, and her spirits lifted considerably.
