WWC | Chapter 10

The yamen of the Audit Office was a vacant government office borrowed temporarily beside the Censorate. Su Tingyan changed into a slightly more casual set of everyday clothes, then headed straight there.

Qinghai had already led people to clean and arrange the place. Though there was no lavish decoration, the desks and paperwork were neatly in order, writing brush and ink were all prepared, and everything upstairs and downstairs carried a solemn air, as if this was a newly established office, still untainted by the foul miasma of officialdom.

“My lord, the two lords are already waiting in the hall,” Qinghai reported softly as he stepped forward, his expression faintly uneasy. The process of inviting them, no doubt, had not been pleasant.

There was even one more who had not been invited over at all.

Su Tingyan nodded and swept his gaze across the three simple case files on the table.

Cui Hong, Wei Heng, Zhao Shuyan.

He did not rush to look at them. Instead, he instructed, “Has the Ministry of Revenue chief come? Send him in first.”

“He has arrived. Qinghai will go invite him at once.”

Not long after, a man in a stone-cyan official robe, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, walked in.

He was tall and lean, his features stern, his thin lips pressed into a line.

When he saw Su Tingyan seated in the place of honor, he bowed according to etiquette. His movements were proper, but stiff to the point of awkwardness.

“This junior official Cui Hong pays respects to Lord Su.” His voice was dry, with nothing remarkable in it.

“Chief Cui, please rise,” Su Tingyan said in a calm tone. “Sit. I have invited you here today for what reason, you should already know.”

Cui Hong did not take a seat. Instead, he straightened his back and said bluntly, “This junior official knows. At the court assembly, anonymous mutual accusations were made, and this junior official was honored to rank first among the Ministry of Revenue.”

“Is Lord Su here to interrogate me about embezzlement? Forgive my frankness, but the result chosen by such a child’s-play method is hard to convince anyone of! I have served as an official for many years and handled countless accounts, not a single ledger unclear, not a single coin unexplained! My lord may investigate as you please!”

He spoke with agitation, full of the indignation of one who believed himself wronged.

Su Tingyan listened in silence, then said softly, “Chief Cui has misunderstood. If this pavilion truly believed you had committed embezzlement, you should be in the imperial prison right now, not in the back room of my Audit Office.”

Cui Hong froze. The anger on his face lessened, turning into confusion. “Then my lord means…”

“Let me ask you this,” Su Tingyan said, resting his cheek on one hand while the other tapped lightly against the desk beside him. His gaze was as sharp as a blade. “Since you pride yourself on being honest and incorruptible, why is it that so many people throughout the Ministry of Revenue believe you are the most likely to be involved in graft? Why is your popularity so poor that you were pushed out to take this first-place title?”

Cui Hong’s face instantly flushed red, as if struck in a sore spot, yet there was also a trace of disdain. “Why? Only because I do not understand flattery and refuse to join in corruption!”

“They falsify accounts, claim extra funds, and pass off inferior goods as good ones. I argue from the facts and refuse to loosen the rules, so naturally I offended people and blocked their path! In their eyes, someone like me, who refuses to follow the rules and keeps ruining their plans, is even more hateful than a real corrupt official, isn’t he? Of course they want to get rid of me as soon as possible! This anonymous mutual accusation method was exactly to their liking!”

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. His chest rose and fell violently, clearly harboring deep resentment.

Su Tingyan understood after hearing this. “Oh? Argued from the facts?”

“For example, last year when grain was brought into storage by river transport, the records and the actual shipment were short by three hundred dan. You insisted on refusing to approve the write-off, and even argued with your superior, the Vice Minister of Revenue, in public over it. Was there such a thing?”

Cui Hong abruptly looked up, shock flashing in his eyes. “There was! Those three hundred dan were clearly…”

“Clearly intercepted on the way, then mixed with sand to make up the weight, right?”

Su Tingyan cut him off and continued, “I have already gone through the files, and I sent people to investigate. Someone found the original duplicate pages in the river transport office. They clearly recorded the irregularities in that shipment of grain.”

“And the file where you insisted on refusing the write-off, I also reviewed it. You handled it very well.”

He pushed a yellowed sheet of paper in front of Cui Hong.

Cui Hong took the paper in disbelief, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.

Back then, he had suffered all kinds of exclusion and suppression over this matter, even being threatened by his superior. In the end, that account was still forcibly written off, becoming a poisonous thorn in his heart.

He had never imagined that, a year later, he would hear the words you handled it very well here.

“My lord… you…” His throat felt as though it had been ground over by a dull blade, rough enough to make one’s ears ache.

Su Tingyan rose and walked over to him. His upright bearing was proud and unyielding, no less than Cui Hong’s own fiery loyalty. “My Audit Office stands outside the Three Ministries. What I need are people like you, people without backing or support, loyal to His Majesty and loyal to the law, upright and alone.”

“I know you dare to investigate, and you are capable of investigating, which is why the vast Ministry of Revenue could not tolerate you. Yet in my small place of lone lamp and firefly glow, there is room for you.”

He stared intently into Cui Hong’s eyes, which had begun to shine as brightly as clouds parting to reveal the moon. He did not reach out, but his invitation was the most sincere of all. “Cui the Little Yama, are you willing, truly willing, to come to my Audit Office and be a real human abacus, to help His Majesty, the court, and the people of this world tally every muddled account?”

Cui Hong’s breathing suddenly quickened. His face turned an abnormal flush from excitement. His sincerity burned like fire, the sovereign’s heart like iron!

His emotions were fully stirred by Su Tingyan. He stared unblinkingly at this superior who, though already standing atop the tallest tower in Yujing, was still willing to overlook the millions of common households below, his eyes clear and upright, willing to devote himself to the world.

The loneliness, indignation, and nearly extinguished ambition he had suppressed for years surged back to life in his chest like dead ashes rekindled, burning so fiercely that it felt as if his internal organs were being scorched.

After several breaths, he suddenly lifted his robe and knelt. This was no longer the stiff bow from before, but a decisive act as though he were stepping onto a lonely road and would never turn back.

He slammed his forehead against the cold, hard floor. His voice was hoarse, yet unbelievably firm, even trembling with tears. “This junior official Cui Hong is willing to follow Lord Su, to join the Audit Office. I will surely use this ruined body as a torch to light every hidden corner, to sort out every muddled account. Even if I die a hundred times, I will have no regrets!”

System: [Congratulations, player, you have successfully recruited special talent Cui Hong. Charm +20!]

Su Tingyan bent down and personally helped him up. “Enough, get up. From today on, you are one of my Audit Office people. Qinghai, take Chief Cui… no, take Inspector Cui first to get familiar with the place. Fulfill whatever he needs as much as possible.”

He even temporarily promoted Cui Hong to the rank of Censor-in-Chief, so that it would be easier for him to act in the future.

Qinghai hurriedly agreed. Looking at Inspector Cui, whose eyes had gone bloodshot from excitement and who could barely control himself, he also felt deep admiration for his own lord.

After speaking for so long, Su Tingyan’s mouth had gone dry. He leisurely took a sip of tea, then said, “Bring in the next one, Assistant Minister Wei Heng of the Ministry of War.”

Compared to Cui Hong’s frail stubbornness, Wei Heng was like a military blade just drawn from its sheath.

He was handsome and proud, walking with a gust of wind. His wheat-toned face held the hardness forged by years in the army, his gaze sharp and fearless.

“This junior official Wei Heng greets Lord Su! If you want to question me or verify something, please speak plainly!” His voice was loud and resonant, carrying a kind of reckless ferocity.

As expected of someone under Xie Zheng, Su Tingyan looked at him and felt as if he were seeing a condensed version of Xie Zheng.

But he did not act as seriously as he had with Cui Hong. Instead, he studied Wei Heng and said, “Wei Heng, you and General Xie have a very good relationship, don’t you?”

Wei Heng had already thought of a thousand ways to answer, but never expected that this was what the other man would ask.

“My lord?”

The corners of Su Tingyan’s mouth lifted slightly. Just thinking of what he was about to say next made even him want to laugh.

“At first I thought Shao’an was a heartless person, but after asking around, I learned that he had offended the court on your behalf several times, protected you in secret, and recommended you. Wei Heng, your story is truly lingering and poignant, full of twists and turns.”

Wei Heng was completely stunned by the words. He was a military man, so of course he did not understand the hidden implications, but after being hit with such a long stream of ambiguous remarks by Su Tingyan, he actually reacted immediately.

Great Zhao also had a long-standing taste for male lovers, especially in Yujing, where there were plenty of noble and powerful families with a fondness for that sort of thing. Some bold enough even openly took in several male concubines.

For two men’s names to be brought up so fervently together, there was no telling what sort of secret might be implied.

His face instantly darkened to a liver-colored red as he cursed furiously, “I, I and the general, you, how could that be possible! What the hell are you talking about?!!”

Veins jumped on Wei Heng’s forehead, and his fists clenched with cracking sounds. If the person in front of him had not been the highly ranked Grand Academician of the Central Secretariat Hall, he might already have thrown a punch.

He was not afraid of the man’s status. He simply did not want to cause any more trouble for his general!

Su Tingyan had already investigated thoroughly. Wei Heng was a good seedling, but if he was going to be his direct superior, he really needed some ability to protect him.

Seeing that the other man looked so angry he was almost ready to draw his sword and prove his innocence by death, he finally restrained his teasing expression and lightly tapped the case file with his fingertip. “Just a joke.”

His tone suddenly deepened. “I teased you because I don’t want to wait until the Assistant Minister starts crying.”

Wei Heng was shocked and angry, unable to tell what exactly this willful Lord Su intended to do.

“I invited you here because I want to ask about a batch of border army crossbows replaced by the Ministry of War last year. The account books clearly stated five hundred brand-new crossbows, so why, when they were delivered to the northern border camp, were nearly thirty percent of them defective, improperly tempered and with loose mechanisms? And some of them were even old crossbows refurbished to pass as new?”

This was like a downpour dumped over his head, instantly extinguishing the anger in Wei Heng’s chest. What rose in its place was immense pain.

Wei Heng had once slammed the table and cursed over this matter in the main hall of the Ministry of Revenue, nearly fighting someone to the death, only to be reprimanded by his superiors on the grounds of “disrupting official business and slandering colleagues.” If not for General Xie stepping in, he would have even lost his post.

“How do you know?!” Wei Heng blurted out. This matter had clearly been covered up tightly by that pack of scum, and the relevant accounts had already been cleaned up. It had been nearly flawless!

“Never mind how I know it for now.”

Su Tingyan did not once call himself this pavilion in front of him. One reason was that he knew the people of the Ministry of War disliked that pretentious, bookish way of speaking. Another was that he respected soldiers.

“But I know that because of this matter, you almost lost your official hat. I also know that after those inferior crossbows were sent to the border, during one battle, three soldiers lost their lives because the crossbow mechanisms jammed.”

On the final sentence, Su Tingyan lowered his voice to the very bottom, yet it struck Wei Heng’s heart like a thousand-weight thunderbolt, pounding it to bloody ruin and drawing out blood and tears.

He still remembered the names and faces of those three soldiers clearly. None of them had even come of age yet, all of them still very young, like the morning sun, full of life and passion.

If their crossbows had been good crossbows, they would never have died!

This matter had almost become a nightmare in Wei Heng’s heart. It was the unspeakable guilt and pain buried deep within him. For so many years, every time he thought of it, he would wake from dreams in the dead of night drenched in sweat and tears.

Wei Heng clenched his teeth. The thousands of glazed lamps in the Purple Palace shone brilliantly, gold and jade filling the halls, yet they could not illuminate the dark, desolate bones of the border soldiers left unburied.

A single tile, a single brick in Yujing could have been exchanged for the lives of several soldiers, yet no one had gone to exchange them. No one cared whether they lived or died!

He looked up, tiger eyes brimming with tears, and at Su Tingyan. His voice was so hoarse it was nearly impossible to speak. “Yes! There was such a thing! But they conspired from top to bottom, and the accounts were made beautifully. I couldn’t produce ironclad proof!”

Su Tingyan very much wanted to say something to comfort this tearful warrior, but at this moment any words would seem superfluous. He could only heavily pat the other man’s shoulder.

“Now.”

He looked at him, and his voice no longer seemed quite so calm. “Tell me, Wei Heng, do you want to continue staying in that swamp of the Ministry of War as someone powerless, unable even to seek justice for your own brothers? Or do you want to come to my Audit Office, find the evidence, and personally drag out that pack of maggots, those scum who killed your comrades, one by one, and teach them a proper lesson?”

There were no gorgeous phrases, no empty ambitions.

What Su Tingyan gave him was the bloody truth, the chance for revenge, the path to enacting the most basic justice of a soldier.

Wei Heng almost without hesitation clasped his fists and dropped to one knee.

The veins at his temples bulged with hatred, as if he wanted to seize someone and drink their blood, eat their flesh, before he could vent this fury.

“Wei Heng is willing to enter the Audit Office! I beg my lord to give this lowly official this chance! If I do not avenge this blood feud, I will have lived in vain!”

System: [Congratulations, player, you have successfully recruited special talent Wei Heng. Charm +25!]

After persuading two people in a row, Su Tingyan felt his spirits lift a little.

But this final one, Zhao Shuyan from the Censorate, had not even bothered to come.

Qinghai sighed and said, “My lord, Inspector Zhao said that he is upright and not afraid of shadows. He asked you to investigate as you please, but as for this Audit Office, he absolutely will not come.”

Su Tingyan paused when he heard that. “Upright and not afraid of shadows?”

“Inspector Zhao seems to think of himself as the victim, as if I were going to interrogate him?” Qinghai lowered his head. “It seems Inspector Zhao meant exactly that. He also said…”

“He also said what?” Su Tingyan raised an eyebrow.

“He also said that everyone has their own aspirations and cannot be forced.” Qinghai’s voice grew lower and lower, afraid his own lord would be unhappy.

An expected reaction.

Su Tingyan had also looked into it. This Zhao Shuyan cursed heaven and earth, found everyone displeasing, and would file a memorial against even a passing dog. He was basically a no-target verbal cannon.

Maybe he had even impeached himself a thousand times. How could someone like that be so easily summoned to his side?

People like that could not be invited over. They had to be lured.

Su Tingyan said indifferently, “It’s fine. We already have enough people now.”

Adding Lin Anyu from the previous days, that made three talents. What did he need so many people for, to play mahjong?

Su Tingyan rubbed his shoulders, sore from a long day’s work, feeling that after carrying out this day’s plot he was practically worn to the bone. He only wanted to hurry into his beloved little carriage and go home to sleep.

When he settled onto the soft cushion in his carriage and was just about to doze off, a sword blade suddenly appeared at his neck. The edge was so sharp that it immediately made Su Tingyan sting in pain.

All the sleepiness in his body was scattered by that icy sensation.

It was extremely thin, extremely cold, pressed tightly against his skin, bringing a faint but unmistakable pain. With just a little more force, it could easily slit his throat.

Su Tingyan did not dare make any reckless move, thinking, Could the Lu faction be that unable to hold back?

A killer came this fast? Why didn’t the system warn me at all?!

Then in the next instant he thought, Didn’t I already raise Qingmian’s salary?!

At this point, his own lord was about to be reset, so where the hell had that damned secret guard gone?!

His mind whirled through a thousand thoughts in an instant, and in the blink of an eye he had already thought of a mountain of nonsense.

Just then, the system’s electronic voice slowly rang out: [Congratulations, player, your fourth husband has gone online!]

Su Tingyan: …………

Fuck!

For a moment, he could not even tell whether this counted as good news or bad news!

Author’s Note:

———————-

This is so boring. Let’s play a little game and guess the true gong, hahaha. Everyone should have appeared by now, but I feel like no one can guess it, right? [rainbow fart][rainbow fart]