The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (ENGLISH TRANSLATION)

CH 19 [Arc 2: Days Living with the Brocade Guard]

The homicide case of the Marquis Wu’an Estate was considered to have come to its complete conclusion. Because of the thing with Lady Sun, the Marquis Estate and Count Yingcheng Estate changed from close kin to foes. Both sides wrangled over lawsuits before His Majesty, giving the passive, slacker Emperor a huge headache. He directly threw them to the Cabinet to deal with, but since a factor of the case was ‘untidy inner-boudoir matters’, the Cabinet didn’t want to deal with this business that was akin to a dog farting onto a stove, either, pinching their noses and running far away from it.

For the sake of his son’s exile, Marquis Wu’an was obliged to seek out Wang Zhi, hoping that he could say some good words in the Emperor’s presence and get Zheng Zhi to come back a bit sooner. Upon seeing the Marquis willing to bow his head to him, Wang Zhi was perfectly happy to go beg the Emperor, and with his mediation, Zheng Zhi’s unlimited banishment was ultimately changed into one he could return from in three years.

Yet, no one would expect that on the final year, right on the eve he was to obtain pardon, he suddenly contracted a violent illness and died. There were going to be rumors in the capital that claimed Marchioness Wu’an held hard feelings about Zheng Cheng’s death and dispatched someone to do him in, but that was a story for another time.

This entire affair going around in circles actually gave the Western Depot the biggest profit.

At the very start of this, Wang Zhi had only been wanting to use the topic as a pretext for his own performance, which was why he opposed Marquis Wu’an in resolutely requesting for a thorough investigation.

Now, his aim had finally been reached, with his prestige naturally getting established amidst his honors. Getting that set up via an event he didn’t need to put any personal effort into the whole time meant Eunuch Wang was quite pleased.

With all that said, for a very long period of time henceforth, it would be an absolute given for Marquis Wu’an to never want to catch sight of Tang Fan and Sui Zhou again. Even though they had only acted under orders, it was because of them that his Estate got stirred into pandemonium. In all likelihood, he would feel heartache whenever he remembered those two names in the future.

The event wasn’t completely devoid of profits, however. At the bare minimum, Sui Zhou obtained the commendations of his superiors due to his competent handling and remarkable performance in the case. Supposedly, his direct superior, Millarch Zhou, intended to promote him very soon.

Compared to that, Tang Fan was a bit obscured and unknown. In general, the promotion of civil officials was a bit slower compared to military ones. That was because military merits were tangible while political achievements had many tricks to them, with every turnip to its own suitable hole. Being only in his early twenties and holding a sixth-rank official’s position was already a turn of fate that many were jealous hadn’t come to them. Dealing with cases was within his duty; if he got promoted once for every well-handled case, his current position in the capital would clearly not be enough.

With his history as a fourth-place exam-taker, he should have still been simmering his qualifications in Hanlin Academy right now. Albeit dull and dry, it would have been a noble post in the eyes of others, and when the time came, he could go straight from the Academy and into the Six Ministries, then right into the Cabinet; that was the path a future Cabinet minister ought to walk. Going from the Academy to Shuntian Prefecture for work instead, like Tang Fan did, looked foolish and self-effacing of character to some, because only Palace Honorates that couldn’t get into the Academy needed to be transferred elsewhere to get experience from being a local official.

If he had cared about that, though, he wouldn’t have agreed to Pan Bin’s request for him to be a Judge back in the day.

Some things would always need someone to do them. Without getting hands-on practice, how could one understand this country? How could one even talk about governing it in the future?