Qiang Jin Jiu (Author : Tang Jiuqing 唐酒卿)

Chapter 7 : Grand Mentor

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Dumbstruck, Grand Mentor Qi pulled his hands back. He turned his head away, refusing to look at Shen Zechuan. He had been imprisoned here, deranged for twenty years, hating everyone beyond this place. Yet, tonight, he had to persuade himself not to hate the son of his enemy.

“Then…” Grand Mentor Qi’s voice sounded plaintive. “Then, who can I kill now?!”

The snow fell silently, and the crow in the courtyard flew away from the branch. The tattered curtain in the temple fluttered along with the wind. Grand Mentor Qi trembled and rose to his feet, then staggered with his arms raised high, devastated and inconsolable.

“The die is cast! The victor emerges king, and the loser is the rebel. His Highness's honorable reputation has been tarnished, and we are the treacherous betrayers destined to be judged unfavorably by future generations! Who do I kill? I’ll kill this muddleheaded and blind Heaven! Twenty years ago, His Highness’s blood was spilled here. What have we done wrong that the Emperor would be so ruthless to wipe us out?!”

Tears poured down Grand Mentor Qi’s face. His body trembled as he kneeled at the entrance of the hall and banged his head repeatedly on the floor.

“Kill me now as well!”

The snowy night was miserably cold. No one in the empty temple responded. It was in this way Grand Mentor Qi kneeled, just like that deteriorating and battered Buddha statue. Fragments of cotton-like snow covered him as he remained still and silent under this brilliantly illuminated Qudu night.

An hour later, Ji Gang helped Grand Mentor Qi up, and the three men sat in a circle before the incense altar.

“Many things happened tonight because of me. I will take this opportunity and explain to my heart’s content.” Ji Gang said and  lifted his sleeves.

“Grand Mentor, Chuan-er was born in the Shen Clan. He’s Shen Wei’s eight son of common birth. Eight years ago, the situation between the lawful and common factions in the Prince of Jianxing’s Residence were as irreconcilable as fire and water. Shen Zhouji, the Hereditary Prince of Jianxing, gained his father's favor and subsequently relocated his common-born brothers away from the residence. At the age of seven, Chuan-er was returned to Duanzhou, but his attempt to enlist as a soldier to strengthen the army proved unsuccessful. So he lived in the side courtyard to be raised by his mother’s maid. But that woman was greedy and extravagant and often misappropriated the child’s food rations. Pingting was on friendly terms with his mother. When she learned of this, she asked me to take Chuan-er back so that we could raise and nurture him.”

Grand Mentor Qi sneered and said, “Shen Wei himself was of common birth and had his share of injustices in his childhood. How ludicrous of him to favor those of lawful birth when he came to have sons later. What’s more, he’s such a lecher and went on to beget so many sons. What a sin!”

“We have repeatedly sent letters to the Prince Residence, but not once has Shen Wei ever replied. Grand Mentor, look at the Eight Great Clans of Qudu. We have never heard of such blatant abandonment even among the son of common births of those clans.” Ji Gang furrowed his eyebrows. “And so it was like this that Chuan-er came to follow us. That time, Mu-er was fifteen of age. He was so delighted to see his younger brother. Since then, our family of four has settled down in Duanzhou. We even had to expend a lot of effort just to be able to get into the Military Service’s Yellow Register.”

After a moment’s silence, Grand Mentor Qi said, “You left the capital bearing the name of a criminal. It’s naturally difficult for you to register your household. It was precisely to suppress rebels and prevent civil unrest that His Royal Highness strictly enforced the Yellow Register system to record households back then.”