act40side

I do not understand.

You don't need to understand now. Every once in a while, you will think back to this pine tree. Once you've spent enough time contemplating the tree, you will understand the rest.

After I die, cut down the tree. Use its wood to fashion my coffin.

Mr. Yu...

We should be going. The higher you climb, the colder it gets.

Years of wind and snow, moments fleeting like blossoms in the morning and evening light.

Once more, I think back to the pine tree and the mountain path, buried in snow.

Yu Cheng, what penalty do you propose to atone for your guilt?

(snoring softly)

*cough* *cough*

Huh? What time is it? Has the suspect confessed yet?

Censor Jie Zhen, this is a serious matter. Please mind your words and behavior.

This is a routine internal matter for the Judicial Review Office. The Department of Discipline and Supervision is just going through the motions. It's not a big deal.

However, this trial today certainly has been interesting. The minister is usually quite well-tempered. I've never seen her that angry before.

Yu Cheng, you served in the Judicial Review Office once. You took an oath before the bronze mirror.

Do you really think the Judicial Review Office is the proper place for you to act like a spoiled brat?!

That's an unjust accusation. You asked me all that you needed to ask, and I answered them. What else would you have me do?

On the fifteenth of last month, around 1:45 AM, someone set fire to the southern end of the Judicial Review Office scrollery. That person was me.

Liar! When the fire broke out, you were in pre-trial detention. How could you have started it?

If you planned the fire, you had help. Name your co-conspirator.

I had no co-conspirator. However, I did have a helper.

A fowlbeast.

That night, a wounded fowlbeast landed by the window of my cell. I fed it a few grains of rice and some fresh water.

The fowlbeast was quite intelligent. I saved it, and it was willing to return the favor. I gave it a burning straw and told it to fly to the scrollery.

Whaa???

*cough* *cough*

Yu Cheng, the courtroom has no time for your games!

I'm not playing games. Ask me anything, and I will answer truthfully.

Very well. You say you started the fire. Elaborate on that, if you will.

What species of fowlbeast was it that you used?

Do I look like a fowlbeast expert? I only remember that it was completely black, without a single stray hair... as black as the human heart.

You said you gave the fowlbeast a burning straw. You were locked in a cell. Where did you get the straw?

I picked it out of my sleeping cushion.

Your cushion was made of cotton.

Then my memory is mistaken. It must have fallen in from the fowlbeast's nest.

The guards did a full search of your cell after the fire. They did not find any fowlbeast nest.

If criminals didn't try to cover their tracks, we wouldn't need the Judicial Review Office or the Ministry of Justice, would we?

That fowlbeast truly understood human nature.

Why you...

Oh, right, as for how I lit the straw in the first place—I struck the cell bars with these iron shackles exactly eight hundred sixty-three times, one for each year of the Judicial Review Office's existence.

That is as much detail as I can provide on the fire. Will it do?

Madam Minister, do you have more questions for me?

It seems that he has been reading some fanciful stories since his retirement.

This is no time for jokes.

Well, she had the patience to play along with him and indulge his insanity.

Do you want to enter this line into the record?

...Of course.

Interesting...

Yu Cheng was once appointed Deputy Minister for the Judicial Review Office's Haoran Pavilion. There, he took down countless corrupt mandarins and notorious criminals.

However, after his retirement, you convicted him of fabricating evidence, which is how he ended up here.

As you think back now, do you regret your choice, Deputy Minister Lin?

The law is the law. It bends for no man. Stop trying to stir up trouble, Censor Jie.

But when we look at it, Yu Cheng's behavior is quite odd. When he was charged with fabricating evidence, he did not question it or protest. Now, after he's been convicted, he decides to start a fire?

That's not right...

I still have questions!

Yes, Deputy Minister Lin?

...Hmph.

Lin Qingyan puts down her pen and paper and happens to meet Yu Cheng's gaze. The prisoner, who has been pretending to be insane, is now staring at her intently.

She wants to know the truth. She does not fear revealing herself in the process.

Yu Cheng seems pleased with Lin Qingyan's reaction. He closes his eyes, as an ugly grin crosses his face.

Deputy Minister Lin, as acting clerk, you need only take notes.

Minister Chen, there is one question you haven't yet asked. Yu Cheng claims he set the fire. What was his motive?

The suspect's confession is clearly nonsense. Why bother asking his motive?

Hahaha. I am the one who set fire to the scrollery. You must believe me.

As for why I did it...

Yu Cheng!

There were seventy-four thousand case files in the southern section of the scrollery, the result of sixty years of painstaking effort and the hard work of twenty-four deputy ministers—and you saw fit to turn it all to ash?

Yu Cheng suddenly droops his head. He remains silent for what seems like ages. The Minister's eyes remain fixed on him, watching his every move.

As I see it, it was no great loss.

Those files were filled with half-truths, whitewashed fabrications, and outright lies. Gazing upon them dirties the eyes; thinking of them taints the mind.

So I thought it best to cleanse it all in flames.

Cleanse?

Just what are you trying to say?

What am I trying to say? If you keen to know, then let's have a discussion: that which I burned, was it clean, or dirty?

Minister Chen, The suspect is clearly suffering from some sort of mental disease. It's getting late. Shall we conclude the questioning for today?

Escort Yu Cheng back to his cell.

I truly regret that we subjected the Department of Discipline and Supervision to this circus here today.

It is truly a vexing case. We understand.

The Judicial Review Office will be sure to submit a full explanation to the Department of Discipline and Supervision.

Sigh... I just hope this can be resolved quickly, so I don't have to make so many trips here. You've planted way too many camphor trees in this courtyard—they're making me sneeze.

I shall take my leave now, Deputy Minister Lin. See you.

You should be off too, Lin Qingyan.

The courtroom door swings open, as sunlight pours in once more. Lin Qingyan immediately spots the seven towers with eighteen-pointed roofs hidden in the shadows of the trees.

The Judicial Review Office scrollery were all built in this style. The roofs of the towers seem to be covered with ash, the remnants of the burned southern section.

Just as she is about to step out the door, she hears a faint voice.

Lin Qingyan, it's almost time.

Do not forget.

Lin Qingyan steps out into the cold sunlight without even hesitating.

Achoo!

Censor Jie Zhen, you're still here?

I was waiting to chat with you for a minute. It's not convenient to talk in there.

If you still want save... I mean... investigate Yu Cheng's case, you'd better move quickly.

After the Feast of a Hundred Delicacies is over, all prisoners detained in Baizao will either be transferred to another prison or exiled. In any case, the cells must be emptied within two weeks.

Two weeks...

The imperial decree should reach you shortly. I just spotted it early, so I'm giving you a heads-up.

And here I thought you didn't care much for these things.

It is within my power to avoid caring, but you cannot get it out of your head. Yu Cheng is very important to you, isn't he?

He was kind of like my teacher in the Judicial Review Office. He's the one who taught me to distinguish right from wrong.

When I first discovered that he had fabricated evidence to convict a corrupt mandarin... well, I shrugged it off as 'using any means necessary to achieve justice.'

However, I never imagined he would set fire to the scrollery. There's absolutely no justice in that.