After Entering The Abusive Novel, I Became The Empress - chapter 29

“Have you all heard? The civil service exam is full of corruption…”

Before long, the authorities had sealed off the street, and everyone in the opposite teahouse was taken in for questioning.

“Brothers, would you like to see what’s written on this paper? It might help with the case.” Qin Yuqing laid the sheet on the table. When Qin Junyi and Qin Youqian glanced at it, shock flashed in their eyes.

The paper listed countless crimes in great detail, each of which carried the death penalty.

“This was prepared beforehand.” Qin Youqian forced himself to calm down. As soon as he’d heard his teacher was killed, he had launched a private investigation, and the reports his men brought back also listed such crimes.

But when his teacher was killed, it had been late at night with few witnesses. Now it was broad daylight. Even though the soldiers had sealed the streets, copies of the paper had already spread among the people.

In no time, public fury boiled over.

“Scum like that deserve to die! What’s there to investigate?”
“Are commoners’ lives not lives? Anyone who forces himself on women should burn in the deepest hell!”
“I heard that one who died yesterday also deserved it—word is he murdered the top scorer in the imperial exam a few years back.”
“Could it be the ghosts of the slain scholars coming for revenge?”
“If you’ve done nothing foul, you needn’t fear ghosts knocking.”

The rumors only spread faster. Then someone in the crowd shouted:

“Another one’s dead!”

At the mouth of East Street, a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Revenue was found dead in a teahouse—killed in the exact same manner. Even stranger, the teahouse was empty but for his body.

A chilling silence swept the street. Three men dead in one day, all under the same mysterious circumstances. Many began to whisper it had to be a wave of revenge killings.

“Have you heard? All the officials who cheated in the exams are going to die!” With that cry, the crowd, which had been afraid, exploded into uproar again.

Countless scholars who had journeyed to the capital to sit the exam began cursing and denouncing the filth they’d faced in their studies. Some claimed to be victims, recognizing the dead men and openly recounting their crimes.

Qin Junyi and Qin Youqian could sit no longer. They exchanged a glance and headed out the door toward the opposite building.

Qin Yuqing, however, remained seated by the window. Her cold gaze swept over the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, who were instructing soldiers. This isn’t nearly enough, she thought. If we want to break their schemes entirely, these men must pay for their crimes. If the law cannot restrain them, then let it be done in the name of ghosts and gods.

“This year’s imperial exam will be the fairest in history.” Qin Yuqing dropped the sheet into the flame of a candle and watched as the fire devoured it. “At the very least, every soul in the realm should be given a chance.”

Just as she was finishing her meal and preparing to leave, the door burst open. Yao Yu appeared, panting, and confronted her.

“Why did you do this?” he demanded.

Qin Yuqing raised an eyebrow, smiling faintly in puzzlement. “Do what? Did you get the money for the painting?”

Yao Yu stared at her. Sitting in the window’s backlight, her smile was cool, but his heart skipped all the same.

“Those dead officials—was it you?” he pressed. Then, after a deep breath to steady himself: “Is there anything I can do to help? Can you ensure you won’t be implicated?”

“Not entirely my doing. I only took advantage of the situation.” Qin Yuqing wasn’t lying. She and Lu Jingchuan had been ready to strike, but when they arrived, they found the Hanlin Academy’s chief scholar already dead. They had merely cleaned up the scene and added a little staging.

“Then who—?” Yao Yu was stunned. If not the Sixth Princess, then who would dare this?

“Perhaps the wronged spirits of those scholars truly came for vengeance.” Qin Yuqing’s eyes swept the crowd below. Among them, a young woman caught her gaze, nodded firmly at her, and vanished back into the throng.

Yao Yu fell silent. Staring at the kneeling penitents across the way, he suddenly felt that it no longer mattered who had done it, or why.

What mattered was that, for once, the civil exam might be fair.

The string of deaths sounded a thunderous alarm across the capital. Many faint-hearted officials quickly withdrew their involvement, deciding to wait until next year.

Many cowardly scholars also abandoned their qualifications, fearing they might be next.

But still, many more refused to back down. Some even went so far as to petition the emperor in court, claiming that the Sixth Princess Qin Yuqing’s participation in the exam had angered Heaven, that these deaths were divine punishment, and that the Shang dynasty was doomed.

The emperor was furious but helpless. After all, Qin Yuqing and Lu Jingchuan had already discussed the matter with him beforehand.

That night in the imperial study:

“Outrageous!” The emperor slammed the desk, pointing at Lu Jingchuan. “You may not know your limits, but Qing’er—you should know better! Why would you join him in this madness?”

“Your Majesty, please calm yourself.” Lu Jingchuan’s voice was flat, devoid of emotion. “This minister admits his fault.”

“Admits his fault? You always say that, every time! When have you ever changed?” The emperor’s temples throbbed with pain.

Qin Yuqing quickly stepped forward to massage his temples. “Father, those men listed on the records were all guilty of capital crimes. General Lu has the right of execute first, report later. Besides,” she said sweetly as she kneaded his shoulders, “I came to consult you first, didn’t I?”

“You call this consulting?” Though still angry, the emperor’s fury eased somewhat. He had long been vexed by these corrupt men but could never touch them—too deeply entrenched in court.

“Just don’t let this get too out of hand.” At last, he relented. If such a method was what it took, then perhaps some of these parasites did need clearing out.

But the emperor never expected that this time, the killers were not Qin Yuqing and Lu Jingchuan.

When he sat in the High Court of Justice the next day, it took all his dignity as emperor not to drag his daughter and Lu Jingchuan in to demand an explanation. What in Heaven’s name is this now?

Three women knelt upright in the courtroom. Though their hair was disheveled and their faces haggard, their bearing was unbowed.

“I am the wife of Li Bin. I confess to killing the Hanlin Academy’s chief scholar.” The small, delicate woman in the middle spoke with quiet resolve.

“I am the wife of Sun Ran. I confess to killing the Vice Minister of Rites.” The woman on the right spoke with natural charm, every word dripping with allure. The man she killed was the one from the teahouse.

“I am the concubine of Bi Ran. I confess to killing the Minister of Revenue.” The woman on the left unconsciously lifted her wrist in a delicate gesture, her voice carrying the tone of a courtesan. The man she killed was the one at East Street.

“Your Majesty, look at this.” Sweat beaded on the High Court Minister’s brow. Before they could even launch an investigation, the three women had knocked on their doors, declaring themselves the killers.

“Why did you kill?” the emperor demanded, his gaze sliding toward Qin Yuqing, who was sipping tea as if nothing were amiss. Another one of your fine ideas, isn’t it?

“Li Bin’s wife, speak first.”

The woman in the middle knocked her head three times to the floor. Her eyes, full of grief, lifted to the emperor. “May this commoner present something before the court?”

“Your Majesty, no!” the High Court Minister tried to stop her.

“Allowed,” the emperor said coldly, glancing at the minister.

Two small corpses were carried in. Having been dead several days, they already reeked of rot.

“Outrageous! How dare you bring such—His Majesty is present—!”

“High Court Minister.” Qin Yuqing cut in with a smile. Standing at the women’s side, she looked him straight in the eye. “When evidence concerns a case, it must be examined. Surely that is what Father also intends.”

“Continue,” the emperor ordered. His face remained unreadable, but his gaze lingered on the corpses. In his heart, he already knew.

“Not long ago, the Hanlin chief approached my husband,” the woman said, her voice trembling. “He threatened that if my husband refused to sit the exam in another’s place, he would destroy our whole family. But my husband could not. He had studied in poverty for so many years and had finally earned his own qualification. He would not build another man’s bridge.”

Her tears spilled freely now, though she fought to go on. “So they kidnapped him. While our children slept, they…” She broke down, unable to speak. With sobs choking her words, she forced herself on.

“They also violated me. To protect us, my husband was forced to agree to impersonate another. Only then did they release us. But he was a man of loyalty and honor. He could not face his ancestors in shame, and so… he took his own life.”

She pulled a bloodstained note from her sleeve. “This is the paper the Hanlin chief gave me. Every word I’ve spoken is true!”

Before the High Court Minister could act, Qin Yuqing snatched the paper and handed it to the emperor. “Father, please look. A mother would never lie about her children. And now we have material proof.”

The emperor nodded grimly. His brows furrowed, his gaze deep with fury.

“You two—why?” he asked next.

The woman on the right—the courtesan—spoke. “Last year, my Sun Lang said that if he passed the exam, he would ransom me from the brothel. I waited that day until nightfall, but he never came. When I went to inquire, I learned the truth.” She wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“He did pass the exam, but he refused to bend his knee to the Vice Minister of Rites, refused to be his dog. On his way to redeem me, he was beaten to death. He carried the silver for my ransom in his sleeves. We should have lived together, husband and wife, but now…”

Her gaze sharpened into steel as she faced the emperor. “I went to the authorities, but no one listened. So I killed that dog official to avenge him. I know killing must be repaid with death. I know my sins are grave. But I have no regrets. I only ask that Your Majesty judge fairly.”

The hall was silent. A courtesan, turning her grief into a blade for vengeance—who could call that wrong?

The last woman—the concubine—spoke. “As my master and his wife are dead, it should be the main wife who stands here. But with both gone, I must seek justice for them.” Her voice quavered with the softness of her station.

“They were honest and upright, a loving couple. Madam treated me with kindness. This year, my master served as an internal examiner for the imperial exam. He refused to alter the exam papers for the Minister of Revenue, and intended to expose him. For that, he and his wife were murdered.”

“Every word I speak is true. If I lie in the least, may Heaven strike me down!”

Again, silence. She could have disappeared, lived in anonymity. Instead, she chose to avenge those who had shown her kindness.

“We know our sins are heavy,” the three women said together, bowing low. “But we beg Your Majesty to judge fairly—and return fairness and justice to the exam for all scholars under Heaven!”

Then, in unison, they hurled themselves against the hall’s pillars.

Their bodies fell limp, their eyes forever unclosed.