Chapter 26: Light
Fang Jian didn't dare tell Gao Yunqu that what she had done in this case went far beyond what Gao Yunqu knew.
In the fourth month, she was returning to the Capital from Xilin and passed through Qinzhou City. Seeing it was getting late, she decided to stay the night. The streets of Qinzhou were bustling. She led her horse through the streets, looking around as she went, when someone suddenly bumped into her. She looked down and saw a child. The child was small and thin, and so frightened that she fell to her knees and clung to Fang Jian's leg.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Fang Jian was stunned.
"My lord, my lord, someone is chasing me, I beg you to spare me." The young girl's eyes were filled with anxious tears. She pleaded while looking back over her shoulder, like a bird startled by the twang of a bowstring.
"It's alright, come." Fang Jian reached out and pulled her up. The girl looked to be no more than fourteen or fifteen, only reaching Fang Jian's chest in height. Fang Jian embraced her, turned her back to the main street to face the shops, and unfurled her wide sleeves to envelop the girl, pretending to be out shopping with a young lover to hide her face.
A few burly men ran past from behind, shouting. Fang Jian heard the heavy breathing of the girl in her arms.
After a long while, when Fang Jian saw the men had run far into the distance, she finally released the girl. "My apologies for the imposition."
"Thank you, my lord, for saving my life." The girl was on the verge of tears, thanking her profusely.
Seeing it through to the end, Fang Jian led her to an inn to stay for the night. Only when they were somewhere private did she ask for the reason.
"What is your name? Can you tell me now why those men were chasing you?"
"My name is Zhuo Guanyi. Those were my father's men..."
Fang Jian listened intently as she explained the whole story, then ordered a table of food for her to eat her fill. For the past year, Gao Yunqu had been teaching Fang Jian to study the law, so she knew at once that this was the kind of case the local prefectural offices were unwilling to touch. They were all messy disputes, and without the protection of a family, no one would even listen seriously to the words of a mere child.
"My lord, you must be an important person. Can you tell me? Why did my mother, who was known for her good deeds, die so young, while my father, who is devoid of virtue, lives a life of increasing prosperity? Isn't it said that good and evil are rewarded in kind? Why must my sister and I suffer such hardship?" The girl posed her question to Fang Jian.
Fang Jian fell silent. She once had the same question. The girl's wretched state, kneeling at her feet, was so much like herself back then. She looked back into the girl's stubborn yet sorrowful eyes and sighed, "Good or evil, sweet or bitter, easy or difficult—all are destined by fate. The suffering you endure now is likely because Heaven is about to entrust you with a great responsibility, and so it must first temper your will and your sinews. As long as you endure all this, you will grow strong and accomplish something."
"Are you willing to guide me? How am I to endure such pain?"
"...Do you have the resolve to be fearless in the face of death and risk everything on one desperate attempt?"
"I do!" The girl stood up, only to kneel before Fang Jian once more, her voice incomparably firm. "Even if the path ahead is a sea of thorns and fire, I will wade through it. To stay here is no different from waiting to die. I beg you to teach me!"
Fang Jian looked at the girl prostrated at her feet, a mix of complex emotions in her heart. She clenched her fist, then relaxed it, and helped Zhuo Guanyi up. She explained, point by point, why her petitions to the county and prefectural offices had yielded no results.
Despair filled Zhuo Guanyi's heart. "Does this mean there is no way out for me, no matter where I go? Is there truly no justice in this world?"
Justice. Fang Jian mulled over the word. Often, justice was something you had to fight for yourself, even if it meant risking everything.
"There is one more path that might offer a chance, but it comes at a price," Fang Jian said hesitantly.
Hope rekindled in Zhuo Guanyi, and she pleaded without hesitation, "I beg you to teach me, my lord!"
"In the Capital, outside the Imperial City, there is a Petition Drum. Striking it can bring an injustice directly before Her Majesty. But to strike that drum, you must first endure twenty strokes of the staff. If things go wrong, you could be killed or crippled... That drum has not been struck for decades."
"I'll go. I must go! Thank you, my lord!"
Fang Jian gave a wry smile. "I don't know if telling you this is saving you or harming you."
"Whether I live or die is my own decision. What has it to do with you, my lord? Your willingness to tell me is already an immense kindness to me, Guanyi."
Fang Jian explained the relevant details, helped her revise her written petition, and finally took out a silver ingot and placed it in her hand before sending her out of the inn.
"My lord, might I know your name? If there is a tomorrow, I, Guanyi, will surely repay this kindness." Zhuo Guanyi's eyes were filled with gratitude as she looked at Fang Jian, who averted her gaze.
"That won't be necessary. Remember, once you walk out this door, you must act as if you've never seen me. Even if we meet again in the Capital, you must treat me as a stranger. Remember this well," she said.
"Then how am I to repay you in the future?"
"Living well and growing up well will be the best repayment you can give me," Fang Jian sighed.
"I will remember." Zhuo Guanyi gave her a solemn bow before turning to leave.
Fang Jian stood at the doorway, watching her departing figure until it was out of sight. She gave a self-deprecating laugh. The young girl thought her kind, but she didn't know of the countless thoughts that had spun through her mind, the endless calculations, before she finally decided to take this gamble. The memory of her own past was real, her sympathy was real, but the twisting, turning thoughts and calculations were also real. In that moment, she had followed her instincts and made the decision to fan the flames.
She was gambling. Gambling that the young girl's resentment and fury would sustain her all the way to the Capital to strike the Petition Drum. And gambling that Her Majesty was waiting for just such a spark to blow things wide open. She had been by Gao Yunqu's side for five years, and Gao Yunqu never guarded against her; everything was laid out in the study for her to read. She knew better than anyone of Gao Yunqu's grand ambitions, knew that she and Her Majesty were lying in wait. And she was willing to add a bundle of firewood to their cause.
She had won the gamble. Everything went as she had wished. But what she had never calculated was that on the day Zhuo Guanyi struck the Petition Drum, the Censor on duty would be Fang Jian herself.
On the road, sprinting toward the courtyard of the Petition Drum, countless thoughts raced through her mind. Would Zhuo Guanyi recognize her? Would she expose her scheme? Should she recuse herself to avoid suspicion? What should she do?
Nearing the place, she slowed her pace, adjusted her official hat and sash, and suppressed the unease in her heart. Step by step, she walked before Zhuo Guanyi. When Zhuo Guanyi saw her, a flash of light flickered in her eyes for an instant before dimming, as if she truly did not recognize her.
The staff fell upon Zhuo Guanyi's frail body. Fang Jian stood right in front of her, watching. The punishment that landed on Zhuo Guanyi's body also landed on Fang Jian's heart. Hidden by her wide sleeves, Fang Jian clenched her fists so tightly her fingernails nearly drew blood from her palms. She forced herself not to look away. She had to see it clearly, to remember it—that a person had come here step by step because of her scheme, gritting her teeth to endure this unbearable pain. And she had to take responsibility, to help her, and to help the countless other vulnerable commoners like her, to reclaim a measure of justice.
Zhuo Guanyi struck the drum, turned, and knelt on the ground. As she raised the petition toward Fang Jian and cried out, "This commoner, Zhuo Guanyi, accuses her father, Ye Ze, of seizing the property of his deceased wife's family! I ask that my lord investigate thoroughly!" Fang Jian seemed to see her former self in the girl's place.
Something surged in her heart, breaking through countless shackles and restraints. Fang Jian felt as if something was pushing her forward. She stepped up and took Zhuo Guanyi's petition. Looking into Zhuo Guanyi's eyes, she responded with the utmost solemnity, "Zhuo Guanyi, this official accepts your case!"
Their eyes met for a brief moment. Zhuo Guanyi smiled, a smile of incomparable brightness and radiance. Before she lost consciousness, she saw Fang Jian's resolute eyes. There was light in them.
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