Embers of Chuntai - Chapter 8
Chapter 8
After the trial, many people came to advise me to “quit while I was ahead.”
“The Ning Family has fallen, and the Prince has admitted his mistake. Why push things to such an extreme?”
I replied to them, “I am not walking a path to extremes; I am walking the path of justice. The path of justice was never meant to be popular.”
In this world, the most common advice to make peace doesn’t come from a place of pity for you.
It comes from a fear that you will tear open the old order and dismantle their comfortable lives along with it.
On the day Ning Zhiheng’s case went to trial, the streets of the capital were deserted as everyone flocked to the court.
I sat at the very front of the gallery. When Ning Zhiheng was brought in, she was still wearing her old attire as a Princess Consort, but her hair was a disheveled mess.
She saw me and suddenly laughed.
“Shen Zhiwei, you won. Are you satisfied now?”
I replied, “You misunderstand. I didn’t do this to beat you. I did this to take back what is mine.”
In the courtroom, the evidence was laid out piece by piece.
Testimony from the Cold Palace eunuchs, the Ning Family ledgers, the confession of the craftsman who forged the jade pendant, and the bank drafts used to hire the arsonists.
The most fatal piece of evidence was the old scar on Ning Zhiheng’s arm.
She had once claimed to the world that it was a wound she received from blocking an arrow to save Yin Xianshan.
After an examination, the Coroner proved that the scar was a knife wound from the last two years, and its position did not match an arrow wound at all.
The courtroom erupted in an uproar.
Ning Zhiheng finally broke down, screaming as she pointed at Yin Xianshan.
“What right do you have to blame me? You were the one who chose to believe me first! You knew Shen Zhiwei loved you, and you took advantage of the fact that she would never leave! People like you talk about sincerity, but in your hearts, there is only power!”
Yin Xianshan stood below the bench, his face as pale as paper.
He didn’t argue.
Because half of what she said was the truth.
After the verdict, the Ning Family’s assets were confiscated, and Ning Zhiheng was exiled to the northern border.
Some said the sentence was too heavy; others said it was too light.
I only felt that the dust had finally settled.
That evening, Yin Xianshan knelt outside the Capital Office for two full hours.
The rain was heavy. He had no umbrella, and his black robes were soaked, clinging to his body under the weight of the water.
Passing officials didn’t dare look, simply lowering their heads and hurrying past.
When I walked out of the office, he looked up at me, his eyes bloodshot.
“Zhiwei, I know I don’t deserve it…”
“Then stop kneeling. It’s embarrassing.”
“I want you to see that I regret it.”
I stopped in my tracks and stared at him for a few moments.
“Regret is the most worthless thing in existence. When you sentenced me to guard the Imperial Mausoleum, if you could have felt regret then, would I have had to endure those three months in the snow?”
His lips turned white, his throat seemingly blocked by a phantom weight.
I boarded my carriage, saying one last thing before the curtain fell.
“Yin Xianshan, if you truly want to make amends, then use the power in your hands for the people who actually need it. Don’t use it on me ever again.”
