Pouring Beans from a Bamboo Tube

Pan Yun said, "I was merely a commoner, yet didn't I clear father and brother's names and make Wang Zhen squat in the Imperial Prison alongside me? Looking back, neither Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review Xue Xuan nor the three Elder Yangs managed it, but I did."

Remembering all the intelligence she had gathered, Sun Xin felt the chill surging through his heart ease slightly. "Do you intend to ask Prince Zhou and the Duke of Qian to put in a word for me? Or ask Xue Xuan to plead for mercy?"

His gaze shifted to Xue Shao, and he forced out an exceedingly ugly smile. "Xue Xuan has offended too many people at court. If he pleaded for my family, I'm afraid it would have the opposite effect."

"No, I'll ask the Empress Dowager and the Earl of Huichang to plead for your family." Pan Yun smiled softly. "That should carry enough weight, shouldn't it?"

Sun Xin looked at her in astonishment. He had no idea how she could make the Empress Dowager and the Earl of Huichang plead for him, but if the Empress Dowager spoke for his family, it would be more effective than every civil and military official in the court nagging the emperor a hundred times.

Sun Xin stared intently at Pan Yun's expression, as though trying to determine whether there was any truth in her words.

"Those who leave the secular world do not utter falsehoods," Pan Yun said. "This poor Daoist is no good person, but I disdain deceiving others."

Sun Xin lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment. Uneasy murmurs from the guards drifted in from outside the torture chamber. He knew he had no room to choose. At last, he made up his mind. "Fine. I'll confess!"