Clerk Ye

The constable chief scrambled into the government office to summon help.

Before long, a group of constables hurried out, escorting a man dressed in a clerk's official robes.

The man looked fairly young, somewhere in his thirties. Fair-faced and beardless, he looked less like a warrior than a refined, courteous scholar.

"I am the clerk of Huai'an Commandery. Might you gentlemen be from the Imperial Capital?"

Song Xuan dismounted and looked the man up and down. He showed not the slightest panic; in fact, he had something of a scholar's backbone, neither servile nor overbearing.

The Black Robe Guard had a poor reputation among officials. The civil officials both hated and feared them, and most preferred to keep a respectful distance.

It was clear that this clerk of Huai'an Commandery felt some resistance, even outright hostility, toward the arrival of Song Xuan and his fellow Black Robe Guards.

"Song Xuan, Black Robe Guard Inspection Office!"

Song Xuan spoke slowly. "How should I address you, Clerk?"

"My surname is Ye!"

"Clerk Ye, then?"

Song Xuan said gravely, "You should already know why we're here. Let's dispense with the pleasantries and get straight to the case!"

Clerk Ye was initially taken aback by Song Xuan's bluntness, but his expression actually eased somewhat, and his voice unconsciously softened.

"In that case, please come inside and wait a moment, officers. I'll have someone fetch the case files."

Song Xuan nodded and led Song Qian and the others into the hall where the clerk worked. Without wasting words, they each took a seat.

Constables soon brought them tea, but Song Xuan merely nodded calmly, showing no intention of lifting his cup to drink.

Safety came first when traveling. He never drank tea offered by strangers in unfamiliar surroundings.

Clerk Ye made no attempt to persuade them when Song Xuan and the others left their tea untouched. He simply sat there, composed and unruffled, looking as though his mind had wandered beyond worldly affairs. Who knew what he was thinking?

They did not have to wait long before several constables hurried into the hall carrying a case file.

"Give it to the officers to read," Clerk Ye instructed.

Song Xuan took the file from a constable and immediately began leafing through it.

He read extremely quickly. Before Clerk Ye had finished a cup of tea, Song Xuan had already gone through the entire file.

The case was not complicated. Simply put, it was an adultery case involving commoners.

Martial culture flourished in Great Zhou, and social customs were relatively open. Women, as well as men, could practice martial arts. Consequently, women enjoyed a higher status here than in any of the feudal dynasties Song Xuan knew.

In Great Zhou, women could not only practice martial arts and study, but even enter official service through the Imperial Examination or the Martial Examination.

Yet however open its customs and enlightened its court, it remained a feudal dynasty ruled by men.

To preserve the purity of male bloodlines, Great Zhou's laws imposed exceptionally harsh punishments on women for adultery.

A man proven guilty of adultery received thirty lashes, a fine of fifty taels of silver, and exile three thousand li away.

A woman proven guilty of adultery, once the Ministry of Justice had reviewed and confirmed the verdict, was paraded through the streets and beheaded immediately!

Such was the difference in treatment, yet in a feudal society under imperial rule, no one thought there was anything wrong with it.

Song Xuan set down the file and looked at Clerk Ye. "Could you give me a detailed account of the case?"

Clerk Ye frowned slightly. "Isn't everything clearly recorded in the file?"

Song Xuan watched him quietly. "A file is a file, but it isn't necessarily the truth. I want to hear it from your own mouth, Clerk Ye!"

Clerk Ye fell silent for a moment, then waved the constables on either side out before speaking with some hesitation.

"This case isn't complicated, but it involves struggles among those higher up. There are things I cannot say, and even if I did, they might not be true. Why not question the accused woman in prison yourself, sir?"

Somewhat surprised, Song Xuan gave him a searching look, then nodded with a smile. "In that case, sorry for the trouble, Clerk Ye. Please take us to the prison."

The Heavenly Prison of Huai'an Prefecture held all manner of condemned prisoners. Some had already been sentenced to death by the local authorities and were awaiting the Ministry of Justice's review.

Others had already passed that review and were merely waiting to be executed after autumn.

Despairing roars and sobs occasionally rang out through the dark, damp Heavenly Prison. Some prisoners began pounding on their cell doors and loudly protesting their innocence when they saw Song Xuan and the others.

But Song Xuan had no intention of meddling in anyone else's affairs. Following Clerk Ye, he headed straight for one of the death-row cells.

"Sir, this is the one!"

Before the dark, cramped cell, Song Xuan peered through a gap. A commoner woman whose features he could not make out lay on the floor in bloodstained clothes. Her eyes were dull and lifeless as she stared up at the ceiling, her face devoid of any desire to live.

"Open the cell!" Song Xuan ordered.

Clerk Ye hesitated briefly, but still gave the jailer a slight nod, signaling him to open it.

Creeeak...

As the iron door swung open, Song Xuan, Song Qian, and Lu Xiaoliu filed inside, making the already narrow cell feel even more crowded.

Big Ox and Monkey, meanwhile, stationed themselves outside without needing to be told, neatly blocking everyone else from entering. Even Clerk Ye was stopped when he tried to follow them in.

Clerk Ye's expression shifted several times, but in the end, he did not dare force his way through.

He certainly had no fondness for the Black Robe Guard, but he had no wish to offend those fiends over a single case, either.

Inside the cell, Song Xuan looked down at the woman lying on the floor with a numb expression and coughed softly.

She did not react at all. She cared nothing for who had entered her cell and continued staring at the ceiling, as though she had given up completely.

Song Qian frowned at the sight. She stepped forward, seized the woman by the arm, and hauled her up, then gripped her chin and turned her head to face her.

This forceful treatment finally brought a glimmer of light into the woman's eyes, and her gaze focused on Song Qian.

"Looks like you're not dead yet!"

Song Qian smiled in satisfaction, made the woman kneel on one knee, then turned to Song Xuan with a smile. "Brother, you can start now!"

Song Xuan grunted in acknowledgment, took out his Black Robe Guard token, and waved it before the woman's eyes.

"First, an introduction. We're Black Robe Guards from the Imperial Capital. I don't need to explain what the Black Robe Guard does, do I?"

At the words "Black Robe Guard," the woman's body trembled involuntarily, even though she had already despaired and resigned herself to death.

To ordinary people, the Black Robe Guard was King Yama's office in the mortal world, and its mounted agents were the little devils under his command.

It was said that anyone who fell into their hands could neither live nor die. Even death became an extravagant hope!

"I am Song Xuan of the Black Robe Guard. From today onward, I will be taking over your case!"

As he spoke, he slowly crouched down until he and the woman were face-to-face, looking into each other's eyes.

"Sun Liu, the Huai'an Commandery authorities convicted you of adultery. Now I want the truth. Did you do it or not?"