On the night after Luo Wenjin was imprisoned, Zou Mo came.
He sent no visiting card and made no announcement, bringing only one attendant as he entered through a side gate.
Kou Yuan's study.
The leader of the Upright Officials and the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel shut themselves inside, with one pot of tea and two lamps.
"Grand Secretary Kou." Zou Mo sat down and sighed first.
"I heard about Censor Luo. What a surprise."
"A surprise?" Kou Yuan lifted his teacup.
"Did you come today, Vice Minister Zou, merely to say 'what a surprise'?"
"I came to ease your concerns, Grand Secretary," Zou Mo said. "Censor Luo served in the Censorate for ten years, without a reputation for taking bribes.
"Now he has suddenly been arrested, his crime tied to an unheard-of 'Stone Record.'
"Grand Secretary Kou, the waters here run deep-perhaps unfathomably so."
As he spoke, he stole glances at Kou Yuan's expression.
He wanted to see whether Kou Yuan knew about "Stone Record."
"Heh. Whether the waters are shallow or deep, I do not know." Kou Yuan held his cup, his expression unchanged.
"I know only this: Luo Wenjin is one of my men."
"Indeed." Zou Mo nodded in agreement. "To strike at Censor Luo is to strike at your prestige, Grand Secretary Kou."
"The entire court sees that much."
He paused briefly, then changed tack. "But, Grand Secretary Kou, there is something I do not understand."
"Speak."
"The Crown Prince is serving as Regent, while His Majesty pleads illness...
"Did this order not come a little too swiftly, a little too smoothly?" Zou Mo enunciated each word.
"I spent many years in the Ministry of Justice and saw countless cases. An ironclad case always proceeds slowly; a wrongful case always proceeds