Dealing with the Xiao Family

The decree calling the Xiao Family to account left Xuanzheng Hall that very evening. The Grand Secretariat drafted it at least three times faster than usual. Grand Secretary Zhou Zhongping took up the brush himself. After writing a sentence, he paused and glanced up at the emperor seated behind the imperial desk. Qi Xiao leaned back in his chair, his face expressionless, and said only one word: "Write." Zhou Zhongping lowered his head, set his brush to paper, and did not stop again.

There were three decrees in all. The first stripped Xiao Wenshan, a bureau director in the Ministry of Works, of his post pending investigation and transferred his embezzlement of riverworks funds to the Ministry of Justice. The second revoked the old madam of the Xiao Family's patent of honor, sealed the Xiao Residence, and ordered the entire clan to leave the Capital City within one month, never again to set foot in the capital region. The third was the lightest, and also the heaviest. Members of the Xiao Family's collateral branches who were not implicated would be spared punishment, but for three generations, they were forbidden to sit the imperial examinations or enter official service.

Three generations barred from the imperial examinations. For a family that had climbed into the Capital City's powerful circles through its ties to the empress, this was crueler than executing the entire clan. Execution was only a stroke of the blade; barring three generations from office severed their roots. The Xiao Family could still trade, buy land, and live behind closed doors in their hometown. But there would never again be a seat for anyone surnamed Xiao at court. Overnight, the Ministry of Personnel pulled out and archived all files relating to the Xiao Family, sealing them with strips marked in vermilion. The cinnabar on those seals was a glaring red.

By that night, every well-informed household in the capital knew. The Jinghai Marquis Residence received the news first. Xie Ting was in his study wiping down his old bow. Its newly oiled string gleamed amber in the candlelight. The steward stood at the doorway and delivered the message. Xie Ting's hand paused, then continued wiping. "Understood," he said. He hung the bow on the wall and poured a cup of tea. It was this year's fresh tea. Holding the cup, he stood by the window and gazed at the moonlight in the courtyard, remembering how, many years ago, the Xiao Family's old madam had toasted him at a palace banquet and said that the Xie and Xiao families ought to visit each other more often. He had cupped his hands then and offered no response. Good thing I didn't.

The Duke of Min's residence also received the news. Wang Hengshan, the Duke of Min, was playing a game of Go in his study with Wang Yuan, his eldest legitimate son. After the messenger withdrew, Wang Yuan's hand paused before placing his stone. He asked his father whether the Xiao Family's downfall would implicate those who had dealings with them. Wang Hengshan placed a stone on the board, cutting off a large group of Wang Yuan's stones. "No one else can be blamed for the Xiao Family's affairs. They reached into His Majesty's very heart themselves. They can hardly blame him for bringing down his blade." Wang Yuan looked down at the board, picked out the surrounded black stone, and set it on the lid of the Go bowl.

At morning court the next day, the atmosphere in Xuanzheng Hall was unusually grave. Several remonstrating officials from the Censorate stepped forward to impeach Xiao Wenshan for embezzling riverworks funds. Witness testimony and material evidence were all present, laid out case by case, item by item; they had clearly prepared through the night. The Minister of Justice stepped forward and reported that Xiao Wenshan had been taken into custody and was being interrogated. From beginning to end, no one spoke a single word on the Xiao Family's behalf.

Qi Xiao listened from the throne and nodded once when they finished. After court, he announced another matter: Jiang Baolin was to be promoted to Lady Jieyu and granted residence in Shicui Hall. When Jiang Baolin knelt outside the hall to give thanks, she prostrated herself completely, her forehead pressed against the icy paving stones. She knew what this promotion meant. His Majesty wanted to silence everyone. That night, she had appeared at the dining table in Xuanzheng Hall, and immediately afterward, something had happened to the Fourth Prince. People would inevitably read into it. By raising her one rank, His Majesty was telling everyone that she had nothing to do with the matter. This was not favor, but compensation. Kneeling on the ground, she accepted that compensation without faltering.

In Jiaofang Hall, Xiao Luo stood by the window, pruning dead branches from the osmanthus tree with a pair of shears. Its flowers had long since fallen, leaving only bare branches stretching beneath the gray sky. Fu Shun stood bowed behind her and recounted everything that had happened in Yuning Hall the night before, exactly as it had occurred. He spoke of the Xiao Family's old madam sending A Rong into the palace, and of A Rong stripping off her clothes and lying in the Fourth Prince's bed. Xiao Luo's hand paused, then she continued pruning.

"How is the Fourth Prince?" she asked.

"The imperial physician treated him with acupuncture, and he has awakened. He suffered a fright, though, and needs a few days of quiet rest."

Xiao Luo set the shears on the stone table, turned, and went inside. She sat before her dressing case and opened the little drawer at the very bottom. Inside lay the old silver hairpin, its end worn bright. She picked it up and turned it over to look at the tiny orchid on its head. Yang Ning had said the orchid was like her: not showy, but pleasing to look at over time. She put the hairpin back and closed the drawer.

"Fu Shun, go to Yuning Hall for me. Take my old wild ginseng root with you. And tell the Fourth Prince that his mother will visit him tomorrow."

Fu Shun answered and was just about to withdraw when the empress spoke again. "Then go and tell De'an that if His Majesty asks whether anyone came to Jiaofang Hall to plead for mercy, say no. I, Xiao Luo, have not spoken so much as half a word in the Xiao Family's defense."

He lowered his head and withdrew. Jiaofang Hall fell quiet again. Xiao Luo sat before her dressing mirror, looking at her reflection. Fine lines had already appeared at the corners of her eyes, and a few more white hairs at her temples. The year Yang Ning passed away, she had knelt before her spirit tablet and sworn to protect her child for her. She had pruned the osmanthus tree neatly, buried jar after jar of osmanthus wine, and protected Qi Yu from infancy into boyhood. What the Xiao Family had touched was the one thing in her life that must never be touched.

In the Capital City's teahouses and taverns, private discussions were far livelier than those at court. Some said the Xiao Family had brought it upon themselves. Others guessed at what they had done to provoke such imperial fury. Still others quietly asked what exactly the palace maid sent to Yuning Hall had done. No one knew the full answer. But everyone knew one thing. The Xiao Family had entrenched itself in the Capital City for so many years, and although the empress had no liking for them and they had no say at court, they had always clung to one last breath. It was the empress's presence in the palace that had sustained that breath. Now it was cut off, severed with a single stroke, uprooted entirely.

That evening, the lanterns in front of the Xiao Residence were taken down. Those two red lanterns bearing the character "Xiao" had hung there for over a decade. Their paper had been replaced countless times, but the character remained the same. The man taking them down wore an imperial guard's identification token at his waist. His movements were brisk; in a few deft motions, he lifted the lanterns off their hooks. The old madam sat in a grand armchair in the main hall, still passing her prayer beads through her fingers one by one. She moved them quickly, the beads clicking together in a dense patter like autumn rain striking withered lotus leaves. Xiao Wenshan's wife, Zhou-shi, sat in a lower seat. There were no tears on her face. She merely stared blankly at the two lanterns that had been taken down at the entrance.

Several carriages waited outside, and the servants were loading trunks onto them. The gold, silver, and valuables had been packed the night before. Today they were moving the paintings, calligraphy, and account books from the study. The account books filled an entire trunk, some of their pages already yellowed and curling at the edges. They recorded every exchange of favors the Xiao Family had made in the capital over the years, every gift list, every visiting card sent out. Now all of it had become wastepaper.

De'an stood beneath the corridor eaves of Xuanzheng Hall, watching the sky darken little by little. Inside, Qi Xiao sat behind the imperial desk with a memorial spread before him, the Vermilion Brush resting on the Brush Rest. He was not reviewing memorials. He leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed and tapped the desktop lightly twice.

"De'an."

"Your servant is here."

"What news is there from Yuning Hall?"

"Your Majesty, the imperial physician said the Fourth Prince has awakened. He drank half a bowl of calming decoction and went back to sleep. Chun He is watching over him. A Ping is there too." De'an paused, then added, "Her Majesty the Empress sent Fu Shun over with an old wild ginseng root and said she would visit the Fourth Prince herself tomorrow."

Qi Xiao nodded. He opened his eyes and looked at the horn-paneled lamp on the desk. With the Xiao Family dealt with, he needed to think about how to coax his Yu'er now. The boy had already been unhappy over Jiang Baolin, and now he had suffered this fright. There was no telling how many days he would need to recover. Qi Xiao picked up the Vermilion Brush, opened the memorial, wrote a few words of endorsement, then set it down again.