SWDnovel Chapter 38 Testing
Chapter 38 Testing
Yin'e's heart leaped into his throat.
What does that mean?
Was Kangxi simply asking for his opinion on the matter, or was he testing him?
Should we look at his ability to handle state affairs, or at his relationship with the fourteenth prince?
Or perhaps Emperor Kangxi already knew something deeper?
If he speaks up for Liu Dianheng, he is protecting a corrupt official.
How would Emperor Kangxi view him? What future could a prince who protects corrupt officials possibly have?
Let alone getting ahead, I'm afraid I won't even be able to keep my current position.
If he followed the memorial and said that Liu Dianheng should be killed, then he would be kicking someone when they're down.
Liu Dianheng was a member of the Eighth Prince's faction; everyone in the court knew that.
If he were to join in and criticize, what would Lao Ba think of him?
Who would dare to work with someone who can't even protect their own people?
But the most difficult one wasn't Liu Dianheng, but the fourteenth prince.
After the fourteenth prince finished handling the case, he handed over the memorial. Instead of asking him questions, Kangxi took the memorial and asked Yin'e, "What do you think?"
The meaning behind this, upon closer examination, sends chills down one's spine.
Kangxi probably wanted to see if he and the fourteenth prince were on the same side and whether they would cover for each other.
No matter how you answer this question, it's a trap.
Yin'e remained silent for a while.
He's gambling.
I bet Emperor Kangxi wasn't a foolish ruler who only listened to pretty words.
During his more than forty years on the throne, Emperor Kangxi captured Oboi, quelled the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories, annexed Taiwan, and personally led an expedition against Galdan. Which of these events was not earth-shattering?
Do you think you can fool such a person with just a few words like "Your Majesty is wise"?
It's possible that what Emperor Kangxi wanted to hear wasn't the kind of platitude that goes something like "Father is wise, and your subject is foolish."
Emperor Kangxi had heard those words for most of his life; his ears were calloused from hearing them so many times.
That's not what he wants to hear right now.
Emperor Kangxi wanted to see if this son, whom he had never paid much attention to, had made any progress.
Having figured this out, Yin'e's mind calmed down.
So he held the memorial in both hands, not rushing to hand it back, but instead slightly raised his head and looked into Kangxi's eyes.
"Father, may I be so bold as to say a few words?" he began, his tone both respectful and humble.
Kangxi neither nodded nor shook his head, but simply looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
Yin'e took a deep breath and slowly opened his mouth.
"Your subject believes that your fourteenth brother handled this matter cleanly and efficiently, investigated it thoroughly, and did not drag things out."
"Exposing parasites like Liu Dianheng is a good thing for the court, for the imperial examination system, and for scholars across the country."
When he said this, his eyes did not waver or hide.
That's definitely what he thinks.
Regardless of whether Liu Dianheng is a member of the Eighth Prince's faction, a corrupt official is a corrupt official, and should be investigated and punished accordingly.
On this point, the fourteenth prince did the right thing.
He paused, discreetly observing Kangxi's expression.
Kangxi's face showed no change.
The red stains stood out starkly in the candlelight. He sat there motionless, completely oblivious to what he was thinking.
Yin'e's heart tightened again, but he did not back down.
"But..." he changed the subject, "there's something I don't understand."
Kangxi's eyes twitched slightly.
The slightest movement was noticed by Yin'e.
He felt confident; Kangxi was listening intently.
"Liu Dianheng was the governor of Huguang, a powerful regional official who held military and political power over the entire province."
"He worked in Huguang for three years, and his performance evaluations were always 'above average' every year. He never made any major mistakes."
How could someone like that suddenly become the mastermind behind the imperial examination fraud?
Yin'e spoke calmly and unhurriedly. He did not intend to plead for Liu Dianheng's innocence, nor did he intend to use this to implicate anyone. He was simply stating a fact.
There are some inconsistencies in this matter.
"Either he was too good at hiding it, and no one found out for three years until his fourteenth brother went to Huguang and finally found out."
Either someone is backing him up, making him feel emboldened and believing that no matter what he does, nothing will happen.
He paused here, his gaze lowered, and he didn't continue.
Some things are better left unsaid; saying them too explicitly can seem contrived.
The warm room was quiet.
Kangxi looked at him and remained silent for a moment.
"Go on."
Yin'e composed himself and finished speaking.
"Your subject just finds it strange, nothing more."
He first laid the groundwork for this statement, indicating that he was neither speaking on behalf of anyone nor questioning anyone.
"The fourteenth brother's memorial only listed Liu Dianheng's crimes, but did not mention whether there were other people behind him."
Perhaps they really are gone, and those people were Liu Dianheng himself;
Perhaps the fourteenth brother hadn't had time to investigate before submitting this memorial.
He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.
"But I feel that this matter should not end here."
"The imperial examination is the foundation for the country to select talents. If the foundation is destroyed, the court will be finished."
Now that we've uncovered Liu Dianheng's trail, we should keep digging until we can't dig any further.
If there's no one behind you, then make the case airtight and let the whole world see that the court has zero tolerance for corrupt officials.
If there are others behind this, then we absolutely cannot stop; giving up halfway is worse than not investigating at all.
After he finished speaking, he held the memorial in both hands and respectfully handed it back to Kangxi. Then he stepped back, lowered his eyes, and waited.
The warm room was quiet for a moment.
Kangxi took the memorial, placed it on the table, and instead of immediately writing a red seal on it, looked at Yin'e.
That gaze lingered on Yin'e's face for a long while, as if he were re-evaluating someone.
"When did you learn to read memorials?"
Yin'e's heart skipped a beat.
"Your Majesty, I used to dislike watching these things; I found them boring."
But recently, when I had some free time, I flipped through some of these things and found them more interesting than the plays.
The schemes in plays are always the same few tricks, but the things in these official documents are diverse and varied; you get hooked as you read them.
Kangxi did not respond.
He simply picked up his pen and began to annotate the memorial in red ink.
The pen tip touched the paper, making a soft "scratching" sound, and he didn't say anything more.
Yin'e stood there, his hands empty, and his heart empty as well.
He wasn't sure if what he had just said was right or wrong.
Emperor Kangxi neither praised him nor criticized him; he neither said that he answered well nor scolded him for talking nonsense.
He received no feedback.
The feeling of receiving no feedback is even more unpleasant than being scolded.
Being scolded at least shows that you are still in his sights and he still cares about you.
This silence and disregard leaves you completely unaware of where you're standing or which way to go next.
After waiting for a while, Kangxi finally put down his pen.
He stacked the approved memorials together and placed them on the corner of the table.
Then he leaned back in his chair, moved his wrists, and turned his neck.
"Tell me, what good deeds did you do today?"