Chapter 1957: The Truth! (I)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Gao Lishi had successfully deceived everyone, destroying the books without attracting the slightest notice.
Only after a long while did the blind elder finally speak.
“After so long, I did not think anyone would remember this old man’s identity.”
“It is fine as long as Venerable Sir admits it!”
Wang Chong took two steps forward.
“This one has a matter that I would like to seek Venerable Sir’s guidance on! Thirty-some years ago, on the twenty-seventh day of the eighth month, in the second quarter of the Zi Period (11pm – 1 am), there was a visitor to the Compassionate Virtue Hall, correct?” Wang Chong sternly said.
“This… this old man is blind and old. How could I remember something from thirty-some years ago so clearly? Moreover, all kinds of books and memorials are burned at the Compassionate Virtue Hall. Someone will send things over to burn every day, and what is so strange about that? As Your Highness has been able to find this place, you should already know this,” the blind elder said.
Wang Chong shook his head.
“While items are sent to the Compassionate Virtue Hall to be burned every day, it is not usually done at that time. Moreover, the person who came that night was very special, not the usual palace eunuch who delivered memorials to Venerable Sir. Venerable Sir should have had a very deep impression of this man!”
The blind elder instantly fell silent.
“…This old man does not know what Your Highness is talking about,” the blind elder denied.
“According to the rules of the palace, the majority of people who work at the Compassionate Virtue Hall are those who were born disabled. In addition, the palace does not raise idle people. All the old eunuchs, once they reach a certain age, are given compensation money and made to return home. Only those who work for the Compassionate Virtue Hall are supported until their lives come to an end!
“I’ve checked, and all the people who’ve worked for the Compassionate Virtue Hall continue to work in the palace as normal. Only Venerable Sir decided to suddenly leave the palace thirty years ago. Is this junior wrong?”
Wang Chong’s eyes blazed as he spoke.
The people of the Compassionate Virtue Hall were different. The majority of them had been born disabled, primarily blind. The memorials burned each day at the Compassionate Virtue Hall recorded the most important matters of the land and were brimming with secrets. Only giving them to the blind to burn could ensure that these secrets were not leaked.
And because they were blind, the people who worked for the Compassionate Virtue Hall could not survive on their own if they left the palace, not at all like the eunuchs and palace maids of the palace.
The vast majority of the people who worked at the Compassionate Virtue Hall were willing to remain in the palace for the rest of their lives. This was precisely why it was so suspicious that this elder had left the palace thirty-some years ago.
“Venerable Sir, tell me: just where are the books that person brought?” Wang Chong sternly said.
Eunuch Gao had disappeared, and while his grandfather appeared to know, he appeared unwilling to say for various reasons. As for Minister Yao, he was remarkably intelligent and had his conjectures, but he was also unwilling to directly voice them.
If this elder was also unwilling to speak, then there was probably no one in the Great Tang who could say just what was in the missing books, no one who could give the truth on what was happening in the palace right now.
“This old man truly does not know what Your Highness is speaking about. This old man willingly left the Compassionate Virtue Hall, and everything was reported to the superiors. The lordships above all know about this. This is a matter that is as normal as could be.
“As for Your Highness’s question… this old man does not know about any palace records, but if they really were, then according to the rules of the Compassionate Virtue Hall, they would have naturally been burned to ash. As it was thirty-some years ago, not even the ashes might be left. Regardless of what Your Highness wants to find, you will probably be disappointed!” the elder calmly said.
Wang Chong instantly frowned upon hearing this. His investigation had reached a standstill, as this elder seemed intent on denying until the very end.
But Wang Chong instinctively sensed that the elder knew some of the truth. Otherwise, he would have never so hastily left the palace.
The room was silent as Wang Chong slowly closed his eyes.
“Venerable Sir, this one did not come purely to satisfy his curiosity or out of some personal desire. This one has come because several problems have appeared in the Imperial Court, not merely involving one person, but all the countless inhabitants of the Central Plains!”
Wang Chong paused, took in a deep breath, and gave a rough summary of the events in the palace to the blind elder.
“I’ve carefully investigated this matter and found that everything goes back to those disappeared records from thirty-some years ago!
“At present, all that is happening in the palace is the construction of the Peace Pavilion, and the selection of new palace ladies has been placed to the side for now. But if this matter is allowed to continue, I worry that there will be even greater chaos in the future. At that time, it won’t just be selecting talented women. I fear that all the inhabitants of the Central Plains will be dragged in.”
Buzz!
The blind elder trembled, clearly shocked by these words.
He was blind, and he had lived most of his life in this shabby estate, not taking a step beyond its door, so he did not understand too much about the outside world. He had known nothing about what Wang Chong had told him.
“This matter is of grave importance. I hope that if Venerable Sir knows some of the truth, you tell me as soon as you can!” Wang Chong sternly said.
This was his final effort. If the man refused to speak, there was nothing else he could do.
Time slowly passed, and the blind elder remained silent. Just when Wang Chong was prepared to leave in disappointment, the elder suddenly spoke.
“While this old man has rarely left this humble abode, he has heard a little of the news from that child Zhao-er.” The blind elder sighed and abruptly brought up an irrelevant topic. “The war of the southwest, the Battle of Talas, the war of the northwest, the rebellion in the Imperial Palace not too long ago… The child is young and cannot describe things very clearly, but this old man is able to get a general picture of what he is saying. In my Great Tang, it has been a long time since there has been a subject as loyal and devoted as Your Highness!”
Wang Chong was taken aback. The mention of ‘Zhao-er’ immediately made him recall the child who had come out from the gate with the pinwheel.
The blind elder ‘looked’ in Wang Chong’s direction and said, “This old man thinks that if even the King of Foreign Lands, a man who has been enshrined in Lingyan Pavilion, cannot be trusted, then no one in the Central Plains is worthy of trust.”
Wang Chong was startled to receive such a high evaluation from the blind elder.
“Your Highness, this old man should be able to trust you, yes?” the blind elder suddenly asked.
“Venerable Sir!”
Wang Chong was elated.
“Haaah…”
The blind elder sighed and raised his head, a complicated expression on his face.
“Thirty-seven years ago, on the day this old man left, I knew that someone would come for those things eventually. Time went by, and in the blink of an eye, decades had passed. This old man is getting older, with one foot in the grave. I originally thought that I would not be able to wait until that time, but then Your Highness came.”
Wang Chong was stunned. Although he had found the entire matter suspicious, he had never been absolutely sure. With this thin sliver of hope, he had come to the blind elder, not expecting that there really would be something.
“…Many people think that because the blind cannot see, there is no need to hide anything in front of them, but they have no idea that while the blind cannot see, their minds are bright and sharp.”
The blind elder raised his head, a look of recollection on his face. Slowly, a story from thirty-some years ago began to unfurl in the old room.
“Thirty-seven years ago, just as usual, I was attending at the Compassionate Virtue Hall. Usually, Eunuch Zhang and several guards would deliver the memorials, but that day, by the Zi Period, Eunuch Zhang had still yet to appear.
“Someone else might have found this very normal, thinking that perhaps Eunuch Zhang was delayed, but I immediately sensed that something was wrong. This job is very strict when it comes to time, and even the smallest mistake will result in punishment.
“But for people like us who are born disabled, even if we sense that something is wrong, there is nothing we can do.
“I believed that I would not be burning any memorials that night, but to my surprise, I suddenly heard footsteps.”
The blind elder paused as he thought back to the moment, as if he could still hear those footsteps ringing out in the cold and quiet night.
“The footsteps of that man making his way up the stairs were like yours, Your Highness. His footsteps were very, very light, like the cats in the palace– no, perhaps even lighter.
“This old man worked in the palace for many years, and while my eyes might be blind, my ears are not deaf. In fact, my blindness made my ears even sharper.
“The steps of guards, the steps of palace maids, the steps of the old grannies of the Compassionate Virtue Hall, the Imperial Army patrols, the voices of eunuchs, the scraping of memorials against each other, the sound of falling leaves—this old man can recognize all of them from a great distance.
“That man from that day had yet to get close, but this old man could already tell that he had a high status, that he was no ordinary eunuch or guard. This was one of the eunuch directors, or someone even higher.
“Not only that, when that man spoke, I could hear the sound of a wooden crate scraping against the ground. While the memorials Eunuch Zhang brought were heavy, they were never this heavy,” the blind elder slowly said.
Wang Chong said nothing, only carefully listened. He knew that a secret part of history was being unveiled.
Eunuch Gao had probably not imagined that while the blind elder who knew no martial arts working at the Compassionate Virtue Hall might not have been able to see them, he had a bright mind and knew a great deal about the events of that night.
“What did that man say?” Wang Chong finally said.
“When that man appeared, he said that Eunuch Zhang could not come today, and that he was bringing the memorials in his place. All of them were to be burned at the Compassionate Virtue Hall!”