Against the Current - Chapter 119

Chapter 119 - The Choice 

Aunt Song let out a groan and slowly regained consciousness. Song Ke hurriedly picked up a cup of tea and brought it to her lips. Aunt Song took a small sip, tears streaming down her face as she grasped Song Ke's hand and said, "Eldest son, you've been diligent and sensible since you were little. While other children went out to play and amuse themselves, only you, such a little child, would sit before the desk, grasping a brush and wholeheartedly reading and writing. In winter you'd clutch a hand-warming stove, and in summer your clothes would be soaked through with sweat. When your teacher praised your studies, you were still never satisfied, seeking out other books to read. You would even secretly listen in and learn when your father discussed official matters with his colleagues, and you were still writing essays late on New Year's Eve. Your father passed away early; while studying, you also helped look after the family's business and properties. How many times did you fall asleep from exhaustion while reading at night, still clutching the brush in your hand... How can you have the heart to let these dozen years of bitter hardship just..." Unable to continue, she broke down into muffled sobs.

With tears in his eyes, Song Ke gritted his teeth and said, "Things haven't reached that absolute last step yet."

"How have they not? For days now, you've been going out early and returning late, begging at so many households—is there a single person willing to provide timely help and pull you out of the mire? Most of them just harbor ulterior motives, and not a single one even dares to accept silver for greasing the wheels. You've eaten so many closed doors; even if you don't say it, I can see it all," Song Chain wept, wiping the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. "Now that the Emperor has issued such a decree, who else would ever dare step forward to champion you?"

Song Ke's expression shifted slightly. These days, he had truly tasted the coldness of human relationships. Those official-circle friends who had previously vied to associate with him because of his high examination ranking had now vanished without a trace, one and all. When he humbled himself to ask for help, others merely offered perfunctory pretenses and uttered empty, weightless words of comfort. Truly, "human affections are as thin as layers of paper."

Seeing Song Ke lower his head in silence, Aunt Song began rubbing his hand again and said, "From the time you were small, there hasn't been a single thing you wanted that I didn't yield to. But in this matter... Eldest son, just listen to your mother. Miss Zheng is lovely in both appearance and temperament, and she holds a deep, devoted affection for you. A girl like that must never be allowed to slip away."

At that moment, Junxi brought over a pill of medicine, helping Aunt Song wash it down with warm water, while Song Chain used a handkerchief to wipe the corners of her mouth. Aunt Song continued to murmur incessantly, "I originally thought that once you became an official, our household would have some steady livelihood. Even if we weren't a top-tier wealthy family, we'd at least have some savings. I could help you find a few young ladies from respectable families, and you could marry whichever one caught your eye—regardless of her background, as long as her appearance was pleasing, her disposition good, and she could treat you wholeheartedly and bear you children, I would have been content. But who could have foreseen this disaster? Eldest son, I know you don't fancy Miss Zheng, but she is a good girl after all, and especially capable of pulling you back from the brink at a time like this. Where on earth would you ever find such character and disposition again?"

Moved by Aunt Song's earnest and heartfelt exhortations, Song Ke's eyes welled with moisture. Fearing that her extreme agitation might damage her health, he comforted her, saying, "Mother, let's not speak of this today. Have a good rest for a while first, and I will ponder it carefully."

Aunt Song was utterly spent by this point and closed her eyes of her own accord. Song Ke kept watch for a moment longer before stepping out of the room.

Just then, the gatekeeper reported that Lin Jingting had come to see him, so Song Ke invited him into the study. Seeing Song Ke's sorrowful expression, haggard appearance, and the layer of stubble on his chin, Lin Jingting was startled and blurted out, "Just a few days ago you seemed full of vigor and spirit—what on earth has happened today?"

Song Ke shook his head and said, "My mother and sister just had a good cry. Thinking about how they are losing their peace of mind in their old age makes me truly unfilial and lacking in brotherly duty." With a long sigh, he slumped despondently into a chair.

Lin Jingting instructed his page-boy to bring in a food box, pulled out a few dishes from it, and also produced a small jar of wine. Patting the small wine vessel, he said, "I knew you were feeling out of sorts, so I specially brought wine and food for us to drink together until we're thoroughly drunk. Once you have a good drink, you'll feel better. There's no one else in this room, so if you want to cry, just let it out. Keeping everything bottled up inside like this is bound to bring on a severe illness." With that, he told the page-boy to strain the wine, filled a cup to the brim, and handed it to Song Ke.

Song Ke downed it in a single gulp. As the wine entered his troubled heart, his thoughts grew even more tangled and tortuous. Knowing Lin Jingting was a confidant and true friend, he finally told him about the situation with Zheng Jingxian. Lin Jingting instantly slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Ah, my brother! If you don't accept a blessing dropped straight from heaven like this, you're a complete fool! Even if that Duke of Xian isn't a decent human being, he still holds considerable influence. If he's willing to lend a hand, half your problem is already solved. That Zheng girl isn't some hideous monster; she's set her sights on you with absolute sincerity—why aren't you hurriedly dispatching matchmakers to propose instead of just standing there in a daze? Even if that Zheng girl were a hideous monster, if I were in your shoes, I'd grit my teeth and endure it. At worst, you can take a few beautiful concubines later on—everything would still be right down your alley."

Song Ke glared at Lin Jingting and muttered, "You can't expect ivory to come out of a dog's mouth."

Lin Jingting was taken aback for a moment, smacked his lips, and gave his own cheek a light slap. "Right, right, my mouth's the dog's mouth, and yours is the noble one. But what other choice do you have right now? Since someone is willing to help, and all they ask is that you marry their daughter, what's wrong with that? Just think of it as swallowing your humiliation for a greater cause—didn't Liu Bei marry Sun Shangxiang, that fierce she-devil, for the sake of his kingdom?"

After a long, drawn-out silence, Song Ke let out a heavy sigh and said, "It's just that there is already a woman in my heart whom I truly cherish. Her background isn't high, but she has a deeply empathetic nature, and she can both write and read, and even paint quite well. Whenever I want to say something, she always seems to anticipate it. She is my true soulmate, and being with her brings an indescribable joy..."

Lin Jingting chuckled, set his cup down on the table, crossed his legs, and mocked, "My dear brother, are you playing Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying with me now? A soulmate, you say? Let me ask you—even if she has ten thousand virtues, can she help you with your current predicament? If you can't be an official in the future, remaining depressed and unfulfilled for the rest of your life, reduced to returning home to be a mere landowner, would your heart truly be at peace even if you were keeping a beauty by your side?" Lin Jingting picked up a mouthful of food, swallowed it, and continued, "Besides, isn't her background humble? If you really can't bear to let her go, you can simply take her as a concubine later on. That's what you call securing both wealth and beauty."

Song Ke replied, "She is not the type to willingly serve as someone's concubine. Moreover, making her a concubine would be an insult to her."

Lin Jingting impatiently knitted his brows. "This won't do either, that won't do either—what on earth do you want then? There are no two-for-one perfect deals in this world! How did a grown man like you turn into such a hesitant, wishy-washy creature? Which is more important after all: your future career or a woman? What on earth did you spend all those bitter years studying for? My eldest uncle once said that women have long hair and short insight, easily drowning in sentimentality, forever fussing over romance, love, and the idealistic notion of 'a lifetime with a single partner.' They're mere pastimes at best; how can anyone take them seriously? Song Xiuhong, do you want to coddle a woman, spending your days whispering sweet nothings with a warm wife by the hearth, or do you harbor grand ambitions to stand in the imperial court, forge a great career, revitalize your family, and rise above the common herd?! Do you still remember the snowy night when you and I sat in the river pavilion and what you said to me? You said that if you failed to achieve your ambitions in this lifetime, you would die with eternal regret; even if you couldn't govern a region and bring blessing to the people, you would still dedicate your learning and spend your every breath serving the imperial court!"

Song Ke froze. A torrent of emotions surged within his chest; with a trembling hand, he poured the remaining wine down his throat. His eye rims turned red, and tears slowly welled up.

Lin Jingting sighed, reached out to pat Song Ke's shoulder, and said softly, "I know you are a man who values deep affection, and the woman you've set your sights on is certainly no ordinary person. It's just... ah, it's just a pity that though you achieved success at a young age, your path has been fraught with twists and turns. You've always strived for perfection in everything, terrified of even the slightest flaw. But in this world, every action requires trade-offs—it all comes down to how you choose to decide. Let me offer you one piece of advice: as a towering man of honor, if you allow yourself to be fettered by petty romantic sentiments, what great feats could you ever accomplish in the future?"

Song Ke downed several more cups of wine in succession, feeling as though Lin Jingting's words were ringing right beside his ear, yet also sounding terribly distant. He felt as though he had traveled back to his past life; back then, he and his cousin had been childhood sweethearts harboring mutual affection, but his parents had forced him to marry the powerful Miss Shen for the sake of his career, leaving him no choice but to comply. His cousin had been heartbroken, weeping for an entire afternoon, willing even to serve him as a concubine—only to be struck squarely across the face by her own father. That wronged, tear-stained face had been deeply etched into his heart. He had moved his lips, wanting to say he was sorry, but the words had never crossed his lips. In his hazy intoxicated state, that face transformed into Lady Shen's, then shifted into Xianglan's, and finally drifted into the wisps of blue smoke curling from the bronze qilin incense burner on the table, winding gently around him before floating out the window with the passing breeze.

To keep the narrative brief, we shall skip the minor details.

Within a few days, Zheng Baiyuan had cast his eye on a newly appointed official in the Censorate named Yan Liwen, and filled him in on the full background of Song Ke's case. That Yan Liwen was a hot-headed greenhorn who fancied himself a man of unyielding backbone. Upon hearing how Wu Liang habitually engaged in all sorts of wickedness, he rolled up his sleeves, dashed off a lengthy, eloquent essay, and bitterly denounced Wu Liang as "crafty and overbearing, harming the populace, subverting the law and turning black into white, comparable to Zhao Gao who pointed at a deer and called it a horse." He condemned him for "slandering a court-appointed official, a malicious heart deserving of execution," while arguing that Song Ke, "even if he bore some blame for lax supervision, was entirely excusable as he was framed by treacherous villains." He further blasted Wu Youwei for indulging his subordinates to "submit slanderous advice to the Emperor and hoodwink the imperial ear," warning that "if this trend is allowed to continue, it will inevitably shake the foundational roots of the state."

When this memorial was submitted to the Grand Secretariat, Zheng Baiyuan—who enjoyed a close friendship with Grand Secretary Li Yong and had served in the Censorate for many years—pulled strings up and down. Instantly, the political winds in the imperial court shifted, and voices speaking up to clear Song Ke's name began to emerge one after another.

Although the Emperor was displeased that someone had moved so swiftly to overturn the verdict for Song Ke, the ironclad evidence left him with no choice. Declaring himself "vexed at having been hoodwinked by petty men," he bestowed some imperial items upon Song Ke as consolation, demoted Wu Youwei's official rank, and sentenced both Wu Liang and Li Jia to twenty heavy bamboo strokes each. However, because the Emperor was ultimately annoyed with Yan Liwen for publicly undermining his dignity, he stripped Yan Liwen of his post in the Censorate and banished him to a remote, impoverished backwater to serve as a lowly magistrate. Poor Yan Liwen had been basking in self-congratulation for speaking out righteously to save another's reputation, never expecting to tumble headfirst into such a disaster. Zheng Baiyuan had treated Yan Liwen as nothing more than a pawn to be used, caring nothing for his fate. And so, this long-raging storm finally subsided.