#and his first thoughts upon waking up are WHERE IS ZHENG BEI

[twofunerals]

THE FIRST SHOT (2024) 雪迷宫 "Police Beauty, your joke is too much."

[minmotl]

Chapter 7: Tang Fan is Attacked and Saved by Sui Zhou

Context: Tang Fan is investigating the death of Zheng Qi, and has just started working together with a Sui Zhou who thinks Tang Fan is a good-for-nothing official and refuses to cooperate with him.

Introduction Post | Masterpost

—

Highlights under the cut

It is difficult to explain a person’s sixth sense and intuition as it is oftentimes indescribable. Just earlier, Tang Fan’s entire body felt a little uncomfortable and immediately after, his sixth sense was proven accurate. Danger befalls him, and from the strength used around his neck, his assailant clearly wants him dead!

His eyes widen, and all he can see before him is a white blur shadow. Even though his assailant is so close to him, Tang Fan cannot even see what the person looks like because a white mask has been worn over it.

Along with the intense pain around his neck, melancholic, ghostly and resenting wails sound next to his ears. It stops for a moment, then continues again, as if someone is calling out for spirits, but the noise is muffled and unclear and all he can vaguely hear are words such as “wronged, vengeful spirit” and “fox deity”.

Tang Fan grew up reading books written by extraordinary and noble academics and has great respect for both spirits and the gods, but in his situation at present, the thought that surfaces in his mind is that this is a ruse!

Regardless if his assailant is a real spirit or a fake one, the person came prepared and is using an immense amount of strength. Tang Fan, on the other hand, was ambushed without warning and had no time to protect himself, so it does not take long for him to be choked until he can barely breathe.

In the span of a few breaths and futile struggles, Tang Fan seems to be on the verge of passing out.

Right at this moment, the sound of a blade being unsheathed cuts through the air!

The pressure on Tang Fan’s neck loosens and with one hand, he reaches out to support himself on the surface of a wall, and the other touches at the injured area where he was choked. He cannot help but fall into an intense coughing fit.

The white shadow seems to float unrealistically before him, but then it begins to fight with another black shadow.

Someone grabs at Tang Fan’s arm, pulling him up.

“Tang-daren is so quick-witted and speaks so glibly, but how are your physical skills so inadequate?”

Tang Fan raises his eyes and upon closer look, oh, this is someone he knows! Isn’t this the Embroidered Uniform Guard from the Northern Administrative Court he met two days ago at Hui Chun Tang, Sui Zhou?

Sui Zhou’s tone is just like his personality, icy cold and void of emotions, but Tang Fan still manages to hear an undercurrent of mockery from this cold question, and cannot help but laugh bitterly.

Sui Zhou does not think much of him, and Tang Fan knows it’s not just because of the case with Marquis Wu. The Embroidered Uniform Guards have never seen eye to eye with Shun Tian Prefecture, and this history can be traced back to the guards’ profession and abilities. In any case, the grudge was sown a long time ago and is a long story to delve into, so there’s no need to elaborate on it either.

Tang Fan coughs a few more times and doesn’t have any time to refute the man. With a hoarse voice, he asks, “Who is he, and why did he attack me? Why did Sui-daren turn up here as well?”

Sui Zhou coldly responds, “These are just the remains of the ‘Demonic Fox Case’, just some people trying to deceive others.”

As he’s talking, the person in white is caught and restrained by one of the guards under Sui Zhou, and he picks off the assailant’s mask as well, revealing a normal but panicked face. Illuminated by the lantern, Tang Fan notices that on the white mask, a faint lotus has been drawn in the position between the brows.

“The White Lotus Sect?” he freezes, then connecting what Sui Zhou just said, he quickly reacts again, “Don’t tell me that the ‘Demonic Fox Case’ from two years ago is connected to the White Lotus Sect?”

“Tang-daren has seen the crest of the White Lotus Sect?”

“Yes, when I was younger and travelling as I studied, I passed by Qin Zhou, and chanced upon a court arrest for a disciple of the White Lotus Sect. He had this crest of his body that matches the one this mask exactly. But why would a White Lotus Sect disciple want to attack me?”

Sui Zhou does not speak, but the guard standing next to him who’s holding the lantern replies, “Since the end of the ‘Demonic Fox Case’, Li Zi Long’s followers who believe in his teachings have been creating trouble everywhere. Recently, they’ve been targeting scholars and scheming to spread rumours and create chaos with the help of prophecies, following int Li Zi Long’s footsteps. Last month, a scholar who did not succeed at the imperial examinations was returning home late at night after getting drunk and was almost killed by this bunch of people. It is likely Tang-daren became a target of theirs because you are not wearing your court robes today. In the future, it is best not to come out so late at night.”

Tang Fan smiled at him, “Thank you for informing…”

Although he was not choked for a long period of time, due to the excessive force the assailant used on him, Tang Fan’s throat is currently hurting and even speaking is a challenge for him.

Seeing that he is alright, Sui Zhou gestures to his subordinate to bring the White Lotus Sect disciple along. He turns around to leave.

Uncaring of the pain in his throat, Tang Fan quickly calls him, “Sui-zongqi please wait a moment!”

Sui Zhou turns back coldly and asks, “Tang-daren should go back and rest, what else do you want?”

“Marquis Wu’s case, I will have to ask Sui-zongqi to reconsider. The both of us working together can only bring double the benefits!”

Sui Zhou remains unmoved, “What benefits are there?”

Tang Fan coughs, “The Northern Administrative Court has Zheng Cheng’s body, and I know what went wrong with the medicinal pills that Zheng Cheng ate before he died!”

Sui Zhou finally turns around fully.

With his hoarse voice, Tang Fan continues, “The ingredients used to create the pill is indeed based on the list of ingredients for the aphrodisiac, and I found an expert who managed to recreate the pill with all of its ingredients. There is something strange about this, and if Sui-zongqi is willing to cooperate, I am willing to reveal everything I know.”

Sui Zhou stares at him for a moment, before finally saying, “I will find you tomorrow.”

Seeing that there is hope for cooperation, Tang Fan heaves a sigh of relief.”

“It is a rest day tomorrow, you should just come straight to my house. Cheng Bei Ding Fu street, the first house inside Liu Ye Hu Tong.”

Sui Zhou nods his head slightly, turning around to leave. He really treasures words like he would gold, unwilling to say even more than is required.

Watching as these figures meld into the darkness, Tang Fan shakes his head and touching his throat, he laughs wistfully and wonders if it is even possible for him to speak tomorrow?

As if to prove his concerns correct, when he wakes the next day, Tang Fan’s throat hurts even worse than it did the night before. Looking at his own reflection in the bronze mirror, he can still see the green and purple choking marks on his neck and each press of his fingers make it hurt.

As he made an appointment with Sui Zhou, Tang Fan does not leave the house to buy medicine. Instead, he cooks himself some porridge and eats it together with pickled vegetables, the meal fresh and delicious.

Since Tang Fan became an official in Jing city, he rented this little house enough for one person and with a single door on Ding Fu street. This house was originally next to the Li family’s, but a Li ancestor was a servant to the royal family and managed to buy this large house in Liu Ye Hu Tong. In the end, word has it that in one of the smaller parts of the house, a Li family concubine hung herself and the master of the house felt that it was inauspicious, and so he built up more walls to separate the house and this smaller part of the house alone was set for rent. Because it is an ‘inauspicious house’ and doesn’t feature much space, the price was cheap, so Tang Fan ended up renting it.

It is well known that living in Jing city is difficult, and even on Ding Fu street, a majority of the people living here are high-ranking officials, so the houses here become even more expensive. If it wasn’t for the history of the house, Tang Fan might never have been able to afford the rent.

***

Tang Fan smiles, and gestures to welcome Sui Zhou.

Sui Zhou steps into the house.

“If Tang-daren truly has any clues on hand, please do let me know directly. If it is of use, I will naturally reconsider cooperating,” Sui Zhou gets to the point directly and skipping past all pleasantries, settling on a stone seat in the courtyard.

Tang Fan sets aside the basket of fresh fruits brought over by Ah Xia, filled with yellow pears. If placed together with sugar cubes and steamed slowly, it gets rid of heatiness in the body and moisturizes his throat, which would be perfect for his current condition.

“After shopkeeper Liu and the other two people from Hui Chun Tang were taken to the North Administrative Court, did they say anything?” Tang Fan’s voice is almost gone and he has to pause after he says each word, the speed of his speech slow.

Sui Zhou does not hide it from him and says, “After interrogation, we found that they have nothing to do with the case and have since been released.”

Tang Fan takes out a piece of paper and places it on the stone table, “The aphrodisiac that Zheng Chen consumed before his death, I have looked through some old records and finally found the source of the prescription.”

Sui Zhou picks up the paper and sees two listed lines of medicinal herbs, with many repeated names. He doesn’t understand what he’s seeing and lifts his eyes from the paper to look at Tang Fan.

Tang Fan explains, “The line at the top, is the prescription for the aphrodisiac and is the same as the one that Zheng Cheng’s male servant passed to me. And the line underneath, those are the herbs that I asked someone to analyse from the pill. Sui-zongqi please look, what is the difference between both?”

Sui Zhou recalls what Tang Fan said earlier, and even though there is no prescription for it, there are plenty of skilled doctors in the world who can trace the origins of a pill just by smell and other factors, finding all the herbs used. Upon closer look, he realizes that the line below has one additional herb that the top line does not have.

“Bupleurum chinense?”

===

Notes:

*圣贤 sheng xian

According to Confucian teachings, the realm of the living is split into the saints 圣人 (sheng ren), the nobles/sages 贤人 (xian ren), the gentlemen 君子 (jun zi), the scholars 士人 (shi ren), and the commoners 庸人 (yong ren). When they use 圣贤 (sheng xian) together they mean that this person is a noble person of morals, who is highly intelligent. According to Baidu Encyclopedia, people who are referred to as this are “considered to have contributed to the history and society of Confucian life values”. 

*装神弄鬼 zhuang shen nong gui

Literally this means to ‘play god and conjure ghosts’, and used to describe someone intentionally playing tricks to deceive someone else.

*身手 shen shou

Literally it means body and hand and is used to describe physical skills, especially martial arts. If you say someone has good (hao) shen shou, it means they are fairly skilled in fighting.

*北镇抚司 bei zhen fu si - Northern Administrative Court

This is the organization that the Embroidered Uniform Guards 锦衣卫 (jing yi wei) belong to, and they are primarily in charge of the imperial prison. They are authorized to make arrests, interrogate, torture and execute suspects, and they don’t have to go through the usual process that other departments have to. They’re known for having a variety of torture methods and in cases where there is a big investigative case, it is possible for the cases to bypass the legal and law enforcement department 刑部 (xing bu) and go straight to the Northern Administrative Court. During the Cheng Hua years, the Northern Administrative Court reported directly to the emperor, and not even the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s Commander could interfere in this process.

Translated as Northern Administrative Court as per iQiyi’s English subtitles.

*总旗 zong qi

There are four ranks within the Embroidered Uniform Guards - 千户 (qian hu)、百户 (bai hu)、总旗 (zong qi)、小旗 (xiao qi) arranged highest to smallest rank, aside from the Commander 统领官 (zong ling guan).

*谶言 chen yan

Prophecies or signs that are usually interpreted by shamans or alchemist.

*富阳春 fu yang chun

A well-known aphrodisiac in those times. Fu means rich or abundant, yang means positive energy and in feng shui, yin and yang - yin is usually used to represent female energy while yang for male energy, and lastly, chun means youth.

*唐大人 tang da ren

Tang is Tang Fan’s surname, followed by da ren as in Lord. It literally translates to ‘big person’ but it’s general term that most officials use regardless of their ranks i.e. for most civilians, when they see Tang Fan (who’s a sixth rank official in the beginning and then a third rank official later in the novel) or Sui Zhou (who gets promoted up to qian hu and then vice-commander later) it’s alright for civilians especially to simply address them as da ren rather than their formal titles/ranks.

*回春堂 hui chun tang

The name of the medicine hall involved in the first case. Hui Chun in general means to ‘return to spring or youth’ and Tang means hall.

*京城 jing cheng

Cheng means city, and in this case jing cheng is actually today’s Beijing, and is noted as China’s capital city where the Emperor and most royals reside in.

*柴胡 chai hu

A fennel-like plant. You can see how it looks like on wikipedia here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupleurum_chinense