Kayla kept a polite smile on her face as the Empress Dowager reached out to take Kayla’s hand. 

The Court of Judicial Review…just setting it up will be difficult enough, much less acting as Minister. 

It wasn’t just a sign of trust to make her the Minister. Without a second thought, she could sense it doubled as a test, likely to check how ambitious Wenyuan was. Creating a new institution was the best chance to form a clique or sell favors, especially when it came to positions among the core staff, and the ball was in Kayla’s court to see if she was really going to let up a chance like this. 

“Wenyuan, I’ll be counting on you,” the Emperor said. Kayla bowed her head.

Even if she went completely by the book, Kayla doubted the Empress Dowager would be satisfied. After all, someone foolish enough to completely take their hands off a chance like this would be too stiff and morally inflexible to survive the position, but if Kayla went too far, she doubted she would enjoy the consequences. The Empress Dowager was unlikely to give a harsh punishment to her only maternal grandson, but losing the old lady’s favor when the capital was about to become a mess was the same thing as letting go of a lifeline.

Goddamnit, things just keep getting harder and harder.

“I will strive to fulfill my duties without reservation,” Kayla said respectfully, bowing her head further. 

“Good, I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” the Emperor said warmly. 

The Empress Dowager smiled affectionately at Kayla. “Wenyuan, this is not an easy task, you’ll require many capable people to help you. If there are any talented individuals you can think of, you should bring them in.”

“Thank you, grandmother. There actually was someone I had taken an interest in due to their talents, but they currently do not hold any position with the court,” Kayla said, the gears turning in her head as fast as they could.

“Who is it?” The Empress Dowager asked.

“Chen Caichun, the younger sister of Chen Jian. She gave a few suggestions regarding the handling of the investigation last time, and I was very impressed with her. Though she is a civilian and rather young, I would like to recruit her,” Kayla said.

“A girl? How old is she?” The Emperor gave Kayla a flabbergasted look.

“She’s nineteen,” Kayla replied. “She’s younger than I was when I first started out but much more talented than I was at that age. With your permission, I would make her a Ministerial Case Reviewer. Though she may be lacking in experience, she would be starting as an Eighth Rank Official so there’s a limit to the consequences of any missteps she may make, and having some fresh blood would be good as well.”

“Interesting, I remember your mother was sharp as a blade and full of energy at that age as well,” the Empress Dowager remarked. “It’s rare to hear you mention any young woman, she must be rather talented if even you have heard of her.”

Even me? What does that mean?! Wenyuan sounded rather offended.

“Since you seem to be rather invested in the idea, I’ll allow it,” the Emperor said casually. “It’s just an eighth-rank position, you should do as you wish.”

“Thank you very much!” Kayla bowed her head. 

“Do you have anyone else in mind for the core staff?” the Emperor waved off her thanks. 

Kayla hesitated for a moment, Chujiao and Boyong flashing into her mind. She quickly quashed that thought in its tracks.

“Uncle, I was hoping to draw from the ranks of the Hanlin Academy. I also thought of the Imperial Investigation Bureau, but I’m worried about a personnel shortage. I want to make sure that the institution’s personnel won’t be easily distracted from their duties,” Kayla replied carefully. 

The Hanlin Academy was where the Third Prince stationed a lot of his people due to a lack of openings in the court, but also where Lord Liang maintained strong influence and a robust network. In contrast, the Imperial Investigation Bureau was staunchly neutral and answered solely to the Emperor. Even if Kayla couldn’t think of any safe choices, offering up these two was enough to show her determination to balance out the forces in the Court of Judicial Review to remain a neutral force.

Speaking of neutral…Kayla’s mind flashed to another minor character who had briefly appeared in the novel.

“And there is also another official I would like to recommend as a member of the core staff,” Kayla quickly added. “His name is Sun Ruhui, he currently serves as a county magistrate in Rongchen county of Hunan Province. I’ve heard that he’s extremely skilled in investigations and an honest, hardworking man. They say that only a month after he started his job as a magistrate, the county became so devoid of crime that the only folks who report crimes to the county are for civil disputes.”

Ruhui had briefly appeared much later in the novel to overturn charges of treason against a minor figure called General Xiang, who had been married to the Emperor’s female cousin. Despite how little Ruhui appeared, Kayla remembered him due to the key role Ruhui had played in saving General Xiang’s only son.

“I believe I’ve heard of him,” the Emperor said thoughtfully. “Isn’t his teacher a famous Taoist?”

“That’s right, uncle. He’s the student of Du Wanfu,” Kayla replied.

“Very well, he’ll also be included,” the Emperor easily replied. Kayla bowed her head.

“Thank you, uncle.”

Two is a good number, right? The last thing Kayla wanted to do was to make them think she was trying to build a power base, but Caichun barely counted beyond the nominal ties she had to the Imperial Investigation Bureau. She glanced at the Empress Dowager and was relieved to see that the old woman didn’t seem displeased in the slightest.

“Good, then it’s settled,” the Empress Dowager said with finality. “Go back and get some rest, it’s been a busy day.”

“Indeed, it’s late now. Mother, you should rest early,” the Emperor said. “The official decree will be announced at the next convening of the court. Wenyuan, you should take the time in-between to prepare as well.”

“Understood, uncle.” Kayla bowed her head. 

“Alright, go on then,” the Emperor said. Kayla took her leave from the Emperor and Empress Dowager, her steps quickening as she left the Inner Palace. 

Okay, I think there’s no way I can get out of the capital anytime soon. To be honest, I’m not sure I had a chance to begin with. Kayla fought to keep her expression calm as she tried to process what had just happened. But if I just work with what I have, it’s only a matter of time until the Grand Duke’s crimes are exposed, especially with this investigation, the fuck do I do then?

Is that really a problem though given our current position? Wenyuan asked cautiously. I mean, if uncle and grandmother are putting you in charge of the investigations, couldn’t you just keep Consort Liu’s murder under wrap? 

You’re forgetting that Xianchun’s going to do his own investigation, Kayla warned him. If he infiltrates the Grand Duke’s household again, we won’t be so lucky.

Isn’t there some way we can make the evidence disappear?

Kayla shook her head. That case is related to a whole bunch of other cases, there’s no way I can just make it disappear with the way things are going. I really didn’t think things through with the investigation, I was just trying to distance myself from the Grand Duke, but now it’s more likely that my investigations will end up bringing the evidence into the spotlight at some point.

But grandmother and uncle didn’t even publicize anything about Liu Hongyu’s case, Wenyuan said. That means they prioritize protecting us over settling things with the court, do you think they would help us with this?

Kayla nodded to the eunuch in thanks as they approached her carriage. She got into the carriage, mulling over her options.

I don’t know. That’s the problem. It’s not like I can’t bring the evidence to the Emperor myself and hope he’ll cover it up for me, but there’s a huge risk in all this. Your uncle’s pretty committed to bringing down the Grand Duke’s faction, and the Empress Dowager has been steering things forward, so there’s not much room for impulsiveness there. But once it becomes more personal, it’s hard to say how things will go.

The more it came to his familial relations, the more capricious the Emperor tended to be. Both his first and second sons had been exiled due to personal disputes with the Emperor, rather than any actual faults or crimes. Their in-laws also faced punishments and more-or-less lost any political standing they had. The fourth prince had also been demoted to the ranks of nobility and was forcibly “adopted” into the family of the Archduke of Qi after provoking the Emperor’s rage. 

The Archduke of Qi had resided in the capital city where he served as a teacher of the Princes, but after the death of the Sixth Prince in a horse-riding accident, the Emperor had been overwhelmed with grief and blamed the incident on the Archduke. The Sixth Prince had been the only child of the Emperor’s most favored concubines from when he was still the Crown Prince, but she had passed away from disease soon after giving birth to a son. His mother’s early death also made the Sixth Prince one of the only sons that the Emperor consistently doted on, so no one dared to speak up for the Archduke except for the righteous but politically obtuse Fourth Prince. 

The Fourth Prince’s defense of his uncle and teacher infuriated the Emperor, who had the fourth prince removed from the Imperial Family’s family tree and had him listed as a son of the Archduke instead, banishing the Archduke’s entire family from the capital. Even after the Emperor’s fury abided, the fourth prince had completely lost his father’s favor, and the decision was never revoked. All the way until the fourth prince had died of illness after a long period of depression, the Emperor had refused all of his son’s letters.

When it came to his wives and concubines, the Emperor could also go from love to hate with the speed of lightning. The former Empress had also been deposed after incurring the Emperor’s wrath despite having given birth to the first and second princes. The actual reason for her deposal had been unclear, but it was likely due to the Emperor’s disputes with his in-laws, coupled with the Empress’s feuds with his various concubines. The Empress committed suicide soon after being deposed, and her sons who had never fully had the Emperor’s favor soon had falling-outs with him as well. The exile and demotion of the first prince, who had been assumed to be the heir apparent, had been the start of the turbulence in which the Grand Duke had drastically increased his power. The process was unclear in the novel, and Wenyuan also knew little about it due to his mother’s incredible overprotectiveness. 

It was an incredible feat for the Imperial Princess and Wenyuan to have avoided incurring any animosity from the Emperor at all after all the commotion that had gone down in the Imperial family. Looking back now, it was clear that the Imperial Princess had incredible political acumen and the wisdom to keep her son out of any of the familial disputes, and had astutely chosen not to engage with the court and focus on her magic research instead. The Imperial Princess evidently hadn’t expected to pass away so suddenly in her mid-thirties, or she likely would have made more preparations for her son.

With all of the late Imperial Princess’ efforts, Wenyuan had ended up the greatest beneficent of the Emperor’s family drama, but Kayla had no idea if she could maintain that. The Emperor had been deeply in love with Consort Chen and had raised her rank multiple times after Xianchun’s birth, and Kayla couldn’t tell if the Emperor’s feelings had faded over time, or if he would value his late concubine over his only remaining nephew. 

Kayla was jolted out of her thoughts by the carriage coming to a stop.

“How dare you?! This is a carriage from the Imperial Palace! Get out of the way before you lose your head!” 

Kayla frowned at the sound of the guard’s angry shouts and opened the carriage window. Her frown deepened at the sight of Qu Boyong. 

“Hold on, that’s my servant,” Kayla called to the guard. He turned towards her apologetically.

“I’m terribly sorry, my lord,” he hastily said.

“Don’t worry about it, you’re just doing your job. He’s the one who’s out of line. I’ll be sure to reprimand him properly later,” Kayla replied. “Can you let him onto the carriage for now?”

“Of course, my lord.” The guard waved gruffly for Qu Boyong to pass, who bowed his head towards Kayla before getting onto the carriage.

“Apologies for the trouble, my lord,” Qu Boyong said sheepishly. Kayla gave him a long look.

“What are you doing here?” 

I never told this guy where I was going, does he have a GPS locator or something?

“I’m very sorry, my lord. I heard you left the Zhao household in the middle of the night, but I didn’t know where you had gone,” Boyong said.

“Am I obliged to tell you where I go?” Kayla asked, her tone coming out sharper than she had intended. 

Qu Boyong gave her a wounded look. “My lord, you once ordered me not to leave my post while guarding you, even if the Imperial Guards ordered it. I didn’t know where you had gone or if you had left of your own will, so I asked the doormen. They said you left in a carriage from the Imperial Palace, but I thought it was better to be safe and headed over to check,” he explained.

Kayla sighed and hastily softened her tone. “I appreciate that,” Kayla said. “I don’t mean to reprimand you, but also, I didn’t call you because it was the middle of the night and it’s a carriage from the Emperor. How did you know I left the Zhao household? I wasn’t in the palace for that long, you would have had to hear of this pretty soon after I left.”

Kayla had a feeling Boyong wasn’t a spy from the Grand Duke, which was why she had tried to recruit him in the first place. But she couldn’t afford not to be careful either.

“I live quite close to the Grand Duke’s household,” Boyong replied. “Actually, I live right next to the household of the former General Xiang. It’s a very quiet neighborhood, and most carriages coming to and fro from the Grand Duke’s household pass through the street behind it. The more escorts there are, the more noise there tends to be. I heard several horseback escorts and thought it was strange since it was the middle of the night, so I went to check with the doormen.”

Is this guy a rabbit to have such good hearing?

It’s true that the neighborhood is super quiet though, when I was a teenager I used to go hide out there to skip lessons and it was so quiet that I could hear footsteps coming down the road.

“I see,” Kayla said. “Well, that settles it. Don’t take it to heart, I’m just cautious these days with how much is going on.”

“Of course, my lord. If I may be so rude as to ask, but did something happen for you to be called into the palace at midnight?” Qu Boyong looked genuinely worried.

“The Emperor has decided to re-institute the Court of Judicial Review with me as Minister,” Kayla replied, keeping her tone even. She felt a slight rush of confusion as Qu Boyong’s look of concern deepened. 

“Young lord, won’t things become more difficult in the household then?” Boyong asked.

“Interesting you should say that,” Kayla replied coolly, pressing down a pang of worry. She had no idea what Boyong was talking about. She raised an eyebrow at Boyong instead, secretly hoping that he would elaborate.

“I know I’m speaking out of line, but the Grand Duke had been responsible for dismantling the Court of Judicial Review at the beginning of his career. Even if that was a long time ago, now that the Emperor’s making you the new Minister, won’t the Grand Duke take it as a slap in the face? I’m worried about how he will react,” Boyong said.

Shit, I didn’t know that.

I also didn’t know that?! I never heard anything about that!

You didn’t know? He’s your grandfather!

Mother was always very careful against grandfather, and she told me not to ask about things that he didn’t tell me himself. Even father and uncle never brought this up before, and no one at court ever mentioned it.

Kayla hesitated slightly at Wenyuan’s reaction. That’s strange. There’s definitely something fishy there, especially if your mother was careful to avoid the topic, not to mention it wasn't even listed in the records that there was a Court of Judicial Review within this dynasty. But what reason could there be for even the Imperial Princess to keep her head down?

“I didn’t think that was so well-known, I had thought that not many people knew of it,” Kayla said, doing her best to hide her surprise. 

“My grandfather often told me stories about his time as an official at court when I was a child,” Boyong replied. “He only mentioned it in passing, but I still remember it clearly.”

“It seems that having a good memory runs in your family. Thank you for your concern, but I have some grasp on how to deal with this,” Kayla said, not actually having any. “But if you have any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them as well.”

“I’m afraid not, my lord,” Boyong said apologetically. 

“Well, don’t worry about it, I’ll handle anything that happens,” Kayla replied. “In either case, we’ll be busy from tomorrow on. I’ll be needing your support.”

---

Cultural Notes

Female Officials/女官: In many dynasties, there were high-ranking palace maids that were similar to ladies-in-waiting, who often served administrative and secretarial roles within the Palace. They were designated separately from court officials, all of whom were men. During the Tang Dynasty, many female officials also participated in court politics and took on official duties. This peaked during the rule of China's only female emperor, Wu Zetian. Women also served as female guards in prisons, where male and female prisoners were often kept separately. Chujiao's participation is based on the participation of female officials in politics during the Tang Dynasty, but even under Wu Zetian's reign most female officials were still designated separately from court officials, so this part is fictionalized.

大理評事/Ministerial Case Reviewer: This was a staple position within the core staff of the Court of Judicial Review, though the number of reviewers and their official rank varied. During the Tang Dynasty, there would be two eighth-rank case reviewers within the core staff.

孙如晦/Sun Ruhui: The name "Ruhui" directly translates to "like night", but stems from a line in a pre-Qin poem that reads "风雨如晦，鸡鸣不已/The wind and rain darkens the sky, the roosters crow incessantly". In the broader context of the poem, it means to hold on to one's values and dignity even in a bad environment.

县尉/County Magistrate: So this is actually a pretty low position, the equivalent of a county sheriff, more or less. It ranks below the 县丞/County Governor and is responsible for maintaining public safety and dealing with criminal cases. This was a Ninth-rank position in the Tang dynasty.

Regional Administration in Ancient China: This varies by dynasty, and in the Tang Dynasty it was broken down into the Province and County administrative districts. The province oversees the counties, and the Imperial Court oversees the provinces. Each province was overseen by a Provincial Governor.

杜万福/Du Wanfu: The name "Wanfu" means Ten thousand luck/blessings, and this person is based on actual Tang-dynasty Taoist 张万福.

容城县/Rongcheng County: This is an actual county in Hunan, and has been named Rocheng since the reign of Wu Zetian. It was formerly named Ronghua County/容华县, but it changed its name to avoid the character of 华, which was included in the name of one of Wu Zetian's ancestors. Its name was later changed back to Huarong to avoid confusion with the other Rongcheng County in the province of Hebei.

Naming Taboo/避讳: This was a cultural taboo in Ancient China where one avoided speaking or writing the given names of rulers or ancestors to show one's respect. This has been around since the pre-Qin era, and often when an Emperor took the throne, people whose names shared characters with the Emperor would be forced to change their names. Many Emperors whose names contained very commonly used characters would change their names in what was seen as an act of magnanimity to spare their people the trouble. 

Adopting out a Prince: So this was somewhat uncommon, though it was less uncommon in the opposite direction. Usually, the practice of 过继/adopting out your child was used to provide someone who did not have a son/heir/child with one, and many Emperors who didn't have sons would adopt among members of their extended family so they would have an heir. Adopting an Imperial Prince out of the Emperor's family was usually a way to remove them from competition for the throne. Though it's not concrete (from what I know), it is often believed that Tang Dynasty emperor Li Shimin had adopted out one of his sons to a member of his family, since he had 14 sons but only 13 are officially listed as his own. Some more concrete examples are from the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Yongzheng famously adopted out his son, the Third Prince, who was also the eldest surviving son, to his younger brother and political rival after the Third Prince sided with his uncle over his own father. The Third Prince passed away, depressed and disgraced before reaching thirty. Yongzheng's son Qianlong also adopted out two of his sons to his subordinates.

Archduke of Qi/齐王: This was a title used in the Tang Dynasty (but also in a few other dynasties, there are only so many cool-sounding titles you can come up with). It directly translates into King of Qi, but I've kept it as Archduke, since it's easier to understand that way. While the title was "King", they did not have sovereignty and were subjects of the Emperor, so it's more like a Duke in a Western context.

Giving face: Kayla tells the Imperial Guard that she will reprimand Qu Boyong later as a way of giving face. Face is a cultural concept that is somewhat similar to pride or dignity in the Western context, hence the terms saving face, giving face, or losing face. I wanted to point out that Kayla is actually following a cultural script in this situation where her servant caused trouble and she intervenes, but to avoid making the guards feel that they lost face, she doesn't directly order them but instead tells them she will reprimand Boyong later. Since cultural norms demand that the discipline of one's family (including one's servants) should be left to oneself, they would also be giving face by allowing Kayla to deal with it on her own terms. This kind of cultural script is also followed today, and you can see this kind of situation play out when a parent comes to apologize for their child getting in trouble, or someone senior to you in age or social hierarchy (such as your teacher or boss) stepping in for trouble you got yourself into. You also see this with pet owners as well. It's similar to another cultural script of exchanging praise for another person's child while criticizing one's own child as lacking in comparison, and they then return in kind so that both sides get complimented (since it's not humble enough to praise one's own child to another person).