It was late spring in Jiangnan, and everywhere, grass was growing lushly while orioles flitted through the air.
It was only the beginning of March. The snow in Chang’an had probably just melted away, yet the plants and trees in Jiangnan were already thriving. The plantains in particular, growing within the Jinling Governor’s residence, were especially flourishing this year. Through the lattice windows, one could see a refreshing expanse of green from afar.
Unfortunately, the weather this year was not very good.
Ever since spring began, Jiangnan’s rain had fallen in a steady drizzle without a break. With so much rain, moss began to grow on the walls, and the air became terribly damp, making people feel uncomfortable.
It had rained for several consecutive days. Only on this day did the skies finally clear.
Early that morning, as soon as Jun Huailang got up, Fuyi opened all his doors and windows, saying that he should let the sunshine in and dry the room out properly.
“It’s such a rare sunny day!” Fuyi said with a smile while Jun Huailang was having breakfast. “When we came here last year, I never heard that spring in Jiangnan was always this rainy. But at least the sun is finally out today. It feels much more comfortable.”
The maids and servants in the room were all delighted as well. Most of the people serving Jun Huailang had followed him from Chang’an the previous year. Chang’an was much drier—who among them had ever experienced such a damp spring?
Although Jun Huailang smiled faintly and nodded along, he was not particularly happy.
He raised his head and glanced out the window.
Most of the architecture in Jiangnan consisted of white walls and dark gray tiled roofs. The morning sun was shining brightly now, illuminating the green bamboo and plantains, the rockeries and pavilions outside. Green shadows swayed before the white walls and dark roofs, while the koi pond in the courtyard shimmered beneath the sunlight. It was a beautiful sight.
Yet Jun Huailang sighed almost imperceptibly and turned his gaze away.
He knew that Jiangnan was not normally rainy in spring. It was simply that this year’s spring rains were unusually heavy.
By summer, Jiangnan would be plagued by unrelenting downpours. The rivers would swell, flooding farmland and homes. In his previous life, it was during the summer of this very year that Jiangnan suffered devastating floods, shocking the capital. The Emperor urgently sent an imperial edict, ordering his father to accept the dangerous task of managing the disaster.
After that came the massive embezzlement of relief funds and grain, the outbreak of plague in Jiangnan, the uprising and rebellion of displaced refugees, and his father’s conviction and execution…
All of it happened that year.
Therefore, throughout this year, he had been preparing for the coming summer.
His father was the chief examiner for Jiangnan’s imperial examination this year. Since Jun Huailang was now in Jiangnan rather than the capital, he had to avoid any suspicion of impropriety and could not participate in the examinations as he had in his previous life.
But this also gave him certain conveniences. He was already eighteen, technically old enough to take the imperial examinations and enter official service. Yet now he would have to remain idle at home for another three years, leaving him with plenty of free time.
He had therefore discussed the matter with his father. Whenever he had nothing else to do, he would accompany his father to the government office and help with miscellaneous tasks. After his father agreed, Jun Huailang was able to come and go freely at the Jinling government office, gaining access to certain records and accounts. When his father went out on inspections, he could accompany him as well.
As for the officials who had come with his father—who handled transcription, who managed the accounts, and what sort of people they were—Jun Huailang had already gained a general understanding of them.
Jun Huailang knew very well that among those who had plotted against his father in his previous life, there had to be officials close to him.
His father dealt with complicated matters every day and naturally could not handle everything alone. After making decisions, he would delegate them to others for implementation. Anyone capable of implicating his father in embezzlement while leaving no obvious trace could only be one of the officials working under him.
And for someone to carry out such schemes without fear of consequences, there had to be certain officials in the capital supporting him from behind the scenes.
What Jun Huailang needed to do was find the person responsible from his father’s side, protect his father against him, and then uncover the mastermind behind him.
Jun Huailang’s gaze grew distant as his thoughts drifted away once more. Seeing that he had not touched his chopsticks for quite some time, Fuyi quickly asked, “Young Master, what are you looking at?”
Just then, a swallow chirped as it flew onto the eaves of his room.
Jun Huailang silently withdrew his gaze.
“Oh, I was looking at the swallow that flew onto the roof,” Jun Huailang said with a faint smile, picking up his chopsticks again. “If it wants to build a nest there, don’t chase it away. There has been so much rain this year. Let it have somewhere to shelter.”
Fuyi smiled and nodded. “Young Master is always so kind.”
At that moment, a young servant came running in from outside.
“Young Master, Young Master Shen has sent over an invitation asking whether you have any time today!” the servant announced.
Jun Huailang raised his head. “Liufeng? Why has he come so early? Is today a holiday from the academy?”
The servant hurriedly replied, “Young Master Shen said the academy is on break today. He’s accustomed to waking up early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so since the weather is good, he came to find you early. He wants to go out with you and have a drink.”
Jun Huailang could not help laughing. “No wonder he’s so eager. It turns out he’s craving alcohol.”
With that, he stood up and said, “Have Liufeng wait in the front hall. I’ll be there once I’ve changed.”
The servant bowed and withdrew.
Fuyi then stepped forward to attend to Jun Huailang as he washed and changed.
Shen Liufeng was the only son of the Jinling Prefect. Strictly speaking, however, he was not the Prefect’s biological son.
The Prefect of Jinling had lost his wife at a young age and never remarried. Shen Liufeng was the only son of his late elder brother, so the Prefect had registered him under his own name and raised him as his biological child. Now nearly twenty, Shen Liufeng was studying at Linjiang Academy in Jinling.
When Jun Huailang had befriended Shen Liufeng the previous year, he had initially done so with ulterior motives. When they had first arrived in Jinling, Jun Huailang had intended to investigate the local officials. But because of the difference in their ranks and generations, he had decided to begin by making contact with the children of Jinling’s prominent families.
Unexpectedly, the two of them turned out to get along exceptionally well. Before long, they had genuinely become friends.
Once Jun Huailang had finished getting ready, he made his way to the front hall of the Governor’s residence. From a distance, he could already see the person seated inside.
The young man was tall and striking, with an air of elegant refinement. Sitting in a chair in the hall, he was lazily studying the calligraphy and paintings on the walls. When he saw Jun Huailang arrive, he stood up, snapped open his folding fan, and began waving it leisurely.
A pair of slightly upturned fox eyes rested on his sharply defined face, giving him the dashing, rakish appearance of a wealthy young master.
When they had first met, Jun Huailang had seen his silk robes and embroidered finery, the precious jade hanging from his waist, and even the folding fan in his hand—a valuable antique made by a famous master centuries ago. He had naturally assumed Shen Liufeng was nothing more than a spoiled young heir.
Only later did he learn that Shen Liufeng’s late father had once been a famous wealthy merchant in Jiangnan, possessing an enormous fortune. After his death, all that wealth had fallen to his son. The Jinling Prefect also doted on Shen Liufeng and never allowed him to lack anything in food, clothing, or daily necessities. As a result, although Shen Liufeng looked like a carefree playboy, he was actually straightforward and innocent.
“Huailang, you certainly took your time getting up.” Shen Liufeng stood with his fan in hand and said with a smile, “With weather this good, we should hurry outside. Who knows when it might start raining again?”
Jun Huailang smiled. “It’s sunny today. Surely it won’t rain again so soon.”
As he spoke, he gestured for Shen Liufeng to leave with him.
When they reached the entrance of the front hall, Shen Liufeng still remembered to raise his hand and point his fan toward one of the paintings on the wall.
“I don’t think much of this painting,” he remarked. “It’s rather inadequate as the face of the Governor’s residence. I have several authentic works by Tang Yin at home. They would suit this place quite well. I’ll send a few over another day.”
Jun Huailang hurriedly stopped him with a laugh. “Don’t you dare. If my father finds out I’ve accepted something so valuable from you, what am I supposed to give the Prefect in return?”
Shen Liufeng muttered indignantly, “How much could those things possibly be worth? Why would you need to give anything in return?”
Jun Huailang could only smile helplessly.
Back in Chang’an, he had often heard that the merchants of Jiangnan possessed wealth beyond imagination, rich enough to say that their halls were made of white jade and their horses of gold. Now that he had seen it for himself, it seemed the rumors were indeed true.
“I don’t know much about calligraphy and painting myself. It would be a shame to have them sent here,” Jun Huailang said vaguely, brushing the matter aside as he climbed into the carriage with Shen Liufeng.
As soon as they were inside, Shen Liufeng began complaining.
“What kind of cursed weather is this? Spring has barely begun, and it already feels as though the plum rains have arrived. I swear the bones in my entire body are about to grow mold, yet I still have to go study every day.”
His words reminded Jun Huailang of something.
The place where Shen Liufeng studied was Linjiang Academy.
In his previous life, after entering the imperial court, Jun Huailang had gone to great lengths to uncover the truth behind his father’s wrongful conviction. He had obtained the records concerning the Jiangnan floods and studied them carefully.
The floods had begun at the end of May or the beginning of June. After days of relentless rain, the river had burst through its embankments, sending floodwater pouring into Jinling City. The breach had occurred precisely where Linjiang Academy stood along the river.
Linjiang Academy was one of the most prestigious academies in Jiangnan. It had stood for more than five hundred years since its establishment. Many officials in the capital had graduated from Linjiang Academy. Even Grand Tutor Jiang, the Emperor’s father-in-law and one of the most influential officials in the court, had once been a student there.
At that time, the autumn imperial examinations were only two months away. Numerous scholars from across Jiangnan had gathered around Linjiang Academy to study and prepare for the examinations. The embankment breach had come suddenly and violently, catching everyone completely off guard. Many scholars and students had drowned that day.
Thinking of this, Jun Huailang asked, “Your academy is right beside the river. When it rains and the water rises, won’t the river overflow?”
Shen Liufeng replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, “The embankment along the river is so high. How could a little rain like this possibly cause it to overflow?”
He had always been talkative. Once Jun Huailang asked the question, he continued without pause.
“That embankment was built by my uncle. It’s both high and thick. A few years ago, Jiangnan had torrential rains, and the flooding in the city was so bad that people couldn’t even travel through the streets. But the river embankment didn’t suffer the slightest damage.”
Jun Huailang froze again.
Then how, in the summer of his previous life, had the embankment been washed away?
He fell into deep thought.
By now, Jun Huailang had more or less figured out the officials and subordinates around his father. With the autumn examinations approaching, they had stopped traveling around to conduct inspections and had begun preparing the examination questions instead.
Since that was the case, he would have time to visit Linjiang Academy and take a look for himself.
In his previous life, he had thoroughly studied the matter of flood control and embankment construction. If he could discover signs of an impending breach ahead of time and inform his father, allowing the people to be evacuated in advance, then perhaps the disaster would be somewhat less severe.
Moreover, with days of continuous rain and water accumulating throughout the city, the number of people who would die when the embankment broke made an outbreak of plague extremely likely.
Lost in thought, Jun Huailang became so absorbed that he did not hear what Shen Liufeng said afterward.
It was not until Shen Liufeng called his name for the second time that he finally returned to his senses.
“What?”
Shen Liufeng repeated himself.
“I said, a few days ago my uncle mentioned that the capital is going to send another official down here to supervise this year’s autumn examinations in Jiangnan,” he said. “What exactly is there to supervise? I wonder which ministry’s official they’ll send this time…”
Jun Huailang stared at Shen Liufeng in surprise.
An official from the capital was coming to supervise?
In his previous life, he had never heard of any official from the capital coming to Jiangnan for such an inspection. When he had reviewed the records, his father had been the official in charge of all flood-control affairs in Jiangnan. There had been no higher-ranking official with greater authority involved.
…So why was there one in this life?
Jun Huailang suddenly felt tense.
If the official being sent down belonged to the faction that had framed his father, then the circumstances this summer would likely be even more dire.