The world of film and television begins with Hikaru no Go

Zhang Rui placed the folded paper on the corner of the table and pressed it down with his palm to prevent the edges from curling up.

"Going to Chongwen Hall today?"

"Hmm." Di Renjie stood in front of the bronze mirror, straightened his cuffs, and adjusted his turban. "We need to meet Wu Xiaojie first."

"On what grounds?"

"The Youzhou case involves the evolution of several systems, including the equal-field system, the military system, and border defense, which requires verification using old records from the Zhenguan era. It is reasonable for the head scholar of the Chongwen Academy to receive them. We will not discuss this in detail the first time; let's test the waters first."

"What about Xu Shide? Should I go over there tonight?"

Judge Di turned around: "You can look, but don't touch anything."

"clear."

Di Chun was already waiting at the door. When he saw Di Gong come out, he made half a step to move onto the carriage shaft.

Di Gong stepped onto the pedal, and Zhang Rui followed him in, landing in the same spot as before.

The small charcoal stove in the corner was still burning, and the copper kettle was bubbling away, a wisp of white steam escaping from the spout and dissipating quickly in the morning light.

The carriage rumbled out of the Di residence, crossed Zhuque Street, and headed towards the southeast corner of the imperial city.

The stone slabs on the street were bleached white by the morning light. The wheels of the car rolled over the water that had accumulated overnight, splashing up a few bits of mud that pattered onto the car floor.

Chongwen Hall is located on the east side of the Provincial Administration Office, with gray walls and black tiles, and a few clumps of withered pine trees on the top of the wall trembling in the wind.

Two cypress trees stand in front of the door, their trunks cracked, their needles still a deep, dark green, hanging motionless in mid-air.

The stone steps were washed white by the morning light, and dried moss grew in the cracks.

The gatekeeper went in to announce the arrival, and soon a thin, middle-aged official came out to greet him.

The steps were small but quick, the soles of the soap boots rustling as they scraped the ground.

"Lord Di." The middle-aged official stopped before the steps, bowed, clasped his hands, and let his robe sleeves fall below his knees. "I am Wu Xiaojie, the humble scholar who holds the position of Academician of the Chongwen Academy. I was unaware of your arrival, sir, and have failed to greet you properly."

Zhang Rui glanced at him. He was in his early fifties, not very tall, with slightly hunched shoulders. Perhaps due to years of working at a desk, he had deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, yellowish whites, and a layer of bluish-gray on his lower eyelids.

Di Renjie offered a gesture of support: "Scholar Wu, there's no need for such formalities. I've come to consult some old documents. The Youzhou case has far-reaching implications; the evolution of several systems, including the equal-field system, the military system, and the border defense system, needs to be clarified. There are a few old documents from the Zhenguan era that I need to examine."

Wu Xiaojie straightened up, stepped half a step to the side, and made way for the door.

"Please, sir. The records from the Zhenguan era are all in the East Pavilion. I will take you there now."

Chongwen Hall was very quiet. The bookshelves stretched from the floor to the ceiling beams, and rows of old scrolls were stacked on them. The pages were yellowed and the edges were frayed from being turned over.

A faint scent of camphor wood floated in the air, mixed with the aroma of old paper and stale ink.

Several clerks moved about in the corridor, their footsteps drowned out by the bookshelves, leaving only the rustling of their sleeves brushing against the scrolls.

Wu Xiaojie personally moved the ladder, took down several old files covered in a thin layer of dust from the top, wiped the dust off with his sleeve, and handed them over with both hands.

Judge Di took the dossier and began to turn the pages one by one.

In the nineteenth year of the Zhenguan era, the detailed rules for the implementation of the Equal Field System were set out in Hebei Province.

Records of the troop rotations to garrison border towns in the twenty-third year of the Zhenguan era.

As he scanned the documents one by one, Judge Di flipped through them slowly, occasionally pausing to ask a question.

Wu Xiaojie answered them one by one, and answered them fluently, which was obviously due to his years of immersion in these exam papers.

"The second year of the Chuigong era." When he turned to the third volume, Di Renjie read out the year on the paper. Then he turned his head and said, "The land equalization report of the second year of the Chuigong era doesn't seem to show any changes compared to the Zhenguan era."

Wu Xiaojie froze, and after a moment he reached out to grab the next scroll.

"The examination papers from the Chuigong era are all here, sir, please wait a moment..."

"No need," Judge Di closed the file, smiled, and said, "I'll come and bother you another day."

"I must have misread it," Judge Di smiled, closing the dossier in his hand. "Scholar Wu, you've worked hard. I'll come and bother you again another day."

Wu Xiaojie paused for a moment, looked down at the spread-out files in front of him, and did not look up again.

In the second year of the Chuigong era, the King of Yue was in Yuezhou, and the Xiangyang Conference was also held around that time. Wu Xiaojie knew better than anyone what that year meant.

Why did Judge Dee specifically mention this year?

Was it unintentional, or...?

On his way home, Di Renjie leaned against the carriage wall and closed his eyes to rest.

Zhang Rui floated in the opposite seat, and the two remained silent the entire way.

The sound of wheels rolling over the cracks in the stone slabs came in slowly and evenly.

After dark, Zhang Rui went out.

We didn't go through the main gate, nor was it necessary.

The gates of the neighborhoods on both sides of Zhuque Avenue were closed, but a few lights still shone through the paper windows in the alleys inside the neighborhoods, blurring into warm yellow hues in the night.

Occasionally, soldiers patrolling the streets would walk by carrying torches. The flames would sweep across the rammed earth walls, and the iron plates on their armor would make a soft, clinking sound with each step, getting closer and then further away.

Xu Shide's residence was located in Yanshoufang, in the northwest corner of the imperial city, separated from the Inner Guard Mansion by only two alleys.

It's a detached house with its own courtyard. In front of the door stands a crooked jujube tree, all the jujubes long gone, its bare branches swaying gently in the night breeze.

The courtyard gate was tightly closed, and the lanterns under the eaves had gone out, leaving only two burnt candle wicks hanging inside the lampshade.

Zhang Rui floated in and crossed the courtyard.

There was nothing special in the courtyard: a well, several earthenware urns stacked against the wall, and a thin layer of frost on the stone slabs.

There was no one in the main house, so Zhang Rui didn't go to the bedroom but went straight into the study.

The study was not large, about half the size of Di Renjie's study.

Several maps were hanging on the wall. One map showed the terrain of Chang'an and its surrounding areas, and another map showed a detailed map of Jiangnan Circuit.

The location of Huzhou was circled in small ink with a vermilion brush. The circle was not large, but the brushstrokes were slightly heavy, causing a slight indentation on the paper.

Several official documents lay spread out on the desk, the ink already dry, the paper curled by the heat of the lamplight.

Zhang Rui took a closer look and realized that it wasn't a cover in the style of the Inner Guard Office, but rather a draft of private correspondence.

There was a letter with messy handwriting, as if it had been started several times but never finished. Several crumpled pieces of hemp paper were lying on the corner of the desk. One of the pieces was not crumpled tightly and was half open. There was only one word written on it, which was then crossed out and smeared into a black blob.

He only recognized a few characters: "Li", "Shu", "Ji"...

The rest of the characters were too illegible to read.

A stack of letters lay on a low cabinet next to the desk, bound with hemp rope and tied with a slipknot.

Zhang Rui remembered Di Renjie's instructions: just look, don't touch.

I took a closer look at the signatures on the envelopes. Most of them were Liu Chali, and a few were drafts of replies from Xu Shide. The full name was not written at the end of the letters.

The night watchman outside the window struck the clapper three times; it was midnight.

He glanced one last time at the desk and map, memorized their locations, then drifted out of the study, crossed the courtyard, and didn't look back.

A withered branch was bent by the night wind, then bounced up, swayed, and then stopped moving.