Volume One, Chapter Four: Wan'er Truly Masters the Art of Brewing Tea

Although Su Chen was still grumbling to himself, he could only obediently take Shangguan Waner to brew tea.

Empress Wu Zetian, meanwhile, ground her teeth in fury, wishing she could hack Su Chen into eight pieces.

That wretched Su Chen, that bastard—how dare he slander me like this? Am I really that petty?

And when did Shangguan Waner become the foremost talented woman of the Great Gan?

Yet when she heard Su Chen’s final two lines, the empress’s mind surged like a tidal wave.

From that one remark alone, it was clear that the younger brother of Su Zhongwen was no ordinary man.

Because with that single sentence, Su Chen had laid bare every predicament the empress now faced.

The saying that “the hen crows at dawn” meant a hen crowing like a rooster, for that was work meant to be done by a rooster.

And Empress Wu Zetian, having overstepped and seized the imperial throne, was precisely such a hen crowing at dawn, and the difficulties she faced were indeed many.

Foreign barbarians, old ministers of the Zhenguan era, aristocratic clans, scholars from humble households, and members of her own Wu family—each harbored their own secret intentions. Her throne was truly anything but secure.

“What a hateful scoundrel Su Chen is. If I could not hear your thoughts, I’m afraid you really might have fooled me. Ordinary? Honest? All lies. To me, you’re nothing but a silver-tongued hypocrite, a great traitor who wears the mask of loyalty.”

The empress was seething. Su Chen clearly understood everything, and not just a little, but he still preferred to be a good-for-nothing idler whose only thought was sleep. Did he have any other ambitions at all?

Such a brilliant mind, and Su Chen that bastard simply refused to use it.

How utterly detestable.

She had never seen such wanton waste of talent.

Nor had she ever seen such a shameless man.

At this moment, the empress had never before hated anyone’s lack of ambition so deeply.

In fact, this was no longer merely a question of ambition.

He was completely, single-mindedly a good-for-nothing who lived by eating and waiting to die.

And the worst part was that he did so without committing wrongdoing or breaking the law.

One could not even seize a proper handle on him.

Fortunately, Su Chen’s thoughts ended there, because by then he had already taken Shangguan Waner away to brew tea.

In the main hall, only the empress and Su Zhongwen remained. The empress gathered herself, then asked, “Minister Su, do you know why I have come this time?”

At that, Su Zhongwen also grew solemn. Of course, another important reason was that Su Chen had gone, so there was no need to worry about offending the empress again.

He could never have imagined, however, that Su Chen had already moved beyond the question of whether he was offending the empress.

The issue was that he had left a deep imprint in her heart, one that was likely impossible to erase.

“Your Majesty’s visit must be for the Ministry of Justice’s affairs, is it not?”

Su Zhongwen said gravely.

Though he had only recently been promoted to Minister of Justice, he knew full well how severe the problems before him were.

Under the Great Gan system, the administration was divided among the Three Departments and Six Ministries. The Ministry of Justice oversaw laws and trials, but apart from it, the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate held similar responsibilities, with only slight differences in division of labor.

The Court of Judicial Review handled matters throughout the nine provinces, that is, civil affairs.

The Censorate mainly dealt with officials; its censors were the principal members, and most of the court’s great masters of invective came from there.

The Ministry of Justice, on the other hand, dealt with imperial kin and nobles. The three institutions held roughly equal authority, but each had a different emphasis. If Su Zhongwen as Minister of Justice were likened to the head of the nation’s supreme court, then the Censorate would be the procuratorate, while the Ministry of Justice would be akin to the police.

Of course, when a case was extremely重大 and especially difficult to judge, the emperor would order a joint trial by the Three Offices: the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate.

A joint trial by the Three Offices was the equivalent of the police, prosecutors, and judges working together.

“Indeed. The former Minister of Justice was indecisive in his work, leaving the ministry burdened with a mountain of backlogged cases. The people are greatly dissatisfied, and public resentment is close to boiling over. That is why I specially appointed you, Minister Su, to take this post. I hope you can be fair and stern, render just judgments, and uphold the law with mountain-like firmness.”

The empress looked at Su Zhongwen with considerable expectation.

The court situation was chaotic, but even if it was to be resolved, it had to be unraveled one thread at a time.

And the most troublesome matter before her now was the many cases piled up in the Ministry of Justice.

Most of those cases involved high ministers of the court, members of the Wu clan, or imperial relatives.

Every single one of them was extremely troublesome to handle, entangling either court officials, members of the Wu surname, or princes and princesses.

So ordinary men simply could not deal with such matters. In just one year alone, nearly a thousand cases had piled up in the Ministry of Justice, something it had never before encountered.

“Does Your Majesty truly wish for me to judge fairly and enforce the law impartially?”

Su Zhongwen said with great seriousness.

Though he had not yet truly taken office as Minister of Justice, he had already heard much about the ministry’s present straits. There were many in the court who were waiting to laugh at Su Zhongwen.

“I hope you can restore justice to the common people. I hope those four great words, ‘the bright mirror hangs high,’ are not merely decoration. More than that, I hope you can act openly and aboveboard.”

At this moment, Empress Wu Zetian spoke with great solemnity.

“I understand. However, this matter is complicated, and in handling it I may offend many people.”

Su Zhongwen said earnestly.

Though he knew how difficult the post of Minister of Justice had become, he could only press forward into the storm.

Hearing him say this, Wu Zetian immediately expressed her support.

“Minister Su, do as you please. So long as you have the law and the evidence on your side, I will fully support you.”

In the main hall, Wu Zetian and Su Zhongwen were deep in animated discussion.

Meanwhile, in the side hall, Shangguan Waner and Su Chen had each begun a very different method of “brewing” tea.

In this parallel Great Gan era, the custom of tea brewing was still quite popular, especially since Chang’an lay in the north.

In the bitter winter, a cup of steaming hot boiled tea could indeed warm one’s stomach and body.

At this moment, in the side hall, a small brazier supported a teapot, and tea broth bubbled within it.

Shangguan Waner took out a small wooden box filled with various dried seasonings—ginger, garlic, orange peel, petals, lotus seeds, everything one could ask for.

Her fingers fluttered like a dance as she scattered the ingredients from the box into the earthen pot one by one, as if sowing flowers.

No one knew how much seasoning she had added to the pot. Only after nearly all the contents of the small wooden box had been poured in did Shangguan Waner finally stop, cover the lid, and set it in place.

After all that fuss, a faint sheen of sweat had already formed on her forehead.

But when she saw Su Chen standing beside her, utterly dumbfounded, a slight curve appeared at the corner of her lips.

Hmph. See that, you bumpkin? Never seen such an expert tea-brewing method, have you?

Though Shangguan Waner looked down on Su Chen inwardly, her face remained calm as she said, “Young Master, does Waner’s tea-brewing skill meet your eye?”

Su Chen immediately gave a thumbs-up.

“Excellent. Miss Waner truly brews a fine pot of porridge... uh, I mean, a fine pot of tea!”