novelSusiti Chapter 14 Breaking the Stalemate with Sincerity, A New Beginning
Chapter 14 Breaking the Stalemate with Sincerity, A New Beginning
Yang Jian leaned back slightly on the dragon throne, a hint of surprise and amusement flashing in his eyes: "Then tell me, what crime have you committed? If you can't give a clear answer, that's deceiving the emperor, and the crime of deceiving the emperor is not as simple as a few strokes of the cane!"
Yang Yan took a deep breath.
This is the last round, all in!
"Your grandson has committed three crimes, which I must confess to His Majesty today!"
Yang Yan straightened up, his face ashen from the excruciating pain, but his eyes stared directly at the emperor high above him.
"The first crime is violating ancestral rules and treating national laws like a joke!"
"According to the laws of the Great Sui Dynasty, members of the imperial clan must be recommended by the Imperial Clan Court and personally selected by His Majesty to enter officialdom or take the imperial examinations. As the eldest grandson of the emperor, I knowingly violated this rule by anonymously sneaking into the examination hall. This is an overstepping of the bounds! This is leading the charge in undermining the ironclad rules of the imperial examination system that my grandfather painstakingly established! This is the first crime!"
Yang Jian gave a light snort, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
We've already covered that point. If we only talk about that, this kid will get another beating.
Yang Yan did not pause, his tone suddenly changing to one of deep sorrow and self-reproach: "My second crime is deceiving the emperor and father, using trust and righteousness to pursue personal gain!"
"My grandson spoke eloquently in his examination paper about how a ruler cannot stand without integrity, constantly proclaiming that the court must be trustworthy to the people. But what is the reality? My grandson didn't participate in the imperial examination on a whim; he calculated that with his knowledge, that paper would surely reach the Emperor!"
Yang Yan smiled bitterly, pointing to himself: "I know that Father has fallen out of favor and the Eastern Palace is in grave danger, with Yang Su, Yuwen Shu, and others eyeing him covetously. I intend to use the 'wise strategies for governing the country' in that scroll as bait to attract the attention of my grandfather and fight for a glimmer of hope for Father!"
"The grandson has used his father's thirst for talent as a bargaining chip; he has used the principles of 'integrity' in governing the country as a tool for currying favor!"
"This is opportunism! This is not gentlemanly conduct! It is the greatest desecration of the word 'trust'! This crime deserves severe punishment!"
Upon hearing these words, the air in the hall seemed to freeze.
Dugu Jialuo, who had been leaning against the cushion, involuntarily sat up straight.
The indifference that had been in her phoenix eyes vanished, replaced by an emotion called "being moved".
In this court where all the officials wear masks, who doesn't hide their selfish motives beneath eloquent pronouncements of "serving the country and the people"?
But this sixteen-year-old boy in front of them actually tore off that fig leaf and laid bare the darkest and most utilitarian side of his heart for them to see.
This kind of "sincerity" is more moving than any fancy explanation.
Yang Jian's expression changed. The suspicion and contempt that had been in his cloudy old eyes were gradually fading away.
He looked at Yang Yan and seemed to see, through the young man, his younger self, struggling to survive in the chaos of war for his family, and having to be shrewd and calculating.
Yang Jian leaned back slightly on the dragon throne, his upper body shrouded in shadow where the candlelight couldn't reach, only his eyes staring down like cold stars.
"Go on," he said, his voice deepening and losing some of its coldness.
Yang Yan felt the wound on his back burst open again due to the excitement, and warm, sticky liquid clung to his skin.
But he was completely unaware of it, his voice choked with emotion, yet every word was clear: "The third sin is a narrow-mindedness, prioritizing personal favors over the greater good!"
He kowtowed again, his forehead striking the gold brick heavily with a dull thud.
"Your grandson only saw the safety of the Crown Prince's palace and the predicament of his father, but forgot that your grandfather carried the entire Sui Dynasty on his shoulders!"
"What the Emperor's grandfather wanted was a trustworthy, reliable, and dependable bulwark for the imperial family, not a grandson who only knew how to play tricks and scheme! As the eldest grandson of the imperial family, he only cared about his own little corner of the world and failed to understand the immense burden the Emperor's grandfather bore in balancing the court and governing the country!"
"My grandson wrote in his scroll that one needs a long-term vision, yet he himself is a complete shortsighted fool! He forgot... that one must first be a subject of the Sui Dynasty, and then a descendant of the Yang family!"
Dugu Jialuo, who had been observing quietly, unconsciously clenched her well-maintained fingers around her sleeve.
Yang Jian remained silent for a long time, looking at the thin but upright figure on the ground, and the last trace of doubt in his heart vanished.
By the end, Yang Yan's voice was trembling with tears.
But this is by no means a cowardly cry; rather, it is a painful remorse after a sudden realization.
Yang Yan knew very well that this argument had a tight logical loop: first, admitting to "crimes against the law," which was the foundation; then, admitting to "crimes against morality," which was to echo the core of the exam and establish the persona of "trustworthiness"; finally, it was elevated to "crimes against vision," which was to flatter Yang Jian and to show that he had already acquired the "imperial perspective" of looking at the world from outside the Eastern Palace.
"I only dared to admit to violating regulations before, for fear of my grandfather's wrath, and dared not openly confess my opportunistic intentions. But just now, on that torture bench, as twenty strokes of the cane struck my body, the pain was excruciating, and I suddenly had an epiphany—"
Yang Yan raised his head, his face streaked with tears, yet his eyes were clear. "If one cannot even be honest with one's sovereign and father, cannot speak freely and without reservation, and cannot even face one's own selfish desires, then no matter how many classic texts I read in my life, I am not worthy to speak of the words 'governing a country'! I am even less worthy to be the grandson of the Emperor of the Sui Dynasty!"
Yang Jian remained silent for a long time, and at that moment, his last doubt about whether the exam paper had been written by someone else completely vanished.
If one did not have genuine intentions and a broad perspective, one would never be able to utter such heartfelt words.
This kid is something else.
They possess both the means and the bottom line; they understand both power dynamics and the need for reverence.
Most importantly, everything he showed at that moment was an almost foolish "honesty" towards his emperor grandfather.
And this was precisely what Yang Jian, who suffered greatly from suspicion in his later years, could not refuse.
"call……"
Yang Jian leaned forward slightly, still maintaining his imperial dignity, but his tone had softened considerably, even carrying a hint of barely perceptible emotion: "You have been able to speak so frankly, even daring to express such 'heart-piercing' words before me, which can be considered as having some of the frankness of a man of the Yang family."
Yang Jian glanced at Dugu Jialuo beside him and saw that the Empress's eyes were also full of approval. He then turned back and pointed to Yang Yan on the ground: "Since you know your crime, then remember well the pain of these twenty strokes of the cane today! In the future, first establish the word 'trust' for me, and do not repeat it!"
After speaking, Yang Jian paused, his gaze sweeping over the crumpled examination paper on the imperial desk. He lightly tapped the tabletop twice with his fingers: "Alright, stop kneeling. Aren't you afraid of ruining your legs? Get up!"
Yang Yan clearly sensed the change in Yang Jian's tone, and the tension in his heart finally eased.
He knew that he hadn't lost the bet at all.
Yang Jian truly forgave his "methods," and he did not object to the "contents" in his exam paper.
Next came the real highlight—the audience with the emperor concerning the fate of the Sui Dynasty.
Despite the excruciating pain, Yang Yan braced himself with his hands on the ground and slowly rose to his feet. Due to blood loss and pain, he swayed slightly, but he immediately gritted his teeth and steadied himself, bowing once more to the person above him: "Thank you, Imperial Grandfather, for sparing my life; thank you, Imperial Grandmother, for protecting me."