The Cold Minister and the Substitute Bride novel · Chapter 19 of 24
Chapter 19: The Eve
On the last evening before the hearing, Biyan sat at her desk with a fresh sheet of paper and wrote for an hour.
Zhiruo watched from the window seat with a cup of tea going cold in her hands.
The brush moved with no hesitation.
When it stopped, Biyan sanded the ink, folded the sheet in three, and set it in front of her.
"My resignation," she said. "Addressed to the Emperor. I will present it at the hall before the Censor can read his memorial."
"You are giving him the post."
"I am giving the Emperor an easy way out." Her voice was calm and exact. "If I resign, the court need not rule on a woman holding the office. The Censor loses his proof, and the house is not searched again. I keep my name out of the record."
"And you keep nothing."
"I keep Qin and Granny Mo and the others. I keep you." Biyan's mouth tightened. "I will buy a small house outside the city. I will teach."
"You will be miserable."
"I will be alive and free of the register."
Zhiruo put the cup down.
She crossed the room, took the folded sheet off the desk, and tore it in half.
She tore it in half again.
Biyan stood up.
"That was a clean copy."
"You have a hundred clean copies. Write another and I'll tear that, too." Zhiruo let the scraps fall onto the desk like snow. "You are not leaving to protect anyone. You are leaving it because you are tired, and because you think you do not deserve it." She stepped close. "You took that exam at seventeen with your brother's name. You came first. Was that a lie?"
"It was true."
"Then it is yours. It was never his name that did the work."
Biyan looked down at the scraps on the desk.
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