Chapter 61 Sexual Orientation

"This official has already had Lady Xu's seal investigated; it is indeed Yue Ming without a doubt, so stop making a scene!" the magistrate rebuked.

"Impossible! Impossible!" the man muttered with his head lowered, his expression suddenly brightening. "Your Honor, I have evidence!"

Frowning with doubt, the magistrate wondered what evidence could possibly exist now that her identity as a woman had already been verified.

The man hurriedly pulled several envelopes from his bosom. "These are the letters exchanged between her and that wretched woman. The handwriting on them is identical to the script in her popular romance scripts. Perhaps she has a penchant for mirror-grinding and knew it was shameful, so she specially lured and deceived respectable women, even using her female identity to escape detection."

Xu Chengyue's eyelid twitched. She did not know whether to call him bold or utterly absurd; to frame and bite at her, he had even dragged up a predilection for female-same-sex relations. It was rare for his mind to be so sharp that he could devise such a devious angle.

Whether she had a penchant for mirror-grinding or not, wouldn't she know best herself?!

The handwriting in those romance scripts was not traced from her own penmanship at all; Lü Hongzhuo had specifically sought out someone skilled in calligraphy to write them.

As for the reason—heh, forgive Xu Chengyue for not wanting to voice it out and bring humiliation upon herself.

She watched with poised composure to see what kind of chaos this man could still stir up. Daring to lie before the court, she had to admit his psychological fortitude was quite formidable.

Hearing that his words made sense, the magistrate ordered the letters he presented to be brought forward.

Examining the handwriting on the letters and comparing it with the romance scripts, the magistrate saw they were indeed identical down to the very writing habits, without the slightest discrepancy.

Furthermore, in these letters, Yue Ming never stated that she was a woman, which aligned with the man's claim about her feigning gender.

Could this woman truly have a penchant for mirror-grinding?

Pondering carefully, the magistrate found no logical loopholes in the claim. He silently marveled at how truly bizarre it was; he had only ever heard of such things before, but today was his first time witnessing it.

His inner scale tipped toward the other side.

"You there on the courtroom floor, Yue Ming, quickly confess to the crimes you have committed. Deceiving imperial officials is a grave offense! Look at these letters yourself—are they not written by you?"

Xu Chengyue picked up the letters thrown down by the magistrate, took them up, and flipped through them one by one. The handwriting on those letters was indeed identical to the script of her romance tales.

Among them were also mixed a few letters written by a woman.

Seeing the handwriting and the phrasing, Xu Chengyue understood in an instant. So it was her.

"May Your Honor be enlightened, the characters in those romance scripts were written by someone else hired for the task; they are not the defendant's own handwriting."

"Nonsense! Since you can write romance scripts, you must have studied books for many years. Since you can write, why did you have someone else ghostwrite for you?" the magistrate asked suspiciously, finding suspicion in her every move.

It was no wonder he thought this way; anyone who had studied books for many years would have decent handwriting, because the very first threshold of the imperial examinations was calligraphy.

As the saying went, handwriting reflected the person. If one's calligraphy was ugly, the examiners might not even bother to look, rendering no matter how well-written an essay entirely wasted.

Therefore, people essentially defaulted to the assumption that scholars all wrote fine hands, while the magistrate had subconsciously overlooked the fact that Xu Chengyue was a woman and had no need to take the imperial examinations.

Xu Chengyue was utterly speechless. Did they really expect her to expose her own shortcomings?

Fine! Whatever; wasn't it just having ugly handwriting?

"If Your Honor does not believe me, this commoner can write some characters on the spot for you to see."

The magistrate agreed to this proposal and ordered writing brushes and ink to be brought forward.

Xu Chengyue picked up the brush, dashed off a few characters in a couple of strokes, and handed them to the bailiff to present.

Taking the piece of paper and glancing at the characters upon it, the magistrate instantly twitched the corner of her mouth.

No wonder her romance scripts were written by a ghostwriter; this handwriting was truly too slovenly. Considering she was a book author, couldn't she practice her penmanship a little?

Using someone else's calligraphy, wasn't she afraid someone else would impersonate her identity to build a reputation?

The truth having come to light, the magistrate felt she had settled this case very clearly; it must have been a false accusation by the man. She therefore rebuked him, "You scoundrel, to actually forge letters to deceive the official yamen—you truly have the audacity of a bear and a leopard. Guards! Give him twenty heavy blows with the paddle to serve as a warning to others."

Logically speaking, corporal punishment could not be administered without a conviction, but now that the truth was clear, they had to give him a taste of punishment. Otherwise, if anyone could forge evidence and frame others at will, the yamen's business would never end.

"Your Honor, have mercy! This humble person did not deceive you, nor were those letters forged by me. They were obtained from this wretched woman, and this humble person knew nothing of it!" Seeing himself about to be dragged away for the paddle, the man panicked.

Had he known, he wouldn't have come here; he should have just driven this wretched woman out of the house.

When he first saw the letters detailing her illicit affair, his initial reaction had been furious rage, followed by the desire to kick her out. However, upon discovering that her clandestine lover was none other than Yue Ming—the wildly popular author whose books were selling out everywhere in Luoyang City—his mind shifted, and he decided to make a grand scene of reporting "him" to the yamen to extort a sum of money.

Who could have known that Yue Ming turned out to be a woman? The letters, from goodness knows where, had only brought disaster upon himself.

It was all this wretched woman's fault. The man regretted his actions bitterly, his hatred for her growing even deeper.

Hearing that there were still twists to his story, the magistrate first ordered the bailiffs to halt, then asked the woman, "Where did you get these letters?"

Doubts arose in his heart once more. Could it be as he previously suspected—that someone was exploiting Yue Ming's reputation to deceive others and commit wrongdoing?

As for why he didn't suspect the woman of forging them?

Wasn't that a joke? Forging letters brought her no benefit and could potentially invite catastrophic disaster; why would she do something so harmful and disadvantageous to herself?

Thus, the magistrate dismissed the thought entirely.

The woman, who had been staring blankly at Xu Chengyue ever since the latter appeared, finally came back to her senses. "I wrote those letters myself."

As soon as these words were uttered, like a thunderclap splitting the earth, everyone present was struck dumb.

Flying into a rage, the man completely forgot he was in a court of law and began cursing violently, "Are you wretched woman deliberately making a fool of me and trying to frame me? I treat you well with good food and drink, and this is how you repay me?"

The woman offered a mocking smile. "Treat me well? My lord, you must have reversed the words. Ever since I came to your house, I have served your parents diligently, washing clothes, cooking, making fires, and chopping wood without a single laxity in household chores. But how did you treat me?"

Finished speaking, she turned back to the magistrate. "Regarding the forgery of the letters, this commoner accepts punishment, but I have another matter to submit to Your Honor. I wish to accuse my husband, Yang Liulang. Ever since I married into his household, he has beaten and berated me at every turn. Now, with new injuries piled upon old ones, there is not a single piece of unblemished flesh on my body."

Hearing this, the man flew into such a fit of rage that he tried to kick her, but fortunately, he was blocked by the bailiffs.

The magistrate scrutinized the woman's complexion. "You look well enough to me! There are no injuries on your face either!"

The woman laughed bitterly. "He cares greatly about his reputation, knowing that beating people sounds disgraceful if spread abroad. Therefore, he always strikes me in places covered by clothing where outsiders cannot see. If Your Honor does not believe me, you may send female servants to examine me."

Ignoring the man shouting abuses such as "Your Honor must not listen to her words; that wretched woman is making trouble and slandering me," the magistrate summoned female servants and had the woman taken to the inner courtyard for an inspection.

When the two returned, the woman wore a numb expression, while the servants looked on with expressions of unbearable pity and lingering fear.

They reported the injuries they had witnessed to the magistrate. They could not understand how this man could be so cruel as to lay such heavy hands on his own wife, even injuring her most private parts...

Such a person was no better than a beast. No wonder the woman disregarded the reputation of her husband's family and accused him right here in the courtroom.

Having listened to the report, the magistrate weighed the matter in her mind. "Guards! Drag this Yang Liulang out, give him thirty heavy blows with the paddle, and after the beating, lock him away in the prison to serve a one-month sentence."

The bailiffs acknowledged the order and, ignoring Yang Liulang's pleas, dragged him away.

A moment later, his miserable screams echoed from outside.

Having dealt with Yang Liulang's affair, the magistrate finally had time to return to the earlier question. "Yang family wife, why did you forge those letters? What good did that do you?"

The woman stammered, "Answering Your Honor, this commoner does not know either. At the time, I was momentarily possessed by a whim and wrote them out. Once I came to my senses, I felt ashamed myself."

She did not know, but Xu Chengyue could guess a thing or two.

This woman was the very person who had previously written her passionate love letters. From the wording within those letters, it was evident that her mental state was already somewhat abnormal, frequently plunging her into delusions.

Perhaps, having received no reply from her for a long time, she had traced the handwriting of the romance scripts to pen those replies in order to satisfy her own fantasies.

Come to think of it, this lady was quite a talent. Without formal training, she could mimic the handwriting from the romance scripts so flawlessly that it was almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Xu Chengyue sighed inwardly.

The woman walked over to her and said in a sincere tone, "Because of my affairs, Lady Xu has suffered a grievance and been troubled to make this trip. I am truly sorry."

Xu Chengyue asked, "Why didn't you explain from the very beginning that you had forged the letters?"

Forgive Xu Chengyue for not being a saint; had she not actually been a woman, and had the writing in the romance scripts not belonged to someone else, she would likely have had no defense today and been trapped by those letters.

Filled with shame, the woman smiled bitterly. "Day after day of torment in his household, with my parents-in-law turning a blind eye and ignoring it all, the moment the letters were discovered, my heart turned to ash and I harbored the desire to die. I had planned to end my own life today, hoping only to see the esteemed master Yue Ming in the courtroom and clarify everything to everyone before the end, so that I could die without regret."

It was her own selfishness that had dragged others into trouble because of her personal affairs.

Yet she had never imagined that the esteemed master Yue Ming would turn out to be a young lady.

Of course—perhaps only in the hands of a woman could such extraordinary women as those in the books be written into existence.

She held no hope of begging for forgiveness; she merely felt that the one who did wrong should apologize to the victim, and furthermore, she truly loved those books.

Through the days of agonizing pain, the only sliver of joy and elation she possessed came entirely from the stories spun by this pen.

Roughly speaking, when had it all begun?

It seemed to start from the very first time she read in a book about Wang Lanhui being able to live a brilliant life through her own abilities and supporting her mother in seeking a divorce.

She was like a little bird imprisoned in a cage woven of thorns, its flesh mangled by barbs with no release, catching its first glimpse of how magnificent the outside world truly was.

She finally understood that women could live this way after all, and that one could still live well after a divorce.

Yet when she uttered those two words—"divorce"—she was met with yet another brutal beating from her husband. Thus, she abandoned hope and pinned all her love onto "him."

Later still, seeing General Su—who always maintained the initiative in romance—and Jiang Langjun, who loved him with pure, unadulterated sincerity, she witnessed their tangled web of love and hatred, growing even more delirious. In her reality, she imagined that she and "him" shared that very same deep love, that they had experienced soul-stirring romance, even hallucinating events that never existed at all.

"Very well, I forgive you." This reason was acceptable to Xu Chengyue, so she magnanimously chose to forgive her.

This lady probably assumed she held romantic affection for "him," which was why those words had been penned.

In her eyes, however, those were not love letters; they were cries for help.

Every single line and phrase expressed a desperate thirst for life. Those so-called expressions of love were merely emotions catalyzed by the will to survive—telling herself that someone in this world loved her and that she was worthy of being loved, thereby preserving a tiny glimmer of hope for life amidst day-after-day torment and suffering.

"Really?" the woman asked, her eyes welling with tears, caught off guard by this response.

Deeming her own crimes unforgivable, she had never expected the other party to be willing to forgive her.

Xu Chengyue nodded once more.

A bitter ache surged through the woman's heart. Raising her sleeve to cover her face, tears welled up and she wept uncontrollably, sobbing aloud.

She had not wept when beaten and scolded by her husband; from initial anguish to eventual numbness, she had simply clenched her teeth and endured.

Yet she had done wrong and harmed the person she adored, and that very person had said she was willing to forgive her.

She could not help crying.

She knew she was a good person; she had always, always known it.

Seeing her weeping so bitterly, Xu Chengyue felt a pang of sympathy, took out her own handkerchief, and handed it to it her. "Once you finish crying, it will all be behind you. You will live a much better life once you leave that scum behind."

The woman finally quieted her crying. With red-rimmed yet shining eyes, she nodded obediently and accepted the handkerchief.

Noticing the two of them chatting as if no one else was around, the magistrate coughed twice to announce her presence. "Alright, since you have reconciled, you may leave. This case is closed."

As a magistrate, she judged many cases in her daily routine, but such a bizarre and strange one was a first; it truly broadened her horizons.

Just at that moment, however, the sound of shouting drifted in from the direction of the main entrance—so loud it could be heard even within the main hall.

"My son! Why have you been beaten? It must have been that wretched woman who framed you, wasn't it? I knew it! The moment she married into our family, I could tell she was no good!" Upon hearing that her son had been beaten with the paddle, Yang's mother had rushed straight to the yamen.

"The magistrate must have been hoodwinked by her! No, I must find her and clear things up."

As Yang's mother made to storm into the main hall, the bailiffs moved swiftly to block her path.

"Good woman, you cannot barge into the court of law."

"How am I barging in? I am going to ask the magistrate to intercede—"

The two began to bicker.

Inside the main hall, upon hearing Yang's mother's voice, the woman shrank back, visibly terrified of her.

Sensing that the situation was going awry and realizing this was no permanent solution, Xu Chengyue considered the alternatives.

The Yang family would certainly never consent to a divorce. In this era, divorce was not a matter for just two individuals; it concerned two families and required the witness, signatures, and handprints of both sets of parents.

Having accused her husband in open court, if the woman were to return to their household, her fate would likely be even more wretched.

Therefore, she proposed to the magistrate, "Your Honor, since the Yang family lacks humanity and has driven matters to such extremes, and this lady is clearly suffering deeply from it, why not decree a judicial annulment?"

Unlike a standard divorce, an annulment did not require the witness of both families' parents; it merely required the ruling of the yamen.

What she said made sense, yet the magistrate hesitated.

Would casually granting a judicial annulment be somewhat inappropriate? After all, it was better to destroy ten temples than break a single marriage.

Yet, as the woman looked at her with hopeful eyes, the magistrate recalled her harrowing ordeal and felt a welling of pity. Gritting her teeth, she declared, "Very well, this official decrees your annulment."

Moments later, the bailiffs failed to hold back the old woman, who barged forcefully inside.

The moment she entered, she dropped to her knees and wailed bitterly, "Your Honor, you must have judged wrongly! How could my Liuglang ever beat his wife? He is the finest person alive; all the neighbors know it. If Your Honor doesn't believe me, you can send someone to inquire—it must be this wretched woman and her adulterer partner who conspired to frame him!"

The magistrate felt her head ache from the disruptive clamor. She had already passed judgment and inspected the scars on the woman's body; did they expect her to retract her official verdict?

She knew such women were the hardest to deal with because they clung stubbornly to their own preconceptions and refused to listen to reason.

When judicial rulings aligned with their desires, they praised the handling; when verdicts went against them, they claimed the yamen was muddled, accepted bribes, and sat idly in their posts.

"Enough! I have seen the truth clearly. Since your family is dissatisfied with this lady, I hereby decree that the two of you are annulled," the magistrate stated brooking no argument.

Yang's mother, who had been arrogant and indignant just a moment before, panicked entirely upon hearing this.

She knew what an annulment meant—it typically happened only when two households fractured so severely that the authorities forcibly severed the ties.

If an annulment were truly decreed, their family's future would be grim indeed.

Their family's reputation would be thoroughly ruined, subject to public revulsion and censure, and they might never find a new bride anywhere within a radius of ten miles.

That simply wouldn't do! Even if they cast off this current one, their Liulang still needed a new wife; how could they possibly allow him to remain alone?

"Ah? That wasn't what this commoner meant at all! We merely had a small family dispute; it hasn't reached the point of an annulment. Liuniang, tell Your Honor it isn't so, right?" Yang's mother possessed a talent for rapid changes of expression; she cringed subserviently with a flattering smile toward the magistrate, yet turned her words into threats, showing no courtesy whatsoever toward her daughter-in-law.

Intimidated by these threats, the woman actually wanted to step back in fear, but she caught the encouraging gaze of Xu Chengyue.

This stirred courage within her heart. She stepped forward and declared, "It was no minor dispute! When I cried out in agony as your Liulang beat me, neither of you ever glanced my way or asked a single question. You treated me like a beast of burden in your home—no, even worse than a beast. You cherish your family's mule more than that; you wouldn't dare beat it. I will never return to your house!"

Seeing her daughter-in-law—who had always been submissive, too terrified by beatings to speak, and utterly meek—suddenly dare to rebut her in such a tone, Yang's mother flew into a fury on the spot. She pointed right at her nose to curse her, only to abruptly remember she was not at home, but standing inside a court of law.

She managed to squeeze out a dry smile. "Between husband and wife, isn't that just how things go? To beat is to cherish, to scold is to love. Liulang beat you because he cared about you and feared you might look for someone behind his back."

Unable to listen any longer, Xu Chengyue found it an absolute mockery of reason.

"Is that how your family shows care—by beating this lady until not a single piece of flesh on her body is unblemished? If beating someone equals caring, why doesn't your Liulang give you a sound thrashing every single day? Is it because he doesn't care about you as his mother?" Xu Chengyue rebuked unceremoniously, earning an admiring glance from the woman.

Furious, Yang's mother choked out, "Who are you? This is our family's private business; what does it matter to an outsider like you? Who asked you to speak?"

"Clearly, even an outsider like me cannot stand by watching what your family does, while you, as the head of the household, play deaf and dumb and paint a false picture of peace. If this continues, would you only be satisfied once you've beaten this lady to death?"

Annoyed beyond measure, Yang's mother blurted out recklessly, "If she's beaten to death, she's beaten to death! At worst, we'll just marry another. My Liulang is a man of fine talent and appearance; he's not short of women."

Her words shocked everyone present, causing even the magistrate to draw a sharp breath.

Striking the gavel hard, the magistrate warned, "This is a court of law! Think carefully before you speak. Beating someone to death is a crime punishable by your own life."

As she spoke, she felt that her previous decision to decree an annulment had indeed been correct. How could human lives be lost under her governance—especially disgraceful tragedies where husbands beat their wives to death?

"Enough, cease this wrangling. This matter is concluded here; this official decrees that the two of you are annulled. Yang Liulang shall return—" The magistrate paused, realizing she didn't yet know the lady's surname, and looked at her inquiringly.

"This commoner's surname is Feng, and I am the second-born in my maiden family."

"Yang Liulang shall return all of Feng Erniang's dowry and provide her with sufficient living expenses for three years. Henceforth, their marriages shall be separate, and they shall have nothing more to do with one another."

With that, the magistrate prepared to write the decree, basing the judgment strictly upon the dynastic laws.

"Your Honor, please show mercy! Such a trivial matter shouldn't trouble you; we can privately discuss a peaceful divorce. Feng Erniang, how about this? Let's settle it privately, and I'll give you five years' worth of living expenses. Considering we were once a family, help this old woman out, won't you?" Panicking, Yang's mother pleaded.

Tang society still valued human sentiment, and conventional wisdom dictated that matters should not be pushed to absolute extremes. Consequently, Feng Erniang felt some hesitation; being an inner-courtyard woman with limited exposure, she lacked the experience to know how to proceed.

She turned her gaze toward Xu Chengyue, the only person present who had consistently stood on her side.

Sensing her hesitation, Xu Chengyue shook her head.

Now was the best time, while still inside the yamen, to resolve it. Once they stepped outside the gates, the Yang family would likely change their tune again, and if she went back to petition the magistrate later, the court would surely grow weary of it—by then, it would be too late. Given the Yang family's temperament, such an outcome was entirely likely.

Furthermore, from beginning to end, the magistrate had been helping her. If she suddenly reneged on her earlier resolve now, wouldn't that be tantamount to slapping the magistrate in the face? That sort of thing simply could not be done.

As for the annulment—did she really expect to maintain relations with them after a divorce? Better never to lay eyes on each other ever again.

Thus, the magistrate's decree was smoothly written out. Should Yang Liulang subsequently fail to comply with the verdict, he would face a year's penal servitude.

Yang's mother turned pale with rage, knowing full well how utterly disgraceful the situation had become.

Xu Chengyue looked on with cold sarcasm. Had she known today would end like this, she shouldn't have behaved so recklessly back then.

Because inner-courtyard women lacked information channels and lived within extremely restricted environments, they generally possessed extraordinary endurance. They would not choose divorce unless pushed to the most intolerable extremes, which in turn only emboldened the abusive behavior of their marital families.

One could only imagine just how wretchedly Feng Erniang must have lived within her maiden household to summon the courage to accuse her husband right here in open court.

Having concluded the proceedings, the magistrate announced the court adjourned, and the parties departed their separate ways.