A Frail and Broken Body

I use my broken body as a chess piece, and all under heaven is caught in my game. [Political intrigue at court + ensemble cast struggles + spectacular twists] In the third year of Jiayou, a sickly man arrived in the capital. His name was Shen Luozhi, courtesy name Mingwei. He was twenty years old, pale, and coughed every few steps. On his first day in the capital, he listened to a storyteller in a teahouse. When he heard that the Minister of Revenue had embezzled a million taels, he laughed through a cough. “Fool. He should have taken ten million.” When he heard that the Vice Minister of War was selling official posts, he shook his head. “What an idiot. He should be selling posts in enemy territory.” Everyone who heard him thought he was insane. Three months later, the Minister of Revenue hanged himself, the Vice Minister of War was jailed, and the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet “retired due to illness.” The entire court was terrified. As everyone searched for “Mister Shen”... Shen Luozhi was hunched over in a corner of the Hanlin Academy library, coughing up blood as he sorted old records. The Grand Secretary’s son kicked his door open. “You sickly wretch, get out here!” Shen Luozhi pushed himself upright against the doorframe. A feverish flush spread across his pale face. “Young master... care for a game of chess?” “I’ll give you three moves.” “The stake is... your father’s life.” That day, the officials of the court finally learned the truth: The scholar, frail as a dying flower, wasn’t coughing up blood. He was coughing up the world.