Chapter 105 Meeting

Chapter 105: Meeting

They stayed in the village a few more days, the rain lessened, and houses were going up steadily. Song Tingzhou and all the young men of the clan purchased stone, pushed carts of loess, and each carrying an iron shovel, entered the mountains.

They repaired all the clan's ancestral graves. Song Tingzhou was the last to leave, silently kneeling before Song Youmin's grave and knocking his head several times, damp mud stuck to his forehead and hair.

Song Tingzhou said nothing. His figure, kneeling before his late father's grave, was lean and upright. His gaze was very calm, his pitch-black eyes reflecting the village surrounded by green mountains and clear waters below.

Time passed, no one knew how long. Birds flew through the forest, and the sound of branches tapping leaves seemed to awaken him. He then silently rose and walked toward the downhill path.

Someday he'll return home on a fine horse in light furs,

Honoring his father's dying wish, rising from poverty to ease his hometown's grief.

——

They brought all their household belongings. There was nothing important in the old house. Building the new house was left to Sixth Uncle Song and Second Uncle Song. Song Tingzhou took Meng Wan back to the town.

Before leaving, they cleaned up and went to visit Grandmother. Uncle Chang and Aunt Chang treated them as honored guests, eagerly inviting them into the house, no longer the same people who had once eyed the fruit bags Meng Wan carried.

Yu Geer was a few years older and knew how to speak politely. Looking at Meng Wan, his eyes were eager. He knew that his cousin-in-law now had a home in the prefectural city, while he had never even been to the county town.

Meng Wan gave a small smile and said a few words of praise to Yu Geer, but the smile didn't reach his eyes; his expression was mostly distant and polite.

Song Tingzhou bought wine and meat for Uncle Chang. Aunt Chang happily cooked a meal for them.

They had a private chat with Grandmother. Seeing that her spirits were good and her complexion fine, they could tell Aunt Chang hadn't mistreated her.

Meng Wan secretly slipped two small pouches into her hands. One pouch contained five taels of silver, to give to Aunt Chang after they left, since she was living under her daughter-in-law's roof. If she got nothing in return, Aunt Chang would turn nasty again.

The other pouch contained two taels of broken silver and a hundred copper coins. The silver was cut into four small pieces by Meng Wan, enough for the old lady to keep for herself to buy little things.

After dinner at the Changs', Xiao Liu couldn't wait any longer. They immediately checked out of their rented room and rushed toward Guqing County.

Since Guyang County was upstream, it only got hit with mountain floods and heavy rain. Guqing and Guwen got the worst of it. As they passed through Guwen County, everywhere they saw refugees with destroyed homes and fields. To keep from starving, they had to beg and wander.

People starving to death by the roadside, parents selling their children for food—such scenes were everywhere.

In the prefectural city, a servant cost ten or twenty taels of silver, but here, three cornmeal buns could buy a person. Slave traders came with handcarts to pick up people.

Some families might not be willing to sell their children, but they feared the children would starve to death if they stayed with them.

The Song carriage rolled down the road. Starving refugees, eyes red with hunger, swarmed around it, chaotically reaching out for food, only to be driven back by the escort guards.

Meng Wan saw a carriage ahead surrounded by refugees; thugs in the crowd nearly assaulted the women inside. Their escorts rushed over to rescue them, and the family was grateful. Along the way, they encountered several other carriages and wagons, and they traveled together in a group to Guqing County.

As they neared Guqing County town, the number of refugees by the roadside decreased, but the city gate was heavily guarded.

"The soldiers guarding the county gate are from the prefectural city," Meng Wan said, looking from a distance at the gate guards.

When they got married and went to Guyang, there were only two guards at the city gate. Now, at the Guqing County gate, there was an entire squad of soldiers. With such tight defenses, everyone entering or leaving the city was strictly inspected.

Song Tingzhou sent Xue Sheng to check the north gate. After a while, Xue Sheng returned and said there were even more soldiers at the north gate—over twenty men.

If so many people were stationed during the day, the night defenses were bound to be even stricter.

The three people in the carriage looked at each other. How were they going to get in this time?

Xiao Liu paused, then skillfully pried open a wooden board in the carriage compartment and pulled out a colorful bundle.

Meng Wan watched, wide-eyed, as Xiao Liu smeared and pinched and rubbed his face, transforming from an inconspicuous young man into a stern-looking woman in her forties. When he sat down in front of Song Tingzhou and Meng Wan, it was exactly like a mother, father, and child.

Meng Wan silently gave him a thumbs-up and wondered if Xiao Liu would be interested in starting a makeup tutorial business. It seemed like a very useful skill.

The bloodstains on the carriage had been washed away by rain and mud along the way. Meng Wan told the escorts to wait outside the city, and the four of them drove the carriage to the city gate.

Song Tingzhou handed over the household registration booklet. A family of three plus a servant—the soldiers carefully checked it and found it accurate. They also searched the carriage interior before letting them pass.

But that wasn't the end. There were soldiers stationed even behind the county yamen.

Xiao Liu's eyes went red with anger. "Chang Sheng, a county magistrate, has been locked up by a few soldiers?"

Meng Wan advised him to stay calm first. "Prefect Wu must have some suspicions but isn't certain that you are Magistrate Yan's man. Otherwise, it wouldn't just be confinement."

Imprisoning a government official was a bold move. Prefect Wu, having played local emperor for years, probably truly believed he was the master of Changping Prefecture.

Xiao Liu had not been caught. Prefect Wu might have several suspects. If Meng Wan's guess was correct, it wasn't just the county towns; the main roads to the capital were definitely more heavily guarded with ambushes.

After all, the entire prefectural city had five thousand garrison soldiers, plus yamen runners and helpers; more than enough to watch these crossroads.

Xue Sheng's voice was steady. "Tonight, Xiao Liu and I will sneak in." He knew his master wanted to help Xiao Liu, or rather, to help Magistrate Yan.

Xiao Liu's eyes flickered. "That works. I'll split the documents between us. Each of us will take part of the items and run in different directions. Then we'll see who gets in."

Meng Wan's face darkened, a cold look in his eyes. "This is your own affair. Why should Xue Sheng risk his neck for you?"

Xiao Liu fumed. "He's just a servant! Do you know how important what I have is?"

Meng Wan sneered. "That's none of my business. I'm just an ordinary citizen. Xue Sheng is from my household. Why should he risk his life for you for no reason?"

Xiao Liu was at a loss, his face red with anxiety. "If I go in with the documents alone, I'm extremely likely to be caught."

Xue Sheng pressed his lips together. "Master, I..."

Song Tingzhou grabbed him, his gaze calm. "Listen to Wan'er."

Meng Wan raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his face. Entering with Xue Sheng wasn't a sure thing either.

Most importantly, he didn't trust Xiao Liu. At least from what he had seen, Xiao Liu didn't value human life; he could casually wave his hand and kill anyone who displeased him. Would someone so contemptuous of life become sincere with them in just a few days?

He had said that he and Xue Sheng would each take critical documents and enter. But what if Xiao Liu gave Xue Sheng a fake copy, deliberately exposing Xue Sheng to attract attention while he safely entered on his own? How would they know?

Seeing that Meng Wan wouldn't relent, Xiao Liu had no choice. He gritted his teeth. "Fine, I'll go alone."

Meng Wan's tone was casual. "Go ahead. If you break in and get discovered, it'll be a clear announcement that the thief who stole Prefect Wu's things is Yan Changsheng's man."

Xiao Liu was frantic. "Then what do we do?"

Meng Wan's handkerchief was soaked again. He was so hot and flustered. "If we can't get in, can't we get Yan Changsheng to come out himself?"

As a county magistrate at such a critical moment, wasn't Yan Changsheng anxious?

He was probably the most anxious of all to get out.

The next morning, the complaint drum at the county yamen entrance was beaten.

Once that drum sounded, if Magistrate Yan did not come out to hear the case, he would be guilty of dereliction of duty. Who would dare stop the magistrate from receiving a case?

Yan Changsheng finally showed up, late. On the surface, his brows were tightly knit and his expression severe. But when he saw the thief Xiao Liu was playing, his eyes turned into a churning, agitated pool.

Xiao Liu knelt in the hall and shot him a look; Yan Changsheng immediately understood that the man who had reported the crime was an accomplice that Xiao Liu had brought along.

The case was quickly concluded, and Xiao Liu was taken into custody in the prison, which was located within the county offices and staffed by Yan Changsheng’s own trusted men.

After summoning the yamen runners to guard the prison entrance, Yan Changsheng finally saw Xiao Liu.

Dressed in coarse cloth, with that striking red mole concealed, Xiao Liu sat alone on the straw bed, picking at dry straw.

The prison was dim. When Yan Changsheng entered with an oil lamp, his footsteps echoing, Xiao Liu sensed him instantly and turned around with bright eyes. "Changsheng!"

Yan Changsheng looked angry. "Over the years, you only sent back a few brief messages and never returned. Since you chose to live well out there, why come back now, at such a critical moment?"

Xiao Liu first said, with a pitiful expression, "Isn’t all this for you?" Then, his eyes lighting up, he started pulling down his trousers, only for Yan Changsheng, shocked, to yank them back up.

"How can you act like this!" Yan Changsheng’s veins bulged in anger.

Xiao Liu quickly explained, "No, Changsheng, I have something good to show you."

Yan Changsheng took a deep breath and turned his head away. "I won’t look!"

Xiao Liu reached down to his thigh, deftly untied the rope strapped there, and pulled out two account books from inside his pants, saying, "These are the records of transactions between Prefect Wu and the Zhu family’s salt operation."

Yan Changsheng’s heart skipped a beat. He turned swiftly and grabbed the account books, flipping through the first few pages. Horrified, he said, "The Zhu family, as imperial merchants, dared to privately open salt wells and collude with Prefect Wu to adulterate the official salt supply with their own and sell it throughout Changping!"

The profit from salt was the greatest in the entire nation, far surpassing tea and silk. In just one year, the numbers in the account books were staggering.

Xiao Liu handed him the other book. "This was what I wanted to investigate first. Four years ago, the court distributed potato seeds to each prefecture. Other prefectures had harvests, but only Changping made slow progress. It turned out Prefect Wu was taking bribes under the pretext of the potato seeds."

At first, Prefect Wu wasn’t so bold; he only used the excuse to demand contributions from the county magistrates under him. To avoid dipping into their own pockets, the magistrates squeezed the lower levels layer by layer. Potato seeds became more expensive than gold or silver, and most of it ended up rotting in the backyards of the county offices.

Yan Changsheng, who hadn’t bribed his superior, didn’t even get the seeds.

Xiao Liu had originally entered the prefectural city to settle a score with a concubine’s son of the Zhu family, but he accidentally stumbled upon the close ties between the Zhu family and Prefect Wu. He stayed for years, nursing a grudge and hoping to help Yan Changsheng rise.

Yan Changsheng was an upright and honest official, but without connections, he could only waste his years and ambition in an obscure little county.

The prison had barely any natural light. Yan Changsheng placed the oil lamp on the table, casting a small circle of light. Holding the two account books, his shadow stretched long across the wall, flickering with the flame.

These were records written by Prefect Wu’s own hand. Even if he denied it, presenting this evidence to the King would force an investigation that Prefect Wu couldn’t survive.

Xiao Liu couldn’t help blurting out, "I’ll take you to the capital to bring charges against Prefect Wu, and accuse the Zhu family too. Let’s see them still be so arrogant!"

Yan Changsheng remained silent for a long time. Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he closed his eyes and sighed. "Tomorrow, I’ll have Little Six and the others escort you to the countryside."

"Why? I won’t go!" Xiao Liu had returned this time to protect Yan Changsheng; how could he abandon him at such a critical moment?

Yan Changsheng said sternly, "If you don’t leave, don’t come back to see me again. I’ll consider that I never saved you or raised you back then."

Xiao Liu’s voice turned sharp. "If I don’t go, what can you do? Would you dare abandon me?"

Though his voice was shrill, there was a distinctive quality to his voice when he spoke loudly, but no one was there to appreciate it now.

—

Outside Guqing County, the Song family’s carriage resumed its journey. This time, the sullen young man was gone, and Meng Wan sat talking with Song Tingzhou.

"If Yan Changsheng stays put in Guqing County, he might save his life. But if he tries to go to the capital, Prefect Wu will have an excuse to ambush and kill him, then claim he was killed by bandits while abandoning his post. He could even send troops to ‘eliminate the bandits,’ neatly silencing anyone in the know." The scar on Meng Wan’s neck had healed, the scab fallen off, leaving a faint white line that would likely fade in a few days.

But Song Tingzhou found that white line irritating. He lightly touched it with his warm hand, his voice grave. "Xiao Liu said earlier that he saw someone in Prefect Wu’s study. That person must outrank Prefect Wu by at least one level, and could even be an imperial envoy sent from above."

Meng Wan continued his thought. "If someone was sent from above, it means someone has noticed the irregularities in Changping. If the flood issue gets exposed, it can’t be covered up. Someone will come directly to arrest him. If it’s not the flood…"

"Potato seeds?"

"Possibly, but more likely the salt affair."

Jolted uncomfortably by the muddy, broken road, Meng Wan leaned against Song Tingzhou. "Yan Changsheng is a good official. This flood was severe, yet Guqing County has the fewest refugees of any county we’ve seen. If he can hold out a few more years until someone investigates Prefect Wu, he’ll get his chance."

"You’re right. I hope he can last until that day."

Song Tingzhou put one arm around Meng Wan and lifted the cloth curtain at the carriage window with the other, letting a light breeze flow in.

He looked up. Above Guqing County, thick dark clouds were gathering again. Thunder rumbled within the clouds, and the wind turned fierce.

Rain began to fall, fine and dense, not heavy at first. But for those who had endured the flood, even the smallest rain was hateful, even terrifying.