Chapter 64: Government Affairs (II)

Chapter 64: Government Affairs (II)

Wen Renyue knew that the infighting and jockeying for power among the Village Elders would eventually cross the line.

But he hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

On the third day after Le Wuya received the "Umbrella of Ten Thousand People"—and the second day after Qi Wuhu had chewed him out—just as the sky was beginning to lighten, a scholar blocked the path of Wen Renyue, who was carrying his book satchel, by the stone lion at the back gate of the government office.

He called out in a hushed voice, "Hey! Ming Shouyue! Brother Shouyue!"

Wen Renyue stopped and carefully studied the man's face.

To do a good job playing the part of "Ming Xiangzhao," he had secretly committed to memory the names of all those in Nanting who might be acquainted with him, and over the past six months had matched faces to names one by one to make sure he got them right.

So he was able to call out his courtesy name without hesitation: "Zijian, what brings you here?"

Zhang Yushu was taken aback. "You still remember me?"

Wen Renyue replied, "Of course. The bond between fellow students isn't something one forgets easily."

Zhang Yushu's throat tightened, a look of shame spreading across his face.

He and Ming Xiangzhao had once studied together at the academy.

But ever since Ming Xiangzhao had been framed for rebellion and then exonerated, he had rarely returned to the academy.

He had heard that Ming Xiangzhao had won the favor of Master Wenren, who had taken him under his wing to educate him personally.

The scholars had even gotten together to gossip about it—Master Wenren had started as a Tribute Student and only made it as far as the provincial exam, with unremarkable results.

For Scholar Ming to have the Master teach him—wasn't that like playing chess with a lousy player and getting worse with every game?

Zhang Yushu never expected that after half a year, this man would no longer look down his nose at everyone. Not only did he talk like a normal human being, but he carried himself with a calm, dignified bearing.

Clearly, Master Wenren really knew what he was doing.

He was stunned for a moment before remembering why he'd come. He hemmed and hawed for a bit, then said, "Brother Shouyue, follow me..."

With that, he started to lead Wen Renyue off somewhere.

Wen Renyue furrowed his brow slightly but didn't budge. "Tell me what's going on first."

Zhang Yushu grabbed his sleeve in a panic and whispered, "There's... there's something about a rebellion!"

Wen Renyue: "..."

In the past, hearing news this big, even if he'd kept a calm face, his heart would've been racing.

But after half a year of being whipped into shape by Brother Gu, he was no longer the ignorant fool he used to be.

He said, "What happened, where, and who's involved? How did you find out, and why are you telling me?"

His expression was serious, but his tone was gentle.

Zhang Yushu fought to keep his composure and laid out the whole story for him in detail.

Near Zhang Yushu's house there was a public latrine that Village Elder Zhang Ji had built.

To draw more people in, Zhang Ji had gotten creative: he bought wordless picture books, strung them on hemp cord through nails, and hung them on the latrine walls for people to flip through.

This move definitely drew a crowd—including Zhang Yushu.

Zhang Yushu had been burning the midnight oil studying, and when he woke up that morning, he remembered the picture book he'd only gotten halfway through the night before. He figured he could take a little break while answering nature's call.

The comic he was reading was about a wandering swordsman who righted wrongs.

In the story, the swordsman worked with the court, using his incredible martial arts to get key evidence and take down a corrupt official.

After he squatted down, he casually took the picture book off the wall—only to find that on the latrine wall behind the book, someone had scrawled in crooked charcoal letters:

"The heavens have no sun or moon, worms climb the palace steps. Ever harboring thoughts of injustice, sighing as they don the yellow turbans."

This was without a doubt a treasonous poem!

Zhang Yushu felt as if he'd been scalded by fire. Without even finishing his business, he hastily fastened his trousers and tried to wipe the words off the wall with his sleeve, but they wouldn't come off. He ran out of the latrine and pounded on the door of the Village Head's house across the way to report the matter.

The Village Head had just been jolted awake when he got this terrifying news, and he was instantly as alert as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on his head.

If this poem had appeared on the main street, it would have been easier to handle.

In border regions, there were always rebels who refused to acknowledge imperial authority and spouted nonsense.

As long as it was reported promptly and the authorities cleaned it up, that would be that.

But this had appeared in a newly built latrine.

The latrine had a manager.

That made it extremely easy to assign blame!

The Village Head's opinion was that the priority was to quickly find someone to whitewash over the poem on the wall, and worry about everything else later!

Like Zhang Yushu, the Village Head didn't dare handle the matter privately, fearing repercussions, and didn't dare tell a third person. He summoned four servants and ordered them to lock the latrine door to keep anyone from entering. Then, dragging his rheumatic leg, he hurriedly mounted a donkey and rode off to Village Elder Zhang Ji's house to report the matter.

Zhang Yushu was left behind, his mind in turmoil.

He was, after all, a scholar, and he thought dazedly that surely the authorities should be informed.

Handling it privately seemed... less than honorable?

But if he were to report it directly, he didn't dare.

The latrine saw at least a hundred people pass through daily—so many hands, so much coming and going. Even if the authorities investigated, how would they even begin?

He racked his memory, but he couldn't be certain whether this poem had been there before.

He didn't even know when it had been written—how could he file a report?

As Zhang Yushu fretted, a person suddenly came to mind.

That person seemed to have... quite a bit of experience with such extraordinary matters?

At that moment, the "quite experienced" Scholar Ming had just finished listening to Zhang Yushu's account, his brow slightly furrowed.

He handed his book satchel to Zhang Yushu and said tersely, "Report it to the authorities. Use my book satchel as proof. The officer on duty at the gate this morning is He Qingsong—have him go directly to wake the Master."

Zhang Yushu hesitated, reluctant. "But I don't know..."

Wen Renyue said succinctly, "You go report it. I'll go stop them. They must not be allowed to wipe away the writing on the wall."

Zhang Yushu: "...What?"

Wen Ren shot back, "Why would a rebellious poem be written on a wall instead of in a book?"

Zhang Yushu, after getting hit with one shock after another since morning, his head was still spinning: "...Huh?"

He couldn't help but work backward from Wen Ren's line of thinking.

If the poem had been written in a book, it wouldn't be nearly this much trouble now—he could've handled it himself.

Worst case, he could just tear out the page and chuck it in the cesspit...

Zhang Yushu's head was buzzing as he stared at Wen Ren, stunned.

"Scrubbing something off a wall is way harder. Whether you dismantle it or cover it with paint, it's guaranteed to draw attention. Anyone hanging around could watch you panic and figure out from what you do whether you're gonna report it or cover it up."

Wen Ren said calmly, "If they slap you with a charge of covering up a crime, Zijian, you're not getting out of this clean either."

Zhang Yushu swallowed hard, shut his mouth, grabbed Wen Ren's book box, and bolted for the county office.

Wen Ren quickened his pace, heading for the place Zhang Yushu had described.

There was one more thing on his mind that he hadn't told Zhang Yushu:

After all, the whole cesspit project had been Brother Gu's idea.

He'd meant well, but if someone with bad intentions used that cesspit as a dumping ground for dirty business, and it came to an investigation, Brother Gu would be in deep trouble too.

After all, Brother Gu had only managed to get a foothold in Nanting County by clearing Ming Xiangzhao's name in that rebellion case.

And now this whole mess was tied to "rebellion" too.

Wen Ren flat-out refused to believe this was just a coincidence.

By the time he got there, two guys were already at the cesspit.

One was unlocking the door, the other was holding a paint bucket and looking around all jittery.

Wen Ren figured these were the guys Zhang Ji had sent to cover things up.

The two were already on edge, so when they saw Wen Ren wandering over like he had no idea what was going on, they weren't exactly welcoming.

One of them growled, "This cesspit's closed! Go somewhere else!"

Wen Ren blinked, said "Oh" all meek, and turned to walk away.

But he didn't go far—he ducked into an alley and peeked back.

Once the door was opened and the two went in, two big burly guys immediately followed them inside—they'd clearly been staking the place out.

Pretty soon, shouting started coming from inside the cesspit.

The two guys the Village Elder had sent, desperate to wipe the wall clean, found themselves cornered by the pair who'd followed them in.

They got pissed and tried to chase them off.

The other two naturally weren't having any of it.

As the argument got louder, Wen Ren came out of hiding, snapped off a branch as thick as a wrist from a roadside tree, walked up to the door, and slammed it shut—bolting all four of them inside.

The two guys trying to destroy the evidence: "..."

The two guys trying to catch them in the act: "..."

Before the Village Head left, he'd told four servants to keep watch nearby and to stay out of it as much as they could.

When they saw the Village Elder's men go in, the servants breathed a sigh of relief.

When they saw two more guys follow them in, that relief got stuck in their throats.

Then a third guy, some bookish type, suddenly popped out and bolted the door. Now they were really choking on their breath. Sensing trouble, they each grabbed a shoulder pole and edged forward nervously.

Wen Ren saw three or four guys closing in on him and sighed. "Look, folks, don't bother. I've already called the authorities—they're on their way. You don't need to..."

The moment they heard "authorities," the servants' faces went red.

If he wasn't up to something, why would he drag the officials into this?

The guy in front suddenly swung his pole right at Wen Ren's face!

...

The four guys in the cesspit had all come with their own shady agendas, and now they were trapped by some third party out of nowhere. Panic hit them—they figured they'd walked into a trap, and all they wanted was to get out.

That flimsy wooden door didn't stand a chance against four guys working together.

When it burst open, what they saw stunned them.

Bodies were scattered all over the ground.

The only one still standing was Wen Ren, holding a shoulder pole he'd grabbed off someone. He looked at the four guys glaring at him, sighed, and said, "...Come on, stop fighting."

...

By the time He Qingsong came rushing over with his men, half the neighborhood had been woken up and were craning their necks to gawk at the mess in front of the cesspit.

And that usually polite Scholar Ming had one foot on a half-dead guy and was using his pole to pin another against the wall, completely ignoring the guy's begging and cursing.

When Wen Ren saw He Qingsong standing there dumbfounded, he—who'd been feeling pretty awkward in that pose—let out a relieved breath. "Head He, you made it?"

Le Wuya popped his head out from behind He Qingsong. "Don't forget me!"

With his hands behind his back, he gave Wen Ren's handiwork a satisfied once-over, then grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "Not bad," he muttered.

Wen Ren's cheeks went a little red.

Brother Gu had him practice sparring every day. These clumsy servants probably couldn't even beat Brother Gu in his current state.

Le Wuya ordered, "Old He, send two guys in to take down that board inside."

He looked around at the people on the ground. "Cuff 'em all and haul 'em to the office."

He Qingsong barked out an order.

The constables got to work without a single wasted word.

"...Trying to hurt people again." Le Wuya rubbed his thumb across his lips. "Hurting people's no good—blood's gonna be spilled."