Chapter 78: Chase (Part 2)

Chapter 78: Chase (Part 2)

Pei Mingqi carried Le Wuya on his back, darting left and right as if he had grown ten thousand eyes, as nimble as a mountain deer.

Often, before Le Wuya could even hear footsteps, Pei Mingqi would immediately change direction.

And the place he dodged to would, moments later, inevitably see a figure appear like a ghost—holding a fire starter and a woodcutter's knife, glancing around.

He was busy, but Le Wuya, for the moment, had nothing to do.

Lying on his back, Le Wuya offered a lousy suggestion: "Hey, let's run deeper into the mountains."

Pei Mingqi: "...Screw you."

Le Wuya was baffled: "Why are you cussing me out?"

Pei Mingqi, keeping his ears pricked and eyes peeled, patiently explained: "If going into the mountains meant finding a way out, would I be playing cat and mouse with them here? I've scouted every path in—they're all guarded, ten men to a squad, armed with everything—bows, arrows, big blades. I could take on ten by myself, but even if I won, how could I escape unscathed? Running wounded into the wilds, who knows if there are wolves, tigers, or bandits in those mountains? Run into them and you're dead. Plus no water or food, getting lost and turned around—you're dead for sure."

Le Wuya nodded.

Seems Shao Hongzhen really thought it through when he picked Yinjia Village for growing opium poppies.

"Good point," Le Wuya said. "So why did you curse at me?"

Pei Mingqi was left speechless, then grumbled: "Then come up with a plan, why don't you?"

"Wait for backup," Le Wuya said, lying on his back, breathing steady. "As long as his shadow guards still care about living, they should be seeking reinforcements by now. Hopefully he's not dumb enough to call in the local troops from Xingtai County."

"'He'..." Pei Mingqi chewed on that, then his face went pale. "...Why hasn't he left yet?!"

Le Wuya: "?"

"You're asking me?" Le Wuya shot back. "You want me to ask him—hey, Sixth Prince, why haven't you gone yet? Who the hell would ask that?"

Pei Mingqi kept pushing: "Then where has he been staying all this time?"

Le Wuya wasn't about to play along: "In my bed."

"You!"

Le Wuya: "What about me? He's on the left, Ming Xiangzhao on the right. Wanna squeeze in? Looks like there's no space."

Pei Mingqi looked like he was about to blow a gasket, falling silent with only heavy breaths.

Le Wuya, amidst such a tense life-or-death atmosphere, felt totally carefree for a good long while.

After a long moment, Pei Mingqi's voice came, all puzzled: "...Are you lying to me?"

Le Wuya wanted to burst out laughing, but given the danger of the place, he wasn't looking to get himself killed. He just bit down on the cloth at Pei Mingqi's shoulder and let out a stifled laugh.

Pei Mingqi was pissed and reached for his wrist.

On a normal day, Le Wuya wouldn't have been scared of that.

But now his wrist was injured—really couldn't be touched.

Hearing Le Wuya hiss in pain, Pei Mingqi knew something was off. He quickly found a clear spot, set Le Wuya down, and in the dappled moonlight filtering through the trees, finally got a good look at the damage.

He looked at Le Wuya's wrist, all worried, but when he opened his mouth, nothing nice came out: "Isn't this turning into a pig's foot?"

Le Wuya raised his hand to hit him: "Here's a hoof for ya."

"Hey, hey, hey." Pei Mingqi frowned. "Don't move—you wanna lose that paw of yours?"

He rubbed and pressed on Le Wuya's wrist, then let out a small sigh of relief: "Good, the bone isn't broken."

Their pursuers hadn't made it to this spot yet.

So they leaned against the same tree, resting for a moment.

Le Wuya closed his eyes, resting with total focus.

The fleeing, dodging arrows, and climbing rocks had really taken it out of him, for a bookish guy like him.

So he didn't notice Pei Mingqi turning his head to stare at him.

Pei Mingqi thought, out of nowhere, how great this was.

Even though the aches and exhaustion never stopped, even though who knew how many villagers with knives were out for their blood...

Still, it was great.

Le Wuya could never stay still for long.

After catching his breath, his restless good hand snuck onto Pei Mingqi's waist.

His stomach wasn't as lean and flat as usual—it had gone soft and hollow.

Come to think of it, Little Phoenix was in even worse shape than he was—having traveled half a day, investigated for half a day, and been chased for half a day, with who knew how long since he'd last had food or water.

Pei Mingqi found the touch strange, twisting his waist to dodge for a while, then realizing he had no intention of stopping. He thought about forcibly stopping him, but remembered how he'd hurt his injury earlier, so he could only warn verbally: "Hey! Stop touching!"

"Hungry, aren't you?" Le Wuya said with care and regret. "I'm better off than you—I got a flatbread, but I've already eaten it all."

Had he not brought it up, Pei Mingqi might not have thought about it. But now, he couldn't help swallowing.

He snapped: "...You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

Le Wuya: "Steamed lamb."

Pei Mingqi: "?"

Le Wuya: "Steamed bear paw, steamed deer tail, roast duck, roast chicken, roast goose."

Le Wuya loved teasing Pei Mingqi, taking delight in watching him lose his temper since childhood. He'd have to work hard to soothe him afterward, but he never tired of it.

Pei Mingqi was indeed furious: "Shut up!"

"Osmanthus cake," Le Wuya taunted. "Not shutting up. What are you gonna do about it?"

Pei Mingqi threatened: "Throw you to the wolves."

Le Wuya said leisurely: "The wolves would eat you first. You're so big—enough for three meals. I'd be at most a meal and a half."

Pei Mingqi blurted out: "If I die, I'm taking you with me."

At that, he paused.

"Wrong choice of words." Pei Mingqi, who always insisted on being right, actually admitted a mistake for once. "...I wouldn't drag you down with me."

His lifespan probably wouldn't be that long.

Other things, you could joke about, you could mess around with.

But matters of life and death? Absolutely not.

Over the years, Pei Mingqi had been using his own lifespan to sustain the purple sandalwood burner while keeping his younger half-brother Pei Shaoji close, grooming him carefully.

Others admired their brotherly bond.

But only Pei Mingqi knew he probably didn't have many years left.

If he died young, someone from the Pei family would have to step up.

He turned his head, wanting to get another good look at Le Wuya, but accidentally locked eyes with him.

Pei Mingqi froze, dropping his gaze, but Le Wuya grabbed his chin with one hand and forced his head up.

"Why didn't you bring me along?" Le Wuya pressed. "Am I really that annoying?"

...

Le Wuya vaguely remembered that back when he was appointed second-rank and made Left Vice Minister of Justice, the Minister of Justice was home sick, so Le Wuya was handling most of the ministry's affairs.

Imperial Insignia Commissioner Jin Donglai threw a spring banquet, inviting all the officials to sample a few jars of fine wine he'd buried ten springs ago.

During the feast, he was especially chummy with Le Wuya.

Le Wuya could tell he wanted a favor, so he played along, trading official pleasantries for half a day until the timing was right.

Blushing and embarrassed, Jin Donglai finally got around to saying what he wanted:

Le Wuya was working a pretty straightforward case—a rich brat named Liu, after getting drunk, tried to hit on a decent woman named Song. When she brushed him off and they traded a few words, she turned to leave.

The Liu brat, egged on by his buddies, couldn't stand the shame of being shot down in public, so he chased her down and cut her down with one swing of his sword.

This happened in a busy marketplace, with a crowd of onlookers seeing the whole thing.

Le Wuya took a sip of wine and saw right through Jin Donglai: "So, that Liu guy—what is he to you?"

Jin Donglai hemmed and hawed, saying the Liu guy was a distant nephew.

Le Wuya gave him a knowing half-smile.

Seeing he couldn't hide it, Jin Donglai finally admitted, all embarrassed, that the guy was his mistress's son, who took her surname.

A mistress's bastard wasn't worth much, but Jin Donglai was crazy about this mistress. When she heard her son was in jail, she'd gotten sick from worry. Jin Donglai was a wreck and wanted to make it all go away.

Jin Donglai propped his head on his hand, frustrated, and, fueled by the wine, spilled his guts: "Brother Le, don't worry. I've already greased the wheels with the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate. Those witnesses have their mouths shut tight; nobody dares to run their mouths. The problem is that old Song couple. I've sent people with silver several times, but they hang on to my worthless son like snapping turtles in the Yongding River—they just won't let go. If you don't help me, I'm really done for."

Le Wuya grinned, resting his chin on his hand, thinking, you wouldn't be done for.

You'd just make sure the old Song couple was done for instead.

He agreed right away: "Don't worry, Commissioner Jin, I've got a handle on it. But the payout's going to need to be bigger—you should be ready for that."

Jin Donglai lit up: "No problem, no problem at all."

He raised his cup to toast Le Wuya: "A young prodigy, truly."

Le Wuya raised his cup in return, thinking, a young prodigy, and this is what I'm doing?

About a dozen days later, the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate all handed down their verdicts at the same time.

The woman surnamed Song was a courtesan who, failing to seduce the Liu brat, cursed him out loud, which made him fly into a drunken rage and accidentally kill her.

Since the brat turned himself in and confessed, he was sentenced to pay the victim's family two hundred taels and was exiled to Huangzhou.

As soon as the verdict came down, the whole capital was buzzing.

The old Song couple was furious, screaming for justice, even storming the courtroom in their grief and rage.

Seeing things about to spiral out of control, Le Wuya stepped in, called them to the back hall to calm them down, and only then did they settle.

When Jin Donglai heard how diligently Le Wuya had handled things, he was overjoyed and showed up at Le Wuya's place with five hundred taels of silver as a thank-you.

Le Wuya took it without a moment's hesitation, all smiles.

For this brat, exile to Huangzhou was just a change of scenery to have fun in.

Even the two guards escorting him had been well paid off by Commissioner Jin, so they wouldn't give him any trouble on the road.

In the mild March weather, the Liu brat set off for exile with a grin on his face.

By day, he rode a horse so his feet didn't hurt; by night, he stayed in the best inns, ate like a king, and if the mood hit him, he could even hit up a brothel.

So how did Le Wuya know all this?

Three days after the brat's exile started, Le Wuya packed up that five hundred taels of silver and sent it to the old Song couple, who, heartbroken, were about to leave the capital to go back to their hometown.

Then he asked for time off, got himself a tall, fast horse, and rode out of the capital alone, following the main road until he finally caught up with the guy in Cangzhou.

Once he found out where the guy was staying, Le Wuya found a high spot on a slope beside the main road from Cangzhou to Huangzhou and hid there.

The next day, as the Liu brat rode out of town on a small horse, his mind still stuck on the soft, fair skin of the young guy he'd slept with the night before.

As he absentmindedly opened his mouth in a long yawn, Le Wuya drew his bow into a full moon shape, aimed at his face, and let the arrow fly.

After letting that arrow fly, he didn't hesitate—he dashed into the woods behind him, grabbed his horse, jumped on, and galloped down the slope.

The angry, terrified shouts of the escort soldiers faded far behind him.

He rode there without stopping, and he rode back without stopping.

The day he got back to the capital, he was completely wiped out, trudging through the dark night.

His palms were rubbed raw by the reins, skin torn, burning like hell.

But Le Wuya couldn't be bothered to care.

Even though he'd used the instigator's money and a life to make up for it, he still hadn't managed to do things perfectly.

...In the end, he'd had to ruin her reputation to protect her parents.

What kind of world was this, anyway?

It was that very day, thanks to running into Xiaoliu, who'd also been out stargazing, that he realized he'd caught a chill and was burning up with fever.

If he hadn't gotten treatment in time, he might well have died from that sickness.

After being bedridden for over ten days, Le Wuya finally managed to get up.

Sister Qi wanted to make him stay home and rest.

But he still wanted to go out and see.

Because he'd heard that today was the day Little Phoenix was coming back to the capital to report on his duties.

Le Wuya, having just recovered from a serious illness, wasn't fit to ride a horse, so he had to take a sedan chair.

He wanted to go to Qinghe Zhai to check out the osmanthus cakes.

He and Little Phoenix had both loved those as kids.

But halfway to Qinghe Zhai, he ran smack into Pei Mingqi.

God knows how thrilled he was when he lifted the sedan curtain and saw Pei Mingqi's handsome, sharp-featured face.

But Pei Mingqi just gave him a cold glance, then clasped his hands in a formal salute and said, "Lord Yue."

That "Lord Yue" choked off the "Little Phoenix" that was about to slip out of Le Wuya's mouth.

He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed a couple of times, his face turning even paler.

Only then did Pei Mingqi seem to notice he wasn't feeling well; his lips twitched slightly, but when he spoke, his words were ice-cold: "Lord Yue, if you're sick, you shouldn't be out here showing off."

Le Wuya, confused, stared at him blankly: "Do you really hate me that much?"

Pei Mingqi shot back: "Lord Yue, when you look at yourself, don't you feel disgusted?"

With that, he led his horse, gave Le Wuya a polite bow, and walked past him without a backward glance.

Deputy General An hurried up from behind and quietly explained to Le Wuya: "My lord, did you recently pass judgment on a case? Young General Pei, he..."

Pei Mingqi's harsh shout rang out from ahead: "An Shuguo!"

Deputy General An shuddered, didn't dare say another word, and quickly spurred his horse forward to catch up with Pei Mingqi.

Deputy General An's fragmented words were enough for Le Wuya to piece it all together.

The people who'd seen that Liu profligate kill someone in broad daylight weren't just the few witnesses willing to testify in court.

...The idea that justice lives in people's hearts has been around since ancient times.

They'd been negligent in their duties, taking bribes and letting criminals go free.

Le Wuya felt his throat go dry and itchy; the irritation seemed to come from his lungs or his heart, and it was really hard to suppress.

He coughed quietly again.

The carriage driver, Li, was at a loss: "Lord Yue, how about we turn back? With your health..."

"It's fine," Le Wuya waved a hand weakly. "Go to Qinghe Zhai and buy the osmanthus cakes."

Worst case, he could eat them by himself.

...

In the woods out here on the border, smoke and mist swirled, and late at night, the dampness got even thicker.

Le Wuya couldn't help coughing a few times, but afraid the pursuers might find them, he had to muffle the sound with his hand.

Pei Mingqi quickly reached out to pat his back.

Seeing him cough so painfully, Pei Mingqi just pulled him into his arms, so his coughing wouldn't draw anyone over.

The muffled coughs hit him right in the heart.

Just like years ago, on a busy street in broad daylight, they'd run into each other, but parted ways over a disagreement.

Pei Mingqi stared at the road ahead, walking without looking back.

Behind him came his hoarse, labored coughing.

Each cough rattled his chest, making his heart ache with a tight, sharp pain.

...I don't hate him.

Pei Mingqi gave his answer in his heart:

I really do like you.

What I hate is myself.

Even when you were like that... I still liked you so damn much.

Author's note:

"History of Yu's Treacherous Ministers: Le Wuya"... Neglect of duty, taking bribes and letting criminals go, privately executing prisoners—these are among his crimes.