“Your Highness, Better to Kill by Mistake Than Let One Go.”
The two of them made their way to the woodshed.
The courtesan Xue Yingying had been locked up for a full day and night. Not a drop of water had passed her lips. Her appearance was wan and haggard, her eyes dull and lifeless, and the dark circles beneath them made it plain that she had not slept well for the entire night.
This had been the darkest and most terrifying night of her life. Since childhood, when she had been taken in and raised by the madam, when had she ever suffered such abuse and torment?
Hearing the woodshed door open, Xue Yingying’s shoulders shook, and she shrank into the straw pile without making a sound.
Before long, she smelled the fragrance of food, and her stomach immediately growled with hunger.
“One night locked away. Has your head cleared?” Lu Ronghui said, his voice low and unhurried.
He stood at the entrance to the woodshed, with Chu Yuan beside him, while Xian Shuang stood behind the two of them holding a meal tray.
“Your Highness, this servant truly knows her wrong. I beg Your Highness to spare this servant.” Xue Yingying fell to her knees on the ground, her face full of misery. The moment her eyes blinked, tears streamed down, and she wept bitterly.
“Answer This Prince’s questions. If This Prince is satisfied, This Prince may spare you from death.”
Xian Feng brought over a wide armchair. Lu Ronghuai pulled Chu Yuan down to sit with him, the two squeezed into the same seat, and Lu Ronghuai took the opportunity to wrap an arm around Chu Yuan’s waist.
Chu Yuan shot him a glare, but did not push him away.
Xian Feng then presented the freshly brewed tea.
Lu Ronghuai turned his head and said softly to Chu Yuan, “Ah-Yuan, I will leave the task of questioning to you.”
On the way here, Chu Yuan had already agreed to this, so naturally he would not go back on his word.
The two of them intended to take turns playing the black face and the white face, using both hardness and softness to force her to loosen her tongue.
“Mm.”
“Your Highness, this servant’s status is lowly. This servant truly knows nothing.” She lifted her head, her expression uneasy.
Chu Yuan took a sip of tea and spoke gently. “You are not like ordinary dancers. You are a well-known favorite in Ping Cheng. How could you know nothing at all?”
“Although this servant is often invited to perform in various residences, this servant has never had much contact with them,” Xue Yingying said through her sobs.
“Since Your Highness dared to detain you, he already knows some things. Miss Xue would do best to speak truthfully, lest you suffer pain of the flesh.”
Chu Yuan finished those words in a level tone. Xian Feng appeared once more at the doorway.
In his hands were a thick whip and a heavy rod. His gaze fell upon Xue Yingying as though he were looking at a dead woman.
Seeing the mottled bloodstains left upon the instruments of punishment, Xue Yingying’s whole body began to shake violently. Terror filled her eyes as she stared at those tools, knowing well that if they fell upon her, she would either die or be crippled.
Chu Yuan said, “Miss Xue’s skin is delicate and tender, and you are still in the bloom of youth. Why sacrifice your own life for the sake of those who merely used you?”
Xue Yingying had been thinking the very same thing.
Although she had agreed to Zhang Ze’s order to get close to Lu Ronghuai, preferably to become his woman and draw words from his mouth, the reality was that she had not even entered Lu Ronghuai’s eyes.
Far more likely, she would lose her life because of it.
“Very well, this servant will speak. Your Highness, spare my life.”
“This Prince does not wish to hear your nonsense. What leaves your mouth had best be something useful.” Lu Ronghuai took the whip from Xian Feng’s hand and swished it idly.
Xue Yingying nodded tearfully. “This servant would never dare conceal anything. This servant has some evidence in my possession. In my heart I was afraid, so I kept it as a last means of preserving my life.”
“What evidence?”
After leaving the woodshed, Lu Ronghuai tossed the whip in his hand back to Xian Feng. His expression was dark.
“Send her back. She knows what to do.”
Xian Feng returned to the woodshed, grabbed the already-fainted Xue Yingying, and carried her away.
“What does Your Highness intend to do next?” Chu Yuan followed beside him as the two walked slowly forward.
Lu Ronghuai pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, “I will go out to the outskirts for a while. Xian Shuang will remain here to keep you company. I will be back soon.”
Chu Yuan knew he must already have some plan in mind, so he did not ask further. He only told him to be careful on the road.
Lu Ronghuai moved swiftly. He led out a horse, mounted it in one motion, then snapped the whip and dashed out of the residence.
He rode at full speed all the way to the outskirts of the city, seized a passerby on the road, and under the man’s horrified stare stripped off the coarse hemp clothes on his body, exchanging them for his own cloud-patterned brocade robes.
After changing clothes, he mounted again and rode westward.
Outside Ping Cheng stretched vast fields of farmland. Some peasants were weeding in the fields, each with bent and stooped backs, their faces dark and sallow.
Lu Ronghuai dismounted and led the horse along the narrow ridge between the fields.
“Elder, if you would pardon the interruption, how does one reach Wantian Village from here?” he called from the ridge to the old man working in the field.
Wantian Village was a place name he had just learned from the passerby. He was merely using it as a pretext to strike up a conversation with the old man, not because he truly intended to go there.
“Young man, are you headed to Wantian Village? It is still farther ahead. Another fifteen li and you will reach it.”
The old man saw that his face was unfamiliar, and that though he wore a dull gray hemp shirt, his back was straight and his legs long, and he looked to have plenty of strength. Thinking he must be a sturdy man from a nearby village, the old man relaxed his guard and came over warmly to speak with him.
There was a basket on his back, and inside it lay half a basket of wild greens.
Lu Ronghuai thanked him. “Are you weeding the fields?”
The wrinkles on the old man’s face were deep, his skin worn into a thousand channels and ten thousand ravines. “No. I came to the edge of the field to dig some wild vegetables. There is almost nothing left to eat at home.”
Lu Ronghuai frowned. “I see a fair amount of good farmland around here, and all of it is planted with grain. How could there be nothing to eat?”
Hearing him say this, the old man could tell he knew nothing of Ping Cheng’s true condition. He felt a little puzzled, and Lu Ronghuai also spoke without the local accent.
The old man suddenly asked, “You are not from Ping Cheng, are you?”
Lu Ronghuai’s brows shifted slightly. Then he revealed a somewhat foolish, honest smile. “No. I am going to Wantian Village to visit relatives. My home is in Mu Cheng on the western frontier.”
“Oh, oh.” Having heard him report his origins, the old man relaxed. He looked around cautiously, then lowered his voice and said, “Young man, Ping Cheng is no safe place these days. Do not linger too long.”
Lu Ronghuai feigned surprise. “Why?”
“These fields all belong to the wealthy men in the city. Not only do they enclose the land, but they also have been bleeding the people dry. Anyone who cannot pay the taxes, they take the able-bodied men from that family away. Many boys from these parts were taken and never came back.”
“What do they take those people away for?”
“Who knows? The poor folk of Ping Cheng have no money and no road to live on, so they are forced up the mountain to become bandits. Some days ago the mountain moved, and many people were crushed to death. What sins have been committed.”
Lu Ronghuai said, “I heard of that on the road. Outside, everyone says those people were bandits who killed and robbed in Ping Cheng. The rumors have already spread all the way to Ye Jing.”
The old man said angrily, “What bandits? They were honest people driven to a place with no road left. The Ping Cheng officials have a great backer in the capital. They have done evil in our lands for years, and every disturbance has been suppressed.”
“A great backer? Who?”
The old man shook his head, making the wrinkles on his face look even deeper. “The last time Boss Cheng from the grain shop came here to collect debts, he clashed with the villagers. Someone said they would go to Ye Jing and bring a complaint against him. Right there in front of the whole village, he said that they had a backer supporting them, and that filing a complaint would be courting death.”
“I heard Prince Li has come here to investigate the case. Has no one gone to report the matter to His Highness?”
“Do not even mention it. That one who came before, what was he called... Prince Qi. The Prefect led him here for one turn around the place, then left.”
Lu Ronghuai asked, “Prince Qi did not discover the problem?”
“He was a prince. What does he understand of any of this? If we commoners went to complain or tried to run, once we were caught we would be dealt with to death.”
“So those bandits were actually people of Ping Cheng. The mountain movement crushed many of them. There should still be some survivors, should there not?”
Sorrow entered the old man’s eyes. “We do not know. We also secretly tried to inquire after them in private, but we found no one.”
After chatting with the old man, Lu Ronghuai quietly slipped a money pouch into the man’s basket, then rode back toward the city.
After entering the city, he first went to a clothing shop and bought himself a set of clothes, changing out of the coarse hemp garments. He then went to buy some Ping Cheng snacks for Chu Yuan.
As he passed through the street, someone called out to him.
Standing on the second floor, Cheng Dawei waved to him. “Your Highness, come up quickly.”
When Lu Ronghuai went upstairs, he saw that Cheng Dawei was alone.
“This humble one has taken the liberty of inviting Your Highness to sit and have a few drinks.” Cheng Dawei had spent years in the marketplace, and a heavy merchant’s air clung to him. Even the way he spoke was more coarse and worldly.
Lu Ronghuai sat as invited, wanting to see what he intended.
Wine and fine dishes had already been set upon the table. Cheng Dawei personally poured wine for Lu Ronghuai. “Did Your Highness go out of the city today?”
Lu Ronghuai sneered inwardly, knowing these people had set men to follow him.
“Mm. Staying in the city was stifling, so I went out to ride. The scenery in your outskirts is rather good.”
The smile on Cheng Dawei’s face deepened. “Indeed. The scenery here is beautiful. When Your Highness has time, this humble one can guide Your Highness around to look.”
Lu Ronghuai’s expression showed apparent interest. “This Prince was just planning to take the Prince Consort out tomorrow. Is there anything worth seeing?”
Cheng Dawei said, “Your Highness and the Prince Consort are truly deeply devoted as husband and wife. This humble one has an estate outside the city. Would Your Highness care to take the Prince Consort there for a visit?”
“Very well.”
At this moment, Cheng Dawei pushed a brocade box in front of Lu Ronghuai.
“What is this?” Lu Ronghuai glanced at it, but did not move.
Cheng Dawei smiled broadly. He opened the brocade box, revealing banknotes worth ten thousand taels each. There were ten in total.
“This is merely a small token of goodwill from everyone, to welcome Your Highness on your first visit to Ping Cheng. We hope Your Highness will graciously accept it.”
Cheng Dawei’s smile never changed, and his tone remained respectful. Only those shrewd eyes of his kept quietly and ceaselessly reading Lu Ronghui’s face.
Lu Ronghuai reached out, took the ten banknotes from the brocade box, and directly tucked them into his robe.
“This Prince accepts your goodwill.”
Cheng Dawei broke into a broad laugh. “If Your Highness needs anything in the future, feel free to come to this humble one. This humble one will certainly do everything in my power to lend Your Highness a hand.”
Lu Ronghuai sighed and put on a troubled look. “Easy to say. At present, this Prince is troubled and vexed by the matter of the bandits. That is why I went out of the city to ride and clear my mind today.”
Cheng Dawei hurriedly said with concern, “Your Highness need not worry too much. This matter is actually very easy to resolve.”
“Merchant Cheng has a good method?”
“Throughout history there have always been bandits causing chaos. At the root of it all, it is because of greed. So long as one kill the chicken to warn the monkeys, I imagine this matter can be put to an end once and for all.”
“Your meaning is?” Lu Ronghuai asked, following his words.
A glint flashed through Cheng Dawei’s eyes. “The bandits first appeared in Chaihe Village. There must be people in that village who have been stirring things up and directing them. Prefect Zhang could never catch them before, which is why they grew more and more arrogant.”
“Since that is so, it would be better to seize everyone in that village and behead them publicly. They have countless threads linking them to the bandits. They may well be accomplices.”
“Your Highness, better to kill by mistake than let one go.”
“There is reason in that.”
Lu Ronghuai’s lips held a faint smile. He listened the entire time Cheng Dawei spoke, even nodding now and then in apparent agreement.
What Cheng Dawei did not know, however, was that the hand Lu Ronghuai had resting on his knee was already clenched into a fist, the veins standing out. At any moment, he wanted to rise and strangle the man to death.
The two spoke most pleasantly together. When they parted, they even arranged another outing to drink together.
The moment Lu Ronghuia turned away, the smile dropped from his face entirely. Something cold and dark rose through his eyes, his pupils black and fathomless.
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
【A Day in the Life of Lu Dog】
Morning: Clinging to the wife~ ♡
Noon: Chatting at the village entrance
Afternoon: Playing along with the occasion
Night: Scheming and dreaming (in his wildest fantasies…
0 Comments