Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Imperial Envoy Set Aflame
Bang, bang, bang.
Li Yun was immensely strong, and when he knocked, the sound rang out like thunder. It did not take long before the Gu family’s gatekeeper was roused. He opened the small side door and took one look at Li Yun outside. The man was nearly forty, and his tone was far from friendly.
“Who are you looking for?”
“Gu Zhang.”
Li Yun thought for a moment, then added, “And Gu Cheng.”
“Second Master and Second Young Master?”
The gatekeeper frowned and held out a hand. “Do you have a visiting card?”
Li Yun shook his head. “No need. Go report that Qingyang’s Li Zhao has passed through Shitai and would like to borrow a place to stay for the night.”
“Li Zhao...”
The gatekeeper considered this for a moment, then suddenly said, “You’re the constable from Qingyang County? I’ve heard of you.”
“Since you’ve heard my name, why are you still standing there?”
The gatekeeper dared not delay any longer. He hurried back inside to make the report. After quite a while, the Gu family’s Second Young Master, Gu Cheng, finally came to the gate with obvious reluctance. After seeing Li Yun, he clasped his hands.
“Constable Li, what brings you to Shitai?”
“I’m visiting relatives,” Li Yun said with a smile. “But it’s late now, and I need a place to stay. I have no acquaintances in Shitai, so I can only come in this thick-faced manner and ask to lodge at the Gu residence for a few days.”
Gu Cheng nodded absentmindedly. “Then Constable Li, please come in. I’ll have the servants arrange a room for you.”
No matter what, Li Yun had once saved his life. Though the uncle and nephew of the Gu family had absolutely no desire to remember those hellish days, and even felt disgusted by anyone connected to that affair, now that Li Yun had come to the door, they could not very well refuse him hospitality.
After all, he was their benefactor. If they failed to entertain him, word of it would only damage the Gu family’s reputation.
Gu Cheng turned to the gatekeeper and said, “Prepare a side room for Constable Li.”
After saying that, he turned as if to leave.
He truly did not want to see Li Yun. Just looking at him stirred up unpleasant memories of the bandits’ stronghold.
Li Yun smiled and waved behind him. “Uncle, come quickly. We’ve got a place to stay tonight.”
At the words, Gu Wenchuan hurried forward and followed behind Li Yun.
Gu Cheng had already gone some distance, but hearing that, he looked back at Li Yun and asked, “Constable Li, and this gentleman is...?”
“My clan uncle,” Li Yun replied with a cheerful smile. “He’s come with me to visit relatives in Shitai.”
The Second Young Master still looked about in distracted fashion, but he nevertheless instructed, “Prepare two rooms.”
“No need,” Li Yun said with a smile. “One room is enough for the two of us, uncle and nephew.”
Gu Cheng did not insist. He turned and walked away quickly, vanishing from sight in no time, while the gatekeeper who had received Li Yun led the way ahead.
Gu Wenchuan followed behind Li Yun, frowning as he asked, “Constable Li, the person you once saved was that young man just now?”
Li Yun smiled and nodded.
“How rude,” Gu Wenchuan said, his brow tightly knit. “How can he treat his life-saving benefactor like this? The Gu family of Shitai is also a scholarly house, and ours shares the same origin. How did their descendants end up like this?”
Li Yun did not take offense. He only smiled and said, “They’ve always looked down on men of force like us. Besides, back then they were kidnapped by bandits in Qingyang. Saving that uncle and nephew was simply what I, as a constable, ought to have done.”
While they spoke, they had already reached the Gu family’s guest quarters. After pushing open the door, they found that the room had both an outer and inner chamber. Once the servant who had escorted them departed, Li Yun looked around and then said, “Sir Gu, you take the inner room. I’ll keep watch outside.”
Gu Wenchuan first nodded, but he did not rush to go inside and rest. Instead, he sat down in the chair outside, looked up at Li Yun, and sighed.
“While eating out earlier today, I roughly understood that the extra tax levied in Shitai amounted to as much as eight hundred cash.”
“Then the cause of the Shitai townsfolk’s rebellion is not hard to guess.”
He looked at Li Yun and went on, “Brother Yue Ji told me that when Shitai was suppressing the rebels, Constable Li, you were involved from beginning to end. Now there are only the two of us here, and no one else.”
“I do not wish to write this down, nor do I wish to make you sign or put your seal to anything. Can you tell me what exactly happened in Shitai at that time?”
Li Yun poured him a cup of tea and sat opposite the old man. His expression was calm. “Since you do not want evidence, sir... is Shitai really so difficult to guess?”
“Not difficult.”
Gu Wenchuan’s expression darkened. “I have already guessed seven or eight parts of it. I only wish to hear it spoken aloud by another, so that I may finally give up.”
Li Yun smiled. “Sir, an imperial commissioner has already come.”
“When the last commissioner came, he asked me similar questions. The end result, sir, you already know.”
He poured himself a cup of tea as well and said indifferently, “I only obey the county yamen’s orders and do everything possible to ensure your safety, sir. As for everything else, I know nothing, and I will say nothing.”
“Sooner or later, sir, you will leave Xuanzhou, but I will not find it so easy to leave.”
Gu Wenchuan gave a long sigh and shook his head helplessly. “Deeply rooted. Deeply rooted indeed.”
Li Yun only smiled and said nothing.
That night, the imperial commissioner slept soundly in the inner room.
As for Li Yun, he dozed and woke in the outer room, passing the night in discomfort.
Early the next morning, Gu Wenchuan, who had been sighing in frustration just the day before, was once again full of energy as he left the city. First he made a circuit through Shitai, then rode out of the city with Li Yun to take a look at the site of the former Hexi Village.
It was a pity, though, that no villagers from Hexi Village could any longer be seen nearby.
By evening, the two of them rode back to Shitai.
By then, Xuanzhou’s Prefect Tian and Military Commissioner Cao had already arrived in Shitai County.
When Li Yun and the others returned to the Gu residence, the Gu family was no longer as negligent as it had been the previous night. The family head, Gu Wen, came forward and pulled Li Yun aside. His face had already turned somewhat pale.
“Constable Li, our Gu family has not offended you, have we?”
“Wasn’t it your Qingyang bandit suppression that our Gu family paid for?”
Li Yun looked baffled. “Master Gu, I never said the money wasn’t yours. What’s the matter?”
Gu Wen took a careful glance at Gu Wenchuan, who was standing at the entrance, and lowered his voice.
“Constable Li, if you still remember any trace of our old connection, then tonight, no matter what, take this gentleman to stay elsewhere. Afterwards, Gu will certainly reward you handsomely.”
“Very well,” Li Yun said with a smile. “Then I’ll tell him the Gu family won’t take him in.”
The family head caught him at once and forcefully lowered his voice. “The Gu family is not refusing to take him in!”
His voice was trembling now. “It is Constable Li who has found a better place to stay.”
From his sleeve, he took out a crimson jewel and pressed it into Li Yun’s hand, gritting his teeth.
“The best inn in Shitai is called the Xuanzhou Residence. You will stay there tonight...”
Li Yun looked at the gem in his hand and said with a smile, “Master Gu, and if this gentleman should die at the Xuanzhou Residence tonight?”
Gu Wen’s face twitched. “Then... then that has nothing to do with the Gu family.”
“Master Gu is too muddled,” Li Yun said, shaking his head. “I brought this gentleman to stay at the Gu residence precisely because I remembered the one thousand strings the Gu family paid for the bandit suppression.”
He put the jewel back and said, “Since the Gu family will not receive guests tonight, then we’ll simply find another place to stay.”
Li Yun turned to leave, and was just about to speak to Sir Gu when Master Gu Wen caught his sleeve. The Gu family head let out a long breath through clenched teeth.
“Stay in my house!”
“In a moment, I’ll have men guard the room. Whatever Constable Li needs, just say the word.”
Li Yun glanced at the Gu family head with some surprise.
He had indeed come to stay at the Gu residence with no good intentions.
With so important an imperial commissioner arriving in Xuanzhou, so long as the local officials were not deaf and blind, and had even the slightest ties in the capital, they would usually detect some hint of trouble.
Not to mention that the matter concerned the crown prince. The officials of Xuanzhou might be deaf and blind, but the crown prince certainly would not be.
In other words, Gu Wenchuan’s identity would not remain hidden for long.
If they stayed at the Gu residence, then should the Gu family shelter them, it would mean facing the pressure of all the local officials of Xuanzhou, perhaps even becoming enemies with them.
On the other hand, the imperial commissioner might not necessarily be one to forget a grievance.
Yet now, for the head of the Gu family to make such a decision so quickly left even Li Yun somewhat impressed.
There was a reason the Gu family had prospered in Shitai for so many generations. At the very least, in terms of decisiveness, Master Gu was by no means lacking.
Li Yun said nothing more. He went back and told Sir Gu about it, and the two of them once again entered the Gu residence one after the other.
Walking behind Li Yun, Sir Gu suddenly asked, “That man... he is the head of the Gu family?”
Li Yun turned and looked at Gu Wenchuan, then said with a smile, “Yes. Can you tell that too, sir?”
Gu Wenchuan clasped his hands behind his back and said quietly, “You said yesterday that many things are not difficult to guess. It is only that, at times, people are unwilling to guess them.”
Once the two entered the suite, Gu Wenchuan sat in a chair and looked at Li Yun.
“Little brother, you stood watch over me for nearly the whole night yesterday. Tonight you sleep inside first, and I’ll keep watch outside.”
Li Yun smiled. “Sir, you are an imperial censor sent by the court. How could I let you stand guard outside?”
Gu Wenchuan looked at him and smiled faintly. “I have memorials to draft tonight. It will likely be deep into the night before I am finished. You should just go and rest.”
Li Yun considered it, then still shook his head.
“I’ll keep watch outside with you, sir.”
“If anything dangerous happens, there will be someone to respond.”
Gu Wenchuan glanced at the oil lamp on the table and thought for a moment before saying, “Then go ask for some lamp oil. The oil in this room may not be enough for tonight.”
This was easy to understand. The old man would most likely be writing a report to the court tonight, and the oil in the lamp on the table did indeed not seem sufficient.
Li Yun nodded, went out, and asked the Gu family servants for lamp oil. The servants were very eager, and in short order one of them even brought him an entire lamp full of oil.
After Li Yun set the lamp oil in place, Gu Wenchuan sat down at the table and began writing furiously, while Li Yun dozed beside him.
Thus it continued until deep in the night, when Li Yun, half-awake and half-asleep, caught a strange smell.
He opened his eyes abruptly and saw, to his shock, that Gu Wenchuan was pouring a full lamp’s worth of oil across the room.
Li Yun’s eyes widened at once, his drowsiness gone in an instant.
“Sir Gu, what are you doing?”
“You’re awake.”
Holding one candlestick in a hand, Gu Wenchuan pointed with the other toward the outside and said with a smile, “There are people out there discussing how to kill us.”
“Help me a little.”
His expression was calm, as if he were speaking of some utterly ordinary matter.
“Burn this room down.”