Several painted boxes were neatly arranged in front of Yang ChengWan. Then, he also placed the inkstone on which the ink had been ground, paper and brushes. Due to the cloudy weather, the room was dark. YangYue wanted to move the lampstand but Yang ChengWan waved his hand, motioning him not to.
“Father, about Xie Xiao, what did you say to him?” YangYue opened his mouth to ask.
Yang ChengWan glanced at him briefly, and said nothing.
YangYue added, “I don’t think Jinxia has the same ideas as Xie Xiao. Besides, this is Yangzhou, it’s too far from the Capital.”
“Marriage is a big problem… The orders of parents and adults, how come is it your turn to intervene?”
“I, I… Just…”, YangYue said in a low voice.
When he noticed the glare in his father’s eyes, YangYue hesitated for a long time. Although he felt that it was inappropriate, he did not dare to say anything. He scratched his neck and suddenly there was a knock on the door.
“Master, are you better?” It was Jinxia.
This girl, she arrived at the right time. YangYue opened the door for her, and Jinxia half hopped into the room, her face full of smiles.
“Your mouth is big enough to tear it into three parts, what’s the good news?” YangYue said in surprise.
“What?” Jinxia pouted her lips, but then put on a smile again. She looked at Yang ChengWan and said, “Master, are you better? Is your leg still sore?”
Yang ChengWan looked at her happy face, then the image of another face appeared in his mind, he was stunned for a moment.
“Master?” Jinxia called out to him, surprised.
He quickly snapped out of his thought, put down his brush and asked, “These days, I haven’t seen you, is there something you’re not telling me?”
“No! The silver still has not been found, now Liu Daren is panicked as a bee in hot water. He stings whoever he meets. When I came home one day, I was immediately being lectured, but when he met Lu Daren, he didn’t dare to say a word.” She tilted her head and sighed, “The reason why Zhou Daren died, I could already figure it out, but there are no silvers at all, it’s unusual.”
“Why did he die?” Yang ChengWan asked.
Jinxia reported the affair between Zhai Lanye and Zhou Xian in detail. Yang ChengWan listened to it for a long time, then he said nothing and just nodded.
“I heard that Zhai Lanye is missing…”, he said.
Jinxia cautiously ‘Uhm’, and didn’t dare to say more than a word.
“You haven’t looked into it?” Yang ChengWan asked.
“I did, but didn’t find anything.” Jinxia glanced at YangYue, “I heard that they found her clothes in the river. I don’t know if she has been killed… By the way, Master, I have good news, let me tell you!” Before letting Yang ChengWan find flaws in her lies, she was quick to change the subject.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s about my family, my real parents.”
Upon hearing this, Yang ChengWan’s back stiffened, and a troubled expression appeared in his glaring eyes, but he rapidly covered it up, suppressing his emotions, and asked, almost whispering, “Why, did you find some clues?”
“No, but I talked to Lu Daren about this matter yesterday. I listened to what Lu Daren said, it sounded as if he was willing to help me find my real parents. JinYiWei has many ears and eyes, and a lot more information than LiuShanmen. Since he’s about to help, this could be…” Before she could finish her words, she saw Yang ChengWan’s face turning pale; on his forehead, veins were sticking out, “Master, you… What’s wrong with you?”
“Kneel down!”
Hearing Yang ChengWan’s angry voice, although she didn’t know what she had done wrong, Jinxia didn’t dare to delay for half a minute and immediately knelt down.
“Father…” YangYue didn’t understand why he had become angry all of a sudden, “If Lu Daren is willing to help with this, isn’t it a good thing?”
“You also kneel down!” Yang ChengWan glared at him.
YangYue knelt down too.
Yang ChengWan rebuked them in a loud voice, “One has no brain, the other also has no brain! I have educated you in vain all these years! Who is Lu Daren? He is a JinYiWei! I have repeatedly reminded you, when dealing with JinYiWei, you must be cautious, and not be too close to them, otherwise, you will sell yourself without knowing! Another thing, who is Lu Yi? He’s the eldest son of Lu Bing, and what are you? You’re just a constable at LiuShanmen. He ordered you around to do things, spoke with politeness and courtesy, that’s his nature, but in his eyes you and a dog are no different. You are good, given a stick, you climb up right away. You are thick skin, shameless…”
“Father!” YangYue felt that his words were a bit outrageous. In the past, even when Jinxia created troubles, he would never hear his father scold her so hard.
“You be quiet!” Yang ChengWan glared at him in anger, “Today, it’s my last time reminding you, whether it’s Jinxia or you! You guys are only allowed to talk about work-related stuff with him. If I find out you overstepped my orders, I will break your legs! Do you understand?”
“Understood.” YangYue said.
“Understood.”
A tear fell down on the gray brick, and disappeared seeping into the floor.
Yang ChengWan looked at her, his chest continued to move up and down, but it was difficult to continue speaking. After a while, he just said, “Go out.”
Jinxia bowed her head and got up, walking out in silence. YangYue hesitated for a moment, then followed her from behind.
As soon as YangYue closed the door, Yang ChengWan’s whole body fell down, he leaned on the hard porcelain pillow, his face full of great concern that he did not dare to show.
***
“Jinxia… Master Xia, Master Xia… My little master…” YangYue found Jinxia squatting in the corner and wiping her tears. He walked up and tried to coax her with kind words, “My father must have felt suffocated these days. Staying in the house everyday, having to take so many medicines…. Everyone has a temper, right?”
“But I… There’s nothing wrong with looking for my parents, he never stopped me before.” Jinxia said, “I’m not wrong!”
“Yes, yes, I didn’t say you were wrong! Of course it’s a right thing to find your parents, haven’t we all been helping you these years?” YangYue touched her head.
“Why did he scold me so harshly over this?” The more she thought about it, the more she felt frustrated. Tears started to fall down again.
“He… He must be afraid that you will suffer. JinYiWei are not easy people, right?”
Jinxia sniffed, wiped her eyes and turned to him. She choked up while asking, “Am I a thick face? Shameless?”
“…No, but I think…” YangYue thought about it, “These days, you are indeed getting closer to Lu Daren. It’s better to stay away from him, what do you think?”
“I just feel this person is very kind.”
“No matter how kind he is, he’s still a JinYiWei, let alone his father is Lu Bing. Think again, honestly speaking, with his status, there must be a lot of people who want to win him over.” YangYue tried to persuade her, “You shouldn’t put your hopes up either.”
Jinxia buried her head, for a while she didn’t make a sound. After a bit of time, she said in a weak voice, “I already know.” She rose to her feet, used the hem of her sleeves to wipe her face, but the tears were still falling.
YangYue stroked her head and sighed, then led her to the kitchen, “You wash your face first, then take these two pancakes I made this morning.”
Jinxia nodded her head, went to the water barrel, took the water and washed her face, then she took the packaged pancakes and put them in her pocket, reluctantly leaving the clinic.
***
The ink that had been ground in the inkstone slowly began to dry. His long slender fingers held the writing brush, hanging on a half inch of the paper, but for a very long time, no words were written. A gentle breeze entered through the window, moving slightly the pages of the book, letting out a flipping sound. Lu Yi’s eyebrows tightened, he was concentrated thinking about something, completely disregarding his surroundings.
His memory was very good. Before leaving the Capital, he had studied Yang ChengWan’s file, which was written by Shao Jun from Linjiang of Jiangxi. In the 17th year of Jiajing, he passed the state exam and became a JinYiWei Jingli. A swordsman good with knives and spear, he could fly his body from wall to wall using the light kungfu art; he was good at tracking as well. In the 27th year of Jiajing, he resigned from his position as a JinYiWei Jingli due to his leg injuries, which were difficult to heal. From that moment onward, he had become a constable at LiuShanmen.
This time, coming to Jiangnan and asking Liu Shanmen and Yang ChengWan to participate was Lu Bing’s idea, including – after their arrival in Yangzhou – to look for doctor Shen Mi. The doctor was invited to treat Yang ChengWan’s leg’s injury, and everything was arranged by Lu Bing. As for the reason, Lu Bing had not discussed it with his son, he’d only said that a few years before Yang Chengwan was one of the reliable JinYiWei’s, hence he could not bear to see him in his old age suffering for the rest of his remaining years, so he had asked Lu Yi to take good care of him, and get his leg treated.
Yang ChengWan was from Linjiang of Jiangxi, how could he have lived in Fujian for so many years? Lu Yi recalled Yang ChengWan’s voice, he couldn’t hear the Fujian accent.
Father hadn’t said where Yang ChengWan’s leg problems came from.
After Lu Yi arrived in Yangzhou, then he’d accidentally learned that Yang ChengWan had broken his leg while in the northern administrative prison.
Prison! The last place his father had mentioned relating to Yang ChengWan, could it be that year it was his father who broke his leg? But then, why did he have to treat Yang ChengWan with great respect today? Lu Yi could not ask Lu Bing about these unclear matters, because he knew that if his father didn’t want to talk about it, even if he was about to die, he would not confide a word.
Jinxia, Yuan Jinxia… He put down the brush, restlessly massaging his forehead.
Although there were very little female officers, it was not uncommon. Even in the eyes of a JinYiWei, there were several women who were good with swords and guns, experts in various types of martial arts, all of this was not unusual at all. While staying in the Capital, he had already learned that Yang ChengWan had a female student, so there was nothing strange about that.
But… she was adopted, which was something he didn’t expect. At that moment, he deeply regretted that he did not investigate further before. In Yangzhou, it was not hard to find information, like in the Capital, but it would take some more time.
A crowded street, a pair of stone guard lions…
He anxiously leaned back on the chair. Such streets and stone lions were everywhere in the Ming Dynasty, relying only on scattered memories to find her family, it was like finding a needle in the sea.
After all, was it a good thing to find them? He didn’t think so.
Last time, he had written a letter requesting to find information about the whereabouts of ‘Ai Bieli’, the torture instrument… He had not received a reply yet. He turned his head and looked out the window, sighing in silence. This time, he stopped hesitating, poured a few drops of water on the inkstone, ground it, dipped the brush in ink and started writing.
While writing, a white dove flapped its wings and stopped outside the window, calling out for the person inside. Having just flown a long journey, the dove’s feathers which were originally glowing white now had become dull gray.
“Finally, I’ve been waiting, the process was becoming slow.” Lu Yi tightened his eyebrows, he put down his brush. Gently carrying the dove, he took the small tube that was tied to its feet and removed the small coil tied with rope. He did not read the scroll right away, instead he got up and put the dove in the cage, giving it food and water. After watching it eat, he then sat back on the chair and opened the roll of paper.
Several painted boxes were neatly arranged in front of Yang ChengWan. Then, he also placed the inkstone on which the ink had been ground, paper and brushes. Due to the cloudy weather, the room was dark. YangYue wanted to move the lampstand but Yang ChengWan waved his hand, motioning him not to.
“Father, about Xie Xiao, what did you say to him?” YangYue opened his mouth to ask.
Yang ChengWan glanced at him briefly, and said nothing.
YangYue added, “I don’t think Jinxia has the same ideas as Xie Xiao. Besides, this is Yangzhou, it’s too far from the Capital.”
“Marriage is a big problem… The orders of parents and adults, how come is it your turn to intervene?”
“I, I… Just…”, YangYue said in a low voice.
When he noticed the glare in his father’s eyes, YangYue hesitated for a long time. Although he felt that it was inappropriate, he did not dare to say anything. He scratched his neck and suddenly there was a knock on the door.
“Master, are you better?” It was Jinxia.
This girl, she arrived at the right time. YangYue opened the door for her, and Jinxia half hopped into the room, her face full of smiles.
“Your mouth is big enough to tear it into three parts, what’s the good news?” YangYue said in surprise.
“What?” Jinxia pouted her lips, but then put on a smile again. She looked at Yang ChengWan and said, “Master, are you better? Is your leg still sore?”
Yang ChengWan looked at her happy face, then the image of another face appeared in his mind, he was stunned for a moment.
“Master?” Jinxia called out to him, surprised.
He quickly snapped out of his thought, put down his brush and asked, “These days, I haven’t seen you, is there something you’re not telling me?”
“No! The silver still has not been found, now Liu Daren is panicked as a bee in hot water. He stings whoever he meets. When I came home one day, I was immediately being lectured, but when he met Lu Daren, he didn’t dare to say a word.” She tilted her head and sighed, “The reason why Zhou Daren died, I could already figure it out, but there are no silvers at all, it’s unusual.”
“Why did he die?” Yang ChengWan asked.
Jinxia reported the affair between Zhai Lanye and Zhou Xian in detail. Yang ChengWan listened to it for a long time, then he said nothing and just nodded.
“I heard that Zhai Lanye is missing…”, he said.
Jinxia cautiously ‘Uhm’, and didn’t dare to say more than a word.
“You haven’t looked into it?” Yang ChengWan asked.
“I did, but didn’t find anything.” Jinxia glanced at YangYue, “I heard that they found her clothes in the river. I don’t know if she has been killed… By the way, Master, I have good news, let me tell you!” Before letting Yang ChengWan find flaws in her lies, she was quick to change the subject.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s about my family, my real parents.”
Upon hearing this, Yang ChengWan’s back stiffened, and a troubled expression appeared in his glaring eyes, but he rapidly covered it up, suppressing his emotions, and asked, almost whispering, “Why, did you find some clues?”
“No, but I talked to Lu Daren about this matter yesterday. I listened to what Lu Daren said, it sounded as if he was willing to help me find my real parents. JinYiWei has many ears and eyes, and a lot more information than LiuShanmen. Since he’s about to help, this could be…” Before she could finish her words, she saw Yang ChengWan’s face turning pale; on his forehead, veins were sticking out, “Master, you… What’s wrong with you?”
“Kneel down!”
Hearing Yang ChengWan’s angry voice, although she didn’t know what she had done wrong, Jinxia didn’t dare to delay for half a minute and immediately knelt down.
“Father…” YangYue didn’t understand why he had become angry all of a sudden, “If Lu Daren is willing to help with this, isn’t it a good thing?”
“You also kneel down!” Yang ChengWan glared at him.
YangYue knelt down too.
Yang ChengWan rebuked them in a loud voice, “One has no brain, the other also has no brain! I have educated you in vain all these years! Who is Lu Daren? He is a JinYiWei! I have repeatedly reminded you, when dealing with JinYiWei, you must be cautious, and not be too close to them, otherwise, you will sell yourself without knowing! Another thing, who is Lu Yi? He’s the eldest son of Lu Bing, and what are you? You’re just a constable at LiuShanmen. He ordered you around to do things, spoke with politeness and courtesy, that’s his nature, but in his eyes you and a dog are no different. You are good, given a stick, you climb up right away. You are thick skin, shameless…”
“Father!” YangYue felt that his words were a bit outrageous. In the past, even when Jinxia created troubles, he would never hear his father scold her so hard.
“You be quiet!” Yang ChengWan glared at him in anger, “Today, it’s my last time reminding you, whether it’s Jinxia or you! You guys are only allowed to talk about work-related stuff with him. If I find out you overstepped my orders, I will break your legs! Do you understand?”
“Understood.” YangYue said.
“Understood.”
A tear fell down on the gray brick, and disappeared seeping into the floor.
Yang ChengWan looked at her, his chest continued to move up and down, but it was difficult to continue speaking. After a while, he just said, “Go out.”
Jinxia bowed her head and got up, walking out in silence. YangYue hesitated for a moment, then followed her from behind.
As soon as YangYue closed the door, Yang ChengWan’s whole body fell down, he leaned on the hard porcelain pillow, his face full of great concern that he did not dare to show.
***
“Jinxia… Master Xia, Master Xia… My little master…” YangYue found Jinxia squatting in the corner and wiping her tears. He walked up and tried to coax her with kind words, “My father must have felt suffocated these days. Staying in the house everyday, having to take so many medicines…. Everyone has a temper, right?”
“But I… There’s nothing wrong with looking for my parents, he never stopped me before.” Jinxia said, “I’m not wrong!”
“Yes, yes, I didn’t say you were wrong! Of course it’s a right thing to find your parents, haven’t we all been helping you these years?” YangYue touched her head.
“Why did he scold me so harshly over this?” The more she thought about it, the more she felt frustrated. Tears started to fall down again.
“He… He must be afraid that you will suffer. JinYiWei are not easy people, right?”
Jinxia sniffed, wiped her eyes and turned to him. She choked up while asking, “Am I a thick face? Shameless?”
“…No, but I think…” YangYue thought about it, “These days, you are indeed getting closer to Lu Daren. It’s better to stay away from him, what do you think?”
“I just feel this person is very kind.”
“No matter how kind he is, he’s still a JinYiWei, let alone his father is Lu Bing. Think again, honestly speaking, with his status, there must be a lot of people who want to win him over.” YangYue tried to persuade her, “You shouldn’t put your hopes up either.”
Jinxia buried her head, for a while she didn’t make a sound. After a bit of time, she said in a weak voice, “I already know.” She rose to her feet, used the hem of her sleeves to wipe her face, but the tears were still falling.
YangYue stroked her head and sighed, then led her to the kitchen, “You wash your face first, then take these two pancakes I made this morning.”
Jinxia nodded her head, went to the water barrel, took the water and washed her face, then she took the packaged pancakes and put them in her pocket, reluctantly leaving the clinic.
***
The ink that had been ground in the inkstone slowly began to dry. His long slender fingers held the writing brush, hanging on a half inch of the paper, but for a very long time, no words were written. A gentle breeze entered through the window, moving slightly the pages of the book, letting out a flipping sound. Lu Yi’s eyebrows tightened, he was concentrated thinking about something, completely disregarding his surroundings.
His memory was very good. Before leaving the Capital, he had studied Yang ChengWan’s file, which was written by Shao Jun from Linjiang of Jiangxi. In the 17th year of Jiajing, he passed the state exam and became a JinYiWei Jingli. A swordsman good with knives and spear, he could fly his body from wall to wall using the light kungfu art; he was good at tracking as well. In the 27th year of Jiajing, he resigned from his position as a JinYiWei Jingli due to his leg injuries, which were difficult to heal. From that moment onward, he had become a constable at LiuShanmen.
This time, coming to Jiangnan and asking Liu Shanmen and Yang ChengWan to participate was Lu Bing’s idea, including – after their arrival in Yangzhou – to look for doctor Shen Mi. The doctor was invited to treat Yang ChengWan’s leg’s injury, and everything was arranged by Lu Bing. As for the reason, Lu Bing had not discussed it with his son, he’d only said that a few years before Yang Chengwan was one of the reliable JinYiWei’s, hence he could not bear to see him in his old age suffering for the rest of his remaining years, so he had asked Lu Yi to take good care of him, and get his leg treated.
Yang ChengWan was from Linjiang of Jiangxi, how could he have lived in Fujian for so many years? Lu Yi recalled Yang ChengWan’s voice, he couldn’t hear the Fujian accent.
Father hadn’t said where Yang ChengWan’s leg problems came from.
After Lu Yi arrived in Yangzhou, then he’d accidentally learned that Yang ChengWan had broken his leg while in the northern administrative prison.
Prison! The last place his father had mentioned relating to Yang ChengWan, could it be that year it was his father who broke his leg? But then, why did he have to treat Yang ChengWan with great respect today? Lu Yi could not ask Lu Bing about these unclear matters, because he knew that if his father didn’t want to talk about it, even if he was about to die, he would not confide a word.
Jinxia, Yuan Jinxia… He put down the brush, restlessly massaging his forehead.
Although there were very little female officers, it was not uncommon. Even in the eyes of a JinYiWei, there were several women who were good with swords and guns, experts in various types of martial arts, all of this was not unusual at all. While staying in the Capital, he had already learned that Yang ChengWan had a female student, so there was nothing strange about that.
But… she was adopted, which was something he didn’t expect. At that moment, he deeply regretted that he did not investigate further before. In Yangzhou, it was not hard to find information, like in the Capital, but it would take some more time.
A crowded street, a pair of stone guard lions…
He anxiously leaned back on the chair. Such streets and stone lions were everywhere in the Ming Dynasty, relying only on scattered memories to find her family, it was like finding a needle in the sea.
After all, was it a good thing to find them? He didn’t think so.
Last time, he had written a letter requesting to find information about the whereabouts of ‘Ai Bieli’, the torture instrument… He had not received a reply yet. He turned his head and looked out the window, sighing in silence. This time, he stopped hesitating, poured a few drops of water on the inkstone, ground it, dipped the brush in ink and started writing.
While writing, a white dove flapped its wings and stopped outside the window, calling out for the person inside. Having just flown a long journey, the dove’s feathers which were originally glowing white now had become dull gray.
“Finally, I’ve been waiting, the process was becoming slow.” Lu Yi tightened his eyebrows, he put down his brush. Gently carrying the dove, he took the small tube that was tied to its feet and removed the small coil tied with rope. He did not read the scroll right away, instead he got up and put the dove in the cage, giving it food and water. After watching it eat, he then sat back on the chair and opened the roll of paper.
