gnovel Chapter 100: Wanted
Chapter 100: Wanted
Xiao Bieli stood outside the door.
The person inside the door was wearing a faded old Taoist robe, looked to be around fifty years old, and had a slight limp in his left leg.
He was carrying a small lantern whose fire had been extinguished.
"Xiao Xianfeng, I've been waiting for you for a long time." The person inside paused, then spoke in a slightly hoarse voice: "I am Zhu Fei."
Xiao Bieli stood there without responding immediately.
He removed his hand from the hilt of the knife and took out the chipped copper coin from his pocket.
When Zhu Fu looked down and saw the copper coin, his withered shoulders swayed slightly, and he also took out his own coin from his pocket, the edges of which were also smooth and shiny from being rubbed.
Two years ago, someone slipped a copper coin into the crack of my door and said that whoever came to me with the same coin was a descendant of Zhijia.
"I've been hiding here for two years, going down the mountain every few days to steal cabbages, and every month I'll go to the roadside at the foot of the mountain pretending to gather firewood, all in the hopes of waiting for someone to bring me copper coins."
Zhu Fu turned around and went back into the house. He took out an account book wrapped in oilcloth from a hole in the wall and placed it on the broken incense table.
The cover of the ledger was darkened by oil, but the signature on the title page was still clearly legible.
The character "飞" (fei) is written with a steady, deliberate stroke, like holding a gun.
"On the 28th day of the twelfth month of the eleventh year of Shaoxing, the night before Yue Shaobao died, he asked someone to bring out the last account book from the Dali Temple. The title page had his own signature."
The old man stored the remaining boxes of archives from the Transport Bureau in different places: one was buried in the cellar of his old residence in Liulin Lane, Ezhou; another was sealed in the wall of a Dragon King Temple on the other side of the Han River; and the last one was pressed under the foundation of an abandoned granary outside Xiangyang City.
The ledger did not contain accounts, but rather a list of military contacts. Zhijia used the Transport Bureau's digital code to compile the names, aliases, military ranks, and garrisons of Yue Fei's former troops into each page of the arms allocation record.
"I have kept these account books for two years, and today I am handing them over to you."
Zhu Fu's withered fingers trembled as they slid over each row of military equipment numbers. Next to each batch of old crossbows were tiny numerical codes, each code corresponding to a name.
Xiao Bieli followed his finger and recognized at least twelve of the names.
All of them were old members he had already found on his roster, and there were even more new names whose codes he had never seen before.
This ledger contains far more than just sixty former subordinates.
"The complete list of military personnel includes 79 officers and more than 1,300 soldiers, distributed in villages and fishing ports along the Han River in Ezhou, Xiangyang, Suizhou, De'an, Yingzhou."
Zhu Fu's voice echoed through the dilapidated Taoist temple, "These people have been waiting for two years, waiting for someone who can raise a banner. Do you have such a person now?"
Xiao Bieli closed the account book, his voice barely audible through the drafty door of the dilapidated Taoist temple. "Prince Puan."
Zhu Fu closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time before pushing the most crucial booklet, along with several other maps showing the locations of the buried items, into Xiao Bieli's hands.
"Then this is what you take back to him. On the way back, you must take the tributary of the Han River and avoid the new checkpoints set up by the Imperial City Guard on the official road."
Xiao Bieli put the account book into his bosom and stood up.
As he reached the door, he glanced back at Zhu Fu.
There were no lights in the dilapidated Taoist temple. A large piece of the window paper was torn, and moonlight leaked in through the hole, shining on the chipped copper coin on the incense table. An old account book and a tattered calendar were placed side by side next to the hole in the wall.
Two years have passed. Zhu Fu has been waiting here for two years. No one speaks, there is no fire, and there is no food other than cabbage.
He only had one thing to do—wait.
......
The third day of the third lunar month is the Shangsi Festival.
In Lin'an, there is a custom of going on a spring outing on this day.
The willows on both sides of the Imperial Street have sprouted new buds, and the peach blossoms along the moat are in full bloom. Men, women, and children from all over the city are flocking out of the city to enjoy the spring scenery, fly kites, and wash and pray for blessings by the river, making the city gates extremely crowded.
However, no one from the Prince of Puan's residence went out for a spring outing.
Qin Keqing sat alone at her desk in the small house in the side courtyard. A cat was curled up on the windowsill, dozing off, its tail occasionally brushing against the window.
On the table were two urgent intelligence reports that Feng Yi had handed over from Deshou Palace this morning.
On February 28th, the Imperial City Guard posted a notice at the gate of Ezhou City. The portrait of a man and a woman was not labeled with their names, but it was very lifelike. The man had a red string drawn on his left wrist, and the woman was holding a plush rabbit in her arms.
On the same day, the Imperial City Guard placed Dong Xian under house arrest in the backyard of the Ezhou Military Commander's Office on suspicion of "colluding with the enemy."
This was not an ordinary wanted notice, but rather Qin Hui had officially issued a declaration of war against the Prince of Puan's residence.
Xiao Bieli's public identity is a document transporter for the Imperial Clan Court; to take action against him requires getting past the Imperial Clan Court.
However, by posting anonymous portraits on the grounds of "suspected treason," the Imperial City Guard bypassed all procedures.
Without naming names, without sentencing, and without going through the Dali Temple, the portraits were posted directly.
This means that all of Xiao Bieli's actions in Ezhou and Xiangyang are now under the surveillance of the Imperial City Guard.
Qin Keqing held the copied wanted poster and looked at it again.
She remembered the last secret letter Xiao Bieli had left on her desk before he left.
Xiao Bieli put Xiao Jinluo's grasshopper into the bamboo basket and said, "Miss Qin, you have too many letters, there's nowhere to put my knife." That was his last joke before leaving Lin'an.
Now the Imperial City Guard's painter has painted his face on a wanted poster, even drawing the faded red string on his wrist.
Qin Keqing took a deep breath and placed the wanted poster on the table. She picked up a charcoal pencil and wrote a letter in the booklet.
After writing it down, she handed the instructions to Liu An: "Send it to General Xin immediately, the sooner the better."
As Liu An received the instructions and turned to leave, he bumped into Xiao Jinluo at the door.
The girl stood outside the door with a bowl of hot porridge in her hand and a grasshopper she had just woven. She was learning to weave grasshoppers from her brother and had been doing it for half a month, but each one was crooked and uneven.
"Sister Qin." Xiao Jinluo placed the porridge on the table, but didn't leave, her fingers twisting the ears of the plush rabbit.
Qin Keqing looked up at her. Xiao Jinluo's lips were tightly pursed, and it took her a while to squeeze out the words.
"Sister Qin, I overheard Brother Liu An telling Aunt Li in the kitchen that they're putting up a portrait of my brother in Ezhou. Does it look like him?"
Qin Keqing closed the booklet. She didn't intend to lie to Xiao Jinluo. To lie to a child who had returned alive from the Jin camp would be the greatest disrespect to her.
But she didn't intend to say everything.
"The Imperial City Guard posted a notice in Ezhou, but it didn't mention your brother's name. Your brother's current position is a document escort for the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs. The Imperial City Guard can't touch him casually."
"So that means—he's alright for now?" Xiao Jinluo stared intently at Qin Keqing with her almond-shaped eyes.
"temporary."
Xiao Jinluo placed the grasshopper next to the porridge bowl.
"I just finished making this. I'll give it to my brother when he comes back. He used to say that the grasshopper legs I made were too thick, but this time I made them thinner."
Qin Keqing looked down at the crooked grasshopper.
The legs were woven very finely, and the tentacles were made of twisted grass stems, almost exactly the same as those woven by Xiao Bieli, except that the grasshopper's belly was slightly bulging.
"Your brother will come back." Qin Keqing said this in a gentle voice, but paused slightly when she said the last three words.
"Your brother has found a very important person in Ezhou. He will bring that account book back with him. Keep the grasshopper safe and give it to him in person when he returns."