gnovel Chapter 55 Response
Chapter 55 Response
The influx of constables threw the inn into chaos.
The cook, Huang, knelt in front of the kitchen with her nephew, trembling.
Cao Tong and Liu Jiu (Brother Liu) were pinned to the ground by the bailiffs, who carefully compared them with the portraits before finally letting them go.
While Song You was reading under the lamp, the constables broke down the door and ransacked the room. In the end, they were forced to join Yu Yuan in using the keys to open the various storerooms.
After searching all the warehouses, the constables were slightly disappointed. They didn't know if it was because they hadn't caught anyone, or because the empty warehouses meant they couldn't take advantage of the situation.
The room where Shao Shuyi lived was the focus of the search.
Bedding and chairs were scattered haphazardly on the floor, and writing implements were strewn everywhere.
If Yu Yuan and Song You hadn't fiercely protected his "toolbox" and money box, both of them would have been destroyed.
As they were leaving, the clerk leading the group went straight into the kitchen and took away several salted fish, three preserved chickens, and a braised goose, acting like a bandit.
"Not here?" Zhu Jin sat behind the counter, ignoring the officers' groping behavior, only concerned with the whereabouts of the prisoner.
"It's definitely not here," the clerk reported, then tentatively added, "Should we search again?"
"Alright then." Zhu Jin waved his hand and said, "Separate everyone in the shop for interrogation and ask them where they went."
"Should we arrest him for further investigation?" the clerk asked.
Zhu Jin hesitated for a moment, then said, "No need, and there's no need to resort to any methods."
"Yes." The clerk accepted the order and left.
Seeing this, Song You, the clerk of the Imperial Library, cupped his hands in greeting and said loudly, "May I ask Judge Zhu, who exactly made the accusation? Is it possible to arrest someone so soon after making the accusation? Perhaps it's just one side of the story?"
Zhu Jin snorted coldly, not answering directly, but saying only, "Gold and silver are extremely precious, and have always been bestowed upon princes and ministers. Are you aware that the 'Maritime Trade Law' prohibits the export of gold, silver, copper, rice, and military equipment overseas?"
"Of course I know," Song You replied, "but this is only one side of the story, and it shouldn't be believed too easily."
"Those who violate the ban should be brought to justice," Zhu Jin said.
"Perhaps someone is making false accusations and framing us?" Song You continued.
"He must have fled to avoid punishment," Zhu Jin said to himself, ignoring him completely.
Song You shut up.
You're talking about this, he's talking about that, it's like talking to a brick wall, we won't get anywhere if we keep going. And if Judge Zhu gets angry and arrests him too, that wouldn't be worth it.
This fellow is determined to seize control of the accounts; he either has a grudge against us, has been bribed, or is acting under orders. It's not wise to confront him directly now; it's better to wait until he leaves and then think of another way.
On the other side, Liang Tai held onto Wang Huadu's hand tightly, worried that he might do something foolish.
However, he was overthinking it. Wang Huadu was very quiet, clearly knowing what he should and shouldn't do at any given time.
Yu Yuan looked anxious.
If the constables hadn't been there, he would have gone straight to Suzhou to warn Brother Shao not to rush back and to hide out there for a while.
And so, the people from the Maritime Trade Office lingered at the inn for more than an hour, until they finally couldn't get any more information from the inn, before they hurriedly left, leaving behind a mess.
******
As soon as the officials left, Wang Huadu grabbed Yu Yuan and asked, "Did Brother Shao come back by boat?"
"He went by boat, and he'll come back by boat too." Yu Yuan asked anxiously, "Are the officials going to the dock to arrest him?"
Wang Huadu hesitated for a moment.
"Actually, that's not the case," Song You, who had just been arguing, said. "The Maritime Trade Office can only inspect smugglers and contraband; they don't actually have many officers. If they go to the Taicang docks, or if there's a conflict with Kunshan Prefecture, I guess they'd rather wait until the accountant returns to the shop before making the arrest."
"What Brother Song said is absolutely right." Governor Wang Hua's attitude towards him changed drastically. "What can these people from the Maritime Trade Office do besides asking for money? There were quite a few of those runners just now who were obese and must be extremely lazy on ordinary days. I don't know who paid someone to falsely accuse Brother Shao, and that's why these people finally came out of their way."
Yu Yuan seemed to understand, but not quite.
He was actually a little confused. Could a false accusation really succeed? If he falsely accused someone of being a pirate, wouldn't the authorities come and arrest him without even asking any questions?
"If they can falsely accuse Brother Shao today, they can falsely accuse others tomorrow. Over at the courtyard—" Liang Tai suddenly spoke up.
Wang Huadu's expression tightened at first, but seeing everyone looking at him, he relaxed and said with an unnatural smile, "I was watching a play at the dock the other day. It was about Zhu Wen, who joined Huang Chao's rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty and became a general and military governor. His mother, sister, and brother were all fine, weren't they? They continued to farm and work as servants in their hometown for many years. You expect an official like you to understand the situation of us ordinary people? That's really asking too much of them."
"We mustn't be careless, Dog Slave—Brother," Yu Yuan said worriedly.
"Why don't we move to Taicang?" Liang Tai said vaguely, as if he had some concerns.
Taicang? Where is Taicang? He didn't say it clearly, but Wang Huadu already understood.
Li Fu's house is still empty, isn't it? If we squeeze in, there's always room.
The villagers of Dongyidu felt sorry for Li Fu's family and had a good impression of Shao Ge'er. If government officials were to go there, they would surely have someone tip them off so they could hide in time.
"Exactly!" he said, clenching his fist. "The way the government officials act is almost like thieves; you can see them from far away."
Song You shook his head and chuckled.
At that time, the sound of drums and gongs was used to welcome and send off the Inspector General, typically with two drumbeats and one gong.
When escorting robbers, a drum and a gong are used.
So someone wrote a poem: "To appease the thief, one tael of gold and one drum; to welcome the official, two drums and one gong. The tael of gold and drum seem the same; the official and the thief are not concerned with quantity."
This was used to mock the fact that when the Commissioner of the Interior was "rectifying" the officialdom, the officials were in an uproar, and the Commissioner was so rich in money that his hands were sore from accepting bribes.
"Let's do it this way," Wang Huadu said finally. "I'll go back and prepare now. We're moving tonight. Sigh, there's a lot of grain, rice, salt, and vegetables. It'll be exhausting."
"And then there are the weapons," Liang Tai added. "Everything else is manageable, but weapons are the most troublesome."
After saying that, he lowered his head and stared silently at the ground, remaining silent.
Song You glanced at Liang Tai, seemingly unintentionally.
This man spoke more today than he had in the past ten days combined, yet not a single word was wasted; every sentence hit the nail on the head.
He looks fierce and burly, but he turns out to be a meticulous person.
Wang Huadu left quickly.
Yu Yuan was restless, sometimes wanting to get up and go out, sometimes sitting back down in a daze.
As he tried to stand up again, Song You patted him on the shoulder and said, "Accountant Shao will be back soon. If you're worried, go to Zhangjing Wharf to meet him. There's nothing going on at the shop anyway, so a day or two's absence won't be a problem."
Yu Yuan glanced at him, bowed deeply, and hurriedly left.
Song You sighed softly and said, "I'm going to Yantietang."
Having said that, he drifted away.
After everyone left, Liang Tai got up and closed all the doors and windows. Then he sat in the dark corner behind the counter, took a piece of linen, and quietly began to wipe his knife.
******
Early the next morning, Sun Chuan got up from the west wing.
After washing up, he turned his head to look north and sighed silently.
For two days in a row, I've been relegated to sleeping in a side room; I can't even get into the bedroom. This woman with her son—she's just impossible to tame.
But I have to be patient, I have to be patient!
This woman, Liu, owns two or three shops each in Liujiagang, Taicang, and Longwan on Jiqing Road, with her business operations spanning a vast area.
In particular, the three shops in Longwan City were thriving in the trade of grain, oil, cloth, and salt, and were even bigger than his.
Every year on the seventh day of the first lunar month, Renri (Human Day), a large group of shop managers would come to pay their respects, a sight that would make one's heart pound.
After the marriage, Liu gave him some advice: many of the shop managers in Longwan City used to make a living at sea, but now they've come ashore and stopped doing so, so don't mess with them.
From this, Sun Chuan understood what Liu's late husband had done.
Of course, Mr. Sun didn't come away empty-handed either. It was Liu who facilitated his business of selling stolen goods for the pirates, and he profited handsomely. However—there was still a lingering regret: why couldn't the two families combine their wealth into one?
After swaying his head as he entered the dining room, he saw an old servant standing with his hands clasped behind his back, seemingly waiting for him.
Sun Chuan waved.
An old servant approached and reported softly, "Sir, Inspector Chen sent someone to say that Shao Shuyi was not captured yesterday. It seems he went to Suzhou and has not yet returned."
"Chen Tiju" is actually "Tong Tiju", an official under Nasuladin, the supervisor of the Taicang Maritime Trade Office. However, the word "Tong" is usually omitted when people address him.
"They went to Suzhou?" Sun Chuan frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Didn't the Maritime Trade Office intercept them at the crossroads, or perhaps they were lying in wait at the docks?"
"Where would the Maritime Trade Office find the manpower?" the old servant said with a wry smile. "Besides, if we went, the people in the prefectural government would think we'd overstep our bounds, and a fight might break out."
Sun Chuan grunted expressionlessly, then said, "Very well, since I have nothing else to do today, I'll go sit in the prefectural government office. They're setting up a new patrol station in Taicang, and they're making us pay for it. Don't they get some benefits in return?"
After Sun Chuan finished speaking, the old servant reminded him, "Sir, those people in the prefectural government are very greedy. If you want them to do anything, it will probably cost a lot of money. It's worth it—"
Sun Chuan waved his hand before he could finish speaking, saying, "You don't understand! A thousand-mile dike can be breached by an ant hole. What is my foundation for survival? Trade with foreign countries! Without this, the Maritime Trade Office will not protect me, and my fate is self-evident. It doesn't matter if you touch other things, but you can't touch this. If anyone touches it, I will fight them to the death."
After saying that, he stopped eating, stood up and said, "Take out that coral from home; I want to take it to the prefectural government office."