Originally when the Imperial Guards kicked down the widow’s door, even if passersby saw it, they wouldn’t dare approach to watch the excitement. But when Young Master Wang ran over shouting, he immediately ignited the gossiping souls of the passersby, who all crowded over to watch.
Because the power disparity between the widow and the Imperial Guards wasn’t very interesting, but the scene of Young Master Wang confronting the Imperial Guards was quite a spectacle!
Some passersby who loved drama even ran to tell the patrolling Northern District Military Commissioner: “Your Second Young Master is clashing with the Imperial Guards again!”
The Northern District Military Commissioner had been searching for the runaway Young Master Wang all night!
Truly a case of “searching everywhere to no avail, then finding it without effort!”
“Go!”
Hundred-Household Commander Mu, who had just gotten up to take over the night shift, led the Northern District Military Commissioner forces rushing over upon hearing the news. The quiet Tianshui Alley immediately became so packed it was impenetrable, more lively than a vegetable market.
Why did Young Master Wang return?
First, he was worried the Imperial Guards would ransack the house and damage his mother’s dowry. Second, his conscience wasn’t completely dead—he was concerned about the young widow facing the vicious Imperial Guards alone.
As for being caught again and confined at home… if I could escape once, I can escape a second time.
Young Master Wang had at least a hundred escape techniques.
The Imperial Guards had just witnessed this Young Master Wang’s prowess the night before last. Even Thousand-Household Commander Chen couldn’t do anything to him and lost his life—though unrelated to Young Master Wang, it was still inauspicious.
A subordinate suggested to the leading young Imperial Guard: “Lord Lu, this Young Master Wang is very troublesome and a jinx. Thousand-Household Commander Chen and his son got into big trouble after getting involved with him. Don’t get entangled with him. Besides, the Wang mansion is right next door—this isn’t a good place to linger. We should just take the suspect to the Imperial Guard office for slow interrogation.”
Wei Caiwei didn’t want to go to the Imperial Guard office for trial and quickly explained: “There were mice in the house last night. I killed one with my shoe sole. Lord Lu, look carefully—the mouse is spitting fresh blood and its bones are broken. If it had been poisoned, how could its fur and skeleton be damaged?”
Lord Lu asked: “You dare to kill mice?”
It was my dead ghost husband who killed it! Wei Caiwei said: “This common woman is a doctor—I don’t even fear snakes and scorpions, let alone a mere mouse. If Lord Lu doesn’t believe me, find a live mouse and I’ll kill it for you to see.”
The mouse: That’s really not necessary!
Lord Lu examined the dead mouse carefully. Dead mice were all stiff and rigid. From the outside, there were bloodstains in its mouth and on its fur, looking like it was beaten to death, but… what if it was poisoned and then stepped on to create a false impression?
Lord Lu said: “Whether it was beaten to death or poisoned, the coroner at the office can tell with one examination. If there’s no poison, you’ll be released to return.”
Wei Caiwei wanted to argue further, but Lord Lu impatiently waved his hand: “I don’t have time to waste words with you. If you won’t come with us willingly, it shows you have a guilty conscience. Choose—will you come with us, or shall we tie you up and take you away?”
Wei Caiwei had no choice but to select the first option and follow Lord Lu outside.
Then… Lord Lu discovered that under Young Master Wang’s troublemaking, Tianshui Alley had been blocked solid by onlooking passersby and the Northern District Military Commissioner forces.
They couldn’t get out.
The Imperial Guards didn’t want to provoke Young Master Wang, this plague god—after all, he was the jinx who had brought doom to Thousand-Household Commander Chen and his son. But Young Master Wang was concerned about Wei Caiwei’s safety and buzzed around like a fly, insisting on making trouble.
He squeezed to the front and pointed at a chipped spot of paint on the vermillion gate: “Ah! My door! I just had it repainted this year, beautiful and bright, and you Imperial Guards kicked it and ruined its appearance with one kick!”
Young Master Wang was emotionally expressive, heartbroken over a chip of paint like a bald man mourning hair loss. He hugged Lord Lu’s leg: “You can’t leave! The gate is already damaged, and who knows what the furniture and furnishings inside have been destroyed to! We need to calculate the damages clearly, one by one. Pay up!”
Lord Lu was caught off guard by the leg hug and froze.
His subordinates exclaimed: “Protect Lord Lu!”
The Imperial Guards swarmed forward to pull Young Master Wang away. Lord Lu also vigorously shook his left leg: “You scoundrel! Get away! Let go!”
In the tug-of-war, Young Master Wang’s hands slipped from Lord Lu’s thigh to his knee, then hugged his boot shaft, and actually pulled off one of Lord Lu’s boots entirely!
Lord Lu was so angry his face went white: “Get the boot back! Take this scoundrel along too!”
Young Master Wang waved the boot defensively while shouting loudly: “The Imperial Guards are committing murder!”
Lord Lu’s face was pale as paper. He hadn’t expected Wang Daxia to be a shameless, unscrupulous, and unreasonable triple-threat young master. He rebuked: “Shut up! Who said anything about killing you!”
Young Master Wang ignored this and continued shouting that the Imperial Guards were murdering people. Wei Caiwei gave him a meaningful look and pointed at the gate. He understood immediately and ran into the house clutching the boot.
The Northern District Military Commissioner forces arrived and saw a group of Imperial Guards ganging up on their young master, even forcing him into the house. They all rushed over to rescue him.
Onlooking passersby: The Imperial Guards and Northern District Military Commissioner are fighting again!
Young Master Wang climbed to the second floor and hid in a room, slamming the door shut with a bang. The pursuing Imperial Guards frantically kicked the door while the Northern District Military Commissioner forces squeezed over to pull the Imperial Guards away. Hundred-Household Commander Mu angrily said: “What has our young master done that you Imperial Guards want to kill him completely!”
Just as Lord Lu, wearing only one boot, was about to speak, Wei Caiwei, who had been silently observing, said: “Wang Daxia took off Lord Lu’s boot.”
Hundred-Household Commander Mu questioned Lord Lu: “Lord Lu wants to kill our young master over one boot—that’s really excessive.”
Lord Lu said coldly: “When did I say I wanted to kill him? He was the one who first grabbed… snatched my boot.”
Hundred-Household Commander Mu knocked on the door: “Second Young Master, return the boot to Lord Lu.”
Young Master Wang said through the door: “Uncle Mu, the Imperial Guards ransacked my house, disturbed my tenant Dr. Wei, and want to arrest her. The house and all the furniture are my mother’s dowry—people care about their own belongings. The Imperial Guards won’t pay compensation and even threaten to beat and kill me. You must support me!”
Hundred-Household Commander Mu looked at the shoe prints on the door and the freshly fallen paint, then asked Lord Lu: “Your face is unfamiliar—I haven’t seen you before. May I ask your honored surname and given name? What is your official position?”
Lord Lu said: “My name is Lu Ying… Ying as in hero. As for my position… I’m not any high official, just a Guard Commander beside Imperial Guard Commander Lu.”
The Imperial Guard Commander was Lu Bing, Emperor Jiajing’s milk brother, a favorite whose imperial favor never waned, and the person the emperor trusted most.
Hundred-Household Commander Mu asked again: “Commander Lu is so young—you must be… a relative of Commander Lu.”
Lu Ying seemed very averse to people guessing his identity and said coldly: “That has nothing to do with today’s matter.”
Hundred-Household Commander Mu was an official in the capital with broad experience and understood immediately. From Commander Lu’s reaction, he was indeed Commander Lu’s relative.
Commander Lu had four sons—the eldest and second had died young, leaving only the two younger sons Lu Yi and Lu Cai alive. This Lu Ying was probably a nephew or similar relative.
So he was also a young master—Young Master Lu.
Having figured out Lu Ying’s background, Hundred-Household Commander Mu felt confident and knocked on the door:
“Second Young Master, Commander Lu is a nephew of Commander Lu the Imperial Guard Commander. Commander Lu has always restrained his family members to be modest and polite, never bullying others. Commander Lu leading Imperial Guards to search the house today must be for urgent business. His subordinates being rough-handed is possible, but why would it be like you said—murdering people in the street? There must be some misunderstanding. Come out, first return the shoe to Commander Lu, and we’ll sit down to talk and clarify everything.”
Wang Daxia heard through the door that this Lu Ying had the big backing of Imperial Guard Commander Lu Bing and knew this person wasn’t to be trifled with. So he took the steps Hundred-Household Commander Mu provided, opened the door, returned the boot to its rightful owner, and said:
“I didn’t make the first move. It was because you damaged my house and harassed my tenant that I had no choice but to resist.”
Lu Ying put on his boot: “You kept saying the Imperial Guards were murdering people—spreading malicious rumors.”
Wang Daxia pointed at the group of Imperial Guards on the stairs: “So many of you beating up just me—if each person punched me once, I’d be dead or crippled. Rounded off, that’s murder.”
Lu Ying snorted coldly: “Glib-tongued.”
Just as another argument was about to start, Wei Caiwei spoke: “Everything started because of this common woman…”
Wei Caiwei briefly explained why the Imperial Guards had kicked down her door early in the morning: “…That mouse was killed by me. The weather is hot—leaving it in the house would make it stink. As a widow, it’s not proper to open the door at night, so I put it in the courtyard, planning to take it out and throw it in the garbage when I went out. I didn’t expect the Imperial Guards to come so early and think it was poisoned, wanting to take both the mouse and me to the Imperial Guard office for examination and interrogation.”
When Wang Daxia heard this, he realized he had caused this trouble! When Wei Caiwei had asked him to dispose of the dead mouse, he had picked up a leaf, used it to grab the mouse’s tail, and put it in the courtyard, planning to throw it out when daylight came. But the Imperial Guards came suddenly, and when he ran out the back door, he forgot about the dead mouse.
Wei Caiwei bowed to Lu Ying: “This common woman is willing to go with Commander Lu to the Imperial Guard office. Once the office coroner verifies the mouse died without poison, this matter will be concluded, and this common woman still needs to practice medicine to make a living. This common woman is a female household head who depends on practicing medicine to support herself—when hands stop, mouth stops. The capital has high expenses, and if I don’t do business for one day, I might go hungry and cold in the future.”
Wang Daxia worried the young widow would be bullied going alone to the Imperial Guard office and said: “She’s my tenant. Even when beating a dog, you have to consider the owner, let alone a tenant. If you bully her, you’re looking down on me. I’ll go to the Imperial Guard office with her—after she proves her innocence and goes to practice medicine, I still need to settle with you how to compensate for today’s house damage.”
Wei Caiwei thought: Who’s the dog? Watch out or I’ll smash your dog head!