Of course, the Lu family’s wealth wasn’t limited to just a thousand taels of gold, but suddenly taking out all the gold available from their treasury was quite a bold move indeed.
Lu Bing asked his daughter: “Li Yiren just gave it to you when you said you needed it?”
Lu Ying said: “I said father needed it.” So she had used a chicken feather as an arrow, falsely transmitting an “imperial decree.”
“You—” Faced with such a decisive daughter, Lu Bing had no temper at all, sighing: “When a thousand in gold is scattered, it will come back again. Yu Dayou is a world-class military talent—his life is worth more than a thousand taels of gold. I’ll take this gold and give it a try.”
Wang Daxia had never seen so much gold before. It felt like a dream. He couldn’t help but walk to a chest of gold, squat down, and his old habit of putting everything in his mouth to bite kicked in again. Like a man possessed, he picked up a horseshoe-shaped gold bar and gently bit it with his teeth. The texture was firm yet soft, and his mouth was filled with the taste of gold—it was pure gold!
Lu Ying knocked Wang Daxia’s head with her sword hilt: “This is all for Yan Shifan—you’ve left teeth marks and saliva on it.”
Only then did Wang Daxia come to his senses. What was a wealthy family? Throwing away thousands in gold—this was a wealthy family! Our Wang family was just country bumpkins.
Wang Daxia switched the gold bar with teeth marks with one from below. “A thousand taels of gold just given away like this?”
If I had a thousand taels of gold, why would I wait for the three-year agreement? What would I struggle for? I could marry Wei Caiwei right away.
At Sweet Water Lane, Wei Caiwei, who had just arrived home, sneezed three times in a row.
Lu Ying counter-asked: “Want me to give it to you instead?”
Wang Daxia could barely maintain his clarity and quickly waved his hands: “I wouldn’t dare take it. Looking at all this gold, I both love it and fear it. With my current abilities, I’d have the life to take it but not the life to spend it. It would be like a three-year-old child pushing a cart of jewels down the street—I couldn’t protect it.”
Just like Chen Jingji from Machang Alley before, who had been childhood sweethearts with Li Jiubao, the flower of Machang Alley, and they loved each other. But what use was that? A marketplace broker who sold houses couldn’t protect a beauty like Li Jiubao, and it ended tragically anyway.
Lu Ying said: “Father, there’s no time to lose. My master is in mortal danger—hurry and save him.”
At this moment, Imperial Physician Song arrived in haste to take Lu Bing’s pulse and treat him: “My lord has just recovered from paralysis and is overexerting himself again. You must take care of your health.”
Lu Bing said: “I’ve always been careful about my health, and recently I’ve left matters to the younger generation. But some things I must handle personally—they can’t do them. Please trouble the imperial physician to give me a few needles. I’ll rest after I finish this business.”
Imperial Physician Song had no choice and said while administering acupuncture: “I beg Lord Lu not to treat me like an immortal. We’re all mortal flesh and blood. Your body was already severely damaged and hard to restore, and now Lord Lu keeps expending energy outward. I’m very worried.”
Lu Bing said: “After I finish this matter at hand, I’ll become a hands-off manager.”
Imperial Physician Song didn’t believe it: “I’ve heard this line no less than ten times.”
After finishing the acupuncture and giving some pills: “Take one pill whenever you feel unwell.”
Lu Bing took his medicine, cut a slice of century-old ginseng to hold under his tongue, put on his crane cloak, got into a large carriage pulled by four white horses, and headed to the Yan mansion in the western city with his gifts.
Wang Daxia and Lu Ying rode horses to escort the following carriage—it contained a thousand taels of gold, so they had to be careful.
Wang Daxia asked: “Why does the chief call Yu Dayou ‘master’?”
“Because General Yu instructed me in martial arts. One day as teacher, lifelong as teacher.” Lu Ying said proudly: “My master learned swordsmanship from Li Liangqin and even went to Shaolin Temple to practice martial arts. When he fought pirates, Shaolin Temple even sent highly skilled monks to kill pirates, becoming monk soldiers under my master. My master also created his own staff and sword techniques—he’s not an ordinary warrior.”
Wang Daxia had a sudden realization: “No wonder this subordinate can never beat you—truly a master produces an excellent student.”
Lu Ying glared: “What I teach you all in the morning training ground, I learned by stealing techniques from my master. I’ve held nothing back—you’re learning the same things I learned. You just won’t study properly and always like to take shortcuts. While martial arts comprehension is important, diligent practice is indispensable. Have you been slacking off again these past few days in Baoding Prefecture? Didn’t practice at all in the mornings?”
Mentioning Baoding Prefecture, a mysterious smile appeared on Wang Daxia’s face, and his eyes became tender: You might not believe this, but Wei Caiwei and I have already privately pledged ourselves to each other in Baoding Prefecture—we even wrote a marriage contract!
Seeing his foolish smile, Lu Ying immediately confirmed her suspicion: “Tomorrow after roll call, you’ll practice an extra half-hour more than the others.”
Wang Daxia let out a wail of despair.
Learning that his in-law had arrived, Yan Shifan naturally welcomed him warmly and ordered his son Yan Shaoting to be called back from the Imperial Academy to accompany his father-in-law. Lu Bing quickly stopped him: “I’m not here to see the young couple today. I have some private business with Dong Lou.”
Yan Shifan was a round, fat man who still wore single-layer clothing in autumn, while Lu Bing wore a crane cloak and a large black hat to block the wind, lest he catch cold.
The old fox Yan Shifan knew perfectly well whom Lu Bing had come for, but he deliberately pretended ignorance, inviting Lu Bing to the study and saying: “Dong Hu fell from his horse, and his arms and legs just healed—don’t tire yourself. Someone, prepare a warm sedan chair for my in-law and carry him to the study to talk.”
Lu Bing knew his body was weak and didn’t insist, getting into the sedan chair while Lu Ying and Wang Daxia had people carry the “gifts” to follow.
Yan Shifan still remembered Wang Daxia and asked: “How is your father lately?”
This was practically slapping Wang Daxia in the face. Yan Shifan made no effort to hide his pettiness—unable to torment Wang Daxia, he went after his father instead. With just a lift of his finger, he could crush him like squashing an ant.
Wang Daxia was no longer the same person—he had developed the thick skin to endure humiliation: “Thanks to your blessing, this subordinate’s father is doing well. Without official burdens, he’s light and free. Now he’s both father and mother, playing with this subordinate’s two-year-old brother every day, no longer having any desire for fame or profit.”
This was sarcasm—how could a man who had been an official for half his life be content staying home with children?
Yan Shifan was secretly pleased and asked again: “Your father did well at the Northern City Military Commission these years. Too bad his judgment was poor—marrying an unworthy wife who actually lent money at interest outside, causing your father to bear the blame for lack of supervision and lose his position. What are your thoughts?”
Wang Daxia acted heartless and laughed: “The old man of Sai’s horse—who knows if it’s not a blessing? This subordinate never got along with my stepmother, as all of North City knew. This gave me good reason to ask father to divorce her, preventing her from becoming a great disaster later. This subordinate sincerely thanks whoever secretly reported father to the Ministry of Personnel—they’re truly my great benefactor. Now that stepmother has been divorced and father lost his position, he doesn’t dare scold me anymore. We live in peace, except—”
Wang Daxia’s joy turned to worry: “Except the family was cheated out of a large sum of silver. Our fortunes declined, and we can’t maintain our former lifestyle. We dismissed most of the servants and live more frugally, no longer able to spend money carelessly like before.”
Wang Daxia glanced at Lu Ying and lowered his voice to Yan Shifan: “Now when this subordinate goes on business trips, I even try to get Commander Lu to sign off on reimbursing toilet paper. Going from luxury to frugality is hard—poor days are difficult to endure.”
Hearing this, Yan Shifan felt even more pleased—seeing you suffer makes me happy.
Wang Daxia read the situation and knew his show of weakness had helped him escape disaster. If Yan Shifan retaliated again, he couldn’t withstand it, especially with his patron Lu Bing ill. Better not to cause trouble.
At the study, Lu Ying helped Lu Bing down from the sedan chair. After entering, she closed doors and windows to prevent her father from catching wind, being very attentive with caring inquiries. Yan Shifan envied Lu Bing: “Dong Hu is blessed with good children.”
Lu Bing modestly said: “We both are.”
Lu Bing gave a meaningful look and dismissed everyone else: “Dong Lou, I know you’re busy, so I won’t beat around the bush. I’ve come for Yu Dayou’s matter. This is what Yu Dayou entrusted me to deliver to you.”
Yan Shifan kept a straight round face: “Dong Hu, Yu Dayou delayed military affairs. For the Battle of Cengang, how much military force did the Ming expend? The war against pirates would succeed or fail in one stroke, yet he let the pirates escape. Years of Ming efforts went up in smoke—he deserves death!”
Lu Bing didn’t defend Yu Dayou with a single word but directly opened one chest, revealing golden bars stacked in pyramid formation.
By Yan Shifan’s estimation, there were about twenty bars at ten taels each—two hundred taels of gold in one chest.
Yan Shifan calmly sipped his tea: “Dong Hu, it’s not that I don’t want to give you face, but Yu Dayou belongs to Xu Jie, and I’ve had policy disagreements and frequent friction with Xu Jie lately. Since Yu Dayou looks down on me and went under Xu Jie’s wing, why don’t you appeal to Grand Secretary Xu instead of coming to me? Dong Hu has found the wrong person.”
Lu Bing still said nothing and opened the second chest—again golden and gleaming, another two hundred taels of gold.
Yan Shifan’s teacup paused: “Yu Dayou only now realizes he backed the wrong person? It’s too late to embrace Buddha’s feet at the last minute.”
Lu Bing remained silent and opened the third chest. Three chests of gold were like three small suns, warming the study like sunset afterglow.
Yan Shifan squinted his one eye: “Dong Hu, what kind of person do you take me for? Yu Dayou is the type who serves whoever benefits him most—I’m a man of principles.”
Lu Bing finally spoke: “Confiscation of property, dismissal from office, stripping of title, exile to the frontier as a military slave—all fine. Dong Lou just needs to spare his life. Living is enough.”
With that, he opened the fourth chest.
Yan Shifan blinked his one eye. Yes, he was a man of principles, and his principles had clear price tags. For instance, new jinshi had to queue at the Ministry of Personnel for vacancies before being assigned positions. But giving Yan Shifan three hundred taels of silver could immediately secure a seventh-rank prefectural judge position; an internal promotion of one official rank cost thirteen thousand taels of silver, and so on.
Yan Shifan loved money, and basically all his principles had prices—that was his principle.
The gold Yu Dayou sent was enough to buy a first-rank official position!
At this moment, Lu Bing opened the fifth chest.
A full thousand taels!
Yan Shifan stirred his emerald tea with the lid: “It’s… not impossible.”
One life for a thousand taels of gold—this deal was too worthwhile. Moreover, dismissing Yu Dayou and exiling him as a military slave would severely slap Xu Jie’s face, which counted as the Yan family’s revenge.
Yan Shifan entered the palace to plead for Yu Dayou. Eventually, Yu Dayou was released from the War Ministry’s death row and escorted to Datong to guard the frontier.
Before leaving, Yu Dayou gave his disciple Lu Ying a martial arts book he had written in recent years, “Sword Classic”: “Master can no longer teach you. This contains my martial arts insights from these years, including self-created sword and staff techniques. Take it to practice. You have exceptional talent and will surely achieve great things.”
Yu Dayou left the capital in the autumn wind, heading for Datong. Before departing, he wrote a poem “Autumn Mountain Journey” to express his aspirations: “Stream swells, giant fish emerge; mountains quiet, good birds sing. If a man doesn’t journey forth, how can he serve the people?”
Yu Dayou finished writing with bold strokes, drank a cup of wine, and left.
Lu Ying held the handwritten “Sword Classic” and “Autumn Mountain Journey,” watching her master depart, sighing: “Since childhood, I’ve loved reading martial arts novels about swordsmen wandering the world, wanting to be a chivalrous hero fighting evil. Only after growing up did I understand that people like my master are truly great heroes—serving country and people. I won’t hoard this ‘Sword Classic’ like some martial arts secret manual. I’ll have it printed so you can all have copies to practice from. I hope we’ll all become great heroes who truly benefit country and people like my master.”
“Commander Lu is absolutely right. This subordinate will definitely practice diligently in the future.” Wang Daxia pulled out several receipts from his pocket and handed Lu Ying the brush Yu Dayou had just used for poetry: “These are the expenses for today’s farewell wine and paper and brushes. Please trouble Commander Lu to sign so this subordinate can get reimbursed at the accounting office.”
Author’s Note: Lu Ying, the emotionless reimbursement machine: Yu Dayou, Wang Daxia—both have “Da” in their names, so why is the difference so great?
Today is the weekend, sending out 100 red envelopes. Wishing everyone a pleasant weekend, happy reading, and a joyful weekend!