At the main Hongzhuang Cosmetics Shop.
Ding Wu came to find his brother-in-law, wanting him to be more restrained. Now his coquettish behavior had “successfully” caught Third Madam’s attention, and she wanted to meet this “extraordinary woman.”
The female Brocade Guard undercover agent disguised as the shop manager blocked the doorway and whispered, “The ‘boss’ came today.” Wei Caiwei appeared in men’s clothing – Wang Daxia was the female boss.
Upon hearing that his sister had come, Ding Wu’s originally stern gaze meant to scold his flirtatious brother-in-law softened, “Perfect, let’s sit down together as a family and discuss this.”
Actually, it wasn’t to sit down and discuss – it was to hold a criticism session for the brother-in-law, to make his sister recognize her husband’s true nature. He wasn’t forced to dress as a woman – he just said “Oh no, there’s no choice,” but inwardly he greatly enjoyed applying cosmetics and powders!
Sister, you really need to properly manage your husband.
The female agent guarded the door, refusing to give way, stammering, “Well… a brief separation is better than a new marriage. If it’s not something urgent, please wait outside for a bit.”
Wang Daxia was now everyone’s female friend, discussing makeup tips and emotional problems. As the saying goes, those near ink become black – the female agent sympathized with Wang Daxia’s suddenly interrupted honeymoon and the couple’s separation, naturally taking his side.
Ding Wu was twenty-nine years old. He hadn’t eaten pork nor seen pigs run, but he understood the meaning in the female agent’s words. He wanted to immediately rush into the room and drag Wang Daxia out. But… doing so would disturb his sister’s mood when she had finally managed to come to Fengcheng through the pass.
Ding Wu’s heart was in turmoil, wavering between scolding his brother-in-law and feeling sorry for his sister. In the end, the latter prevailed – he was ultimately a soft-hearted person.
“I’ll go upstairs for some tea.” Ding Wu chose the latter option. The tea grew weaker as he drank, the young couple was still busy and hadn’t come out. The more Ding Wu drank, the more uncomfortable he felt. He stood to leave, planning to go to the White Lotus Sect to play a game of chess with Li Zixin before returning.
The stairs creaked – Lu Ying had also come up, naturally also “invited” upstairs to wait by the female manager.
When the two met, it was extremely awkward. Both knew why the other had come up for tea, while at this moment, the truly embarrassing young couple were blindfolded and shamelessly engaged in various indescribable activities.
Ding Wu was drinking black tea. Seeing Lu Ying arrive, he immediately switched to her preferred Longjing tea, using the brewing process to ease the awkwardness.
Lu Ying had nothing to keep her hands busy and had no interest in the displayed rouge and cosmetics, so she could only make small talk, saying, “The snow in Fengcheng is really heavy.”
Ding Wu brewed tea, “It’s like this every year, continuing until February, sometimes even March snow.”
The two drank tea in another awkward silence, both thinking in unison: When will those two come out!
Lu Ying boredly picked up walnuts from the plate, cracking them open with her bare hands – snap! She simply focused on shelling walnuts, rubbing off the brown shells and placing the nuts in the plate, asking, “Want some walnuts?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Lu Ying’s powerful fingers cracked walnuts barehanded while Ding Wu boiled water and added tea – they had to do something or it would be too awkward. Just when both were about to be stuffed full from tea and snacks, Wang Daxia and Wei Caiwei finally finished their business.
Wei Caiwei was glowing with satisfaction. Wang Daxia’s hair was slightly disheveled with loose strands hanging over her forehead, her cheeks flushed, looking at Wei Caiwei with unfocused eyes and occasional silly smiles, like a mouse that had stolen oil.
Ding Wu couldn’t stand the sight and coughed lightly, “Your reputation has reached even Third Madam’s ears, and she specifically wants to meet you.”
“I won’t go.” Wang Daxia shook her head so vigorously that the hairpins and ornaments on her hair bun nearly flew off. “Just say I’m ill.” With my wife right here, how could I possibly go meet that woman I’ve had romantic rumors with?
Sure enough, the spring breeze on Wei Caiwei’s face disappeared, replaced by winter frost. “You should indeed be cautious. You once generously spent money to redeem Third Madam from her predicament. She must remember you firmly – she’d recognize you even if you turned to ash.”
Wang Daxia was like facing a great enemy. “That’s not true.” He quickly changed the subject. “Commander Lu, now the White Lotus Sect farmers in Bansheng lack grain. Sect Leader Zhao Quan sent most of the grain to Khan An Da. Li Zixin led raids into the pass for grain but was completely annihilated. Now the White Lotus Sect believers in Bansheng are starting to go hungry. Yesterday on the street, I saw White Lotus Sect believers begging along the streets for survival. I gave them a small handful of sorghum, and they knelt in the snow kowtowing over ten times. If they weren’t truly unable to survive, who would humble themselves so much for a handful of grain?”
Lu Ying said, “I came this time precisely for this matter. The White Lotus Sect is fragmenting due to lack of grain. The nonsense about ‘joining the sect to avoid calamity’ has been shattered by hunger. The sect leader’s prestige has plummeted, and the believers’ faith is collapsing. Taking advantage of this moment, we can spread rumors of ‘leaving the sect to avoid calamity’ in Fengcheng and Bansheng – as long as they leave the White Lotus Sect and return to their homeland, they can eat their fill this winter and not starve to death.”
“The northwestern border has been constantly at war, and many fields have become desolate and ownerless. I’ve already petitioned the Emperor, suggesting these lands be distributed to believers who leave the White Lotus Sect and flee back to their homeland for refuge. Give them these ownerless lands to cultivate, with no taxes for five years.”
“The sect leader cannot save them, but the court can prevent them from starving and give them a way to live. I believe that faced with reality, those deceptive words of the White Lotus Sect will crumble without attack.”
Ding Wu was utterly impressed with Lu Ying. “This is a strategy to remove the firewood from under the cauldron. This winter’s famine is a crisis for Sect Leader Zhao Quan, but for us, it’s a golden opportunity – perfect for letting those deceived believers see the sect leader’s true face. To curry favor with Khan An Da, he’d rather let his own believers go hungry and cold, begging on the streets. What kind of ‘joining the sect to avoid calamity’ is this? It’s clearly ‘joining the sect to meet calamity.'”
Wang Daxia said, “I’ll immediately print leaflets in the secret room and secretly distribute them in Fengcheng and Bansheng during the night, telling the believers this wonderful news – they don’t have to beg on the streets or starve to death.”
Ding Wu objected – no one understood the White Lotus Sect better than he did. “The vast majority of believers are illiterate farmers and craftsmen. The upper levels of the White Lotus Sect won’t go hungry – those suffering from cold and hunger are these illiterate common people at the bottom. Printing leaflets is useless – like winking at a blind man. You still need word of mouth, composing some catchy folk songs.”
To incite the common people, you must take the mass line – make it understandable even to illiterate people. Scholarly language cannot move people. Things like “Great Chu rises, Chen Sheng is king,” “The Azure Heaven is dead, the Yellow Heaven should rise; the year is Jiazi, great fortune under heaven,” “Equal noble and base, distribute wealth equally,” “Don’t say the stone man has one eye – when this thing appears, the world rebels” – all began as easily understood folk songs.
These four people came from various social strata – Lu Ying from wealthy nobility, Ding Wu from a fallen official family, Wei Caiwei from street medicine, Wang Daxia from a spoiled official’s son. All were well-informed. They carefully chose words and revised until midnight, finally composing a folk song:
White Lotus Sect, lacks conscience, Work all year but go hungry, All grain given to the Khan. Return to homeland, open wasteland, No worries for food and drink, surplus grain, Five years tax-free, no tribute grain.
No obscure characters, no allusions, more direct than opera – understandable at first hearing.
The Brocade Guard agents acted separately, buying lots of candy to first coax street children to sing it, then teaching it to street vagrants. A single roasted flatbread could buy a mouth. Within half a month, this folk song quickly became popular and spread to Bansheng.
Hunger tortures people more than death – cut by cut, like a dull knife slicing meat, slowly harvesting life. This folk song was the final straw to grasp.
The promised “joining the sect to avoid calamity” became a mirage. After working hard all year farming, fighting drought, digging wells and irrigating fields day and night without rest, they ended up going hungry while their grain was given away by the sect leader as favors.
Many believers awakened in their hunger, seeing through Sect Leader Zhao Quan’s true face. Families fled in droves, singing the folk song as they went to their homeland seeking life-saving grain.
Every day in Bansheng, believers who couldn’t get grain and went hungry escaped. Household after household became empty. The fifty thousand believers were rapidly decreasing. Sect Leader Zhao Quan had never been so panicked and anxious. He summoned his subordinates to discuss countermeasures – the so-called desperate illness seeking random doctors. This time, even the most detested Ding Wu was invited!
Zhao Quan asked his subordinates, “Recently believers have abandoned the sect and fled inside the pass. What good strategies do you all have?”
Li Zixin, the White Lotus Sect’s second-in-command, had his back sores healed under treatment from the miracle medicine given by Ding Wu from a famous Central Plains physician (my sister), but his psychological trauma remained. He learned from his previous lesson of leading troops to rob grain, suffering complete annihilation, and bearing the blame alone – he kept completely silent.
Do more, make more mistakes; do less, make fewer mistakes; do nothing, make no mistakes. This was the profound lesson Li Zixin learned from this failure. Look at Ding Wu – since joining the White Lotus Sect, he’d done nothing, yet everything was fine for him, and he even gained Third Madam’s appreciation.
Since Li Zixin wouldn’t speak, Zhao Quan specifically called on him to answer, “You’re the deputy sect leader – give an idea.”
Li Zixin wasn’t flustered at all. His “direct followers” – the three hundred-plus households he’d deceived from his hometown – had enough grain. With his ability, feeding this group was no problem.
Li Zixin said, “Fundamentally, it’s because there isn’t enough grain to eat – that’s why we can’t keep people. Sect Leader need only solve the grain problem to keep believers in Bansheng.”
This was like saying nothing – everyone knew the problem was grain. Zhao Quan patiently continued asking, “How do we solve the grain shortage?”
Li Zixin said, “Go get some grain.”
Zhao Quan: “How?”
“I don’t know.” Li Zixin spread his hands. “You’re the sect leader, with vast divine powers and connections reaching heaven. You surely have a way. I have confidence in the sect leader.”
What use is confidence – can you eat it? Unable to squeeze any oil from this slippery Li Zixin, Zhao Quan turned his attention to Ding Wu. “Leader Ding, our White Lotus Sect previously lent Khan An Da forty thousand shi of grain. Now the sect faces real difficulties – many farmers have fled from hunger. You go ask Khan An Da for some grain back. At least get through this winter, and when spring comes, there will be people to continue farming for Khan An Da.”
Ding Wu directly refused, “This… isn’t appropriate. I wasn’t the one who lent out the grain – it’s awkward for me to ask for it back.”
Zhao Quan said, “You ask Third Madam to intercede and put in a good word. Third Madam is kind-hearted. She was once a saint in our sect and has the responsibility to protect believers.”
Ding Wu refused again, “Third Madam is currently pregnant and should think and worry less. For Third Madam’s sake, Khan An Da didn’t even personally lead the southern hunting expedition this time. I dare not trouble Third Madam – if anything goes wrong, I’ll lose my head.”
Zhao Quan angrily flipped the table, “This won’t work, that won’t work – what use are you people! Each of you hand over one thousand jin of grain within three days to handle the emergency. If you can’t produce it… I’ll hold a ceremony and publicly expel you from the White Lotus Sect. Don’t tell me you don’t have it – I know your backgrounds best. You’ve all accumulated considerable money over the years. It’s time to take it out to give back to the sacred sect.”
Zhao Quan was certain they had no way out. Each was a collaborator, all wanted criminals in Daming. The court would accept common believers and give them land, but would not forgive these people who led Tatar armies and plundered their own hometowns.
As for Ding Wu, though he hadn’t led any roads, his reputation in Daming was even worse than the collaborators’.
After the meeting dispersed, Li Zixin asked Ding Wu, “Will you hand it over or not?”
Ding Wu said, “If we hand it over, we all hand it over. If we don’t, none of us do. The so-called ‘law cannot punish the masses’ – as long as we all don’t hand it over, the sect leader can’t expel us all from the sacred sect. He alone cannot support the entire White Lotus Sect. Moreover, speaking of wealth, all our money combined doesn’t match what the sect leader has. If the sect leader doesn’t pay up and expects everything from us, that won’t work.”
Three days later, Zhao Quan waited at the main altar to collect grain. By nightfall, he hadn’t seen a single grain.
Author’s Note: Just surrender when facing such a quartet.
Thanks to the little angels who voted for overlord tickets or irrigated nutrient solution for me during 2020-10-17 03:12:072020-10-17 19:38:45
Thanks to the little angels who threw landmines: Pale BT Person, Sonia220, Minmin 1 each;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated nutrient solution: qiefangbailu 36 bottles; Zhizhi’s Little Darling, Badanmu 10 bottles each; Broken Shadow Sand 6 bottles; yiiiiiiii 5 bottles; Raincoat Person 2 bottles; Buyi, Busy Spinning Top, Summer Shrimp Cake Ice, Little Leaf, Hua Shao, Water Cup Bottle, Tranquil Orchid 1 bottle each;
Thank you very much for everyone’s support, I will continue to work hard!