Han Qian’s withdrawal to Xuzhou had been most thorough. Even after Jinling fell, when the authorities wanted to return the residences on Lanting Lane and Kaoshan Lane to his name, he sent no one to receive them.
Feng Yi and Han Dong’s visit this time differed from other prefectures and counties presenting tribute gifts and being received by the Ministry of Rites. They brought their people directly to stay in the guesthouse belonging to the Court of State Ceremonial, enjoying the treatment accorded to envoys from vassal tribal states.
A single courtyard compound was located in the southwest corner of the guesthouse, right along Shitang River. Feng Yi had just returned from attending the Empress’s investiture ceremony. He stood at the small dock outside the courtyard gate, watching the round moon reflected in the river water, shattered into fragments by rippling waves.
Han Dong returned to the guesthouse under the escort of Han Donghu and others. Feng Yi said with a smile, “Sent the congratulatory gift over eagerly, but it seems you didn’t even get a drink out of it—however, don’t be upset. I was just waiting for you all to return so I could take you to Caizi Garden for drinks. Don’t let the common name fool you—the vegetable stews they prepare are absolutely exceptional in Jinling, and though their plum wine doesn’t match Dangyan Spring, it’s the most suitable drink for summer nights. If you can keep your mouths tight and not babble nonsense when you return to Xuzhou, I can even take you to hear some music…”
“When I went to the residence to deliver the congratulatory gift, the old master called me over and asked some questions about family matters, but I could tell he showed no joy at the young miss entering the palace as a consort. On the contrary, his heart held worries,” Han Dong said. He was far from being as carefree as Feng Yi and was in no hurry to find a place to drink, wanting to discuss serious matters first.
“The Han family’s young miss has plain looks but possesses the full measure of a young lady’s temper. Even if Yang Yuanpu has intentions of winning favor, he won’t have any interest in the Han family’s young miss. Do you think the Han family’s miss might not display some petulance? This is one worry,” Feng Yi said. “Besides, the tree desires stillness but the wind won’t cease. Just because we’ve withdrawn to Xuzhou, does that mean we’ll truly have peace? Of course, we don’t need to worry too much—if others want to bite us, their mouths have to be able to reach us first. But the Han family can’t do that! Han Wenhuan’s worry shows he hasn’t become senile yet!”
Feng Yi addressed Han Qian directly by name, so one couldn’t expect him to show much respect for Old Master Han either.
“I keep worrying that Jinling won’t remain peaceful. Should we send people out to gather information?” Han Dong asked.
“It definitely won’t be peaceful—how could it be? But even if it’s not peaceful, what does it have to do with us? Are you worried we don’t have enough tails following us already?” Feng Yi waved his hand urging, “Come, come, let’s drink. Han Qian already said that this trip to Jinling, we’re only responsible for eating, drinking, and having fun. Play without worry, eat boldly—there won’t be many more opportunities to eat and drink on public funds in the future. That cheapskate Han Qian’s grip is getting tighter and tighter…”
Han Dong smiled bitterly, instructing Han Donghu to call over the several accompanying military officers to join them in going out to find a tavern for drinks, to enjoy Jinling’s inner city summer nights, which had already begun recovering their prosperity.
They walked to the Caizi Garden tavern that Feng Yi recommended.
Caizi Garden’s street-facing front courtyard was a three-story wooden building that had escaped destruction by fire. Today, borrowing the occasion of the Empress’s investiture ceremony, the city-wide curfew had been lifted, and the tavern was packed with people, exceptionally lively.
Upon entering the tavern, Han Donghu unexpectedly encountered a fellow townsman—a young man of twenty-five or twenty-six with ordinary clothing but wearing a long blade at his waist, his bearing upright and quite distinguished.
Feng Yi and Han Dong entered the tavern first, leaving Han Donghu to reminisce with his townsman at the street-facing entrance. After a while, they saw Han Donghu come up to the tavern with a gloomy expression.
Feng Yi and Han Dong were looking through gaps in the tavern windows at the two little tails who had been following them like shadows since they checked into the guesthouse at noon. Turning their heads, they saw Han Donghu’s expression was somewhat off and asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”
“Just heard from my townsman that an old acquaintance we were quite close with recently died of illness,” Han Donghu said.
“In these times, dying in one’s bed isn’t such a bad fate. My condolences,” Feng Yi comforted him, patting Han Donghu’s shoulder.
“…” Han Donghu smiled, then rallied his spirits somewhat to accompany Feng Yi and the others in drinking at the tavern until the moon reached its zenith before settling the bill and returning to the guesthouse.
Feng Yi fell asleep with a slight drunken haze, still in his dreams when he heard urgent knocking at the door. Opening his eyes, he saw through the paper-covered window that azure dawn light was just beginning to filter in. Looking at the hour, it was barely daybreak. With drowsy sleepiness, he waited a moment. Seeing the knocking wouldn’t stop, he reluctantly opened his mouth to ask, “Who is it?”
“It’s me,” Han Dong said outside the door.
Feng Yi got up to open the door and saw Han Dong clutching a letter in his hand, his face full of panic as he directly pushed open the door and entered the room, lowering his voice to say, “That bastard Han Donghu ran off in the middle of the night?”
“Ran off? Why would he run? Where did he go?” Feng Yi asked, baffled. “We were drinking together just fine last night until the moon reached its zenith. Where would Han Donghu run to? Does he have a sweetheart in the city and snuck out to climb into her chamber and got caught? Haha, that would be really miserable—if he comes back beaten black and blue by others, we can’t help him seek justice either. Who told him to go sleep with someone’s little wife? Oh right, I heard he had an affair with someone’s wife before?”
Seeing Feng Yi actually becoming interested, Han Dong thrust the letter into his hands in exasperation:
“Look at the letter he left behind.”
“At least he knew to leave a letter before going—that shows some conscience. This handwriting is so damn ugly even ghosts couldn’t read it—” While taking the letter to read, he spoke, but his tone soon changed. “Ah, this bastard’s old sweetheart was beaten to death by the Shang family’s second son, and this bastard wants to do what? Die for love, or does he want to kill someone to vent his anger over a woman beaten to death by the Shang family? This bastard, this bastard—this time he’s really going to get us killed. Besides this letter, did this bastard leave anything else?”
After reading the letter, Feng Yi was also so anxious he stamped his feet, but he was calmer than Han Dong. He told Han Dong not to alarm others for now and to first go with him to Han Donghu’s room to investigate.
Han Dong was more concerned about the Han family’s fate and had slept restlessly through the night. Having barely made it to dawn, thinking there was something he needed to instruct Han Donghu to do, he discovered Han Donghu’s room was already empty, with only a letter left behind. It said that yesterday he had encountered an old friend and learned that Miss Wei had suffered on his account. Shortly after being taken back by the Shang family, she had suddenly died of illness. But according to the burial woman who dressed Miss Wei for her funeral, she secretly revealed that Miss Wei’s corpse after death was covered in wounds, not a single part intact—clearly she had been beaten to death.
Han Donghu’s letter didn’t say what he was going to do, only that he had failed Xuzhou and failed the Lord, and asked that his younger brother Han Bao remain in Xuzhou to repay this debt of gratitude in his stead.
Without alarming others, Feng Yi and Han Dong entered Han Donghu’s room and found that before leaving, Han Donghu had left behind his Xuzhou Provincial Battalion military officer’s uniform, saber, waist token, identification papers, and other items that could identify him. He had taken only his personal change of clothes, a modest amount of travel money, and some small tools that showed no trace of Xuzhou.
“When Han Donghu was initially in the cavalry battalion, he had a secret liaison with a Wei family woman who had married into the Shang family. He was caught by the Wei family, causing some dispute. Because of this incident, the Lord publicly whipped Han Donghu ten times. I just never imagined the Shang family would determine their daughter had dishonored the family tradition and beat her to death. Looking at this, Han Donghu truly intends to kill someone to vent his anger. He left these things behind not wanting any connection to Xuzhou, but Shang Wensheng has just been entrusted with an important task, replacing Shen Yang as Magistrate of Guangde Prefecture. If something goes wrong with his family and Han Donghu gets caught, how could Xuzhou possibly escape involvement? How can this dog not understand how many people in court want to watch Xuzhou’s downfall?” Han Dong stamped his feet anxiously, speaking without choosing his words.
Han Donghu’s room was on the second floor of the wooden building, right against a back alley. Feng Yi opened the window with a dark expression to examine climbing marks. He could confirm that when Han Donghu left, he hadn’t jumped directly into the back alley but had climbed to the eaves and jumped from the rooftop to leave the compound. It showed that despite his grief and anger, he had been careful to prevent his tracks from being spotted by the secret agents tailing them.
Feng Yi stroked his chin, considering countermeasures.
After venting his anger for a while, Han Dong saw Feng Yi had been frowning in thought for a long time without reaching a decision and asked, “Should we send people to find him and bring him back?”
“If this bastard is determined to leave, he won’t be easy to find. Besides, we can’t expose ourselves first,” Feng Yi said, stroking his chin. “During the day I’ll stay at the guesthouse and go nowhere. You go out and find someone with a build and appearance similar to Han Donghu’s, then have him secretly infiltrate the guesthouse at night. From now on, have him temporarily impersonate that bastard Han Donghu. We came to Jinling with so many people—when we leave Jinling, the numbers won’t be off. If something really happens, we’ll strike first and accuse others of maliciously framing Xuzhou. This way there won’t be any major holes.”
“Just ignore that dog like this?” Han Dong cursed, but he was more worried that Han Donghu’s journey would end in certain death.
“What else can we do?” Feng Yi spread his hands and asked.
“How about we find someone to impersonate and replace him, but also secretly watch for Han Donghu’s whereabouts—maybe we can stop him from doing something foolish? That would be more prudent, wouldn’t it?” Han Dong said.
“We can’t manage that. The newly established Jinyun Bureau uses Yang Yuanpu’s direct subordinates inside and out, and that scoundrel Chen Ruyi, wholeheartedly trying to curry favor with his new master, is not one with a soft heart. Now Yang Yuanpu has forcibly placed him, despite his insufficient qualifications, in the position of Left Commander of the Jinyun Bureau precisely to have him watch every movement in and out of court like a hungry wolf. Chen Ruyi doesn’t know how many eyes he’s secretly set to watch everything related to Xuzhou. The more we do, the bigger our actions, the larger our flaws,” Feng Yi didn’t yet know that An Jixiang, who had returned to Jinling with them, was about to take over as Right Commander of the Jinyun Bureau, but he still felt Han Dong’s suggestion would needlessly increase risk. He said decisively, “Once matters here are concluded, we’ll return to Xuzhou and not worry about anything else. We’ll just see if that bastard has the fate to survive.”
Han Dong pondered for a moment, feeling Feng Yi’s reasoning was sound. He then went out to summon the other accompanying military officers and attendants, waited until the sun rose before taking two people out of the guesthouse to secretly arrange for someone to impersonate Han Donghu…
As for Han Donghu’s fate, it was already beyond their capacity to concern themselves with at this time.