Just as the sky was turning dark, Xiahou Zuo returned to the academy. Several armored soldiers helped him first to Li Diudiu’s lodgings to look — finding no one there, Xiahou Zuo visibly panicked. He kept inwardly urging himself that Li Chi must have gone to find his master.
If Li Diudiu had gone to find Changmei Daoren, that would be fine — Xiahou Zuo knew Li Diudiu had five hundred taels in banknotes on him. But then he reconsidered: Li Diudiu knew he was bringing trouble upon himself now, so he would absolutely never go looking for Changmei Daoren — he would be afraid of implicating his master.
Then where could Li Diudiu have gone?
Xiahou Zuo was so anxious his forehead was beading with sweat. Those few armored soldiers saw his urgency and grew anxious themselves — though they were even more at a loss, not even familiar with the academy grounds, with no idea how to help.
“Yan Qingzhi — right! Yan Qingzhi!”
Xiahou Zuo suddenly thought of something and turned to the soldiers: “Brothers, please follow me to look for someone — my movements aren’t easy right now, and if we have to go far, I’ll need your help.”
Those men naturally wouldn’t refuse. They followed Xiahou Zuo toward Yan Qingzhi’s small courtyard. Xiahou Zuo kept them close because he worried that if Li Diudiu wasn’t at Yan Qingzhi’s place either, they’d be looking for a needle in a haystack across all of Jizhou city.
He walked at a quick pace, and this caused his chest wound to start hurting — after all, such a serious injury had only been a few days old; how could it have healed completely?
By the time he reached the entrance to Yan Qingzhi’s small courtyard, Xiahou Zuo’s forehead was drenched in sweat, and the pain had drained the color from his face — yet he ground his teeth and held himself together, not letting out a single sound.
“Instructor Yan!”
Xiahou Zuo called out at the entrance, his voice faintly trembling.
His heart was filled with boundless regret and self-reproach. He had been resting and recovering in the garrison camp and had put Li Diudiu completely out of his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he felt he hadn’t acted like a decent person. At the start, he’d assumed Li Diudiu was safe enough at the academy — he’d simply forgotten that every year at this time there was a farming holiday.
The small courtyard gate creaked open and Li Diudiu poked his head out to look around. The moment he saw Xiahou Zuo, he smiled: “Knew it was you.”
The instant Xiahou Zuo saw Li Diudiu, his eyes reddened slightly. He stood there breathing in and out, and after a moment suddenly started laughing — then cursed: “You scared the hell out of me.”
Then he leaned back, and with a thud, collapsed.
In Yan Qingzhi’s bedroom.
His bed had been given over to the unconscious Xiahou Zuo. When they opened the front of his clothing, the bandages over his chest had already seeped through with the color of blood — the wound had clearly torn open again.
Yan Qingzhi fetched his medicine box, re-dressed Xiahou Zuo’s wound and bandaged it again. When all was done, he reached out and touched Xiahou Zuo’s forehead — no fever. So he let out a slight breath of relief.
Yan Qingzhi knew well: with this kind of external injury, no fever meant the problem wasn’t serious. But once a fever began, even the best physician would find it troublesome.
After about a quarter of an hour, Xiahou Zuo regained consciousness. His eyes opened and his lips curled upward: “That really hurts.”
Li Diudiu let out a long breath.
Yan Qingzhi looked at Xiahou Zuo, said coldly: “Why did you come back?”
Xiahou Zuo said: “I didn’t come back for you.”
Yan Qingzhi looked at Li Diudiu, sighed, and said: “There’s only one bed.”
Li Diudiu said, very seriously: “I’ve been sleeping on a floor mat this whole time, sir. This has nothing to do with me.”
Yan Qingzhi: “…”
The armored soldiers, seeing that Xiahou Zuo was in no serious danger, soon took their leave. The room was left with just the three of them — a large, a medium, and a small fellow. When it was just Li Diudiu and Yan Qingzhi, there was plenty to talk about; when it was just Li Diudiu and Xiahou Zuo, there was also plenty to talk about. But with all three of them together, the atmosphere felt strangely awkward.
After a good while, Xiahou Zuo decided he should be the one to ease the mood, so he looked at Yan Qingzhi and said: “If Instructor Yan feels it’s unfriendly that I’ve taken this bed, I could pay a bit of bed rent.”
Before Yan Qingzhi could say anything, Li Diudiu jumped in: “That’s not really good — if word got out, it would be bad for Instructor Yan’s reputation. Not renting out the house, but renting out the bed… and renting it to a man…”
Xiahou Zuo said: “Get out of here…”
Yan Qingzhi asked Xiahou Zuo: “If you feel it’s unfriendly, why don’t you leave? You also have your own courtyard — even now that you’ve returned to the academy, you could go back to your own quarters.”
Xiahou Zuo said: “This bed now has my blood and bone…”
Yan Qingzhi said: “Remove the *bone* part!”
Xiahou Zuo said: “Remove it or not, it’s still my blood. Once my blood is on the bed, it’s my bed. Look at those bandages — the ones taken off — they’ve got my blood on them too, so they’re my bandages…”
Yan Qingzhi looked down at the bloodstains still on his hands that he hadn’t yet washed off, and gave a start.
Xiahou Zuo quickly clarified: “The person — definitely don’t want, absolutely don’t want.”
Yan Qingzhi nodded, thinking: good, good.
He glanced outside at the sky — it was about time to eat again. Every time he went to collect food, bringing back enough for himself and Li Diudiu was already something of a struggle, given how much Li Diudiu ate. Now with another person added, he feared he wouldn’t be able to carry it all by himself.
But the academy had its rules — students were not permitted to eat in the instructors’ dining hall. The rule wasn’t rigidly enforced, but Yan Qingzhi didn’t want to give people anything to talk about.
“Li Chi, come with me to collect the food.”
Yan Qingzhi washed his hands and said: “Let him lie there by himself.”
Xiahou Zuo deliberately stroked the pillow on the bed and said: “Go on, then. I have my dear little bed to keep me company.”
Yan Qingzhi’s expression darkened.
Xiahou Zuo: “Oh… ugh…”
He’d just thought about the fact that this was Yan Qingzhi’s bed, and actually felt like gagging.
Yan Qingzhi’s expression turned pitch black.
At the instructors’ dining hall, Li Diudiu stood waiting outside. Yan Qingzhi made one trip and then went back for a second. The people in the dining hall were all laughing — because they were laughing, Yan Qingzhi felt he should react with some polite embarrassment.
“Taking even more food than usual today — Instructor Yan, just how many of them are you raising…”
One of the dining hall cooks was about to make a joke, but spotted Li Diudiu standing at the entrance, and the last word — *pig* — didn’t quite make it out of his mouth.
Yan Qingzhi pointed at Li Diudiu and said: “Started out raising one small one. Now somehow there’s a large one as well.”
The cook asked quietly: “If the small one already eats this much, what about the big one?”
Yan Qingzhi said: “That one’s not the same — the big one doesn’t eat nearly as much as this small one. The big one and I put together still don’t match this small one.”
Li Diudiu was standing at the entrance and heard every word. He didn’t feel the slightest embarrassment about it. Being able to eat a lot — would feeling embarrassed about it make him unable to eat anymore?
At the same time, about two or three *li* away from the academy, at a gambling den.
Sun Biehe was drinking wine in a small room in the den’s back courtyard. He hadn’t even dared to go home — if he went home, even if the people from Prince Yu’s household didn’t come after him, his own father would beat him half to death.
Sun Rugong came running from the front of the building, glancing behind him as he reached the door, then knocked softly.
“Brother, it’s me.”
The door was wrenched open from the inside with startling speed. Sun Biehe grabbed Sun Rugong and yanked him inside, then slammed the door shut with a bang.
Sun Biehe asked urgently: “How are things at home?”
“Brother, that…”
Sun Rugong hesitated: “Don’t get angry when I tell you, alright… Our uncle has already announced that he’s expelling you from the family. He says from this point forward your life or death has nothing to do with the Sun Family. Not only that — he also said that if anyone from the Sun household sees you, killing you carries no wrongdoing.”
Sun Biehe kicked the table over: “To hell with him!”
Sun Rugong said: “Don’t be angry… our uncle — he had no choice either. People from Prince Yu’s household have already been asking questions about this matter.”
Sun Biehe said: “Prince Yu isn’t even in Jizhou — who from the household would be asking questions? The principal consort and the secondary consort both wish Xiahou Zuo were dead — they’re just putting on a show. And my father was frightened enough by that to expel me from the family… Has he had me removed from the family register as well?”
Sun Rugong said: “We begged him — I got on my knees and begged, and my father begged too. But our uncle was in a fit of rage and nothing could move him. He’d already had the family register brought out and struck your name from it.”
“What?!”
Sun Biehe went pale: “He actually went through with it!”
Sun Rugong said: “Brother, you should stay hidden here for now. Although Prince Yu’s household won’t really go after our family, the principal consort and secondary consort will both step forward at a time like this to hypocritically distance themselves from any involvement. So… so whatever you do, don’t let yourself be seen.”
Sun Biehe nodded: “I never would have thought — in the end, you’re the one standing by my side.”
He patted Sun Rugong’s shoulder and asked: “I asked you to find some money — did you manage it?”
Sun Rugong fished a coin purse from inside his clothing and passed it to Sun Biehe: “This I actually stole from my mother — there was nowhere else to get it. If I’d asked my father, he would definitely have asked why I needed money. It’s not much — only a few dozen taels — but if you’re careful with it, brother, it should be enough to stay hidden for a while.”
He glanced toward the door and lowered his voice: “Our uncle will cool down eventually. You’re still the eldest grandson of the Sun Family. I should head back now — just rest easy, brother.”
Sun Biehe nodded: “Remember — if anything happens, come and tell me as quickly as you can.”
Sun Rugong agreed and left. He went out the gambling den’s front door, looped around, and came back to the rear entrance. His father Sun Qiu had already been waiting there for quite some time.
Seeing Sun Rugong approach, Sun Qiu immediately asked: “Is he inside?”
Sun Rugong said: “He’s in there. I just gave him a little silver and told him our uncle expelled him from the family. He won’t dare go anywhere for a while.”
Sun Qiu said: “This is the opportunity for our branch of the family to rise. Your uncle has already lost all face in the clan because of this matter. Eliminate Sun Biehe, then push your uncle aside — after that, you will be the eldest grandson of the Sun Family.”
Sun Rugong nodded vigorously: “I know, Father!”
Sun Qiu waved his hand: “Go take care of it.”
Four or five burly men beside him nodded and climbed over the wall into the back courtyard. Shortly afterward, a cry of anguish echoed from inside. The gambling den’s owner knew what was happening, but didn’t dare intervene — the Sun Family might not be a top-tier family in Jizhou, but he couldn’t afford to cross them either.
This matter — he’d pretend he knew nothing.
A quarter of an hour later, the men came out from the back courtyard and quickly approached Sun Qiu, bowing: “Sir, the man has been eliminated.”
Sun Qiu nodded: “Send two thousand taels in banknotes to the gambling den’s owner. Tell him he knows what to do.”
One of the men nodded, took the banknotes Sun Qiu handed him, turned and went back inside.
Sun Qiu smiled and said: “Son — the scheme you thought of was really quite clever. First forcing your uncle to expel his own son from the family, then killing him. We thought this would be a catastrophe for the Sun Family — but now it turns out to be a stroke of fortune for us, father and son… Ha ha ha, excellent, excellent.”
Sun Rugong quickly said: “It’s all father’s guidance.”
Sun Qiu laughed heartily: “Come, let’s go home. I’ll find a way to bring your uncle down as quickly as possible. The Sun Family has such a large estate — it all belongs to… ours, now.”
……
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