Everything unfolded precisely within the scope of Li Diudiu’s plan. He had Master Yuming recount the events to the assembled townspeople—leaving out only the detail that those people were the grand eunuch Liu Chongxin’s associates. Everything else was laid out fully and truthfully. The townspeople listened with the rapt attention of an audience at a storytelling performance.
What a gripping tale it was. It stirred the crowd’s emotions completely.
The county magistrate, the deputy magistrate, the clerk, the prison warden—officials who had not been at the county office that night—came hurrying over one by one when they heard the news. None of them dared let the townspeople keep listening to this.
So they kept trying to invite Master Yuming inside. Master Yuming held fast to what Li Diudiu had told him—even if they tried to pull him in, he would not go—and so he sat stubbornly on the steps by the entrance and refused to move.
Food was purchased with silver coins, cooked right there for the crowd. Time passed surprisingly quickly.
Not far away, Xiahou Zuo sat beside Li Diudiu, watching the townspeople listening in rapt fascination, and let out a faint sigh.
“What is it?” Li Diudiu asked.
Xiahou Zuo said: “Look at those people. They don’t actually care about Master Yuming as a person. They just think this story is wonderfully entertaining. If Master Yuming said ‘to find out what happens next, tune in for the next installment,’ they’d probably toss a few copper coins in appreciation.”
Li Diudiu said: “Hasn’t it always been this way?”
“No,” Xiahou Zuo said. “People’s hearts change. In a time when the realm is at peace and people live in comfort, one bad person, and the townspeople all spit in contempt—these same people, in those circumstances, in everything they say and do, would behave far better… But take the same group of people living in hardship. One person steals a little something. The next person who sees it doesn’t feel contempt—they think, ‘I didn’t steal anything, so I’m the fool.’ And so they go and steal something too.”
He looked at Li Diudiu: “What kind of people there are is inseparable from what kind of country there is. The weaker the country, the lower the people’s wisdom and courtesy. The stronger the country, the higher the people’s wisdom and courtesy.”
Li Diudiu nodded.
Xiahou Zuo gave a long sigh: “A pity that even Xu Qulu could not bring Dachu back to the path it once walked… The world will never see another Xu Qulu.”
Li Diudiu was momentarily at a loss for words, still processing what Xiahou Zuo had just said—that national strength and the character of the people were intertwined. It seemed to hold a great deal of truth.
“Those people probably won’t come now,” Li Diudiu said. “They’re waiting for Master Yuming to go inside the county office before they make their move. But Master Yuming isn’t going in, so all the officials have to stay out here as well. After all, Master Yuming once held the rank of Deputy Minister of Rites.”
Xiahou Zuo said: “If this were an ordinary commoner, they could die without causing a ripple. But Master Yuming has students across the land. Even Liu Chongxin doesn’t dare kill him openly—let alone Liu Chongxin’s underlings.”
He looked at Li Diudiu: “What’s the plan for when it gets light?”
Li Diudiu looked at the sky. The summer nights were truly short—without noticing it, the eastern horizon had already begun to pale.
“Head back to Jizhou.”
Li Diudiu said: “Go and ask Master Yuming’s people whether they have silver on them, and how much.”
Xiahou Zuo asked: “Why ask that? I still have a good amount of banknotes. We could just use mine—I don’t care about the money.”
“Wastrel.”
Li Diudiu said: “Why use your own silver?”
Xiahou Zuo considered it: “Fair point.”
A short while later, Xiahou Zuo returned looking perfectly at ease. From his expression alone Li Diudiu could tell the matter had been handled. He asked: “They were fleeing for their lives—and they actually brought silver?”
Xiahou Zuo said: “They actually did. Everyone pooled what they had.”
Li Diudiu asked: “How much did they pool together?”
Xiahou Zuo said: “In total, just over three taels, give or take.”
Li Diudiu: “So how much did you put in?”
Xiahou Zuo said: “Not as much as you might imagine. These townspeople—offer any one of them two taels of silver and they’d be overjoyed. A round trip to Jizhou at a brisk pace is about three days’ travel; three days’ work for two taels of silver is something they’ve never dreamed of. I put in a few hundred taels in banknotes—hiring several hundred people shouldn’t be a problem.”
Li Diudiu said: “Do you even know how to count? Can a few hundred taels of silver hire several hundred people?”
Xiahou Zuo said: “Now please don’t get upset… Your master’s money for buying a house—he took out two hundred taels of that.”
Li Diudiu thought about it, and found he couldn’t really object. Saving a life is worth more than building a seven-level pagoda. Two hundred taels to build a seven-level pagoda—that’s not much per level. Two hundred taels wouldn’t even buy a small courtyard in Jizhou, yet it could build seven levels of a pagoda—quite a good deal, come to think of it.
By that logic, it was genuinely worth it.
He was a little pained, of course—but his master had spent that silver, and he would not question it. Silver is certainly a good thing, yet compared to a human life, its weight is simply not as great.
That was Li Diudiu’s way of thinking. Dachu was exhausted and worn down, and most of the common people had no silver to spare—many of them valued silver more than their own lives.
By the time it was fully light, Master Yuming’s disciples had hired some three to four hundred people. Ignoring the persistent attempts by the Tangxian County office to detain them, they left Tangxian County under the escort of the assembled crowd.
Li Diudiu and the others blended into the group of onlookers and slipped away. Going back to that inn was out of the question. Fortunately, Changmei still had some money left—they hired a large cart and began the journey back in some haste.
On the carriage, Yan Qingzhi took something from inside his robe and passed it to Li Diudiu: “Master Yuming asked me to give this to you. He said it was to express gratitude for saving his life.”
Li Diudiu asked: “What is it?”
Yan Qingzhi said: “A seal.”
Li Diudiu asked: “What use do I have for a seal? This little thing doesn’t even look as nice as a copper coin.”
Yan Qingzhi said: “I know the Daoren paid for your entrance to the Academy by giving Dean Gao a calligraphy piece—the authentic hand-copy of Songming’s ‘Dengque Stele Inscription.’ That piece, if sold, would fetch an impressive and hard-to-estimate sum. But this seal is Songming’s—perhaps the only one of its kind in existence. It is worth more than the calligraphy piece; one might say it is priceless.”
Li Diudiu said: “Thank you.”
He extended his hand and with a notably quick and cunning motion tucked the seal directly into his robe.
Yan Qingzhi instinctively glanced at Changmei. Changmei waved his hands in vigorous denial: “I didn’t teach him that. This has nothing to do with me…”
Yan Qingzhi nodded: “Understood.”
Li Diudiu patted the front of his robe where the seal was now tucked. The feeling of having suddenly become a person of great wealth gave him a small thrill of satisfaction.
Yan Qingzhi asked: “Don’t you want to decline it?”
Li Diudiu said: “No, no, no—we’re all on the same side here. No need to stand on ceremony.”
Changmei looked at Yan Qingzhi with a deeply awkward expression. Yan Qingzhi waved his hands in denial: “And this is also not something I taught.”
Changmei, curious now, asked Li Diudiu: “You sent Master Yuming and his people to Jizhou—but Liu Chongxin’s reach extends to Jizhou City as well. The local authorities there still won’t dare get involved. And what’s more, Lian Gongming is Liu Chongxin’s dog. If he gets word of Master Yuming’s situation, he’ll do everything in his power to eliminate him.”
Li Diudiu said: “Master, have you forgotten—there’s a branch office of the Record-Law Bureau right there in Jizhou City.”
Among Dachu’s Three Bureaus, the Investigation Bureau belonged to Liu Chongxin; the Record-Law Bureau belonged to the military. The military had always been at odds with Liu Chongxin. They would never hand Master Yuming over—and would protect him with strict care.
Yan Qingzhi said: “I’ve also returned those drawings to Master Yuming. With this kind of evidence, if the Record-Law Bureau can get a grip on Liu Chongxin’s tail, there’s a real chance he could be brought down.”
Changmei nodded: “Diu’er is so clever—I must have had some hand in raising him.”
Yan Qingzhi said: “Perhaps I can claim one or two parts of the credit as well.”
Xiahou Zuo: “Bah!”
They deliberately set off half a day behind Master Yuming’s group. They had already done more than enough. Traveling together any further would only draw them deeper into the affair.
They had barely gotten out of the city when the driver suddenly stopped the carriage. Everyone inside jolted with alarm—fearing those people had finally taken notice of them after all.
Ye Zhangzhu descended from the carriage first, and upon seeing who was blocking their way, he paused for a moment and then smiled: “Still not satisfied?”
The one blocking the carriage was a young man—and it was none other than Tang Pidi.
Tang Pidi said: “I came specifically to express my gratitude. I saw everything that happened last night. I have deep admiration for what all of you did. Though I am young, my father raised me from childhood to know the importance of repaying kindness, of understanding good and evil, of knowing beauty from ugliness. I want only to say… if Tang Pidi does not die young, he will repay this great kindness in full someday.”
With that, he bowed deeply toward the carriage, said nothing more, and turned to walk away in broad, purposeful strides.
Inside the carriage, Xiahou Zuo watched Tang Pidi’s retreating figure—the confidence in every step—and couldn’t help a word of admiration: “That young man, if he doesn’t die young, will go on to achieve great things.”
“Oh no—!”
The words had barely left his mouth when something suddenly came to him. His expression changed: “I forgot about Yu Jiuling.”
—