Zhu Yu – Chapter 68

On the day Fan Changyu set out, Zheng Wenchang hurriedly wrote another letter to He Jingyuan. Previously, when He Jingyuan learned of Changningg’s capture, he had replied, instructing Zheng Wenchang to find a way to keep Fan Changyu calm.

Not knowing who had abducted the child, Zheng Wenchang lied to Fan Changyu, claiming it might have been child traffickers in Jizhou City to give her an explanation. He had hoped Fan Changyu would wait patiently for news of the authorities raiding the traffickers’ hideouts. Unexpectedly, the young woman grabbed a butcher’s knife and joined the officials in raiding the hideouts herself, searching for the child.

The original plan to completely eradicate several hideouts in one or two months was absurdly shortened to half a month, leaving Zheng Wenchang with mixed feelings.

The authorities always offered rewards for civilians who helped capture wanted criminals. Because Fan Changyu received so many rewards, coupled with her earlier feat of single-handedly fighting off the Qingfeng Stronghold to save over a dozen neighbors, she had now gained some notoriety in the underworld, earning the nickname “Butcher Beauty.”

Among the remaining minor bandits in Jizhou City, a saying spread: If you encounter a beautiful girl carrying a butcher’s knife while robbing, don’t harbor any inappropriate thoughts. Let the young miss pass quietly, or else… she’ll raid your entire hideout.

Some local girls, when traveling far, would invariably buy a butcher’s knife as a talisman to carry along. Surprisingly, it proved effective, to the extent that blacksmiths and knife shops couldn’t keep up with the demand for butcher’s knives.

By the time He Jingyuan received the letter, it was his turn to feel conflicted.

Before Xie Zheng left with twenty thousand recruits, he had specifically instructed He Jingyuan to look after Fan Changyu, who was far away in Jizhou Prefecture. The situation developing as it had was truly unexpected for He Jingyuan.

He had originally hoped for the two Fan sisters to live ordinary lives, uninvolved in the matters behind their parents. But now, it seemed impossible.

With guards posted outside his tent, only a deep sigh could be heard from within—

The sun shone brightly overhead, and tender buds had sprouted on the vegetation along both sides of the official road.

Fan Changyu, chewing on dried rations atop her horse, had no time to appreciate the spring scenery along the way. She only found it strange that she hadn’t encountered any refugees on this journey. Could it be that all those who could flee had already done so in the past few months?

The dried food was somewhat choking, and when Fan Changyu took out her water flask to drink, she found it nearly empty.

She glanced at the stream running parallel to the official road, and dismounted to fetch water, but found it very shallow. Without placing the flask where rocks jutted out to collect water, reaching directly into the stream would only fill less than half the flask.

Fan Changyu drank a few mouthfuls of the clear, cold water and filled her flask. Just as she was about to continue her journey, a ragged man came stumbling from the fork in the road ahead, calling out from afar, “Young miss, save me!”

Fan Changyu thought he had encountered mountain bandits. She hung the water flask on her saddle and immediately drew out her bone-chopping knife. As the man approached, she discreetly pointed the blade at him, successfully stopping him three steps away.

Traveling alone, Fan Changyu dared not be careless. She had previously accompanied officials in raids on human trafficking dens, where many young women had been tricked by seemingly helpless children or elderly people in secluded places, only to be captured by traffickers.

She sized up the man and asked, “Did you encounter mountain bandits?”

The man shook his head, his face, darkened by years of outdoor labor, covered in sweat. Panting with his hands on his thighs, he said, “The government troops are inhumane, trying to capture us law-abiding citizens to build dams…”

As the sound of chaotic hoofbeats approached, the man grew visibly panicked and fearful. He pleaded with Fan Changyu, “Let me hide in the woods for a while. Please don’t reveal my whereabouts. I have elderly parents and young children at home. If I’m captured, I’ll likely die under the soldiers’ whips. What will become of my family?”

He begged so earnestly that he was almost ready to kowtow to Fan Changyu. After speaking, he plunged into the bushes beside the official road.

Fan Changyu processed the information the man had shared, thinking to herself that this explained why the stream was so shallow despite it being spring – a dam must have been built upstream to block the water. Could it be that all the refugees she hadn’t seen along the way had been captured to work on the dam?

She didn’t rush to leave, watching her horse lower its head to eat the tender grass by the roadside, and reached out to pat its neck.

When the chaotic hoofbeats arrived, there were as many as a dozen or so armored soldiers. As this was a fork in the road, the leader of the soldiers reined in his horse and asked Fan Changyu, “Have you seen a man pass by?”

It would have seemed too suspicious to claim she hadn’t seen anyone on this sparsely populated road.

Fan Changyu nodded and said, “I have.”

Facing the soldiers, she showed no fear. With several knives visibly attached to her saddle and dressed in practical riding attire, the soldiers took her for a woman who roamed the jianghu. They didn’t suspect anything and simply asked, “Which road did he take?”

Fan Changyu pointed to the side road and said, “This one.”

The leader of the soldiers glanced at Fan Changyu but didn’t immediately order all his men to pursue the road she had indicated. Instead, he sent two men to continue the chase on the road Fan Changyu had come from, while he led the majority of his troops down the side road she had pointed out.

Fan Changyu watched the soldiers ride away with an expressionless face, thinking to herself how different this was from what she had read in novels.

After the soldiers had ridden completely out of sight, Fan Changyu called out to the bushes where the man was hiding, “You can come out now. The soldiers have all left.”

The man emerged awkwardly from the bushes, expressing his profound gratitude to Fan Changyu: “On behalf of my entire family, I thank you, young miss.”

Fan Changyu replied, “It was a small gesture, not worth mentioning. By the way, I pointed the soldiers down that road, but two of them still rode off in the direction I came from. You might want to hide in the bushes a bit longer. When the soldiers can’t find anyone ahead, they’ll likely turn back. Wait until they’ve gone back before running down this road.”

The man thanked her profusely again but showed no sign of leaving. He looked embarrassedly at the large bundle on Fan Changyu’s horse and licked his dry lips, saying, “Young miss, do you have any food? I’ve been hiding from the soldiers and haven’t eaten for days.”

Fan Changyu had plenty of dried food in her bundle. She looked at the man and said, “I’ll get some for you.”

To untie the knot on the bundle, she needed both hands. Fan Changyu put her bone-chopping knife into the leather pouch hanging on the horse’s back and reached to untie the bundle.

Her previously dislocated hand had almost fully recovered, though it still occasionally felt weak when lifting heavy objects. To help it heal faster, she had barely used that hand for any heavy work in recent days.

As Fan Changyu turned to get the food, the man’s previously simple expression suddenly turned vicious. A dagger hidden in his sleeve thrust towards her back.

There was a “clink” sound as the knife tip seemed to hit an iron plate, unable to penetrate at all. The man was visibly startled.

Fan Changyu’s hand paused as she was untying the bundle. She turned her head and coldly met the man’s gaze: “Trying to trick me?”

The man’s expression turned fierce as he withdrew the dagger and slashed towards Fan Changyu’s neck. Fan Changyu delivered a powerful kick to his abdomen, sending him flying back more than ten feet.

Whether from internal organ damage or not, the man could no longer hold onto his dagger. He clutched his stomach, writhing on the ground in agony.

Before setting out alone on her journey, Fan Changyu had taken several precautions, such as having a blacksmith forge two extremely sturdy iron plates – one for her front and one for her back – in case of unexpected dangers on the road.

She walked over with her butcher’s knife, intending to tie the man up and leave him for the soldiers to find when they returned, while she would slip away before then.

Otherwise, she might be charged as an accomplice for nearly letting a wanted criminal escape and deceiving the soldiers pursuing him.

Unexpectedly, the sound of hoofbeats quickly approached again. When the leader of the soldiers saw Fan Changyu and the man, his expression turned extremely grim. His mounted archers all aimed their bows and crossbows at Fan Changyu.

Fan Changyu hurriedly explained, “Sir, I was deceived by this man earlier. He claimed to be a civilian forced to build dams, with an elderly mother, wife, and children at home. He begged me to conceal his whereabouts. Just now, he tried to attack me but I subdued him.”

The leader of the soldiers coldly surveyed her and ordered his troops, “Bind them both and take them away.”

Madam Fan Changyu urgently said, “Sir, I’ve truly been wronged! I was wrong to deceive you earlier, but I’ve also subdued this villain. Can’t my merits make up for my faults and absolve me of guilt?”

The leader of the soldiers coldly snorted, “This is a scout from Chongzhou’s army. Who knows if you’re not a spy, staging this act when you realized you couldn’t bring back the scout?”

Fan Changyu hadn’t expected to get involved in such a serious matter. She hurriedly said, “Sir, I have my household registry documents with me. I’m from Jizhou, truly not a spy!”

As she spoke, she pulled out her household registry. Since the soldiers wouldn’t let her approach, she could only toss it to their leader to examine.

After looking it over, the leader asked, “If you’re from Jizhou, why are you heading to the northwestern border during wartime?”

From this official road, one could go to either Chongzhou or Yanzhou. Fan Changyu, fearing being seen as an accomplice, dared not mention Chongzhou again and said, “I’m going to Yanzhou to find relatives.”

With refugees everywhere due to the war, it was rare for people to obtain official travel documents when going to other prefectures.

The soldier’s expression remained stern: “How do I know you didn’t kill someone and steal these documents?”

He turned his horse around and gruffly ordered, “Take her away!”

Fan Changyu thought, “How can I be this unlucky!”

With a row of crossbows aimed at her, she could only resign herself to fate. She put down her knife and allowed them to bind her hands and take her back to the military camp.

Fan Changyu only knew that troops were stationed in Lucheng, but she didn’t expect several tens of thousands of soldiers to be camped halfway out of Jizhou, constructing a large-scale dam.

After being brought to the camp, Fan Changyu was temporarily locked in a cell. Her horse, belongings, and butcher knife were all confiscated. Even the two iron plates she kept on her person were taken away when the matron searched her.

The daily meals provided by the guarding soldiers consisted only of water and dried rations from her pack. Being forcibly detained and having to pay for her prison food made Fan Changyu even more frustrated.

Two days later, she was finally taken out of the cell. Though it was confirmed she wasn’t a spy, they didn’t release her. She stood with other ragged commoners and was given a hoe and a basket. The soldiers ordered them to dig soil and stones, working in pairs. If they couldn’t dig ten baskets in one morning, they wouldn’t get lunch.

It was only then that Fan Changyu learned these people were all refugees passing through the area who had been forcibly detained. It seemed the soldiers feared they might spread the word about the dam construction. But simply imprisoning people meant having to feed them, so the soldiers had them dig soil and stones instead.

Most refugees were willing to do this physical labor to get enough food.

Fan Changyu was held back for no other reason than the soldiers’ fear that she might pass through Chongzhou on her way to Yanzhou and leak some information.

She didn’t understand why the dam construction needed to be so secretive. She was also worried about Chang Ning’s safety. Now that she was out, she thought she could use the opportunity of digging on the mountain to familiarize herself with the surrounding terrain and make an escape plan.

As a newcomer, everyone else had already paired up. Most were men, and when it came to matters of getting enough to eat, no one showed chivalry. The sturdy women saw that Fan Changyu, though tall, was slender, and feared she might not be able to do the work. They were unwilling to pair with her.

Fan Changyu thought that digging ten baskets of soil and stones in one morning shouldn’t be difficult for her alone. But the soldiers, seeing that she and a thin old man had no partners, directly paired them up. They probably thought that as a frail woman and an old man, their physical strength couldn’t match the others, so they only needed to dig five baskets in the morning.

Fan Changyu picked up the basket and hoe, following the group up the mountain to dig. The old man was already panting, carrying his hoe. He complained non-stop along the way, cursing the soldiers, though in an extremely refined manner. His speech was full of classical expressions that neither the other commoners nor the soldiers could understand.

Fan Changyu had Yan Zheng’s annotated Four Books in her pack and would occasionally read a few passages when free. She could understand some of it, but the references to classics left her bewildered as well.

Seeing the old man almost out of breath, she thought of Carpenter Zhao, who had joined the army at a similar age. Feeling sympathetic, she used her hoe to cut a thick branch from a tree, trimmed off the twigs and sharp end, and gave it to the old man as a walking stick. She reached out to put the old man’s hoe in her basket, saying, “Let me carry it for you.”

The old man’s sweat was almost dripping into his eyes, but seeing Fan Changyu was just a young woman, he stubbornly refused, “I can manage it myself.”

A woman nearby who saw this said, “Miss, don’t bother with this old man. He’s got a peculiar temper!”

Fan Changyu could see the old man was just gruff on the outside but soft-hearted inside. She smiled and didn’t take it to heart.

When they reached the digging site, Fan Changyu’s great strength allowed her to fill five baskets with little effort. The soldiers keeping count couldn’t help but look at her differently.

They didn’t need to transport the soil and stones themselves; mules carried it, or two soldiers would use a shoulder pole.

Having completed the morning’s quota, but seeing others still digging, Fan Changyu didn’t want to rest openly. She pretended to dig while chatting with the old man: “Elder, you seem to be a learned man. How did you end up here?”

The old man angrily said, “I heard Yanzhou borrowed twenty thousand troops from Jizhou, so I guessed they must be building a dam upstream on the Wu River. I wanted to see how the dam construction was going, but those soldiers arrested me as a spy. What boors, what boors!”

Fan Changyu said, “Elder, you shouldn’t seek out such excitement. In the future, stay away from war and dam construction affairs.”

The old man, misunderstood as someone arrested for being a busybody, was so angered that he puffed up his beard and glared, not speaking to Fan Changyu until lunchtime.

Fan Changyu had leisurely dug eight baskets of soil and stones in the morning. When getting food, she was praised by the soldiers and given an extra steamed bun. She wanted to give it to the old man, but he snorted at the sight of the bun, clearly unimpressed. So Fan Changyu kept it for herself without ceremony.

Her strength being greater than others, her appetite was naturally larger too. Knowing now that digging more could earn extra food, she dug twelve baskets in the afternoon, successfully earning two more steamed buns.

The old man continued to curse elegantly, either at the soldiers here or at some “little brat” or other.

Fan Changyu, holding her porridge bowl and biting into a bun, curiously asked, “Is that your son?”

The old man glanced at her sideways and said, “He’s half a son.”

Fan Changyu made an “oh” sound and said, “So he’s your son-in-law.”

The old man started puffing up his beard and glaring again: “He’s my student! You ignorant little girl!”

Fan Changyu, perhaps used to Yan Zheng’s former sharp tongue, didn’t argue with this hard-mouthed but soft-hearted old man. Instead, his knowledge earned her respect. She brazenly said, “So you were a teacher before? I’ve been self-studying the Analects. May I ask you some questions?”

The old man, hearing she was self-taught, couldn’t help but look at her in surprise: “Self-taught?”

Fan Changyu’s expression darkened slightly, but she smiled and said, “My former husband was also a scholar. He didn’t have time to finish teaching me the Four Books before he had to leave, so he made annotations for me to study on my own.”

The old man, probably feeling that being widowed at such a young age was pitiful, rarely showed a lack of pride and said, “My condolences.”

Fan Changyu was startled, then quickly realized and said, “He’s not dead, he was conscripted.”

The old man was so angry that even the corners of his mustache curled up: “Then why did you make it sound like he died!”

Fan Changyu: “…”

In Yanzhou.

In the distance, the Yanshan mountain range rose like a dragon’s spine in the night sky, with unmelted ice and snow faintly visible as a hazy white patch on the peaks.

Thousands of military tents were scattered at the foot of the mountains. Tripods supporting fire basins were interspersed among the tents, the crackling wood illuminating the camp.

Inside the central command tent, Xie Zheng looked at the military deployments of Yanzhou and Chongzhou on the map. His fingertip pointed to a spot as he addressed his subordinate commanders: “Chongzhou has sent fifty thousand troops to surround Lucheng. The remaining fifty thousand forces cannot be underestimated. When the time comes, I will personally go to lure the enemy, while you lead the men to set up an ambush at Yixian Gorge…”

Suddenly, he covered his face and sneezed.

The commanders sitting respectfully at the long table were all taken aback.

Though the ice and snow on Yanshan had melted, it was still bitterly cold once the night fell.

Xie Zheng had already changed into light spring clothes. With broad shoulders and a narrow waist, his face as beautiful as jade, he had the physique that noble ladies in the capital considered most handsome for a military man.

He frowned and continued deploying troops. During a brief pause, an aide came in to add tea water and thoughtfully brought him a thick coat.

Xie Zheng looked at the aide holding the clothing with an icy expression. The aide, steeling himself, said softly, “The night is cold and dewy, Marquis. Please be careful not to catch a chill.”

Xie Zheng: “… Get out.”