NOVEL NEXT Standing on the spot, Yao Runeng and Xu Bin were so nervous that they could barely breathe. Though their grasp of the situation was not as incisive as that of Li Bi, they could tell how troublesome this issue was by merely looking at the face of their superior.
Li Bi offered a simple explanation. Xu Bin’s face went glum and with that he lowered his head. Yao Runeng bit his lip in annoyance, wondering why these people had to make this issue so complicated. Just because one official wanted to face down the other, he would stoop so low as to arbitrarily arrest a hero who saved the whole Chang’an? This was not supposed to happen in a flourishing age!
“You haven’t been in Chang’an long enough. This kind of thing… Alas,” Xu Bin shook his head. But Yao Runeng looked at Li Bi and said aloud, “Sicheng Li, we can’t give up on Commandant Zhang. This is not right!”
Li Bi signaled him to calm down, trying to grab something with his right hand out of force of habit but didn’t get any. Tanqi went to the side of the hall and brought him the horsetail whisk. Li Bi took it and said in a deep voice, “We won’t abandon Zhang Xiaojing. The issue about those Turks is not over yet!”
The other three were stunned after hearing this. Weren’t all those Wolf Guards dead?
Thinking that Li Bi was referring to the progress of the investigation into the abduction of Wang Yunxiu, Xu Bin hurriedly turned around and picked up a report, “The Lubi Army is now carrying out a … thorough search in the dwelling of Long Bo in Huaiyuan Fang, the empty house of Xiuzheng Fang, the warehouse of Changming Fang and so on, but currently, no clues to Wang Yunxiu’s whereabouts has been found.”
But Li Bi shook his head, “It was not Wang Yunxiu but those Turks that I was referring to.”
Xu Bin asked in confusion, “That issue? What else is Sicheng Li worrying about?” Li Bi gave a glimpse at him and said, “Curator Xu’s memory is not bad. When the Su’s Cart Company transported the mountain tallow into the city, they said that the goods were ink materials. Do you still remember how many barrels they declared to the customs?”
Xu Bin had lodged these numbers firmly in his mind, so he blurted, “Three hundred barrels on thirty flatbed wagons.”
“Three hundred barrels of mountain tallow equal three hundred barrels of Fierceflame Bomb. Those three wagons carried only fifteen barrels. In another word, there are 285 barrels and 27 flatbed wagons unaccounted for.”
Li Bi blandly reminded him. All people around were taken aback.
Yes. Wolf Guards only took a small proportion of those bombs. The power of the five barrels had already caused such an upheaval in the West Market, yet there were over two hundred barrels unaccounted for. This Chang’an City… God… At the same time, two words popped out in their minds: Kailu Hodo.
At this moment, Yao Runeng said, “But Turks have already suffered casualties so heavy. Even if a few of them were lucky enough to slip through the net, they surely don’t have enough men to transport over 200 barrels?”
With a half smile, Li Bi said, “Who told you that Turks were the only ones who would do this?”
Yao Runeng was stunned and then broke out in a cold sweat. Both Zhang Xiaojing and Li Bi were not afraid to assume the worst, as if there was not a single good person in the world. What was scarier was that they were probably right.
Li Bi said, “So we still need Zhang Xiaojing. He’s the only one who can do this.”
As if by tacit agreement, they all glanced at the sand table. The Chang’an City was shrouded in mist. When everybody was celebrating the victory, the real monster was still lurking in the dark, revealing its fangs. Zhang Xiaojing was the only one who could cleave the mist and drag the monster into sunlight. However, at this moment, he was in a prison guarded by his own kind.
After hesitating for a while, Yao Runeng stepped forward, “I’m willing to negotiate with the Praetorian Guards Department.” standing beside him, Xu Bin was anxiously rubbing his hands, “…Er, er… Stupid! Who do you think you are? Those people in the Praetorian Guards Department will kill you without even blinking.”
“Even if that’s the case, I still have to give it a try! If worse comes to worst, I’ll… I’ll… ” upon saying the last word, Yao Runeng unfastened the seal on his belt, “I’ll break into the prison! Please rest assured, Sicheng Li. I’ll resign from my position first and go there as a civilian. I won’t incriminate the Jing’an Department.”
“Easy. Things haven’t escalated to that level yet.”
Li Bi signaled him to calm down, but Yao Runeng detected the undertone contained in his words — “Things haven’t escalated to that level yet” meant that breaking into the prison was viable if the situation reached that point.
Li Bi heavily put the horsetail whisk on the desk, a piercing look in his eyes, “I’ll handle this issue myself. All the others do what you are supposed to do. Keep searching for Wang Yunxiu. No slackness allowed!”
His words sent a ripple of discontent and disappointment through the staff in the hall, but under Li Bi’s severe gaze, nobody dared to say anything. Petty officials unfolded those bookshelves, yawning. Servants bent over and blew into those stoves to make the charcoal burn again. Messengers rushed out of the hall to deliver this heavy news to those watchtowers.
Li Bi put Xu Bin, Yao Runeng and a couple of other curators in charge of supervising the search, and then turned around and entered the back-hall where Tanqi had already prepared his coat and stationary bag.
“Master, are you really going to the Praetorian Guards Department?” concerned, Tanqi asked in a low voice.
“No. That’s what Prime Minister Li wants me to do. He’s expecting me to quarrel with people in the South Yamen (1. A yamen is a governmental office or body headed by a mandarin in feudal China.)” Li Bi looked Tanqi in the eyes. “I’m not the one who’s going there. You are.”
“Me?” suddenly, Tanqi was somewhat flustered. “Wh–Why me?”
Li Bi leaned over and whispered something into her eyes. Amazed, Tanqi glanced at her Master, thinking that he was joking, but Li Bi nodded firmly, indicating that he was not crazy.
“You’re a smart girl. It’s a waste of your talent to have you make tea and arrange the sand table here.”
Hearing this unexpected praise, Tanqi instantly flushed scarlet and hastily lowered her head. With a smile, Li Bi patted on her shoulder, “I don’t have many trustworthy people around me. You’re the only one who can do this.”
“Then where are you going, Master?” asked Tanqi.
Li Bi put on his coat, carried the stationary bag, adjusted the silver-fish bag fastened to his belt and then answered, “There’s only one person who can break the current deadlock. I’m going to pay him a visit.”
“Who is it?”
“Supervisor He.”
Li Bi’s tone was bland, but Tanqi knew this was the most difficult decision of her Master.
Feng Dalun had two hobbies — drinking in the Yixiang Pavilion and the Yixiang Pavilion itself.
This was a square room with sides about fifteen steps in length. Though not spacious, the beauty of it was that the material of the walls was mixed with the powder of Yunhui herbs specific to the Dian Kingdom, musk and mastic. When sunlight went into the room, the air in the room would soon be filled with a special, lasting fragrance, making people feel as if they were in a noble lady’s bedroom.
At this moment, though the sun had set, the fragrance was still lingering in the air. A big smile on his face, Feng Dalun raised the copper goblet in his hand and said in a resonant voice, “An audience with a saint.”
It was a common joke in intellectual circles to regard strained wine as a saint, and unstrained wine as a person of virtue. Seeing that the host started this in excitement, the guest sitting on the opposite side also raised his goblet, responded “Likewise”, and then gulped the wine down with a twitch of his sleeve.
Sitting on the back of his shanks opposite the host was an elegant young man named Yuan Zai, who had a square face, a broad and flat forehead, looking dignified. He was the consultant of Dali Temple whom Prince Yong recommended, and whose official rank was a level higher than that of Feng Dalun.
Yuan Zai put the goblet down and blurted, “What good wine. Is this Langguan Sake from Xiamo Ling?”
Feng Dalun gave him the thumbs up, “Consultant Yuan’s sense of taste is amazing. It is indeed from Xiamo Ling of Changle Fang.” He picked up the wine spoon, refilled Yuan Zai’s goblet, and then said leisurely, “Speaking of this name, there’s an anecdote. There’s an ancient mausoleum located on the east street of Changle Fang. Rumor says that the occupant of the mausoleum is the renowned Han-Dynasty ideologist Dong Zhongshu. All Confucians who arrive at the mausoleum must dismount from their horses to pay their respect, so it is also called Dismounting Ling. Some local uneducated people didn’t know the origin of this name and circulated the erroneous name. Gradually, Xiamo Ling became its official name, which is very funny.”
He had been reading a lot of books on the anecdotes of those famous historic spots and names of those fangs in Chang’an City, so he was very familiar with them. Yuan Zai burst into laugh, “When I first arrived in Chang’an, I was curious about this strange name. Now, after hearing your explanation, light suddenly dawned on me.” Holding the copper goblet, he looked around and suddenly sighed, “Brother Feng really know how to enjoy your life. Every decoration and arrangement of this Yixiang Pavilion is exquisite. It actually counts as an extraordinary sight in Chang’an.”
With his sharp eyes, Feng Dalun noticed that what Yuan Zai had been paying attention to were the aquilaria beam, crystal curtains, purplish red raw silk canopies and other luxurious decorations, and that an intense look flashed across his eyes. He had met numerous people, so he knew that this person was full of greed but was able to restrain himself, and that in the future, he would surely be a tough guy.
At this moment, someone knocked on the door. At the threshold, an idle teenager delivered a slip of paper inside. Feng Dalun unfolded it, took a look, then raised his right eyebrow and casually put it into his front inside pocket, saying to Yuan Zai, “I invited Consultant Yuan here today because there’s a petty issue I need your help to deal with. There’s a convict condemned to death in the county prison of Chang’an. Please issue a writ and transfer him.”
“Oh?” Yuan Zai tilted his head and asked, “To where? Dali Temple Prison?”
“Just make up an excuse, keep him there for three to five days, and then send him back to the county prison.” Feng Dalun tried to make it sound as simple as possible.
Hearing this request, Yuan Zai was very surprised, not because it was difficult but because it was too easy. He had thought that some dignitary wanted to secretly get his relative out of prison, but he never expected that it would be such a weird request. He rolled his eyes sideways and then involuntarily smiled, “About this person, I think he’s not in the county prison, right?”
If the prisoner was still in custody, the prison could directly transfer him without taking all this trouble. Only when the prisoner was under the control of another agency did the Dali Temple need to issue an official transfer writ to the county prison which would then send someone to go to that agency to request the transfer of the prisoner.
Having never expected that Yuan Zai would realize the truth so quick, Feng Dalun let out a cough in brief embarrassment, “That’s right. This person was transferred today. Prince Yong wants him to go back and stay there.”
“Which department transferred him?” asked Yuan Zai.
Feng Dalun’s face went grim, “It’s a mere trifle. There’s no need for Consultant Yuan to overthink it. Just issue the writ.”
Yuan Zai stared at Feng Dalun. He liked to observe people and read their true thoughts that they tried to conceal. This person in front of him affected an air of composure, but there was anxiety in his tone. He repeatedly emphasized that it was a mere trifle, which indicated that, on the contrary, it was by no means a mere trifle.
Any other people would have accepted the money and issued the writ, ignoring the other details — but Yuan Zai wouldn’t.
“Curator Feng could be more honest,” he said.
Feng Dalun’s face briefly changed, “What do you mean?”
Yuan Zai let out a laugh and leaned slightly forward, “Since Prince Yong himself got involved in this, the identity of the prisoner must be unusual… ”
“You’re not allowed to ask about this,” finally, Feng Dalun began to lose his simulated composure.
But Yuan Zai was not annoyed at all. He shook his index finger, a sincere look in his eyes, “You might as well tell me the context. Maybe I’ll be able to offer more help after I know more about it.”
It was not until this moment that Feng Dalun realized why Yuan Zai managed to got a position of the ninth grade at such a young age. This guy had a nose for opportunities. After just a short moment’s talking, he managed to detect the profound meaning and wanted to turn this small favor into a big one. Feng Dalun meant to decline, but then he recalled that the Jing’an Department was a tough freak, and that a writ might not be enough, so he might as well hear what kind of suggestion this guy had to offer.
In most cases, greedy people who knew how to restrain themselves were extremely smart.
“What do you want to know?” asked Feng Dalun.
Yuan Zai smiled, “Things like, who is this person exactly? And why is he in prison?”