The Zuo residence.
Zuo Yaozu watched the night outside grow darker and darker, his old face as black as water.
Ning Chen had said fifty thousand taels in silver notes would be delivered to his residence tonight.
But the hour was well advanced, and not even Ning Chen’s shadow had appeared.
“Fine… fine… fine. You dare deceive this official. It looks like you’re done for!”
Zuo Yaozu’s face was furious.
He had thought he had gotten hold of something on Ning Chen and that Ning Chen would be meek as a lamb. He had never expected to be deceived.
Just then his old steward, panic written all over him, came tripping and stumbling inside.
Zuo Yaozu’s temper was already up, and on top of it he liked to throw his official weight around—he snapped:
“What is it? All that panicking, where’s your dignity?”
The old steward’s face was full of fright. “My lord, this is bad… the Inspectorate has men here.”
The Inspectorate?
Ning Chen was from the Inspectorate.
Zuo Yaozu was not alarmed—he was pleased. Ning Chen had sent the silver.
“What’s the rush? And what of it even if it’s the Inspectorate? With this official here, would the Inspectorate dare make trouble?”
Ordinarily, Inspectorate men at his door would have frightened him out of his wits.
But things were different now. He had something on Ning Chen. What could Inspectorate men do to him?
On top of that, the man coming was certainly Ning Chen, here with the silver. What was there to be afraid of?
“Come. Let’s go see!”
Zuo Yaozu straightened his official robes—his office was not large, but he was very fond of throwing his weight around, and even at home he liked to wear the robes—and went out with his steward.
Zuo Yaozu had barely stepped out of the room when a dozen Inspectorate men came charging in.
The one in front was a gold coat.
Stupid as Zuo Yaozu was, he still felt something was wrong, and his face changed.
Pan Yucheng’s voice rang out hard and cold. “Secretary of the Ministry of Justice Zuo Yaozu—taking bribes, seizing respectable women by force, showing callous disregard for human life… crimes beyond pardon. Take everyone here!”
“Yes!”
The dozen red coats took the order.
Pan Yucheng strode toward Zuo Yaozu.
“Lord Zuo, please come with me to the Inspectorate!”
Zuo Yaozu’s face went ashen. Cold sweat ran down his forehead.
He cried out in a panic, “I know someone in your Inspectorate, Ning—”
But before he could finish, Pan Yucheng, standing right in front of him, stepped sharply back and snapped: “You have some nerve. Attempting to stab me?”
Zuo Yaozu looked down, his face blank. He had no idea when a dagger had gotten into his hand.
Before he could explain, Pan Yucheng’s blade had already driven through his body.
The dagger in Zuo Yaozu’s hand dropped to the floor with a clatter. He looked at Pan Yucheng in horror. “You… you…”
Pan Yucheng said evenly, “He went out to war for the country, fighting and killing on the battlefield, while you ate well and drank well with a woman on each arm… he is the Great Xuan’s hero and you are nothing but the Great Xuan’s woodworm. You think you can threaten him?”
“Lord Zuo, some men are beyond your reach. Be smarter about it next time.”
Horror filled Zuo Yaozu’s face—the horror of a man looking at death. His regret was deep enough to split his guts… what a pity. There is no medicine for regret in this world.
Pan Yucheng wrenched his blade out and a flower of blood came with it.
Zuo Yaozu dropped to the floor, his eyes set, his face fixed in regret.
By now Ning Chen was at the courtesans’ quarter.
All the animals of the first department were there.
Coming to the courtesans’ quarter had been something they had agreed on that morning.
Ning Chen had not even had time to go up and see Yudie before they hauled him over to drink.
Chen Chong crowded close to him. “Come to my place for lunch tomorrow… my wife has given me her most serious orders. If you don’t come, I’m done for.”
Ning Chen couldn’t help smiling. He could certainly find the time for a meal. He nodded. “All right, no problem!”
He had meant to go before this, but had been called up suddenly to go to the frontier, and it had been put off.
He was also curious to see what kind of woman could put the fear into Chen Chong, Feng Qizheng and Gao Ziping all at once.
“Done. That’s settled!”
After that, cups went back and forth.
Without noticing it, Ning Chen drank himself into a fog.
He had meant to slip away, but the whole pack of animals grabbed him and wouldn’t let him go.
The result was that he was drunk out of all sense.
Ning Chen woke up in Yudie’s bed, with the sun already high in the sky.
“Ning, dear’s awake?”
A soft voice sounded at the bedside.
Ning Chen turned his head. Yudie was sitting at the edge of the bed, picking up a small bowl beside her. “Ning, dear, drink some of this. The hangover cure will make you feel better.”
Ning Chen rubbed at his temples. His head felt as though it was splitting.
“How did I get up here last night?”
Yudie laughed lightly. “Pan the Gold Coat carried you.”
“Was Old Pan there last night? I don’t remember.”
“Pan the Gold Coat was the last to arrive, and by then you’d already had too much.”
Ning Chen laughed and swore at the same time. “These animals. Not a decent one among them. Getting me that drunk.”
“It was Ning, dear who wanted to drink. Everyone else said they were done, and you held them and wouldn’t let them go… in the end everyone drank too much.”
Ning Chen blinked, and then broke out laughing. “Everyone drank too much?”
“That’s right. Chen the Silver Coat drank himself stupid and grabbed one of the girls by the leg to ask her to be his adopted mother. They couldn’t drag him off.”
The hangover cure Ning Chen had just gotten down nearly came back up. He choked it back and laughed until it came out as a pig’s squeal.
“I didn’t embarrass myself, did I?”
Yudie shook her head gently. “No! Ning, dear just said some things nobody could make sense of.”
Ning Chen was startled. He hadn’t let slip anything about Prince Duan, had he?
“What did I say?”
Yudie thought about it. “Ning, dear said something about old grudges of the clan and the nation, never forgiving… ‘Brothers, follow me, let’s kill the little Japanese’… setting fire to some shrine or outhouse or something?”
Ning Chen froze, and quietly covered his face.
Still, what soldier doesn’t dream of riding out to trample the cherry blossoms?
He finished the hangover cure and felt a lot better.
He got up and dressed. “I’ll be away for a while. If anyone asks, say I’ve gone to the frontier on military business.”
Yudie started, her eyes full of reluctance. “Is Ning, dear going away again?”
“I’m going to Xiuzhou to investigate a case!”
Yudie understood at once.
“While I’m away, don’t do anything yourself… and don’t ever pull a foolish stunt like handing Zuo Yaozu silver again. It accomplished exactly nothing, and it let slip that you know Zisu—you might as well have handed the other side a weapon against you.”
Yudie’s face was full of shame. “Don’t be angry, Ning, dear. I know I was wrong! From now on, whatever happens, this girl will tell Ning, dear first.”
Ning Chen nodded slightly and pinched her small face indulgently.
Then he went to the outer room, washed up, put his arm around Yudie, gave her red little mouth a light kiss, and went off to find Feng Qizheng and the others.
He found out that Feng Qizheng and the others had already left.
Ning Chen rode Diaochan to the Inspectorate.
He came to the first department, and before he even got through the door he heard Feng Qizheng swearing: “I am never drinking again. My head feels like it’s going to split.”
“Same. God almighty… spent all that silver on girls, and drank ourselves into the dirt instead. Didn’t get anything done. It was a waste.”
This is how it always goes. Wake up with a hangover and swear on your chest you’ll never drink again… and by evening: boys, tonight it’s drinks and music at the courtesans’ quarter, and it’s on me.
“The rest of us got nothing. Old Chen came out ahead—got himself an adopted mother… no wonder. Whoever has the milk is mother.”
Someone said it in a particularly shameless voice.
Everyone completely lost it.
(End of Chapter 299)