Chapter Eighty-Nine: Beyond Cure

The fire was raging.

By the time Li Yun escorted the imperial envoy out, more than a dozen soldiers from Tong'an County had already broken into the Gu residence and found the envoy, filthy with soot, amid the crowd.

He Chong knelt on one knee and lowered his head. “I failed in my duty to protect you. I beg you to mete out whatever punishment is due.”

Gu Wenchuan raised a hand. “I’m not dead, am I? Get up.”

Only after He Chong stood did Gu Wenchuan ask, “Have all the exits of the Gu residence been secured?”

“Reporting to the envoy, every exit has been sealed. No one can get out.”

“Outside the Gu residence, a number of men had been keeping watch in the first half of the night. I drove them off, and captured two for questioning. Their answers were all over the place, but they should be retainers under Cao Rong, the Registrar of Xuan Prefecture.”

Mr. Gu nodded. “Tonight I was attacked by assassins. The culprit is most likely somewhere in this house. To dare attempt harm against an imperial envoy—what boundless audacity!”

He was about to continue when the head of the Gu family, Gu Wen, came hurrying over. Seeing Gu Wenchuan’s soot-blackened face and then the soldiers before him, he wiped the sweat from his brow and said, “Brother Li, nothing happened, did it?”

“In the dead of winter, how could the house have caught fire? Truly strange!”

The “Brother Li” he mentioned was Gu Wenchuan. After all, when Gu Wenchuan had taken up residence with the Gu family, he had been using Li Yun’s identity—or rather, that of Li Zhao’s clan uncle.

Mr. Gu looked Gu Wen over and then smiled. “Housemaster Gu, rest assured. I am unharmed.”

The housemaster glanced back at Li Yun and then at He Chong. With a wry smile, he said, “Where did this Deputy Commander He come from? Tonight’s affair has left me entirely bewildered.”

Gu Wenchuan looked at him and smiled. “Do you mean to say this blaze has nothing to do with the Gu family?”

The housemaster forced a smile. “Brother Li, what sort of thing is that to say? Who would set fire to his own house?”

Gu Wenchuan only smiled and said nothing. Instead, he turned to Li Yun beside him. “Brother Li, would you like to lead the men in making arrests?”

Li Yun shook his head. “No.”

Mr. Gu gave a faint laugh, then his expression turned grim. Slowly, he said, “Deputy Commander He.”

“I am here!”

“The entire Gu household stands under suspicion of plotting against the imperial envoy. Arrest all of them, and await my thorough examination!”

Gu Wen went pale. He was just about to speak when Gu Wenchuan said coolly, “Housemaster Gu still intends to pretend he does not know me?”

Gu Wen drew a deep breath, knelt, and bowed until his forehead touched the ground. “Gu Wen of Shitai, pays respects to the imperial envoy.”

“Mm.”

Mr. Gu said indifferently, “Though we are not of the same branch, we do share the same origin. Your family’s Gu Jin, I have seen many times in the capital.”

“But this time, you have crossed a line and touched the dignity and authority of the court’s law. I cannot spare you. However...”

He paused, then continued, “Over these next few days, I will investigate everything in detail. If it proves truly not to have been done by the Gu family, I will give your household an explanation.”

Housemaster Gu lowered his head and touched the ground with his forehead again. “Many thanks to Your Excellency.”

“Deputy Commander He.”

Gu Wenchuan said slowly, “Why are you still not arresting them?”

He Chong answered and led his men off to make the arrests.

Gu Wenchuan then turned back to Li Yun and smiled. “Brother Li, I will be going to the Shitai county yamen shortly to handle this case. Will you come?”

Li Yun thought for a moment. “May I not go?”

“As you wish.”

Gu Wenchuan smiled. “But it would be better if you followed along and looked around more. You have protected me these past few days. If you wish to go to the capital, I can take you there to see it for yourself.”

Li Yun shook his head, forcing a smile. “I had thought, at first, that sir was the one in need of protection. Now it seems I was mistaken. There are still many mountain bandits in Qingyang that have not been cleared away. I do not wish to leave Qingyang.”

He paused, then went on, “If I have the chance to go to the capital in the future, I will certainly come to pay you a visit.”

“Good, very good.”

Mr. Gu did not press him. “Then, Brother Li, let us part for now and meet again when fate allows.”

As he spoke, he glanced at one of the Gu household servants beside him and smiled. “Pardon the trouble, but please lead me somewhere to wash my face.”

The servant was trembling with fear, and hurriedly led Gu Wenchuan away.

Li Yun remained where he was. Looking at Gu Wen, still kneeling on the ground, he silently sighed. “Housemaster Gu need not worry too much. Tonight’s affair has little to do with the Gu family.”

Gu Wen got to his feet and looked at Li Yun, his expression complicated. “Right now, I don’t know whether I should blame Captain Li or thank him.”

Li Yun smiled. “It has little to do with me. For all we know, if I had not brought him here, he might have come on his own anyway.”

While the two were speaking, the prefect of Tian and the Registrar Cao, along with a group of other Xuan Prefecture officials, had already been seized. Gu Wenchuan, after washing the soot from his face, wore a dark expression as he demanded, “You officials of Xuan Prefecture should be in Xuan Prefecture City. What are you doing in Shitai?”

“Give me a reasonable explanation, or tonight’s fire—”

His anger surged as he pointed at them. “Will have to be charged to your heads!”

There was nothing wrong with that logic.

The prefect of Tian, Registrar Cao, and the others should have been in Xuan Prefecture City, not in Shitai County, and certainly not inside the Gu residence.

Yet here they were. The Gu house had just happened to catch fire tonight, and these men had been caught red-handed. No matter where one went to argue the matter, there was no explanation that could make sense of it.

Cao Rong and the others were shaking all over with fear.

The prefect of Tian, though also under arrest by the soldiers, retained a bit more courage. He lifted his head to stare at Gu Wenchuan and sneered, “It is merely a matter of serving different masters. Why must the envoy say so much?”

“Bastard!”

Gu Wenchuan said coldly, “Serving different masters? Then tell me, who is the master behind you? Who ordered you to set fire to a court envoy?”

“If the envoy insists on slandering me in this way, I have nothing to say.”

The prefect of Tian sneered. “A great scholar of the literati world, huh. Hah, a great scholar of the literati world!”

Mr. Gu also sneered. “A treacherous villain always assumes others are as corrupt as himself!”

He waved a hand and said sternly, “Take them all away. Bring them to the Shitai county yamen and keep them under guard!”

The prefect of Tian thrust out his neck and shouted, “I am a fifth-rank official of the court. Without an imperial decree, how dare you throw me into prison!”

Mr. Gu remained expressionless and waved again. “Take them away!”

Several days later, at the Qingyang county yamen.

Li Yun, back from his travels, sat in Master Xue’s study and recounted everything from beginning to end. Only after he finished speaking of how the prefect of Tian and the others had been imprisoned did he take a sip of tea and sigh, “So it turns out that an imperial envoy from the capital only needs two days to handle everyone in the local administration who ought to be handled.”

“I had thought they would all end up like Young Master Pei—helpless.”

Master Xue heard the faint sarcasm in Li Yun’s words. After a long silence, he sighed. “This matter did indeed go a bit too far. Before this, I had not imagined it at all. It seems the struggle over the imperial succession in the court has grown ever fiercer, to the point that even someone like Gu Wenchuan, a renowned scholar of the literati world, has been drawn into it—and his hand has been this decisive.”

Xuan Prefecture, in the vast realm of Great Zhou, was but an inconspicuous corner. Yet the recent events there were a miniature reflection of the entire court’s situation.

As the old emperor grew older and older, the struggle for succession became increasingly savage, until even the aftershocks of the fighting in the capital had begun to spread into the provinces.

Li Yun smiled. “Earlier, the magistrate said this Mr. Gu was not an enemy of the Crown Prince. If he had no faction behind him, would he use such a method to pursue such an aggressive case?”

Master Xue fell silent once more.

It was obvious he had been wrong.

If Gu Wenchuan truly belonged to no faction at all, and was merely one of those so-called upright officials of the orthodox current, then when he came to the provinces to investigate such a case, at most he would proceed step by step. He would not have taken such a risky and drastic measure.

After all, Gu Wenchuan was no young officer. He would not be as eager as a younger man to win merit or seize the limelight.

In other words, this great scholar of the literati world had already taken a side within the court—and more than likely, he stood opposed to the Crown Prince.

Master Xue let out a long sigh. “The wars on the frontier never cease, the court is riven by internal strife, and the provinces... the provinces are even more of a shambles. In many places, extra taxes have driven the common people to rebellion. In such a court, I wonder what sort of man would be able to restore order completely.”

This court was already beyond saving.

That was Li Yun’s own judgment.

Great Zhou did not lack capable men. Someone like Gu Wenchuan had no shortage of intelligence, depth, method, or means. Yet when he came to Xuan Prefecture, he did not devote himself to making life easier for the people there.

He simply wanted to bring down the prefect of Tian and the others.

The energy of clever men was all spent on such things.

Captain Li set down his teacup and asked with a smile, “If the prefect of Tian is convicted, will the magistrate have a chance to take over that prefecture?”

Master Xue slowly shook his head. “Most likely, another official will be sent from elsewhere. I only hope this new prefect of Xuan will not be so greedy.”

Li Yun inwardly curled his lip, unconvinced.

Maybe...

he would even be worse than the prefect of Tian.

The end.