Chapter 326: Washing Her Hands in a Golden Basin

"Form is emptiness; emptiness is form..."

Head lowered, Guan Fangyi murmured the words to herself, wounded and desolate, repeating them again and again. The phrase surprised Linghu Qiu and Hongxiu as well. The unfamiliar wording made both of them turn it over thoughtfully in their minds. That Niu Youdao could speak words like these made Hongxiu look at him differently. For an instant, her opinion of him seemed to rise. Niu Youdao folded away the indenture and turned.

"The residence we're using has almost no one left to guard it. That's a problem. We'll all move over here."

"Hongxiu, go tell Hongfu and Shen Qiu to pack our things and bring them over. While you're at it, spread the word that Hongniang of Fufang Garden has finally met her true kindred spirit and has voluntarily sold herself into my service as a slave!"

He would not even wait for the night to pass before rushing to spread the news. He was striking while the iron was hot, hurrying to cook the raw rice into cooked rice. Linghu Qiu sighed inwardly. The corner of his mouth twitched. He was utterly speechless.

How could this actually work?

Hongxiu quietly glanced at his reaction.

Seeing no objection, she curtsied. "Yes!"

Then she turned and left to carry out the order.

"Wuwu..."

Guan Fangyi, meanwhile, collapsed over the table and began sobbing uncontrollably. All those years of glittering prosperity had turned out to be no more substantial than flowers in a mirror and the moon reflected on water. In the end, everything had been empty. And now she had actually sold herself with her own hand.

Niu Youdao stood beneath the flying eaves with his hands clasped behind his back, looking up at the bright moon while listening to her cries. Linghu Qiu folded his hands over his abdomen and looked left, then right. One after another, the people of Fufang Garden were drawn over by Guan Fangyi's weeping. They appeared around the courtyard, looking at one another in confusion. No one had seen anyone do anything to her. They could not understand why she was crying so bitterly.

Even if someone had beaten her, surely she would not have wept like this. What could have happened to make her so heartbroken? None of them knew.

"Proprietor, Proprietor, what's wrong?" Someone approached, called to her several times, then tentatively pushed her shoulder.

Guan Fangyi was too heartsick to care. She only kept crying and gave no response. In the end, at Niu Youdao's signal, someone helped her back to her quarters to rest. The courtyard fell quiet once more. The moon shone brightly overhead. Crickets occasionally chirped from the corners of the walls. Linghu Qiu glanced at the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone still lying on the table.

He strolled over to Niu Youdao, swept a hand around the surroundings, and asked, "Does Fufang Garden belong to you from today onward?"

Niu Youdao said, "Perhaps."

Linghu Qiu chuckled. "What a fine business with no capital invested."

"No capital invested?" Niu Youdao turned his head and looked at him.

Linghu Qiu teased, "If she had refused, I'd like to know what you would've done."

Niu Youdao asked, "You think I was deceiving her?"

Linghu Qiu said, "Weren't you?"

Niu Youdao smiled without speaking and offered no explanation. In truth, after Bu Xun came to see him, Niu Youdao had gone back through the intelligence Wuliang Mountain had compiled on the Qi capital. He had somehow established a connection with the State of Qi's mighty Chief Steward of the Inner Palace. With backing of that scale in reach, wouldn't it be a pity not to turn it into something useful? He went back and forth through the intelligence.

Whether sect members or officials of the court, none were convenient targets. The key problem was that Niu Youdao himself did not have enough hard power here. So he decided to choose a soft persimmon to squeeze. Ordinary independent cultivators did not have enough meat on their bones. After looking around again and again, Hongniang of Fufang Garden entered his sights. Niu Youdao had originally intended only to meet Guan Fangyi first and sound out her foundation.

If she proved suitable, then he planned to ask Bu Xun for her. He estimated that if he worked at it, persuading Bu Xun should not be particularly difficult. And as long as Bu Xun nodded, someone like Hongniang would have no choice. Never mind Hongniang. There were probably very few people in the Qi capital who dared stand directly against Bu Xun. Unexpectedly, the actual situation had developed beyond his expectations. He had not even needed to go through Bu Xun.

With his own ability, he had simply acted and taken Hongniang directly. So in a certain sense, he truly had not been deceiving her. He really did have the ability to make Fufang Garden disappear completely from the Qi capital. All it would take was one word from Bu Xun. If that were not the case, Niu Youdao would never have come charging straight into Fufang Garden.

"Do you still remember which private room you used when you spoke with Wei Chu?" Niu Youdao suddenly asked.

Linghu Qiu frowned and nodded. "I remember. But she's already submitted to you. Does that still matter?"

Then he added, "What exactly is so good about this woman? She's been mixed up with all kinds of men. Can you really feel safe keeping someone like her at your side?"

Niu Youdao said, "A woman has managed to remain in a place this full of trouble, with so many people steadily following her for years. That means she has merits of her own."

Linghu Qiu asked, "That's all?"

"Isn't that enough?" Niu Youdao said. "Whether she's dissolute or proper, good or bad, none of it matters. To me, there are no absolutely good people in this world and no absolutely bad people. I think I'm white, yet everyone insists I'm black. Who am I supposed to argue with? Look at our eyes. Black and white are perfectly distinct, yet black and white still grow inside the same socket. Can you dig out the white and keep only the black? Or gouge out the black and keep only the white? So why obsess over right and wrong? Taking it too seriously only makes life difficult for yourself. I'm used to dealing with all kinds of messy people. In fact, I feel more at ease dealing with someone like her. At least I know where she's bad. When an upright gentleman turns bad, that's when you're truly caught without defenses."

Linghu Qiu chuckled. "That's certainly a fresh argument."

Niu Youdao said, "If that reason isn't enough, I'll give you another."

"You have Hongxiu and Hongfu beside you. I figured I ought to get someone with 'Hong' in her name beside me too."

"..."

That reason left Linghu Qiu completely speechless. In an elegant courtyard elsewhere in Fufang Garden, Guan Fangyi had finally stopped crying. She came out of her room and stood on the steps beneath the eaves, looking utterly lost. A group of subordinates who had followed her for years stood before her. She was explaining why she had been weeping. Otherwise, none of them would have known what had happened.

When they learned that their proprietor had bound herself into another's service as a slave, everyone was shocked. No matter how they questioned her, however, Guan Fangyi refused to reveal the exact reason. There were truths that could not conveniently be announced to everyone.

"I had no choice, but all of you still do. Whether you stay or leave, decide for yourselves..."

Shen Qiu was the first to arrive at Fufang Garden. As for Hongxiu and Hongfu, they still had to spread the news for Niu Youdao. By the time the twins returned to Fufang Garden, pale light had already appeared in the eastern sky. Fufang Garden itself was in too much turmoil to look after them. Guan Fangyi had not yet entered the state of mind of a servant either. She had no such awareness for the time being.

So no one was arranging anything for Niu Youdao's people. They could only find rooms on their own and make do. Inside one room, Hongxiu and Hongfu quickly unpacked and tidied their things. Linghu Qiu pushed open the window and looked toward the pale belly of dawn. He sighed.

"Stop arranging things. It's already daylight."

The two women exchanged a look and stopped. They came to either side of him.

Hongxiu asked, "Sir, I still don't understand. How did Hongniang sell herself so easily?"

Linghu Qiu chuckled and shook his head. "Sell herself? She simply had no choice."

Hongxiu said, "How could she have no choice? Does Niu Youdao really dare use force here in the Qi capital?"

Linghu Qiu said, "Have you forgotten Niu Third's earlier questions? Guan Fangyi's refusal to return for so long made him suspicious. Just as Niu Third said, when Guan Fangyi stayed away overnight, she wasn't avoiding me. She was avoiding him."

"Two people who had never met before, with neither hatred nor grievance between them. Fufang Garden was Guan Fangyi's own territory. If she refused to see him, what exactly was she afraid of? That behavior immediately alerted Niu Third. Combining it with what had just happened, his reaction was extremely fast. He immediately asked whether Guan Fangyi knew what Wei Chu and I had discussed."

"The suspicion wasn't difficult to understand. Apart from that matter, what else could make Guan Fangyi fear him? Niu Third suspected she already knew. So he decisively frightened her with a two-hour deadline. He was testing her. The logic was simple. If Guan Fangyi really knew that even Bu Xun had personally come to Niu Third's door, and Niu Third still dared speak so forcefully, threatening to make Fufang Garden disappear completely from the Qi capital, then how could an informed Guan Fangyi not be afraid?"

"And what happened?"

"Guan Fangyi, who had kept refusing to appear, rushed back and obediently returned within the two-hour limit. The fact that she came back proved more than merely that she knew. It also showed she felt guilty and lacked confidence. She must have obtained the content of that conversation through some abnormal method. It wasn't Bu Xun's side that told her, nor Prince Jin's residence. If she had backing from either of those sides, there would have been no need for her to fear. Niu Third's threat would have meant nothing to her. The private room where Wei Chu and I spoke must have had a problem."

"You saw everything afterward. Niu Third acted decisively. He wrote an indenture and forced it in front of her. His strength in that moment was perfect. He left her no road of retreat and seized her before she had time to react. Then he immediately had you spread the news. Once people came to confirm it and the muddleheaded Guan Fangyi acknowledged it herself, the raw rice was cooked into cooked rice. She admitted it with her own mouth. Everyone knows now. The matter is settled. Even if she later comes to her senses, heh... This Niu Third truly has methods. Guan Fangyi, ah, Guan Fangyi. Clever people are often undone by their own cleverness. If she hadn't hidden and dodged him, Niu Third might never have found it so easy to get his hands on her."

After hearing the explanation, Hongxiu finally understood. Thinking back on the sequence of events made a chill run through her.

"That man is frightening. Then was the way the emperor of Qi drove him into what looked like a dead end earlier all an act too?"

"Not to that extent." Linghu Qiu shook his head. "Hao Yuntu could make a move against him, but he had nowhere to strike back at Hao Yuntu. The moment Hao Yuntu acted, the entire matter exceeded the level Niu Third could control. They weren't opponents on the same level at all. Niu Third could only take the beating passively. The fact that he managed to endure it was already difficult enough."

Linghu Qiu paused, looked left and right, then said, "This fellow really is somewhat dangerous. Think carefully. We haven't exposed any flaws along the way, have we?"

The two women exchanged a look.

Hongfu said calmly, "Probably not. If we had, he would surely have found a way to shake Sir off long ago. Why would he keep a blade hanging at his own neck? Much less allow Sir to participate in secrets like these."

Linghu Qiu slowly breathed out.

"You two must be careful in everything from now on. Be cautious!"

Inside the imperial palace, after the morning court session, Hao Yuntu returned to the imperial study and removed his ceremonial robes. Once he had changed into ordinary clothing and several eunuchs withdrew, Bu Xun smiled.

"Something rather interesting happened outside the palace this morning."

Hao Yuntu walked to the desk. "What could happen that would make you call it interesting?"

Bu Xun bowed slightly.

"Hongniang of Fufang Garden refused all clients this morning and formally announced that she was washing her hands in a golden basin."

Hao Yuntu fell briefly silent. When he was young, Guan Fangyi's beauty had been famous far and wide. He himself had once gone incognito to see her. She truly had been a peerless enchantress. For a time, he too had wanted a taste of her charms. Yet because of certain misgivings, he had restrained that desire. Remembering it now still left him somewhat emotional. After sitting down, he reached for his teacup.

"She's quitting? Has she found a better place to settle down?"

Bu Xun bent slightly.

"She's gone with Niu Youdao."

"Pfft!"

The tea Hao Yuntu had just drunk sprayed straight from his mouth. He coughed repeatedly, thoroughly choking on it.

[End of Chapter 326]