Chapter 640: - Donkey Hoof

Ran Min and Marquis Zheng had a great deal in common. Both had risen from humble beginnings and caught the wind of this age of great contention.

But there was one enormous difference between them.

Even back when Marquis Zheng was still running an inn in Tiger Head City, he had always felt his life was worth quite a lot. After rising to power, he pushed the art of “lying low” to its absolute limit.

He did not possess Old Tian’s personal strength, but the security surrounding Marquis Zheng was enough to make any person or faction that had ever considered removing this threat through something as extreme as assassination feel their teeth ache. Perhaps even throb.

Ran Min was different.

His mentality had never changed.

His was a worthless life.

That had been true when he first traveled with merchant caravans, and it remained true today.

Perhaps even though the Emperor of Yan had ridden down the great aristocratic clans and uprooted their foundations in one stroke, while Great Yan’s years of foreign campaigns created countless opportunities, the people who truly managed to seize those opportunities, climb upward, and stand on their feet were ultimately the ones willing to gamble their own lives.

So Ran Min was not threatening the Queen Mother.

He was merely stating a fact:

My life is worthless anyway. If I trade it for yours, I come out ahead. What about you?

The back of the saber resting against his skin felt faintly cold.

Ran Min silently counted in his heart.

He knew the Queen Mother had already been forced into an awkward corner. She did not want to die, but she had no graceful way down. She could originally have played the emotional card much better, yet a mere Commandant of the City Patrol Office had traded himself against her and neutralized it.

So now, you ought to faint.

“You... you dare!”

The Queen Mother pointed at Ran Min and shouted furiously.

Then her body tipped backward and she “fainted.”

That was the best possible ending to the matter.

If there were no steps to walk down, then she could simply lie down and wait for someone to carry her away.

At that moment, Ran Min suddenly realized that so-called princes and nobles, houses of exalted blood, were ultimately nothing special.

He sheathed his saber, rose, and cupped his hands.

“The Queen Mother is feeling unwell. Help her inside and let her rest properly.”

Then Ran Min raised one hand and ordered his men:

“Take them!”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

“Wait!”

A large armored man emerged from within the residence, followed by a group of Prince Residence guards.

None of them carried weapons. They simply walked out.

The man’s surname was Xu. He had once served as a Palace Gate Guard Officer of Great Cheng, roughly equivalent to an imperial bodyguard carrying a saber in later generations.

He had accompanied Situ Lei in battle against Chu at Zhennan Pass, then later followed the imperial standard beyond the passes to fight the Savages.

When Great Cheng submitted to Yan, a man of his standing could easily have obtained a post as Roaming General in the army. If he survived several campaigns, becoming a Jin Garrison Commander would have been no surprise either.

He might ultimately have fallen somewhat short of the present Gong Wang, but not by much.

Yet he chose to stay.

He remained inside Prince Cheng Residence to protect his young lord.

“Commandant Ran, Xu Peng has come to bind himself.”

Ran Min knew who Xu Peng was.

More precisely, as Commandant of the City Patrol Office, and indeed for the entire City Patrol Office itself, the people they monitored most closely were the old officials and powerful families represented by Prince Cheng Residence.

“Commander Xu, you are not listed among the residence guards. You hold official status.”

This operation targeted only the guards of Prince Cheng Residence, and only those registered on the rolls.

Whether someone was registered was simple to verify. The Prefectural Yamen kept the records.

From the guards to palace maids and eunuchs, everyone within Prince Cheng Residence might serve the household, but in theory they still drew a monthly salary from public funds.

In other words, at the most basic level, they ate Great Yan’s grain and received Great Yan’s pay in order to serve Prince Cheng Residence.

Xu Peng smiled and called out:

“Iron Guards of the Late Emperor, are you all here?”

“Here!”

“Here!”

Xu Peng began undoing his armor.

“Remove your armor!”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Every guard of the residence began taking off his armor.

It was bold.

It was martial.

And in Ran Min’s eyes, it was yet another fool indulging himself for the sake of feeling righteous.

First, the Queen Mother had openly aimed her resentment at the Emperor of Yan, accusing him of breaking his word and bullying an orphan and widow.

Now these old Great Cheng men, led by a military retainer no less, were shouting the name of the Late Emperor’s Iron Guards.

On the surface, they were surrendering voluntarily and binding themselves.

But in posture and spirit, they had turned the moment into something tragic and heroic.

They felt good.

They had satisfied themselves.

Mm.

Excellent.

Ran Min knew perfectly well that Secret Intelligence Department men had to be present nearby.

Everything that happened here today would be sent to Yanjing as quickly as possible, placed before the Crown Prince acting as regent, before the great officials of court, perhaps even sent all the way to the Rear Garden.

Wandering heroes and common people viewed the world differently from those standing above them.

To men at the top, this scene was not bitter.

It was not tragic.

It was not stirring.

It meant only one thing:

Prince Cheng Residence, the remnant line of Great Cheng, still refuses to submit.

And what did one do with people who refused to submit?

Deal with them.

Good.

The greatest risk in this entire assignment had just been cut away by the targets themselves.

Ran Min suspected they had spent too long standing above other men and forgotten the proper way to kneel.

“Men, arrest them all. Check them against the register. If everyone is accounted for, there is no need to enter the residence and disturb His Highness or the Queen Mother. Commander Xu is not on the register, but we can still invite Commander Xu to the City Patrol Office for tea.”

The guards were gathered together and counted.

Xu Peng walked over to Ran Min.

Ran Min could feel the surging qi and blood inside the other man’s body.

An expert.

An unquestionable expert.

At this distance, if they fought, Ran Min’s saber would never even reach him before Xu Peng’s fist smashed his bones apart.

Yet Ran Min was not afraid in the slightest.

Still smiling, he looked at Xu Peng.

“I wonder what kind of tea Commander Xu prefers.”

“Commandant Ran, let me offer you some advice. If you intend to send these brothers of mine on their final road, then let me walk that road with them. Otherwise...”

Ran Min nodded.

“Ran Min’s life is worthless. But if I stretch the point, I can at least call myself an official of the imperial court. One life for one life. I do not think I would be losing out.”

“You truly think I am merely frightening you?”

Ran Min did not answer.

He looked around, closed his eyes, and drew in a breath.

“Being buried here would be fine.”

The muscles in Xu Peng’s face began twitching.

“Report! Commandant, two men are missing.”

Ran Min looked toward Xu Peng.

“Dead. Their deaths were not reported in time.”

Ran Min nodded.

“Good. Back to the City Patrol Office!”

The armored soldiers of the City Patrol Office escorted the residence guards away.

Xu Peng followed with them.

Ran Min did not mount a horse. Instead, he walked beside Xu Peng.

They left Prince Cheng Residence, passed beyond the old imperial road, and turned onto a common neighborhood street.

Quite a few local residents had gathered to watch.

Most of these people had been Yingdu natives for generations. In their minds, the Situ Clan had always existed somewhere high above them.

Even after the Yan arrived and the imperial palace became a princely residence again, the direct Situ line had preserved its dignity and honor.

But today, that dignity and inviolability had been trampled underfoot.

Walking beside Ran Min, Xu Peng said:

“Xu has heard that the new Prefect’s order was beheading. Heh.”

It was a probe.

And hidden beneath it, a negotiation.

Because surely every matter ought to leave some room for maneuver.

Ran Min suddenly found the whole thing rather dull.

Some people, even when begging, even when trying to negotiate, still had to speak in that lofty tone as though they stood above everyone else.

Worse, they could not even read the situation.

Ran Min deliberately looked startled.

“Ah. I nearly forgot. Thank you for reminding me, Commander Xu. The prisons are already full, and there is nowhere to hold them anyway. Men, execute them on the spot!”

Wet impacts sounded in rapid succession.

The City Patrol Office soldiers had obviously prepared for this already.

Sabers plunged directly into the bodies of the bound residence guards. Crossbowmen loosed without the slightest hesitation.

In an instant, the reek of blood spread across the street.

At first, there were very few screams. The guards had not even been given enough time to cry out.

Then shrieks erupted from every direction.

The common people who had crowded around to watch never imagined they would suddenly witness something like this. Panic broke out immediately.

Xu Peng stood frozen.

He watched the blood of his brothers slowly run together, then creep across the ground toward the soles of his boots.

His body trembled.

The qi and blood inside him churned violently.

Ran Min did not move away.

Instead, he stepped closer.

Almost as though deliberately offering himself.

But Xu Peng endured it.

Ran Min shook his head in disappointment.

He gave a contemptuous laugh.

Then, somehow, he felt disappointed with himself too.

Xu Peng’s little provocation had disrupted his rhythm.

Originally, what had appeared in Ran Min’s mind was the scene from years earlier at the bank of the Wang River beneath Yupan City.

Marquis Pingxi had sat atop his Pixiu and quietly asked the people beside him:

“Why are they still alive?”

That scene had been branded into Ran Min’s mind ever since.

He might look down on the people of Prince Cheng Residence today, but there was no possibility he would look down on Marquis Pingxi.

Only a few days earlier, after Marquis Pingxi received his title, a censor in Yanjing had submitted a memorial that sounded like praise but concealed malicious intent:

Among the soldiers of Great Yan today, many take Marquis Pingxi as their model.

But it was true.

Even Ran Min was no exception.

He had originally wanted to copy that scene and pay tribute to his idol.

In the end, he had failed to reproduce it properly.

A pity.

What a pity.

...

“Too far! This is going too far!”

Situ Yu paced the Inner Hall, roaring again and again.

Old Eunuch Zhao Wenhua knelt before the doorway, blocking his path.

Beside Situ Yu stood a memorial tablet.

It belonged to Situ Lei.

The Queen Mother had gone outside, then “fainted.”

Zhao Wenhua could not split himself in two. He had failed to stop the Queen Mother, but he had stopped Situ Yu.

First came Marquis Pingxi stepping on him at Stone Mountain.

Then the new Prefect slapped him across the face.

Situ Yu possessed some political shrewdness despite his youth, but even he had finally lost control.

If Zhao Wenhua had not blocked the door, and if the residence guards had not already been bound and taken away, leaving no one to drag this old castrated dog aside, Situ Yu might already have rushed outside carrying Situ Lei’s memorial tablet.

“Your Highness, another man holds the cleaver while we are fish on his board. At a time like this, we must endure all the more. Only after enduring the bitterest bitterness can a man rise above others. Even the Late Emperor spent many years lying low before finally finding the opportunity to earn great merit at Zhennan Pass, return to court, and win the throne.”

“But I cannot endure it! I cannot!”

Zhao Wenhua sighed.

He rose, walked to a decorative rack at the side, picked up a jewel-encrusted dagger, and carried it back to Situ Yu.

“Attendant Zhao, what is the meaning of this?”

“If you cannot endure, then you can only die, Your Highness.”

Perhaps too many things had gone wrong lately.

Perhaps this young master had become too impulsive.

Combined with the Queen Mother blindly interfering from the side, even Zhao Wenhua could no longer completely suppress his temper.

“If you do not dare die, do not want to die, and do not believe it worth dying, then you can only endure.”

Situ Yu’s lips trembled.

He stared at the old eunuch whose face was already mottled with age spots.

In the end, he stepped backward and sat down again.

“But how long must I endure?”

“Your Highness, you are still young. You have many years ahead of you. That Emperor of Yan in Yanjing does not have much time left. And this old servant does not believe the State of Yan can truly preserve such overwhelming momentum for another century. When the winds and clouds change in the future, Your Highness may still have your opportunity. For now, no matter what happens, no matter what humiliation comes, there is only one thing we can do. Endure. Keep enduring. Endure until the end.”

A cold smile appeared on Situ Yu’s face.

A very clear cold smile.

One deliberately shown to the man standing before him.

Zhao Wenhua felt helpless.

He had once been Situ Lei’s personal companion.

He had seen what Situ Lei had looked like in his youth, had known his temperament and character.

Truthfully, the boy before him fell far, far short of the Late Emperor in those days.

“Attendant Zhao.”

“This servant is here.”

“Mother tells me to wait. To lie low. At minimum, to preserve the wealth and inheritance of this line. I understand that. Mother genuinely wants what is best for me. Mother is only a woman of the inner household. She does not understand affairs outside, nor does she know how dangerous the world truly is. While Father Emperor was alive, Mother lived in comfort. After Father Emperor died, Mother could only force herself to hold up the inner residence. Perhaps Mother does not always handle things well. But I understand that she is my birth mother. Whatever she does, however well or poorly she does it, she begins from the same place. She does it for me. For her son.”

“Your Highness speaks truly.”

“But what about you, Attendant Zhao?”

“Your Highness...”

“Do you truly think I am completely blind and deaf? Do you truly think I am still a child so easy to deceive? I want peace. If the Yan are willing, I would also like to come out and do some things, at least enough to let Prince Cheng Residence recover a little dignity. You keep telling me to endure. But do you truly think I have no idea what you and the others have been doing behind my back, hiding it from both me and Mother?”

“This old servant has never harbored the slightest disloyalty toward Your Highness or the Queen Mother. This old servant has spent his entire life loyal to the Late Emperor and loyal to you, Your Highness.”

“Heh. Then how do you explain Stone Mountain?”

Situ Yu slammed one hand down.

“Do you expect me to believe Marquis Pingxi simply became angry with me for no reason because he found my face unpleasant?”

...

At a military fort outside Yingdu, a lieutenant of Jin origin was leading his soldiers through drills for Marquis Zheng.

Marquis Zheng stood atop the fort wall, smiling as he watched.

Hearing the Sword Saint speak beside him, Marquis Zheng kept his smile and did not turn around.

“Treating that orphan and widow this way... is it not a little much?” the Sword Saint asked.

“Feeling sorry for them?”

“Not exactly.”

“One word from you and I will stop. It is only one princely residence. It cannot compare with your place in my heart, Yu Huaping.”

“Zheng Fan.”

“Mm?”

“I have met many princes, marquises, generals, and ministers. Do you know the greatest difference between you and them?”

“Tell me.”

“By the time they reach your position, sometimes before they even reach it, they have already started caring about face.”

“Hahahaha. Truthfully, I care about face too. But family is different. Old Yu, if we stay together long enough, I can take Dahu as my godson. You work hard too. Once you have a biological son, I can take him as a godson as well. And if that day ever truly comes, giving him a princely title would not be impossible.”

“You have too many godsons. Will there be enough princely titles to go around?”

“We have barely started. Chu has not been conquered. Qian has not been conquered. There are all those little states in between. Beyond that lies the endless desert. And unless something unexpected happens, once you cross the desert and reach the west, there should be another stretch of land even broader than this one.”

The Sword Saint shook his head.

“I cannot believe I am actually discussing this question with you.”

“Old Yu, I understand you. And I think you are gradually starting to understand me too.”

“Usually when someone begins with words like that, it means he is laying the groundwork for asking me to do something next time.”

“What I mean is that I am a friend worth keeping. I have always wanted to treat you as a friend.”

“In the jianghu, when a sect begins with words like that, it usually means they are about to trick you into taking blades in both ribs for them.”

“Hahahaha. Put it this way. Old Tian dared leave Tian Tian here for me to raise. That proves Zheng Fan is at least reliable in this respect. If one day you grow tired of this and want to roam the world with your sword again, that is fine too. I will help look after your wife and children. We are neighbors anyway.”

“I am done talking. I am going to take a nap.”

The Sword Saint waved and left the wall.

Zheng Fan continued smiling as he watched the drills below.

A short while later, Gou Moli came up with two young girls.

“Tell us. What are your names?” Gou Moli asked.

“Replying to my lord, my name is Helian Xianglan.”

“Replying to my lord, my name is Wenren Mi’er.”

Gou Moli asked again:

“Where did you come from?”

“Prince Cheng Residence took us in.”

“Yes. His Highness treated us very well.”

“Enough. Go down.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Gou Moli leaned closer to Zheng Fan.

“Marquis, what do you think?”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“It would not survive scrutiny.”

Gou Moli smiled obsequiously.

“If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a charge. We only need to give people a target to aim at.”

“We have not reached that point yet. A warning is enough for now. Keep the idea, but change the candidates.”

“Yes. This subordinate only found two examples just now. If we actually use the method, we can train their accents and bearing properly. Mr. Feng is skilled at that sort of thing.”

“I did not tell you to do any of this.”

“It is this subordinate’s duty. Anyone Master has stepped on without crushing completely, and anyone who has offended Master, this subordinate will make preparations for. When necessary, I will bite them all the way to death.”

Zheng Fan sighed.

“What I mean is this: just how hard would the Situ family need to be kicked in the head before they would willingly take in surviving orphans of the Wenren or Helian families? No one would commit suicide that stupidly. Unless, of course, their brains had been kicked by a donkey.”

...

“Your Highness, calm yourself.”

A young woman came over and gently stroked Situ Yu’s back.

Inside the bedroom, Situ Yu’s face remained dark, but it visibly softened after she approached.

“The servants have started developing ideas of their own. They want to make decisions for their master. Worse, they cannot even keep their hands clean, yet I cannot touch them. Heh. Everyone in this residence calls me Your Highness or Young Lord, but who among them truly takes me seriously?”

The girl reached up and gently stroked the back of Situ Yu’s head.

Her voice was soft as she comforted him.

“Your Highness has to hold on. Everyone in this servant’s family was killed by the Yan. In this life, this servant has no one left to rely on but you.”

[End of Chapter 640]