Keztranslations

Chapter 5.7

Zhou Yun Sheng thought that the Zhu mansion would’ve been vandalized by the bandits. In the original plot, the bandits hated the Zhu family’s immense riches, so they not only stole all of the Zhu family’s property, they also started a fire that destroyed most of the house. But, as the carriage approached the property, Zhou Yun Sheng discovered that only the gate was slightly damaged, inside was still intact. Even the flowers and plants were still the same as before he left.

A soldier dressed in military uniform came out, seeing the onlookers, he quickly approached and asked, “Are you the returning Zhu Zi Yu Gongzi of the Zhu family?”

“I am he.” Zhu Zi Yu walked over to give a proper greeting with Lu-shi’s assistance.

“Zhu Gongzi, your courtyard was commandeered by our General Ding Yuan for a temporary command post. Now that the bandits have retreated, we will return it to you.” From his military clothing, this soldier’s position should be Qian Hu, but his attitude was very humble.

General Ding Yuan was one of Qin Ce’s right-hand men, he had a lot of integrity, he certainly wouldn’t covet the Zhu family’s property. Zhou Yun Sheng’s tensed heart finally relaxed, he quickly cupped his hands in thanks, and also ordered Tweety to take out a pouch of silver from the bag and hand it over.

The Commander had personally ordered him to guard the mansion, so how could the soldier dare neglect it? Naturally, he also didn’t dare to accept the silver. After firmly refusing, he gathered his squadron of soldiers and hurriedly left.

Zhou Yun Sheng sat in the intact living room and let out a contented sigh, he was just about to let Tweety arrange something to eat when a gatekeeper informed him—-The head butler has returned.

“Good timing, tie him up and send him directly to the government office.” Zhou Yun Sheng gave an insidious smile.

Zhu Lao Si didn’t expect the master to suddenly launch an attack against him. He was so unsuspecting that he even kept the account books detailing his embezzlement of the master’s property in his personal luggage, which were dug up by the guards.

Zhou Yun Sheng made a big fanfare out of this. He circled several nearby villages while carrying him to the county magistrate’s office. In the main hall, he compared Zhu Lao Si’s and the Zhu family’s account books, and the onlookers came to a sudden realization: Zhu Lao Si not only overcharged rent by several percent without permission, he also mandated the tenant farmers to give him gifts every new year, otherwise he would take away their fields. These gifts were all stuffed into his own purse, the Zhu family was never involved with it. Whenever his son, Zhu Fushun, fancied a beautiful girl or Ger, he would unconcernedly kidnap them away, falsely declaring that they would be presented to the landlord for his enjoyment, causing several families to hate Zhu Zi Yu to the bone.

On this point, Zhu Zi Yu was truly wrongly accused, he was a Ger, he could only be pushed down, how could he push down others?

Qing Min County’s county magistrate was Qin Ce’s subordinate, his character was extremely honest, he immediately accepted the case and ordered the runners to search Zhu Lao Si’s home. Sure enough, they rescued the abducted girls and Ger. The villagers who were crowding the gate to spectate couldn’t help but be in an uproar, cursing Zhu Lao Si’s heartlessness while feeling wronged for Zhu Zi Yu.

All the bad things were perpetrated by that Zhu Lao Si father and son, but all the infamy was carried by Zhu Zi Yu. Injustice, such injustice!

Because of the bandits’ attack, when Zhu Lao Si took refuge, he’d carried the embezzled Zhu family property and hidden it away deeply, refusing to return it. The county magistrate ordered that he be severely beaten with forty lashes, he finally whimpered out a confession when he was almost beaten till his last breath.

More than a dozen carts of goods and food was dragged to the county magistrate’s office gates, causing the villagers to gasp in surprise again. They had seen greed before, but never to such an extent, he must’ve almost emptied out the Zhu family’s bottom line, right?

Zhu Zi Yu checked the inventory of the account books one by one, in the end he cupped his hands and said, “Sir magistrate, now is a time of natural disaster, the people have no way to make a living. These goods and foods were originally the blood and sweat plundered from the villagers by Zhu Lao Si, I am too ashamed to accept it. These will be donated to help the villagers, to help everyone make it through this crisis together.”

The villagers had long been envious of these carts of food, if not for the runners guarding them with swords, there would’ve been a commotion as everyone scrambled over it. After hearing Zhou Yun Sheng’s declaration, they all kneeled down and kowtowed in gratefulness, tears falling, straightforwardly declaring that Zhu Gongzi was a living Buddha.

The county magistrate was worried that the warehouse would not have enough food to help the villagers, so he was also overjoyed when he heard these words. He unexpectedly came down from the main hall and bowed deeply, saying that he would report this matter to the imperial court and get a commendation for him.

Since then, the Zhu family’s bad reputation was considered completely washed clean by Zhou Yun Sheng. Zhang Jia Rui and the loyal dog gong no longer had grounds to suppress the Zhu family in the future.

————

Qin Ce was shoved to the outskirts of the crowd by the villagers, he stared blankly as Zhu Zi Yu got into the carriage and drove away, then nodded slightly towards the county magistrate.

After watching the excitement, the Zhang family conveniently collected a bag of food at the county magistrate’s office gate then happily returned home.

Zhang Shu Lin lamented, “So Zhu Gongzi has been used as a scapegoat by Zhu Lao Si all along. His parents died, and he was left by himself, young and ignorant, blinded and deceived by a group of unruly servants. He carried such a bad reputation for no reason, he’s also pitiful.”

“What’s so pitiful about him? He’s never missed out on rent collection; his life is more comfortable than everyone else.” Zhang Jia Rui sneered.

“Sowing on someone else’s land, you naturally have to pay them rent. Does he have to give you his land for free before you guys consider him a good person? Where in the world would you find such a bargain?” Qin Ce, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, his complexion really gloomy.

Zhang Shu Lin glared at the still indignant Zhang Jia Rui, then smiled and nodded his head in agreement.

At this time, the village head came over, rubbing his hands together, he said, “Shu Lin ah, the army folks are going to withdraw, but the banditry hasn’t been purged, I’m afraid they might regroup someday. After discussing it, everyone has decided to gather a few carts of foodstuff and send them to the military, so they’ll come pratol our Zhangjia village whenever they have free time, as a deterrent. Your family should have some surplus, right? Send two bags to the ancestral hall in a little while. There are other families that need to be notified, so I’ll leave first.”

Zhang Shu Lin sent the village head off, then returned home to fret over the bags of grain. Zhang family had a total of seven people, including Little Black, but only had so much food. They still had to eat from July to the beginning of next year’s spring. There was probably not enough to drink watery congee every day, but now he had to evenly distribute some to others. How could he be willing?

Zhang Jia Rui was also very reluctant, he proposed, “Just send a handful, it’s the thought that counts. They can obviously clear out the banditry in one swift move, but those soldiers withdrew halfway. It’s clear that they’re leaving some banditry behind to extort the villagers, such insatiable greed.”

This kind of thing wasn’t uncommon in Chu Yun Country, the so-called ‘official-bandit collaboration’ was exactly that. But this didn’t include the troops under Qin Ce’s command. The reasons why the troops had withdrawn halfway, one was in order to kill the Empress Dowager’s son, two was in order to enter the capital and save the young emperor. After waiting for the situation in the imperial court to stabilize, they would return to destroy the bandits. Zhang Jia Rui’s words were completely unwarranted slander.

Qin Ce glanced at Zhang Jia Rui with a darkened gaze. His impression of him dropped directly to the bottom.

Zhang Shu Lin unexpectedly nodded his head in agreement, but he still scolded Zhang Jia Rui a little before scooping out half a bowl of foodstuff, readying to take it to the ancestral hall.

Suddenly, someone outside proclaimed, “There’s no need to send grain, the landlord has sent out grain on behalf of all of our villages, he has already sent someone to delivery it to the barracks.”

“The landlord is a good man!”

“A living Buddha!”

“I must pray to the longevity tablet for the landlord!”

“Me too, if it wasn’t for the landlord’s help, we’d be dead by now!”

The courtyard outside was noisy, all were praising and saying their gratitude to Zhu Zi Yu. Zhang Shu Lin originally thought that ancient landlords would all be characters like Zhou Bapi, he didn’t expect his luck to be so good that he actually ran into a charitable man. He hurriedly poured the food back into the bag and laughed happily.

Zhang Jia Rui’s face was pale, he opened his mouth a few times but didn’t know what to mock, in the end, he snorted disdainfully, “Fame seeker!”

“His desire to seek fame is to your benefit.” Qin Ce glanced at Zhang Shu Lin and instructed, “Prepare some Tu Yi, we’ll bring them to Zhu Gongzi to express our thanks.”

“Ay, let’s do that, let’s do that.” Zhang Shu Lin hurriedly packed up a basket of Tu Yi and was about to step out when the basket was seized by Qin Ce, “There are things in the house that need to be taken care of, stay here, just me is enough.”

Zhang Shu Lin had cursed Zhu Zi Yu numerous times after transmigrating over, it was really a little awkward to meet him right now, so he agreed. Qin Ce got his wish and immediately strode out the door.

With the summer heat and no rain for months on end, the scorching heat was really unbearable. The Zhu family’s property had been cleanly scattered by Zhou Yun Sheng, they didn’t have the surplus resources to buy an ice basin. He had no choice but to wear thin reddish colored muslin clothes, and stay barefoot. He fanned himself with a bamboo fan, lying half dead in the pavilion by the lotus pond.

When Qin Ce arrived, he was about to eat lunch. On the short table by his feet was a bowl of golden yellow, shiny cold noodles, sprinkled with green onions and pig ears in chili oil. The strong aroma drilled straight in the nose.

Qin Ce was a foodie, but the first thing he noticed was not the gourmet food, but the young man’s feet that were casually draped over the sofa. The light blue blood vessels climbing and spreading under the jade-like skin texture had a kind of mysterious and elegant beauty. Qin Ce could almost see every faint pulsation of the blood vessels, and even smell the unique aroma it emitted.

He wanted to kneel beside him, holding this pair of jade feet and kissing them, licking and sucking each toe as he appreciated his unparalleled, gorgeous passionate expression, watching the translucent tears trickle out of his peach blossom eyes as he was ruthlessly bullied by him.

One crazy thought after another came to him, making Qin Ce feel bewitched. His eyes became fierce and intense, like a wolf that had been starving for a long time.

The short table was at his feet, but Zhou Yun Sheng thought that Qin Ce was staring at the cold noodles. He cursed ‘food addict’ inwardly, as he lazily opened, “You can have some if you like, no need to look like you’ve been starving for centuries.”

“Seriously?” Qin Ce looked up abruptly, an incredulous look in his eyes, with even a hint of ecstasy. His palm was immediately dampened in sweat, sticky and very uncomfortable.

“Naturally, would I be stingy over a bowl of cold noodles?” Zhou Yun Sheng sneered.

The light in Qin Ce’s eyes quickly dimmed. He pursed his lips, wiping his sweaty palms on the hem of his shirt. Then he picked up the bowl of cold noodles and started eating. He ate particularly slowly, but his chewing was particularly ruthless, like there was enmity between him and the bowl of noodles.

After wasting the afternoon by the young man’s side, Qin Ce finally got up to leave. After passing through the Zhu family’s gate, his face instantly turned gloomy. No matter how beautiful Zhu Zi Yu looked, he was still a man. But he had such sensual and crazy thoughts towards that man!

This made Qin Ce feel very jumbled up, but what was even more confusing was that he actually had no inclination to give up on Zhu Zi Yu, in fact, he was seriously beginning to consider the possibility of using his power to suppress and seize by force.

Zhu Zi Yu was already 20 years old this year, if he was in another family he would’ve already been married with children. Qin Ce couldn’t afford to delay.

But, what about Zhang Shu Lin? Could he really betray him?

Thinking of this, Qin Ce suddenly found himself caught in a dilemma.

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T/N:

Qian Hu- battalion commander according to one translation

Runners- Wikipedia “Yamen runner (Chinese: 衙役) is an occupation which served for yamen, the law enforcement department in ancient China. They worked as the lowest class in the government department which made them a bridge between the common people and the government.”

Zhou Bapi- The villain of the short story, The Rooster Crows at Midnight, a greedy landowner

Tu Yi- local products presented as a gift