’I knew it, I knew it...’
Fang Ke, heedless of the surrounding people’s strange looks, struggled to push to the front of the line and, upon clearly seeing Yang Ge practicing the Hunyuan stance, his entire being just crumbled.
As soon as he had entered the city, he heard about a hero known as ’Nine Cakes’ distributing congee at the Vegetable Market, and immediately felt uneasy. He hurried over to the Yuelai Inn and Yang Ge’s home, but found no one, and then rushed over here...
In the presence of such a large crowd, he naturally did not dare to make a fuss. After taking one look, he pressed down the bamboo hat he was using for shelter from the wind and snow and turned to leave.
After leaving the Vegetable Market, he jogged all the way back to the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s post in Drum and Bell Alley to find Gu Tong and asked, feigning ignorance, "Where is the Banner leader?"
Gu Tong replied in astonishment, "When have you ever seen the Banner leader come by during the day?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Ke immediately felt relieved by half. He took off his bamboo hat, smiled, and brushed it off, "Look at my poor memory, I was thinking of sending a message to the Banner leader and forgot that he doesn’t come during the day."
When Gu Tong heard this, he became very curious, but the family rules restrained him from giving in to the impulse to ask questions.
Fang Ke strode into his office, and while summoning the guards on duty to bring in a pot of hot tea, casually asked, "While I was away these past few days, was there any urgent business?"
Gu Tong said, "There wasn’t anything particularly urgent, just some routine surveillance and reporting... This morning, the Wang Family of Yongtai did report a case through the county office, claiming their grain depot was robbed, and requested the assistance of our Embroidered Uniform Guard to capture the bandits."
"The Wang Family of Yongtai?"
Fang Ke looked at Gu Tong in ’surprise’, "How did you respond?"
"How else could I respond?"
Gu Tong scoffed, "Just last night, the Banner leader instructed me to remember that our Embroidered Uniform Guard is the emperor’s personal army, not the watchdog of the powerful. How could I disobey the Banner leader’s orders?"
Fang Ke couldn’t help but laugh and nodded, "You handled that matter well!"
After a pause, he continued unhurriedly, "Let me share some news with you, our Banner leader is about to get promoted!"
"Promoted?"
Gu Tong exclaimed, "To a trial Hundred Households post?"
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Fang Ke nodded, "I’ve brought back the trial Hundred Households token, and the official documents will arrive soon... The family’s intention is for me to fill the current vacancy left by our Banner leader, and given how much the Banner leader trusts you, it’s very likely that the other Banner leader position may fall on you!"
Overjoyed, Gu Tong hurriedly bowed in the direction of Chaimen Street, "Gu Tong owes all my accomplishments to the Banner leader’s cultivation. I would never dare to even dream of such an appointment!"
"Enough,"
Fang Ke chuckled, "We’re brothers from the same pot, why put on such airs with me? From now on, all we need to do is closely follow our Banner leader. If he directs us east, we must not go west; if he commands us to kill a chicken, we must not slaughter a dog... Our family holds nothing but praise and favor for our Banner leader!"
Gu Tong quickly replied, "How can you say such things? Our very lives, as well as those of our families, are all protected by the Banner leader, who shoulders immense responsibility for us. Even if I am to remain a guard under the Banner leader for the rest of my life, I will look to him for leadership without question, ready to harness the horses or charge into battle, willing to die a thousand times over!"
Fang Ke nodded, "It’s good that you understand this in your heart."
He paused again, then casually continued, "Speaking of which, the Banner leader has always despised those unscrupulous merchants like the Wang Family of Yongtai, who behave recklessly and misuse public resources because they have powerful backers. And they even dare to treat our brothers as their personal guards and expect us to arrest whomever they want? That’s utterly audacious!"
Gu Tong didn’t quite understand but still followed up on his lead, "These dog-headed households are getting too arrogant... Shall we give them a dose of their own medicine?"
Fang Ke thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Such trivial matters, we brothers should just keep to ourselves. Let’s not disturb the Banner leader with this, nor let the brothers below catch wind of it, as it might spoil the plan!"
Gu Tong returned him a knowing look and whispered back, "Then I’ll go knock some sense into that new County Magistrate Tian later; he doesn’t do a damn thing all day, just chases after those dog-like wealthy households wiping their asses for them. I’ve had it with that thieving bird’s eye!"
Fang Ke mockingly said, "The man is still the County Magistrate after all, we should give him some face... Just knock some sense into those constables and county soldiers. I was annoyed the moment I entered the city seeing them scampering all over the place!"
Gu Tong nodded, "Understood, understood!"
Fang Ke said, "Alright, off you go, I need to stop by the commandery base first. The Garrison Commander... sigh, listen to my slip of the tongue, the Thousand Households Commander brought some New Year’s goods for our commandery base, and I have to deliver them promptly."
Gu Tong’s eyes suddenly widened, his smile becoming even warmer, "Had you not mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten about the approaching New Year. The commandery base is usually so lonely, with one coming in and another going out, without any relatives or friends. Shouldn’t we brothers get some New Year’s goods for the commandery base to celebrate a lively and prosperous New Year?"
Fang Ke waved his hand dismissively, "Forget it, the commandery base treats us brothers like family, and what he hates most is the military practice of exploiting soldiers. What we should do is save the commandery base some worries; that’ll be showing our respect to him... No more idle talk, I really have to make a trip there!"
Gu Tong followed Fang Ke out with his back hunched, watching him leave the estate, then returned to the side room to ponder for a long while before declaring loudly, "Tell the brothers to grab their gear, we’re taking a trip to the yamen!"
...
Fang Ke squatted in the snow for half an hour before finally hearing the sound of a dog barking inside Yang Ge’s home.
He patiently waited for about a quarter of an hour, guessing that Yang Ge had changed his clothes, then he got up and took the chance when no one was around, quickly scuttling to the front door of Yang Ge’s house and knocked lightly.
"Creak."
Yang Ge opened the gate and immediately invited the frost-covered Fang Ke into the inner room, "When did you get back? How long have you been waiting?"
Fang Ke nodded with a smile, "I entered the city this afternoon and just came over."
Seeing the water marks left by the melted snowflakes on Fang Ke’s clothes, Yang Ge smiled without exposing his lie and directly asked, "What was your family’s response to the issue of the three major grain shops colluding to drive up grain prices during your trip to the capital?"
First, Fang Ke took out the gold-inlaid waist badge of the bailiff and placed it in front of Yang Ge, then narrated the details of his encounter with Shen Fa from beginning to end.
Of course, he definitely did not mention the words of Shen Fa, who said that dealing with the three major grain merchants hoarding grains was a difficult matter.
"Wait? How can we wait?"
Yang Ge said in a low and indignant voice, "I can wait, but can those commoners without grain wait?"
Fang Ke tried to console him, "My lord, the court has its difficulties, and Shen also has his; we have done all that we could. For the rest, we can only trust in Heaven’s will!"
"This damn disaster isn’t natural, it’s man-made!"
Yang Ge stood up and paced back and forth in the room, "Who doesn’t find it hard? Is it not hard for you and me, or is it not hard for those commoners who are starving?"
Fang Ke sighed softly, "My lord, forgive my presumption, but as the old saying goes: ’Don’t engage in governance beyond your rank.’ You’ve already risked ruin to raise this issue; everything else is truly beyond your control, or even Shen’s control... Besides, you’ve already done enough; all the residents of Luting will be grateful to you!"
He did not explicitly bring up the fact that he knew about Yang Ge’s plundering of the Wang Family to help the poor.
But saying so much was virtually the same as laying it bare.
Yang Ge didn’t think he could hide the issue from someone as astute as Fang Ke; upon hearing this, he only heaved a deep sigh, sat back down, held his forehead with one hand, and said mournfully, "But I always feel like there must be something more I can do... It’s hard enough to endure the cold, the hunger is also unbearable; when they coincide, the suffering is unimaginable!"
Witnessing Yang Ge in such a state, Fang Ke was suddenly reminded of the report he had received during their background investigation of Yang Ge: In the eleventh month of the previous year, on the sixteenth day, with heavy snow falling continuously for days, a guest in tattered clothes braved the snow to enter the city, taking shelter on Luting Street for two days. It was only with the help of Shopkeeper Liu from Yuelai Inn that he had survived...
He had tasted the bitterness of being cold and hungry before, hadn’t he?