Chapter 20: Wu Zheng (12:00-12:59) Part 7
Translator: DragonRider
Yao Runeng slowly woke up and found himself lying in an interrogation room with one man and a woman tied up in front of him. He saw Elder Ge snap his finger and then that dwarf handed a whip to Zhang Xiaojing.
Had Zhang Xiaojing already pointed out who the undercover was? Had he killed him? Yao Runeng was going to ask about this but was held down on the ground before he could make a sound. Elder Ge turned to him and shushed him.
In the front, Zhang Xiaojing while squeezing his whip kept alternating his gaze at those two and finally stopped at the woman. He said to Tong’er, “Now I will ask you a question about Long Bo and I hope you answer me honestly.”
Tong’er raised her head abruptly and shouted hysterically, “Unless you let go of Han and me, or you will never get a word out of me!” She and her lover had been captured for 24 hours and were almost desperate. Now there was a life-saving straw handed to her, she would hang on to it. Judging from the whip wounds and scars covering all over her, Zhang Xiaojing concluded that it was obvious that this woman had been whipped and flogged many times and torturing wouldn’t work on her.
Zhang Xiaojing said, “Spit it out. Then I can convince Elder Ge to set you free.”
Tong’er sneered, “Never even try to drive a wedge between us! We’ve sworn to God that we will live and die together, and I’ll never betray that.”
Zhang Xiaojing shook his head and walked to the man, who raised his head and felt quite overjoyed too see officials in this dark place. Before he could ask for help, he was gagged with the handle of the whip. Tong’er aside shouted loudly, “It’s useless. If you kill Han, then I will die with him.”
Zhang Xiaojing ignored her and told the man, “I can only set one of you free and you get the right to choose. But remember, only one can leave here.”
After this, Zhang Xiaojing took a few steps back and watched the man with cold eye. The man first seemed very skeptical about this and then so overjoyed. Although he kept murmuring something, every time he looked at Tong’er, he would hesitate a little bit and just wouldn’t give a name. Abruptly, Zhang Xiaojing leaned forward making his ear next to the man’s mouth and then nodded.
“Ok.” After saying this, Zhang Xiaojing put down the whip and cut him free from the hemp rope hanging him.
Han rolled down on the ground. He was in a daze because just now he said nothing. But when words of explanation were just on the tip of his tongue, he suddenly hesitated about saying them out. He tried to make a few steps outwards and found that none of those demon-like people stopped him. Then he was ravished with joy – as if someone else made the choice for him, there was no need for him to feel guilty about it. He looked around, saw nobody stop him and hurriedly ran towards the exit with sleeve covering his face.
After he had gone faraway, Zhang Xiaojing walked to Tong’er again, who lowered her head and blankly stared at the robe that had been cut into two. She seemed too distressed to believe this really happened.
“You try to cheat me. He said nothing!” Suddenly Tong’er raised her head and shouted angrily.
“As for a man, do not listen to what he says but focus on what he does. If he has no intention to leave, I can never succeed in luring him to run away.”
Tong’er couldn’t help but burst into tears. Yao Runeng couldn’t bear too much of this, so he turned his head away. A simple test of humanity devasted all Tong’er’s hope, just like taking away the firewood under a cooking pot. But then he thought that Zhang Xiaojing even didn’t care a nut about giving away his fellow colleague, let along this kind of things.
Zhang Xiaojing raised Tong’er’s chin with the handle of his whip and asked, “Now can you answer my questions?” She refused no more because there was no reason for her to refuse for.
According to Tong’er’s words, Long Bo chose her the first time he came to Pingkang Fang and for all these years, he never chose anyone else except her. Long Bo never talked much even when they were having sex, let alone saying anything that may reveal his identity. When he took her out for the night, most of the time they went to a big mansion at southwest of Tenth Street within Xiuzheng Fang. She had asked Long Bo about how he got this mansion. He just said he was looking after the house for some else. And as for who the someone else was, he didn’t say.
Zhang Xiaojing turned around to look at Elder Ge and asked for his forgiveness for letting go of the man without his consent. Elder Ge smiled and said, “We are not sadist and all of this is just to bring those girls’ hearts back from men. A few words of yours make Tong’er see how bad man could be, which saves us lots of trouble. And now I can send her back to her procuress directly.”
That deformed dwarf untied Tong’er and dragged her out of this room.
Yao Runeng couldn’t put up with this anymore and finally questioned Zhang Xiaojing, “Commandant Zhang, does humiliating such a feebly woman fit the principle of kindness and righteousness? Right...... even your colleague can not escape from being murdered by you, let alone torturing a woman you barely know like that!” Like a fish bone getting stuck in the throat, Yao Runeng felt that he must give vent to his pent-up feelings. Zhang Xiaojing rose his head and asked ironically, “Oh, you mean it’s better for her to go back home with that kind of guy?”
“Em......” Except this, Yao Runeng got nothing to say. He had dealt with this kind of case before and surely almost none of them ended well. Zhang Xiaojing replied coldly, “Everyone has to be responsible for the choice they make. She chooses this way and she should have known what is waiting for her. If you are so pity for her, you can marry her and take her home with you.”
Yao Runeng was quite reddened and couldn’t think of anything to refute Zhang Xiaojing, so he just shut up. But he had made up his mind that once he left Pingkang Fang, he would report this to Jing’an Department because what Zhang Xiaojing did was way crossed the line.
*
With an aching elbow, Cao Poyan felt so miserable but this also made him sharp and alert all along. In this dangerous and crisis-ridden city, nothing was more important than being sharp and alert.
Right now, he was standing at the entrance of a remote yard, watching one cart after another entering the yard slowly. This fleet contained more than ten carts, all double-shaft carts with curtains on all four sides and high-arched roofs. The depth of their track revealed that the cargos in each cart were very heavy. Besides, every cart was covered with dust and mud, and the carters and horses were obviously very tired.
The triangular flag with green edges inserted in the front side of the cart told that these carts belonged to Su’s Cart Company. It transported all kinds of goods for people from and to the northern of Chang’an and enjoyed a relatively high reputation.
The fleet leader jumped off the first cart, patted his clothes to drive away dust and took a deep and relived breath.
This task, transporting cargos from Yan Zhou to Chang’an, was good because the consignor paid on time and the cargos were not valuable, which meant they did not have to get wind up on the road. And the only thing the consignor asked for specifically was to be on time – no matter what happened, the cargos had to arrive one day before the Lantern Festival. Now the fleet already got to the warehouse before Wushi, so he had nothing to be worried about.
In fact, according to rules, such bulk cargo could only enter the east and west market and then be dispatched out in lots. All other Fangs set up Guolong Kan (high threshold) and carts exceeding its width limit couldn’t get through. But this warehouse was relatively remote and desolate with entrance facing the street, so its Guolong Kan was removed a long time ago.
This little trick was used to evade tax which was a common practice and fleet leaders had already become inured to this.
Now he just needed to tally the cargo with the consignee and got the receipt to wind things up. This fleet leader had everything planned out for this afternoon: find a great bathhouse to take a relaxing bath, buy some Hu-styled gifts for his wife at the West Market, and then at night take some great Sanlejiang alcohol to a highland to enjoy the Lantern Festival while drinking. What a perfect day!
The fleet leader looked around and immediately knew that Cao Poyan was the person in charge here. So, he walked close to him and said, “Luckily, we have accomplished the mission successfully. All cargos are here and right about time.” Then he handed Cao Poyan a roll of mint leaves. It was used to refresh the carriers during transportation but was the specialty of Jiang Huai region (southern part of China).
Cao Poyan didn’t reach out for it but asked with a poker face, “Did you run into any trouble when entering the city?”
This kind of bulk cargos when entering Chang’an had to be checked and registered at the Entrance Checking Office before it could enter the city. But in reality, there were too many cargos and too few officials, so the checking could take days. Su’s Cart Company had been in the business of transporting cargos for years, and they had built up friendly relation with the Entrance Checking Office. This meant they could shorten their checking time, which was why they dared to transport cargos in and out Chang’an.
Therefore, hearing Cao Poyan asking him about this, the fleet leader guaranteed proudly, “We pulled some strings and didn’t run into any trouble. The clearance of goods started at about Chenshi and took no more than four hours. Here are all the papers and certificates.”
With that said, he handed Cao Poyan a pile of files. Cao Poyan gave it a quick flip and asked again, “Did they examine the cargos?”
The fleet leader answered apologetically with a smile on face, “Except the nobility, no one can pass that. But I was there the whole time. And they only examined two pieces of things, poked them with the spear and then sealed them again. Moreover, your cargos are neither contraband nor against the rules, so what could go wrong? There is no need to worry so much about......”
Cao Poyan didn’t want to hear more of his nagging; therefore, he gestured with one hand and said, “It’s time to unload the cargos.”
The fleet leader’s excessive passion only got coldness in return, so he stopped talking to Cao Poyan, but turned around to give orders to his men. Then, the carters whipped the horses to pull round, making the back of the carts aim at the entrance of the warehouse, and then moved the carts backwards slowly.
This place had been remolded into a makeshift warehouse with an elevated offload platform. Those carts were parked at perfect places, whose backdoors were really close to the edges of the platform, almost leaving no gap. The men inside the warehouse then circled around the carts and opened the back doors. Inside every cart, there were ten cedarwood buckets with three-figure wide thatch underneath them. Those men gapped the platform and cart with a few long planks and then rolled the buckets down one by one. The fleet leader noticed that all of them were Hu people.
But what he didn’t notice was that a few of them walked to the entrance of the warehouse and locked the door.
One cedarwood bucket after another was offloaded to the platform. Cao Poyan walked to one bucket, unplugged it and inserted a dagger in to stir it. Then he took it out to see the oil stain on the dagger. After checking a few buckets, Cao Poyan nodded, satisfied because these cargos were of high quality and tight packaged without any leakage.
Those pathetic carters thought what they transported were some common cargos, but they had no idea those were actually the soul of the “great” Kailu Hodo.
Putting off the dagger, Cao Poyan asked the fleet leader, “After you entered the city, did you come here directly?”
“Of course, we never waste the time of a guest.”
“So, are there anyone in Chang’an know that you’ve arrived here?”
“No, we always keep secrets for our guests. After delivering all cargos to you and receiving the retainage, we will go to the broker to report on our mission.”
But in the next moment, Cao Poyan stabbed the dagger into the fleet leader’s chest and even twisted its handle. The fleet leader staggered backwards a few steps, fell down, turned his head and tried to climb out. However, the last scene he saw in this world was how other carters were butchered bloodily.
This butcher was so shift and quiet that it was finished in a blink of eyes. These toilsome carters were murdered beside the carts before they could have any rest. No one survived.
This butcher ended so fast and quiet even without disturbing anyone else. Cao Poyan asked his men to take the carts and shafts of Su’s Cart Company apart, erase the brand off the horses’ butts, and destroy its flags, wiping away all trances of Su’s Cart Company.
Right at this time, some slight knocking was heard. Cao Poyan frowned, walked to the door and looked out through the hole on the door plank. The man standing before the door wore a worn-out parti-color cloak and a FuTou (head ornament for men) so shabby that the kerchief in it was revealed. This was the typical common dressing for ordinary people in Sanfu.