Just as the Duke of An arrived at his residence, he saw his little grandson waiting at the gate with a servant boy. The child was sitting on the steps in front of the door, propping up his chin, his head turning left and right as he looked around.
When he spotted the Duke, his eyes lit up instantly, and he stood up from the steps and came running over.
“Grandfather, Grandfather, how did it go? Is His Excellency the Zhuangyuan willing to take me as his disciple?” An Chengyu grabbed the hem of the Duke of An’s robe, looking up at him with eager anticipation, a hint of nervousness hidden in his big eyes.
Watching An Chengyu bouncing around at his knees, the Duke of An nearly shed tears. Thank goodness, thank goodness his darling grandson had been rescued.
The Duke of An’s weathered, rough hand reached out to touch An Chengyu’s fair, smooth little face, giving it a gentle pinch. “He agreed. When Grandpa takes action, one man is worth two. Just wait until two days from now, when Assistant Minister Shen has his day off, and Grandpa will take you to perform the discipleship ceremony.
But you must promise Grandpa that you’ll study hard under Assistant Minister Shen. No more of your old ways, fishing for three days and drying the nets for two.
When An Chengyu heard that Shen Shixu had agreed to take him as a disciple, he was so overjoyed that he ran circles around the Duke of An, cheering. “Oh, oh, oh! Wonderful! His Excellency the Zhuangyuan agreed to take me as his disciple!”
After watching An Chengyu jump and cheer for a while, the Duke of An reminded him, “All right, all right, look how happy you are. Be careful you don’t trip and fall.”
An Chengyu stopped and patted his little chest. “Don’t worry, Grandpa. I haven’t fallen down since I was three. But I need to hurry back now and tell Mother and Auntie the good news, and I also need to prepare a gift for the discipleship ceremony in two days.
Grandpa, I won’t keep chatting with you, I’ve got to go get busy!”
Watching his grandson skip away, the Duke of An’s face was full of loving kindness. But once An Chengyu’s figure disappeared from view, that tenderness vanished without a trace, and his face turned dark and gloomy as he gave an order to the steward beside him.
“Old Zhang, go call the young cousin back. Tell him I have business with him.”
Seeing how terrible the Duke’s expression was, Steward Zhang dared not delay, and personally went to fetch Luo Kun.
Along the way, Luo Kun tried every indirect approach to ask Steward Zhang why the Duke of An had suddenly summoned him back, but he couldn’t get any information out of him, which left him deeply uneasy. Could it be that the matter from a couple of days ago had been exposed?
But he quickly shook his head, driving the thought from his mind.
He had done that deed flawlessly. Everyone connected to it had been dealt with. There was absolutely no way it could have come to light.
Concealing the darkness in his eyes, Luo Kun put on the appearance of a modest gentleman and walked into the Duke’s study.
“Uncle, I’m here. You were in such a hurry to call me back, is something the matter?”
The Duke of An sat in the armchair in his study, scrutinizing Luo Kun, who stood before him. If he hadn’t learned the truth from Shen Shixu, he might well have been deceived by this facade.
He played the part of an innocent, diligent soul nothing like someone who would sell out his own nephew out of greed. And yet this very man, who looked so honest and simple-hearted, harbored such a vicious mind!
“When I called you here, do you truly not know why, or are you just pretending not to?”
Luo Kun’s heart lurched at those words, and panic began to set in. But thinking of the people he had already disposed of, he forced the panic down and put on an innocent, puzzled smile. “Uncle, I’m a dull man, I can’t make out what you mean. If you have something to say, please say it plainly.”
Seeing him refuse to shed tears until he saw his own coffin, Duke An slammed the table. “You don’t know? I’d say you know perfectly well. Chengyu being kidnapped a few days ago, that was your doing, wasn’t it? How ruthless you are! That was your own nephew, a child you watched grow up, and you could bear to sell him to kidnappers.”
The more Duke An spoke, the more grief-stricken he became. He beat his chest, eyes red. “How could you do this to me? How could you face your two dead cousins? Luo Kun, Luo Kun, I always treated you well. After your mother passed, I broke with your father’s side of the family just to take you in and care for you. When you wanted to study, I hired tutors for you. When you wanted to learn martial arts, I taught you personally.
Even when you proved hopeless at both and wanted to go into trade, I gave you my own savings. I loved you like my own son and you tried to cut off my family line!”
As Duke An recounted all he had done for him, Luo Kun’s eyes flashed with reminiscence, gratitude, shame, and guilt, until all these emotions dissolved into bitter weeping.
He knelt down, kowtowing to Duke An again and again, tears and snot streaming down his face. “Uncle, Uncle, I’m sorry. I was possessed by greed, I was insatiable. I’ve wronged you, wronged my cousins, and most of all wronged little Yuer.
The fault is all mine, every bit of it. I’m willing to pay the price. But my wife and son, they knew nothing. I beg you, for the sake of my late mother, spare them.”
Watching him weep and beg forgiveness, Duke An waved a hand. “I’m not like you, I can’t bring myself to harm the innocent. Considering how diligently you once served the Duke An household, I will keep them safe for life. But wealth and luxury are out of the question.”
Hearing this, Luo Kun closed his eyes, knocked his head three more times against the floor, then rose, pushed open the door, and walked out.
When he returned home, he confessed everything to his wife. She was stunned by what he had done, but when she heard he intended to turn himself in, she couldn’t help grabbing hold of him.
“This is my burden to bear alone. You and Xiaofeng must live well from now on. Your uncle has promised not to touch you, he’ll keep you safe for the rest of your lives. But the life we have now, with clothes provided and food served, is truly over.
Still, years ago I bought a house in your hometown. You and Xiaofeng can go there. It won’t be as good as life now, but at least you’ll have food, drink, and a roof over your heads.”
After settling these matters with his wife, Luo Kun went to the Jingzhao Prefecture. With several lives on his hands, plus the kidnapping of a child, the prefecture’s verdict came swiftly: beheading at noon, half a month later.
After leaving the courtyard where Shen Shixu lived, Xiao Jinyi headed straight for the Eastern Palace. He had barely sat down and taken a sip of tea before ordering a servant of Xiao Yuanqi’s to fetch a physician from the Imperial Medical Academy.
Hearing this, Xiao Yuanqi set down the book he was reading and looked at Xiao Jinyi anxiously. “Why summon a physician all of a sudden? Did you suffer some hidden injury on the battlefield?”
Xiao Yuanqi asked about Xiao Jinyi’s condition while urging the attendants to hurry and summon the imperial physician, preferably the chief of the Imperial Medical Academy.
Seeing how worried Xiao Yuanqi was, Xiao Jinyi hurried to explain, “I’m not injured anywhere. It’s just that something seems to be wrong with my heart. I care about someone far too much, he feels different from everyone else in every way, and I can’t help wanting to be close to him. But given my temperament, I shouldn’t be feeling this way, so I suspect I’ve fallen ill.”