A killing air about her, Zhang Yinluo left the clamorous Six Gates.
The constables all knew this young miss's pedigree, and knew too that she'd taken a bad fall last night, so every one of them dropped their gazes and shrank their presence, lest they blunder onto Her Ladyship's gun-muzzle.
The head constable looked at these spineless creatures, recalled Liang Bufan's air of righteous rectitude that masked a timid, self-serving coward, and let out a heavy snort.
This matter must be seen through to the end... Liang Bufan would offer no help, so there was no point counting on the Six Gates. That being so, she could only rely on her own strength... and the help from her clan she mustn't lean on too heavily either.
Liang Bufan wasn't wrong: Hu Shouxin was not to be trifled with, and the matter mustn't be blown up, or it would spiral out of control and drag her family down with it.
Push too hard, moreover, and she'd only alarm the snake; should the other side, cornered, kill the lady thief to silence her, then everything would be for nothing.
Master had said: bad people are cunning, so good people must be more cunning than the bad — which meant learning to use one's head, to find a way. This could only be won by wits...
She knit her brows and thought hard. Then, all at once, a beam of light flashed through her mind. Zhang Yinluo's head snapped up — she had it!
A short while later, a swift horse galloped out of the Six Gates' rear courtyard and went flying toward the errants' headquarters, the Tower of Loyal Valor.
"The lady detective. Back again." Hu Shouxin had received word that the "busty lady detective" who'd come making trouble earlier had returned, declaring over and over that she wanted to see Guild Leader Hu to post a commission.
Having sent off the leering little gossip who'd come to report it, the big-bearded man had her shown up to his study. "You've come too late. That nephew of mine has already gone..."
"No matter." Zhang Yinluo said directly, "I'll call on him in person shortly."
"Constable Zhang." Hu Shouxin's face darkened. "I, Hu Shouxin, am a man whose one is one and two is two. My nephew may be a bit lively and restless, but he would never do anything so lewd and obscene. He's been at my side since he was fourteen; I watched him grow up. Take him to a brothel and he won't even go in. The boy is honest by nature, loyal and pure of purpose, and toward women he holds himself in check with propriety. Far from carrying off a grown girl, even if he brushed against a woman's body by accident, he'd flee as though he'd touched a branding iron. If you still hold him to be some flower-picking lecher, then by all means, do your worst — use whatever means you like, and I, Hu, will meet them all. There's nothing to discuss in this matter."
He narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Quit pursuing it. Believe it or not, one letter from my hand and you'll be packed off home to reflect behind closed doors for three months."
Zhang Yinluo quietly clenched her fists, then said slowly, "Guild Leader Hu has misunderstood me. I've come this time only to commission a member of your guild — an errant — to assist me in completing a task."
Hu Shouxin frowned and stared at Zhang Yinluo, pondering a moment, then suddenly gave a cold laugh. "If he were the one who carried Qin Yu off, then by staying at his side day and night, watching his every move, you'd leave him no room to act — and make him wary, fearful of breaking something. With a guilty conscience, he'd sooner or later show a flaw, and you'd find your chance to rescue Qin Yu and bring him to justice. Am I right? You make yourself the bait, stay close to him, and if his beastly nature flared up, or he meant you harm and made a move, it would inevitably bring down the wrath of the Zhang family, and he too would be hard-pressed to escape. Am I right? And if he isn't the culprit, then he'll do his utmost to help you clear your name. As his uncle, I wouldn't stand idly by either — and in that case, you'd stand a very good chance of winning the aid of Mingzhou's errant forces... Little lady, you've truly racked your brains over this."
He tapped the desk and frowned. "All this scheming, even making bait of yourself... and for a thief?"
Her thoughts and plans seen through, Zhang Yinluo's expression shifted slightly. She was, in the end, a young girl, still short on seasoning. But things having come to this, she lifted her chin and said stubbornly, "That's no concern of yours. The Six Gates deems this one thief's life and death too trivial to bother with, and won't get involved — so I'll do it myself. You errants deem a thief's life and death too trivial to bother with — so I'll treat it as a piece of business and hire you with money. I don't ask you to agree with my ideals, nor do I think you have any obligation to do anything. Every path is one's own to choose; a person can only answer for themselves..."
She fixed her eyes on Hu Shouxin and said slowly, "I am only putting my own convictions into practice... I will bring this thief to justice — alive, I'll have her in person; dead, I'll have her corpse — and bring to justice as well the criminals who obstructed the Six Gates' enforcement last night and snatched away the prisoner! As for you errants... since I cannot reach common ground with you on the moral level, then let me move you on the level of interest."
"..." Hu Shouxin gazed at the girl before him and sighed. "Someone once said a thing... that anyone who seeks judicial fairness in a feudal dynasty with no proper rule of law must have something wrong in the head."
Zhang Yinluo caught the heavy sarcasm in the words and shot back at once, "I feel that keenly myself. But the greatest difference between me and the gentleman who said that line is this: when he recognized that this dynasty's rule of law was unsound, he merely sat off to the side, mocking those who tried to change things — while I, recognizing that unsound state of affairs, am working to change it. He's welcome to mock me, but I'm equally free to despise him."
Hu Shouxin was taken aback, then burst into great laughter. He pointed at Zhang Yinluo and nodded. "Now that's interesting... Little lady, you're a bit too quick to take things for granted, a bit naive and green, and your convictions for now rest only on a young person's fancies and a chestful of hot blood, untempered by reality. But you're still young, you've seen too little, and I can't demand too much of you. The you of right now is at least far better than those idiot dregs who fancy themselves a cut above and treat ordinary people as pigs and dogs... And besides — a naive, green fake-good-person becoming a strong, steadfast genuine-good-person is far easier than a wicked, vicious villain who's done every evil turning over a new leaf."
Zhang Yinluo was a touch lost. "You..."
"Oh, it's just a little life experience. If you don't follow it, never mind — changing a person isn't so simple anyway." Hu Shouxin slowly broke into a faintly mischievous smile. "To borrow someone's words: you're too young, you've still got some learning to do, and you need to raise your 'posture level' a good deal more... Rest easy, this matter's in my hands. A little lady, not bad at heart and holding to the right path, who needs guidance and help — how could I stand idly by? Little lady, I admire you, so I'm willing to do you this favor... You've struck great luck. That nephew of mine not only has the skill to find Qin Yu for you, he can also give you proper guidance and instruction in life, and let you rebuild a correct outlook through practice..."
Seeing Zhang Yinluo look unconvinced, Hu Shouxin's expression turned serious. "Little lady, I'm not joking in the least... If there's anyone left in Mingzhou City who could pick up Qin Yu's trail in a situation like this, it can only be that nephew of mine — this I, Hu, can guarantee. Never underestimate him..."
Watching Zhang Yinluo go blank with bafflement, Hu Shouxin then put on a troubled look. "Only, the crux of the problem is that this nephew of mine has a rather odd temper, and money won't move him..."
The head constable said decisively, "Over the years I've saved up no small amount from my school's rewards and my family's gifts. So long as he can help, I will surely pay a reward to his satisfaction!"
"To his satisfaction..." Hu Shouxin sized up Zhang Yinluo's lovely face and shapely figure and broke into a smile that sent an inexplicable chill through the head constable.
He kept his eyes on her like that until the girl's skin crawled all over, and only then burst out laughing. The big-bearded man looked very pleased, very delighted, even a touch gleeful at another's expense.
He laughed a good long while, and still couldn't keep his mouth shut as he said, beaming, "Good, good, good — I agree. But that lad is a thorn, hard of mouth and soft of heart. We'll need a way to leave him nothing to say, and give him enough of a face-saving step down, before he'll come along and help you with a put-upon, unwilling air. So be it — I'll play the villain. Your plan's a bit crude; let old Hu here help you polish it up..."
They conferred in secret a good while, and then Zhang Yinluo swept off in a great hurry. Hu Shouxin let the grass-mud-horse, here-comes-the-good-show grin fade from his face, slowly leaned back, and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.
The bygone years, the fleeting time, the shifting images. Six years of bloody war, two years to reunion. That man, in truth, had never changed at all.
"Even now, I can still feel the things buried deep in your heart..." Hu Shouxin murmured. "Six years and we couldn't dissolve them, and by the looks of it we'll have to go on trying. I only hope this innocent, guileless girl can change a few things... and it's all right if she can't. We try, one thing after another — there's always a way. No matter what, we only ever want you to be well. To live well..."