Why is it you again?
Yes. It was him again.
…
The early autumn in Liangjing that year was stranger than any in previous years. Several torrential storms came one after another, and after the rains stopped, relentless gales swept through the city for days on end, making it difficult for people to leave their homes.
The mortal world could not withstand such wind and rain. It turned cold almost overnight.
As for human affection, that cooled even faster.
By the fifth day of Zhang Yao’s cangue punishment, the spectators had already lost interest and gradually dispersed. No one cared anymore about the unlucky man who still had days of punishment left to endure.
By the seventh day, traffic in front of Shenwu Gate had returned to normal. Commoners no longer stopped to look. The Imperial Guards simply withdrew most of the guards, leaving only two soldiers behind to supervise him and ensure he neither sat nor lay down during his punishment. By the ninth day, even those supervising soldiers were gone.
Zhang Yao was left alone beneath the city wall, carrying the heavy cangue, standing there in solitary silence.
Fortunately, on the final evening of his punishment, he finally saw the money earned from selling his coffins.
The wind was still fierce that day. Zhang Min was too ill to leave the house, so Du Lingruo braved the gale to bring Zhang Yao the news.
He told him that Zhang Min had sold his ancient cypress coffin for four hundred taels of silver.
Zhang Yao asked Du Lingruo, “Only one? Did you stop her?”
“Of course I did. Sister Min might not know how valuable your wood is, but I do.”
Zhang Yao grunted in acknowledgment and said nothing more.
Looking somewhat embarrassed, Du Lingruo continued, “Honestly, this whole thing is kind of my fault.”
He scratched the back of his head and said regretfully, “I still haven’t figured out how things ended up like this. How did I manage to drag you down this badly?”
Zhang Yao raised an arm and adjusted the position of the cangue on his shoulders.
“Zhang Min doesn’t believe me. Do you?”
Du Lingruo replied, “It’s not that Sister Min doesn’t believe you. She sympathizes with that former Vice Minister of Justice.”
That was actually true.
The character Min in Zhang Min’s name had been her parents’ blessing for their daughter, and she had indeed lived up to it.
Standing for so long had tired Du Lingruo, so he leaned against the city wall beside Zhang Yao. Watching the passersby hurrying through the wind, he continued:
“Now that the prostitution case is closed, everyone in Liangjing believes you defiled her. She’s become a government slave now too. Anyone can step on her. If she ends up assigned to some arrogant noble household, won’t she be tormented to death? Sister Min is kind-hearted. She’s always helping people. How could she bear to watch something like that happen? Scolding you was meant to make you feel guilty, and then…”
“Sell my coffins.”
“Heh heh…”
Forced into awkward laughter by Zhang Yao’s blunt truth, Du Lingruo rubbed his nose.
“Well, whose fault is it that you spend every spare coin buying wood…” He paused before continuing. “As for me, I can’t make sense of your situation. But you’re someone who’d rather die than let others see your body. Could you really have taken your clothes off in front of Yu Lin… huh? Right?”
Zhang Yao didn’t answer.
Nor did Du Lingruo expect one.
As he folded up the banknotes, he continued speaking.
“It’s been cold these past few days. Sister Min has also been busy arranging the sale of your coffins and dealing with all sorts of people. The night before last, a cold wind hit her, and her illness worsened badly. Our Grand Eunuch requested His Majesty’s grace. Tomorrow morning, the Directorate of Ceremonial will send someone to bring her into the palace. Grand Eunuch wants to examine her pulse and prescribe a new formula.”
As he spoke, he stuffed the folded banknotes into Zhang Yao’s hand.
“Sister Min also asked me to find out which government office currently has custody of Yu Lin. I found out.”
Zhang Yao lifted his eyes slightly.
“Where?”
“The Ministry of Revenue. According to the law, she’s a convicted slave and can only be assigned as a servant to the households of meritorious officials in Liangjing. As for which family she’ll be assigned to, that hasn’t been decided yet.”
Zhang Yao glanced at the banknotes in his hand.
“If she’s just being assigned to a noble household, do I really need this much money to take her away?”
Du Lingruo replied, “You’ve never bought a slave before, so you don’t know. Government slaves used to have no market value. But these past few years, Shandong has been at war continuously, and they still can’t wipe out the rebels from Qinglong Temple. River transport has been a mess ever since the Yuzhou dam collapse. Salt transport is harder than ever. You know that as well as anyone.”
“Right now, the treasury is struggling, so even the government has started selling people.”
He sighed.
“Or maybe you could bring the Northern Garrison Office and arrest the Ministry of Revenue officials. Make them hand Yu Lin over to you. Then you’d save those four hundred taels.”
After saying that, Du Lingruo looked at Zhang Yao standing there in his cangue and couldn’t help laughing himself.
“Forget it. His Majesty’s already annoyed with you lately. Keep your head down. I’ve got duty before the throne tomorrow, so I’m heading back to the palace.”
He covered his face against the wind and started walking away.
After a few steps, he remembered something and turned back.
“Oh, right. I think she’s sick too.”
For Yu Lin, the six months of prison torment had finally come to an end in the early autumn of that year.
Throughout those six months, she had constantly been covered in wounds and rarely slept well at night.
But she didn’t really care.
For many years, she had been trapped inside a nightmare she could never escape from.
Whenever she managed to sleep a little more soundly than usual, she would be dragged into a scene that caused her unbearable pain.
Just like these past few days.
The restraints had been removed from her body, and she finally had a straw mat where she could lie flat.
She allowed herself to drift into sleep.
And the nightmare returned again and again.
In the nightmare, there was a woman kneeling in an elegant courtyard.
Her hands were suspended above her head.
She wore a moon-white undergarment.
Her long hair hung loose around her shoulders.
She was crying so hard she could barely speak, shouting words Yu Lin could not understand.
Even now, Yu Lin only remembered fragments.
Yuzhou.
Dam collapse.
Salt transport.
Reporting.
Floating corpses.
Killing the people.
Harming the masses.
No good death.
A crowd surrounded the woman.
Three-year-old Yu Lin stood among them, holding the hand of a young boy.
Most of the people in the crowd were the woman’s relatives.
Her husband.
Her parents.
Her elder brothers.
Her nephews and nieces.
They stood there in luxurious clothing, watching her from a distance.
Watching the disheveled woman.
Again and again, they hurled vicious accusations at her.
“No shame.”
“Committing adultery.”
“Disgracing the family.”
“Trying to murder her husband and children.”
“She deserves to die.”
The scene was remarkably similar to what Yu Lin had witnessed at Pichang Temple alongside Madam Liu.
Except that this woman was even more frenzied than Yu Lin had ever been.
She seemed completely indifferent to the humiliation.
She desperately tugged at the ropes binding her wrists and screamed curses at the crowd.
Yuzhou.
Dam collapse.
Salt transport.
Reporting.
Floating corpses.
Killing the people.
Harming the masses.
No good death.
Yu Lin could not understand the words.
But she knew that woman was her mother.
She was so disappointed.
So pained.
Watching the tears on her face, her twisted limbs, her fragile skin, Yu Lin desperately wanted to walk over and hug her.
Yet someone in the crowd handed her a stone.
She looked up.
The person was too tall.
She could not see his face.
She only heard him say:
“Xiao Fu. Punish her.”
The moment those words sounded, the crazed woman fell silent.
Yu Lin gripped the stone and looked at her.
The woman looked back.
In her dark eyes lay profound sorrow and terror.
“Xiao Fu… don’t… don’t treat me like this…”
“Xiao Fu. Punish her.”
Those two sentences echoed endlessly in her dreams.
They intertwined together, eventually becoming wave after wave of shrill, despairing sobbing.
The cries shoved Yu Lin out of the nightmare.
Yu Lin opened her eyes.
She was still inside a storage room used by the Ministry of Revenue to house government slave women.
A very tall man was crouching in front of her.
He wore black clothing.
Apparently unaware that she had awakened, he was silently examining the bruises around her wrists and ankles.
Her eyesight was poor, but the calm scent of wood surrounding him made identification easy.
It was Zhang Yao.
He had come again.
A Ministry official was checking documents nearby.
As he compared paperwork, he asked Zhang Yao,
“This one, right?”
Zhang Yao nodded.
“Yes.”
The official set down the documents.
“She’s had a fever these past few days. We do provide medicine for government slaves here, but she has too many injuries. No telling when she’ll recover.”
Zhang Yao had already inspected every visible injury on her body.
Almost all of them were wounds from torture.
Zhang Yao knew plenty about inflicting punishment.
Treating injuries caused by punishment, however, was another matter entirely.
Hearing the official’s words, he found himself considering asking Zhang Min to consult Xu Songnian.
“Let’s complete the transfer first.”
He stood as he spoke.
The official glanced at Yu Lin.
“How do you plan to take her away? Shall we lead her to your residence, or…”
“Lead?”
“Oh.”
The official hurriedly explained.
“There have been many runaway slaves lately. Some even kill themselves before they’re assigned.”
“No need.”
“Then you…”
“Zhang Yao.”
Yu Lin called out to him.
Zhang Yao lowered his head.
She was leaning against the earthen wall, dressed in a plain hemp skirt.
Her face was flushed with fever.
Even her voice sounded hoarse.
“Why is it you again?”
Right.
It was him again.
The official immediately scolded Yu Lin.
“This is Commander Zhang of the Northern Garrison Office. From now on, he’s your master. Mind your tone. Get up and kneel—”
“I bought you.”
Zhang Yao interrupted him.
Yu Lin struggled to sit upright.
“Bought me?”
“Mhm.”
Yu Lin sighed helplessly.
“So you still haven’t given up?”
Zhang Yao bent down and lifted her into his arms.
“I’m not wearing mourning clothes today, and I didn’t come here looking to die…”
The moment he picked her up, Yu Lin lost her balance.
Zhang Yao wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Hold on to my neck.”
After hearing him, her hands still hung motionless behind his back.
Zhang Yao sighed.
“I’m telling you to hold my neck. I didn’t ask you to strangle me. Besides, in your current condition, you couldn’t strangle me even if you tried.”
Yu Lin laughed.
“Commander Zhang, why bother? Everyone in Liangjing knows you and I committed adultery. If you take me home, I’ll at least have somewhere to stay, but you’ll become a laughingstock.”
“You think I want this?”
After saying that, Zhang Yao actually felt grateful that Zhang Min had slapped him and sold his coffin, forcing him to come buy Yu Lin.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t even have had the grounds to answer her.
“This is my sister’s punishment for me.”
“Punishment?”
Hearing that word, Yu Lin genuinely felt somewhat guilty.
“Feeling ashamed?”
Zhang Yao asked.
Yu Lin didn’t deny it.
Zhang Yao added,
“No need to feel ashamed. I brought this on myself. It has nothing to do with you.”
That was true.
Yu Lin merely smiled without commenting.
Zhang Yao continued,
“She originally forbade me from touching you. But she’s not home today, and you can’t walk. So this is the only way I can move you. If you think this is improper, you can tell her after she gets home.”
As he spoke, he carried Yu Lin toward the storage room exit.
While walking, he noticed her fingers lightly grasping the fabric at his back.
Almost instinctively, he said,
“Don’t touch that spot.”
Yu Lin immediately released her grip.
Her body wobbled unsteadily.
Zhang Yao glanced at her.
“If you don’t want to hold my neck, then grab my arm.”
“Fine.”
Yu Lin shifted her hand and gripped his sleeve instead.
Her body finally steadied.
The two of them walked through the bustling streets together.
The wind carried a faint scent of grass and wood.
“Zhang Yao.”
“Speak.”
“Did I survive?”
Zhang Yao silently nodded.
Smiling, Yu Lin closed her eyes.
The gentle breeze brushed against her face.
A loose strand of hair drifted across and stuck to Zhang Yao’s lips.
He had no choice but to blow it away.
“What are you playing at?” the person in his arms asked.
“Playing?”
Zhang Yao laughed.
“I never play.”
“That’s no fun at all.”
Zhang Yao slowed his pace.
“Have you always been like this?”
“Like what?”
Zhang Yao smiled ruefully.
“Carefree. You’ve become a government slave, assigned to serve in an official’s household, and yet you’re not upset at all.”
“What is there to be upset about?”
Yu Lin opened her eyes and looked up at him.
Her eyes curved into a bright smile.
“It’s wonderful to be alive.”
“You won’t enjoy living in my house.”
“Why not?”
Zhang Yao answered bluntly,
“Because there’s nowhere in my house for you to lie down and recover from your injuries.”