Qinghe County's main street.
The bailiff upturned his wooden bucket, and turbid water crashed onto the yellow dirt road.
The county magistrate's official boots sank into the muddy water.
He lifted his foot, trying to shake off the mud splatters.
The mud didn't come off; instead, it smeared into a dark stain on the satin.
Li Wencheng stood nearby.
His official robe was borrowed, the cuffs a bit too short, revealing a wrist still marked by a fading bruise.
That was from a collision a few days ago in Taoyuan County.
"Has he arrived?" the magistrate asked.
"The scout said they've passed the Five-Mile Pavilion," Li Wencheng replied, his eyes fixed on the street entrance.
The sound of wheels churning through mud came from the entrance.
It was a dull, sticky sound.
A sandalwood carriage slowly rolled in.
Its body was carved with intricate cloud patterns, and bronze bells hung from its four corners.
The wheels flung up black muck, which splattered against the base of a wall with a wet slap, leaving a stark, dark streak.
The carriage stopped in front of the tavern.
The curtain remained still.
The magistrate straightened his crooked official hat and hurried forward through the mire.
Li Wencheng followed, each step kicking up little splashes of mud onto the hem of his robe.
A hand lifted the carriage curtain.
It was an exceedingly pale hand, with long, slender fingers, holding a silk handkerchief embroidered with orchids.
The handkerchief covered the mouth and nose.
Song Yubai leaned out.
His phoenix eyes swept over the street.
His brow furrowed.
His gaze fell on the puddle of blackish water under the carriage step, then on his own snow-white brocade boots.
His foot hovered in the air, refusing to land.
The magistrate bowed, a forced smile on his face: "Master Song, please alight. This humble official has prepared..."
Song Yubai's voice was muffled by the handkerchief: "And this is what you call 'sweeping the streets with clean water'?"
The smile froze on the magistrate's face.
He glanced back at the street full of muck.
"This... this was to settle the dust..."
"Settle the dust?" Song Yubai snorted coldly. "Looks more like making a mess."
The magistrate's scalp prickled. "This humble official will have rugs laid down at once! Quickly! Lay the rugs!"
Several bailiffs scurried over, carrying rolls of red felt.
The felt was unrolled over the muddy water.
The thin, soft mud instantly seeped through, turning the bright red felt into a soggy, blackish rag that squelched when stepped on.
Song Yubai withdrew his foot.
"Forget it."
The coachman brought a long bench from behind the carriage.
Song Yubai stepped onto the bench, then, like a cat afraid of water, he tiptoed onto the few drier spots on the red felt and hopped into the tavern's main hall.
The magistrate and Li Wencheng exchanged a look.
Both saw the cold sweat beading at the other's temples.
Private room in the tavern.
The table was laden with dishes.
A steamed perch lay with its mouth agape, a braised bear's paw glistened with grease, and at the center, a suckling pig with a red fruit stuffed in its mouth stared unblinkingly at the ceiling.
The wine was a thirty-year-old Nuer Hong; the seal on the jar had just been broken, its aroma wafting forth.
Song Yubai sat at the head of the table.
He had not put down his folding fan.
The breeze from the fan did nothing to dispel the room's thick, greasy smell of meat.
The magistrate raised his wine cup with both hands: "Master Song, you have endured a long and arduous journey from the capital. This is but a small token of this humble official's respect, to welcome you and wash away the dust of travel."
Song Yubai did not touch his cup.
His eyes lingered on the bear's paw for a moment.
Snap.
The fan closed.
Song Yubai pointed at the dishes on the table. "This feast. How much did it cost?"
The magistrate's hand trembled, spilling a few drops of wine. "Not expensive, not expensive at all. All local produce, just a small token of respect from the local gentry..."
"Local produce?" Song Yubai gave another cold laugh. "Qinghe County suffered a drought this year. On my way here, I saw refugees outside the city walls digging for roots. And here you are, dining on bear's paw?"
The magistrate's knees felt weak.
"Master, this..."
Song Yubai stood up.
He walked to the window, hands clasped behind his back, and pushed it open.
The view of the muddy street below came into sight.
Several ragged children were hunched over a slop bucket in the tavern's back alley, scavenging.
"Behind these vermilion gates, meat and wine go to waste; out on the road lie the bones of men frozen to death."
Song Yubai's voice was not loud, but it struck everyone present like a slap across the face.
A deathly silence fell over the room.
The local gentry who had come as guests hung their heads, not daring to breathe too loudly, wishing they could crawl under the table.
Their flattery had not only missed the mark but had earned them a kick from the very horse they were trying to please.
Li Wencheng sat in the corner.
He looked at Song Yubai's back, then at the composed Su Bingzhang sitting beside him, who was calmly sipping his tea.
Su Bingzhang tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice.
Li Wencheng gritted his teeth.
He stood up.
"The Master's reprimand is justified," Li Wencheng said, his voice choked with emotion, on the verge of tears. "But this feast... it is not for our indulgence and pleasure. In truth... it is a condemned man's last meal!"
Song Yubai turned around.
"What do you mean by that?"
Li Wencheng managed to squeeze out two tears, which traced down his cheeks, past the bruise.
He pointed south out the window. "Master, you are unaware. It is not that we are ignorant of the people's suffering. It is that our neighbors in Taoyuan County bully us intolerably! That wicked woman of the Xu family corrupts governance with commerce, sucking Qinghe County dry of its lifeblood!"
Song Yubai frowned. "Taoyuan County? The Xu family that's causing such a stir with its road construction?"
"Exactly!" Li Wencheng took a step forward, his face a mask of grief and indignation. "That is not road construction; it is grave-digging! The Xu family has seized thousands of refugees, imprisoned them on Ox Head Mountain, forcing them into hard labor day and night. The slightest slack is met with whips and kicks."
Su Bingzhang set down his teacup and heaved a long sigh. "I heard they even number each person, branding their arms, forbidding them to leave even a step. They call them hired laborers, but in truth, they treat the common folk as household slaves, bound by contracts that disregard their life or death."
Song Yubai's face darkened.
"Such things truly happen?"
"Not only that!" A local gentryman, catching on, quickly chimed in, eager to absolve himself regardless of the truth. "That Xu Qinghuan, in her greed for wealth, actually... actually forces the people to collect night soil!"
"Collect night soil?" The fan in Song Yubai's hand nearly fell, his face a picture of disbelief.
"Absolutely true!" The gentryman proclaimed with heartfelt anguish, spittle flying. "She established some 'Night Soil Department,' rounding up the disabled, the widowed, and the elderly in the city, forcing them to wallow in filth all day. They even have to wear humiliating yellow garments and parade through the streets.
Anyone who dares disobey is denied food. The city of Taoyuan County now reeks to high heaven, and the people suffer unbearably!"
Li Wencheng drove the point home: "Master, you see, although Qinghe County is poor and its roads are terrible, at least the people have their freedom and can walk the streets. But Taoyuan County... it is a living hell!
To control the entire county, the Xu family even charges people to use the privies. Those who cannot pay must either hold it in or be dragged off to the mines for forced labor to pay off the debt!"
Song Yubai's chest heaved violently.
He was a scholar.
A scholar who prided himself on his integrity and high principles.
He hated two things above all.
First, corrupt officials. Second, the heartless rich.
And this Xu family, it seemed, was guilty of both, with an extra charge of—perversion.
"In this bright, clear world!"
Song Yubai slammed his hand on the table.
The force shook the red fruit right out of the suckling pig's mouth.
"Under the imperial court's rule, there are still such lawless local tyrants! Such monsters who treat people like livestock!"
He strode over to Li Wencheng, staring at him intently. "Is what you said the truth?"
Li Wencheng fell to his knees with a thud. "If I have spoken a single false word, may I be struck by lightning! The injuries on my face were inflicted by the Xu family's servants when I went to dissuade them! They said... they said Taoyuan County doesn't bear the surname of Daqian, but the surname Xu!"
Su Bingzhang also stood up, bowing deeply to Song Yubai. "Young Master, although Qinghe County has its shortcomings, we still strive to uphold order and dare not compete with the people for profit. But the common folk of Taoyuan County are waiting for someone to save them from their misery! Scholars cultivate themselves, regulate their families, govern the state, and bring peace to the world. Now that our neighbors are in distress, yet we are powerless to help, it is truly shameful!"
Song Yubai took a deep breath.
He untied an exquisite piece of mutton-fat jade pendant from his waist.
"Smash!"
The jade pendant fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.
This was originally an object for his amusement and appreciation, but now it only seemed ironic.
"This meal, I will not eat."
Song Yubai looked at the table full of delicacies, his eyes filled with disgust.
"Prepare the carriage first thing tomorrow morning."
The county magistrate looked up, bewildered. "Where is the Young Master going?"
Song Yubai looked out the window to the south.
His gaze turned sharp, as if wanting to burn through the window paper.
"To Taoyuan County."
"I want to see for myself how many heads this Xu family has, daring to treat the people like livestock right under the Son of Heaven's feet! I want to see what this so-called 'Night Soil Department' is really like, and how utterly lawless it is!"
Li Wencheng kept his head bowed.
Su Bingzhang stroked his beard, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.
The fire had been lit.
And it was burning even more fiercely than anticipated.
......
Early the next morning.
A "delegation of inquiry" composed of over a dozen carriages rolled majestically out of Qinghe County's city gate.
The wheels were caked with half-dried yellow mud.
Song Yubai sat inside his carriage.
He held a copy of "Mencius" in his hand but couldn't read a single word.
His mind was filled with the scenes described by Li Wencheng.
Refugees wailing, commoners lamenting, a vicious woman brandishing a whip, the entire city awash in filth and excrement.
He clenched his fist tightly.
This trip to Taoyuan was not for sightseeing.
It was to vanquish demons and monsters.
It was to uphold justice on behalf of heaven.
At the rear of the carriage train.
Li Wencheng rode on horseback, keeping pace beside Su Bingzhang's carriage.
"Your plan to divert trouble eastward is brilliant, Sir," Li Wencheng whispered, his tone tinged with barely concealed satisfaction.
Su Bingzhang lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, revealing an old, wrinkled face. "This is not diverting trouble eastward; it's using another's strength to strike. Since that Xu family girl enjoys stirring up trouble, let the noble from the capital deal with her. Young Master Song has profound connections. A simple memorial from him would be enough to make the Xu family suffer."
Li Wencheng glanced ahead at Song Yubai's carriage. "This Young Master Song seems like someone who cannot tolerate injustice."
"The less he tolerates it, the better," Su Bingzhang smiled, his eyes sinister. "Once we reach Taoyuan County and he sees the mess there, we won't even need to speak. He himself will tear the Xu family apart. When that happens, we will not be at fault, but instead have the merit of exposing them."
The carriage train rumbled over the muddy official road.
Heading towards Taoyuan County dozens of miles away.
And there.
On the cement-paved main road of Taoyuan County.
Pockmarked Liu was leading a group of men wearing "City Patrol" uniforms, using bamboo-tube modified high-pressure water guns to wash the road surface.
The cement road was scrubbed clean and shiny, not a speck of mud to be found.
"Wash it all clean!" Pockmarked Liu roared, his voice shaking the glass lamps by the roadside. "The Young Miss has said, our Taoyuan County is a civilized place and cannot abide filth. No matter where a carriage comes from, if its wheels carry mud, it is absolutely forbidden from entering the city! Fine: one tael of silver! No money? Then we take the wheels off!"
