The first volume of pearl curtains rolls up the western mountain rain at dusk Chapter 63: Powerlessness
The people from the Criminal Investigation Bureau returned to the Zhiyin Restaurant, but found it empty. They asked passers-by nearby and found out that someone saw someone coming out of the restaurant, getting on a carriage and heading towards the east gate.
The people from the Criminal Investigation Bureau immediately mounted their horses and started chasing after them, running all the way towards the east gate.
In the carriage, Li Diudiu looked at Yu Jiuling. This young man, who was a few years older than him, had tears in his eyes, because they all knew that the shopkeeper might never come back.
The Investigation Bureau was a group of devils who would eat people without leaving any bones. Once they took someone back, they would never let him come back. So before leaving, the shopkeeper waved his hand to Yu Jiuling and the others, meaning that he would not care about them anymore. Then he told Yu Jiuling to treat the guests well...
In fact, this greeting to the good guest was meant to tell Yu Jiuling not to act recklessly, as there are guests here and you should not cause trouble for them.
He looked at the counter again and asked the shopkeeper to take care of the store. At first, Yu Jiuling thought that the shopkeeper was talking about the money behind the counter. After he went over, he found some letters in the drawer. They were letters exchanged between the shopkeeper and his family in the capital over the past two years.
Yu Jiuling then understood that the shopkeeper did not want to implicate his family, so he took all the letters away. This way, it would be difficult for the people from the Investigation Bureau to find out where the shopkeeper's family lived in the capital.
The money should also be taken away as it will be needed for the future wife and children of the shopkeeper.
In addition to letters and money, there was also a booklet containing Shaodaozi's method of brewing wine.
"Is it true that the shopkeeper can't come back?"
Yu Jiuling muttered to himself. He was not asking anyone, he himself didn't know who to ask.
Xiahou Zhuo nodded and said, "Although I also hope that he can come back, he probably won't be able to come back. The Judicial Bureau will not arrest people without a purpose. From what I know about the Judicial Bureau, they are looking for a scapegoat. If Mr. Yuming escapes and returns to the capital, His Majesty will at least ask about it. The Judicial Bureau arrested the shopkeeper probably because they knew that Mr. Yuming had only come here to drink."
He was silent for a moment and then continued, "In my opinion, they will say that Shopkeeper Lu colluded with the Jianghu guest, because Mr. Yuming showed off his wealth in your shop, and Shopkeeper Lu was tempted by the wealth..."
He apologized, "I'm really sorry, but we can't do anything about this."
Xiahou Zhuo was right. Even though his father was a prince and could call the shots in the local area, he could not do anything to Liu Chongxin, but Liu Chongxin could do something to him.
This is a very strange thing. The emperor does not trust his own brothers. He only trusts a eunuch.
If Xiahou Zhuo insisted on taking charge of today's matter and went to the people of the Criminal Investigation Bureau to get Manager Lu out, even if he could get him out, it would bring disaster to Prince Yu's Mansion.
Liu Chongxin was a vindictive villain, so Xiahou Zhuo didn't dare to take the risk.
"I can't be angry with you just because you couldn't save my shopkeeper. That's not right."
Yu Jiuling said, "But I can't go to Northern Frontier with you for the time being. The shopkeeper must want me to go to the capital Daxing to meet his family. I must go this time... I will give these things to the shopkeeper's family. If they need help, I will stay there and not come back."
Xiahou Zhuo nodded and said, "It's okay, do what you think you should do."
The atmosphere was really depressing. Li Diudiu felt it was a shame to leave like this. He couldn't even stay a little longer to see if Manager Lu would come back. He felt like a deserter, his heart filled with shame and guilt.
But Xiahou Zhuo said that it was meaningless to stay and wait for news, and that everyone would be implicated. If they continued to handle the matter with a woman's kindness, the palace and the academy would be implicated, and many more people would die.
Escaping with such shame and guilt made Li Diudiu feel like he had no power at all.
If it is to fight against bad guys, those ruffians, and those thieves, Li Diudiu feels that the martial arts he has learned are useful and he can show his skills.
But this time they were facing the Criminal Investigation Bureau, a powerful government agency, and his martial arts skills became meaningless.
Kill one person every ten steps, then what?
The blood on the ground is his own after all. After he falls, others will continue to fall because of him.
For the first time in his life, he thought very seriously about the relationship between the court and the people. With his current status and abilities, he was like an ant in front of a government office like the Judicial Bureau.
He then thought that his master had said that he wanted him to enter the Four-Page Academy to buy his life, to buy a different destiny. Now his master had fulfilled his wish, and he did look more glamorous, and had met a friend of status like Xiahou Zhuo.
But is it really glamorous? Has fate really changed?
Xiahou Zhuo is the son of a prince. Even the son of a prince does not dare to offend the Criminal Investigation Bureau. The prince does not dare to offend a eunuch. What can he, a mere student of an academy, influence?
When encountering such a thing, you can only do as Xiahou Zhuo said, save your own life first and then think about other things.
What Xiahou Zhuo said was definitely right, without a doubt.
Xiahou Zhuo, who was fearless in the Four-Page Academy and even in the entire Jizhou City, began to be cautious and restrained in front of the people from the Investigation Bureau.
Seeing Li Diudiu in a daze, Xiahou Zhuo couldn't help but ask, "What are you thinking about?"
Li Diudiu suddenly remembered what Xiahou Zhuo said to him on Fengming Mountain that day. Xiahou Zhuo said that the imperial court was sick, the Great Chu was sick, and it was almost to the point where no medicine could cure it.
Xiahou Zhuo waited for Li Diudiu to give an answer.
After a long while, Li Diudiu replied: "I'm sick."
His master immediately became nervous, and after pulling Li Diudiu over, he looked into Li Diudiu's eyes and asked, "Where do you feel uncomfortable? What's wrong? Is it hurting somewhere?"
The master didn’t understand.
Xiahou Zhuo understood.
So Xiahou Zhuo let out a long breath with a sad face.
He didn't say it out loud, but he was thinking in his heart... Even a child knows that Da Chu is sick, the court is sick... How long can our Da Chu hold on?
The carriage went out of the city gate and continued along the official road. A team of cavalry from the Justice Bureau caught up with it from behind. They saw a wine flag on the carriage, which meant it was for drinking. They rushed forward with a whistle and stopped the carriage.
The driver turned pale with fright, jumped off the cart and fell to his knees.
“Where are the people?”
When the people from the Investigation Bureau saw that the carriage was empty, they immediately became angry.
The driver replied, "No one, only wine. The waiter in the restaurant saw me driving by and asked me if I wanted to pick someone up. I asked him who, and he said he was going to pick someone up at the entrance of the Jizhou City Law Recording Office. The man saw the wine flag on the car and knew I was picking him up."
The driver's voice trembled as he said, "He...he gave me two taels of silver as a hire fee and told me to get to Jizhou as soon as possible and not to delay."
"Oh shit!"
The man from the Investigation Department cursed, "We've been cheated!"
Li Diudiu and his companions did not go out of the east gate, but out of the north gate.
The reason why they decided to take a detour back was that just as they were about to go out, Li Diudiu suddenly felt that it might not be safe to go like this, so he asked Yu Jiuling to hire a car.
The car with the wine flag went out of the east gate and was seen by people along the way. Li Diudiu and his friends went out from the back door and hired another car to go out of the north gate.
After they left the city and walked about ten miles, they came to a village. Li Diudiu whispered something in Xiahou Zhuo's ear, and Xiahou Zhuo nodded. Then he went out and told the coachman to stop when they entered the village and take him back to Tang County.
Li Diudiu and his friends found the village headman and said that they liked the scenery of the village and asked if there were any vacant houses for rent. The price they offered was not low. The headman thought that even if there were none, he would have to find one, so he rented his house to Li Diudiu and his friends.
After giving the money, Xiahou Zhuo said to the head of the village, "Please clean up the house first, and we will go out for a walk." He also gave him a hundred copper coins as a reward. Of course, the head of the village was not unhappy.
After Li Diudiu and his friends left the yard, they went straight away, changed their clothes, and took a small path back to Tang County.
It was already afternoon, and they were waiting outside the east gate. Ye Zhangzhu went into the city alone and hired another car. After everyone got in the car, they headed east along the official road.
Not long after they left the county town, the people from the Criminal Investigation Bureau chased them to a village more than ten miles north of the city and found the village head to inquire. The village head was shocked and quickly said that those people would come back to stay at night, so the people from the Criminal Investigation Bureau set up secret sentries inside and outside the village.
As a result, after waiting for a whole night, no one came back, and the village head was beaten for no reason, which was very unfair.
Li Diudiu and his companions gave the driver some more money and traveled overnight. After walking for half a day and a whole night, they could see Jizhou city from afar at dawn.
After walking for more than half an hour, they entered the city and did not go directly back to the Four Pages Academy. Instead, they randomly chose an inn to stay in, where they washed and rested.
“This time…”
Yan Qingzhi sighed and said, "Nothing is like what we originally thought. We thought we could go out and play for a few days, but we encountered so many things. Fortunately, everyone returned safely."
Xiahou Zhuo said: "It's unavoidable."
Li Diudiu hummed.
Yan Qingzhi pondered for a moment, and suddenly remembered that when those people from the Investigation Department wanted to take Manager Lu away, he had said that he was a teacher at the Four Pages Academy in Jizhou City, and Li Diudiu was still wearing the academy uniform...
"But that's okay."
Xiahou Zhuo said, "If the people from the Criminal Investigation Department come to find you, just say that you only drank and ate, and you don't know anything else. There's a difference between being caught on the spot and being found later."
He looked at Li Diudiu and said, "You guys rest here. I'll go back and see if I can think of a way to deal with it."
After he finished speaking, he stood up and walked out: "Brother Ye, you stay for a while."
Ye Zhangzhu nodded: "Understood."
Xiahou Zhuo left the inn directly without saying anything else. In fact, those people from the Criminal Investigation Bureau might not complicate things. They had already detained Manager Lu and would make up a story. If they found out that among those who had eaten and drunk in Zhijiu that day, there were people from the academy and Prince Yu's mansion, they would not want to make trouble.
There is no benefit to be gained, but instead you have to offend people. The people in the Investigation Department are not stupid.
But Xiahou Zhuo was worried. This matter had to be known to important people. He did not go home to find his father, but went directly to the residence of the governor.
Liu Chongxin might not care about a prince without real power, but he would not easily offend a Jiedushi who holds a large number of troops. He is a frontier official and a local lord. For a person like the Jiedushi, it would be much more useful for Liu Chongxin to win him over than to offend him .
Anyway, they returned to Jizhou, but the people in the inn were not very relaxed.
Yu Jiuling looked at Li Diudiu, and after a moment of silence, he said, "I want to leave Jizhou and go to the capital city tomorrow morning. I want to persuade the shopkeeper's wife to see if we can sell the house in the capital city and live in seclusion somewhere else."
Li Diudiu hummed, and after a moment he whispered, "I'm sorry."
Yu Jiuling was stunned and said quickly, "There's nothing to be sorry about."
Li Diudiu shook his head, his eyes revealing his inner sense of powerlessness.
So so powerless.
