Great Tang Idyll Volume 02 Chapter 112
Shout out to Dan for commissioning chapters 108-117!
Chapter 112 Asking The Brother Who Is Pitiful
Fallen sparse light snow spun in the north wind; the fast horse and slow sword, hitting against the face. Yesterday a boat moved with the water; today, sitting or lying, it was hard to search for money.
When he got up in the morning, Magistrate Jia rushed to the Between The Water And Clouds, and went to find Han Wang'zhu himself. Before he could speak, the person said, "How are you feeling? I heard that you fell into the water yesterday and was rescued by the Young Prince. How fortunate, how fortunate."
"I’m alright. I had an entire night’s rest but my head is still a little muddled. I choked on water yesterday. Today, I came because I have to have something to say." Magistrate Jia laughed and he planned to talk about the lost items, but he was unsure how to begin. Extending a hand to ask for money felt different compared to being given money.
Han Wang'zhu immediately answered, "If my lord has something to say, then go ahead and speak. Could it be that my lord is feeling unwell so you are looking for some medicinal herbs?"
"No, no. When I fell into the water yesterday, the two items I was carrying on my body fell off. The items should have fallen into the water. Those two items are the items you gave to me the day before yesterday. Uhh, it might be hard to find it, so I’m informing you, lest the money gets taken away by someone else."
Magistrate Jia was embarrassed to directly ask Han Wang’zhu to give him another item to trade in for money, so he used this excuse.
Han Wang'zhu smiled and said, "My lord, what you said is very true. I will let someone go over there to deliver the message. My lord, please stay here for one more day. I will go back to get another item first. Sorry to trouble my lord."
"No, not a problem at all. I can take the chance to taste the wine and food here. Go quickly then, and I'll leave too." Magistrate Jia was relieved now; he always had a hard time confronting others. He got up and left.
Han Wang'zhu didn't dare to delay. When he came here, it was explained to him that the Zhang and Wang manors were not that simple. If anything happened, even the slightest matter, he had to pay close attention to it, otherwise, they could be taken advantage of without even realizing what happened.
Yesterday the Magistrate fell into the water, and he came here today saying that he had lost the two items. Did he really lose it or did he pretend to lose it? Did the items fall into the water, or did someone take it? Even if the person who took it didn’t know what the items were used for, he still had to take precautions.
Thus, Han Wang'zhu found the person who he came with and got him to quickly ride a horse to notify the shops. He told the person to leave quickly and return soon since the Magistrate was waiting.
Outside, the light snow was blown by the wind. When it hit the face, it felt like being slashed by a knife. That person brought three horses with him. By the time he arrived there, the snow and wind had left several cuts on his face. Along the journey, two horses were left behind at some farmers’ homes. But once the messenger got there, the big news almost made him faint on the spot.
At noon yesterday, the money had already been taken away by someone and that person walked towards the wharf, but it was unknown where he went afterwards.
The messenger drank a sip of hot soup. He found something to cover his face, and then took three new horses to go back. When Han Wang'zhu heard this, he was also befuddled. His household’s 5,000 strings of coins and the Yuan family’s 8,000 strings of coins was not a small amount of money, and it was taken away by someone else just like that.
It wasn't taken away by Magistrate Jia too, or at least that was what he claimed. He said that he lost it when he fell into the water. Did he really lose it or did he send someone to go back to the county the night before to take the money? This was the only reasonable explanation since others wouldn’t know where to get the money.
Could it be that Magistrate Jia felt that the money was too less, so he wanted more? If that was the case, then he was a bit too greedy. Was it even a good idea to cooperate with a person like this?
Han Wang’zhu held the two items that were assembled together in his hand, and after thinking for a while, he asked someone to go back and tell the master about this matter. Then he got up to go find Magistrate Jia, who perhaps knew something.
Magistrate Jia was sitting in a room on the second floor of the Between The Water And Clouds. At this time, it was already almost night. He was waiting. He was waiting for Han Wang'zhu to bring him a new item so that he could claim the money.
After waiting for a day, the more he waited, the more anxious he became. Food was placed on the table, but he didn’t have the appetite to eat. He just took a sip of wine once in a while and he was a bit tipsy already, yet he still didn’t see Han Wang'zhu arrive. Just when he planned to find someone to chat with and subtly ask for the time, Han Wang'zhu finally came.
As soon as Han Wang'zhu entered the room, he saw Magistrate Jia’s slightly drunk appearance and his suspicions about him reduced by a bit. He seemed like he was anxious about claiming the money. If he already redeemed the items once, he wouldn’t appear this anxious.
"Hey~! You're here? What did you find out?" Magistrate Jia heard the door open, and he looked over and saw that it was Han Wang'zhu. He asked with drooping eyelids.
"My lord, look at this." Han Wang'zhu put the pieces of wood and jade on the table.
Magistrate Jia was still confused, but when he saw the thing, he immediately became happy. He touched it with his hands, separating the assembled objects. He picked up the two pieces that once belonged to him and spoke with a smile,
"Your master is truly a trustworthy person. He sent what belonged to me back. I don't need the other two halves. I’ll keep it as a backup. All of you are really amazing. I fell into the water, and you also... No, that's not right. These two halves. Why are they here? Could it be...?"
Magistrate Jia finally came to his senses as he spoke. He looked at the other two halves on the table, and an idea suddenly appeared in his mind. Someone took the two halves from him and went there to withdraw the money.
"My lord has guessed correctly. These four pieces were taken from the Forever Blue Porcelain Shop and Wu’feng Pawnshop in the county. They appeared there at noon yesterday." Han Wang'zhu looked at Magistrate Jia as he spoke.
Magistrate Jia was stunned. He shouted abruptly, "Impossible, it's impossible. The items were on me before I fell into the water. I looked at them when I woke up yesterday morning. How did they arrive at the county seat within half a day?
Are you suspecting that I sent someone to collect the money, and then I continued to ask you for more? I only have bailiffs by my side and no one else. Do you think it is possible that the bailiffs will do this for me? I would be courting death if I let the bailiffs know that I’m taking money from the Han and Yuan families. It's definitely not me. "
"My lord, don't worry. What you said is not wrong. My lord does not have anyone on your side who you could use. You would not give this item to anyone. I suspect that when we were discussing the night before, the bailiffs who were standing guard outside the door heard what we said. Perhaps normal people would not be able to hear our words, but my lord’s bailiffs are not ordinary people. How do we know if there was someone with good hearing?"
When Han Wang'zhu heard this, he thought that it made sense. Furthermore, the people he brought with him yesterday were watching them in secrecy, and they didn't see any bailiffs leave. The only people that were seen leaving were the people at the Zhang manor’s restaurant. It was not possible that the Magistrate was so close with the Zhang family that he would tell them about this matter and also give the items out to them.
The only possibility was that the bailiffs outside the door heard the conversation, so when the Magistrate fell into the water, someone took the two items and rushed to the county seat to claim the money.
Han Wang'zhu told Magistrate Jia what he was thinking about, and Magistrate Jia shook his head, "Yesterday, the one who rescued me was the Young Prince’s men. If the Young Prince had the intention, then he could directly ask me for it and I would not dare say anything. There is no issue with giving it directly to the Young Prince. Then it must be that someone else who was a good swimmer saw the two objects fall off of me and into the water, and dived into the water to fish the items out.
In addition, the bailiffs overheard us, so the Zhang manor sent someone to the county seat to take the money. If I had known this, I would not have tried to go to the pavilion. Why bother. We will know the answer if we ask who went into the water yesterday. "
"My lord, more than 100 people jumped in yesterday. In the end, only the Young Prince’s men managed to pull you out. Is it possible to even ask each one? Do you think the Zhang family will let us?" Han Wang’zhu shook his head and talked about yesterday's situation.
Seeing the dazed look on Magistrate Jia's face, he continued to speak, "My lord, you wanting to go to the pavilion yesterday was not as simple as it seemed. Everyone knows that loud noises should not be made when people are fishing, but how long did the firecracker sounds last yesterday? The room where you ate in happened to be facing the pavilion. Do you think this was a coincidence?"
Magistrate Jia listened and thought about it. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was not simple. Yesterday, he was supposed to leave, but he suddenly heard the sound of firecrackers. When he thought about the waiter’s response, it seemed like the waiter was trying to get him to look over there. There was only one fishing boat on the river. Why did it happen to stop at that place?
Were there any fish there? That’s right. That person was casting a spinning net, but the water was moving so fast, so why didn’t he use a fixed net? The fish were all at the bottom because of the cold weather, so didn’t he use a dragnet? When Magistrate Jia was younger, he came from a fisherman's family. Who would foolishly cast a net to fish in that place? This was planned, it must have been planned.
"Zhang Zhong, you have gone too far. I will fight you. I..." Magistrate Jia finally found out what was wrong. He stood up and rushed outside, shouting loudly.
Han Wang'zhu hurriedly put his arms around him, and then he freed up a hand to cover Magistrate Jia's mouth. He couldn't let him shout like that. People would only laugh at him. Both of them were seventh rank officials, so what can be done? Shouting out like that will only make Magistrate Jia appear weaker.
"My lord, don't create a commotion. Do you want the Zhang family to laugh at you? My lord, there’s nothing to be afraid of even if the money is gone. My lord, sit down first." Han Wang'zhu persuaded him.
At this time, the waiter outside the door came in and asked, "What's the matter, my lord?"
"Everything is fine, you can leave. Don’t come in unless you are called for. My lord just wants to find someone to have a drinking competition with him. He drank too much." What else could Han Wang'zhu say? He asked the waiter to leave and tried to persuade the Magistrate in a low voice.
"My lord, if you act like this, they will be happier. Once my lord calms down, we will deal with them together. Money is a small matter, don't worry about it."
Magistrate Jia pursed his lips like a child. He sat on the chair, raised his head and drank another goblet of wine. He muttered, "They have bullied me too much. When I took office, they didn't leave me a single coin. I didn’t dare to touch the Chang’ping warehouse; there is a lot of food there, but it cannot be exchanged for much money. If I take a bit, it’s not enough to do anything, but if I take a lot, it would be troublesome.
The Magistrate Assistant, the Recorder, the clerks, and those bailiffs— none of them are my people. When I stroll around, I would be followed. When I say that a person should be imprisoned, the bailiffs would all object. I don’t dare to judge any cases. When my mother wanted to eat some blood tofu, I had to help them slaughter pigs.
After getting here, I finally got some money, but before I had the chance to take it, they snatched it away from me. I almost drowned to death. Who is the actual magistrate? The only thing that I, the magistrate, can do, is to stamp my seal onto documents that others bring to me. Brother, tell me, am I a wimpy magistrate or not? Tell me. "
"Wimpy. Then let's...sigh, the Zhang manor is difficult to deal with." Han Wang'zhu felt quite sympathetic towards the Magistrate after hearing what the drunken Magistrate Jia said.
Thanks for the chapter!
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