Chapter 8: The Crime of Desire

  In modern society, information is extremely developed, especially in big cities. From the moment people wake up in the morning, various types of information from TV, radio, newspapers, and the internet are consciously or unconsciously poured into their brains. In comparison, the amount of information available during the Han dynasty was much less, with a timeliness close to zero - especially within the manor of a wealthy family in a remote county.

  A Fei ultimately possessed a consciousness two thousand years later, his ability and speed to absorb information in the Han Dynasty was considered top-notch, and he also intentionally or unintentionally used his special talent, like a sponge absorbing water, to absorb all kinds of information, quickly becoming the one and only "Gossip King" in Zhuang Zhong.

  According to his investigation, the Shi family's ancestors were originally great officials of the Qi state during the Warring States period. The whole clan lived in Yingling County, Beihai Commandery. During the two Han dynasties, which lasted for 400 years, they produced seven or eight mid-to-low-ranking officials with salaries ranging from 100 to 800 dan. They were considered a prominent family within the commandery. Shi Xun's father was named Shi Yi, styled Zi-yin. He was not the head of the Shi family but in the third year of Xi Ping (i.e., one year before Ah Fei's birth), he followed Wu Feng to take up office in Lelang - Wu Feng as the Taishou of Lelang and Shi Yi as his subordinate official.

  After Wu Taishou's death, the imperial court appointed Teng Shu as the new governor of Le Lang. By then, Shi Yi had already established himself in the province, having bought thousands of acres of land and four estates, making him a local magnate. As a result, Governor Teng had no choice but to make use of him and appointed him as the Director of Postal Services. At the end of the first year of the Zhongping era, when the Yellow Turban Rebellion was finally put down, the imperial court replaced Governor Teng with Zhang Qi from Ganling. After taking office, Governor Zhang proved to be corrupt, taking bribes and embezzling funds. Shi Yi repeatedly advised him against such behavior but was ignored. In a fit of anger, he resigned and retired from public life.

  Of course, this is the news from the Shi family side. The evaluation of Shi Yi will naturally be more positive. According to Ah Fei's own analysis, it should be that the new and old officials were not evenly distributed, which led to Shi Yi's resignation. Although he resigned, Mr. Shi still harbors resentment and occasionally gives Zhang Taishou a little trouble in secret.

  Xī Hóng was two years older than ā Fēi, born in the spring of the 2nd year of Xī Píng (癸丑), and turned 18 in the 7th year of Zhōng Píng. Under the auspices of a senior elder in the county, he held his coming-of-age ceremony, whereupon the elder said: "The 'Summer Officials' chapter of the Rites of Zhou says: 'King's Merit is called Xī.' My teacher Zheng Kangcheng explained that it means to assist the king in establishing his achievements, just like the Duke of Zhou. Therefore, we can give him the courtesy name 'Fǔ' (辅)." Thus, his courtesy name was fixed as Hóng Fǔ.

  Just after the completion of the capping ceremony, when filling in the old name and new character in the genealogy, as well as the year, month and day of the capping ceremony, news suddenly arrived that Emperor Zhongping had actually passed away without completing seven years. Last April, the emperor had already passed away, with a posthumous name of Ling, and the crown prince had succeeded to the throne, changing the era name to Guangxi. Everyone hastily busied themselves in removing the bamboo slip they had just filled out, and inserting a new one instead.

  From the capital Luoyang to the easternmost part of the empire, Lelang, even if they didn't rush, it wouldn't take nearly a year. Ah Fei could only judge that either everyone had ignored this small county in the corner, or the bandits along the way were rampant again. Moreover, he secretly laughed in his heart, and soon this family tree would have to be changed, because from last year's Emperor Ling, there had actually been three emperors, and from Zhongping, there had also been three era names, and this year another change, it was the first year of Chuping.

  After the initial peace, it should be Jian'an, right? The old era has completely ended, and the chaotic world of the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms is about to unfold. How can one survive in this turbulent era? I don't remember if the Lelang Commandery was later swallowed up by Goguryeo or returned to the Liaodong Gongsun family...

  Here are a few sentences to be inserted: Ah Fei's previous life was not specifically studying history, but just an ordinary Han Dynasty Three Kingdoms enthusiast, his memory has some bias. In the sixth year of Zhongping (189 AD), Emperor Ling of Han died in April, and Emperor Shao of Han Liu Bian succeeded him, changing the era name to Guangxi; In August, Dong Zhuo entered the capital, changed the era name to Zhaoning; In September, Dong Zhuo deposed Emperor Shao and established Emperor Xian of Han Liu Xie, changing the era name to Yonghan; In December, the era names Guangxi, Zhaoning, and Yonghan were abolished, and it was still called the sixth year of Zhongping.

  In other words, in SLG games, this year is collectively referred to as the sixth year of Zhongping, and it's not just a matter of being lazy.

  Moreover, in 190 AD, the era name was changed to Chūpíng at the beginning of Zhēng Yuè, and after Chūpíng there was another Xīng Píng before reaching Jiàn ān.

  At the end of this year, something unfortunate happened to the Shi family.

  On the last day of November, Shi Xun took A Fei, Lun Jia and others out to hunt, wandering in the wilderness for two days and one night. On the second day, near dusk, they returned to the manor with several rabbits, birds and a yellow sheep. As soon as they entered the manor gate, they saw the servants hurrying back and forth, seemingly packing things up.

  Mr. Shi felt strange, and before he had time to ask, the butler rushed out and called him into the inner room. Ah Fei and Lun Jia were busy unloading the game, cleaning up their weapons, and washing their horses - at this time, Ah Fei was already using a brand new half-Song bow, with a draw weight of nearly one stone, but he didn't have his own horse. Although the northern part of the Korean Peninsula is known for producing good horses, even a wealthy family like Mr. Shi's couldn't afford too many, and among this group of people, only Mr. Shi and Lun Jia had horses. Mr. Shi had promised that when Ah Fei came of age, he would give him a horse to ride.

  A Fei's eyes scanned the six paths, his ears listened to all eight directions, and soon he roughly grasped the situation within the manor. It was said that nearly an hour ago, a fast horse had galloped in from the south, and after the rider on the horse had a brief conversation with Shi Yi, they hastily departed. Immediately afterwards, Shi Yi sent someone to hurry and find his son to return, while also ordering people to pack up their luggage, looking flustered and seemingly intending to flee far away to avoid disaster.

  According to Ah Fei's judgment, the contradiction between Zhang Taigong and Shi Lao Ye had finally escalated to the point where they couldn't help but take action. Since that fast horse came from the south, it should be someone in the county who informed Shi Lao Ye. In a head-on confrontation, the Shi family would not be able to withstand Zhang Taigong at all. Even if he didn't go through the county lieutenant, Zhang Taigong could still mobilize nearly a thousand county soldiers at any time. The Shi family's estate here had only over a hundred slaves and servants, plus a few other places, even adding nearby tenant farmers, would be barely three to five hundred people, mostly old, weak, sickly, or disabled. Therefore, taking a step back, it was reasonable for Shi Lao Ye to hastily move his household.

  As expected, Shi Xun went in to see his father and came out after only half a meal's time. He had a stern expression on his face as he called out to A Fei and Lun Jia: "Hurry up and eat something, then follow me on the road."

  "Master, where are we going?"

  "Go to Beihai."

  Aflying guessed that Shi Yi had lost his wife in middle age, and although he had taken three concubines, none of them had borne him any children. He only had this precious son, Shi Xun, and couldn't help but worry about the future. He probably still needed to fight a guerrilla war against Zhang Taishou in the county, so he let his son escape back home first. Moreover... he also planned to use his family's power to win over some officials, go to Luoyang to report Zhang Taishou's misdeeds, and have that thorn in his eye transferred out of Lelang County.

  But according to Ah Fei's memory, shouldn't the vassals have started discussing Dong by now? Does the imperial court still have the leisure to care about Lewu's affairs... No, it should be said, is there even a proper imperial court to file a complaint with?

  The two servants packed some food, Shi Xun had filled some millet rice, roasted chicken legs, frozen vegetables and pickled meat soup, while A Fei and Lun Jia had bean pancake, pickled radish and warm water. Then they packed their luggage. In fact, the two slaves didn't have much luggage to pack, each brought a set of spare clothes, a pair of straw shoes, placed under the saddle, and hung a water bag and dry ration bag on the side of the saddle.

  No, Ah Fei was still underage and finally got a pony to ride due to the circumstances. He was a little excited and nervous inside, Lian Jia instructed him: "Don't worry, anyone can ride a horse, you just need to hold the horse's belly with your legs tightly, and you won't fall off. This horse is gentle, as long as it doesn't run wildly, riding a horse doesn't require learning."

  A Fei vaguely felt that he had heard this phrase somewhere before... Ah, right! Professor Calculus from "The Adventures of Tintin" said: "Anyone can drive a car..."

  Mr. Shi's luggage was quite a lot, just two sets of clothes and shoes to change into, plus a handkerchief and a crown to show off his identity as a scholar, all bundled up into a big package, and finally stuffed in a large bag of copper coins and two wooden tablets tied together - Ah Fei guessed that was a letter written to his relatives back home. With such a large package, Mr. Shi, being the master, would not carry it himself, nor would he let **the fine horse bear the burden, so he simply dumped everything onto Ah Fei's shoulders.

  A Fei smiled at people on the surface, but in his heart he cursed: "Damn it... so heavy... with so much money, if converted to silver and gold coins, it should be much lighter... not sure if gold and silver can circulate directly in this era..."

  After leaving the Zhuangyuan, the three of them rode their horses at a slow pace towards the west. According to plan, near the mouth of the Lie River (Datong River) in the southwest, there was a small town called Nanpu where they could find ships to cross the sea. They would then take the ship to the Shandong Peninsula, disembark at Huang County, Donglai Prefecture, and from there head to Beihai Prefecture.

  A Fei chatted all the way, probing Shi Xun's words. In these years, he followed Shi Xun closely, relying on his quick wit and sweet mouth, and had already gained Shi Xun's absolute trust. In a sense, he could even manipulate this young master at will. Since Shi Xun trusted him and didn't guard his mouth, and was full of doubts and resentment, he quickly got to the bottom of things.

  As expected, it was a familiar bookkeeper from the county who came to inform Shi Yi that after years of grinding, Zhang Taishou had already pulled both the county lieutenant and the commander onto his pirate ship. He planned to send out the county soldiers in two days, using the crime of private communication with Goguryeo as an excuse, to raid the Shi family's estate and behead the father and son of the Shi family.

  Mr. Shi Yi told his son not to worry, saying that he had anticipated something like this and had made arrangements to deal with it. He wanted his son to leave Lelang first and go north to seek refuge with his uncle, Mr. Shi Yi - "Leave tonight, don't bring many people, just two martial arts experts can accompany you, so as not to leak the news. At the latest, you can arrive in Nanpu on the 4th, that is, on the day of the new moon, there is a large sea boat departing for Qingzhou, and the owner of the ship is Mr. Qian, a good friend of his father's, whom you have also met."

  Shi Xun was initially unwilling to leave, worried about his father's safety. However, Shi Yi smiled faintly and comforted him, saying: "I have been at odds with that Zhang bandit for many years. As the governor of the county, how could I not prepare in advance? After tidying up here, tomorrow morning, I will head north to hide in Zengdi, where the county magistrate is an old acquaintance and will surely take good care of me. If the county soldiers come chasing after us, I have also contacted the favored minister of Goguryeo, who has promised to provide a safe haven. Even if things don't go as planned, I can still sneak into Goguryeo, where the king has long admired my father and promised to appoint me as his chief clerk. You can rest assured and not worry about me."

  I'm really in cahoots with the high-ranking Goguryeo! It seems that Zhang Taigong's accusation against this family is not a false charge, but rather it's actually true!