Chapter 2: The First Snow (Grade 8)

  From Zhuji Nanhuopu to Yang Guozhong's mansion is not far, the carriage took half a clock time and arrived. But from the door house notification to Yang Daren's formal summons, it made Zhu Zhanggui wait for more than an hour. There was no way, Yang Daren now holds 17 positions, every day there are tens of officials waiting in line at the gate to be summoned, although Zhu Zhanggui is very trusted by Yang Guozhong, but as a merchant, his status is somewhat too low.

  Phoenix eyes and silkworm eyebrows, dragon strides and tiger steps. The current Lord Yang is not the same as the one who relied on extortion to make a living on the streets of Jian'nan Road in those days. From Jie Sword Pavilion to the Council Hall, there are more than 300 golden armored warriors standing on both sides of the path. Looking at the stone-carved faces of the warriors, Zhu the shopkeeper felt his legs go weak. What made him even more desperate was Lord Yang's temper, which had already turned gloomy like a snowy day in January after hearing just the beginning of his report. Upon learning that the guards had tracked down the messenger to the residence of Princess Yuzhen, he immediately slammed his hand on the table and shouted in a low voice: "Bring me this useless thing and drag him out, beat him to death with sticks!"

  "Mercy, sir! Mercy!" Although Zhu had mentally prepared himself for severe punishment before coming, he was still scared out of his wits. As death loomed over him, he wet his pants. He lay on the ground, his hands tightly grasping the cracks in the golden bricks, his head knocking against the ground with a "thud thud" sound.

  The warriors didn't listen to his wails at all, and several of them pounced on him, grabbing his shoulders. With just a slight effort, they pulled his fat body up from the ground like a dead pig and dragged it towards the door.

  "Spare my life! I'll never dare again, sir!" Zhu the shopkeeper cried out in despair, as hot urine flowed down his pant legs and onto the ground. Seeing this scene, Yang Guozhong became even more enraged, glared with his eyes, and sternly shouted: "Don't you hurry up and shut him up? Can you enjoy listening to such wailing?"

  "Yes!" The warriors responded in unison, pulling out pieces of cloth from their waists to gag Zhu's mouth. Just as they were about to do so, a glimmer of inspiration flashed across Zhu's eyes, and he buried his head in the ground, using all his might to wail out, "Fourth brother, fourth brother save me!"

  Suddenly hearing this title that had not been heard for many years, Yang Guozhong's body trembled slightly. "Stop! Put him down!" The scolding words came out without any thought. As the voice fell, he saw a group of warriors at the door who were at a loss, and suddenly remembered that he was now the Taifu Marquis, the Sword South Jiedushi, no longer the street thug of years ago. He sighed, slowed down his tone, and ordered, "Put him down for now. After I've finished questioning him, I'll deal with him. You all retreat, and close the door on your way out. Without my orders, don't let anyone approach!"

  "Ah!" The warrior, with a bewildered expression, bowed and backed away slowly, pulling the large door of the meeting hall shut from the outside. Zhu, who had narrowly escaped death, crawled forward a few steps, embracing Yang Guozhong's legs with both hands, wailing loudly, "Fourth brother, I'm going to die, I deserve to die! But I really didn't do it on purpose! Please spare me this once, next time, next time I'll never dare again!"

  "You're still thinking about next time, you pig head." Yang Guozhong lifted his foot and kicked Zhu the shopkeeper to one side, then fiercely kicked the other's buttocks and thighs. "You pig head, can't even eat hot dung, hairless pig. Still thinking about next time? I'll kick you to death, kick you to death!"

  Although the curses in his mouth were vicious, his feet clearly avoided Zhu Zhanggui's body. Zhu Zhanggui, who was lying on the ground, didn't dare to dodge, and while gritting his teeth and persevering, he shouted loudly, "I'm a pig head, I'm a pig head! Fourth brother, but I've done my best! I'm just material for running errands, it's because of fourth brother's care that I have today..."

  The last sentence was very powerful, and Yang Guozhong heard it in his ears. He immediately stopped the persecution of Zhu Zhanggui. "You cursed pig, I'll be dragged to death by you sooner or later! Get out of here and retell the whole story!"

  "Yes, Fourth Brother. Little Seven thanks you for sparing his life!" Zhu the shopkeeper kowtowed a few more times on the ground before slowly getting up, kneeling in his own urine stain, wiping away tears with one hand while recounting to Yuwen Zhi how he had used him and how he was planning to use him as a scapegoat. He told the whole story of how Cloud Certain had first deceived Li Gongfang, then taken advantage of Li's foolishness to deceive himself... and so on and so forth, afraid that he might leave out even half a detail.

  Yang Guozhong finally listened to his words with patience. Then he sighed, shook his head lightly and said, "You damn fool, you're really stupid. Since you've already abandoned him, why didn't you bribe someone inside to silence him on the day he was imprisoned? Why wait until he's figured it out and turned around to bite us back? You idiot, how can I praise you!"

  "I'm stupid, I'm so stupid that I'm beyond help. Fourth brother, whatever punishment you give me is deserved!" Zhu the shopkeeper knew he had narrowly escaped a disaster today, wiped his nose and tearfully responded.

  Yang Guozhong sighed again, shook his head lightly, and his clear face was filled with bitterness. He had no heart to punish Zhu Qi anymore. Firstly, he thought of the friendship between the two when they were despised by others on the street years ago, and he really couldn't bear it in his heart. Secondly, what Zhu Qi said earlier was reasonable, he was just a material for doing errands, but Yang Guozhong gave him such an important position. For more than ten years, he had been able to persist until today and made mistakes, which was the result of his greatest efforts. This kind of person, even if beaten to death, would not have any deterrent effect on the rest of his subordinates, but only make a group of old brothers from those days feel cold in their teeth.

  Thinking of this, Yang Guozhong felt very powerless in his heart. The Yang family rose too quickly, and he lacked capable people under him, which was an indisputable fact. And those who came to offer their services on their own initiative were either like Zhu Qi, who had loyalty but no ability, or like Duan Hua, the middle book official, who had ability but was hesitant and indecisive. This made Yang Guozhong have only his sister, the imperial concubine, as a backing, yet he was always being suppressed by Li Linfu.

  "Fourth brother, I've had Li Gongzhang taken into custody. You interrogate him carefully and you'll definitely be able to pry something out of his mouth!" Having lain on the ground for half a day, but not hearing any further orders from Yang Guozhong, Zhu Zhangang plucked up the courage to make a low-voiced suggestion.

  "Look at you, you're so useless!" Yang Guozhong kicked him on the shoulder, sending him tumbling again. "You got yourself into trouble, don't drag others down with you. Get out of here and change your clothes before coming back, you stink to death, no wonder your surname is Zhu!"

  "Alas, alas!" Zhu Zhanggui repeatedly responded, slowly getting up from the ground. The servants on either side came forward to support him and helped him out to change his clothes. Watching his back disappear into the distance, Yang Guozhong continued to shake his head in bitter laughter. Without asking, he knew that Li Gong was definitely a scapegoat thrown out by Zhu Zhanggui. Even if they beat him to death, it would be impossible to get any useful information out of him. The most important thing now is not to figure out who was responsible for letting the messenger go, but to understand how deeply Princess Yuzhen was involved in this matter. If it was just a certain gatekeeper from the princess's mansion who was friends with Yuwen and looked down on the Yang family's actions, then there might still be room for maneuver. But if Princess Yuzhen had already colluded with Li Linfu, then apart from gathering all his strength to fight a desperate battle, he had no other choice.

  After some thought, he decided to make some concessions and stabilize the people in the Yu Zhen Long Gong Fu first. He turned his head to look outside and shouted in a low voice: "Someone come, go and inform the steward. Order him to take my name card, tomorrow morning go to the Wan Nian County government office, ask Zhang County Lord to show favor to someone with the surname Yuwen!"

  "Yes!" The trusted servant responded with a single word, turned around and left. Before he even reached the door, Yang Guozhong called out to him from behind, "Wait, tell him to go in a big way, enter through the main gate. Choose around 11:00 am, try to let more people see the carriages of the Yang Mansion."

  The little servant responded with a sound and quickly went far away. Yang Guozhong's helpless expression on his face slowly turned into a cold smile, and he secretly made a ruthless decision in his heart. You're forcing me to take action? I'll show you! That county magistrate of Wannian is a trusted subordinate of Wang Hua, he looked at my name card and doubled his efforts to deal with the surname Yuwen, it has nothing to do with me!

  Having vented his anger, he still felt a little uneasy in his heart and didn't want to make another powerful enemy at this critical moment. After hesitating for a moment, he ordered in a low voice: "Someone, prepare the carriage, I'm going to visit Madame Guo. When Zhu comes back changed, let him roll. Let him do business well in the shop, I don't want to see him again recently."

  Another little servant at the door hastily responded and ran to the backyard to order someone to prepare a horse carriage. Zhu Zhanggui happened to change his clothes and came, hearing Yang Guozhong say that he didn't want to see himself again. His eyes turned red, and tears flowed down again. "Fourth brother, I owe you an apology. I'll leave immediately, don't be angry!"

  "Get in here!" Yang Guozhong scolded ill-temperedly, "At such a big age, apart from crying and wiping away tears, what else can you do?"

  "Ah!" Zhu Zhanggui finally responded with a delighted tone, slowly moving in from the doorway. He first bowed to Yang Guozhong again, then lowered his voice and whispered, "Fourth brother, it doesn't seem right for you to go to Eldest Sister's place at this hour!"

  "What's wrong? I'm going to see my own sister, and you're meddling in it?" Yang Guozhong raised his eyes and asked in a low voice.

  "No, no, I mean to say...," said Zhu the shopkeeper, lowering his head and explaining in a humble tone, "It's already so late, at Miss's place, every evening is always filled with guests..."

  "Get out!" Yang Guozhong kicked again, and Zhu Zhangzi was directly kicked out of the door. "Go back to your shop, don't get in my way. Whether or not my own sister entertains guests is none of your business!"