Chapter Seven: The Drifting

  Chen Liu followed the servants of the Cao family into the house, only to hear that a certain official surnamed Cao had been summoned, but he did not know what rank the official held. The common people were all afraid of officials and trembled with fear as they knelt down to answer questions.

  Cao Yin called Chen Liu up: "I heard that you sold the horse carriage to Gu San, hum, tell me the details of that time carefully."

  Chen Liu stuttered and recounted the events of last night when Gu San came to find him, his heart already filled with regret. Seeing Gu Na standing beside the official, he remembered the rumors circulating in the neighborhood about the Gu family's connection to the Cao family of the Weaving Bureau, and realized that it was all because of the divorce papers. He hastily pulled out the documents from his pocket, knelt down, and presented them, saying he would never dare again.

  Cao Yin saw that Chen Liu was a simple and honest man, so he didn't want to scare him. He ordered someone to help him up and gave him twenty taels of silver as compensation for his horse cart. At the same time, he took the deed of sale from Chen Liu and handed it over to Gu Na.

  "Mr. Chen, please stay a moment!" Gu Na called out to stop him as he was about to leave.

  Chen Liu was so frightened that he trembled with fear, turned around and only managed a bow: "Young Master Gu, I...I..."

  Guanato grasped Chen Liu's arm and pointed to the nearby Zhou Shi: "Uncle Chen, that is my mother. If you have no objections, I will take it upon myself to betroth her to you as your wife!"

  Chen Liu never thought there would be such a joyful event, just as he was about to burst out laughing, he heard Cao Yin coldly hum: "Marrying one's daughter to her mother, what nonsense!"

  Next to Zhou's family also cried out, Gu Na walked over, holding the contract for selling his wife: "Mother, marrying a Han man is just wearing clothes and eating food. But what did you get from following that person? What's the difference between being a widow and every day is either weaving and mending clothes or embroidering needles and threads, even exchanging some silver money was taken away by that person to gamble. Now he has sold you, it's a breach of righteousness, why do you still want to guard this family?"

  "Mother won't marry, Mother just wants to stay with you and live a good life."

  Gu Na looked at Cao Yin, then looked at Chen Liu, and said to his mother: "I want to go to my uncle's house to study with him. The only one I'm worried about is you, Mother. If you really care about me, just agree to this, okay? Uncle Chen is a decent person, if you follow him, I can focus on my studies!"

  "Can't mother go with you?" Zhou asked tearfully.

  Gu Nai shook his head: "That person's problem, you're not unaware of it. If he knew that we mother and son went to Uncle Gu's mansion, he would think that we have a backing and would be lawless again. This time I go, is also to quietly go, ten years or so will not leave the house, until can get a good name, only then will see my mother."

  Mrs. Zhou was just a housewife, and when she heard her son say this, she really thought that as a mother, she had delayed her son's progress, and her heart became confused.

  Gu Na took out a handkerchief and wiped away her mother's tears: "Mother, follow Uncle Chen and live a good life, one day you will wait for your son's good news."

  Cao Yin saw that Gu Na had arranged for his mother to live with him, and he knew that it was because he feared that if something unexpected happened to him, his mother would have no one to rely on. He felt a few more points of sympathy in his heart, but he couldn't just use the child to vent his anger, so he didn't make any excuses. After thinking for a moment, he said: "Since it's Gu Na's opinion, Zhou Shi, you should go along with it. Don't worry about Gu San's side. I have a cousin who is an official in Xuzhou, and I'll send someone to take you there to find a way to make a living."

  Although Mrs. Zhou was reluctant to part with her son, she also knew that she couldn't afford to support his education on her own, so she tearfully agreed. Although she was twenty-seven, several years older than Chen, who was only twenty-one, she looked young and the two were fairly well-matched. Cao Yi also gave her forty taels of silver as a dowry and had two suitable women from the mansion come to help with the simple wedding arrangements.

  After settling his mother, Gu Na followed Cao Yi into the Weaving Department. Zhuang Chang had a mind to love talent and told Cao Yi about it, bringing him by his side. No matter how calm one's temperament was, he was just a ten-year-old child after all. Although nothing happened during the day, at night he was often awakened by nightmares. In just a few days, Gu Na became thinner.

  Cao Yin knew that Gu San had bought a horse-drawn carriage, so he sent his family servants to guard the official roads on all four sides and chase after him. They chased for over a thousand li but still found nothing.

  Let's not talk about the commotion at the Jiangning Cao residence for now, but rather say that after being knocked unconscious and taken away by Gu San, Cao Kun came to again only to find it was already the next day. He found himself swaying back and forth, and upon carefully examining his surroundings, he realized he was in a ship's cabin. The man lying beside him looked somewhat familiar, and he recalled that it was Gu San, whom he had seen at his front door just a few days ago.

  Cao Gong thought back to what happened before he fainted, it seemed that he had been kidnapped, but he didn't know where Gu San wanted to take him. He lowered his head and looked at himself, from the inside out, all of his clothes had been changed, and he was wearing a slightly oversized linen robe.

  Gu San was polishing his get-rich-quick dreams, saw Cao Kun wake up, stretched out his hand to pinch his face, and smiled: "Good boy, you just pray that your old man's luck is good, or else I'll sell you to the Elephant Building! Considering the friendship between our two families' ancestors, Master really doesn't want to stoop so low!"

  Cao Guang wanted to ask what was going on, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out. He used all his strength, but only managed to make a "gurgling" sound. He stretched out his hand to pinch his throat, but his whole body felt weak and soft, and he couldn't exert any force.

  Gu San's face turned sinister: "You mute boy, behave yourself and I'll let you live a few more days. If you dare to disobey me, I'll throw you into the river to feed the fish."

  Cao Guang was furious in his heart, but for the time being, he was at a disadvantage and seemed to have been drugged by Gu San again, so he had no choice but to calm down and wait for an opportunity to escape.

  After another two days on the boat, Gu San finally arrived at his destination, but it was Suzhou, 400 miles away from Jiangning.

  Gu San Yi, who was used to being lazy and gluttonous, got off the boat and spent a few copper coins to hire a horse carriage to enter the city. Sitting in the carriage, he couldn't help but hum a little tune with pride. Even if Cao's family suspected him and sent people to track him down, no one would think of looking for him on a boat.

  Suzhou was formerly known as Wu, and it wasn't until the Sui dynasty that it was officially named Suzhou, after Mount Gusu located southwest of the city. It has been called this ever since, and is also nicknamed "Gusu", "Wudu", "Wuzhong", "Dongwu", "Wumen" and "Pingjiang". This place is full of treasures and talents, and is also known as "paradise on earth".

  Gu San kidnapped Cao Guang, but not to extort the Cao family. With his own strength, he challenged the Weaving Mansion, which was courting death. He thought of the collar and jade pendant on Cao Guang's body, and stripped him clean from inside out. The valuable items on Cao Guang's body included a gold necklace weighing over ten taels, an ivory pendant carved with Guanyin, a pheasant egg-sized agate on his waistband, and a pouch containing two small golden ingots and two small silver ingots.

  Arriving at the inn, Gu San rented a room and ordered a table of wine and dishes. He ate to his heart's content, feeding Cao Guang several bowls as well. To prevent Cao Guang from escaping, he forced him to drink half a bowl of anesthetic before leaving with their valuables to pawn them.

  Gu San, fearing trouble, went to several pawn shops before pawning off Cao Guang's valuables. He ended up with a total of over 300 taels of silver in his hands, exchanged 200 for a silver note, and the remaining amount for silver ingots of various sizes, which he carelessly wrapped in a cloth bundle before entering the gambling den.

  It's strange to say, but Gu San, who loves to gamble, has always had bad luck and is used to losing all the time. However, on this day in Suzhou, his luck changed, and within half a day, he won over 400 taels with an initial capital of over 100 taels.

  Gu San was in a good mood, thinking that since he had won so easily, he would go back and get a good night's sleep, and come back again tomorrow. If he could keep winning for a few days, he could accumulate a thousand taels of silver, redeem those items, and send Cao Guang back home. He wasn't a cruel or evil person, and these past few days had been filled with anxiety and fear. Having thought this through, Gu San felt his body lighten considerably, so he gathered up his silver notes and coins, left the gambling den, but didn't realize that someone had already set their sights on him. On his way back to the inn, he was hit in the back of the head with a hammer, and as he fell to the ground, red and white fluids flowed out, and he was no longer alive. His corpse was dragged into a horse carriage.

  The perpetrators were two local rascals who hung out in the casino, and they found out that Gu San was an outsider with a foreign accent, and had also won some money. They followed him from behind, several people searched through all of Gu San's belongings, and at night, they bound his corpse to a stone and sank it into the pond.

  Cao Gong was forced to drink the anesthetic and remained drowsy until the afternoon of the second day. The innkeeper and the waiter were already waiting with gloomy faces, thinking that the adults in this room had not returned, leaving only a sick child or a mute person, which made them feel unlucky. Cao Gong thought it was a good opportunity to escape, so he used his fingers to write for help on the bed frame, but unfortunately, only the accountant in the inn could recognize characters, and the boss and the waiter were illiterate.

  Two men saw this little mute gesturing, looking like a madman, and finally lying motionless on the bed with a lifeless gaze. They were worried that he would die in the inn, which would lead to trouble with the authorities and cause them trouble, so they quietly carried him out of the back door and threw him onto the street.

  Cao Yun was both shocked and angry, his heart unable to bear scolding heaven for no reason, harming him by crossing over without a word, and not even allowing him to live in peace. Looking at various stories, others who crossed over either achieved great things or became nobles, but his own life was always hanging in the balance.

  Cao Gong's clothes were tattered and worn, and passersby took him for a small beggar, with kind ones tossing him two large coins. Only Cao Gong could only lie down, without even the strength to get up and buy a steamed bun, so hungry that his eyes were dizzy, feeling as if everything in front of him was spinning around. Just as he was lamenting whether he would be the first crosser to starve to death, someone stuffed half a block of sticky rice cake into his hand.

  Cao Kun didn't have time to think much, his hands moved and the mantou was already sent to his mouth, he swallowed it in two or three bites.

  "Haha! As long as you can eat, it's fine. Looks like he was just starving, no big deal!" A middle-aged beggar standing on the side said, who had just stuffed a bun into Cao Yun's hand. He bent down and picked up several copper coins beside Cao Yun, blew them clean, and put them in his own pocket. Then he picked up Cao Yun again, muttering to himself: "Although he's a little mute, he looks quite handsome, it's pitiful just looking at him!"

  Cao Yun saw that the middle-aged man was rough and unrefined, with all his limbs intact, yet he was willing to be a beggar. In her heart, she knew he wasn't a good person, but her small body was weak and powerless to resist, so she could only let him hold her. Then she heard the man say: "Good quality anesthetic, about ten big coins per packet!"

  Cao Guang thought that the beggar was going to take him in as a young beggar, giving him tasks every day and whatnot. But unexpectedly, things took an unexpected turn. The next day, the beggar somehow produced a set of coarse linen clothes and changed into them. Although they looked old, they were clean and tidy, and he even went to the street to spend a few coppers to get his hair trimmed. He looked just like an ordinary commoner, without any hint of being a beggar.

  The middle-aged beggar took Cao Guang to the dock after receiving the money, and boarded a cargo ship bound for Hangzhou at a price of 500 coins. During this time, there were also colleagues who came forward to chat, but the man only said that his son was ill and wanted to go to Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou to pray for blessings.

  Cao Guang's strength was slowly recovering, but his throat still wasn't feeling well. With no way to escape on the boat, he could only endure it and think of a solution when they arrived in Hangzhou.

  Two days later, the cargo ship arrived at Hangzhou Wharf. The middle-aged beggar carried Cao Guang down from the boat and called a horse-drawn carriage to rush to Lingyin Temple. The driver thought they were ordinary incense guests and chattered on about many things related to Lingyin Temple, saying that in a few days it would be the birthday of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and at that time the temple would hold a grand Dharma assembly, and many outsiders had come to Lingyin Temple these two days.

  When they arrived near the Lingyin Temple, the middle-aged beggar dismissed the rickshaw driver and didn't go into the temple. Instead, he carried him to a nearby house with over ten people inside, including several robust men and some disabled children who had lost arms or legs, all of whom looked very pitiful.

  Cao Huan was no fool and knew he had fallen into a trap, his eyes filled with panic.

  This beggar seemed to be familiar with those men, who called him "Second Brother". He appeared to have some status among the crowd. Seeing Cao Guang's timid appearance, he nodded towards a sturdy man named "Old Seven".

  That old seven "heh heh" walked up, squatted down, grabbed Cao Kun's calf, and with a twist upwards, there was a "crack" sound, the bone had already been broken.

  Cao Kun didn't even have time to struggle before he fainted from the pain. Old Seventh seemed to be enjoying himself, blowing on his own hand in satisfaction, and then grabbed Cao Kun's other leg and repeated the process. Cao Kun was awakened by the intense pain, and the children lying on the ground started wailing. Old Seventh glared at them, and they immediately stopped crying.

  The second brother had a half-root of cucumber in his mouth, and he gave Old Seventh a thumbs up: "Brother, I really admire you, breaking bones without hurting tendons is also a great skill. When these few grow up, if they're not disabled, the good-looking ones can be sold to the Elephant Building, the inferior ones can be sold as apprentices, and they can still be worth some money!"