Chapter 62 Disaster Relief in Jiangan
2019 Words
Qiange...
What an elegant name!
It was the first time that Gu Yunxi heard him read his name. His voice was pure and gentle like a flowing river, which turned her heart into a lake disturbed by the wind.
Lu Qiange...
This name rooted in her heart deeply.
They looked at each other in silence. Lu Qiange drew out the wooden hairpin he whittled. His purple eyes were filled with deep affection to Gu Yunxi.
"I spent a few days on this hairpin. Now it's yours."
Gu Yunxi was at a loss at first, but then she recalled that recently, he always sat on the floor of the inner room and whittled a stick... It turned out that he was making a hairpin for her.
It was a delicate hairpin, on one end of which was a magnolia blossom as same as the one on the screen of the inner room.
Within the moment she was at a loss, the hairpin was put into the bun on her head.
"No, I can't accept it!"
She reached for the hairpin, but he grabbed her by the hand.
"Don't... Don't do that..."
Gu Yunxi flushed. She tried to pull her hand out of his hand in vain.
"Listen to me, Yunxi." A trace of melancholy appeared on Lu Qiange's handsome face. He was quite reluctant to be apart from Gu Yunxi.
"It's not what you think. These days we got along well, but I'm afraid you'll forget me..."
"What are you talking about?"
Gu Yunxi got into a panic because of shyness. Her eyes fluttered around helplessly.
"Yunxi, I have a crush on you!"
Lu Qiange said firmly, staring at her surprised face.
Gu Yunxi paused, but then she hurriedly raised her hand to pull out the hairpin, terrified and aggrieved,
"Then I can't accept it! Take it back!"
Lu Qiange showed a pained look,
"If you don't accept it, I'll take you with me now, and you'll never see him again!"
"What? You..."
She had no idea at once. Lu Qiange watched her awkward complexion, willing to brand her face in his heart.
There was an urge for him to hold her in the arms.
He came up while she stepped back.
He let out a slight sigh, gazing at her, and suddenly said,
"Yunxi, I wish I could have the chance to see you in women's wear again!"
"!"
Gu Yunxi was shocked.
"Has he ever seen me in women's clothes?" She thought.
Growing up in the Garden, she rarely went out in women's dress, so it was almost impossible to meet Lu Qiange.
After she joined the Eastern Depot, she dressed as a guard most of the time.
Gu Yunxi quickly searched her memory.
The only time she wore women's clothes recently was in Qingfeng Temple when she coped with Ming Lan of the Western Depot.
Could it be that...
For a fraction of second, she almost touched an important secret...
She suddenly came back to earth, only to find that Lu Qiange had already disappeared.
Gu Yunxi's heart missed a beat. She trotted into the inner room, but no one was there. Only the Master's robe lay on the ground.
She bit the lower lip hard and thought things over.
Was it Lu Qiange who wrote b****y words in Qingfeng Temple to frame the Master?
Of course, it was too arbitrary to doubt him for a sentence. However, there was some indication in his words...
...
Gu Yunxi's carriage went on the icy road to Jiangan after noon, accompanied by Xiao Xiaoshen, Eastern Depot's tenth captain Yuan Qian, and fifty capable guards in Yuan Qian's squad.
The Eastern Depot had little business after the end of the year. Were it not for the snow disaster outside, people in the capital city had already taken rest.
The Eastern Depot sent a squad out because of a message Chiliarch Cheng Wanli received, the content of which was that the aid convoy sent by the government was stuck by heavy snow, so it would take more time before they arrived in Jiangan.
At the same time, Gu Yunyao, who was in the Emperor's good grace, proposed to the Emperor that the concubines in the imperial harem donate money to people in the disaster area. She took the lead with a donation, which delighted the Emperor.
Led by the concubines, peeresses scrambled to donate money and goods. The government collected a large sum of supplies in a few days.
Cheng Wanli commanded the tenth captain Yuan Qian to escort the supplies. They would join the aid convoy and go to Jiangan together.
That was a good chance. Yuan Qian told this to Xiao Xiaoshen, and they took Gu Yunxi and Qinger without informing the Chiliarch.
It was snowing outside. Two girls disguised as men sat in the carriage with a warmer. They didn't feel very cold.
After a while, Gu Yunxi lifted the curtain on the carriage, speaking to Xiao Xiaoshen and Yuan Qian on the horses,
"Xiaoshen, Captain Yuan, are you cold? How about taking turns to warm yourself in the carriage?"
Xiao Xiaoshen shook off the snow on his fur cloak and turned his head to the carriage,
"No, thanks! Pinggang Town is in the front. I know there's an inn. If we speed up, we can stay there tonight and go on the road tomorrow."
...
After they left the capital city, Leng Qingtang and his group headed Jiangan in the south, galloping day and night.
The scenery was clad in silver-white all the way. Icicles were hanging from the eaves and roofs, and heavy snow was covering woods and forests. Together with bitter winds, they made up a piercingly cold, glass-liked world.
On the afternoon of the seventh day, as well as the second day of Gu Yunxi's journey, Leng Qingtang and his convey arrived in the territory of Jiangan. The high gate of Fengyuan County was not far ahead.
The condition of the disaster was quite serious along the way to Jiangan. Thick snow collapsed the houses and devoured the grain fields. Ruins and rotten crops could be seen everywhere.
Victims had nowhere to go. They were frozen or starved to death on the streets. The corpses of livestock were mutilated by starving people, leaving only skeletons exposed in broad daylight.
Sitting in the carriage, Leng Qingtang lifted the curtain to look outside.
Someone was groveling on the ground, gulping snow with hands to appease his hunger. Before he had swallowed several mouthfuls, his empty stomach could no longer withstand the coldness. The man coughed violently, spat out mouthfuls of blood, and plugged directly into the snow.
By the time the guards came up, he was dead.
Witnessed the tragedy on this devastated ground, Leng Qingtang felt deep sorrow.
When the convoy of the Eastern Depot arrived outside the gate of Fengyuan, they found the gated was closed, and large numbers of victims jammed the entrance of the gate.
They received information from the scouts. During the disaster, the prefect of Fengyuan mobilized the rich and the gentry to donate food. With the food they collected, they set up sheds on the main streets of several districts to provide porridge to victims.
However, victims from other counties and towns knew this, and they flooded into Fengyuan for food. A few days ago, Fengyuan's food supply was insufficient as well. There were more robberies and attacks happened among anxious victims.
After that, the garrison of Jiangan entered Fengyuan to regulate social order. Colonel Liu, the garrison leader, ordered the prefect to close the gate to stop victims of other five counties flooding into Fengyuan. Therefore, the number of victims gathering around Fengyuan kept increasing. The victims had organized riots round after round, trying to beat the gate down.
Prefect Guo of Fengyuan County was in his 40s and had put on some weight. His legs were shocked to quake after learning the aid convoy of the Eastern Depot was stuck outside the city, so he hurried to lead his subordinates out to meet the convoy. The convoy was bowed into the Prefect's Mansion in the city.
The Prefect's Mansion was a far cry from the living hell outside. It was a quiet and elegant place, in which one could even hear faint orchestral music.
Following Prefect Guo, Leng Qingtang went into the bedroom calmly.
During the break, he made a plan with three captains.
He sent the first captain Ai Qing to check the Prefect's Mansion. Every spot must be nosed into.
At night, Prefect Guo came personally to ask Leng Qingtang to the feast he prepared.
In the dining room, Leng Qingtang saw a military officer sitting on the second chair at the table. He was about thirty years old, beef-faced, and as strong as a bear. He was still in his armor.
He was the leader of the garrison in Jiangan, Colonel Liu Biao.
Liu Biao squinted at Leng Qingtang striding in, clustered by three captains. Sitting in the chair, he gave Leng Qingtang a perfunctory salute, stony-faced.
The Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot was a rank-second minister, while a garrison colonel was a rank-third official. Liu Biao's perfunctoriness was unreasonable.
The first captain let out an angry humph, but he refrained from arguing with Liu Biao because he saw the Master gave him a sign.
Prefect Guo showed Leng Qingtang to the first chair with flattery.
Leng Qingtang swept a glance at the table, which was filled with dishes of seafood, meat, and vegetable. There were even two different kinds of soup.
Prefect Guo clapped his hands. A group of pretty-dressed dancers came into the dining room and then danced to the music.
Leng Qingtang tried very hard to endure the rage in his heart. He looked at Prefect Guo, emotionless,
"Do you eat on this scale every day?"
"Uh..." Prefect Guo looked embarrassed.
"Master Leng must have seen more luxurious feasts in the Palace. The dishes and dances here are nothing to those ones!"
Liu Biao sensed Leng Qingtang's discontentment, but he played devil's advocate,
"These dishes are for us to enjoy. We eat, that's to appreciate Prefect Guo's entertainment!"
Then he picked up chopsticks, pointing at the dancing women with an obscene smile,
"And these women! It's their pleasure to serve us with their bodies!"
The second captain Lu Rong sat on the chair with an angry look. He was angry about Liu Biao's irreverent words, but the Master seemed calm, so he could only hunch over his bowl, suppressing his temper by constantly gulping rice.
Victims outside Fengyuan were suffering from snow disaster. They had no food to eat, let alone a bowl of porridge. While people in the Prefect's Mansion enjoyed delicious food and beautiful dance. Even the imperial envoy from the Eastern Depot didn't make them restrain themselves!
These were the magistrates of the Dayi Dynasty. They were paid by the government, but when the snow disaster came, they left suffering people behind and enjoyed an extravagant life behind the door of this sumptuous Mansion...
Rage overwhelmed people from the Eastern Depot. How could they enjoy this meal?
Prefect Guo was on pins and needles. He could feel the angry eyes of Eastern Depot's officials without looking up.
In this cold and snowy day, Prefect Guo was frightened to sweat and kept wiping his forehead.
On the other hand, Liu Biao was very satisfied with good wine and oily food. He fixed his triangular eyes on the leading dancer's body, lewdly following her movements.
After a hasty dinner, Leng Qingtang got up and took the leave in silence. Three captains also put down their chopsticks and left with the Master.
Sitting stiffly at the table, Prefect Guo shook with fear.
Liu Biao did not restrain himself after all the people of the Eastern Depot left. He leaned across the table to drag the leading dancer into his arms, and crowed to Prefect Guo,
"Leave him alone! How can a eunuch enjoy such a beauty?"
Then he extended his head to kiss her pink cheek with thick and greasy lips.
- Writer
