Chapter 15: Delicate Flower Chapter 55

Chapter 55 – Lure

After listening, Yu Tang’s heart pounded like a drum, and she asked “What are you trying to say?”

Wei Xiaochuan said, “Can we report them for sheltering refugees?”

The imperial court ruled that it was prohibited to take in refugees arbitrarily.

As these refugees were not registered and did not own any land, they had little to no qualms about harming others just to make a living. Usually when such things occur, either the authorities would repatriate them, or add them in the registry, incentivizing them to develop the land and settle down.

If what Wei Xiaochuan said was true, then there was definitely something amiss with the Li family taking in refugees like this.

In her previous life, she seemed to have heard that the Li family owned such a farm, but at that time she didn’t pay much attention. The reason why she had some impression of this farm was that later on, the Li family felt that the refugees were difficult to control and wanted to chase them out. However, some of them refused to leave, and created havoc which resulted in a few fatalities. The Li family reported this to the authorities and the officials later intervened to resolve the matter.

Because of it, Madam Lin was in a foul mood for several days, and lost her temper, saying that one should not be too charitable, and that the good deeds of their Li family ended with calamity, and that they would never take in such refugees again.

At the time, she too felt that those refugees were being ungrateful…… but now it seems like the situation was not like what she had understood in the past.

Perhaps Wei Xiaochuan was on the right track and inadvertently found an important clue.

Yu Tang said, “After I returned home, I contemplated for some time, thinking that if the Li family really committed those wicked deeds, then where did they find those people to carry out those dirty jobs from? After all, it involves a human life, so if evidence was obtained and presented to the magistrate, their family will be embroiled in a legal battle. In order to prevent leaks and future problems , they would have had their trusted stewards handle it or hired some people. I have checked on the the Li family’s stewards, all of them are alive and well in the city, and no one was absent that night. The outside hired men, if they were daring enough to do it, they must be sycophants desperate to ingratiate themselves with the Li Family. I also asked around Lin’an City and didn’t hear of anyone escaping ……”

Wei Xiaochuan eyes lit up and he eagerly asked, “So, the culprit who killed my second brother, it might be one of the refugees from there?”

Yu Tong lightly assented.

Wei Xiaochuan immediately said, “Then I’ll take a leave of absence and go to that farm tomorrow to take a look.”

“No!” Yu Tang objected, “If you were suspected, with your small size, you can’t even escape. We can’t get ahead of ourselves now.”

“Okay.” Wei Xiaochuan said dejectedly, “I heard my cousin say that those people in the village were all properly dressed and well-fed but didn’t seem to do any work in the fields. There has to be something amiss. You should also be careful not to be found out and silenced. Didn’t you say, we can’t act only on our emotions?”

The Li family hired thugs to take her captive and tarnish her reputation – how is that any better than killing people to silence them?

Yu Tang said reassuringly, “You don’t have to worry, I won’t go by myself, I’ll hire someone to help.”

Wei Xiaochuan thought it was feasible so he said, “Then I’ll go first. Today is the first day returning back to school, so the teachers have to take attendance. I can’t be late. If you have any news, remember to have someone send me a letter.”

Yu Tang felt she shouldn’t delay him any further and said, “You can take my sedan chair! I’ll pay for the ride there.”

Wei Xiaochuan refused, saying, “I’ll use a shortcut, it’ll be quick. Don’t bother about me. It’s unfortunate that the people in our family’s fields didn’t get a good look at the two men, otherwise I could have taken someone along to identify them.”

Yu Tang breathed out sigh of relief and said, “It’s a good thing that no one saw clearly what those two people looked like, because if you took them there directly like this, even if the culprits were identified, they will have some way to deflect. We cannot approach this incident using simple and direct methods. Go to school first, I will take care of this.”

Wei Xiaochuan only wanted to vent his grievances, so after speaking, he left in a hurry.

Yu Tang went home and spent the whole night thinking about it. When it was almost dawn, she finally reached a conclusion and went to see Yu Wen.

Yu Wen and Madam Chen were sorting out the things they had inventoried at home and were preparing to send them to Yu Bo’s house to get Yu Yuan’s marriage done beautifully first.

Yu Tang chatted with her parents for a few minutes and shot a look at her father.

Yu Wen understood and said to Madam Chen, “I remember a friend from Meizhou visited us the year before last and brought us a roll of Shu brocade. Why don’t you find that and send it over to eldest brother.”

That fabric was too stiff and uncomfortable to wear as a garment, but using it as trimming was very beautiful. Madam Chen was originally going to keep it as Yu Tang’s dowry, but after hearing what Yu Wen said, she only hesitated for a moment, as although Shu brocade was rare, it was not impossible to buy it, just a little expensive. Furthermore, it was only used as trimming, so they didn’t need much of it. Since it was decided for Yu Yuan to have it, she wouldn’t object. She agreed and headed to the storeroom.

After finding something for Madam Chen to do, Yu Wen could finally relax as he went to the study with Yu Tang.

Yu Tang had no idea that the Shu brocade that originally belonged to her was given away just like that.

She said to Yu Wen, “Yesterday, I met the fifth son of the Wei family on my way home, and he told me that when he went to give his grandparents gifts for the Mid-Autumn Festival, he found out that a field not too far away from his grandfather’s fields was owned by the Li family and was sheltering many refugees……”

“There is actually such a thing?” Yu Wen was appalled and said angrily, “If those refugees were to revolt, many people would perish in Lin’an City, doesn’t the Li family know that? No, I have to talk to Governor Tang about this.”

Yu Tang held her father back and said, “Father, you can’t just go to the Tang governor like this.”

Yu Wen was confused.

Yu Tang said, “Think about it, the Li family is also considered family of officials, so how can they not know about the danger refugees pose when other families don’t? If they can hire thugs to take me captive, they can also dispatch those refugees to come to our house and cause trouble. Why don’t you discuss this with the Tang governor first, let him check out the situation officially, saying that someone reported that the farm had taken in some refugees. If the Li family was just doing a good deed to take in those people, so be it. However, if something is off, the Tang governor will know the proper way to deal with it.”

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Yu Wen thought about it and felt it was a better idea than reporting it as a official case to the Tang governor himself.

If it was discovered that under his governance, he was unaware of the fact that people were accepting in refugees, it would be fine if nothing happened, but should anything go awry, it would wipe out three years of Tang governor’s political achievements. Even if he wasn’t removed from his post, it would certainly impact his advancement. Moreover, the Yu family and the Li family were already at odds with each other, so even if the Li family knew that it was him who reported it, so what? Would the Li family spare the Yu family if he did not report them?

Yu Wen replied, “I know what to do, you go accompany your mother. Now that the weather is getting colder, I heard that imperial physician Yang is coming to visit the Pei family’s grand madam in a few days. I wanted to ask him to come over to see your mother. Keep an eye on your mother for me, don’t let your mom get a cold – if she gets sick, she has to wait until she gets better before the physician can prescribe medicine, and imperial physician Yang may not be able to wait until then.”

Ever since she had taken Yang Douxing’s prescribed medicine, Madam Chen had not been sick, so Yu Wen’s confidence in Yang Douxing’s medical skills had increased, and he felt that as long as he could keep asking Yang Douxing to see her, Madam Chen’s health would be fine.

Yu Tang agreed.

Yu Wen went to the magistrate.

Yu Tang accompanied Madam Chen to sort out all the things to be sent to her eldest uncle’s house, and when Yu Wen returned, all of them went to eldest uncle’s house together.

On the way there, Yu Tang asked her father, “What did Governor Tang say?”

Yu Wen said, “The Tang governor thought that our family wanted to retaliate against the Li family. Therefore, although he promised to investigate, but I didn’t see him taking any urgent action. At that moment, before I left, I said I was heading to the Pei family to ask imperial physician Yang to come over and examine my wife, suddenly his attitude changed completely.” Speaking of this, he sighed and said, “I owe the Pei family yet another favor, and I don’t know when I’ll be able to pay it back.”

More importantly, there was no way for them to repay.

Yu Tang could not think of anything that Pei Yan lacked.

Moreover, Pei Yan had always viewed her as being calculative, possessing ulterior motives for everything she did and thus disliking her.

Thinking about this, Yu Tang sighed despondently.

Forget it, she can only repay the Pei family’s great kindness in her next life.

That is, if she still had another life.

With just a few words, they had already arrived at Yu Bo’s house, and this matter was put aside.

Yu Tang asked Ah Cam to give some silver to Ah Liu, who sold fruits on Little Plum Street, and asked him to keep an eye on the Li family.

In just a few days, news spread in Lin’an city that the Li family because of their kindness, took in many refugees. After the matter was made known to the Tang governor, he sent people to check whether those refugees were vicious criminals or not. Who knew that the refugees felt guilty and fought with the magistrate’s people, causing two deaths.

The Li family was horrified and regretted having taken in those people in a moment of kindness. The Li family’s eldest son personally stepped in to deal with the matter, not only to pacify the neighbors of the surrounding fields, but also contributed silver to care for the burial of the two bailiffs, and paid a large amount as compensation.

Yu Tang sneered.

She refused to believe that her strategy to lure the enemy out would fall flat.

Just that if those two culprits turned up, how could she secure them?

Yu Tang was thinking about who to ask for help.

If only she had a few more brothers!

She was quietly lamenting when the Tang governor suddenly came to visit Yu Wen.

Yu Tang quickly asked Shuang Tao to eavesdrop while serving tea to Governor Tang.

Shuang Tao came to report, saying “The Tang governor came to apologize to our master. He said that the eldest young master of the Li family personally came to ask him about the incident. He was unable to conceal it and thus told the eldest young master of the Li family what happened. Fortunately, the eldest young master was a sensible one. Governor Tang kept apologizing to our master. He also said that when things settle down, he will personally come to our house to show his gratitude, so when master goes to the Pei family, please do not mention this matter to them.”

After that, she asked Yu Tang curiously with eyes wide open, “Eldest Miss, what happened? Why would Governor Tang personally come to apologize to our master?”

“Don’t worry about the master’s affairs.” Yu Tang sent Shuang Tao away, but in her heart, she despised Governor Tang.

How was this an apology? He clearly came to tell her father that the Li family knew that it was her father who reported them, and only came to inform her father on account of the Pei family. He also informed her father that Li Duan had intervened in this matter, so if the Yu and Li families have any disputes, it was none of his business.

No wonder this Tang governor only stayed in Lin’an for nine years before transferring away. This kind of cowardly official, looking to please both parties, unwilling to bear responsibility, it was impossible for him to assume a bigger role in the imperial courts.

Yu Wen was prepared to fight with the Li family, so naturally he did not care about the words of the Tang governor. He warmly welcomed the Tang governor and spoke about poetry and songs, and arranged to go to the double ninth festival together to enjoy the chrysanthemum, but did not mention a word about the conflict with the Li family.

The Tang governor originally made this trip on account of the Pei family, so if the Pei family continued to care for the Yu family, the Li family could not do anything even if they knew about it. However, if the Pei family ignores the Yu Family, the Yu family will fall as easily as an egg hitting the rock, he would only offer a sigh of pity at most.

As long as he stayed neutral, he would be safe. He didn’t want to offend anyone, nor did he have that energy to care.

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