Don't Be a Kept Man
Cliffhanger continues…
Since the beginning of history, there has never been a time where merchants have never tied themselves with the imperial officials. For Min Shang Shan to have been sitting so comfortably in his high seat for so long, there was no doubt that the district magistrate was supporting him from the shadows. Min Shang Shan had always been generous towards their estate, so when so many have seen him in conflict with Xiao Feng Wu, he only has to double down on how Xiao Feng Wu was trying to harm him in secret, and the magistrate would naturally side with him.
Two servants tightly held onto Xiao Feng Wu by the arms, but he seemed unphased, as if he had never intended to struggle. Instead, it was Qin Ming Yue who stood up with a bang to block them from the front, and the one who coldly said to Min Shang Shan,
“Since the laws have been created, to capture someone requires evidence and the truth. For Min Lao-ye to evade the officials in order to capture someone yourself because of some rumors through the grapevine, is that following the law?”
Min Shang Shan did not care about such an insignificant person, and upon hearing his words, his eyes lit up like lasers and they narrowed, forming a vicious countenance,
“Even if it’s against the laws, I have already done so. You could go to the district magistrate’s estate and make a racket over it. This, Min Shang Shan will not stop you!”
Xiao Feng Wu said as well,
“It’s not that I won’t be coming back. Move aside first.”
Qin Ming Yue was used to such despicable actions from powerful and wealthy families. How hard was it to kill someone with no status or wealth? Stuff their flayed flesh and bones in a bag and toss it towards a random hill or cliff, or even the lake where it wouldn’t float for ten or twenty years. But he thought that if Xiao Feng Wu left, he would not have any chance at living, so how could he move aside?
Min Shang Shan did not want to spend any more time on this and waved his sleeves in a menacing and commanding manner, spreading cold air around the room,
“Bring them both!”
Great, now the both of them have been caught up in this.
The Min family was in great disarray as the two of them were blindfolded and brought in through the back door. Even with the distance separating them from the front courtyard, they could hear the ruckus coming from it.
Maids and servants rushed around in the midst of some plaintive cries of men to women, young to old, ringing up randomly, as if someone had died.
Xiao Feng Wu felt himself get pushed into a small, dusty room, something like a wood storage, as his nose was filled with the scent of that ashy, wooden smell. When he heard the sound of the door being locked, he reached out against the wood to push off his blindfold. After a moment for his eyes to get adjusted to seeing again, he saw Qin Ming Yue with his foul looking face sitting crossed legged on the floor.
Xiao Feng Wu was delighted even with his hands tied up in front of him and he leaned against the door to listen for any sounds,
“Hey yah, you think that idiot Min Si Xing wouldn’t really be dead huh?”
Qin Ming Yue had lived in a theatre troupe since he was young, and he was able to do some sort of joint manipulation. With his eyes closed, he fooled around for a while before he was able to free himself from the ropes.
Holding on the abrasion on his wrists, he coldly said,
“If he’s dead, Min Shang Shan would have dragged you along with him. You better ask your grandfather and grandmother right now, begging them to keep Min Si Xing alive for a hundred years.”
“Living could be possible, but that would depend on what kind of living.”
Xiao Feng Wu shuffled over closer to his side,
“Come, help me untie these ropes.”
Qin Ming Yue pushed him away, mockingly laughing as he said, “Better keep you tied up, stopping you from doing anything worse!”
And then rose up from the ground. He walked over to a window and used his hands to break open the layer of paper1.
Seeing the servants of the Min family rushing back and forth with buckets of water, the water the colour of blood, and the entrance holding two guards who looked like good fighters, his eyebrows couldn’t help but tightly furrow up and he sunk into a deep contemplation. Then he looked over at Xiao Feng Wu sitting on the floor and asked,
Xiao Feng Wu leaned against the pile of logs,
“You’re really looking upon me with too much respect.”
Qin Ming Yue fell into a deep silence and then walked over to release him from the ropes. He whispered,
“Don’t play around. Whatever you know, say it out quickly. Don’t always keep it inside you, making me feel so unsafe as I try to follow your logic.”
Xiao Feng Wu thought about it and then said,
“…….Actually I’m not too sure.”
Today at Sheng De Lou, he had found there were many tightly clustered red dots around Min Si Xing’s fingers, and blisters around the fingertips, the edges of which were yellow and the inside deep purple. It looked like something he had seen before in the Xiao family’s library of medicinal books, of lotus patterned sores. When the illness sets off, the entire body will burn hot, and rashes and blisters will emerge all over the body, pairing with lines and lines of red, resembling the lotus pattern2. Normal people wouldn’t be able to survive past three days before becoming like a wooden doll: unable to speak, unable to move, a life that would only be waiting for death.
This illness was too rare and special, so much so that the Xiao family, even with their ancestral history involved in the medicinal arts, only saw it a few times. The average physician, unfortunately, would probably only try and treat this as smallpox.
Qin Ming Yue was just about to say something when the door to the storage house suddenly opened up. A man that seemed to be the chamberlain looked at them, then waved over to some servants. Without any words, the two of them were led away through twists and turns before arriving at the courtyard where Min Si Xing lived.
The normally quiet small courtyard was filled with a crowd of people in somber moods. With one glance, Xiao Feng Wu could see that it was all of the most famous physicians in Yan Cheng – Physician Gong Sun of Qian Jin Tang, Physician Zhou of Xing Lin Ge, and other such familiar faces.
Qin Ming Yue whispered to Xiao Feng Wu,
“Isn’t your second uncle an official in the capital? Min Shang Shan would give you some face over that right, if he really did take your life, what would he do?”
Xiao Feng Wu moved his lips,
“For his only son, the only one that he would treasure just like his own body, if Min Si Xing really did die, even if my second uncle was the Emperor, he would not care. Besides, I haven’t seen my second uncle more than a few times.”
And then purposefully looked at Qin Ming Yue pitifully,
“Only, I must pity you. Such a young age and you’ll have to follow me to die.”
Qin Ming Yue coldly flipped his sleeves,
“Although it’s been said that a prostitute has no feelings, a theatre actor has no heart, I am not someone who would be regretful from his love. Since I have followed you all the way here, I had not planned to get out alive.”
Xiao Feng Wu slightly narrowed his eyes at that, and his long fingers lightly ran over a strand of hair on the other’s shoulders. He smiled and said,
Notes:
*1 Some of you who may be into historical cdramas may have seen a lot of “paper windows” where characters might poke a finger through the window and look into to find out secrets, but that’s kind of like a trope(?).
They did use paper windows back then, but it’s a lot more complicated than just “paper”. They have a main ingredient that’s like paper (made from bark of course), but they add other ingredients on top to strengthen the structure, and they also add a layer of oil (kind of like the “paper” umbrellas you may have heard of) to block water and these kinds of windows are said to be actually pretty hard to break through.
Wealthier families are said to use a thinner material to make their windows as it lets light shine through much easier (and they also have money to hire guards so less security issues – although most cdramas will say no to that lol) and poor families usually use cloth instead – kind of like how the apothecary Xiao Feng Wu works at uses a cloth as a divider/door).
*2 Lotus pattern-
Chapter 133: CH 133
Since the beginning of history, there has never been a time where merchants have never tied themselves with the imperial officials. For Min Shang Shan to have been sitting so comfortably in his high seat for so long, there was no doubt that the district magistrate was supporting him from the shadows. Min Shang Shan had always been generous towards their estate, so when so many have seen him in conflict with Xiao Feng Wu, he only has to double down on how Xiao Feng Wu was trying to harm him in secret, and the magistrate would naturally side with him.
Two servants tightly held onto Xiao Feng Wu by the arms, but he seemed unphased, as if he had never intended to struggle. Instead, it was Qin Ming Yue who stood up with a bang to block them from the front, and the one who coldly said to Min Shang Shan,
“Since the laws have been created, to capture someone requires evidence and the truth. For Min Lao-ye to evade the officials in order to capture someone yourself because of some rumors through the grapevine, is that following the law?”
Min Shang Shan did not care about such an insignificant person, and upon hearing his words, his eyes lit up like lasers and they narrowed, forming a vicious countenance,
“Even if it’s against the laws, I have already done so. You could go to the district magistrate’s estate and make a racket over it. This, Min Shang Shan will not stop you!”
Xiao Feng Wu said as well,
“It’s not that I won’t be coming back. Move aside first.”
Qin Ming Yue was used to such despicable actions from powerful and wealthy families. How hard was it to kill someone with no status or wealth? Stuff their flayed flesh and bones in a bag and toss it towards a random hill or cliff, or even the lake where it wouldn’t float for ten or twenty years. But he thought that if Xiao Feng Wu left, he would not have any chance at living, so how could he move aside?
Min Shang Shan did not want to spend any more time on this and waved his sleeves in a menacing and commanding manner, spreading cold air around the room,
“Bring them both!”
Great, now the both of them have been caught up in this.
The Min family was in great disarray as the two of them were blindfolded and brought in through the back door. Even with the distance separating them from the front courtyard, they could hear the ruckus coming from it.
Maids and servants rushed around in the midst of some plaintive cries of men to women, young to old, ringing up randomly, as if someone had died.
Xiao Feng Wu felt himself get pushed into a small, dusty room, something like a wood storage, as his nose was filled with the scent of that ashy, wooden smell. When he heard the sound of the door being locked, he reached out against the wood to push off his blindfold. After a moment for his eyes to get adjusted to seeing again, he saw Qin Ming Yue with his foul looking face sitting crossed legged on the floor.
Xiao Feng Wu was delighted even with his hands tied up in front of him and he leaned against the door to listen for any sounds,
“Hey yah, you think that idiot Min Si Xing wouldn’t really be dead huh?”
Qin Ming Yue had lived in a theatre troupe since he was young, and he was able to do some sort of joint manipulation. With his eyes closed, he fooled around for a while before he was able to free himself from the ropes.
Holding on the abrasion on his wrists, he coldly said,
“If he’s dead, Min Shang Shan would have dragged you along with him. You better ask your grandfather and grandmother right now, begging them to keep Min Si Xing alive for a hundred years.”
Xiao Feng Wu shuffled over closer to his side,
“Come, help me untie these ropes.”
Qin Ming Yue pushed him away, mockingly laughing as he said, “Better keep you tied up, stopping you from doing anything worse!”
And then rose up from the ground. He walked over to a window and used his hands to break open the layer of paper1.
Seeing the servants of the Min family rushing back and forth with buckets of water, the water the colour of blood, and the entrance holding two guards who looked like good fighters, his eyebrows couldn’t help but tightly furrow up and he sunk into a deep contemplation. Then he looked over at Xiao Feng Wu sitting on the floor and asked,
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“…..you didn’t really poison him did you?”Xiao Feng Wu leaned against the pile of logs,
“You’re really looking upon me with too much respect.”
Qin Ming Yue fell into a deep silence and then walked over to release him from the ropes. He whispered,
“Don’t play around. Whatever you know, say it out quickly. Don’t always keep it inside you, making me feel so unsafe as I try to follow your logic.”
Xiao Feng Wu thought about it and then said,
“…….Actually I’m not too sure.”
Today at Sheng De Lou, he had found there were many tightly clustered red dots around Min Si Xing’s fingers, and blisters around the fingertips, the edges of which were yellow and the inside deep purple. It looked like something he had seen before in the Xiao family’s library of medicinal books, of lotus patterned sores. When the illness sets off, the entire body will burn hot, and rashes and blisters will emerge all over the body, pairing with lines and lines of red, resembling the lotus pattern2. Normal people wouldn’t be able to survive past three days before becoming like a wooden doll: unable to speak, unable to move, a life that would only be waiting for death.
This illness was too rare and special, so much so that the Xiao family, even with their ancestral history involved in the medicinal arts, only saw it a few times. The average physician, unfortunately, would probably only try and treat this as smallpox.
Qin Ming Yue was just about to say something when the door to the storage house suddenly opened up. A man that seemed to be the chamberlain looked at them, then waved over to some servants. Without any words, the two of them were led away through twists and turns before arriving at the courtyard where Min Si Xing lived.
The normally quiet small courtyard was filled with a crowd of people in somber moods. With one glance, Xiao Feng Wu could see that it was all of the most famous physicians in Yan Cheng – Physician Gong Sun of Qian Jin Tang, Physician Zhou of Xing Lin Ge, and other such familiar faces.
Qin Ming Yue whispered to Xiao Feng Wu,
“Isn’t your second uncle an official in the capital? Min Shang Shan would give you some face over that right, if he really did take your life, what would he do?”
Xiao Feng Wu moved his lips,
And then purposefully looked at Qin Ming Yue pitifully,
“Only, I must pity you. Such a young age and you’ll have to follow me to die.”
Qin Ming Yue coldly flipped his sleeves,
“Although it’s been said that a prostitute has no feelings, a theatre actor has no heart, I am not someone who would be regretful from his love. Since I have followed you all the way here, I had not planned to get out alive.”
Xiao Feng Wu slightly narrowed his eyes at that, and his long fingers lightly ran over a strand of hair on the other’s shoulders. He smiled and said,
Notes:
*1 Some of you who may be into historical cdramas may have seen a lot of “paper windows” where characters might poke a finger through the window and look into to find out secrets, but that’s kind of like a trope(?).
They did use paper windows back then, but it’s a lot more complicated than just “paper”. They have a main ingredient that’s like paper (made from bark of course), but they add other ingredients on top to strengthen the structure, and they also add a layer of oil (kind of like the “paper” umbrellas you may have heard of) to block water and these kinds of windows are said to be actually pretty hard to break through.
Wealthier families are said to use a thinner material to make their windows as it lets light shine through much easier (and they also have money to hire guards so less security issues – although most cdramas will say no to that lol) and poor families usually use cloth instead – kind of like how the apothecary Xiao Feng Wu works at uses a cloth as a divider/door).
*2 Lotus pattern-
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