Chapter 127 Fusu: I refuse to acknowledge this person...
After the mockery subsided, Fusu's smile faded.
With a woman in the group, suspected of being wrongly accused and whose fate unknown, how could they possibly laugh and joke? Fusu knew that Su Shi was merely trying to lighten the mood with a few jokes, preventing the group from becoming too dull. When it came to concern for human life, he was no less than anyone else.
Fortunately, they were almost at their destination, their guest room. Fusu instructed his eunuch to fetch honeycomb briquettes beforehand, so that they could be thrown into the charcoal brazier and lit as soon as they entered the room, allowing the woman to warm up quickly. At the same time, he also had warm water and ginger prepared, which he boiled together for the woman to drink.
Pushing open the door, they found several charcoal braziers already lit inside, making the room warm and cozy. Fusu directed the eunuchs to carefully place the woman on the bed, and the group immediately dropped their luggage and, without even taking a breath, began running around busily preparing for her arrival.
Perhaps the rising temperature alerted the woman, or perhaps the noise they made woke him; her bluish lips gradually turned red, and her eyelids trembled slightly.
Su Shi, who had been keeping a close watch on the woman, noticed: "Your Highness, Your Highness, she seems to be waking up."
Fusu immediately stepped forward: "Let me take a look."
Almost as soon as she finished speaking, the woman's eyelids fluttered open. Finding herself in unfamiliar surroundings, she shuddered and shrank back. Only after realizing that there was a child in front of her and no one else did she relax slightly, her lips moving several times to utter indistinct sounds.
Su Shi asked curiously, "What is she saying?"
“She’s asking where she is now.” Fortunately, Fusu had been in Yunzhou for a while and was used to the local accent of Wujia Village, otherwise he really wouldn’t have been able to understand what the woman was saying. He immediately turned his head, his dark eyes meeting the woman’s face.
“This is the Zhang family, the wealthiest Zhang family in Huai Ren County,” he replied.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing the words "Zhang family," the woman sprang to her feet as if injected with adrenaline. However, her strength had dissipated too much in the snow, and she fell back onto the bed before she could regain her footing.
This series of actions perfectly confirmed Fusu's earlier suspicions. He couldn't help but feel fortunate that he had been decisive enough when he entered, preventing the steward from seeing the woman in white. Now, they had directly led the woman in white deep into enemy territory.
Such a good opportunity shouldn't be exposed rashly; it would be too much of a loss. Fusu gestured for the woman to calm down: "Do you have a grudge against the Zhang family? What happened between you?"
The woman bit her lower lip, her hands gripping the edge of the blanket tightly, her misty eyes fixed on Fusu. After a long while, she asked him, "Who are you? What is your relationship with the Zhang family?"
Only at this moment did Fusu realize that his childlike appearance was not a problem, but rather a great help. If he were an adult man standing in front of her, the woman certainly wouldn't have been as relaxed and wary as she was now, and wouldn't have been willing to talk to him.
He opened his mouth, but before he could think of a reply, Su Shi beside him answered for him: "We are the people who can help you. As for our relationship with the Zhang family... he invited us to his home. We saw you lying on the ground on the road, so we carried you back and treated you."
The so-called "he" is naturally the person in charge of the Zhang family.
Just as Fusu was about to translate in his dialect, the woman reacted strongly, staring intently at Su Shi with a strong sense of vigilance in her eyes: "Are you in cahoots with the Zhang family?!"
"Wait a minute? You understand Mandarin?"
“My father stole horses for the Song Dynasty, so I naturally heard a lot of the official language of the Song Dynasty.”
Ah, those are our own people.
Fusu coaxed, "Then perhaps you've also heard of the name 'Lord Wang'?"
Several years ago, Wang Anshi was ordered to smuggle northern horses along the border. He would thoroughly exploit the resources of one region before moving on to the next. In other words, he dealt with almost every horse trader in the area.
Sure enough, the woman's gaze changed. She looked Fusu and Su Shi up and down: "Are you people from the Song Dynasty?"
"Um!"
After receiving an affirmative answer, the woman felt as if she had shed all the weight on her shoulders: "I've been waiting for you."
"ah!?"
Fusu and Su Shi exclaimed in surprise. They had thought it was a kind passerby offering help. Turns out, the person had come specifically for them. Then they realized it wasn't so strange; the person had fainted below the government office, and who controlled the government office? The Song Dynasty army. If a magistrate and his clerk had been brought in promptly, a trial would have already begun.
Now, it turns out to be a lucky accident.
Su Shi also realized what was going on and said to Fusu with a smile, "Perfect, let's play the roles of magistrate and clerk for a while."
Fusu glanced at him sideways and said disdainfully, "Can't you be a little more capable and act as an upright official for once?"
When he turned to speak to the woman, he adopted a gentle and warm tone: "What grievances do you have, and how did you come to be wearing mourning clothes? Can you tell us about them? If it is true, we will do our best to seek justice for you."
He had a vague premonition that the story the woman was about to tell might be extraordinary, and might even involve relations between the two countries.
The woman had secretly resolved to tell him her nationality as soon as the two men admitted it. Even if she wasn't particularly bright, she was perceptive enough to see that Fusu's hair, teeth, and mannerisms were not those of an ordinary person. The promise of "doing everything possible" from such a man was even better than she had initially hoped for.
She paused, then uttered the words she had prepared a thousand times in her heart: "My name is Duan Yin'er, I'm from Huai'ren, and my father's surname is also Duan. He was the biggest... horse thief in the county."
Upon hearing the woman's story, Fusu's eyes flickered subtly. It wasn't because of her nonsensical literary style. It was just that the story sounded so familiar. Horse thieves, surnamed Duan… Could this father and daughter be ancestors of Duan Jingzhu, the last of the 108 heroes in *Water Margin*, nicknamed "Earth Dog Star"?
"And then? Why did you say 'Zeng'? What happened next? Was it related to the Zhang family?"
Although his mind was wandering, Fusu still appeared focused and concerned, patiently guiding Duan Yin'er to continue.
“My father received a favor from a Song man in his early years and had a very good impression of Song people. A few years ago, when Lord Wang sent people to our border to look for fine horses, he had some connections and got in touch with Lord Wang, making a fortune.”
"But this matter is dangerous. I originally planned to retire from this business... but the Zhang family intercepted me halfway."
"Um?"
At this point, Duan Yin'er mechanically bit her lip, using so much force that Fu Su suspected she might tear it apart: "The Zhang family originally made their fortune through smuggling, but they were far more corrupt than us. We transported livestock, but they transported... living, breathing people!"
"What!"
Fusu suddenly cried out in alarm. The words of the woman surnamed Duan immediately reminded him of Apu, Ayu, and the other two pitiful Liao women who had been abducted and sold to Bianjing.
When Wang Anshi arrived at the Liao-Song border, his top priority wasn't buying horses, but rather purging the corrupt officials who were busy concealing and manipulating the sale of people. He managed to clean up the Song side, but the Liao side was too far away to be dealt with.
Could it be the Zhang family?
After calming himself down, Fusu said, "Please continue."
Duan Yin'er said, "The Zhang family knew that begging was dishonorable, and they were extremely envious of my father's business. So they plotted to kill my father, took his body to the yamen to report him, and divided their wealth with the county magistrate. Then they stopped begging themselves and took over my father's business to continue trading horses with the Song people!"
“I didn’t understand anything back then. I really thought my father had drowned accidentally. Later, it was a friend of my father’s who couldn’t stand it and told me the truth.”
"But at that time I was outnumbered and powerless and could not fight against the Zhang family. I could only secretly gather evidence of their human trafficking and murder of my father."
“But you not only gathered the evidence, but you also waited for the Song army to arrive, dealt with the county magistrate of Huai Ren, and avenged half of your father’s murder. So, you want the Song people to uphold justice for you again and also deal with the Zhang family.”
Duan Yin'er nodded decisively: "Yes!"
So, she and Su Shi immediately turned to look in Fusu's direction. Duan Yin'er understood as well: although Fusu appeared to be the youngest, he was the highest-ranking person among all those busy with various tasks, without exception. Only by fulfilling his promise to "do his utmost" could she have a chance to clear her name of the injustice she had been wronged.
So, what will Fusu do?
He stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and then summoned the eunuch who had been waiting outside the door: "Go and convey my order: gather two hundred men, bring weapons, and immediately surround the Zhang family residence, forbidding anyone from entering or leaving."
Su Shi was startled: "Huh?"
Sending troops to surround the residence? Is that really necessary?
Duan Yin'er was also visibly stunned: she had guessed that the person before her wasn't alone. But to directly mobilize troops to surround the Zhang family mansion? That was still far beyond her comprehension. What kind of people could mobilize troops so easily? Could it be that she had struck it rich today…?
At this moment, Fusu turned to her and said, "Are you feeling alright? Can you walk? If not, lie down and rest here. I will send someone to where you hid the evidence, retrieve it, and confront the Zhang family's leader on the spot."
Su Shi's eyes lit up immediately.
This is great! He'll love watching this!
Fusu then looked at Duan Yin'er with a serious expression and said, "If the outcome of the confrontation reveals that you were lying and trying to slander the Zhang family, then I will not let you off easily. So think it over. If you call it a halt now, I will pretend that nothing happened."
Duan Yin'er gritted her teeth and said resolutely, "I'm going to get it!"
She immediately gave an address, which turned out to be in a bookstore in the city. She explained to Fusu embarrassedly that this was her backup plan. If she failed to clear her name while in mourning and ended up dying, she would entrust this evidence to the bookstore to be printed and widely publicized.
She spent all her savings on this.
Su Shi clicked his tongue in amazement: "This is not a method that an ordinary person could come up with."
Going back further, how could one be considered ordinary: harboring a grudge against one's father but remaining silent, lying low for years to gather evidence, and seizing the right opportunity to wear mourning clothes and seek justice?
Su Shi's gaze towards Duan Yin'er changed.
"Alright." Fusu glanced at him. "Don't you love watching the excitement? I'll trouble you to run an errand to the bookstore and retrieve the evidence of the smuggling that Madam Duan mentioned. Oh, and don't forget to bring a few soldiers with you to ensure safety."
"Making me run errands in this freezing weather..." Su Shi grumbled as he left, but his departing figure showed no hesitation, not a hint of reluctance. It was clear he was extremely excited about the excitement to come, to the point of being impatient.
"Just wait," Fusu said to Duan Yin'er. "I've done what I could. Now just wait patiently. Oh, and don't forget to drink the ginger water I made for you; it'll warm you up."
After all, there's still a tough battle to fight later.
Fusu's courtyard served as guest rooms, an extremely quiet and secluded place, with snow falling outside. Despite these ideal conditions, faint sounds of fighting, crying, and cursing could still be heard outside, stirring up many unsettling thoughts. Duan Yin'er, who had never witnessed such a scene, unconsciously gripped the edge of the quilt.
Wouldn't this child, who wasn't even a teenager, be afraid? She looked in that direction, but could only see half of his snow-white, adorable, chubby, white profile, like a plump glutinous rice ball, making her want to take a bite.
Aside from being cute, there was no other emotion to be seen.
Fusu suddenly turned his head: "Are you nervous?"
Duan Yin'er shook her head: "No."
Fusu could tell she was putting on a brave face: "Why don't you tell me what kind of evidence you've hidden in the bookstore?"
"..."
"..."
Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside the steps, the sound filled with anxiety and anger. He then stood up from the chair by the bed, as if to greet a guest.
"Squeak—" The door opened.
"What is the meaning of this, sir?"
The newcomer was an unfamiliar face. Like the stereotypical image of a successful merchant from ancient times, he was quite plump and fair-skinned. His face, which should have been amiable and conducive to making money, showed no kindness whatsoever, but rather utter anger and fear: "Why has this distinguished guest come to stay at my house, and why has he surrounded my residence, disturbing my peace? What kind of hospitality is this?"
"I was passing through Huai'ren and had the honor of staying at your home, yet I am not even qualified to meet you. As the host, you probably have no right to criticize my manners as a guest, do you?"
In truth, Fusu had long wanted to complain. Having the Emperor greet him, with two beautiful maids leading the way—only Su Shi couldn't see through their scheme. And yet, Fusu himself wouldn't even come out to greet them. Fusu had never been treated so poorly in his three lifetimes!
"But you can't just surround someone's house like that!"
"Oh, that's another matter." Fusu's gaze drifted to Duan Yin'er, noticing that her eyes were filled with hatred. If it weren't for the need to keep her here for a while longer, she probably would have rushed over and given him a good beating: "You tell me."
"Today I asked a VIP to surround your residence because of an old grudge. Zhang Fucai, you plotted to kill my father and fake his suicide, colluding with the government to seize his family's wealth and take over his business. Do you dare to admit to this murder?"
Zhang Fucai, the head of the Zhang family, twisted his expression for a moment before raising his hand: "You're spouting nonsense!"
He turned to Fusu and said, “My lord, don’t be fooled by her. I sold far more horses to the Song army than her short-lived father ever did, and every single one of these transactions is recorded! When the Song army besieged the city, I was the first to advocate opening the city gates. Otherwise, how could I have been qualified to invite you to grace us with your presence?”
"If you listen to this madwoman and punish me, I fear you will chill the hearts of the people of Huai Ren!"
Fusu: Oh wow, so you actually know how to use merit to blackmail me. Your reaction is pretty quick.
He didn't believe Zhang Fucai's claim of merit was false; otherwise, why would he be the one receiving such a lucrative offer? The people of Yunzhou might not know his identity, but the people of Song did. Being assigned such a lucrative post must have been due to something General Di Qing had promised him.
"Perhaps," Fusu said noncommittally.
Just as Zhang Fucai's anger turned to joy and Duan Yin'er's face quickly turned ashen, he changed the subject: "Then, what about the other one?"
"What do you have to say about Duan Yin'er telling me that you have been trafficking people on the Liao-Song border for many years?"
Zhang Fucai's fleshy face went blank for a moment. He thought the accusations were all there was, and that he had escaped unscathed. Now it was too late to come up with a way to defend himself; his mind suddenly went blank and couldn't process anything.
“He doesn’t have it, but I do.”
A voice suddenly came from behind Zhang Fucai. Su Shi shook his head and said, "Miss Duan's methods are too clever; she actually managed to get the Zhang family's ledger of people being sold."
No wonder she was so confident and dared to confront them. As long as she found a reliable backer willing to seek justice for her, taking down the Zhang family would be almost a certainty.
He waved the old book in his hand, watching Zhang Fucai's face turn towards him with a mixture of fear and trepidation: "Is this the head of the Zhang family? He looks respectable enough, but who knows he's a heartless scoundrel behind the scenes."
"Hey, Zhao Xiaolang, come and take a look."
Fusu took the ledger, flipped through a few pages, and found it to be extremely detailed. It recorded in a certain year and month how many people were abducted from which place, and how much money was made from their sale. Behind each seemingly casual entry lay the blood and tears of countless families.
He seemed to be deep in thought, and flipped through the records from the year to the beginning. In one of the records, he found the words "September of the first year of Qingli", "eighteen people", and "only seventeen were left when they were sold". Regarding the origin of the women who were abducted and sold, the words "Jizhou" and "Shengjing" were clearly written.
"These are all fabrications made by that madwoman herself, trying to frame me! Please, sir, open your eyes wide!"
"Oh? But how come I saw records of people I know being trafficked on it?"
There's no mistake, this is the group that sold Apu and the others. It matches every single piece of information they revealed.
"But, but all I'm sending to the Song Dynasty are women. Aren't I helping you?"
This plea for mercy completely ignited Fusu's anger. He sneered, "What do you take women for? Did you dare say that to those who have lost their own flesh and blood?"
After saying it, I felt it was pointless.
There's no point in reasoning with human traffickers; only punishment is what they deserve: "Since you put it that way, then you can be escorted back to the Song Dynasty as a favor to Yunzhou."
He waved his hand, and several elite soldiers immediately rushed in from outside the door, surrounding Zhang Fucai. With a twist of his body, he pinned down Zhang's arm.
Zhang Fucai's face turned deathly pale in an instant. He tried to make a final struggle, but Duan Yin'er, who had rested and regained her strength, punched him to the ground. Fusu turned his back halfway, looking up at the sky and then at the ground, pretending that he hadn't seen anything.
Modern law does not permit vigilante justice. Once the facts are ascertained, the case should be handed over to the relevant authorities for processing according to the law.
But this is ancient times.
Duan Yin'er, suppressing the urge to punch, finally unleashed a barrage of blows on Zhang Fucai's face. He was pinned down, and his plump, pale face quickly turned from red to large, irregular bruises.
Duan Yin'er gradually lost her strength. Watching Zhang Fucai being beaten and howling in pain, she initially felt a surge of relief, but her eyes gradually became empty. Finally, she let out a sorrowful sob.
The person who murdered her father was finally caught. But the charge wasn't murder. There were too many suspicious circumstances surrounding the drunken fall into the water versus the deliberate pushing, making evidence extremely difficult to find. She could only start with the human trafficking investigation, and after much hardship, she finally obtained Zhang Fucai's hidden ledger, patiently waiting for a turning point.
Finally, the day she had been waiting for had come.
After she had vented her anger, Zhang Fucai was dragged away. Fusu then gave a few more instructions: "Investigate his family, steward, servants, and business partners as well. There should be many accomplices, henchmen, and people who knew about it but didn't report it."
"Oh, right, set up a petition drum in front of the county government office. All the people who have been oppressed by the Zhang family can go and beat the drum to tell their grievances."
“That’s good,” Su Shi said. “I don’t believe that such a wicked person has only done one evil thing.”
-
The Zhang family, the notorious tyrants of Huai'ren County, have fallen.
The story spread like wildfire, quickly reaching every corner of the village. Almost every villager had a relative or friend who had been bullied by the Zhang family. When the matter was brought up, they all unanimously spat: "Good riddance! They should have been brought down long ago!"
The villagers of Wujia Village, however, had a different focus.
"A minor nobleman? You mean? The one who subdued the Zhang family was a minor nobleman? How minor? How noble? What does he look like?"
This matter was outside the scope of gossip, and those asked were completely baffled. Despite the villagers' persistent efforts, they only received a few fragmented descriptions.
"It's from the Song Dynasty," "It looks like a glutinous rice dumpling," "It looks very expensive," "It resembles a little fairy from a New Year's painting"...
The villagers of Wujia Village fell into deep thought, looking at each other in bewilderment.
"Is it him?"
"Absolutely, right? Didn't you say you were going to Huai'ren?"
I think so too...
"What are you trying to say in riddles!" Old Man Wu said, "Just say what you want to say! Who else could it be but Little Nobleman? Little Nobleman is so smart, isn't it normal for him to be able to solve cases?"
"But the problem is..." The villagers looked at the statue they had erected for Fusu and fell into deep thought.
Because Fusu brought them a clear path to wealth. The casting of the statue was almost unanimously approved, with the young nobleman wearing a turban and holding a gold ingot aloft, creating an adorable little god of wealth. This was so that future generations would frequently come to see and worship him, ensuring the incense would never cease to burn.
Now that we've learned that the little nobleman is actually an upright official, how should this statue be changed?
Old Man Wu: "Isn't that simple? Doesn't the young nobleman still have his other hand free? Just make a couple of changes, and it'll be fine."
Thus, the clay sculpture of Fusu was freshly made again. In the new image, he holds a huge gold ingot in his left hand and a judge's pen stained with ink in his right hand.
On her adorable, round face, the left half is adorned with smiling, curved eyebrows, while the right half exudes an air of stern authority and authority.
...It looks like he has a split personality.
Later, for reasons well-known, this image spread wider and wider, originating in Yunzhou and then re-imported back to the Song Dynasty. Only one emperor, oblivious to the truth, strongly demanded that the statue not be given a name.
Fusu: I refuse to acknowledge that this person is me!
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Author's Note: [Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers][Sprinkling flowers]
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