Chapter 73: Never let the hatred go unpunished.
Yue Yining picked up a kerosene lamp, walked around stacks of wooden crates, and headed deeper into the warehouse.
The wind carried the metallic stench. It was too quiet and too dark here; the endless mud bricks resembled a graveyard. As you walked deeper, you could gradually see huge black shadows, like tombstones reaching to the heavens.
There were rows of shelves, with long wooden planks displaying supplies such as clay, ox bone ash, and borax. But these weren't Yue Yining's targets; she only glanced at them briefly before looking away.
At the far end of the fifth shelf stood a conspicuous elmwood table. Yue Yining walked over, the golden light streaming over the decaying, hollow elmwood. She tried to open the table's drawer, but it was stuck. After observing for a moment, Yue Yining placed a kerosene lamp on the ground, its light illuminating the keyhole in the drawer.
Unlocking was a simple task for Yue Yining. But the keyhole was too small; a hairpin wouldn't work. Without hesitation, Yue Yining removed the white pearl earring from her earlobe and inserted the silver wire into the keyhole.
Opening the drawer, Yue Yining found a blue-covered "Raw Materials Diary." She picked it up and flipped through it casually. It recorded every raw material that had come in and out over the past few days in great detail, including copper and lead materials, with daily intake and consumption down to the last detail.
As Yue Yining held the booklet in her hand, a thought suddenly came to mind.
It's too easy.
Although there was a lock, anyone could open such a sophisticated lock; a homeless child could easily poke it a few times with a wire. As a record book detailing the actual proportions of raw materials, if stolen, it would serve as the most compelling evidence to condemn the Kim family to infamy.
The unguarded, unobtrusive desk and the simple lock that immediately catch the eye upon entering seem quite out of character for Jin Yuanxiu.
The edges of the cover are worn and frayed, showing signs of years of use.
Yue Yining narrowed her eyes. From the outside, this booklet appeared flawless, but if it were a fake account, a closer look at the entries would surely reveal its flaws.
However, she didn't have time to examine it closely. If she took the wrong diary, she would alert the enemy, and then it would be impossible to obtain this evidence without anyone noticing.
Suddenly, Yue Yining heard a strange sound. The faint yet rhythmic sound gradually echoed in the quiet space, slowly approaching from a distance. Yue Yining stood still for a while before realizing that it was footsteps.
Someone entered the passageway. Due to its structure, even the faintest sounds were amplified in the narrow passage. The footsteps grew clearer.
Yue Yining held the ledger, her mind racing. Suddenly, she smelled a fragrance wafting to her nose. Because she had been too focused on her thoughts, she hadn't noticed the strange scent immediately—a faint, cool woody aroma.
It smells like pine resin.
Yue Yining squatted down again and tapped the bottom of the drawer with her fingers.
Sure enough, she heard overlapping echoes, which meant there was a hollow compartment under the wooden board at the bottom of the drawer. She pulled the drawer open again and felt along the quadrilateral inch by inch until she finally found an uneven spot. The movable wooden board slid open a finger's width as she pressed on it, and the scent of pine resin used to lubricate the mechanism instantly filled her nose.
The genuine "Raw Materials Diary" was wrapped in waterproof oilcloth and hidden in a wooden compartment beneath the drawer. Yue Yining turned the yellowed pages, her fingertips tracing the varying shades of ink. With the comparison, some subtle traces became apparent; the forged accounts appeared neat and careful in their handwriting, while the genuine records were often quick, with cursive and sloppy strokes.
The sound of metal clanging came from outside the armory. This time, the metallic clang was closer, passing through the iron gate and echoing clearly within the copper-sheathed armory.
Yue Yining quickly stuffed the "Raw Materials Diary" into her bosom and stuffed the fake accounts back into the drawer. She walked briskly toward the door, her feet landing on the ground without making a sound. Only the kerosene lamp in her hand swayed as she ran, and the shadows and yellow light flickered on the walls of the copper sheath warehouse, like two ghosts playing.
Just a few steps away from the door, Yue Yining heard a burst of laughter outside the warehouse door, followed by the huge iron door being pushed open in front of her.
Two craftsmen walked in, the one in front speaking with a deep voice: "Those guys outside are really too bold. They think there's no one around late at night, so they're loudly proclaiming the Jin family's dirty secrets in the courtyard. I just went upstairs to take a look, and Jin Lu is still here."
"It's so late, what's an official like him doing still in the factory? Could it be that he also wants to try the feeling of hammering coins?"
Haha ...
The iron gate slowly closed, and the two craftsmen, chatting and laughing, pushed their iron carts forward without looking back. Behind them, unseen by anyone, in the shadow of the wooden crates cast by the kerosene lamp, a dark shape suddenly began to writhe.
Yue Yining peeked out from the pile of boxes, staring at the backs of the two craftsmen.
As she watched their movements, she used the shadows on the ground to circle around to the door. The noise of the metal chains clanging together masked the sounds of her crouching and moving around.
"...Old Li and the others are too stupid. I've warned them many times that if they want to gossip, they should do it in places like this so they won't get caught. Jin Lu has that vindictive nature; if he holds a grudge against them, they're finished."
"I overheard them talking about Jin Yuanxiu's daughter? Isn't that girl blind?"
Yue Yining's hand had already touched the crack in the door, but upon hearing this, she suddenly stopped in her tracks as she was about to open the door.
"What blind woman?! Old Wu's wife works at Jin's shop, don't you remember? She just saw that girl checking the accounts at the shop not long ago, and her eyesight is perfectly good!"
"That's strange. Old Lin told me that the girl came to the factory once when she was a child with Jin Yuanxiu. He saw her once, and she was clearly blind. She even had white cloth strips wrapped around her eyes!"
"Huh? That's strange..."
A rustling sound came from the doorway. It happened to be a brief moment when the iron cart chains were not making a clanging sound, so the abrupt sound traveled through half of the copper sheath and reached the two men's ears very clearly.
The craftsman trailing behind the cart turned around and raised his voice: "Who's there!?"
He raised the kerosene lamp high, and the light illuminated the iron gate. The strange noises stopped, and there was nothing beside the gate except for stacks of wooden crates.
Yue Yining stood with her back against the iron gate in the passageway. She let out a soft breath, and without lingering any longer, immediately walked out along the passage.
Fu Yao waited anxiously for her at the entrance of the passageway. When she saw that she had come out safely, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Oh my god... thank goodness you're alright, Miss. I was so worried about you when I saw those two people go in for so long and you still hadn't come out!"
"How could I be caught so easily?" Yue Yining winked at her and waved the thing in her hand. "Look! I guessed right. This is the raw material logbook I found inside, which records all the actual material quantities."
"With this, our trip today wasn't in vain."
Fu Yao asked happily, "Then, Miss, what are we looking for next, or should we go back?"
“There’s still time,” Yue Yining said, tucking the diary back into her bosom, a glint of light flashing in her eyes. “Besides, I overheard something interesting in the copper sheath storeroom just now, which means I have a new lead.”
"Yaoyao, let's go and see how to get to the second floor."
Whether it was the six craftsmen he had met in the courtyard or the two he had encountered in the copper sheath storehouse, they had all mentioned the name Jin Lu. Yue Yining had checked the list of officials in charge of dispatching mints beforehand, and there was indeed a person named Jin Lu in charge. Because of the surname "Jin," Yue Yining had some impression of him.
In the list Yue Yining had checked, Jin Lu was not the highest-ranking official, nor did he hold a particularly powerful position. However, judging from the discussions among those people, Jin Lu was the official with the most influence in the mint, and his ability to wield such power despite his low rank was clearly closely related to the current city lord, Jin Yuanxiu.
Yue Yining's thoughts went even darker—perhaps this was the result of Jin Yuanxiu's deliberate arrangement. If a member of the Jin family held a high position of power, he would inevitably be criticized. A tree that stands out in the forest will be felled by the wind, and over time, this would sow the seeds of future troubles.
However, if he were to assign an inconspicuous position as he does now, and then secretly manipulate the situation so that the actual power is in the hands of his own people, he could achieve his goal of completely controlling the mint without anyone noticing.
She remembered that the two men said Jin Lu was on the second floor, which meant that the second floor wasn't a copper and iron smelting place, but rather an office for officials. Perhaps she could find more compelling physical evidence of Jin's corruption there.
"...My lord, this is not something I'm making up; it is indeed true!"
Yue Yining and Fu Yao climbed the wooden stairs and happened to hear voices coming from upstairs, seemingly an anxious explanation. Yue Yining narrowed her eyes and urged, "Yao Yao, let's hurry up."
The spacious second-floor porch was narrow, with only a dim light emanating from a tightly closed room at the far end. Yue Yining and Fu Yao walked to the door, only to find it guarded and unable to approach any further.
What should we do?
Fu Yao pointed to the top of her head and gave Yue Yining an expectant look.
Yue Yining: "......."
She said, "No."
Fu Yao encouraged her, "Miss, let's go over the roof beams above. Don't be afraid, I'll hold your waist and jump up."
Yue Yining: "...I'm not afraid, I just feel like I probably won't be able to jump up."
After Fu Yao's repeated pleas, Yue Yining finally agreed to let her try. The two circled around to a corner out of the guards' sight, Fu Yao put her arm around Yue Yining's waist, and with a light touch of her toes, she and Yue Yining jumped up and gracefully leaped onto the roof beam.
Yue Yining: "Wow, I'm flying!!"
Fu Yao: "Miss, please keep your voice down!"
The two tiptoed down from the roof beam to the door, where they finally had a clear view of the room. Behind the desk at the head of the room sat a middle-aged man wearing a black gauze hat, stroking his beard. At each of the four corners of the room and in front of the door stood a guard with a sword. The figure kneeling in the center of the room was slightly hunched over, and judging from his coarse cloth shirt, he seemed to be a craftsman working in a factory.
The man kneeling on the ground spoke in a hoarse voice, breaking the silence like exploding copper slag in a furnace, “Please, Your Excellency, be the judge. What has been poured into the furnace these days is not some rare metal that can produce copper, but white lead produced in Qinghuai!”
Yue Yining's pupils contracted slightly. She gestured for Fu Yao to stop there and not move.
The tall, thin figure of Jin Lu, the foreman of the mint, was cast on the door paper by the lamplight, resembling a snake flicking its tongue. Hearing this, he remained silent, but gestured with his eyes for the old craftsman to continue.
The old craftsman kneeling on the ground beamed with joy and quickly continued, "The white lead produced in Qinghuai is different from ordinary lead. Its color and texture are more like silver, and it is often mistaken for it. If Qinghuai were not my wife's hometown, and if I hadn't happened to have seen this kind of trinkets there, I wouldn't have been able to recognize it either."
"Sir, this white lead is just lead; it's impossible for it to form copper! There must be some mistake!"
The clerk standing next to Jin Lu demanded in a shrill voice, "Since you always knew it was lead, why didn't you say so before?"
The old craftsman said urgently, "I wasn't in charge of inspecting the materials before. Today I filled in for Old Liu and saw the raw materials before they were melted and cast. Only then could I confirm that the so-called rare metal was lead!"
"If all the metal poured into the furnace is white lead, then the lead content in the copper coins produced over the past six months would exceed the standard. The copper coins would be underweight, and the copper-lead ratio would absolutely not comply with the imperial court's regulations! If the imperial court sends someone to investigate..."
Jin Lu waved his hand, suddenly interrupting the old craftsman: "Have you discussed these things with anyone beforehand?"
The old craftsman paused, then replied, "No, sir."
"That's good. If you had made a big fuss about it, you would have ruined us." Jin Lu spoke up, his voice as sticky as a snake's body. "Zhang Tiechui, don't forget that your ancestors for three generations have only survived to this day because they were fed by the mint."
“Yes, sir, that’s exactly why!” Zhang Tiechui, kneeling on the ground, anxiously raised his head. “To tell you the truth, my father passed away in the thirtieth year of the Changtai era. I was young then and witnessed firsthand how the ‘Copper-Lead Incident’ happened and how it triggered the great riots at the end of the Changtai era… The excessive issuance of lead coins will one day harm the people and bring disaster to the government. It is by no means a trivial matter!”
Jin Lu sat in a chair, calmly drinking the tea served by the guards. The firelight cast a shadow on his black gauze hat, and a huge shadow covered the entire east wall.
He remained calm and even managed a smile: "I know everything you're saying. Didn't I come from that era myself?"
Yue Yining looked down at the commotion below. The roof beams were pitch black, and her body and long hair were also shrouded in darkness. Only her face, which was turned downwards, was illuminated by a bright light, making her gentle and beautiful face shine even more, like a Bodhisattva gilded with gold.
Jinlu said, "I remember you have quite a few children in your family, don't you?"
Sparks suddenly burst from the bronze lampstand, and Zhang Tiechui's pupils reflected the falling embers. He stared at Jin Lu in disbelief: "What...?"
"Keep this to yourself and don't tell anyone. I guarantee you won't get into any trouble. I'll give you another sum of money later," Jinlu said, giving an amount. Seeing the change in Zhang Tiechui's expression, he nodded in satisfaction. "This amount is enough for your family to live a good life. Old Zhang, don't worry. Just keep working hard at the factory. After all, you've been here for so many years, and the factory can't do without you."
Zhang Tiechui vaguely understood the meaning behind Jin Lu's words, but he found it hard to believe: "Does this mean... I should pretend nothing happened?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean."
“This…this…” Zhang Tiechui had clearly gone through a mental struggle, and he finally lowered his head. “Sir, I cannot agree to this.”
Jin Lu wasn't surprised. "Oh, why?"
"...My lord, there are some things that must never be done." Zhang Tiechui closed his eyes briefly, then opened them, his eyes bloodshot. "You don't know this, but my father died in a stampede during a market frenzy over lead coins, a riot that sparked the chaos..."
The celadon cup was thrown out of nowhere, shattering right in front of Zhang Tiechui's knees, cutting off the rest of his sentence. Shards flew everywhere, and tea spilled from the cracked cup, pooling into pale yellow springs on the floor along the wood grain.
Such an insulting act caused Fu Yao to tighten her grip on Yue Yining's wrist.
Jin Lu slowly rose to his feet, the patterns on the hem of his dark purple robe swirling in the candlelight, like a gaping maw ready to devour its prey.
“Show him.”
The guard kicked the old craftsman in the back of the knee, stunning him. He didn't react for a moment until the guard slapped the booklet onto his face. He shakily reached out and picked off the yellowed Xuan paper.
"Did you see it clearly?" Jin Lu's black boots stepped over. "This smelting process approval document is stamped and has been reviewed by officials of all ranks in Suyang. You should be able to read, right? Lead four parts, copper six parts, can you see it clearly this time?"
“How could the mint’s affairs not have been communicated to you gentlemen? Look at the names on this list. This isn’t something you can handle alone, nor can it be swayed by some minor official who comes down for inspection. This big tree has been intertwined for so long that its branches and leaves have long since covered the sky.” Jin Lu advised him kindly, as if he were truly thinking of his best interests. “You shouldn’t always be thinking about those empty things. This great opportunity is right in front of you. If I were you, I would seize it and be able to live a good life that I never dared to dream of before.”
Yue Yining's expression hardened, and she stared intently at the piece of paper in Zhang Tiechui's hand.
Zhang Tiechui's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was hoarse, yet every word was as powerful as a bronze bell: "So that's how it is! So that's how it is! There was no mistake with the white lead at all; it was clearly someone who did it on purpose! It was you, Jin Lu! You despicable person!"
Jin Lu chuckled and said, "Look at what you're saying, that's really awful. Is it only my name that's on it?"
Zhang Tiechui sneered, "Yes, all of you Jin family members are a bunch of jackals and tigers! Do you know what Emperor Hongwu wrote on the iron tablet erected at the factory gate? Those who cheat the people out of their money will be torn to pieces by ten thousand blades!"
Jin Lu suddenly raised his leg and kicked the old craftsman hard in the abdomen. The old craftsman was immediately kicked to the ground and coughed wildly.
The gold ring on his finger flashed coldly in the candlelight. Jin Lu raised his hand to signal, and the guard drew out a leather whip soaked in salt water, the tip of which was studded with tiny iron pellets—a unique feature of the mint's private punishments.
The dull thud of the first lash striking her shoulder blade made Fu Yao's eyelashes tremble. Yue Yining pressed down on her wrist, which was about to rise.
"It seems you don't think my suggestion is very good."
“Then there’s nothing I can do.” Jinlu blew away the tea foam. “If you refuse to agree, you only have one path left to take.”
Jin Lu didn't finish speaking, but the surrounding lights blazed brightly, the whip lashed his body with excruciating pain, and blood gradually blurred his vision. Everything clearly told him that this was the road to the underworld.
Zhang Tiechui spat out half a broken tooth, blood splattering on the ground. He struggled to speak, "My father said before he died... money is the flesh and blood of the people..."
When the iron whip tore open the second wound, the old craftsman's back was no longer recognizable as its original color.
A series of muffled groans rose and fell as Yue Yining watched blood droplets continuously splatter onto the wooden box. It was an ornament that had been placed on Jin Lu's desk as a decoration, but now, soaked in human blood, it was translucent, as if it had been crafted from the finest mahogany.
Yue Yining's fingertips gripped the roof beams; the thick dust felt sticky and gritty, like undried human blood.
"Why bother?" Jin Lu squatted down, standing in front of Zhang Tiechui's festering wounds. "Why did you do this to yourself?"
The old craftsman's spine suddenly straightened like a quenched bronze bar. He stared at Jin Lu, blood dripping from his lips: "You...you will be punished..."
“Those babies who died recently… must have died because of lead money…” Zhang Tiechui spat out a mouthful of blood, trembling as he uttered curses, “Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor. On the night of the Ghost Festival, their ghosts will crawl out from the money holes and break the bones of you thieves one by one, inch by inch!”
Jin Lu stopped laughing this time. Seemingly finally annoyed by the old craftsman, he took the branding iron handed to him by the guard. It was originally a tool used to mark copper ingots, and now it was glowing red-hot in the charcoal brazier.
Fu Yao's breathing suddenly quickened. Yue Yining placed her palm on the back of her neck to comfort her, and the two of them watched as the branding iron was pressed against the old craftsman's chest, the smoke from the charred flesh mixed with lead ash rising and forming eerie auspicious clouds between the beams and pillars.
"I'll ask you one last time," Jinlu said, emphasizing each word. "If you change your mind now, it's not too late."
Zhang Tiechui's throat bones creaked in excruciating pain, and blood gushed from the corner of his mouth. He still didn't utter a single word.
His silence was met with the guards' iron whips, which rained down on his back.
Yue Yining silently counted in his mind, and when the whipping stopped at the thirty-sixth strike, the old craftsman remained silent. He seemed to already know his fate; he would rather offer his neck to be slaughtered than compromise his last integrity.
By the end, the wooden plank in the center of the room was soaked with blood. The old craftsman lay there silently and motionless, his hands and feet twisted in a strange and limp position on the ground.
Seeing his miserable state, Jin Lu remained unmoved, "He's really stubborn."
"Throw it into the furnace." Jin Lu took the handkerchief handed to him by the guard and lazily wiped his fingertips. "Tell the patrol bureau that Zhang Tiechui was caught stealing lead and committed suicide by self-immolation out of fear of punishment."
The guard respectfully reported, "Reporting to Master Jin, Zhang has another son who works as a coal transporter at the mint."
"Oh? How old are you?"
"He should have just turned twenty."
Jin Lu smiled maliciously, "He's still very young. How's his son doing with his work?"
"He works very hard and is a hardworking kid. Besides Zhang Tiechui, he is the only able-bodied person in the Zhang family. His wife passed away early, leaving behind two children under ten years old and an old lady who is almost seventy years old. They rely on the two of them to support the whole family."
As if sensing something, Zhang Tiechui, who had been lying on the ground on the verge of death, suddenly narrowed his eyes. He stared intently at Jin Lu, his trembling lips parted, and he kept making gurgling sounds of "ah" and "ah" in his throat.
Like the final guillotine falling, Jin Lu said, "What a pity, such a good child. But he is Zhang Tiechui's son, who knows what he might have said to him. If he is kept alive, he will surely cause endless trouble."
"Pass on my order to take his son to the authorities. As for the crime... his father stole government property and committed suicide out of fear of punishment. His crime is grave, and the son should pay for the father's debts. He will bear the responsibility." Jin Lu chuckled. "As for what punishment he will receive, oh dear, let me think, I can't quite remember. It should be breaking both his legs, right?"
The light in Zhang Tiechui's eyes gradually faded, his head lolled to the side, and he breathed his last. The expression on his face changed several times before finally settling on despair.
Fu Yao gritted her teeth, tears welling in her eyes. If Yue Yining hadn't held her back so tightly, she would have jumped. They watched as the guards used iron hooks to drag away the inhuman body, carving a reddish-black stream across the bluestone slab.
Yue Yining looked down, her eyes fixed on the note Zhang Tiechui was clutching. Sure enough, the moment Zhang Tiechui was dragged out the door, a guard bent down, took the flimsy note from his hand, and respectfully returned to the desk, handing it to Jin Lu.
"How annoying. To deal with this, I'm stuck in this godforsaken place until so late." Jin Lu muttered, casually tucking the paper into a book and putting it in a drawer. He got up and left the desk. "Have the servants prepare a carriage and horses. Let's go back to the manor."
The six guards inside the room escorted him out. The candles were blown out, and with a click of the lock, the room fell into boundless silence and darkness. Only the pervasive stench of blood told the story of the horrific massacre that had just taken place.
Yue Yining, who was crouching on the roof beam, slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. The little maid beside her wiped away her tears, but her eyes were still red. Yue Yining patted her shoulder reassuringly, but Fu Yao looked at her and said in a hoarse voice, "Miss, after this is all over, may I kill him?"
Yue Yining didn't answer her directly, but nodded: "Very good. Thinking of killing him instead of running away shows that you are very brave. Remember this feeling, and never lose this ambition to kill those in power."
“I know you want to tear him to pieces. But your young lady has seen plenty of people like him. Killing them would be too good for them.”
Yue Yining looked at her and said, “If you want them to suffer, you have to make them watch helplessly as their most precious things are taken away. You have to take away their wealth, status, and power... Just as they trample on the common people, you should trample on them. That’s what revenge is.”
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