Volume Two: Bandits in These Parts Chapter Eighty-Nine: Lin Peiyou

“Where did you wander off to? Don’t get yourself lost in this town now. A mistake here could ruin everything,” Chen Mo teased Lin Changtian upon his return. The others were all struggling not to laugh, smiles bright on every face.

Lin Changtian paid Chen Mo no mind and strode into the room. In the past, with his usual temperament, he would have fired back a few sharp retorts and gone toe-to-toe with him. But he was in no mood now, looking as though he had lost his soul. It was almost as if some fool had somehow offended this mighty lord of great renown...

Well, it was still raining hard. He collapsed onto the bed and no longer bothered to think about what had happened behind him.

The boldness he had declared in the rain seemed to have been washed clean away once the sky cleared.

What was fortunate was that he slept soundly, innocent as a baby in swaddling clothes, giving no one cause for suspicion. A voice seemed to whisper at the edge of heaven and earth, soft beside his ear:

Why not mind your own business and live a little more freely?

The man in question was already snoring and did not want to hear a word from anyone.

...

The sun still rose, and the clear sky after the rain was dazzlingly beautiful. When Lin Changtian woke, he rubbed his eyes and went looking for food. After stuffing the last crumb of bread into his mouth, a spark suddenly lit in his empty stare.

“Damn it all!”

Lin Changtian roared. On his way back, he had circled around someone’s mansion, and the leftover dishes in that slop were indeed rare finds. Back in Sishan, no one would have looked twice at them, but after eating nothing but bread crumbs for days, even a carnivorous beast would start eyeing everything with hungry green eyes.

Why should what I eat not even be as good as the leftovers in your slop bucket?

Lin Changtian was furious, and at last he had found a justification that let him go and clean up the filth of the Northern Domain.

“It is absolutely not because I want to meddle in the town’s affairs, and let alone because I am standing up for the common people in the name of justice. That has nothing to do with me... no, not one bit!” Lin Changtian declared with great solemnity. He even gathered the others together, hoping to show off a little of his commander’s majesty, but since everyone knew his nature well enough, none of them paid the fool any mind.

“Silence! Silence!” Lin Changtian cleared his throat and assumed an official tone. “Chen, how do you do your work? It took you this long just to find out where the man lives? If this were Sishan, you’d already have been dragged out and executed!”

Kui Sheng gave him a strange look and, with perfect timing, said, “Changtian, this was the very task you insisted on taking yesterday. In the end, you got lost yourself and delayed everyone quite a bit...”

Lin Changtian acted as though he had heard nothing. With a sweeping motion of his hand, he resumed his lazy manner. “Since that’s how it is, I shall magnanimously forgive you all. Now then, tell me, how was this Xieli Town?”

Chen Mo curled his lip and sneered repeatedly. “I saw several monkey shows, but none of them were as good as the one being performed right before me. Perhaps this fellow was acting in his true colors.”

“The city walls of Xieli Town are thick enough, but they still can’t compare to some man surnamed Lin,” Chen Ziliang said, blinking innocently. Even when he was mocking someone, he did so with a perfectly straight face. “And let me make this clear: I am not implying anything. I am naming names.”

Lin Changtian gave him a sidelong glance, faintly contemptuous. “What’s there to be afraid of? I’ve already made it plain. I’m talking about Lin Yuan. What of it? Why make such a roundabout fuss? Could he really come all the way here to hack you down?”

Chen Ziliang: ...

He stood there for a long while, then finally, with great restraint, gave Lin Changtian a thumbs-up.

People always said Ma Hui was shameless. That fellow was only good for a laugh. The one who truly lived by sheer thickness of skin had to be the Lin Changtian from my mountain...

“Let’s speak seriously,” Xu Yong said. “That Lin Peiyou really does live up to being Lin Yuan’s third son. He acts cautiously and leaves almost no openings. He hardly ever goes out. Only today, during the morning tribute ceremony, did he make an appearance, and I happened to catch him. I only got a distant look, but he truly is a handsome and dashing young man.”

Xu Yong interjected because he had some doubts. Clearly, he felt there was more to be uncovered.

“What sort of novelty is this morning tribute?” Lin Changtian asked, shaking his head in disdain for a long while. “I’ve never heard of such a thing in the Central Plains or the Northern Domain. It sounds like yet another of Lin Yuan’s crooked tricks.”

The morning tribute, Xu Yong explained, was a ritual in which girls of marriageable age were presented in a manner that complied with custom and carried only the faintest hint of formality, then offered up in worship to the heavens. Once the rite was over, the men gathered below would be chosen to receive these so-called offerings. To put it plainly, the “sacrificial gifts” were young women at the age when they should have been enjoying the bloom of their youth.

Xu Yong blinked as he watched Lin Changtian’s expression shift from scorn to astonishment, then gradually brighten with gleaming eyes.

The man paced around the room with his hands clasped behind his back for quite some time, then slapped the table hard and declared with righteous indignation, “How can no one step forward and set this shameful corruption straight? All this exposing of chests and arms... do these youngsters not know that health is what truly matters? The next time I come across such a thing, be sure to tell me. Even if I have to risk everything, I will bring those poor women, who have strayed into the dust of the world, home one by one and properly criticize and educate them.”

This time, the others changed expression entirely. Aside from Chen Ziliang, who was still staring dumbly, everyone stood on Lin Changtian’s side and began denouncing Xu Yong for keeping such good things to himself instead of sharing them like a loyal brother.

Why mention brotherhood in this too? Chen Mo very seriously told Xu Yong, “Xu, I’m already no spring chicken, and I don’t have anyone to keep me company. As a result, I’ve developed a terminal condition. If I go a single day without seeing a girl, I feel miserable all over and my path of cultivation grows unstable. So next time something this good comes up, you must tell your brother. If it really works out, then you’d be Chen’s reborn parents...”

“Who would have thought that Lin Yuan preaches morality and human relations all day long, yet his own son finds the hidden vulgar customs so delightful? I see he’s nothing but a filthy wretch himself,” Lin Changtian said with a light laugh, having entirely forgotten how ridiculous he himself had just been.

“This... is rather too one-sided,” Xu Yong said, shaking his head and adopting a serious expression as he pressed the others back into their seats. “It sounds absurd, but it truly does work. Do you think those women are someone’s respectable daughters? Changtian has already said something right: every one of them was formerly a woman of the dust. Yet Lin Yuan had issued strict orders banning prostitution, and no one in town was willing to take them in. Some petty ruffians, with filthy intentions, did drag such girls home, but those girls lived under beatings day after day. Lin Peiyou truly made a great effort here. He did not disobey his father’s orders either. Knowing that the people of Xieli Town were extremely superstitious and devoted to worshiping heaven, he used exactly this kind of trick. In the end, the men believed that receiving the offerings was a blessing from heaven, and instead they developed pity and care for the girls who had strayed into the dust. On this matter, he did not handle things carelessly.”

Xu Yong laid out what had been on his mind and then turned his back to the window. He still had one doubt waiting for an answer.

“That makes even less sense,” Chen Mo said, furrowing his brows as he casually tapped Lin Changtian on the head. “If this fellow truly had such feelings of pity, then why did he do so many ridiculous things? Why delay the farming season just to learn empty rituals? Aren’t the people who rely on that harvest to eat all year supposed to go hungry for many days because of a single speech from him? And more than that, his prohibition against private education is even more sinister. Even in the Northern Domain, no one would dare so brazenly cut off another family’s descendants like that.”

Lin Changtian seemed to have caught the point. Without changing his expression, he kicked Chen Mo back, and as the latter winced in pain, he slowly said, “After Lin Peiyou came to Xieli, the only two things he has done are promote learning and clarify rites. What he promotes is the sons and daughters of major clans; what he clarifies are the excessive ceremonies that ordinary people should not imitate. However you look at it, there are far too many suspicious details here. If he were merely trying to put wealthy young heirs in order, then why abolish private tutoring and instead throw himself into building schools? That is not discipline; that is the opposite of it. Either Lin Peiyou is merely a crude and rash fool, or... he too has been misled by someone.”

“Who would dare deceive Lin Yuan’s third son? That’s just picking a fight in a midlife crisis, as though a tiger had gone into menopause,” Chen Mo muttered under his breath, clearly unwilling to believe Lin Changtian’s explanation.

Lin Changtian ignored him. He turned his back and stood beside Xu Yong, as though the intelligence of the remaining few were beneath his notice. “Don’t be afraid. Even if your brains are only as big as a walnut, that doesn’t stop you from being foolish, does it? Think carefully. When Lin Yuan sent his third son here, what message was quietly being sent? They claimed to trust the local officials and brought very few guards. But if the massacre was meant for Xieli Town, then the people they should have been guarding against were the locals, were they not? Why then would they be so wary of the officials sent here under Lin Yuan’s banner?”

“Perhaps there’s someone causing trouble from within,” Chen Mo said, also turning away to stand with the two of them. His expression was aloof, with the lofty air of some ancient sage who had long since surpassed the vulgar world.

Kui Sheng nodded. Though he was still completely puzzled, he nonetheless put on the look of someone who had reached the same conclusion. He moved closer to Lin Changtian. The four heads all faced the window, each glancing at the others, each secretly displeased, and then, in perfect unison, they turned their bodies away and fixed their gaze on Chen Ziliang, that simpleton, eager to hear his brilliant insight.

“Hm? Is it time to eat? I really don’t get you people,” Chen Ziliang said, scratching his head and openly scorning the intelligence of the others. “What does whether this person is good or bad have to do with us? We came here to capture him. If you’re curious, just drag him back and give him a beating. Won’t everything come out then?”

“The guards are heavily posted. How could we possibly succeed? Unless Ziliang already has a plan?” Lin Changtian asked, his face full of expectation as he looked at him pleadingly.

Chen Ziliang slung his spear across his body and, with great pride, began lecturing the others. “Do such simple matters really need me to spell them out? And you still laugh at me for being clumsy? Just march in with weapons in hand and cut our way through. Go straight, then take that turn there, and you’ll reach Lin Peiyou’s residence. If we borrow Ma Hui’s name, would the guards at the gate dare not make way? At the very least, that fellow is a Northern Domain tyrant. He’ll certainly be able to frighten them.”

Lin Changtian let out a breath of relief. Now that was the usual Ziliang. Just look at that wonderfully strange line of thinking. If they really followed his plan, he might even get Ma Hui’s own subordinates to kill Ma Hui himself...

“As for me, I have an idea that should let us test Lin Peiyou’s true face,” Xu Yong said, pointing at Kui Sheng before continuing. “The key is to have Kui Sheng act out a play, while the rest of us serve as supporting roles. The bigger the commotion, the better.”

Kui Sheng looked at Xu Yong with shining eyes. Could it be that his hidden talent for acting, so deeply concealed, had finally been recognized?

“He only looks especially honest when he is pretending to be pitiful. What else can he possibly act?” Lin Changtian said, turning Kui Sheng over in his mind from head to toe and still failing to understand how the fool who had grown up with him could suddenly change his nature.

“That’s enough,” Xu Yong said. “Let Kui Sheng go and test Lin Peiyou’s kindness. If he hears the commotion and still pretends not to understand, then his character will be plain enough to see. But if Lin Peiyou steps forward for Kui Sheng, then it means the real ghost is inside Xieli Town itself. It’s just that Lin Peiyou rarely leaves his house, so if we want to stage this, we may have to build a whole theater right in front of his gate. In that case, the guards will be a problem, and we’ll have to think it over carefully.”

Xu Yong stroked his chin, his eyes half-lidded, as though he were contemplating some scheme of mischief.

“If we’re going to make a scene, then let’s make it as big as possible!” Lin Changtian said, rubbing his hands together, unable to suppress his excitement. He kicked Kui Sheng’s broad rear several times, forcing him to run out of the inn. “Kui Sheng, send someone back to bring a cavalry detachment here, and see whether Elder Liu can come in person. Also send word to Ma Hui and ask him whether he wants to reclaim this humiliation tenfold, or whether he thinks washing the filth off his own body will be enough. Hurry up, don’t dawdle!”

...