Chapter 182

Chapter 182

The prefectural seats of Yunyang and Qufu weren't far from each other.

Han Zhang and his party's return convoy set out in the morning and reached the outskirts of Yunyang city by afternoon.

But just as everyone was nodding off in the carriages, a ruckus suddenly broke out outside.

"Husband, what's going on?"

Shen Qinglan, who'd been dozing, was jolted awake and blinked his eyes open, still half-asleep.

"It's nothing, let me go see." Han Zhang patted him reassuringly, then lifted the curtain and asked, "What's all the commotion up ahead?"

Qiao Dong, the attendant, jogged over and reported briskly:

"Master, a farm family up ahead is chasing a runaway lad. The lad, panicking, bolted onto the main road without looking, got knocked over by the lead horse, and looks like he hurt his leg..."

"Hurt? Is it bad?"

Han Zhang's brow furrowed at this, and he promptly got out of the carriage, striding toward the front of the convoy while firing off more questions.

Shen Qinglan's sleepiness evaporated the second he heard that. He quickly handed little Xiao Tao'er to the wet nurse and asked anxiously, "Did you have our traveling physician take a look at him?"

No wonder they were so on edge.

As a court official, Han Zhang had who knows how many eyes on him in the dark. Whether the injured lad was there by accident or on purpose, they absolutely couldn't afford to give anyone any ammunition against them in how they handled this.

Qiao Dong quickly replied, "To answer Madam, the physician already checked him out. He said it's a minor fracture in his lower leg—not serious—and he's splinted it."

"Steward Wang tried to offer some silver to make it go away, and the farm family agreed at first. But then the injured lad—for reasons unknown about his family—flat-out refused to go back with them. The two sides are going at it right now..."

By the time they finished talking, Han Zhang and Shen Qinglan had already reached the scene.

There, a pretty, sharp-featured farm lad was going toe-to-toe with his family, holding his own against all four of them.

"...Grandpa, Grandma, quit pushing me! I'd rather die right here than go back with you to fill that hole my cousin dug with his womanizing!"

"And don't you two try to guilt me with 'filial piety'! If you two got sick or hit hard times and needed money to survive, I wouldn't say a word about being sold to Master Liu as a concubine—even a brothel, I'd accept my fate. That's filial piety, no question about it."

"And if it were to fund cousin's studies for the imperial exams, I'd accept that too! Our whole family tightens our belts, hoping to produce a scholar who'll make our ancestors proud, and our branch of the family could share in the glory too. That's the right thing to do."

"But what about now?" The lad's eyes rimmed red as he pointed at a middle-aged couple nearby who were cowering with embarrassed faces, and snapped, "Cousin was drinking in a brothel, got into a fight over a prostitute, hurt someone, and now owes money!"

"What kind of nonsense is this? This is wasting the family's money and bringing shame on us! Why should I throw away my whole life to plug his rotten hole? If anyone's getting sold, it should be their own kids from the eldest branch—why sell a nephew from a different branch?"

Jiang Liu sat on the ground, his injured leg stretched out. Even looking up at everyone, he didn't back down an inch—his face set in stubborn defiance.

He was a tough, strong-willed lad.

He made a solid, well-reasoned case.

And the Jiang family members being grilled looked embarrassed and guilty, which confirmed everything Jiang Liu said was true.

But even so, how could a lad who'd eventually belong to someone else's family be compared to a male heir carrying the family's hopes?

Seeing things at a standstill, Jiang's eldest aunt, at a look from her husband, burst into pitiful wailing while slapping her thigh:

"Liu Geer, Auntie knows you've been wronged here, but your cousin was set up by scoundrels—it's all those bad people's fault! He just lost his head for a moment..."

"If any of your cousins were better-looking and could catch Master Liu's eye, Auntie would send them in your place, no matter what it cost. But Master Liu only has eyes for you. The family... the family really has no other way!"

Jiang's grandmother also tottered forward, her voice choked with tears: "That's over three hundred taels of gleaming silver! Not three taels, not two, not five or ten! Even if we tied up all the other kids in this family and sold them off, we couldn't scrape together that much!"

"Liu Geer, Grandma knows we've wronged you, but you're the only one who can save your cousin now! Our family has scrimped and saved all these years, finally managing to put your cousin through as our one scholar in the making. We can finally see a glimmer of hope—we can't... we can't let it all be ruined now!"

The two women wailed in tandem, crying pitifully, and their words carried real weight.

Jiang's grandfather and eldest uncle squatted on the ground, heads in their hands, sighing heavily, their faces etched with the anguish of being pushed to the brink by life.

In a situation like this, anyone softer-natured would probably just accept their fate—after all, in those days, it was taken for granted that daughters and lads would sacrifice themselves for their brothers.

But Jiang Liu was cut from a different cloth.

He was a farm lad with a mind of his own and a fiery temper.

"Talk is cheap!"

Jiang Liu, unmoved and stubborn, shot back: "What about the land? Why can't we sell those thirty mu of prime irrigated and dry fields? Our family isn't so destitute we can't put food on the table!"

The Jiang family were farmers, but they were reasonably well-off for their village—otherwise they wouldn't have had the wherewithal to support a scholar.

"Besides, I'm just a country lad. Why would Master Liu spend that much silver to take me as a concubine? There's something fishy here—who'd believe otherwise? Sending me over there is signing my death warrant!"

But the moment they heard him suggest selling the land, the Jiang family's faces went pale, and they shot it down without a second thought.

"Ridiculous! You can't just sell the land! That's the foundation of our Jiang family! If we sell the fields, where will the family's food and daily expenses come from? Where will your cousin's tuition and travel expenses for his exams come from?"

"Then he can quit studying! Other families get by fine without scholars—why does ours have to hitch its wagon to this one horse? Cousin got himself in trouble drinking in brothels, and now he wants to sell a cousin from another branch to cover his debts. Is that going to sound good when word gets out?"

His words made perfect sense, but they poked a hornet's nest.

The grandparents and the rest were mortified and furious, and whatever guilt they'd felt vanished in an instant. They pointed at Jiang Liu and started cursing him out:

"You've lost your mind! A worthless good-for-nothing who'll be someone else's family soon enough—how can you compare to your cousin's future and the family's property?"

"The land is the family's foundation! You unfilial brat, daring to suggest such a rotten idea—this is outright treason!"

"Since ancient times, marriages have been arranged by matchmakers and elders! What right does a lad like you have to butt in? This marriage to Master Liu—you'll marry him whether you like it or not! Otherwise, you're unfilial..."

After arguing his case and seeing that the Jiang family not only refused to give up their plan but had even turned on him in fury for suggesting selling the land—their faces twisted in ugly fury—Jiang Liu felt a deep, bitter anger.

"Fine, fine, fine! Since you're all dead set on leaving me no way out, then nobody's getting out alive!"

In a fit of fury, he snatched a branch off the ground and, before the horrified, uncomprehending eyes of the Jiang family, slashed it hard across his own left cheek without a moment's hesitation!

"Let's see how you'll send me to the Liu family now that this face is gone!"

Though he was illiterate and didn't know as much book-learning as his cousin, he knew himself.

He might be the prettiest lad in the village, but that was only compared to the other villagers. Out in the wider world, he wouldn't be anything special.

Someone like him—how could he possibly be worth over three hundred taels of sale money?

There had to be something fishy going on.

He didn't want to die. He wanted to live.

His parents and two married sisters were all honest folk; it was he who had a stronger will. If he were gone, their branch of the family would surely become the household's workhorse.

He'd rather scar his own face and never marry than go to his death.

"You... you've lost your mind! How dare you... how dare you..."

The Jiang family never expected him to be so desperate; they pointed at him, so furious they couldn't get out a full sentence.

Han Zhang and the others were also taken aback, never expecting this young man to have such a fiery spirit.

Shen Qinglan quickly called for the doctor: "Doctor Li, hurry, stop the bleeding and apply medicine."

Having listened for a while, they'd gotten a rough idea of this young man's family situation. If he wasn't lying, he really was a poor, tough kid.

"..."

Han Dong and the other Han family girls and young men felt really sorry for Jiang Liu.

Back when the family was putting their eldest brother through school, they'd been desperately short of silver. Nasty neighbors had tried to talk their grandparents into selling off the kids.

But their eldest brother had refused, and their grandparents were unwilling as well. Their grandfather said, "If you sell people off, the family falls apart."

In the end, the clan pooled together, each household chipping in a few coppers here and there, to see their eldest brother through his studies.

They were undoubtedly fortunate.

In most poor families, putting one kid through school meant stepping on the bones and eating the flesh of the other siblings just to get a shot at a better life.

And this young man, Jiang Liu, not only faced such circumstances but also had a worthless, heartless elder brother—truly pitiable.

The Han girls and boys felt a twinge of sympathy.

But sympathy was one thing; they didn't beg Han Zhang to step in. After all, one could be kind, but not recklessly so. You can't just meet someone once and take their word for it—charging in to save the day would be plain stupid.

Their eldest brother had said: Don't go picking up random men, women, or young men off the street!

"Enough."

Han Zhang, after consideration, chose to step forward.

After all, with a life at stake, as a government official, he couldn't just look the other way.

His sharp gaze swept over Jiang Liu's grandparents and his eldest uncle and aunt, who looked nervous and scared when he stepped forward, and he spoke with authority:

"I am Han Qinzhang, Prefect of Yunyang. I've heard just about everything you've said. They say even a good judge can't settle family squabbles, but what you've said and done here is way beyond a family matter."

"Your Jiang family's scholar, instead of applying himself, has been hanging around brothels and fighting over prostitutes, racking up a debt of three hundred taels and burdening his family—this is a disgrace and it tarnishes the reputation of all the scholars in Yunyang!"

"Moreover, as elders, instead of disciplining your descendants, you're scheming to sell your nephew to pay off debts and sell him off as a concubine! Trying to hide behind filial piety to bully him into it—how is that any different from forcing an honest person into prostitution?"

"This matter touches on scholarly standing, social order, and the law—it is no small affair."

Han Zhang flicked his sleeve and declared decisively, "You will all come with me to the yamen. I will investigate thoroughly and render a fair judgment!"

Regardless of what was truly going on with this family, locking them up first was the way to go.