Inlaid With Jade - Chapter 65

Chapter 65 
Clingy 
  
The breeze blew through the tall and lush trees in the ancestral hall’s front yard. After Xu Qingyin left, a figure quietly emerged from the corner of the eaves, covered by the branches and leaves of the horsetail fig. Wenzhu raised his sleeve to wipe his face, which was stained by the rubble when he was eavesdropping on the roof. He looked around the yard and saw that no one was around. He climbed down neatly with the horsetail fig in his arms and hurried to Lin Yu’s yard. 
  
Lin Yu was eating today’s medicinal food in the room. After hearing Wenzhu’s words, she frowned slightly: “Did she say that?” 
  
Wenzhu nodded: “Yes, but she only said half, and I don’t know what she meant.” 
  
Wenzhu had been hiding in the eaves for almost an hour today. Zelan heard his throat parched when he spoke, so she poured him a cup of warm tea. Wenzhu took it and drank it in two gulps, sighing: “When I heard what Madam Xu said, I thought she was also a pitiful person. Her husband died at a young age, and her parents’ home is not in the capital. Life is tough.” 
  
Zelan bent her elbow to bump him, dissatisfied: “You eat and use Madam’s. Why are you speaking for her?” 
  
Lin Yu said: “It’s fine. Wenzhu is right. The Li family didn’t have a relaxing life in those years. My sister-in-law lost her husband, and as a woman, she couldn’t avoid suffering.” 
  
She thought momentarily and asked Wenzhu: “Go ask Old Chen, who served Xu Qingyin when she was in the mansion. Check those people individually to see who still keeps in touch with Xu Qingyin after I entered the mansion.” 
  
Wenzhu was slightly puzzled: “Madam, why did you suddenly think of checking this matter?” 
  
Zelan understood that Lin Yu wanted to check the matter of the lost handkerchief on the wedding day. She stretched her hand and pushed Wenzhu out: “Just go check it when she told you to. Why are you so talkative?” 
  
Zelan pushed out Wenzhu. He said, “Oh,” and turned back and said: “Then I’ll go, Madam.” 
  
Lin Yu smiled and nodded: “Go, and I’ll let you marry Zelan if you do it well.” 
  
Zelan blushed: “Madam!” 
  
Wenzhu’s ears were red, but he answered: “Okay.” 
  
Li Heming had been away from home for only half a month, and Lin Yu had received several letters from him. Calculating the time, he probably started to send letters on the way to Ji County. Most of the letters recorded small things, such as where he passed by, what kind of scenery he saw along the way, and even a minor thing like a spotted deer lying in the middle of the road while rushing on the road at night. Occasionally, he would put a small flower he picked along the way in the envelope, but it wilted when delivered. He sent several letters but only wrote a little each time. No matter how many things there were, he only wrote one page of paper, and the last sentence of the letter was always: Remember to miss me. 
  
Lin Yu didn’t know that he was so reluctant to leave home. She lived the same life as before without any change. She didn’t know how to reply to him, and writing about the past was boring, so she kept dragging it on. But when she received Li Heming’s fourth letter, Lin Yu finally started writing anxiously—because the letter was no longer filled with dense words but only a short sentence, and he seemed angry: Why don’t you reply? Don’t you miss me? 
  
Lin Yu didn’t know how to respond to this. No matter how she replied, it would be wrong. It seemed like she was unfaithful and heartless. He had been away from home for several days, but she had never thought of him. 
  
Lin Yu picked up the pen and pretended she had not received his last letter. She told him about Xu Qingyin as if nothing had happened. She did not write in detail because she was worried about disturbing him. She only briefly mentioned that Xu Qingyin came to the mansion to burn incense for his eldest brother and planned to tell him about the following things after he returned. 
  
After Lin Yu finished writing about this, she didn’t know what else to say. She couldn’t find her words. Finally, under the dim candlelight, she frowned and slowly wrote a sentence: Li Heming, you are so clingy. 

The letter took several days to reach the posthouse where Li Heming stayed after crossing mountains and rivers. At that time, the Imperial Guards investigating the Unsolved Room case in Ji County and arresting people in the mansion of Luo Daozhang, the county magistrate. 
  
On the second night after Li Heming and his party arrived in Ji County, Luo Daozhang arranged for the women in the mansion to take the money and flee by water. However, as soon as they arrived at the dock, the Imperial Guard stopped them. Although they had stopped them, the evidence was insufficient. Li Heming had just arrived, and it was not easy to arrest people for no reason. Thus, he spent a few days to get the account book of Luo Daozhang’s bribery in recent years from a minor official named Luo Shan before he took action. Despite Luo Daozhang being only a minor county magistrate, his mansion was magnificent, decorated with carved beams and painted buildings. At first glance, it appeared to be evidence of crimes. 
  
On the day when the Imperial Guards entered the mansion with swords, Luo Daozhang knew that the situation was over, and he was so scared that he collapsed into a chair. His descendants and women also cried and made a lot of noise when they saw this, which was annoying. 
  
Li Heming stepped into Luo Mansion slowly, holding the sword’s hilt at his waist. He raised his black eyes and scanned the high walls of white jade on both sides of the courtyard. He said slowly: “I first came to Ji County a few years ago. I remember Lord Luo’s salary for many years was only enough to buy this courtyard. In just a few years, the gold and silver in Lord Luo’s house have piled up into a mountain. It seems that he has embezzled a lot.” 
  
Luo Daozhang remembered Li Heming, who was still a Qian Hu at the time and knew his thundering methods, but he never expected that he would fall into his hands one day. He sat in the chair melancholicly, looked at his yard, and then looked at the cold Li Heming and cried out: “Lord Li, the salary of the Ming Dynasty is meager. You must know that you can’t even support your family if you follow the rules. I am the same. I am forced to do so…” 
  
Li Heming glanced at those beautiful women in the yard indifferently. Remembering his lovely girl at home, he said mercilessly: “Lord Luo can’t afford it? Have you ever thought it’s because you have too many concubines?” 
  
Luo Daozhang choked and couldn’t speak, but after a moment, he remembered something and stood up with hope. He passed his wife and children, hurriedly pulled out his favorite concubine from a group of young concubines, and led her to Li Heming. 
  
“Lord Li…” He swallowed his dry throat and pushed the beautiful yet frightened concubine to Li Heming: “If you don’t mind, this woman will be yours.” 
  
He pushed hard, and the woman fell to the ground, kneeling at Li Heming’s feet in embarrassment, shrugging her shoulders and sobbing weakly. 
  
Li Heming had seen many people offering bribes to him, but this was the first time someone offered him a woman in public. He frowned slightly, and without even looking at the woman crying at his feet, he stepped back and said, “Lord Luo, have you thought about the consequences of blatantly bribing the Imperial Guards?” 
  
But that was not the end. Luo Daozhang turned around, grabbed his wife and children, and led them to Li Heming, pushing them in front of Li Heming, bowing his hands, and begging in a trembling voice, “The blame is on me. The women are innocent. I hope Lord Li will spare their lives!” 
  
He kicked them hard as he spoke, “Why are you crying? Beg! Beg Lord Li for your lives! Otherwise, do you want to live in the Jiaofangsi for the rest of your life!” 
  
His wife hugged the child tightly in her arms, closed her tearful eyes, and said nothing, but the other concubines seemed to have found a way out and ran forward to kneel and beg for mercy. 
  
Luo Daozhang’s words frightened them so much that there was a sudden cry in the courtyard. Everyone kowtowed and begged for mercy, calling “Lord Li” miserably and tragically. Some braver ones even reached out to pull Li Heming’s clothes. 
  
He San heard the crying in the courtyard and thought of his beloved, who had bowed to the Jiaofangsi. He sighed for a while, but just as he sighed, he suddenly saw the woman reaching out to pull Li Heming’s clothes. He immediately broke into a cold sweat. He San hurriedly stepped forward to stop her, but it was too late. 
  
Li Heming frowned, bent his fingers to touch the sword, and the blade suddenly came out of the sheath, making a sharp dragon roar. He raised the blade and pointed it at the neck of the woman who was touching his clothes. The tip of the blade pierced her skin, and bright red blood flowed from her throat. Li Heming looked down at her and said coldly, “Back off.” 
  
Everyone was shocked by this sudden change and suddenly became quiet. The people around Li Heming’s feet were frightened and hurriedly dodged, fearing the sword would be on their necks. The woman was even more terrified by the cold blade on her neck. Her thighs trembled, and tears flowed down her face. 
  
Li Heming’s voice was as cold as ice: “This winter, thousands of people died and were injured inside and outside the city, and corpses were everywhere. It would be more helpful for you to go to the graves and ask the people who lost their homes and froze to death than to ask me.”