Chapter 16: Past Dust

"Hmm..."

It was as if Wu Zhuge had made a sound in his throat, yet also as if he hadn't. He was a man who appeared rough but was meticulous inside; how could he not know the incitement behind Li You's words?

He simply didn't want to pretend he hadn't understood, as he had yesterday.

Li You stopped while he was ahead and said no more, much like what was said in *A Brief History of Today*: If a mosquito buzzes by one's ear, disturbing one's dreams, we have ways to kill it; but if a thought echoes in the mind, making it hard to sleep, most of us do not know how to "kill" that thought.

Li You was merely following along to take a look; after touring the wooden sheds, he went over to the salt wells.

The process of extracting brine from the salt wells and boiling it into well salt opened his eyes wide, and he exclaimed at how miraculous it was.

Finally, they followed the foothills back to the small courtyard.

Cao Er invited Wu Zhuge into the main room for tea, but Wu Zhuge cursed, "Drink tea, my foot! I've got plenty of aged grain liquor back at my place!"

Then, surrounded by a crowd of bandits, Wu Zhuge left Nanshan. Before reaching Beizhai, Zhang Zhuanggen bid farewell to Wu Zhuge, saying there was a job near Mao'erba recently, and he wanted to go down the mountain to see if it was a thorny one.

Only Wu Zhuge's group headed toward Beizhai. Suddenly, Wu Zhuge handed Gao Jinku a paper ball sealed with wax and said, "Jinku, take some men to Qigan Mountain and give this letter to Pig Boss...

Even though this scholar looks young, he is a man of letters after all, and his words are correct. Better to be the tail of a phoenix than the head of a chicken. An alliance of unequal strength like this will likely only end in being swallowed up. Go tell Pig Boss to be of one mind on this matter and not to form the alliance!"

"No problem!"

Gao Jinku took the letter, brought two or three trusted men, went to the horse shed to get horses from Wang Qiong, and headed down the mountain.

"Chief, since that scholar is so capable, why did you leave him with the Second?"

Da Yun'er frowned and said, "The Second is not one of us!"

"Precisely because he is not one of us, isn't it wonderful to leave a nail there!"

Wu Zhuge laughed and said, "The reason I didn't have him come over to Beizhai is because I just sent Sun Juanmao to Qingjian County, and he won't be back for a while!

In an age like the Great Ming where scholars hold the sword hilt, how could he suddenly rebel? I still need to get to the bottom of his background; I don't want to capsize in the gutter!

Yesterday, I was impulsive and really almost lost my head, wanting to raise the banner of rebellion. But then I thought, what is the difference between my current life and being an Emperor? I have iron mines and salt slaves to support me, a group of gentry to provide for me, and the Golden Ox Road, a trade route where I can rob people to relieve boredom whenever I want. So... it's not worth it."

"Then if Guanzishan... no, if Zhang Sihu breaks through Pingli from within, are you sure the rebel won't come to take revenge on us? Those poor wretches at Qigan Mountain and Guanzishan have been coveting our iron mine for quite some time."

"Sigh, long hair and short insight; scholars really do have more knowledge. Once Zhang Xianzhong crosses the Jianmen Pass, he'll be in a rush to loot the Prince of Rui's estate. Actually, even if Zhang Sihu really comes for revenge, we can just push this scholar out as a scapegoat... Besides, they are mostly holed up in the border areas now; they won't enter Shaanxi until next month at the earliest..."

"What good will pushing him out do?" Da Yun'er was startled.

"Heh, you don't understand. People in this business, how can we burn all bridges? Offer a head, pay some money, and once there's a way out, the matter will pass!"

Wu Zhuge paused and added, "Of course, unless it's a last resort, I naturally won't do that... I think this Li You might really have some kind of immortal art; otherwise, how could he have diagnosed the ailment I've had lately so accurately?"

Da Yun'er remained fixated on Wu Zhuge's words about "offering a head," thinking that if such a handsome and pleasing head were to be chopped off, it would be heartbreaking. She secretly cursed Wu Zhuge for not being human, completely forgetting that back then, she and Wu Zhuge had poisoned the former Chief, Wu Ying, who had saved her life.

After Wu Zhuge left, the bandits at Nanshan finally cleaned up Tian Si's corpse. When everyone saw Li You, this scholar who didn't look particularly strong, their eyes held a strange look.

The bandits were mostly in awe, and the miners, besides being in awe, felt a little less contempt.

Li You saw all of this. To the miners, as someone with an imperial degree, the Great Ming court had bestowed grace upon him.

Thus, his bowing and scraping to Wu Zhuge and the others was no different from being a refined scoundrel aiding a tyrant. Yet, by killing Tian Si, a scoundrel who had committed every crime, he had relieved a great hatred in their hearts.

Cao Er's gaze toward Li You was somewhat complex. Today, no one mentioned Tian Si's death, but who in their heart didn't see through that it was his scheme?

This left Cao Er feeling a bit uncertain.

He nodded at Li You and said with a hint of warmth, "Once Mr. Li is familiar with this place, I will have you take over the accounts."

"Thank you, Second Master. It is my honor to share the burden for the Shanzhai!" Li You responded with a look of being flattered and delighted.

Cao Er nodded and turned to leave.

"What accounting? In such a large Shanzhai, how could they possibly let an outsider like me touch the accounts?"

Li You was somewhat worried: yesterday was just a matter of bluffing with his tongue; could it be that Wu Zhuge's three-minute enthusiasm had already passed?

Why didn't he let me go to Beizhai?

Is it distrust?

Am I to stay under the command of this old schemer Cao Er forever?

Cao Er clearly didn't expose his identity yesterday, so why did he suddenly turn hostile today and want to get rid of him?

If Song Man hadn't whispered in his ear that "Cao Er wanted Tian Si to kill you," giving him advance warning, he certainly wouldn't have handled today so well!

In short, such a sudden change left Li You unable to fathom it.

"Mr. Li, the meal is almost ready. Would you like to walk around and see more? I can take you to get more familiar with the place."

Wa Qingyun walked up with a smile. His heart was filled with joy at this moment; today, Li You was able to walk side-by-side with Wu Zhuge—didn't that prove that Mr. Li had a bright future?

Therefore, he had made up his mind to cling to Li You's leg and become his trusted aide.

Beside Wa Qingyun was a man in coarse clothes, taller than Li You. He had sat at their table yesterday; his name was Liu Longjin, a native of Mianxian, who used to be a grain official and knew quite a few characters.

"Let's just walk around nearby then." Li You didn't want to dampen his spirits and said casually.

"Good!"

Wa Qingyun said happily. If not for Tian Si's death, he truly felt that Li You was approachable and had none of the airs of a scholar.

Li You strolled leisurely. On the left side of the small courtyard were two thatched huts where the two blacksmiths, Qian and Liu, lived. Beside them was a low stone house with one side collapsed; that was the kitchen. At the entrance sat two dirty, broken wooden buckets. Li You recognized these as the two used to serve food to the miners.

Inside, besides two kitchen-helper miners in chains, there was an old woman and a woman in her thirties with half her face burned, busy with three small children. She was Liu the Lame's wife, Wang, and Qian Chengzhi's wife, Xing.

Xing had once been quite beautiful, but after being abducted to the mountain, fearing she would be shamed, she had used an oil lamp to burn her face, turning it into this terrifying state.

The children, two boys and one girl, were about six or seven years old. They had no shoes on their feet, and the coarse cloth clothes they wore were quite comical; they seemed to have been made by cutting an adult's tattered coarse shirt into three pieces. One boy had one leg bare, another had his back bare, and only the little girl's looked somewhat like a garment, though it was short and tattered.

At this moment, they were busy dragging firewood into the stone house. When they saw Li You, they all widened their eyes, looking dull and lacking the childish spirit children should have.

Liu the Lame's wife, Wang, and Qian Chengzhi's wife, Xing, also looked numb when they saw Li You. They had long heard that a scholar had entered the Shanzhai, but what did that have to do with their bitter lives?

"Why are there so many children?"

Li You asked in confusion. In troubled times, children were a burden; even their own parents would abandon them to survive. How could there be so many children raised in this bandit den?

Wa Qingyun's expression turned dejected, and he sighed, "These were all taken in by the previous Chief, Wu Ying, who was Wu Datou's clan uncle!

The old Chief Wu Ying was a thoroughly good man. Although he was a thief by trade, he not only strictly followed the Shanzhai rules, but he was also kinder than the monks in the temples. Whenever he went out and saw abandoned or lost children, he would definitely bring them back to the Shanzhai...

It's a pity that in this world, good people never live long. He 'died of illness' in the winter the year before last...

Most of the men under him followed Wu Datou, and their wives did too. These children were completely left without anyone to care for them, and the atmosphere of this Shanzhai had long since changed—burning, killing, and looting, with no regard for the Shanzhai rules...

My own younger brother, Wa Lan, was also coerced into working under Wu Zhuge! If it weren't for him, I would have left this broken Shanzhai long ago."

Wa Qingyun seemed to have been touched in a sensitive spot. He paused, then couldn't help but blurt out, "Hmph... everyone says the old Chief died of illness, but I, Wa Qingyun, know that he was poisoned to death by that foul woman. That's why I'd rather follow Cao Er than Wu Datou."

Li You was speechless for a long while; what kind of filthy business was all this!