Chapter 527: In This World, Where Can a Point of Light Be Found?

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In the Eastern Capital of Kaifeng Prefecture, by the Cai River, Zhao Pu's steps were somewhat unsteady. The string of coins hanging at his waist felt extraordinarily heavy.

The heaviness was not physical, but in his heart.

Ever since discovering the gold tablet of Zhenbao'er, Zhao Pu had found, in the Jia-3 Storehouse, a large quantity of gold and silver ornaments meant for wearing.

These had clearly all been plundered. Though the shopkeepers present, great and small, said nothing, they all understood in their hearts where these gold and silver ornaments had come from.

The extra string and a bit of labor pay was hush money from the Grand Minister's temple to seal their mouths.

He had just reached his doorstep when his younger brother Zhao Anyi came bounding over joyfully. Upon seeing the string of coins at Zhao Pu's waist, he let out an exclamation of satisfied wonder.

His ailing wife, Lady Wei, was also forcing herself to stand leaning against the door, waiting for him. Seeing Zhao Pu return safe and sound, her face was full of gentle, warm smiles.

His fifteen-year-old sister-in-law, graceful and lovely, plainly dressed with a thornwood hairpin, was also holding his swaddled infant son, brimming with delight.

Though Zhao Pu's heart was heavy, the sight of his family brought a glad smile to his face.

He took his son from his sister-in-law's arms, and she naturally fell in with his wife, one on each side of him, as they walked into the house.

His lively, restless younger brother Zhao Anyi had received his instructions and was just about to go buy some fine white flour, mutton, eggs, and the like.

"Big brother, I want a bowl of sweetened mung bean licorice ice."

The fifteen-year-old sister-in-law was the fondest of good food. Seeing that her brother-in-law had received over a string of coins as a reward, she immediately seized Zhao Pu's arm and began to wheedle.

"Haha! Fine! Buy it! Buy the big bowl!" Zhao Pu was in excellent spirits and shouted to his younger brother Zhao Anyi.

Hmm! A brother-in-law who could withstand the coaxing of a young and beautiful sister-in-law — there is likely no such man, unless he is not normal.

His younger brother Zhao Anyi, right in the throes of adolescence, curled his lip and muttered.

"One bowl of sweetened mung bean licorice ice costs several wen. That could buy half a sheep's head."

In the Eastern Capital at this time, because of the court monopoly, the price of sugar was extremely high. The money for one big bowl of this sweet drink would feed an ordinary family an entire meal, if they were frugal.

"What are you muttering about! As if you'd be shorted on food? Go cut a whole batch-cut sheep's head, buy some prepared badger pork, and fetch four jiao of wine. You and I, brothers, will have a drink tonight!"

Toward his rebellious younger brother, Zhao Pu was not so gentle, and gave him a scolding right to his face.

But Zhao Anyi did not mind. Batch-cut sheep's head was finely sliced sheep's head meat — his favorite. Badger pork was a bit cheap, but there was plenty of it and it filled the belly.

Four jiao of wine was about two jin in later times, enough for the two brothers to have a good drink.

This meal was the best Zhao Pu's family had eaten in years. In less than ten years, the Eastern Capital of Kaifeng Prefecture, the most prosperous city in the Central Plains, had been sacked three times, and most people were barely scraping by.

Zhao Pu's wife seemed to have some trouble with her lungs. Though it was not consumption, her health had never been good.

Watching Zhao Pu keep putting food into her younger sister's bowl, she showed not the slightest displeasure, but rather was quite gratified.

For ever since she had given birth, her health had grown worse. To say nothing of keeping house, it was good enough that she did not need to be waited on. She could not even fulfill a wife's duties in the marriage bed.

She knew her own body. Zhao Pu's wife knew she would not live long, and the only things she could not let go of were her husband and son.

If after she was gone, her husband could marry her younger sister as his second wife, then she would have nothing left to worry about.

Though it was only low-proof fruit and rice wine, Zhao Anyi had still drunk a bit too much. He staggered a few steps, swaying, and finally collapsed onto the ground and fell straight asleep. Zhao Pu's eyes were also somewhat bleary with drink.

At that moment, his sister-in-law, Lady Wei, brought out her sweetened mung bean licorice ice. But she did not drink it right away. Instead, she pressed her palms together and first recited the Ksitigarbha Fundamental Vow Sutra.

"Meiniang, why are you chanting sutras at a bowl of mung bean drink? Have you had too much wine too?"

Zhao Pu lay reclined, looking at his sister-in-law's flushed cheeks, and felt as though a kitten were clawing at his heart.

But when his sister-in-law raised her head again, her eyes were brimming with tears. Gazing at Zhao Pu like a pear blossom in the rain, she answered.

"This sweetened mung bean licorice ice was Sister Zhou's favorite drink. In past years, she often treated me to it. I always thought there would come a time when I could return the favor, but I never thought I would never see her again!"

With that, his sister-in-law Lady Wei collapsed onto the table and began to sob.

Zhao Pu's whole body went numb, and the wine sobered him at once. That bloodstained gold tablet engraved with the three characters "Zhenbao'er" kept circling in his mind.

And recalling the Ksitigarbha Fundamental Vow Sutra his sister-in-law had just chanted, Zhao Pu felt nothing but stifled vexation. He wished he could rush out and roar at the sky to vent the fury in his heart.

Just then, the sound of many hoofbeats came from outside the gate. The color drained from Zhao Pu's wife's face, and his sister-in-law also showed a frightened look.

"Meiniang, go quickly out the back! That wastrel is here again!"

"The villain dares! Today I'll risk everything and make this scoundrel taste my staff!"

Before Zhao Pu could speak, his younger brother Zhao Anyi, who had clearly been lying drunk asleep, suddenly leapt up, and in his hand there had somehow appeared a cudgel.

Zhao Pu's wife could not stop him in time. Terrified, she burst into loud weeping, and through her tears she said to Zhao Pu.

"In the days you were away at work, Meiniang caught the eye of some dissolute dandy. He has come to harass her nearly every day."

His wife's weeping startled the sleeping child awake, and the swaddled infant also began to wail. His sister-in-law Meiniang stood dazed against the wall, her fair little face full of terror.

Zhenbao'er, carried off like a kitten. The neighbor clerk, his neck hacked through. The bloodstained gold tablet. Scene after scene rolled through Zhao Pu's mind.

To think that after escaping the Khitan, they still could not escape the men of Hexi!

At this moment, Zhao Pu, whose edges had been worn smooth by life, reached the very limit of fury and terror. He let out a great cry.

"If a true man cannot protect his wife and children, and this world is black as ink without a single point of light, what use is this husk of a body?"

Suddenly, he too snatched up a cudgel from the corner and dashed out the door.

But the sight that met Zhao Pu as he burst out of the house left him stunned.

Unlike the dandy with his servants and hired thugs, out walking horses and fighting dogs, that he had imagined, his courtyard was filled with a group of perfectly ordinary-looking people.

Some looked just like grooms, shop assistants, and minor clerks, except that they had deliberately thrown open their outer garments to reveal the brocade clothes beneath.

A name crashed into Zhao Pu's mind like wind and thunder.

The Brocade-Clad Emissaries!

"Hahaha! You little brat! I told you the other day that your staff technique is wrong, and you didn't believe me. Now watch your old man beat you till your head is covered in lumps!"

The most speechless scene unfolded: a man who looked to be a superior officer of the Brocade-Clad Emissaries was holding a cudgel and sparring with his younger brother Zhao Anyi.

In no time he had knocked the cudgel from Zhao Anyi's hand. Then the man pressed in and delivered a flurry of blows, beating Zhao Anyi until he howled like a ghost and wailed like a wolf.

Zhao Pu's mouth twitched, but he did not step forward to intervene, because he could see that this officer was pulling his punches.

The staffs all landed on places with thick flesh like the buttocks. Although Zhao Anyi was sent wailing and howling, in truth they caused no serious injury.

Zhang Lieming thrashed him to his heart's content. In terms of martial strength, he was the weakest of the weak within the Zhang family—anyone could bully him—so now that it was finally his turn to bully someone else, he truly came down like a fierce tiger from the mountain.

After waiting a while and seeing that Zhang Lieming still showed no sign of stopping, Zhao Pu could only swing his staff and shout with a fierce front but a faint heart.

"The Son of Heaven broke three arrows at Xinzheng Gate and made a three-point covenant with the people of the Eastern Capital. As a claw and fang of the Son of Heaven, does the official not know how stern the law is?"

Zhang Lieming immediately withdrew his cudgel at these words. He looked at Zhao Pu with a cheap grin and said.

"You fellow, stop spouting nonsense. Just now it was your young lord who wanted to rush out and attack me. I have not bullied anyone by relying on power in the slightest. If I truly meant to do violence, would there still be a living soul in your house?"

Before Zhang Lieming's words had faded, with a creak, a young woman in a cloth skirt and thornwood hairpin rushed out from the house. With a thud she knelt on the ground—it was none other than Zhao Pu's sister-in-law, Lady Wei.

Lady Wei cast a deep look at Zhao Pu, then looked at Zhang Liecheng, and a look of resolve immediately appeared on her face.

"Please let my brother go, official. This slave is willing to go with you!"

At these words, the veins on Zhao Pu's forehead bulged, and an expression of extreme anguish appeared on his face.

Zhang Lieming looked at this brother-in-law and sister-in-law pair, smacked his lips twice, and his face showed a look of disgust.

"Who do you think I am? I am a nephew of the Son of Heaven, a son of the Zhang clan of Shazhou. Would I ever do such a thing as seizing a commoner's daughter by force?

I have never lacked for women. You have nothing but a pretty shell, and your heart is set on another—yet you think you can enter my household to eat well and drink fine wine? You're dreaming."

At these words, Zhao Pu's whole family was stunned. This profligate had not come for the beautiful Lady Wei—then for whom?

Zhang Lieming gave a cold snort, then lowered his voice. "This Zhao Dalang, is there truly nothing you wish to tell me?"

As he spoke, Zhang Lieming opened his collar a little wider, deliberately making a tactical display of the brocade garment he wore underneath.

Zhao Pu's mouth hung slightly open. He had been thinking only of protecting his sister-in-law Lady Wei, and had not once recalled the identity of the man before him.

Now that he thought about it, what was a Brocade Guard envoy for? Was it not precisely to investigate treachery and evil?

For a few breaths, heaven and man warred within his mind, and then Zhao Pu swiftly made his choice. In the Kaifeng Prefecture of the Eastern Capital today, without power, what could he use to protect his wife, children, and family?

"Your servant! Zhao Pu of Changshan, has a great matter to report! I am willing to serve the official!"

Zhang Lieming chuckled, and walked over to Zhao Pu, who was bowing low to him.

"Speak first and let me hear it. To serve as a Brocade Guard envoy, ordinary merit alone will not do."

Zhang Lieming was right. An office like the Brocade Guard had unusually strict assessments. For an ordinary person to enter was indeed not easy.

But when Zhao Pu steeled his heart and told the matter, Zhang Lieming's eyes went wide, and he could not help blurting out.

"Damn! These monks of the Eastern Capital are even more ruthless than those murdering monks of Shanzhou! Come with me at once."

Having poured out all his secrets and suddenly feeling much lighter at heart, Zhao Pu asked instinctively, "Where are we going?"

Zhang Lieming patted Zhao Pu on the shoulder. "You bumpkin have struck great fortune. Come with me to see the Commander, and perhaps you may even get a glimpse of the Son of Heaven."

To see the Son of Heaven! Zhao Pu, who had long suffered from his own powerlessness, suddenly felt dizzy, as though he were stepping on cotton.

Zhang Lieming paid no mind to Zhao Pu's state. To say nothing of ordinary people, even he himself grew terribly nervous at the prospect of seeing Zhang Zhao.

"Boys, this young lady truly has some fire. Come! Seize her and bring her back for me."

The Brocade Guard envoys likewise laughed loudly on purpose. "Congratulations to the official on finding such a beauty! We'll seize her right away and deliver her to the official's chamber."

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