"Returning to Before Husband's Castration" 《回到老公自宫前》Chapter 17

 Beijing, southern city, Jiangmi lane, embroidered uniform guard office.

Office of transmission, Court of Imperial sacrifices, Ministry of Criminal Justice and other large departments were located around there, at dusk the offices all closed successively, the officials locked up their official seals and went home.

Literary officials sat in palanquin, military officials rode on horses, and the higher officials sat in gorgeous carriages, the entire journey very lavish.

Mu Baihu and others still guarded outside the embroidered uniform guard office, anxiously waiting, however they didn’t see Wang Da Xia at all, again and again they urged the embroidered uniform guards to let him go, Lu Ying couldn’t bear being disturbed, telling a lie, “We let him go long ago, he’s good at being sneaky, at some point he stole a set of our clothes, dressed up in disguise, he had long ago slipped away under your eyes.”

Hearing this Mu Baihu felt this was definitely something “good” that Wang Da Xia would do, he had no alternative but to order a retreat and report back.

Wang Da Xia was hiding, after escaping from Lu Ying, he hid in the embroidered uniform guard’s carriage and horse room, that’s why the embroidered uniform guards couldn’t find him.

He took a lovely long nap in a luxurious carriage as big as a room, when he woke up, the sunset glow already filled the sky, he heard someone say outside: “Quick set the carriage up, Commander Lu wants to go home.”

So this was embroidered uniform guard’s Commander Lu Bing’s carriage.

Wang Da Xia pushed open the window curtain a crack, he saw several drivers set this carriage up behind five horses.

The five horses were all white, there wasn’t a trace of colour, each horse was worth a hundred gold, your reputation would double riding them---no, Wang Da Xia would hesitate riding them, he would be content just raising them to look at.

At the embroidered uniform guards, they were the only group of horses for pulling carriage.

Zeze, such a waste! Wang Da Xia’s jealousy increased.

The drivers finished setting up the carriage, they brushed the white steads, Wang Da Xia took the opportunity to climb out through the window, under the carriage, using a few ropes he made a simple net under the carriage, he climbed in.

To carry such a carriage as big as a small room, it required large wheels to support it, such a huge carriage’s wheel was almost as big as half a person, so there was a large gap from the chassis to the ground, Wang Da Xia could tie himself under the carriage, get a free ride, slipping away.

It was about to turn dark, the carriage left the embroidered uniform office, Wang Da Xia needed to find an opportunity to disengage himself from the carriage.

The wheels turned, Wang Da Xia under the carriage swayed with the motion of the carriage, soon, the carriage stopped, two people got on, the carriage continued on.

Wang Da Xia’s body was pressed up against the bottom of the carriage, so he could hear everything that happened in the carriage very clearly.

“What was done today?” Commander Lu Bing asked.

“Today we investigated the entire list of guests who stayed at the tavern opposite Shuntian prefecture office, we filtered out a few main suspects and have currently dispatched people to follow them.”

Surprisingly it was Lu Ying’s voice!

Why was Lu Ying in Lu Bing’s carriage?

Lu Bing seemed to be a little disappointed: “That’s all?”

Lu Ying: “Father, since you’ve given me this case, please trust in me, give me some more time.”

Wang Da Xia was shocked, didn’t he say he was the nephew? Why did he call him dad? 

Lu Bing’s two sons were called Lu Yi and Lu Cai, a third son has never been heard of?

Could it be...Lu Ying is Lu Bing’s illegitimate child?

It must be! 

No wonder he was so arrogant.

Lu Bing said: “The direction you’ve taken to find the murderer is right, finding suspects from the tavern close to the Shuntian prefecture office, but this kind of finding a needle in a haystack method isn’t possible to solve a case in a short time, you should attack the problem from two angles, whoever hung the bell on the tiger's neck must untie it, Chen Qianhu father and son were both murdered, you need to find the person who has a deep hate for both of them.”

Lu Ying’s answer was rather stiff, “I understand, my people are looking into the social relations of Chen father and son, only there has been nothing.”

Lu Bing said: “I can already see a trail. Do you want to hear?”

“Dad! You---” Lu Ying stopped himself, he hit the table, “Only this time, just this once, I will deal with my own matters, don’t always treat me like a child.”

“You will always be my child.” Lu Bing drank a mouthful of tea, “You’ve heard of Wang Da Xia?”

Lu YIng: “Why is it him again? He caused trouble at the embroidered uniform guard office today, there’s more water in his brain than the lakes of Shichahai, he couldn’t have used such a careful and ruthless method of hiding needles in the saddle. There’s no way he’s the murderer, he doesn’t have the brain or means.”

Under the carriage, Wang Da Xia: Thank you! 

It was also a coincidence, at this moment the carriage had already left the office, moving along the avenue, but because the sky wasn’t dark yet, Wang Da Xia didn’t dare to hastily climb out from under the carriage and run off.

Currently it was the rush hour for officials rushing home, the way was packed, especially when they passed through narrow bridges, to accommodate such a luxurious carriage of a small room size, everyone had to be cleared off the bridge.

The carriage stopped at the bridge, waiting for the guards ahead to clear the bridge.

People had to answer the call of nature, so did horses, during the short period of waiting to get across, the horse right in the middle of the five white horses pulling the carriage discharged its waste, heaping into a spiralling “small hill”.

At this moment the pedestrians on the bridge had been cleared, the driver raised his whip, urging the horses forward.

Under the carriage Wang Da Xia instantly fell: In order to conceal himself, he had tied himself to the middle of the carriage, directly heading towards that horse in the middle’s....

Wang Da Xia visually gaged the height of that horse manure, if he was lucky, he could brush past it, if there was any mistake, half his head would pass through the horse manure, covering his face.

Wang Da Xia was terrified, he didn’t dare gamble.

He still wanted his honour.

Thus he cut the ropes, rolling out from under the carriage.

“Who is it!”

“Assassin!”

“Protect lord Lu!”

Wang Da Xia covered head to toe in grime, raised his hands, “Don’t move! I am Wang Da Xia! I spent the day as a visitor to your embroidered uniform guard office! Leader Lu personally received me! If you make a move against me, you’ll be disrespecting Commander Lu!”

Truly speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives, Lu Ying looked out from the window, coming across the stray dog like Wang Da Xia.

Wang Da Xia waved and smiled shamelessly, “Aiya, Leader Lu is amazing, even if I hide myself better you would still find me. Thank you for sending me on my way, I’m sure we’ll meet again, goodbye!”

Lu Ying clenched his teeth, “Catch him---”

Behind him Lu Bing said: “Bring him here, this clue is related to him, it’s better to speak about it face to face.”

Solving the case was important, Lu Ying could only endure it, changing his tune: “Get in, there’s something to ask you.”

Wang Da Xia was caught and put into the carriage by the embroidered uniform guards listening to the order.

Lu Bing asked him: “I heard you and Chen dailang fought over Miss Ying Ying in Hongxiu brothel, and hurled insults at each other? What did you say to him? You can’t lie.”

Lu Bing was a tall person, under one person, above tens of thousands of people, he had a forceful air about him, he got right to the point, Wang Da Xia was young and fearless, he had been at court before at the Shuntian prefecture yamen, he had experience, he knew how to smoothly reply, not scared of Lu Bing at all, saying: “Cursing someone, of course it’s about the other person’s shortcomings, Commander Lu, don’t you think so?”

The embroidered uniform guards and northern city military had been in a scuffle, Wang Da Xia thought to himself, you can lose the battle but not the war, even though I don’t have an official position, but I can still pretend to be calm and collected, you can’t question me again like a suspect.

“I’ve never cursed anyone, I’m not experienced like you.” Lu Ying impatiently pointed at the carriage door, “If you talk in riddles with me again, you’ll spend the night at the imperial prisons.”

“Don’t be in such a hurry.” Wang Da Xia asked: “Do you know what’s the greatest shortcoming of Chen dailang?”

Lu Ying: “So far he had no scholarly honors, he’s a nobody, ignorant and incompetent, he was waiting for his father to die and inherit the title of embroidered uniform guard Qianhu.”

Wang Da Xia rubbed his nose, smiling: “In that respect, I and Chen dailang are the same, I’m also waiting to inherit the Qianhu title. If I use this shortcoming, wouldn’t I be attacking the other person a thousand times but also stabbing myself eight hundred times?”

Lu Ying finally widened his horizon today, “You can still jest? How can you be so shameless?”

Wang Da Xia patted his chest, “Since there’s a position to inherit in the family, why would I work hard to gain scholarly success and be known? Why don’t I leave this opportunity for the commoners, I am of noble character and unquestionable integrity, I won’t fight with commoners.”

Hearing this, Lu Bing was immediately interested in Wang Da Xia, this dandy was a little interesting.

Wang Da Xia said: “So, Wang Da Xia’s greatest shortcoming is the Chen family has only had one heir in the last five generations, he was already at an elderly twenty-seven years old, he’s been married for seven/eight years, yet had no children, he didn’t even have a daughter, I cursed him as a castrated fowl who has been placed in a hen hutch but can’t have chicks.”

Lu Ying paused: “This boy’s mouth is rather harmful.”

Wang Da Xia still felt like he had been wronged: “He cursed me first that I had a mother who gave birth to me but had no mother to raise me, he scolded me as a comet who harmed his mother, I paid him back in turn, cursing him as a castrated fowl. `Etiquette` has always been this fair.”

Lu Bing asked: “And? How did Chen dailang respond to you?”

Wang Da Xia thought about it for a minute, saying: “That...we had drank quite a bit, after we finished hurling insults at each other we fought, Chen dailang’s body was already weakened by alcohol, he wasn’t my opponent, I fought him and his study companion myself with enough to spare.”

Wang Da Xia was immeasurably self-satisfied towards his “success”, Lu Bing said: “My informer told me you cursed him as a castrated fowl, he said something in response, he said `Nonsense, my fiancee had been pregnant with my child, I’ll have a child again soon`.”

Wang Da Xia sneered: “Men, they love to brag about how good they are in bed, Miss Ying Ying once said, words that men say in brothels, a single word cannot be believed.”

“Of course, apart from me.” Wang Da Xia said smiling to Lu Ying father and son: “You can believe me the same way as Miss Ying Ying, I do what I say and there would be an outcome.”

Lu Ying was angry, wanting to reach over and beat him up: “Who are you saying is like a prostitute?”

“Keep calm.” Lu Bing reached out to stop him, “It’s a clue, Chen dailang did indeed have a fiancee, surname He, her father used to be my subordinate, Chen and He, when the two families agreed a marriage, they sent out invites, I even sent a gift, later the He family committed a crime, young lady He became official slaves and were sold off, the Chen family brought her, supposedly settling her someone in the outskirts, upper and lower class cannot marry so how could young lady He have his child? Moreover it didn’t remain alive, that’s scary to think about.”