"Returning to Before Husband's Castration" 《回到老公自宫前》Chapter 50

 The ladder from when Ding Wu had climbed over the wall was there, Wei Cai Wei climbed down from the top of the wall into the next door’s courtyard…

Self-rain pavilion.

The impersonator Wang Da Xia was tied onto the water wheel, when it had turned the fifth time, he couldn’t take it anymore.

He had underestimated the water torture, he thought he was great at swimming, when the wheel went under water he held his breathe and waited to breath when the wheel left the water.

In truth however, he was tied like a kite on the water wheel, this up and down motion was very tough on the body, he really couldn’t stand it for a long time.

Wang Da Xia switched from faking his cough to real coughing on the sixth turn, the water irritated his throat painfully, Wang Da Xia thought, I won’t swim any more this summer!

At the tenth turn, Wang Da Xia’s head was buzzing, he only thought: Leader Lu hurry up and save me! I don’t want to die, I still haven’t married.

Yan Shi Bo was playing the guqin inside the self-rain pavilion, the man made rain took away the summer heat, during the dragon boat festival he was drinking realgar wine, playing the guqin to amuse himself.

If everything went well, he would hear the news of Ding Ru Kui’s death tomorrow.

This danger had to be eliminated.

That night, Ding Ru Kui’s at death’s door appearance was an act for Yan Shi Bo, to make him think he had tuberculosis and wouldn’t survive the summer.

However Yan Shi Bo isn’t that easily deceived, Ding Ru Kui’s death sentence had been passed down for ten years but hadn’t been handed out, the emperor went through the death sentences every year yet he never struck out Ding Ru Kui, for a time Yan Shi Bo thought the emperor didn’t want to execute him and left him alive to balance out the fractions in the court.

Jiajing emperor always did this, he lived in Xiyuan palace concocting immortality pills, not going to court for thirty years so in order to maintain authority, apart from his wetnurse brother Lu Bing helping him, Jiajing emperor was an expert in keeping a political balance, he doted on the cabinet grand secretary Yan Song and his son Yan Shi Bo, but also support cabinet chancellor Xu Jie to curb Yan Song, preventing the Yan father and son from holding too much power, the two sides have always been maintained this way, conflicting with each other, the emperor would tug on one side, raise the other, thus controlling the flock of officials not letting any side dominate over the other and not letting any side completely wither away.

Because of this, Yan Shi Bo thought the emperor had always kept Ding Ru Kui alive to control the father and son, that’s why Yan Shi Bo acted against his relative by marriage Lu Bing, not waiting for Ding Ru Kui to be struck out by the emperor, a lot of prisoners die in prison at the end, Ding Ru Kui could be the same.

Lu Bing didn’t respond but didn’t refuse either, he told him Ding Ru Kui wasn’t well and shouldn’t be too hasty.

But Yan Shi Bo was able to become the most informed central person of the “Yan party” had nothing to do with his cautious personality, even though seeing is believing, he still wanted to confirm himself.

However, each of Lu Bing’s aides were completely loyal, even mask Wu who looked after the storeroom didn’t say anything about the secrets of the yamen no matter how much alcohol he was plied with when he left, he was like a clamshell, unwilling to open his mouth.

Lu Bing had made the embroidered uniform guards water tight, but the palace wasn’t the same!

Yan Shi Bo acted against the eunuchs, under coercion the eunuchs handed over the money given to them each year by Lu Bing in return for secretly putting Ding Ru Kui’s file at the bottom of the pile.

Yan Shi Bo flew into a rage.

Such a great relative by marriage! Actors aren’t as good as you! So you’ve been the hindrance for the last ten years, secretly protecting Ding Ru Kui but pretending in front of me that Ding Ru Kui had a serious illness! Also that niece Lu Ying, the father and daughter wanted to trick me! Since this is so, don’t blame me for being heartless!

Yan Shi Bo wanted Ding Ru Kui dead, but his influence didn’t reach inside the embroidered uniform guards so he sent people to secretly watch every movement of the embroidered uniform guards, finally they saw Ding Ru Kui’s son Ding Wu who should have been exiled to Tieling, being taken to the gate of the embroidered uniform guards.

This was the opportunity! 

Yan Shi Bo thought of the brilliant plan of using Ding Wu to blackmail Ding Ru Kui into killing himself. First he needed to kidnap Ding Wu, this was a little difficult because Lu Ying always had someone follow Ding Wu, she even set up a tea stand at Tianshui lane as a hidden sentry post and told Ding Wu to keep a low profile, not even allowing him to go to the public baths, Yan Shi Bo’s men couldn’t find any opportunity to make a move.

When Ding Wu went to the public bath to find out about Wang Da Xia, Lu Ying’s spies had followed him to the baths, Yan Shi Bo’s men were also there, it was then that they noticed the small golden stamp around Ding Wu’s neck, he didn’t even take it off when he was bathing, it was clear how important it was to him.

This detail was reported to Yan Shi Bo, Yan Shi Bo was astute and circumspect, he thought of forcing Ding Ru Kui to commit suicide by swallowing gold.

Lu Bing was after all the wet nurse brother of Jiajing emperor, if Jiajing emperor was forced to choose, he would definitely believe Lu Bing and not Yan Shi Bo, Yan Shi Bo wanted Ding Ru Kui dead but didn’t want to ruin his relationship with Lu Bing.

It would lead to both of them losing. If he did that, the political advantage of marrying their children would be a waste.

Yan Shi Bo felt that he was in a tough position, being deceived by Lu Bing but still having to pretend to not know anything.

He wanted to kill Ding Ru Kui, but had to make it so Ding Ru Kui would commit suicide, like it had nothing to do with him and to avoid problems with his relatives by marriage.

It was hard to be a treacherous official, accomplishing his goal but not destroying relationships.

It was when Wang Da Xia invited Ding Wu and Wei Cai Wei to watch the dragon boat competition at the moat that Yan Shi Bo felt the opportunity was here.

Yan Shi Bo had kept quite a few kamikaze men over the years, he ordered an expert at manipulating appearance to pretend to be the disfigured mask Wu and infiltrate the embroidered uniform guards, the real mask Wu had already been inebriated and drowned.

He then sent another group to act as ice bowl sellers and bystanders, first they drugged the ice bowls to knock out the embroidered uniform spies who were watching Ding Wu with binoculars under the tree, then the seller pushing a barrow would intercept Ding Wu who wanted to buy ice bowls, the rest of the men acting as bystanders surrounded him like a human shield, then one of them knocked him out with a strike against his nape, placing him inside the ice barrel.

The small gold stamp around his neck was torn off, the gold stamp was then delivered to the fake mask Wu inside the embroidered uniform guards, Ding Wu was immediately taken to the goldfish pond courtyard of yanshenggong— a place even Lu Bing’s men didn’t dare to search.

The fake mask Wu placed the stamp and slips of paper inside the zongzi, using the cricket as a distraction, it was delivered to Ding Ru Kui.

Mission complete, the fake mask Wu couldn’t go home, because outsiders might not realise but his family would definitely notice, so the fake mask Wu deliberately bought a jug of wine, took off his mask and drank to make sure everyone saw mask Wu enter the water after drinking, and pretended to drown as a cover.

Thus the dead cannot testify.

Even if Lu Bing was suspicious of why Ding Ru Kui committed suicide, at most he could only be suspicious of mask Wu, there would be no evidence pointing towards Yan Shi Bo.

Yan Shi Bo’s aim was for Ding Ru Kui to die and not to ruin his relationship with Lu Bing, after all in the political field, it was better to have one more friend than an enemy.

The fake mask Wu entered the water, his appearance was washed off, mission complete he changed identity again, returning to Yan Shi Bo for a debriefing.

The plan was perfectly executed, what’s left was to see how much Ding Ru Kui loved his son, would he die for his son.

Actually Yan Shi Bo really didn’t have to kill off Ding Ru Kui, if Ding Ru Kui feared death and placed his own life before his son’s then Yan Shi Bo’s plan would be pointless.

It was funny, the wicked and horrible Yan Shi Bo actually placed his hope on a person’s good nature, a father’s affection for his child.

He would rather Ding Ru Kui chose to protect himself.

But, Yan Shi Bo couldn’t guarantee this, he was worried and fidgety, a genius was a genius, he actually thought of tying Ding Wu onto the water wheel and torturing him in this way.

So, Yan Shi Bo was being tortured by the wait while Ding Wu was physically being tortured, seeing Ding Wu suffer from choking, better off dead than alive, Yan Shi Bo felt a little better.

Such a treacherous official, his joy was built on the misery of others.

Yan Shi Bo casually played <Mad Drunk>, he was separated by the man made water curtain, watching “Ding Wu” on the water wheel looking like a dead dog, he cheered up.

Yan Shi Bo picked up a jar of wine, walking out of the self-rain pavilion while someone held an umbrella above his head.

The water wheel slowly rotated, “Ding Wu” had come out of the water, coughing loudly, he was about to cough out his lungs.

Yan Shi Bo walked over, enjoying “Ding Wu’s” suffering, there was no other way, he seemed someone greedy for pain, his body full of fat, it’s unknown how many people’s sufferings and tears he had consumed, amongst them was the He qianhu family.

However the He qianhu family were insignificant, they wouldn’t even have the chance to take revenge on him.

Yan Shi Bo treated the painful coughs as a dish that goes well with alcohol, he drank a mouthful of wine, “You want to be free no?”

“I do too, if your father dies, you can be freed, it’ll make you happy and I can take this load off my mind and get rid of this anxiety.”

Yan Shi Bo patted his own flabby chest, “This heartache has been ongoing for ten years yet your father won’t die, I have no choice but to take it out on you, do you understand.”

Wang Da Xia thought: I don’t understand your rubbish! Just you wait! We didn’t have any grudges before today but it’s there now! Taking advantage of a poor young man, one day, I will completely return this torture I’ve received today back to you!

Wang Da Xia could only think about this satisfaction before he was very soon spun back under water by the water wheel, he held his breath as much as possible, trying not to choke on the water.

At this moment, Lu Ying had once again dived into the water, she cut the rope under the water, dragging Wang Da Xia away.

The two of them swam to the lotus leaves in the goldfish pond to breath, the water wheel turned, Yan Shi Bo held a torch in his hand, waiting for “Ding Wu” to appear, wanting to play a game of fire and water with him to pass the time while he waited.

Yan Shi Bo wanted to ask Ding Wu: Which hurts more, being burned or choking on water?

However Yan Shi Bo didn’t see Ding Wu, he ordered his subordinates at once: “The rope might have snapped! Quick surround the goldfish pond! Dredge him up!”

Guards holding lanterns immediately surrounded the goldfish pond, there were also guards who dived in to drag him up, tens of boats also cut across the water, on them guards held lanterns to illuminate the pond and look for Ding Wu.

Combing through the waters, Wang Da Xia and Lu Ying who were amongst the lotuses were found.

Two random living people were found yet Ding Wu was not, the guards flew into a rage out of humiliation, they wanted to flog Lu Ying, Wang Da Xia stood in front of her, laughing: “A flood really has ravaged the Dragon King’s palace, family doesn’t recognise family, look clearly, this is assistant minister Yan’s relative, your Yan second young madam’s younger brother.”

The guard’s didn’t believe it, Wang Da Xia shouted to Yan Shi Bo by the self-rain pavilion: “Assistant minister Yan! Your nephew Lu Ying is here! Your Yan second young madam is still pregnant with your eldest grandson, if you hit her younger brother, aiya, if she finds out, it wouldn’t be good for the baby!”

Yan Shi Bo heard this, he hurriedly ordered people to bring the two trespassers over to him.

“It’s you?” Yan Shi Bo looked at the pale and drenched Lu Ying, he found it hard to believe, “Did your father send you here?”

Lu Ying was frank, just as she was about to reply, Wang Da Xia jumped in, “Of course, who else but the embroidered uniform guards can command our leader Lu? Hurry up and let us go, lord Lu is coming.”

He didn’t expect to fall at the hands of kids, Yan Shi Bo asked the talkative Wang Da Xia: “Where is Ding Wu?” 

Wang Da Xia said: “He must have drowned in the pond and have been fed to the goldfishes, you should hurry and send more people to look for him.”

Yan Shi Bo flew into a rage, he couldn’t hit Lu Ying so he vented all his anger on Wang Da Xia, he picked up a torch and pointed it at Wang Da Xia’s mouth, “I’ll only give you one chance, where is Ding Wu? If you don’t tell me then that mouth is useless, why not try what a torch tastes like!”