Waiting
Nuo Ping led the Bai family guards as they stormed into Huamanlou without a moment's hesitation.
The workers of Huamanlou tried to block them at first, but quickly realized that the men bearing down on them with such overwhelming force were all seasoned soldiers. One glimpse of the frost-edged blades in Nuo Ping's party was enough—they shrank back in terror, not daring to come anywhere near.
The madam of Huamanlou, roused by the frantic shouts of her doorkeeper, came shuffling out in her outer robe, dragging her shoes behind her. Flustered and at a complete loss, she nonetheless approached Nuo Ping with a honeyed, coquettish voice, doing her best to flatter him.
"Oh my! My lord! My lord, what brings you here in such a state? Whatever it is, you need only tell me—why would you bring all these men inside with you? You'll frighten our poor girls half to death, my lord!"
Nuo Ping fixed the madam with a razor-sharp stare, his face like stone.
"Where is Li Mingtang, the Left Prime Minister's son?"
The madam's heart pounded wildly. Her eyes darted quickly toward the third floor of the pleasure house before she spoke again in a voice pitched with urgency.
"Oh, my lord… why must you put me in such a difficult position? Everyone who visits Huamanlou is an honored guest. If I were to tell you where he is, my very life would hang by a thread. And what of my business then?"
Nuo Ping sneered, shoved the madam aside as she continued to cling to him, and gave the order.
"Third floor! Search every single room! When you find Li Mingtang, beat him within an inch of his life!"
At those words, the madam sensed that something had gone terribly wrong. Li Mingtang was the Left Prime Minister's legitimate youngest son. Who on earth were these men, that they dared beat the Left Prime Minister's son half to death?
And yet—if the Left Prime Minister's son died here in Huamanlou, it went without saying that her business was finished. Whether she herself would survive was another question entirely.
Trembling with fear, the madam scrambled up to the third floor and threw herself in the path of the guards, trying to stop them. Realizing she could never hold them back alone, she hurriedly dropped to her knees before Nuo Ping.
"My lord! My lord, I beg you, spare me! I'm nothing but a helpless madam of a pleasure house. If anything happens to the Left Prime Minister's son in this place, I won't live through it either!"
When Nuo Ping didn't so much as flinch, the madam grabbed hold of his arm. He glared down at her with pure contempt, and she flinched back, sank to her knees, and began to wail.
"My lord! Sir, please have mercy…! Think of it as a good deed—spare my life and the lives of the girls of this house!"
Up on the third floor, the Bai family guards kicked open the door of the first side chamber. From within came the shrieks of a courtesan and the sound of a guest hurling curses.
The madam lifted her horrified eyes to the floor above. Dread washed over her, but she could not simply stand frozen—so on her knees, she crawled forward, seized the sword in Nuo Ping's hand with both hands, and wept and wailed in utter desperation.
"My lord, I know that in the eyes of men like you, our lives are worth less than dirt! But you must leave us a way to survive! I don't know what grudge you hold against the Left Prime Minister's son, but if he dies here in our Huamanlou, dozens of our girls will have to die with him. That's exactly what happened at Nanchunlou, isn't it? So please, I beg you—spare us. Spare us!"
From the third floor, the screams and cursing rose without pause.
Nuo Ping looked at the madam—so pitiful and panicked now, so unlike the obsequious flatterer of moments ago—ground his teeth, and bellowed up toward the upper floor.
"When you find Li Mingtang, drag him down. And break his legs out in the street!"
Hearing this, the madam wept aloud as though her life had just been spared, then hurriedly bowed to Nuo Ping again and again.
"Thank you, my lord! Thank you, my lord! I will remember your grace for the rest of my days! I'll set up a longevity tablet in your honor, my lord—a longevity tablet, I swear it!"
"What is the meaning of this?"
Li Mingtang sat up at the sound of someone kicking at the door, wearing nothing but his inner robe. Shielding the slight woman beside him with one arm, he roared in fury.
"Are you out of your minds? You dare raise a riot in my private chamber?"
"We've found Li Mingtang!"
One of the guards who had burst in bellowed at the top of his lungs.
At the words that they had come looking for him, Li Mingtang went white with shock.
As the sword-wielding men strode toward him with menacing swagger, his eyes went round as saucers. When he collected himself enough to look again, he saw that the intruders wore not the uniform of any government office, but the garb of a noble household's private guards.
The Bai family guards seized Li Mingtang by the arms the moment they entered and hauled him straight out.
Li Mingtang was stunned. They dared lay hands on him even knowing who he was?
"Whose household guards are you? I am Li Mingtang, son of the Left Prime Minister! And you dare lay hands on me? Do you want to die at my father's hand? Did that lunatic Yu Yuanfeng send you?"
When word came that Li Mingtang had been found, Nuo Ping lifted his head and looked up toward the upper floor.
Li Mingtang, clad in nothing but his inner robe, flailed wildly as though fighting for his life. The Bai family guards dragged him bodily out of the side chamber.
Struggling with all his might to break free of the guards' grip, he shrieked.
"Yu Yuanfeng, you son of a bitch! Damn it all—sending your household guards after me! My father will go straight to your grandfather over this!"
Li Mingtang, who had spent his days wrapped in women's arms, was no match for the strength of the broad-shouldered guards. The two men hoisted him up with hardly any effort and carried him down to the lower floor.
When the madam, who had been wailing the whole time, saw Li Mingtang being dragged out, she hid in terror behind a red pillar, quivering and too frightened to utter a single word.
"Take him outside and beat him to death! Do not stop unless I say so!"
Nuo Ping gave the order without a flicker of expression.
Li Mingtang's eyes flew wide open. These men were most certainly not Yu household guards.
"Whose men are you? Whose, damn it! Are they Yu Yuanfeng's? My father is the Left Prime Minister! You dare touch me? Do you want to die?"
Both floors of the pleasure house filled up with courtesans and guests who had come out to gawk, and the whispers began.
Even the madam, hidden behind her pillar, could not contain her curiosity. Clutching her pounding chest, she found herself trying to guess which household's guard Nuo Ping could be—so arrogant as to hold the Left Prime Minister in utter contempt.
At the entrance of Huamanlou, Li Mingtang covered his head and took the beating in a daze. The pain mounted past its limit until he could no longer even cry out.
Nuo Ping gripped his scabbard, judged the time roughly, and spoke.
"Break both his legs and drag him out!"
Li Mingtang's agonized screams rang out over the skies of Dadu.
With a calm face, Nuo Ping ordered the guards to drag Li Mingtang, both legs shattered, out into the street. It was exactly as Bai Jingyan had instructed—the louder and uglier the commotion, the bigger the affair would become.
Sima Ping, who had spent the night drinking at Fanjuelou, heard the commotion and hurried to the window in his outer robe, barefoot. When he opened it, he saw Li Mingtang being dragged along by the guards of some household. He was being hauled through the open street in broad daylight, covered head to toe in blood, his shrieks endless, unable even to struggle.
Sima Ping's eyes went round as saucers. He was so astonished he nearly laughed out loud. He raised a hand, stroked his chin, and his face lit up with delighted interest.
"Oh ho—if Yuanfeng hears this wonderful news, he'll be so happy he'll buy drinks for three days straight!"
Muttering to himself, Sima Ping quickly dressed and went out to see the spectacle for himself. He had to find out what on earth was going on. And he needed to track down Yu Yuanfeng—dragged off by his elder brother just last night—and deliver this most excellent news.
Bai Jingyan sat in her carriage, waiting along the road that Li Mu always traveled after the morning court assembly was dismissed.
When Shen Qingzhu spotted Li Mu's carriage approaching slowly, she spoke in a low voice to Bai Jingyan inside.
"My lady, the Left Prime Minister Li Mu's carriage is coming."
By the time Nuo Ping had dragged Li Mingtang in, the carriage carrying Li Mu back from court had nearly arrived as well.
"My lady, Nuo Ping is here!"
With that, Shen Qingzhu stepped aside.
Nuo Ping nodded to her, then approached the carriage and spoke in a lowered voice.
"My lady. Li Mingtang is still alive, and there were plenty of onlookers."
"Understood,"
Bai Jingyan replied, her voice cold as ice.
"When Li Mu's carriage stops, throw Li Mingtang down in front of it."
"Yes, my lady!"
Nuo Ping answered with a clasped-fist salute. Then he and Shen Qingzhu stood beside the carriage, hands gripping their swords tightly, eyes fixed on Li Mu's approaching carriage.
Inside that carriage, Li Mu sat with his eyes closed, recalling what the Emperor had said about the disasters ravaging Yanwo. The Crown Prince's words, offered up as if in support of the Liang King, had carried some hidden scheme beneath them—he was certain of it.
The Crown Prince had praised the Liang King to an excessive, almost suspicious degree. The Liang King was, after all, His Majesty's son; the eldest son whom Left Prime Minister Li Mu had so carefully trained would accompany him, and General Shi Panshan would lend his aid—never before had such a capable force been assembled for disaster relief, the Crown Prince had declared.
And then he had pressed the Emperor further: just because the Liang King rarely displayed talent did not mean he was incompetent. With only a little of His Majesty's attention, the Liang King would surely see this disaster through and return in triumph.
The sight of the Crown Prince taking such pride in his younger brother must have pleased the Emperor greatly.
Yet if one turned the Crown Prince's words over just slightly, a hidden meaning emerged. If he could fail to subdue the disaster even while leading so magnificent a force—then the blame would fall squarely on the Liang King's own shoulders.
Li Mu was sunk deep in thought when the driver spoke to him from up front.
"My lord, the road ahead is blocked. It appears to be the carriage of the Zhenguo Commandery Princess's estate."
Li Mu's hands clenched tight as he opened his eyes. So Bai Jingyan had come after all.
Which meant she truly was holding the letter.
No—still too early to be certain. She may simply have made this grand, noisy arrival to frighten me again. Today I must speak plainly with Bai Jingyan. I will make it clear that unless she produces the letter, I will not believe a single word she says.
Li Mu lifted his chin slightly and smoothed his robes. Then he straightened his back and sat in proper posture, determined to display the full dignity of the Left Prime Minister.
If Bai Jingyan could not produce evidence, he intended to order his wife to enter the palace and obtain the Empress's permission by any means necessary. Gaoyi County Princess had to be brought into the Li family as a daughter-in-law.
That way, if the letter ever truly came to light and the Li family faced annihilation, the County Princess would not be able to escape the calamity either.
If the letter was not in Bai Jingyan's hands and Gaoyi County Princess married into the Li family anyway, then Bai Jingyan would stop at nothing to hunt it down in order to save her sister's life.
But if the letter was in Bai Jingyan's hands—then once the County Princess was wed into the Li family, that letter would become a worthless scrap of paper. Unless, of course, Bai Jingyan chose to abandon her sister altogether. But that was another matter.
"Halt before the Zhenguo Commandery Princess!"
Li Mu answered in a frigid voice.
"Yes, my lord!"
As Li Mu's carriage rolled slowly to a stop, Nuo Ping signaled to the guards behind him.
Two of them dragged the blood-drenched Li Mingtang quickly forward and hurled him down in front of the Left Prime Minister's carriage.
The driver recoiled in horror at the sight of a man bleeding out before him and called back to Li Mu inside.
"M-my lord! The Zhenguo Commandery Princess has thrown a man covered in blood in front of our carriage!"
Before Li Mu inside could even react, Li Mingtang—who lay sprawled on the ground, breathing with agonized difficulty—raised one trembling hand and spoke in a voice that seemed about to fade at any moment.
"Father……"
The driver nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Sixth Young Master? Sixth Young Master!"
The driver leapt down from the carriage and propped Li Mingtang up. Looking closely, it was indeed the Sixth Young Master. He cried out again, frantic.
"My lord! It's the Sixth Young Master! It's the Sixth Young Master!"
At the words that the blood-soaked man was his own son, Li Mu shot to his feet. He nearly cracked his official cap against the carriage ceiling. Straightening the askew cap, he stumbled out of the carriage.
His son, dressed in nothing but an inner robe, had been beaten to a bloody pulp. For one terrible instant, everything went black before Li Mu's eyes, and he nearly collapsed right there at the carriage door.