The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 105

Shengjing.

“No need to see me off!” Tan Ying called from horseback outside the Pacification Office to Zhao Li, who had come to bid her farewell.

A squad of patrolmen followed behind her, escorting a prison cart.

The dogskin-clad dwarf from before huddled in one corner of the cart. He bore few external wounds, but his expression was terrified.

He muttered endlessly under his breath, and the slightest disturbance made him flinch.

The dwarf had been sentenced to death by waist severing.

Tan Ying would escort him back to the Northern Third Division for execution.

Han Yin had also come to see her off.

The crime had occurred in an imperial censor’s household, but in fact it had implicated few of the capital’s dignitaries.

The trial had therefore concluded quickly, and the sentences were severe.

Han Yun and her scoundrel of an uncle were sentenced to waist severing, with execution scheduled after autumn.

Everyone in the Han family, old and young, was exiled to Liaodong—everyone except the victim, Han Yin.

All of the Han family’s property was awarded to Han Yin as compensation.

When she heard that Tan Ying would be escorting the prisoners back today, Han Yin came especially to see her off.

“Commander Tan, thank you!” Han Yin lifted a compartmented food box from the carriage behind her and presented it to Tan Ying with both hands.

Tan Ying initially assumed it contained food. Only when she accepted it did she notice how heavy it was. She hefted it, then accepted without coy refusal. “Rest assured, Miss Han. I’ll be sure to pass your message on to the executioner.”

Zhao Li, standing nearby, froze. When had Han Yin given her a message for the executioner?

Han Yin smiled and winked at Zhao Li. “Thank you for the idea, Li.”

After surviving such a calamity, she had naturally seen many things clearly.

Even her bearing had changed considerably. There was less self-pity and more strength and openness.

She smiled. “I ought to collect some of what is owed to me—and to Miss A-Yin, whom I never met.”

As she spoke, Han Yin turned an icy gaze toward the dwarf still wrapped in dogskin inside the prison cart.

Only then did Zhao Li understand. Han Yin had given Tan Ying silver and asked her to bribe the executioner.

She wanted the dwarf to suffer more during his execution.

Once Zhao Li caught on, she did not expose the matter. Grinning, she threw an arm around Han Yin’s shoulders. “Nicely done!”

Her reaction made both Tan Ying and Han Yin laugh.

Han Yin linked her arm through Zhao Li’s.

Still mounted, Tan Ying reached down and patted both girls on the head. “I’m off! If you ever get a chance to visit the Northern Third Division, Sister Ying will take you two young ladies out to have some fun.”

At that, a suggestive smile appeared on her face. “The men up north are very wild!”

Han Yin blushed slightly, but her eyes shone.

Zhao Li was far more direct. “How wild?”

Tan Ying was about to elaborate when she spotted someone standing with his hands behind his back beside the stone Bian’an outside the gate.

She shrank in on herself and swallowed what she had been about to say. Clearing her throat, she replied, “Just… very wild! It’s getting late. I’m leaving!”

“Huh?”

Zhao Li was disappointed. She was leaving already?

She still had not said how wild!

Zhao Li was about to speak again when she saw Tan Ying signaling frantically at her.

Thanks to their subtle mutual understanding, Zhao Li immediately realized someone was behind her.

Barring the unexpected, it was Papa Shen.

She instantly changed her tune. “I have no interest at all in whether they’re wild. The important thing is learning about the customs of different regions.”

Her performance made Tan Ying laugh. She cupped her hands. “I’m off!”

With that, she tugged the reins and rode over beside the prison cart.

Zhao Li and Han Yin stood shoulder to shoulder outside the gate, watching until she disappeared at the far end of the long street.

Zhao Li cautiously looked back. Seeing no one behind her, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Han Yin asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Zhao Li brushed it off. “A-Yin, what do you plan to do now?”

Han Yin’s smile faded a little. She turned back to the carriage, took down another compartmented box, and handed it to Zhao Li.

The weight pulled at Zhao Li’s hand when she accepted it.

“I sold the residence. Half the money is in here. Li, I have something to ask of you.”

Han Yin said, “My… father is going to be exiled to Liaodong. If I were a filial daughter and wished to fulfill my duty, I should go with him.”

She gave a somewhat desolate smile. “But I don’t want to be a filial daughter.”

“I cannot forgive him!”

After saying it aloud, Han Yin seemed much lighter. “I spent many sleepless nights wondering whether I should force myself to forget the past for the sake of how the world sees me—whether I should swallow my anger and become a filial daughter.”

“But I can’t forget. Li, I can’t forget the way Father looked at me then, hoping I would die.”

“Even if people curse and condemn me, I refuse to endure it any longer.”

As Han Yin spoke, a new radiance appeared on her face.

Unlike Zhao Li, Han Yin was a girl who had truly been raised in the seclusion of the inner chambers, bound by every proper rule.

Simply saying she refused to endure anymore had required tremendous courage.

Zhao Li held the compartmented box in one hand and gently clasped Han Yin’s hand with the other. “A person’s life lasts only a few short decades. If you don’t want to endure something, then don’t. You ought to let yourself live happily.”

“Reputation? Other people’s opinions? If you don’t care, they’re all worth shit.”

Han Yin laughed and linked arms with Zhao Li. “That’s right. They’re all worth shit!”

“Please use this silver to make arrangements with the constables escorting them on the road. Give whatever remains to my father so they can settle in Liaodong. That will bring this bond between father and daughter to an end.”

Zhao Li liked women like Han Yin. She did not refuse such a simple favor.

If Han Yin tried to find her own connections and make these arrangements, there was no telling how much money she might waste.

“Done! Leave it to me.”

“But what about you afterward?” Zhao Li looked at her with concern.

Great Jing’s social customs were liberal and society was still fairly stable. Yet even in later generations, the prospect of a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl like Han Yin living alone would have worried people.

Han Yin clearly had a plan. Counting on her fingers, she said, “I sold the family property but kept half the money. It will be enough to buy a home in a remote neighborhood and settle down.”

“I can also cook a few things. I’ll open a breakfast stall when the time comes. The work may be hard, but I’ll be able to live well.”

“Today, I plan to take A-Bi and look at houses.”

A-Bi was Han Yin’s maid. When Han Yin sold the family property, she dismissed the household servants and matrons, keeping only this loyal maid. The two now treated each other as sisters.

Listening to Han Yin earnestly plan her future, Zhao Li considered a moment, then said, “I happen to have nothing to do today. I’ll go with you!”

Han Yin’s eyes lit up, but then she looked hesitant. “Won’t that be a bother?”

Once Zhao Li made up her mind, she acted. “Not at all. We can treat it as a shopping trip.”

“Wait here.” Carrying the compartmented box, Zhao Li dashed toward the duty room.

The moment she stepped through the Pacification Office gate, she stopped short.

Shen Yan, whom she had thought gone, was standing beside the entrance.

What did one do when one’s superior caught one making plans to go shopping with a friend during working hours?

Zhao Li’s gaze wandered as she came to a halt. “Lord Shen.”

Shen Yan looked at her coldly. He wanted to ask whether she truly wished that badly to learn how wild northern men were.

But seeing her lower her head guiltily, Shen Yan sighed and asked instead, “Do you have enough money for shopping?”