Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Never Turn Down Gold

Huo Zheng turned and saw Gu Yuan Jia walking over with two servants. Gu Yuan Jia bowed and said: “Brother Huo.”

Young Master Gu had planned to go knock on the door, but as he entered the lane, he saw a shadow skim over the eaves and land at the far end, so he came to take a look and happened to see Huo Zheng there. He went straight over.

Seeing Gu Yuan Jia didn’t surprise Huo Zheng. He only asked: “The matter I asked you to handle, is it done?”

Gu Yuan Jia took a half-sized chest from the servant on his right and offered it with both hands: “This is the evidence I’ve collected. Every piece is tied to Prince Ning. Please look it over, Brother Huo.”

Huo Zheng reached out and took it but didn’t open it right away. Gu Yuan Jia worked fast; in just a few days he had gathered so much evidence about Prince Ning. Huo Zheng had punished the father and son of the Zhou Household only yesterday; he couldn’t move against Prince Ning so soon. He needed the right moment.

“I’ll keep the evidence. You go back first,” Huo Zheng said.

Gu Yuan Jia had thought Huo Zheng would at least tell him when he planned to act against Prince Ning. He hadn’t expected to be sent away at once. Young Master Gu smiled and said: “What you asked is done. Today I’m taking my person home. Please don’t stop me, Brother Huo.”

Huo Zheng knew he meant Yu Zhu. But Yu Zhu was no longer in Linshui Town. “Your business, I won’t interfere,” he said, not much concerned.

Holding the chest, he walked out of Peach Blossom Lane. The evidence couldn’t stay in a tofu workshop; it had to be stored at the Courier Lodge.

Gu Yuan Jia felt Huo Zheng’s words were a bit odd. A few days ago, if Huo Zheng hadn’t stopped him, he would already have taken Yu Zhu back. Now Huo Zheng said he wouldn’t interfere. [What’s with the change?] Gu wondered.

He watched Huo Zheng leave the lane without returning to the workshop, then told a servant to knock on the door. The servant knocked for a long time before the gate opened.

Chun Zhi hopped on one foot to open it. Seeing Gu Yuan Jia outside, she tried to close the door on instinct.

“Sister-in-law,” Gu Yuan Jia addressed her like that, “is Yu Zhu still here?”

“She isn’t,” Chun Zhi said.

Gu Yuan Jia looked like a smart man, and Chun Zhi knew she couldn’t fool him. If she said Yu Zhu was still here, he would insist on going in to look. Better to tell him that Yu Zhu had already left.

Gu Yuan Jia didn’t find it strange. Yu Zhu had served at his side for years. She was obedient and caring, careful in her work, more serious than others. But she never wasted money and always saved. She had been born a free commoner; wanting her status back made sense. But her hiding from him like this was unusual.

“Then where did Yu Zhu go?” Gu Yuan Jia asked. “Can you tell me, sister-in-law?”

“No,” Chun Zhi said. Yu Zhu had left to avoid this Young Master Gu. Besides, even if Chun Zhi knew where Yu Zhu was, she would never tell him.

Gu Yuan Jia said to her with a bit of helplessness: “I’m not a cruel master. Yu Zhu and I have been together for years. I can’t bear to let her drift alone. I only want to give her a place to stay. Sister-in-law, why guard against me like I’m a thief?”

Chun Zhi thought: [If I don’t guard against you, who should I guard against?]

“Wait here,” she said.

Hopping back inside, she fetched the little chest that held one hundred taels of gold and carried it out to return to him. “You left this last time,” Chun Zhi said. “I can’t tell you where Yu Zhu is. Take it back.”

Gu Yuan Jia didn’t accept it and even stepped back two paces. It was hard for Chun Zhi to hop forward and push the chest into his hands, and the two servants from Gu Manor stepped up to stand between them.

“This gold is yours since I gave it to you,” Gu Yuan Jia said.

“I won’t sell Yu Zhu,” Chun Zhi said. “I don’t want this gold.”

“If you don’t want it, just throw it away,” Gu Yuan Jia said.

Chun Zhi was speechless. Young Master Gu truly was from a noble house; he could tell someone to throw away a hundred taels of gold.

Gu Yuan Jia knew Chun Zhi wouldn’t betray Yu Zhu, so he didn’t ask again. “No matter where she goes, I will find her,” he said.

“You’re a noble young master. What kind of maid can’t you have?” Chun Zhi said. “Pretty ones, gentle ones, careful ones. You can have any kind you want. Stop looking for Yu Zhu. You and she were master and maid, and being together for years was fate, but when fate is over, you shouldn’t force it.”

“To me, Yu Zhu is different from others,” Gu Yuan Jia said.

“Different how?” Chun Zhi asked.

“That kind of difference can be felt but not explained,” Gu Yuan Jia said.

Chun Zhi clearly couldn’t feel it.

Gu Yuan Jia didn’t say more. He cupped his hands in a farewell salute and said: “Sorry to trouble you today, sister-in-law. I’ll take my leave.” With that, Young Master Gu turned and left with his two servants.

Chun Zhi watched them go far down the lane before closing the gate. She hugged the chest and went back inside. Yu Zhu didn’t want the gold, and Gu Yuan Jia wouldn’t take it back. She was a little troubled. Mixed in with the worry was another thought: [Free gold is still gold.]

“You can go against anyone, but you must never go against gold,” Chun Zhi muttered. She hid the chest in the trunk under the bed, covered it with clothes, locked it, and pushed it back under the bed.

She had just hidden the gold when the gate swung open. Chun Zhi hopped to the window and saw Huo Zheng: his left hand held several oil-paper packets, and his right hand led a donkey by a rope.

Wait…

“Huo Qi, where did you get a donkey?” she called.

“Bought it,” Huo Zheng answered as he tied the donkey in the yard.

“For no reason, why buy a donkey?” Chun Zhi asked, hopping out and leaning against the doorframe.

Huo Zheng set the packets on the table, walked to the door, helped Chun Zhi sit by the Eight Immortals Table, and said: “To help with your work.”

If Chun Zhi would be obedient, rest her injured foot, and stop thinking about making and selling tofu, he wouldn’t have asked Jiang He to get a donkey. But she was stubborn, and she had her mind set on money.

“I only got my foot stepped on, not a broken leg,” Chun Zhi said. “It’ll be fine in a few days. A donkey must be expensive. How much did you pay? Hurry and return it.”

“Money’s paid and goods are handed over. It can’t be returned,” Huo Zheng said.

“I don’t get it,” Chun Zhi said. “You just gave me five hundred taels. Where did you get silver to buy a donkey?”

When he told Jiang He to find the donkey, Huo Zheng hadn’t thought about where the money would come from, so now he had to make something up. He told Chun Zhi: “A close friend wants me to work for Prince Chang’an. To show his sincerity, he advanced me three months of pay.”

“Work for Prince Chang’an and get your pay ahead of time?” Chun Zhi said in surprise. “Is the world really that nice?”