Chapter 220: Called To The Authorities

Disclaimer: 

1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.

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The two of them were chatting at home, when they heard some urgent footsteps outside. That was a servant girl! Both of them were taken aback. Shi Cheng’s mother didn’t have much to do, so spent a lot of time training these servants on how to comport themselves. She hated having servant girls who behaved in a flustered manner, so what was happening today?

Just as they thought this, a servant girl ran over. Sure enough, she was in a panic. Face white, the instant she came in, she exclaimed, “First Young Master, it’s bad! It’s bad! Outside…. There are a few people sent by the government office outside, carrying swords and chains! They want you… want you to go with them!”

Shi Cheng frowned and stood up, “What are you so panicked about? Just because they want me to go with them, doesn’t mean that they are here to arrest me right?”

That servant girl was shocked. She immediately shook her head, “No, no! That wasn’t this slave’s meaning….”

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“Rq vbyv’p dsv kv, vbld vblal’p ds dlle qsa usw vs rydkn. Ebyv yal usw pbswvkdt ycswv? Ebu zssj ps qzwpvlale? Cwknjzu ts yde kdhkvl vblx vs vbl qasdv assx vs byhl psxl vly!” Fbk Ubldt pyke nszezu.&dcpr;

Ubypvkple, vbl plahydv tkaz qkdyzzu xydytle vs tlv bla rydkn wdela nsdvasz. Fbl tyhl y pwcewle ytallxldv yde vwadle vs zlyhl.&dcpr;

Fbk Ubldt vbld nbydtle bkp nsze lmralppksd. Tl pbssj bkp blye, “Tso oyp vbkp tkaz vywtbv? Kwpv y pxyzz xyvvla oyp ldswtb vs xyjl bla ps qzwpvlale?”

Nkw Dw’la bye yzalyeu pvsse wr. Tla qynl pbsole bla clokzelaxldv, “Qshladxldv sqqknkyzp? Wasx Tydgbsdt nkvu? Ebu oswze vblu cl zssjkdt qsa usw? Zsw’al dsv qasx blal.”

Fbk Ubldt pbssj bkp blye, “R esd’v jdso lkvbla! R’hl dlhla xlv ydu sq vbl tshladxldv sqqknkyzp kd Tydgbsdt nkvu; R esd’v jdso ydu sq vblx… Tlzr xl nbydtl.” Tl pyke yp bl pvyavle vs alxshl bkp bsxl nzsvblp, “Ebu sd lyavb oswze vblu cl zssjkdt qsa xl?”

“Mbyv’p aktbv, bso oswze vblu jdso usw? Gzps, obyv xyvvla oswze nsdnlad usw?” Nkw Dw’la iwknjzu oldv vs rknj wr y vbknj qwa zkdle swvqkv yde oyp ycswv vs rwv kv sd bkx obld pbl pweeldzu vbswtbv sq psxlvbkdt. Fbl vwadle, “Psd’v olya vbyv! Rv’p clvvla vs olya y xsal pkxrzl swvqkv!” Mbld pbl oldv vs rknj wr y ellr talld nsvvsd fynjlv yde rwv kv sd bkx. Tl fwpv dllele vs rwzz sd y casnyel nsyv shla kv, yde vbyv pbswze cl qkdl.&dcpr;

Fbk Ubldt iwknjzu rwv sd vbl swvqkv yde pxkzle, “Rv pbswze cl dsvbkdt! R yx yqvla yzz y fwald! Mblu pbswze fwpv oydv vs xllv okvb xl.”

Nkw Dw’la bsolhla, oypd’v ps lypkzu yppwale. Fbl kxxlekyvlzu pyke, “Zsw pbswzed’v cl nsxrzynldv! Fkdnl vblu nyxl okvb posaep yde nbykdp… Mblu nzlyazu eked’v nsxl okvb jkde kdvldvksdp!”

Shi Cheng could only say, “Even so, I don’t think they would dare to arrest me. Without being convicted of a crime, I am still someone with scholarly achievements.”

Liu Xu’er nodded, “I know… But you should be careful.”

The two of them left the room and went to the front courtyard together. Liu Xu’er stayed away in the side room and watched as Shi Cheng went to the front room. After speaking for a while, the four visitors came out with Shi Cheng. Although they did indeed bring swords and chains, that was just their ordinary uniform. It was clear that they were rather polite towards Shi Cheng. 

Liu Xu’er’s heart still sank! These people didn’t seem to be from the county level, but rather the prefectural level? And these were clearly not just errand boys, but seemed to be from the department of Public Safety? 

The department of Public Safety was in charge of enforcing law and order in the city. Only prefectural cities like Hanzhong city would have such a department. 

Liu Xu’er started to feel rather uneasy. She was about to head back to her rooms when Meng shi came out of the back courtyard. She was surprised, “I just heard from a servant girl that someone from the government office invited Shi Cheng to go out with them?”

Liu Xu’er quickly nodded her head, “That’s right, the servant girl must have come straight to report to us first, so Shi Cheng and I came over. They didn’t say much before heading out together.”

Meng shi was astonished, “Which government office? Does Shi Cheng know them? What… What’s happened? Why did he suddenly get called away?”

Liu Xu’er saw that her mother-in-law seemed puzzled?  She had originally wanted to ask her if she had any idea of what was going on, but it seemed that her mother-in-law was no clearer. Liu Xu’er could only shake her head and say, “I don’t know. Shi Cheng also found it strange. He doesn’t know anyone from the government office here. And honestly… we’re just ordinary folk. We’ve just come over from Feng town, so the government office shouldn’t have known… Who knows what’s going on?”

Meng shi was clearly a bit panicked. She paced around, “What’s happening? It’s so strange! What on earth happened?!” She said in a daze. Then she asked, “Could it be because Shi Cheng became a juren and the officials here wanted to get in touch with him?”

Although Liu Xu’er had already eliminated that as a possibility, seeing Meng shi look so panicked, she still nodded and said, “It might be…” She needed to calm her down first, and not make her more worried. Otherwise, if she did get agitated, she might insist on looking for others to help or to find out what was going on. That would make things even worse. 

When Meng shi heard, she finally let out a sigh of relief. After thinking about it, she said, “That should be it!” She patted Liu Xu’er on the arm and said, “You should have seen. When Shi Cheng became a juren, we had to deal with so many people here!”

She started to head to the back courtyard as she spoke. Liu Xu’er could only follow. She was still a little worried, so she wasn’t listening closely as Meng shi said, “On the day it happened, someone from the government office came to set off fireworks. The very next day, someone came over! Wanted to become Shi Cheng’s adviser, to help him in his official career! He kept recommending himself even though Shi Cheng’s father kept trying to refuse….. We hadn’t even sent him away, when someone came over with his entire family! Said that they wanted to become the juren’s servants!”

Shi Cheng’s mother smiled and shook her head, “I would’ve never imagined… I’d never seen anything like it!”

Liu Xu’er hastily smiled in response. Then she said, “That’s right, we saw something similar as well in Feng town. We originally wanted to come over the day we heard. Thankfully we had already received dad’s letter not to go back. Otherwise, it would have taken a long time to resolve all of this.”

Shi Cheng’s mother probably felt that this invitation was for the government officials to get to know Shi Cheng, so she had completely relaxed. She smiled and nodded, “Thank goodness you didn’t come back! Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t be able to get anything done, and would need all of our energy to deal with this matter. But I heard that you had to deal with something similar as well, back at Feng town?”

Liu Xu’er nodded her head, “That’s right. When we first received the official announcement, people kept on coming for well over 10 days. The county magistrate organised a banquet, Taohua village also organised one. So many friends were inviting us for meals. Honestly, we didn’t stop eating for well over 10 days.”

Shi Cheng’s mother smiled and nodded, “Isn’t that so! I was talking to your father – we were saying that even though you were at Feng town, you probably wouldn’t be able to relax!”

With a great deal of effort, Liu Xu’er maintained the smile on her face, and continued the conversation with her mother-in-law half heartedly. She was still extremely worried about Shi Cheng. She felt that it was definitely a bad thing that they invited Shi Cheng out.

They continued to chat, while Liu Xu’er anxiously waited. They chatted all the way till afternoon, and four hours had gone by. Seeing that he was still gone, even Shi Cheng’s mother had started to panic again. She started to pace, “What’s wrong? If they’ve gone for a meal, they should have at least sent a message back right?!”

Then she asked Liu Xu’er, “Did you see if he brought along anyone?”

Liu Xu’er quickly replied, “He just brought along a manservant… It didn’t seem right to bring too many people with him.”

Shi Cheng’s mother was puzzled, “That boy should at least let us know what’s going on! Which master has invited him? Did they want him to stay for the evening meal?”

Liu Xu’er bit her lip. The unease in her heart had only grown since he first left. Honestly, she had harbored a small hope at the start that he had just gone to make the acquaintance of someone. But now, that hope had completely died. Something definitely happened!

She started to think over all their recent events — she thought everything through, especially as it pertained to the business. She wondered if Shi Cheng had broken the law somehow?

After thinking for a long time, she felt that it was only when her erge was trying to reclaim their store that they had engaged in more extreme measures. But those measures would definitely not have involved the authorities! The Hanlin family was done for, and even if they went to complain, the only ones the First Young Madam could find would be the people in Songjiang prefecture! They wouldn’t have involved the Hanzhong prefecture at all?!

As for her own family… that was even less likely! Erge did have his means in business, but they were all strictly within the legal boundaries. They definitely would not have broken any laws. 

The strangest part about it all was, no matter whether it was Shi Cheng or erge or her family, all their business was in Feng town. Even if something had happened, it would be personnel from Feng town that would come to them. Why should the authorities from Hanzhong city come looking?

As she thought, she immediately recalled her own store. Could it be that her store manager had done something? She immediately stood and called for a servant girl, “Go and call yesterday’s store manager over!”

Shi Cheng’s mother was shocked, “Did your store manager do something?!”

Liu Xu’er quickly said, “I don’t know… Right now, I don’t know anything. The store manager should at least be familiar with this place, and his news would probably be faster than ours. I am calling him to ask if he’s heard anything.”

Shi Cheng’s mother nodded, “That’s right! Call him to ask!” Then she called the servant girl, “Tell someone to call the Master! Ask the Master to come back quickly.” Her husband should be alerted to this matter as soon as possible. He would know what to do. In any case, it was better than having the both of them panic at home. 

The servant girl hurried out to do as she was told. Liu Xu’er and Shi Cheng’s mother stayed at home waiting. By now, Shi Cheng’s mother was anxious and agitated. She too had given up on her earlier thinking. She started to imagine worse and worse scenarios and managed to frighten herself very badly. 

Liu Xu’er had to keep comforting her. It should be alright, it should be alright… Wasn’t there no news? Perhaps he really was called to have a meal, so they should stop scaring themselves….

After comforting her for a while, Liu Xu’er at least succeeded in calming Shi Cheng’s mother down enough to wait for her husband to return first, rather than sending someone to the government office to find out what was going on. 

When Shi Cheng’s father returned, he asked about the situation. He too felt that it didn’t seem like anything good. He paced around the room for a while before coming forward to assure them. He said to Meng shi and Liu Xu’er, “There’s no point in just waiting. I will send someone to ask.” Then he left. 

Meng shi and Liu Xu’er watched him walk out and felt somewhat calmer. They hoped for news soon. 

After a while, the servant girl came to say that the store manager had arrived, so Liu Xu’er went out. She carefully avoided Meng shi and stood at the gatehouse questioning the store manager. Did they do anything at her store that would have alarmed the authorities?

The store manager was at a loss. He shook his head and very resolutely said, “Definitely not!”

Liu Xu’er looked at him and felt that he wouldn’t lie to her, so she nodded and told him to go back.

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Translator’s Note: Sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger for the weekend… Any guesses about what’s going on? Anyway, we’re pretty much at the final “story arc”! Enjoy and have a great weekend!!