"It must have been me overthinking it."
Li Yaozu rubbed his brow and sat down on the small stool beside the dining table.
He thought he was merely frightening himself.
Ever since Wei Tu had been sold into the Li Family, the Li Family had never done anything to wrong him. Wei Tu would not possibly take such a desperate risk over such a trivial matter.
—The matter of forcing Xinghua to submit had not yet happened. On the road to the Prefectural City, he had merely mentioned having Wei Tu serve as Li Xingye's attendant.
No matter how wildly one imagined things, one would never connect it to that.
"It was probably just a coincidence."
Li Yaozu repeated the words "probably" in his heart, trying to comfort himself.
Yet his heart would not settle. He recalled the way Wei Tu had straightened his back and met his gaze before leaving. Those eyes were not the eyes a servant ought to have, nor was that the conduct of a man who remembered kindness.
"I'm going out for a while." Li Yaozu planned to take a walk and clear his mind.
After greeting Madam Li, he lifted the hem of his long robe and strode out of the hall.
Following the corridor, crossing the courtyard and the moon gate, Li Yaozu arrived at the outer residence. He stopped beneath the eaves and glanced toward the stable.
The half-grown black horse snorted as it ate the last finger-thick layer of fodder in its trough.
Near the bluestones beside the wall lay a stack of chopped dry fodder, enough for roughly ten days.
Li Yaozu walked closer to the stable and rose onto his toes to inspect its cleanliness. Seeing that it was neat, without any of the half-grown black horse's dung or urine from the previous night, the stone weighing on his heart finally dropped into his stomach. A trace of admiration appeared in his eyes.
I was overthinking it. Wei is a good lad, Li Yaozu thought.
When he returned to the inner quarters and passed the kitchen, Li Yaozu again caught the fragrance of meat and dishes drifting from the open window. It was as though another burden had slid from his shoulders. With his right hand behind his back, his steps became lighter.
"Bring paper and brush." Li Yaozu sat back down on the small stool and instructed the maid beside Madam Li.
"Master, paper and brush... what are you planning to write?" Madam Li asked in confusion. Li Yaozu was not some scholar who casually burst into poetry, especially not at mealtime. He rarely picked up a brush then.
"In Sanyuan Township, I have an old friend. He earned his title through the martial examinations. Since Wei intends to take the martial examinations, we might as well see this good deed through to the end and help him."
Li Yaozu explained.
"Master, have you caught some strange affliction? Have you gone muddle-headed?" Madam Li was astonished. When they had discussed the Redemption Silver in the inner hall earlier, she had pleaded for a favor before he reduced Wei Tu's Redemption Silver by several taels.
—If the Redemption Silver was set too high, the wealthy ladies would say, during their gatherings, that the Li Family had a low threshold and saw money with open eyes.
By then, Chun Lan had brought the paper, ink, brush, and inkstone from the inner hall and began grinding ink for Li Yaozu.
"A strange affliction?" Li Yaozu's brush paused. His expression darkened slightly, and he frowned before cursing, "A woman's short-sightedness."
After that, Li Yaozu paid Madam Li no further attention. Following the blue vertical lines on the letter paper, he began writing.
Once he had finished, he took out his personal seal and stamped a red imprint onto the letter.
"If what I saw is true, this letter will forge a good karmic bond. If what I saw is false, then if his thoughts run deep, it may also resolve a calamity."
Li Yaozu examined the letter, stroked his goatee, and a sharp glint flickered in his eyes.
The favor of patronage weighed as heavily as Mount Tai. If Wei Tu repaid kindness with enmity, then he would not even have the chance to muddle through as a blade-wielding wanderer.
Men of the blade valued loyalty above all else.
"Go. Deliver it to Wei." Li Yaozu placed the letter into an envelope and handed it to the maid beside him.
Before long, Wei Tu, who was packing his belongings in the main room, received another letter written for him by Master Li Yaozu.
This envelope was the same as the one that had previously held his indenture contract and proof letter. It had not been sealed, so Wei Tu could easily see what was written inside.
"Scholar Dan Ji of Sanyuan Township? He wants me to work as a long-term laborer there, and learn some Martial Arts Techniques from Scholar Dan along the way, so I can handle next year's martial examinations?"
After reading the letter, Wei Tu's reaction was much the same as Madam Li's. Both felt as though the sun had risen in the west.
Had Li Yaozu changed his ways?
This letter looked like nothing more than a letter, but the person being asked was a Martial Arts Master. The favor being spent was no small one.
Favors required give and take.
There was no such thing as taking without giving anything in return.
"Sanyuan Township isn't far from the county town, only a day's journey."
"Now that I've redeemed myself, Li Yaozu won't deliberately set a trap for me over this. Nine times out of ten, this is real."
Wei Tu hesitated for a short while before finally making up his mind. He decided to follow the letter's instructions, go to Dan Ji's home in Sanyuan Township as a long-term laborer, and take the chance to seek advice from this senior of the martial examinations.
It was only midsummer now. More than half a year remained until next February's martial examinations.
He had broken away from his original plans and redeemed himself early. The remaining half year meant there was a good chance he would not earn a single coin during that time and would simply eat away at his savings.
In the county town, during the slack farming season, there was no shortage of men from the countryside seeking work.
Even if they asked for no wages and only wanted the household to provide food and lodging, jobs were still hard to find.
Otherwise, Xinghua would not have reacted so strongly when she heard that Wei Tu was going to redeem himself.
Compared with redemption, the true difficulty was that servants who redeemed themselves often found themselves with no way to live afterward.
"Thank the Bodhisattva for her blessing, thank the Bodhisattva for her blessing..."
That evening, after Xinghua saw Li Yaozu's handwritten letter, she smiled, knelt in the corner by the wall, and kowtowed three times toward the City God Temple in the county town.
For nearly the entire first half of the day, she had been on tenterhooks, fearing that an enraged Li Yaozu would have Wei Tu beaten bloody with random clubs and thrown out of the Li Residence.
Or that Wei Tu would rebel against the Li Family, causing the County Yamen's constables to search the town through the night for an escaped slave.
However.
The Bodhisattva had blessed them.
After this day, not only had her man, Wei Tu, redeemed his indenture contract as he wished, but he had also received a "letter of recommendation" from Master Li Yaozu. How could she not be delighted?
"I'll pack your clothes and food right away, Wei. After you finish your business at the County Yamen tomorrow, set off early for Sanyuan Township..." After Xinghua finished offering thanks to the gods and Buddhas filling the heavens, she did not rest. She began preparing Wei Tu's traveling clothes, money, and provisions.
"In less than half a month, it'll be time for the wheat harvest. Without me in the county town..." Wei Tu sighed.
If he went to Scholar Dan's household as a long-term laborer, he would certainly have no free time during the wheat harvest. How could he return to the county town to cut wheat and gather grain?
And Xinghua was a woman. During the day, she had to handle the Li Residence's meals. Even if she had time at night, leaving the town would be far too dangerous.
"How can you not tell what matters more and what matters less? Even if those three mu of grain rot in the fields, they still aren't as important as your future." Xinghua's face tightened with displeasure, looking exactly like a sallow-faced wife in the middle of an argument.
"Even if I can't harvest the wheat myself, I can hire other tenant farmers to do it. It'll just cost a little more."
That single sentence completely dispelled Wei Tu's worries. He nodded and agreed to leave for Sanyuan Township the next day.
Thanks to Ascending Power for the 100 Qidian Coins reward.
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