High-Sounding Words

"I came to say hello to our brothers in the Eastern Depot today, so we can coordinate our actions once the Prayer Daoist Grounds comes around."

In the Eastern Depot's main hall, Chen Yi cupped his fist toward its assembled leading figures.

Wang Gu, standing beside him, said:

"I'm sure you've all heard. For at least the next month or two, Thousand Household Chen of the Western Depot will serve as Acting Depot Lord."

In the hall, several Chief Constables immediately began chatting and laughing, their flattering words flowing without end.

Min Ning watched Chen Yi standing before the crowd, a slightly complicated look in her eyes.

Though she had learned yesterday that he would serve as Acting Depot Lord, she still could not help feeling stunned when she actually saw him arrive.

Especially since... this man, who desired both her elder sister and herself, was about to become her immediate superior.

"Come, Thousand Household Chen. This way, please."

Wang Gu gestured for him to proceed.

"As it happens, there's a case file here. Take a look. It'll help you familiarize yourself with how the Eastern Depot handles things."

Chen Yi followed Wang Gu.

At the sight, Min Ning's delicate brows furrowed slightly.

She remembered that yesterday, Thousand Household Wang had been discussing something with several Chief Constables he knew well.

Once they reached the records room, Wang Gu took a case file from the desk and placed it in Chen Yi's hands.

Chen Yi lowered his eyes and skimmed it.

At the top of the case file were a few words:

Civilians have privately constructed an Infant Tower in the northwestern outskirts of the Capital City.

Checking the file's date, Chen Yi discovered that it was rather old. It had been shelved for several years.

Chen Yi frowned and said:

"Privately constructing an Infant Tower..."

He had heard of Infant Towers. At first, they were used to abandon sick infants born with deformities. Later, ordinary people also threw their surplus babies into them. There was no shortage of boys among them, but most were girls.

Throwing them inside was not the end of it. In some extreme villages, to frighten away babies coming to be reincarnated, people would slaughter the infants inside, whether by drowning or fire. The cruelty was truly beyond words.

As for why they did such things... it was simply because they could not afford to raise them.

"Unlike your Western Depot, which oversees a depot and a guard, quite a few of the matters our Eastern Depot handles are trifles. Take this one, for instance. With an Infant-Killing Tower being privately built, the palace worried that the killing intent would spoil the Capital City's feng shui, so they sent our Eastern Depot to deal with it."

Wang Gu thought Chen Yi's contemplative silence came from not expecting the Eastern Depot to handle such trifles, so he spoke at an opportune moment.

Chen Yi closed the file and said gravely:

"Take me to see it. Great Yu Law has a provision: anyone who kills their child without authorization is to be confiscated into slavery."

Though he did not know whether the Ding'an faction had played any tricks in this, simply sitting by and doing nothing would squander the three fires a newly appointed official ought to light.

And if the Ding'an faction intended to play tricks, Chen Yi would not mind trapping both the Ding'an faction and the Lin faction to their deaths when the Prayer Daoist Grounds came around.

Wang Gu smiled without warmth.

"We'll set out at once."

The tall horses passed through the streets, slowly crossed through the city gate, and headed toward a village outside the capital.

Wisps of cooking smoke rose. Chen Yi held the reins, his expression calm.

He did not know whether it was an illusion.

Chen Yi kept feeling that more and more people were following behind the party.

When they left the Eastern Depot, there had originally been only seven or eight of them. After they passed through the city gate, their numbers suddenly swelled.

Chen Yi looked back and made a casual count.

There were fifteen people in all.

Nearly all wore Embroidered Uniform Guard uniforms, and three were even Chief Banner Officers.

"Keep going. We're almost there."

Wang Gu, following behind him, spoke.

"Does clearing out an Infant Tower require so many Embroidered Uniform Guards?"

Chen Yi asked casually.

"There's something you don't know, Thousand Household Chen. Treacherous villains hold sway at court now, and officials drive the people to rebellion. Even outside the capital, there are plenty of unruly subjects."

Wang Gu spoke with an unchanged expression.

"One careless moment, and your boat could capsize in a gutter."

Chen Yi narrowed his eyes slightly.

After a stretch of dirt road, the village gradually drew nearer. A crude wooden tower could be seen from afar.

Inside, there seemed to be some faint sounds.

They were very weak, too indistinct to hear clearly.

Like crying, yet also like grieving.

Chen Yi's grip on the reins tightened.

A deathly stillness spread through the village. Hearing the hoofbeats, almost all the villagers shrank back into their houses. The few scattered villagers working in the fields threw themselves into the furrows, not daring to rise.

The blazing sun shone overhead, and waves of putrid deathly air wafted from the Infant Tower.

The spirited horse raised its head and neighed uneasily at the sky.

Behind him, the Embroidered Uniform Guards dismounted, all pressing their hands to their saber hilts.

Wang Gu cupped his fist.

"Please dismount, Thousand Household Chen."

Chen Yi did not answer. He merely stared fixedly at the Infant Tower.

After a long moment, he neither dismounted nor responded, only saying coldly:

"Drag everyone here out, one by one. Find out who built the tower and who helped them. Escort every last one to the Capital City under Great Yu Law."

Wang Gu turned a deaf ear and repeated:

"Please dismount, Thousand Household Chen."

Chen Yi glanced sideways and asked:

"Didn't you hear what I said?"

Sensing the hostility in his tone, the Embroidered Uniform Guards slowly drew their Embroidered Spring Sabers an inch from their sheaths.

Seeing Chen Yi staring straight at the Infant Tower, Wang Gu sneered.

"I never expected Thousand Household Chen to have some compassion left in his heart."

Chen Yi turned his face and looked directly at the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

On the open, level ground, fourteen men had already surrounded him from three directions, their blades drawn.

"Please dismount, Thousand Household!"

The Embroidered Uniform Guards spoke in unison.

"This is the outskirts of the Capital City, not far from the capital. Never mind the Embroidered Uniform Guard-even soldiers on routine patrol could discover a privately built Infant Tower. Yet this Infant Tower is still here."

Chen Yi looked at them and said slowly:

"And that file had clearly been shelved for years. Why show it to me only today?"

Wang Gu did not answer directly, merely replying:

"The Lin faction has thrown the court into chaos, seized power, and taken bribes. Unless the Lin faction is brought down, our Great Yu will never see a revival."

Chen Yi caught something in those words.

"Grand Secretary Lin has always placed great importance on cultivating the Dao. However much evil he commits, he would never sit by and ignore something like an Infant Tower that ruins feng shui. This thing obstructs his cultivation toward immortality and would also displease the palace."

"So... your Ding'an faction did this? Your Ding'an faction deliberately allowed them to build Infant Towers in private, all so that one day, grains of sand would form a tower and dripping water would pierce stone, bringing down the Lin faction."

At these words, the Embroidered Uniform Guards' expressions shifted slightly.

But Wang Gu smiled without warmth.

"Thousand Household Chen, even when treating a person, scraping poison from the bone will always injure flesh and skin.

"All the more so when we of the Ding'an faction must prescribe a remedy to save Great Yu.

"Compared with the Lin faction's crimes, what does this amount to?"

"Thousand Household Chen, if the Lin faction hadn't wrought such chaos, why would the common people need to kill their infants?!"

His words slowly faded.

Chen Yi remained silent in thought, still sitting upright.

The late-autumn wind swept over the desolate yellow earth, whipping up sand and stones.

Trembling with fear, the villagers peered outside through narrow cracks in their windows.

First came a sliding sound, inch by inch. Amid the flying sand and stones, they saw that the man on the tall horse had not dismounted, but his long saber was already fully drawn, veins bulging across the back of his hand.

The spirited horse lifted its head toward the sky and whinnied into the autumn wind.

He was not a good man, nor was he a wholly evil one. He had his own bottom line.

Chen Yi gripped his Embroidered Spring Saber. Never had he wanted to kill as much as he did today.

Perhaps it was because...

He had heard too many high-sounding words.

He had seen too many beasts dressed in human finery.