Zhao Wuxu squatted down by the wall and pulled the cloth up another half inch, his eyes scanning the courtyard.
In the backyard of public toilet number 12, there were seven or eight wooden barrels piled up, with a layer of blackened dried crust on the rims. A row of freshly chopped firewood stood against the east wall, and an old prison uniform was stuffed into the gaps in the firewood pile.
Pu Yunshan sat on a small stool in front of the woodpile, his hands resting on his knees, palms facing up, his knuckles rubbed red by the carrying pole.
"Brother Pu," Zhao Wuxu said in a low voice, taking out two pieces of dry rations from his sleeve. "The biscuits are warm; I kept them close to my chest."
Suddenly, a voice came from outside.
"Who's talking to the dung bucket?"
Zhao Wuxu stood frozen in place.
Tuoba Mang stood at the gate of the courtyard, holding a rough porcelain bowl. The bowl contained half a bowl of soup noodles, with two slices of mutton floating on top.
He held a bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other, chewing something, but his eyes were already squinting.
Pu Yunshan reacted faster than Zhao Wuxu, pulling him behind the woodpile. The two squeezed into the narrow gap between the barrels and the woodpile, shoulder to shoulder, their noses less than a foot from the nearest barrel.
The smell seeped into my brain through my nasal cavity.
Zhao Wuxu took a deep breath, and tears immediately welled up in his eyes. He barely managed to hold back his cough.
Tuoba Mang slowly walked in, carrying a bowl. His boots made a sound on the wet stone slabs. He stood in front of the array of barrels and tapped the lid of the outermost barrel with his chopsticks.
"Mouse?"
Pu Yunshan extended two fingers and pressed them against the back of Zhao Wuxu, forcing his head down.
Tuoba Mang knocked three times, then lowered his head to take a sip of soup, turned and left.
The sound of him talking to the night watchwoman came from the courtyard gate.
Pu Yunshan only let go of her hand after she had walked a distance away.
Zhao Wuxu leaned against the woodpile and exhaled twice, his throat feeling bitter.
"Brother Pu, I can't stay any longer." He stuffed some dry rations into his hand. "There's something that's a hundred times more important than the rules of the South Market."
Pu Yunshan didn't take the cake; he just raised his eyes.
"Explain."
" The Prince Yi's Residence is home to the biological son of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, Yun Zhengze."
There was a moment of quiet in the gaps between the woodpile.
Pu Yunshan tightened his grip slightly.
Where did you hear that from?
" Lady Wang told me herself," Zhao Wuxu said in a very low voice, almost touching Pu Yunshan's ear, "That child of hers was lost at the lantern market six years ago. He was born at full term, weighing five pounds and eight ounces. He had a reddish-brown birthmark on his right buttock, shaped like half a ruyi (a traditional Chinese scepter symbolizing good fortune), with a hook at the bottom."
I've seen the birthmark on that child from the Prince's mansion.
Pu Yunshan's breathing slowed down.
"That one from Prince Yi's Residence..."
"His name is Tiedan." Zhao Wuxu gritted out these three words. " Yun Shuyue picked him up three years ago. He was always filthy, like a lump of charcoal, and nobody would give him a second glance."
Brother Pu, think about it. The son of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner works as a servant in Prince Yi's Residence, eating with maids and servants every day.
"What would Yun Zhengze do if these words reached his ears?"
He will go and demand his release.
"He'll go mad." Zhao Wuxu chuckled softly. "All eighteen checkpoints and the patrol documents for Jiannan Circuit are in his hands."
Prince Yi is now keeping this child under control, not saying a word to him, raising him, and even sending him to school.
Brother Pu, this isn't kindness; this is treating a child like a rope.
Pu Yunshan remained silent.
Zhao Wuxu waited three breaths, and seeing that he had no reaction, he added another sentence.
"If we cut this rope, the inspector will be able to keep the thread alive."
The Xie Clan family is also at Prince Yi's Residence. What Brother Pu wants to find is inside that door. To pry it open, we'll need Yun Zhengze's help.
He is the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, and it is only natural for him to investigate the Prince Yi's Residence's residence.
There was a slight movement on the woodpile, like a cat stepping on a tile.
Pu Yunshan looked up at the ceiling.
The shed was made of reed mats and was placed on two crossbeams; it was pitch black and you couldn't see anything.
"Brother Pu?"
"It's nothing." Pu Yunshan looked away. "You mean Prince Yi is using this child to control Yun Zhengze?"
"Otherwise what?"
"Then why did he send that child to school?" Pu Yunshan's voice was very soft. "If you're holding a child hostage, you either lock him up or hide him. Why would he send him to learn to read?"
Zhao Wuxu opened his mouth.
"... This prince is a hypocrite."
"So fake that they'd add meat to a servant boy used as a bargaining chip?" Pu Yunshan looked down at the red mark on his palm. "I've been picking out night soil in this courtyard for days, and those old women from the Prince's mansion have been cursing from morning till night, cursing everyone they see, but I haven't heard them say a single word about that child."
Zhao Wuxu's heart sank.
He was annoyed by Pu Yunshan's faults: he was suspicious, stubborn, and even when he should hate someone, he would insist on figuring out why he hated them first.
"Brother Pu, do you believe him, or do you believe me?"
"I believe what I saw." Pu Yunshan took the dry rations and broke them in half. "Alright, I understand. Keep things stable with the Lady Wang. We'll find another opportunity with Yun Zhengze."
"That child—"
"Don't touch that child yet." Pu Yunshan stuffed the pancake into his mouth and swallowed it before saying, "If he really is from the Yun Clan, whoever touches him is forcing Yun Zhengze to turn against them."
"As for my own son, I'll have to wait for him to find out."
Zhao Wuxu felt relieved; this was exactly what he wanted.
He got up to leave, Pu Yunshan called him back.
Zhao Wuxu.
What are your instructions, Brother Pu?
"You've found a mother in the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's residence." Pu Yunshan's eyes were obscured by the darkness. "I don't care what you're planning. But if you use that child as a weapon, and it ends in bloodshed..."
Don't blame me for disowning you as a brother.
Zhao Wuxu lowered his head in the shadows.
"Don't worry, brother, I'm not that kind of treacherous person who wouldn't even spare a child."
He climbed over the side wall.
On the roof, a pair of mud-caked boots shifted slightly, moving half an inch.
Yun Shuyue gripped the edge of the reed mat, her face flushed red.
She had originally come to count how many cartloads of night soil had been produced from this courtyard for Xue Huan, but upon hearing people talking below, she didn't dare to go down.
Who knew I would overhear these things?
Tiedan, it turns out to be my own younger brother?
She didn't live in the same courtyard as Lady Wang before, and she had seen the child a few times. She only remembered that Lady Wang held the child every day; the child was chubby and fair-skinned.
Why was it so dark and thin when I picked it up?
She flipped off the roof, twisting her ankle as she landed. Ignoring the pain, she grabbed her skirt and ran all the way back to the palace through the back alley.
In the warm room.
Gu Moran was looking at the booklet on Yi Prefecture Water Affairs under the lamp when he heard footsteps. He looked up and saw a snowman hat first.
"Your Highness," Yun Shuyue gasped, "I heard someone mention Tiedan."
Gu Moran closed the booklet.
"Who are you? Don't rush, speak slowly."
Yun Shuyue explained everything she had heard clearly, word by word.
When Gu Moran heard "a reddish-brown birthmark on the right buttock," her finger paused on the edge of the booklet.
He glanced at the night outside the window and silently opened the system panel.
[ Zhao Wuxu - Luck Dormant]
[Current objective: To secretly steal from the Inspector's mansion using the Yun Clan's son]
[Hospitality Value: 92 (Increased)]
[Hidden Connection: Pu Yunshan, Lady Wang (Old Case of the Death of the Chief Justice's Wife)]
Old case?
Could this be another case of a favored concubine assassinating the wife to seize power?
besides.
Zhao Wuxu now knows Tiedan's identity.
This guy will definitely tamper with it.
"Your Highness," Yun Shuyue stood before the desk, rubbing her hands, "Is that Tiedan they're talking about really my brother?"
Gu Moran did not answer immediately.
The wick popped softly.
" Yue'er, does Tiedan have a birthmark on his butt?"
"I don't know, the women in the village always help him take a bath."
"Um."
"Speaking of which, I recently heard that there's a saying about birthmarks, that they're related to bloodlines. Since he's your brother, wouldn't you..."
Yun Shuyue's face went blank at first, then turned red all the way from her ears to her neck, and she jumped back half a step, her snowman hat falling to the ground.
"Your Highness, what indecent words are you uttering!"
She grabbed her hat, turned and ran, but stopped at the curtain, turned back and glared at him.
"... I didn't."
" Yue'er, would you like to send Tiedan back to the manor?"
"This... I... I haven't thought it through yet. I'll tell Your Highness when I've made up my mind."
The curtain fell.
Gu Moran chuckled under the lamp and called out to someone outside the door.
" Uncle Fu."