Chapter 229 — Rushing About

At this moment, Chen Yanzhou...

Wu Zhipeng was five years his senior, and they had passed the provincial examination in the same year. Thanks to his family's comfortable circumstances, Wu Zhipeng had been supported through failure after failure, until at the age of fifty-one he finally passed the metropolitan examination and became a jinshi. Yet by then he had no heart for officialdom; both his sons had successively become jinshi as well, so he simply settled into the life of a country gentleman at home.

The Chen family had fallen on hard times back then, and when Chen Yanzhou came to the capital, it was to seek refuge with him.

Seeing Chen Yanzhou, Wu Zhipeng was overcome with emotion and sighed with feeling: "Since you're still alive, why didn't you come find me? I heard that the Duke of Dingguo was going to kill Zhang Kai and sacrifice him to the city walls, and I thought you had perished along with him." He added, "Had I known, I never should have introduced you to Zhang Kai—Lord Ye thought highly of you back then too. If you had stayed in the Ye household, even if the examinations were hopeless, securing a post as a prefectural school instructor or assistant would have been no trouble at all. It was just your bad luck—who could have guessed that not long after you left the Ye household, Lord Ye would enter the Grand Secretariat as a Grand Secretary!"

The Lord Ye he spoke of was Ye Shipei, former minister of the Grand Secretariat.

"How could this be blamed on you, sir?" Speaking of those days, Chen Yanzhou felt somewhat embarrassed. "I have only my own youthful arrogance to blame. When I heard that Zhang Kai was garrisoning Fujian, I was single-mindedly set on going to fight the Japanese pirates. But once I arrived at Zhang Kai's residence, I kept letting slip that I had once been favored by Lord Ye, which provoked Zhang Kai's resentment. Not only was I not given any important post, I was pushed out by Zhang Kai. All these years, whenever I think of it, I feel I have failed Brother Zhipeng's great kindness, and I have been too ashamed to face you."

"You and I have been friends for many years—saying such things is far too distant." As Wu Zhipeng spoke, he sized up Chen Yanzhou's attire. Though it could not be called especially splendid, it was simple and elegant, made of fine material, and at his waist hung a Hetian jade pendant, its luster delicate, its whole body translucent white—no ordinary piece. He surmised that Chen Yanzhou must have fared well these past years. That he had suddenly come calling must mean it was not a matter of silver. So he did not beat around the bush and said directly, "You've come to me—have you run into some difficulty?"

He was a native of the capital, generous and fond of doing good. Of his two sons, one served as prefect of Jingzhou in Huguang, the other as county magistrate of Tongxiang in Zhejiang. Father and sons, three jinshi, with many fellow graduates of the same year and friends as numerous as carp in a river—ordinary troubles that came to his hand could hardly stump him. Many friends from out of town, if they ran into any trouble in the capital, liked to seek his help.

Since Chen Yanzhou had come to see Wu Zhipeng, he had long since resolved to ask for help, and so he concealed nothing. He recounted to Wu Zhipeng one by one: how he had returned to his hometown from Fujian; how he had come to know Dou Yan and how he had won Dou Yan's appreciation; how he had become Dou Zhiwei's advisor; how Dou Yan had been married off in a swap; how she had been betrothed to Song Yantang, the heir of the Yingzhenguo household—and so on.

The Dou clan of the North Tower—Wu Zhipeng had never had dealings with them, but he had heard of them. At this he could not help being greatly shocked: "How could Lord Dou be so muddled! Even so, he shouldn't have married off his daughter so carelessly." He added, "Since you serve as an advisor in the Dou household, you must have already inquired into the matter of the Yingzhenguo heir—that Duke of Ying's heir isn't mad, so how could he have killed all his own guards for no reason, and so soon after his mother's death? Clearly something unspeakable happened in that household. How could the Dou family bear to marry their daughter into the Song family?" He added, "I think you'd be better off taking this chance to resign. I may be a country bumpkin, but I won't let you go hungry. If you feel uncomfortable staying with me, I'll recommend you to the household of Grand Secretary Yao Shizhong as a tutor—Grand Secretary Yao is from Jingzhou prefecture in Huguang, which is under my son's jurisdiction. I'm on close terms with the Yao household's chief steward, and they happen to be short a tutor. It's only teaching a few young masters their primers—little work, generous stipend. The Yao family will do me that small favor."

Chen Yanzhou was deeply grateful.

Though he knew the truth behind Song Yan's killings, the matter was of grave importance and concerned the Song family, so he could not bring himself to mention it to Wu Zhipeng. He only said, "The fourth young lady of the Dou family showed me great kindness in recognizing my worth. If she marries well, I can take the opportunity to resign, but as things stand now, I cannot say such a thing." He tactfully declined Wu Zhipeng's offer.

"You!" Wu Zhipeng shook his head, half in regret, half in admiration. "Still the same temper as back then—not changed a bit."

Chen Yanzhou smiled sheepishly. "I've come to you, Brother Zhipeng, precisely because of the matter of the Yingzhenguo heir!"

"Oh?" Wu Zhipeng looked at him, puzzled.

Chen Yanzhou smiled. "Three men make a tiger. I too find it highly suspicious that the Yingzhenguo heir killed his guards. I'd like to ask you to help me find the Duke of Ying's heir's wet nurse and inquire about what the heir was like as a child."

"That's easy enough." Wu Zhipeng smiled. "For a noble house as powerful as the Yingzhenguo household, the wet nurses are mostly selected from the ** household. One inquiry at Daxing or Wanping and you'll know. I just don't know what exactly you want to ask."

At these words, Chen Yanzhou knew he had found the right man.

The ** household selected its wet nurses from Daxing and Wanping. He had long since found out who Song's wet nurse was. But his position was sensitive, and he was too well acquainted with Song Yan's subordinates. He feared that if he sent Duan Bing and the others to inquire, it would instead draw Song's attention, making him think it was Dou Zhiwei's idea, and thus arousing Song's suspicion—which would be a loss not worth the gain.

After much deliberation, he had no choice but to ask Wu Zhipeng to act on his behalf.

"As the saying goes, the child is father to the man. I just want to ask whether anything unusual happened around the time the heir was born. After the heir was born, how did Lady Jiang treat him? How did the Duke of Ying treat him? Why was the heir sent to the Jiang family to practice martial arts at such a young age? Could it be that the heir was too mischievous and had to be sent to the Duke of Dingguo for discipline? How does the heir treat those around him..."

"Wait a moment," Wu Zhipeng, listening, cut him off with a laugh. "This isn't just asking after a few things—you're interrogating the family's entire history! I'm old now, and if you tell me all this I won't remember it. Here—I'll fetch Wu Sheng. Whatever you need to ask, you can instruct him directly!"

Wu Sheng was Wu Zhipeng's personal attendant—sharp-witted and reliable in handling affairs. Whatever important matters arose in the Wu household, he was the one sent to deal with them. Chen Yanzhou naturally knew of him, and hurriedly thanked him again and again.

"How did you become so fussy and long-winded!" Wu Zhipeng scolded with a laugh. "If you keep this up, get out of my house."