Chapter 195 Escape and Pursuit

Chapter 195 Escape and Pursuit

Cui Jin had slept for too long and woke up feeling groggy. Seeing the dim light in the room, he thought it was just dawn. He put on his clothes, went to open the door, and called for a maid to bring him water and food.

After washing up, Cui Jin asked, "Where is Madam? Where did she go so early this morning? Call her to have breakfast."

The maid smiled and said, "My lord, it's already afternoon. In another two hours, it will be dark."

"What?" Cui Jin was shocked. He went outside and saw that the sky was overcast and looked like it was about to rain.

"The wind suddenly picked up in the middle of the night, and there hasn't been any sun all day. The sky is dark, and it looks like it's morning now," the maid explained.

"How come I slept for so long? No one woke me up? Where is Madam?" Cui Jin asked.

"Madam left early this morning to offer incense and pray at Ci'en Temple. She should be back soon." The maid, unaware of anything amiss in the mansion, explained, "Madam instructed us before she left that you drank too much last night and didn't sleep at all. She told us not to disturb you and to let you sleep."

Cui Jin's heart skipped a beat. Last night... He remembered, he had suddenly felt very sleepy after drinking water last night, and had fallen asleep without washing up. His face instantly turned deathly pale, and the panic brought on by the suspicions in his heart almost overwhelmed him. He was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he staggered back into the house.

"My lord, what's wrong?" The maidservant rushed forward to help him up.

"Get out!" Cui Jin shouted.

The maid ran away in fright.

Cui Jin looked up and saw the kettle on the table. He quickly went over and picked it up. There was still water inside. He lifted the lid and saw a little white powder settled at the bottom of the kettle. His last bit of hope was gone.

"Yunrong, what are you doing?" Cui Jin muttered to himself. He put down the kettle and looked around the room, finally finding an envelope in front of the dressing mirror in the inner room.

The envelope was unmarked, the seal open. Cui Jin poured out the letter inside, and what she saw was a line of resolute words:

You have disgraced your noble lineage and are unworthy of being called a son of a distinguished family. I am deeply disappointed and find it difficult to live with you.

Your courage and spirit have been destroyed by conspiracies and tricks, and your mind and heart have been shattered by extravagance and decadence. You are a sinner, and your sins are becoming increasingly numerous.

The good old days are gone and cannot be continued. You are obsessed with raising birds all day long. Aren't you just a bird in a golden cage being trained by others? You cut off your own claws and teeth, broke your own wings and feathers, bound yourself in shackles, and brought about your own destruction.

We have been husband and wife, sharing both glory and disgrace. You fear punishment, but I do not. If you do not heed my advice, I will go to Chang'an myself.

If you pity me and my two sons, please do not make a fuss, do not pursue or obstruct us.

I urge you to be cautious on your journey; whether you fall ill or flee, listen to the resounding drums of Chang'an.

Lady Wang fled, intending to return to Chang'an in her husband's stead to plead guilty and finally end the days when her family had compromised step by step, lived in cahoots with wolves, and acted as accomplices to tigers.

Cui Jin lowered his hand and looked at the bronze mirror. A line of words seemed to appear in the air on the mirror: "You disgrace the bones of a noble family, and are unworthy of being a son of a prominent family."

The last person who stayed with him also left him.

Abandoned by his father, resented by his mother, divorced by his wife, and wept by his son, Cui Jin covered his face in shame. He picked up his dressing case and smashed it against the bronze mirror, not wanting to see himself in the mirror anymore. He had become a walking corpse despised by everyone.

"My lord?" Hearing the commotion, the maid outside hurried in. "What happened?"

"It's nothing, I just tripped over a bench." Cui Jin tried to remain calm. "The food has arrived? Go and urge them to hurry up."

"yes."

Cui Jin smoothed out the crumpled paper. He looked at the last sentence: if Xu Ang knew that his wife had fled Huaizhou, he would surely die. He now had only two choices: one was to cover up his wife's departure, hide in a corner to save his own life, and then step forward as a witness when the imperial censor came to arrest Xu Ang; the other was to use the excuse of going to Ci'en Temple to bring his wife home, flee Hanoi County overnight, and escape to Chang'an to reunite with his wife, or escape to Luoyang to seek refuge with Governor Zheng.

No, that won't work either. Governor Zheng might not be able to protect him. Prime Minister Xu is stationed in the imperial palace in Luoyang, which is his territory. Moreover, the journey to Luoyang is by land. If he were to ride a horse at high speed, he would be too conspicuous, and if he were to travel by carriage, he would be too obvious. If he's unlucky, Xu Ang might discover that he has escaped within two or three days and would definitely send people to capture and intercept him.

Cui Jin abandoned his idea of ​​seeking refuge with Governor Zheng and could only take another route: traveling by water to Bingzhou. There were members of the Wang clan in Bingzhou who could escort him back to the capital via the Weinan Road.

"My lord, the food has arrived," the maid announced.

"Understood." Cui Jin raised his hand to wipe away his sweat. He didn't have much time left; he needed to make a decision immediately, whether to stay or leave.

"Has Madam not returned yet?" Cui Jin went out. "Go to the front yard and inform the coachman to prepare the carriage. I will go to Ci'en Temple to pick Madam up after I have eaten."

"Yes." The maid left.

Cui Jin picked up his bowl and quickly ate his rice. After filling his stomach, he went back to his inner room to change his clothes. He picked out a few small gold hairpins and jade hairpins from the scattered pile on the floor and put them into his purse and sleeve pockets.

Before leaving, Cui Jin turned back. He put all the gold and silver jewelry on the ground into his dressing case, tidied up the room, and went out to say, "It looks like it's going to rain. If my wife and I can't make it back in time, we'll stay at Ci'en Temple for the night and return tomorrow. There's no need to leave the door open tonight."

After saying that, Cui Jin quickly went to the front yard, got into the carriage, and left the house.

Upon arriving at Ci'en Temple, Cui Jin alighted from his carriage and saw his own other carriage. He instructed the driver to drive it back, saying, "My wife and I will ride back together in the same carriage."

The coachman replied and drove the carriage away.

Cui Jin walked towards another carriage not far away. There was no driver in sight, and no one was inside. He didn't linger and quickly left for the ferry.

When I arrived at the ferry crossing, it was already dark. Several boats were moored there, but they were all cargo ships and none of them were leaving. The earliest boat was scheduled to leave the next morning.

But Cui Jin couldn't wait any longer. He went to a village along the river to hire a fishing boat, and under the pretext of having to go out on business, he boarded the fishing boat and left Hanoi County overnight.

*

As the night passed, the monks of Ci'en Temple discovered an unattended carriage at the foot of the mountain near the Prefectural Governor's residence. When the monks went to the residence to inquire about the situation, the servants there realized that something was amiss.

"What happened? Why is there such a commotion?" The weather was bad, and Meng Qing, who rarely stayed in bed late, vaguely heard crying and shouting. She asked loudly.

"Qingniang, something seems to have happened next door." Du Li pushed the door open and came in. "The gatekeeper said that Governor Xu went next door about half an incense stick's time ago. He looked gloomy and hasn't come out yet."

Meng Qing threw off the covers and sat up. "What happened?"

"It seems that Prefect Cui and Madam Wang have disappeared," Du Li said.

"It's gone?" Meng Qing immediately got out of bed and dressed. "Let's go take a look."

Yin Caiwei also came to the front yard. Seeing Meng Qing and Du Li come out, she hurriedly said, "Second sister-in-law, second brother, it seems that Prefect Cui and Madam Wang are missing."

“Let’s go check it out. You stay home. It’s too noisy over there, we don’t want you to bump into anything.” Meng Qing pointed to her stomach.

Yin Caiwei sighed, "I'll just stand at my own door and take a look."

"Be careful." Meng Qing walked quickly outside, bumping into Wang Zhou at the door as he ran inside. "Why are you running... Governor Xu, what happened?"

Governor Xu led his men out of the Prefectural Governor's residence and walked to the Du family's gate. He glanced at Meng Qing, said nothing, and left with a gloomy face.

Wang Zhou grabbed Meng Qing's arm and watched as Governor Xu walked away. He patted his chest and exhaled heavily, "How terrifying! Governor Xu looked like he was going to kill someone."

"What happened?" Du Li asked.

"Yesterday morning, Lady Wang from next door went to Ci'en Temple to offer incense with her maid and groom. In the afternoon, Prefect Cui woke up and went to Ci'en Temple to pick up Lady Wang, but the couple never returned. This morning, the monks at Ci'en Temple found an unattended carriage at the foot of the mountain. Recognizing it as belonging to the Prefect's residence, they went to inquire about the situation. Only then did the servants in the residence realize that neither Lady Wang nor Prefect Cui had gone to Ci'en Temple, and they immediately reported it to the authorities." Wang Zhou summarized the information he had overheard. "When Governor Xu heard about it, he immediately came to inquire, and he has already sent people out to search for them."

Meng Qing and Du Li exchanged a glance, then went out to the neighboring prefectural government office. The county magistrate was still there, interrogating his servants.

"When Madam left, she told us not to disturb the young master's sleep, so we didn't go inside. The door to the main house wasn't opened until the young master woke up in the afternoon," the maid explained with a mournful face. "If there was anything wrong, it was that when the young master woke up and heard those words, his face changed immediately. After that, he sat alone in the inner room. I heard a sound from the bronze mirror outside, so I went in to ask. The young master said he tripped over a stool. Not long after that, he ate his meal and went out."

"What about the day before? Did anything happen the day before?" the magistrate asked.

"It seems that the young master and his wife had quarreled. At dinner time, the young master wanted to go to the governor's mansion for dinner. When the wife heard this, she started crying in the inner room."

Upon hearing the name of the governor's mansion, the county magistrate's gaze immediately became unfocused, knowing he could no longer ask any questions.

"Did Prefect Cui attend a banquet at the governor's mansion the night before last?" Meng Qing continued to ask.

The maid nodded, "She returned shortly after she left."

"Alright, the governor has already sent people to search for him, Prefect Cui will be fine," the county magistrate interrupted. "You all guard your homes and wait for Prefect Cui and his wife to return."

Meng Qing glanced at the county magistrate, pondering that the crux of the problem likely lay at the banquet at the governor's mansion. Governor Xu might have resorted to his old tricks, forcing Cui Jin to flee. But wait, why flee? Perhaps Lady Wang fled first. If she were to sacrifice herself to denounce Governor Xu, a simple letter to Chang'an would suffice.

"Lady Meng, we're leaving. Are you coming too?" The magistrate walked up to Meng Qing and asked. He looked her over. Four days ago, he heard that she had used a parrot to gather information about the governor's mansion. He thought that she and Chief Secretary Du were going to be in trouble. He didn't expect that she was fine, while the couple next door had run away.

"Let's go." Meng Qing followed and walked out. She had figured it out. Cui Biejia was forced to run away. It wasn't voluntary of him. She guessed that sleeping until the afternoon was Madam Wang's doing.

Back home, Meng Qing suppressed her excitement and told Yin Caiwei, "The night before last, the governor's mansion hosted a banquet, and Prefect Cui attended. I guess Lady Wang couldn't take it anymore and wanted to escape back to the capital to complain."

"What are we supposed to do?" Yin Caiwei asked. "Madam Wang, please don't go through Luoyang. It's only been a day. If you want to go to Luoyang, you won't even be in Heqing County yet."

"I don't know if she sent a letter to Chang'an, but we'll help her send one to Prime Minister Zheng," Meng Qing said.

“The letter cannot be sent from Hanoi district,” Yin Caiwei reminded.

“I know. I’ll go to the paper shop. They need to get their supplies from the paper mills in Wen County.” Meng Qing had plenty of options. She went back to her room to write a letter, and then took Wang Chuan back to her parents’ home.

Meng's father took the letter and went to the paper horse shop.

That evening, the manager of the paper mill received the letter. He arranged for a convoy to load a truckload of paper overnight and send it to Heqing County at daybreak.

*

"Master, the pursuers have sent word that Cui Jin left Wude County this morning on a cargo ship, his destination being Bingzhou."

"Continue the pursuit. Divide into three groups. One group will intercept them at the Bingzhou ferry crossing, another will track the cargo ships, and if neither of these routes succeeds, the last group will travel from Luoyang by water to Chang'an ahead of time, and then intercept them at Tongguan," Governor Xu instructed.

"If Chang'an finds out the news..."

"With no one to testify against me now that I'm dead, what can they do to me?"

"Yes." The guard acknowledged the order and quickly left.

*

"What's going on? Why are there soldiers checking things at the ferry crossing? Young sir, could you find out what's happening at the ferry crossing?" A merchant on a cargo ship leaned out and asked the ship approaching from the opposite direction.

"They said they were tracking down a fugitive."

Cui Jin shrank back into the crowd, his heart filled with anxiety. If Xu Ang caught him, he would lose his life on the way.

"Are you blind? You dare to inspect anyone's boat!" Du Min walked to the bow of the boat, took out his fish tally and looked at the officers and soldiers on the shore. "I am Du Min, the Prefect of Huaizhou. The boat is carrying stone troughs and coal. It is heavy and cannot stop. You must let it pass quickly."

When Cui Jin heard the name Du Min, his heart skipped a beat. With Prime Minister Zheng's favor, Du Min wouldn't kill him.

When Du Min noticed that the soldiers on the shore became hesitant and secretive upon hearing his name, he sensed something was wrong and shouted, "Which prefecture are you from? Halt! What are you running for? Stop right there! Stop the boat, come ashore, and give chase!"

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Author's note: See you tomorrow night.