A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 133 Killing One Person in Ten Steps

Yu Youyu looked at Xiao Shisan who was sleeping soundly after getting drunk.
With a light sigh, she took out a white silk cloth and tied his hands and feet to the legs of the six-legged bed. After doing this, looking at him who was still sleeping soundly, Yu Youyu put on his black cloak and quietly went out.

In the darkness of the night, she jumped onto the wall and then jumped down gracefully, like a nimble civet cat.

night is deep,
Li Yi suffered from insomnia.

He is going to be engaged to Shi Niang tomorrow. This is all happening too fast and too suddenly.
Senior brother Sun Fujia had already written a marriage certificate for Li Yi and put it in a sandalwood box. When he opened the box, he saw the regular script written by his senior brother on brocade.

These are all in accordance with current customs and etiquette. The marriage certificate must be written on good paper in regular script and tightly rolled up in an envelope made of zelkova, boxwood, nanmu, sandalwood, etc.

The size of the gift envelope has important symbolic significance. It is one foot and two inches long, representing the twelve months, and one inch and two points wide, representing the twelve hours.

The wooden board is two fen thick, representing the two instruments; the lid is three fen thick, representing the three elements; the inner width of the box is eight fen, representing the eight sections.

The marriage letter was written to the woman's family in the voice of the elder Sun Fujia.

Fuga bows his head in respect. We have been talking for a long time and have had deep feelings for you, but I have never had the opportunity to see you in person... Zengqiao, take care. I respectfully submit this letter without further ado. Fuga, the grandson of Jingzhao Wannian, bows his head in respect.

There is another piece of paper underneath.

"Li Yi is the eldest son, and has reached adulthood, but has not yet married. Chengxian's tenth daughter is well-known for her virtues and is willing to marry Gao Yuan.

"I have ordered the matchmakers Sun Fujia and Du Ruhui to come and ask for marriage with all due respect. If you do not refuse, I will wait and listen to your good wishes, Li Yi."

A marriage certificate actually means that someone in my family wants to marry a girl from your family. A separate piece of paper is attached, which states which son is the first and which name, and who is the girl in your family that he wants to marry.

Marriage among the Tang people had to be approved by the parents and arranged by a matchmaker, and had to be witnessed by two or more matchmakers to be legally effective.

After the betrothal tomorrow, this marriage certificate will be given to the woman, and she will have to send back a marriage certificate in reply.

At that time, the man will hold the marriage certificate written by the woman, and the woman will hold the marriage certificate written by the man, and after the wedding they will become official husband and wife.

Both marriage certificates are legally binding. Of course, the marriage certificate and the reply certificate are actually just some fixed-format polite words. The real core content is the information of the bride and groom written on two separate pieces of paper.

Each person's ranking in the family, age, whether they have been married before, and even whether they are legitimate or illegitimate children must all be clearly stated. It must also be stated whether they have been engaged or not.

There is no room for error in this.

Senior Brother Sun’s regular script is very good, with the style of Ouyang Xun’s calligraphy, rigorous, neat, straight and sharp.

Li Yi rolled up the marriage agreement and put it into a sandalwood box along with the additional paper. The sandalwood box was tied into three pieces with five-colored threads. On it was also written the title of Shi Niang's parents, her name, official position and honorific title, which meant that it would be kept forever as a token of trust.

Originally, the county, name, and official title of Li Yi's parents should have been written on it, but now it is blank.

Cover the sandalwood box and put it away.

I guess Shi Niang can't sleep right now because of the marriage certificate.

Can anyone think of,

It was an accidental meeting at Mati Temple that led to this fate.

There was a gentle knock on the door.

Li Yi was puzzled as to why someone was looking for him so late at night, and thought it was Yu Su, the Silla maid, or Ji Lingyi.

Yu Shu was very uneasy and even a little unhappy about the sudden arrival of a mistress. On the contrary, Ji had always supported Li Yi and Shi Niang and had always persuaded them that they were a good match.

"Come in."

Li Yi shouted.

The door was pushed open.

But the person who came in was not the expected Yu Shu or Ji Shi.

A man covered in a black cloak stood at the door. In the dim night outside, he looked unreal.

Li Yi suddenly became alert.

With a thought, he already had the electric baton in his hand and hid it in his sleeve.

He sat there and looked at the man,

"It's an emergency, so I have no choice but to disturb you so late at night."

A young woman's voice, Li Yi was puzzled.

"What's the matter?"

"Won't the county magistrate invite me in to talk?"

Li Yi hesitated.
"I am a singing girl from the Nanqu Opera of Pingkangfang. My real name is Yu Youyu, but I'm known as Xiaoyu in the neighborhood."

As she spoke, she untied her cloak.

Suddenly, her true appearance was revealed. She was a woman in her twenties, very pretty.

"What's the matter with you?"

Yu Youyu walked in and stopped a few steps away from Li Yi.
"Let me tell you a story,"

Li Yi felt puzzled. A prostitute from the imperial music troupe came to him in the middle of the night to tell a story.

Very unusual.

"Before I tell you this story, I have a piece of news for you, Magistrate Li. It wasn't me who was here tonight, but a killer. Someone in Luoyang offered him fifty taels of gold to assassinate Magistrate Li."

Li Yi was surprised, but immediately thought of a possibility.

Luoyang, hiring a killer, assassination.

He was thinking of Du Yan, his future father-in-law, who had been serving as an official in Luoyang. He had previously been the Imperial Censor, then promoted to the Chief Censor, and now he was said to have been promoted to the Minister of Personnel.

Sun Fujia had also warned him that Du Yan was a man of talent, adaptability, and ruthlessness. Besides Du Yan, he couldn't think of anyone else in Luoyang who wanted to kill him.

It can't be that Cucumber Hou Wei Erlang, right?

"Would you like some tea?" Li Yi asked.

"Do you need me to make tea for you, sir?"

"Let me do it. I can't sleep tonight and I just boiled some water."

Li Yi took out a pan of Huzhou purple bamboo shoots, took off a piece, picked it up and put it on the fire to bake.
Yu Youniang sat opposite and began to tell the story slowly.

The story of a man and a woman. The man is called Xiao Shisanlang and the woman is called Yu Youniang. The two families are close friends. Yu Youniang comes from a noble family.

"My family's original surname was Yu, and we were born into the Helian clan of the Xiongnu Tiele tribe. We were originally from Lingwu, and later moved to Li County, Jingzhao. My family has been powerful in the north for generations, and several of my ancestors were dukes and generals.

When I was very young, my family arranged a marriage for me. The other party was from the Lanling Xiao family, who were once members of the royal family of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties...

Li Yi listened while roasting, grinding, sifting and boiling tea.
On this late autumn night,
Two strangers, a man and a woman, were in the same room.
The story is not very exciting, but it makes people feel emotional when listening to it.

Yu Youniang and Xiao Shisanlang have been engaged since childhood and grew up together. They are childhood sweethearts. If nothing unexpected happens, they will hold a luxurious wedding when they grow up, be blessed by everyone in a grand ceremony, become husband and wife, and live a loving life from then on.

However, one day, the Yu family was accused of treason, and Yu Youniang's father was implicated and executed. Her brother and other adult male members were also killed. Youniang and her mother and other female relatives were confiscated. Some were sent to the palace as slaves, and some were sent to the music school as prostitutes.

Her fiancé, Xiao Shisanlang, whose family was also implicated in the treasonous case, was also robbed. Before he reached adulthood, Xiao Shisanlang was exiled to Dunhuang, Shazhou.

"That year, Xiao Shisanlang was sixteen. Do you know what he looked like then? A white horse bridled with golden reins, a sword adorned with a thousand-dollar ornament, an ivory bow embedded in his carved robes, a saddle embroidered with a hundred-gold brocade, mulberry bullets with pearl balls, and a chariot with ringing bells.

At that time, he was full of vigor and ambition, a knight-errant of Chang'an, dressed in gorgeous silk, holding a falcon in hand, and riding in a row, with followers like clouds.

"Suddenly, he was shackled and exiled to Dunhuang, 3,000 miles away, where he was forced to do hard labor. Later, he escaped, escaping death and making his way back to Chang'an.

But when he returned to Chang'an, he was no longer the aristocratic young man who had no worries about food and clothing. He had no identity and was wanted.

Can only walk in darkness,
He had fought with beggars and competed for food with wild dogs. Later, he relied on his martial arts to avenge people and gradually became a fugitive.

However, according to Yu Youniang, Xiao Shisanlang had not fallen.
Although he helped people to avenge their grievances, he was actually just a thug, but he never did anything that was harmful to others or bullied the weak.

They were all hired as thugs when there were fights between desperate criminals. There were no good people on either side anyway.

Xiao Shisanlang has always wanted to take Yu Youniang away from Pingkangfang.
But to redeem her, a huge sum of money would be needed. Although Xiao Shisanlang was a good fighter, he was now just a fugitive with no identity, barely surviving in Chang'an. How could he save up any money?

He was unwilling to do things like robbery, theft, kidnapping, extortion, human trafficking, or even tomb robbing.
"This time he took the assassination job because of me. There was a man who had taken a fancy to me and wanted to redeem me as a concubine. This man used to be a subordinate of my father. When Xiao Shisanlang knew about it, he wanted to redeem me first, but he had no money, so he took this job.

The man from Luoyang promised to give Xiao Shisanlang fifty taels of gold if he killed you."

The tea is ready,
Li Yi divided the tea and handed her a cup.

"Thank you."

Yu Youyu took it,
"Am I only worth fifty taels of gold?"

Yu Youyu smiled helplessly, "I know he did it for me, otherwise he wouldn't be a killer. He used to be a thug at most."

"Where are the others?" Li Yi asked.

"I persuaded him not to come,"

"Thank you for telling me this. Otherwise, I might have been assassinated by Xiao Shisanlang without paying attention. From what you said, Xiao Shisanlang is proficient in riding and shooting, and he is also good with the sword. He is very skilled in martial arts."

"So what if he's strong? He's just a fugitive, hiding here and there all day long, like a rat crossing the street." Yu Youyu lowered his head and sighed.

Li Yi looked at her and asked, "How much does it cost to redeem you?"

She froze for a moment.

"How much does it cost to redeem you?"

"Two hundred thousand."

Li Yi was surprised by her worth. She actually wanted 200 coins, which was exchanged for 25 taels of gold. No wonder the self-righteous Xiao Shisanlang was willing to accept the assassination. 50 taels of gold, he could still get half of it after ransoming her.

"Why don't you just run away? The world has been in chaos these past few years. You could just flee somewhere else and hide your identity, right?"

Yu Youyu did not hide the truth from Li Yi, "I have been a prostitute for ten years. I am no longer the young lady I used to be. I am no longer worthy of Xiao Lang."

She is now a member of the Jiaofang, where she trained for three years before going out to work. Although the Zhongqu in Pingkangfang is not like the northern opera, where people sell their bodies,

But now that she has fallen into prostitution, how can she really remain innocent?

After Xiao Shisan fled back to Chang'an, he went to great lengths to find her and always wanted to take her away, but she felt that she was no longer clean and was not worthy of him.

"You've been so frank tonight, aren't you afraid that I'll report you to the police and have Xiao Shisan arrested?"

"You won't. Xiao Lang said that he has been secretly observing you these days and found that you are actually a good person. He told me a lot about you.

He was also hesitant in his heart and even suffered because of it, otherwise he would not have been persuaded by me.

But I'm afraid he'll do it again for me tomorrow after he sobers up, so I came here to tell him."

"In fact, if he hadn't been so hesitant, he would have attacked you a long time ago."

Li Yi was shocked. He hadn't noticed that someone was secretly following and observing him these days.

If Xiao Shisan really wanted to take action, he might really be stabbed.

"Girl, I think Xiao Shisan is really good. Even if you are no longer innocent, I'm afraid he won't care.

Can I see Xiao Shisan? I'm willing to pay him the two hundred strings of cash to redeem you, and to help you two lovers become a couple. This is also my way of thanking him for not killing me."

Now it was Yu Youyu's turn to be surprised.

(End of this chapter)