Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 234 Liu Lang's Lofty Integrity
After leaving Gao Chengxin's house, Zhang Dai did not go directly back to his own home, but instead went to a nearby pleasure boat moored in the Xiecheng Canal.

These pleasure boats weren't the painted boats of brothels or brothels; they were merchant ships that transported goods along the canals. When they stopped in the neighborhood, they would also offer food and lodging services, and the prices were even cheaper than those of the taverns in the neighborhood.

However, that's not the main point. What Zhang Dai really valued was the convenience, unpredictability, and greater flexibility of waterways, which is why he temporarily took up this post.

It's currently curfew time. Although he has an official title and no official rank, he's still no match for the Imperial Guards who patrol and question him. If he breaks the curfew and is taken back and detained, given the Northern Army's infiltration of the Imperial Guards, it won't be long before the news reaches Wang Maozhong. That would be like walking into a trap.

Now that he's hiding on the pleasure boat, even if Wang Maozhong's servants search the neighborhood, he can conceal his whereabouts and take advantage of the waterways to either head south to the vicinity of Xintan or north to find an opportunity to leave the city, rather than being completely trapped in the neighborhood.

However, this situation is quite serious. Even if Zhang Dai firmly and promptly distanced himself from Gao Chengxin's actions at Gao's house, he would still be implicated if Wang Maozhong took his anger out on him. After all, it's hardly meaningful for a eunuch like Gao Chengxin to seduce someone's daughter!

To avoid catching his family members off guard and disturbing them, Zhang Dai quickly obtained paper and pen after arriving at the cruise ship and wrote down the events in writing. He sealed two copies and then ordered An Xiaochen to find a night-walker in the neighborhood to deliver the documents to his own home and Niu Guier's home in Qinghua Ward.

With so many officials and civilians residing in Luoyang, the curfew was strictly enforced, but it also caused a lot of inconvenience.

In some special circumstances, such as weddings, funerals, medical treatment, and the transmission of messages, it is unavoidable to go out of the city.

In response to these special circumstances, county governments and the Imperial Guard would issue night travel permits to those in need, allowing them to leave their neighborhoods at night. This gave rise to a profession: using these permits to deliver messages and search for people, known as "night travelers."

These night patrolmen were usually selected by the ward chiefs or patrolmen of the Jinwu Guard. They could help deliver messages as long as they were paid, but the fees were really high.

Zhang Dai was charged five strings of cash for delivering two letters. This was a discounted price given by the other party even though they knew the letters were from the Zhang family of Kangsufang. It is clear that those who can use this service must be either rich or noble, or they must be wicked or thieves. Who would spend so much money to play this game?

Although the other party charged a high fee, they were also efficient. An Xiaochen waited outside for more than an hour, and before dawn, the night traveler returned with a reply.

An Xiaochen hurriedly returned the letter, and Zhang Dai opened it to find it was indeed his grandfather's handwriting, containing only four characters: "Go quickly and do not linger." As for Niu Guier, it was clearly impossible to receive a reply so soon.

Zhang meant for him to leave Luoyang immediately and seek refuge elsewhere. This was precisely what Zhang Dai was thinking; there are many ways to solve a problem, but the first thing to clarify is whether this is a problem that truly requires your attention.

The fault in this matter doesn't lie with Zhang Dai, but with Wang Rouniang and Gao Chengxin. He was handsome, talented, from a good family, and had high emotional intelligence; of course he deserved to be loved, and he did indeed have many young women adoring him. But was that wrong? Furthermore, if Wang Maozhong couldn't control himself, who else could he blame?
However, while there is some truth to this, if Zhang Dai were to try to reason with Wang Maozhong in this way, the guy would definitely explode! So the best approach is to quickly step aside and let Gao Chengxin, who caused this trouble, worry about it and find a way to quell Wang Maozhong's anger.

As for whether he will just leave like this and whether Gao Chengxin will try to pin the blame on him, if this guy really has a death wish, he can certainly give it a try.

He was not a pushover either. He had been harassed by Wang Shouzhen before, but he turned the tables and caused Wang Shouzhen to be demoted to a commoner. How much better was Gao Chengxin than Wang Shouzhen before?

Moreover, Zhang Dai had already reminded him before he left that since he was such a muddle-headed fool, he should hurry up and find someone capable to find a solution. If this guy couldn't even figure that out, then he truly deserved to die.

After receiving his grandfather's reply, Zhang Dai, seeing that there was still some time before dawn, returned to his cabin and slept lightly for a while, conserving his energy so he could make his escape at the crack of dawn. Since he was going to travel east anyway, he decided to leave the strife in Luoyang and go out for a stroll first.

While he could still sleep soundly, Gao Lishi was far from having such a comfortable time. In the middle of the night, he hurriedly left home again, heading straight for the inner palace. He first went to the Inner Palace Service Department to find out where the Emperor would be staying that night, and then rushed to the Renshou Hall, where the Emperor was residing that day.

"Is it because Your Majesty has rushed back to the palace that you have urgent business to report to His Majesty?"

Niu Xiantong, the inner attendant on duty, slapped himself twice to shake off his sleepiness, then hurriedly stepped out and respectfully asked.

Although Gao Lishi was extremely anxious, he knew that disturbing the emperor's rest would be an even greater offense. So he shook his head and whispered, "I will wait outside the hall. You should not disturb the emperor's peaceful sleep!"

"It's late and the dew is heavy. Why don't you wait in the side hut of the palace, sir?"

Niu Xiantong suggested again in a low voice, but Gao Lishi impatiently waved his hand and refused. He knew that at this moment, he also needed to do some self-inflicted suffering to win the emperor's sympathy.

Gao Lishi stood outside the hall waiting. The other palace servants were curious about what could have made such a favored eunuch as Gao Lishi so restless, but none of them dared to go forward and question him.

Although it was not sunrise today, the sage still got up before dawn. Unless it was a grand celebration or a major court session, the sage's routine was always quite stable.

After getting up, the sage would usually wash up first, then play some musical instruments to refresh himself, and then ask the people waiting to report before having breakfast.

Today should be the same as usual, but just as the Emperor finished washing up, a eunuch whispered to him, "Your Majesty, General Gao returned to the palace last night and is waiting outside." "Why didn't you say so earlier? What brings Li Shi back to the palace?"

Upon hearing this, the emperor frowned. Knowing Gao Lishi as he did, he would not act so unusually unless something serious happened. Seeing that all the attendants shook their heads, he said in a deep voice, "Summon him to the palace immediately!"

Gao Lishi waited outside the palace for at least two hours. Thick dew had gathered on his robes, face, and brows. As he moved, the dew rolled off, and his water-soaked robe made him hunch over slightly.

"What has caused the General to be in this state?"

The emperor had just settled into his seat in the hall when he saw Gao Lishi's appearance as he entered the hall, and he was quite surprised.

Gao Lishi bowed dejectedly, his voice hoarse as he said, "My unworthy disciple has committed a grave error. This old servant is terrified and uneasy upon hearing the news. I can only rush to the palace to beg for your mercy!"

Upon hearing this, the sage frowned again, showing no further concern, and simply said in a deep voice, "Tell me the story."

"Yesterday, the Huo and Geng families were engaged and presented their betrothal gifts. I, Yangxi, the Imperial Attendant, was invited to offer my congratulations, and Yan Gongsun Zhang Dai also attended the banquet..."

Gao Lishi lowered his head as he spoke, and the emperor, sitting in the hall, frowned slightly upon hearing this, but remained silent, continuing to listen to Gao Lishi's account: "During the banquet, a maidservant surnamed Wang threw something into the table, which Chengxin found. Upon opening it, he discovered it was a letter from Wang, a woman, expressing her feelings to Zhang Dai..."

"Wait a minute, is the woman surnamed Wang the one who performed at the palace banquet the other day and threw flowers at Zhang Dai? Isn't she the one who is to be married into the Geng family?"

Upon hearing this, the sage was immediately intrigued. Despite his concern for the world and his busy schedule, the reason he still remembered this matter was because of Zhang Dai's line, "The celestial phenomena are ever-changing," which still brought him great pleasure to this day.

"It is this woman, and she is also the one who is to be married into the Geng family."

Hearing that the Emperor still remembered this matter, Gao Lishi quickly nodded and said, "This Wang woman has already been betrothed by her parents and a matchmaker, yet she is still restless and indulges in flirting with men. It's truly..."

"So Zhang Dai was so infatuated with love that he disregarded propriety, and your son helped him?"

The emperor immediately said in a deep voice that there was only one possibility that Gao Lishi considered a grave mistake. Although his tone was serious, his mood became relaxed. When it came to this kind of gossiping feeling, even though he was the emperor, he was no different from a commoner.

Gao Lishi shook his head again, then said in a deep voice, "Because the love letter was mistakenly sent, Zhang Dai was unaware of this. He only believed that this man claimed to have a deep friendship with Zhang Dai and wanted to help them get together. Therefore, he used the pretext of sending gifts to lure the palace servants into his residence and disguised this Wang woman to lead her out..."

"The woman Huo Gong is about to be betrothed to is brought up? How audacious! What does Gao Chengxin care about the etiquette and rules of a noble family? How dare he act like this! He is truly unscrupulous!"

Upon hearing this, the sage's face darkened abruptly, and he slammed his hand on the table, startling Gao Lishi into bowing his head and remaining silent.

"Guards, quickly go and observe the residence of Lord Huo. If you find the guards at the North Gate acting suspiciously, return immediately and report to the Emperor!"

The sage did not respond to Gao Lishi first, but instead summoned his attendant and gave him urgent instructions.

Upon hearing the Emperor's words, Gao Lishi immediately understood. The Emperor was not angry on behalf of Wang Maozhong for his daughter being taken away, but rather annoyed that someone had managed to quietly bring the daughter of a general from the Northern Army out of the palace.

So he quickly bowed and said, “This fellow is really bold. I also questioned him and he said that he was acting out of loyalty. If people find out, wouldn’t he be harming Zhang Dai, who was traveling with him and was completely unaware of the situation? He said that many of the generals at the North Gate were congratulating Huo Gong’s residence at the time. He said that as long as he left Huo’s residence, he could leave safely. And it turned out that he was right.”

"Hmph, you madman! Where is Zhang Dai now? Has he won over the beauty? Is he happy now?"

Upon hearing this, the sage let out another cold snort, his expression growing even more unpleasant.

Before Gao Lishi could reply, another servant rushed in from outside the hall to report that Consort Hui requested an audience. The Emperor then ordered that Consort Hui be invited into the hall.

Consort Wu Hui strode into the hall. Upon seeing Gao Lishi, she was taken aback at first, then pointed at him and shouted, "Brother Gao, you have a son named Gao Chengxin, who is usually shrewd in his dealings. How could he be so audacious and presumptuous yesterday, trying to lead my nephew Liulang to do evil! Liulang is a man of high moral character and is praised by the court and the public. How can he be desecrated and ruined by others like this!"

(End of this chapter)