Top Scholar

Chapter 590 Visiting the Prison
On the way back to the manor, Su Lu didn't travel with his third uncle, but instead rode in another carriage. Given his current security level, he naturally had a secondary carriage, and more than one...

On the carriage, Song Xiaoyi knelt on one knee and reported: "The person was arrested in Huai'an in September and sent to the imperial prison in October. He has been detained for more than a month now."

"Hmm." Su Lu nodded slightly.

“Actually, there’s no need for you to get involved. I just need to publicly send your uncle back to his residence. Eunuch Liu will naturally guess the relationship between the two of you and release him tonight.” Song Xiaoyi said, fearing that Su Lu would make a mountain out of a molehill. “Eunuch Liu always arrests people on a whim, and he releases people just as easily. There are no rules.”

He paused for a moment, then said hesitantly, "Moreover, this old gentleman even wrote a confession to Liu Jin, and his words were quite... humble, so Eunuch Liu should have calmed down and should not make things difficult for him in the future."

“No need.” Su Lu said coldly, “I don’t want to owe Liu Jin a favor, and I don’t want too many people to know that he is my maternal grandfather.”

"Understood, sir." Song Xiaoyi nodded calmly and quickly replied, "I will issue the gag order immediately."

"Call my father back," Su Lu ordered, wanting no dealings with Wang Chaohan whatsoever. "Let him see his brother-in-law himself."

"Yes."

~~
After the Imperial Academy closed for the semester, Tang Bohu and his friends invited Su Youcai to Xu Zhenqing's place for a fireside chat, discussing poetry, books, and life.

Upon arriving at Xu Zhenqing's residence, after warming himself up and setting out the pot, the Imperial Guard protecting him entered and whispered, "My lord, Lord Su requests that you return to your residence immediately."

Su Youcai knew something must have happened, so he didn't dare to delay. He immediately apologized to the four great scholars and followed the guards back to the Zhuangyuan Mansion.

Upon entering the house, one would see the lights on in one's residence, with Su Lu standing with his hands behind his back on the porch, facing the courtyard.

"What's wrong?" Su Youcai asked hurriedly.

"Father will know once he goes in and takes a look." Su Lu stepped aside to open the door.

Inside the house, a man, though not as robust as Brother Xia, was still quite burly, sitting in front of a bowl of hot soup noodles, wolfing down two steamed buns. His face was covered in bruises, clearly indicating he had been beaten.

Hearing the noise, the man looked up abruptly. Seeing that it was Su Youcai, his lips twitched a few times, and he called out in a trembling voice, "Brother-in-law!"

"Nai Ping..." Su Youcai looked at his bruised and swollen face and asked in surprise, "What happened to you? How did you get beaten up like this?"

Su Lu coughed slightly, looking a little embarrassed, and said, "You guys chat, I'll go check on Auntie first."

“Okay, go ahead.” Su Youcai quickly agreed, knowing that his sister-in-law would be very unhappy if Naiping came.

~~
After Su Lu left, Su Youcai sat down next to Nai Ping and hurriedly asked, "Tell me quickly, what exactly happened?"

"How would I know your family is so heavily guarded these days, brother-in-law?" Wang Chaohan said with a bitter face, "I was just wandering around outside the mansion a few times when some people came up to question me. I thought they were just local thugs pretending to be officials, so I didn't hold back. Who knew they were actually members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!"

After a pause, Wang Chaohan continued with lingering fear, "Then more than a dozen people rushed out and grabbed me, pinning me down and beating me! Luckily, I protected my face at the time, otherwise I would definitely still be suffering in the imperial prison!"

"Sigh, what a mess this has become." Su Youcai sighed and asked curiously, "And you, since you're already here, why don't you come in? Why are you just wandering around outside?"

"My father told me not to look for you, brother-in-law!" Wang Chaohan immediately lost his appetite, his head drooping as he said, "He said he could get out of the prison on his own, but it's almost the New Year and he's still locked up inside..."

Su Youcai was even more bewildered: "What? The teacher is in jail again?"

"Brother-in-law, you didn't know?" Wang Chaohan was taken aback, thinking that such a high-class family would have known long ago. "This autumn, my father's grain was stolen because his cargo ship capsized, and Eunuch Liu directly sent the Embroidered Uniform Guard to arrest him and bring him to the capital for punishment."

"I'm currently studying at the Imperial Academy, completely oblivious to what's happening outside my window, so how would I know about these things?" Su Youcai quickly explained.

"Huh? Brother-in-law, your son has already become the top scholar in the imperial examination, why are you still studying?" Wang Chaohan found it hard to understand.

“My son is the top scholar in the imperial examination, but I am not,” Su Youcai said with a wry smile. “Naiping, your father wasn’t wrong. I’m the most useless man in our family now. My sister-in-law looks at me like I’m some idle loafer in the village. She’s always asking me, ‘Youcai, you’re only forty, are you already planning to retire at home?’ ‘Youcai, you’re a grandfather now, but isn’t it too early for you to be seeing your grandchildren?’”

He sighed as he spoke: "Seeing my family busy with important matters, I don't really feel good about it. If I could go back to my hometown, I wouldn't want to stay in Beijing for even a day."

He misses the landlady terribly now, because apart from her, no one in the family provides him with emotional support and constantly belittles him... Only when he is with the Four Great Talents can he find some happiness.

Hearing Su Youcai's self-deprecating remarks, Wang Chaohan assumed he was trying to decline, so he didn't care anymore. He knelt down with a thud, kowtowing and crying, "Brother-in-law, please forgive me and save my father! He's been in jail for over a month and could collapse at any moment!"

"Get up quickly, Naiping!" Su Youcai hurriedly went to help him up. "How could I, an old student, possibly save your father? You think I'm so capable?"

But Wang Chaohan didn't budge, raising his head and saying in a deep voice, "Brother-in-law, look at your family's status, your guards... I'm not stupid. When my father was the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner, the guards arranged by the court were more than ten times worse than yours. I think there are more Imperial Guards protecting my nephew than protecting the Grand Secretary! And the Imperial Guard commander himself is leading the team. What kind of treatment is that?"

“I don’t understand why either. I don’t know why we’re protecting Hongzhi like this.” Su Youcai sighed, half-jokingly. “Maybe he’s on some important business? But the old man sent a special letter to set a rule for the family—no one is allowed to accept any requests for help, so as not to cause trouble for Hongzhi.”

He sighed again and said, "If my sister-in-law can follow these rules, how could I be worse than her?" "Brother-in-law, he is, after all, his maternal grandfather!" Wang Chaohan said urgently.

"Don't talk nonsense, don't try to morally blackmail my son!" Su Youcai pretended to hit him, glaring at him fiercely. "Hongzhi has his own reasons for doing what he wants—whether he saves him or not, I have no complaints, and you have no right to blame him!"

After saying that, he felt he had been too cruel, and sighed dejectedly, "Sigh, tell me, if only I had known this would happen, why did I do it in the first place?"

~~
In the main hall, the family was eating around the table. As expected, the eldest aunt was indignant: "Didn't we sever ties with that family a long time ago? How dare they come looking for us?!"

Su Lu picked up a piece of shredded radish with his chopsticks and said calmly, "It seems we've encountered an insurmountable obstacle."

"Haha, that old bastard has finally met his match!" Auntie said angrily. "No matter what he asks you for, don't agree! I've never seen such a cold-blooded person. Let him fend for himself!"

"Mother, what are you saying?" Su Man quickly stopped her aunt from getting angry, saying, "Hongzhi is now outstanding and his conduct is superior to others. He cannot act on emotion."

The eldest aunt was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Oh, this isn't just a simple family matter? Then I won't get involved."

She then ladled a bowl of soup for Su Lu and said, "Qiu-ge'er, do whatever you want. Don't let your aunt's words make things difficult for you."

“Auntie, what’s so difficult about this? I have absolutely no connection with that family, so let’s just deal with the matter at hand.” Su Lu calmly took the soup, her face completely expressionless.

“Since he was my mother’s father and was so heartless to her back then, I naturally have to ‘repay’ him properly on my mother’s behalf.”

~~
When Su Lu returned to Su Youcai's courtyard after dinner, Wang Chaohan had already gone back.

Upon seeing him, Su Youcai quickly stated, "Son, if you don't want to get involved in this, then don't. Dad will definitely not put any pressure on you!"

"Father, it was my fault. I didn't explain things clearly to you before." Su Lu looked at his father, recalling the "Difficulty of Lust" essay, and said in a frank and gentle tone:

“This little thing is nothing compared to what my son is worried about every day. Besides, I’ve already asked around, and the old man didn’t do anything serious. Liu Jin just arrested him to vent his anger. So, there’s no need for us to beat around the bush. Just tell me what you think and what you want to do.”

"Ah, this..." Su Youcai looked at his calm, capable, and composed son and felt a sense of awe.

"How about... we help him? Of course, it has to be without causing trouble, breaking the law, or putting you in a difficult position." He avoided Su Lu's eyes and said hesitantly.

"No matter what, he's still my teacher, and Ningning's father... Even though he taught me all the wrong things and severed ties with Ningning, no matter what..."

Looking at his father's cautious appearance, Su Lu sighed helplessly and said, "Fine, let Dad vent his anger. Tomorrow I'll take Dad to the imperial prison to see your old father-in-law."

"Ah, going to visit someone in prison?" Su Youcai was stunned.

~~
That very evening, Song Xiaoyi, an expert in factory supervision, arranged to visit the factory's security personnel.

The next morning, Su Lu took Su Youcai to Mao'er Hutong outside Di'anmen.

A moment later, he arrived at this street, which was desolate and bleak all year round, and where even disaster victims dared not set up shacks.

The convoy traveled along the imposing high walls and came to a pair of ferocious stone lions. There, hanging under the eaves, was a white plaque with black characters: "Northern Garrison Command".

Normally, the iron gate of the Northern Garrison Command is always tightly closed, and even when someone enters or leaves, it is only opened halfway, as if afraid that the criminals inside might escape.

But today, the Northern Garrison Command opened its two gates early, and Zhang Cai, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, personally led a group of people to wait at the door.

The head of the secret service, whose name sounded the same as the Minister of Personnel but was written in different characters, was all smiles as he scurried forward to open the car door and welcome Scholar Su alighting.

"Welcome, Lord Su, to the Northern Commandery!"

"Commander Zhang, you're too kind." Su Lu got out of the car and cupped his hands, saying, "This humble official is on imperial orders and has a few questions to ask the prisoners inside."

"Yes, yes, please come in quickly." Zhang Cai hurriedly bowed and invited them in.

"Thank you." Su Lu then chatted and laughed with Zhang Cai as they entered what was considered the King of Hell's palace by the officials.

Su Youcai mingled among Su Lu's entourage, watching his son chatting and laughing with the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which gave him a strong sense of unreality... Moreover, despite Su Lu's polite demeanor, the commander was always a step behind him, and his speech was always tinged with the last syllable, clearly acting like a subordinate.

Just how high a rank does my son hold?

(End of this chapter)