Volume Two: Bandits Around Here - Chapter 132: Time Wasted in Hesitation

The weather in Anma City was rather unpleasant, resembling a weeping young maiden.

At first glance, she seemed tear-stained and pitiable, but upon closer approach, one would realize that this dear lord was actually a merchant of gunpowder. Should you refuse to buy, she would strike a match and let the entirety of Anma City hear the calls of her late grandmother amidst the thunderous roars of a nuclear peace...

Someone stood in the highest pavilion at the center of the city, whispering softly, "The world has changed."

A gluttonous attendant followed close behind him, offering no reply, simply stuffing food into his mouth on his own accord.

Du Zhaolin pursed his lips and said very calmly, "Zhao Zileng, if you ignore my words, it... makes this official look quite foolish."

"My lord, one must remember that the wisest appear foolish; there is nothing wrong with making people think one is foolish," Zhao Zileng replied with a faint smile. He was too lazy even to raise his eyelids, his head drooping—not out of dejection, but merely because it made eating somewhat more convenient.

Du Zhaolin let out a cold snort and ceased speaking, turning his back to overlook every blade of grass and tree in the city, as if attempting to encompass the myriad faces of all living beings within his field of vision.

"My lord, such a posture is quite arrogant and ill-suited for you." Zhao Zileng was very particular when eating, preferring to hold his food with a handkerchief rather than taking the convenient route of grabbing it directly with his hands. He swallowed a mouthful before it was thoroughly chewed, and only when his mouth was cleared did these words leisurely rise to the surface.

A true practitioner of "do not speak while eating, do not converse while sleeping."

"I am the magistrate of this city; what is wrong with striking an arrogant posture?" Du Zhaolin glanced at him sideways and said crossly.

"Whose parents are cursed by their children every single day? Even the most unreasonable and unruly child shouldn't go that far," Zhao Zileng answered casually, casting a half-smile at Du Zhaolin. He had deliberately set out to "make things difficult" for this lord who ought not to have been standing on such a high pedestal.

Du Zhaolin did not rush to reply. He lowered his head in thought for a moment and slowly said, "Centuries ago in the Central Plains, there was a joke. It went that a mother asked her child, if she fell into a river, would the child eat bananas or strawberries? No matter how many times the mother asked, the child had only one answer: he wanted strawberries."

"That mother was hardly fair, using adult logic to coax a child, and once she got her answer, she put on another face and 'pretended' to be heartbroken over the child's filial piety. However, my old man once asked something similar when I was a child. Care to guess how I replied?"

"I care not to guess," Du Zhaolin looked at him and said quite seriously.

***

As it turned out, Zhao Zileng had grown smarter this time. Without waiting for Du Zhaolin to continue, he went on, "My old man asked me one day: if he went hunting in the forest and encountered a tiger, would I eat roe deer meat or wild rabbit meat for lunch? I was quite a clever child back then. As soon as my old man finished speaking, I turned my little head and replied very earnestly: 'In that case, I can attend the funeral banquet!'"

As his voice trailed off, Du Zhaolin was momentarily stunned before bursting into irrepressible laughter. He raised his thumb toward Zhao Zileng and praised, "A magnificent 'filial son'! Oh, Zhao Zileng, Zhao Zileng, you must have driven your venerable mother to exasperation countless times in your youth! It is truly a miracle you've lived this long. How is your mother's health? That she wasn't bored to death by your antics is surely the accumulation of great virtue in past lives."

Zhao Zileng smiled faintly, then gazed toward the eastern horizon with a somewhat absent-minded and desolate look. "The day after I gave him that answer, he died. It wasn't that he was eaten by a tiger in the forest; when we found my father's remains, a pack of wolves was making merry over them."

Du Zhaolin's laughter stopped abruptly. He pressed his lips together, ultimately saying nothing.

"I have heard of your circumstances, my lord, but no matter what, you never had to run yourself ragged just for three meals a day. The townspeople are one thing; even if only for the sake of appearances, the master of this city would not let them suffer too terribly. But the mountain folk outside the city are different. Once they have starved long enough, they cease to even count as human," Zhao Zileng raised his eyes to the sky and continued, "Therefore, bandits arise generation after generation. The people of the Central Plains treat the Northern Domain much like they despise the maggots in a wasteland—'do not come to disturb me, and I couldn't be bothered to care about your patch of dirt.'"

"You talk too much today." Du Zhaolin grew somewhat irritated and waved his hand, forcibly cutting off Zhao Zileng's train of thought. "Let's leave these irrelevant matters aside. Tell me, the majority of the aristocratic families in Anma City now suspect that you, Zhao Zileng, are the one who murdered Yu Wenruo. If this continues, where should our second move be placed?"

"Wait for them to come and kill me. When that happens, your essay will be much easier to write, though the attitude of Marshal Ma Hui still needs careful deliberation," Zhao Zileng said, stuffing another mouthful of food into his mouth. Clearly, until he finished eating, he would speak no more.

Du Zhaolin pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Over the next few days, a few 'shadows' will be added to your side. Those are experts from the Anma City Garrison, so don't find it strange! I am going to sound out the Marshal's intentions; you may take your leave now."

Zhao Zileng assented repeatedly, muttering something indistinctly in his mouth. Du Zhaolin paid it no mind, taking it as customary parting pleasantries.

After Du Zhaolin departed, Zhao Zileng finally cleared the food from his mouth. He watched the retreating figure and cursed in a low voice, "Not even a three-year-old child would believe such nonsense! What kind of experts could possibly come from the garrison? The one who surrounded and suppressed Xu Yong in the center of the city last time—darting around the man's clothes only to trip and fall flat on his face—you're sending that sort of trash to protect me?"

***

Following the street through numerous twists and turns, Du Zhaolin walked straight toward that unassuming residence and, after a moment of hesitation, gently knocked on the outer gate.

"Is that you, Du boy?" a voice came from within, allowing Du Zhaolin to relax the tension in his heart slightly.

After all, he hadn't come to offer a formal apology after loudly chewing out the Marshal last time.

***

Thinking of this, Du Zhaolin called out loudly, "Marshal, it's me!"

"Oh, first go look at what is written on the wooden sign stuck in the bushes to the left of the stone steps."

Filled with doubt, Du Zhaolin followed Ma Hui's instruction and looked to the left, unearthing a wooden sign. After staring at it for a long while, his face turned livid with rage.

Inscribed upon it was a single sentence: *None save Du Zhaolin and dogs may enter (if that dog can drink alcohol, it is also permitted).*

"Marshal! How did you become like this? Petty and vindictive, holding grudges over every slight—why must you humiliate me so!"

Silence fell from within. Du Zhaolin gritted his teeth and turned to leave, but swallowing his pride proved impossible. He spun around, slammed his shoulder against the gates, and barged straight inside.

The courtyard remained as cluttered as ever, though this time it lacked the heavy scent of alcohol. The flowers and plants grew lush, exuding a serene fragrance.

Yet the visitor was burning with rage. Du Zhaolin kicked open the inner door, shattering the tranquility of the secluded study with a burst of commotion.

The moment he stood firm and swept his gaze around, ready to unleash a torrent of abuse or at least lodge a few complaints, he saw Ma Hui smiling at him, and all that remained was a profound sense of sorrow.

How had he grown so old!