Chapter 285: The Bandit Series – Kidnapping the Bride (Part I)

I have always been fascinated by the stories of my ancestors. Even after all these years, I never tire of collecting these tales and organizing them into volumes. Today, I want to tell an amusing story about how my great-grandfather, Ye Yuzhu, made his start. Of course, back then, it was anything but “amusing.” I heard this from Qian Deli, who heard it from his grandfather when he was a child. As for the veracity of the details, that remains unknown.

Ye Yuzhu stood before a pomegranate tree in his back garden, sighing heavily as his fan rustled furiously with every wave. He had been standing there for a full hour. The servants whispered among themselves about how strange it was, but none dared to step forward and ask. Everyone knew their young master cared deeply about saving face; no one would dare question him about a matter that clearly had him so troubled.

Qian Chuanzi hurried back after weaving through three or four large courtyards, holding a package of jujube cakes. He had been running fast, his clothes and hair coated in the dust of the main road, panting heavily. When Ye Yuzhu saw him, he snapped his fan shut and, mindful of his own moon-white long gown, rushed forward to support him.

“Well? How did it go?” Ye Yuzhu asked, his brow furrowed with anxiety as he leaned in.

Qian Chuanzi was gasping so hard for breath that he couldn’t squeeze out a single word for the longest time. This drove the young master frantic. Ye Yuzhu grabbed Qian Chuanzi’s sleeve, hitched up his own robes, and dragged him into a nearby room, where he personally poured him a cup of cold tea from the pot.

Qian Chuanzi gulped down the tea and let out a long, relieved sigh. Ye Yuzhu opened his fan to give him a breeze and helped unloop the string of jujube cakes from his neck. “How is it? Feeling better?”

Qian Chuanzi wiped his face. “Much better, much better.”

Ye Yuzhu’s expression immediately darkened. He whacked the servant’s shoulder with his fan, his voice rising several notches from its usual gentle tone. “If you’re better, then speak up! Do you have any idea how worried I am? What did you find out at Shilipu? Where did Lady Xue’s father sell her off to?”

Qian Chuanzi quickly tried to soothe his master. “Easy, easy, Young Master, don’t be so anxious. I’ve found everything out, but you have to let me tell you one thing at a time!”

“Speak!”

Qian Chuanzi said, “Don’t worry, Young Master. According to my inquiries, Lady Xue is still at Shilipu.”

Ye Yuzhu’s eyes lit up. He turned as if to bolt out the door. “Really! Then I’m going to find her. I must ask her clearly about this marriage. If she isn’t betrothed yet, I’ll return and inform my father, and we’ll bring her into our home tomorrow.”

But Qian Chuanzi grabbed him and pulled him back. “Young Master, wait! I haven’t finished! Lady Xue may still be in her chambers, but she was betrothed yesterday. The wedding is set for the third of next month. The other side says they are marrying Lady Xue into their family. If you go over there now, you’ll just be making a fool of yourself!”

Ye Yuzhu froze for a moment. “Impossible. Lady Xue and I are childhood sweethearts; we’ve long since pledged ourselves to each other in secret. Everyone knows this. How could she break her promise and marry someone else? I don’t believe for a second that she’s doing this willingly!”

“Oh, my dear Young Master, what does it matter if she’s willing or not? Have you heard of that Marshal Zhao who recently entered the city?” Qian Chuanzi asked.

Ye Yuzhu turned back. His father had indeed mentioned the man recently, but he had always disdained dealing with powerful warlords and had let the news go in one ear and out the other. He grabbed Qian Chuanzi’s wrist. “What do you mean?”

Qian Chuanzi explained, “The one who set his sights on Lady Xue is that Marshal Zhao, the one who’s already had three concubines die on him! They say he gave Lady Xue’s father ten silver dollars, and the father agreed on the spot. Marshal Zhao said he’s taking her on the third to be his fourth concubine!”

Upon hearing this, Ye Yuzhu slammed his teacup down, so choked with rage that he couldn’t speak. Seeing this, Qian Chuanzi hurried to help him sit.

Yet the moment Ye Yuzhu’s backside touched the stool, he bounced right back up. He headed for the door again. “I’m going to find my father! I don’t care what kind of Marshal he is; our Ye family is part of the Linying elite. I refuse to believe he can just kidnap a girl from a respectable family and have right on his side!”

Qian Chuanzi grabbed Ye Yuzhu’s arm from behind. “No, no! Absolutely not, Young Master! You don’t know this Marshal Zhao. He has money and power, but most importantly, he has soldiers! Our family might be influential, but we cannot stand against him. We can barely protect ourselves in these chaotic times. No matter what, you can’t drag hundreds of family members down with you for the sake of one girl!”

“Let go of me, Chuanzi! Let go! What do you mean ‘one girl’? Lady Xue is my destiny; I will marry no one else in this life! If I don’t save her when she’s in trouble, if I just watch the woman I love be forced into someone else’s bridal sedan, what kind of man would I be?” Ye Yuzhu kept trying to charge out.

Qian Chuanzi realized he couldn’t hold him back by force, so he simply threw himself face-down on the ground, his weight dragging Ye Yuzhu down into a half-sitting position on the floor.

Qian Chuanzi began to wail, tears and snot running down his face. “Young Master! It’s only the beginning of the month. We must plan this carefully. If you go to the Master now, he’ll surely beat you to death, and then there really will be no way out!”

These words reached Ye Yuzhu’s ears. He thought it over and realized the servant was right. Marshal Zhao had men under his command. No matter how powerful the Ye family was as local gentry, they couldn’t win against a man with soldiers and guns. A head-on confrontation would only lead to mutual destruction, and Lady Xue would suffer for it in the end.

Ye Yuzhu stopped struggling and slumped on the floor next to Qian Chuanzi. He said, “No matter what, Lady Xue cannot marry a man like that. Entering Marshal Zhao’s house is a death sentence.”

Seeing the sweat on Ye Yuzhu’s brow, Qian Chuanzi took out a handkerchief to wipe it away. As he was wiping, Ye Yuzhu suddenly snapped his head up, his eyes wide. “Chuanzi, has Gan Zhao returned from Ruyang Road yet?”

Qian Chuanzi stopped, squinting as he counted on his fingers. He looked at Ye Yuzhu and said, “It’s been three and a half months. Ruyang Road is two hundred li from Linying. By my count, he should be back. Why? Have you thought of a way, Young Master?”

Ye Yuzhu patted Qian Chuanzi’s shoulder with a look of firm determination and scrambled up from the floor. “Quick, change your clothes. We’re going to the Gan estate!”

After tidying themselves up, the two headed straight for the Gan residence in the northern part of the city.

The Gan Clan’s shops were bustling with customers every day. From a distance, a fortune teller could be seen sitting in the main hall, wearing thick, round spectacles and twirling his mustache. Appearing to be blind, he fumbled his way into a customer’s palm, making a grand show of reading the lines for quite a while before stroking the thin mustache beneath his chin.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh dear. My noble guest, have you been feeling top-heavy lately? Perhaps suffering from insomnia, vivid dreams, irritability, or a constitution plagued by weakness and internal cold?”

“Master Gan, you aren’t just a master of fortune telling, you’re a living miracle doctor!”

The fortune teller waved his hand and shook his head. “Is my noble guest currently at a dead end, trapped in a predicament that seems impossible to resolve?”

“Yes, yes! Master, your reading is so accurate! Then in the future, will I be able to…”

The fortune teller raised a single finger, cutting him off. “Heavenly secrets… cannot be spoken, cannot be spoken.”

The customer immediately fished ten silver dollars from his clothes and forcefully shoved them into the fortune teller’s hand. The fortune teller feigned refusal, but the man pressed them upon him. “Master, Master, please help me!”

The fortune teller clicked his tongue twice and quietly slipped the heavy coins into his sleeve. “Sigh, very well, very well. Since you are so devout, I shall reluctantly impart this miraculous method to you. I bestow upon you a talisman. Keep it on your person, and within a month, this situation shall be resolved.”

The customer took the talisman, bowing and offering thanks repeatedly as he walked away, looking back with every few steps.

The fortune teller straightened his clothes, tucked the silver securely away, and called out with eyes closed, “Next.”

Ye Yuzhu strode in and grabbed the fortune teller’s arm. Still acting as if he couldn’t see, the fortune teller maintained his pedantic tone. “I feel as though I have encountered this noble guest’s murderous aura somewhere before?”

Without asking a single question, Ye Yuzhu simply hoisted the man up and hauled him away. Qian Chuanzi assisted from the side, and the three of them moved swiftly—with one of them dangling with his feet off the ground—as they quickly rounded the building into a dark alley behind the shop.

Half of the fake mustache Gan Zhao had attached with paste had been blown askew by the wind. Furious, he snatched off his round spectacles and slammed them to the ground, the remaining mustache twitching upward in his rage. “What are you doing? What are you doing! Committing such an undignified act in broad daylight! Don’t think just because you’re the young master of the Ye family that you can walk all over people!”

Ye Yuzhu was annoyed just looking at Gan Zhao in his long robe and mandarin jacket^[1]. He used the tip of his fan to prod the shoulder of the robe. “You’re so young. Any job I had my men find for you would be better than this. Why must you paste on a beard, play a blind old man, and engage in this scoundrel work of swindling people? Strip it off, quickly. Looking at you irritates me.”

Gan Zhao ripped the mustache off his face, straightened his hat, and said crossly, “Do you two have business? If not, don’t interfere with my trade.”

Seeing that the other man didn’t appreciate his kindness at all, Ye Yuzhu lost his temper on the spot. Raising his fan, he snapped, “Hey, don’t be so ungrateful!”

Qian Chuanzi hastily stepped between the two bristling men, leaning in to whisper in Ye Yuzhu’s ear, “Young Master, calm down, calm down. We’re here to ask a favor, and we haven’t even gotten to the main business yet!”

Seeing the two of them acting so secretive, Gan Zhao figured nothing good was waiting for him. He simply said, “If I’m not mistaken, this is about Lady Xue from Shili Shop getting engaged, isn’t it?”

Both Ye Yuzhu and Qian Chuanzi were surprised to hear this.

Qian Chuanzi reacted quickly, giving Gan Zhao a thumbs-up. “Yes, exactly! Young Master Gan, your calculations are spot-on, truly marvelous! We came specifically about this matter, to see if Young Master Gan could give us a little guidance.”

Gan Zhao put on airs. “As the old saying goes, better to tear down ten temples than ruin one marriage. Lady Xue is already engaged. When the time comes, she’ll be married with great fanfare and enter the Marshal’s manor through the side gate. How is that anything but a good thing? Clearly your young master’s obsession is just too strong. Coming to ask me about this, isn’t that damaging my karmic merit^[2]?”

Ye Yuzhu couldn’t stand Gan Zhao’s smug attitude. The man wasn’t giving him an ounce of courtesy. It was as good as slapping him right across the face, not to mention this involved Lady Xue.

He was furious. “Gan, I haven’t offended you, have I? Fine, insult me or belittle me all you want, but what does this have to do with Lady Xue? Why must you act like she belongs in that Marshal’s manor? That place devours people whole! Not to mention, not to mention she’d just be a fourth concubine!”

Ye Yuzhu was young after all. As he spoke, tears welled in his eyes, and his voice began to choke up. “Lady Xue is the woman I want to marry with all the proper rites and an eight-bearer sedan chair^[3]! Even if it costs me my life, I have to save her from that devil’s den!”

His outburst left Gan Zhao stunned. Suddenly, he felt that this pampered Young Master Ye, whom he had grown up with, was coming to life before his eyes. There was hardly anything in all of Linying that the Ye family couldn’t get their hands on. For Ye Yuzhu to be driven to tears and come begging him for advice, he really must have hit a wall.

After saying all that, Ye Yuzhu felt deeply embarrassed. Had he known, he never would have come to beg this fortune teller. He turned around and started walking away.

But he had barely taken a few steps when he heard Gan Zhao call out behind him, “Let’s talk.”

Ye Yuzhu whipped around, finding it almost unbelievable that those words had come out of Gan Zhao’s mouth.

Gan Zhao stepped forward and put his hands on his hips. “Don’t you want to save your Lady Xue? You have to let me figure things out properly first. This isn’t a good place to talk, too many people. Where should we go? Huiying Restaurant or the Green Bamboo Pavilion?”