Chapter 413 — One Cauldron
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 4 of 4
"Whom on earth has the He family offended?" In the height of summer, Wei Quan felt as though he had fallen into a pit of ice, his teeth chattering.
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Far away in the capital, Song Yan stood before his great desk practicing his regular script.
Xia Lian entered softly, bowed to Song Yan, and said with great care, "Everyone over in Qingyuan County has been arrested. Lord Liu asks how the report is to be written to the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review."
Song Yan set down his brush, took the handkerchief Wu Yi handed him, and wiped his hands. "The men are all to be exiled to the Xining Guard. The women are all to be struck from the registers and sold to the entertainment houses."
Xia Lian was not surprised. He assented in a low voice and withdrew.
Song Yan thought a moment, then instructed Wu Yi, "Go and call Lu Ming here."
Wu Yi had served Song Chu for some days now, and knew that the more light and easy Song Yan appeared, the more vexed he was at heart.
He withdrew from the study, quaking with fear.
After a while, Lu Ming arrived.
Song Yan said, "You are to escort those people from Qingyuan County to the Xining Guard. Whatever you do, do not let that fellow called Wei Quan and He Hao die on the road. I hear tell that out in the northwest there are times when they have not even a camp whore, and so they take whatever comely-faced ones they can find to make do. These two will serve nicely."
Lu Ming bowed his head and assented.
Song Yan's hatred was still unappeased. A perfectly good brush he snapped in two, and went off to the Bishui Pavilion.
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Posting a rough draft first; will fix the typos later.
o(n_n)o~