Chapter 33

Gu Jun had just set down his book crate at the bookshop and stepped out, heading to the market to buy groceries.

Lin Yue wasn’t coming back for lunch, but he had to eat. This shopping trip could also cover the vegetables for dinner, all in one go.

However, Gu Jun wasn’t familiar with the scales here, nor did he understand what tricks the vendors might play with them. So upon entering the market, he didn’t rush to buy. He stood to the side, observing which stalls were favored by older people.

Yesterday, when buying groceries, they had followed the homeowner’s family. It was a coincidence—they happened to run into them when they came to shop.

After watching for a while, Gu Jun quickly found a stall that caught his eye. He crouched down, carrying a bamboo basket pulled from home, and picked a large basketful of vegetables.

Ancient times were unlike modern times; every season had its own vegetables. Though the variety was extremely limited, it was still clean and fresh.

Seeing this, the vegetable vendor was overjoyed and gave him a handful of dehydrated scallion leaves for free.

Gu Jun paid a total of twenty-five wen.

When Lin Yue had gone out that morning, he’d given him money—not much. But this wasn’t stinginess toward him; rather, he simply didn’t want to have too much.

If he had too much money on him, he would start worrying about accidents, growing anxious and uneasy. @Unlimited Good Reads, all at Jinjiang Literature City

Having bought the vegetables, Gu Jun didn’t rush off. He asked how to use their scale, then went to the street behind and bought the garlic seeds, scallion seeds (scallion sections), and coriander seeds he’d been longing for. He’d also wanted to buy onion seeds and fennel seeds, but considering the pots weren’t big enough to plant that many, he reluctantly gave them up.

He wrapped the seeds carefully and headed home. On the way, he ran into the homeowner’s family again. They were there to buy meat—a piece of pork belly with alternating fat and lean layers.

Catching sight of Gu Jun, the other party seemed to recall the homeowner telling his tenants that he relied on collecting rent, merely scraping by. She pulled up the hemp cloth draped over her bamboo basket and covered the meat.

Gu Jun’s gaze lingered on the inside of her bamboo basket for a moment. He withdrew his eyes as if nothing had happened, maintaining a faint smile as he greeted her.

The woman, seeing this, smoothed a few strands of hair hanging by her face and walked over. While asking what vegetables he’d bought, she told him that vegetable prices were truly rising. Gu Jun had never bought groceries before; hearing this, he was a bit surprised: "They’ve been rising all along?"

The woman said, "Yes!" Hearing Gu Jun mention what vegetables he’d bought, she said last year you could get them for twenty-eight wen, and further back, probably even for twenty-five wen. "No one knows why the prices are climbing so fiercely."

Gu Jun thought to himself: Rising vegetable prices are either linked to heaven or linked to people.

The woman added: "What does your husband do? How’s his income? Have you two paid taxes in Zhuyang this year? If not, next month the village head will come to collect taxes from you—all kinds of taxes. I can’t say exactly how much it’ll be, only know you’ll have to hand over a big sum. If you haven’t registered your household, hurry to the yamen and do it. Otherwise, if the village head finds out, you’ll be fined..."

Gu Jun furrowed his brow.

The woman smiled: "Our county is much better than some counties. In some places, the amount you have to pay is far higher than what we pay! I’ve heard even beggars and the like have to pay; if they don’t, they get beaten out of the county."

Just as they were speaking, the two arrived at the street in front of their dwelling.

The woman halted her steps and tugged on Gu Jun’s sleeve, saying, "Look at those people—are they watching our courtyard?"

Gu Jun looked in the direction she indicated and saw that at the wine shop ahead and to their left, a few men sat drinking. As they drank, their eyes were fixed on that somewhat dilapidated courtyard tucked amongst the many houses.

One of them looked familiar. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than Head Constable Feng.

What was he doing here? Magistrate Wang...

Gu Jun had an ill foreboding.

At that moment, Constable Feng seemed to sense someone watching him and turned his head to look.

Gu Jun reacted swiftly, turning his face away and looking to the side. Two ordinary women—though one’s face was unseen, it did nothing to diminish the unremarkable impression she gave.

Constable Feng quickly turned his gaze back, continuing to stare into that courtyard.

"What’s wrong?" The woman keenly sensed something amiss.

Certain the threat had passed, Gu Jun straightened up, but he understood that the moment he entered that courtyard, he would inevitably face danger. So he stopped right there, handed his vegetable basket to the woman, and asked her to help bring it back for him.

The woman: "Hm?"

Gu Jun said, "I forgot to buy one thing."

The woman asked, "What thing?"

Gu Jun stammered, "This... it's a bit hard to say."

The woman suddenly laughed, bumped Gu Jun with her shoulder, and lowered her voice, saying, "Your monthly visitor has arrived? Go on then. Do you know where to find the good stuff?"

Gu Jun froze for a second, rubbed his ear, and nodded slightly.

"Hurry up now!" the woman said.

Gu Jun immediately left.

The first thing was to go inform Lin Yue, so he wouldn’t finish work later and walk straight into the snare.

He wasn’t afraid of making a wasted trip to the worksite. Judging by the time, the lunch break had passed, and Lin Yue should be working as usual.

Of course, the most important thing was to discuss countermeasures with Lin Yue. But how to bring up this matter required careful thought, to avoid carelessly giving away his real identity.

Before this, Gu Jun had seen Magistrate Wang and the others, all without any concern.

He was now a "convict," Lin Yue's wife in name only, and had absolutely no connection to the escaped prisoner, aside from a resemblance.

But he had underestimated a magistrate who had maneuvered through officialdom for many years, nor did he understand just how great an influence Lin Yue had on that man.

.

Sunlight shone brightly; the sounds of bricklaying and mud mixing rang out. Gu Jun arrived at the entrance of the worksite and peered inside. He did not see Lin Yue. A waft of sweat smell hit him in the face.

The master craftsman was holding an ink line. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Gu Jun and walked over.

He still remembered Gu Jun.

Gu Jun greeted him properly.

The master craftsman asked him if he was looking for Lin Yue.

Gu Jun said, "Is he not here?"

The master craftsman said, "Brother Lin has something to attend to and will come later. Just a moment ago, someone came and told me about it."

He thought for a moment, "That person reeked of officialdom, looked like someone from inside the yamen. I'd guess Brother Lin is at the yamen right now. But the man was polite as could be when he spoke to me. My guess is, Brother Lin didn’t get hauled in for some crime; it's likely someone inside the yamen has asked him to do something. Lady Lin, you needn’t worry."

The master craftsman offered comfort.

Gu Jun thanked the master craftsman, turned around, and headed toward the yamen.

He wondered, how had Lin Yue ended up at the yamen?

He wasn’t surprised that Lin Yue also had connections with the local yamen. Before this, he had already seen someone from the local yamen come looking for Lin Yue, bringing a thin letter.

This linked to what Lin Yue had said this morning.

He had said he had something to do in the afternoon and wouldn’t be back for lunch.

Gu Jun thought, is this matter related to the yamen? He felt Lin Yue was just like a huge riddle, infuriatingly so, yet he couldn't grasp a single clue toward solving it.

With an uneasy heart, he quickly arrived at the street near the yamen.

At that very moment, a chaotic flurry of footsteps sounded behind him.

Gu Jun hastily stepped to the side of the road, then immediately saw who it was—it was actually Constable Feng and his group, who had originally been squatting at the wine stall. Their faces looked terrible, heading toward...

That is...

The Feng residence?

They were running toward the Feng residence?

Surprised, the instant Gu Jun saw them, he immediately and firmly lowered his head.

Before he could figure out the situation, Gu Jun saw a plume of black smoke rising from above the Feng residence.

Gu Jun no longer bothered to look for Lin Yue. Secretly, he followed them. Once near the Feng residence, he finally understood why Constable Feng and his people were in such a panic.

The Feng residence was on fire!

A raging inferno engulfed the entire compound. Even from a distance away, Gu Jun could feel the scorching heat.