UCTOOT CH54

Quiet. The bamboo shed blocked part of the sunlight, and the green bamboo poles were very eye-catching. Xie Wuchi picked a bamboo leaf and tore off the outer layer.

“Damn, for real?”

Shi Shu covered his lower body with a towel, his handsome face filled with surprise. “This R-rated vocabulary can be used on me??? And the other party is a man. Xie Wuchi, I really have to thank you. A one-of-a-kind experience in the whole world.”

Xie Wuchi’s back was silhouetted against the green bamboo and blue sky. He lowered his eyes, smiled, and said, “I’ve never thought about forming an intimate relationship with anyone.”

Shi Shu: “Speak clearly.”

“It feels troublesome, a waste of time,” Xie Wuchi avoided his gaze, only turning back after a moment. “Isn’t it more convenient to just have contact when you want it?”

“…”

Convenient. Fine, fine.

Shi Shu: “Bro, your view on love is a bit too advanced for me. I can only say you’ve truly received the most open sex education.”

Xie Wuchi put the bamboo leaf’s vein into his mouth, his dark eyes staring at him. “Then do you want to take it a step further with me?”

The tone and wording were like some kind of invitation.

Shi Shu looked at him. Xie Wuchi’s tongue was moving, quickly tying the slender bamboo vein into a knot. It was very nimble, seemingly suggestive. He took it out and placed it in Shi Shu’s palm.

This face, it could be said, was a combination of temptation and danger.

Xie Wuchi: “We can go further. Besides kissing, there’s also physical contact.”

Shi Shu’s palm touched the circle, and his hand trembled, dropping it.

“You! Can’t you be more proper?”

He laughed out of anger, not knowing what to say. Shi Shu never thought that in this life, besides love confessions, he would hear such absurd words.

“Forget it. The thought of spending a lifetime with a man instantly makes life feel full of sorrow.”

Xie Wuchi: “I’m better than other men.”

“…”

Shi Shu suddenly remembered those dreams, in the bizarre and colorful scenes, his body and Xie Wuchi’s were joined together. Although the parts and details were unclear, the strange ripples and sensations were exceptionally clear.

“…” Shi Shu, “Go away, you—”

Just then, Zhou Xiang came from the backyard. “My lord, the court session is starting.”

Xie Wuchi withdrew his gaze from Shi Shu. Before leaving, his fingertips suggestively touched the back of his hand. “Think about it slowly. I’ll ask you a few more times.”

“No need.”

The back of Shi Shu’s hand instantly became hot, and he quickly pulled it back. Xie Wuchi had passed by. The person was holding his official robe and shoes for him to wear, with the disdainful look of someone used to being served. After getting dressed, his tall figure disappeared.

Shi Shu felt complicated and scooped up water to bathe again. Compared to the sudden midnight attack at the Zhou family village, he surprisingly didn’t jump up and run this time.

It was all Xie Wuchi’s fault. Merely being gay was already the best possible outcome.

Why do men like men?

What’s so good about men anyway?

Or is this just the way of these young masters? Xie Wuchi is like this too, not only messing with men, but also never considering status?

Having a relationship without confessing first, this isn’t a novice-level project.

Of course… Shi Shu thought for a moment, I’m not being honest either.

After he finished bathing and got dressed, he first went to the pharmacy to check on the injured commoners. Only after that did he return to the Great Min.

The weather was hot. He saw a line of luxurious sedan chairs stopped at the Great Min gate. Finely dressed, wealthy-looking people got out, wearing hats, wiping sweat from their foreheads. They looked at the Great Min gate with complicated expressions, but finally, they all went in.

Shi Shu followed them with his gaze and said, “Good. Xie Wuchi used courtesy before force. He actively paid visits, but they wouldn’t see him. Now they know to come.”

Shi Shu walked inside. When he returned to the main hall, Li Fu said, “These people are all waiting in the reception hall. My lord is calling them in one by one.”

Shi Shu pretended to bring a cup of tea into the room. Xie Wuchi, in his crimson robe, had long since recovered the integrity and majesty of an imperial envoy. He sat at the desk reviewing case files, his face expressionless, very cold towards the obsequious Village Head Zhao.

When Xie Wuchi’s face darkened, he was very intimidating.

Shi Shu poured tea for him. Xie Wuchi glanced at him, took a sip, and finally spoke. “How long has Village Head Zhao been here?”

Village Head Zhao quickly said, “Just arrived, just arrived.”

“Do you know why this official has summoned you?”

Village Head Zhao: “Could it still be about the rice harvest? A few days ago, this old man was not at home and did not come to welcome you from afar—”

Xie Wuchi: “Let’s not talk about that. Your son’s life, do you still want it?”

Village Head Zhao: “This case file, wasn’t it already settled? Why did it suddenly get reopened within a few days? Magistrate Tang—”

“Oh? You’re talking about Tang Maoshi?” Shi Shu saw Xie Wuchi casually flick his brush pen to the side. “His official robe has already been stripped off by this official. What other collusion do you have with him? Continue.”

On the table, the official garments of a third-rank magistrate were placed prominently.

“No, no, no!” Village Head Zhao immediately waved his hands.

Shi Shu sized up this Village Head Zhao. He hadn’t expected that the person who exploited the commoners and colluded to obstruct the new policy would be so unremarkable in appearance. His other features were no different from any other villager.

Xie Wuchi didn’t even raise his eyelids, saying flatly, “The rainy season is imminent, and the rice harvest is urgent. This official has no time for idle chat with you. You have several cases against you, and this official has all the files on the desk. If you are willing to immediately go back and harvest the rice, actively responding to the court, then take the case files with you. If you are not willing, before this afternoon, this official will have the Great Min arrest you and confiscate your home, and have the army come to harvest the rice.”

This Village Head Zhao wiped his sweat with an embroidered handkerchief. After a long while, he walked to the desk, wanting to take out a few volumes of case files. “My lord, this commoner will go back right now and have them harvest the rice.”

Shi Shu stood by the desk, looked down, and flipped through his files. One hand didn’t hold it steady, and they scattered all over the floor. “They fell on the floor. Please trouble yourself to pick them up.”

This Village Head Zhao, with his fat belly, bent down.

Shi Shu said, “After you go back, don’t forget to bring the good family’s daughter back. And for the person you killed, go burn some incense for them too.”

Village Head Zhao looked up and saw Shi Shu’s cold, youthful face.

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Xie Wuchi said, “After you go out, please inform the next person to come in one by one to take their case files.”

“Yes…”

This person left the door, terrified and stumbling.

The next moment, another wealthy household head came in, tremblingly looking through his collection of crimes.

This move was brilliant. As long as they paid the land tax, they could keep their lives.

For a whole morning and afternoon, people came and went in the study, and the pile of criminal cases grew thinner and thinner. As the sun set, the sunlight grew dimmer. Duan Xiuwen walked in and said, “My lord, there are no more sedan chairs of the wealthy households outside the gate.”

Xie Wuchi: “They’ve all signed and sealed, and gone back to harvest their rice paddies?”

Duan Xiuwen looked hesitant. “There are still three families who haven’t shown up.”

“The Chen, Zhu, and Lin families, the ones connected by their children’s marriages, right?”

“Yes,” Duan Xiuwen’s neck shrank, and he said obsequiously, “My lord, all the other wealthy households are willing to harvest and give up half the land tax. Just let these three families go. Turn a blind eye!”

Shi Shu was sitting at the desk, drinking a mouthful of heat-relieving soup.

Hearing this, it sounded very strange, and he looked up.

Xie Wuchi laughed. “Because these three families have a common name behind them—Fu Wen, is that right? I heard long ago that when Prime Minister Fu was young, his parents passed away, and he was raised by his uncle, Chen Qing. His daughter married into the Zhu and Lin families. The three families occupy thousands of miles of fertile land in Qian’an, and a lot of the property is registered under Prime Minister Fu’s name. Is that correct?”

Duan Xiuwen said anxiously, “My lord, don’t say any more!”

Shi Shu drank a gulp of soup, listening to all this, a strange feeling arising in him.

Why is it that among people, some can only bow down in the fields, while others can cover the sky with one hand, making everyone fear them?

Xie Wuchi sat in his chair, his expression even calmer. “Wrong. Not only must I say it, but I must insist on saying it. Is it only you and I who know that these three families are relatives of Prime Minister Fu? If we can cover for them just because they are relatives of the Prime Minister, how can we convince the public? Who doesn’t have relatives? Can you do evil just because you have rich relatives? Qian’an is the first shot. Everyone is watching here. We must set an example so that the new policy can be implemented in other prefectures and counties.”

“The so-called climbing relatives, intricate complexities, and collusion of interests are the root cause of the obstruction of the new policy. If Prime Minister Fu has the overall situation in mind, he will surely be understanding. What are you afraid of?”

Duan Xiuwen said helplessly, “Alas…”

Shi Shu could almost see the panic in this group of people’s hearts.

Following a Xie Wuchi with an iron fist was really tiring.

These people wanted to save their own lives.

And everything Xie Wuchi did was ultimately to save his own life.

Shi Shu finished his medicinal soup. It tasted clear and bitter. It was well-brewed. He met Xie Wuchi’s gaze.

Xie Wuchi’s official robe was soaked with hot sweat. His hair was tied up, his features upright and plain, his eyelids slightly drooping, carrying an irrefutable coldness and majesty.

Looking at him closely, the morning’s events came to mind. Shi Shu turned his head away. Xie Wuchi spoke first. “Pour me a cup too.”

Shi Shu nodded and said “mm-hmm” as he approached, pouring the medicinal soup from the pot into a bowl.

Xie Wuchi instructed Duan Xiuwen, “Go see if the various villages have started harvesting.” After the person left, he asked Shi Shu, “Have you thought it over?”

Shi Shu: “Xie Wuchi, I admire you. I’ve thought it over. I can be your little brother, but I absolutely cannot be your that.”

“Hmm?”

“Fuck… buddy.”

Xie Wuchi drank a mouthful of the heat-relieving medicine, his face expressionless, dissatisfied.

Shi Shu: “I’m begging you, can’t you just let me be your little brother in peace? Is it so hard for me to just want to be a little brother? Let’s become sworn brothers right now.”

Xie Wuchi: “Think about it again. No rush.”

Just as he finished speaking, Yao Shuai, drenched in sweat, burst in. “My lord! This Xu Er’s wife, children, and elders have finally been brought!”

Xie Wuchi stood up from his chair, his murderous aura fully revealed. “Let’s go!”

Xie Wuchi prepared to use Xu Er’s wife and children to threaten him into revealing the mastermind who had instigated the assassination of the imperial envoy. It would surely involve both punishment and interrogation. Shi Shu didn’t go to see. He led a horse, and together with Duan Xiuwen, they bounced along out of the city to watch the commoners harvest the rice.

As far as the eye could see, the rice paddies were heavy with grain. On many estates, the tenants were gathered in the fields, sweating profusely as they harvested, busy beyond belief, rushing to catch the last hours of the harvest.

Duan Xiuwen spoke hesitantly, his face full of fatigue. “The rice in this large patch of fields is finally being harvested. Since coming here with my lord, I haven’t had a single good night’s sleep or a full meal.”

Shi Shu looked at the afterglow at the end of the sky. “Why are you telling me? Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell my brother?”

Duan Xiuwen smiled slyly. “Second Young Master is a good person. Everyone knows that.”

“I’m good, but is Xie Wuchi good?”

“My lord’s thoughts are deep, and his methods are like thunder. It’s hard to say.”

Shi Shu comforted him, “Just a few more busy days. Once the Qian’an rice paddies are harvested and the new policy is completed, we can have a good rest.”

“Yes, after being busy for so long, I only hope for a good night’s sleep.” Duan Xiuwen looked at the rice filling the fields. “When this official was young, I was also from a village. Every year during the harvest, my parents would be busy at night. During the day, I would play on stilts, catch fish, and chase after friends in the drying grounds. At night, I would sleep alone at home, listening to my parents work, and the sound of cicadas and frogs.”

“But this official’s parents passed away from illness long ago. Now, looking at the fields full of rice, I can’t help but think of them.”

Shi Shu was moved by him and looked at the people in the fields. No one was anyone’s chess piece. They were all living people, people who could sing, laugh, and have joys and sorrows.

Duan Xiuwen looked at the sky above. “There are still three families stubbornly resisting, refusing to harvest. Each family has over ten thousand tenant farmers, which is more than a hundred thousand people. These lives are all hanging by a thread!”

As they walked, a horse galloped towards them. The rider was out of breath. He stopped when he saw Duan Xiuwen and Shi Shu. “My lord!”

Duan Xiuwen: “I sent you to inquire about Qiuyang County next to Qian’an Prefecture. Has it started raining?”

“It’s raining! The autumn drizzles in Qiuyang County have already begun.”

With a thud, it was like a heavy punch to the brain.

Shi Shu vaguely remembered some geography. According to the movement of the front, the rain would also move. By this logic, in a few days, the rainy season would arrive in Qian’an!

Duan Xiuwen’s face darkened, and he slapped the horse’s flank. “Go quickly and tell my lord, there’s no time left!”

The tenant farmers in the fields didn’t dare to rest even more. Shi Shu stood by the road, but on the other side, there was still a vast expanse of untouched rice paddies. The rice was so ripe it was about to burst from its husks.

Duan Xiuwen hurried back, and Shi Shu also hurried back. Suddenly! Shi Shu heard the neat and tidy sound of horse hooves and movement.

Shi Shu turned his head. Amidst the thousands of rays of the evening glow, it was a dense black column of an army. The high-ranking generals in front were wearing armor, followed by a large group of soldiers holding sickles. Their feet hit the ground with a powerful and resonant sound as they moved in large strides on the official road!

Duan Xiuwen was both surprised and delighted. “My lord actually mobilized the military households stationed in Qian’an Prefecture in advance!”

These people stood densely outside the rice paddies. The soldiers frequently looked up at the sky, anxiously waiting for the order.

With just one command, they could immediately start harvesting, racing against time.

The night wind blew through Shi Shu’s hair, stirring his heart. The ripples in his heart could not be calmed. He turned and hurried back to the Great Min.

The sundial in the Great Min was moving. Two rooms.

One study held Chen Qing, an old man with white hair and a white beard, sitting upright in a grandmaster’s chair, his eyes closed as if he couldn’t hear others speak.

In another prison cell, Xu Er was still being stubborn. His wife and daughter hugged his legs and cried, saying, “Just confess! We’ll admit our mistakes.” “My lord has already said, it’s hundreds of thousands of lives!” “This imperial envoy is good to us. The child was hungry when she was brought here, and he just gave her a bowl of mung bean and bone soup to drink.”

Time flowed by, second by second.

Outside the main hall, the lightning was pale, and the clouds piled up thicker and thicker, as if ink had been poured into the bags of clouds.

Xie Wuchi stood before Chen Qing, his shadow stretching to the wall. “Lord Chen, I respectfully call you ‘my lord.’ One cannot be too selfish. This new policy, I know you have connections with many of the disapproving old factions in the court. If the new policy is obstructed in Qian’an, the old faction will be overjoyed. But must you use food, use the lives of tens of thousands, to force the issue?”

Chen Qing closed his eyes. “Equalizing the land tax is a national policy. Checking the land accounts is a procedure. This old man is just following procedures. How can there be the crime of harming the people?”

Xie Wuchi: “Lord Chen, this junior has repeatedly requested with courtesy. Are you still unwilling to harvest the rice?”

Chen Qing’s fingers, resting on the grandmaster’s chair, tapped lightly, completely calm. “I don’t understand.”

In another dark and dirty prison cell, the child’s wails finally made Xu Er impatient. “Didn’t you already take that money? Did you tell him or not?”

The woman said, “I took it. It’s all there.”

“The Chen family’s name is engraved on the dirty money, and there’s also a name tag. Did you give it all to him?”

“I did.”

“Then what are you crying for?”

A flash of lightning illuminated the faces of the two in the hall. Xie Wuchi took out the dirty money and the jointly signed letter from the manager and others from his sleeve. “Lord Chen, considering you are Prime Minister Fu’s uncle, the evidence of the assassination attempt on the imperial envoy at Dabai Gang, this junior has not presented it. But Lord Chen shows no remorse.”

“This roster, should it be presented to His Majesty? Please instruct me, my lord.”

“Execution of the entire family, or equalizing the land tax. Please choose one, Lord Chen.”

Chen Qing’s fingers stopped, and he finally opened his eyes wide.

As Shi Shu stepped over the threshold of the Great Min, the sky “cracked—!” with a dragon-like bolt of lightning. It scared him so much the hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he quickly ran inside.

Before a late summer thunderstorm, there was often lightning, thunder, and violent winds. Now the trees in the Great Min were swaying and dancing, shaking, dust was blown into his eyes, sand and stones flew, as if heaven and earth were about to be overturned.

Shi Shu had only run a few steps when Xie Wuchi strode out. “Let’s go. Have the Great Min runners go harvest the rice too.”

A horse galloped out, having already rushed to the manors to inform the commoners.

Shi Shu sat on the horse. With a crack of the whip behind him, the horse quickly left the city gate. On the eve of the thunderstorm, the air had become much more humid, filled with a kind of apocalyptic gloom.

Looking out from the official road, the military households were helping to harvest the rice, military orders like a mountain. Those who had their own fields and had already harvested were also mobilized, gathering in groups of two and three in the fields, helping everyone.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night. Many children stood by the fields playing, either pulling weeds, catching crabs, splashing in the water, or moving stones, running around happily.

Watching this scene, Shi Shu suddenly understood what Xie Wuchi meant by “naughty.”

“Harvest the rice quickly, harvest the rice quickly! Go, go!”

“It’s going to rain tomorrow! We must finish harvesting the rice tonight, don’t let it get wet!”

“Quickly, quickly! It’s a matter of utmost urgency!”

Everyone was rushed into the fields. Shi Shu also jumped into the field, rolling up his pants to his knees, revealing his fair calves and forearms, and placed the harvested rice in a clean place.

Xie Wuchi stood on the official road, not moving, talking with the generals and the tenant farmers. After this battle, the landlords were much more polite to him, bowing and scraping. However, a portion of them stood far away, clearly still filled with hatred.

“Xie Wuchi doesn’t need to go into the fields anymore.”

The commoners’ impression of Xie Wuchi was beyond words; everyone was overjoyed.

This rice, starting from dusk, was harvested for a whole night. Shi Shu took a sickle and just went at it, as if destroying darkness, constantly muttering to himself, “Tathagata’s Divine Sickle—”

“Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Sickles—”

“Crack!”

He buried his head and just worked. He worked so hard that Shi Shu even forgot Xie Wuchi’s existence and simply stopped looking for him. Time slowly passed, his arms and legs sore and weak. After the crowd dispersed, in the quiet night weather, Shi Shu was tired and lay on the grass. A bright little lantern flew past his eyes. He sat up abruptly. “A firefly?”

Shi Shu chased after two of them, following the points of light. A slow horse appeared in the dense forest ahead, a rider sitting on it. Xie Wuchi had taken off his official robe and changed into a moon-white, flowing long-sleeved shirt. He looked down at him with a composed expression. “So you were here?”

Shi Shu was too tired to have any strength and asked, “Is all the rice harvested?”

“It’s harvested, Clerk Shi.”

Shi Shu raised an eyebrow. “What time is it now?”

“It’s almost dawn. You’ve worked hard all night. Go back and rest.” Xie Wuchi’s lips twitched. “You really work hard when you work.”

Shi Shu climbed onto the horse’s back, and Xie Wuchi led the horse.

Shi Shu: “Your mission in Qian’an, is it completed?”

“Mm, it was very difficult, but the result is good. Once the rice is dried, the autumn grain tax will be collected. When it’s collected, it’s completed.”

Shi Shu said, “I’m so tired. I want to sleep for three days when I get back.”

“It will rain for the next few days. The weather won’t be so stuffy. It’s good if you want to sleep.”

The knife hanging over their heads disappeared. The two spoke calmly. Shi Shu thought of something and turned his head to look at him. “Xie Wuchi, don’t you have to treat me to a meal? A celebration feast?”

“Alright. Whatever you want to eat, I’ll treat you now. When we’ve toured the whole country and returned to the Eastern Capital, I’ll treat you again.”

“Then I’ll have to think about it…”

As he was thinking, Shi Shu fell asleep on the horse’s back, dozing off even amidst the bumps. When they reached the entrance of the residence, Li Fu stepped forward and said, “My lord, have you finally found the young master? Shall this servant help him down?”

“Get lost.”

Xie Wuchi carried Shi Shu down, in the posture of holding a child with their legs apart. Li Fu’s pupils contracted. He slowly took a step back and secretly looked up.

Xie Wuchi held Shi Shu’s two legs, which dangled at his waist, revealing two fair, straight calves. Shi Shu’s fluffy head was buried in his chest in a sleepy daze, one hand resting on Xie Wuchi’s shoulder.

Li Fu muttered to himself, “I’ve seen this posture before, but it was in a spring palace picture… These two brothers, to be honest, don’t look like biological brothers.”

“Bring two basins of hot water,” Xie Wuchi said.

Li Fu: “Yes.”

After the hot water was brought in, Li Fu was about to enter the room to collect the clothes when the door slammed shut with a “thud.” Through the white paper window, only a moving shadow could be seen.

“Who are you guarding against? What is there to guard against from a servant? I’m just a slave.”

Li Fu listened carefully for a moment and heard a faint wet sound, like something being kissed and licked, followed by their Second Young Master’s waking cry, “Xie Wuchi! You animal!”

Which family’s younger brother calls his older brother by his full name? What animal?

But the Second Young Master seemed to have only cursed halfway when his words were muffled, replaced by an suppressed, indistinguishable wet sob.

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