Chapter 180 — Secretly Tripping Him Up
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"A fox spirit and a dragon qilin running wild at Jade Dragon Lake? Not only bathing in the lake, but beating you as well?
" Pei Wujiu had just returned from the imperial palace when the Daoist who guarded Jade Dragon Lake came to lodge a complaint. Pei Wujiu was shaken to the core and blurted out, "The king of the red dragon carp was carried off by that dragon qilin too? Whose fox spirit and dragon qilin are so bold? I have been in office barely a month, and this has to happen? Who is fitting me with tight shoes?
" Before he had time to digest the news, another man came to report: "Grand Libationer, the fox spirit kept by Shen Mu, Erudite of the Grand Academy at the Scholars' Lodge, cut down the Advancement Tree and used it to roast a fish. That fish looked like the king of Jade Dragon Lake -- it has been roasted and eaten! Shen Mu and the Grand Academy scholar Wei Yong are right now gathering up the fish bones, trying to destroy the evidence. " Pei Wujiu was both startled and delighted. He laughed: "That boy -- I was just worrying that I had no way to get a grip on him, and now he has delivered himself right to my door.
This is enough to have his head cut off a hundred times over. Now that blockhead Bashan should have nothing to say, eh? " He was in high spirits and rose at once: "Come, follow me to seize the man! Bring both the material evidence and the witnesses; escort him straight to the Court of Judicial Review, let the Chief Justice interrogate him, and sentence him to have his whole family executed!
Then send a memorial into the palace to report the matter! " "That scholar called Wei Yong. . .
" "Seize him too, and charge him along with the rest!
" Pei Wujiu laughed: "A moment ago I was asking who was fitting me with tight shoes.
Now it seems the shoes are not small at all -- they fit perfectly. " Pei Wujiu and his men burst into the Scholars' Lodge, but Shen Mu was not in the courtyard -- only a fox and a dozing dragon qilin.
Pei Wujiu roused the dragon qilin: "Where has that boy Shen gone? " The dragon qilin raised its head, glanced at them, and said slowly, "He was here a moment ago. Someone came from the palace and invited him away.
" "Could it be that the Emperor already knows of this and has dragged him into the palace to be beheaded? " Pei Wujiu chuckled: "The boy still has my Chubao Sword on him; beheading would be letting him off lightly.
What are you standing there for?
Seize the fox and the dragon qilin! I am going into the palace to see the Emperor, and to watch with my own eyes how this boy dies. " With that, he hurried off. The several Libationers who had come with him and the Daoist who guarded Jade Dragon Lake hastily worked a chain and bound the dragon qilin.
The snow fox tried to flee, but was caught as well. Pei Wujiu swept into the palace in a flurry and asked for an audience with the Emperor.
After a moment the guards announced: "His Majesty is in the Imperial Garden. He asks Lord Gu to come over.
" Pei Wujiu was astonished: "Beheading the man named Shen in the Imperial Garden?
His Majesty must truly be enraged. " He came to the Imperial Garden and heard laughter. Pei Wujiu, alarmed and uncertain, walked up and saw Emperor Yanfeng supporting the Empress Dowager, with several officials following behind. Shen Mu stood to the Empress Dowager's left rear; he had said something or other, and the Empress Dowager was laughing.
Emperor Yanfeng caught sight of him, waved, and called him forward, saying gently, "What brings you here, my dear minister? " Pei Wujiu hesitated, then said: "Erudite Shen allowed a dragon qilin to leap into Jade Dragon Lake, seize the king of the fish, and eat it.
Jade Dragon Lake is the source of the imperial household's drinking water, and the red dragon carp is imperial fare. Erudite Shen has acted with reckless audacity; this is a capital crime. Your servant dares not conceal it, and so has come to report it to Your Majesty. " "Such a thing happened?