Proofread by Peter Gong
After hitting Ja Shenping in cold blood, Ma Tian’en waved his hand to order the servants to stop hitting. Then the servants stopped and took off the cloth in his mouth.
For a moment, Ja Shenping felt that it was difficult for him to breathe. To begin with, he made up a string of lies. However, he did not dare to say anymore.
“Mr. Jia, tell me the truth. Who incited you to my house? There are no resentment and no hatred between us in recent days. If nobody puts you up to it, you wouldn’t come to harm us deliberately for no reason. Don’t make up any lie. Don’t waste my time anymore. Tell me the truth honestly, maybe I can keep you alive. Whatever lies come out of your mouth, I’ll throw you to the river and feed the fish.” Ma Tian’en said in cold blood.
“I……I was forced.” Jia Shengping thought the most important thing was to keep his own life. The other things could be solved later. He knew if he didn’t tell him the truth, he would die. So he didn’t hide the secret anymore and told all the truth in detail.
Ja Shenping did not tell a lie about his personal life. With a little bit ventriloquism and Kongfu, he was to perform for money in the street. And he had an old mother who was in poor health. Although Ja Shenping didn’t attend to any proper work or duties, he was obedient to his mother. One day, someone found him and gave him a lot of money to order him to pretend to be a ghost in the granary of Ma family. To begin with, he didn’t want to do it. But they claimed that they were people of Duke Wu and there was no danger to do it. Duke Wu was more powerful than Ma family. Even if it was disclosed, it would not do harm to him. But if he did not do that, his mother would be abducted. Out of fear and his desire to get money, he promised to do it. According to the other party’s request, he pretended to be a ghost. Then he was caught by Ma Tian’en deliberately. The next one was to make Ma Tian’en interested in him and take him back to Ma family.
“They hadn’t told me anything about poison at first. When I arrived at Ma Mansion, they came to order me to incite childe Ma to go to Yuquan Mountain to catch fish and put poison into the forage of horse. I didn’t realize that their real purpose was to harm master Ma. I swear that I was forced. Please forgive me. My mother is waiting for me in my home. I can’t die. If you kill me, my mother will die, too. I kowtow to you for your forgiveness.” Ja Shenping kowtowed to Ma Tian’en again and again.
“Duke Wu?” Ma Tian’en was a little astonished. They had no relationship with Wu Dinghou. It was totally unrelated.
At present, Duke Wu, Guo Xun, was the great-grandson of Guo Ying who was an outstanding founding minister. He inherited the title of nobility in the third year of Zhengde period. But this name was still very strange for Ma Tian’en and he only heard that Duke Wu was loud and bossy and he once connived at the robbery of his son and nephew. But why did he come out against Ma family?
Wu Zhong knew that Guo family was bossy. They aimed at Ma Tian’en maybe in order to control water transport of grain. Compared with Duke Wu, Ma Tian’en was not so powerful. Moreover, there were checks and balances of powers on all sides in imperial government and the power of Duke Wu balanced with that of Liu Jing and they wouldn’t get involved in water transport of grain in person. Thus, the person who wanted to harm Ma family was the one who planned to control water transport of grain and seize benefits to please Guo Xun.
The matter of Ja Shenping was put aside and he was imprisoned in a wood house for the time being. Since Duke Wu got involved, the whole thing became more complex. To begin with, the matter could be easily solved by sending Jia Shengping to the government office. But now if Ja Shenping was sent to feudal officials, he would be killed for sure in order to block the message. After all, feudal officials would not catch people from Duke Wu for a powerless Ma family.
Things reached an impasse. To begin with, they could know the man behind the scenes from Ja Shenping, and then they could catch the involved man. However, the whole thing did not go as planned. Wu Zhong comforted Ma Tian’en not to be anxious bu to cheer up and guard against some new plots.
What they didn’t expect was the unexpected information that Ma Dacheng brought for them.
“Childe, you once let me follow Guo Qi. I tailed him for a few days and I found that a person often came to find him. I guessed he didn’t live by the Datong River. I followed him and found he was from the capital. Then I shadowed him and came to the capital. Guess where did he go? “Ma Dacheng kept childe Ma guessing.
A bright idea suddenly occurred to Ma Tian’en. He blurted it out, “Duke Wu? ”
“Ah! How do you know that? That’s amazing” Ma Dacheng was shocked. Childe Ma was like a god man who knew everything.
“Is that right?” Ma Tian’en felt that a clue appeared in his mind clearly. The clue had to do with Guo Qi.
“Almost. He didn’t come in the mansion of Duke Wu. In fact he came in the house of Duke Wu’s nephew. I found out about him after inquiring a lot of people. We didn’t realized that Guo Qi had a relationship with Duke Wu. Why did he come to Tian famliy as a butler?” It did need much effort for Ma Dacheng to find out who was the owner of the house. It took him a few days to disguise as a vegetable peddler or vendor who sold other products in order to find out the facts.
Ma Tian’en didn’t want to say too much to him, just praised him and gave him some money. Unexpectedly, Ma Dacheng wouldn’t accept it. Ma Dacheng stated that he helped childe Ma for no return and he would keep watch on Guo Qi. Then he pushed the door open and ran away. Gazing at the vanishing figure as well as the taels in his own hand, Ma Tian’en felt that Ma Dacheng was a true friend of his.
Ma Tian’en told the discovery of Ma Dacheng to Wu Zhong. Wu Zhong thought for a moment. It turned out that Guo Qi wanted to make money by water transport of grain by controlling those powerful families near the dams. The best calculation was to support the most powerful family, and then conquer the others by the most powerful family. So he sent Guo Qi to Tian family. The first aim of them was Ma family. In this way, everything made sense.
Somehow, he did not think the matter was so simple. And Guo Qi attacked Mr. Ma with a firm hand without reasons. He felt that Guo Qi hated Ma family bitterly. But he had no evidence.
“Teacher, I don’t know whether I think too much or not. I do not know the specific reason, but I feel that Gou Qi hates Ma family bitterly not just because of water transport of grain. He just hates us bitterly. His eyes looking at me are very cold. It seems like he is looking at a rabbit or a fish.” Ma Tian’en felt the same way as Wu Zhong. Although Gou Qi represented the profit of Gou family currently, there was something behind Guo Qi that they did not know. ”
“I agree with you that the thing is not so simple. However, since we have known that this matter has something to with Wu Dinghou, we should be more careful. Luckily, they are still on the sly and haven’t make it clear. They have their concerns, too.” Seeing the thinner Ma Tian’en with a face sharper than before, Wu Zhong felt sorry for her. At her age, she was supposed to stay in the boudoir, waiting to be married. But she was burdened with more than what a man of the same age could bear. A lot of tasks of Ma family fell on her. In addition, her parents fell ill. The tasks on her shoulder became too heavy.
“How is your mother? ” Wu Zhong asked with concern.
“No change. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Doctor prescribed her some tranquilizer. It seems that it doesn’t work. She would go to the temple when she feels better and she would not meet anyone when she feels uncomfortable. Moreover, she would shut herself away and meet nobody except for Li Mama. Li Mama has been serving my mother when she was young. Now except for Li Mama, my mother would not meet anybody.” When it came to madam Ma, Ma Tian’en felt anxious and distressed. Looking at her ill mother, he would rather see her go after her, hitting her.
Wu Zhong came to see madam Ma once when she fell sick for it was improper for him to go there so often. He just learned the current situation about madam Ma through Ma Tian’en. But today when he heard that madam Ma often went to the temple, it occurred to Wu Zhong that madam Ma didn’t meet a devil, but it was likely that she was poisoned. He read a lot of books so he knew that lots of medication could make people anxious, irritable or even have illusions. He thought a lot these days and he thought it difficult to only poison madam Ma without affecting others. Furthermore, the servants who served madam Ma were those who were trusted very much.