Proofread by Peter Gong
Ma Tian’en got a bad feeling and immediately ordered people to find her brother. When she walked into the room of Guo Qi, she found the room was clean with keys and number plates on the table.
“Is there anyone who came to see my brother?” Ma Tian’en asked the manservant of Guo Qi who was selected by his brother when he came to Ma family.
“No one today. But someone came to childe the day before yesterday. An they had been talking in the room for a long time.” The manservant said after he searched his memory.
Ma Tian’en could feel that it must be someone from Duke Wu. Although Guo Qi pretended to fight with her and then they agreed to be in charge of the wharves together, their scheme was unlikely to fool Duke Wu. They could do nothing with Ma family recently, but they could find the way to make it hot for Guo Qi.
“What should I do now? I can not allow anything bad to befall him. But I cannot go to Guo family.” When Ma Tian’en was at wits’ end, she suddenly thought of a perfect guy who could go into Guo family, that was Tian Fugui.
“Do you mean that I go to Guo family to cooperate with them and then take the opportunity to save Guo Qi?” Tian Fugui did not expect Ma Tian’en to come to him at midnight and give him such a task.
“Yes. Only you can do this. You can say it is your brother who instructs you to go to Guo family. After all, your brother does not turn on Guo family, which does good to them. Even though they do not want to cooperate with you, they will not beat you out of the house.”
“That’s true. But what’s the benefit for me if I do it?” Tian Fugui pretended to bargain, but Ma Tian’en raised his leg to kick him, “What? Are you negotiating with me? Ma family is my home. It’s your home, too. My brother is your big brother, too. No stalling. You go to Guo family tomorrow.”
Tian jumped up, saying, “but you are a girl now!”
“I am still your brother even though I am not a man now. Will you be good only when I punch you?” Ma Tian’en started to roll up her sleeves while talking. Tian Fugui begged for mercy and she stopped.
Early the next morning, Tian Fugui went to Guo family with a few big boxes. A group of people headed for Guo family.
That Guo family was not the mansion of Duke Wu but the house of Guo Lu, the nephew of Guo Yun, which was not far from the mansion of Duke Wu. Actually, they were in the same street. It was only after Guo Qi saved his only son that he was put into an important position.
Tian Fugui delivered the visiting card respectfully with some presents when they reached the door of Guo house. Seeing the long gift list and the people from Tian family, Guo Lu asked servants to call them in and then ordered servants to send the gifts to the storeroom.
“I am sorry to hear about your brother. It’s such a pity that he passed away in his prime. But why do you come here today?” Guo Lu avoided talking anything about business with Tian Ronghua, intending to do nothing with Tian family.
“Master Ma, to be honest, my brother has told me many times that he admired you and wished to get acquainted with you. It’s a pity that he passed away with an unfulfilled wish. That’s why I come here to visit you as a replacement for my brother. If there’s anything on wharves that I can do for you later, I will do my best. However, my family is not doing well recently, so I hope you might be able to help us.” Tian Fugui said over-cautiously.
Guo Lu thought, “What a fool! Even if I want to utilize Tian family, I dare not to have anything with you yet. I could get him away quietly.”
“Okay. But I am a petty official and my words are not valued, so I maybe not help you a lot. But if there is an opportunity, I will not forget you.”
“That’s great! Thank you, master Ma.” A look of delight came over the face of Tian Fugui. “You have received my gifts but would not do anything for me. Moreover, you want me to be grateful to you. You are such a good candidate to be a corrupt official.” He scolded Guo Lu in heart.
The two exchanged pleasantries for a while. Then Guo Lu showed Tian Fugui off. As soon as Tian Fugui came out of the house of Guo, he could not help patting his chest. It was not easy to follow his big brother.
Guo Lu did not put the whole thing in mind. He just thought Tian Fugui came here to do nothing but flatter him. After sending Tian Fugui away, he went to the woodshed to see Guo Qi.
Guo Qi was tied to a pillar in the woodshed. He was beaten black and blue all over with his head lowered upon his chest. Even when someone came in, he did not respond or act.
The servant beside Guo Lu sprayed cold water on Guo Qi. Guo Qi shuddered, looked up and saw Guo Lu standing in front of him.
“Guo Qi, you are my dog and my stooge. You have to bite whoever I tell you to bite. Now since you are the childe of Ma family, you want to reverse everything? Now I tell you: If I want to pinch you to death, it is as easy as I pinch an ant.” While talking, he took the whip and gave Guo Qi a blow.
“You should have learned how to act to me? Why don’t you be an actor? Do you think I am a fool? Take it easy. I am not gonna beat you to death. I still need you to go back to Ma family to do things for me. When you figure it out, I will let you go.” Seeing Guo Qi still remained silent, Guo Lu dropped the whip and walked out of the woodshed.
Guo Qi felt dizzy but he was still clear mentally. Actually, he had already long expected it when he went back to Guo family. But if he did not go back, it would infuriate Guo family. After all, he had to face it all sooner or later. But he just worried about Ma Tian’en and concubine Zhao. They must be anxious now.
He had been dizzy day and night. In a moment, it was night. It was quiet with Guo family, too. Most of people fell asleep excerpt for watchmen and guards.
All of a sudden, someone was shouting, “The woodshed is on fire!” The crying and shouting were especially loud in the quiet night. The people all ran to the warehouse from which the heavy smoke billowed. The guards looked around for water and ran to the warehouse with buckets.
The drowsy Guo Qi felt someone came into the warehouse and carried him, running. At that moment, he realized that it was Ma Tian’en, his sister, who ordered people to rescue him. She was so bold that she dared to break into Guo house.
They were two masters of martial arts in Datong gang who carried him to run out. All the people in the yards had already been attracted to the warehouse. At that time, someone ran here. That was Mr. Jia who was a master of ventriloquism.
“We can not get out by the back door. There are guards.” Mr. Jia said anxiously. Actually it was Mr. Jia who burned rosin in the warehouse to fake a fire and attracted the crowed to go to the warehouse with his ventriloquism. They planned to slip quietly out through the back door, taking advantage of the disorder. But they did not expect that the guards in the back door did not fight the fire at all.
“All right. You hide yourselves first and get out when there is a chance. Leave me alone.” Guo Qi knew clearly that it was hard for them to get out of here while carrying him.
“No. Chil.. Miss Ma has ordered that we must take you back.” The people in Datong gang used to call Ma Tian’en Childe so it was not easy for them to change it.
“Follow me.” At that time, a man like a childe appeared. Guo Qi looked up and saw the son of Guo Lu—Guo Ting, who was the younger master rescued by him.
Guo said nothing but turned back and walked with others following him hastily. In fact, after walking across the garden, they found a secret door in the back wall, which looked like a wall. Guo Ting fumbled on the wall and gave a hard push. The door opened.
They all slipped away by the door hastily, while Guo Ting said in the back, “Guo Qi, I am repaying your debt. Take care of yourself in the future.” Then, the secret door closed again.
It was a false alarm. There was nothing wrong in the woodshed except for a pile of burned-out pine ash. The people in the Guo family realized that someone purposely caught their attention. Guo Lu immediately ordered servants to see Guo Qi. They found that Guo Qi did disappear.
“A blasted guy! He can dare to steal Guo Qi in Guo family!” Guo Lu thought for a while and suddenly thought about a man, “Tian Fugui, it must be him. Only he came here today. I will not spare him.”
“Dad, we do not have to do it in a hurry. If Tian Fugui did do it, then it shows that Ma family allies with Tian Fugui. If we act now, it means we have to face Ma family and Tian family together. But now I think it’s better to be cautious in this eventful period. We could deal with them when everything is settled.” Guo Ting persuaded his father.
“Would you say so for Guo Qi? As I told you, a servant is a dog. It is his duty to die for you. You owe him nothing.”
“How would I? What I am talking is for the good of Guo family.”
“All right. It makes sense. Just let them be alive for a few days.” Guo Lu tossed his sleeves and caught up on his sleep with his concubine.
When Guo Qi went back to Ma family, it was already early in the morning. Concubine Zhao and Ma Tian’en sat up all night to await Guo Qi. As soon as they saw Guo Qi, they sprinted towards him in a nervous way.
There were wounds all over the body of Guo Qi. When he was put to bed, he was likely to fall down. But he still struggled to speak while looking at Ma Tian’en and his mother, “Don’t worry. I am fine.” Then he fell down heavily on the bed.