Beauty, Power and Intrigue Chapter 51

A powerful and sharply worded denunciation of the State of Wei was completed in one go.

Song Chuyi handed the brush to the maid, picked up the wine cup and took a sip, then lowered her eyes and skimmed through what she had written, waiting for the ink to dry.

That Yu She from earlier – Song Chuyi guessed he was not a merchant from Chu at all, but from Wei. Perhaps a merchant, perhaps not.

The Wei of today was different from its heyday more than a decade ago. Back then, it had capable civil and military leaders such as Gongsun Cuo, Pang Juan, Gongzi Ang, and Long Jia, and scholars of great learning from various states flowed in continuously – it could truly be called a abundance of talent.

Now the Wei court and realm had dwindled in talent. After Qin rose through reforms, the King of Wei also began to value talent, seeking worthy men everywhere. It was precisely a time of thirsting for the wise.

Just moments ago, when Song Chuyi became aware of that man’s identity, she thought she might as well defect to Wei. Wasn’t Min Chi always optimistic about Wei? If she entered Wei first and learned to play the role of a jealous, talent-suppressing Pang Juan, what harm would there be?

But this was only Song Chuyi indulging a fleeting impulse deep in her heart. She already had a long-term plan, and had already put it into action. In doing things, either do not do them, or do them unwaveringly. Half-heartedness is a great taboo.

Song Chuyi rolled up the bamboo slip and handed it to the maid. She was about to pay and settle the bill when she heard the maid say, “Sir, my master says that today, anyone who writes an article eats and drinks for free.”

“Oh, is that so? Your master is quite a righteous merchant.” Saving money was best. Song Chuyi smiled and stuffed the money pouch into her sleeve, then stood and put on her rain cape.

“May I ask your honorable name?” the maid asked again.

Song Chuyi paused in her movement, turned back to look at her. This maid knew that no name had been written earlier, so she must be literate. For a small wine shop to employ a literate maid and do such a righteous deed clearly meant it was no ordinary merchant.

“I am only making a modest contribution; I do not seek fame.” Song Chuyi put on the bamboo hat and walked out of the private room.

The maid did not press further. She greeted and saw off guests every day and had some experience. She had seen all kinds of scholars, yet she had never seen one so young and yet so mature. She could not help but secretly marvel. Thinking this, she carried the article Song Chuyi had written and hurried off to find the manager.

Song Chuyi walked out of the wine house and wandered along the empty street. The closer it came to evening, the heavier the wind and snow grew. Pedestrians on the street hurried past, and there was scarcely any sign of ordinary city life. Song Chuyi quickened her pace and headed back to Longgu Residence.

The heavy snow covered the world, and the fallen snow on the ground had already reached past Song Chuyi’s calves. She trudged forward, one step deep and one step shallow, and could only see soldiers on both sides of the road collecting corpses. Those were all refugees who had frozen or starved to death.

More than ten soldiers used mules to pull wooden boards, slowly advancing through the snow. When they saw a corpse, they picked it up and threw it onto the boards, then dragged it outside the city to the mass grave and discarded it there. If they encountered soldiers with a bit of compassion, perhaps the corpse could get a handful of yellow earth to cover it, so that it would not be gnawed by beasts that had not yet gone into winter hibernation.

In a short while, the soldiers had already collected twelve or thirteen corpses. Their postures varied, but most were young children and women. There were one or two adult male corpses, and those too were all missing limbs.

All the men in their prime were in the military camps. If they died, they died in battle on the battlefield. There was absolutely no reason for them to freeze to death here. This was true even for Wey, which rarely went to war.

When Song Chuyi brushed past the soldiers, she glanced over. And it was precisely this glance that made her see one of the corpses on the wooden board move.

She originally did not want to meddle in other people’s business. There were too many innocent people in the world suffering disaster – could she manage them all? But after already passing the soldiers by a few steps, she suddenly turned back. “Brave men…”

Here, front and back, only these soldiers could be called “brave men.” But they had come out in such bitter cold to do this kind of hard, thankless task, and their mood was already very poor. Hearing someone call them, they turned a deaf ear.

“Brave men…” Song Chuyi stepped forward a few paces and raised her voice.

Only then did the soldiers halt, turn back, and glare at her fiercely. They sized her up for a few moments. Seeing that although she was not old, the wide-sleeved robe of a scholar was faintly visible beneath her rain cape, their attitude softened slightly. “Sir, what business do you have calling us to stop?”

The soldiers’ faces were red from the cold. Some already had frostbite or cracked skin, patches of red and blue, and their eyebrows were covered with white snow, so their features could not be made out. Their condition was truly wretched.

Song Chuyi gave them a slight bow, then strode to the wooden boards.

A moment ago, it had only been a hurried glance, and she had noticed one hand moving. But now, looking carefully, all the hands looked much the same – dark and curled together – and she could not tell them apart at all.

“I saw just now that one of them is still alive,” Song Chuyi said.

The squad leader said, “Even if there is one that can still move, I fear it will not be easy to save. We have to throw these corpses into the mass grave and hurry back before dark. Sir, do not make things difficult for us.”

Song Chuyi lowered her eyes and carefully examined each hand.

The soldier driving the donkey looked at the squad leader.

“Sir,” the squad leader reminded again.

Song Chuyi took out eight or nine cloth coins from her money pouch and handed them to the squad leader. “The weather is bitterly cold. Brave men, exchange these for some wine to ward off the chill.”

The squad leader glanced at them. They were all twelve-zhu cloth coins, so he accepted them. “Thank you.”

Song Chuyi only smiled slightly and continued looking. After a moment, her gaze locked onto a small hand. That wrist was slender beyond belief, yet it was desperately clutching a hole in the wooden board, as if by grasping something it could hold onto a thread of hope for life. Even before seeing the person, Song Chuyi already felt that this was a child with great vitality.

Song Chuyi crouched down and felt the pulse on that arm. After a moment, she stood and said, “I want him.”

To avoid wasting time, the squad leader said nothing more. He waved his hand and ordered the corpses above to be moved away, then dragged out the person Song Chuyi had indicated and threw them into the snow.

The squad leader clasped his hands in salute and said, “We are in a hurry to leave the city. Farewell.”

“Please go ahead.” Song Chuyi bent down and dragged the dark bundle on the ground toward the roadside. This was a child around ten years old, dressed in rags, curled into a ball. Their already dark skin looked even darker in the snow, and it was impossible to tell whether they were a boy or a girl.

Song Chuyi reached out and felt all over the child’s body. The legs and feet were intact, there was still a trace of warmth at the chest, and below the waist… it was a boy.

Song Chuyi took off her rain cape and wrapped him in it. The child was already frozen stiff, and that one hand sticking outside could not be pulled back. Song Chuyi knew better than to force it, so she picked him up and hurried back toward the residence.

The child was very light. Song Chuyi did not have much strength, yet after carrying him and running such a long distance, she did not feel he was heavy at all. She began to suspect that this child could not be saved.

Back in the small courtyard where she lived, Song Chuyi called out loudly, “Zi Ya, Zi Ya!”

Hearing the voice, Zi Ya ran out from inside the house. Seeing that Song Chuyi was carrying something in her arms, she did not even bother to grab an umbrella and hurried forward to help. Seeing that hand exposed outside, she said, “This is a person?”

“Yes.” Song Chuyi handed him to Zi Ya. “Take him to my room. I want to see whether he can be saved.”

“Yes.” Zi Ya answered and headed into the house.

Song Chuyi was about to follow when she saw that Nan Qi had appeared in the courtyard at some point, still in a white cloth robe, with red fox fur around his neck, clean and crisp from head to toe.

He frowned and said coldly, “Song Huaijin, I will not allow you to raise any messy, worthless things in this courtyard.”