Chương 79: Chapter 77 - Encounter in the Rain
Tang Jin stepped numbly through the ravaged gardens of the Four Gardens House, boots alternately crunching over scorched earth and splashing in shallow murky puddles. The very air itself seemed saturated by the lingering scent of burnt food and wood ash that even the softly falling rain couldn't entirely wash away. After decades of nurturing delicate rain lilies and moon peonies to unfurl their dazzling glory amidst meticulously tended beds, nothing remained of the four exquisite gardens but reeking cinder heaps. Even the prized hundred-year-old jade bamboo, ubiquitous as a symbol of prosperity, had been reduced to jagged blackened skeletons, heartwood charred beyond any hope of leaving green shoots come spring.
The elegant sprawl of elaborate pavilions and cobbled footpaths once wandered by delighted guests lay buried beneath an avalanche of crumbled roof tiles. Rooms Tang Jin recalled sharing with merry friends over celebratory feasts had become gutted shells with gaping windows like sorrowful eyes. Red lacquered columns whose rich luster rivaled the sheen of fox fur now resembled charred bones jutting from funeral pyres. His stunned footsteps slowed before splintered double doors leading to a once-busy kitchen
Finally reaching the gaping hole formerly graced by a moon gate, Tang Jin gazed wordlessly at the blackened corpse of his family's legacy. Even the vast stone pit for roasting wild game resembled a hungry maw waiting to consume anything that stirred from the desolate wreckage. His favorite north garden, filled with flowering plum trees, had fared no better, branches scorched before their first blush of blossoms could announce spring's arrival. It hadn't been that long ago that he wanted nothing more than to bring Feng Xi here to confess under these very trees. While his heart no longer chased the woman who had become a true friend, the idea that one day, there would be someone under these trees with him, waiting nervously to meet his parents… that wistful thought lay around his feet in ashes along with every other part of his family legacy.
A shudder ran through his powerful frame. Who could have done this? The Tang family had played host to countless joyous occasions over the years and even when it played host to more somber affairs, they had made this a place that nurtured the hearts of every single guest. Who could want to destroy something that existed just to bring delight to the people who visited here? Shaking fists ignited with swirling red energy before he forced down the rage attempting to consume his mind.
"My condolences," called a resonant masculine voice. Heavy footfalls accompanied the voice as a man in deep ocean blue robes embroidered with countless waves walked through the wreckage toward Tang Jin. His body radiated a fluid power and his movements displayed grace even as he walked over the uneven scorched ground, as though he were a ship untossed by any wave. His dark hair shone with blue highlights and his bushy eyebrows ended in tails that drooped all the way to his clean-shaven jaw. "No one deserves tragedy of this magnitude, least of all your Tang family.
"Dragon Soldier Long Ma," Tang Jin said, cupping his hands and bowing formally. "Clearly the Four Gardens House is in no state to provide hospitality. I'm afraid that I'm also poor company at the moment," he said, voice straining through the pain. He just wanted to stand here for, honestly, he didn't know how long. But here, amidst the wreckage of his family's legacy, he just wanted to stand in the rain to let the tears mingle unnoticed as they fell. Why did this serpent have to disturb him now?
"Friend Tang doesn't need to be formal, between Soldiers, I think we can relax a bit can't we?" Long Ma said as he came to stand beside Tang JIn, surveying the wreckage with him. "I won't take much of your time but I do have business with you young friend Tang," he said smoothly and firmly.
"If you have business, you can discuss it with my father when he's released," Tang Jin said bitterly. Did Long Ma think that Tang Jin was taking up the burdens of the Tang family while his father was imprisoned? There was no need, his father would be out soon enough.
"No, this is business between Soldiers, between men who can let their blades and claws speak for them. I know who burned the Four Gardens to the ground," he said, letting the announcement hang in the air amidst the heavy tear-shaped raindrops.
"Who?" Tang Jin snarled, his temper flaring, instantly turning cold tears hot.
"She's not important," Long Ma said, stooping down to pick up a crumbling roof tile. "This tile fell to the ground because everything that supported it burned away. If the tile hit someone on the way down, we wouldn't blame the tile, we'd blame the fire," he explained, crushing the tile in his hand. "Suyang Tantan isn't anyone important, but her husband, Ro Shin, proposed to her here, sweeping her off her feet and into his bed that very night. Their relationship has struggled for years, childless and Ro Shin has been chasing other women."
"Get to the point," Tang Jin said, his aura flaring as he could barely contain his energy.
"Patience young friend Tang," Long Ma councilled. "It's important to understand your enemy so you strike unerringly. I told you that Suyang Tantan isn't important, and neither is Ro Shin. What is important is that she is in an unhappy marriage and someone went looking for women who had been proposed to at the Four Garden's House who might be willing to tell a tale that isn't true in the service of someone else's goals. Suyang Tantan received a compelling offer. All she had to do was torch your family business in outrage that she'd been coerced into a loveless relationship with an aphrodisiac that your father helped Ro Shin slip into her food. If true, her attack against your family becomes somewhat understandable, righteous even!" Long Ma explained.
"But?" Tang Jin asked. Long Ma wouldn't talk so long about nothing important but he kept saying this Suyang Tantan wasn't important even though she'd burned down his family's business!
"Staying in this town after making her accusation wouldn't be a good idea since she's well aware that she wasn't drugged," said slowly, laying out the scheme bit by bit as though each sentence were a brick in a footpath. "No proof would ever emerge to support her claims. It would be enough, however, for her to tear up her marriage contract with Ro Shin in a fit of rage and, given a large sum of money for her service, she could start over in Red Moon City or wherever else she wanted to go after her patron got what he wanted."
"That's what you meant about the roof tile," Tang Jin said, still suspicious of Long Ma's intentions here tonight. "But you seem to know a lot about this. What's your position in all of this?" the young man asked.
"I pay attention to certain things and when they move, I notice," Long Ma said cryptically. "Unquenchable Fire is an enemy any Water Dragon would want to know about and when I heard that Mo Ling had brought in a large quantity on one of his latest deliveries, naturally I was alarmed. I have my own men to find out where goods move and what gets said about them when they're sold or in this case, provided to a puppet. Your enemy isn't Suyang Tantan, it's the Mo family," Long Ma concluded. "The question is, what will a man of your power do about it? Gain your revenge? Look for 'justice' from the City Lord?"
"I," Tang Jin hesitated. He knew that his decision-making was poor right now. The best thing would be to consult with Ao Wen and Feng Xi even though they were busy with Feng Lieren. "I still don't know why you're telling me all this," Tang Jin said instead. "What do you gain from giving me all this information?"
"An ally perhaps," Long Ma said with a practiced smile. "My ambitions are well known," he explained further. "City Lord won't appoint a Deputy City Lord until they demonstrate cultivation at the third stage but I believe that he can't hold that line forever. If I want to make my case for the position without the cultivation strength, I must have achievements upon which to stand. The Mo family has just struck out against a beloved pillar of our community. They need to be handled. City Lord is busy with many things. If I can bring this matter to resolution for him…."
Rage threatened to boil over in Tang Jin's chest. "So you want to borrow me as your knife to strike at the Mo Family while you claim some kind of credit for uncovering their scheme?"
"Young friend Tang," Long Ma said smoothly. "You think too little of the help I offer. You're a newly advanced early-stage Soldier. I'm a late-stage Soldier who has been at this point for years. Mo Ling isn't a simple man. He's a Novice Scholar who cultivates Mathematics. While he's not so fearsome as being able to calculate a person's destiny on his fingers, he's very good at understanding the odds, determining profit or loss, and knowing when he's throwing good money after bad. Don't let his claims of being a simple merchant fool you. If you want to strike at such an opponent, you'll require help," he said, extending an elegant hand that bore the calluses of many years spent with a spear in his hand. "I'm offering help if you'll have it."
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JustJae
JustJae Thank you everyone for all the support! If you’re enjoying this, please check out my other work ‘Unparalleled Artist Unlikely Hero’, set thousands of years earlier in the same world and following Wu Ling the disciple of one of Ao Wen’s previous incarnations!
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