Chapter 2486: Stripping the Cocoon (Part 5)

Liang Yuanfu seemed to shift slightly, but still said nothing.

Xu Tong continued: "When one person achieves the Dao, naturally his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. Steward Liang, these years your family has been majestic enough in Guangzhou."

Liang Yuanfu's heart trembled, and his body shivered. When one person achieves the Dao, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. But what happens when one person loses power? How should the chickens and dogs fend for themselves? Majestic enough... that means the majesty has come to an end. His heart fell into chaos.

Seeing his body tremble slightly and his facial muscles twitch, Xu Tong thought: There's an opening.

Initially, their envisioned method for "pulling out" targets was "buying gratitude." The selected development targets all had various weaknesses to exploit. But after investigating these targets' specific situations, they found that gratitude alone couldn't achieve their goal.

The Liang family's "grace" to these people spanned several generations. Generations had served under the Liang family "receiving grace." There were not only deep bonds of interest but also an enormous burden of human favor. A few words or petty favors from the Senate couldn't buy that. Even a life-saving grace now couldn't outweigh the Liang residence's "accumulated generational grace."

Since they couldn't be made to "receive grace," then they could only try the opposite.

No matter how large or fine the Liang family's ship might be, when facing the risk of sinking, probably not too many would be willing for their whole family to perish with the master. Especially those who had grabbed substantial benefits and built their own small boats.

Xu Tong said slowly: "Steward Liang, when our Australian Song first arrived, the Liang residence extended a helping hand repeatedly. We are grateful from the bottom of our hearts. Now the Senate reigns over Guangzhou. My Australian Song naturally won't forget old friends—but this old friend seems not to welcome us. Yet we have never made things difficult for the Liang residence. Why? Because we still cherish old feelings. We are still giving him a chance. We are still hoping he turns back. But opportunity is fleeting, and the door won't stay open forever."

At this, Xu Tong lightly raised his left hand, flashing his index and middle fingers. Yu Laosan saw the signal and immediately produced a pack of "Holy Ship" cigarettes from his chest, pulled one out, placed it between Xu Tong's two fingers, struck a match to light it, waved his hand to extinguish the lingering flame, and quietly retreated out again.

Xu Tong gently exhaled a mouthful of white smoke. His face gradually faded into the diffusing haze. Liang Yuanfu couldn't see his expression clearly, which made him appear unfathomable and elusive.

Xu Tong continued: "As inner courtyard manager, Steward Liang is deeply trusted by Young Master Liang and presumably relied upon for many things. We Australian Song have a saying: power and responsibility are one. Having held power, you naturally must bear the consequences. Presumably, as inner courtyard steward, you know a thing or two about what the Liang residence has done in recent years. You can weigh the severity of these matters yourself. If there are unspeakable things, your family is naturally involved. You should know that walls cannot block the wind. Was the sorcery and evil spirits incident a while ago really just about those few clowns in front? Anti-Song speech has secretly flourished in Guangzhou recently—who is adding fuel to the fire? Connecting with gentry in the four countrysides, spying on Australian Song political and military affairs—what is the intention? You know what kind of crime these things would constitute under the usurper Ming. I just wonder how many heads the protagonist of this grand finale will need to fill this deep pit when the time comes."

Pausing slightly, Xu Tong continued: "The Liang residence has shown deep benevolence and righteousness toward your family—but is it really worth the future of three generations and dozens of people? Steward Liang is benevolent and filial; presumably you cannot bear to see your old mother worrying about her descendants on her sickbed. Moreover, right now the Liang residence's evil deeds haven't fully manifested, and they haven't yet made a catastrophic mistake. Even if incidents occur, there is room for maneuver. Though scattering wealth and breaking up the family is unavoidable, we won't go to extremes. My Australian Song has always separated merit from demerit. Considering past contributions and face, we definitely won't effect mass imprisonment and extensive implication. Speaking of which, this counts as Steward Liang helping the Liang residence rein in at the precipice—fulfilling the benevolence and righteousness of the Liang residence, preserving the inheriting bloodline. Since ancient times, wealth cannot fight power. Don't wait until things are irreversible to make a decision. By then, killing, slicing, or keeping alive probably won't be up to you."

Liang Yuanfu's back was soaked with sweat. The corner of his lowered silk robe trembled slightly. He opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something, but in the end said nothing.

Xu Tong stared fixedly at him: "If Steward Liang understands the greater righteousness, my Australian Song naturally won't treat you unfairly. Whatever conditions you have, you may state them clearly."

Liang Yuanfu dodged Xu Tong's gaze. After a long time, he finally stammered: "My family has been servants to the Liang residence for generations, relying on them. If, if really... what will be our livelihood in the future?"

A slight smile appeared at the corner of Xu Tong's mouth. He softened his tone: "Three conditions. One: retain all your family's private property—past wrongdoings will not be prosecuted. Two: give your family one management position and one ordinary position in the Sanitation Bureau with formal establishment. Duties can be assumed after training. Though the monthly pay isn't much, it is truly imperial grain. Three: all drugs needed for your mother's treatment will be provided free of charge—I tell you, this malaria isn't easy to cure. One must take medicine for a period to cut out the root."

Liang Yuanfu hesitated: "This... this is only two positions. My family has dozens of people..."

Xu Tong suddenly snorted coldly and said sternly: "Steward Liang, you must recognize your current situation. Could it be that after this matter, you still want to live that life of commanding slaves and maids, wearing brocade and eating jade? Don't forget you are atoning for crimes with merit—don't push your luck!"

Liang Yuanfu shuddered and fell silent again.

Xu Tong stood slowly, walked to Liang Yuanfu's side, and said: "Steward Liang, my Australian Song has a little story. Let me tell it to you today."

Liang Yuanfu looked at Xu Tong with blank eyes, dazed and confused.

Xu Tong said in a deep voice: "One day, two hunters entered the mountain to hunt. Halfway up, they suddenly heard a tiger roar in the forest. One hunter threw down his heavy load, turned, and fled. The other hunter saw this and said, 'There is only one path down the mountain. The tiger is fast while man is slow. Being caught up is only a matter of time. What use is fleeing like that?' The fleeing hunter called back while running, 'I don't need to run faster than the tiger—I just need to be faster than you.'"

After finishing the story, Xu Tong slowly bent down and whispered in Liang Yuanfu's ear: "Steward Liang, obviously, you are not running fast."

Liang Yuanfu jerked his head up, staring blankly at Xu Tong. His heart violently cracked open. He suddenly understood that actually, whether he spoke or not—or even whether there was evidence or not—didn't really matter. It wouldn't have the slightest impact on the outcome. But once he lost his value or failed to defect in time before the Liang residence incident occurred, he and his family would inevitably fall into an abyss of eternal damnation.

Liang Yuanfu seemed to be carrying an invisible mountain. His body bent lower and lower like a cooked shrimp. Cold sweat streamed down his face, accumulating into a small puddle by his feet.

Xu Tong stopped looking at him, calmly returned to his seat, picked up the tea bowl, took a gentle sip, and waited quietly.

Liang Yuanfu's inner heart was locked in violent battle, but the inertia of long-term master-servant hierarchy made his lips tremble as he stammered subconsciously: "A man... a man cannot be ungrateful... I, I..."

Xu Tong was silent for a moment, then suddenly slammed the covered tea bowl hard onto the table. Dong! The lid jumped high and fell onto the table surface, spinning like a top. Hot water splashed out at once, wetting Xu Tong's sleeve and soaking Liang Yuanfu's robe front.

Liang Yuanfu stared at Xu Tong like a fool. At this moment, Yu Laosan walked in quickly, wiping Xu Tong's sleeve with a handkerchief. But Xu Tong didn't even glance at Liang Yuanfu, only saying viciously: "Thing that doesn't know good from bad!" With that, he strode toward the courtyard without looking back.

Yu Laosan shouted at Liang Yuanfu: "Steward Liang, do you really want to be wrong to the end?"

Liang Yuanfu suddenly snapped awake, rushed over, crawled a few steps on his knees, and hugged Xu Tong's thigh. Snot and tears smeared all over his face as he hissed: "Mr. Wang, don't go, don't go! This lowly one, this lowly one agrees. Only beg Mr. Wang to leave a path of life for this lowly one's whole family of old and young. This lowly one will never dare to forget Mr. Wang's great grace and virtue." After saying this, he kowtowed incessantly.

Xu Tong stopped, helped Liang Yuanfu up, and said: "Steward Liang, no need for this." Then he signaled Yu Laosan with his eyes. Yu Laosan immediately stepped forward, supported Liang Yuanfu's other arm, and helped him walk slowly toward the room, comforting him as they went: "Steward Liang, why put yourself through such suffering? From now on, we are all one family. Among brothers, everything can be discussed."

After Liang Yuanfu took his seat and his emotions stabilized slightly, Xu Tong said gently: "Tell me casually about the Liang residence's matters first." He snapped his fingers toward the courtyard. A member of his entourage quickly walked into the room, took out a notebook and fountain pen from his chest pocket, sat in the lower seat, and began to record.

Liang Yuanfu looked somewhat withered. After a while, he finally began to confess in a low voice: "Since bombarding Guangzhou, Young Master Liang has sent people to secretly compile a book called Tian Qing Guang Wen Lu (Record of Broad Knowledge of Heaven's Affairs). I don't know how many volumes this book has, but I guess there is at least a whole large book chest. He never uses Guangzhou clerks to compile this book—only sending people to recruit scholars from refugees from other places. After carefully checking their backgrounds, he selects those with clean and reliable histories to transfer to the Guangzhou residence. After a year or two, these clerks and their whole families are sent back to their original registered residences for settlement. There is no news or contact from these people afterward. This book is never shown to others, and I have never seen it—I only vaguely heard him mention it..."

"Young Master Liang has several close relatives and friends in the Yuyuan Society. This lowly one once heard him say that this would be his literary foundation for the future..."

"A while ago, the Young Master stayed overnight at an outer residence. At night, I heard him seemingly talking to someone in his room, but the strange thing is I never saw anyone enter or leave through the door..."

Two hours later, Xu Tong stopped the questioning. He walked behind Liang Yuanfu, patted his shoulder gently, and whispered: "See, it wasn't that hard, was it?"

Then he said to Yu Laosan: "Fetch a basin of water and let Steward Liang wipe his face."

Liang Yuanfu raised his head. He had never felt the sunlight so glaring. The pale light made him feel waves of dizziness, as if the whole world had turned upside down. He supported himself on the wall and walked out of the courtyard door with stumbling steps. His desolate figure went further and further away, as weak and helpless as an old man in his declining years.

(End of Chapter)