Chapter 73: Chu Yu

This Gou Buli was very clever. He took advantage of the situation and, feigning a pained expression, said, “Back then, when I was steaming buns for the young master Gou, I saw him acting like that and begged this master of the family who was in charge, saying: ‘If the young master doesn’t eat it, the leftovers can be given to the farmhands outside, so that everyone can share a little of the Gou family’s benevolence.’ Who knew, who knew—” He put on a look of tearless grief and indignation:

“This man actually said that since their family name is ‘Gou’ (a homophone for ‘dog’), even a dog is more noble than the farmhands outside!”

These words caused a commotion below. The anger of the common people was indeed stirred up. In an era of scarcity, deliberately wasting food was an extremely terrible crime. Someone shouted, “Beat this villain to death!” “Hang him up with a dog, let them share fortune and misfortune together!”

This master of the family was panting with anxiety, but couldn’t make a sound, his face turning red from holding his breath.

Seeing this scene, Gou Buli was very pleased. He struck while the iron was hot and roared at the middle-aged man, “What are you staring at me for! With upright masters like the ‘short hairs’ to stand up for us common people, I’m not afraid of a villain like you! The days of your Gou family shitting and pissing on the heads of us common people are over.”

As he spoke, he pulled up his sleeve, took off his shirt, and revealed the many new and old torture scars on his body. “Fellow villagers, this year I was roasting a sweet potato to eat under the kitchen when this old thing saw me and said I was stealing their horse feed. I said, ‘Your horse feed is all golden millet and beans, where would I find such coarse food to steal?’ Just for that sentence, he went and reported me to Gou Xunyi. I was taken to the earthen jail and tortured to within an inch of my life, and then locked up there. If it weren’t for the ‘kūnzéi’ masters opening the jail door, I would have died in there for nothing—” As he spoke, he probably recalled the various hardships of being locked in the earthen jail, and shed tears at just the right moment.

By now, the audience below was a sea of tears. Although Wu De was happy with this effect, he knew that what Gou Buli was saying was a mix of truth and lies. He whispered to Xi Yazhou, “Isn’t this a bit too hypocritical?”

Xi Yazhou shook his head. “Actually, there are many true stories that are much more tragic than this. Look, the masses are all crying; that’s resonance. If the Gou family hadn’t done all sorts of evil and harmed the common people, would they be crying? Right now, the common people don’t dare to speak of these things, and those who dare can’t speak clearly. Although Gou Buli is making things up, he dares to speak and is able to speak. Stirring up their emotions will help them break through that layer of shackles.”

Wu De was muttering to himself. He was much older than Xi Yazhou and the others and had personally witnessed many political storms that began with mass movements. He was really not sure what the consequences of a mass movement would be. Seeing the disapproving look on Wu De’s face, Xi Yazhou said, “To achieve great things, one shouldn’t be bothered by trifles. Right now, mobilizing the masses is the most important thing. Let’s keep listening.”

Just as they were talking, someone suddenly came over and whispered, “There’s a maid who wants to see the person in charge.”

Wu De was taken aback, wondering why a maid would want to see him for no reason. He quickly said a few words to Xi Yazhou and went over with a few men.

The Gou family had one to two hundred male and female servants, not including the retainers. Their backgrounds were quite complex and difficult to screen at the moment, so they were temporarily separated by gender and held in two courtyards. During the struggle session just now, a group of powerful and evil servants from Zhang Xingjiao’s list had been taken away.

The maid who wanted to see him was named Chu Yu. She was originally the personal maid of Gou Xunyi’s most favored seventh concubine. When the stockade was breached, Gou Xunyi’s wives and concubines were either forced or voluntarily hanged themselves. In the chaos, some of the maids also committed suicide. This girl was unwilling to be buried with her usually harsh mistress. In addition, seeing that the “short hairs” did not harm women in the slightest after they entered, she had even less thought of death. She was usually quick-witted and could speak a few sentences of Mandarin. She knew a little about the rumors of the “short hairs” outside. Now, seeing these young “Kun bandits,” all tall and strong, with light steps, and full of confidence in their every move and gesture, neither servile nor overbearing, completely different from the arrogant pride of the masters and young masters, and the cautious humility of the common servants, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of admiration in her heart.

After some thought, she remembered that she had been sold in this county by a family fleeing famine. After being sold several times, she ended up as a maid in the Gou family. Although she was the seventh concubine’s personal maid, this seventh concubine was spoiled and extremely harsh to her servants, beating and scolding them at the slightest displeasure. For Chu Yu, every day by her side was like a year. She was all alone in the world, with no ties. She had originally hoped to be married off to a servant or farmhand to live a peaceful life, but she never expected that the maids of the Gou family never married. Some maids were still unmarried at the age of forty or fifty, which shattered her last bit of hope.

With the Gou family fallen, she had to plan for her own future. She thought that these “short hairs” had always prided themselves on their benevolence. After breaking the stockade, they didn’t loot or kill indiscriminately, and were very polite to women. They even specially assigned a female “kūnzéi” supervisor to guard them, who was not only kind-hearted but also meticulous. She and the other servants were not important people. In a few days, they would most likely be told to go home. She had no home to return to, so she had to find a way out for herself. After much thought, she decided to offer a secret she knew as a gift. Having made up her mind, she took the opportunity of needing to use the latrine to quietly report it to Du Wen, who was in charge of guarding them, in a corner of the courtyard.

Du Wen had been planning the mass meeting for a long time and was feeling frustrated that she couldn’t go and watch. Suddenly, an “oppressed class sister” was willing to come forward and expose something. It couldn’t have been more to her liking. She was about to ask her to speak up, but this Chu Yu was stubbornly insistent on only speaking to the “person in charge.”

“I am the person in charge,” Du Wen said, not giving up.

“There are big and small people in charge. You are definitely not the big one in charge!” The girl was not afraid at all and had a rather feisty manner.

“Why?!”

“Because you’re a woman! How can a woman be the big one in charge!”

This remark left Du Wen speechless and fuming. She cursed inwardly, “No awareness, a head full of feudal ideas of male superiority,” but there was nothing she could do. She had to have someone call for Wu De.

Led by Du Wen, Chu Yu walked into the small hall for conversation, knelt down on both knees, kowtowed, and said with her head bowed, “Your servant Chu Yu kowtows to the master.”

Because her head was bowed, Wu De couldn’t see her face clearly, but her tall figure and graceful demeanor already made him secretly pleased. Having been in this time and space for so long, this was a rare woman who more or less fit the aesthetic standards of modern people.

He asked with a smile, “Are you the woman who wanted to see me?”

“Yes. It is I, your servant.”

“What do you want to see me about?” Wu De said, casually picking up the preliminary interrogation record and learning that this woman was the seventh concubine’s personal maid. “You are the seventh concubine’s personal maid. She is now dead. Are you grieving?”

To Chu Yu, these words contained a dangerous element, so she answered with some reserve:

“We were master and servant for many years. Your servant is not made of wood or stone; how could I not feel pity?” She did not say grief, but pity, to show the difference.

“You don’t look that sad, though?”

Chu Yu kowtowed and said gracefully, “Your servant served the seventh concubine, and there was not a day I did not work tirelessly to repay her kindness of providing food, clothing, and shelter. The bond between master and servant ends there.”

The implication was: the work I did was worth the wages I received. Now that the company has gone bankrupt, a little sadness is inevitable, but there is no sense of deep loss.

Wu De nodded to himself in approval and then said, “Chu Yu, raise your head.”

Chu Yu boldly raised her head, allowing Wu De to see her face clearly. She also took the opportunity to glance at him. She saw that this “kūnzéi” master who had breached the stockade was in his middle age, with regular features, a pair of thick eyebrows, bright eyes, dark skin, and a strong, powerful body. Her heart skipped a beat, and, afraid of his direct gaze, she lowered her head again.

At first glance, Wu De saw that Chu Yu looked like a girl of only eighteen or nineteen, who would still be a high school student in the modern world. Yet, there was an air of calm composure about her. He asked:

“What do you have to report to us?”

“There is a secret cabinet in Gou Xunyi’s study. Have the masters discovered it?”

“A secret cabinet?” Wu De and Du Wen exclaimed in unison. They had already searched all over the Gou family residence, but they had not discovered a secret cabinet in the study.

“That’s right. It’s in the inner study. Behind the inlaid panel there is a secret cabinet, which contains important correspondence, account books, and valuable items.”

This was a major discovery! Wu De knew very well that gold and silver were secondary. The secret letters and account books of this major fence, who colluded with various pirates in Guangdong, would obviously reveal many details to them. In this time and space, the transmission of news was very slow. News from Guangdong often took a month or so to reach the county, and they could only learn about local conditions from history books.

He nodded. “How do you know?”

“Your servant is the seventh concubine’s personal maid. Master Gou often summoned the seventh concubine to the inner study to sleep with him. As was customary, your servant would wait in the outer room. Occasionally—occasionally—” As Chu Yu spoke, her face turned slightly red, with the charming shyness of a young girl experiencing her first crush, which made even a middle-aged man like Wu De a little flustered. On second thought, this child was old enough to be his daughter; he’d better not act like a beast. He nodded:

“Since you are willing to tell us such a secret, what do you ask for in return? We will reward you handsomely with the recovered valuables and send someone to escort you home.”

“Your servant only asks that the master allow me to stay by your side and serve you. Your servant has long been without family or relatives. Even with gold and silver, where could I go? Please take me in, master!” Chu Yu kowtowed again gracefully.

This made Wu De blush. A young girl volunteering to be his maid—such a good thing had never happened to him in his life. Of course, he couldn’t agree. Not to mention that a group of somewhat sex-starved otaku wouldn’t tolerate it, even Du Wen beside him would most likely give him a “steel leg kick.” Fortunately, they had already made arrangements for this problem: all maids and servants with no home to return to would be taken in.

“Of course. We will naturally take in and employ you sisters who have nowhere to go. You can rest assured! Take us to open the cabinet.”