Cui Buqu twitched his arm but did not draw it back.
At that hour, everyone around Rong Qing, including himself, turned their gazes over.
Rong Qing gave a strange look and felt that this young man was flippant in his conduct. If the one he had taken liberties on was a beautiful woman, he might have already stopped him a long time ago. However, the present Cui Buqu had a beard on him, thus he was obviously a scholar, so nevermind his identity as a member of the Zuoyue Bureau. As Rong Qing recalled all those rumours of the Zuoyue Bureau that struck one with terror, there was only one thought in his heart: How audacious this youth is!
He even felt some sympathy for Li Shisi.
If it had been Cui Buqu, this Li Shisi would have already been minced into a few dozen pieces by his gaze alone, neatly arranged for the cooking. However, Cui Buqu is not Cui Buqu now; he was Rong Qing's strategist, Master Cui, and it was only because of this that he was behaving like a silent introvert. This has already proven that his attitude was not the same as the real Cui Buqu.
Master Cui gave a shocked expression, as if he had just received the greatest insult or as if this sudden change had been unexpected: "How could you!"
He forcibly shakes the other's hand off. This time, it went very well. However, as Li Shisi's hand conveniently relented, his fingers encircled his palm once, molesting frivolously. He looked just like someone with a string of lovers of all perceivable types!
"Imperial Censor Rong, Master Cui and I met through fate, thus may I know if you are willing to be parted from this cherished possession of yours?" Li Shisi turned his head around at Rong Qing. "Regardless of what conditions you want to be fulfilled, just list them down as you please."
"Absurd! Master Cui is a person, not an inanimate object. How can you say that? Excuse yourself, now!" Rong Qing reprimanded him. He was already well-prepared for a battle of wits before he came; who could have guessed that this Li Shishi, who had come out of nowhere, had tossed his plans into disarray!
"Shisi-lang1, watch your manners!"
The Eldest Son of the Li family hurried over, conducting formalities to Rong Qing with a face full of helplessness, "I beg your forgiveness, Imperial Censor Rong. This younger cousin of mine grew up in Luoyang with a single-mother in the past who raised him into such an unbridled and unrestrained troublemaker! Please do not bother a generous person like yourself with the likes of him!"
Li Shisi, with a face full of ridicule and patheticness, said: "Cousin, what is all this talk about being unbridled and unrestrained? This is called being in my truest nature! I have no interest in all the entertainers that filled the halls here. I only want this Master Cui! He's not a wife, son, or elderly father of Imperial Censor Rong, so why can't he be given to me? I could offer more money to hire Master Cui into a new place as a literary clerical staff, wouldn't that be the same?"
Rong Qing's face sank, raising his voice, he said: "Did County Magistrate Huang invite me here today to see such foolery?!"
As he finished speaking, County Magistrate Huang Lue hurried over here with the guidance of an escort. Members of the Li family all begged for pardon, exerting all their strength to pull Li Shisi out towards the seats.
Li Shisi mumbled and spluttered in displeasure, however, once he was lectured by his cousin, he no longer dared to attempt anything else. A pair of eyes were still wandering about, often looking towards Cui Buqu's direction. He watched as Cui Buqu noticed his line of sight, returned it in a non-committal way, and he smiled at him with his teeth exposed.
Cui Buqu was expressionless, avoiding his gaze.
Although Rong Qing was a guest, he was an Imperial Envoy and Censor. County Magistrate Huang Lue offered his seat. Because of this, Cui Buqu also obtained an opportunity to sit next to Rong Qing, in a place where he could observe the entire venue.
Everyone who came to today's banquet was native distinguished families and landlords. They owned many lands, thus this time they suffered great losses from the calamity, their harvest this year reduced into nought and they couldn't even collect their rentals. These people were now forcibly mustering their spirits and smiles onto their faces. Let alone the delicacies of the locals, even if they were served extremely rare delicacies, they would not have the spirit to enjoy them.
Huang Lue sat on the secondary seat, his voice raised as he said: "First of all, the calamity outside the city hasn't quelled, so it's not the best time to hold a banquet. However, everyone present today is the people of this city with a literary reputation. They have heard that Imperial Censor Rong came forth from the Imperial Court to supervise the calamity, they couldn't help feeling delighted and decided to pay a visit of their own accord, so this humble subject gathered all of them here, so your Excellency may inquire them."
The Imperial Censor's arrival was simply to inquire about the situation, supervise it, and those rations would be prioritized to feed the people who had lost their homes and avoid them rebelling when they were cornered to a wall. These distinguished families would earn no benefit from it, so they should not have been interested in the banquet today. Hearing Huang Lue say, "pay a visit of their own accord" they couldn't help cursing at him for licking Rong Qing's boot and giving a false account of facts.
Yet Rong Qing was completely pleased with Huang Lue and his initiative because if Huang Lue hadn't invited everyone on his own accord, he would have also proposed meeting with all the distinguished families of the local county. His orders to patrol wasn't just to investigate the calamity but to also investigate whether those rations were indeed distributed to the people, whether or not the local landlords were conspiring with the officials to gain benefits through it. After assuming the position of an Imperial Censor for a short while, this was his first time leaving the capital on an expedition. Before leaving the capital he had even inquired a senior official and remembered all of his counsels to heart.
Speaking of which, he still found Huang Lue's performance satisfactory, at the very least, he did not serve any delicacies today as all their food were just normal dishes, vegetables being more than others. It looked a little shabby. Rong Qing had even found a dish from his hometown here, and although he knew that these may be arrangements Huang Lue had made after inquiring about him all around, and that this dish had been just a simple dish, he was still able to eat it happily.
Everyone took their turns coming to toast him wine. Among them was Assistant Magistrate Li Yan and County Official Wu Yi. He couldn't bring himself to give him a cold shoulder, so he could only comply with the atmosphere and deliberately took a few sips. Before it affected his mental intelligence, he placed his wine cup down and lightly coughed twice.
"Although the Imperial Court issued rations for the calamity this time, on my way here I have witnessed for myself the rising of the waters that flooded countless fields and houses. People that have lost loved ones and their houses were unnumbered because of this. But County Magistrate Huang Lue has already allowed the victims into the city, despite that there are limited rations within, and at most they would only last for half a month. When that time comes, even if the waters have quelled, it will be at least Spring of the following year before any harvests could be made. And even at that time, there will still be a cold Winter to brave through."
Everyone present were elites, there was no need for him to elaborate. As his words reached here, everyone already knew what he wanted to say.
A young man surnamed Ding stood up immediately and severed his words: "Imperial Censor Rong cared deeply for the people and pitied the fate of humankind. This time, the fields of my house have been washed away completely due to the flood. However, my kind-hearted mother could not bear to see our tenants starve, she even took out rations from our own storage and distributed it to them. Right now nothing is left in my house. Watching many places in the Prefecture has also been hit, the rations that needed to import from outside the Prefecture has its price weighed in gold. We simply could not afford it, so I beg Imperial Censor Rong to think of a way to save us!"
Rong Qing has heard before that the Ding family is the largest landlord of this County. There were also people in their house who served as officials. Once he spoke, everyone complied to him.
"Yes. The fields of our houses have also been flooded!"
"Everything in our house has been washed clean. I beg the Imperial Censor to think of a way, request the Imperial Court to send us more rations!"
"Imperial Censor Rong, you need to be the judge of the people!"
A dozen people joined in. Rong Qing was a little dumbfounded. He originally wanted the landlords to donate some rations, yet they have already taken the opportunity to wail first. His words could no longer be spoken.
Assistant County Magistrate Li Yan spoke at an opportune moment: "Everyone, it hasn't been a few days since Imperial Censor Rong arrived. Today, everyone is called here so he may understand the matter fully. If anyone has any grievances, there's no harm in giving it your full account here. However, after tonight, if anyone is discovered to be spreading rumours about the Imperial Court outside, the officials will not spare them a light sentence."
Huang Lue was watching the theatre with a cold gaze from the sidelines; it was instead Li Yan who stood out and spoke for him. Rong Qing's impression of Li Yan got better. Just as he was about to speak, he heard one man say: "Assistant County Magistrate Li, consider this humble one unable to subscribe to these words of yours!"
Rong Qing decided that the voice sounded familiar, and so turned around and discovered that the one speaking was the same person who flirted with Cui Buqu a while ago, Li Shisi.
"Now that it's chaotic everywhere with rumours coming one after the last, all of them saying that the Imperial Court hasn't delivered any rations and wanting the people to find their own supplies. It was not us who spread these rumours! Our house originally gave our servants three meals a day, but it has been decreased into two meals now. Speaking of hardships, we aren't any better than refugees! It's only because we live inside of the city that we haven't thought of moving away yet. However, if this persists, the calamity will flood the entire city eventually! When that time comes the entire Guangqian County would be finished. Whether we should remain or leave, please assist us in making this decision, Imperial Censor Rong!"
Li Shisi exclaimed loudly; not only he didn't hold any restraint at all, but he was also even disrespectful towards Rong Qing, behaving exactly like a spoiled brat of a prestigious family.
Rong Qing's expression sank: "Presently, everyone is on the same boat and are weathering through the same hardship. Yet, here you are speaking about staying or leaving. Putting this out would be called sowing unrest among the army! To speak the truth to all of you: the Imperial Court's supplies are not endless. If the flood victims cannot weather through this winter, then a lot may freeze to death. Nevermind you people having no harvest in the following year, it would be easier for those who carry malicious intentions to gather and create chaos. When that time comes, wouldn't harm just come back to you?!"
Everyone said in their hearts: Here it comes. Imperial Censor Rong made such a huge detour and finally came to the main point. In the end, isn't he just hoping to dig out some money and rations from these distinguished families? However, how would everyone give away their fortune so easily? They still thought about asking the Imperial Court to help them, why not just save themselves a breath.
Li Shisi spoke again, speaking out the words in everyone's heart: "Since Imperial Censor Rong has put it in such a way, we can just leave!"
The landlord surnamed Ding shouted: "Imperial Censor Rong, we also wish to lend a hand to our hometown, yet now we have the heart, but not the spirit!"
Everyone else also said: "Exactly! We couldn't even save ourselves. There is no way for us to help others!"
"Alright!" Huang Lue finally spoke, "Two years ago, Guangqian Prefecture enforced donating rations and decreased the rental. We could support ourselves during some smaller calamities. This year, it was unfortunate that we have encountered a huge calamity. Other than the Imperial Court delivering rations, we will need everyone to do the same as two years ago, to waive rentals if one were to donate rations. As to how the rental should be decreased, there is still a need for everyone to gather together and offer suggestions."
Everyone exchanged glances, but then, that annoying Li Shisi spoke again: "Lord Huang, we have already said just now that it is not because we refuse to donate, but that there is truly no rations to be donated. Let alone waiving the rental, even if the Imperial Court waived the next ten years of rental, we still cannot donate any rations!"
Rong Qing finally felt that this meal tonight was truly vexing.
He originally thought that he has already familiarized himself with some of the things that go on in Guangqian County and was already prepared to enforce his dominance tonight. He even wanted to demonstrate himself in front of Cui Buqu, to send his ambitiousness tumbling. Yet, nothing went well tonight. Not only did they refuse to comply, but these officials from Guangqian County did not look very enthusiastic at all.
Who on earth gave him those two pieces of paintings? Rong Qing originally wanted to make use of this banquet to uncover an inkling, but who could have guessed that the officials and landlords' reactions had tossed him into a difficult situation instead.
Cui Buqu, who was next to him, never spoke even once. The other is surely laughing at him like a joke, Rong Qing thought, and his mood sank to worse states, drinking more frequently unconsciously.
Cui Buqu still felt that Rong Qing was too tame. Tonight, he was being led on from the beginning until the end, however, his focus and attention were not on Rong Qing.
Li Shisi's prior behaviour made it easy to mistake him for Feng Xiao in disguise. His age and looks being entirely different were not strange, as Qiao Xian too could make this happen. In the past, when they were in Göktürk, they had done this before.
In fact, Li Shisi's methods and ways were overly flaunting. These were very like Feng Xiao.
However, when he saw Li Shisi toasting wine to County Official Wu Yi, his face very naturally let slip a look of desiring to curry favours, so it changed his thoughts. Because it seemed to him that Feng Xiao had never spoken so submissively in a low voice to anyone before.
That man surnamed Feng was unbridled and unrestrained, looking like he took nothing seriously, but in reality, he was proud and confident, sparing no one even a second look but himself. It was impossible to want him to take a submissive role and be inferior to someone else.
So, Li Shisi was only Li Shisi. He should have nothing to do with that man surnamed Feng, right?
Cui Buqu withdrew his look and lowered his gaze, feeling bewildered at his own doubts for once.
Logically, he had left the capital without a word. At this time, even if Feng-er realized he wasn't there, it would be impossible for him to instantly locate where he was, more so hurrying over here so quickly and making himself a new identity. Then, why was he doubting so much? Why did he keep thinking of Feng-er, regardless of who he looked at?
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[1] 十四郎 (lit. Fourteenth Man) same as San-lang, Er-lang.