Chapter Two: A Man Easily Hurt

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The holding cell at the Bailiff’s Office in Erlang Beach.

The three members of the Su family sat atop a mound of rice straw, staring at each other in silence.

"None of you got hurt, did you?" Su Youcai scrutinized his two sons.

Su Tai and Su Lu shook their heads in unison; the brawl hadn’t lasted long before the bailiffs quickly put an end to it.

"It was clearly the Cheng family who started it—why are we the only ones locked up?" Su Lu protested indignantly.

"Because their family has a scholar," Su Youcai sighed.

"But Uncle is a seventh-rank official at the Bailiff’s Office, isn’t he?" Su Lu asked, puzzled. "Didn’t they say that if he stomped his foot, the whole Erlang Beach would tremble?"

"Ah, listen to his boasting," Su Youcai replied with a bitter smile. "He’s just a minor seventh-rank officer—barely worth anything."

"But that’s still better than some scholar with no official rank, right?" Su Lu was incredulous.

It is said that 'unintentional wounds cut deepest.' Su Youcai’s lips twitched at his son’s words, and he remained silent for a long moment.

Su Lu then recalled how his father, despite years of effort, had never managed to become even a lowly scholar and quickly corrected himself, "Seems scholars are really precious after all."

"Of course. If I could have passed the scholar’s exam, would we be in this mess?" Su Youcai lamented. "Remember how your grandfather lost his post as bailiff? It was because he injured Scholar Cheng."

Su Lu thought to himself, What a family tradition—generations at odds with the Cheng family scholars...

Su Youcai sighed again, the emotion in his voice complicated. "These aren’t the early days of the dynasty anymore. Since the Tumu Incident, the status of military men has declined year after year. The current emperor, Hongzhi, values civil over military officials, alas..."

As the father and sons spoke, a sudden rumble sounded. Both turned to look at Su Tai, who had been unusually quiet.

The second son of the Su family rubbed his belly and lowered his head in embarrassment.

"Eat, I saved it for you," Su Lu pulled out a cracked sweet melon from his pocket and handed it to his brother.

"I’ve eaten," Su Tai murmured.

"Liar, there were only two melons on that vine," Su Lu sighed.

"Autumn’s clever," Su Tai said with a goofy smile, breaking the melon open. "Let’s share it."

Su Lu’s nickname was Autumn, for he was born in that season.

"We’ve already eaten," Su Youcai and Su Lu shook their heads. "It wasn’t tasty at all."

"Oh," Su Tai finally cradled the sweet melon, taking small bites with his wide mouth.

"We’ll be out soon, Summer, you don’t need to be so frugal," Su Youcai pinched Su Tai’s soft chin—Summer was Su Tai’s nickname, born in summer.

"Really?" Both brothers’ eyes lit up.

"Of course. Bailiff Zhou was your grandfather’s deputy back in the day. It’s just a show for outsiders—would he really make things hard for us?" Su Youcai spoke with confidence.

"That’s good!" The brothers were overjoyed.

~

The three waited patiently. It wasn’t until dusk that the cell door creaked open, and in stepped a tall, round-faced officer with a short beard, dressed in a blue robe and a black hat, resembling Su Tai.

Seeing him enter, all three hurriedly stood.

"Uncle."

"Big brother."

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"Mm." The man nodded. He was Su Lu’s uncle, Su Youcai’s elder brother, the minor officer Su Youjin of Erlang Beach’s Bailiff’s Office.

"Let’s go, let’s go, let’s head home," Su Youcai patted his sons on the back. "If we’re late, your aunt won’t save us any dinner."

"Alas, we can’t go home today," their uncle sighed. "Scholar Cheng is holding us to account."

"What’s happened?" Su Youcai asked, baffled. "The Cheng family turned our youngest into a bruised eggplant—are they really trying to shift the blame?"

"The youngest only has some superficial wounds, a broken nose—looks scary but it’s not serious..." The uncle sighed again. "But Scholar Cheng’s brother had his leg broken by you lot."

"What? That can’t be. We’re hardly strong enough to hurt a chicken," Su Youcai exclaimed.

Before he finished, Su Tai stomped his foot twice. With a crack, the cell’s floor tile snapped clean in two...

"My leg was numb," Su Tai mumbled, head down like a guilty child.

"..." The uncle fell silent. "You call that ‘hardly strong enough to hurt a chicken’?"

"Ha ha..." Su Youcai laughed awkwardly. "Summer knows his limits—he’s never hurt anyone before."

"Well, someone’s hurt now. What use are your words?" The uncle said irritably. "Scholar Cheng has made it clear: if the Bailiff’s Office can’t give him a satisfactory answer, he’ll go to the county and beat the drum for justice!"

"If the Bailiff’s Office can’t solve it, take it to the Thousand-Household Office. Why involve the county?" Su Youcai grumbled.

Erlang Beach was under the jurisdiction of the garrison, so matters of local administration or land disputes should be handled by the garrison. But after nearly 150 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the garrison system had deteriorated, the judicial offices were effectively useless, and more and more matters ended up relying on the neighboring counties.

"Well, Scholar Cheng is a county student; the magistrate will surely look after him." The uncle was frustrated. "Even the Thousand-Household Officer can only stand by and watch. Later, Bailiff Zhou will get scolded for losing face."

"Ah, if only you’d passed the scholar exams back then..." He couldn’t help but nag his brother again.

"Can we not talk about that?" Su Youcai was deeply frustrated; his son had just wounded him, and now his brother was rubbing salt in the wound. "What does Bailiff Zhou intend?"

"Private settlement," the uncle replied. "Bailiff Zhou has invited Scholar Cheng to the office tomorrow so both sides can negotiate terms... In short, it’s about how much compensation we’ll pay."

"That’ll be extortion to the extreme," Su Youcai grimaced.

"They’ll ask for the moon, we’ll bargain down to the ground," the uncle sighed, resigned, and handed over a bag of dry food. "Your aunt prepared dinner for you."

"We’re staying here tonight?" Su Youcai took the bag.

"Of course. If the negotiations fail, how could they let you go?" the uncle replied helplessly.

"Then let Summer and Autumn go home first," Su Youcai offered. "I can stay here alone."

"Father, I’ll stay with you," Su Tai declared firmly.

"Me too," Su Lu echoed.

~

Night deepened, and autumn insects sang.

The Bailiff’s Office was pitch black, with only the three men left in the cell.

Each of the Su family clutched a dry, hard sorghum cake, gnawing until their teeth ached. After finally biting off a chunk, they struggled to swallow, eyes rolling in frustration.

"My throat’s scraped raw..." Su Lu’s face was flushed as he finally managed to swallow a piece.

"Brother really should have sent water with the food," Su Youcai thumped his chest, unable to get it down. "Are they trying to choke us to death?"

"Take small bites, chew slowly," only Su Tai managed to eat normally.

"Second brother’s got experience," Su Lu followed his advice, chewed longer, and at last swallowed a mouthful successfully.

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"Heh heh..." Su Tai smiled sheepishly. "Experience comes from eating a lot."

The Su family was considered comfortably off, but they still ate sorghum cakes and sorghum porridge three times a day—Su Lu was used to the bitter taste by now.

"I wonder what kind of family gets to eat fine grains?" Su Lu fought with the sorghum cake, reminiscing about the taste of rice and steamed buns.

Only after coming here did he realize that his former, ordinary life was anything but common.

"Scholar Cheng’s family," Su Tai answered after a pause.

"Really?" Su Lu hadn’t expected that scholars had both status and substance.

"Of course, haven’t you heard the saying? 'Scholars eat well, with millet and white flour at their lips,'" Su Tai’s mouth watered.

"Father, why don’t you try the exam again?" Su Lu turned to Su Youcai.

"Can we let this go already?!" Su Youcai, feeling wounded yet again, bit into his sorghum cake and nearly broke a tooth.

"Forget I said it, don’t get angry," Su Lu quickly apologized.

"Hmph..." Su Youcai grumbled, rubbing his jaw. "You think I don’t want to try? Our family offended the county magistrate—so long as he’s in office, I have no future."

"How long has he been in office?" Su Lu asked.

"Ten years now..." Su Youcai replied bitterly.

"But isn’t the term up yet?" Su Lu was dumbfounded.

"How should I know?" Su Youcai said, face sour. "Supposed to be three years per term, maximum three terms. But there are always exceptions. In remote mountain regions like ours, an official might serve a dozen years."

"Good grief..." Su Lu gasped, thinking they really wrung every last drop out of a man.

"Ah, anyway, your old man’s got no hope," Su Youcai resigned himself with a sigh. "If you want to try, do it yourself."

"Fine, then I’ll do it myself!" Su Lu slapped his thigh.

"Ah, ah..." Su Youcai nearly choked on a sorghum crumb.

"What’s wrong?" Su Lu quickly patted his father’s back.

"Son, ambition is good," Su Youcai said cautiously, afraid to discourage him. "But you have to be realistic. Your old man not only offended the magistrate, but the scholar’s exam is really hard."

"In our poor backwater, there’s no official school. To take the scholar’s exam, you’d have to go to Hejiang County for the preliminary test," he explained with a sigh. "That’s just the first step. After the county test, you’d have to compete with all the pupils in Luzhou at the provincial academy. We’re remote, but Luzhou isn’t—it’s a center of learning in Sichuan, producing scholars and officials by the handful. How can we compete?"

He expected his son to give up after hearing this, but Su Lu insisted, "I still want to try..."

"Try your luck, will you!" Su Youcai saw that his son hadn’t listened at all and twisted Su Lu’s ear. "You’ve never liked reading, and you barely know a handful of characters—think you can pass the exam? Dream on!"

"Don’t twist, don’t twist, you’ll turn his ear into a rake," Su Tai hurried to protect his brother.

"Su Laochuan, twenty-seven, started reading books with determination!" Su Lu hid behind Su Tai. "I’m not even half his age—why can’t I dream?"

"Father, Autumn knows the 'Three Character Classic' by heart," Su Tai said joyously. "Maybe he really can pass the scholar exam."

"Scholar? More like a chive," Su Youcai refused to deal with these two troublemakers, turning to focus on his sorghum cake.

Ps: From tomorrow on, updates will be at seven-thirty in the morning as usual.

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