IHOEAYSTTTIW Chapter 89

Chapter 89: The Eve of Dawn

“Rice thief!” The rice merchant with gold-inlaid teeth spat, “Lord Zhao has clearly ordered that disaster relief rice be distributed according to the number of people. What right does a little brat like you have to eat official grain?”

Lin Yan felt his temples throbbing.

Three days ago, he had just taken the two petri dishes he found in his bag to the pawnshop, and the twenty taels of silver he got in return were all handed over to the Provincial Administration Commissioner to buy grain. At this moment, the child’s figure curled up on the ice was like a resounding slap in the face.

“Wait!” Lin Yan stopped in front of the merchant, arguing with reason, “Could this young man be taking the relief grain from the porridge shed?”

“Relief grain?” The gold-toothed merchant seemed to have heard a joke, shaking a document out of his sleeve, “Take a good look, this is specially approved low-price grain, one dou of rice costs two hundred copper coins!”

The crowd suddenly became agitated. Someone shouted, “The grain cart is here!” and the dark mass of disaster victims instantly turned into a surging tide. Lin Yan was pushed and shoved, crashing into a doorpost, and watched helplessly as the child was submerged by countless pairs of straw sandals.

Warm liquid splashed on his face, indistinguishable from melted snow or blood.

The direction of the city gate quickly became lively.

The grain had arrived; Changning was saved.

Lin Yan had a terrible headache, but he still struggled to get up, trying to see the child.

The child’s hand was already half-cold. The protruding ribs under the torn cotton-padded coat pressed painfully into Lin Yan’s palm. Melting snow mixed with blood snaked across the bluestone slab like a scarlet serpent.

It was already… beyond help.

“My lord, the imperial court’s disaster relief grain has arrived.” Ginkgo came excitedly from the direction of the city gate, but her smile vanished the moment she saw Lin Yan. She looked at the child with pity, but her attention was immediately drawn to the wound on Lin Yan’s head. She frantically helped Lin Yan press the wound, and carefully wiped away the blood, “My lord, please hold on. I’ll help you inside, and Kumquat will find a doctor.”

“No need.” Lin Yan put the child down on the ground, rummaged through his clothes, found a purse, and threw it to Kumquat without looking, “Look around to see if anyone recognizes this child. This silver… consider it the child’s burial expenses.”

Kumquat weakly said “Yes,” and looked at Lin Yan uneasily before turning to enter the shop next door.

Ginkgo supported Lin Yan as they walked towards the residence, earnestly advising in a low voice, “My lord, you can’t manage all these things. You…”

Lin Yan listened listlessly to the child’s lecture, his expression only changing slightly when the medicated wine touched the wound.

Just as Ginkgo finished bandaging Lin Yan’s wound, the Provincial Administration Commissioner’s aide arrived.

The aide bowed respectfully, his attitude obsequious, “Young Master Wu, my lord invites you to come over.”

Xiao Qi has been found?

Lin Yan’s eyes lit up. Ignoring Ginkgo’s objections, he rushed straight to the Provincial Administration Commissioner’s office.

“Young Master Wu is here? Please, have a seat, have a seat.” The Provincial Administration Commissioner was exceptionally polite, his ingratiating manner no different from the aide’s.

The Provincial Administration Commissioner personally poured tea for Lin Yan. Before the ripples in the teacup could settle, his expression turned cold, and he scolded outside, “What kind of tea is this? How can you use this kind of thing to entertain Young Master Wu? Bring over the Dragon Well tea that I’ve been treasuring.”

The treasured Dragon Well tea was still last year’s stale tea. Lin Yan wasn’t interested. He just wanted to see Yun Qi as soon as possible.

“Lord Zhao, you don’t need to bother. Just tell me what you want.” Lin Yan picked up the teacup, not giving the aide a chance to change the tea, and drank it in one gulp.

“Cough, it’s like this.” The Provincial Administration Commissioner waved for the aide to step down and said with great difficulty, “The imperial court’s disaster relief grain has arrived, and they’ve also allocated a lot of silver. This famine in Changning can be considered over, and all of this is thanks to Young Master Wu.”

Offering kindness for no reason is either a trap or a scam.

Alarm bells rang in Lin Yan’s mind, but he politely declined, “You’re too kind. I only subsidized some silver. It’s really…”

“Ah, Changning, not to mention Changning, who in this Great Zhou can do what you’ve done, even mortgaging your ancestral home for the sake of the people? It’s clear that you’re noble-minded and care about the people.” Seeing that Lin Yan didn’t have much of a reaction, the Provincial Administration Commissioner coughed lightly, took out a piece of paper from the drawer, and pushed it in front of Lin Yan, “Now that the disaster relief funds allocated by the imperial court have arrived, I’ve taken the liberty of helping you redeem your house.”

The inconspicuous paper in front of him was worth a thousand taels of silver, it was the land deed that Lin Yan had mortgaged before.

Lin Yan glanced at the Provincial Administration Commissioner, tentatively picked up the land deed, and carefully put it away, “If you have something to say, you might as well say it directly.”

Seeing that Lin Yan had accepted the land deed, the Provincial Administration Commissioner secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked around, deliberately lowering his voice, and revealed the purpose of inviting Lin Yan here today, “Cough, it’s like this, the imperial court’s disaster relief grain has arrived, but, but… Prince An is not doing too well.”

The person has been found?

“Where is he?” Lin Yan stood up abruptly, eagerly asking, “How is he? Where is he now? Have the physicians from the residence gone over? The medicine…”

As Lin Yan spoke, he realized something was wrong.

Why wasn’t this old Zhao talking? And why did he have such a hesitant expression?

Lin Yan barely suppressed the unease in his heart, sat down again, and asked in a trembling voice, “What exactly happened?”

The Provincial Administration Commissioner poured another cup of tea and pushed it in front of Lin Yan, “The snow was slippery, and the situation under the cliff was very complicated. When our people found the Prince, the Prince… the Prince had already passed away.”

“What… what?” Lin Yan’s hand tightened sharply around the cup, and he muttered to himself, “Dead? How is that possible?”

The Provincial Administration Commissioner said that whenever Lin Yan’s emotions would become unusually agitated whenever Prince An was mentioned. If it were normal times, he might have been interested in having someone investigate, but now he was having difficulty even protecting himself, so he was in no mood to bother with these trivial matters.

“The Prince’s matter has already been reported, and people from the Ministry of Rites will personally handle it.” The Provincial Administration Commissioner stood up and bowed deeply, “I have a request to make of you today. With something like this happening to Prince An, I definitely won’t be able to keep my position. You… could you please say a word to Minister Wu? Just to change me to a job closer to the capital…”

The Provincial Administration Commissioner babbled on and on, but Lin Yan didn’t hear a word. He stood up and staggered towards the outside, “Where is the person? Take me to see him.”

The Provincial Administration Commissioner stopped Lin Yan, took out a stack of silver notes from his sleeve, and stuffed them into Lin Yan’s arms, “With Young Master Wu’s achievements, the Minister should be picking you up to return to the capital in a few days. These silver notes are for your travel expenses…”

Not to mention accepting them, Lin Yan didn’t even make a gesture of refusal.

The silver notes fell from Lin Yan’s arms to the ground and were mercilessly trampled on by Lin Yan.

Lin Yan’s eyes were somewhat glazed over, and he just kept muttering to himself, “Take me to see him…”

Seeing that he couldn’t reason with him, the Provincial Administration Commissioner sighed and called out, “Aide, take Young Master Wu over.”

Yun Qi’s body was placed in the side hall of the Provincial Administration Commissioner’s office. In principle, it shouldn’t be like this, but the famine in Changning hadn’t ended yet, and official duties were piled up like mountains. Even if it was unfair, it could only be unfair.

Inside the hall, incense candles flickered, and two servants knelt listlessly before the spirit, adding lamp oil whenever the light dimmed slightly.

The coffin had already been closed, but the nails hadn’t been hammered in yet. Lin Yan lightly stroked the lid twice and suddenly pushed it open.

The two servants cried out in shock, and the aide knelt directly on the ground, trembling and urging, “My lord, how can you…”

Lin Yan struggled to lean forward, trying to see the person in the coffin through his tears.

That person was similar in build to Yun Qi, and the clothes were also a style that Lin Yan had seen before. Even… even the scar on the side of his face was still there. Lin Yan lifted the shroud a little and hurriedly covered it again.

Tears flooded his throat, and the bitter taste on the root of his tongue made him nauseous.

Lin Yan clutched his aching chest and asked in a trembling voice, “This… this person’s appearance is so unclear. How can you be sure… be sure it’s Prince An?”

The aide tremblingly presented a token, “This was found on His Highness’s body.”

Prince An’s token.

A piece of broken stone. Could this thing really prove his identity?

Lin Yan glanced at the token and threw it back into the tray. He rushed to the coffin, wanting to find evidence that this person was a fake.

Xiao Qi should be a little fatter than this person, and the scar on his face should be lighter. Also, the hairpin on his head. Xiao Qi never liked to wear… hairpins?

Lin Yan trembled as he pulled out the hairpin.

He was very familiar with that hairpin. It was the one that the new Emperor had shown him in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. The crack on it was from when he was agitated…

The scene before him became distorted. The crack was like a venomous insect, struggling and writhing, finally breaking free of its restraints and pouncing towards Lin Yan.

Lin Yan’s eyes went black, and after that, he didn’t know anything.

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