The Peach Bloosom Fan

19. Licentiate Wu as a Fugitive

19 Licentiate Wu as a Fugitive Proprietor Cai had told Chen that on the day before some people were stealthily keeping a watch on the bookshop. When it was beginning to get dark a number of Imperial Guards were seen patrolling i n the vicinity, paying particular attentio n to the shop. For this reason Proprietor Cai became anxious when Huang and Wu failed to return that night. Chen therefore set out before dawn to visit Huang and seek information . When Huan g heard tha t Wu had returned hom e yesterday evening, he was badly alarmed, and his limbs went cold. He surmised that things looked bad, but there wa s nothing he could do but t o wait idl y in the Temple for Maste r Liu t o return from court, so that they could confer an d then decide what to do. On ordinary days Master Liu would attend court at the fifth watc h and return at about th e sixt h watch. That day , however, he was late in coming back to th e temple. Getting increasingl y impatient , Huan g waited under th e large campho r tree outside the temple. He was so anxious that he acted like an ant crawling on a heated pan . He walked to the bend on the road to watch, then he entered th e temple t o talk with Chen. As luck would have it, it soon began to drizzle, and it turned cold. After a long wait, voices from outside were heard. Huang knew that his teacher had returned and quickly went with Chen to meet him. They found th e old master in a very despondent mood. He forgot to remove his official robes, nor did he greet his visitors. Extracting two sheets of paper from his sleeve , h e hande d i t t o the m an d said , 'Thi s mornin g Prim e Ministe r M a presented two memorials. These are the copies. You may read it.' So saying he sat in the chair he usually occupied and buried himself in thought. 185 The Peach Blossom Fan Chen an d Huang could not wait to read Ma's memorials. The first one san g the prais e o f Ruan Dacheng . I t commende d Rua n fo r hi s exper t knowledg e o f military affairs in spite of the fact that he had never seen a battle. Ma continued to urge that Ruan be summoned to court for the Emperor to personally examine him. If his recommendation wa s proved t o be wrong, Ma was prepared t o accep t hi s guilt. If Ruan showed himself to be worthy of public office, Ma suggested that h e be pardoned for his previous offence an d be appointed th e Vice-President of the Board of War. Huang frowned an d murmured, 'It is the same old trick, same old trick!' Chen cursed, 'Maybe Ruan is his old ancestor, so he cannot forget the man! ' They the n rea d th e secon d memorial . The content s o f that documen t wer e the same as that Ruan had drafted fo r Ma, charging Zhou Zhong with treason, at the same time naming Zhou Zhongyu as an accessory. Huang cried, 'What an official a s exalted as the Prime Minister should stoop so low as to play such an underhand trick! Because he wants to implicate Secretary Zhou, h e falsel y charge s Zho u Zhon g with a great numbe r o f offences. I f Zho u Zhong had the intention to rebel, would he come to Nanjing t o fall into a death trap?' Chen observed, 'What i s said here coincides with Captain Zhu's indictment . One can see that it is a trap prepared by them!' Then he took a look at Master Liu and whispere d t o Huang , 'Quickl y tel l you r teache r abou t W u Ciwei' s disappearance. He may be harmed if we are too late!' Before Chen coul d say anything, an attendant tumble d in . He kowtowed t o Master Liu and cried, 'My lord, disaster! Disaster!' Master Liu was astounded, and he asked, 'What has happened?' The attendant, however, was tongue-tied because of extreme fright! His face in a deep flush, he could not say a word. What happened was this. The attendan t...