Chapter 2660: The Capital (Part 16)

The clatter of horse hooves shattered the early morning silence. Several riders emerged from the mist, their silhouettes growing sharper as they approached Beijing.

Liao Sanniang rode at the front. Her body moved with supple resilience as she held the reins loosely in her left hand, keeping her upper body perpendicular to the horse's spine. She rose and fell in gentle rhythm with the animal's gait, a seamless understanding between rider and mount.

She loosened the reins further, letting the weight disappear from her left hand. The horse lowered its head and neck in response—she had relinquished control, allowing it to amble along the road at its own pace.

With her right hand, Liao Sanniang touched the upright collar of her jacket. There was a small bulge at its corner—a deadly poison pill that she could bite into simply by lowering her head. A captured woman faced torments a hundred times more terrible than those endured by men. A woman who had fought her way through thickets of blades and spears never feared death. Indifference to dying stayed the Reaper's hand; the blood on one's blade was always someone else's.

She raised her head slightly, her thoughts drifting. Counting from Master Leng's disappearance, a day and a half had passed. In that time, Liao Sanniang had slept only a few hours, spending the rest rushing about inside and outside the city. She had scattered her people and contacted local power brokers in the villages and counties along the main roads surrounding the capital—primarily the runners and bailiffs stationed in various places. These low-level public servants controlled the instruments of local investigation and security. They could mobilize the idlers and "White Catchers" who assisted the government offices, wielding considerable influence over local affairs. Her focus was on tracking Boss Leng's horses—horses were large targets, easily spotted and identified. Starting with these offered the best chance of achieving a breakthrough.

Li Rufeng remained in Beijing to manage relations with all parties and handle any ransom letter or middleman that might arrive. In this male-dominated society of the Great Ming, people simply trusted men more.

Deep down, Liao Sanniang held little hope for the investigation. These civilians, bought with money and goods, often reported false or exaggerated information to claim credit and rewards; most of what they provided proved useless. From the kidnappers' perspective, abandoning the carriage while keeping the horses left the biggest clue. However, horses differed from carriages—their mobility was far greater. They could take main roads, small paths, or even travel cross-country. The gaps in coverage were as numerous as mesh holes in a net. Like the assistant managers, there was little Liao Sanniang could do, but she could not afford to dwell on that. If her heart grew panicked, nothing would get done.

Since arriving in Beijing, Liao Sanniang had felt a faint unease. The farther from Guangzhou, the more severely the Australian Song's influence had decayed.

The Beijing Station was the most unique existence among all overseas stations, and the one with the faintest Australian Song character.

The Capital—the political center of the Great Ming—was crawling with spies, the Factory and Guard omnipresent. Any unconventional behavior meant treason and heresy. Should the Beijing Station fall out of tune with this city, it would immediately become the brightest of targets.

Given their isolation, the Beijing Station had made substantial concessions for the sake of cover. Except for retaining the financial system necessary for work coordination, Heliansheng, Delong, and the Leng residence had all abandoned Australian Song customs to follow Great Ming etiquette and law. Furthermore, they employed as few Naturalized Citizens as possible; nearly all positions of lesser importance were filled by locals or those recruited from nearby areas. Management followed the feudal ethical code entirely, relying mainly on contracts, shop rules, family laws, and official statutes. This caused the few personnel dispatched from Lingao to undergo rapid reverse assimilation, reverting to the living habits of the Great Ming.

The rules Li Rufeng spoke of had never been strictly observed. Even in modern times, lacking supervision and instant communication, relying solely on employees' self-discipline would lead to the erosion of regulations. In the Beijing Station with its strong feudal character, rigid rules often failed to adapt to complex and ever-changing situations. Flexibility became the norm, and various Lingao regulations became mere scraps of paper after repeated compromises. What could actually be enforced was the simple, crude feudal family law.

Liao Sanniang had heard complaints from other dispatched personnel: if an overseas station had only one Senator in charge, it would inevitably become a "One Word Hall," often engaging in petty tricks of "outward devotion and inner opposition," like "when the general is abroad, he may refuse the sovereign's orders." Some instances of "rule-breaking" had even caused security incidents later. These cases had all entered the relevant training materials.

Master Leng was the rule-maker. All rules of the Beijing Station existed to manage others. Temporary changes regarding security and travel routes were often decided by Master Leng himself—which made Li Rufeng's invocation of rules sound more like excuses and deflection of responsibility after the fact.

Master Leng would kneel and kowtow to the court's powerful figures, but within the Beijing Station, he was the absolute leader, possessing irrefutable authority. What he said went; no one dared question him.

As for his character, Liao Sanniang admired him considerably. Like most Senators, he lacked the cold ruthlessness of those from wealthy families and was rather upright and kind. On ordinary days, he neither indulged in lust nor showed much interest in amusement and feasting. He was fair in personnel matters and official affairs, and an expert in business. Yet Liao Sanniang always sensed that somewhere in this Master Leng's bones, there lurked a certain restlessness, an unwillingness to remain ordinary. On the surface, he lived a disciplined life at the Beijing Station, responding carefully to everything around him. But there was always some impulse within him to "do great things."

He was easygoing, often joking with employees from Lingao. Once, while teasing the dispatched Senators in Liao Sanniang's presence, Master Leng had said: The Senate treats dispatched Senators like buying lottery tickets, winning five million every day and continuing to win for ten years straight. After all, what dispatched Senators faced was never just enemies on all sides, but also human disasters, natural calamities, diseases, and countless unpredictable accidents in chaotic times.

The greatness of the Senate was not worth a laugh before nature's awesome might. Running around through chaotic times under minimal conditions of security, hygiene, and disaster prevention—ten years without accidents of death, disability, or disappearance among dispatched Senators—that itself was a miracle for the Senate to be proud of. Though much of it relied on fortune's favor, the excitement of result-oriented thinking and personal adventurism in pursuit of self-worth had temporarily covered many problems beneath the brilliance of various overseas achievements.

While enjoying their luck, they were also constantly accumulating risk.

Liao Sanniang did not understand what a lottery ticket was, but she could roughly guess it was some kind of gambling game. The Beijing Station's special, somewhat chaotic management system contained numerous vulnerabilities. The Beijing Station was a team built according to local conditions. In the post-Ming era initiated by the Northern Expedition, whether to retain the Beijing Station had become an increasingly controversial topic. On one hand, the development of the station's financial, industrial, and commercial businesses had proven highly effective; on the other, it contradicted the original purpose of keeping a low profile. As Australian goods sales increased and contact with high-level clients for savings and loans grew more frequent, Boss Leng's fame had spread, and with greater exposure came greater risk.

Should it be completely abolished, or taken over entirely by indigenous employees? All parties were still studying and deliberating. Liao Sanniang had no right to comment, nor could she say much of substance, but she perceived certain signs that the Beijing Station would likely be downsized—or rather, forced underground—and that Master Leng would probably return to Guangzhou.

Master Leng mocked the Senate's gambling on dispatched personnel, yet he himself remained unchanged, still placing personal decisions above the Beijing Station's system without a second thought, feeling it was only natural.

The others from Lingao also sensed something, more or less. In their spare time, they would whisper among themselves.

The Great Ming Law lists Ten Abominations; the first three are Conspiracy of Rebellion, Conspiracy of Great Sedition, and Conspiracy of Treason. Beyond the Five Punishments, there is Lingchi—death by a thousand cuts—reserved for those guilty of Great Sedition and Treason. Being in an enemy country, the uncertainty about the road ahead and the terror of that extreme punishment by fish-scale slicing made people's hearts extraordinarily fragile. The employees from Lingao were filled with anxiety and insecurity. In this moment of suspended uncertainty and swaying morale, Senator Leng's kidnapping might become the final straw that broke the camel's back. Human hearts are subtle; a momentary wavering in one person's resolve could push everyone into the abyss.

All of Liao Sanniang's posturing was for the sake of stability. People needed to see that things were progressing. Until someone arrived from Lingao or the situation changed, Liao Sanniang and Li Rufeng had no path of retreat. They could only persist.

Liao Sanniang pulled her mind back to the present. She looked at the winding road stretching before her and whispered to herself, "Keep walking forward."

Upon returning to Delong, she found the area outside the main gate deserted, without the anticipated crowd of depositors demanding their money. Instead, seven or eight Shuntian Prefecture bailiffs stood guard along the street. A notice stamped with the Shuntian Prefecture seal had already been pasted on the spirit screen. It seemed Wu Kaidi had persuaded the authorities to temporarily seal the bank.

She did not approach the front entrance but detoured through the back alley. After twisting through seven turns and eight bends, she knocked at a small door tucked away in an inconspicuous narrow lane and slipped back into Delong.

Tea smoke curled upward. The hot tea gradually warmed Liao Sanniang's body. Gazing at Li Rufeng through the rising wisps, she noticed that this man who was always so energetic appeared somewhat listless now.

Liao Sanniang cradled the cup with both hands, smiled gently, and said, "Why does the Chief Escort torture himself so? Why be so anxious?"

Li Rufeng sat in the round-backed armchair, rubbing his head. "I once thought fighting and killing were the most dangerous things. Now I know that sitting idle like this, just waiting—that is the most torturous."

Liao Sanniang smiled. "Shall I procure a string of prayer beads for the Chief Escort? You could recite the Heart-Calming Mantra to settle your mind."

Li Rufeng smiled bitterly. "I have been hot-tempered all my life. I have no wish to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddha's name; I only want to kill people cleanly and refreshingly. But I cannot touch the bandits' trail."

"Any news from Guangzhou?" Liao Sanniang asked.

Li Rufeng scratched his head with a crackling sound. "Soon. They say they are transmitting via the telegraph box, relaying it leg by leg. Should be faster than relay horses. But such heavy instruments of the state are not available everywhere."

Just as the two were speaking, someone burst through the entrance hall. It was Little Bazi. Waving an envelope in his hand, he shouted, "It's here! It's here! The ransom note is here!"

Li Rufeng and Liao Sanniang shot to their feet simultaneously. They looked at each other and let out a long breath in unison. The great stone that had been hanging in their hearts finally crashed to the ground.

(End of Chapter)