Chapter 18: Denouncing the Villain in the Magistrate’s Court

At that moment, Li Hun, the father, hurried to the doorway, still wearing his clothes. When he saw his son Li Dong bound hand and foot, his face turned ashen, his hands trembled, and he forced himself to ask in a stern voice, “How did such a thing happen?”

But when his gaze fell upon Lu Rou, the beautiful woman whose bare shoulders were exposed beneath a single inner garment, his mouth snapped shut. Li Dong was caught red-handed by the constables investigating the case—what argument could possibly be made?

Unexpectedly, Lu Rou spoke gently, “Old sir, you’d best return to your room. The air is chill, and you are elderly and frail. Should you catch a cold, it would be troublesome.” With that, she took his arm, leading him back inside.

Was Li Hun really going to quietly return to his room when his son was about to be taken away? He shook off Lu Rou’s hand and demanded angrily, “Who are you, appearing here in my home scantily clad and without reason? What is your intent?”

Li Dong thought to himself, so Father doesn’t even know that Lu Rou is the daughter of Lu Li’er, whom he once urged me to marry. Now that I have fallen into her hands, I fear there is no escape.

Lu Rou was unfazed. She whispered something in the old man’s ear, then smiled at him. It was as if the events here had nothing to do with her, as if it were all a game.

Li Hun seemed mesmerized, obediently returning to his room without so much as a backward glance.

Li Dong, both shocked and furious, realized she had deceived him and was now misleading his father as well—this woman’s heart was truly venomous. He tried to warn his father not to trust her, but Li Hun was already inside. All he could do was shout, “Do not believe a word she says—it’s all lies!”

The constables gave him no further chance to speak, shoving and dragging Li Dong away. Lu Rou returned inside, donned a thin veil, and was escorted to the Lu residence by several constables.

On the way to the county office, Li Dong was filled with regret, thinking himself a fool—utterly foolish. In a single night, he had committed two unforgivable errors.

The first was during the rescue of Du Fuwei: because Du Yu held a low post, Li Dong underestimated his courage, leading to passivity at every turn and owing him a tremendous debt of gratitude. The taste of indebtedness was bitter, and now, who knew if there would ever be a chance to repay him?

The second was his misjudgment of Lu Rou’s character: angelic face, devilish heart. How laughable that he had been so naïve, imagining himself a favored son-in-law, only to become a prisoner overnight.

In truth, Li Dong had made a third mistake, though its consequences were more deeply hidden and far-reaching, yet to reveal themselves.

By the time he arrived at the county office, Li Dong had already devised a strategy: he would use his eloquence to persuade Lu Li’er to release him. No matter what kind of trap had been set, Lu Rou had not been bound by his own hand—that was an ironclad fact, enough to clear himself of some guilt.

Had he not been bound, he could have used his extraordinary skills to break out of the city and join Du Fuwei at Changcheng Ridge, becoming an outlaw. If Du Fuwei still remembered Li Dong’s care for him, when the Sui dynasty fell and chaos reigned, Li Dong—as a commander from another world—would not fall so low as he had now.

Alas! The slaughter on the battlefield, for all its blood and horror, at least brought a sense of exhilaration, unlike the political arena where men kill without spilling blood, devouring others without leaving bones, and even at the moment of death, one cannot tell when the trap was sprung.

In the magistrate’s hall, the grand mirror hung high. Below it knelt a slightly plump middle-aged man—none other than the county magistrate, Lu Li’er. Fatigue lined his face; he likely hadn’t slept a wink the previous night. With his daughter missing inexplicably, who could rest easy? As county magistrate, he would surely dispatch a large force to scour the city.

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While Li Dong and Du Yu carried out their rescue plan, Lu Li’er sent out two teams to search the city all night. Their luck held—they did not encounter the constables searching the city, partly because the prison was firmly under the county constable’s control and they were careless enough not to check it. As dawn approached, Li Dong’s ghost stories startled Lu Rou, and this time, their luck ran out—they were overheard. When the door was opened, there they were, after a night of turmoil, hiding in plain sight.

Hero or not, hand him over to the magistrate to decide. Once the charge is delivered, the constables could finally return home to sleep. Whether Li Dong lived, died, was flogged, or released, they were just carrying out orders. If the sky fell, Lu Li’er would bear it.

Along both sides of the hall stood the leading figures and authorities of Zhangqiu. Li Hun’s rank was insufficient for a seat among them, so he wasn’t present.

Li Dong arrived at roll-call time. Lu Li’er, on seeing him, was shocked, rising abruptly and reaching out to have him unbound. The constable spoke first: “Reporting to the magistrate, your daughter Lu Rou did not return home last night and was found at Li Dong’s residence near dawn. We have brought him here for your decision.”

No sooner had he spoken than the hall erupted in chaos.

When Li Dong opened the door, he had intentionally removed his outer garment to make it appear he had just risen. Now, Lu Li’er’s daughter had spent the night at Li Dong’s home and appeared before the court disheveled. Anyone with half a mind could guess what had transpired between Li Dong and Lu Rou.

Lu Li’er’s face was flushed with embarrassment—red as cherries, green as plantain.

“Magistrate, I have something to report,” Li Dong hastily explained. “Your daughter Lu Rou was bound and brought to my humble home—not by my doing, but by villains seeking to frame me, to sow discord between us. Their aim is for Zhi Shilang to attack Zhangqiu again when our unity is broken, making it easy to seize the city.”

“Oh, you speak better than you sing! Why haven’t I ever encountered such good fortune? Was Zhangqiu’s defense achieved by you alone? You’re gilding your own face—how shameless!” The first to object was, as expected, the county constable.

The constable’s anger flared on seeing Li Dong, and he shouted, “Cur! I led troops in a surprise attack, yet you cowered, refusing to lead the army out of the city, wasting a golden opportunity. After victory, you turned your venom on Du Fuwei and others. Now you falsely accuse me. Coward! How dare you show your face?”

Li Dong’s every retort was a whip, lashing the constable mercilessly. Humiliated before all, the constable was furious, hopping mad, wishing he could leap across the hall and tear out Li Dong’s tongue to feed to the dogs. The assembly was in uproar—so this was the true nature of the constable; today, their eyes were truly opened.

The county assistant slowly clasped his hands to Lu Li’er. “Magistrate, I have something to say.”

He stepped forward, pacing deliberately as he declared, “Defending Zhangqiu is the constable’s duty. Li Dong, though a civilian, assisted and gradually became indispensable. In the battle with Zhi Shilang, Li Dong’s merits are plain for all to see, witnessed by heaven and earth—not to be erased by a few words from those with ulterior motives. The constable never left the city gates; that is dereliction of duty! Mismanagement in war is a crime punishable by death!”

The constable shot back, “Old fool! Even if I fall short, I fought the enem