Futile Devices Scans

Gu She’s gaze merely swept over him lightly before moving back to the Go board. Yet Yi Yu felt an indescribable discomfort, as though with only that one glance, the other man had already seen through him from the inside out.

Before Gu Xiaojia could speak, Hao Guozi rushed to say, “Young Master, Young Master Yi Yu came to see Young Master Gu. Why don’t we withdraw first?”

Gu Xiaojia frowned. “My young master doesn’t even know him.”

“If he doesn’t know him, then why did you bring him in?” Hao Guozi sneered.

Gu Xiaojia was rendered speechless. He had indeed handled this matter improperly. Yi Yu had come looking for Tao Mo, so it should not have been his place to step forward and invite him in. But at the time, he had been angered by Hao Guozi’s string of inexplicable actions and only wanted to tear that smug expression off his face, without thinking carefully about whether it was appropriate or not. Looking at the situation now, he had instead landed himself in a position where it was difficult to back down.

He looked first to Gu She for help.

Unexpectedly, Yi Yu said, “I heard Wuwen say that Young Master Gu She of the Gu residence is brilliant and peerless, unmatched under Heaven, a rare and extraordinary person. Admiration arose in my heart, and that is why I came calling at night. I ask Young Master Gu to forgive Yi Yu for being unable to restrain himself and arriving uninvited.”

Hao Guozi pretended to shudder all over and rubbed his arms hard.

At this point, Gu Xiaojia also felt that this Yi Yu was rather affected and grew even more annoyed at his own momentary rashness.

Seeing that Gu She did not speak, Tao Mo hurriedly said, “He is indeed an old friend of mine. This time, he has moved to Tanyang and has not yet found a place to settle, so he is temporarily staying at the county yamen.”

Gu Xiaojia frowned. “Aren’t all the rooms in your county yamen unfit for people to live in?”

Peng Xiang said, “Aren’t they just? There’s such a huge hole in the roof that you can raise your head and gaze at the bright moon!”

Hao Guozi burst out laughing.

Tao Mo froze for a moment. “Didn’t Mu Chun say he found a good room?”

Hao Guozi mumbled indistinctly, keeping the words in his mouth, “Young Master and I have both moved out. Where would the county yamen still have any good rooms?”

Tao Mo’s face instantly flushed scarlet, even the tips of his ears no exception. Thinking of how he had slept so sweetly in the Gu residence while Yi Yu, who was his guest, had been staying in a shabby room that leaked wind and rain, he wished he could bury himself in the ground.

Yi Yu smiled. “Actually, it isn’t as serious as Peng Xiang says.”

Peng Xiang complained, “How is that not serious? It rained yesterday, and the room was all wet. Even the bed was damp.” Ever since he had been sold into Qunxiang Tower, he had followed Yi Yu and had never suffered much hardship again. That night of cold rain and sparse wind had nearly kept him from closing his eyes, and he had drunk ginger soup with Yi Yu to warm themselves until dawn.

Unable to stop himself, Tao Mo stood up, his heart and eyes filled with guilt. “I truly didn’t know. Then—why don’t I find an inn for you at once?”

Yi Yu smiled. “In truth, only a small part of it is damaged, and it can still be lived in. Peng Xiang and I are drifting about away from home; how could we still be so particular? To have even a roof tile over our heads is already something to be deeply grateful for.”

Hearing him speak so humbly, Tao Mo’s guilt surged over him like mountains toppling and seas overturning.

Tap.

Gu She tossed the stone in his hand back into the Go bowl.

Only then did Tao Mo remember that he was still in the middle of a game and hurriedly said, “I’m sorry. I lost focus.”

“Since you have a visitor, this game will end here,” Gu She said. “You should go back first.”

Tao Mo froze.

The others all froze as well.

Knowing he had caused trouble, Gu Xiaojia called softly, “Young Master.”

Gu She said blandly, “Escort Lord Tao back to his room.”

Gu Xiaojia silently glared at Tao Mo, his feet not moving an inch.

“I…” Tao Mo looked at Gu She, then at Yi Yu.

Yi Yu smiled faintly. “We can reminisce another day.”

Hao Guozi thought to himself: This is the Gu residence, and with Gu She facing Yi Yu, even if he can’t gain the upper hand, he definitely won’t suffer a loss. Having him step in is better than Young Master doing it no matter how one looks at it. Thinking this, his right hand immediately half-pushed, half-dragged Tao Mo toward the door.

Gu She glanced at Gu Xiaojia.

Gu Xiaojia lowered his head and stared at the tips of his shoes, refusing to move.

Gu She turned to Yi Yu instead. “Where have you come from?”

Yi Yu laughed softly. “From the county yamen.”

“Why have you come?”

“To visit a friend.”

Gu She said, “Who is your friend?”

Peng Xiang was completely baffled. Hadn’t all these questions already been asked clearly and plainly just now? Why did this Gu She seem as though he had heard nothing at all and was starting from the beginning again?

Yi Yu answered neither humbly nor arrogantly, “Tao Mo.”

Gu She said, “This is not the Tao residence.”

Yi Yu said, “I have long admired Young Master Gu’s great reputation and wished to take this chance to witness your bearing for myself.”

Gu She lowered his eyes. “Before coming to Tanyang, where did you live?”

Yi Yu’s gaze darkened slightly. After a moment, he calmly replied, “Qunxiang Tower.”

Gu Xiaojia muttered, “So, a male brothel.”

Yi Yu lifted his chin slightly and looked steadily at Gu She. “Does Young Master Gu look down upon those of humble birth who, unable to control their own fate, fell into the pleasure quarters?”

Gu She said, “That does not matter.”

A faint light seemed to flicker in Yi Yu’s eyes.

Gu She stood up and walked outside without even looking at him. “There is simply no business for you to do here.”

Yayi Pavilion.

The bright moon hung alone in the night sky, clear and luminous.

Tao Mo paced back and forth uneasily, his lengthened shadow swaying now and then beneath the bamboo shadows.

Before long, Hao Guozi’s hurried figure appeared from around the arched gate.

“How was it?” Tao Mo hastily stepped forward and asked.

“He went back.” Hao Guozi could hardly conceal his delight.

Tao Mo froze. “So quickly?”

Hao Guozi thought to himself: The faster Yi Yu left, the more it proved that Gu She had not given him a pleasant reception. This was simply delightful. But aloud, he said, “Perhaps Young Master Gu was tired? That Yi Yu has no relation to him and no friendship with him, so there was nothing much to say.”

Tao Mo sighed. “It was all my fault.”

For a moment, Hao Guozi could not follow. “What does this have to do with Young Master?”

“If not for me, Yi Yu would never have come to the Gu residence.”

Joy appeared on Hao Guozi’s face. “Young Master has finally realized how annoying that Yi Yu is?”

In his heart, Tao Mo also felt that Yi Yu had been too rash in coming today, but when he thought of how Yi Yu was staying in a room with no proper roof because of him, guilt surged up again.

Hao Guozi said, “No matter what, it’s good that he’s been sent away.”

Tao Mo said, “Tomorrow, go find Adviser Mu and ask him to find Yi Yu an inn with a quiet and elegant environment. No, go tonight.”

Hao Guozi hurriedly stopped him. “By the time he gets back tonight, he’ll surely already have gone to rest. Moving them back and forth would only be more trouble.”

“Then tomorrow?”

Hao Guozi had originally wanted to object, but on second thought, once Yi Yu moved to an inn, he would naturally spend less time wandering around the yamen, and there would be even fewer chances for him to run into Young Master. This could be counted as spending money to ward off disaster, so he quickly agreed. “Of course. That broken room in the county yamen absolutely cannot be allowed to house them any longer.”

Tao Mo looked at him suspiciously.

Hao Guozi said, “This time I’m sincere.” Sincerely wishing for that master and servant pair to roll far away!

The next day.

When Tao Mo woke, he felt a slight headache. He had not slept peacefully the night before. The figures of Yi Yu and Gu She kept rising and sinking through his mind.

One moment, he wondered whether he had wronged Yi Yu and failed in his duty as host; the next, he wondered whether Gu She knew Yi Yu’s background and how Gu She would view him because of it. Tossing and turning like this, sleeping and waking, waking and thinking, thinking and sleeping, he had not had a single peaceful moment all night.

Hao Guozi, on the other hand, had slept very soundly. The thought that he could send that master and servant pair out of the county yamen today made even his steps seem full of vigor.

When Tao Mo came out, his eyes were slightly swollen, making him look as though he had been crying.

Hao Guozi froze at the sight and asked in a low voice, “Young Master, are you… are you missing the old master?”

Tao Mo paused, and guilt suddenly rose in his heart. These past few days, he had tossed and turned over Yi Yu and lost sleep over Gu She, yet he had forgotten that his loving father’s earnest hope before death had been for him to distinguish himself and become a good official who pleaded for the people’s welfare. Yet after going round and round, he had fallen once again into private feelings of love and attachment. “Let’s go to the county yamen,” he said, standing beside the bamboo grove and taking a deep breath, as though trying to dispel the heaviness in his heart.

Hao Guozi was somewhat puzzled. How was it that after taking one breath, Young Master’s expression seemed to have changed into that of another person?

Just as he was thinking this, he saw Gu Xiaojia walk in listlessly. “Do you have time today?”

Although Hao Guozi knew that Yi Yu had left very early the day before, he did not know why he had left so early. Seeing Gu Xiaojia come in now, his eyes immediately lit up, and even his answer to the question was unusually honest. “We were just about to go to the yamen.”

“Young Master wishes to invite the two of you to go on a spring outing with him. I don’t know whether you have time?” Gu Xiaojia asked expressionlessly. After spending the whole night sleeping in the kitchen, he had learned from bitter experience and decided that from now on, he would obediently follow Young Master’s instructions and do his work properly, never acting on his own initiative or trying to be clever again. In any case, he absolutely did not want to go back to that cold, hard, foul-smelling place and sleep on the floor! Sleeping in such a place once was enough to remember it for a lifetime!

Tao Mo’s heart stirred, but then he remembered his father’s earnest teachings. Lowering his head and composing his expression, he said, “I… I should still go to the county yamen.”

Hao Guozi looked at him in astonishment.

Gu Xiaojia’s mouth moved, but in the end, he only said, “Oh. Then I’ll go report back to Young Master.”

“Wait.” Hao Guozi suddenly remembered that today was the day they were supposed to drive Yi Yu out of the county yamen. If Tao Mo were present, Yi Yu might change his mind again with just a few words. It would be better to let him go on an outing with Gu She and remove any future worries. “Young Master, Young Master Gu has taken us in for so many days, and it is rare for him to extend an invitation. If you refuse, wouldn’t that be rather ungrateful?” he said with righteous conviction.

Tao Mo was slightly surprised.

Hao Guozi continued, “The county yamen has Adviser Jin and Adviser Mu there, so nothing will go wrong. If anything does happen, I’ll ride over at full speed to report it.”

“But…” Tao Mo hesitated.

Gu Xiaojia thought that since Gu She had extended the invitation, he surely hoped Tao Mo would go, so he also chimed in, “It isn’t far. Going there and back won’t delay anything.”

Tao Mo’s resolve to refuse had never been firm to begin with. How could he withstand the two of them coaxing him? After struggling for only a moment, he agreed.

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