Futile Devices Scans

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away, and inside and outside the room returned to their previous stillness and cold quiet.

Gu She silently plucked the stamens from a wintersweet blossom and slowly crushed them between his index finger and thumb.

His mother had loved this flower most. Whether spring, summer, autumn, or winter, she always liked to place it by the windowsill. She said this flower defied snow and endured cold, possessing the finest integrity. She had been born into a military family, a true tiger daughter of generals. But ever since marrying into the Gu family, she had set down the weapons in her hands and devoted herself entirely to managing the household.

What his father loved was the green pine, believing it steady and graceful, advancing and retreating with measure, firm in heart and intent. His father himself was like a green pine. He never indulged in wine and women, and only shared romance and refined pleasures with his mother.

Everyone believed they were a match made in heaven, a devoted and affectionate couple. Even they themselves believed this. If later on, his maternal uncle had not accidentally beaten the son of the Vice Minister of Personnel to death, perhaps this belief would have lasted until the day they died.

What should have been a celebrated tale of a hero rescuing a beauty had instead become a tragedy in which the hero was buried alongside a tyrant.

He still remembered the morning of his uncle’s execution. The wind was very cold, like a knife. After his father refused to enter the palace and plead with the Emperor on his mother’s behalf, his mother, dressed in thin plain robes, took him by the hand and left the house to return to her maiden family.

The general’s manor, once so crowded with visitors that its threshold nearly broke, was cold and deserted, appearing especially bleak. Everyone in the manor, from top to bottom, had changed into mourning clothes, and the mourning hall had already been arranged.

His mother did not enter the mourning hall. She merely knelt silently outside it.

Until the terrible news arrived.

The entire household burst into wails.

He looked at his mother’s eyes. They were terrifyingly dry.

The Buddhist monks and Daoist priests who had long since been invited began chanting sutras and prayers to guide the soul onward.

His mother slowly stood, swaying with each step, and brought him back to the residence. In his memory, that was the last time his mother ever stepped through the gates of her maiden family.

Later, his father was promoted to the position of chancellor, beneath one man and above ten thousand.

Later, his mother fell ill and never rose again.

He still remembered standing beside her sickbed. His mother’s eyes had been dim like stars at dawn, and her once beautiful face was now gaunt and wasted. No trace remained of the radiance she had once shared with the wintersweet while admiring the blossoms. She gripped his hand and asked faintly, “Do you think your uncle deserved to die?”

“He did not deserve to die.” He had answered without the slightest hesitation. Saving someone was a perfectly natural and rightful thing to do.

His mother said, “But he died.”

He said, “I will study hard, place my name on the golden list, and become a high official who can keep Uncle from dying. I will never stand by and do nothing like Father.”

His mother was silent for a long while, then slowly said, “A life for a life. Your father did nothing wrong.”

“Does Mother think Uncle was wrong?”

“He was not wrong either.” She said faintly, “Perhaps what was wrong was Heaven, was fate. Of all the mistakes, the greatest mistake was that I should not have been, in his eyes, a narrow-minded person who protects her own, and he should not have been one of the rare fair and impartial men in this world.”

Although his mother said his father had done nothing wrong, Gu She could hear the resentment in her heart that remained unspoken.

“A’She.” Her fingers tightened, as though she wanted to nail every word that followed into the depths of his heart. “Remember this. Being well-matched in heart is not merely mutual affection. Plums and pines may seem alike, but in truth, they go south while the other goes north. Remember this. If you are an utterly selfless and impartial person, you must never seek a wife like me, someone narrow-minded who protects her own. If you, like Mother, are someone who protects your own, then you must never seek a great man like your father, who recognizes no kinship and sacrifices family for righteousness. Have you remembered?”

He remembered.

The pain of that time, and his mother’s words, he remembered them all. Every word and every sentence remained vivid before his eyes.

Thinking of it now, although Tao Mo and his father had different temperaments, Tao Mo was even more of a truly selfless and impartial person. In his father’s eyes, there had still been the Emperor and his own future prospects, while in Tao Mo’s eyes, there was probably only justice.

Why did this trouble him so much?

Tao Mo was an official. Although he was not clever enough or flexible enough, he could still be considered an upright official. In the dark officialdom of the present day, being able to see such an official should have been something worth celebrating. Yet why did it weigh on his mind so persistently?

Ever since Tao Mo had ruled on Qiu and Liang’s marriage, he had faintly felt a stifling heaviness in his heart. Now that he thought about it, it had not been because he lost the lawsuit.

Could it be…

He frowned.

The crushed stamens fell from between his fingers without a sound.

Tao Mo sat waiting in the flower hall. When he saw Gu Xiaojia come out, he immediately stood and looked behind him.

Gu Xiaojia said, “No need to look. Young Master is resting in his room.”

Tao Mo could not conceal his disappointment and laughed dryly. “After running about all day, Young Master Gu must certainly be tired.”

Gu Xiaojia said, “Did you not say the carriage was found? I will go take a look.”

Tao Mo said dispiritedly, “All right.”

As Gu Xiaojia walked, he asked, “Has the carriage thief been found?”

Tao Mo shook his head. “The carriage was abandoned outside the city. No one was seen.”

Gu Xiaojia said, “He must have taken all the valuables from inside the carriage before abandoning it by the roadside. What he does not know is that the carriage itself is actually worth a great deal.”

Tao Mo sighed. “If I did not count incorrectly, not a single thing inside the carriage is missing.”

Gu Xiaojia scoffed. “You must have counted wrong. You should know there are quite a few valuable little items inside this carriage.” As he spoke, he climbed into the carriage using both hands and feet.

Tao Mo waited outside.

After a while, Gu Xiaojia got down from the carriage with a face full of confusion. “If he did not steal anything, then why did he lead the carriage away? Was it just to amuse us?” This joke had gone too far. He immediately thought of Lin Zhengyong’s disciples. Thinking it over, in all of Tanyang County, the only people who would dare tease his young master like this were probably them. He had not expected that Young Master had only suffered a defeat in Master Qiu’s lawsuit, yet they would dare bully him to this extent. The more Gu Xiaojia thought about it, the more he could not help glaring fiercely at Tao Mo.

Tao Mo was baffled by the glare.

Gu Xiaojia said, “Although the carriage has been recovered, who knows what sort of people sat in it during this time. I will first have people clean it thoroughly inside and out.”

Tao Mo watched him walk off on his own, lingering in place, unsure what to do.

Hao Guozi, who had not managed to interject all this time, could not help asking, “Where is Gu She?”

Tao Mo’s expression tightened. After a long while, he gave a dry smile. “He is probably tired.”

“Then are we going back to the county yamen tonight, or staying at the Gu residence?” If it had been before, and Tao Mo had been willing to move back to the county yamen, Hao Guozi would absolutely have followed gladly. But now, there was still Yi Yu watching hungrily from outside. Gu She had instead become an umbrella sheltering Tao Mo from wind and rain, and Hao Guozi did not want his foolish young master to leave that umbrella so quickly.

Yet Tao Mo always seemed to think the opposite of him. “Let us go back. It is not good to keep troubling him.”

Back then, it had not seemed bad to trouble him either, yet they had still moved in all the same. Hao Guozi thought this but ultimately did not go against Tao Mo’s wishes. He went to Yayi Pavilion, casually packed their belongings, and returned to the county yamen together with him.

With Old Tao gone, Mu Chun gone, and Adviser Jin having returned home, the county yamen seemed especially cold and deserted.

As Hao Guozi helped Tao Mo make the bed, he muttered, “It is not even night yet. How has everyone already disappeared?”

Tao Mo knew he was talking about Adviser Jin and said, “It is cold outside, and the sky darkens early. It is good for him to go home earlier.”

Hao Guozi said, “That is fine too. I will keep Young Master company and talk with you.”

Tao Mo asked, “Talk about what?”

“Anything is fine.” Hao Guozi sat down beside him. “Why not talk about Young Master and Gu She’s spring outing today?”

Tao Mo said, “There is nothing much to say.”

Hao Guozi said, “True. Gu She values words like gold. I imagine it must have been very dull.”

“He is not dull.” After Tao Mo finished refuting him, he suddenly remembered something and asked, “Have you ever heard of Gu Xianzhi?” He had always felt that the name sounded familiar, yet he could not remember where he had heard it before, so he thought he might try his luck by asking Hao Guozi.

Hao Guozi said in surprise, “Why would Young Master ask about him?”

“Him?”

“Of course.” Hao Guozi was just about to gather his spirits and launch into a passionate introduction when the gatekeeper said from outside, “My lord, the Gu residence’s carriage is waiting outside.”

Hao Guozi stood in puzzlement, opened the door, and asked, “At this hour of the night, what are they here for?”

The gatekeeper said, “They said they have come to bring my lord over to play Go.”

Hao Guozi said, “It is too late tonight. Tell them to come back tomorrow…”

Before he finished speaking, Tao Mo had already darted out.

“…” Hao Guozi turned around, picked up the bundle that had not yet even been opened, shut the door, and ran after him.

The carriage was still the same carriage that had been stolen.

The one driving it was Gu Xiaojia.

Seeing Tao Mo come out, he complained unwillingly, “You were staying perfectly well there, so why did you run back to the county yamen? Has the roof been repaired?”

Tao Mo laughed dryly. “Not yet. But Adviser Mu has left, so I thought I could make do in his room, to avoid troubling you.”

“What does it look like for a proper county magistrate to live in his adviser’s room?” Seeing Hao Guozi come out carrying the bundle, Gu Xiaojia nodded in satisfaction. “In any case, our Gu residence has plenty of everything, so naturally we do not lack one or two rooms.” Even more, he did not want to have to sleep in the kitchen when there was no shortage of rooms.

Hearing him say this, Tao Mo thought that it must surely be Gu She’s intention and could not help climbing into the carriage with delight.

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