Chapter 37: How Do You Explain This?
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Moreover, Commander Yan had grown accustomed to holding himself above everyone else, and he had not even bothered to prepare a plausible excuse.
He thought he was merely arresting some lowly nobody. If he wanted the man arrested, then he would arrest him. Why waste time inventing a reason?
So Yan Hu could only resort to brute force. He bellowed, “I, Yan Hu, do as I please! Why should I have to explain myself to you?”
Bai Yu met him head-on. “Liu Cunyi is an important informant of mine. Forgive me, Commander Yan, but I cannot hand him over to you!
“Especially since you cannot even explain why you want him. There is even less chance I will let you take him away, lest something go wrong!”
Yan Hu had never imagined that a mere school lieutenant like Bai Yu would dare stand against him to the bitter end, showing him not the slightest respect.
How did Bai Yu dare?
Or had Yan Hu been too quiet lately, so people had begun to look down on him?
As the illegitimate son whom his father had never publicly acknowledged, Yan Hu was extremely sensitive inside. The more he thought about it, the more furious he became. Pointing at Bai Yu, he cursed, “You insolent little cur! Who doesn’t know that you and Liu Cunyi have been acquainted for years? Do you really think that becoming a mere school lieutenant gives you the right to play the big shot and shelter Liu Cunyi?”
Having been cursed at, Bai Yu’s temper grew unstable as well. He shot back, “A proper fifth-rank commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard searching every street and alley for an ordinary citizen—if that isn’t personal interest at work, then what is?
“And you have the nerve to abuse public authority for private ends, throwing your weight around shamelessly?”
One of Commander Yan’s attendants joined in. “Lieutenant Bai, do you think that just because you have thrown in your lot with the Commander, you can challenge Commander Yan?
“You don’t seriously believe the Commander will support you forever, do you? Liu Cunyi is nothing but a piece of trash. The Commander would never come forward for someone like him. You have miscalculated completely!”
The nominal master of this holding room was Hundred-household Commander Qian. He had stood silently to one side, watching for some time, and finally understood what Bai Yu had meant earlier.
Bai Yu had said that the standard for judging whether a person was useful was whether he could withstand the pressure of Commander Yan.
Sure enough, they had provoked the thunderous Commander Yan—and most ordinary people truly could not withstand him.
After much deliberation, Hundred-household Commander Qian, already aboard the same ship, had no choice but to step forward and act according to the script Bai Yu had given him.
“Liu Cunyi is indeed an important informant and cannot conveniently be taken away by Commander Yan. But there is a compromise. Commander Yan may interrogate him here in the holding room.”
After his attendants whispered a few words of advice, Commander Yan could only agree for the moment, though unwillingly.
After all, this was someone else’s territory, and Qian was not his direct subordinate. If the conflict escalated, taking the man away would be difficult.
The chance to conduct an interrogation was, for the time being, barely acceptable. If he truly learned nothing, he could decide what to do next.
Hundred-household Commander Qian turned to Bai Yu. “What do you think?”
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Commander Yan noticed this detail and cursed inwardly again. This Hundred-household Commander Qian truly had no shame—he was actually lowering himself before a mere school lieutenant under his command.
Bai Yu patted Liu Cunyi on the shoulder and encouraged him. “Whether you become a martyr or uphold righteousness rests on a single thought.
“Hold fast to your principles and do not fear violence. If someone wishes to harm you, it will not be so easy.”
Perhaps to avoid suspicion, Hundred-household Commander Qian withdrew from the holding room and waited outside the door.
But Bai Yu, who was himself a party to the matter, did not leave. He merely stepped aside and watched from the corner.
Commander Yan paid no attention to this. He was even considering how to drag Bai Yu into the mire as well.
Everyone knew without saying that when an officer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard interrogated some lowly nobody, the methods would be brutal.
After a few questions, if the man still refused to “confess,” torture would inevitably follow.
Although Yan Hu’s group had not brought any specialized instruments of torture, that hardly prevented them from taking action.
To beat a man, one could simply seize whatever happened to be at hand. There was no need for professional equipment.
Yan Hu asked perfunctorily, “Where is the item you stole?”
Liu Cunyi clenched his teeth and pretended not to understand. “What item?”
Seeing that Liu Cunyi was still refusing to cooperate, Commander Yan suddenly grabbed a bench and smashed it down with all his strength.
He could not yet beat Bai Yu, who was protected by the Commander—but surely he could beat this worthless wretch.
Liu Cunyi, known to everyone as Brother Liu, covered his head. At first he still had enough strength to roll back and forth across the floor, screaming in agony.
After a while, he could do nothing but curl himself into as tight a ball as possible. Even the cries forced from him by the pain had gone hoarse.
Bai Yu watched silently, treating the punishment as a test for Brother Liu.
If Brother Liu could not withstand it, then once this affair was over, they would part ways amicably.
But if he endured the trial, he would become someone Bai Yu could truly trust.
The thought might have seemed selfish and cold, but there was no alternative. In an environment like this, Bai Yu was no great person and had very little room to choose.
Brother Liu was an even more insignificant figure. If he wished to regain his safety from the hands of the powerful and rise above his station, he had no choice but to stake his life on it.
At the same time, Bai Yu was silently calculating how long it would take to enter the Western Park through Xi’an Gate and then reach the Palace of Eternal Longevity.
A quarter of an hour?
He hoped Hundred-household Commander Qian’s “single-line contact” was reliable. If only help could arrive a little faster.
Looking at Liu Cunyi, whose skin was split and whose flesh was drenched in blood, Yan Hu could not help feeling a vicious thrill of sadistic pleasure.
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Although he had failed to extract a single useful statement, he still looked smugly at Bai Yu.
He had beaten the friend Bai Yu wished to protect right in front of him. What could Bai Yu do about it?
If he had not still needed to learn the whereabouts of Along the River During the Qingming Festival, Commander Yan would have beaten the man to death on the spot.
Suddenly, someone shouted from the doorway, “Stop!”
Yan Hu found the voice familiar. He glanced toward the door, and his expression changed at once.
The man who had ordered him to stop was none other than Commander Lu Bing of the Embroidered Uniform Guard himself.
Yan Hu was not necessarily afraid of Lu Bing, but he was utterly astonished.
He could not understand why Lu Bing would appear here and speak up for a tiny nobody like Liu Cunyi.
Could Lu Bing also have set his sights on Along the River During the Qingming Festival and intend to openly snatch it from him, his junior?
Lu Bing strode forward with the bearing of a dragon and the gait of a tiger. None of Yan Hu’s banner officers dared offend the Commander’s authority, and they all hurriedly cleared a path.
Standing beside Liu Cunyi, Lu Bing asked, “I am Lu Bing, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Can you still speak?”
Liu Cunyi opened his eyes painfully and said with difficulty, “A few days ago, I was begging in the city. One night, while taking shelter in an abandoned house, I accidentally stumbled into a gathering of the White Lotus Society.
“I heard that the White Lotus Society’s leader in the capital was named Cai Shiheng, and that he had ordered his followers to spread seditious rhymes throughout the city…”
At this point, Brother Liu could hold on no longer. His head lolled to one side, and he passed out.
The expression of Commander Yan, who had just been savoring the pleasure of beating him, changed once again.
He felt as if he had fallen into a deep pit.
Lu Bing turned to Hundred-household Commander Qian and shouted, “Fetch a physician!”
Bai Yu came over and said expressionlessly, “You beat him so viciously. Were you trying to silence him?
“Why would Commander Yan inflict such violence on an ordinary man who exposed the White Lotus Society?”
Lu Bing looked at Yan Hu with a half-smile and asked mockingly, “How do you explain yourself?”
Yan Hu: “…”
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