A Gallop on the Embankment with Spring Breeze

Chapter 24: A Disaster Man-made, Not Natural

Translator: Zhou Yang

Proofread by Fu Tianying

Hearing that her father was harmed deliberately, Tian’en sat up in excitement, feeling a little dazzled. Wu Zhong hurriedly walked forward to give her a hand. Suddenly, it occurred to him that she was a girl, so he didn’t reach out his hand but to throw a pillow to let her lean on it.

“Relax. I have asked Ashun. He said that as everyone couldn’t find you, Master Ma was so anxious that he wanted to look for you himself. Ashun witnessed Master Ma’s leaving, he said the horse was normal. The horse suddenly got mad just not long after your father left. After the accident, the horse-keeper and the horse were locked in the stable. I have just asked Ashun to check the horse, and you can inquire the details. The horse can’t get mad without any reason. Whether the horse or the horse-keeper should shoulder the responsibility, it will be clear after checking.”

“Right, just now, all the people cared about my dad and forgot to investigate the murderer. Come on, take the horse-keeper here!” At this time, Ma Tian’en hit upon an idea: he must find and catch the man who hurt his father.

In a few minutes, the horse-keeper was brought in front. His leg was bleeding, and it seemed that he was seriously injured. On seeing Ma Tian’en, he knelt down and cried, “Your master, I am innocent. I have worked in Ma Family for ten years. Master Ma treats me well, so why do I want to harm him?”

Wu Zhong lifted him. Because he was injured, Wu Zhong helped him to sit down. The horse-keeper was too scared to sit on the chair. Ma Tian’en felt poor for him and pointed to the chair, “Sit down. You have worked in my family for many years, so how could you make such a mistake? How did the horse get mad as it was normal before?”

“I don’t know. In the morning, we can’t find you anywhere. Master Ma became anxious. He asked me to drive the carriage to find you with him. He was afraid that you went to Tian Family or rioted in Hu Family, so he asked me to Tian Family first. I didn’t think that when we arrived at the stone bridge, the horse got mad and I couldn’t control it.” The horse-keeper cried.

“Did you check the horse later?”

“I did. I suspected someone put some needles into the horse, but after examining carefully, I didn’t find any injuries on the horse, even on its feet. Then, I was locked up. I don’t know how the horse is going now.”

“Take me to have a look.” Then, Ma Tian’en stood up. Wu Zhong called Yanzi to come in. They assisted Tian’en to walk towards the stable with the horse-keeper.

When they arrived at the stable, they found that the legs of the horse were tied tightly and its head was tied on a pillar. It lay on the ground motionlessly. Ma Tian’en and Wu Zhong bent down and found the horse dead with its mouth and nose bleeding.

“Murdered the horse to hide the truth! It was done by either Tian Ronghua or Hu Chunqiu. I will fight with them.” After that, Ma Tian’en stood up and wanted to dash out, but was caught by Wu Zhong.

“Don’t act on impulse.”

“Let me go, my dad was almost killed by them, how come you don’t let me go?” Ma Tian’en flew into rage. She intended to bite Wu Zhong, but she didn’t think that Wu Zhong didn’t dodge. He was bitten.

“Teacher, why didn’t you dodge? I felt so sorry.” Looking at the scar on Wu Zhong’s waist, she suddenly calmed down and then felt a little guilty.

Only at this moment did Wu Zhong loosen the hands of Ma Tian’en and patted her: “I know you are sad, but you need calm down. It seems that the horse is poisoned. It is this morning that Master Ma decided to go out, so the man who poisoned the horse must know your leaving. He/she predicted that Master Ma was going to look for you, so he/she poisoned the horse. The poison can drive the horse crazy. Moreover, it must be done not long ago. If the horse had already been insane, Master Ma would never use it. This man must be in your family as he/she can control the time well. You need to have a check right now. If I am right, the man has already escaped during the chaos. Whoever is missing, he/she is the murderer.”

“Teacher, you are so clever. You can think about so many things in such a short time. Ashun, notify the charger of my family and ask everyone to gather in the yard except my mom. I wanna know who planned this, and I must put him to death. No matter how far the murderer goes, I’ll catch him.” Ma Tian’en really got angry. She didn’t expect that the man who planned to kill her dad was in her family. Dad was kind to everyone. Who was the ungrateful man?

In no time, all servants gathered in the yard, even a few concubines of Dad. Ma Tian’en asked the charger to check the number of people. After counting, no one was missing. Ma Tian’en was not assured, so she counted again. Everyone was here. Did the murderer stood among these people? She thought.

“Who are you with today? Do you have witness?” Ma Tian’en inquired. Because they couldn’t find Ma Tian’en this morning, Lord Ma asked them to search for him, they could prove that they were together at that time. Even these concubines were accompanying Madam Ma at that moment.

Ma Tian’en looked around in a hurry. What the hell happened? Did the horse-keeper poison the horse? Ma Tian’en looked at him.

“It is not me. I will die to prove my innocence.” After that, the horse-keeper was going to hit his head against the pillar, but was held by the surrounding people.

“Tian’en, did you bring a ventriloquist from the warehouse? Where is he?” Wu Zhong suddenly asked.

“Right, where is Mr. Jia?” Ma Tian’en found Mr. Jia missing at this moment. When he counted people just now, he forgot him.

“It’s him! It’s no wonder that he mentioned crucian carp at Yuquan Mountain yesterday. He plotted to coax me to the mountain. But, why didn’t he harm me but to frame my dad up!”

“Maybe he wants you to feel guilty. Sometimes, we will be tortured if our relatives are harmed because of us. So, you must cheer up. Before Lord Ma recovers, you should manage the business of Ma Family well.” Wu Zhong comforted her while he suspected that their greater conspiracy might be used to deal with Ma Family if their aim was Lord Ma. After all, if Lord Ma had any accident, Ma Tian’en was hardly to shoulder all the responsibilities of Ma family. From this point, it might be planned by Tian Family. But it was not suitable to discourage her in such a terrible situation.

“Teacher, it’s my fault. If I hadn’t taken that cheater to my family, my dad would not have met the accident. I am a fool!” Regretted Ma Tian’en.

“Cut the legs of the horse, I will send them to Magistrate Hu.” Now that Magistrate Hu held office as a Magistrate, he should deal with suings of people. He would definitely know what these legs meant. If Ma Family continued to be threatened, they had to fight with their life. Recently, there appeared some delicate situations in court: Scholar Qian showed his dissatisfaction with Liu Jin, but Liu Jin was not investigated. It could be seen that Liu Jin was cautious recently, so he was not willing to make trouble. As his adopted son, of course, Magistrate Hu also did not want to make trouble at this time. After all, Ma Family could be counted as No.1 as regards all water transportation matters.

“Teacher, I must avenge my dad.” All of a sudden, Ma Tian’en became mature. Only when she had power did she have the opportunity to revenge.

“Trust me. I will help you with the revenge.” Looking at the growing-up student, he felt both a little heartache and gratified.

Ma Family stayed awake all night.

Next day, at Hu Family

Magistrate Hu dashed into the study of Hu Chunqiu with anger while Hu Chunqiu was reading but in a hazy and half-awake condition. When he noticed that his uncle came in, he walked towards him. But he didn’t think that a slap came on his face when he just stood beside his uncle. He was slapped down to the dust.

This slap really hurt him. Hu Chunqiu felt dizzy and didn’t know why.

“Uncle, why did you slap me?”

“As the descendant of Hu Family, you make no attempt to make progress, but to stay with low and degrading people at the dock. Several days ago, you hired someone to play ghost. Now, you tried to kill Ma Chaosheng. Is it worthwhile to cost you such great efforts on that Ma Family? Don’t you want to be an official in court? You might as well go to work at the dock!”

“Kill? I didn’t. I have stayed at home these days. Who did I kill?” Hu Chunqiu was confused. He stayed at home but became a scapegoat.

“It’s either you or your disreputable gang. Except you, who will kill Ma Chaosheng? You are not allowed to contact with them. Come on, your big Childe will be grounded from now on and I will let him out till next August examination.” After saying these, Magistrate Hu left angrily.

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“Is it Tian Ronghua who did this? If you want to, you should kill Ma Tian’en, you idiot.”

At Tian Family.

Tian Ronghua was also confused. The news that Ma Chaosheng was harmed had already spread. Many people suspected he was the murderer. Although they had many fights, he would be sure not to take one’s life directly. He knew, “if you kill him today, next day you will be killed. If everyone feels insecure, how can they run business and make money? Besides, he already made compensation for the loss of Ma Family. But after that, Ma Family suffered this accident. Even a fool can guess it was done by him. It could be compared to a saying: a guilty person gives himself away by consciously protesting his innocence.”

“Big brother, didn’t you really do it?” Tian Fuhui looked at his big brother in doubt. Tian Ronghua kept silent for a long time and uttered three words, “Idiot, go away!”