The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

Xu Fu's gaze stayed on the broken jade comb for a moment, then he looked up at Li Lingjun's temples which had not yet completely dyed black, and a faint curve appeared at the corners of his mouth.

He slowly walked to the window, pushed it open, and let the cool morning breeze flow into the house, gradually blowing away the smell of cinnabar in the room.

"Mr. Li Ling, your behavior this time seems a little too hasty."

Xu Fu's black boots rolled over the broken jade on the ground. The tortoise shells that had been embedded in the jade combs made tiny whimpers on the soles of the boots with dark black bird patterns. "You should know that His Majesty Yuanwu's expectations of you are not just a hostage who kills people to vent his anger and pretends to establish his authority."

Li Lingjun's Adam's apple rolled, and the indigo-colored dye dripped through his fingers onto the seal of the King of Chu, mixing with the cold beads of sweat that oozed from his fingertips.

At this moment, he smelled the faint scent of agarwood between the collar of Xu Fu's clothes - this was the unique incense in Emperor Yuanwu's study, indicating that the other party had just come out from the depths of the palace.

"... Chief Xu, please understand, my action..." For some reason, in front of the Chief of the Ministry of Rites whose methods were strange and unfathomable, he couldn't bring himself to come up with excuses that he had already thought of a hundred times in his mind. It seemed that all of them were stuck in the middle.

He felt extremely distressed because he was neither up nor down.

"Your Excellency, allow me to report!"

Just when Li Lingjun was at a loss for words, the retainer Zhong Zheng who had been waiting outside the study suddenly rushed in. His sleeves were embroidered with dogwood patterns unique to Chu, and the jade belt buckle around his waist was of the Qin standard. He knelt on the ground with a plop, and his raised face was intertwined with flattery and anxiety:
"Everything my Lord does has a reason! Those people usually behave recklessly and often offend you. It's really..."

"The retainers of Liling Junfu don't even know the rules?"

Xu Fu didn't even turn his head, but just gently turned the restored inkstone. The kneeling guest suddenly covered his throat, as if an invisible hand had grabbed his neck and lifted him up into the air. His whole face turned purple, and then he fainted on the spot:

"Your Highness, I am not here today to listen to you explain these trivial matters in the market."

Fortunately, this ignorant retainer bought Li Lingjun some time to think. After years of political maneuvers, he managed to calm down. He forced a humble and flattering smile on his face, and said with a folded hand:
"I naturally have my own considerations when I act - this killing is actually a token of my loyalty to Your Majesty."

"Oh?"

There was a sound of something heavy falling to the ground outside the house. Lu Siche, who was about to enter the room to serve tea, froze in his tracks. He saw his colleague Zhong Zheng, who was half dead, falling on the stone steps of the corridor. Xu Fu's deep and mellow voice was still unhurried:
"Your Highness, please tell me, what is the connection between this murder and loyalty to His Majesty?"

"Master Si Shou, although I am a hostage of the State of Chu, my every move is watched closely in Changling City."

Li Lingjun's voice trembled slightly, but it was more earnest and resolute: "And today I killed these people because I wanted everyone to see that I have completely broken with my past identity."

"I have put myself in a situation that is against the law and become a criminal. This means I have cut off my own escape route. From now on, I can only serve the Qin wholeheartedly and rely on your majesty's protection."

"In this way, Your Majesty will surely believe in my loyalty to him, and believe that I am willing to devote everything I have to the hegemony of the Great Qin Dynasty and Your Majesty's grand plans." Having said that, he couldn't help but straighten his back, as if he was expressing his feelings to Xu Fu and Emperor Yuanwu from a distance.

Xu Fu listened quietly, with no emotion on his face:

"If His Majesty knew about your Highness's intention, he would surely consider it. But when Your Highness acts, he should also take into account the laws of the Qin Dynasty and the stability of the court. Who knows if the death of these ordinary people will cause dissatisfaction among the people of Changling?"

"Perhaps you don't know that at the imperial meeting a few hours ago, His Majesty decided on the construction plan of 'integrating the power of cultivation into people's livelihood', regarding 'people's power as national power' and requiring the avoidance of any unstable factors. As a result, in the blink of an eye, so many murders involving the grassroots people have emerged..."

"Guess how angry His Majesty is? You have a lot of books in your house, how could you not know the principle of 'shooting the first bird to stick its head out'? If this wasn't his first offense..."

Xu Fu glanced at the volumes of books on the bookshelf indifferently, but the sound was like frozen well water on a winter night, and the cold air penetrated into people's bones through the cracks between the floor tiles.

He shook his head slightly, and a roll of yellowed silk slipped out from his sleeve. The silk book was unfolded on the desk. The densely packed red circles marked the list of guests of the hostage house:
"On the 27th of last month, Zhong Zheng forcibly occupied three houses in the West Market and bribed the clerk with 100 gold coins. On the night of the 9th, Wang Jinzhong privately lent money at high interest rates and forced two weavers to death..."

With every word he read, the names on the silk book began to ooze out tears of blood, which dripped onto the ground and turned into poisonous scorpions that scattered everywhere.

Cold sweat broke out on Li Lingjun's back. All the evil deeds that he had unintentionally condoned now became a guillotine hanging over his head.

Even more terrifying was Xu Fu's expression when he was reciting - there was a smile on his lips, but his eyes reflected the fire of purgatory, as if he was admiring the trapped beast's final struggle.

"In many cases, the brain is more important than the knees."

Xu Fu extended his index finger and tapped his temple. A rune-shaped purple mist with a human face floated out of it. It opened its mouth and let out a scream like a crying child:
"It's not a big deal to 'take advantage of the situation' or to kill people and cause trouble. The most important thing is to prepare for the scene that His Majesty asks you to perform!"

Just like being hit on the head by a heavy hammer, Li Lingjun's back hit the antique shelf, and a dusty tube of "Chu Ci" fell to the ground. He saw Xu Fu's distorted shadow devouring the map of Chu's territory on the wall, and a hole was bitten out of the location of Yingdu by the gray and black evil energy.

"Before noon, tie up the servants who went out on missions last night and the servants who committed crimes in the mansion and send them to the prison department. As for the vacancies..."

Xu Fu's fingertips drew runes in the air, and the dark purple light swallowed up the sweet blood in the opponent's throat, and then poured into the roots of his gray hair, as if instantly curing Li Lingjun's symptoms of premature mental decline:
"Then they will be replaced by the men I sent. They have a higher level of cultivation and understand the rules better."

"I...will be dealt with immediately."

Li Lingjun clenched the seal of the King of Chu tightly. The coiled dragon pattern on the seal button pierced his palm. Every word was like gravel squeezed out from between his teeth:
"Come here! According to the list given by Chief Xu, tie up all the guests involved in the case! If anyone is not at home, hunt them down and search them immediately!"

Xu Fu finally showed a look of satisfaction.

He tapped the withered white orchid on the desk with his fingers. The originally dry flower stems sprouted new buds at a speed visible to the naked eye, and seven blood-red flowers bloomed in an instant.

"Your Majesty likes wise people who know the current situation the most."

Xu Fu walked out the door with his sleeves brushed. When his black official robe swept across the threshold, he suddenly stopped. The ghost formed by Yin Qi turned his head and said, "Don't waste the two bottles of elixirs I left behind - the green bottle is for tempering the spirit, and the purple bottle is for refining qi."

Li Lingjun stared at the strange blood orchid on the desk until Xu Fu's footsteps disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Lu Siche collapsed on the ground outside the door and coughed violently. The blood foam that seeped out from between his fingers dyed half of the "Chunan Fengwuzhi" red.

"Your Majesty, the bell proves that he..."

"Kill." Li Lingjun suddenly grabbed the inkstone and smashed it against the bronze mirror. His pure black hair fell down. "Take all the people Xu Fu wants and tie them up to the Criminal Department. Remember to prepare a prisoner cart made of black iron."

The morning dew dripping from the eaves hit the bluestone slabs, and the sound was like a death knell.

……

The wordless signboard of Wutongluo Wine Shop had been burnt, and half of the remaining silk hung on the burnt flagpole, with fine ice chips curling around the burnt edges.

At the hour of Mao, the frosty fog wrapped in charcoal ash floated in the alley, soaking the broken pottery shards on the ground into a blue-gray color, like a dead and silent battlefield.

There was a crack on the axis of the diagonally hung wooden door, where a sword had cut it. A thin layer of blue ice condensed on the inside. Ding Ning squatted in the pile of broken wine jars, and ran his fingers over the frost marks. The cold air seeped into the gaps between his nails, and the sour smell of pickled radish mixed with the smell of blood hit his face.

The three elm square tables were all charred, with half a broken sword inserted diagonally into one of them, and the yin-yang fish pattern on the sword guard was blurred by blood. The coarse porcelain jar behind the counter was cracked into three pieces, and pickled peppers and wine dregs were stuck on the wall, like a scarlet landscape painting, and the sauce was winding on the ground like a spider web.

The wooden door of the wine cellar on the partition wall was shattered into pieces. The bronze lamp of the Heaven Supervisor was suspended in the air in the wine cellar, illuminating the mess on the ground.

All twenty-seven wine jars were broken into pieces. The aged amber light seeped into the ground through the cracks in the floor tiles, mixing with the spilled flour and forming a sticky dark yellow mud in the corners of the room.

Not far from Ding Ning, three officials from the Astronomical Bureau wearing silver forehead guards with fish patterns were measuring the sword marks on the wall. The ink line bounced on the rammed earth wall, immediately revealing grooves of varying depths.

"The sword energy penetrates from the northwest, and is initially three inches and two tenths of an inch wide, before converging into a straight line at seven feet."

The older criminal inspector used a cinnabar pen to mark the wall, and the tip of the pen hovered in front of a dent left by frost: "The energy here suddenly surged, it must be some kind of secret treasure that was used."

The young female clerk squatted among the broken pieces of the wine jar. She picked up a blood-stained ice crystal with tweezers and put it into a glass bottle. When the ice crystal touched the bottom of the bottle, it suddenly exploded, leaving spider-web cracks in the glass bottle.

"The purity of the cold energy is close to the peak of the fifth realm."

She quickly wrapped the bottle with talisman paper and turned to look at her colleagues who were mapping the ground marks: "The radius of the shock wave is nine feet and seven inches, but all the cold poisons have accurately locked onto three targets."

Si Hendian, with his wrists tied with a red ribbon, was half-kneeling in front of a crack in the blue brick. The glass lens reflected the blood beads condensed in the cracks of the bricks. A jade-colored gecko crawled out of his sleeve. When the tip of its tongue licked the blood beads, indigo ripples appeared on its scales:

"At three quarters of the morning, the two forces of true energy collided, and the one in the southeast direction had a slight advantage."

"This one is the fifth realm."

The Inspector, wearing a black robe with narrow sleeves, used his shark silk gloves to push aside the collar of the corpse. The bronze compass tied to his forearm spun hummingly, and the bone residue that was shredded by the sword energy turned pearly white under the stimulation of his true energy:
"The fracture of the seventh vertebra is spiral-shaped, like the Moon-lifting Sword Technique of Baiyang Cave."

As Zhao Qianliang, the commander of the Guantian Order, stepped over a pool of blood with his suede boots, the dust-purifying talisman engraved on the sole of the boot glowed faintly, and wherever it passed, the blood shrank into beads like the tide.

Behind him was a young clerk holding an inkstone, using a wolf hair brush dipped in cinnabar to record: "At three quarters of the morning, three lightning and fire talismans remained, and two icy sword energies..."

"Dead man's sleeve."

Another case inspector suddenly spoke up. The young clerk picked up the half-melted wax seal bamboo tube with tweezers, and the stamp of "Lü Ji Cao Yun" could be vaguely seen on the tube. The former glanced at his colleague who was rubbing the wheel tracks at the alley, and calmly put the bamboo tube into his sleeve: "Record it as evidence seventeen, a damaged talisman."

As he listened, Zhao Qianliang suddenly waved his sleeves, and the strong wind blew up frost all over the ground. Ding Ning squinted his eyes and watched the ice crystals form vague human figures under the light - an attacker, a feint, and a ghostly shadow behind the wine flagpole.

"The fifth-level cultivator will use flying swords as the main attack, and the other two will use the lightning and fire array to assist." Guan Tianling's face became serious, and he pointed his finger at the ice crystal figure, then turned and stared at Ding Ning: "What about you? Where will you attack?"

Ding Ning walked silently to the remains of the wine jar, his boots rolling over the charred pottery fragments.

He bent down to pick up a piece of broken pottery with ice chips and held it up to the lamp. Zhao Qianliang then discovered that there was a thin layer of frost on the inside of each piece of pottery, and the frost flowers were arranged in a sword-shaped trajectory.

"What a great move! Snow covers the mountains."

A gleam flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly lifted the clothes of the secret guard's body. Sure enough, there was a piece of pottery with frozen blood embedded in his heart:
"You can pour cold air into a wine jar, use pottery to explode to form a sword formation, freeze the meridians first, and then explode the acupoints... Ding Ning, I remember that half a month ago, you were only at the first level of enlightenment, right?"

"I've reached the second realm." Ding Ning turned his head slightly and looked at Changsun Qianxue, whose face was frosty inside the house. He smiled at her and said in a normal tone, "I borrowed the power of a talisman."

"A talisman? He has already entered the Qi Refining stage in half a month, and he has used his second-level cultivation to stimulate the fifth-level sword energy, and has killed several enemies in a row..."

Zhao Qianliang spoke coldly, flicking away the wine lees stuck to the hem of his official robe with his fingers. The black iron ring scratched a deep mark on the counter, and the lamp hanging high in the air also fell down, just right on top of the other person's head: "Manager Xiao Ding, if you can't explain it clearly, why don't you come back to the office with me and try the newly arrived Yunding Wujian?"

The remaining ice on the eaves fell at this moment, shattering on the bluestone slabs and splashing crystals.

"A Level Two person killed a Level Five person. Although there is no precedent in the case handled by the department, there are still clues to follow."

Ye Celeng's figure suddenly appeared from behind the wall of the wine shop. His black official boots with gold patterns rolled over the ice chips in the cracks of the blue bricks. The black jade seal hanging from his waist collided with the fragments of the wine jar, making a clear sound like a spring gushing out from an empty mountain.

Zhao Qianliang's black iron ring scratched the last half-inch deep mark on the counter. He slowly straightened up and moved the lamp back to its original position: "Master Si Shou, you came at a good time."

The rest of the people saluted in a hurry. The ink line used to measure the sword marks lost the support of the true energy and fell limply into a pool of blood.

"I tried the breakfast noodles at the entrance of Wutongluo Alley a few days ago, and I was thinking of coming back again."

She swept her wide sleeves across the charred elm wood table, and the three-inch thick frost melted into mist, revealing two shallow dimples on her cheeks:
"Does Zhao Guanling still remember the Battle of Kuimen? It is recorded on page 7 of volume 324 of the Tianjiansi file."

"In order to cut off the military aid to Xiangyangshan County, the Chu Army's second-level scouts used three Frost Chi beads to detonate the reef buried in the river bottom of the Fu Crystal, killing five of our dynasty's fifth-level naval commanders. Zhao Guanling was on the ship at the time, right? The battlefield has always been a matter of life and death, so why would they care about the level of realm?"

Zhao Qianliang's black iron ring sank deeply into the counter, and wood chips fell into the pool of blood. The river water from the battle ten years ago seemed to have flooded to his throat again. He remembered the Chizhu that the Chu man crushed before his death, and the blood mist that spurted out when his comrade was pierced through the chest by an ice cone.

"As for the talisman..."

Ye Celeng smiled at Ding Ning and took a piece of transparent crystal talisman with a dull color from the hand that was taking it out of his pocket. "This is the 'Xuan Bing Yin' refined by the elder Zhao Qing of Baiyang Cave. It was recorded in the 'Qi Jian Bo' of the Jian Tian Division at 3:03 pm three days ago."

While Zhao Qianliang was stroking his forehead in deep thought, she continued to walk to the side of the corpse, found a three-inch small sword from the ice in a wine jar, and then stretched out her finger and wiped it. The firefly-like patterns on the sword body turned a dark green under the light, like a ghost fire floating in a grave on a summer night.

"The seventh move of the Firefly Chasing Soul Sword Manual of the Chu Realm Guhong Sect, Wild Geese Crossing the Cold Pond."

A piece of dark blue cloth flew out from Ye Ce's cold sleeves. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a remnant of his inner garment, with translucent dragon yarn flowing between the warp and weft:
"This blended Jiao yarn is woven with three-color tussah silk from Chu. It just appeared on the purchase list of the Chu hostage house last month. Lord Xu from the Ministry of Rites knows it best."

Zhao Qianliang's back teeth were clattering, and the bone-chilling coldness at the bottom of the Kuimen River ten years ago suddenly surged up his spine, and he was filled with anger: "Lord Liling! Are the four major cases tonight all the work of your people?"

While he was speaking, he had already snatched a willow-leaf knife from the Inspector General and cut open the belly of the secret guard's body.

Ignoring the blood and organs on his hands, Zhao Qianliang directly sank his five fingers into the man's Dantian Qi Sea. He concentrated and sensed for a long while before withdrawing his hand. The unique Qi-testing technique of the Jiantian Division traveled through the meridians and could outline the type of cultivation techniques that the deceased had practiced during his lifetime.

"It's Chu people indeed." He put his fishy fingertips in front of his nose and sniffed hard, with a burning flame in his eyes: "This familiar smell is exactly the same as many years ago."

"Master, please understand!"

The clerk holding the inkstone shook out a dot of ink from his cinnabar pen, and hurriedly added: "The deceased is indeed a Chu citizen. According to the laws of the Qin Dynasty..."

"According to the laws of the Qin Empire, if a cultivator trespasses into a private residence, the owner can kill him without mercy, so Ding Ning is not guilty."

Ye Celeng stopped talking and turned to walk out of the tavern. The morning light stretched her shadow very long, just covering the pool of blood at Ding Ning's feet:
"According to Article 9 of Chapter 3 of the Qin Code, any foreign envoy involved in a case shall have his body and evidence returned to his residence, and the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Punishment shall supervise and punish him."

"Pass the order." Zhao Qianliang's black iron thumb ring suddenly rang out like a dragon's roar, and the swirling strong wind shook off the dust on the beam. He raised his hand to grab the cinnabar inkstone held by the case inspector, and the blood-colored Qin seal script floated in the air as his pen moved. Every word seemed to be wrapped in thunder:

"Order the three corpses to be carried on bamboo stretchers, paraded from the South Market around Suzaku Street for three times, and then carried along Donghuamen Main Street to Liling Lord's residence. Beat the Jingtang drum and play the "Pozhen Music" as a morning gift to our hostage, His Highness!"

The hem of his official robe swept across the broken pieces of the wine jar at Ding Ning's feet, and he suddenly leaned over to whisper in the boy's ear: "Well done!"

The sound of the people in the Tianshi Department packing up their tools startled the sparrows under the eaves.

When Ding Ning stood up, holding onto the charred counter, two more icicles fell from the eaves. He looked up at the broken roof, where the faint light of the morning sun was quietly pouring down through the cracks in the tiles.

……

At the beginning of the morning hour, the bluestone slabs on the main street of Changling were still covered with frost.

Twelve red-belted guards from the Astronomical Bureau were arranged in two rows, carrying three green bamboo stretchers. The leading official struck drums, gongs, and cymbals every twenty steps, waking up the shops along the street. The carved wooden windows were pushed open several inches, revealing all kinds of surprised and doubtful faces.

When Lu Siche's fingertips pinched into his palm, the sound of the cymbals of "Pozhen Music" had already caused the copper rings on the mansion door to jingle.

"Your Majesty is changing his clothes." He stood in front of the ceremonial gate with a tired look on his face. The cloud pattern on his robe was gilded by the morning light. He said helplessly: "Please hand over the evidence to the Ministry of Rites..."

But no one paid any attention to him.

"The servant of your mansion who was lost last night was found by the Tiansi." Zhao Qianliang's personal attendant took off his bronze mask, revealing a sword scar running across his left cheek - it was a souvenir left by the Battle of Kuimen ten years ago.

He deliberately shouted in a Chu accent: "According to the laws of the Qin Dynasty, you must burn the body yourself!"

An old beggar in the crowd suddenly squeezed out of the line and threw the oil-stained "Health Preservation and Physical Training Secrets" on the stone steps.

His cloudy eyes reflected the dark patterns on the green bamboo stretcher, and his fingers like dead branches suddenly grabbed the edge of the stretcher. Chi Taowei was about to scold him, but he saw the old man took out an oil paper bag from his arms and placed it tremblingly on the chest of the corpse - it turned out to be a moldy millet cake.

"It was given to me by Madam Zhao from the rice shop in the south of the city on the 23rd of last month."

Under Lu Siche's sad gaze, the old beggar let out gravel-like sobs from his throat, and his toothless mouth leaked air: "Her son said... that the cakes made by my mother should be shared with the hungry people."

……

Xu Fu sat upright on a red sandalwood armchair with dragon patterns in the reception room, drinking a cup of snow bud tea slowly. The tea mist condensed into a talisman in front of him, blocking out all the noise outside the door.

Not until the curses of "The Chu people violated the law, the Qin law is clear" penetrated the barrier did he raise his finger to cut off the tea mist, allowing the sound waves wrapped in the morning breeze to pour into the hall.

"Your Highness should go and greet the guests."

When Li Lingjun stepped out of the door, he saw Chi Taowei throwing the third corpse heavily in front of the screen wall. The oil paper package on the corpse's chest fell apart, and the moldy biscuit crumbs stained his woven gold cloud shoes, and in a trance, they overlapped with the food bowl of the cat slaves he fed in the Chu Palace when he was a child.

His fingers pinched into his palms under his wide sleeves, but a look of just the right amount of surprise appeared on his face: "What are you guys doing..."

"Last night, three of your retainers broke into a private residence and attempted assassination, but were killed on the spot by the victim."

Zhao Qianliang's personal attendant lifted the bronze visor to his forehead and said, "According to Article 4 of Chapter 7 of the Great Qin Law, the body must be claimed by relatives - of course, if no one claims it..." He kicked the green bamboo stretcher with the tip of his boot, and the black iron shin guards made a dull echo.

A silk merchant in the crowd suddenly shouted, "Chu dogs, get out of Changling!" A few hooligans took the opportunity to throw rotten vegetable leaves at Lu Siche.

Li Lingjun moved sideways to block his aides, letting the vegetable juice bloom dark plum blossoms on his snow-white brocade robe. The seal of the King of Chu in his sleeve hurt his ribs through the cloth.

Xu Fu's light cough was heard from the hall.

Li Lingjun saw that the puppet silk wrapped around the other party's fingertips was glowing blue, and suddenly he flicked his sleeves to shake off the filth on his clothes, and shouted sternly: "Since he is an evil servant in my palace, he should be severely punished according to Qin law! Come - drag these three corpses to the crematorium and scatter the ashes into the Ba River!"

Lu Siche looked up suddenly and was about to advise him but was shocked by the bloodshot in his master's eyes.

When the palace soldiers lifted the stretcher, Liling Jun suddenly bent down, picked up half a millet cake, and slowly put it into his mouth under the watchful eyes of everyone.

The moldy smell mixed with blood exploded on the tip of his tongue. He swallowed the biscuit crumbs with his Adam's apple rolling, turned around and bowed to the crowd.

"I am not strict in my administration, and I feel ashamed of the people of Changling."

His hair, which had completely turned black, fell down, covering the corners of his twitching eyes: "From today on, all servants and retainers involved in this case will reflect on their mistakes behind closed doors...." He pulled out his golden hairpin and cut his palm, and blood dripped onto the bluestone steps, forming a talisman: "All of them will be abolished and expelled from the Qin Empire!"

"Give me back Madam Zhao!"

The crazy and foolish old beggar still refused to give in. His roar pierced through the noise of the crowd, and his dirty nails almost poked Li Lingjun's nose.

Lu Siche hurriedly tried to stop him, but was hit on the forehead by half a sharp stone thrown by the old man's other hand, causing several ripples on the Zhenyuan barrier that was formed in an instant.

"Kill for life!"

When the old beggar's saliva mixed with blood splashed towards the astonished hostage prince, Xu Fu's teacup happened to knock lightly on the rosewood table.

The crisp sound of the celadon bottom touching the wood was like some kind of spell. The crazy old man suddenly froze in place, and many transparent silk threads accurately pierced into the Sanjiao acupoint on the back of his neck.

The lonely old man's denunciation came to an abrupt halt, his skinny fingers hung in the air, and then slowly returned to their original position. His cloudy pupils reflected Li Lingjun's sudden warm smile.

The latter reached out to support the twitching old beggar, and when his palm touched the other's filthy torn jacket, his stomach suddenly spasmed.

"The old man was frightened."

Li Lingjun swallowed the bile with a rolling Adam's apple, letting the saliva from the old man's mouth and nose drip onto the front of the brocade with a gold-woven cloud pattern, leaching the sour and moldy smell of the brocade that had been fumigated with agarwood last night. He choked up a little in his soft voice and stuffed a gilded sachet into his arms:
"Mr. Lu, send him to Jici Hall as soon as possible to be well taken care of. Tell someone to prepare ten taels of tranquilizing powder and three rolls of plain silk."

Lu Siche slipped out a rhino horn plaque from his sleeve, and the word "Ci" on the plaque flashed with cinnabar. Two gray-clothed servants carried a rattan sedan chair out of the ceremonial gate, and the dust-purifying talisman on the curtain of the sedan chair moved without wind.

When the old beggar collapsed into the sedan chair, Xu Fu's puppet silk had turned into smoke and dissipated, leaving only red spots on the back of the old man's neck.

A clerk in the drug store among the crowd suddenly shouted, "The tranquilizing powder of Jici Hall must be mixed with snow toad blood!" The silk merchant immediately interjected, "Your Majesty, please be benevolent!" A few scoundrels shrank back to the corner of the alley in disappointment, and the Red Belt Guards of the Heavenly Supervision Department put away their halberds and retreated three steps, and their fine iron armor made a neat muffled sound when they collided with each other.

The pancake-selling woman wiped her eyes and whispered to the people around her: "Look at the prince, he was bumped by the untouchables and he repaid evil with kindness."

But her husband spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm, crushed the remaining pages of "Health and Physical Training Secrets" with his boots and squeezed out of the crowd: "Put on a show!"

...(End of chapter)