Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

After Li Longji left, Xue Wei returned to the inner quarters and told Yuan Min everything he had said to Li Longji. Yuan Min was smarter than him, and he wanted to hear her thoughts.

Yuan Min pondered for a moment and then asked, "Why do you think the Emperor ordered you to kill Zhu Ling?"

"I think there might not be any such thing as Wu Chengsi's wealth at all. It was just a scheme set up by the emperor to use Zhu Ling as bait to lure all sorts of people into the trap. Now that Zhu Ling has been used up, he wants to kill him and then use other methods to lure all sorts of people into the trap next time."

Yuan Min laughed. "So, do you believe what Li Longji said?"

Xue Wei shook his head. "I don't believe anyone else now, I only believe you!"

Yuan Min laughed, "That's a good flattery. I'll reward you with a treasure later."

"Isn't it because I'm a good consultant?"

Yuan Min pinched him. "Seriously speaking, this case is actually quite simple. It's about Wu Chengsi's million-dollar sum. The clue is with Zhu Ling. Everyone is watching Zhu Ling and wants to dig out that wealth from him."

Actually, I agree with your guess. This is a bait set by the emperor to lure all the fish in, and you're in charge of recording their various unsightly behaviors.

Xue Wei laughed and said, "That is indeed possible. But once I know the truth, my job will be much easier. I don't care who Yu Jianxiu is working for. I will just record the facts, then kill Zhu Ling, and finally we will go back and submit our report. That will be the end of it."

"Yes! As an observer, you don't need to work so hard or overthink things."

Yuan Min raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly, "Did Li Longji really get his hands on a piece of celadon porcelain?"

Xue Wei nodded. "It should be. It's exactly the same as those porcelain pieces in your teahouse in Taipei."

Yuan Min's eyes lit up with anticipation. "How about we go to the ghost market tonight? I want to find a piece of celadon porcelain too!"

"It's not that easy to find!"

"Maybe there really is one? The Emperor bestowed two sets of celadon porcelain upon Wu Chengsi, so there must be more than just one teacup. There must be others."

"You yourself said that Wu Chengsi's wealth didn't exist, but now you believe it."

"What if? After all, we're just speculating."

Xue Wei also became interested. It was a ghost market! There wouldn't be any safety issues there.

"Okay! Let's go tonight."

........

Chongyefang is located on the west side of Zhuque Avenue. Like Jingshanfang across the street, it is the most prestigious place in Chang'an. If Chang'an is likened to a dragon, then Chongyefang and Jingshanfang are the dragon's two eyes, commonly known as the land of the dragon's eyes.

In order to prevent ordinary people from living on the "dragon eyes" (referring to the location of the dragon eyes), Yuwen Kai, a master craftsman of the Sui Dynasty, built a temple or monastery at each of the two "dragon eye" locations when he was building Daxing City, which is now Chang'an City.

Xuandu Temple was built in Chongye Ward, and Xingshan Temple was built in Jingshan Ward. Buddhist temples and Taoist temples were used to suppress the overflowing dragon energy. Emperor Wen of Sui issued an edict prohibiting officials from living in these two wards because the dragon energy was too strong there.

The ghost temples of Chongyefang were concentrated in the depression west of Xuandu Temple. They opened at midnight and closed at dawn, so they were also called Xuandu Ghost Market or West Market Dark Market.

People in Chang'an generally call it the black market, where you can buy anything. The government tacitly allows it to exist as an outlet for public opinion.

Yuan Min's carriage quietly entered Chongye Ward at midnight, costing five hundred coins. If he hadn't taken a carriage, he wouldn't have needed to spend five hundred coins at all; he could have entered and exited through the small gate of Xuandu Temple for ten coins.

Because Yuan Min is a germaphobe, she generally doesn't rest in places like inns where other people have slept. She has no choice but to travel by boat, but if she's not going to Chang'an but to Yangzhou, she will travel on her own large boat.

If there is no restaurant of his own in the neighborhood, Yuan Min usually spends the night in his carriage.

The carriage quietly arrived at the outskirts of the ghost market and saw a dimly lit area in the distance, resembling a starry sky, which was quite spectacular.

"Put them on!"

Yuan Min handed Xue Wei a bamboo hat that covered his face. "These are the rules of the Ghost Market. You can't show your face here, and you can't wear white clothes."

She herself also put on a face-covering hat and, like Xue Wei, wore a black samurai outfit.

After getting ready, Yuan Min excitedly pulled Xue Wei into the ghost market, while several female warriors, wearing face-covering hats, followed them at a distance.

The ghost market has fixed stalls with awnings, but most are just open stalls on the ground, lit by a dim oil lamp, and there are quite a few people, in twos and threes.

Most of the people setting up stalls were merchants from other places, runaways, thieves, poor people, disillusioned scholars, itinerant performers, and so on. But the identities of the people buying goods were unknown. Everyone was dressed in black and wore a mask.

The security in the ghost market is actually quite good. Things like fighting and harassing women will never happen here. This is mainly because people don't know the background of the buyers and dare not cause trouble easily. Moreover, the rules are very strict. If there are any conflicts or disputes, they are resolved outside the ghost market.

In reality, there won't be any disputes. The ghost market emphasizes clear payment and exchange of goods. Besides, everyone is masked, and it's the middle of the night in the dark. Even if you are fooled, where are you going to find someone?

"Are you sure there's celadon porcelain here?" Xue Wei asked in a low voice.

Yuan Min just got up from a porcelain stall. She nodded and said, "Generally, you can buy celadon and white porcelain from official kilns at the Ghost Market as long as you have the money. But you can't buy secret-color porcelain even if you have the money. However, since Li Sanlang bought it at the Ghost Market, it means that it is available here. The key is the money. Money is not important to me."

Xue Wei rolled his eyes. Was this even human language?

At this moment, a man in black quietly approached Xue Wei and whispered, "Want Wu Chengsi's things?"

Xue Wei was taken aback. "What is it?"

"Good stuff, interested in discussing it in the woods."

Yuan Min interjected, "Let's reveal our secrets first!"

The man pulled a bulging cloth bag from his pocket, opened it in the shadows, and Xue Wei could see clearly that it was an incense burner.

Yuan Min shook her head. "I want porcelain!"

The man didn't say anything, and turned to leave.

Xue Wei was surprised. "You've been here before?"

Yuan Min rolled her eyes at him. "Haven't you ever eaten pork? Haven't you ever seen a pig run?"

These were Xue Wei's words, and Yuan Min returned them to him verbatim.

She added, "Yu Xiangzi used to have a stall here."

Xue Wei glanced back at Yu Xiangzi, who was a few steps away. This woman from the barbarian frontier was truly mysterious.

After looking at more than a dozen stalls, none of them caught Yuan Min's eye, but Xue Wei liked every single one he saw. He even saw an Indian stall owner selling aphrodisiac oil, but unfortunately Yuan Min wouldn't let him buy it.

But strangely enough, they had already encountered three people selling Wu Chengsi's things. Xue Wei gradually realized that many forces must have come to the Ghost Market looking for Wu Chengsi's things, and Wu Chengsi's things had become a gimmick.

Just then, a short man leaned forward and whispered, "Secret-color porcelain, interested?"

Yuan Min said calmly, "Let's show our true colors first!"

The man pulled a porcelain piece wrapped in cloth from his pocket, tore off a corner, and flashed it at Yuan Min before turning and walking towards the woods. Yuan Min quickly pulled Xue Wei along, "Hurry up and follow!"

"Is there a chance?"

Yuan Min nodded, her expression a little nervous, but mostly expectant.

Yu Xiangzi and Guo Luming quickly stepped forward and escorted Yuan Min into the woods.

The two women held Yuan Min very close, and Yu Xiangzi used her incision to help Yuan Min bargain.

Xue Wei, on the other hand, stood outside, idly observing the situation inside the grove. The grove was small, with a thin layer of mist, and there were figures everywhere, but no one was speaking; they seemed to be making transactions with hand gestures.

At that moment, a figure silently approached Xue Wei, speaking in a low voice, "Want Wu Chengsi's things?"

Here we go again. Xue Wei felt both annoyed and amused. He wanted to refuse, but for some reason, he inexplicably mimicked Yuan Min's words and asked, "Show your hand first!"

The man in black looked to both sides and then pulled out a bulging cloth bag from his pocket. It looked like a uniformly packaged item from the ghost market. He untied the bag, revealing a bit of it.

Xue Wei was startled; it was actually an imperial seal.

This is unbelievable! Someone actually dares to sell the imperial seal. Couldn't they sell something else?

Perhaps the man in black saw Xue Wei's companion making a transaction and knew that he was a wealthy person, so he took the initiative to make an offer, clenching his fist and then opening his palm, flipping it over once each.

"I don't understand, what does it mean?"

Helpless, the man in black could only whisper, "One price, ten taels of silver."

By this time, Yuan Min had finished her transaction and was happily carrying a box over. Seeing Xue Wei also negotiating a deal, she leaned forward and asked, "What are you selling?"

"The Imperial Seal!"

Yuan Min glared at Xue Wei, then pulled him away.

"Wait a minute!"

Although Xue Wei couldn't tell if the jade seal was real or fake, he could tell the quality of the jade. It was carved from Tianzi jade, and it was warm and delicate, with a restrained luster and excellent shine. It was a top-quality jade at first glance.

He pulled out ten taels of silver from his pocket, stuffed it into the man in black's hand, and took the cloth bag.

The man in black weighed the item in his hand, then turned and left without saying a word.

"Are you stupid?!" Yuan Min pinched Xue Wei angrily.

"Let's go! Let's leave first."

The two left the woods and went straight out of the ghost market. Yuan Min had bought what she wanted and didn't want to stay any longer.

"Is it really celadon?"

Yuan Min nodded excitedly, "A pair of celadon wine cups only cost two hundred taels of silver. That's a huge profit! You can't even buy one for two thousand taels of silver on the market outside. They're practically nonexistent."

"Then why don't they sell them in the outside market and make ten times more money? Wouldn't that be better?"

Yuan Min looked at him like he was an idiot. "You're really stupid. This stuff is illicit. Do you think he'd dare to do it? He wouldn't even get a penny and would end up in jail. They're not stupid."

Xue Wei was speechless; it seemed to be true.

"That thing you bought—ugh! What can I say? You're actually selling an imperial seal, is it even possible it's real?"

Yuan Min sounded annoyed. It wasn't that she was stingy with the money, but Xue Wei's sudden mental decline today, with him saying and doing silly things, made her really worried. Could it be that he was injured last night?

She pulled Xue Wei over for a closer look and, seeing that he had no head injury and looked normal, she was relieved.

"I thought the jade was of good quality, so I wanted to carve a jade pendant or something," Xue Wei explained.

Yuan Min took the jade seal and examined it carefully. "The jade quality is indeed excellent. This is the Emperor's Seal among the Eight Treasures of the Emperor. The craftsmanship is superb, and it may be genuine, but it may not be from the Tang Dynasty."

"That's possible. So many dynasties, from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Three Kingdoms, the Jin dynasty, and the Northern and Southern dynasties, all had six imperial seals!"

"It would be a pity to destroy it, so keep it! As long as it's not the imperial seal of this dynasty, it's fine, but try not to take it out."

Xue Wei lay in the carriage, carefully examining the jade seal in his hand. He really liked the quality of the jade. The front had four large raised characters that read "Emperor's Seal," and there were many other characters engraved on the sides, but there was no indication of the dynasty. He couldn't tell which dynasty the jade seal belonged to.

Perhaps he could consult someone knowledgeable in the field.