Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

145. The Runaway Emperor (4)

Translator: Flying Lines

“Well…” Su Jie was also a little worried. If it were just him, Su Jie could wait till it got dark and climb over the city gate, but now there was Tuoba Qingheng who didn’t know martial arts. Obviously, climbing over the city gate wouldn’t be an option.

“How about this? We’ll buy a house and stay there for a few days. And we’ll change the disguise on my face again. It’s not late for us to leave the city when the coast is clear,” Tuoba Qingheng thought for a moment and said.

“No need for that. I’ve already thought of a way to leave the city,” Su Jie smiled.

*

Pavilion of Jinxiu.

This pavilion was a famous place where famous people from all walks of life met.

There were five floors in Pavilion of Jinxiu.

Both men of letters and martial artists could enter the first floor of Pavilion of Jinxiu.

Those who could make it to the second floor must have a certain reputation.

As for the third floor, it must be those who have been recognized by the Pavilion of Jinxiu in terms of wealth, literature, or martial arts.

As for the fourth floor of Pavilion of Jinxiu, they didn’t ask about the background or talents of their guests. They only needed to see the gold leaves of Pavilion of Jinxiu.

Together with Tuoba Qingheng, Su Jie walked into the Pavilion of Jinxiu of the City of Divine Light .

“Sir, please stop. Only those with the Green Jades of Pavilion of Jinxiu can enter the second floor,” a graceful black-clothed man who was standing at the entrance of the second floor stopped Su Jie with a warm smile.

Pavilion of Jinxiu had branches all over the world. In order to let the talents and heroes from all over the world enjoy the same status in the branches of Pavilion of Jinxiu, the owner of Pavilion of Jinxiu had distributed tokens to them. Those who could enter the first floor didn’t need to have any tokens, but to enter the second floor, they needed to have a Green Jade of Pavilion of Jinxiu. And to enter the third floor, they needed to have a Black Jade of Pavilion of Jinxiu.

“I don’t have a Green Jade, but I have this,” Su Jie waved his hand and no one saw where he took out a thin gold leaf.

The golden leaf was engraved with winding patterns. Only a highly-skilled craftsman could draw such vivid patterns.

“May I ask how to address you, sir?” The black-clothed man was stunned. There were very few people in State YanLing who had the gold leaves. He never expected that this ordinary-looking young man would actually take out a gold leaf.

“My surname is Wen,” replied Su Jie with an indifferent expression.

“Please wait here for a moment. There will be a special person in Pavilion of Jinxiu to welcome you,” the black-clothed man said with a neither-humble-nor-pushy attitude. He turned around and went into a cubicle not far away. After a moment, a beautiful and lovely girl followed the black-clothed man out.

“Give me your gold leaf… I mean, show me your gold leaf,” the delicate young lady wore a light yellow dress, and a pair of bright brown eyes were embedded under her curved eyebrows. Her nose was exquisite, her lips pink, and her voice as beautiful as that of a yellow warbler.

Su Jie passed her his gold leaf.

This gold leaf was gifted by the Second Prince when Su Jie was still beside Xiao Shengnian. Su Jie had been carrying it with him, but because he was not interested in places like Pavilion of Jinxiu, he’d never used it before. And he never expected that it would be put into use today.

“This is a gold leaf from State YanHui,” tossing the golden leaf about, the delicate girl studied it carefully and then she frowned.

Su Jie looked indifferent.

“Come on, follow me upstairs,” the delicate young girl felt that Su Jie was bored, so she glanced at Tuoba Qingheng. Although Tuoba Qingheng was disguised, his bright eyes were still quite appealing.

The three of them went all the way to the fourth floor.

The fourth floor of the Pavilion of Jinxiu was decorated elegantly and refreshingly. The tables and chairs were made of sandalwood, and there were exquisite vases on the table. The flowers were blooming and there was a painting hanging on the clean wall, showing green hills, clear water, a boat and a fisherman paddling it.

“My name is Qi Jingmei,” the delicate girl led Su Jie and Tuoba Qingheng to the cubicle and introduced herself.

“I am Wen Nianxuan.”

“Tell me, what wish do you want to be granted in Pavilion of Jinxiu this time?” Qi Jingmei was straightforward and didn’t beat around the bush.

“Wish?” Su Jie was stupefied. This was the first time he ever entered Pavilion of Jinxiu. He heard that the power of Pavilion of Jinxiu was not small, so Su Jie came up with the idea of leaving the City of Divine Light with the help of Pavilion of Jinxiu. However, he didn’t know what the gold leaf of Pavilion of Jinxiu represented. Su Jie had been thinking about how to make his request, and he didn’t expect Qi Jingmei to ask him that right away.

“You… is this the first time you came to Pavilion of Jinxiu?” Qi Jingmei thought it strange.

Su Jie nodded.

“Only the owner and the seven young masters of Pavilion of Jinxiu have the right to give the gold leaves to others. Those with the gold leaves can enjoy the greatest preferential treatment of Pavilion of Jinxiu. Pavilion of Jinxiu will grant three wishes of a holder of a gold leaf. However, these three wishes must be reasonable and feasible. If you wish to be the emperor of State YanLing, we can’t grant that,” Qi Jingmei said with a smile.

“What if I want to be an official of State YanLing? Can you make it happen?” Su Jie asked calmly.

Although he was the Emperor of State YanLing, Su Jie hadn’t fully understood the situation of State YanLing. He might’ve left the palace out of impulse, Ever since he’d come to the City of Divine Light, Su Jie had gotten some of his sense back. He planned to observe the lives of the people in State YanLing and get a first-hand experience.

Of course, he still needed to go to the border. Right now the border was guarded by Vice-general Yan. On the day of Su Jie’s enthronement, he’d had the decree of the reward sent to Vice-general Yan.

At first, Su Jie came to Pavilion of Jinxiu without any other intention. Now that he heard Qi Jingmei asking him to name his wishes in a quite confident tone, Su Jie couldn’t help but feel curious. Could Pavilion of Jinxiu have the capabilities to interfere in the state affairs of State YanLing?

“No,” Qi Jingmei shook her head and did not explain.

Qi Jingmei was originally named Jingmei. Because she was the seventh young master of Pavilion of Jinxiu, she put the word “Qi” in front of her name which meant “seven”. She was going to State YanLing to see the Emperor in the imperial palace.

Pavilion of Jinxiu was able to open branches around the world because it had a certain connection with the royal families of various countries. In the past decade, the chief of Pavilion of Jinxiu and Lan BuHui had made an agreement to hand over a certain amount of gold and jewelry to the national treasury every year, while Lan BuHui promised that Pavilion of Jinxiu would be protected by the government.

Now that the State YanLing had a new emperor, Pavilion of Jinxiu’s business in State YanLing was affected. Because they were once protected by Lan BuHui’s army, men of letters and the martial artists of State YanLing rejected the existence of Pavilion of Jinxiu. Therefore, Qi Jingmei came all the way from State LiuKong to State YanLing, intending to talk to the newly-enthroned Emperor.

Qi Jingmei had just arrived at the City of Divine Light yesterday. To be precise, her itinerary was exactly the same as that of State Xi’s team. She planned to meet the Emperor of State YanLing with the prince of State Xi.

However, early in the morning, Qi Jingmei suddenly learned that the prince of State Xi had escaped yesterday. Helplessly, Qi Jingmei could only delay her trip and started to look for the princes in the City of Divine Light with the people of State Xi.

However, what was dramatic was that those sitting with Qi Jingmei were the Emperor of State YanLing and the prince of State Xi.

Qi Jingmei didn’t have a good impression of Su Jie. She felt that Su Jie’s eyes were too indifferent and cold, which made Qi Jingmei feel uncomfortable, so she wanted to end the conversation as soon as possible, so she said perfunctorily, “Besides, you can also buy some priceless treasures from Pavilion of Jinxiu, but they are more expensive.”

“I’m here to make a wish,” Su Jie said.

“What wish?”

“My brother and I wish to leave the City of Divine Light.”

Hearing that, Qi Jingmei frowned. She felt strange. First of all, the gold leaf Su Jie had came from State YanHui. Now Su Jie wanted to leave the City of Divine Light when the prince of State Xi went missing.

“My brother and I came from the capital of State YanLing. Because we received an urgent letter from home, we were in a hurry to go home to visit my seriously ill mother. My brother and I planned to leave the city this morning after staying at the City of Divine Light last night, but I didn’t expect the city gates to be closed today,” said Su Jie with a face full of urgency and helplessness.

“Your wish is granted,” after thinking about it for a moment, Qi Jingmei nodded. Seeing how genuine and sincere Su Jie was, she believed that he should not be lying. The prince of State Xi did not know martial arts and he fled after all the city gates were closed, so he must still be in the City of Divine Light, but it would took a while to find him. There were notices everywhere in the city, and with such a handsome reward, there was no way that they wouldn’t find him.

With that in mind, Qi Jingmei felt that it wouldn’t do any harm if she helped Su Jie and Tuoba Qingheng leave the city, so she nodded.

“Let’s go. I’ll talk to the guards at the city gate. However, it is quite wasteful to use one of your wishes on such a small matter, “Qi Jingmei said.

“My family means the world to me. Even if I have to use up all my wishes, I will be most willing to,” Su Jie smiled.

When she heard that, Qi Jingmei’s impression of Su Jie changed. She didn’t expect that an indifferent man like Young Master Wen was so devoted to his family.

After arriving at the city gate, Qi Jingmei talked with the soldiers at the city gate briefly, and the city gate opened a gap for the two of them to leave.

“Thank you, Lady Qi,” Su Jie thanked her flatly.

“Have a safe journey,” Qi Jingmei nodded.

There were just a few carriages parked outside the gates of the City of Divine Light. After hearing that the city was closed, most of the wheelers chose to leave. Only three or four coachmen remained at the gates of the city, waiting for their business to arrive.

Su Jie beckoned to a carriage and the coachman drove the carriage away with Su Jie and Tuoba Qingheng aboard.

Qi Jingmei almost passed out when she found out that she had let the prince of State Xi go. At that time, Su Jie had already gone far away with Tuoba Qingheng. Angrily, Qi Jingmei repeated the name “Wen Nianxuan” twice while gnashing her teeth and had people investigate “Wen Nianxuan”.

Pavilion of Jinxiu had the best intelligence network and did some intelligence business in private. However, Pavilion of Jinxiu was very well-behaved. As long as it involved information between the royal families of various countries, they would not talk about it. And that was one of the reasons why Pavilion of Jinxiu still existed.

Because it was Pavilion of Jinxiu that found out that the Prince of State Xi was with Su Jie, Qi Jingmei did not inform the government or the envoys of State Xi. She would not take the responsibility for it since they’d already left the city.

Wen Xuannian was the one to blame!

Qi Jingmei kicked a stone under her feet angrily and muttered, “Wen Nianxuan, you’ve got the nerve to deceive me. Do you think I’ll let you get away with it?”

However, Qi Jingmei did not immediately go to Su Jie to settle the scores. The only important thing now was to ask the emperor of State YanLing to issue a decree to recognize the existence of Pavilion of Jinxiu. Otherwise, Pavilion of Jinxiu would always be rejected by the scholars and martial artists in State YanLing.

Qi Jingmei embarked on her journey to the capital. However, she didn’t expect that having stayed in the capital for a few days, she was unable to see the Emperor of State YanLing. After bribing the people from the palace, Qi Jingmei learned that the Emperor was sick and had not gone to court for a while.

The investigation of Wen Xuannian also failed. Qi Jingmei thought that investigating someone with a gold leaf should be easy. She sent people to investigate Wen Xuan in both State YanHui and State YanLing. There was still no news from State YanHui, and State YanLing had put her under control.

“Young Lady, although Pavilion of Jinxiu have branches all over the world, there’re still people who can’t be investigated.” Zhu Ce was the one who came to solve this matter. Ever since the emperor went missing, his subjects had suffered a lot. Now that they knew that Pavilion of Jinxiu was investigating Wen Nianxuan, Elder Zhou guessed that Qi Jingmei had seen Su Jie.

“I’m just investigating a man who has a gold leaf of Pavilion of Jinxiu. Have I offended the Royal Family of State YanLing with that?” Qi Jingmei felt unbelievable, but the aim for Pavilion of Jinxiu was not to quarrel with the officials of various countries. Although she didn’t know what kind of official Zhu Ce was, Qi Jingmei still asked politely.

“The man you’re investigating has a strong background,” Zhu Ce bent his right index finger and knocked on the table every now and then.

Qi Jingmei didn’t understand but Wen Nianxuan had a strong background? What was his background?

“Who are you trying to see here, My Lady?” Zhu Ce was wise and handsome, and he was used to talking in a roundabout way and he liked talking to smart people.

“I’m here to see…” Qi Jingmei’s mind became blank.

She was here to see the Emperor of State YanLing. Zhu Ce asked her that question to tell her that the person she was investigating was the person she wanted to see.

Was she investigating the Emperor of State YanLing?

Qi Jingmei was stunned.

Not only had she seen the Emperor, she even helped him get out of the City of Divine Light!