Chapter 51: Two Phoenixes Playing in the Water
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Thud!
Thud!
The distant morning bell resounded from the depths of Yun’an City.
The small courtyard deep in Double Osmanthus Alley was silent. There was only a black horse standing quietly at the side of the kitchen.
The door to the main room was closed. It hadn’t been opened since Luo Ning and Zhe Yunli left.
There were a few more flower pots under the vegetable trellis. They were placed together with the ones Luo Ning had bought. After two days, the lush green seedlings had grown a little.
In the west wing, Ye Jingtang was sitting on the bed with his upper body bare, holding the golden paper in his hand, his eyes closed in focus.
The big white bird was squatting beside the pillow and looking at the window listlessly.
A few days ago, Yunli would have already woken up at this time and hugged it to feed it. And living with Tangtang obviously didn’t have this blessing. It had only been two days since they parted, but the bird’s longing for them was already lingering in its heart.
“Chirp…”
After the bird waited for a long time, Ye Jingtang didn’t move. It rolled to his side and kicked him with its claws, indicating that it was time for breakfast.
Ye Jingtang’s eyelashes fluttered. Then he opened his eyes and looked at the golden paper in his hand.
After Luo Ning and Zhe Yunli left, the days became quite monotonous. These two days, he basically didn’t leave the house and focused on practicing martial arts.
He was practicing the Heaven Equaling Saber, the Overlord Spear, lightness skills, and his own saber technique. Speaking of which, he was a little busy.
Mastering martial arts was by no means a one-day goal. Ye Jingtang was not in a hurry. He rested when he was tired and thought about the page of the Roaring Dragon Chart that he had accidentally obtained.
According to the decryption methods he knew, such as projection, copying, soaking in water, burning, and so on, he didn’t get any results. Originally, he had already put it aside for the time being. But when he woke up this morning, he suddenly had an idea. He thought of something: Bamboo as Method©.
He didn’t have much experience in this life, but he had a lot of random memories from his previous life and knew the interesting story about the sage’s Bamboo as Method.
Although the method of investigating was wrong, he still looked seriously at the drawing of the ‘Turtle Carrying Three Mountains’ on the golden paper and began to seriously apply ‘Paper as Method’, trying to forcefully see the truths of the Heavenly Dao contained in it.
Surprisingly, he discovered that this method really worked.
Although he didn’t see the logic of the Heavenly Dao and didn’t know if it was because he had been looking at it for too long, he felt that the golden dragon turtle in the picture was moving, and the clouds surrounding the three mountains seemed to be flowing slowly under the effect of light.
After pondering for a long time, he felt that this might be a qi circulation method. He closed his eyes and focused. He imagined the various scenes in the picture as certain parts of his body and tried to connect the ‘illusion’ he saw inside his body.
Just as he was thinking about it, the bird kicked him awake.
Seeing that the sky was bright, Ye Jingtang was not in a hurry. After memorizing this method, he put away the golden paper and put on his robe.
He was about to set off for West King Town, and Third Lady had already started making preparations. But before they left, he still had to finish the matter with the Prince of Jing first.
Last time, he had promised the Prince of Jing that he would practice lightness skills before seeing her three days later. And in the blink of an eye, the time had come. It just so happened that he could use this opportunity to teach her the Heaven Equaling Saber. If the Prince of Jing learned it quickly, he might be able to get Qiu Tianhe out today, lest Heroine Luo say that he didn’t pay attention to proper business.
After washing up, Ye Jingtang watered the flowers and plants planted by Luo Ning. Then he led his horse and the bird out of Double Osmanthus Alley and headed toward Jasper Pavilion.
He had stayed in the capital for many days, and it was currently late April. The young ladies and young women walking in the bustling streets were dressed a little cooler, attracting the gazes of idlers.
“Chirp!” The bird on his shoulder raised its wings to cover his eyes, indicating that he shouldn’t look.
Ye Jingtang flicked the bird and rode his horse through the bustling streets to the Black Office. From time to time, he saw constables from the Black Office rushing to and fro.
As soon as they reached the entrance, two people walked out together.
The burly man in front was ‘Black Impermanence’ She Long. His arm was still wrapped in bandages. Behind him was Shang Jianli.
Seeing She Long, Ye Jingtang went forward and cupped his hands. “Sir She, Sir
Shang. Are you two going out on an errand?”
She Long’s brows were originally furrowed tightly, but when he saw Ye Jingtang, he relaxed a little. He walked up to him and patted his shoulder. “Young Master Ye, you came at the right time. Let’s do the errand together. My arm hasn’t recovered yet. If something really happens, it won’t be good for me to help Jianli. You’re an external member. Please help us.”
He really didn’t treat Ye Jingtang as an outsider.
Ye Jingtang had injured She Long, so he found it difficult to refuse and asked, “Arrest who?”
She Long stood with his hands behind his back with a worried expression. “We’re not sure. Yesterday, a chief constable of the government office, Wang Sheng, bumped into someone in the east city and died on the spot. His corpse was only discovered this morning. This person used a blunt stick and cracked his head. From the traces, Wang Sheng didn’t even have time to draw his saber. Wang Sheng’s martial arts skills are considered top-notch in Jianghu. The person’s martial arts skills are probably unfathomable.”
There were about 40 chief constables in the Black Office, and the Six Fiends were the best among them.
Hearing that a chief constable had been killed, Ye Jingtang couldn’t help being shocked. “Could this person be a Grandmaster?”
“Most likely. Young Master Ye, are you free? Why don’t you come with us?”
Ye Jingtang was free. It wasn’t too risky to go out with the Black and White Impermanences, so he wanted to agree.
But Shang Jianli interrupted, “Young Master Ye is inexperienced in Jianghu. If we rashly bring him along and something goes wrong, it won’t be easy to explain. Her Highness the Prince of Jing went to Clear Water Villa yesterday and specially instructed us to tell Young Master Ye to go to Clear Water Villa to have an audience with her if he comes here.”
She Long was just casually pulling in a helper, so hearing this, he naturally didn’t insist. “Since Her Highness has given her order, Young Master Ye, go ahead and take care of your business first.”
Ye Jingtang cupped his hands and said, “Sirs, be careful on your way. 1 have an arrangement with Her Highness, so 1 came here to meet her. When I’m finished with my affairs, 1 will invite you two to the Golden Screen Pavilion.”
“Oh, you’re too polite…”
The Black and White Impermanences cupped their hands and bowed before leaving together.
After Ye Jingtang found out that the Prince of Jing was at a hot spring villa, he didn’t enter the Black Office. He mounted his horse and rode toward the east gate of the capital with the bird.
Clear Water Villa was located under the Spring Morning Peak outside the city. It was adjacent to the Lotus Pool and the Clear River and could be considered a summer resort. The scenery was top-notch in Yun Province. Unfortunately, it was exclusively for the emperor and was idle for 90% of the year.
At noon, a few pleasure boats carrying scholars and young ladies were sailing on the river. There were also many merchant ships coming and going in the river. There were no tourists on the shore. The surroundings had cleared within a kilometer of the villa. The imperial guards in shining armor were on duty everywhere. Every bird that flew past would be scanned a few times.
The warm sunlight shone on the villa under Spring Morning Peak. The imperial guards patrolled outside the villa, and outside the Dragon Cleansing Pool at the back, countless palace maids in colorful clothes were bowing and waiting quietly.
The Dragon Cleansing Pool was very large. There were flowers, green plants, and resting water pavilions around it. There was some white mist in the center of the pool, and several dragon heads were spitting out warm spring water.
Splash…
Sunlight was shining on a misty open-air hot spring. A tall woman with fair skin was swimming on her back in the water without any clothes on.
In the shade at the edge of the hot spring, the empress dowager, whose long hair was draped over her shoulders and had a silk gauze shawl around her shoulders, had her jade-like feet submerged in the pool, and her expression was as bitter as ever. “You said that you would bring me out to relax, but in the end, you didn’t even let me out of the door. What’s the point of taking a bath here? Sigh-”
Dongfang Liren had excellent swimming skills. She turned around on the surface of the water, kicked her slender jade legs slightly, and dived into the water. When she emerged, she was already in front of the empress dowager. Her silky long hair stuck to her smooth back as she smiled. “Something happened in the city yesterday. The Black Office is patrolling. When it subsides, I’ll bring you to tour the river scenery.”
Dongfang Liren was as tall as a man. Even if she had the same proportions as ordinary women, her breasts would definitely be larger.
The empress dowager came from Jiang Province and was a gentle, scholarly beauty. Her height only reached Dongfeng Liren’s chin, but she had been pampered since she was young and didn’t lack nutrition. Her capital was also quite impressive, and the ratio of her bust was very eye-catching.
But the two of them definitely had no intention of comparing. The empress dowager slid into the pool and floated lazily as her hand gently stirred the water. “It’s either raining outside or something goes wrong when I go out. Are the heavens deliberately making things difficult for me?”
“Empress Dowager, don’t think about this all the time. Think about something pleasant.”
“How can 1 be happy when you’re so unreliable? Last time, I thought you gave me something good… 1 asked Hongyu to throw that thing away. If you’re so presumptuous in the future, I’ll complain to Her Majesty!”
“I saw that you were lonely in the palace, so 1 came up with it at the last minute…”
“Even if I’m lonely, you can’t act recklessly. When I entered the palace, you weren’t young anymore. Don’t you know my situation? You’re an inexperienced woman, but I’m not?”
The empress dowager glared at Dongfang Liren angrily and recalled the handsome man she had seen in the painting last time. She pondered for a moment and asked curiously, “Liren, don’t tell me you’ve already…”
Dongfang Liren’s handsome face froze as she frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You are the Prince of Jing, second only to one person and above tens of thousands of people. It’s not easy for you to find a young husband to serve you…”
The empress dowager glanced underwater. “Liren, tell me the truth. Have you already… Uh-huh?”
?!
Dongfang Liren naturally knew what the empress dowager meant and was a little angry. “Empress Dowager, what nonsense are you spouting? How could I…”
The empress dowager knew that she couldn’t get anything out of her, nor could she check herself, so she said resentfully, “I’m just curious. You should have gotten married long ago. If you have someone you like, you can just say it. I will help you propose to Her Majesty.”
The empress was Dongfang Liren’s biological sister. If she liked a man, why would she need the empress dowager to help matchmake them? She just smiled at this.
The two of them chatted for a while when a female official entered the Dragon Cleansing Pool and reported respectfully behind the screen, “Your Highness, there’s a report outside that Young Master Ye, Ye Jingtang, is here.”
“Oh?” Dongfang Liren hadn’t had the chance to ask Ye Jingtang how he was learning the Heaven Equaling Saber in the past few days. Seeing that Ye Jingtang was here, she naturally wanted to meet him.
But discussing martial arts with each other would take more than half a day. She came out to accompany the empress dowager to relax. It was definitely not appropriate to leave the empress dowager behind to meet a man in private. She thought for a moment and instructed, “Ask Young Master Ye to tour the villa first. I’ll summon you when I’m free.”
“Yes.”
The last time the empress dowager was at Jasper Pavilion, she had seen Dongfang Liren go out to meet ‘Young Master Ye’. Then she saw the perfect young man in the painting.
The surname Ye was very rare, and there were only a few with this surname in the entire capital. From the way she addressed him, he was not a member of the government. Last time, the little man had been dressed like an ordinary young master. She felt that there was a high chance he was the same person. “Liren, who is this Young Master Ye?”
Dongfang Liren was a little distracted. Afraid that the empress dowager would notice, she swam behind her and helped her comb her long hair. “A new helper recruited by the Black Office. His martial arts skills are outstanding, but he comes from a merchant family. There’s nothing special about him.”
Nothing special?The empress dowager didn’t believe this at all. If this ’Ye Jingtang’ was really the person in the painting she had seen last time, his appearance alone was special enough.
But as the empress dowager, it wasn’t appropriate for her to ask about such matters. She said considerately, “If you have something to do, go ahead. I’m used to being alone.”
“I’m here to accompany you to relax, so I naturally have to accompany you well. There’s no hurry for these small matters.”
“It’s good that you’re not in a hurry… I’m just afraid there’s someone hiding in your heart. Do you think that I’m blind?”
“Sigh…”
