Chapter 137: Jade Bone Picture (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The sun rose in the east.
The morning light sprinkled on the streets as merchants and servants walked among the carriages and horses. An old man with a rack of candied hawthorns was sitting on the stone steps outside a teahouse. He shouted at the top of his voice, “Candied hawthorns!”
Ye Jingtang, with his saber hanging at his waist, led his black horse and stopped outside the teahouse. He tilted his head to look at the red candied hawthorns, and a few words suddenly sounded in his ears.
“Jingtang, do you want to eat?”
“Only children eat this kind of thing.”
“You’re only six years old. Do you think you’re not a child if you don’t wear diapers?”
“Yes.”
“Hmph! If you don’t have a wife, you’re still a child at sixty years old. When you can bring a wife back, you can pretend to be an adult… Here…”
Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, twelve years had passed.
He remembered sitting on this horse with his foster father leading the horse in front like this, with an identical saber hanging on his waist.
Now, he was an adult and walked in front of the horse. When he occasionally recalled the words of the past, he couldn’t help feeling a little nostalgic.
Ye Jingtang looked back at the empty back of the horse and wondered when he would bring Heroine Luo back to Red River Town to burn some paper money.
While letting his mind wander as he walked along the street, he heard the sound of wheels from the entrance of the street. He looked up and saw a luxurious carriage approaching.
The Black Office constables opened the path in front. The carriage window opened, and a heroic woman’s face appeared. She was staring at him from afar. Beside her, the big white bird tilted its head and leaned out from the corner of the window. “Chirp-”
Ye Jingtang came back to his senses and walked toward the carriage. He cupped his hands. “Your Highness, the fight lasted until late at night, so I woke up late this morning…”
Ye Jingtang didn’t wake up late. He didn’t sleep at all. After helping Heroine Luo suppress the effects of the medicine until she stopped moving, he could only bring water into the room and help wash her.
Heroine Luo had been ashamed and angry, but she had been too lazy to move. She would dodge every time he touched a key part of her body. Finally, he washed her clean with great difficulty and carried her back to her bed to sleep. He had also washed the bedding and bed sheets. Before he finished, Yunli had woken up and helped cook breakfast. Thus, he would definitely be late in the morning.
Fortunately, Dongfang Liren knew who Ye Jingtang had done last night, so she didn’t blame him for making her wait for a long time.
Dongfang Liren was sitting upright in the carriage with a strange look in her eyes. She thought for a moment and said, “Yesterday, 1 got She Long and the others to chase after the bandits, but they still lost them in the end and failed to catch the murderer. You and the bird were busy all night for nothing…”
Ye Jingtang mounted his horse like a guard and walked beside the carriage window. “We captured a captive yesterday. Did Your Highness get anything out of him?”
“He’s just a Jianghu vagabond who’s paid to do things. He doesn’t know anything. Someone who can invite Xu Bailin is definitely not from a small force. There must be something behind this matter, but 1 don’t have any clues now.”
At this point, Dongfang Liren looked at Ye Jingtang. “Divine Detective Ye, do you have a way to continue the investigation?”
Although Ye Jingtang didn’t match the words ‘divine detective’, he really had a way. The Wandering Body Palm was the unique technique of ‘South Mountains Iron Trigram’ Zhang Henggu. Since the murderer knew it, Zhang Henggu most likely knew some of his origins. He could just ask directly.
But this method was based on his powerful connections of ‘hugging a black stocking thigh and a white stocking thigh at the same time’. If he said it, he would suffer on the spot.
Ye Jingtang pondered for a moment and said, “1 will think of a way to get the Red Flower Pavilion to investigate. The Red Flower Pavilion is a prestigious force in Jianghu, so they should have more connections.”
Dongfang Liren nodded slightly, her eyes full of praise. “I really couldn’t tell in the past that you were so good at doing things. Keep up the good work in the future. 1 will give you clear rewards and punishments. As long as you have enough merit, there’s nothing in the world that I can’t reward you…”
At this point, Dongfang Liren recalled what Madam Wang said about Miss Ning’er being unable to bear it and asked, “The last time you entered the palace, I asked you to look for a suitable palace maid. Did anyone catch your eye? You’re a person of status now. You can’t let the person you love do all the washing and cooking. I will reward you with two maidservants for what happened yesterday.”
When Ye Jingtang heard this, the only maidservant he knew, Miss Yuhu, naturally flashed across his mind, but he had no intention of getting two maidservants. “Your Highness, please don’t joke. I’m from Jianghu and used to being free. If 1 really get two maidservants at home, I’ll have to worry more.” “Hmph!”
While the two of them were chatting, the carriage drove through the bustling streets near Jasper Pavilion and arrived at the Vermillion Bird Gate at the front of the Imperial City.
Dongfang Liren was a prince of the blood. As the favored younger sister of the empress, not many people would dare to say anything when she entered the Imperial City via the imperial passage. However, she wasn’t arrogant to this extent because of being favored. She went through the gate that ministers entered and left through.
Ye Jingtang followed Dongfang Liren into the palace and went straight to the Eternal Joy Palace, which he had never set foot in before.
The Eternal Joy Palace was the residence of the emperor. The density of people in the palace was much higher than elsewhere. One could meet several palace maids walking back and forth within a few steps. One could even hear the sound of music from deep in the palace.
Ye Jingtang knew that this place was the empress’s palace, so it wasn’t appropriate for him to look around casually. After walking for a while, he asked, “Is Your Highness taking me to meet Her Majesty?”
Dongfang Liren acted as if she was returning to her own home. She strolled leisurely and elegantly as she led Ye Jingtang to the back of the Eternal Joy Palace. “At this time, Her Majesty is in the imperial study approving memorials and doesn’t have time to see you. Do you want to meet Her Majesty?”
Ye Jingtang was definitely curious about the female emperor who ruled Great Wei, but he still knew that accompanying a monarch was like accompanying a tiger. The empress was a tigress. If he accidentally played himself as ‘Noble Consort Ye’, he would have to suffer for half his life. He shook his head and said, “I’m just a commoner and don’t know how to govern the country. How could I dare to disturb Her Majesty so easily? Where are we going?”
“To Her Majesty’s resting palace.”
iQn
