Chapter 36

 

About ten days ago, Luwu Division’s secret agents in the east of the city noticed a suspicious mansion.

A merchant who reported that he was selling cloth and silk in the East Market had rented an empty house here, moved in, and brought in goods.

This was nothing. Almost every day, new merchants arrived from all directions in the city. But now the situation was special, and merchants were the most convenient identity in Chang’an City to cover up illegal activities. They could be equipped with manpower and had reasons to move around. Therefore, there was an order from above that any new arrivals, especially merchants, must be investigated to eliminate suspicion.

The spy paid attention as usual and found something wrong.

Unlike normal merchants, this group of people did not go out frequently every day. After settling down, they only drove goods cart in and out in the morning and evening. When they arrived in the downtown area, a few members of the group would often disappear without a trace. So the spy instructed the other merchants in the market to approach them and said they wanted to buy a large amount of goods. The other party’s reaction was not as enthusiastic as that of normal vendors, so the situation was reported. Orders were then given to increase surveillance around the area. Unexpectedly, for the next two days, no one was seen leaving.

Liu Bo, who was in charge of this matter, felt something was wrong and ordered an inspection. He found that the house was empty except for cloth. He guessed that the surveillance was discovered by the other party. There were many woodlands in this neighborhood, which was good for hiding. Those people quietly left the house at night, dispersed to other places at dawn, and then disappeared.

This was what he had hurriedly gone to Pei Xiaoyuan to report early that morning.

After receiving the news, Pei Xiaoyuan went to check in person that day. Although the other party acted cautiously and did not leave any valuable traces of life, after a careful search, he still found something unusual behind the house and dug out a pile of buried medicine residues. The doctor identified one of them as dragon’s blood, also known as Qilin’s blood, which was a magical medicine for treating wound and sore. It could be inferred that someone had been hiding here to recuperate. Given that the group left in haste, it was highly likely that the person’s wound had not yet fully healed. Furthermore, this specific medicine originated from distant southern lands like Zhenla (Cambodia) and Linyi (Vietnam), making it rare and expensive. Not all of the pharmacies in Chang’an would have it in stock.

Luwu Division then conducted a lot of secret investigations and found that more than a hundred people in the city had bought this medicine in the past five to six days. After eliminating them one by one, only one pharmacy in Pingkang Lane had no identifiable recipient for the medicine. Moreover, the medicine was sold at night when the gates of the lane were closed, making it unlikely that the people who bought the medicine came from other lanes.

Based on the above inference, the suspicious person who escaped earlier was most likely still hiding in Pingkang Lane and recuperating from his injuries.

This was the reason for the sudden curfew in the neighborhood tonight.

Liu Bo led a few men to search here, but he never expected to run into an acquaintance. Between his shock, he saw that Young Master Ye also recognized him, and seemed to be frightened by him, so he hurriedly explained: “We are catching criminal tonight, and this lane is under curfew, so I just barge in. How come you are here, Young Master?”

Xuyu snapped out of her daze and said: “I see. I came here tonight to paint Madam Yumian’s portrait. I got too absorbed in my painting earlier and didn’t hear the commotion outside. It’s truly my fault!” As she said this, she was about to put down her brush and go to greet him.

Liu Bo waved his hand, signaling her to continue as she wished, and walked over to the long table covered with a sheet of paper as long as a person. He glanced at the portrait she had just started. Though only the outline was sketched and the features roughly defined, the subject was already unmistakable—a woman reclining against a table, half-lying down. It was the very courtesan across from them, who was hurriedly putting on her clothes with her back turned.

Xuyu explained, “Didn’t I paint a blessing painting for County Princess Consort Xiping in Ci’en Temple a few days ago? It just so happened that Madam Yumian also went to worship Buddha and passed by the stone chamber. She saw my painting and I was lucky enough to catch her interest. She asked me to come and paint a private portrait for her so that it could be copied and made into a folding screen. I had nothing to do tonight, so I came here. Unexpectedly I met Deputy Commander Liu here.”

While Liu Bo continued to listen to her, he secretly glanced around the room to see where someone might be hiding.

The bed legs were low and almost level with the ground, making it impossible for an adult to hide underneath.

The quilt inside the bed curtain was thin and soft, and could not cover a person.

He made an “oh” sound under his breath and paced around. He walked to the window and pushed it out to check outside.

There was no one hiding outside the window steps.

Finally, only the dark room next to the screen remained.

There was no need for him to say anything at this time. The courtesan knew what was best for her and immediately walked over and pushed open the partition door.

Liu Bo winked at a few of his men nearby. They went in, searched for a while, and came out, shaking their heads at him.

There should be no problem here.

Thinking of the close relationship between the young master and the chief, Liu Bo naturally did not want to offend him, and hurriedly said with a smile: “You must have been frightened just now. Young Master, please continue! I will not disturb you anymore, and will take my leave first.”

Xuyu nodded with a smile, still standing in front of the painting table: “Then I won’t send Deputy Commander Liu off.”

“No, no, your painting is more important!”

Liu Bo was about to leave with his men when he heard the sound of boots entering the courtyard downstairs, accompanied by the complaints of the madam who he had just ordered to be kicked out.

“Chief Pei, you must seek justice for me! Your subordinates are too rude! Not only did he have people throw me out, but he also brought seven or eight rough men barging into my girl’s room! Just look, how long has it been since they went up there? Long enough to have a child! And yet, he still hasn’t come down! What kind of intentions does he have? Could he be coveting my girl’s beauty? Oh, my poor back, oh, my poor girl—”

Liu Bo cursed the madam in his heart and hurried out. Sure enough, he saw his boss coming up the stairs.

This brothel was in an excellent location, almost in the center of the lane, which was convenient for sending and receiving messages. Therefore, Pei Xiaoyuan assigned tasks at a nearby street corner and each team went to search in all directions. He himself was patrolling nearby and happened to see the old brothel madam complaining. When he heard that Liu Bo was in this small building, he came up to check the situation.

“Greetings, Chief!” Liu Bo hurriedly bowed and explained that it was the madam who blocked him, so he took action.

Pei Xiaoyuan stopped at the porch, looked into the deep door through which the light shone, and asked, “Have you finished searching here?”

“Yes, I have checked everything. There’s nothing wrong. I am about to leave.”

Pei Xiaoyuan nodded slightly, looked the surrounding, turned around and walked away. Liu Bo quickly followed him and said, “Chief, isn’t it a coincidence that Young Master Ye is also here tonight, painting a portrait for a courtesan here. When I went in just now, and saw Young Master Ye, I was really surprised and got a fright.”

Pei Xiaoyuan was about to walk down the stairs when he heard this. He slowly turned his head, looked back at the door again, and stopped.

After the people from the Luwu Division had left, the courtesan Yumian returned to her previous position, arranging herself into the reclining posture once more. Opposite her, Xuyu resumed her painting, carefully sketching Yumian’s features. Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and soon, someone turned the curtain and walked inside.

Yumian glanced toward the opposite side with flash.

The one who came this time was not the fully armed Jinwu Guard from before, but a man who looked very young.

He was wearing a casual robe of literary blue, with a common tortoise-shell-decorated belt tied around his waist. His face was clear and his expression was relaxed, without the slightest deliberate oppression, and he exuded a faint scent of agarwood.

But from the moment this young man showed up, the atmosphere suddenly changed. When he stood beside the screen and raised his two sharp eyes to sweep over, Yumian’s breathing could not help but stagnate, and her heart suddenly hung in the air.

This was the first time she had seen this man. But judging from the respectful expression of the Jinwu Guard who had just returned after him, the young plainclothes man in front of her should be the “Pei Er” mentioned by Li Yan and his followers.

Her nails dug deeply into the palm of her hand, but she did not feel any pain at all. She just held her breath and watched the man look around, then look at Xuyu. He walked slowly to her side, without saying a word, lowered his head slightly, as if watching her painting.

Under his gaze, Xuyu’s hand, which was holding the paintbrush and sketching the beauty on the paper, became slow, stagnant, and finally, stopped completely.

She slowly raised her head and met Pei Xiaoyuan’s eyes that were staring at her.

The moment their eyes met each other, her heart suddenly became as clear as a mirror.

He didn’t even look at what she was drawing.

What he had been looking at was her face.

Her eyelashes trembled uncontrollably. After a moment, she stopped looking at him and slowly drooped her eyelids.

In the suffocating silence that seemed to be pressing down from all directions in the bedroom, Pei Xiaoyuan suddenly leaned over slowly, as if he wanted to take a closer look at some details in her paintings.

At this moment, Yinniang’s face became extremely pale. If she hadn’t been leaning against the bed rails, she would have been collapse and could hardly even sit still.

Just when Liu Bo and the brother madam were struggling outside the courtyard wall, a painting table with enough space underneath to conceal a person was quickly set up here, draped with hanging silk curtain that reached over a foot long on all sides. The two private soldiers jumped out of the small window, disappearing into the dark alley below. Meanwhile, Li Yan had embedded two daggers deep into the sides of the table, using them as handholds. With his feet braced against the table’s legs, he suspended himself completely beneath the surface of the table, holding his position with sheer strength.

Yinniang was originally worried about Li Yan’s physical strength, wondering how long he could last in this state. However, at this point, her original worry had completely lost its meaning.

If this person continued to lean down, just a few inches more, he would see Li Yan hiding behind the hanging silk curtain!

At this time, Xuyu’s hand holding the brush was still hovering in the air, but the ink gathered on the tip of the brush could no longer hold on, and with a “pa”, it splashed onto the drawing paper.

He paused slightly, raised his eyes, and looked at her again.

He had never seen her eyes so wide, and once again, their gazes met.

In those wide-open eyes, there was a complex expression—a mix of fear, terror, and despair, with perhaps a trace of boundless pleading, and a hint of humble, desperate supplication that she herself was not aware.

The time flowing through the clock seemed to have stopped.

At this moment, Yinniang was like suffering the torment of stepping barefoot on a red-hot iron.

In this long and painful ordeal, she suddenly saw a glimmer of hope.

The young man slowly stood up again, raised his arm, and reached out to Xuyu’s hand holding the brush. He straightened the brush that was slightly tilted in the air because her fingers were too tightly clenched, and said, “Remember to rest early and don’t overwork. You have to go to the palace for duty tomorrow.”

While holding the brush, his fingers brushed against hers, which was as cold as ice water.

He turned around and walked out, nodding to Liu Bo who was still waiting by the screen: “Let’s go! There is indeed no problem here.”

The clattering sounds of seven to eight people’s boots as they walked down the corridor gradually faded away and disappeared completely from their ears.

Xuyu could no longer hold on. She felt her breathing stagnate, her limbs went limp, and her hands began to tremble uncontrollably. She could no longer hold the brush, and it slipped from her fingers and fell onto the drawing paper.

She also grasped the edge of the drawing table and did not sit down on the ground immediately.

At this time, Li Yan also fell down from under the drawing table.

Yinniang, who had come back to her senses, burst into tears of joy and relief. She rushed to close the door and came back to help Li Yan get up.

The wound on his leg was bleeding again due to the force he had just exerted, staining a piece of fabric red.

He leaned against on one of legs of the drawing table, and kept his eyes tightly closed, not moving at all, as Yinniang treated his wound. A moment later, Yinniang turned to Xuyu and knelt down to kowtow to her again in gratitude.

“Thanks to the princess’s quick thinking, we barely managed to escape! Heaven has mercy, even deceiving that Lieutenant General Pei!”

Xuyu, however, remained dazed, showing no reaction.

Li Yan slowly opened his eyes and turned to her.

“Thank you so much for what you did, Sister.”

He stared at the silent Xuyu, a smile appeared on his pale face, and he spoke softly.

That night, this impromptu night curfew and search lasted until dawn.

When the morning drum sounded and the gate opened, a piece of news spread throughout the lane.

It was said that last night, a counterfeit merchant who had just moved in was arrested in a brothel near the Jinfeng Tower in Zhongqu. This person must be the criminal, because he then resisted arrest and climbed over the eaves and walls. He was chased by the Jinwu Guards for several streets. Finally, when he tried to escape over the wall, he was shot with a row of arrows from the opposite side and fell to the ground and was arrested.

Not only this person, but also two people hiding in a dark alley in Beiqu were caught, who should be the accomplices of the criminal. After dawn, it was said that the brothel madam and related people from brothel where the criminal was found last night were severely interrogated. Not only that, the courtesan made a terrible scene, and the entire brothel was forced to close its doors for a day and could not receive guests.

This news caused many brothels and pleasure houses in Pingkang Lane to be in chaos for a day. The other brothel madams and courtesans gloated over the misfortune and even went to watch the fun together. The unlucky madam was so angry that she brought her girls out to splash water and drive people away. There was constant laughter at the crossroads, which was very lively. Until dusk, the tall buildings in Pingkang Lane lit up lights one after another, and gradually singing and dancing resumed, with laughter and joy. The aftermath of the accident from last night finally subsided.

The day ended. Xuyu didn’t leave the courtyard of Jixian Hall until the last moment when the palace was about to close.

She had been sleepwalking all day, forgetting things and even making some mistakes that only a novice would make. Even Song Bokang noticed it and thought she was not feeling well, so he told her to leave the palace early.

But she didn’t want to leave.

She had a premonition that, for her, what happened last night was far from over.

That evening, almost step by step, under the impatient urging of the palace guards, she was forced to leave the place that provided her with temporary shelter for a day and return to the inn where she was still staying.

It was already dark, and she absent-mindedly entered through the small gate of her single courtyard. Her eyes drifted along the stairs leading upward, as she made her way to her residence in the small building, her steps feeling light and disoriented. Halfway up, she suddenly stopped, feeling as if her entire internal organs had been violently twisted together, shivering with the sensation.

Pei Xiaoyuan stood quietly at the end of the staircase, as if he had been waiting for her there for some time.

“Come with me. I have something to ask.”

His voice was solemn and cold. After he finished speaking, without any pause, he quickly passed by her, went downstairs, and was the first to walk out of the gate.

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