The little turtle servant, undeterred by the slap, maintained a smile and a respectful, even fawning, attitude:
“Please wait a moment, I’ll go right away. Young Master Yang’s visit will surely delight the Madam.”
Xu Qi An frequented Floating Fragrance often enough that the brothel had long since considered him the courtesan’s favorite. The doorkeeper, haughty and cold to other guests, didn’t dare slight Xu Qi An.
He was practically ready to grovel.
Xu Qi An led the Night Watchmen into the courtyard. The plum grove in the corner exuded a subtle fragrance. The white walls and dark tiles created an elegant atmosphere.
When the courtesan heard that Xu Qi An had booked the entire place, she immediately had her maids apply exquisite makeup and donned a pink and white floor-length dress, revealing her delicate collarbones and fair neck.
A white-wrapped bodice was faintly visible beneath the thin gauze.
Floating Fragrance personally attended to Xu Qi An, serving him tea and wine, occasionally whispering in his ear, her smile as beautiful as flowers.
The sight filled the Bronze Gongs with envy.
Floating Fragrance was already a renowned courtesan, and after her poem “Subtle Fragrance Drifts in the Dusk Moon” became famous, her value skyrocketed.
It was said that she no longer entertained ordinary clients, at least not common folk.
Even so, guests still flocked to Shadow Plum Pavilion daily to drink, listen to music, and play drinking games, because Floating Fragrance would occasionally come out to be the game master, organizing drinking games for everyone.
After a few rounds of drinks, Xu Qi An gave Song Tingfeng a look and stood up, saying, “Colleagues, I can’t hold my liquor well. I’ll retire first. You all enjoy yourselves.”
The Bronze Gongs had no objections, of course. They exchanged glances, chuckling.
Floating Fragrance’s eyes flickered, giving Xu Qi An a curious look, but allowing him to lead her away by the shoulder.
…
After bathing, Xu Qi An wore a white single-layer robe, sitting lazily with a wine cup in hand.
“Young Master Xu rarely brings colleagues to drink,” said Floating Fragrance, who had also just finished bathing. She sat on the bed a short distance away, tilting her delicate head as she dried her hair.
Her skin was smooth and moist, her face flawless. In the flickering candlelight, she gained an alluring and mysterious quality.
“It’s a long story,” Xu Qi An sighed, taking a sip of wine. “A few days ago, two Gold Gongs took a liking to me, both wanting to recruit me. They ended up fighting in the Night Watchmen’s Office.”
Floating Fragrance got off the bed, her skirt falling to cover her snow-white legs. She embraced Xu Qi An from behind, chuckling softly, “Have you become the target of jealousy?”
“Jealousy has existed since ancient times,” Xu Qi An didn’t deny it.
“You should have told me earlier, I could have entertained your colleagues better,” Floating Fragrance said regretfully.
She hadn’t paid much attention to the other Bronze Gongs during the gathering.
“It’s not necessary,” Xu Qi An smiled.
He didn’t lack interpersonal skills. He turned and embraced Floating Fragrance, tilting his wine cup to let the cool liquid flow down her snow-white neck.
“This is how to drink with gusto,” Xu Qi An laughed as he lowered his head.
After Floating Fragrance, reeking of alcohol had bathed again, Xu Qi An excused himself to get some fresh air. He left the main bedroom and checked the wine room, where his colleagues were happily playing games to the sound of music as if they had discovered a new world.
As long as enough silver was provided, the courtesans in the Jiaofang Si wouldn’t refuse. It had always been this way.
Xu Qi An leaped onto the wall and took out a piece of paper from his bosom, igniting it.
He raised his head, and two streams of clear qi pierced the night, vanishing in an instant.
In his vision, various types of fortune appeared, making the world colorful.
Xu Qi An had learned from Chu Caiwei that emerald green represented monster qi. That night during the patrol, he had seen a green light flash above the Jiaofang Si.
This meant that monsters were hiding in the Jiaofang Si, a bold conjecture because the Jiaofang Si was where officials and nobles usually came to drink and enjoy themselves. Such a place, and yet it concealed monsters.
But that was the fact.
This time, Xu Qi An remembered the principle of not courting death and didn’t try to peek at the Bureau of Astronomy and Geography, lest he be blinded by the Supervisor again.
He scanned the sky above the Jiaofang Si. Within his sight, various colors flickered, but there was no monster qi.
“Did the monster leave… or is it using some special method to hide?” Xu Qi An jumped down from the wall and returned to Floating Fragrance’s boudoir.
…
The next morning, a group left the Jiaofang Si.
Seeing Xu Qi An, his colleagues greeted him with smiles, their relationship was much closer now. If before they only saw Xu Qi An as a colleague, now they see him as a buddy.
The effect was quite good.
As long as they weren’t too jealous or of too high a status, Bronze Gongs of the same rank wouldn’t blindly resent him.
With a bit of wit, catering to their preferences, and showing goodwill, most people were willing to befriend Xu Qi An.
Because this way, a lucky bastard favored by two Gold Gongs would transform into: this guy favored by Gold Gongs is my friend.
As they walked and chatted along the way, one Bronze Gong suddenly laughed, “Ning Yan is truly talented. He made me realize how ignorant and dull I was before.”
The colleagues let out kind but ambiguous laughter.
Xu Qi An shrugged, “I’ll teach you a few more interesting games next time.”
More interesting… everyone’s eyes lit up.
They arrived at the Night Watchmen’s Office before the Mao hour (5-7 am). After roll call, Xu Qi An and Song Tingfeng’s group of three came to the side hall of Spring Wind Hall, drank some tea, and were about to go out on patrol when a clerk hurriedly arrived.
“Sirs, Master Li requests your presence.”
There’s work… Xu Qi An and the other two fastened their swords and walked side by side to Spring Wind Hall.
Li Yuchun, dressed impeccably, blended perfectly with the equally neat and orderly Spring Wind Hall, not out of place at all.
Brother Chun, living like this must be exhausting… Xu Qi An felt some sympathy for his superior’s obsessive-compulsive disorder.
He wondered if in the future, when sleeping with women, would Li Yuchun have to do position A exactly 100 times, and another position also 100 times, otherwise he’d feel uncomfortable.
Li Yuchun pointed at three plaques beside the case: “Today we’re going to confiscate property. You three will represent me. I’ll repeat what I’ve said before: don’t do anything unnecessary.
“Gather in the front courtyard in a quarter of an hour, and go with the other colleagues.”
Is it a property confiscation?!
Xu Qi An was surprised. Property confiscation was one of the Night Watchmen’s duties, targeting corrupt officials.
“This is the document,” Li Yuchun showed them the official document issued to him.
The target of this confiscation was a Director of the Gold Department in the Ministry of Revenue, of the sixth rank. He was to be exiled and have his property confiscated on charges of corruption and dereliction of duty.
So-called property confiscation meant seizing all family assets, with all household property being confiscated by the state. In Xu Qi An’s previous life, this would be equivalent to depriving a criminal of personal property.
Li Yuchun looked at Xu Qi An and said, “This person is a subordinate of Vice Minister Zhou of the Ministry of Revenue.”
This was to inform Xu Qi An that this matter was a follow-up to the tax silver case.
The fall of a major court official would inevitably be accompanied by the dismissal and punishment of officials affiliated with him. Like pulling out a radish and bringing up the mud with it.
As Xu Qi An’s group of three left with their orders, on the way to the front courtyard, Song Tingfeng said, “This is your first time participating in a property confiscation. There are some rules you don’t know, let me tell you.
“When confiscating property, the clerks will count the valuable items in the front courtyard, record them, and then bring them back to the office. But they don’t participate in the actual search.”
Saying this, Song Tingfeng gave a “you understand” look.
An old hand like Xu Qi An immediately understood the meaning.
“From what the boss said…” Xu Qi An probed.
“Hah, don’t mind him,” Song Tingfeng sneered. “The boss is just inflexible, doesn’t know how to be flexible. We need to reasonably seek benefits for ourselves.”
This was indeed a relatively reasonable way to seek benefits. Xu Qi An nodded.
Song Tingfeng, like him, was unwilling to extort merchants or blackmail civilians, but now they were going to confiscate property, confiscating from corrupt officials.
The money itself was not clean, shearing the wool of Great Feng, not the wool of the common people.
He had seen this kind of thing too many times, both in his previous life and this one. Xu Qi An took a neither-oppose nor-approve attitude.
This confiscation was led by a Silver Gong, with four groups of Bronze Gongs and twenty-four white-robed officials.
Every three Bronze Gongs belonged to different Silver Gongs, a multi-team system designed for mutual supervision and reporting.
The system was good, but after a long time, everyone tacitly understood, each taking a little as if no one had taken anything.
Listening to Song Tingfeng’s explanation, the three arrived at the front courtyard to see Bronze Gongs already gathering.
At the lead was a young Silver Gong, just over thirty, with thin lips and a look of arrogance between his brows and eyes. Just by his appearance, one could tell he wasn’t easy to get along with.
Song Tingfeng led his two colleagues to approach, moving towards the Silver Gong, casually taking out the token from his bosom.
Seeing the three approaches, the Silver Gong’s eyes suddenly turned sharp, and he said in a deep voice, “You three are late.”
Xu Qi An was stunned and said, “We’re not late.”
They had come as soon as they received the message. Although they had talked on the way and didn’t walk fast, it hadn’t been more than a quarter of an hour.
Hearing this, the Silver Gong’s eyebrows rose, his gaze suddenly fierce. He took the sword from his waist and swung it towards Xu Qi An’s face.
In the sound of air being cut, Xu Qi An’s body leaned back slightly, avoiding the vicious strike in an instant.
Seemingly not expecting Xu Qi An to dodge, the Silver Gong was stunned for a moment, then sneered, “You dare to dodge.”
“Sir, sir…” Song Tingfeng hurriedly stepped between the two, smiling apologetically, “Yes, we were late. Please don’t be angry, sir. We shouldn’t delay the important matter. There’s still good work waiting for you.”
He was subtly reminded about the confiscation task.
Unexpectedly, the Silver Gong didn’t give face at all. He kicked Song Tingfeng in the abdomen, sending him flying. Song Tingfeng struggled but couldn’t get up.
He’s targeting me… but I haven’t offended him… Anger welled up in Xu Qi An’s heart, and he instinctively gripped his sword hilt.
The Silver Gong narrowed his eyes, not angry but smiling, and swung his scabbard again, sneering, “What, want to draw your sword? Are you worthy?”
If I draw my sword, I’m dead… Xu Qi An raised his hand to block a few times, his arm bones stinging from the strikes.
With so many people watching, it was a bit embarrassing.
Seeing Xu Qi An submit, the Silver Gong struck a few more times, then coldly laughed, “Get in line.”
Xu Qi An’s group of three joined the ranks.
Afterwards, more Bronze Gongs arrived successively. The Silver Gong ignored them, letting them fall in line.
Seeing this, Xu Qi An was certain that this Silver Gong was targeting him, but he was puzzled because he hadn’t offended him.
“You were lucky not to draw your sword earlier, or you’d have been finished,” someone said from behind.
Xu Qi An turned to look. It was a Bronze Gong who had drunk with them last night.
“I’m not that stupid. Drawing a sword against a Silver Gong is a serious offense,” he said.
The Bronze Gong nodded and said quietly, “His surname is Zhu. He’s the youngest Silver Gong in the office.”
Xu Qi An said glumly, “I don’t know him.”
The Bronze Gong snorted and said, “His father’s surname is also Zhu.”
Xu Qi An thought this was stating the obvious, but then heard Zhu Guangxiao say softly beside him, “Gold Gong Zhu?”
The Bronze Gong who had drunk with them made an affirmative sound and added, “He’s the youngest Silver Gong, and also the most promising young talent in our capital’s office. Well, before Xu Qi An appeared.
“The other day, I was drinking with one of his Bronze Gongs and heard that Silver Gong Zhu dislikes you. He’s said more than once that you’re just a mere Bronze Gong…”
At this moment, Silver Gong Zhu’s sharp gaze swept over everyone, and the Bronze Gong immediately fell silent.