The sight of five hundred bolts of fabric made Second Madam’s heart race. The assortment included fine silks, gauzes, brocades, and satins of exquisite craftsmanship and intricate patterns. With her discerning eye honed from frequent visits to silk shops, Second Madam could tell that any single piece here far surpassed the expensive fabrics sold in those stores.
To possess such a vast quantity of precious textiles… Second Madam felt dizzy with sudden joy.
Xu Lingyu was no better than her mother when it came to fine clothing. Throughout history, women have always had a special fondness for beautiful garments.
Xu Lingyin, taking advantage of her parents and sister’s distraction to sneak some food, was the exception. She was still just a child after all.
“I’ll go help!” Second Uncle couldn’t sit still any longer. He sprang up and strode out quickly.
Xu Qi An stood by the carriage, discussing plans with Song Tingfeng to visit the courtesans’ quarter after resolving the Sangbo case.
“You know, of the twenty-four top courtesans there, I’ve only been with Fuxiang. I should pay a visit to each of them someday,” Xu Qi An said expectantly.
“You…” Song Tingfeng stared at him oddly. “Aren’t you and Fuxiang in a relationship? Shouldn’t you be trying to buy her freedom?”
“You…” Xu Qi An stared back, puzzled by the ancients’ tendency to treat public resources as private property.
He mused that concubines ranked only slightly above servants. Perhaps in their view, buying a courtesan’s freedom was like acquiring a girlfriend who neither spoke nor ate, surviving on air alone. And courtesans wouldn’t even deflate.
Wives and concubines were entirely different concepts… But to Xu Qi An, buying a courtesan’s freedom seemed akin to meeting an expensively dressed woman with a rich background during matchmaking, who claimed to sell clothes for a living… Their values and worldviews were simply too divergent.
Xu Qi An shook his head, not wanting to continue this topic.
“Second Uncle, don’t carry those,” Xu Qi An called out as he saw Second Uncle coming to help. When his uncle looked over, Xu Qi An casually tossed him a 60-jin small box with one hand. “Carry this instead.”
Second Uncle caught it, feeling its weight. He opened it and… what was this blinding his eyes?
In the front hall, Second Madam was fawning over the beautiful silks and satins, touching them here and there, unable to contain the smile spreading across her lovely face.
Xu Lingyu pressed her small hand against a piece of silk, feeling its smooth, delicate texture. The young lady’s heart fluttered.
Smack!
Her mother, Second Madam, slapped her hand away, saying crossly, “Don’t dirty it.”
Xu Lingyu said softly, “Mother, what are you so happy about? These things were bestowed upon Big Brother by His Majesty. They’re not yours.”
A critical hit!
Second Madam’s smile gradually faded. After a moment, she forced a stiff smile onto her face, which managed to be both elegant and beautiful. “Well… I’ve always treated Qi’an well, haven’t I?”
She didn’t sound very confident saying this.
Xu Lingyu nodded, “Mm-hmm, very well. Big Brother is the money-losing goods you raised.”
“You wretched girl!” Second Madam jabbed her finger at Xu Lingyu, making her stumble.
Just then, the mother and daughter saw Second Uncle enter, carrying a box with a dazed expression.
Second Madam lifted her skirts and went to meet him. “What’s in your hands, my lord?”
Click… Click… Second Uncle opened the box, then closed it. He looked at his wife and asked, “Are you blind yet?”
“I am…”
In her 36 years of life, from an unmarried maiden to now a mother of three, Second Madam had never seen so much silver—no, gold.
As for Second Uncle, he had never possessed so much gold in his life.
…
“My throat is so dry. I’ve been busy all day without a sip of good tea.”
“Sit down, Ning Yan. Auntie will brew some for you.”
…
“I want to eat steamed eggs.”
“Auntie will have the kitchen make some for you right away.”
…
“Is there any milk?”
“Yes, yes! Auntie has the freshest milk here.”
At the dining table, Xu Qi An sat with his legs spread wide. His usually haughty aunt now waited on him attentively. When Xu Qi An wanted steamed eggs, she had them made. When he wanted tea, she brewed it. When he wanted milk, she provided it… She was trying hard to mend their tattered aunt-nephew relationship.
“Auntie, this isn’t sincere enough. I want to eat eggs made by your own hands,” Xu Qi An grumbled.
…Second Madam bit her lip, forcing a smile. “Auntie will go make them for you.”
As the steamed eggs arrived, Xu Qi An ate while saying, “Ah, there are a lot of dirty clothes thrown in the courtyard next door. As an unfortunate orphan, I guess I’ll have to wash them myself.”
…Second Madam gritted her teeth. “Ning Yan, don’t talk like we’re strangers. I see you as my child. I’ll wash them.”
Feeling triumphant, Xu Qi An felt a weight lift from his heart. The resentment that had been building up finally dissipated.
“Second Uncle, why don’t we sell this house and buy a big mansion in the inner city?” Xu Qi An suggested.
Second Madam’s eyes lit up, her face glowing.
Sell the house… Second Uncle glanced around the hall’s furnishings, suddenly feeling nostalgic. “This is our ancestral home. How can we sell it just like that? Your father and I grew up in this house.”
“If we’re not selling, then we’re not selling. Eight thousand taels of silver are enough to buy a more spacious house in the inner city,” Xu Qi An said, raising his cup to drink. Setting it down, he suddenly asked, “Second Uncle, am I your illegitimate child with another woman?”
“Pfft…” Second Uncle quickly turned his head down, spraying a mouthful of wine all over Xu Lingyin’s face.
He had meant to spit on the floor, but the little girl was too short, and it hit her head and face instead.
The little bean was stunned, not knowing what she had done wrong. She bravely held back tears, licking the wine on her face. Finding it unpalatable, she finally burst into tears with a “Waa!”
Second Uncle glared at his thoughtless nephew. “What nonsense are you spouting?”
Second Uncle’s expression showed no guilt or shock… Second Madam’s face betrayed no suspicion or astonishment… Xu Qi An, well-versed in reading facial expressions and psychology, made his judgment.
People’s unconscious reactions when caught off guard are most revealing of their true feelings.
Xu Qi An first ruled out the possibility of being the Second Uncle’s illegitimate child. His suspicions weren’t unfounded. When he was young, Second Uncle’s colleagues who visited would point at Xu Qi An and ask, “Is this your son?”
Or they’d point at Xu Er’lang and say, “Your daughter is beautiful.”
What did this mean? It meant Xu Qi An and Second Uncle had similar facial features.
From a genetic standpoint, the two were blood-related.
“Just joking,” Xu Qi An shrugged. “I’ve never met my birth parents, and I look so similar to Second Uncle.”
“By the way, Auntie, have you ever met my mother?” he asked.
Second Madam replied, “Of course I have. When your mother was pregnant with you, I even took care of her for a while. Your mother was so gentle, unlike you…”
She quickly stopped herself, almost falling into the habit of scolding her nephew.
“What about your older brother?” Xu Qi An lowered his head to eat the steamed eggs, observing Second Uncle from the corner of his eye.
Second Uncle was taken aback for a moment before he reacted. He said irritably, “Then you’d be my father.”
After a brief recollection, he said, “Your grandparents died early. We brothers grew up relying on each other. Your father was more talented than me, but unfortunately, he died in the battle at Shanhai Pass.”
Xu Qi An didn’t ask anything more. He quickly finished his meal, left the five hundred bolts of fine silks and satins in the main residence, and returned to his small courtyard, carrying the box full of gold ingots.
Keeping the gold at home wasn’t safe. So many colleagues at the night watchmen’s office had witnessed it in the afternoon. If any of them harbored ill intentions and tried to steal it, it would only endanger Auntie and his sister.
“Wei Yuan said that for a long time, he would assign night watchmen to secretly protect and monitor the area around the Xu residence, to prevent Earthly Dao priests from seeking revenge. This would also deter any night watchmen with malicious intentions…” Xu Qi An leaped over the high wall and stored the box in the Book of Earth fragment.
…
After bathing, the fragrant Second Madam sat on the edge of the bed, tilting her head as she dried her lustrous black hair with a towel.
Second Uncle sat cross-legged on a small couch nearby, practicing his breathing exercises.
“Practicing day in and day out, and I haven’t seen you produce any flowers,” Second Madam rolled her eyes coquettishly.
Whoosh~~
Second Uncle exhaled a long breath and opened his eyes. Although he felt invigorated after the breathing exercise, there was a deep melancholy in the depths of his eyes.
He had long ago reached the peak of the Qi Refining realm, but no matter how much he practiced, his energy wouldn’t increase. The door to the Spirit Refining realm remained firmly closed.
“My lord, if you were to break through… to the next realm, would you get promoted?” Second Madam arched her full chest and stretched her waist.
Xu Pingzhi grunted in affirmation, “Naturally.”
Second Madam finished drying her hair, took off her embroidered shoes, and sat sideways on the bed, crossing her long legs. She hugged a pillow to her chest and complained, “That rascal Xu Ning Yan has become so smug. If it weren’t for the silks and satins and the house in the inner city, I wouldn’t put up with him. I’d curse him till the cows come home…”
As she spoke, she sighed, “He’s grown up without us noticing.”
She remembered when she first took him from her husband’s hands, he was no bigger than a little kitten.
“Knock knock knock…”
There was a knocking at the door, followed by Xu Qi An’s voice: “Second Uncle, I forgot to tell you something.”
Second Madam was startled and quickly lowered the bed curtains, shrinking into the quilt.
Xu Pingzhi got up and said, “Let’s go to the study.”
“No need, Second Uncle. Just come out. I’ll say a few words at the door and then leave,” Xu Qi An said.
Second Madam hugged the quilt, eavesdropping from behind the bed curtains. The uncle and nephew spoke in hushed tones for a few moments before her husband returned, closing the door with a snap.
“What did he say? Did he secretly give you some private money?” Second Madam poked her head out from behind the curtains, glaring at Xu Pingzhi.
Suddenly, she froze, noticing her husband’s slightly reddened eyes and the moisture in them.
“My lord?” Second Madam called out, at a loss and confused.
“I’ve finally found hope…” Xu Pingzhi closed his eyes and said softly, “Hope for the Spirit Refining realm.”
Second Madam pressed her red lips tightly together.
…Was it Ning Yan?
…
Xu Qi An returned to his small courtyard. His intuition seemed to stir, and he paused for a few seconds at the door before gently pushing it open.
He walked to the table as usual, lit a candle, and the slender flame blossomed into a dim yellow glow, chasing away the darkness and casting an orange hue over the room.
On the bed sat an old Taoist priest with graying hair. Though it was held in place by a Taoist hairpin, stray strands still fell in disarray.
His features were deeply etched, his expression serene.
“You’ve come,” Xu Qi An greeted with a smile.
“I have,” Golden Lotus Taoist nodded, returning the smile.
“You shouldn’t have come,” Xu Qi An said gravely.
Golden Lotus Taoist asked in surprise, “What do you mean? Didn’t we agree to meet secretly today?”
…No, I was just playing with a trope. Ever read Gu Long’s novels? Xu Qi An shrugged, “Just joking with you, Taoist.”
“How’s the investigation of the Sangbo case going?” Golden Lotus Taoist didn’t mind. After all, everyone has their quirks, and the members of the Heaven and Earth Society all have strong personalities.
Xu Qi An pondered for a moment before saying, “This case is extremely complex, involving too many factions. In my investigation so far, I’ve found many clues, but they’re chaotic. To be honest, in all my years as a poli… constable, I’ve never encountered such a tricky problem.”
We usually rely on surveillance cameras! He added mentally.
He then shared all the clues he had gathered and his deductions with the Golden Lotus Taoist.
Since joining the Heaven and Earth Society, he and the Golden Lotus Taoist had established a basic level of trust. He felt the Taoist would make a good ally. Moreover, the Sangbo case didn’t seem to have any direct connection to the Golden Lotus Taoist.
Well, if his escape to the capital for refuge was just a front, and he was actually laying the groundwork for the Sangbo case, and he was also the one who silenced Magistrate Zhao, then that would be a real bombshell!
Xu Qi An thought wryly, now seeing everyone as a potential villain, everyone as a cunning old fox.
“You suspect the Northern Border King is the mastermind, that he’s reached an agreement with the demons in the north and the Shaman Cult in the northeast, attempting to usurp the throne?
“So he destroyed Sangbo County to release the First-generation Judicial Commissioner?” Golden Lotus Taoist furrowed his brow.
“What does the Taoist think?” Xu Qi An asked in return.