The guard didn’t answer, looking troubled.
As a mere guard, how could he dare comment on palace matters?
Xu Qi An didn’t press him. He looked around and said, “Zhong Li?”
“I understand, I’ll return to the Celestial Observation Bureau first,” Zhong Li poked her head out from behind a wall, obediently saying.
“On your way back… will anything unexpected happen?” Xu Qi An asked.
“Let’s… let fate decide,” Zhong Li said nervously.
The guard scrutinized the woman in a linen robe with disheveled hair, feeling that she exuded a pitiable aura that made people want to protect her.
“Clop clop clop…”
Soon, the Bronze Gong returned with the little mare. Xu Qi An stroked her mane, and she nuzzled her master with a snort.
“I’ll give you some luck,” Xu Qi An patted Zhong Li’s head.
She had returned to the Celestial Observation Bureau alone a few times before without incident. Xu Qi An estimated that there might be minor mishaps but no major disasters, and it wasn’t far from here to the Bureau.
At most, it was half an hour’s journey.
Mounting his beloved mare, he rode alongside the guard from Shao Yin Yuan towards the Imperial City.
The guard waved his whip to clear the way, occasionally observing the Silver Gong. This favored official of the Princess maintained an expressionless face, eyes focused on the road ahead. Though silent, his brows betrayed his concern.
Emperor Yuan Jing’s harem must be in chaos now. The Empress, seeking revenge for her brother’s death, would not spare Chen Guifei, no, Chen Fei… And the latter had long harbored resentment towards the Empress, considering her an imaginary enemy for so many years…
“Damn it, why does a lowly Silver Gong like me have to worry about Emperor Yuan Jing’s family affairs? It’s all because you raised your daughter to be beautiful,” Xu Qi An cursed inwardly.
Riding at full speed, they entered the Imperial City. At the palace gates, they were stopped by the Imperial Guards. Lin’an’s guard was allowed to return normally, but he didn’t have the authority to bring others into the palace.
Xu Qi An showed the jade pendant Biaobiao had given him earlier, and immediately an Imperial Guard came over to escort him into the palace.
According to palace rules, when an outside official was summoned into the palace, an Imperial Guard needed to accompany them to ensure they didn’t wander around.
They walked in silence, quickly passing through the palace gates, across the square, through the palace walls, and finally reaching Lin’an’s Shao Yin Yuan.
The Imperial Guard waited outside the main gate of Shao Yin Yuan, while Biaobiao’s guard led Xu Qi An inside. After passing through the front courtyard, they met Lin’an in the main reception hall.
The Second Princess was still wearing an intricate and exquisite red dress, her hair adorned with golden ornaments, agate hairpins, and other luxurious accessories, including a small phoenix crown that didn’t conform to etiquette.
Her round, oval face and enchanting peach blossom eyes remained expressionless as she sat there, like an Eastern version of a Lolita doll crafted by a master.
Seeing her unharmed, Xu Qi An let out a silent sigh of relief: “Your Highness, what’s the matter?”
Lin’an waved her hand, dismissing the guards and her maids, leaving only Xu Qi An.
Biaobiao stared at him for a moment, then suddenly burst into tears, complaining in an aggrieved tone: “Huai Qing wants to kill me.”
…I think I understand now! Xu Qi An sighed.
No wonder, as Emperor Yuan Jing’s most beloved daughter, what crisis could Lin’an possibly face?
So this was the life-and-death matter she spoke of. It’s truly something she would do.
“Did you go cause trouble at the Elder Princess’s place again?”
Biaobiao cried while glaring at him: “What do you mean I went to cause trouble? Explain yourself clearly.”
Xu Qi An rephrased: “Did Your Highness go to Princess Huai Qing’s place to uphold justice again?”
Biaobiao nodded vigorously, sniffling as she said: “That vicious Empress wants to kill my Imperial Consort Mother. I went to reason with Huai Qing, only to find out she’s also black-hearted. She even hit me.”
“Hit you?” Xu Qi An frowned, examining Lin’an closely. “Where?”
“She whipped me with a rattan cane.”
Biaobiao rolled up her sleeve, revealing a section of her delicate, lotus-root-like arm. On the snow-white skin were two faint whip marks.
“How outrageous!”
Xu Qi An was filled with righteous indignation, his anger rising to the heavens. The rain had just stopped at the balustrade, and he raised his eyes to the sky, letting out a long roar. Lin’an’s humiliation was not yet avenged, how could a subject’s hatred be extinguished?
“Your Highness, rest assured. This humble official will seek justice for you and won’t let that Huai Qing off lightly.”
“There’s no need for you to take action…”
Seeing Xu Qi An’s righteous indignation and his attitude of ‘the master’s humiliation is the servant’s death’, Biaobiao was moved and said: “Huai Qing is still a princess after all. If you act on your own, you’ll be shot dead by the palace guards.”
Thank heavens, Your Highness still has her wits about her… Xu Qi An shook his head and said solemnly: “If Your Highness loses even a single hair, it would be a great humiliation for this humble official. Even if I were to be torn to pieces, I would still seek trouble with that Huai Qing.”
Biaobiao nodded slowly, sniffling as she said: “The reason I summoned you to the palace today was for this matter. I’ve been thinking, that I could have resisted at the time, I could have pounced on Huai Qing and scratched her face, but I performed poorly.
“After much consideration, I realized it was because I didn’t have a capable guard by my side. You’ll accompany me to Huai Qing’s Spring Vine Courtyard again.”
…Xu Qi An’s expression froze, feeling like he had lifted a rock only to drop it on his foot.
“Ahem!”
He cleared his throat, “Your Highness, please calm down. Tell me what happened, so I can consider the matter carefully.”
Consider how to quietly slip away… he thought to himself.
Biaobiao then told Xu Qi An in detail about the conflicts that had occurred in the harem after the Fu Fei case ended.
As expected, the Empress despised Chen Guifei and made things difficult for her at every turn. It was only then that everyone realized that when it came to the eighteen martial arts of the harem, the Empress was more proficient than anyone else.
She just hadn’t had the opportunity to use them before.
Every day at dawn, she would make Chen Fei come to pay her respects, then find fault with everything she did. She would instruct her maids to “criticize” Chen Fei on her behalf, making her the laughingstock of the harem.
There was also kneeling as punishment, palm cuffs, and a series of other physical punishments.
“Don’t you think the Empress has a heart of a viper and scorpion?” When speaking of her hatred, Biaobiao slammed her little hand on the table in great anger.
Your mother caused the death of her brother, of course, the Empress would fight your mother to the death, even though the Imperial Brother-in-law deserved to die… Xu Qi An frowned and asked, “Is there anything else?”
“Of course there is. Just yesterday, Imperial Consort Mother suddenly fell ill from poison, at death’s door. The servants from Jing Xiu Palace hurried to call for the Imperial Physician, but who knew, the physician was snatched away by the people from Feng Qi Palace.”
“Ah? Then what happened?” Xu Qi An was startled.
Biaobiao said with lingering fear: “Fortunately, Imperial Consort Mother had some detoxifying elixirs stored in her palace, which saved her life.”
Xu Qi An let out a meaningful “Oh.”
The poisoning was probably Chen Fei’s ruse to frame the Empress. The Empress, having lost her brother, chose to confront her directly, so she had the physician taken away. Chen Fei had no choice but to take out the antidote to save herself.
“How did His Majesty react?” he asked.
“Father Emperor didn’t say anything,” Biaobiao frowned, letting out a forceful huff to express her dissatisfaction.
Hmm, Emperor Yuan Jing must be fully aware of the situation, yet he’s not intervening, just letting them fight… Well, I can’t say he hasn’t done anything, at least I haven’t seen any signs of Lord Wei taking action… If Lord Wei had intervened, Chen Fei might already be dead.
Xu Qi An guessed that Emperor Yuan Jing had secretly warned Wei Yuan.
My women fighting to the death is my business. You, an outside official, are not allowed to interfere!
Xu Qi An thought Emperor Yuan Jing was a scumbag, and that he was much better because he was now actively dealing with the harem fire incident.
Xu Qi An pondered for a moment, then probed: “Does Your Highness know why the Empress is targeting Chen Fei?”
Biaobiao pretended not to hear, a flash of sadness passing through her eyes.
Xu Qi An understood and sighed inwardly.
“Let’s go, I’m going to beat Huai Qing now.”
As she spoke, Lin’an pulled out a rattan cane from under the table.
You’ve already prepared it?!! Xu Qi An was shocked.
“Your Highness, please calm down…”
Just as he was about to persuade her, Lin’an pursed her lips and stared at him: “I know, your heart is actually on Huai Qing’s side.”
“Nonsense!”
Xu Qi An reacted strongly, patting his chest and saying, “Let’s go then.”
The two of them, along with palace maids and guards, headed straight for Huai Qing’s Spring Vine Courtyard.
In the warm morning sunlight, tree branches were sprouting new buds. Huai Qing, dressed in a simple and elegant palace gown, sat in a pavilion holding a book.
Her silhouette was graceful, her posture upright. Her jet-black hair contrasted with the white palace gown, exuding an air of elegant intellectualism.
Xu Qi An and Lin’an stormed in aggressively, but the cool Elder Princess seemed oblivious, continuing to read her book. She only instructed her guards in a flat tone:
“If any irrelevant people disturb my reading pleasure, kill them without mercy.”
Several guards put their hands on their swords and met the intruders aggressively. They didn’t dare to use force against Princess Lin’an, so they directed their hostility towards Xu Qi An.
Princess Lin’an was certainly not an irrelevant person, but this little Silver Gong was a target they could kill without hesitation.
Xu Qi An immediately stopped in his tracks.
Seeing Xu Qi An forced back, Lin’an instantly lost half her courage. Without her loyal dog to back her up, she certainly wouldn’t dare to confront Huai Qing alone.
So she pointed her rattan cane at Huai Qing and scolded in a coquettish voice: “Stinky Huai Qing, come out here.”
“Huai Qing, get out here.”
“Shameless Huai Qing, if you have the guts, come and fight me.”
Princess Huai Qing completely ignored her, engrossed in her book.
A quarter of an hour later, Biaobiao left with Xu Qi An, dejected.
Xu Qi An turned his head to look at Biaobiao, who was frowning and grinding her teeth in frustration. He sighed and said, “Let it go, Your Highness. The gap is too big.”
The gap in intelligence was too big.
Huai Qing had broken the stalemate with a simple order.
This is for the best, it saves me from being in an awkward position later… Princess Huai Qing is truly my considerate little cotton-padded jacket, easily solving the dilemma for me… But you went too far by hitting Lin’an… Xu Qi An thought with relief.
Biaobiao was unwilling to give up, stamping her feet and whimpering, her fiery red skirt swaying.
After escorting Princess Lin’an back to Shao Yin Yuan, playing Five-in-a-Row with her, and telling her stories, it was nearly noon when Xu Qi An finally took his leave.
He was an outside official, and Lin’an was an unmarried princess. They couldn’t spend too much time together, let alone dine together.
“I’ll invite you to the palace to play another day,” Biaobiao said.
For the same reason, she couldn’t frequently summon an outside official into the palace, as it could lead to rumors.
Leaving the palace gates, Xu Qi An retrieved his little mare from the Imperial Guards and rode her out of the Imperial City with a “clop clop clop.”
“The conflict between the Empress and Chen Fei is certainly irreconcilable now. Chen Fei, unable to outmaneuver the Empress herself, will surely instigate Lin’an, using her as a weapon against the Empress.
“According to Huai Qing, Lin’an was even more foolish in her teenage years than she is now. Wherever Chen Fei pointed, she would attack. If Huai Qing doesn’t fight back, she’ll only be bullied. If she does fight back, Lin’an will get beaten, and all of this is exactly what Chen Fei wants to see.
“Because Lin’an is favored, if she’s bullied, Emperor Yuan Jing won’t stand idly by… If Lin’an is bullied again, situations like today will surely recur.
“As a grand sea king, I shouldn’t be led by the nose by fish. I need to think of a way, think of a way…”
Even by the time he returned to the Night Watchmen’s office, Xu Qi An hadn’t come up with a solution. He vented his frustration by slapping his little mare’s rump, blaming her for bouncing so much that it disrupted his thoughts and prevented him from calming down.
After lunch, he took two Bronze Gongs to patrol the outer city. Due to the long distance, they had to ride horses instead of walking.
Xu Qi An was most familiar with the south city. The Xu family’s old residence was in the south, and there was also a health center there, which was Six’s, Heng Yuan’s, territory.
“Ah, I wonder when I’ll be able to recover my passive European emperor skill. I still need to regularly donate silver to Master Heng Yuan for charity…”
Thinking of this, Xu Qi An felt very melancholic.
…
The white jade arena in the south city was built on a riverside square. In just two or three days, its surface was already riddled with scars: footprints from combat gashes from knife cuts, and axe chops.
Two martial artists were fighting in the arena: a muscular brute wielding a black iron staff, and a young swordsman with decent features.
They were exchanging blows back and forth, fighting with great enthusiasm.
Around the arena gathered many spectating commoners and knowledgeable martial artists.
Speaking of weapons, ordinary martial artists had their weapons confiscated upon entering the city, and the yamen would issue a ticket. When they were ready to leave the city, they could retrieve their weapons with the ticket.
Since the appearance of the arena, the yamen had relaxed its control. Martial artists wanting to duel could apply to retrieve their weapons from the yamen, but they had to return them the next day or face citywide pursuit.
Some young masters and misses from famous sects could keep their weapons based on their sect’s reputation, but if they committed murder or crimes, their sect would be held responsible.
Xu Qi An’s gaze swept across the crowd, but he didn’t spot any high-quality female martial artists.
“Lord Xu, the ordinary people are watching outside. Those with status and position are in the surrounding teahouses and restaurants,” the Bronze Gong explained.
You seem to know a lot, little brother… Xu Qi An immediately scanned the surrounding teahouses and taverns, noticing that there were indeed many spectators on the second-floor viewing platforms.
“Let’s go find a restaurant… that one,” Xu Qi An said, having spotted a particularly beautiful female martial artist.
Just as he was about to step forward, he suddenly felt something hard under his foot. Looking down, he saw it was a purse.
This purse was light green, embroidered with patterns of the same color, featuring an orchid, and had a faint fragrance. It seemed to be a woman’s item.
“?”
Xu Qi An was stunned, thinking, Wasn’t my money-picking buff 404’d by that old geezer Celestial Master?
“Oh, it’s quite heavy.”
Xu Qi An smiled and put it in his bosom, then noticed a child nearby watching him, seemingly frustrated that he hadn’t seen the purse first and someone else had beaten him to it.
“What are you looking at? Whose child are you?” Xu Qi An raised his hand, pretending to hit him. The child immediately turned and ran away in fright.
Xu Qi An laughed heartily, thinking the child was timid, and he had just wanted to buy him a candied haw stick.
Entering the restaurant, he found a table on the second floor and ordered wine and dishes from the waiter. Xu Qi An had no interest in the fighting in the arena and instead squinted his eyes, scrutinizing the female martial artist at the neighboring table.
She wore a pink gauze dress that revealed her fair neck and delicate collarbone. Her clothes were thin, accentuating her ample bosom.
Her clothing style was bold, and her makeup equally exquisite. With flaming red lips and large, bright almond eyes, her features were naturally beautiful, but it was her coquettish and flirtatious demeanor that was most attractive to men.
If Biaobiao was a proper little nightclub queen, this woman was a genuine nightclub empress.
The enchanting woman noticed Xu Qi An’s blatant appraisal but didn’t get angry. Instead, she cast a flirtatious glance his way. The young martial artists at her table all turned to look.
Seeing Xu Qi An’s Night Watchman uniform, they pretended nothing had happened and turned back.
The waiter brought beef, peanuts, mutton, and other snacks to go with the wine, as well as a jar of fine wine.
“Sir, your wine and dishes. Please enjoy.”
“Waiter, bring a jar of ’82 Lafite to that table. It’s on me,” Xu Qi An winked at the enchanting woman.
The waiter didn’t understand and was confused for a moment.
“A jar of Spring Passion.”
This was the most expensive wine in the restaurant.
“Right away.”
Noticing the interaction between Xu Qi An and the “goddess,” the young martial artists felt sour but didn’t dare to vent their anger on a Night Watchman. Instead, they took it out on the waiter, angrily saying:
“Waiter, bring us another five jin of beef.”
“I’m sorry, sir, we don’t have that much beef left.”
“Why can they order two jin, while we, with so many people, can only order one jin?”
The beef was a luxury in this era, usually from old or seriously ill cattle, and slaughter required approval from the yamen. Moreover, business had been extremely good recently, so the restaurant didn’t have much stock. Xu Qi An’s table had ordered two jin.
Unexpectedly, the waiter rolled his eyes, showing the arrogance typical of the capital’s residents: “They are from the yamen. Sir, you must not have looked in the mirror this morning.”
“…”
The two Bronze Gongs laughed heartily: “These fools.”
At this moment, Xu Qi An saw a woman coming up the stairs. Her gaze swept across the hall, then she walked straight to his side, looking down at him aggressively.
“Give me back my purse.”