Jing Hengbo raised her eyes to look at the hand pressing on her sleeve. The palm was fair, with distinct knuckles, delicate skin, but the knuckles and palm sides had considerable calluses.
A martial artist from a noble family.
She reached this conclusion, but before she could withdraw her hand, Nan Jin suddenly raised her hand and slapped away that person’s arm—the person grabbing Jing Hengbo’s sleeve had slightly brushed against Nan Jin’s elbow.
Her strike was swift and heavy, without mercy. Caught off guard, the person’s arm crashed heavily into the counter with a crack, actually splitting the counter in half. The shopkeeper cried out, but the sound wasn’t so much distress as surprise and unease.
Accompanied by the crash and cry, a large group of people surged in, led by someone angrily shouting, “Who dares lay hands on our young master!”
Jing Hengbo looked back—good heavens, over ten attendants had flooded in, while the shop’s original customers had somehow all slipped away.
Clearly not an ordinary noble family’s son.
Behind her, someone spoke with thin anger, “What arrogant woman dares strike and injure people at will?”
Nan Jin naturally paid no attention, busy stuffing the pearl earrings into her pocket, regardless of whether she’d paid, while the shopkeeper watched helplessly, wanting to intervene but not daring to, fearing this cold female lunatic would smash the counter again over any disagreement.
Jing Hengbo first tossed out an ingot of silver, saying, “Money for the earrings and counter repair fees,” then turned to the young man, “What frivolous scoundrel dares molest decent women at will?”
Only then did she clearly see the youth before her. Medium height, slightly dark complexion, with features that could be called handsome, or were already quite handsome, but to Jing Hengbo who had seen countless beautiful men, naturally only counted as ordinary.
However, his clothing and accessories were worth no less than a hundred gold pieces—that was rather extraordinary.
The young man slightly raised his eyebrows, glanced at Jing Hengbo, his gaze lingering particularly on the exceptionally bright and full red lips under her bamboo hat. The anger in his eyes suddenly vanished, replaced by three parts interest as he smiled, “Molest? I was merely trying to stop the lady from paying.”
“Oh?” Jing Hengbo also raised an eyebrow. “I fancy something and prepare to pay. On what grounds do you interfere?”
“Because I’m the true owner of these earrings.” The young man smiled even more smugly. “These earrings were ordered by my younger sister. She asked me to collect them. If you want to buy them, wouldn’t that be forced purchase?”
Jing Hengbo’s gaze turned to the shopkeeper. “Why didn’t the merchant mention this earlier?”
The young man stretched out, leisurely leaning on the counter, tapping the wooden board with a smile, “Perhaps he forgot? Miss Fang of the Fang family ordered sea pearl earrings at your Longxiang Records—wasn’t that just three days ago?”
The shopkeeper, meeting his smiling gaze, had already wrinkled his face like a bitter melon, eyes dodging as he stammered, “…This… that… Originally it was indeed ordered by Miss Fang… but…”
“But she changed her mind and refused it, and now you’re interfering again.” Jing Hengbo continued, “I say, Young Master Fang…”
“I’m not surnamed Fang. Miss Fang is merely my cousin. I’m surnamed Yu,” the young man smiled, interrupting her words and raising his eyebrows at her.
“Very well, Young Master Yu.” Jing Hengbo’s gaze shifted slightly, suddenly noticing the shopkeeper’s face turn pale as a sheet, seemingly gasping, while others also looked somewhat unnatural. But she swept past this without paying much attention, feeling inexplicably irritated, saying flatly, “You clearly don’t want the earrings, so why must you obstruct here? Haven’t you heard that good dogs don’t block the road?”
“Insolence!” Those dozen burly attendants immediately drew their swords and charged forward, “Ignorant common woman, how dare you insult our young master…”
“One dog became a pack of dogs.” Jing Hengbo smiled sweetly.
Young Master Yu raised his hand, stopping his followers’ clamor, then also smiled, “You have great courage and intelligence. I’m increasingly curious about you. You say I don’t want the earrings—then guess what I do want?”
“You want to see my face.” Jing Hengbo blinked. “You’ve been pondering this for quite a while, haven’t you, comrade? Just now, pretending to talk with the shopkeeper, what were your fingers doing trying to lift my bamboo hat?”
Young Master Yu was stunned for a moment, then threw back his head and laughed loudly, “Good! Good! Straightforward enough! I’ve seen many women of Yu Kingdom—no, of Dahuang—but never encountered such a rare treasure!”
While laughing heartily, he waved his hand and said to the shopkeeper, “All the ornaments sold in your shop today—I want them all. Bring them over first.”
The shopkeeper was both shocked and delighted, hurriedly calling his assistants to package the goods. Jing Hengbo folded her arms in her sleeves, smiling as she watched, her fingers touching the divination pearl in her sleeve pouch, suddenly feeling it seemed a bit hot.
Her heart stirred with surprise and joy—was the divination pearl changing?
For the past half year of searching, and more than half a month of travel, the divination pearl had never shown any movement, always like a cold, bloody eye, indifferently facing her earnest hopes.
Was it changing now?
She couldn’t determine whether the pearl’s heat came from body warmth or other reasons, nor could she be certain what the heating represented. Yu Chun hadn’t told her that the divination pearl would heat up when showing abnormalities.
She gripped it tightly, maintaining her smile, not rushing to take out the pearl but first scanning the shop interior and exterior.
The shop now had no outsiders except the shopkeeper and a few assistants, herself and Nan Jin, Young Master Yu and his dozen followers. Though crowded, nothing seemed particularly special.
There were more people outside, all passersby attracted by the situation here to watch the excitement. Through gaps in the crowd, she could still see several stalls and eateries across the street—eateries selling braised pork elbow with lamb noodle soup, and a front stall seemingly selling spicy stir-fried rice cakes and wontons, with crowds of people eating and drinking there, pedestrian traffic flowing like crossing fish, but however she looked, none resembled Gong Yin.
By the time she withdrew her gaze from inside and outside the shop, boxes large and small had already been stacked before her, all with open lids, precious light emanating, jade lustrous and pearls bright, illuminating everyone’s eyes with sparkling light.
Some women watching outside let out soft gasps—a room full of jewelry, everywhere silk and satin, was the greatest temptation women couldn’t resist.
Young Master Yu displayed a most perfect smile, his fingertips gently pushing the boxes forward, with equally perfect posture and expression saying, “A hundred measures of bright pearls, a thousand pieces of jade green, seeking to meet the beauty’s true countenance.”
Spring breeze brushed the railings, pearls and jade gleamed—he smiled with elegant grace.
Envious murmurs grew louder, more people crowded over, and traffic in all directions seemed somewhat congested.
“A fine tale! A fine tale!” An pedantic scholar outside loudly praised, “A thousand gold pieces just to see a beauty’s face—this act could be passed down as a romantic tale!”
Others loudly scoffed, “Nothing but spendthrift behavior! Careful lest when the bamboo hat lifts, you find an ugly woman!”
Laughter arose from all sides. The “ugly woman” referred to Dahuang’s historically famous “half-faced ugly woman,” supposedly with one half of her face charming and seductive, the other half ugly as a demon.
Jing Hengbo smiled as she stared at Young Master Yu opposite her, her expression focused and eyes bright, making anyone who saw her think she too had been moved by such grand gestures without exception.
No one knew she was tightly gripping the divination pearl, truly feeling it growing hotter.
This pearl seemed to have begun changing from the moment Young Master Yu started pursuing and flirting with her.
Could this pearl have special properties Yu Chun didn’t understand—connecting with its owner’s feelings?
Was that jealous vinegar jar Gong Yin really here?
At this moment, the divination pearl absolutely couldn’t be taken out for examination—she couldn’t let Gong Yin discover the pearl’s existence.
At this moment, even if she wanted to use Young Master Yu to perform a chase scene, she couldn’t be too obvious. The person who understood her best in this world was Gong Yin—he knew clearly she wouldn’t be moved by a roomful of jewelry, much less attracted to this self-proclaimed romantic Young Master Yu.
She had to remain calm.
She could only try to let Young Master Yu misunderstand and do something.
Though her fingers trembled uncontrollably in her sleeve pouch, her face bloomed with a bright smile as she lowered her head to carefully examine those ornaments. Others couldn’t see the excitement in her eyes, thinking she was moved by the dazzling jewelry.
Young Master Yu’s expression showed slight smugness mixed with slight disappointment. Seeing Jing Hengbo smile without speaking, only admiring the jewelry, he finally couldn’t resist leaning forward to lift her bamboo hat, “How about it?”
Jing Hengbo happened to raise her head at that moment, smiling, “Very beautiful.”
This head raise perfectly avoided Young Master Yu’s fingers. He was slightly stunned, then his gaze touched her slightly lifted lower face—skin bright as fresh snow, red lips like peonies on snow, rarely seen rich and tender beauty. At this angle they seemed slightly pursed like a new flower about to bloom, making his heart ripple like willow branches disturbing a calm lake surface.
Unable to help himself, he leaned closer, using his body to push that table full of boxes toward her, his voice softer, “Which do you like most? Shall I put it on for you? Or would you prefer I help you choose? Actually, in my view, even the finest jewelry in this room could barely match you.” Speaking, he casually picked up the most luxurious piece—a golden phoenix holding pearls step-shake hairpin full of emeralds and topaz, smiling, “Opening the cold mirror’s jade case, hanging step-shake pearl hairpins, dressed only fearing dawn, more timers urge spring nights… Let this phoenix holding pearls adorn the beauty’s fragrant temples.”
Speaking, he again tried to lift her bamboo hat.
…
Nine Holes Street was Yu Kingdom’s Linzhou’s liveliest marketplace.
The incident at Longxiang Records attracted half the market’s people, crowds flowing here while those on the periphery couldn’t see what was happening inside but were reluctant to leave. Growing bored from waiting, they all grabbed food nearby.
The lamb noodle soup eatery had opened its awnings, with seven or eight assistants shuttling about inside and outside, sweating profusely. This lamb noodle house was famous for cleanliness—the assistants’ outer garments were actually white. Though not snow-white and inevitably stained with grease, they were washed clean, giving people an impression of rare freshness, thus business was excellent.
The braised pork elbow with rice noodle soup vendor had a different style. The braised elbows were stewed to a deep red shine, piled like mountains on the cutting board, their unique aroma simply deadly. The shopkeeper cutting elbows looked more like a martial arts master, using a knife over three times thicker than ordinary cleavers. His hands moved swift as lightning, instantly and fiercely dividing an elbow into countless pieces, yet could also use that axe-like giant blade and titan-like palms to slice elbow pieces thin as willow leaves and paper. The elbow slices flew through the air like willow leaves, precisely landing in the rice noodle soup of customers who’d ordered sliced elbow meat.
The spicy stir-fried rice cake and wonton stall directly opposite Longxiang Records was the smallest establishment. Three people worked that stall—a young girl stir-frying rice cakes, an old woman making wontons, and an assistant dropping wontons into the soup pot. Wontons flew continuously from the cutting board into the assistant’s strainer, and he only had to tilt the strainer slightly to drop wontons into the boiling water, then lift the strainer and smoothly ladle them into slightly shorter bowls.
People ordering wontons came in endless streams, so that assistant couldn’t leave his stove. In the steaming heat, only his tilted strainer was visible, nearly motionless.
…
The divination pearl in her sleeve grew even hotter.
Jing Hengbo’s hand finally withdrew from her sleeve pouch, quickly accepting the step-shake hairpin. Ignoring Young Master Yu’s slightly stunned expression, she turned it around examining it, saying, “Truly beautiful.” Raising her hand, she inserted it into Nan Jin’s temple.
Nan Jin had been keeping her hand in her sleeve, busy feeling her pearls. Suddenly having a step-shake inserted by Jing Hengbo, she hurriedly reached up to pull it out, throwing the step-shake onto the table like a rag with a disgusted expression, “Vulgar!”
Surprised sighs came from outside. Without looking up, Jing Hengbo knew Young Master Yu’s complexion must be “azure waiting for misty rain.”
Her hand entered her sleeve—the divination pearl’s heat seemed to have decreased slightly?
At this moment her heart bloomed with joy, even her eyes seemed to glow. She stared intensely at the iron-faced Young Master Yu with bright eyes and smiled charmingly, reaching into her bosom to feel around, casually pulling out a small denomination bank note and tossing it onto the high pile of boxes, pushing that pile of boxes toward Young Master Yu.
Young Master Yu, about to get angry, stared at her in amazement.
“Very coincidentally, you’re interested in my face, and I’m quite interested in your physique. You want to see my face, I want to see you stripped naked.” Jing Hengbo smiled like a blooming flower. “You pay a thousand gold to buy my face reveal, I’ll pay a thousand gold plus an ounce to buy your flesh reveal. How about it?”
…
The street in front of Longxiang Records grew more and more crowded.
Suddenly loud exclamations came from inside, as if something very surprising had happened, making those outside who couldn’t see or hear even more desperately curious, rushing toward here, making business at several stalls even more prosperous.
Voices rose like a marketplace, so some low conversations hidden in the human voices went unnoticed.
“…The atmosphere of human life—is this what human atmosphere is like?”
“What atmosphere, I only feel foul air!”
“Whether atmosphere or foul air, since our elders require us to come experience it, we must endure it.”
“How much longer must we walk this path? Keep walking forever? Wouldn’t it be better to find a utopia and live in seclusion like before?”
“I don’t think so. We’ve been secluded long enough, imprisoned long enough. Finally getting out, shouldn’t we see more of these great rivers and mountains?”
“What if we see them and want them?”
“That’s not impossible either.”
“Let’s solve the immediate problem first. So what if we travel the whole world? Is there anywhere in this world we cannot go?”
“Sigh, what a greasy life! Really disgusting.”
“Business is good.”
“What about the money earned—so dirty, so much, who’s keeping it today?”
“I don’t want it.”
“I don’t want it either.”
“Get lost.”
…
The crowd surged so violently that people from nearby tea houses and restaurants also poked their heads out to look.
Fifty steps diagonally across the street, at the most famous and luxurious “Heavenly Fragrance Residence” restaurant, second-floor private room windows suddenly opened, several heads poking out, one of them loudly instructing the followers waiting downstairs, “That braised elbow over there looks very fragrant. Ah De, have someone bring one over and slice it for us to see.”
People below loudly agreed and went to handle it. Those heads didn’t withdraw, one of them looking at the crowd over there, “Eh, Fourth Young Master said he was going for a stroll, why hasn’t he returned?”
Another said, “There are strangely many people over there, could there be trouble?”
Another said, “Trouble doesn’t matter, surely no one would dare oppose Young Master Yu.”
Someone continued, “Indeed. Who would dare provoke the Yu family imperial surname? Besides, Young Master Yelu is here too. In Linzhou territory, some might not recognize Yu Kingdom royalty, but no one would dare disrespect the Yelu family, right?”
A slightly cold voice said, “Exactly. However, it’s best not to say such things in front of Young Master Yu.”
Everyone agreed submissively. That last speaker, Young Master Yelu, said coolly again, “Go find Young Master Yu. Don’t let anything really happen—first, it would be hard to explain to the royal family; second, my Yelu family has important matters recently and cannot have complications.”
Everyone fell silent. Someone whispered, “Could it be about the eldest young master’s matter…”
Young Master Yelu snorted, and the speaker immediately stopped. After a moment’s quiet, Young Master Yelu said coolly, “The escort convoy has reached Linzhou territory. Two thousand three hundred twenty-eight people—of which two thousand three hundred twenty-seven who want to live have only these two days left.”
…
As soon as Jing Hengbo’s words left her mouth, a roar arose outside the shop, but inside it suddenly became silent as death.
Young Master Yu’s expression could no longer be called “azure waiting for misty rain” but had become “black clouds pressing down on the city.”
He stared fixedly at Jing Hengbo—those red lips under the bamboo hat still curved in a smile, rich and beautiful as peony petals, seemingly completely unaware how shocking and unconventional her words were.
He slowly straightened his body, sleeves moving without wind—clearly preparing to strike.
But Jing Hengbo remained leisurely, adjusting her bamboo hat properly and beckoning to Nan Jin. The two women, acting as if no one else existed, turned and walked away.
“Stop!”
Jing Hengbo acted as if she hadn’t heard, her fingers continuously gripping the divination pearl in her sleeve pouch. The pearl was no longer hot, and before her lay a sea of people.
She suddenly looked up, shouting excitedly toward the crowd beyond, “Ah, Little Shu Shu! My dear Little Shu Shu, how did you come here too!”
People looked at her in bewilderment while she concentrated on feeling with her fingers.
The divination pearl seemed to heat up.
She abruptly turned her head, looking toward those food stalls.
“Little Shu Shu!” She pointed forward, shouting loudly.
Everyone turned their heads in unison, even Young Master Yu and his men charging from behind were stunned.
Taking advantage of this moment, Jing Hengbo quickly opened her sleeve and peeked inside.
At the top of the divination pearl, the red line bent but wasn’t moving.
The person was basically stationary?
At this moment the crowd was surging, everyone pushing and shoving, with no one making movements to leave their original position, except for…
“Stop!” Young Master Yu’s cold shout rang out behind her, cold wind striking toward her shoulder.
She flashed aside, dodging the attack, smiling, “How about a bet? I’ll give you three chances—if you catch me within three tries, I’ll apologize and agree to all your demands. If you can’t catch me, you apologize and agree to all my demands. How about it?”
“Once will be enough!” Young Master Yu’s voice and person arrived together.
“Aiya, help!” Jing Hengbo flailed her arms and lunged out, diving toward those food stalls.