CH 23

Jing Qi had already frozen up on the spot by that time, and Wu Xi then finally showed some reaction — apparently he had realized those words that had just come out from his mouth didn't sound quite right. Thus, he earnestly tried to explain: "I am not saying that you look like a woman. I am just complimenting on your good looks."1

The corner of Jing Qi's mouth twisted slightly. He then forced a smile: "I truly thank you for such a compliment."

For some unknown reason, this made Wu Xi feel extremely happy.1

Jing Qi rolled his eyes scornfully and took a seat. He waited until Ji Xiang arrived to serve the tea to Wu Xi before stating: "You came here just in time — there is something important that I want to ask you."

With a look that clearly spelled "I have nothing to hide, I will tell you everything I know", Wu Xi nodded his head: "You can ask."

Jing Qi was slightly surprised — he himself was a skeptical and oversensitive person from the beginning, thus Wu Xi's nature, full of frankness and sincerity, was completely an unsolvable mystery to him. Sometimes it seemed like Jing Qi was just a knave who used his own yardstick to measure the motive of an upright man, but he couldn't help but probe one more time: "Aren't you afraid that I am going to inquire about your South Xinjiang people's secret techniques or something similar?"

Wu Xi: "Where do you even find the time and the heart to even care about those?"

Jing Qi agreed wholeheartedly, then thought in astonishment, so it turned out that this little steelyard weight is someone who understands me the most. As he was just about to nod, Wu Xi continued: "If you had free time, you would have ran outside to wine, dine, and entertain yourself with all the fun already."4

As a result, that completely shut Jing Qi up. Wu Xi, on the other hand, started to burst into laughter — on his usual serene and composed face, a smile that carried hints of mischief suddenly came into sight, unveiling an exceptionally vivid appearance. Wu Xi then said: "What do you want to know? Ask away."

With that one sentence, Jing Qi immediately felt that he himself was actually the one who had been stirring up trouble for nothing earlier, thus could only put on a helpless smile and finally asked: "The assassins who embraced their death wish and crossed paths with us in that small alley, what kind of people are they?"

Wu Xi was at a loss of words. He gradually gathered back the smile on his face, and after a moment of silence, he finally spoke up: "Those people are called Black Sorcerers. You already know that it is much hotter throughout the year at South Xinjiang where we came from compared to this place. Dense forests stretch across all directions, thick miasma obscures the horizons, and swamps exist all over the land. That place is not small, but its population, in comparison to your Da Qing, is a lot more modest. Venomous creatures are rampant everywhere. In order to deal with them, each of us who lives there knows more or less the trick of using toxins to counteract another, and every family has some secret techniques of sorcery that we don't use on a daily basis. Isn't this the reason why you people are afraid of us?"

Jing Qi pouted: "Don't look at me while saying that. I am not afraid!"

As if wanting to verify what he said was true, the sable let out a couple of little squeaks and entered from the door. After a few steps, it hopped onto Jing Qi's desk, leaving a handful of little pitch-black footprints against the snowy whiteness of the xuan papers (1). Soon afterwards, without giving even a piece of mind about courtesy, it brought the book to its mouth and started gnawing on the pages mercilessly. Jing Qi blurted out an "Ah" and hurriedly picked the sable up by its neck, struggling to "rescue" the book out from its mouth. Then, he took out a handkerchief from his lapel and wiped clean all the muddy claws that were reeling haphazardly in the air. Only then did he go ahead and gently dropped the little sable back to the desk surface, letting it chew on the papers and pen for fun.

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Wu Xi frowned upon seeing that, his voice grew somewhat wintry: "How could this little bastard be allowed to act all impudent at your place like that?"

It was only until then that the sable who had been having an awfully delightful time realized the trouble it was in and slightly shivered, gingerly and timidly stealing a glance at Wu Xi. Then, with its body curled into a ball of fur, the sable opened its mouth, looking back and forth, checking out one person to another with its tiny pair of eyes. Jing Qi smiled cordially and put the little sable in his embrace, rubbing his hand against its chin playfully: "Perhaps this one thinks that it is easier to bully me... Mhm, go ahead and continue about the Black Sorcerers."

Wu Xi then continued: "However, whether it is about the art of sorcery or domestication of poisonous creature, they are all for self-defense and can never be used casually for unjustifiable purposes. In particular, some of the high-level sorcery techniques are extremely vicious; unless it is due to the ruin of one's family and death of their members, these will never be taken out, let alone randomly operate these techniques to harm others for no good reason — that will immediately shorten their lifespan."1

Jing Qi couldn't be more familiar with these sorts of things. The moment the other person mentioned that, he immediately understood that the fundamental problem here was merely the so-called battle for power between the "legitimate" ones and those who follow the crooked, demonic paths. Thus, he asked: "Based on what you were saying, those from that Black Sorcerer Clan are just randomly bringing harm upon others?"

Wu Xi nodded: "I heard that from many years ago, there was a grand sorcerer called Lu Erha, who took in a pair of twins and raised them as young sorcerers. One of them is named E Zhi, the other is Mu Jia Tu. Both were raised the same way and taught the same thing. However, Mu Jia Tu was kind-hearted, but E Zhi became obsessed with black magic and only took his actual studying half-heartedly and perfunctorily. What he liked to do the most was locking himself in his room and tinkering with extremely dangerous items. Naturally, Grand Sorcerer Lu Erha favored Mu Jia Tu slightly more and wanted the latter to be his successor. Jealousy grew in E Zhi's heart, thus he thought of using sorcery to harm Mu Jia Tu. He didn't expect that his incompetence would have resulted in his plan to backfire, causing him to be in the state that was neither human nor ghost. Lu Erha immediately banished him in a fit of anger."

Jing Qi let out a soft chuckle and didn't bother to interrupt, only thinking to himself that this whole matter might have not simply happened back then as told. Legitimacy belongs to the victor — this kind of folklore could only be used to deceive the simple-minded people who lived on remote, isolated lands. In Jing Qi's opinion, it was obvious that Mu Jia Tu possessed a more profoundly scheming mind; meanwhile, E Zhi might have tried to study about too many different things, thus became somewhat obtuse and was framed by the other person to the point of falling into the state that was neither human nor ghost.

Wu Xi continued: "However, E Zhi was not dead. He was stranded in the forest, his heart filled with hatred and resentment; yet he was a capable one, hence established the Black Sorcery Clan, with all of his followers being believers of demonic magic. Consequently, a rule had been brought into effect since then, which is each and every generation of grand sorcerers can only have one successor."

Jing Qi agreed wholeheartedly, musing that this rule was even better — clearly it was not for preventing the children from being spoiled rotten, but to prevent them from slaughtering each other. He then asked: "Do these Black Sorcerers always go around and act all rampant at your place?"

Wu Xi shook his head: "No, they don't. I heard that twenty years ago, there was a very severe clash between us and the Black Sorcerer Clan. The grand sorcerer led his men and defeated the Black Sorcerers, driving them to retreat to the zone of poisonous miasma. The Black Sorcerer Clan has disappeared from the scene for so long, I even thought that they were dead. Who would have thought that..."

Jing Qi contemplated in utter silence, and Wu Xi also didn't disturb him. A moment later, Jing Qi called for Ping An to come in then ordered: "Go to Young Master Zhou's place on my behalf and inquire a bit about the person who is currently overseeing the defense troops stationed at South Xinjiang and find out about their background."

Ping An received the order and took his leave. Clearly, he had been in contact with Zhou Zishu a good number of times as of late, hence he was already used to this kind of work.

Wu Xi couldn't help but ask: "Is it Zhou Zishu?"

Jing Qi laughed: "It's him. If you want to inquire about anything, just go find him. You can never go wrong with that."

Wu Xi nodded his head and stopped with the questions; then, he looked up and saw the color of the sky, finally asking : "Are you going to take a nap? Then, I am heading back."

Jing Qi gave a few dismissive waves of his hand: "Not sleeping. I am taking a quick trip outside later. You have something to do after going back?"

Wu Xi nodded his head: "I have martial arts training."

Jing Qi shot a glance at him: "Don't martial arts people always diligently practice in the morning or at night? Why are you training at this time?"

Wu Xi answered: "I also practice in the morning and at night. Unless you ask me to go outside with you, I use the entire day to practice, except for the four hours of sleeping."

Jing Qi gaped at Wu Xi with wide eyes for a good moment, flabbergasted and speechless. He then suddenly felt ashamed of his own lacking; it wasn't until a while later that he finally broke the silence with a dry cough: "You... Ahem, why didn't you tell me sooner? If I had known this would take up your time and delay your diligent training, I wouldn't have asked you to go out to play."

A smile grew on Wu Xi's face: "It's nothing. When you ask me to go outside with you, I can see a lot of things that I haven't encountered before, and that also makes me happy."

Jing Qi couldn't help but ask: "Why are you putting all of these efforts to practice like that?"

This time, Wu Xi only answered with a smile. Jing Qi noticed that this child seemed to have grown taller lately, the contours of his face had become more robust and defined, and his physique had already been close to resemble that of a grown man. In those intensely dark eyes, there was this certain, unusual kind of staunchness — the shadows of indignation and resentment at the beginning were almost no longer in sight; that's why the only thing that was left was resolution.

For the first time, Jing Qi realized that one day, this stubborn little guy would no longer stay the creature of the pond, and eventually accomplish great things. Jing Qi heaved a sigh — in the end, he still couldn't help but blurt out the question: "I am going to visit the First Prince's Residence in a bit. Will you join me?"

As expected, Wu Xi immediately froze up at the mention; after a long time, he finally shook his head and walked away in silence.

Jing Qi sighed heavily in his heart, but will the current capital of His Majesty really be able to spare this kind of pure love and hate?

Since the very moment Helian Zhao received Jing Qi's greeting card, he had been mulling over and over again to figure out what in the world this person was coming over here for.

The existence of any friendly relations between him and this Nan Ning Wang was entirely out of the question. After all, when Jing Qi started attending court, Helian Zhao had already married and moved to his own mansion. Occasionally when Helian Zhao entered the palace, he only got a few quick glimpses of the other man: the only impression he had was that Jing Qi was "the third boy's little flunkey", and that was all.

He then turned his head around and told the maid who was standing on the side: "Go and call Butler Zhuo to come here."

Zhuo Silai, the butler of the First Prince's Residence, despite carrying the title butler, he was, in fact, Helian Zhao's most important advisor. With an eight-foot stature (t/n: Chinese feet), Zhuo Silai carried an appearance of an extraordinary and handsome man — when Helian Zhao saw him for the first time, the prince couldn't help but steal a few more glances. What was even more valuable about him was, this Zhuo Silai was not an embroidered pillow that only had looks but no brain — he devised schemes with great ease and was knowledgeable about classics and history. Helian Zhao had thought about soliciting the man, but unfortunately, this person had a previous background as a merchant.

In Da Qing, merchants had always been looked down upon. Because they were considered to be at the very bottom tier in society, the rules specified that descendants of merchant families were not allowed to become an official. As a result, Helian Zhao took Zhuo Silai in as his own advisor.

This person had no shortcomings except one, and that was his somewhat flirtatious and wanton nature. Not only that it was considered nothing major in Helian Zhao's eyes, the latter even often brought this up to tease the other man.

Moments later, Zhuo Silai entered the room. Helian Zhao noticed that for some reason, there were dark circles under this person's eyes, along with the visibly sallow and haggard complexion; thus he asked: "Your complexion doesn't look very good. What's wrong?"

Zhuo Silai opened his mouth to speak but soon faltered; and in the end, he still decided to swallow back the words that had almost escaped from his mouth. Shaking his head, he then answered in a whisper: "It's nothing major. I apologize for having worried Your Highness. You calling me over here, is there something that you want me to do?"

Helian Zhao pushed Jing Qi's greeting card forward and beckoned the other man to take a look. Zhuo Silai took the card, scanned his eyes over the writing extremely fast, and commented in astonishment: "Nan Ning Wang Jing Beiyuan?"

Helian Zhao nodded his head: "Speaking of this person, I am afraid that you have never met him. Well, his look is indeed not bad, perhaps he will catch your eyes."

Zhuo Silai knew that his prince was teasing him again, thus could only force a smile: "Your Highness, it is not like you don't know that I don't have 'that' taste. Why, what is this rare guest coming here for?"

Helian Zhao shook his head, rested his chin on one palm, and narrowed his eyes: "When he comes in a little later, you should stay on the side and observe him. Let's see what is inside this Nan Ning Wang's heart for him to make this visit."

It wasn't until later in the afternoon that Jing Qi had arrived. Of course, he didn't just come empty-handed — there was also an envelope that carried a silver ticket (2) worth one thousand liang (3). Moreover, he even put the silver ticket down right in front of Helian Zhao's face in the most blatant manner.

Helian Zhao was astounded. He neither took it nor pushed it away: "Your Royal Highness, what do you mean by this?"

Jing Qi's face tautened, no longer carrying any trace of the usual courtesy and gentleness. Without holding back, he stated: "Your Highness oversees the Ministry of Revenue. Beiyuan has no other intention except to use my money and buy a person from you."

Watching this young man whose wrath was anything but meager, Helian Zhao first off invited him to sit down, then ordered his people to come and serve tea. Finally, he said with a smile: "What is it? Did someone from our Ministry of Revenue offend Your Royal Highness? If a court official does wrong, there are already the nation's laws and regulations to discipline. Your Royal Highness brought over a-thousand-liang silver note, slammed it in front of my face, and even demanded to buy a human life... Hey, Butler Zhuo, I don't think we do this kind of business at our place, right?"

Zhuo Silai nodded his head in agreement.

When Helian Zhao turned his head back to look at Jing Qi, the latter's face had already turned pale, spilling words of justification in insanely fast speed: "Your Highness! That Cai Jianxing, Chief Minister of Revenue, is mediocre and useless, he can't do anything good. Not only does he deceive everyone above and below him, he also... indulges his perpetrator son. What is the use of even keeping such an insect like that in court? I know that Your Highness is a sensitive person who doesn't want to offend others, but this is not..."1

By then, his fine brows were already lined into deep furrows, the afterwords that hadn't yet arrived were already swallowed back inside. He locked his gaze on the ground, wishing that he could just drag Chief Minister of Revenue Cai Jianxing out to flay and swallow the man alive.

Helian Zhao was astounded: although he oversaw the Ministry of Revenue, Cai Jianxing was not his person. This old man was a cunning old fox, the number one expert in sailing with the wind and taking advantage of all situations. He flattered everyone, but absolutely would not get close to and rely on anyone. Helian Zhao saw that feckless Cai Jianxing wouldn't be able to do him any good, but since this person was not being an obstacle that stood in his way, the prince decided to just let him be. Who knew that because of this man, Nan Ning Wang even came to his door.

He narrowed his eyes and studied the young man who was seething with anger on the other side, wanting to see whether it was genuine or just an act, only to find that Jing Qi's grip around the teacup tightened to the point his taut knuckles had turned all white; in that moment, the usual distinguished romantic charm in those peach blossom eyes were already infested with rage, even carrying a faint hint of murderous intent.

Helian Zhao knew that Jing Qi was really angry, but he couldn't fathom the reason why.

Zhuo Silai was indeed the kind of man who frequently wandered to the red-lantern district (4) and blended into the crowds in town: seeing that person's expression, he immediately recalled an interesting rumor that had caused quite a commotion as of late, thus leaned down and whispered into Helian Zhao's ear, simply recounting the clash between Jing Qi, He Yunxing, and Cai Jianxing's son, Cai Yazhang.

Helian Zhao was thrilled the moment he learned about what happened. He then turned around again and faced Jing Qi: "Imperial Father has seen you like his own child since you were little. It is just that Your Royal Highness has already grown up and become more distant after these past few years. Otherwise, you should have also called me big brother. Beiyuan, tell big brother... what is actually going on? Did that kid Cai Yazhang, son of Cai Jianxing, offend you and make you feel unhappy?"

Jing Qi lowered his head and said nothing.

Helian Zhao rejoiced in grandiose deeds — if he didn't have to be concerned about the potential benefits and risks of a relationship, he would certainly be eager to show the other party how capable he was. As Helian Zhao was watching this young man in front of him experience the first awakening of love, thinking about how the other person had to seek and beg him to help venting, even the tone of his voice had become unexplainably more patient. He then asked again: "Is it?"1

Jing Qi nodded his head sullenly, clenching the fist that had been resting on his side: "That despicable scoundrel from the Cai family has really gone too far!"

Just as expected. Helian Zhao gave a few nods and drawled the question on purpose: "How come I heard from other people that you and the Young Marquis had already joined hands to give that Young Master Cai a good beating?"

Jing Qi huffed: "I originally intended to let him off the hook and stopped there. Who knows that little rascal would be foul-mouthed and start spilling curses. I didn't want to follow his footsteps to learn those dirty words. I am afraid these words, once said, will only defile Your Highness's ears."

Helian Zhao nodded and lowered his head to have a sip of tea. All of a sudden, he asked: "Is that girl beautiful?"

Jing Qi first looked up and gawked at the other man without a single reaction; a moment later, the response finally surfaced, and both his face and ears immediately flushed with a shade of pink.6

Helian Zhao bursted into laughter, and it lasted for a long time before he could stop. After that, he pushed the silver ticket back to Jing Qi: "That Minister Cai doesn't know how to properly teach his son, but we also cannot affect public affairs for personal vengeance, am I correct ? If Cai Jianxing is indeed the kind of person who deceives everyone above and below and indulges his perpetrator son just like what you said, without you even having to open your mouth, I will be the first person showing no mercy to him. But court affairs is one thing, and your personal matters is another; we can't let the laws and regulations of a nation to be destroyed because of romantic affairs between men and women, right? Just take this back."

Jing Qi answered in a faltering whisper: "Yes, I understood."

However, instead of retrieving that silver ticket, he only said: "Your Highness has already considered yourself as a big brother. As a younger brother, how can I be so stingy? There is no such thing as receiving back a gift that has been sent. I haven't given the lucky money to the nieces and nephews for the New Year. I just hope that Your Highness wouldn't mind this amount being too little."

A meaningful smile was unveiled on Helian Zhao's face: "If that's the case, it would be disrespectful for me to decline."

----- End of Chapter 23 -----

Translator's note:

(1) Xuan paper (宣紙; pinyin: xuānzhǐ) is the kind of paper used in painting and writing in ancient China+

(2) Silver ticket (银票; pinyin: yín piào) is the banknote in former times with value in silver

(3) 两 (liǎng) is a unit of weight

(4) red-lantern district (烟花巷; pinyin: yānhuāxiàng) is a term referring to red-light district in ancient China