CH 46

Whilst Ah Mu’s uncle was still gazing at Ah Mu in shock, Zhao Surou’s whip lashed out, and the uncle quickly raised his sword to block. The two weapons clanged loudly upon impact.

Chen Ziqi pulled Ah Mu and continued to run. “Go!” he shouted at the group of people outside the gate. 

“I’m afraid we won’t be able to leave any more,” Wu Bujian said, his face even more dejected than usual.

“Keep quiet,” Tu Buxian said, landing a punch on his shoulder.

“We are the Lushan Sect’s second generation of disciples. And you are?” the young-looking leader asked, stepping forward.

Ah, so these people were from the Lushan Sect. Chen Ziqi retracted his gaze and rolled his eyes inwardly. 

The Changjian Sect was affiliated with the Lushan Sect, and now that the former had been bullied, they had asked the Lushan Sect to back them up. These Lushan Sect people were obviously here to help the Changjian Sect disciples. It probably wasn’t too dangerous to continue to remain here whilst the Lushan Sect settled the matter with the Suxin Sect, but if Zhao Surou mentioned wanting to take Cheng Jiazhen with her, there might be conflict again.

The Suxin Sect’s people seemed to be very intent on taking Cheng Jiazhen back with them. It was best to just leave now, in case anything unexpected happened.

Thinking this, Chen Ziqi put on a pitiful expression. “We are residents of the Capital, and we came to Lu City to seek help from our relatives. We didn’t think we would meet these Suxin Sect xian’gu and be detained by them. Thankfully, a hero in a blue outfit helped us out. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to get away,” he said.

When the Lushan Sect people heard this, their enmity toward Chen Ziqi immediately decreased, and the leader re-sheathed his sword. However, a disciple standing next to the leader was still suspicious of them. “Since when has the Suxin Sect ever kidnapped or robbed people? Why didn’t they let you go?” he asked.

Chen Ziqi lowered his head, blushing deeply as if he were extremely embarrassed. “That aunty over there saw that my brothers and I were very handsome, and said she wanted to bring us back to the Suxin Sect…”

“Ah…” the Lushan Sect people all exclaimed as one. They looked closely at Chen Ziqi and Chen Zimo. Chen Ziqi had the delicate features of a real beauty, and Brown Berry also had handsome features, even if he wasn’t as good-looking as Chen Ziqi.

The Suxin Sect was indeed full of unmarried old women…

In that moment, Chen Ziqi won the sympathy of everyone present. 

Chen Ziqi clasped his hands in their direction, then got on his horse. Berry Brown was injured, so he asked Wu Bujian to drive the horse carriage that Chang Er was in. He wanted to quickly get out of here. They initially headed for Lu City, but changed direction and went to Jianyang City instead because he was afraid that the Suxin Sect would look for them in Lu City.

“Shixiong, we’re letting them go just like that?” a young Lushan Sect disciple asked.

“Xiao Shishu was the one who let them go. It should be fine,” the leader said.

“Shixiong, I still have a question,” the young disciple said, unable to contain his curiosity. He had a very perturbed expression on his face. “If they’re kidnapping them for that purpose, then what’s up with that baldy?” Even if one ignored the fact that Wu Bujian looked like he was permanently dull and depressed, Tu Buxian’s gleaming bald spot was just impossible to miss; who would find that attractive?! 

“Perhaps… some people have that sort of fetish…”

“Oh.”

Chen Zimo had suffered some internal injuries, but thankfully, they were not very serious. He leaned against the carriage wall, silently working his qi to heal himself.

“You unfilial creature! You filthy beast! This is how you repay me for all those years of care?” Cheng Jiazhen spat. She was sitting in a corner of the carriage and glaring at Chen Zimo as she raged. She had originally thought that leaving the palace meant that she would get back her freedom, and would be able to rely on this “son” of hers to live a comfortable life as a Taifei. She hadn’t thought that Chen Zimo would make her eat cold food, drink cold water and sleep rough in the open. When Chen Zimo looked at her, his eyes were cold and unfeeling, as if he were looking at a complete stranger. In contrast, he treated that lowborn Chang Er like his own mother. 

“This is – what’s the saying again? You reap what you sow. He’s just treating you the same way you treated him as a boy,” Chang Er said, cracking open a melon seed casually. “He’s already very kind to not beat you with a bamboo cane.”

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The city gates weren’t guarded, and people could just walk in and out freely. Then again, there weren’t many people who came here. 

Chen Ziqi thought that since his fief was very far from the Capital, it might be as chaotic as Jiuru Town. However, when he stepped into the city, he was immediately disabused of this notion. The whole of Jianyang City was quiet, almost lifeless. There weren’t even any shops open on the main street. It was impossible to create chaos even if you wanted to.

After walking down half the street, Chen Ziqi finally saw two smithies.

“Old Uncle, why is it that Jianyang is deserted?” Chen Ziqi asked the blacksmith who was hammering hard at a piece of metal in front of the shop.

“Keep walking on, and there’ll be people,” the blacksmith said, looking up at him. “Are you here to buy a sword?” 

Chen Ziqi shook his head, then continued walking on. There were indeed many shops in this part of the street, but… they were all smithies! There were no restaurants or brothels, and there was only one dilapidated guest house. The people on the street were all dirty-faced and had wooden expressions.

Jianyang City was near a number of sects in the Sword Alliance. Everyone wanted to become a good swordsman in the hopes of being accepted into a good sword sect. The ones who couldn’t practice swordsmanship went to work in the farms affiliated with the sword sects so that they could earn a bite to eat.

“The cities where martial arts sects are in power are mostly all like this,” Chen Zimo said, leaning on the carriage door and holding his chest. He looked to be in pain. “Lu City is very poor as well.”

The problem with the empire’s obsession with martial arts was that nobody wanted to be farmers, and most people were very poor. As a result, every year, the taxes and tributes could not be collected in full. The Imperial family was becoming poorer and poorer, whilst the major martial arts sects were becoming richer and richer. 

The one bright spark on Chen Ziqi’s horizon was that the Imperial Court had already built his mansion in Jianyang City. The instructions had been given a year ago at the time Jianyang had been allocated as Chen Ziqi’s fief. At least, he and his companions wouldn’t be reduced to sleeping on the streets tonight.

The signboard above the main gate read “King Jian’s Mansion” in large gold letters, and two stone lions guarded the gate, one on each side. It certainly had the look of a mansion. A servant boy was sweeping in the front yard, and when he saw them, he stared blankly for a moment before throwing down his broom and going into the house to report their arrival.

“Wang ye, Niangniang!” Fuyuan and Fuxi greeted them in high spirits. They had left for Jianyang City before Chen Ziqi and Chang Er so as to get the mansion ready for their arrival.

The mansion was fairly well-appointed. The things that Chen Ziqi and Chang Er used in the Imperial Palace had all been brought over. The palace maids couldn’t be brought out of the palace, so Fuyuan had taken the initiative to buy a few young girls to serve as maids. The Imperial Court had given them twenty guards as was customary, and the whole mansion was quite a lively place with all these people bustling about. 

“Jianyang City is deserted, and this subordinate spent a long time hunting for a place that sold vegetables and other produce,” Fuyuan said. “I finally found one in the outskirts of the city, and that place is actually part of the Changjian Sect’s farmlands. I had a hard time convincing them to sell a bit to us.”

Now that Chen Ziqi had left the palace and set up his own household, he was considered the master now. As such, Fuyuan, who had previously taken orders from Chang Er as her head eunuch, now had to report to Chen Ziqi instead.

“You should first meet the Governor of this prefecture,” Chen Zimo advised. He had half a year’s experience managing his own fief in Lu City, and without anyone to guide him, he’d bungled his way along and suffered quite a bit.

Jianyang City did have a Prefectural Governor in charge of it. Logically, the Prefectural Governor was now his subordinate. He was the King of this area now, and ranked higher than the Governor; all the lands in the fief were now his to manage. 

“Send an invitation to the Prefectural Governor. Ask him to come and see me tomorrow,” Chen Ziqi said to Fuyuan.

“Certainly.” Fuyuan instructed a servant to write out the invitation and sent one of the guards to Jianyang Mansion with it.

Chen Ziqi originally thought that becoming a King meant that he could live a comfortable life, but now that he’d seen this impoverished fief of his, he started to worry.

The Kings of the Taizong Emperor’s time were all highly-skilled martial artists and commanded fearsome armies. The sects around the fief all had to pay tribute to the King of the area. However, right now, he even had difficulty getting a small sect to sell him some cabbages… 

The next day, the Prefectural Governor came to visit.

The Prefectural Governor’s name was Ceng Shan. He was a scholarly-looking man around forty years of age, and he was born in the Duanjian Sect. It was pretty funny – Jianyang got its name because it was located between the territory of two sects, one called Changjian Sect, and the other called Duanjian Sect. The two sects were satellite sects of the Lushan Sect, but because they disagreed on many principles of cultivation, they were at loggerheads and were always duelling with each other.

“The houses on the East Street – those were destroyed when the two sects fought each other last year,” Ceng Shan said, his eyes lowered.

“And you didn’t do anything about it?” Chen Ziqi asked, frowning. 

“What happens in the martial arts world stays in the martial arts world. The government offices only deal with civilian matters,” Ceng Shan said, smiling shamelessly. He clearly felt zero responsibility despite taking no action amidst the destruction of a city under his care. He passed the register of Jianyang residents to Chen Ziqi along with the deeds to the land in the area, then left in a cavalier manner. He didn’t take this fourteen-year-old King very seriously.

A King had to have an army to be taken seriously. But right now, Chen Ziqi didn’t even know how to feed the twenty guards in his residence, let alone raise an army.

“Is he looking down on me?” Chen Ziqi muttered, watching the Governor’s retreating figure with his hands behind his back.

“Yes,” Wu Bujian said bluntly. 

“… …” Chen Ziqi smacked Wu Bujian on the head and left in a huff.

“Well, he asked, and I answered,” Wu Bujian said, scratching his head in confusion.

“I’ve told you many times over. Keep that crow mouth of yours shut,” Tu Buxian said, walking over and giving Wu Bujian a noogie.

“Get lost! Are you trying to make me a baldy like you?” Wu Bujian huffed, slapping Tu Buxian’s hand away. 

Chen Ziqi pored over the register of Jianyang residents. Jianyang had a lot of residents, but the taxes they collected every year were a pitiful sum. The people within the city were mostly blacksmiths and swordsmiths, and those outside the city…

The more Chen Ziqi read, the worse his headache became. He got up and went to look for Chen Zimo to pick his brain.

“Brother Second Prince’s fief is near the Huangshan Sect, and Old Third’s fief is near Yandang Mountain. Old Fourth’s is right next to the Liuhe Sect’s land…” Chen Zimo said, pointing them out in turn on the map.

All the Imperial princes born to mothers of noble birth were allocated fiefs that were near their mother’s sect. In this way, they could scratch each other’s backs and prosper together very quickly. In the very least, the mother’s sect would send some skilled martial artists over to their fief to protect the King. As to the princes without a good family background, they were all tossed into random, far-flung locations that even birds didn’t care to shit in, without any concern for whether they survived or perished. 

“You’re saying I need to first get a strong backer?” Chen Ziqi said, grasping the main point immediately. Kings that had just assumed the position had no real power, and if they didn’t enjoy any protection from a large sect, it was extremely dangerous for them. His own mansion was one such example. A martial arts master could easily break into his mansion as if it were made of paper.

Speaking of strong backers… Dan Yi’s exquisitely handsome face floated up in Chen Ziqi’s mind. Perhaps he should go and beg his Fengyuan gege to send more people to help him?

“You can try my Jiujiu…” Ah Mu said softly, poking his head in through the door.

“What Jiujiu?” Chen Ziqi asked, raising his head to look at him. 

“The swordsman in blue from yesterday,” Ah Mu said hesitantly, as if he wasn’t very sure of what he was going to say next. “I felt that he looked very familiar…”

Ah Mu had not left the palace since he was a very young child. There weren’t many people whom he would recognise outside the palace, and his Jiujiu was probably the only person he would find familiar.

Shortly after Ah Mu mentioned his Jiujiu, the latter really arrived at their doorstep. Three days after their encounter with the blue-clad swordsman, a man presented himself at the King Jian mansion gates seeking an audience. It was the same swordsman who saved them that day at the Temple of the Earth God.

Chen Ziqi was still asleep when Li Yuhan arrived. Wu Bujian knocked on his bedroom door. “Wang ye, that man from the Lushan Sect is here. This subordinate has looked into his background. He is the Lushan Sect Leader’s highly regarded disciple, and his name is Li Yuhan,” he said. 

Wu Bujian’s voice grated on one’s ears. His strong neili and excellent lung power made this even more discordant than it would ordinarily have been.

Chen Ziqi pulled up the blankets, flipped over and hid his head, the better to block Wu Bujian’s voice out.

“Tweet!” A short bird call caused the half-asleep Chen Ziqi to be shocked into full wakefulness immediately. He reached into the blankets and felt about. A warm and fluffy thing was in there! He pulled it out to have a look, and it was the little red bird that he hadn’t seen in a long while.

“Divine chicken!” Chen Ziqi exclaimed happily. He sat up and held the little red bird carefully in both hands. He had actually asked Lan Jiangxue before the latter left the palace whether the divine chicken would still be able to find him after he left for his fief. What had Lan Jiangxue said then? 

“You are the Protector-God’s Chosen One. He will be able to find you no matter where you are.”

Chen Ziqi leaned down and tried to rub his face against the little fluffball, but it refused to cooperate. It turned around and stuck up its fluffy little backside into his face.

“You naughty little creature… eh?” Chen Ziqi was about to flick its bum, but suddenly saw that a long, scarlet tail feather had grown out of that fluffy backside.

It might have only been about as long as a finger, but it was very beautiful. It was very much like a peacock’s tail feather, with fine, soft feathers along the main body and an eye at the end, save that the eye was a pale red colour. The spine of the feather was flexible, and the whole feather swayed with the movements of the little chicken’s backside. When the bird wasn’t moving, the feather was held in a very perky raised position. 

“You’ve grown tail feathers!” Chen Ziqi said, examining the little bird curiously.

“Tweet!” The little red bird was very proud of his tail feather, and strutted back and forth on the blanket, striking different poses to show it off. His dad had said to him before that he had to display his good-looking tail feathers to the person he liked, so that that person would like him back.

Outside the door, Wu Bujian observed the tiny snowflakes floating down from the sky, and started chit-chatting with Tu Buxian. “Since it’s snowing now, the Arcane Sects’ formal visit should have ended. I wonder if the Palace Master will…”

As he was speaking, Tu Buxian suddenly clapped him on the back. 

“What was that for?!” Wu Bujian said, annoyed. He turned around and saw that Chen Ziqi had come out. He was about to say something when he suddenly spotted the red bird head poking out of Chen Ziqi’s clothes.

“Caw!” Wu Bujian squawked in surprise.

—

The author has something to say: Mini-theater 

Birdie Gong: Come, come. I’ll let you see something good

Qiqi: What?

Birdie Gong: (opens his robes) Look!

Qiqi: (covers his face) Omg you disgusting flasher 

Birdie Gong: Asking you to look at my tail makes me a flasher? (⊙v⊙)

Qiqi: Oh, so you were asking me to look at your tail  =.=