Chapter 60: Chopped Chili Fish Head (Part 11)
Foolish deeds...
Xiao Jinyu sighed silently.
Years ago, when he first took on the responsibility of Chief of Penal Affairs, Xiao Jinyu had realized that his life was destined to be consumed by foolish people and their foolish deeds.
Were those who resorted to illegal means to solve problems not foolish?
Were the deeds committed by these foolish people not foolish?
But in recent years, after successively taking several beloved subordinates under his wing, Xiao Jinyu discovered that even intelligent people occasionally committed foolish acts—sometimes even more self-righteously than the truly foolish.
Jing Yi and his wife were prime examples among his subordinates of this type. From his observations these days, ever since the two married—whether due to something they ate or something they did—their capacity for such deeds had sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain, growing into a dense forest after just a few days apart.
Xiao Jinyu raised his hand again to massage his throbbing forehead and sighed with resignation. "Speak."
Xiao Jinyu had grown accustomed to hearing her report foolish deeds, just as Leng Yue had grown accustomed to seeing his expression—like that of a family cat that had scratched the neighbor's dog. She promptly acknowledged and crisply recounted what had just transpired.
Xiao Jinyu listened quietly while continuously massaging his forehead. Only after Leng Yue finished her concise account did he softly utter, "Hmm."
Boldness was one thing, but protocol was another. Having completed her report, Leng Yue bowed properly according to etiquette. "I await your punishment, Your Highness."
Xiao Jinyu finally looked up at her, his slightly weary voice betraying no trace of anger. "Punishment? Weren't you just asking me to handle the aftermath? How did it become about punishment so quickly?"
Detecting the teasing in Xiao Jinyu's tone, Leng Yue looked up in surprise.
To be frank, her master had never been known for a gentle temperament. If not for his noble status and immense power, his terrible temper alone would have made countless people—both in court and beyond—wish they could strangle him with their bare hands.
This was something Leng Yue had felt particularly keenly during her time serving as his guard.
Normally, after such a mishap, Xiao Jinyu—who always treated evidence with extreme caution—would undoubtedly punish her by making her copy the Diamond Sutra a hundred times. Yet now he actually had the leisure to tease her.
This indicated one thing.
The foolish deed she thought she had committed either wasn't as foolish in Xiao Jinyu's eyes as she had imagined, or she hadn't actually committed it at all.
That she had momentarily lost focus and allowed the letter Xiao Jinyu entrusted to her to turn into a pile of ash was something both Jing Yi and Shenxiu had personally confirmed—beyond doubt.
Then...
"Your Highness," Leng Yue's phoenix eyes widened into cow's eyes, "did I take the copied version?"
Xiao Jinyu picked up his teacup again, took a shallow sip, and said mildly, "If I'm not mistaken, the handwriting in that Korean script should be Jing Qian's."
Leng Yue caught a certain implication in Xiao Jinyu's casual remark and couldn't help being taken aback. "Your Highness, when Jing Qian brought you the letter, didn't he tell you it was his copy?"
Xiao Jinyu shook his head and set down his teacup. Before Leng Yue could ask further, he continued with faint weariness, "Leave the matters of Anguo Temple be for now... There is someone, however, whom I cannot conveniently visit. Ask a few questions on my behalf."
"Please proceed, Your Highness."
Xiao Jinyu lowered his voice slightly. "Ask her why she left the Wise Prince Manor back then, and how she managed to leave."Leng Yue was momentarily stunned before snapping back to reality. "Your Highness... Are you referring to Hua Mei from the Sparrow Nest Brothel?"
Xiao Jin Yu gave a slight nod.
Matters involving the imperial clan were typically handled personally by Xiao Jin Yu to preserve the royal family's dignity. However, being a man of utmost integrity, he never set foot in pleasure quarters. It was as if some woman from his past life had wronged him, for in this life he rarely showed kindness to any woman. Unless they were female prisoners, conversing with women seemed to torture both them and himself.
Leng Yue couldn't bear to see her master suffer, nor could she stand the already ill Hua Mei being tormented by him. Thus she responded promptly. After answering, she remembered Hua Mei and suddenly recalled a question she had meant to ask days ago but kept forgetting.
"Your Highness," Leng Yue glanced at the teacup Xiao Jin Yu had just placed back on the table, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, "This subordinate has something unclear to ask."
Hearing Xiao Jin Yu's soft "Hmm," Leng Yue continued, "Your Highness, what exactly makes the Cheng family's tea so special?"
Xiao Jin Yu seemed taken aback by her serious question. He stared at her for a moment with slightly knitted brows, then instead of answering, leisurely countered, "What exactly makes Jing Yi so special?"
Leng Yue froze, her face instantly flushing crimson.
Unless in court proceedings, Xiao Jin Yu usually spoke with measured restraint. Having made his point, he hadn't expected a response from Leng Yue, forgetting her habit of always answering her superior's questions. Just as he was about to dismiss her, he heard her reply with reddened cheeks in proper manner:
"He's perfect in every way..."
Xiao Jin Yu choked, his face turning slightly pale. Seeing that his hint hadn't landed, he patiently elaborated, "Then why don't I think so?"
Leng Yue looked up in surprise, her gaze falling strangely on Xiao Jin Yu's face as he struggled to maintain a pleasant expression.
"You're a man, after all."
"..."
Xiao Jin Yu suddenly felt he might not be cut out for subtle guidance after all.
His expression cooling effortlessly, Xiao Jin Yu let out a weary sigh. "Leave."
Leng Yue could read the signs - her master was angry, and inexplicably so.
Perhaps she should ask Jing Yi about the tea when she had the chance...
As Leng Yue was about to bow and take her leave, before she could complete the gesture, she sensed someone swiftly crossing the Hall of Dual Perfection's roof, urgently approaching from within.
The intruder possessed no Inner Cultivation, but for Xiao Jin Yu, even a three-year-old child couldn't be taken lightly. Having dismissed his attendants earlier during his conversation with Xiao Zhao Ye, only Leng Yue remained by his side now.
Leng Yue tensed, her long sword slipping from its sheath.
In the time it took for this single movement, the intruder had already flashed into the hall.
Were it not for the strikingly shiny head that caught the sunlight as the person leaped in from outside, Leng Yue's sword would have been at the intruder's throat.
Jing Yi.
Xiao Jin Yu sighed silently.
Who knows what was written in today's almanac...
Jing Yi seemed to have come in great haste. He rushed in headfirst, nearly falling flat on his face as his feet failed to find proper footing. Leng Yue, quick-eyed and deft-handed, sheathed her sword and steadied him in time. Through two layers of monastic robes, she could feel Jing Yi's unusually high body temperature.
Has his fever returned?
Her heart tightening with concern, Leng Yue asked urgently, "What's wrong?"Before Jing Yi could even catch his breath, he hurriedly said to Xiao Jin Yu, "Your Highness... may I borrow something..." Without waiting for Xiao Jin Yu to respond, Jing Yi spotted the brocade box open on the tea table, his gaze falling on the object inside. Delighted, he exclaimed, "This will do!"
As Jing Yi moved to grab it, Xiao Jin Yu snapped the box shut first. Pressing down on the lid with one hand, Xiao Jin Yu said calmly, "No."
Jing Yi’s face immediately fell. "Your Highness... saving a life is worth more than building a seven-story pagoda!"
Xiao Jin Yu looked serenely at the man who should have been dutifully watching Wang Tuo at the temple. "I’ve built enough pagodas already."
"..."
Leng Yue, aware that Jing Yi was running a fever, felt her heart twist into knots. She desperately wanted to pull down his pants to check the wound on his thigh, but the prince’s reception hall was clearly not the place for such an act.
Impatiently, Leng Yue demanded, "Will you speak plainly? What do you need that shabby bottle for?"
The moment the words "shabby bottle" left her mouth, four eyes fixed her with strange looks—as if she herself were a shabby bottle.
Leng Yue froze.
What had she said wrong?
Seeing his wife’s bewildered and slightly wronged expression, Jing Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "This isn’t a shabby bottle... It’s an authentic piece by Porcelain King Zhang Laowu."
Leng Yue stiffened slightly.
She genuinely couldn’t see what was so special about Zhang Laowu’s work. Even if she studied it for three more days, it would still look like a shabby bottle to her. However, the fact that Xiao Zhao Ye—who never set foot in An Wang’s residence—had brought an object crafted by Zhang Laowu before his death was rather intriguing.
While Leng Yue was still processing this, Xiao Jin Yu had also recovered from the shock of hearing "shabby bottle." Contemplating how to provide his valued subordinate with some additional education, he addressed her husband gently, "This is evidence."
Leng Yue’s brow furrowed slightly. Just as she thought.
Jing Yi blinked his bright, fox-like eyes and clasped his hands together toward Xiao Jin Yu. "I swear to Buddha, I’ll only borrow it for one day. If it gets damaged, may I never grow hair for the rest of my life."
"..."
Xiao Jin Yu glanced at Jing Yi’s completely bald head, unsure whether it was out of pity or belief in this severe oath, but he actually released his grip on the box. "Return it before sunset tonight."
"Your Highness, merciful and compassionate, may you live forever!"
"..."
Before Xiao Jin Yu could recover from this auspicious phrase Jing Yi had tossed at him, Jing Yi had already vanished from the Hall of Dual Perfection along with the brocade box and the shabby bottle inside.
Leng Yue, who had been worried about Jing Yi’s health, now found herself more concerned about the bottle.
"Your Highness," she asked uneasily, "what case does that bottle belong to? Is it appropriate for him to take it out like this?"
If the evidence were to break in Jing Yi’s hands, Leng Yue couldn’t imagine whether he’d be torn apart by Xiao Jin Yu or by Master Jing.
"It’s fine..." Xiao Jin Yu closed his eyes and gently massaged his temples, as if answering Leng Yue or murmuring to himself. "This was a conversation starter brought by Prince Hui. Its function as evidence has already been served... Now it’s just a shabby bottle."
Leng Yue only half-understood, but one thing was crystal clear: Xiao Jin Yu had been willing to lend the bottle to Jing Yi from the start. He had merely intimidated him with entirely truthful statements to ensure Jing Yi would handle it with care.Thinking of how Jing Yi had just now held the box more carefully than he would a child, Leng Yue's worry for the bottle subsided, and she began to worry wholeheartedly for Jing Yi instead.
Thus, when she entered Hua Mei's room, Leng Yue was somewhat absent-minded. She had already leaped in through the window when she noticed Hua Mei being pinned against the wall by a man, his hand clamped around her neck.
The man's build was not particularly robust, but it was more than enough for him to choke the increasingly frail and delicate Hua Mei with one hand, leaving her gasping for air.
Hua Mei's face had turned crimson from suffocation, her slender limbs feebly struggling and flailing, yet she showed no intention of crying for help, nor did she make the slightest move to push the man away.
"Once you take up this bowl of rice, you no longer have the right to say 'no.'"
These were the words Hua Mei had spoken to Leng Yue back when she had first entered the Sparrow Nest Brothel and was constantly being bullied.
Even now, Leng Yue could understand, but she still couldn't stand by and watch indifferently.
So she raised her hand like a blade and struck the man's shoulder and neck. The hand tightly gripping Hua Mei's neck suddenly loosened, and Hua Mei's body slumped weakly downward, only to be caught by Leng Yue, who helped her up.
As she supported Hua Mei, Leng Yue instinctively glanced at the man who had collapsed unconscious on the floor. Her gaze fell upon his face, and in her shock, she stiffened for a moment, nearly dropping the completely limp Hua Mei.
She had just seen this man not long ago—less than half an hour earlier, he had been noble in appearance and gentle in demeanor.
Prince Hui, Xiao Zhao Ye.
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