Chapter 228: Night Chat (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Before the storm stopped, the disturbance had already been settled.
It was past midnight, but as a city that never sleeps, Yun’an’s bustling streets and alleys were still brightly lit. As the curfew had been lifted, singing and dance music could be heard coming from the pavilions along the streets.
On East Main Street, two horses were walking side by side.
Ye Jingtang was wearing a bamboo hat and a raincoat. He was riding on his fat horse and holding the reins of Third Lady’s horse. He had left the Black Qilin Spear outside the Hall of the Hall of the Supreme Principle. Perhaps the secret guards had picked it up, but it wasn’t beside him.
It had been a long time since he left the Imperial City, but his emotions still hadn’t calmed down.
When he carried Yuhu back to the Eternal Joy Palace, he had seen that everyone in the palace had been sent away. The resting palace was full of Yuhu’s belongings, so it was difficult not to guess her identity.
Yuhu seemed honest but was actually a scheming empress, so she wouldn’t be as easy to coax as Dumdum. It was impossible to predict what she would do to him in the future.
Moreover, he had offended the empress dowager today. Even if she didn’t take revenge on him, he probably wouldn’t be able to touch the ginkgo tree that he had been thinking about so much…
Ginkgo tree…
Ye Jingtang raised his head and looked back at the Imperial City that had long been far away. Today, the tunnel in the Longevity Palace was being tidied up. There were many craftsmen there, and in order to prevent anything from going wrong, imperial guards and secret guards were patrolling inside. It might be even more difficult to sneak in and dig something out than usual.
After pondering for a moment, Ye Jingtang temporarily gave up on his plan to go to the Imperial City for the third time and returned to Heavenly Water Bridge.
Heavenly Water Bridge was a shopping street. At night, all the stores were closed, and there was no one on the empty street.
Ye Jingtang returned to the alley of the Pei residence. After knocking on the door and handing the horses to a servant, he passed through the festoon gate and arrived at the back residence.
The lights in the back residence were already off, but there was still movement in the west residence.
Ye Jingtang walked through the corridor to the west residence. He saw Zhe Yunli, dressed as a scholarly young lady, pacing back and forth in the boudoir with her saber in her arms. “Yunli, why are you still up so late?”
Hearing the voice, Zhe Yunli hurriedly ran to the window. “Brother Jingtang, you’re finally back! Just now, Hero Qiu went crazy. He stood on top of Jasper Pavilion and shouted, ‘Old Man Xuanyuan, you didn’t expect that I, Qiu Tianhe, would come out again, right? Hahahaha…’ Half the city could hear him. Is Hero Qiu alright?”
Ye Jingtang knew that Qiu Tianhe causing trouble on top of Jasper Pavilion would cause an uproar in the city. He smiled and said, “It’s fine. Hero Qiu helped the Black Office deal with Cao Qiansui today and made a great contribution. He will probably regain his freedom soon.”
Zhe Yunli’s eyes lit up. She leaned on the windowsill and asked, “Hero Qiu fought with Cao Qiansui? Did he win?”
Zhe Yunli propped herself up on the windowsill with her arms crossed in front of her chest. It was probably a breast-squeezing posture. One could see the bulge on the chest of her pink and white dress. Two months ago, it was obviously not this big.
But Zhe Yunli was about to turn 16 years old, which was the age for growth. She had grown a little taller, so it wasn’t strange for her breasts to grow quickly. At this speed, when she was eightteen, she would probably be equal to her martial mistress…
Ye Jingtang noticed this difference from the corner of his eye, but he didn’t care about it and replied, “Hero Qiu didn’t win. He was beaten up so badly that he fell onto the main street of the Prince of Jing Estate and couldn’t get up for a long time…”
“What?!” Zhe Yunli’s expectant gaze froze. But after thinking about it carefully, she nodded. “Cao Qiansui is an old monster who has existed since the founding of Great Wei. Master said that he was especially powerful, so it’s reasonable that Hero Qiu couldn’t defeat him… So, who dealt with Cao Qiansui in the end? The Eight-Armed Ksitigarbha?”
A proud look appeared in Ye Jingtang’s eyes, and he pointed his thumb at himself. “Who else could it be? I went to the Hall of the Supreme Principle alone and took down Cao Qiansui with one attack.”
?
Zhe Yunli frowned, not believing him at all. “How is that possible… Even if it’s true, it must be because Hero Qiu severely injured Cao Qiansui, and you just went to deal the finishing blow.”
“Hehe~” Ye Jingtang laughed and looked around. “Where’s your martial mistress?”
“She was afraid that Hero Qiu would go crazy and mess around, so she followed the bird to investigate the situation. Third Aunt is also with her. They haven’t returned yet.”
“Oh. Rest early. 1’11 go take a look.”
Hearing this, Ye Jingtang didn’t stay long. He told Yunli to sleep early so that she wouldn’t go to the central courtyard after being beaten by her mother.
His aunt lived in the central courtyard and had already gone to bed at this time.
Ye Jingtang quietly went to the Third Lady’s courtyard and looked around. He found that Xiuhe had already fallen asleep in her side room, so he didn’t disturb her.
After he waited in the courtyard for a while, Luo Ning and Third Lady still hadn’t returned, so all kinds of headache-inducing things surged into his mind.
As Ye Jingtang’s thoughts raced, he thought of something. He turned around and entered Third Lady’s boudoir. He touched under the bed, and the bed separated from the middle to reveal the hidden tunnel below.
Ye Jingtang jumped in and lit the lamp in the tunnel. Then he walked to the door deep in the tunnel and opened the door.
Behind the door was the Azure Dragon Hall’s headquarters. People could also leave from here. Every time there was a meeting, in order to hide from others, the helm masters would enter from the exit at the other end. However, the door at the exit was usually locked with iron bolts, so they couldn’t enter from the outside.
Naturally, there was no one in the Azure Dragon Hall at this moment. After lighting the lamp, Ye Jingtang could only see nine empty chairs placed around the hall.
Behind the pavilion lord’s chair was a spiritual table. There were several memorial tablets on it, including that of his foster father, Pei Yuanfeng.
Ye Jingtang walked over, took three incense sticks from the incense table, bowed three times to his foster father’s memorial tablet, and inserted the incense sticks into the incense burner. Then he looked at the memorial tablet and pondered.
When he left Liang Province and entered the capital, his foster father’s will had mentioned three things.
He had finished the matter of handing over the family assets, and he was also helping his foster father do his filial duty and protect the Pei family.
Although it was a little difficult to dig up the ginkgo tree in the palace to find the Roaring Dragon Chart picture, it could be considered an unintentional opportunity to learn the Jade Bone Picture.
As for the main matter of destroying Xuanyuan Chao to take revenge, he had yet to start planning. Instead, Jun Mountain Terrace had struck first. This was his top priority. Next, he had to think of a way to resolve Jun Mountain Terrace.
Although not everything had gone well, he had only entered the capital for a few months. It was already not easy for him to achieve so much. He had even completed an additional mission and found a virtuous wife.
If his foster father was in heaven, he wouldn’t say that his son was useless, right…
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