The palace has glazed tiles
"Is it really that heavy?" Qu Yi stood up and tried to help Xu Ning lift it. He held the wooden stool with both hands but couldn't lift it. Qu Yi sat back down awkwardly.
Lu Shiren was afraid of being discovered, so he stammered: "This, this looks like it's made of wood, but it's actually made of stone. It's just painted on the outside."
Tang Xixu took a sip of tea, glanced at the bright golden color on the legs of the wooden stool, and smiled without saying a word.
Lu Shiren gave the maid a wink, and two adult men came and lifted the wooden stool.
"Everyone comes to my Lin Yao, I would like to offer a toast to each of you." Lu Shiren smiled, and when he smiled, the flesh on his face squeezed into a ball, and his eyes became just a black line.
"Prefect Lu, the vase in your house is quite beautiful. It must be from Xizhou. I have never seen such a good vase even in the capital." Zhao Mingshang walked to the semicircular table on the side, picked up the emerald green glaze vase and looked at it carefully, then looked at Lu Shiren and smiled faintly.
"No, no. This is an imitation, fake, fake." Zhao Mingshang put the vase down casually, and Lu Shiren hurried over to put the vase on the table.
Tang Xixu only concentrated on picking out the food that Xu Ning liked to eat.
Soon, a small mountain of food formed in Xu Ning's bowl. Xu Ning was still chewing something. It was so delicious! "Eat it up!" he said. "I can't eat it all. I can't eat it all."
"Axu, just eat it yourself and don't pick it for me." Xu Ning still had the cherry flesh in his mouth.
Tang Xixu picked another piece of crystal goose meat before stopping.
Zhao Mingchang covered his mouth with his hand and smiled without saying anything.
"Oh no, master, the young master is sick again." A maid ran out from the inner courtyard in a hurry.
"Why are you panicking? There are guests here, so be polite!" Lu Shiren scolded.
"Bang, bang, bang" there was a sound of things being smashed, and a young man with disheveled clothes, messy hair and a red face suddenly appeared.
The man was mumbling something and no one knew what he was saying.
Xu Ning looked up. Wasn't this Lu Jinan, whose tongue had been cut out a few days ago? She had thought he was dead.
"Asshole! Take the young master back to his room." Lu Shiren was furious, completely ignoring the visiting guest.
Lu Jin'an frowned as he glanced around the hall. For a moment, he locked eyes with the black-robed young man across from him. Tang Xixu half-dangled his wine cup, his lips curling in disdain. Lu Jin'an, previously furious, now calmed down. He tilted his head to meet those eyes, dark as ink, yet seemingly capable of drawing you in. Lu Jin'an trembled slightly.
Two maids came and helped him back to the house.
"I'm sorry to bother you all. A few days ago, my son encountered robbers while hunting outside. He was frightened and suffered from aphasia and couldn't speak. I hope you don't mind." Lu Shiren smiled apologetically again.
Xu Ning and the others present knew the whole story, but they didn't say it out loud.
Tang Xixu threw out his long sword, and the scabbard was inserted into the roof ridge. A Suanni was split into two halves, which scared Lu Shiren so much that his hands trembled.
"You, ah." Lu Shiren saw the cracks on the roof and the gorgeous glazed tiles broken into two pieces. He felt sorry for the money, but he couldn't say anything, after all, he was the governor's man.
"There was a spider hanging there just now. I can't stand dirty things." There were no spiders on the roof. Even if there were, the huge Lu Mansion would have someone to clean it, not to mention the prefectural government residence that was cleaned every day. Tang Xixu was just looking at it because it was annoying and wanted to destroy it.
"Come here, how can you do this? You can't even clean the house properly. I'll fine you half a month's salary." Lu Shiren called the maid who was cleaning the main hall and reprimanded her.
The maidservant was trembling with fear and just lowered her head, not daring to say a word.
"Well, it's just a small matter. Let's drink, drink." Yuwen Xin raised his glass and mediated with a smile.
"Prefect Lu really likes animals. There are more than ten of them on these glazed tiles." Tang Xixu looked at him meaningfully.
The other people who were eating looked towards where Tang Xixu was pointing his sword.
Zhao Mingchang put down his bowl and chopsticks and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. "Prefect Lu is a fourth-rank official, right? According to Daxin law, officials of first and second ranks can have no more than seven ridge beasts on their houses, officials of third and fourth ranks can have no more than five, and officials of fifth rank and below can have no more than three. You've already carved ten of them. Where do we stand with Daxin law?"
The woman's tone was gentle, yet revealed an inviolable majesty.
Lu Shiren knelt down with a thud. He didn't know why he had to kneel down to a woman from the martial arts world, but Lu Shiren was indeed frightened by Zhao Mingshang's aura, as if the person who had just said this to him was the one sitting on the dragon throne in the capital.
Xu Ning hadn't yet understood the laws of this place, but after hearing Zhao Mingchang's explanation, she finally understood what was going on. She recalled the grandeur of the courtyard when she had just entered, as well as the words of Yuwen Xin and the others, and realized that something was wrong with Lu Shiren.
"Please forgive me, sir. I really didn't know there was this meaning. It's just that my son saw that the animals on the glazed tiles were really beautiful, so he begged me to build a few more. I will ask someone to replace them later." Lu Shiren's words sounded perfect.
"Well, what about this?" Tang Xixu used a sword to split the "wooden stool" that Xu Ning could not hold at first.
The "wooden bench" was split into two parts. There was no stone inside, but dazzling gold, covered with a layer of stone on the outside for protection.
"I was wondering why it was so heavy. It turns out this stool is made of gold." Xu Ning looked at the pieces of gold on the ground. He never thought that one day he would be able to sit on gold.
Qu Yi was stunned. He never expected that someone could be so rich as to make a stool out of gold and place it in the main hall so openly.
Several people stood up and split the pillars with swords. Most of them were gold, some were silver and some were jade.
Xu Ning poured some tea on the dining table and rubbed it hard a few times. His fingers turned completely black, and underneath the black layer on the table was golden gold.
"As far as I know, the monthly salary of a local prefect is about 24 stone of rice, not to mention the 'discount'. Where did you get so much money to buy all this?" Qu Yi asked Lu Shiren with his waist bent.
Lu Shiren lowered his head and said nothing.
Xu Ning thought about it carefully and said, "It may be related to the missing body case."
"I've heard from people around here that a lot of bodies have gone missing in the past month or so, and this puppet case is one of the missing bodies."
"You're talking nonsense! What does the missing body have to do with me?"
"You are the prefect of a region, how can it have nothing to do with you?" Xu Ning suddenly leaned close to Lu Shiren and stared into his eyes.
Lu Shiren staggered backwards.
It was already noon when the few of them left the Lu Mansion. The barking of the Tujia dogs made the otherwise peaceful night even more restless.
"I was a little impulsive today and have alerted the enemy. Things might get tricky next." Xu Lian frowned slightly.
"If you ask me, since Lu Shiren is so rich, the missing corpse case and the puppet skinning case are most likely related to him. I just don't know what the black trade chain is like and who is behind it. Or who is the actual person in power behind the scenes who has the courage to do such a thing. Ah Xu, what do you think?" Xu Ning had long discovered that this kid knew something.
Tang Xixu tightened his eyelids and looked at Xu Ning with empty eyes. After a long silence, he raised his lips and said, "Of course. I want to know too."
She was doubting him.
What does she know, and how does she know it?
Tang Xixu's first concern was not that he would be exposed, but that Xu Ning would be afraid of him and leave him after knowing it.
Like most people in the world, they said he was a madman and that he was sick.
That night, Xu Ning rested in Tangxi Xu's room. She kept thinking about the case during the day and tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
Someone pushed open the door to the wing room with a creaky sound, as if they didn't want to disturb the sleeping person inside.
Xu Ning suddenly woke up, thinking she had misheard. Although there was no sound, she still felt the "footsteps" approaching.
Sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
The woman's limbs were stiff and motionless.
Xu Ning turned her head mechanically, and a black figure was stretched out by the moonlight and reflected on the night curtain.
The shadow stopped there and didn't move forward. Xu Ning's heart was pounding. She closed her eyes tightly and prayed to every deity she could think of.
Half an hour has passed and he hasn't left yet.
Just imagine, how can a person fall asleep in the middle of the night if someone is staring at him for no apparent reason?
Xu Ning had no desire to sleep at all. It was almost the end of December, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his back.
"God, please leave quickly. If you don't leave soon, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown." Xu Ning prayed silently. In fact, she had already carefully recited it, but she didn't react herself.
Tang Xixu looked at Xu Ning quietly in the moonlight. He knew that the girl was not asleep yet, and he also heard Xu Ning asking him to leave.
His poison relapsed tonight. The young man's lips were bright red, the poisonous marks on his neck were quietly spreading, and a scarlet headband was wrapped around the ends of his hair.
He had some evil spirit in him, and it seemed as if he could no longer suppress it.
Suddenly, the curtain was pulled open. People are most sensitive at night for a long time.
The thin moonlight flickered Xu Ning's eyelids, and then a dark shadow covered them, and two soft and moist petals gently touched her forehead.
!
Xu Ning's eyes snapped open, her mind blank. The person had already left.
Tang Xixu relied on his remaining willpower and finally just gently kissed the girl on the forehead.
After a while, Tang Xixu finally came to his senses.
Fortunately, she was not hurt.
Xu Ning lay in bed for a long time without recovering from her shock.
This is my first kiss!
Xu Ning thought about everyone and found that Tang Xixu was the most suspicious.
Isn't this guy a villain? Shouldn't villains focus on their careers?
Xu Ning was a little excited and couldn't sleep.
Although he is a villain, he looks good, is nice to me, and is a good person. He saved me from danger in the Frost Forest, and he punishes evil and promotes good along the way. He takes care of me all the time. Well, he is a good person.
[Stop, stop, stop! Master, what are you talking about? That's the villain! In the original book, he's a man who will do anything for revenge. How can you like him?] When the system is online, you can hear Xu Ning's thoughts. Guangyu couldn't bear to hear what Xu Ning was saying. She was actually praising the villain?
But he is really good-looking, and his face can’t lie. Xu Ning was still trying to argue.
[Do your mission well. Since you're so free, I've assigned you a mission: Make Yuwen Xin blush in front of Zhao Mingchang. Mission reward: None. Failure to complete the mission will incur a penalty.]
Xu Ning couldn't laugh at all and went to sleep quietly.
Xu Ning fell asleep around the hour of You.
Tang Xixu kissed the girl's skin inch by inch, not missing any spot. A light heat spread on her skin. A hollowed-out glutinous rice ball was waiting for someone to wrap the stuffing in it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
