Chapter 14. Ten Miles of Fading Light.
Lu Min said thank you for your trouble, but his eyes inadvertently glanced at Shi Mi's face. She was beaming with joy, which puzzled him. It was just a lake, decorated with flashy gimmicks; what was there to look forward to?
But since they were already there, there was no need to question it, lest they spoil the fun. The two followed the waiter's lead through the winding corridors of the back building and entered the elegant pavilion built above the ground.
The dishes, just like the name of this place, were exquisite and rare, but served in small portions. Shi Mi had little patience; by the tenth dish, he said he'd had enough and was eager to go boating.
The servants waiting outside the door led the way again, down the water steps, and escorted them to the platform overlooking the river. Bai Heliang, with three guards, stood in front of the small boat. Upon seeing the Grand Tutor arrive, he stepped forward and bowed, saying, "My lord and lady, please board the boat. We will follow behind."
Safety is paramount, and this is a routine arrangement when traveling. Lu Min nodded, lifted his robe, and boarded the leaf boat.
The so-called leaf boat was indeed as narrow and thin as a leaf, only wide enough for two people to sit at the front and back. So, naturally, one person would sit idly at the bow, while the other rowed at the stern. As a result, the pampered Grand Tutor ended up sitting at the bow. Shimi stood on the dock, propping himself up, without saying a word, just looking down at him.
He was still wondering why she didn't board the ship. He looked up and saw the lights illuminating her face. Her eyes were half-closed, and she was smiling strangely.
The guards on the side were embarrassed. This was not a suitable situation to offer advice, so they all turned their faces away and pretended to go looking for their leaf boat.
"What?" Lu Min asked, "Didn't you say you wanted to go to Shili Lanshan?"
The man, Shimi, said, "I am a woman. You, a man, are sitting at the bow of the boat. Are you waiting for me to row?"
The Grand Tutor held a prestigious position, second only to the emperor, but in the eyes of the ignorant, he lacked that aura and his words were still not very tactful.
Lu Min was clearly taken aback for a moment, but in the end he moved his body to give up the bow position and sat at the stern, holding the oars on both sides.
That's more like it. As a man, you should be aware that just because she calls you a maid doesn't mean you should actually treat her like one.
In any case, the Grand Tutor had suffered an unprecedented setback. Fortunately, his accompanying guards were well-trained and remained calm even in the face of a collapsing mountain. Bai Heliang stepped forward, untied the mooring rope, and forcefully pushed the boat forward, sending it away from the platform and the water's edge.
The leaf-shaped boat swayed gently forward. The Deer Sea resembled a string of candied hawthorns, its surface wide and boundless in some places. Beyond the so-called sea lay a narrowing river. Of course, calling it a sea, like the "Never-Sleeping Marquis," was an exaggeration. The Never-Sleeping City was truly a concrete manifestation of extravagance and debauchery; after the Yan army captured Chong'an City, it became a place for the wealthy to indulge in a life of debauchery.
Shimi sat upright at the bow of the boat, gazing into the distance. A narrow passage, like the mouth of a gourd, gradually appeared ahead—the entrance to the Ten-Mile Lantern. Further on, the view opened up dramatically, revealing an endless sea of lights suspended high above. Leaf-shaped boats glided through it, as if they had stumbled into a world of colossal beings. The "roots" of those boats, each topped with a giant gauze lantern, were as thick as a person's embrace. The boats coming and going were filled with young men and women, laughing and chatting, exchanging loving glances, some even drifting along, their lips pressed together.
Shi Mi turned and glanced at Lu Min. "We've come to the wrong place. Why is this not what I expected?"
Lu Min seemed to have been prepared, and said nonchalantly, "This is a place for lovers to meet. If you insist on coming, then so be it."
Shi Mi knew how to comfort herself and didn't feel embarrassed at all. "Actually, it was a good thing. People like you should learn from others and see what other people's lovers are like."
Lu Min's eyes were filled with disdain. "How do you learn to talk about love?"
Shimi said yes, “Although we are not married because of love, we are going to spend our lives together. If you treat me well, I will reluctantly treat you well in return.”
Then he fell silent, and after a long while he said, "A lifetime... how long can we live like this?"
The astray asked with a smile, "How long do you want to live? As long as you can endure the pain of having your heart ripped out, you can get a new body. However, the second time may not be as successful as the first. If things go wrong and your heart stops beating, you'll die."
Lu Min asked, "If you lived to be old and wrinkled, would you want to change your life?"
Shimi said she wouldn't change, "I can't change, I'm afraid of the pain. Changing my skin is like diluting wine with water; if you add too much, it becomes bland and tasteless, what's the point?"
The people behind her watched her back as she looked at her reflection in the water and, using the water's surface as a guide, tucked a hairpin into her hair.
"Do you want to change?" she asked him again. "You have a high-ranking official position and a generous salary, and you must want to live to be a hundred years old! If you are afraid that people will call you an old witch, you can always leave Baiyujing and go to the Western Regions."
He did not answer immediately, but said after a while: "People's thoughts change from time to time. I may say I don't want to today, but I may not think about it tomorrow. We can decide again in ten years."
Shimi hummed in agreement, then touched her temple and put on another hairpin. "As long as the Puppeteer is still alive then, everything will go as you wish. So you must protect the Puppeteer well; his safety is a matter of life and death for both of us."
Lu Min gradually calmed down and suddenly said, "Let's bring Yan Shi into Jiuzhang Prefecture. I can set aside a quiet place to support him."
Confine them in Jiuzhang Prefecture, ensuring they don't die, but they don't need to live too long either?
Shi Mi looked up at the lanterns above, some in bud and some in full bloom. A smile slowly crept onto his lips as he mumbled, "Yan Shi is a hermit, and he doesn't like to be controlled by others. He's in Li Ren Lane these days, but he might go to Bai Yu Jing next time. No one can hold him back."
In short, she wasn't going to fall for his trap and was quickly drawn to the lively scene ahead. Besides the sea of lights, the ten-mile stretch of water also had vendors selling all sorts of strange things, such as mermaid tears, mother-of-pearl inlaid knives, and supposedly magical medicines extracted from sea demons that could enhance the experience.
Shi Mi curiously picked it up to examine it. The small porcelain bottle made a slight creaking sound when shaken. She turned to him and asked, "Would you like a bottle? I brought some loose silver; I can buy it for you."
Unfortunately, the oars weren't in her hands, and he didn't respond either, starting to row without warning. Shimi had no choice but to hurriedly return the elixir, muttering all the way back, "There's no harm in trying it, or we could keep it there, just in case."
Lu Min had met all sorts of people, but he still couldn't quite figure out this woman's character. Filled with doubt, he couldn't help but ask, "Where did you live before you met the puppeteer? Whose daughter were you?"
"You want to ask me if I've ever been married, right? Let me tell you, I used to have a husband and even had a child." Seeing his astonishment, she laughed loudly, "You're already twenty-seven years old, and you still care whether a woman has been married or not? What's wrong with being married? Once you're married, you know how to cherish people."
Unfortunately, she didn't know how to care for people; her words were like a knife piercing the heart, showing she wasn't experienced.
The sea of lights stretches for ten miles, which sounds like a long time, but if you stroll around, you'll reach the end in about half an hour.
The boat docked, and as soon as they got their feet on the ground, they saw pedestrians hurrying along the street, as if something terrible had happened. A guard grabbed one of the people and asked him what was wrong. The man gestured frantically, "The Marquis of Nevernight is dead. He was cut in two."
Soon, the guards who had stayed behind arrived and joined them. Without waiting for any questions, they reported: "Not long after our lord left, a man in black broke into Yanlou to assassinate Xie Duyan. We saw that the guards inside were no match for him, so we went to help, but the assassin was very skilled. We only managed to cut his right arm, and he escaped."
No sooner had these words been spoken than news arrived: "Jie Duyan's son died in the Qionglou. No assassins were seen breaking in. When the waiter went in to deliver tea, he found that his body had been decapitated."
The astute man clicked his tongue, "It must be a feud between江湖 (jianghu, the martial arts world) members who killed both father and son."
Lu Min had no liking for this Marquis of Nevernight, and casually ordered, "Notify the prefecture to investigate thoroughly and arrest the person with the injured right arm."
As for the rest, let's just leave it to fate.
Fine snowflakes began to fall again. Shimi rubbed her hands together. "It's so cold. Where will we sleep tonight?"
The guards had already arranged accommodations in a small but exquisite painted building near the official road. All irrelevant people had been cleared out to ensure the Grand Tutor's safety.
The group checked in, and Shi Mi chose a room facing the street. Looking out the window, he saw guards with swords on their hands taking turns on duty, driving away all passersby. The night scene of Never Sleeps was not different because of the deaths of two people; it was still brightly lit, illuminating the place where the sky met the earth.
She stepped back and closed the window. She removed the hairpin from her hair, dampened a handkerchief with water, carefully wiped it clean, and put it away. She had been traveling all day, and then braved the wind and snow to travel by boat at night; it was truly exhausting. She quickly washed up and went to bed. Although the inn's mattress was thick, it wasn't as soft as the beds at Jiuzhang Mansion. She tossed and turned a couple of times before finally drifting off to sleep.
The next morning, upon rising early and descending the stairs, he saw prefectural officials in the hall seeking instructions from the Grand Tutor. The Grand Tutor gave his routine address, and the officials obsequiously agreed, but Shi Mi, having no interest in listening, went to the kitchen to find something to eat.
There were puff pastry and shrimp dumplings, but by the time the waiter invited her to eat, she was already full.
I went around to the small hall to look at Lu Min. He was sitting there alone, eating calmly and elegantly.
The astute man asked, "Have all the officials left? Have you come to ask me how to investigate the case?"
Lu Min covered his mouth with a handkerchief and ordered someone to bring his cloak, saying, "This is the rule of officialdom. Once they know I'm here, they have to show their faces no matter what."
Shimi then asked, "What are your thoughts on the death of the Marquis of Nevernight?"
He turned his gaze to her, "An insignificant person, once dead, is dead. What's there to say?"
Shi Mi felt that this person was indeed cold-hearted and didn't care about human life. After sighing for a while, he said, "He was a wealthy merchant after all. If both father and son die, what will happen to Nightless City?"
Lu Min said, "They're not all dead. They still have wives and daughters. If they can manage, Nightless City will still be under their control. If they can't, the capital will send someone to take over."
Shi Mi suddenly realized, "So the Marquis of Nevernight was eliminated by people sent from the capital."
Her mind worked so fast, it was truly astounding. Lu Min had no interest in arguing with her; he was only concerned with the pace of their journey. He put on his cloak and said, "We've been delayed for too long; it's time to set off."
The minor incident at the Never-Sleeping City did not disrupt their journey. After boarding the carriage, they continued westward and finally arrived at the gates of Shangdu City as dusk approached.
Baiyujing, once the capital of the Yu Dynasty, became the capital region of the Yan Dynasty after being conquered by the Yan people. Sometimes I feel that the Yan people truly coveted the Yu Dynasty for a long time, using both the capital and secondary capital intact, even abandoning their original imperial capital. Indeed, it's always good to take what's readily available. It's also because the people of the former Yu Dynasty had a unique understanding of beauty. If Chong'an City is a magnificent pattern on the back of a knife, then Baiyujing is the calm and sharp edge of the blade. The buildings here would be superfluous if anything were more. There may be countless peach blossoms and willows on the opposite bank of the moat, but the city walls inside the moat are made of stone, and the upturned eaves of the imperial city are covered with gleaming bronze.
All these years have passed without a single change. The only regret is that even the thickest city walls could not stop the invasion of the Yan Dynasty.
As for the Grand Tutor's residence, it was located in Shanhefang, not far from Longcheng. Standing in the courtyard, one could see the imposing rooftops of the imperial city.
Lu Min wasn't actually very familiar with this mansion. After the capital was established, he had been in Chong'an City and hadn't participated in its construction. He only occasionally returned to the capital and knew that it was a gift from His Majesty.
Looking around, Shimi said, "This house is well-built, somewhat reminiscent of the Jiuzhang Mansion."
Lu Min remained silent, turning his head to look at the gate. Sure enough, an envoy dressed in green robes appeared at the gate, smiling as he said, "The Grand Tutor has returned to the capital. His Majesty has been waiting for this for a long time. Tomorrow at the court assembly, it is not appropriate for the emperor and his ministers to reminisce. His Majesty has prepared a banquet tonight and summoned the Grand Tutor to the palace."
The king's summons left no room for refusal. Shimi glanced at Lu Min, realizing he had never felt so grateful for his new body. If he were afflicted with bone poison, forced to travel hundreds of miles, only to arrive home and be summoned to the palace for an audience with the emperor—what torment that would have been! Fortunately, he could manage now. He bowed and said yes, requesting the messenger to return and report, while he changed his robes and came.
Shimi followed him into the house, leaned against the door, and asked, "May I come with you to the palace?"
He said no, "That's not a place that never sleeps; maids aren't allowed in the palace."
"I can only stay at home and wait for you to come back?"
He put on his official uniform, tilted his head back to let the waiter button up his collar, and said casually, "Waiting for me to return is a habit that every lady must cultivate. There's no time like the present, so let's start practicing today."
Shi Mi sighed reluctantly, feeling helpless. Seeing him leave, she followed him to the gate and asked expectantly, "Will His Majesty reward you with something to bring back? Like pastries, silks, or something?" He ignored her words, lifted his robe, boarded the carriage, and set off.
A note from the author:
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200 small red envelopes~
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