Chapter 259: Stale Fish

Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation

The boat was sailed gently across the sea.

As the boat inched forward, the wind started to howl. On both ends, lands could be seen in full spring colors. Everything grew densely. Facing the sea, Pei Zi Yun’s worries dissolved as he sighed and retrieve a jug of wine, he took a large gulp in the strong wind.

He then pointed a finger in the air.

“System!”

A white plum blossom appeared before his eyes as it became bigger and bigger until it transformed into a white, semitransparent system interface. It bore with it faint light perception as numbers and words swarmed into view.

“Yin Master: Level 4 (67.2%)

“Sword Techniques: Advanced (25.1%)”

“Principles of Dao: Intermediate (36.9%)”

“Dao Arts: 43 Varieties, Advanced (33.1%)”

“Stars Transposition: Level 3 (15.7%)”

“Wind Form: Level 1 (31.8%)”

“Geomancy: Advanced (0.9%)”

The changes in his skills weren’t very great, since much time hasn’t passed since the last time he checked. As for his Prestige, it was already at 67%. He then thought to himself, “The latest book hasn’t been released yet and only several officials know about this, but this number is already so high. Could it be that Prestige is also dependent on the status of people? Could it be that Prestige would increase at a faster rate if the person who heard it was a noble?”

Thinking this way, he smiled. When it came to Prestige, there was never too much. At this point, the boat captain shouted, “Young Master, we’ve reached Hill County’s pier!”

Pei Zi Yun leapt for joy as he disembarked from the boat. Hill County was small and was situated by the mountains. When he walked into an inn, he realized that it was full. The sky had turned dark and it was raining now.

The sky was foggy as it continued to rain and a strange feeling overcame Pei Zi Yun who looked out some distance away. He then walked in that direction and arrived at another inn. He smiled as he entered it. The entrance to this inn was damaged and worn. He thus knew that this was an old inn. He was received by the waiter who asked, “Young Master, would you like to stay for the night or to have some food?”

“Both. I wish for a room on the upper floor and I would like a single room with a balcony.”

“Young Master, we don’t have rooms with balconies. But we do have a quieter room by the corner. This way!” The waiter led Pei Zi Yun into the room. It was the evening now so the waiter lit up a lantern as he showed Pei Zi Yun his room. Pei Zi Yun sniffed the air to ensure that it wasn’t moldy. He then smiled, “Not bad. At least it’s clean.”

The waiter then regained his senses and fetched some hot water for Pei Zi Yun to wash up. He then said, “Our rooms are all clean. Within the entire county my inn has been around for the longest, and we know what our guests need.”

“Let’s not speak of the better rooms, every single room is cleaned often. The sheets are washed once every three days, and sunned once every five days. It’s impossible for there to be mold here.”

He then handed a hot towel over to Pei Zi Yun and gave him a cup of tea. Just as he was about to get busy with the dishes, Pei Zi Yun held him back, “Prepare my food properly. It doesn’t have to be much; three dishes are enough. Add a jug of wine to go along with them. Everything has to be fresh.”

Pei Zi Yun then handed him two taels of silver much to the delight of the waiter. “Don’t worry Young Master. The dishes shall be here soon. I promise there won’t be anything wrong.”

After he had his dinner, the sky was completely dark. Pei Zi Yun wore a pair of sandals and came out of his room to take a look. He noticed that it was raining heavily and thus decided to return to his room. He read for a little while before he fell asleep.

It was hazy and misty in the night, as the rain continued to pour down.

“Be careful of bugs in the middle of the night.” The county was already dark and the streets were quiet. Nobody was along the pier at this hour and each household had already extinguished the flames at their doorstep. Only the night watcher carried a small lantern as he knocked on the gong and strolled down the streets.

The oil lamp on the table flickered before the flame started to become smaller. All of a sudden, the entire flame was extinguished. At this point, faint music could be heard in the distance. It sounded like it was there, and yet it wasn’t. Pei Zi Yun was deep in sleep, but his Yin Master stirred as it opened its eyes and stood up.

A gale of cold wind blew as Pei Zi Yun sighed, “Looks like the Yin Energy here is overpowering. Even when I was in the room, I found it rather uncomfortable.”

Just as he mumbled to himself, the sound of the music started to draw closer, as footsteps became audible as well. He looked down.

The rhythmic footsteps seemed to have stopped as an oxcart appeared right before Pei Zi Yun. It was white in color, and yet red light glowed around it. He wondered whose oxcart was this, for there were guards around it who looked intimidating as well.

The oxcart stopped and someone stepped off. He was dressed in red official robes and looked to be around 22 or 23 years old. He had white hair along the side of his head and a cold expression across his face. He wore a white ray of light along his body. The second he saw Pei Zi Yun, he fell to his knees.

“I don’t dare, I don’t dare. Your Excellency is a fourth ranked official, how can you kneel down to me?” Pei Zi Yun blurted out.

“Of course, you should be knelt down to. It’s because of your grace and sharpness that I was conferred an additional title in death. I was even redressed of my grievances with your benevolence. However, since the Yin and Yang are two separate entities, I cannot do much for you. Please drink these three cups of wine, as a way of me expressing my gratitude.”

As he spoke, he waved his hands and a table appeared. A jug of wine flew up onto the air and filled three cups before the cups floated towards Pei Zi Yun.

“If that’s the case, do not mind me.”

Pei Zi Yun looked down into the cup and realized the wine was red in color and knew that drinking this would be beneficial to his Yin Master. Without further delay, he picked the cups up and drained them. As soon as he was done, he could feel wisps of white energy coalesce within his stomach. The man pushed for Pei Zi Yun to drink more, but was denied. “Your Excellency, this wine must be expensive and rare. I shan’t drink more of it.”

When the man heard this, he fell to his knees once again, “Dao Master is benevolent. We shall meet in the future.”

In that second, the white mist retreated, as it took the man away from sight.

When the white mist dissipated, Pei Zi Yun woke up. When he opened his eyes, and looked out of the window, the rain had stopped. Several stars hung overhead, they flickered like blinking eyes.

“Did I dream of a spirit?”

“No, it must be that the spirit had paid me a visit. Based on what he said, it sounded like he was the general?” Pei Zi Yun thought for a little while before he reopened the system interface. A smile appeared on his face, “Yin Master: Level 4 (97.2%)”

“A cup of spiritual wine has increased the percentage of my cultivation!”

Afternoon

Several chickens walked and clucked around the relay station. Xie Cheng Dong was in the middle of his cultivation when a Daoist rushed over towards him. When the Daoist saw that he was busy, he waited quietly by the side for Xie Cheng Dong to keep his sword. He then handed a note over to him.

Xie Cheng Dong smiled warmly and politely until he saw the note, which caused his expression to fall. He was angry, “What, why has Pei Zi Yun gone to Hills County for?”

When Xie Cheng Dong found out about this piece of news, he was extremely agitated. Several other Daoists around him were taken aback by his sudden change in attitude as well.

Xie Cheng Dong was very young and had already reached the tenth level of Yin Master. His attitude was often warm but now he seemed clearly upset. What news could it be to distress him this way?

Xie Cheng Dong paced back and forth several times before turning to speak to the Daoist, “Continue observing him. If he heads towards Yuanqing Village, report to me immediately.”

When the Daoist heard this, he hesitated, “Young Master, the person who tailed Pei Zi Yun said that he only managed to get a glimpse of him and was already being suspected of spying on him. It was extremely hard to tail this person.”

Xie Cheng Dong mumbled to himself, “It looks like Pei Zi Yun has developed a certain sensitivity from killing so many people. All he has to do is to look at someone to know if they harbor ill intent against him. This is going to be troublesome.”

“Tell the people below not to watch him personally. Take my tile and recruit the smaller gangs around the neighborhood. Tell them to take some horses and oxcarts to observe him instead. Since they’re not Daoists, it won’t be so suspicious. Besides, instruct them that their job was just to take down notes on him and not to act maliciously. This way, even if he was sensitive towards people who plotted to harm him, he wouldn’t detect them.”

“Yes, Young Master!” The Daoist then walked out through the door.

Right at this point, the door to the relay station opened. It was meal time and thus lively sounds could be heard. Xie Cheng Dong replaced the anger on his face with a calm expression. Eunuch Liao walked up to him and the both of them looked into each other in the eyes.

“What’s the current situation?”

“Everything has been arranged.”

Everyone around the relay station looked extremely busy. An attendant of the relay station was serving dishes in food baskets. He brought the huge basket up onto the table before he took dishes out from them. There were at least a dozen dishes and all of them were still steaming. Eunuch Liao stepped forward and sniffed it, “Even at such places, we need to test King Lu’s food before he eats in. To be cautious!”

“Yes!” A little eunuch stepped forward and tried the dishes one by one. When he reached the steam fished, he crinkled his noses and scrunched his face up. Eunuch Liao was taken aback by his reaction and asked, “Could it be poisoned?’

“No, it’s just not fresh!” The little eunuch fell to his knees and spoke dramatically.

Eunuch Liao was furious when he heard this, and called for the relay station attendant to come over. The attendant was on his knees, trembling in fear, “King Lu, my relay station is just a small station, how can we afford fresh fish? The fish are being brought from very far away. There’s just no way for it to be fresh. Please have mercy King Lu!”

The attendant spoke and felt extremely wronged. King Lu wanted to have fresh fish, but it was impossible for them to provide fresh fish.

“Forget it. There’s so many other dishes, how can this not be enough. You may be excused!” King Lu ordered, as the attendant returned to the kitchen.

The chef followed the attendant down and he looked rather disquieted by the entire ordeal. The chef then asked, “Attendant, this is a Canton Prince and the fish isn’t fresh. What should we do?”

Hearing the chef’s words, the attendant rolled his eyes and laughed, “Hm, he’s just a Canton Prince throwing a tantrum. He isn’t even an heir to the throne. It’s even hard up say if he might ever return to the capital city. What are you scared of?”

“Besides, Crown Prince and King Lu are rivals. When the Crown Prince finally ascends to the throne, it’s possible that King Lu might not even be a Canton Prince then.”

At this point, a guard that stood outside came into the building. Eunuch Liao looked at him and asked, “Guard Zhang, where have you been?”

The Imperial Guard raged, “I was about to enter the kitchen to check out the surroundings and saw the attendant gloating. When I walked in, I overheard him saying that King Lu was just a Canton Prince, and might not even return the capital city ever. He even said there’s a chance that King Lu might not remain a Canton Prince in future.”

“Outrageous, simply outrageous!”

“What?” The black robed imperial guard opened his eyes and asked in shock. King Lu was a prince and held authority for so long. Most people won’t even dare to look at him the wrong way. He’d only been demoted for a short time and the hearts of so many people had changed. Even the attendant of this relay station showed him less respect than he deserved. At this point the black robed guard drew his blade and shouted, “Traitorous dog, how dare he humiliate King Lu. Come men, let’s kill him off!”

“Yes!” Several armed guards immediately replied as the charged out in anger. Their eyes were bloodshot as they looked up at their superior, who remained speechless.

King Lu then waved a hand, “Hold it!”

After seeing his own men halt, King Lu paced towards them. He looked like he suppressed his own anger. Soon after, he looked at them sadly, “When it comes to facts, this relay station doesn’t have fresh fish. Likewise, another fact is that I’m no longer an heir to the throne.”

As he said this, he then walked out, picked up a pair of chopsticks and took a bite of the fish. “I wonder if my children and grandchildren would be able to eat such stale fish!”

When everyone heard this, tears rolled down their cheeks.

Xie Cheng Dong wept as well, and saw that all the officials were moved by this. He then looked towards Eunuch Liao, “We’ve done it!”

He knew that it had already taken a great deal for the attendants to play their parts convincingly. Yet he had to be careful to draw the line, for if he crossed it might also mean that he would have to pay with his life.

Hence this way, even the Crown Prince or the Emperor would not be suspicious and would find it hard to investigate such a matter.