What Miss Wen Gave Me

Early the next morning, when Liang Yue arrived at the station, he was sneaking around like a dog, terrified Old Hu might spot him. Luckily, Old Hu had gone to the South City main yamen for a meeting that morning, and Liang Yue finally let out a long breath.

When the time came, he went out to patrol the streets with Chen Ju and Pang Chun.

"How was last night?" Chen Ju asked with a teasing grin, bumping Liang Yue with his elbow. "Did you get along well with Miss Wen Yuan? Did you go home?"

"Of course I went home," Liang Yue said. But he could not speak of what had happened with the Evil Extermination Division, while saying nothing at all would only invite their wild speculation. So he picked and chose what to tell them. "I met with Miss Wen Yuan, and we had a fairly pleasant chat..."

"What did she look like? Was she truly as beautiful as a celestial maiden, just like the rumors say? How did she compare to Miss Wen from the Evil Extermination Division?" Chen Ju eagerly asked.

"She really was beautiful. Compared with Miss Wen... she was not inferior in the slightest," Liang Yue said with certainty. "She told me about some of her past experiences, and why she came to Mystic Sound Pavilion..."

"What experiences?" Chen Ju asked. "Did her father also die early, her mother fall ill, and her younger brother need schooling?"

"Not that. They were some secrets she could not tell outsiders." Liang Yue brushed him off impatiently.

"She told you her secrets? Could she have fallen for you?" Chen Ju grew a little excited. "Brother, you have to seize this chance. Not everyone can hook up with a courtesan of that caliber."

"What are you talking about?" Liang Yue laughed. "We only met once. We probably will not see each other again, and I did not think she meant anything like that."

"I think you have a chance. Maybe she just likes handsome men. In that regard, you are even a hair better than me, so have some confidence." Chen Ju pulled over Pang Chun, who had been silently listening beside them. "Da Chun, what do you think?"

"Mm..." Da Chun pondered for a moment. "I think I am a little hungry."

"Oh, come on!" Chen Ju scratched his head in exasperation. "Can't you have any other aspirations?"

"My greater aspiration is to get a good night's sleep. Lately, I dream about that white-bearded old man every day. Whenever I see him in a dream, he makes me hit him. No matter how I hit him, I cannot hurt him, and it exhausts me to death." As Da Chun complained, he took an oil-paper packet from the pouch at his waist. Inside were three steaming roasted sweet potatoes. He held them out. "Want one?"

"Heh, could that old man have some special fetish?" Chen Ju took one and began peeling it.

Seeing that this batch of sweet potatoes was intact, Liang Yue took one too and began eating. It was sweet and soft, just as expected, and he praised, "Auntie's roasted sweet potatoes really are fragrant. You never get tired of them, no matter how often you eat them."

Pang Chun smiled proudly. "Of course. My mother's cooking is second to none. I eat them every day and never get sick of them."

"But if you eat sweet potatoes all day, don't they give you heartburn?" Chen Ju asked curiously.

"My mother is very clever. She told me bananas can cure heartburn." Pang Chun casually reached into his things and actually pulled out a banana. "So she prepares one for me every time."

"Whoa." Chen Ju could not help laughing. "You really do love things that are soft and yellow."

"Wait..." Liang Yue suddenly raised a hand, as though something had just occurred to him. A sharp gleam flickered in his eyes. "I think I know..."

"What do you know?" Chen Ju asked in confusion.

"I know the method used to poison him!" Liang Yue said, though it was unclear whether he was talking to himself or answering.

"What poisoning? Who are you trying to poison?" Chen Ju asked in alarm.

"Hey, do not interrupt him." Pang Chun put an arm around Chen Ju and pushed him away.

He did not know what Liang Yue was doing either, but one look told him Liang Yue was thinking.

To Pang Chun, thinking was a lofty act.

When Liang Yue finished thinking, he gave neither of them any explanation. Instead, he turned and ran, leaving only one sentence behind: "I'm heading out. You two keep patrolling the streets. Don't wait for me!"

The tall and short pair were left standing there in utter confusion, both disheveled in the street wind.

Because the Evil Extermination Division had only recently been established, it occupied the outskirts of Facing Heaven Ward, where all the government offices were gathered. Its frontage was not large, appearing to be nothing more than a courtyard with black tiles and white eaves, hidden beneath lush green canopies.

After all, in this inch of land worth an inch of gold, so close to the imperial city, it was not easy to suddenly find a suitable and spacious site.

Liang Yue hurried from the south of the city to the north. Even with his swift pace, it took him quite a while. The noisy, bustling Sky Street gradually became quieter upon reaching Facing Heaven Ward, until there was not even a pedestrian in sight, only official carriages and horses.

The north of the city lay close to the Son of Heaven. There were countless high officials and nobles here; who would dare come here and make a racket for no reason?

Yet outside the Evil Extermination Bureau, the situation was exactly the opposite.

The moment Liang Yue drew near, he was startled.

Outside the yamen gates, beneath the gilded plaque bearing the words "Evil Extermination Division," a large crowd had gathered in small clusters—around a hundred people. They were all men between fifteen and fifty years old, dressed in splendid robes, looking either rich or noble. No one knew what they were doing here.

Liang Yue skirted around the crowd, approached the gatehouse, and called out, "Please announce me. I wish to see the Evil Extermination Division's Traveling Official, Wen Yifan."

"Oh?" Inside the gatehouse sat a plump old man of about fifty, with messy hair and a bulbous red nose. He lazily glanced at Liang Yue. "You are looking for Miss Wen?"

"Yes," Liang Yue replied.

"Go line up over there." The fat old man lifted his chin toward the gathered crowd. "Move away from the entrance. Don't block normal traffic."

"No, what line?" Liang Yue glanced at the rabble-like crowd beside him. "I have serious business with Miss Wen."

"Everyone here has come to see Miss Wen, and they all say they have serious business." The fat old man looked disdainfully toward the crowd. "Judging by your official uniform, you are only the lowest rank of Imperial Capital Guard. I advise you to give up. Unless you have a third-rank minister in your family, no one here will even speak to you."

Only then did Liang Yue understand. Everyone gathered here had come seeking an audience with Miss Wen.

Thinking of that face, he did not find it strange at all.

He took out the handkerchief from before. "I am not here to court Miss Wen. I truly have serious business. My name is Liang Yue, and I am a subordinate guard at the Fukang Ward station. Please give her this handkerchief and tell her that I have figured out the method of poisoning."

The gatekeeper took the handkerchief, looked it over, then looked at Liang Yue. "Fine. Wait a moment. If you are trying to fool people, you will have a hard time of it."

With that, he slowly got up to make the announcement.

When the idlers outside saw Liang Yue approach Wen Yifan's gatekeeper, they had paid him no attention, assuming another toad had come craving swan flesh. At most, there were a few mocking snickers.

But when they saw the gatekeeper actually rise to announce him, they could no longer stay still and all crowded over.

A richly dressed young nobleman urgently asked, "Brother, what did you give that gatekeeper that made him announce you? I offered him gold and silver, and he would not even look at them!"

"Exactly!" said a middle-aged man wearing a jade thumb ring. "Ever since too many people started coming to the Evil Extermination Bureau to seek Miss Wen, Lord Chen ordered that no further requests to see her could be announced. Yet you were granted an exception?"

"What exactly did you give that gatekeeper?"

The crowd besieged him with questions, forcing Liang Yue into a corner against the wall.

"Heh heh..." Liang Yue chuckled twice. "I merely gave him a handkerchief."

"A handkerchief?" The crowd did not understand. "What is so unusual about that?"

"There is nothing unusual about the handkerchief. Miss Wen simply gave it to me," Liang Yue said as lightly as drifting clouds and a gentle breeze.

"What?!"

The moment those words came out, they were like a stone shattering the sky.

The truth was that Wen Yifan had wrapped pills in the handkerchief and given them to him. After he washed it and tried to return it, she no longer wanted it and told him to keep it.

But once the intervening steps were omitted, what reached the ears of these pursuers was naturally no different from a thunderbolt out of a clear sky!

For a woman to give a man a handkerchief was indeed rather ambiguous.

"Boy, explain yourself! When, where, and for what reason did Miss Wen give you this handkerchief?"

"What is there to explain? Let me behead this bastard!"

"How can one casually take a life outside a government office? Gentlemen, heed my advice—castrate him and be done with it!"

"You are quite the nice fellow, aren't you?" Liang Yue shuddered.

He had never expected these toads to be so enraged that they immediately wanted to inflict every kind of inhuman cruelty upon him.

The situation became critical in an instant!

At that moment of utmost peril, a flash of falling flowers filled the sky, blocking everyone's vision. Amid the intoxicating fragrance, someone grabbed Liang Yue and tugged him. His steps stumbled.

When he looked up again, he was already within a spacious and elegant courtyard.

"Huh?" Liang Yue murmured in confusion.

Raising his head, he saw that this was not the tiny courtyard of the Evil Extermination Bureau. Instead, broad ground paved with blue bricks stretched before him. Pavilions and towers stood not far away, their tiled eaves flowing one after another, and the entire architectural layout was quite imposing.

When he looked back, the Evil Extermination Division's gate was clearly right there.

But from outside, it had clearly not looked this large.

Before him stood a pretty young girl in an emerald silk dress, her hair arranged in twin flower buns. Her little face was so fair and tender it seemed fit to break with a puff of breath, while her large eyes, like ripples on a spring lake, sparkled brightly as they looked at him.

"Miss, where is this?" Liang Yue was momentarily dazed.

"The Evil Extermination Bureau." The girl smiled sweetly, brimming with enthusiasm. "Didn't you come to see Senior Sister Wen?"

"This is the Evil Extermination Division?" Liang Yue said in surprise. "But it looks completely different from outside..."

"That is just an illusion array. Dragon Abyss City has too little land, so my master set up a restriction that lets the Evil Extermination Division contain its own little world. You cannot tell from outside." The girl turned with a smile and called, "Come with me."

"Alright..." Liang Yue had long heard of the mysterious methods of Qi Refiners, but this was his first time experiencing the wonder of a little world. He was truly shaken.

"Those people outside all like Senior Sister Wen. They are so annoying." As she led him onward, the girl chattered on. "I like Senior Sister Wen too, but I am not annoying, because ours is the affection between fellow disciples. I do not just like Senior Sister Wen—I also like Senior Brother Shang..."

She chattered all the way, leading Liang Yue into a hall and having him sit down. Then she said, "Senior Sister Wen and the others are busy. I have already sent someone to notify her, so wait here for a moment."

"Alright." Liang Yue cupped his hands. "Thank you for your trouble."

"My name is Xu Luzhi. I'll leave an ear here. If you need anything, just loudly call my name."

The little girl turned around and tugged at the top of her head with her right hand. It looked as if she had pulled out a strand of hair, but in the blink of an eye, it turned into a blooming pale-yellow flower.

She planted the flower's stem in the ground outside the door, then skipped away again.

Was this the "ear" she had mentioned?

Liang Yue found it rather miraculous. He looked around, then stepped outside and crouched beside the little flower. After examining it closely, he found no difference between it and a real flower.

After watching for a while, unable to restrain his curiosity any longer, he tentatively called in a low voice, "Miss Xu?"

"You called for me?" Xu Luzhi's voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"Huh? You came back so quickly?" Liang Yue turned toward the girl in surprise. The divine abilities of Qi Refiners were truly so wondrous! Even if she could hear him, was that not far too fast?

Did she truly possess the legendary power of Shrinking the Earth to an Inch, crossing a thousand miles in an instant?

Was this the world of cultivators?

Even a little girl possessed such marvels. It truly was...

"I just went next door to get you a pot of tea. When I walked back, I saw you squatting here all sneaky-like and calling for me. What is it?" Xu Luzhi lifted the teapot in her hand and warmly asked Liang Yue, who had been wildly imagining things.

Oh.

She had walked back.

"..." Liang Yue was slightly embarrassed. After holding it in for a long while, he managed to say, "Nothing. Thank you."

Good morning. Today's two chapters came to nearly seven thousand words. If you think the author has worked hard enough, please cast some monthly votes. It is double votes at the end of the month, so thank you!