[Art added: Copper Bone Art.]
After obtaining the martial art from Li Hundred Household, Chen Yi immediately poured twenty years of true qi into it.
[You newly acquired the Copper Bone Art and immediately began practicing.] [For three years, you focused on tempering your skin and training your sinews and bones. Both required hard work, braving wind and rain and honing yourself day and night.] [After five years of accumulated effort, your training finally yielded some modest success.] [Ten years passed. Not only had you tempered your skin, sinews, and bones, but you had also progressed to training your organs and cleansing your marrow. However, this was not a high-grade art, and it could take you no further. You had fully mastered the Copper Bone Art. Even in rags, you were as protected as if clad in iron armor. With copper skin and iron bones, ordinary metal weapons could not pierce you.] [Copper Bone Art (proficient)] [True qi remaining: forty years.]
"It looks like this is as far as the Copper Bone Art goes."
Chen Yi did not expect too much of this art.
As a defensive art that was relatively easy to obtain early on, its grade was not high to begin with. It was only a mid-grade art.
Even so, it was extremely practical.
Against ordinary martial artists, as long as he avoided attacks to vulnerable areas such as his neck, his copper skin and iron bones could even shatter his opponents' weapons if used properly.
Then, next...
Chen Yi turned and glanced at the sundial on the Western Depot's training grounds. It was currently the hour of the Snake, roughly nine in the morning.
"Judging by the time... Min Ning should be visiting her older sister in another hour."
As a player on his second playthrough, Chen Yi had studied the movements of many characters, especially the female leads, in considerable detail.
He had spent a great deal of time repeatedly observing and analyzing them in the game.
That would come in handy now.
"Then... I should go see Min Ming before she gets there."
Hundred Flowers Tower stood in the northern district of Great Yu's Capital City, connected to the other districts by waterways and lakes. The area consisted mostly of restaurants, teahouses, and pleasure houses. Every Lantern Festival, pleasure boats filled the river, with singing and dancing everywhere.
But it was currently late autumn, and morning at that, so there were not many pedestrians on the streets.
Dressed in his official robes, Chen Yi arrived at Hundred Flowers Tower. A madam immediately recognized him, came forward, and asked:
"Hundred Household Chen, have you come to listen to music? But right now... in broad daylight, hardly any of the girls can get out of bed."
Chen Yi asked pointedly:
"Miss Min can get out of bed, surely?"
The madam missed his implication. After a moment's thought, she nodded slightly.
"All right, I'll inform Miss Min at once. Please wait in the hall."
Once he sat down in the hall, a servant duly brought him tea. Chen Yi did not drink it, instead recalling Min Ming and the force behind her.
The man who had opened Hundred Flowers Tower was Li Jisheng, a wealthy silk merchant from the south. To amass such wealth here naturally required collusion between officials and merchants, and he had several high-ranking officials from the Weaving Bureaus in his pocket.
After coming to the Capital City, Li Jisheng kept a low profile, traveling discreetly and seldom using sedan chairs or carriages. He rarely oversaw his businesses in person either, seemingly leaving them to their own devices. In reality, however, he was secretly running an intelligence network in the Capital City for a certain organization.
Chen Yi naturally knew this organization. It was called the Do Not Use Tower, its name drawn from the saying, "The hidden dragon must not act." Many arrangements within the Capital City were inextricably linked to it.
And Min Ming was a capable operative whom the Do Not Use Tower had stationed in Hundred Flowers Tower.
Before long, the madam hurried downstairs and said, looking somewhat flustered:
"Hundred Household Chen, Miss Min drank too much last night and cannot conveniently get out of bed this morning. Rather than spoil your enjoyment, my lord, perhaps..."
Chen Yi sneered.
"She doesn't want to see me?"
The madam paled slightly, not having expected Chen Yi to be so blunt.
"Then please pass a message to her."
The madam asked:
"What message?"
Chen Yi answered:
"Miss Min, you wouldn't want Min Ning to resign and return home, would you?"
Climbing the brown wooden stairs, Chen Yi got his wish and went up to a private room on the second floor.
The woman sat upright inside, dressed in a blue-green skirt and cradling a zither. Her fair hands were slender, and her breasts filled out her clothing slightly. She was utterly alluring.
"Miss Min, finally willing to see me?"
Chen Yi casually sat down cross-legged and looked at a certain spot.
[Negative emotion: 60]
Over the past day or two, her mood had calmed somewhat.
"Lord Hundred Household... what brings you here?"
Min Ming's voice was cold, her autumn-water eyes shifting uncertainly.
"Why must you make things difficult for me... a helpless woman with no one to rely on?"
After their last encounter, she never wanted to see this man again. Not only had he used some secret technique to strip away all her true qi, but he had also brazenly humiliated her, trampling on the beauty she took such pride in. And now he was even using Min Ning to threaten her, forcing her to meet him. At the thought, Min Ming could not help growing uneasy.
"You weren't hungover after all, Miss Min.
"Anyone in this brothel might be hungover, but not you."
Chen Yi spoke with a smile.
Min Ming reined in her jumbled thoughts a little and asked:
"Lord Hundred Household, what are you trying to say?"
Chen Yi uttered the name:
"The Do Not Use Tower."
Min Ming froze. The zither in her hands fell silent, her fingertips stiffened, and her clothing rose and fell continuously.
"You're..."
Before Min Ming could finish, Chen Yi said with a smile:
"Don't ask how I know.
"The Western Depot always has ways of learning things people would rather keep hidden."
Min Ming's expression darkened. Her fingertips pinched the zither strings, her thoughts refusing to settle.
A trace of murderous intent flashed through her eyes. As a property of the Do Not Use Tower, Hundred Flowers Tower housed more than one spy, and more than one expert. With a single cry from her, no matter how skilled this Western Depot Hundred Household was, two fists would ultimately be no match for four hands.
Suddenly, she heard a slight commotion outside the door.
"Thousand Household Min, your older sister is still entertaining a guest. Don't go up!"
Hearing the madam's voice, Min Ming's pupils contracted slightly, and the murderous intent in her eyes instantly vanished without a trace.
Chen Yi heard it too.
And he had done more than hear it.
He also knew... Min Ning had a rather bad habit.
"Lord Hundred Household, surely you haven't come here without wanting something?"
Unaware of what Chen Yi was thinking, Min Ming spoke softly.
Rather than answer directly, Chen Yi stated a few seemingly irrelevant facts:
"Min Ning, courtesy name Moon Pond, followed in her father's footsteps and entered the Embroidered Uniform Guard at fifteen, the age of learning martial dances. She was subsequently transferred to the Western Depot. After five years of striving, she rose from a mere squad leader to inherit the position of Thousand Household.
"She enjoys championing justice, and has suffered ostracism from the Eastern Depot Agents of both Depots as a result. Yet she is upright and without blemish, so her position remains secure.
"The only pity is that she has a spy for an older sister."
The more Chen Yi spoke, the more flustered Min Ming became. She tried her best to keep her face expressionless, but her fingertips gripped the zither strings so tightly that they left red marks.
"Tell me, if the Eastern Depot learned of this, would Thousand Household Min still have a place in the two Depots and the Guard?"
Chen Yi asked in a very sincere tone.
Min Ming shuddered.
As a spy, she knew only too well what sort of people filled the Eastern Depot.
"What... exactly do you want?"
Min Ming tightened her grip on the zither strings, unable to keep her voice from trembling:
"Since you have no interest in me, Hundred Household, what exactly are you after?"
In an even tone, Chen Yi asked with a gentle smile:
"Miss Min,
"Would you be willing to become a bedchamber attendant in my household?"
Twang.
The zither string snapped under her grip.
And outside the door, Chen Yi faintly heard the cracking of tightly clenched knuckles.
Chen Yi shook his head with a chuckle.
Min Ning, oh, Min Ning...
Your bad habit
was your fondness for eavesdropping, and how easily concern clouded your judgment.
Before you continue