Keepsakes

"Read it to me, I can't understand cursive script." Xu Qi'an pushed it back again.

Xu Xinnian's face stiffened, and she stared blankly at him. "If that's the case, why did you make me write it down?"

Because I'm in a bad mood today, Xu Qi'an urged, "Stop talking nonsense, just read it. An elder brother is like a father; do you think my words have no effect?"

Xu Xinnian muttered a few words, vaguely greeting his elder brother's family, then grabbed a sheet of Xuan paper and began to read.

"Etc!"

When he got to a certain part, Xu Qi'an suddenly called for a stop.

He snatched the Xuan paper, stared intently at it, and asked as he read, "What's the deal with this conversation? What happened next? Is there no follow-up?"

Xu Erlang nodded. "There's no follow-up in the daily records; it must have been altered back then. Hmm, is there a problem with this dialogue?"

He looked at his elder brother with barely concealed curiosity. In Xu Erlang's view, this conversation was nothing special, just a dialogue between the late emperor and the previous generation's leader of the Human Sect about cultivating immortality.

Discussing longevity with Daoist School master is as commonplace as discussing classic texts with a great Confucian scholar.

Xu Qi'an didn't answer him, but continued to think on his own, letting his thoughts wander and make connections based on the conversation.

Those who have received the mandate of heaven since ancient times have not lived forever. Can the Daoist School method of longevity overcome this limitation?

This statement reveals that the late emperor knew that those blessed with good fortune could not achieve immortality.

Immortality is possible, but eternal life is not.

The "longevity" mentioned by the previous emperor, Zong Daoshou, should mean extending one's lifespan. The latter part, "long-lasting existence," is the longevity that Emperor Yuanjing sought.

"One Qi transforms into Three Pure Ones, are they one person, or three people?" Hmm, what does this mean? Was the late emperor asking casually, or did it have a deeper meaning?

Filled with doubt, Xu Qi'an continued to have his younger brother read on.

But no other suspicious clues were found.

"Erlang, you need to speed things up. Within three days, memorize all the contents of the late emperor's daily records for your elder brother. Remember to keep it secret; don't let the Hanlin Academy find out you're doing this. We must investigate secretly and without leaking this information, or it will bring great disaster."

Based on his intuition as a veteran detective, Xu Qi'an believed that Emperor Yuanjing's obsession with Daoist cultivation might be related to the previous emperor.

The core question in this case is actually quite simple: if emperors cannot achieve immortality, why did Emperor Yuanjing cultivate Daoism?

Once this mystery is solved, the truth will be revealed.

Emperor Yuanjing was no fool. Even a saint of the highest rank, and a martial artist of the first rank, his great-grandfather and the martial emperor, could not achieve immortality. Without a certain degree of certainty or a glimmer of hope, Emperor Yuanjing would not have become obsessed with cultivation.

"Hmm." Xu Erlang nodded, then said:

"I recently heard something in court: there's war in the north. Did you know, elder brother?"

"A war in the north?" Xu Qi'an was taken aback.

That day, after tearing apart the King of Zhenbei, he took advantage of Jili Zhigu's serious injury and the monk Shenshu's unparalleled power to chase after him out of Chuzhou City and behead this third-rank barbarian by the roadside.

The goal was to severely weaken the northern barbarians, leaving them leaderless. This would create enough chaos for a while just by the various barbarian tribes vying for a new leader.

It is no longer possible to harass the northern border.

The northern barbarians and Demon Race are closely allied, and the northern Demon Race would not take the opportunity to gradually devour the barbarians; doing so would only exacerbate internal strife.

"The Witch God Cult?!" Xu Qi'an blurted out.

"The Witch God Cult is taking advantage of this opportunity to attack the northern demon and barbarian territories, attempting to seize their lands. This is bad news for our Great Feng," Xu Erlang said.

"How is the battle going?" Xu Qi'an asked.

"I don't know the specifics, but I've heard that the demons and barbarians are suffering repeated defeats." Xu Erlang's expression turned serious as he said, "I've also heard that the general leading the army of the Witch God Sect is the King of Jing Kingdom—Xiahou Yushu."

Who is this? Xu Qi'an paused for a few seconds, then suddenly recalled the files of the Battle of Shanhai Pass.

Xiahou Yushu, the king of Jingguo, led the Jingguo army in the Battle of Shanhai Pass twenty years ago, rushing for three days and three nights to cut off the Great Feng's food supply line on the eve of the decisive battle.

They caught Wei Yuan completely off guard, and that was the closest the allied forces ever came to victory; they were just a hair's breadth away from rewriting history.

The Great Feng held the King of Jingguo in extremely high regard, considering him a military genius second only to Wei Yuan, especially in terms of overall planning and strategic vision.

In terms of leadership alone, Xiahou Yushu is even stronger than the Prince of Zhenbei.

The Northeast is a vast and sparsely populated region, home to three kingdoms: Jing, Kang, and Yan.

All three countries worshipped shamans, and the shamanistic religion was the state religion of the three northeastern kingdoms. There, divine authority was supreme, and imperial authority was secondary, mirroring the class structure of the Western Regions.

The Three Kingdoms of Northeast China only practiced two systems: the Sorcerer System and the Martial Dao system.

"Hey, Duke Wei once said that we would fight the Witch God Cult after the autumn harvest, but now the Witch God Cult has invaded the territory of the northern barbarians. The Great Feng is very likely to send troops here. What a coincidence! I don't believe Duke Wei could be so prescient. He must have other purposes for fighting the Witch God Cult."

Xu Qi'an frowned slightly.

For some reason, he had a feeling that a storm was brewing.

It was late at night, and the full moon hung high in the sky.

The cool moonlight shone on the lush green forest, and night birds flapped their wings and cried mournfully among the dense woods.

A wisp of smoke curled gracefully in the moonlight, drifting through the forest, over the mountains, across lakes and rivers, and finally reaching a cave where it disappeared inside.

After traversing winding cave passages for a long time, the blue smoke arrived at a valley within a cave. The cool moonlight shone down from the top, and the valley was filled with bright moonflowers.

Stones were piled up to form a high platform, vines entwined around it, and flowers bloomed all over it, together creating a "flower platform".

The stone chairs on the platform are covered with fluffy, snow-white fox fur. A stunningly beautiful young woman sits languidly, one hand propping up her head, smiling as she watches the wisps of smoke returning after traversing thousands of mountains and rivers.

The wisps of smoke materialized into a woman who didn't quite look real, with graceful movements and a charming demeanor, but whose face was indistinct.

"Master, I'm back."

The woman gracefully bowed.

"Six years have passed in the blink of an eye. You've done well. The reason I sent you to the capital was for the sealed artifact beneath Sangbo."

The beautiful woman on the stone chair spoke in a soft, alluring voice. She bent her legs slightly, her skirt slipping down to reveal two long, white, python-like legs, and said with a smile:

"When I saw your letter saying you'd fallen in love with a man, I didn't urge you to return. I gave you another six months to let go of worldly ties. Do you still have any lingering attachments in the capital?"

The woman kept her head down and did not answer.

The woman on the stone chair had a pair of alluring, foxy eyes. She narrowed them and smiled:

"Tsk tsk tsk, the Fuxiang Flower Queen is famous throughout the land, truly glorious! Have you forgotten your own name, Night Princess?"

"Ye Ji dares not. Fuxiang was the daughter of a disgraced official, and she died of illness six years ago. Ye Ji is merely a cuckoo in her nest, using her body to do her bidding. Ye Ji will forever be loyal to her master."

"What if one day I ask you to kill Xu Qi'an?" The woman on the stone chair had a mischievous look on her face, but her tone was chilling.

The woman trembled, knelt down gracefully, and said in a mournful voice, "Then I, Ye Ji, can no longer serve my master. Please grant me death."

The woman on the stone chair sat up straight and giggled, "You naughty girl, you know perfectly well I can't kill you. Haven't you always wanted to know how I'll deal with Xu Qi'an?"

"When I scattered you nine sisters across the Nine Provinces, I said that if you could all fall in love with the same man, he would be my future husband, the ruler of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons."

"Besides you, there's another girl who's also fallen in love with him."

Ye Ji suddenly looked up, a mixture of surprise and jealousy in her eyes. "Who... who is it?"

The princess of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons smiled, her beauty captivating. She did not answer Ye Ji's question, but instead said, "You should rest here for a while, and I will rebuild your physical body."

"Next, you have a new task to do."

early morning.

Tianji and Tianshu led their secret agents, riding horses, to Baifeng Mountain in the western suburbs.

The huge archway bears the three characters "Qinglong Temple," and the winding stone steps extend into the depths of the jungle, leading to the magnificent temple atop the mountain.

Leaving a few people to watch over the horses, Tianji and Tianshu climbed the steps and entered the temple.

After receiving word from their disciple, the two top-ranking secret agents met with the abbot of Qinglong Temple—Monk Panshu.

The old monk, with his white beard reaching his chest and kind eyes, sat cross-legged in the meditation room and said with a gentle smile, "Gentlemen, what brings you to our humble temple?"

Tianji took out a folded portrait from his bosom, unfolded it, and said, "Does Abbot Panshu recognize this person?"

The monk in the portrait has a square face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and rugged features; he is none other than the monk Hengyuan.

"Amitabha."

The monk with palms pressed together said, "He is Hengyuan, my disciple."

Tianji and Tianshu exchanged a glance, a glint of light flashing in their eyes. Tianji leaned forward slightly, staring at the monk with the coiled tree. "Is this person in the temple?"

The monk shook his head. "This person has been away from the temple for more than two years. That year, my other disciple, Heng Hui, went missing and his whereabouts were unknown. Heng Yuan went down the mountain to search for him from then on and never returned to the temple."

"Any disciple in the temple can testify to this. If you do not believe me, you can simply ask them."

Tianji nodded. "Thank you for summoning the disciples."

After consulting with the disciples in the temple and receiving a unified answer, Tianji and Tianshu left the temple and walked side by side down the stone steps.

Tianji slowly said, "More than two years ago, Heng Hui of Qinglong Temple eloped with Princess Pingyang and was assassinated by the Liang faction. Later, Xu Qi'an investigated the Sangbo case and uncovered this old story."

Tian Shu hummed in agreement. "The monks at the temple said that Hengyuan was extremely unpopular there, and he never returned after leaving the mountain. He has most likely already left the capital."

Tianji pondered for a moment and said, "The monks in the temple said that this person is a busybody. So, he's been in the capital for two years, and he must have left some traces. There must be quite a few people who know him. Send someone to the outer city to investigate, but remember not to alert him."

At the Xu Residence, it's breakfast time.

Lina drinks porridge: gulp gulp gulp.

Little Dou Ding drinks porridge: gulp gulp gulp, burp.

The others ate their porridge and vegetables slowly and deliberately.

Second Uncle Xu stroked the Taiping sword while grinning.

The aunt snapped, "All you ever do is handle knives! You might as well sleep with them!"

"Okay," said Second Uncle Xu, looking at his nephew.

"Okay." Xu Qi'an nodded. "Taiping, spend more time with your second uncle."

The aunt yelled angrily, "Neither uncle nor nephew is any good!"

She turned to her son and asked, "Erlang, how are things going between you and that Miss Wang?"

"Why bring this up?" Xu Erlang said somewhat awkwardly.

"Didn't you already visit the Wang family? Shouldn't we invite their daughter over to our home? Although my Xu Household isn't a scholarly family, we still know how to be polite. Go and invite her to our residence as a guest."

My aunt was acting like the matriarch of the family.

"Auntie, if that's the case, then I'd better buy some melon seeds in advance. "Xu Qi'an perked up.

"This is not proper etiquette. I invited her to my residence without proper justification," Xu Erlang pointed out, exposing his mother's half-baked knowledge.

"It would be proper for me to invite Miss Wang to my residence on my behalf," Xu Lingyue said softly.

Xu Erlang thought for a moment and said, "Alright."

Xu Qi'an chimed in, "Then let's set a time, don't drag it out too long, preferably in the next few days."

Upon hearing this, the aunt looked at her nephew and asked, "Why is Dalang so enthusiastic?"

"I'm not just enthusiastic, I can't wait to see you get thrashed by your future wife," Xu Qi'an said with a sigh. He felt that his tedious and boring investigation career had finally become a little more entertaining.

Then, he looked at Xu Lingyue.

Will Wang Simu easily defeat her future mother-in-law, or will the sister-in-law charge out on horseback, fight her sister-in-law, and save her mother from danger?

This is far more interesting than the operas performed in brothels.

"As the eldest brother, it's natural for me to care about Erlang's marriage. Only when Erlang's marriage is settled can Lingyue's marriage be put on the agenda," Xu Qi'an said seriously.

Xu Lingyue lowered her head, a glint of shrewdness flashing in her beautiful eyes.

"That's true!" Auntie wholeheartedly agreed.

After finishing breakfast, Xu Qi'an returned to his room and glanced at Zhong Li, who was sitting at the table eating.

Her messy black hair was slightly parted, revealing her cherry-like mouth, which twitched slightly like a rabbit nibbling on a carrot.

Although I've never seen Zhong Li's face clearly, the occasional glimpses of her eyes or lips reveal that she's a beautiful woman with exquisite features.

"Go, go, I need to write a memo."

Xu Qi'an shooed her away from the desk.

Zhong Li, holding her bowl, squatted by the bed and continued eating.

"This morning I practiced 'Intent' to integrate various unique skills into a single strike as soon as possible. Heaven and Earth Slash + Heart Sword + Lion's Roar + Taiping Blade. I have a premonition that when I master 'Intent', I will dominate the fourth rank realm."

"I went on a date with Lin'an this afternoon. The day before yesterday, I 'accidentally' touched Lin'an's waist. It's so soft."

"I can't stay home tomorrow; I'm going to sleep at my widow's place. I'll also have to take her out shopping and have some fun."

"I'm going to Huaiqing Prefecture the day after tomorrow to see my aloof goddess. I can't neglect her; it's been a long time since I chatted with her. It's something to look forward to—having a long conversation with a knowledgeable beauty."

"I promised Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao this afternoon that I would go to a brothel to listen to music. The Imperial Academy of Music Imperial Academy of Music... sigh, I'm not going."

"I promised Li Miaozhen the day after tomorrow that I would buy grain and distribute porridge. That foolish heroine, I told her, 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.' But the foolish heroine said, 'What kind of fishing can you teach a man to do?' I was speechless."

"This afternoon, I'll take Lina, Caiwei, and Caiwei to a restaurant for a good meal."

"Then, I have to go sleep at the widow's place."

As Xu Qi'an wrote this, he sensed something was amiss.

Wait, what about my important business? What about the case I'm investigating?

At the end of his memo, he wrote, "Xu Qi'an Xu Qi'an, you can't spend all your time with women and neglect your duties."

A few seconds later, he crossed out the sentence and replaced it with. "I need a copy of 'Master Luo's Time Management'."

After finishing the memo with great melancholy, I glanced at Zhong Li, who had finished breakfast and was sitting cross-legged on the bed cultivating. I thought to myself, "Fifth Senior Sister is so much better, quietly staying in the fishpond."

It won't cause any trouble, nor will it interfere with your important work.

Just then, Old Zhang, the gatekeeper, ran over and said at the door, "Dalang, someone's looking for you."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qi'an replied, "Who?"

"It's a girl, she calls herself Mei'er."

Mei'er, Fuxiang's personal maid Xu Qi'an, remained silent for a moment, then said, "Take her to the outer hall, I'll be there right away."

He tucked the memo inside the book and told Zhong Li, "Don't peek."

Zhong Li nodded obediently.

Leaving the room, passing through the inner courtyard, and arriving at the outer hall, he saw Mei'er, with delicate features, sitting upright in a chair, looking somewhat nervous.

There was a small cloth bag on the coffee table next to me.

"Mei'er."

Xu Qi'an stepped into the inner hall, gestured to the girl who had hurriedly stood up, and said softly, "Have you encountered some trouble?"

Unlike before, Mei'er was dressed quite simply, with no makeup, a far cry from her flamboyant attire at Yingmei Pavilion.

He guessed that Mei'er might have been bullied at the Imperial Academy of Music.

"No, Mr. Xu."

Mei'er shook her head and said, "I'm no longer with the Imperial Academy of Music. Before Fuxiang left, she left me some of her savings so I could use them to redeem myself. I plan to go back to my hometown to take care of my parents. Then, I'll find an honest man to marry."

Damn it, what sins did these honest people commit to deserve such treatment even in this other world? Xu Qi'an smiled gently, "So, you've come to say goodbye?"

It's good that she's been able to reform; Fuxiang was kind-hearted, and I hope she's doing well now.

Mei shook her head again. "Before Lady Fuxiang left, she asked me to give you a few things."

Xu Qi'an's pupils contracted slightly.