She kept examining the porcelain bottle carefully, inside and outside, then there was nothing else. Mrs. Shen loved cleaning so much that, even when she had already left, the house was immaculate, every corner spotless.
One thing she was curious about was how the beggar uncle and her had become close friends. That still remained a mystery.
Jinxia got on the horse and went home. As she arrived at the gate, her horse was stopped by two JinYiWei. She recognized the two people as Gao Qing’s subordinates; compared to them, she was only a small constable in terms of ranks, so she got off the horse and paid her respects.
“Constable Yuan, please follow us to meet Daren.” Their tone of voice sounded quite respectful but their behaviour was arrogant.
Jinxia was curious, “Meet with whom?”
“No need to ask, you will know later.”
The two of them got on the horse, leading her to the pier outside the city. She got off the horse and then got onto a small boat. The boatman did not say anything and continued rowing the boat, he had to be one of their people.
Jinxia continued asking questions, but the two JinYiWei’s mouths were tightly closed and none of them would reveal who this ‘Daren’ was. Not long after, the ship that Lu Yi pointed out to her on that bloody night appeared in front of her: a big ship calmly anchored in the middle of the lake. The small boat continued moving towards it, making small waves as the boatman rowed.
It was him! The person from the Capital!
The one who intended to step on Lu Yi with his feet. ‘Who exactly is he?’, Jinxia was extremely curious.
The small boat continued to sail until it reached the bigger ship. The two JinYiWei did not get off the boat right away, they waited for Jinxia to climb up the rope ladder, then the boat sailed off again, leaving her alone there.
“You guys…”
Jinxia was holding the rope ladder in her hand, trying to call them back. She then thought, if there was anything, at most she would dive underwater. Based on her swimming skills, going from there back to the mainland shouldn’t have been a difficult thing for her.
Thinking about it this way, she felt less fearful in her heart, following the path and climbing up the ladder again. Strangely speaking, the rope ladder did not hang down from the deck but from the third floor of the ship. She continued climbing up until she reached the railing of stairs, where she jumped and arrived at the ship’s third floor.
As soon as her feet touched the floor, she could feel some sort of softness. Lowering her head to see, she noticed the floor covered with squirrel fur, one piece next to another, fully covering the pavement to the end of the hall. Just judging by the material of the carpet, she could already guess that inside that room would be full of valuable items. In those days, a single squirrel fur carpet would cost a year of her earning.
“What a waste of money…” Jinxia thought, shaking her head.
Stepping on the squirrel fur, she walked into the room. Inside, it was very quiet, in fact, the whole ship was very calm and quiet, she couldn’t hear any footsteps, perhaps because of the furs on the ground.
She continued to walk forward, stepping on one carpet after another, the room that was originally light beginning to grow dimmer.
“Anyone here?” Jinxia opened her mouth.
No one answered. After a few moments of silence, she heard a sound of lighters being lit. In an instant, the dimly lit room became bright again…
With the light shining down from a high place, she could perceive that there was someone’s shadow behind the curtain.
Jinxia could clearly see the movement of a person behind the drapes. He took a hairpin from his head, scratched it against something and a fire appeared. Putting it in the lantern and lifting it over his head, the room became even brighter.
“Beizhe greets Daren.” Jinxia said out loud.
Still, no one answered, the man inserted the hairpin back on his head, took the teapot from the cabinet in front of him and started to pour the tea. As the tea was being poured into the cup, a faint fragrance filled the room.
Jinxia said again in a loud voice, “Beizhe greets Daren.”
He still continued to ignore Jinxa and keep pouring the tea.
In her heart, Jinxia was suspicious. Watching him through the thick curtain, she felt that there was something strange about that person. Just as she was about to come closer to the curtain, intending to get a clearer view of the person, the person stood up all of a sudden.
Not only did he stand up, holding in his hand the tea cup, but following the rustling noise, he walked around the table, then walked toward her. Every time he walked forward, each curtain would be divided in two and separated on both sides. Maybe it was better for him to approach her… While he was coming closer, Jinxia was shocked to death: his movements… it didn’t seem he was walking but more like floating, as a ghost would.
She quickly turned around to make sure the path was still open.
At last, also the last curtain in front of her was opened and the man slid toward her, the cup in his hand immediately placed in front of Jinxia. The hand holding the tea cup was made of copper iron, the joints were almost as flexible as human bones, the teacup was clamped firmly, not moving at all.
It turned out to be a fake figure!
Jinxia lowered her eyes and head, carefully examining its face: it was smooth, clean and shiny, made from burnt ceramic clay.
That was the first time she witnessed a life size figure like this, she was fascinated, forgetting to accept the teacup. Suddenly, the figure let go of the teacup and boiling hot water fell onto the floor. The figure raised its head, its dark eyes met Jinxia’s, startling her and making her take a few steps backward.
Behind her, someone gripped her shoulder.
Jinxia turned around in a flash, facing Lu Yi who was frowning.
“Daren?!?”
“Why are you here?” It was unexpected to meet her on the ship. Lu Yi got immediately worried.
Jinxia answered him, “When I returned to the city, I met two of Gao Qing’s subordinates at the gate, they said there was a Daren who wanted to see me, so they sent me here, but they didn’t come in.”
It was good that she didn’t recklessly come here by herself. Lu Yi quietly let out a sigh of relief but thought again why the owner of the ship would bring her here and his eyebrows tightened again.
“Daren, look at this figure, isn’t it very similar to that … that one?” Jinxia tugged at his sleeve.
Lu Yi of course knew what she was talking about: the figure, judging from the handiwork, was very similar to the ‘Ai Bieli’, and although the models were different, the craftsmanship was the same. Lu Yi sighed, pulling his sleeve from Jinxia’s hand and replacing it with his hand.
Jinxia’s hands were a little cold and sweaty.
‘Is she scared?’
He unknowingly turned to look at her: She was still staring at the figure and biting her lower lip.
At that time, the figure that was standing still the whole time started to move, going back to where it came out of. At the same moment, the curtains inside all lifted up. Jinxia looked at the insides containing several cylindrical wooden blades. She did not know where these objects came from, but they were slowly spinning and rolling up the drapes.
Several people walked in from the end of the room, all of them were barefoot female servants.
Their feet were white and smooth, their steps delicate.
Finally, the last person entered.
“Beizhe greets Yan Daren.” Lu Yi bowed and paid his respect.
The left executive deputy Yan Daren? Yan ShiFan!
Jinxia was stunned for a moment and when she finally regained her senses, she bowed her head in a hurry, “Beizhe greets Yan Daren.”
Yan ShiFan said in a gentle voice, “No need to be polite. Yan Yuan, the autumn eagle painting that you sent over, I have already checked, it is real indeed. I didn’t expect Qiu Luan’s servant would hide it, I’ve been searching for it for years… Still not setting up places to sit!” The last sentence was addressed to the maids.
The maids brought two mahogany armchairs with round backrests, inviting Lu Yi and Jinxia to sit down. Yan ShiFan sat sideways on the long armchair with a soft seating cushion. The table in front of him was empty at first but, after the two maids turned around, the table was filled with a warmed pot of tea, various tea leaves, fruit and so on. Although they were busy preparing the table, not the slightest sound was made.
Jinxia took the opportunity to sip her tea, peeking at Yan ShiFan’s appearance. If she thought about it, it was a bit strange: in the Capital, Yan ShiFan was a well-known figure and although she had lived in the Capital for a long time, this was her first time seeing him.
According to the rumours in the Capital, Yan ShiFan was a short-necked, fat white man, but seeing him now… The white skin comment was indeed true: compared to the maid standing next to him, he was still a lot whiter than her, his posture was balanced, even if slightly shorter than Lu Yi, but definitely not short and fat, let alone saying he had a short neck… and neither fat fitted him at all.
One of his eyes was abnormal: both of them were open, but it was clear that he could only use his right eye to see, whereas his left eye was more blurry and didn’t move, which made it look very strange.
“Little girl, if you want to look at my eyes, you can come closer.” Yan ShiFan took a sip of his tea slowly and glanced at Jinxia with his left eye.
Jinxia retracted her gaze at once, lowering her eyes and saying, “Beizhe does not dare.”
Lu Yi didn’t look at her and said to Yan ShiFan, “She’s just a small constable in LiuShanmen, and very impolite on top of that. She never interacts with the upper class and if her presence is bothering Daren, you better send her off.”
Upon hearing his words, Yan ShiFan laughed, “Not so fast, not so fast. This little girl, although her manners are a bit lacking, her appearance is quite attractive. I heard her investigation skills are quite good… Little girl, come here.”
Jinxia stood up, carefully taking two steps forward and stopping about four to five steps away from Yan ShiFan.
“Yes, Daren.”
“Today, I dressed like this…What can you see and say about me?” He smiled, looking very interested, he even lifted his skirt and showed his shoes, “Take a look at the shoes too.”
“…….” She froze because she never expected Yan ShiFan to ask this question.
Judging from his status and nature, there were certain things you could and couldn’t say in front of him, therefore, for her to answer his question was very difficult. Jinxia didn’t dare to speak rashly.
Lu Yi smiled and said, “Daren, look at her standing there, her legs are already shaking, can’t you tell how scared she is in her heart? How can she speak in an orderly manner?”
Jinxia followed his words and said, “How can Beizhe dare to treat Daren the same as criminals? It is absolutely impossible.”
Yan ShiFan thought for a moment and pointed to the maid beside him, “Her! Speak, you can’t refuse anymore.”
Jinxia looked at the maid: judging from her appearance, she was no more than sixteen years old, her eyes were bright, her teeth were white, a natural beauty indeed.
“You go there, let her look at you.” Yan ShiFan pushed the maid toward Jinxia.
When his hand touched the maid, Jinxia did not miss a glimpse of her stiffened attitude. It was blatant that she was afraid of Yan ShiFan. Maybe every time he’d touched her, she had suffered greatly.
She kept examining the porcelain bottle carefully, inside and outside, then there was nothing else. Mrs. Shen loved cleaning so much that, even when she had already left, the house was immaculate, every corner spotless.
One thing she was curious about was how the beggar uncle and her had become close friends. That still remained a mystery.
Jinxia got on the horse and went home. As she arrived at the gate, her horse was stopped by two JinYiWei. She recognized the two people as Gao Qing’s subordinates; compared to them, she was only a small constable in terms of ranks, so she got off the horse and paid her respects.
“Constable Yuan, please follow us to meet Daren.” Their tone of voice sounded quite respectful but their behaviour was arrogant.
Jinxia was curious, “Meet with whom?”
“No need to ask, you will know later.”
The two of them got on the horse, leading her to the pier outside the city. She got off the horse and then got onto a small boat. The boatman did not say anything and continued rowing the boat, he had to be one of their people.
Jinxia continued asking questions, but the two JinYiWei’s mouths were tightly closed and none of them would reveal who this ‘Daren’ was. Not long after, the ship that Lu Yi pointed out to her on that bloody night appeared in front of her: a big ship calmly anchored in the middle of the lake. The small boat continued moving towards it, making small waves as the boatman rowed.
It was him! The person from the Capital!
The one who intended to step on Lu Yi with his feet. ‘Who exactly is he?’, Jinxia was extremely curious.
The small boat continued to sail until it reached the bigger ship. The two JinYiWei did not get off the boat right away, they waited for Jinxia to climb up the rope ladder, then the boat sailed off again, leaving her alone there.
“You guys…”
Jinxia was holding the rope ladder in her hand, trying to call them back. She then thought, if there was anything, at most she would dive underwater. Based on her swimming skills, going from there back to the mainland shouldn’t have been a difficult thing for her.
Thinking about it this way, she felt less fearful in her heart, following the path and climbing up the ladder again. Strangely speaking, the rope ladder did not hang down from the deck but from the third floor of the ship. She continued climbing up until she reached the railing of stairs, where she jumped and arrived at the ship’s third floor.
As soon as her feet touched the floor, she could feel some sort of softness. Lowering her head to see, she noticed the floor covered with squirrel fur, one piece next to another, fully covering the pavement to the end of the hall. Just judging by the material of the carpet, she could already guess that inside that room would be full of valuable items. In those days, a single squirrel fur carpet would cost a year of her earning.
“What a waste of money…” Jinxia thought, shaking her head.
Stepping on the squirrel fur, she walked into the room. Inside, it was very quiet, in fact, the whole ship was very calm and quiet, she couldn’t hear any footsteps, perhaps because of the furs on the ground.
She continued to walk forward, stepping on one carpet after another, the room that was originally light beginning to grow dimmer.
“Anyone here?” Jinxia opened her mouth.
No one answered. After a few moments of silence, she heard a sound of lighters being lit. In an instant, the dimly lit room became bright again…
With the light shining down from a high place, she could perceive that there was someone’s shadow behind the curtain.
Jinxia could clearly see the movement of a person behind the drapes. He took a hairpin from his head, scratched it against something and a fire appeared. Putting it in the lantern and lifting it over his head, the room became even brighter.
“Beizhe greets Daren.” Jinxia said out loud.
Still, no one answered, the man inserted the hairpin back on his head, took the teapot from the cabinet in front of him and started to pour the tea. As the tea was being poured into the cup, a faint fragrance filled the room.
Jinxia said again in a loud voice, “Beizhe greets Daren.”
He still continued to ignore Jinxa and keep pouring the tea.
In her heart, Jinxia was suspicious. Watching him through the thick curtain, she felt that there was something strange about that person. Just as she was about to come closer to the curtain, intending to get a clearer view of the person, the person stood up all of a sudden.
Not only did he stand up, holding in his hand the tea cup, but following the rustling noise, he walked around the table, then walked toward her. Every time he walked forward, each curtain would be divided in two and separated on both sides. Maybe it was better for him to approach her… While he was coming closer, Jinxia was shocked to death: his movements… it didn’t seem he was walking but more like floating, as a ghost would.
She quickly turned around to make sure the path was still open.
At last, also the last curtain in front of her was opened and the man slid toward her, the cup in his hand immediately placed in front of Jinxia. The hand holding the tea cup was made of copper iron, the joints were almost as flexible as human bones, the teacup was clamped firmly, not moving at all.
It turned out to be a fake figure!
Jinxia lowered her eyes and head, carefully examining its face: it was smooth, clean and shiny, made from burnt ceramic clay.
That was the first time she witnessed a life size figure like this, she was fascinated, forgetting to accept the teacup. Suddenly, the figure let go of the teacup and boiling hot water fell onto the floor. The figure raised its head, its dark eyes met Jinxia’s, startling her and making her take a few steps backward.
Behind her, someone gripped her shoulder.
Jinxia turned around in a flash, facing Lu Yi who was frowning.
“Daren?!?”
“Why are you here?” It was unexpected to meet her on the ship. Lu Yi got immediately worried.
Jinxia answered him, “When I returned to the city, I met two of Gao Qing’s subordinates at the gate, they said there was a Daren who wanted to see me, so they sent me here, but they didn’t come in.”
It was good that she didn’t recklessly come here by herself. Lu Yi quietly let out a sigh of relief but thought again why the owner of the ship would bring her here and his eyebrows tightened again.
“Daren, look at this figure, isn’t it very similar to that … that one?” Jinxia tugged at his sleeve.
Lu Yi of course knew what she was talking about: the figure, judging from the handiwork, was very similar to the ‘Ai Bieli’, and although the models were different, the craftsmanship was the same. Lu Yi sighed, pulling his sleeve from Jinxia’s hand and replacing it with his hand.
Jinxia’s hands were a little cold and sweaty.
‘Is she scared?’
He unknowingly turned to look at her: She was still staring at the figure and biting her lower lip.
At that time, the figure that was standing still the whole time started to move, going back to where it came out of. At the same moment, the curtains inside all lifted up. Jinxia looked at the insides containing several cylindrical wooden blades. She did not know where these objects came from, but they were slowly spinning and rolling up the drapes.
Several people walked in from the end of the room, all of them were barefoot female servants.
Their feet were white and smooth, their steps delicate.
Finally, the last person entered.
“Beizhe greets Yan Daren.” Lu Yi bowed and paid his respect.
The left executive deputy Yan Daren? Yan ShiFan!
Jinxia was stunned for a moment and when she finally regained her senses, she bowed her head in a hurry, “Beizhe greets Yan Daren.”
Yan ShiFan said in a gentle voice, “No need to be polite. Yan Yuan, the autumn eagle painting that you sent over, I have already checked, it is real indeed. I didn’t expect Qiu Luan’s servant would hide it, I’ve been searching for it for years… Still not setting up places to sit!” The last sentence was addressed to the maids.
The maids brought two mahogany armchairs with round backrests, inviting Lu Yi and Jinxia to sit down. Yan ShiFan sat sideways on the long armchair with a soft seating cushion. The table in front of him was empty at first but, after the two maids turned around, the table was filled with a warmed pot of tea, various tea leaves, fruit and so on. Although they were busy preparing the table, not the slightest sound was made.
Jinxia took the opportunity to sip her tea, peeking at Yan ShiFan’s appearance. If she thought about it, it was a bit strange: in the Capital, Yan ShiFan was a well-known figure and although she had lived in the Capital for a long time, this was her first time seeing him.
According to the rumours in the Capital, Yan ShiFan was a short-necked, fat white man, but seeing him now… The white skin comment was indeed true: compared to the maid standing next to him, he was still a lot whiter than her, his posture was balanced, even if slightly shorter than Lu Yi, but definitely not short and fat, let alone saying he had a short neck… and neither fat fitted him at all.
One of his eyes was abnormal: both of them were open, but it was clear that he could only use his right eye to see, whereas his left eye was more blurry and didn’t move, which made it look very strange.
“Little girl, if you want to look at my eyes, you can come closer.” Yan ShiFan took a sip of his tea slowly and glanced at Jinxia with his left eye.
Jinxia retracted her gaze at once, lowering her eyes and saying, “Beizhe does not dare.”
Lu Yi didn’t look at her and said to Yan ShiFan, “She’s just a small constable in LiuShanmen, and very impolite on top of that. She never interacts with the upper class and if her presence is bothering Daren, you better send her off.”
Upon hearing his words, Yan ShiFan laughed, “Not so fast, not so fast. This little girl, although her manners are a bit lacking, her appearance is quite attractive. I heard her investigation skills are quite good… Little girl, come here.”
Jinxia stood up, carefully taking two steps forward and stopping about four to five steps away from Yan ShiFan.
“Yes, Daren.”
“Today, I dressed like this…What can you see and say about me?” He smiled, looking very interested, he even lifted his skirt and showed his shoes, “Take a look at the shoes too.”
“…….” She froze because she never expected Yan ShiFan to ask this question.
Judging from his status and nature, there were certain things you could and couldn’t say in front of him, therefore, for her to answer his question was very difficult. Jinxia didn’t dare to speak rashly.
Lu Yi smiled and said, “Daren, look at her standing there, her legs are already shaking, can’t you tell how scared she is in her heart? How can she speak in an orderly manner?”
Jinxia followed his words and said, “How can Beizhe dare to treat Daren the same as criminals? It is absolutely impossible.”
Yan ShiFan thought for a moment and pointed to the maid beside him, “Her! Speak, you can’t refuse anymore.”
Jinxia looked at the maid: judging from her appearance, she was no more than sixteen years old, her eyes were bright, her teeth were white, a natural beauty indeed.
“You go there, let her look at you.” Yan ShiFan pushed the maid toward Jinxia.
When his hand touched the maid, Jinxia did not miss a glimpse of her stiffened attitude. It was blatant that she was afraid of Yan ShiFan. Maybe every time he’d touched her, she had suffered greatly.
