Chapter 7: One Night of Dancing Fish and Dragons

Ming Yi did not pour it all out in one breath. She mentioned only a few things, half on purpose and half not, then smiled and steered the talk elsewhere.

She looked so obedient leaning on his knee that Ji Bozai could not stop pitying her.

The dancers of the palace were not people who lived in fine clothes and rich food. Most came from poor families or slavery. Because they had some looks, they were taken into the palace to learn dance, then placed at great banquets as rewards from the grand overseer to his officials, to be picked over at will. Outside of banquets, they mostly lived in coarse clothes and plain meals.

His little golden canary must have suffered a great deal before. Her love of money was understandable then. She was simply afraid of being poor.

He sighed softly and stroked the ends of her hair: “Is there anything else you want?”

Ming Yi raised her head, her dark eyes perfectly round. She looked at the gold box she had not yet warmed in her arms, then at him, and her expression suddenly turned serious: “My lord, you must hire an accountant.”

“Hm?” Ji Bozai’s brow moved slightly. “What for?”

“To manage the spending in your household.” She sat up straight and said earnestly: “You are generous, and this servant is naturally delighted, but you will be setting up your own household. You cannot keep spending money like running water.”

Ji Bozai raised a brow, then grew a little proud. Someone as greedy as Ming Yi saying such a thing meant she had taken him to heart.

As expected of him. No matter what kind of woman, she would end up losing her heart to him.

He clicked his tongue softly and pinched the tip of her nose: “Then I will hire you. From now on, this lord’s entire fortune is yours to manage.”

Delight filled her eyes, and she looked at him with deep admiration and longing: “Really?”

“When we get back, I will have Nanny Xun give you the storeroom keys.”

“My lord is far too good to this servant.” She pressed a silk handkerchief to the corner of her eye. “What blessings did this servant store up to earn your favor?”

As she spoke, she nestled shyly into his arms, her fingertip tracing his palm now and then.

That was her consent.

Ji Bozai chuckled, brushed his thumb suggestively across the corner of her mouth, and turned the carriage back to the residence.

The moon was full. Tonight was a good time.

Women, coaxed and flattered, mostly gave in for that brief pleasure. He invested a thick enough stake, so naturally he wanted to see whether she was worth it.

Ming Yi knew how to make things happen. She prepared the courtyard with special care. Besides sweeping and tidying the room, she hung red bed curtains. When he walked in, she wore a jade-green layer of thin gauze, the misty robes swirling around her, revealing the soft line of her waist and a neck like jade.

“I heard my lord has a great capacity for drinking, so this servant prepared wine to add to the mood.” She lowered her red lips and, holding the wine cup in her mouth, brought it up before him.

Her small face looked truly lovely in the candlelight. Her full red lips pressed tight against the rim of the cup, and he could not help leaning down to her.

He drained the wine in the cup, and did not spare even the wine left on the beauty’s lips.

Having seen countless women, Ji Bozai tasted for the first time a beauty this sweet. Her mouth seemed steeped in honey, her skin was fine and smooth, and her body was tender and sensitive. She trembled lightly in his arms and shrank at every touch.

He lifted her up and drew her into the brocade quilt.

The scent of wine mixed with the scent of beauty and filled the whole bed curtain. In the end he could not tell whether the woman or the wine was going to his head.

The stars wheeled across the sky, and the oriole’s cries urged on the night until broad daylight.

Though Ming Yi was innocent, she had no shortage of tricks. It had been a long time since Ji Bozai felt so thoroughly sated, and for the first time he kept a woman in his arms through the night.

When he woke, the beauty’s cheeks were flushed crimson, and she was pressed tight against him, filling every bit of space over his heart.

He looked down at her and suddenly did not much want to get up.

“My lord.” But Nanny Xun called from outside. “The carriage from Prince Gong’s residence has arrived.”

The person in his arms was startled awake. She opened damp eyes and looked at him helplessly.

Ji Bozai softened his expression and gently scraped the tip of her nose: “I will go for a short while and come back to keep you company.”

She pouted in coy annoyance and pulled the brocade quilt over her head.

He smiled, kissed her head through the quilt, then rolled out of bed, changed his clothes, and strode out the door.

Perhaps because he was sated and in a good mood, Ji Bozai’s looks were even more striking than usual. The moment he walked in, the others started teasing: “What extraordinary treasure did you get, to make Lord Ji this happy?”

“You did not see it. Yesterday Bozai drove that beauty around in his carriage, and she was truly a city-toppling sight.”

“A city-toppling sight? Is Bozai going to settle down for her?”

Everyone at the seats was a noble relative from the inner court, the idle young masters he caroused with every day. Ji Bozai did not put on airs with them. He sat down at the table, casually pulled the wine attendant beside him into his arms, and smiled: “Just a taste of something fresh.”

Prince Gong, Qi Xian, twirled his cup and shook his head: “You are about to become a ritual overseer, and still fool around like this? That will not do.”

He said it in a joking tone, but everyone in the hall set down their cups. Yan Xiao could not help leaning forward to ask: “It is settled?”

“The grand overseer has already signed the written order. Only the directorate’s offices still need to process it,” Qi Xian said, raising his cup to Ji Bozai. “Consider this meal my celebration for you.”

“Becoming a ritual overseer right at the start. Bozai’s future is boundless,” the others said, raising their cups as well.

On the surface, a ritual overseer managed the inner court’s sacrificial rites. But everyone knew that whoever held this post was the grand overseer’s most favored man. Internally he could involve himself in clan affairs, and externally he could advise on city construction. His standing was higher than some princes with no real power.

The next Six Cities Conference was still a year away, yet the grand overseer already gave him such a reward, which showed how highly he valued him.

Ji Bozai picked up his wine and returned the toast. For some reason, the first thing that came to his mind was how gorgeous the ritual overseer’s robes were, woven with gold and silver and embroidered with tigers and snakes. If he wore them, that little creature at home would surely gape.

Yan Xiao’s mere third-rank official robe at the banquet had already made her flock to it like ducks, never mind a first-rank splendor like this.

The corner of his mouth lifted, and he downed the wine in one gulp.

The wine attendant beside him hurried to refill his cup eagerly, then leaned against him on purpose and not on purpose: “My lord can certainly hold his liquor.”

Ji Bozai pulled her onto his lap. Looking her over, he found her looks far inferior to Ming Yi’s, though she was young and her waist was slender enough.

So he held her and went on chatting and laughing with his friends.

“Speaking of the ritual overseer’s seat, it was originally old Qiu’s son who wanted to contend for it. I do not know why, but since the incident at the last banquet, the Qiu family has kept their gate shut, and old Qiu has even claimed illness to skip court,” Shu Zhonglin said, fanning himself with a literary fan. “If you say he was frightened, that is not likely either. He is usually so bold, and those murdered old officials sat far from him.”

At the mention of it, Yan Xiao was curious too: “Has the killer still not been caught?”

“Not yet. I heard several dancers were tortured, and three or four were beaten to death, yet nothing came out of it.”

Shu Zhonglin pursed his lips toward Ji Bozai. “It is a good thing you shielded her. Otherwise that little beauty of yours would certainly have taken a savage beating too.”

“What?” Ji Bozai did not understand. “Does one get beaten for dancing?”

“Of course it is not the dancing. Several in that batch of dancers came from Yuan County, and the magistrate classed all the Yuan County dancers as people with a motive, so they are all to be tortured,” Shu Zhonglin said. “Your little beauty is from Yuan County too.”