Chapter 6: The Murderer

The side room fell silent for a moment.

Ming Yi hid behind the screen and studied the two men carefully.

Ji Bozai looked puzzled, but his hand was already tightening slightly, clearly preparing to fight. He was tall to begin with, and his whole presence was oppressive.

Then she looked at Yan An. He had plenty of anger, but his martial skill was not quite there yet, and openings showed all over his body.

“Do you dare go look at my father’s memorial tablet?” he asked bitterly.

Ji Bozai laughed: “What, does your honored mother’s tablet have erotic pictures on it?”

Ming Yi: “…” That mouth was truly a nuisance.

The veins on Yan An’s forehead bulged. He roared and charged straight in to attack. His powerful primordial energy^[1] settled into a formation, like a golden bell descending from the heavens, trapping Ji Bozai inside.

For his age, having such primordial energy was already quite good. But Ji Bozai was famous for his formidable primordial energy. He raised a hand, and a bolt of purple-gold light flew out and shattered the formation at once, scattering golden dust across the sky.

“If you have time to go biting at people everywhere, you would do better to go home and practice properly,” he said calmly. “That way, when you find the real culprit, you will not end up as the third victim.”

To be fair, sitting there on his chair without moving and winning with ease, strong and shameless, he was truly captivating. The sunlight outside came through the window lattice of the money house’s side room and fell right on his shoulders, like the soaring feathers of a deity.

Yan An’s eyes were red. He panted as he stared at him, like an enraged little calf.

Watching, Ming Yi judged that her golden patron could not lose. She straightened her hair and skirt again and returned to Ji Bozai’s side like nothing was wrong: “Please, both of you, calm down. There must be some misunderstanding here.”

“What misunderstanding could there be? Of everyone at that banquet who had a grudge against my father, who else is there but you, Ji Bozai!” Yan An was furious and refused to take the offered step down. He raised a hand and pointed at him. “Others may not know, but do not think I do not either. You always believed my father’s misdiagnosis harmed the entire Meng family. You held that grudge for years, and now you finally found your chance to take revenge. Is that not so?”

Ji Bozai raised a brow in amusement: “Which Meng family?”

“Stop pretending! I saw you in the Meng family’s back courtyard when I was little!”

“Oh?” He stood up, wrapped an arm around Ming Yi’s waist, and strolled slowly over to him. He lowered his eyes and looked at him steadily. “I grew up in the slave camps. In which Meng family’s back courtyard did you see me?”

His presence was truly oppressive. Standing at his side, Ming Yi clearly saw the flash of bewilderment in Yan An’s eyes.

So he had mistaken him for someone else?

She had said as much. At the banquet that day she was beside him the whole time, drinking and teasing dancers. He was too busy to find time for murder.

Shaking her head, Ming Yi persuaded softly: “The magistrate will investigate the murders. If the young master attacks so rashly and word reaches the magistrate, it will be hard to explain. Meeting today is also fate, so why not sit down and have a cup of tea?”

“Who wants tea with him?” Yan An regained his irritated look and glared at Ji Bozai. “This case must be connected to you. Wait and see, I am going to the magistrate right now.”

Ji Bozai looked at him like he was a fool, did not even stop him, and simply watched him walk out the door.

“My lord, this…” Ming Yi blinked helplessly.

“Let him go.” He waved a hand. “The magistrate has handled cases for many years and is not stupid. He would never listen to such nonsense.”

Having said that, he looked down at her and narrowed his eyes slightly: “Why did you come back? Weren’t you running quite fast a moment ago?”

She covered her mouth and smiled guiltily: “What are you saying, my lord? How could this servant have run? I only went to see whether there was an escape route behind that screen, so that if something happened, I could lead you out.”

“Oh?” He raised a brow. “What did you see? Is there an escape route?”

She giggled and leaned against him: “This servant looked and decided you, my lord, are the most formidable escape route of all. As long as I am at your side, there is nothing for this servant to fear.”

What a glib little creature.

He snorted softly, pinched her soft little face, and took her back to the beast-drawn carriage.

The gold bars were heavy and Ming Yi could not carry them, so she could only lie on the box and look happily left and right.

“My lord, are these all mine now?”

“Can this servant use them to buy jewelry? What about a courtyard house?”

“You gave this servant so much at once, my lord. Are you not afraid I will run away?”

She chirped on like a little sparrow.

Ji Bozai found it funny. He finally understood why Nanny Xun called her noisy. When this one was happy she talked especially much, and she seemed unable to stop.

“You hold no official post, my lord. If you give all your gold to this servant, what will you do?” She furrowed her brow and mused anxiously.

He chuckled and went along with her words: “Then give it all back to me.”

“No.” She said with a perfectly straight face, “Gold cannot fill an empty stomach. Wait here, my lord, and this servant will go buy you a pancake right now.”

Pancakes by the roadside were very cheap. She did not even need to open the lid of the box. She could buy one with two copper coins.

Ji Bozai rolled his eyes and leaned lazily in the beast-drawn carriage waiting for her. He wanted to call her stingy, but her small hand was slender and white, and even pinching two copper coins it looked lovely. She traded them for a scallion oil pancake, so hot she switched it from her left hand to her right, blowing on it and pinching her earlobe, and she stuck her tongue out at him from far away.

He could not help looking a few more times.

Her little tongue was pink, and her skirt was bright and dazzling. In the whole drab, dusty street, she was the most radiant and moving sight.

Forget it, he thought. If she wanted to be greedy for money, let her be a little greedy. The grand overseer was right. It was better for a person to have a fondness for something than to have none.

“My lord, this shop’s pancake is the best,” she said happily, sitting back down beside him and giving him half. “Try it.”

It was a freshly cooked scallion oil pancake, fragrant and crisp on the lips and teeth. Ji Bozai took two bites and nodded slightly.

“Delicious, right? When I was on this street before, the one I craved most was this shop’s pancake.” She took a big bite too and squinted in contentment. “Now I can eat as much as I want. It is so good.”

He asked casually: “You used to live on this street?”

“I scraped out a living on this street.” She gestured with a smile. “I was only this tall then, and thin, and could not beg many copper coins. Every time I passed by, I could only smell the aroma.”

His chewing paused, and Ji Bozai glanced at her.

She seemed not to care about that part of her past at all. She did not cry or play pitifully for him. She only mentioned it casually, like chatting about household matters: “Once this servant can buy a house, I will buy one nearby, so every day when I leave home I can buy a pancake.”

Something strange stirred in his heart. Ji Bozai hummed in reply and gently stroked the ends of her hair.

Every man has some wish to play the hero. A woman who needs his rescue is far more attractive than a woman who is merely beautiful.

He suddenly became very curious about what she went through before.

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1. 元力 (yuánlì): literally “origin power,” the personal energy cultivators use for combat and formations. ↩