To the emperor, Zhao Jin Yu’s existence was as common as anant, he could squeeze her to death with a move of his fingers…, therefore eversince a long time ago, he has been arrogant, despicable, even more carrying analoof and remote superiority, looking down at her, even though he knew, ZhaoJin Yu can lock him up, and can starve him, as it should be, this girl hasconceded and reached a compromise with him in the past, but from deep in hisheart, he still didn’t feel she was a dangerous person, who could harm hislife.
Only one day, he suddenly found, that sort of thinking wastoo arrogant.
Before the emperor slept he was still thinking of what dishZhao Jin Yu made would be waiting for him, without any dignity he drooled,filled with expectations he fell asleep, certainly, after two days of arrests,almost all woman called Zhang Hong were together in the prison of the Ministryof Justice, but still she could not be seen…, however this did not cause anywaves in the emperor’s cold as steel heart, just like a cat chasing a mouse, solong as she was in the capital city, this was a matter of sooner or later?
Who would have imagined, opening his eyes, it was dark allaround, based on his previous experiences, he was certain he was once againlocked in the jewellery box, beneath him was the silk handkerchief, silk softand slippery to the touch, a rice-ball was also placed to the side of him, forhim to enjoy as he wishes, but it was only these things, nothing more.
The emperor whose five senses were even more sensitive thanbefore, felt there was something different this time, it was eerily silent allaround…, so much so there wasn’t a sense of a being, as if there was only himin this area.
Where was this place? Where is that woman? A lot ofquestions rushed to his head, only very soon he stopped thinking about these…,he keenly sensed a threat approaching, a feeble vibration shook the groundaccompanied by a disturbing squeaking sound, it was particularly distinct onsuch a quiet night.
“Rat?” The emperor guessed correctly, during the winter ratsstayed in holes, but if they ate all their stored provisions they naturallywould come out to find food, it was evident this group of rats had beenstarving for a long time, the smell of the rice-ball inside the jewellery box,made them lose their rationality.
If the emperor could see what was happening outside he woulddefinitely be frightened, tens of fist sized grey rats gathered togetherrushing forth, in a flash they surrounded the jewellery box, they continuouslyused their nose to smell the fragrant rice-ball, without a word they begannibbling.
The emperor could hear the noise of rats nibbling on wood, kakaka,shashasha, he knew the rats were most likely rushing in for the rice-ball, hewas a stone, those rats couldn’t hurt him…, but that thought of being with ratsmade him so nauseated he wanted to throw up.
That woman! The emperor’s forehead was grave and stern, acold murderous intent in his eyes, chest moving up and down, anger surging upin violence, he felt his whole body could explode.
The rats weren’t weak, further still there was a lot ofthem, in less than a quarter of an hour, a crack appeared in the jewellery box,the rats excitedly squeaked, putting even more strength into it.
A rat finally stuck half its head in through the crack,seeing the spotless white stone, it showed a somewhat greedy glance, as if italso thought it was also food, opening its mouth to bite. The rat’s biting andnibbling was tentative, that’s why after it felt this was a stone it abandonedit. But the sticky saliva of the rat stuck to his skin, feeling disgusted gooseb.u.mps appeared on the emperor.
The anger in the emperor’s heart boiled over, moving andhopping, it knocked against the rat which had just stuck its head through thecrack making it dizzy, the rat let out a bitter squeak, suddenly all the ratsalso squeaked out, the sound of extremely ear-piercing and unpleasant to hear,suddenly their biting and gnawing became frantic.
“Yi, what is that noise?” Just when the rats were about tobite apart the box, a man’s husky voice was heard outside the dried up well.
“It seems to be rats! What are they biting at?” Anotherman’s voice was heard, “It’s a jewellery box!”
His voice rose on the lastnotes, as if he was very excited.
“What jewellery box? Boy you didn’t see wrongly did you?”
“Hehe, Master Lu Er, I’m not good at anything else, but myeyes are extremely good, how else would I have seen Qian Shi is only chaste inappearance, and actually an immoral woman, allowing Master Lu Er to experienceQian Shi once right?”
“Hahaha, Zheng Xiao Liu, this old man likes your eyes.” Theperson called Master Lu Er spoke up to here, as if he was somewhatdissatisfied, “Boy your eyes for women is very good, but the fact is how have youmade a shambles leading the way? We actually made our way to this abandonedtemple.”
“Master Lu Er, I have wronged.” Zheng Xiao Liu had asimple-minded smile on his face, saying, “Master Lu Er, if you can help me out,I can go down to pick up that jewellery box and we can split the thingsinside?”
“What good things can be in this wild and mountainousplace?” Master Lu Er clearly wasn’t very willing.
“Master Lu Er, maybe it’s a rare treasure? Who can tell?”Zheng Xiao Lu however had a good temper, completely pandering to his whims, “Iwill undo my waist band in a moment, pull on it to climb down, you solely haveto focus on holding my belt, I can do everything else.”
Master Lu Er clearly did not want to, but under Zheng XiaoLu’s eager consolation he agreed at last, saying, “Agree it first, if you taketoo long I won’t wait for you.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll go down then.”
The emperor frowned, of course he heard the conversationbetween the two people outside, but at this moment his mind didn’t care, becausethe rats finally bit through the box, a swarm rushed over, on his face, on hisbody, it ought to be said his body from top to bottom was licked by rats,stamped on, even being pushed down by grey hairy rats bottom…, the emperor’sface immediately became gloomy, an evil intent intimidating to people emittedfrom his body!
“Repulsive rats, move aside, that is mine!” Zheng Xiao Lucried out while he climbed down.
The rats were scared of people after all, anyway therice-ball had been eaten by them in a blink of an eye, and were not reluctantto leave.
Using the moonlight, Zheng Xiao Lu saw a spotless whitesmooth and round stone inside the jewellery box which had been gnawed at untilonly the frame remained, even though there were several rat footprints, but itssplendour could not be concealed, again seeing the stone lay on a silkhandkerchief, his mood altered, it must be a night pearl! Could it be that Iwill be rich this time?
Zheng Xiao Lu was even more excited, pulling at his belt heslowly walked down, as soon as his feet touched the ground he hurriedly reachedout to place that stone in his palm. Master Lu Er who waited above saw ZhengXiao Lu holding a stone in his hand, set off against the dim moonlight, it hadan indescribable gentle l.u.s.tre, he also couldn’t help be excited, “Xiao Liu,hurry up and let me look!”
Zheng Xiao Lu agreed, then carefully looked all around,seeing there was nothing else he placed the stone against his chest pulling atthe belt to again climb up.
Master Lu Er took the stone, only glancing at it, thebrightness in his eyes dimmed, saying, “What rubbish is this, it’s just anordinary stone.” Immediately he dropped the stone on the ground…, the stonefell head first into the layer of snow, over this month it had continuously snowed,on the roofs, snow covered below the knees on the ground.
Zheng Xiao Liu showed a painful expression, at once hestooped to pick up the stone, crudely rubbing it with the back of his hand,saying, “Master Lu Er, look at it carefully, it’s so smooth and round, how canit be a common stone?” Zheng Xiao Liu reaction wasn’t strange at all, becausethis stone had a spirit, it had a kind of divine spirit flowing from it.
“Xiao Liu, I think you’ve gone crazy thinking about money,this stone is indeed extremely beautiful, but it is just a common stone, if youdon’t believe me, you take it back and ask someone.” Master Lu Er rubbed hiscold ears, impatiently saying, “Let’s leave quickly, this place is eerie,strangely frightening.”
Zheng Xiao Liu looked at the stone turning it over front toback, again feeling maybe he didn’t see it clearly, spitting onto it he rubbedit…, the emperor could bear anything, after all he was now a stone, waiting forthese two people to find that he was just a common stone and place him back hewould be free right? But when Zheng Xiao Liu’s spat covered his head, it wasreally more than he could bear, shouting, “Outrageous, are you courting death!”
“Oh mother, there’s a ghost!”
Zheng Xiao Liu threw the stone on the ground in fright,breaking in a run he ran back, as a result his ankle twisted and he fell flaton his face, back once again.
The emperor angrily jumped up ruthlessly knocking againsthis eyes, thinking of stabbing him
blind…, only sadly, just because Zheng XiaoLiu looked like a plebeian, he actually learned martial arts before, he stillhad a bit of skill, just now due to fright he had lost his balance, now howeverhe had recovered some rationality, seeing the stone rush over, he extended hisfive fingers, using all his strength to grab it, the stone was firmly trappedin the palm of his hand.
“Hey, it’s actually a stone spirit!” Zheng Xiao Liu watchedthe stone struggle free of his hand, but again there was no way out, theremaining fear in his heart also completely disappeared, “You want to run?Hehe, with such weak strength, you can be considered unlucky falling into myhand!”
Master Lu Er had been so frightened just now both his legstrembled, he simply did not run anywhere, now he also recovered someconsciousness, saying, “Stone spirit?”
Zheng Xiao Liu was in the middle of a fit of anger, and wasthinking of some way to warn the stone, dropping the stone in the snow, thestone dropped in the layer of snow constantly struggling, only the snow was toothick he could not get out, watching he laughed hehe twice, without trouble hepicked up a large stone from the side, “Watch me crush you to death!”
Black and green, the ice-cold and solid stone headed towardsthe emperor like this, the stone the emperor turned into was only a quail eggsize, and compared to that stone Zheng Xiao Liu held in his hand, it was simplylike the contrast of an elephant and an ant, appearing tiny and weak.
Zhao Jin Yu and Chen Rong left that abandoned temple andheaded towards Tongzhou, this time they were going along the waterway, butnowadays it was cold and the ground frozen, a thin layer of ice on top thewater surface, the usual boats simply was unable to travel along the route,only large boats could go through, wait for these types of boats usual takethree days, Chen Rong thought, because the interrogation in the morning was sostrict they had been late leaving the city, even if they hurry through thenight they might not necessarily arrive at Tongzhou dock, besides when theyarrive they still needed to wait…, that’s why having only travelled for twohours they stopped to find a tavern to stay in, thinking of resting well today.
Zhao Jin Yu felt ill at ease throughout this journey, eveneating dinner she was a little listless.