The Story Of Dusk

It almost rainy season, therefore there were many times dark clouds suddenly shrouded the sunny day and turned it into a pitch black with drizzle rain pouring down the earth.

This was one of those days.

When they arrived at the entrance of the black market, droplets of rain were starting to fall, made a rhythmic plopping sound against the carriage.

"We are here." Xiao Jun informed her.

As he said that, Qianru reached out the curtain and opened it slightly to see what kind of place the black market was?

This particular place was infamous among the four countries, now only three, one could a.s.sume that this is the place where all the hoodlums with long record of criminal to the wealthiest men in their country were gathered together.

With a single goal; to purchase illegal stuff.

Illegal stuff here was including human, with various age ranges, until poison that could kill a whole clan. No matter what it was, only money that matter.

Qianru knew one or two things about this place from her father conversation with the other n.o.blemen, but it was the first time she was in a place like this.

Thanks to Xiao Jun, who always did something beyond her expectations, before this, Qianru would have never thought that she would visit the black market, but here she was, looking the entrance of it.

Qianru frowned as her lips purse when she looked out from the carriage"s window. For the mighty black market, the entrance looked rather shabby.

A middle age man stopped their carriage and asked about the ident.i.ty of their visitor.

Xiao Jun had told her earlier that all the visitors were using a pseudonym ident.i.ty that was totally different from their real name in order to keep their visit a secret.

To obtain such ident.i.ty, one needed all the influence and connection necessary, including bunches pocket of money.

The entrance was a barren land with nothing that they could see except withered gra.s.s covered the soil.

"Is this the black market entrance?" Qianru looked at Xiao Jun, confused.

"We need to change the carriage." Xiao Jun answered her.

Because of the drizzle rain had started to fall, two page boys was waiting outside the door of the carriage while holding umbrella.

Meanwhile, Liu Wei and the other three guards had been waiting in different carriage. They were sitting on the coachmen seat after Qianru and Xiao Jun got off from their carriage.

Xiao Jun was holding the umbrella with his left hand while his right hand was holding Qianru"s waist closely so she wouldn"t get wet because of the rain.

He helped Qianru to get onto the smaller carriage and they drove away, furthest to the deep of the vast land.

Qianru thought it would take another hour before they arrived in the location, but after five minutes of ride, Liu Wei stopped their carriage.

"We have arrived." Xiao Jun said, taking initiative to dismount the carriage first and held the umbrella above the carriage door, shielding her from rain.

"We have arrived?" Qianru reiterated his words into a question while getting off the carriage.

She was literally dumbfounded when she saw a small village surrounded by a valley. At first glance, nothing was out of ordinary from this village, but if one took a closer look, the people who were currently walking down the streets were acting as though they didn"t know each other, which was true.

However, it was odd for people from a small village to not know their own neighbors.

Moreover, this small village looked more prosperous than all the villages that Qianru had visited all this time.

The inhabitants looked more vigilant, some of them even went to the extreme effort to cover their faces and their body with long loose cloak, no one would know if that person was she or he.

While the one or two people were willingly exposing their fortune, flaunting with many jewelry around their body and was flanked by bunches of guards.

"Let"s go." Xiao Jun tugged her elbow, urging her to comeback from her observation.

"Master, apparently there is someone had occupied the room that you always use." Liu Wei walked a step behind Xiao Jun while gave him a report. "Because you come without notice, the owner of the inn thought that you will not come anytime soon that was why he dares to give your room to someone else." He said in deep low voice.

"How bold he is." Xiao Jun remarked, he stopped for a while before he walked to different direction. "Revoke their privilege to trade in the capital."

"Yes Master." Liu Wei nodded his head as he received the order before he informed one of the guards.

A little while later, the guards cupped his hands and walked out of the black market. He would go back to the entrance to meet the other twelve guards who were hiding in the shadow, standing on guard for unexpected order like this one.

"Is there a problem?" Qianru raised her head to look at Xiao Jun with concern eyes.

"Don"t worry, it has taken care." Xiao Jun smiled as he brought them to different direction.

Qianru knitted her eyebrows, but didn"t say anything further as Xiao Jun brought their small entourage to another inn.

It only took five minutes of walk before they arrived at a well off inn. On the front board, it said; White Pearl Inn.

Xiao Jun was stopped by two page boys who were asking his ident.i.ty politely, as this was one from the three of first rate inn in the black market, no ordinary visitor could come and go as they wish.

Xiao Jun gestured to Liu Wei to talk to them.

Who knew what they were talking about, but the two page boys suddenly got scare as they stole a glance at Xiao Jun couple of times.

One of them ran inside the one while the other one, who was left, guiding them to enter the Inn with head hung very low, afraid to offended their visitor.

"Did you often to come here?" Qianru couldn"t help but ask her curiosity after witness the page boys strange behavior.

"No." Xiao Jun replied curtly.

Once they were inside, the page boy let them sat inside a luxurious private room while Liu Wei and the other two guards were standing in front of the door.

Xiao Jun and Qianru sat on soft cushions with large short table in front of them, at the other side of the room there was a small garden full with white full- bloom hibiscus flower.

All the ornaments on the furniture inside the room were carved in intricate and complex design, gave off a taste of upscale place.

It was indeed a high rate inn.

"But, it seems they know you well." Qianru whipped off the splashes of water on her face and neck.

"You can say I am quite famous." Xiao Jun grinned playfully while helping his wife to clean her face.

Qianru clicked her tongue while giving him a face. "I know you are a famous person." She said sarcastically.

While Xiao Jun chuckled with Qianru"s antics, a knocking sound echoed inside the room after that Liu Wei appeared from behind the door.

"Master, Long Tianmo is outside the door." He said.

"Let him in." Xiao Jun still tried to dry Qianru slightly dampened hair with his sleeves without gave so much attention more than a glance.

Even when a man around fifty years old came and bowed respectfully at Xiao Jun, he still has his eyes on his wife.

"Jun…" Qianru was slightly feeling embarra.s.sed by the sudden affection that he showed. What he was trying to do by ignoring the owner of the inn? She thought to herself.

Only when Xiao Jun felt Qianru had fixed, he turned his head and looked at the man named Long Tianmo coldly.

"Have a seat." Xiao Jun gestured to the place opposite him.

Long Tianmo displayed his grat.i.tude and thank him before he sat down. He acted like he was only a peasant and not the owner of the inn that Xiao Jun and Qianru would be resided.

"This humble one rushed to come here the moment I heard Prince Xiao Jun visited this insignificant inn." Long Tianmo smiled widely while pouring two cups of tea for Qianru and Xiao Jun.

Qianru found out his broad smile was very unpleasant to see, but reciprocated it when she received the cup from him.

"Mmh." Xiao Jun put down the tea cup, didn"t immediately drink it.

Looking Xiao Jun didn"t drink the tea, Qianru also put down the tea cup and focused on their conversation. Despite wasn"t able to put head or tail over the situation she was in now, or guessing why Xiao Jun changed his att.i.tude all of sudden in front this man, she kept that thought to herself.

She would ask when the time was right.

"Thousand Years" inn owner, has violated our agreement and I don"t wish to discuss about business further with them." Xiao Jun said rigidly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Now the man beside her had turned into someone else that Qianru had never seen before. He gave off dangerous vibe even though he was just sitting there and talking casually, he seemed detached from his surroundings.

"Oh, right!" Long Tianmo clapped his hand, joyous with Xiao Jun"s statement. "I heard Prince Xiao w.a.n.g Wei is residing in Thousand Years inn." He informed him.

Long Tianmo deliberately didn"t mention Xiao w.a.n.g Wei as a crown prince in front of Xiao Jun, because he was supposed to be the rightful crown prince of Azura if the late Emperor was still alive.

Having the crown prince to reside in their inn was obviously a great deal, they could have some privilege from the agreement between the two parties.

Nangong Yunyi, the owner of Thousand Year inn, probably still didn"t aware yet about what he had lost.

"Xiao w.a.n.g Wei?" Xiao Jun"s eyes slightly dimmed. It had been a long time since the last time he met with his cousin.

"Yes, Prince Xiao w.a.n.g Wei had just arrived two days ago." Long Tianmo kept feeding Xiao Jun with information. "From my people, I heard Prince Xiao w.a.n.g Wei offered a better spot in the capital city and also an access to the inner court to trade their silk."

Trading silk in the palace was something that could guarantee the prosperity of the merchant all the n.o.blemen and their wives also children were always wearing a dress made of silk, the profit would be beyond expectation.

Upon hearing that news, Xiao Jun remained calm.

"Prince Xiao Jun, may this humble one know what the purpose of your visit?" He asked carefully. "If there is something that Prince Xiao Jun needed, this humble one will run the errand personally." He promoted himself as the worthy person.

Long Tianmo had been vouched for Xiao Jun support for this past years, but the prince had dealt with someone else and wasn"t willing to reconsider, now when the opportunity was in front of his eyes, of course he had to grab it.

Nangong Yunyi probably had gotten his trading spot in the palace, but there was something that more valuable than that.

"Find me the date of the golden auction." Xiao Jun said without beating around the bush as he knew Long Tianmo intention.

Once Long Tianmo had an order from Xiao Jun and he ran an errand for him, at the same time the deal between them had made. That was how they worked in the black market, all of it was about profit.

"It"s an easy order, prince Xiao Jun…" Long Tianmo"s smile never faded since the first time he stepped in the room. "There is something else that this old man could do?"

A golden auction was something opulance in the black market, but the date would be irregular, only the inn owner would be informed when it would be hold.

In the golden auction, only top tier items that would be auctioned off, it was needed more than being rich to afford one item from there, moreover only two handful people would be able to partic.i.p.ate and each of them was someone with great influence and wealth out of the black market.

On the other hand, Qianru vaguely could catch their discussion, apparently the owner of the inn was also an informant to a.s.sist their important visitor to get what they were looking for in this black market.

As someone who had been living and rooting here, Long Tianmo must be more well informed than any spy that was placed there.

They didn"t only choose inn randomly, but also the information that they could afford behind it.

"There is one more thing I want you to find it for me." Xiao Jun looked at Long Tianmo impa.s.sively.

"Anything my prince." The smiled that etched on his lips suddenly fell when he heard Xiao Jun"s request.

"Find a group of a.s.sa.s.sin to kill Xiao w.a.n.g Wei." Xiao Jun said solemnly as if he was asking for another cup of tea.