h.e.l.lo, sorry for the one hour plus lateness. It turned out I forgot to set it to post at right time. Well, not much action in this chapter.
Chapter 17 – Midnight Translated by HaruOngy (If you can see this line, you must have read this in the aggregator site which illegally steal various. Be shameful of yourself for not appreciating the translator"s hard work. Don"t think only you want to have it the easy way. Support the fanbase!)
Chu Xun hugged a small plate of steamed buns as he sat alone beside the window while gnawing.
Previously, he had received ten thousand points of heavy blow from Mei Qian Deng while on the dining table. Naturally, he had developed an inestimable trauma.
He wanted to individually, silently and calmly finish eating a complete meal.
Outside the window, they could see the inside of the neighbouring small inn. There, those several big men were having breakfast. There were other two who were loading the goods.
Chu Xun looked at the scenery, ate the steamed buns and stared at those well-built men. Occasionally, he had to guard against Mei Qian Deng in case she silently stole the steamed buns on his small plate. He counted the steamed buns……
Mei Qian Deng who was sitting on the small table while drinking porridge was currently listening to Senior Official Song"s chatter. She didn"t care about Chu Xun"s pettiness. Then, suddenly, she saw Chu Xun jumped while making "Ah, ah, ah" weird sounds. Mei Qian Deng instantly flew over and clapped on his back once, helping him to clap out the steamed bun stuck in his throat.
"Little Deng, it"s not like anyone is trying to s.n.a.t.c.h your steamed buns. How can you eat into this state?" Senior Official Song sighed and shook his head.
Chu Xun felt he was quite treated unjustly.
Because, it was exactly when Senior Official Song was talking that this healthy, living man in front of him, smoothly took a steamed bun from his plate into his mouth!
"I noticed a problem!"
However, the current Chu Xun had no time to argue with Mei Qian Deng about the steamed bun.
"Earlier, when I looked at the manure quant.i.ty and find out that each carriage has much lesser amount compared to previously."
"Little Long, your counting ability is very good!" Senior Official Song sincerely commended him.
Chu Xun rolled his eyes splendidly. He didn"t actually rely on counting. Those manure sacks were piled up together so it was impossible for him to count them exactly. It was just that the height of the pile had changed. Originally, the goods were far higher by an half a head than those people. This morning when they appeared, they had reduced into half a head lower than their height. It had obviously lessened a lot.
Mei Qian Deng looked out of the window. "Truly, it"s less."
Chu Xun crossed his arms when overlooking the small inn. With a "rule the world" att.i.tude, he said, "So, it turns out that we went to the wrong place last night."
"Little Long, where did you all went last night?"
Chu Xun"s body shook a little and his aura was in disorder. He didn"t manage to stay das.h.i.+ng for more than three seconds. He pretended that he didn"t hear Senior Official Song"s question. His eyes unblinkingly stared outside the window but there were no focus in them. How could he tell Senior Official Song this loud chattering scholar that Mei Qian Deng and he went to that prost.i.tution place?! It would be too shameful! Furthermore, this old man"s thoughts were so conservative. Surely, he would not be able to accept it. (Author: Your thoughts are actually more conservative though.)
Senior Official Song turned towards Mei Qian Deng. Mei Qian Deng spoke bluntly, "We went to a nunnery at the top of the hillslope to the east."
Hey! Boor! How can you sell out your teammate?!
Chu Xun stifled.
"Oh~ nun~ ne~ ry~ huh~" Senior Official Song was not bit like a conservative, old-fas.h.i.+oned pedantic scholar. He raised his eyebrows at those two as he obscurely smiled. It was obvious that he had found the truth from Chu Xun"s response and his many years of experience. "Little Long, you"re not young anymore. You should start to learn things that you should learn. Laofu has a collection of erotic pictures. When we return, I will sent them over to your palace."
Chu Xun"s face turned red completely.
"Senior Official, you"re not being honourable as an elder!" He was offended. He genuinely hated that he had no qinggong and jump down the third floor to calm himself. He was the dignified Crown Prince yet he was even more coy and innocent than a married young woman. Usually, he appeared to be quite a good actor but in the end he was a young lord with an exceptionally thin face skin. He couldn"t even handle such simple joke.
Look at Mei Qian Deng, she was calm like usual as she sat at the side, eating steamed bun while stalking.
"There are another group of people pulling the goods into that inn," she told them.
"Tonight, go and take a look what is the secret hidden in that small inn." When Chu Xun said these words, he followed Mei Qian Deng to squeeze in the small window opening. Chu Xun felt it was cramming so he twisted his body around. Then, he crooked his head to glare at Mei Qian Deng. Why this guy has such bad eyesight? This Crown Prince wants to stand in front of the window. You, quickly give way for me.
Mei Qian Deng however soared as she stood up and instantly flew out of the window. It was as quick as a flash of the lightning. In a blink, her figure had disappeared. The edge of her clothes was blown by the wind and swept Chu Xun"s face for that short period. Chu Xun: "……" (Furious!)
On the large tree beside the roof.
Two people were hidden there.
Mo Biao said, "Young Master, yesterday after His Highness left, we had left some people to keep watch of that small tea shop beside the route.
Mei Qian Deng habitually didn"t reply and waited for her next words.
Mo Biao continued, "The waiter kept guarding. There were some pa.s.sing-by travelling merchants stayed in that tea shop for a short time. They used paper strips to transmit news. That tea shop should be an information transfer station. But as for the specific contents such as they are under whose instruction, currently we can"t find it out. What we can confirm is that all of them are traders."
After Mei Qian Deng finished hearing, she nodded. As if her words were gold, she asked, "Smuggling?"
"It"s highly possible."
"I will return to report this." Mei Qian Deng didn"t plan to stay long. She walked a few steps before she stopped. She raised her head towards Mo Biao and said, "Be extra careful."
Mo Biao was surprised. Then, she felt as if an arrow had shot into her small heart. Her whole body heated up in the midst of the spring breeze. She lowered her head and coyly smiled. "Young Master Mei……" Young Master Mei not only was handsome, his personality was good too. Mo Biao raised her head again and said, "Young Master??!!" There was no figure of Mei Qian Deng anymore.
After Chu Xun"s Imperial Father inherited the throne, he had opened various policies that were beneficial to the people especially in agriculture and business trade fields. Despite the remarkable effect, when there was advantage it was bound to have disadvantage. The administration relaxed so it was easier for some to exploit the advantage and did illegal trade.
Today, Chu Xun managed to endure until the night. This guy had been excited for the whole day, itching to have a go. Since he came out from the capital, it had been almost ten days. Yet, there had no clue. Originally, he was every anxious for he was scared not being able to nicely complete the task given by Imperial Father. Today, he had finally found some tiny clues. Quick, let this Crown Prince show his power.
"Hey, boor. Can you take me and fly directly to the roof of the opposite rooftop?" Chu Xun"s black eyes sparkled like the starlight, no, they were burning with raging fire.
Mei Qian Deng nodded but didn"t speak.
The fifteen years old Crown Prince had not developed properly. Exteriorly, he could be seen as tall and slim. However, the truth was that his arms and legs were thin. There was not much of muscle on his body. The strong female Miss Mei Qian Deng who had practised martial arts for years didn"t blink her eyes as she directly lifted Chu Xun. With her qinggong, she flew out of the window. Both her long, slender legs agilely paddled through the air, producing a curve. The long night was silent with only the sound of wind blows. Chu Xun didn"t make any reaction. The air inside his mouth had yet to be changed when his person had changed to another place.
Mei Qian Deng, you should at least give some head up first to let this Crown Prince make proper preparation!
Chu Xun panted in rage.
Mei Qian Deng didn"t bother with him. After she tentatively observed the interior of the small inn, she searched for a safe spot. Then, she carried Chu Xun and flew again. In a blink of his eyes, Chu Xun had been moved from the rooftop of that small inn to inside the shrub at the corner of the wall.
Hiss——very stimulating!
Chu Xun was like a kitten behind Mei Qian Deng. Following her movements, he sized up all around.
The back courtyard of the small inn was ama.s.sed with various goods. There were numerous warehouses with some unlocked and some locked but there was no one keeping watch.
Chu Xun and Mei Qian Deng didn"t move.
"It"s possible to have a mechanism," Chu Xun drearily said.
When he said these words, inside his brain which had a foundation of wide range of knowledge, he imagined various possibilities. For example, in front of those warehouses were naked invisible thin iron wires and if someone walked quickly towards there, that person would be cut into pieces. Or maybe, the door or the floor of the warehouses had a mechanism which would shoot out poisoned arrows or released poisonous smoke……
His mind was imagining and couldn"t be stopped. All the goods were inside the warehouses. If they wanted to check, they need to go inside. Should they enter the unlocked ones or the locked ones? A military strategist once said, "All is fair in war," and, "In order to capture, one must let loose," as well as, "The most suspicious goods when put in the most dangerous place, that place may be the safest place." So, they should check the locked warehouses first. Plus, the unlocked warehouses might appear to be unlocked but they were possible to have mechanisms. The extremely powerful mechanisms……
The mechanisms might be a…… (Author: Dear readers, please connect this with your own idea. Then, play it in an infinite loop pattern.)
Mei Qian Deng did not take notice of him. Her hand was as if it had eyes grown on it as she accurately caught Chu Xun"s hand.
Chu Xun returned to his sense and lowly roared, "What are you doing?"
"You, follow me."
Then, Mei Qian Deng brought Chu Xun to the door of a room. She turned around and pointed the ground for Chu Xun. Her meaning was: "You wait for me at here." Chu Xun"s eyes bulged. Why is this guy speaking to himself again without listening to my words?! Mei Qian Deng didn"t give him a chance to rage as she disappeared into that room. In a short while, she reappeared again outside.
Chu Xun"s anger had yet to finish exploding.
Chu Xun asked, "What did you do?"
Mei Qian Deng revealed the key in her hand to Chu Xun. She entered to steal the key. That room was the manager"s room.
Chu Xun, "……"
In the next instant, Mei Qian Deng broke all Chu Xun"s imaginations as she directly went and unlocked the first warehouse door. She bravely walked inside and engrossed herself in studying the goods.
Chu Xun, "……"
To be truthful, Chu Xun was quite disappointed. Where were the mechanisms? Where were the hidden arrows? Where was the poisonous smoke? Where was the in order to capture, one must let loose?
"Look at this," Mei Qian Deng called for him.
Chu Xun returned to his sense and looked at Mei Qian Deng only to see her standing in a corner. Beside her legs, there were many empty gunnysacks. On top of the gunnysacks, he could faintly see the words such as "Manure", "An" and such. They must be the previous disaster relief goods. Anxi Prefecture depended on Lu Luo[1] River. There was only one public route towards Anxi Prefecture. No matter if they were goods sent by the Emperor or personally purchased by the local authorities, all of them had to pa.s.s through this garrison post to enter Anxi.
However, right now, these manure for disaster relief had been left with just empty sacks.
It couldn"t be that there was really some greedy officials with strong taste that they secretly confiscate the manure?!
Chu Xun was stunned.
When he was absent-minded, Mei Qian Deng swiftly put a sack on Chu Xun"s hands. Chu Xun instantly jumped away while doing his best to stop himself from shouting loudly. He bit his teeth. From the gap between his teeth, he split the words, "Thing that is used to contain the manure! You stuff it in me! Are you looking for death?!"
Mei Qian Deng was unmoved. She even went as far as reaching for a yard after getting an inch as she helped Chu Xun to open the gunnysack, hinting him to take a look.
Chu Xun was unhappy and perfectly rolled his eyes. Coincidentally, he took a sneak look downwards. He didn"t have a bit of desire to give face to Mei Qian Deng and he couldn"t pull down his face. When he secretly took a look, he felt it was not quite right. However, he peeped too fast. In this dark, unlighted place, how could he see it clearly?
With no choice, he peeked again.
Eh?
Wasn"t the manure supposed to be rather black? Even if it was not of good quality, it would at least be extremely yellowish?
Yet, why was the unknown matter inside this gunnysack white?
Sigh, whatever.
Chu Xun gave up to be compet.i.tive one-sidedly. He carefully turned over the gunnysack from inside to outside. He squatted and shook some of the white powdery matter on his palm. He gently caress it while considering.
What would these be?
Mei Qian Deng too had stroke the scattered matter. She lowered her head and frown. Without any hesitation, she stretched out her forefinger and dipped a bit of that powdery matter into her mouth. She silently tasted it. Then, she used the slightly wet finger which was licked by her tongue to stick more of the white powdery matter.
However, this time she didn"t put it in her own mouth.
Mei Qian Deng took advantage that Chu Xun was concentrated in considering and it was not a surprise——she forcefully inserted that finger into Chu Xun"s mouth.
Chu Xun, "Mmph……!"
[1] Literally, Green Spiral River
Translated by HaruOngy (If you can see this line, you must have read this in the aggregator site which illegally steal various. Be shameful of yourself for not appreciating the translator"s hard work. Don"t think only you want to have it the easy way. Support the fanbase!)