After parting ways with Zheng Fan and giving him so silver, the Sixth Prince did not return directly to his mansion. Instead, he walked through the alleyway behind, bypassing the bustling marketplace, and headed back to the brothel.
The red curtains on both sides of the entrance swayed with the wind, stirring the hearts of countless n.
They swayed and swayed, from centuries past to the present, and were destined to continue swaying for centuries to co.
The Sixth Prince entered again. It was the sa private room, and the sa foreign woman—blonde, blue-eyed, and bewitchingly alluring.
The foreign woman stood up to pay her respects and walked to the back of the private room. She opened a door panel, and the Sixth Prince stepped inside.
Downstairs, there was a hidden room with a lit candle inside.
A woman in a green brocade robe was at an abacus, keeping accounts. Seeing soone enter, she looked up and imdiately rose from her seat to greet him.
"Prince Chengjue."
The Sixth Prince sat down on a chair and calmly said, "Report."
"Yes, Prince Chengjue."
The woman took a porcelain bottle from a box on the table, removed the stopper, and handed it to the Sixth Prince.
"Prince Chengjue, please sll this."
The Sixth Prince placed the bottle’s mouth under his nose and took a light sniff. Closing his eyes, he slowly savored the aroma and said, "This slls like gold."
"Prince Chengjue has keen judgnt."
"Where did it co from?"
"It’s from a Western rchant in Tuman City."
"Tell our trading company there to buy all of it, as much as they have, without haggling too much over the price. Move the goods out, then go to the Capital. After that, also travel to the capitals of the Qian, Jin, and Chu states."
"I have already given those instructions."
"You’ve done well."
Prince Chengjue took out his pouch, removed a piece of broken silver from it, and tossed it to the woman. "My reward for you."
"Thank you for your reward, Prince Chengjue."
"But if it were only this matter, it wouldn’t have been worth making return specifically."
The Sixth Prince lifted the teacup on the table and slowly rotated it in his hands.
"Prince Chengjue, that man you brought in with you earlier, do you need to check up on him for you?"
"Investigate him?" Prince Chengjue laughed and asked, "What about him?"
"The girl in the room he entered is having her monthly courses today and wasn’t there at all. If he was just pretending, that would be one thing, but strangely, a woman’s voice was heard coming from inside."
"What if he’s skilled in ventriloquism?"
"Prince Chengjue, you jest."
"I am not joking. Cuiping, have you been managing affairs in Beifeng Prefecture for so long that your ambitions have started to grow?"
"I wouldn’t dare!"
Cuiping imdiately knelt before Prince Chengjue, sweating profusely.
"I told you all this rule long ago: you are not to harbor any designs on the people around . You manage the affairs of the trading company; I handle my own affairs."
"I admit my mistake. Please calm your anger, Prince Chengjue."
The Sixth Prince lifted the toe of his shoe, pressing it against Cuiping’s chin and forcing her to slowly raise her face.
Cuiping looked at Prince Chengjue, her eyes welling with tears.
"Don’t cry. I’m not blaming you; I’m taking pity on you."
"I understand."
"No, you do not understand."
"I forgot, he is the man who saved Prince Chengjue’s life."
"Heh. Yes, my lifesaver. A man who could get the Barbarian Left Valley King to lend him a helping hand even as he was dying—is he soone a young girl like you can investigate so casually?"
"..." Cuiping.
"Besides, he’s quite interesting. I enjoy talking to him. People, you see, once they’ve been thoroughly figured out, are like sugarcane that’s been chewed dry—there’s no flavor left. Do you understand?"
Cuiping looked at Prince Chengjue with a bewildered expression.
"Forget it. You don’t understand. That’s why you can only be a manager."
"Being able to serve as Prince Chengjue’s manager is my honor."
"Alright, is there anything else?"
"Yes, Prince Chengjue. We captured Hui Wenzu nearby."
"Hui Wenzu? The Recruitnt Envoy from the western part of Beifeng Prefecture?"
"Yes, Prince Chengjue."
"How did you capture him?"
"He snuck into the city and was spotted by my people. Because he’s too fat; so fat that no amount of disguise is effective."
"Heh heh. Yes, I rember him. He is indeed fat. Interesting. The Recruitnt Envoy from the western part of Beifeng Prefecture, secretly trying to infiltrate the Marquis’s Mansion."
"Prince Chengjue, I only heard him say sothing in his sleep before he woke up startled."
"What did he say in his sleep?"
"He said, ’Thank goodness I got off the carriage to relieve myself back then.’"
"Got off the carriage..."
The Sixth Prince’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Does he know who you work for?"
"He doesn’t know for sure. When he’s awake, he refuses to say anything. Prince Chengjue, do you need to use torture?"
"No need. Isn’t it obvious what he was trying to do by sneaking into the Marquis’s Mansion? Heh heh. This world is full of so many self-proclaid geniuses. Give him a horse... tsk, never mind, give him two horses. Also, give him so dry rations and silver. Release him. Let him go back to wherever he ca from."
"Yes, I understand."
"Alright, I don’t have much ti. I must be going back."
"Let see you out, Prince Chengjue."
Cuiping walked ahead, holding a candlestick, leading the Sixth Prince out of the secret passage. However, upon returning to the private room, Cuiping’s gaze suddenly froze. She quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, afraid she would scream.
Inside the private room, the foreign woman was still sitting on the rug, but her eyes were wide open, her left hand raised in a waving gesture.
She was clearly dead. The most terrifying part was that even in death, she remained posed like a maneki-neko, a lucky cat figurine.
The Sixth Prince bent down, looked at the dead woman, and said, "You see? I told you not to casually investigate those around . Heh. We’ve encountered an expert. He knew all along what this red-curtained establishnt was used for."
"But I, I..."
"It’s fine. It was just a ’hello.’ Nothing to worry about, nothing at all."
After speaking, the Sixth Prince even raised his own hand, waved at the dead woman, and called out, "Hi."
「On the desert.」
A man led a horse, a young boy perched on his shoulders, as they slowly made their way forward.
Suddenly, the man stopped, and the horse beside him halted as well. The boy on his shoulders imdiately pulled a dagger from his clothes, his eyes, glowing with a green light, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.
After a mont, the man reached up and patted the boy’s leg on his shoulder, signaling him to relax.
Ahead in the darkness, a woman’s figure appeared, and her voice followed.
"Well, now, isn’t this just the biggest coincidence! How on earth did I manage to run into you in this vast, boundless desert?"
"I have no idea either."
"If the blind man were here, he would surely be playing his erhu and singing, ’This must be a special kind of fate...’"
Siniang drew a little closer, looking at Liang Cheng and the child on his shoulder.
The child was also staring at Siniang. By now, Siniang had removed her makeup, revealing her true appearance.
The child, sowhat excited, grabbed Liang Cheng’s shoulder and said in his halting Han-speech, "Woman... beautiful... capture... take back... bear children for you..."
Clearly, the child ant for Liang Cheng to capture this beautiful woman before them and take her back to bear offspring.
The worldview of the desert peoples was just that simple and unadorned.
"Hey, I say, you three haven’t been in the desert for long, have you? How efficient are you, to have even produced a child already? Your zombie reproduction rate is almost as fast as cockroaches!"
Siniang joked as she carefully sized up the boy, then said, "He’s a wolf cub."
"I brought him back first to make preparations in Hutou City. A Ming and Fanli are escorting his tribe; they’re migrating behind us."
"Tsk, tsk. So that’s how it is. You really managed to find the manpower?"
"Fortunately, we didn’t fail our mission."
"Not bad."
"What are you doing here?"
"I was just about to head back. Oh, by the way, My Lord is in an oasis not far ahead."
"The Marquis’s Mansion?"
"Seems your geography is pretty good."
"Is My Lord in danger?"
"Danger? Danger is everywhere. A normal person can choke to death just eating a al, right? I reckon it’s more of an opportunity. Just this evening, My Lord went whoring with the current Sixth Prince of Yan."
"That’s quite a leap."
"I thought so too. But that Prince is no pushover. I was worried he’d underestimate My Lord, so I left him a little ’greeting’ before I departed."
"My Lord shouldn’t be without soone by his side."
"Well, isn’t this a stroke of luck? How about this: you head back first, and I’ll return to the oasis to accompany My Lord."
"Alright."
"Let quickly tell you what’s happened these past few days. When you get back and see the blind man and the others, you can update them on the situation."
"Alright."
Liang Cheng lifted the boy down from his shoulders, then took out dry rations from his bundle.
"I have at and wine here. Eat mine."
Liang Cheng nodded and accepted the at and wineskin Siniang handed him.
The boy grabbed the at with one hand and the wineskin with the other. He took a swig of wine, then a bite of at, eating with a fierce sort of gusto.
"This little wolf cub is actually quite cute," Siniang teased.
The boy could probably understand Han-speech but couldn’t speak it fluently. Now, having had so wine, he was filled with bold spirits and declared, "Woman... beautiful... When I grow up... I’ll snatch you... make you bear my children..."
"Oh, my, my! Such ambition!"
A child’s praise is the purest, even if this particular child was a tad precocious.
Liang Cheng ignored the boy for the mont and looked at Siniang, asking, "Has your relationship with My Lord progressed?"
Siniang glanced at her own hand and replied, "Hmm, I suppose it has."
"Mm."
SLAP!
Liang Cheng sent the boy, who was still full of bold declarations, sprawling with a slap, his head burying itself in the yellow sand.
"You are not allowed to profane My Lord’s woman."
The boy struggled to pull his head out of the sand. He sat to one side, cheeks puffed in indignation, and continued to tear fiercely at his food, neither crying nor fussing.
"Oh, ho ho... I must say, this feeling of being the mistress of the house isn’t bad at all."
Just then, Liang Cheng suddenly stood up, facing the direction of the oasis.
Siniang’s smile also vanished, and she asked gravely, "What is it?"
"I sense..."
"Sense what?"
"Soone is channeling baleful energy into a corpse to create a zombie!"
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