Chapter 473
Chapter 473
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 473
>Chapter Title: Proper Business
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The other party's actions frightened Bai Lingmiao into taking a step back, shrinking behind Li Huowang.
“I... I’m married.”
Looking at the burly servants behind him, Li Huowang was already preparing to make a move, but the other party's reaction was beyond his expectations.
“Oh, then I’ve disturbed the lady. Please don’t take offense.” At these words, a flash of disappointment crossed the young man’s eyes. He politely bowed to Bai Lingmiao and turned to walk ahead.
As he passed a nest of beggars, he casually tossed them a handful of silver fragments. Then he turned and bowed to another girl.
Such frivolity naturally didn’t earn him any favorable response, but facing rejection, he didn’t get angry and simply greeted other girls.
Watching his retreating figure, Li Huowang thought for a moment before calling out loudly.
“The cat in your arms is fake. It’s pieced together from three chunks of chipped jade.”
“Oh?!” The young man hugged the jade cat in his arms and turned back in surprise. “This brother, are you seeing things? The shopkeeper just now said it’s worth five thousand taels.”
“This is a setup. You’ve been scammed. There are three vertical marks and two horizontal ones under the left paw of that jade cat of yours.”
“Your cat has those marks, so anyone who touches it knows to quote you five thousand taels. But even if you sold it to him for two thousand, he wouldn’t take it.”
“Oh?! Really?”
Once he saw the young man, surprised, hugging the jade cat in his arms as he headed back to the previous jade shop, Li Huowang took Bai Lingmiao’s hand and walked forward. “Let’s go. There’s probably going to be a fight soon.”
After walking some distance, Bai Lingmiao looked at Li Huowang in surprise.
“Senior Brother Li, you didn’t even look at his jade cat. How did you know it was fake?”
Li Huowang didn’t answer this question. The scam was actually the same. This kind of trap was one that the Sitting Oblivion Daoists used as well.
As long as one Sitting Oblivion Daoist left a mark on a person, even if the front and back actors weren’t in cahoots, when they encountered other Sitting Oblivion Daoists, they would follow the same routine based on the mark’s cue.
One person saying it might make you suspect a con, but if everyone you meet tells the same lie, even the most steadfast person would waver. They’d start doubting themselves.
Just like before, those Sitting Oblivion Daoists clearly hadn’t contacted each other, yet they all tacitly claimed to be Red in unison. It was the same scam.
He just hadn’t expected that after all the scamming, he had actually become Red for real.
After this little interlude, neither of them took it to heart.
Later, Bai Lingmiao had a great time playing, even drinking a bit of sorghum liquor.
They played until the lanterns on the streets were extinguishing one by one. Only then did Li Huowang carry the somewhat tipsy Bai Lingmiao home.
Bai Lingmiao tilted her head, eyes half-closed, her pale fingers tracing circles on Li Huowang’s back.
“Senior Brother Li, Shangsi Festival is so much fun. I wish we could celebrate it every day...”
“Mhm, we’ll celebrate Shangsi Festival every day from now on.” Li Huowang went along with her drunken words.
As they walked, Li Huowang felt his back growing wet. Sobbing sounds came from behind him.
Gradually, the sobs turned to crying. Bai Lingmiao seemed to want to cover her mouth with her hand, but her cries only grew louder.
In the end, with snot and tears streaming down her face, she wailed like a child, sprawled on Li Huowang’s back.
Bai Lingmiao used all her strength with both hands, madly slapping at Li Huowang’s back.
………
Although he had stayed out late last night accompanying Bai Lingmiao, Li Huowang rose at dawn.
He didn’t leave right away. Instead, he took a deep breath and dug his fingers into his left eye.
With a savage yank, he gouged out his left eye, blood and all.
“When she wakes up, tell her I’ve gone to find a way to fix her eyes.”
Panting heavily, Li Huowang placed the eyeball in the hands of the two gods.
Seeing the red veil shake with a nod, Li Huowang gave her a light hug, picked up the two swords on the table, and turned to leave.
Up so early, some lanterns on the streets were only just starting to be taken down. Many people were yawning, clearly having stayed out late last night as well.
Li Huowang bought a fried dough stick and a glutinous rice cake for breakfast, eating as he headed toward the Bureau of Celestial Surveillance.
By the time he finished eating, he had arrived. Li Huowang wiped his oily hands on a stone lion and stepped into the yamen.
Today’s gatekeeper was that Mohist, Sima Lan, with a black bird perched on his shoulder. He was very surprised by Li Huowang’s appearance.
“Erjiu, I really didn’t expect you to still be alive. You vanished for so long, I thought the Sitting Oblivion Daoists had killed you.” Sima Lan’s black bird spoke to Li Huowang.
“Maybe my time hadn’t come yet. I clawed back my life. How have you been, Brother Sima?” Li Huowang cupped his hands toward him.
Having met a few times, this Mohist Sima Lan was at least someone Li Huowang could nod to in greeting.
After chatting idly for a bit and cursing the Sitting Oblivion Daoists a few times, Li Huowang got down to business.
He pointed at his left eye, now just a flap of eyelid.
“Does the bureau’s storehouse have anything that can heal an eye?”
“An eye?” Sima Lan thought for a moment and shook his head.
“Brother Erjiu, the inner storehouse of the Bureau of Celestial Surveillance is so vast, how would I know if they have it? You’ll have to look yourself. Have you been to the inner storehouse before?”
Seeing Li Huowang shake his head, Sima Lan told him the location of the Bureau’s inner storehouse.
After winding through these interconnected underground corridors for a long time—until Li Huowang was completely disoriented—he finally found this so-called inner storehouse.
After showing his badge to verify his identity, Li Huowang walked in.
The moment he entered, Li Huowang felt like he had shrunk to the size of a mouse and broken into a massive apothecary.
In the vast warehouse where even speech echoed, rows of wooden cabinets filled with densely packed compartments stood in neat order. These cabinets were extremely tall, reaching right up to the thirty-foot ceiling.
The contents of these wooden compartments varied greatly. Some were sealed with talismans, others bound with chains.
Clearly, these boxes held the heavenly treasures and earthly marvels under the Bureau of Celestial Surveillance’s control.
They used these things to entice outsiders to do the bureau’s bidding.
Not everything was stored in those small compartments. Some scattered items were categorized and placed on long tables.
There were all sorts of bizarre and strange objects, but Li Huowang couldn’t discern their uses.
“Wait, isn’t this mine?” Li Huowang reached out and picked up his copper coin mask from the long table.
This thing must have ended up in the Bureau’s hands along with his head last time, when he faked being Red and lost his head.
Though he now had the heart-filth spindle from Zhuge Yuan, Li Huowang certainly wouldn’t refuse an extra layer of protection.
Just as he was about to speak, an eunuch walked over from the side with a smiling welcome.
Unlike the eunuchs in the main hall, this storehouse eunuch had no eyes—two copper coins had been sewn directly in their place.
(End of chapter)