Chapter 84: Seems Like A Remarkable Thing
It was late at night, but Yun Ce and E Ji were both awake. They used a thick blanket to completely cover the window, and E Ji even thoroughly sealed the door crack. Only then did she cautiously look at Yun Ce.
Doggy was still in the box, and no matter how they called, there was no response. Yun Ce wanted to throw the Dragon Pearl into the box too, but the Dragon Pearl seemed to have no interest.
Amid E Ji’s eager gaze, Yun Ce lifted the lid of the box.
The light they had seen not long ago was gone. On the black base sat a Golden Dragon. Not only was it gleaming gold, but the entire Golden Dragon was carved lifelike, with even the dragon whiskers, Dragon Scales, and the finest details of the dragon tail rendered perfectly without the slightest flaw.
“Ah, the bead has melted.”
E Ji pointed at the base that originally held the bead and said to Yun Ce.
Yun Ce looked at Doggy, which had turned into a puddle of silver liquid, utterly baffled at what the fuss was about.
Seeing E Ji about to touch the pool of silver liquid with her finger, Yun Ce slapped her hand away. He carefully examined the Golden Dragon. This thing was just a piece of gold; there was nothing strange about it.
It seemed the glowing bead was the real treasure. Yun Ce took the base out of the box and examined it closely. Finally, at the bottom of the base, he saw a line of text: ‘Golden Dragon gives birth to the people, the kingdom spans a thousand li, where the people settle, the domain will one day reach the four seas.’
E Ji also saw the line of text and asked: “What does it say?”
1 Yun Ce said: “The Divine Dragon blesses the people, the territory is a thousand li wide, the people live in peace and contentment, and one day the borders will reach the four seas.”
1 Hearing such a boring explanation, E Ji picked up the Golden Dragon and kissed it, saying: “I like this thing, give it to me. It’ll melt down tomorrow, and I’ll have several more gold ingots.”
1 Yun Ce glanced at the Golden Dragon. Its value lay in the craftsmanship, not the gold itself. Analyzing those four sentences, this thing was probably for priest use, so it could not be kept.
1 E Ji wanting to melt it into a gold ingot might not be a bad idea. The urgent matter now was to wait for Doggy to wake up and ask about the origin of that bead.
1 Getting gold was no longer a big thrill for E Ji. Seeing Yun Ce still staring blankly at the silver liquid in the box, she laboriously carried away the Golden Dragon, lest it smash the Young Master’s foot while he was thinking.
1 Yun Ce’s hand touched Doggy, and Doggy climbed up along his finger, finally curling up on the wristband and no longer moving.
1 Yun Ce called out to Doggy a few more times, but the thing was like dead asleep, with no reaction at all.
1 With only an eyesore of a box left in the room, Yun Ce casually destroyed it and disposed of the evidence.
1 Yun Ce had been tired all day. Seeing that E Ji had played with the Golden Dragon enough, he took it and tossed it on the table, preparing to sleep.
1 No sooner had he closed his eyes than he heard E Ji whisper in his ear: “Smash the Golden Dragon. It’d be bad if someone recognized it.”
2 Yun Ce irritably rolled over and said: “Go to sleep early. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
2 “No, smash it quick. I’ll warm your bed for you.”
2 Yun Ce angrily got out of bed, took the Golden Dragon to a deserted spot, pulled out a giant shield and laid it on the ground, tossed the Golden Dragon onto the giant shield, drew out a large hammer, and smashed down on the Golden Dragon.
2 Yun Ce was very strong, and the hammer was heavy. Once the gold met these two things, it quickly turned into the gold ingot shape Yun Ce hoped for—thin in the middle, thick at both ends. He casually discarded the broken giant shield and returned to the room.
2 E Ji hugged the gold ingot proudly and kissed it again, showing off to Yun Ce: “Gold should be valued by weight. All that fancy stuff is meaningless.”
2 Yun Ce pulled the blanket up over his head in headache, blocking out sight and sound.
2 Yun Ce fell asleep, but on Mo Yan Ridge, no one could sleep—not Miss Hong, who was pretending to be a corpse and drifting with the current, nor Pei Chuan, nor Zhou Chengming, who gripped his blood-dripping long saber.
2 They all stared with wide eyes. The former was racking her brains to find an escape route for the two of them, while the latter, after checking all the tribute horse carriages, had eyes red enough to terrify.
2 “Report to the Captain, all the found tribute is here. But the Divine Dragon Scroll you instructed us to find, 《Divine Dragon Scroll》, is missing.”
2 Zhou Chengming, just after fierce battle, looked at an empty tribute horse carriage, leaning weakly on the cart compartment with his hand, and asked: “Any survivors?”
3 The Deputy General cupped his hands and said: “It’s dark, the battlefield terrain is complex. It’s inevitable that a few bandits escaped.”
3 Zhou Chengming suddenly turned his head to the Deputy General and said: “Did you capture any alive?”
3 The Deputy General shook his head: “This military order was ‘In this battle, take no prisoners.'”
3 Zhou Chengming sighed in pain and said to the Deputy General: “Search the battlefield again. We must find the 《Divine Dragon Scroll》.”
3 The Deputy General hesitated, then immediately said: “Captain, tonight we still need to travel five hundred li to connect with our previous route.
3 Moreover, this subordinate estimates that Chuyun City already knows of the tribute robbery. It won’t be long before an army arrives. We really shouldn’t linger here.”
3 Zhou Chengming slammed a heavy fist on the cart compartment, gritted his teeth and said: “Withdraw the previous order. The whole army immediately packs the tribute. One hour later, set off at dawn.”
3 The Deputy General thumped his chest and said: “Yes.”
3 Waking in the middle of the night, Yun Ce pulled a rough gold ingot from under his waist, tossed it aside, tugged a bit of blanket from E Ji’s side, and continued sleeping.
3 Miss Hong and Pei Chuan, shivering, climbed onto the platform where Yun Ce had once been. They stripped off their clothes and embraced, their faces paler than the full moon in the sky.
4 “Why did an army still show up?” Pei Chuan asked Miss Hong in a suppressed voice.
4 Miss Hong shuddered and said: “No one could have expected Tiger Guards Captain Zhou Chengming to join the robbery.”
4 Pei Chuan said puzzled: “Wasn’t it Chuyun City’s scheme?”
4 Miss Hong bit her bloodless lips and said: “If it were Chuyun City’s plot, we would definitely have known. This was clearly Tiger Guards Captain Zhou Chengming getting greedy for wealth. After learning we succeeded, he took the fisherman’s profit.”
4 “Was it Liu Chang’an who tipped them off?”
4 “No!”
4 “How are you so sure? He’s just a greedy villain.”
4 “Don’t speak. Hold me tighter. We asked Liu Chang’an to kill Zhao Ling, and he did it, taking his rightful reward. That’s fair.”
4 “Red, I want to meet that man.”
4 Miss Hong patted his back and said: “Don’t even think about it. I’ve only heard his voice, never seen the man.”
5 “We followed his commands, and in the end, the whole army was wiped out.”
5 “Hold me tight. Don’t talk. This time it was an accident.”
5 The two chattered on, afraid to fall asleep in the cold. Pei Chuan’s questions put Miss Hong in a difficult spot. She wanted to end the talk and endure the cold, but Pei Chuan wouldn’t stop, and they kept chattering.
5 Zhou Chengming’s men finally left. Miss Hong and Pei Chuan came down from the tree, stripped two relatively dry sets of clothes from corpses, hurriedly put them on, and anxiously chased after Zhou Chengming’s group. In fact, there was only this one road; the way they came surely had a large force of soldiers hurrying over.
5 Yun Ce got up quite late. When he rose, both E Ji and the gold ingot were gone. An Ji brought water to wash his face. After Yun Ce refreshed himself vigorously, he asked.
5 “What’s for breakfast today?”
5 “Rice porridge, flatbread, and pickled vegetables. Steward Qiu from the Hunting Ground Camp sent two good fish. The Young Lord said to stew them for lunch.”
5 “Go ask Steward Qiu if the Hunting Ground Camp has any specialties from Gaoliang Mountain. If so, buy some back at market price.”
5 An Ji agreed and hurriedly left.
5 Yun Ce filled a large bowl with white rice porridge, tossed in some chopped pickled vegetables, and carried the rice bowl to the room where Peng Zeng was resting.
6 It had to be said that when Peng Zeng wasn’t talking, he was quite the man. Though both his left and right ribs were fractured, this tough guy still quietly leaned against the wall, spooning the porridge one bite at a time.
6 Yun Ce slurped along with him. After both their rice bowls were empty, Yun Ce said: “You’re pretty good. Be my slave.”
6 Peng Zeng looked at Yun Ce and said: “You’re the one who ruined me. I’d rather die than be your slave, at your beck and call.”
6 Yun Ce tapped his rice bowl with chopsticks and said: “You can’t bear to die. You’ve gritted your teeth through crisis after crisis. Now that you’re about to see the light, how could you bear to die.”
6 Peng Zeng continued staring into Yun Ce’s eyes: “I won’t be your slave.”
6 Yun Ce’s gaze gradually turned icy. He looked at Peng Zeng, not understanding why this man, who cherished life so dearly, was being so stubborn today.
6 “If you don’t agree, you’re dead.”
6 Peng Zeng saw the killing intent in Yun Ce’s eyes but stubbornly said: “I won’t be your slave!”
6 Yun Ce flew into a rage and was about to give the guy another beating when he saw E Ji come in from outside, carrying a plate with a large fried egg. As E Ji slid the fried egg into Peng Zeng’s empty bowl, she said to Yun Ce: “From now on, Peng Zeng is my vassal. Don’t threaten him with slave talk. In this house, he only listens to me.”
6 Seeing Peng Zeng just keep his head down eating the fried egg, Yun Ce glared at his own rice bowl and said: “How come I don’t have a fried egg?”
7 E Ji pushed Yun Ce out while saying: “The egg was just sent over from the Hunting Ground Camp. Who’d have thought birds would lay in this bitter cold of the ninth lunar month.
7 They only gave one. Peng Zeng is injured and weak. He needs to recover quickly. If you want to eat, tomorrow.”
7 Yun Ce tossed his bowl to E Ji and said: “I didn’t expect I’d now rank below your vassal. Also, I want to ask, can a woman even have vassals?”
7 E Ji grinned and said: “I asked Feng An. He said the Princess of Chaoyang back in the day had a thousand retainers and took part in many famous events.
7 The later Princess of Linhai had six thousand retainers. They floated huge logs on the sea, going with the flow, and reportedly caught lots and lots of big fish.”
7 “You’re not a princess.”
7 E Ji burst out laughing: “Feng An said we can’t hope for Great Han princess status. Over the years, the Great Han has destroyed countless small kingdoms. Just spend some money and buy a princess title.”
7 Hearing this, Yun Ce glanced at Feng An, who was reading in the living room. Feng An used his book to shield his face and slipped out along the wall.
