Chapter 124: Sin
The evening mist was heavy, the summer heat still lingering.
Fan Bing stepped on the moss-covered steps, reaching the back corner gate of the West Mountain Villa. The bulging brocade bag at his waist dug into his ribs, hurting him—it contained his last fifty taels of silver.
That was what he got from pawning Wen Jia’s golden hairpin, part of her dowry.
It was his last fortune, and his last resort…
Dong!
Dong dong!
Fan Bing raised his hand and knocked.
In the silent night, the door creaked open slowly.
“Oh, who could it be? It’s Imperial Son-in-law Fan.”
An old servant’s hunched figure emerged from the shadow of the corner gate, holding up the lantern in his hand, illuminating Fan Bing’s face, full of urgency and greed, his tone dismissive.
In Shangjing City, everyone knew that Fan Bing, this Imperial Son-in-law, was all name and no substance. In reality, he was a complete gambler, usually relying on the Princess’s name to swindle people.
“Imperial Son-in-law, visiting at this hour is likely against the rules.”
Standing beside Fan Bing was Shunzi, an acquaintance introduced by his “gambling buddy,” who worked at the separate villa.
He smiled obsequiously.
“Uncle Zhao, Master Fan was sent by the Princess, specifically to wait for her. He has a task to perform…”
Hearing this, Fan Bing felt something was not quite right.
But he was gambling everything now. As long as he could get into the West Mountain Villa, he wouldn’t worry about anything else.
“Yes, yes, the Princess summoned me here.”
Shunzi smiled and gave him a look.
Fan Bing rubbed the silver ingot he had just obtained between his thumbs, his Adam’s apple bobbing twice, and gritted his teeth as he handed it over.
“This is a small token of my appreciation, Old Zhao. Have some tea…”
Old Zhao hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took it.
“Imperial Son-in-law, it’s not that I’m being difficult on purpose, but the Princess has strict orders…”
What pretense!
Fan Bing snorted with laughter, impatiently patting the large bundle he had brought.
“I’m bringing something for the Princess. Don’t worry, once the job is done, you’ll be rewarded handsomely!”
Old Zhao weighed the money bag, his cloudy eyes darting around, and finally nodded.
“Then we have an agreement. The Princess receives guests in Ninghui Hall. Once honored guests are seated, someone will guide and entertain them.”
Having said that, he gave Shunzi another look.
“You take the Imperial Son-in-law inside. Other places are off-limits. If the Princess finds out, neither of us will be able to bear the consequences.”
“Old Zhao, you can rest assured, with me here, nothing will go wrong.”
Old Zhao glanced at him, weighing the money.
“Go on, go on, don’t wander off.”
Money makes the world go round.
Fan Bing turned his head and spat softly.
However, the convenience bought with his lavish spending made him start to fantasize.
Once he got the money, he would flee far away, find a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters, buy a few beautiful maids and concubines, and live a carefree life from then on, no longer enduring this humiliation.
The separate villa was built against the mountain, and only one place could create scenery like flying waterfalls and flowing springs.
Wen Jia’s words had saved him a lot of trouble.
He headed straight for the courtyard on the mountain side. Shunzi followed him to the cascading waterfall before he suddenly reacted, reaching out to stop him.
“Master Fan, this back courtyard is a forbidden area of the villa. The Princess does not allow anyone here, and you cannot go…”
Before he could finish speaking, Fan Bing’s dagger was at his throat.
“Do you think I’m scared?”
The blade pressed a thin line of blood on Shunzi’s wrinkled neck, Fan Bing’s voice chilling.
“You took my money, so mind your own business…”
Shunzi’s eyes widened, his body trembling slightly.
“Master Fan, please don’t, please don’t…”
Fan Bing glanced around, seeing no one paying attention. He thought this fellow was a nuisance by his side, so he hardened his heart and smashed down with the hilt of the knife.
Shunzi’s vision went black, and he fainted with a thud.
The key chain also fell to the ground with a clatter.
Fan Bing’s eyes lit up. He grabbed the keys, walked up to the flowing spring and waterfall, and easily opened the Pixiu wooden door used for disguise.
Upon entering, he found a world within a world.
The stone door on the stone wall was open, covered with a layer of fresh water stains, as if the person who opened it had forgotten to close it in their haste.
Seeing this, Fan Bing was overjoyed.
“My heavens! When luck comes, it can’t be stopped. If they hadn’t been careless, how could I have opened it so easily?”
Fan Bing didn’t have time to think. He quickly lit the fire starter and walked in through the open stone door, lighting the candlelight on two bronze candlesticks.
The surroundings brightened.
In an instant, the golden light filling the room blinded him. He felt a dizzying sensation, as if he were in a mountain of gold and silver.
“So much…”
“There’s actually so much…”
Jewelry and ornaments packed in boxes, dazzling and brilliant.
Boxes upon boxes of cinnabar, with vibrant colors.
Piles of pearls, round and full.
A golden whip scented with tribute incense…
Hetian Jade from the Western Regions, presented as tribute…
Agarwood newly arrived from Nanzi…
Each piece exquisitely carved, arranged in order.
When a three-foot-tall blood coral came into view, Fan Bing’s breathing became heavy, his chest heaving violently.
A Pixiu beast made of gold bricks held a large luminous pearl in its mouth, emitting a strange pink glow under the firelight. Most shocking was the bronze cauldron—the golden Buddha head enshrined within, inlaid with sapphire the size of a pigeon’s egg for its eyes.
Against the backdrop of treasures worth fortunes, piles of official silver, manufactured in Jiangnan during the tenth year of Chongzhao, were overshadowed and dulled.
“Well done, Ping Le! If you are as rich as a nation, don’t blame me for taking what I can.”
His hands trembling, he began to bend down and pick up the money, stuffing treasures into the sack.
Too much! Too much!
Can’t pick it all up! Can’t pick it all up!
This is valuable, that is also valuable…
Looking at the treasures filling the room, Fan Bing was filled with regret.
He should have found some scoundrel friends to come with him, and brought a few carriages to transport all these treasures away…
Fan Bing’s eyes turned red. Suddenly, he heard the tinkling of jade pendants from outside the door.
His scalp tingled, and he knew something was wrong.
He spun around abruptly and saw Ping Le standing at the entrance of the stone cave, her face full of rage. Her painted fingernails lightly touched the opened mechanism, and she gritted her teeth.
“The dog I raised has learned to bite its master?”
“Pr-Princess…” Fan Bing’s voice trembled, his heart full of fear.
The flickering candlelight reflected in Ping Le’s eyes as she let out a cold laugh.
“Hmph! I underestimated your lock-picking skills. Impressive! You managed to open the Heavenly Craft Lock that took me two years to complete so easily?”
“No. It wasn’t me who opened it…”
He habitually showed her weakness and instinctively wanted to explain, but seeing Ping Le’s cold smile, he realized this was not the time for explanations.
Caught red-handed, anything he said was too late.
He grabbed the sack full of treasures and tried to escape.
Ping Le sternly called out to her attendants.
“Catch him!”
Fan Bing was terrified. His feet slipped on the gold bricks, and he instinctively grabbed a silver ingot and hurled it at Ping Le.
Ping Le was furious: “Good dog! You dare to hit me?”
Insults, each one more vicious than the last, enraged Fan Bing.
“Princess Ping Le, you embezzled thirty thousand taels of disaster relief funds! Have the vengeful spirits of the refugees who starved to death during the Luo River flood not come to demand your life yet?”
“You seized private land, causing countless people to become displaced and homeless…”
“While the border soldiers fought bathed in blood, you embezzled military pay, leaving the soldiers lacking food and clothing…”
“You engaged in corruption during the imperial examinations, accepting bribes and ruining the futures of scholars from humble families…”
“Afraid someone will find out? I will tell everyone, I will loudly proclaim it. The wicked Princess Ping Le is a parasite of the nation and a scourge of the people. Compared to you, I am practically a good person!”
Ping Le’s face changed drastically.
“Cut out his tongue! Gouge out his eyes!”
Fan Bing dodged the close-range blades and desperately overturned a golden cauldron, shouting loudly.
“You wicked woman, how much human flesh and blood have you consumed, yet you won’t even spit out a bone. Insatiably greedy, insane, you have so much, what’s wrong with me taking a little, what’s wrong with me taking a little from you!”
“I did so many evil deeds for you, don’t I deserve it? Don’t I deserve to have it?”
For a moment, they chased each other.
The stone cave descended into chaos.
Seeing Ping Le trembling with anger, two guards rushed forward and restrained him.
Fan Bing let out a beast-like roar from his throat.
The mountains of money were enough to make one lose their sanity.
He was already a person of volatile temper, and under the stimulation of money, he was now like a trapped beast struggling.
During the struggle, strings of pearls rolled down from the rosewood cabinet, and overturned gold bricks knocked over the candlesticks…
Flames instantly licked at the piled-up silk gauze curtains and various silks…
“Shameless wretch!” Ping Le, also enraged by his insults, rushed forward, pulled the sword from a guard’s hand, and stabbed him fiercely!
The tip of the sword entered Fan Bing’s chest.
Blood spurted out—
“You… you…”
Fan Bing looked down at the bloody knife in his chest.
“You… dare to kill me?”
Ping Le sneered: “You know my secret, and you still dare to covet my wealth. Did you think you could leave alive?”
Fan Bing staggered and leaned against the stone wall. In tearing pain, he watched the treasures filling the room twist and deform in the firelight, and saw the kind and compassionate blue-eyed Buddha head, as if seeking final salvation.
“Poison…ous woman… you will not… die well…”
Ping Le’s expression was cold. “This is the consequence of betraying me.”
Flames suddenly surged up the jade screen, thick smoke billowed, carrying the sweet scent of burning agarwood, filling the entire stone cave. The gold and silver treasures also seemed to take on a strange bloody hue.
The maid Hong Xing urged anxiously from the side: “Princess, hurry, the fire is spreading…”
Although the gold and silver were not burning, a large amount of fine silks and precious spices had ignited.
The rising smoke was particularly choking in the stuffy summer night.
Thick smoke poured out of the cave entrance.
Ping Le’s face darkened. She dropped the knife and watched Fan Bing collapse heavily on the ground. She took out a handkerchief to wipe the bloodstains splashed on her face. Unable to bear the pungent smell of blood, she simply took off her outer garment and threw it into the fire.
“Fan Bing, dying amidst a mountain of gold and silver is your good fortune!”
Ping Le flicked her sleeve and hurried out of the cave. She was contemplating whether to close the mechanism and let the fire extinguish itself, or to call for guards to put out the fire, when she looked up and saw Lu You’an standing in the cool moonlight, looking at her with icy eyes.
