The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 7

Everyone who knew Zhao Li knew that she was usually an even-tempered young woman.

But no one should ever truly make her angry.

The moment an ice-cold hand caressed her neck, Zhao Li’s eyes snapped open.

[Temporary quest: Hair.]

[Quest description: She was hanged from the rafters. You slept in her bed and trapped her hair beneath you. She is very angry and intends to hang you from the rafters as well. Please reason with her.]

[Temporary quest item issued: willow switch.]

“You’re lying on my hair.”

Icy breath washed across Zhao Li’s face.

This body had never taken the secret medicine that would let her see in darkness.

All she could make out was a pallid blur, which meant the shameless thing had pressed itself extremely close.

Calmly, Zhao Li placed the tip of her tongue between her canine teeth and bit down hard.

Blood from the tip of the tongue was brimming with yang energy and exceptionally effective against yin entities.

“You’re lying on my—aaagh!”

Before the ghost could finish repeating itself, Zhao Li spat a mouthful of blood.

It splashed across the deathly white face like boiling water thrown onto snow. Green smoke hissed upward as the flesh rapidly blackened and melted.

The hand at Zhao Li’s neck jerked away. The woman’s scream stabbed into her eardrums.

Clutching its face, the white figure flew toward the door, a hemp rope looped around its neck.

Zhao Li flicked her right hand. At some point, the willow switch had appeared in her palm. It cracked across the figure’s back.

Another shrill scream rang out. Still groggy but far too vindictive to let it escape, Zhao Li rolled out of bed and gave chase.

With Light as a Swallow enhancing her movements, she quickly caught up.

“So what if I was lying on your hair?”

Her injured arm hung at her side while the other swung the willow switch.

“So what if I was lying on your hair?”

The face of the white figure had been eaten into a field of blackened pits. It rolled across the ground and shrieked as Zhao Li’s willow switch came down again and again.

She had endured being coerced in the well only because there had been no room to fight. Did these things truly take her for an easy target?

“You kill people just because they sleep in your bed? Is there no justice or law left in the world?”

“I’ve swallowed enough humiliation since coming to this miserable place! Why are you carrying on in the middle of the night? Can’t a person get some sleep?”

Under the relentless beating, the white figure finally dissolved into a wisp of green smoke with one last miserable howl.

[Quest successful: You persuaded her to lay down her butcher’s knife (physically). Reward: 500 experience.]

Having vented her resentment, Zhao Li tossed aside the willow switch, planted her hands on her hips, and panted.

She grumbled as she sucked at her injured tongue.

Tongue-tip blood might be useful, but it required the power and accuracy of a Peashooter. More importantly, biting one’s tongue hurt like hell!

Her earlier exertions had probably torn open her wound again. Hot blood flowed in pulses.

She was about to find a physician to bind it when she turned around and saw three dumbstruck faces.

The Embroidered Spring Saber in Lu Zhao’s hand clattered to the ground.

Silence fell.

A moment later, Lu Zhao took the lead and began applauding.

“Miss Zhao’s divine might is unparalleled!”

Steward Li immediately joined him.

Qi Hai had only one hand, so he slapped his belly instead.

Amid the applause, Zhao Li paused and replied modestly, “You flatter me.”

Then she asked, “Is there anything to eat?”

…

The night deepened, and heavy dew gathered in the rear garden of the Shen residence.

A round table. A pot of wine.

Shen Zhixing—the chief eunuch whom most officials hated with a passion—sat beside the table.

His face was pale and beardless, with a few silver strands at his temples.

Setting aside his status as a eunuch, he was a handsome middle-aged man with refined, scholarly features and a deeply restrained presence.

He was in an excellent mood as he sat across from his nephew, Shen Yan.

For men of their position, their drinking fare was unexpectedly humble: a single plate of sliced pig’s head.

“Today’s events were truly amusing.” Shen Zhixing took a light sip of wine.

The imperial censors had smelled blood and impeached Zhao Huai from every conceivable angle.

In recent years, His Majesty had become increasingly obsessed with cultivating immortality and seeking the Dao. Inevitably, the imperial princes’ ambitions had begun to stir.

Zhao Yaoguang had originally been expected to enter Prince Rui’s household last year.

Because of that connection, Zhao Huai had openly thrown his support behind Prince Rui’s faction and caused Shen Zhixing’s people no small amount of trouble.

Shen Zhixing shook his head with the helpless indulgence of an adult watching a child make mischief.

Yet fate was fickle. Zhao Yaoguang, praised as Great Jing’s foremost beauty and a peerless master of poetry, calligraphy, and painting, had turned out to be an impostor—the daughter of a military household from the frontier.

“I heard that a physiognomist once declared Zhao Yaoguang’s destiny inexpressibly noble?”

As though remembering a joke, Shen Zhixing picked up a slice of pig’s head and placed it in his mouth, chuckling.

Shen Yan, seated beside him, poured wine for his uncle.

“A low-class confidence trick.”

“Useful at times,” Shen Zhixing said with a shake of his head, then changed the subject.

“Take good care of A-Li, the Zhao girl who escaped her family.”

Mentioning Zhao Yaoguang naturally made him think of the other protagonist in the affair—Zhao Li.

The better Zhao Li’s life became, the more ridiculous Zhao Huai’s former calculations would look.

And the uglier the frantic antics of certain people would seem.

“Once the storm settles, find that poor girl a decent path forward.”

The child’s circumstances were difficult enough. They could not use her as a weapon and then discard her without a thought.

Shen Zhixing finished speaking but heard no response. He looked up to find his nephew staring at the grain of the table.

Shen Yan wore his usual dark scowl, but as his uncle, Shen Zhixing knew that his nephew was, very unusually, lost in a daze.

“A-Yan, you had someone take your pulse today. Are you feeling unwell?” Shen Zhixing asked with concern.

He paid close attention to this nephew and had deliberately summoned him to ask.

Shen Yan snapped back to himself and lowered his eyes. “The imperial physician said nothing was wrong.”

He was in excellent health. It was merely that the almost illusory pain in his chest the previous night seemed suspicious.

Besides, he could hardly tell his uncle that during his daytime nap, he had dreamed continuously of that young lady.

One look at Shen Yan told Shen Zhixing he would extract nothing more. He could only remind him, “Rest more often. Do not keep the lamps burning deep into the night.”

They remained across from each other. When Shen Zhixing caught his nephew drifting off again, he told him to go rest.

Unexpectedly, Shen Yan refused.

“No. I will visit the Pacification Office shortly.”

He hesitated, then added, “Uncle, I will be staying at the Pacification Office for the next while.”

Surprise crossed Shen Zhixing’s face.

At that moment, the captain of Shen Yan’s personal guards entered carrying a heavy food box. The rich aroma of tonic dishes drifted from within.

Shen Yan rose to leave. After a pause, he said, “Uncle, I will take several cartloads of the medicinal ingredients delivered recently to the Pacification Office.”

Ordinarily, Shen Zhixing would never trouble himself over a few cartloads of medicine.

Today, however, Shen Yan was behaving far too strangely.

“What do you need the medicine for?” he asked instinctively.

“For A-Li.” Shen Yan frowned as the answer slipped out. Only then did he realize something was wrong and hurried to cover it. “I mean, for Miss Zhao.”

He took the box of tonic dishes from his guard and strode away, his pace almost that of a man fleeing.

Shen Zhixing remained at the table, stunned.

A-Li.

*A-Li?*

Was that shameless fellow using a young lady’s familiar name truly his stone-hearted, sour-faced nephew?

The astonishment came quickly and vanished just as fast.

Shen Zhixing suddenly broke into a delighted smile.

Wonderful. This was wonderful news!

He urgently summoned the steward. In addition to the medicine Shen Yan had mentioned, he added a great many rare, nourishing ingredients.

…

Blissfully unaware of the feast headed her way, Zhao Li sat at a table in the Pacification Office’s main kitchen, slurping noodles.

Lu Zhao—the dreaded Hundred-Household Commander of the Jingning Guard—had cooked them. Steward Li had gone to fetch a physician with a lantern.

Zhao Li wore the smallest Jingning Guard uniform they had.

Even so, she had rolled the loose sleeves several times. Chopsticks in hand, she shoveled noodles into her mouth.

They were plain noodles in water with a little salt, and they tasted terrible.

Zhao Li did not complain. Whether because of her injuries or some quirk of this body, she became hungry exceptionally quickly.

Her lack of criticism only made Lu Zhao rub his hands in embarrassment.

This was a truly miserable excuse for a late-night meal.

He and Qi Hai rummaged through the kitchen for a long time and found a small jar of pickled vegetables. They sliced some and carried it to the table.

If the subordinates who called him Master Lu saw him behaving this way, their jaws would have hit the floor.

Only after Zhao Li finished the noodles did Lu Zhao reverently present the bare willow switch she had tossed away.

“Your ritual implement, Miss Zhao!”

No matter how he examined it, it looked like a willow twig. But after witnessing Miss Zhao flog a ghost with it, perhaps it was not as simple as it appeared.

Seeing how reluctant he was to let go, Zhao Li glanced at her noodle bowl and asked softly, “Would you like it?”

“I couldn’t possibly.”

Even as he protested, Lu Zhao swept a hand over the twig and smoothly slipped it into his sleeve with practiced skill.

Qi Hai clicked his tongue enviously from the side.