Jun Jiuling

Chapter 256

Probably for this reason, Thousand-Man Commander Lu seldom talked in front of people.

People privately said that the ancient king of Lanling covered his beauty with a mask, but now there is Thousand-Man Command Lu’s genial and silent voice.1

Of course, comparing someone who was more like Zhou Xing2, a ruthless official who was involved in framing and killing people, with the king of Lanling who defended his home and country, naturally attracted some people’s ridicule and curses.

Of course, this was all said privately. 3

Lu Yunqi stood up to salute.

In terms of official position, he was not high. The eunuch surnamed Guo in front of him was the emperor’s close eunuch, and he is also one of the best chiefs of ceremonies.

Seeing Lu Yunqi get up, Eunuch Guo had already stepped forward with a smile and looked respectful.

“Thousand-Man Commander, My Lord, don’t be so polite.” He said.

Lu Yunqi did not keep saluting and stood up straight.

“His Majesty’s command?” He asked.

Eunuch Guo answered yes.

“His Majesty said he knows about it but the matter had happened so long ago he can’t recall it.”

“This humble official will go investigate.” Lu Yunqi said, raising his foot to go.

Eunuch Guo hurriedly took his arm.

“My Lord, this servant hasn’t finished talking yet.” He smiled and said, “But His Majesty said that this imperial edict did exist. The first emperor wrote a total of two imperial edicts that held the significance of His personal presence, one of which concealed its recepient’s name. One was given to Duke Cheng. Now it seems that the Yangcheng Fang family is the one whose name was hidden.”

Lu Yunqi looked at him with a blank face.

“So now do you need them to continue to hide forever?” He asked.

Eunuch Guo shook his head with a smile.

“My Lord, His Majesty said these are all trivial things. The marriage between you and Princess Jiuli is the most important thing. You don’t have to care about anything else.” He said.

His Majesty said he knew. His Majesty said not to care about other things.

Lu Yunqi nodded.

“Then I’ll leave.” He said.

After saying that, he raised his feet and stepped forward. Before Eunuch Guo could react, Lu Yunqi had already stepped out of the door.

This was really a sharp and easy-to-use knife. No wonder His majesty valued him so much.

“Lord Lu. Lord Lu.” Eunuch Guo quickly followed and looked at Lu Yunqi standing in a vermillion robe under the sun.

Lu Yunqi stopped and looked back.

Even though he stood in the sun and even though he wore a robe of thick vermilion, his whole body looked gloomy. It seemed that even the daylight avoided him.

Probably because of his feminine and statue-like appearance. Probably because he had killed too many people in private.

Everyone said that this person couldn’t be provoked. In fact, it was just a dog after all. Compared with the eunuchs, where was he better?

Eunuch Guo squeezed out an enthusiastic smile.

“When the time comes I will also beg for a glass of wedding wine from My Lord and the princess.” He laughed.

Lu Yunqi looked at him and squeezed the corners of his mouth.

Is this probably a smile?

It turns out that Lord Lu, who never showed an expression on his face, could still smile.

Eunuch Guo was also busy making his smile deeper.

“Is the house cleaned up?” He asked with concern.” If you need any help, just say.”

Lu Yunqi lowered his eyes and bowed his head to give a salute.

“Thank you, Eunuch Gao.” He said, “It’s all prepared.”

“Then get going, go.” Eunuch Guo smiled and said, “His Majesty has deliberately granted you a month’s rest. Don’t worry about these things, My Lord. The biggest and most important thing is to get married.”

Lu Yunqi didn’t say anything more. He saluted, turned around and walked away.

The bright red figure was getting farther and farther away in the sun.

Eunuch Guo shivered, and his fatty flesh trembled all over.

“It’s really strange. No matter how one looks at it, he’s scary. I really don’t know how princess Jiuling lived with him.” He shook his head and smiled, “Perhaps she couldn’t and that’s why she found her own death. Still, if he really loved his wife, I can’t see it at all.”

After laughing for a moment, walked to the palace while humming a tune. He didn’t notice that the little eunuch who had been standing behind him had raised his head and stared brightly at his back, and immediately lowered his head to follow with humble and cautious steps.

Lu Yunqi walked out of the palace gates. A team of Jinyiwei wearing flying fish clothes4 with embroidered spring knives at their waists were already waiting outside. Seeing him come over, they saluted.

Before Lu Yunqi had mounted his horse, a Jinyiwei came out of the palace.

Jinyiwei were also the emperor’s guards, and he was on duty in the palace.

The Jinyiwei stepped forward quickly and bowed in front of Lu Yunqi. Then he got up and whispered a few words in Lu Yunqi’s ear.

Lu Yunqi’s face remained unchanged, but he gently brought his hand and pressed the corners of his mouth as though the sunlight had made him feverous.

“He said he couldn’t see it?” He said.

The Jinyiwei stepped back and waited for his instructions.

“Let him see, then.” Lu Yunqi said, and after that, he turned his horse.

In response, the Jinyiwei retreated, watching Lu Yunqi’s horse step forward, while the others rushed behind both sides.

There were not many people idling in front of the palace, but after passing the government offices on both sides, their team had attracted many people’s attention.

“Isn’t he getting married?”

“Why is he still out for a walk?”

“I don’t know who is about to be unlucky.”

“I’ll be overjoyed once it starts.”

“Marriage. He is still the king of Hell even if he’s married. It is inevitable that the king of Hell kills when he goes out.”

There was a lot of discussion as the team went by.

Lu Yunqi and his group paid no attention to the comments behind him. They soon came to a government office. Unlike the bustle of those previous government offices, it looked dilapidated and lonely. There was an inconspicuous sign hanging on it. The sign was very inconspicuous, but the words on it were very eye-catching.

Beizhen Fusi.

Several lieutenants had come forward to salute and to take care of the horse.

Lu Yunqi signaled not to and went straight ahead, continuing to follow the crowd.

Walking out of Guanya Street, they came to a slightly more remote street, where there was a villa and a prince’s mansion, located at the east and west ends of the street.

It was almost more deserted than at the gate of the Fusi just now, only the sound of their horseshoes echoed back.

The first thing they passed was the prince’s palace. Like all palaces, it was built magnificently, with the three characters hanging high on the plaque.

But unlike other royal palaces, there were no doorkeepers here, let alone servants. The gate was closed and seemed to be desolate.

Lu Yunqi stopped in front of the door for a moment.

The marriage date with Princess Jiuli was approaching, and there was nothing to criticize about his fiancee, not to mention that he is Lu Yunqi.

The crowd stopped and waited for their orders, but only for a moment. Lu Yunqi urged the horse to move forward again and soon came to the westernmost house.

This place was different from the prince’s palace. Many people were busy entering and leaving. The already luxurious house was more and more magnificent, and the words “Lu Residence” hanging high above it had also been painted.

“My Lord.”

“My Lord, you’re back.”

Seeing that many of Lu Yunqi’s people poured out to give salutes one after another, the porter also came to pick up the horse.

Lu Yunqi still didn’t dismount. He looked at the lively house and withdrew his sight for a moment and urged the horse again.

The person and horse turned down a few alleys and walked up the street.

The appearance of their group made the bustle in the street more lively, but it was full of peeping, dodging, resentment, taboo and strange feelings.

Lu Yunqi turned a blind eye to everything and just watched the horse in front of him. It seemed that there was no destination, he just walked along the road.

This group of men and horses passed through the city gate along the road and disappeared from sight. Standing on the side of the street, Ning Yunzhao frowned.

“What is this flesh knife5 going to do?”

“I haven’t heard of anything big recently?”

The companions next to him talked, turning their heads to see Ning Yunzhao looking thoughtful.

“Yunzhao, do you know what’s going on?” They asked.

Ning Yunzhao shook his head.

“I don’t know.” He said.

His companions examined him.

“You answered so happily, are you hiding something from us?” They laughed and said.

Ning Yunzhao withdrew his gaze and smiled.

“I am locked up and reading with you every day. I know what you know, and you know what I know.” He said, “Is there anything I can hide from you?”

Stopping here, he paused and nodded.

“There is one thing”

The eyes of the two companions lit up.

“What is it?” They asked.

Ning Yunzhao looked at the puffy servant running in the crowd on the street.

“Family affairs.” He said, raising his hand and signaled, “Xiaoding.”

The servant came over happily and handed over the letter in his hand.

“Noble Son, the letter is here.” He said, wiped his sweat all over his sleeves.

Footnotes

1 – Gao Changgong, a prince of Northern Qi, was said to have a beautiful face and feminine physical appearance thus he always wore a terrible mask when he fought in battles. source

2 – (note: I am not particularly confident about this one, but I *think* this is referencing the Zhou Xing who was a secret police official who was famous for falling into his own trap, an incident which inspired the Chinese proverb “invite the gentleman into the urn”. source)

3 – note: I have taken out few lines from the original because I was having too much difficulty with it and wasn’t sure about the implication, and taking the whole thing out didn’t affect the flow of the chapter. Here is the original (feel free to help me out!):

再当然，尽管是私下的，这些人也都莫名其妙的出了事，是秀才在科考的时候被查出夹带，从此丢了学问之路，是官员的被查出贪腐受贿，或者判了冤假错案，贬官的贬官削官为民的为民，凡此种种，最后都是为自己说的话得了回报。

只不过这回报实在是非他们所愿，但这世上的事就是这么难两全。

4 – 飞鱼服 – fēi yú fú – “flying fish clothes” were the embroidered robes of the Jinyiwei; the flying fish was actually a dragon-like creature with wings and the fanned tail of a fish. The flying fish also had 4 claws, a dragon head and a carp’s body and two horns. source

5 – 肉腰刀 – ròu yāo dāo – “meat waist knife”; this seems to be a saying that refers to conspiracy to frame others. source