The result of the inquiry was that Yu Qing had left the Censorate right on time.
Tang Bulan and Xu Jue Ning sensed that something was wrong. They hurried to the other side and found the people guarding the other road junction. Those people also said they had not seen Yu Qing. To be exact, they had not even seen Yu Qing’s carriage.
Xu and Tang both turned to look at the straight long road behind them. They realised that Yu Qing had not taken the main road at all. He had probably turned off onto some side path.
Why would he avoid a good main road and suddenly take a small path? Could it be that he knew they were waiting to block him? In theory this should be impossible. If it were true, it would be extremely worrying.
There was no point in overthinking it now. The problem was that they had been ordered by an old friend of A Shi Heng’s father to invite A Shi Heng to a banquet.
The person who asked them to do this was none other than the Rear Secretary of the Si Nan Mansion. The Rear Secretary oversaw all internal affairs of the entire Si Nan Mansion. He had been very close to A Jie Zhang in the early years, but later naturally drew a clear line between them.
Of course, the Rear Secretary held a very high position in the Si Nan Mansion. He was one of the figures at the level just below the Earth Mother. A Jie Zhang could not implicate him.
The two of them had not expected that the examinee they had gone to pick up in a rural place would have such deep connections. They had not expected him to have such a close relationship with their Si Nan Mansion. Not to mention that he had passed the exam as the third-place candidate and was the once-in-a-century top scorer with full marks in all four subjects.
The question was, where had A Shi Heng gone now?
The Rear Secretary had personally given them this small task, yet the two of them had messed it up. They had even lost track of where the person had gone. Neither of them knew how they would explain this to the Rear Secretary when they returned.
There was no choice. The two of them had to find the person immediately. At the same time they sent someone back to inform the Rear Secretary, so that he would not keep waiting for A Shi Heng to arrive at the banquet.
In the suburbs, in the mountainous area north of the capital, the lights were brilliant and colourful like rosy clouds, making the stars lose their splendour.
This was the feeling Yu Qing had when he stood outside the Xi Yue Fang and looked around. It was the first time in his life that he had seen worldly lights look so beautiful.
It was called a fang, yet it was a place nestled between two mountains. The brilliant lights wound along the terrain of the mountain valley. It looked very lively at first glance.
It was indeed very lively. Yu Qing looked left and right. There were carriages coming and going constantly, drunken guests laughing loudly, beautiful women accompanying them, and even strange beasts running about from time to time, dashing between the carriages and horses. This was something impossible to see inside the city, and it was not allowed in the capital either.
There was actually such a place in the mountains outside the city. This really surprised Yu Qing and made him eager to go and see it for himself.
However, the two guards who jumped down from their horses blocked his way and advised him, “Young master, the situation here is complicated. Your status is not suitable for going in. If the master and Master Du find out later, we will have trouble explaining ourselves.”
Yu Qing asked back, “Is this place very dangerous?”
“Well…” The guard hesitated, thinking about how to explain it.
Lin Cheng Dao spoke up from the side, “It depends on who you are. For people from Jin country, especially those from the capital, there is no danger. But for people from other countries, it might be quite dangerous.”
Yu Qing was surprised. “There is such a difference?”
Lin Cheng Dao pointed at the area and explained, “This place can be said to be a shelter for Jin country. Many people whom Jin country wants to provide protection for but cannot do so openly mostly gather here. There are foreign princes who rebelled, exiled princesses, foreign traitorous ministers, demon cultivators from the demon realm who escaped to take refuge, people from the cultivation world hiding here for certain reasons, and various other messy types. The composition of people is indeed very complex, with demons, ghosts, and all sorts mixed together.
In the end they all have some private connections with our Jin country to varying degrees. Some state affairs are not for you and me to discuss, but it is also an open secret. In short, these are existences that have the court’s tacit approval. Otherwise it would not be possible to let these messy people gather near the capital.
The court cannot keep supporting these people forever. They can only let them find their own ways to survive. It is not good to let them openly open shops inside the city, as that could easily cause foreign affairs disputes. So they marked out this piece of land for them. Over time it has become like this, with its own unique charm, a style not seen in the city, and quite attractive.
The danger lies in the identities of these people. The forces related to them will secretly try to clean house. However, they do not dare to act openly with their real identities on Jin country’s territory. But assassinations and counter-assassinations do happen from time to time.
When they act there is a bottom line. Generally they do not dare to harm Jin country people. Those cleaning house do not want to give the Jin court an excuse to intervene. Those receiving shelter here also basically do not harm Jin country citizens, otherwise they would be expelled. Speaking of which, the lives of Jin country people here might be a bit more precious than in the city.”
The guard who was stopping him immediately objected, “That may be the reason, but once those people start fighting, swords have no eyes, and bystanders can easily get hurt by accident.”
Yu Qing was pondering which side to listen to when he suddenly saw several people get off a carriage nearby. A few adults had even brought some children to play. Looking at the colourful mountain valley, he immediately said to the guard, “All right, I will explain to the master and the others. It is me who wants to go. You cannot stop me.”
After he said this, the two guards frowned but did not say much more.
Yu Qing took his own sword from inside the carriage and carried it with him. He said it was fine, but he still brought the weapon just in case.
Lin Cheng Dao led the way in front. Yu Qing walked shoulder to shoulder with him down the steps leading to the mountain valley. The two guards still followed.
“This place can prosper thanks to so many years of peace. Otherwise, once the city gates close at night, it would be inconvenient for people to come and go, and this place would become deserted.” While Lin Cheng Dao was introducing it, the group had already reached the street below. He then pointed ahead and asked with a smile, “Brother Shi Heng is here for the first time. Shall we go straight to the destination to try something new, or walk around and look first?”
Yu Qing was not hungry and was curious about the place, so he said, “We might as well look around first.”
The group continued forward.
After passing under the archway carved with the three big characters for Xi Yue Fang, Yu Qing’s first feeling was that there were many lanterns, lots of lanterns of all colours, big and small.
There were also many shops, but they were not neatly arranged in rows. They were up and down in a confusing way, and could be described as strange.
Some were dug directly into the mountain with a door at the entrance. Some looked normal. Some were like stilt houses. Some had grand gates and courtyards. All kinds of shapes were basically built according to the mountain, done however was convenient, with no rules at all.
For these shops, those by the street would open for business. Shops located halfway up the mountain mostly kept their doors closed while doing business.
In Lin Cheng Dao’s words, those shops only did business with acquaintances or guests introduced by acquaintances. From the outside it was not easy to tell what kind of business the shop was actually doing.
It was still lively. There were quite a few people coming and going.
On the ground there were often things like rats about a foot long running around. They walked on two legs. As soon as there was dirt on the ground, they would pick it up immediately and take it away.
Seeing that Yu Qing had not seen them before, Lin Cheng Dao introduced them, “These are cleaners. They are raised by Xi Yue Fang to clean the streets. The fact that these rugged streets are so clean is all thanks to them.”
Not far ahead, inside a stilt house, a one-eyed monster sat at a window. It stretched out an arm about one zhang long, occasionally reaching out from the window to drop a few sweets and scatter them to a group of children gathered below the building, causing the children to cheer and jump for joy.
Many shop entrances had various monsters performing all kinds of shows. It was bizarre and dazzling.
“It seems children really like it here.” Yu Qing said with a smile.
Lin Cheng Dao chuckled, “I am afraid adults like it too.”
Yu Qing looked at him with an expression asking what he meant.
Lin Cheng Dao laughed softly, “The pleasures here are such that if you can think of it, they have it. There is nothing they cannot do. Even if a random fox demon serves you, it is not something some of the girls in the city can compare to.” He also winked at Yu Qing, as if asking if he wanted to try.
Yu Qing gave an understanding sound. He understood, and his eyes lit up. However he only imagined it for a moment and did not dare to take up the offer.
When passing a downhill junction, a woman in white clothes had just come down from the mountain. Half her face was covered with white gauze. After brushing past Yu Qing at the corner, her body suddenly trembled. She stopped, slowly turned back, and stared.
As if in disbelief, she even removed the veil covering her face. Her nostrils flared as she sniffed the scent in the air.
Then she covered her face again, changed direction, and seemed to be strolling. She slowly followed behind Yu Qing and the others.
Yu Qing gradually felt that something was wrong. Looking around, beneath the bright appearance of Xi Yue Fang there seemed to be quite a few people sneaking about.
Yu Qing was not sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that those sneaky people were staring at him.
“This place is lively only at night. During the day it is a different scene. It is not this beautiful, and there are not many people on the streets.” After saying this, Lin Cheng Dao lowered his voice, “Brother Shi Heng, do not forget that you once rode through the streets on horseback. I am afraid many people here have seen you. Shall we stop wandering?”
Yu Qing nodded immediately. “Good.”
Lin Cheng Dao promptly bought four fireworks from a shop and handed three to Yu Qing and the two guards.
In front of Yu Qing, Lin Cheng Dao lit one firework. Whoosh, a flare shot into the sky and exploded in the air with brilliant colours.
Soon a beast similar to a wild man rushed out from the mountain nearby. It had thick fur, wore animal skins around its waist, and its body was as tall as two adults. It came up to the group.
Lin Cheng Dao handed over the used firework stick and said to the wild man, “Go to Small Fresh Tower.”
The wild man immediately knelt on one knee, took the firework stick, bit it horizontally in his mouth, untied the basket on his back, opened it, and placed it in front of Lin Cheng Dao.
Lin Cheng Dao walked into the basket and sat on the stool inside.
The wild man closed the basket entrance, lifted the basket onto his back, and then ran swiftly up the mountain with great strides.
Similar scenes kept appearing inside Xi Yue Fang, which was also why fireworks bloomed sporadically throughout. Yu Qing now understood what was happening. The wild men made a living in Xi Yue Fang this way. They could exchange the used firework sticks for money.
Yu Qing copied what he saw, lit a firework, and sure enough a wild man came, took the firework stick, carried him in the basket on his back, and rushed up the mountain.
Rocking inside the basket and watching the scenery around was quite interesting. It was not bumpy. The evening breeze brushed his face, giving a unique feeling.
The wild men carrying the two guards followed closely behind.