“The entire time, the Fifth Young Master never once asked who he was, nor did he search him or even pull off his mask.”
The more Dun Ruo spoke, the more alarmed he became, terrified that Ying Zheng would blame him for incompetence.
“You mean to say that Qingye knew you were going to send someone to his place from the very beginning?”
“You could say that!” Dun Ruo nodded.
“This kid… he’s getting interesting!”
“So that means he already knows I’ve been keeping an eye on him!” Ying Zheng chuckled softly.
His son had always been considered simple-minded and a complete lightweight, but now he had completely shed his old self. This actually brought Ying Zheng a great deal of comfort—his son was no fool after all!
“And there’s more…”
“Hm? What more?” Ying Zheng asked, puzzled.
“Furthermore, the person Your Majesty wanted me to investigate didn’t even make a move; they were defeated by someone else.”
“Someone else?”
“Qingye has other experts under his command?”
Dun Ruo nodded!
Ying Zheng found himself growing more and more intrigued by this son of his.
“Moreover, they are all women, including the person Your Majesty wanted me to investigate.”
“There are ten of them in total, and the one who subdued the scout seems to be a subordinate of that main figure.”
“Women?”
“A few women managed to capture a scout from your Black Ice Bureau?”
“Forgive me, Your Majesty!” Dun Ruo hurriedly lowered his head.
“Qingye, oh Qingye, where on earth did you dig up these people?”
“And they’re all women, no less!”
Ying Zheng felt that Ying Qingye was becoming increasingly enigmatic.
“I don’t understand why the Fifth Young Master would recruit women instead of men. Logically speaking, men are superior in almost every aspect, and the Fifth Young Master surely understands that.”
Dun Ruo was extremely curious. In this era, women were treated merely as subordinate accessories. Given Ying Qingye’s recent behavior, it was impossible for him not to know this basic fact, yet he had deliberately surrounded himself exclusively with women.
It made no sense!
“This kid spends all day wandering down to the Drunken Moon Pavilion—why do you think he surrounds himself with women?”
With a single remark, Ying Zheng instantly cleared up Dun Ruo’s confusion.
Ah!
The Fifth Young Master is just fond of beauty!
Right, that has to be it!
“Your Majesty, should we still send men to investigate him?”
“There’s no need!”
“He’s already aware of it. Sending anyone else at this point is pointless.”
“Just have someone keep an eye on him from a distance. I’d like to see what he’s really planning with this group of experts he’s gathered.”
“Understood!”
Ying Zheng waved his hand, and Dun Ruo respectfully withdrew.
Meanwhile, at Chunyu Yue’s residence!
Chaos reigned supreme within the household because Chunyu Yue had been carried back horizontally. Covered in blood and bruises, his condition had thoroughly terrified his wife. She immediately demanded answers from the men who carried him home, but they ignored her completely and dropped him off before vanishing into thin air. With no other choice, she had to order the servants to carry Chunyu Yue straight to his bedchamber.
“My lord, didn’t you just go to court? How did you end up covered in injuries like this?” Lady Liu asked, her heart aching as she looked at him.
Having been treated by the imperial court physician (known as the Fengchang), Chunyu Yue had finally regained consciousness.
“Don’t even mention it!”
“It’s all because of that Prince Ye! If it weren’t for him, your husband wouldn’t have been subjected to the emperor’s flogging.”
“I am enemies with him to the death!”
An intense, poisonous resentment burned in Chunyu Yue’s eyes. As soon as he finished speaking, a violent fit of coughing wracked his body.
“Alright, alright, stop working yourself up into a rage.”
“Whatever grudges you have, we can deal with them after your wounds heal,” Lady Liu soothed anxiously.
“Ow! Oh, it hurts like hell!”
Chunyu Yue turned his head to glance back at his injured backside, his face twisting into an expression of absolute misery.
As for Ying Qingye, whom Chunyu Yue considered the ultimate mastermind behind his suffering, he was currently relaxing in the courtyard pavilion, enjoying the pleasant breeze.
He listened to Guangmetyian play the zither while Xuanjingtian massaged his shoulders, and the Empress herself fed him sweet dates.
“Young Master, Feng Tong’s father, Feng Quji, is here to see you!”
Old Huang announced from the courtyard, bowing low with his head tucked tightly against his chest, not daring to look up for fear of catching sight of something inappropriate.
It was simply because the women surrounding the young master were altogether too breathtakingly gorgeous, and their attire altogether too daring and alluring.
“Feng Tong?”
“What brings him here?”
“He says he’s here to apologize to the Young Master!”
“Apologize?”
“Let him in, then.”
“Understood!”
With a bow, Old Huang withdrew, returning shortly afterward with Feng Tong in tow.
The moment he stepped into the courtyard, Feng Tong’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Exquisite. They’re utterly, breathtakingly gorgeous!
How could women this stunning even exist?
And there are so many of them?
Is this what paradise looks like?!
“If you keep staring, I’ll carve those eyeballs right out of your head!”
The Empress’s voice rang out, cold as ice and sharp as a blade. In this world, only her young master had the privilege of looking at them however he pleased.
Anyone else?
Not a chance!
The lethal intent laced through her words sent a jolt of pure terror straight down Feng Tong’s spine, causing him to snap his gaze away instantly.
Ahem…
Old Huang cleared his throat softly, snapping Feng Tong back to reality.
“Feng Tong pays his respects to the Young Master!”
“Feng Tong, what brings you to my residence today?” Ying Qingye glanced at him indifferently.
“Previously at the Drunken Moon Pavilion, Feng Tong was blind and ignorant, accidentally offending the Young Master.”
“Today, I’ve brought some substantial gifts to offer my apologies to the Young Master. I sincerely hope the Young Master is magnanimous enough to forgive me.”
With that, he lifted a richly decorated gift box high up with both hands!
“An apology?”
“The dignified son of the Left Prime Minister, coming to apologize to an idle prince like me who has no achievements to his name?”
“Now that’s a rare sight!” Ying Qingye chuckled, looking down at Feng Tong. Although he was Ying Zheng’s son, he had intentionally kept himself aloof from court factions and lacked a solid power base. Why would the son of such a heavyweight court minister personally show up to grovel at his doorstep?
“What is the Young Master saying? Your status is lofty and supreme, while Feng Tong simply had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai.”
“I beg the Young Master not to lower yourself by holding a grudge against me and soiling your own prestige.”
Feng Tong’s tone was exceptionally humble, completely devoid of the overbearing arrogance he had flaunted back at the Drunken Moon Pavilion.
“Very well, Feng Tong. I can let this matter go for today.”
“However, you had better not rely on your father’s position to run amok and throw your weight around anymore, or next time, no one will be able to save you.”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
“The Young Master is entirely right. Feng Tong will surely turn over a new leaf and never bully others by abusing power again,” Feng Tong nodded frantically like a pecking chicken.
“Alright, I’ll accept your gift!”
“You may leave now.”
“Feng Tong takes his leave!”
Handing the gift box over to Old Huang, Feng Tong turned on his heel and beat a hasty retreat.
Once Feng Tong had departed, Ying Qingye motioned for Old Huang to open the box and see what was inside.
“Young Master, it’s a piece of jade craftsmanship!”
“The quality looks quite decent, too.”
“Got it!” Old Huang closed the lid and prepared to step away.
“Wait!”
“Young Master, do you have any other instructions?”
“Are there any other fruits?”
“I’m getting a bit tired of these dates!” Ying Qingye said casually, gesturing to the basket of sweet dates nearby.
“Young Master, other fruits simply aren’t in season right now!”
“Even if they were, they couldn’t be transported all the way to Xianyang,” Old Huang replied with a respectful, slight bow.
“What, you don’t even have grapes or watermelons?”
Old Huang stared at him in utter bewilderment. “Young Master… grapes? Watermelons?”
“What kind of fruits are those?”
“Hm?”
“Great Qin doesn’t have them?”
“Aren’t those things common knowledge?”
Now it was Ying Qingye’s turn to be stunned. Such ubiquitous, everyday fruits didn’t exist in Great Qin?
“Young Master, old Huang here has lived for the better part of a century, and I’ve not only never seen them—I haven’t even heard of such names.” Old Huang shook his head, looking completely blank.
“Hm?”
“They really don’t exist?”
Ying Qingye grew even more perplexed.
What he didn’t realize was that in the Qin Dynasty, the fruits available for people to consume were limited to cherries, persimmons, plums, pears, peaches, apricots, jujubes, muskmelons, and citrus fruits—far from the diverse variety of later eras.