Chapter Nineteen: Eavesdropping on a Secret Conversation at Night

  Suī fēng sān rén suí zhe xiǎo èr wǎng lóu shàng zǒu qù, tú zhōng suī fēng yīn shēng wèn dào: "zài zhè lǐ xiē xī yī yè xū yào duō shao yín zi ya? zěn me gāng cái yě bù wèn."

  Translation:

  The three people followed Xiao Er upstairs, along the way, Suifeng asked in a low voice: "How much silver is needed to rest here for one night? Why didn't you ask earlier?"

  Liang Ze's smile said, "You can rest assured, money is just a material thing, I've long since put it out of my mind. This place is in the midst of prosperity, resting for one night won't be cheap. Are you asking this because you're worried that I'll run out of money?"

  She stroked the silk cloak draped over her body, and smiled self-deprecatingly. She had been a bit petty earlier, but since Liang Ze had been to the imperial palace several times, why would he care about such a small amount of money? Taking a closer look around, it seemed similar to Wang Changming's small villa in Yangzhou, not particularly luxurious, but every detail was exquisite, with carved windows and elegant furnishings. Even a simple oil lamp was engraved with auspicious patterns. But thinking that Qinhuai had always been a gathering place for famous scholars and refined gentlemen, such decorations were quite normal.

  Bi Han walked over to the window, lit the mosquito netting lamp, and said softly: "There's only one bed here, you all squeeze in together, I'll just sleep on the floor."

  Liango said, "That's not possible, you don't know how savage I am when I'm asleep. If Xiaofeng sleeps with me, she'll definitely be kicked off the bed by me in the middle of the night. It's not like there aren't any beds, let a girl sleep on the floor while we two men sleep on the bed, how can that be explained? Don't say anymore, come, Xiaofeng, let's make the bedding first."

  "But..." Bi Huan wanted to say something else.

  "Stop making excuses, anyway we won't be sleeping in the bed. If you don't sleep, wouldn't all this silver be wasted? And it would also disappoint Brother Liang's kind intentions."

  Watching her pretend to be angry with the wind, I suddenly felt a warmth that I couldn't explain. I wanted to say something, but didn't know how to start. Bi Han could only hum in response, turn around, open the window and gaze out at the bustling night scene outside.

  Together with Liang Shitou, they simply laid out some bedding and quilts, which counted as a bed. As Liang Shitou said, drifting in the jianghu world, who has time to bother with such refinements?

  Slowly walking to the window, she and Bi Huan gazed out at the scenery together. At this moment, the night had already deepened, and the previous clamor had gradually dissipated. The red candlelight from the pavilion windows on the opposite bank, the lanterns on the boats moored on the river surface, sparkled like stars. The previously biting cold wind also became gentler, a wisp of breeze brushed against Bi Huan's ear, lifting a strand of hair. Bi Huan's delicate face was half in the candlelight and half under the starry sky, her gaze following the wind, lost in thought.

  Bi Han also noticed Su Feng's gaze, and blushed: "What are you staring at me for? Is there a flower on my face? It's late, hurry up and wash your face to rest."

  After finishing speaking, she hastily ran away. Looking at the bewildered face of Liang Shui'er, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. "What's wrong with her? What's so funny?"

  "No rush, let's get some rest early. Tomorrow, we'll take our time and stroll around the city." Liang said, trying to hold back his smile.

  It wasn't until they mentioned it that Sui Feng realized that nearly half of the hour of Hai had already passed, and indeed it was no longer early. The three of them then took turns to wash up a bit, blew out the candles, and lay down one by one.

  Listening to the faint snoring by his ear, Shuang Feng slightly turned his head to take a look, and under the dim light, Liang Ze had already fallen asleep. Shuang Feng looked up at the ceiling with a soft sigh. The pain in his chest had eased up quite a bit, and his previous internal injuries had also healed seven or eight tenths.

  As the wind blew, he once again reviewed the Xī Tiān Jué in his mind. Since that day when he found the Xī Tiān Jué from the gap of his parents' tombstone, every night, with the wind, he would quietly hold his breath and concentrate, borrowing energy from the surrounding environment and circulating it within his body. Gradually cultivating his internal energy, he faintly felt that the nameless sword technique was not to be used recklessly; at least, his inner energy was almost nonexistent at this point, and randomly drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth would only bring harm without any benefit.

  It's hard to say whether it was because of his innate talent or the foundation laid by his previous practice of the Nameless Sword Technique, but he began to feel a slight sensation in his body after just three days of practicing the Analytic Heaven Technique. Generally speaking, people with good aptitude would start to feel some sensation within a week; those with average aptitude might take half a month to feel anything, which was completely normal.

  While practicing with the wind on that day, after one hour, there was a sensation of qi. For these three days, every night I inhaled and exhaled qi. In the dan tian area, there is already some slight warmth, as if there has been a warm current residing there for many years. When this warm current transforms into true qi and runs through the small and large heavenly circuits, it can be considered that one has achieved some minor success.

  As he was about to lose consciousness and enter a meditative state, he suddenly heard some fragmented voices. At first, he didn't pay attention, wanting to filter them out. "...Prime Minister, must... Murong family..." These words were like thunder in his ears, startling Su Feng awake. Su Feng no longer cared about his cultivation, hastily holding his breath and concentrating to listen carefully. However, even in the middle of the night, the voices were still as faint as a mosquito's hum. He vaguely heard again "...be careful... cannot... Water Dragon Humming... Prime Minister..." These disjointed words.

  Even so, I was shocked and couldn't fall asleep for a long time. Since it involved the Prime Minister, the Mu Rong family probably had an inseparable connection with Bi He, and in all likelihood, they were assassins sent by the Prime Minister.

  Should we wake them up now? But where can they escape to if we wake them up now? Maybe the killers don't know that Bi Huan lives here. But if we don't wake them up, what if they already have accurate information? If we don't escape now, there might not be another chance.

  Sui Feng felt himself caught in a dilemma, and no matter what he chose, it seemed to be wrong. After hesitating for a long time, gritting his teeth, Sui Feng still decided to wake them up first, and they would discuss the problem together.

  Just as Su Feng was about to get up, a hand suddenly stretched out from the darkness and grabbed him. Su Feng was shocked and turned his head to see that Liang Tou'er had woken up at some point. It was he who had grabbed Su Feng, and Liang Tou'er didn't say anything, only slightly shaking his head to signal to Su Feng not to move.

  Just as Su Feng was still a bit dizzy, he suddenly heard a faint sound of footsteps coming from afar and getting closer. It slowly passed by the door of Su Feng's room and gradually went further away.

  Li said in a low voice, "Indeed, they are assassins sent by Li Linfu, but they shouldn't know that we live here. Tomorrow, let's observe the situation quietly and go out as usual to have fun on the street. It's not suitable to make any rash moves. The night is deep, rest assured and sleep, nothing will happen tonight."

  Feng could only lie down quietly, and his mind was indeed filled with doubts. When did Liang Ze'er wake up? How much of the assassins' conversation had he actually heard? Was tomorrow really just going to be a normal day out on the streets?

  Thinking about these things with the wind, my mind was muddled and I didn't know how long it had been before I finally fell into a deep sleep.

  He slept through the whole night until early next morning, when a bright light appeared before his eyes. With the wind, he finally opened his eyes and woke up, and a ray of sunlight slanted in from the window, adding a warm atmosphere to the room.

  Another look and Bi He and Liang Zei had already finished washing up, their clothes were all tidy.

  "How come you didn't call me earlier?" He stretched lazily and asked, "What time is it now?"

  Bi Han looked at him with a helpless expression and couldn't help but laugh: "It's still two quarters to the hour of Chen, I saw you sleeping soundly, so I didn't have the heart to call you."

  Su Feng smiled helplessly and quickly got up. Bi Huan and Liang Tou'er continued to laugh as they watched Su Feng hastily put on his clothes and wash up in a flash. "You're in such a hurry, it's not like we're running out of time." Then, the three of them munched on some dry rations together, and with that, they were ready to head out.

  "Why don't we go downtown and take a good stroll? A city this big must have a very lively market." Bi Huan suggested.

  Still worried about the assassin I heard last night, I didn't respond and turned to look at Liang Ze'er. But Liang Ze'er seemed as if nothing had happened, with a smile all over his face, saying: "Alright, then let's go to the market and have a good stroll."

  "Then let's go." Su Feng was a bit curious, but he must have had an arrangement, so he suppressed the doubts in his heart.

  Three people slowly went downstairs and walked into the lobby of the inn. San Feng sneaked a peek at the room below theirs, the door was tightly closed, as if no one lived there. Just as he was curious, Liang Zei pulled him quietly and gave him a glance. San Feng still had some doubts, but immediately understood and withdrew his gaze.

  "Shopkeeper, we'd like to stay one more night at your place. How would you calculate the price?" asked Liang Shui'er, walking forward and asking softly.

  The shopkeeper also smiled and said: "A superior room costs ten taels per night, two nights would be twenty taels."

  Liang stealthily nodded, rummaged through his bosom, and produced two ingots of fine silver, which he handed over. Not only was the shopkeeper taken aback, but Rang Feng and Bi Huan were also stunned. Although it was a prosperous era in the Tang Dynasty, silver was extremely rare, and most transactions were made with copper coins. Only extremely wealthy officials would exchange their copper coins for silver ingots. In all his years as a shopkeeper, he had hardly ever seen silver.

  But then he sighed and said, "The capital is indeed a place that can captivate one's soul. A single night's stay at an inn costs ten taels of silver. This amount of money is enough for an ordinary family to live comfortably for a year. Previously in Yangzhou City, a pancake only cost two cents. But Liang Kui took out two silver ingots without batting an eyelid, and although I had known that he was a thief who had stolen from all over the world, I was still shocked.

  Liang Zei ignored the boss's daze, called out to Su Feng and Bi Huan, and walked out of the inn. "I didn't expect this inn to be so expensive, in the past my father's salary was only over ten guan per year." Bi Huan looked back at the inn and sighed.

  "Huh? What's this..." Suddenly, a surprised voice was heard on the wind, attracting two people to gather around.

  In front of the wind was an ordinary bulletin board, which was generally used to post some imperial documents. The bulletin board was surrounded by many people, and at this time, several wanted notices were posted. One of them depicted a young girl, although not very lifelike, but it could be seen that it was Bi Huan. Next to it was written: the daughter of Zhao Fengzhang, the former governor of Xinning, whose father was executed for embezzling government silver. Her father may have given her some of the silver before his execution, and she is now being pursued with all efforts, with a reward of 50 taels of silver. What's surprising is that there were also wanted notices for Wind and Liang Zei.

  Liang Ze's case is not worth mentioning, it's normal for a notorious thief to be wanted. His bounty is the highest, with 500 taels of white silver. As for Su Feng, he was wanted for assisting Zhao Bi Huan in killing government officials, and his bounty was only 10 taels.

  "It seems that it was indeed the assassin we let go earlier who leaked our whereabouts." Su Feng said, lowering his chin with his hand.

  Liang Zei glanced over and slightly raised an eyebrow, saying in a low voice: "We'll leave immediately, don't panic, scatter around the surroundings, and walk quickly."

  The two of them also sensed something was off and slowly backed away from each other, following Liang Ze to leave the crowd.

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