Chapter 418 - 221: Entrance to Darkness

Chapter 418: Chapter 221: Entrance to Darkness

Feng Bei listened in silence, her mind clearly elsewhere. She seemed to be still perplexed and bewildered by her own recent actions. She could feel with certainty that when she was beating up Zheng Xiu, it was the "Xie Luohe" part of her acting up.

"Promise me," Feng Bei said, tucking her long hair behind her ear. Her expression was calm, perfectly serene. "Don’t ever go there again."

"Okay," Zheng Xiu agreed.

Feng Bei eyed him suspiciously. "Promise?"

"I swear." Zheng Xiu held up three fingers. "If I ever secretly go there again, may any child I have be born without a..."

"Don’t... Just stop." Feng Bei shot Zheng Xiu a glare and quickly covered his mouth, then sighed. "Your promise is enough."

Feng Bei stood up, ready to leave.

Zheng Xiu tried to persuade her to stay. "It’s so late. It wouldn’t look right for you to walk out of my room in the middle of the night. How about... you just make do and stay here tonight?"

Blushing, Feng Bei smashed through the window and fled.

「The next day.」

Constant whistling echoed through the Zheng Residence. Its rising and falling cadence made it sound almost like a little tune.

The moment Zheng Xiu stepped outside, he was met by Qing Pi, who wore a wicked grin. Qing Pi gave him two thumbs up, praising his vigor and saying even the bed couldn’t take it. Zheng Xiu was at a complete loss for words. He couldn’t exactly admit that Feng Bei had beaten him to a pulp, so he had no choice but to puff out his chest and take the rumors in stride.

Next, of course, the bed had to be replaced. The old one was a total wreck. As the new one was brought in with great fanfare, Zheng Erniang pulled Zheng Xiu aside, a peculiar look on her face. Blushing, she cautioned him to take it easy. "You’ve only just recovered from a serious illness," she said. "Don’t overdo it and ruin your health."

Zheng Xiu stared at the ginseng, deer antler, angelica root, goji berries, and epimedium floating in his breakfast soup. He knew Second Lady had misunderstood, but he could only silently gulp down the potent tonic.

’Well, a man can always use a little boost. It’s never a bad thing.’

Yue Yan sent back reports from time to time, but there was still no movement from Ye Weiyang.

Over the next few days, the Zheng Residence received a great number of visitors.

The three princes each dispatched envoys with lavish gifts: gold, silver, and jewels; paintings, calligraphy, and antiques; and even some Snow Lotus Seeds from Celestial Yin Mountain. After the Ancestral Worship Ceremony on the third of March, Zheng Xiu had once again become a hot commodity. In their own ways, the three princes were all trying to curry favor with Marquis Zhonglie.

This, in itself, was perfectly normal. But what followed was not. High-ranking officials from the Court—many of whom Zheng Xiu could no longer recall by name or face—began visiting frequently to foster connections, and Zheng Xiu started to sense that something was amiss.

’It’s as if... the entire Court is beating a path to my door, everyone except Old Wei.’

"What’s going on?"

Zheng Xiu frowned at the courtyard piled high with gifts, his confusion growing ever deeper.

During this time, the high-ranking Jiang Gaoyi paid a visit.

Zheng Xiu welcomed him warmly as a guest of honor and served him the finest tea. With a sigh, Jiang Gaoyi spoke in veiled terms, lamenting the turbulent undercurrents that had recently swept through the Court.

"I’ve... survived a disaster, you could say!"

Jiang Gaoyi used those four words—"I’ve survived a disaster"—to illustrate just how perilous the situation had been. He had never chosen a side. If Old Wei had named one of the three adult princes as the Crown Prince, there would have almost certainly been a major, if covert, reshuffling of Court officials.

Old Wei’s move of appointing the Fourth Prince as Crown Prince left Jiang Gaoyi in absolute awe of the Great Emperor, making him marvel at how unfathomable an emperor’s intentions could be.

"By the way, what do you see on my face?"

Zheng Xiu remembered that Jiang Gaoyi had inadvertently glimpsed a Path, gaining the ability of Reading the Room.

The bond between Jiang Gaoyi and Zheng Xiu had been forged in prison, so he didn’t demur. After carefully studying Zheng Xiu’s face for a moment, he said, "Marquis, your left cheek bears the word ’pain,’ and your right cheek, the word ’joy.’ I wonder why that is?"

Zheng Xiu was floored. ’Incredible,’ he thought. ’You can even tell that I’m torn between pain and pleasure.’ After the time it took to drink a few cups of tea, Jiang Gaoyi excused himself, citing his busy schedule. Zheng Xiu personally saw him to the gate. The conversation with Jiang Gaoyi had left him in high spirits; it was a pleasant moment of recalling past bitterness to appreciate the present sweetness.

「Early in the fifth month.」

The elusive Knife Seller, Sun Erming, paid a visit. He approached with a woeful expression and asked about the knife he had lent out.

"Master Zheng, my prophecy! Has it not yet come to pass?"

A plaster was still stuck to Sun Erming’s face. Seeing Zheng Xiu’s blank, forgetful expression, Sun Erming’s own face fell, and he used his hands to mime the shape of the small knife from all those years ago. Only then did it come back to Zheng Xiu. "Back then," to grind for experience and train his Painter Path, he had acquired an antique Engraving Knife—a master craftsman’s Relic—from Sun Erming. He had been using it to carve a "Statue of Feng Bei" in his study, a project that remained unfinished.

It was just that now, by a twist of fate, his Painter Path was nearly complete. He’d even acquired the Painter’s Deceitful Object, rendering the small Engraving Knife more or less useless. So, Zheng Xiu asked tentatively, "Can I... give it back to you?"

He remembered the Knife Seller Sun Erming’s prophecy; it had nearly come true when he’d emerged from the World in the Painting. If the Monk had truly been possessed by Fan Yao... Thinking back on the situation, Zheng Xiu silently thanked his lucky stars on the Monk’s behalf.

"No!" Sun Erming shook his head. "What I saw is destined to happen! Even if you return the Engraving Knife to me, my ’prophecy’ will absolutely come to pass."

Zheng Xiu’s expression turned grave.

Realizing that the moment of his prophecy’s fulfillment had not yet arrived for Zheng Xiu, Sun Erming departed, looking completely crestfallen. "It’s not time yet," he muttered as he left.

It seemed his own Path Cultivation was... stalled on account of Zheng Xiu.

After seeing Sun Erming off, the stream of visitors over the next few days was so immense the threshold of the Zheng Residence was nearly worn through. It seemed almost every official in the Court, great and small, had paid them a visit.

In the past, his title of "Marquis Zhonglie" had been just that—a title, with no real power. Aside from his immense wealth, there should have been no reason for anyone to curry his favor. And yet, these Court officials came, speaking neither of money nor of official matters. They seemed genuinely concerned only with the Marquis’s well-being.

As the saying goes, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Zheng Xiu found the whole situation exceptionally strange, but he wasn’t in a position to ask why. He could only feign pleasantries and play along. For a while, the simple act of receiving guests was enough to run him ragged.

Then, one day in mid-May, the month-long stretch of dreary rain finally ceased, and the sky cleared.

An exquisite carriage pulled up before the Zheng Residence. The driver was powerfully built. A beautiful maid in a pale yellow long dress knocked politely on the family’s door, and upon it opening, quietly announced the visitor’s identity.

At that moment, Zheng Xiu was lying in the courtyard, basking in the long-overdue sunshine. Taking advantage of Feng Bei’s absence, Zizi and Pingping were attending to him. Zizi was using a Miracle Technique, her hands preternaturally smooth as she kneaded his shoulders, while Pingping stood thoughtfully by his side, placing pastries by his lips and occasionally recounting interesting anecdotes from her homeland, Ancient Persia.

Just then, a figure landed silently nearby. A hood obscured their face, and the intricate mechanism of a Sleeve Sword was faintly visible within their long sleeve.

"Master."

He glanced at Zizi and Pingping.

"Speak freely."

"The Emperor is here."

The Brotherhood Assassin spoke softly, having been given leave.

Zheng Xiu shot bolt upright, his eyes narrowing.