71 Goodbye Stree (2/2)
Ning Que, with a small teapot in his hand, leaned by the door as he observed the customers in the shop. He then happily sipped two mouths of tea from the teapot as he listened to the argument in the fake antique shop beside them. Life was f*cking awesome.
However, the shop owners along the street would never know that the reason for Lin 47th Street and their businesses to be revived again was closely related to the young owner of Old Brush Pen Shop. They would never know if Ning Que chose not to help Chao Xiaoshu that night to kill the men, this street would still remain dead quiet. Yet now in their eyes, the young owner of Old Brush Pen Shop was just a useless bum who could not earn money and only knew how to torture his own handmaiden.
With good business and great profit, everyone was happy, but this would result in new problems arising. When basic needs such as food and shelter were fulfilled, humans would start to think of women and entertainment. Now that business had recovered for days, the owner of the fake antique shop was hoping to get concubines. This issue had sparked off an argument between the hubby and the wife today in the shop.
”Look at yourself in the mirror. Do you think you have the rights to get concubines?”
”Why can't I?”
”I said no means no. If you're going to force your way, I'm going to the Chang'an Local Government to sue you!”
”The Empress does not even have the rights to bother about such trivial matter, moreover the Chang'an Local Government! That Ning Que can have handmaiden! Since you always kick me off the bed, I don't see the reason why I can't get someone to give me some warmth!”
”You wish that I could give you some warmth? Fat hope! Unless that Ning Que become the Emperor!”
”He's not from the Lee family! It's impossible for him to be the Emperor!”
”Yuelun Kingdom, South Jin Kingdom, Big River, it doesn't matter for which country, as long as he become the Emperor!”
Ning Que enjoyed his time sipping the tea from the small teapot as he listened to the argument with great interest. He secretly praised that the citizens of Tang Empire were indeed aggressive and open-minded. Even a small quarrel among the couple could relate it to the Emperor. Suddenly, his facial expression froze as he realized that the couple was talking about himself, which made him slightly frustrated.
Just when the customers in the shop started to disperse and Sangsang was busily packing the display sets on the table, he angrily stomped into his shop as he exclaimed, ”What's wrong with the both of them? It's just a quarrel between husband and wife yet both of them can relate it not only to me, but to the politics. Do they think I am a bodyguard for fake? Tomorrow I shall pull them into the palace and exterminate their entire family!”
Well, at least he was not lying for there was a secret guard tag tied on his waist, so it was indeed his responsibility to assist the imperial court to listen to the news spread among the commoners. Since someone was talking about the Emperor, he could certainly report to the upper management. However, even though the laws in the Great Tang were strict, the empire was pretty lenient to the commoners about free speech. Trivial matters like illogical words that were spurted out during the argument between husband and wife would only make the people in the bodyguard office and palace laughed off as a joke.
Yet Sangsang became worried upon hearing his words as she thought of the issues that troubled her for days. She frowned her brows and asked, ”Young Master, when I was young, I recalled that you told me a story saying that spies usually have terrible deaths. Now that you are a secret guard, will there be trouble?”
Ning Que placed down his teapot, shook his head and said, ”Though the waist tag is a secret, but to be honest, this is just a low-rank officer. Who will care about me? Furthermore, should there really be trouble in the future, do you think your young master doesn't know how to avoid?”
He paused for a while before he looked at Sangsang and gently explained, ”I accept this identity for another reason as well. In future should anyone wants to investigate on those cases, on those murders, my identity as an imperial palace bodyguard can help me.”
Sangsang was a handmaiden who was always lazy to think about things. When she felt that what he said sounded logical, she stopped thinking about such matters. She then added, ”The jacket for umbrella, knives and you are all ready. Young Master, when are you going to kill the second person?”
”What about the knives? Do we need to sharpen them?” Ning Que asked.
Sangsang replied seriously, ”Even if you use them to slaughter pigs, the knives will definitely become blunt after slaughtering ten pigs. Of course they need to be sharpened.”
The conversations between the master and the handmaiden were usually random and any outsiders would certainly find it difficult to understand them. This was especially when the facial expressions on the two people were absolutely normal. Should any outsiders overheard their conversations, they would never think that what they were saying was about the massacre on that rainy spring night and whether they should sharpen their knives for the next murder.
Right at this moment, a sudden clear loud talking noise was heard from the end of Lin 47th Street. A crowd of people dashed towards the direction of the noise. Ning Que curiously walked to the entrance of his shop and took a peep at that direction. The expression on his face changed slightly.
In that direction, he saw a group of bodyguards dressed in green from top to bottom surrounding and protecting a middle-aged man in turquoise robe who appeared to be unrestrained and elegant. A warm and joyful smile was on his face as he shook his hands, laughed and chatted with the shop owners along the street. He seemed to be assuring the owners that they could do their businesses at ease on this street and should they face any issues, they were free to voice out to his subordinates.
As the middle-aged man spoke, the five to six men who quietly stood behind him all these while cupped their hands before their chests towards the shop owners as a form of politeness.
That middle-aged man in turquoise robe would patiently stop in front of every shop to assure the owners as his surrounding subordinates slowly followed behind him. The group was gradually approaching to the other end of the street.
And at the end of the street, there stood a calligraphy shop whose name was Old Brush Pen Shop.
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