Chapter 457 - 234: Darkness Disaster Prevention Bureau

Chapter 457: Chapter 234: Darkness Disaster Prevention Bureau

Not long after Yin Qingqing delivered the Token, the three leaders of the Brotherhood learned of the matter. They discussed it privately, thinking something was amiss. That night, while Zheng Xiu was soaking in the Poison Lady’s Special Brew in the dungeon, Qing Shisan snuck over to share his thoughts.

Qing Shisan stood before Zheng Xiu, hesitating to speak.

He took slow drags from his pipe, the smoke swirling around him.

In the wooden tub, Zheng Xiu opened his eyes, and the two men met each other’s gaze in silence for a moment. Zheng Xiu spoke suddenly. "You know, to this day, I still don’t know your story from before you renamed yourself ’Qing Shisan’."

Qing Shisan gave a raspy chuckle. "If you never asked, Prince, I figured you weren’t interested."

Zheng Xiu said, "I still remember you, covered in blood, lying at my doorstep."

Qing Shisan grinned, revealing a set of yellowed teeth. "Back then, you were just a lonely little young master yourself."

Zheng Xiu: "You knocked on my door."

Qing Shisan closed his eyes. "It was Second Lady who opened it."

Zheng Xiu: "Second Lady said you were starving. I said it was freezing, that we should let you stay for the night. Second Lady has a kind heart, so she made you a bowl of ginger soup."

Qing Shisan’s smile widened. "I remember that. The ginger soup was so spicy it burned my throat."

Zheng Xiu recalled the night he met Qing Shisan. "Later, I had Second Lady get you some silver pieces, but you refused them."

Qing Shisan suddenly seemed to recall something, and a strange look crossed his face. "Actually, Prince, there’s something you don’t know. That night, I had nowhere left to turn. I was actually planning to break in, rob you for some travel money, and then become a fugitive."

Zheng Xiu nodded. "Oh, I know."

Qing Shisan froze. "You knew?"

Zheng Xiu: "Of course. I’m not an idiot. Your hand was already on your blade. One look at all that blood and it was obvious you were being hunted."

Qing Shisan awkwardly fiddled with his pipe stem, then gave Zheng Xiu a thumbs-up. "You’ve always been on another level, Prince, even as a kid!"

Zheng Xiu: "I just figured that if you took the money, you wouldn’t make trouble for my sister and me, and you’d just stay the night and be on your way."

Qing Shisan, recalling the past, sighed with emotion. "Ten years... in the blink of an eye."

"Later, that brute and I got into a fight, and we ended up becoming brothers through it. He found himself a wife, and on his wedding day, you gave him that golden basin. He settled down right after that."

"Hong’ou and I are old acquaintances. We talked, and eventually, she wanted to settle down, too."

"And the other brothers... I used to tell them all the time that the Prince is big-hearted, that you’ll accept anyone. They didn’t believe me at first, but now they’re all completely in awe of you."

He leisurely blew out one perfectly shaped smoke ring after another, gradually vanishing into the haze. His voice, faint and ethereal, drifted out: "Yin Qingqing, Feng Bei, the Secret Ministry, that bald idiot... going forward, more and more people will be trying to ride our coattails onto this great ship of the Zheng Clan."

Zheng Xiu, having soaked long enough, stepped out of the tub. He took a towel from the rack and began to dry himself. A floral fragrance wafted out, and Qing Shisan, countering it with a puff of smoke, took a wary step back.

’Watching Zheng Xiu soak in poison as if it were child’s play,’ Qing Shisan’s eye twitched. He sighed internally. ’The little young master from all those years ago has, without me even realizing it, grown into the indomitable Red King.’

He had to admit, he’d made a gamble all those years ago.

And Qing Shisan had bet correctly.

Zheng Xiu dressed calmly. "I know what you’re worried about," he said. "The reason I’m telling you all this tonight is to remind you of a principle: trust those you use, and don’t use those you doubt."

Qing Shisan nodded silently.

"Besides, don’t I have you all?" Zheng Xiu walked out of the dungeon. In the flickering candlelight, his shadow stretched long, falling into Qing Shisan’s view. Zheng Xiu’s voice echoed back into the dungeon, "With you all here for the Zheng Clan, I have nothing to worry about. No matter what motley fiends climb onto this great ship, they’ll have to keep their heads down. In the coming days, whatever trouble I stir up outside or whoever I’m up against, I’ll do it knowing that my own backyard is protected. That gives me peace of mind."

"Damn right!" Qing Shisan roared with laughter. "Don’t you worry, Prince. We’ll guard this backyard of yours with our lives."

Internally, Qing Shisan added another line:

’I swear it on the name of Sikong Zhui Ming.’

「In the blink of an eye, the night of the meeting with Ye Weiyang’s former subordinates arrived.」

The East Training Ground was located a mile outside the Imperial City. It was normally used to train the Divine Martial Army, but tonight, Zheng Xiu had specially requested it from the Great Emperor, receiving written approval to use it as a temporary base of operations.

Zheng Xiu had gone to bed early, waking in the middle of the night. Qing Shisan himself was driving the carriage, with Yin Qingqing seated to one side.

Inside the carriage, Feng Bei and Zheng Xiu sat facing each other. Little Feng Miao clung affectionately to Feng Bei, who rhythmically stroked the cat’s fur with those ominous hands. Watching the little she-cat, Zheng Xiu couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. ’I wish I knew the Position Shifting Miracle Technique,’ he thought, ’so I could trade places with Little Feng Miao.’

The sky was beginning to pale with the first light of dawn when the carriage stopped before the East Training Ground. The gates were wide open, and the red tassels atop the high walls fluttered in the liminal state between night and day.

The sound of whispers drifted from within; hundreds of people were inside, waiting and conversing in low tones.

Jiang Gaoyi, wearing his official’s cap, was waiting off to the side. Upon seeing the Prince, he hurried forward to offer his respects. "This servant greets Your Highness."

’He’s back to calling himself "this servant" now that we’re in public,’ Zheng Xiu noted. ’He certainly knows how to maintain the proper distance. That’s the way of an official.’

"I just slipped inside for a quick look..." Jiang Gaoyi leaned in and whispered a few words into Zheng Xiu’s ear.

"Just as I thought."

Zheng Xiu smiled and nodded. Qing Shisan beamed. "Looks like we’ve got a job to do. So, Prince, how do we make our entrance? It’s pretty crowded in there."

"We’ll go in brazenly. Get back in the carriage!"

The group returned to the carriage. Inside, the flesh and bone of Zheng Xiu’s right hand twisted as the Deceitful Object emerged. Biting his finger, Zheng Xiu used the blood as ink to paint a ribbon of multicolored light in the air.

Yin Qingqing stared, dumbfounded, as a brilliant rainbow arc bizarrely emerged from the carriage, unfurling across the sky and twisting down into the East Training Ground.

"Hiyah!"

A glint appeared in Qing Shisan’s eyes. This was a new move from Zheng Xiu; one he’d never seen before. He marveled privately at his master’s mysterious ways. Like the rainbow chariot of an Immortal couple, the carriage rolled forward, its wheels and hooves stepping onto the arc of light—CLIP-CLOP, CLIP-CLOP—as it descended into the East Training Ground.