Chapter 27
Yan Yunhe stared at Yu Qin’s smiling face. Did this man actually have the nerve to smile like that at a Hu person he’d just met?
Why? Yu Qin rarely smiled at him. Could it be that he liked to smile at people before killing them?
Yan Yunhe said in a gruff voice, “You yamen runners1 are always causing trouble with your endless inspections! Do I not have a right to complain?!”
He was referring to Yu Qin checking his travel permit. Although Hu people were allowed to enter Great Jin, they were subjected to extremely rigorous inspections. Any soldier who spotted a Hu person would always approach them for questioning.
“I’m not wearing my uniform. How could you tell I’m a yamen runner?” Yu Qin asked.
The Hu man rolled his eyes in exasperation and drained his wine cup in one gulp. “If you’re not, then what the hell are you inspecting me for? Looking for a fight?!”
Chen Qing immediately slammed his hand on the table in support, glaring at Yu Qin. The sound startled Yan Yunhe, who couldn’t help but feel irritated.
Although this area wasn’t within the walls of the capital, where a falling tile could hit three officials, it still belonged to the Son of Heaven. Thus, only someone with an official post could be inspecting Hu people at this hour.
The commoners in the hall weren’t exactly afraid of those tall, burly Hu men, but they certainly didn’t dare provoke them.
Yu Qin glanced at the travel permit, placed it on the table, and surprisingly didn’t linger. Instead, he walked past their table and went up the stairs. Only after he had left did Chen Qing finally let out a long sigh of relief.
“That scared me half to death! I thought we were going to be exposed.” Once Chen Qing’s heart settled, he felt hungry again. He grabbed a pig’s trotter and took a big bite. “But Your Excellency, how did you learn to speak the Hu language?”
Yan Yunhe set down his chopsticks and stared silently at Chen Qing.
Under that intense gaze, even the meat in Chen Qing’s mouth lost its flavor. “W-what’s wrong?”
“Who told you to slam the table just now?” Yan Yunhe asked.
Chen Qing swallowed the meat with a gulp. “I was just trying to bolster your presence!”
“What do you think would’ve happened if we’d actually gotten into a fight with him? Have you forgotten your current identity?” Yan Yunhe lowered his voice.
Chen Qing silently set down the pig’s trotter. “I haven’t forgotten. I’m your attendant.”
Yan Yunhe pressed further, “And besides that?”
Chen Qing’s face fell, his tall frame hunched over as he meekly said, “A… a fugitive.”
Yan Yunhe picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and placed it in Chen Qing’s bowl. “Since you know that, behave yourself when you see Lord Yu from now on, or I’ll have to rescue you from the Imperial Prison.”
Even Chen Qing, who had weathered countless storms, trembled a little when he heard the words Imperial Prison.
However, after eating the meat Yan Yunhe had served him, Chen Qing whispered, “Your Excellency, I think your point isn’t that I might have provoked Lord Yu, but rather that I was rude to him when I slammed the table.”
Yan Yunhe popped a peanut into his mouth and washed it down with wine. “Same difference.”
“But you were flirting with him, isn’t that worse?” Chen Qing lowered his voice further.
Yan Yunhe shot him a cold glance, and Chen Qing immediately shut up. He finished his rice in a few bites, and was about to grab their bags to head upstairs when Yan Yunhe asked, “Where are you going?”
Chen Qing hoisted the bags. “Upstairs to sleep?”
“You actually want to stay here?” Yan Yunhe rose, genuinely impressed by Chen Qing’s carelessness. “Aren’t you afraid the Embroidered Uniform Guard will kick down your door in the middle of the night and drag you to prison? They don’t need reasons to make arrests.”
“Besides, didn’t you say Lord Yu loves to feast on human flesh in the Imperial Prison?” he teased.
Chen Qing laughed awkwardly. “That’s just hearsay, nothing to take seriously.”
He finally understood why they say you can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever you want.2 Who knows when retribution will come? Sure enough, Lord Yan was already settling the score with him.
Chen Qing even suspected that if Yu Qin hadn’t pushed Yan Yunhe off the cliff, Yan Yunhe would have jumped on his own. He seemed like the kind of fool who’d risk his life just to make a beauty smile.
They left to look for other inns, but they were all full. They knocked on several doors, hoping to find a place to spend the night, only to be turned away each time. Left with no other choice, they decided to wait for the city gates to open. Fortunately, many other commoners were unwilling to spend money on lodging, so they lined up outside the gates. The two of them didn’t stand out.
Not one to worry about appearances, Yan Yunhe lifted the hem of his robe and sat on the ground, striking up a casual conversation with the man next to him. Chen Qing watched him, feeling as if he were looking at the first time he and Yan Yunhe talked. It seemed like idle chitchat, but every word and sentence was calculated, meant to extract information. In just a few exchanges, that fellow was on the verge of revealing everything about eighteen generations of his ancestors.
Chen Qing wondered if, back when Yan Yunhe first approached him, he’d already noticed something was off about him.
Otherwise, how else could Yan Yunhe have found him with such precision later?
Were all the people of the capital this formidable?
Tired of chatting, Yan Yunhe ate a piece of flatbread that the man had shared with him and noticed Chen Qing’s expression. “What’s wrong? Are you still hungry?”
Chen Qing shook his head. Yan Yunhe paid him no further attention and turned to chat with an auntie this time.
Before they knew it, dawn had broken, and Chen Qing’s mind was overflowing with gossip.
Among those waiting outside the city gates, there were quite a few who did menial work in wealthy households.
This family’s master favors his concubine over his wife; that family’s young master has a preference for men; some students from Donglin Academy came to blows over the flower queen3 of Wanhua Pavilion.
Chen Qing noticed that Yan Yunhe froze for a second when he heard about Donglin Academy.
That fleeting change in expression was too obvious to ignore. Chen Qing couldn’t help but ask, “Do you have a younger relative who studied there?”
Yan Yunhe shook his head. “No, but I also went to Donglin Academy.”
Chen Qing knowingly said, “I’ve heard that Donglin Academy students are either wealthy or come from noble families, destined to become officials. Causing such a ruckus over a girl from Wanhua Pavilion really isn’t a good look for them.”
Yan Yunhe scratched his cheek. “Young people are impulsive. It’s understandable.”
Chen Qing looked at Yan Yunhe in astonishment. “Your… You wouldn’t have done something like that, right?!”
He nearly blurted out Your Excellency, but luckily stopped himself just in time.
Yan Yunhe quickly changed the subject. “The sky seems to be brightening. Why aren’t the gates open yet? Who’s on duty today? What a bunch of slackers!”
As the words left his mouth, the city gates slowly opened. The commoners who had been waiting all night rose to their feet and formed a long queue.
Still curious, Chen Qing asked, “Was it also for a girl from Wanhua Pavilion?”
“No.” Yan Yunhe was rarely so flustered.
“Then who did you fight for?”
At that moment, the sound of horse hooves approached from afar. Yan Yunhe seemed to sense something and turned around.
The sky had not fully brightened. By the light of the torches at the gates, Yan Yunhe met the eyes of the man on horseback. He was wearing an extremely luxurious gilded mask, inlaid with precious gems. Only those eyes were visible, yet they shone brighter than any gem.
Empress Dowager Jiang had once bestowed a mask upon the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. It was rumored that she worried a man so young in such a high position might not win over the masses, so she granted him the mask in order to show her favor.
But everyone in the capital knew that this was a brand, a symbol of the empress dowager’s absolute control over him.
She didn’t want others to see Yu Qin’s face, so she made sure no one would.
Yan Yunhe hadn’t seen this mask when they reunited outside the Zhou residence, when they crossed paths in the palace, or when they went to Yunzhou. He never thought he would see it at a moment like this, under such circumstances.
The ironic thing was that both of them were wearing masks at this moment.
Yu Qin sat astride his towering horse, gazing down at him. The mask concealed his expression, but not the look in his eyes.
This time, it was Yan Yunhe who looked away first. He calmly turned his head, showing the other party his cold, indifferent profile.
Chen Qing had asked him who he’d fought for.
For someone he could never have.
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