Chapter 587: Blood Must Be Spilled

Chen Chen Guanlou had just sat down when the music began.

Twelve beautiful Misses entered slowly, dressed in thin gauze, dancing gracefully to the music.

Twelve beauties — some enchanting, some coquettish, some pure, some voluptuous, some elegant… each one different, as if every variety of spring blossom and autumn moon, plump and slender alike, were gathered here.

The screen behind the dancers was removed, revealing a woman seated upright with a light veil over her face, a guqin placed before her. The notes of the qin drifted softly.

Then the singing began, as if hooking souls and seizing spirits, instantly capturing the ear.

As the music gradually built toward its climax.

A group of sturdy men, bare from the waist up and wearing ancient deity masks, entered wielding blades and shields, performing an ancient sacrificial dance of prayer to the gods.

The dancers withdrew accordingly.

The music grew stirring — combat, slaughter…

What a meticulously choreographed performance; taken to a later age, it would rival any song-and-dance troupe, any top-tier dancer — and surpass them at that. Even the arrangement and design of the music carried its own unique charm.

Chen Chen Guanlou watched with great relish. In his past life he had been nothing but a corporate drudge; though he had a little money, he was still a workhorse at heart, never blessed with the fortune to enjoy such a top-tier performance at such close range.

Truly worthy of Jingcheng's foremost money-burning den — any single program they put on is enough to make one cry out in delight.

This is what true top-tier enjoyment means.

What's the point of just the business in bed? Enjoyment must be all-encompassing.

He watched, utterly absorbed. Lao Lao Chaofeng, meanwhile, kept watching the changes in his expression, and seeing that he was satisfied with tonight's arrangements, half of the worry in his heart was set at rest.

The performance ended; the second act had not yet begun. Lao Lao Chaofeng waved his hand, ordering everyone outside to wait.

He wanted to take advantage of Chen Chen Guanlou's good mood to have a chat.

"Is Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen satisfied?"

"Satisfied, satisfied! I used to always think the painted pleasure boats were too cramped to have any fun, and the prices were absurdly steep, so I never could bring myself to come. Today I've truly broadened my horizons and learned how shallow I am."

"If Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen likes it, feel free to come often in the future."

"Can't afford it, can't afford it. In a money-burning den like this, my little bit of silver would be emptied out in no time at all."

Chen Chen Guanlou laughed it off. The enjoyment was real enjoyment, but the money spent was also real silver. A full set of programs, and you couldn't leave the boat without spending a thousand taels of silver.

Come a few more times, and a month's earnings wouldn't even cover the wine and women — bankruptcy would be inevitable.

"Why would Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen need to spend his own silver? If you wish to come, just mention my name."

Chen Chen Guanlou chuckled. "Lao Lao Chaofeng, don't you go harming me. I'm nothing but an obscure prison warden of the Heaven Prison; running off to the pleasure boat every other day — if someone with intent spotted me, the official hat on my head probably wouldn't stay on. You know too how dearly I treasure that official hat on my head; I absolutely cannot let anyone get a handle on me."

"Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen jests. That you deign to serve in the Heaven Prison is a blessing for the entire Ministry of Justice. Working so hard at your post, it's only right that you come out to relax now and then. If anyone tried to make trouble over it, it would only be out of jealousy. Such petty people — you need not trouble yourself. Just say the word to me, and I still have a bit of face in officialdom; I will naturally share my lord's burdens for him."

"Lao Lao Chaofeng is kind. Tonight I've seen Jingcheng's top pleasure boat — the fame is well deserved, very satisfying. However, I'm a coarse sort by habit; I feel a place like the Drunken Fragrance House, that sort of brothel, suits me better. Ai, I'm just a wild boar that can't appreciate fine bran — nothing for it! Who told me not to be born into Hou Fu, only a clansman five generations removed from it. Hahaha… let's not speak of this, let's not speak of this…"

He raised his teacup to moisten his throat; he hadn't touched the wine on the pleasure boat at all.

The wine and drinks in a place like this were rarely pure.

Although he had the Dao Fruit of Longevity and feared no poison or aphrodisiac, first, he could not reveal himself, and second, he couldn't be bothered with the hassle.

Putting on an act was too tiring; he didn't want to perform.

With his current strength, he could play it straight — no need to put on an act, wasting time, expression, and energy.

Better to be straightforward than to go back and forth with Zhou Xuan.

Lao Lao Chaofeng thought it over briefly and figured out some seventy or eighty percent of Chen Chen Guanlou's thinking.

So he decisively changed his strategy, clapped his hands, and a servant brought in a wooden case.

He pushed the wooden case forward. "Earlier Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen gave us a two-day deadline. Everyone was moved by my lord's good intentions, so — at the first opportunity — here is the compensation. Please, my lord, have a look."

Chen Chen Guanlou raised one brow slightly, opened the case and glanced inside — ten perfectly round Eastern Pearls, and a thick stack of silver drafts. A rough estimate: at the very least, several tens of thousands of taels.

What a grand gesture!

Chen Chen Guanlou closed the wooden case with a smile. "Everyone's kind intentions, I've received them."

"I wonder what my lord thinks?" Lao Lao Chaofeng asked carefully.

"The case has already been formally registered with the Ministry of Justice. The Minister has ordered the Six Doors to investigate strictly. Under the Son of Heaven's very feet, such a shocking case as the assassination of a court official — it must be investigated, and investigated thoroughly. If Lao Lao Chaofeng is hoping I'll let you all off the hook and remove the seals, forgive my incompetence. This case is personally overseen by the Ministry of Justice; it's not something a mere prison warden like me can interfere with."

"My lord's meaning, I understand. How would I dare make things difficult for my lord? I wish to plead on behalf of those few worthless, low-born creatures — I wonder if my lord could show mercy and spare them the death penalty."

Lao Lao Chaofeng was utterly weary.

At such an old age, properly enjoying his retirement would have been fine — but old as he was, raising and raising them, and now at his great age he still had to step out and wipe someone's backside for them. What was the point!

Must be idle to provoke a ninth-rank martial artist — every last one tired of living.

Fortunately, Chen Chen Guanlou was a man of officialdom; in everything he kept to the principle of "reason," willing to handle the assassination through official means.

If it had been any other ninth-rank martial artist, daring to attempt assassination — that very night they would have stormed the gambling house and slaughtered until blood flowed like a river.

Martial artists of the jianghu often used their strength to break the law.

Martial artists of sects and noble houses likewise killed as easily as they drank water. Dare to attempt assassination, and one must be prepared for the entire clan to be wiped out. The higher the rank of these martial artists, the stronger their power, the less they allowed anyone to provoke them.

Chen Chen Guanlou's willingness to speak of "reason" already set him far above other martial artists. Of course, it was also because other martial artists of deep cultivation had never entered officialdom, never mixed in the official world, and naturally did not understand official rules.

Chen Chen Guanlou looked at Lao Lao Chaofeng with a half-smile. What are you thinking — spare the death penalty? Heh!

He did not hold back in the slightest, mocking directly: "Lao Lao Chaofeng, look at you — gone senile, joking with me again. Is my face worthless? Dare to provoke me and still live — how am I to show my face outside after that? Others would see it and only laugh that I'm a coward who doesn't even dare to kill."

This matter, you see, cannot be settled without blood. I won't ask for much — three heads, and the matter is considered closed as far as I'm concerned. The rest, you can take up with the Ministry of Justice on your own. I trust that without my involvement, the grievances between you and the Ministry of Justice will be resolved quickly enough.

If by tomorrow morning I don't see the three heads that are due, then I'm sorry — the Ministry of Justice is investigating, and I will have no choice but to stick my hand in. Once I do, if you want the case closed quickly, three heads won't be enough to settle it."