Chapter 201

Liu Boju said: "What's suspicious?"

Guo Shouguang said: "On the same night, we were all robbed, and at the time of the robbery, we were almost all not at home."

Liu Boju and Xu Qinglian exchanged a glance, Xu Qinglian said: "You mean someone plotted and planned this?"

Guo Shouguang said: "I, your humble servant, am not clear either, but I feel this matter is really too strange. Tonight we mostly went to Hongyan Tower to attend the charity auction, yet we coincidentally all suffered thefts at the same time. Is there some connection?"

Liu Boju narrowed his eyes, a sliver of cold light shot from the narrow gap, gnashing his teeth he said: "Could it be a ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain?"

Xu Qinglian said: "Where is Hu Xiaotian now?"

Guo Shouguang said: "He accompanied Prince Long Yefang to the Wan residence."

Xu Qinglian paced back and forth a few steps.

Liu Boju said: "I'll immediately take people to search his house!"

Xu Qinglian stopped, shook his head and said: "Impossible!" If it were before tonight, perhaps he would have readily agreed with Liu Boju's idea, but at Hongyan Tower he personally saw Hu Xiaotian's extensive connections; sending people to openly search his residence would likely provoke Hu Xiaotian.

Guo Shouguang also felt it improper, lowering his voice: "I don't know if his place was robbed too." Hu Xiaotian had become the main suspect among these colleagues; it's not unjust, anyway this affair from start to finish was orchestrated by him, Murong Feiyan responsible for stealing Xu Qinglian's belongings, while the other thefts of officials' big and small property were all taken on by Xiao Tianmu. Actually these officials' homes hardly had any defenses; their security level couldn't compare to the Wan family's, which is why they succeeded.

After Ande Quan left, Hu Xiaotian finally managed to sleep soundly; although he slept late, he woke early the next morning. After washing up, the first thing was to go to Prince Long Yefang's place to pay respects.

He had thought Prince Long Yefang was still not up, but upon reaching the east wing he learned the prince had already risen and was now strolling in the garden accompanied by Wan Boping. Hu Xiaotian hurried over, arriving at the back garden. Seeing Prince Long Yefang standing in the waterside pavilion, Wan Boping bowed low behind him, his expression obsequious to the extreme.

Upon seeing Hu Xiaotian's figure appear, Wan Boping hurriedly reported: "Your Highness, Sir Hu has arrived."

Prince Long Yefang nodded, hands clasped behind his back, head high and chest out, gazing at the pond in the garden, he said softly: "Attend to your own affairs first. I have some words I wish to speak with Sir Hu alone." Wan Boping, hearing the dismissal, naturally did not dare stay; he bowed deeply, retreated backwards, and only when he reached Hu Xiaotian's side did he dare turn around.

Hu Xiaotian smiled at him, walked with unhurried steps to the prince's side, also bowing deeply at a ninety-degree angle: "Your humble servant Hu Xiaotian pays respects to Your Highness, Your Highness!" He glanced around, noticing not far off four individuals fully focused on guard duty. He thought to himself, the security measures of these royal offspring are indeed tight.

Prince Long Yefang smiled: "There are no outsiders here. Between us, we need not stand on ceremony."

Hu Xiaotian, overwhelmed with favor, said: "My reverence for Your Highness springs from the heart, like the Yangtze's waters flowing endlessly; it is not mere observance of ritual, but being moved by Your Highness's noble character."

Those words made Prince Long Yefang's heart bloom; he shook his head and said: "I have encountered many flatterers before, but this is the first time I've felt this happy, little Tian, little Tian, your tongue really knows how to speak!"

Hu Xiaotian, having been called out by the prince for flattery to his face, felt no embarrassment, eyebrows raised, eyes smiling: "As long as you're happy. The most important thing in life is to be happy."

Prince Long Yefang nodded: "Indeed, the most important thing in life is to be happy!" He turned his face, lowering his voice to Hu Xiaotian: "Little Tian, I felt an instant kinship with you, we get along well, I very much wish to befriend you; what do you think?"…

Hu Xiaotian said: "I am humbled by Your Highness's favor, I feel both honored and apprehensive." Yet in his mind he wondered whether the prince's deliberate lowering of status to show friendliness hid some ulterior motive; courtesy shown to others always seeks something, and Prince Long Yefang almost certainly wants him to do something.

Prince Long Yefang said: "Little Tian, could you arrange something for me? I wish to meet that Miss Xi Yan."

Hu Xiaotian felt his scalp tighten; he thought, "I knew there'd be no good thing—this seventeenth prince wants me to act as a pimp." It's not that Hu Xiaotian doesn't want to help, but Xi Yan appears and disappears mysteriously; where would he find her? Moreover, last night Senior Eunuch Ande Quan personally told him that Xi Yan is a demoness of the Wuxian Sect, which opposes the court, a heretical cult the court once sent troops to eradicate. Arranging a meeting between the prince and a demoness—if anything goes wrong, he fears he wouldn't have enough heads to lose.

Hu Xiaotian respectfully said: "Your Highness, that Xi Yan is a courtesan of the Huan Cai Pavilion; if you see her, wouldn't you fear gossip? Moreover, she left last night; I, your humble servant, don't know where she went, only knowing she hails from the Huan Cai Pavilion of Xiezhou." If you want to see her, go yourself to Xiezhou's Huan Cai Pavilion; anyway, any major event occurring after leaving Qingyun has nothing to do with me, I'm too lazy to bother with such trivialities.

Prince Long Yefang said: "I merely wish to meet her once; does this need to be proclaimed to the world? If you don't speak, I don't speak, who would know?" He showed displeasure.

Hu Xiaotian said: "I, your humble servant, am willing but unable; I truly don't know where she has settled."

"She stays at the Fulai Inn! What to do next, need I teach you?"

Hu Xiaotian gaped in astonishment, muttering: "Prince Long Yefang, Prince Long Yefang, you've already found where Xi Yan lives—why don't you go yourself? Why make me act as a pimp?"

Prince Long Yefang handed Hu Xiaotian a prepared letter, saying: "Go there and personally deliver this letter to Miss Xi Yan."

Hu Xiaotian nodded; at this point he could not refuse.

Hu Xiaotian accepted the task assigned by Prince Long Yefang, left the Wan mansion with a dejected air, not even having time for breakfast. He truly did not want to deliver this letter to Xi Yan, not out of selfish motives, but because Xi Yan exudes an eerie aura from head to toe; he believes Ande Quan's words are correct—Xi Yan is almost certainly a demoness of the Wuxian Sect. The prince wanting to meet her is like sending a mouse to be a cat's third wheel—lightly he might get scratched, heavily he could lose his life. Yet Hu Xiaotian cannot outright expose this, for if he spoke frankly, the prince might think he also harbored feelings for Xi Yan, so he uses this as an excuse to decline. Realizing this, Hu Xiaotian somewhat understood the prince's true intention: the prince is not unable to see Xi Yan directly; by having Hu Xiaotian deliver the letter, he is subtly conveying his attitude, wishing Hu Xiaotian to retreat when facing difficulty, to give up his thoughts of Xi Yan.

Hu Xiaotian really felt both amused and exasperated; no matter how beautiful a woman, it's not worth risking one's life for her. Though Xi Yan is unsurpassingly beautiful, if he were to die beneath her pomegranate skirt, even as a ghost he'd be debonair; Hu Xiaotian would rather be an honest man, for rebirth is not easy, nothing is more important than his own life. Everyone wants to indulge with beauties, but one must be alive to do so; if life is gone, there's no fortune left to enjoy a beauty's tender affection.

Leaving the Wan mansion, he took out the letter Prince Long Yefang had him forward, discovering it was unsealed; the prince surely wouldn't be so careless—he must have deliberately left it open for Hu Xiaotian to read.

Hu Xiaotian didn't stand on ceremony; moving to a secluded spot, he pulled out the letter paper and saw lines of elegant, flowing xiaojin script: a poem: "Roaming the four wilds, carefree and alone lingering. Orchids and sweetgrass follow affection's channel, prosperity shades the green isle. The beauty is not here; who shall I share this with? Knowing the cold of nests, recognizing the rain in caves. Never having parted, how know longing for companions? Signed: Master of the Maple Grove."

It's a love poem, a courting poem; the Master of the Maple Grove is undoubtedly Prince Long Yefang. Hu Xiaotian shook his head, never expecting the prince to be so literary; this poem from start to finish reeks of pretentiousness—"nests"? "caves"? I mutter, am I overthinking, or was the poem originally a bit risqué?

Hu Xiaotian folded the love poem back up, knowing the prince deliberately left it unsealed to let him see, is roundaboutly telling him he has feelings for Xi Yan, to make him abandon his thoughts of her; speaking of which, the prince isn't lacking wit, it's just that his bit of intelligence is all spent on chasing women. Hu Xiaotian thought it over and decided to go to the Fulai Inn to deliver the letter to Xi Yan. Before he even reached the inn, he unexpectedly encountered Murong Feiyan coming to look for him.

Murong Feiyan said: "Sir, where are you going?"

Hu Xiaotian, somewhat helpless, raised the letter in his hand: "I'm running an errand for Prince Long Yefang to deliver a letter."

Murong Feiyan said: "Last night's harvest was abundant; don't you want to hear what we found?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Even a major matter is less important than the prince's affair; Feiyan, let's discuss our business later—first go home and wait for me."

Murong Feiyan had come with joy, but his reaction left her greatly displeased; she pursed her cherry lips and turned to leave, behind her came Hu Xiaotian's voice: "By the way, later help me fix a bowl of noodles—I haven't had breakfast yet."

Murong Feiyan couldn't help but protest: "Am I your maid?"

"You're my kin! You're almost catching up to my mother's status!"

"Er..."

Hu Xiaotian arrived at the Fulai Inn; Xi Yan wasn't there, only Xiang Qin was present. Seeing Hu Xiaotian, she showed great enthusiasm, stepped forward and seized his wrist, saying: "Little Tian brother has come, come inside!" She dragged Hu Xiaotian toward the rooms.

Hu Xiaotian now realized these women were no ordinary lot; outwardly they were courtesans of the Huan Cai Pavilion, but in fact they used that as a front for criminal activities, conspiring to overthrow the Dakang government as members of the Wuxian Sect. He pulled his hand from Xiang Qin's grasp: "Sister Qin, I came this time especially to request an audience with Miss Xi Yan."

Ten more chapters done, loudly calling for monthly tickets!