Chapter 27: Twin Hibiscus

Trees have roots, water has a source.

The corpse-workers in the Cui Family Mill must also have their source; it was just unclear whether they came from the hands of someone in the Yin Sect or from a fellow corpse-driver.

Smelling that familiar scent, Xu Qing estimated that the other party's base wouldn't be too far away, and it was even possible they were right here in Cuiyun Pavilion.

Adhering to the idea that well water doesn't interfere with river water, he didn't want to investigate the source of that incense smell.

Gathering his thoughts, he arrived at the embroidery pavilion box. Xu Qing sat by the window. In front of him, red Shu silk curtains hung down. Pushing aside the curtains and hooking them with silver hooks, he could see the bustling scene under the winding corridors.

The main hall of Cuiyun Pavilion occupied a vast area. Some guests who were drinking tea and having fun sat on the tea seats below, watching young women singing and dancing on the stage.

In the pavilions upstairs, there were incense burners and warm curtains, with beautiful women accompanying them.

Hearing light footsteps, Xu Qing lowered the curtains and turned to look at the screen painted with hibiscus stamens.

The pavilion he picked had an elegant name: Twin Hibiscus.

The reason it was called this was because the headliner of this flower house wasn't one person, but a pair of twin sisters who sat on the stage together.

At this moment, the two sisters stepped lightly and walked out of the pavilion.

Xu Qing took a look and saw that one was wearing a purple silk skirt, with a charming figure, and the other was wearing a pink jacket and white skirt, looking delicate and pretty.

"What are your names?"

"This slave is Zixi, (this concubine is Qiaorui)."

When Xu Qing was flipping through the signs earlier, he felt the name of this pavilion was familiar. Now, seeing these two girls and hearing their names...

Wasn't this the place that the County Magistrate's daughter, who possessed the "Tofu-Grinding Sacred Body," often visited!

Tsk, this Cuiyun Pavilion was truly all-encompassing.

Xu Qing perked up and began to ask the twin flowers what their special skills were and what arts they excelled in.

The broad-minded Miss Zixi smiled charmingly, twisted her slender waist, and handed a program list with illustrations to him.

Pouring a cup of tea, with the misty hot air accompanied by bursts of fragrant wind, Xu Qing chose the must-see items of Hibiscus Pavilion among the many services: "Two Sisters Play with Hibiscus" and "Spring Boudoir Resentment."

He quietly finished enjoying the first item and found that it was actually a play about two phoenixes contending and playing with a Burmese bell.

The second item was singing, which told the story of two boudoir women longing for love, often playing the zither and flute together. Of course, during the process of singing and playing the zither, there was no lack of segments where women mutually resolved their feelings and vented the irritability in their hearts.

"The fire-scented candle falls, the powdered face frowns in light intoxication.

Clearing the irritability of desire, shedding the jade silk, looking down at the hundred spirits withered.

The tide gathers, the tide recedes, sleeping sweetly in the moonlit cage..."

Even Xu Qing, who had seen much in his previous life, had to sigh that his experience was lacking.

With this singing skill and this figure, calling it art wouldn't be an exaggeration.

During the intermission, Xu Qing tapped his teacup, asking the Big Teapot to send some more candles.

The Big Teapot, separated by the curtain, couldn't see the situation inside and could only wonder: why do these candles burn out so fast today?

Hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but remind him:

"Master, take it easy. Don't wear out our girl. If you scald her body, you'll have to compensate."

At dawn, Xu Qing, whose experience had been improved once again, walked out of Cuiyun Pavilion.

During this time, he had used the palace secret "Thirteen Methods of Identifying Virginity" to observe many girls who appeared, but unfortunately, the twin flowers of Hibiscus Pavilion were no longer virgins, and even the headliner of Building No. 1, Jin Luan Pavilion, who claimed to sell art but not her body, had long shown signs of having lost her virginity.

But thinking about it, he felt relieved. In such a place of smoke and willows, where would there be truly innocent girls?

Even if there were, they would be as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, a rarity encountered once in a thousand visits.

Leaving Changdeng Street, Xu Qing walked through the market as if nothing had happened.

At a breakfast stall, a group of people eating were discussing the fire at the Cui Family Mill last night.

"I heard dozens of people died. I wonder if it's true?"

"Don't talk nonsense. The manager came out to clarify that dozens of donkeys and mules died. How could people have died!"

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was attentive.

Xu Qing was puzzled. He had seen the patrol government office people go to the mill with his own eyes. The fact that the Cui Family Mill used walking corpses instead of donkeys and mules couldn't be hidden.

But why did it seem like this matter hadn't been exposed?

Arriving at the food stall, Xu Qing ordered a bowl of hot duck blood soup, sprinkled with a layer of green onions and cilantro, which smelled decent.

He sat at the stall, continuing to listen to the diners' discussion.

Unfortunately, the next things this group said were all trivial, dog-shit matters, and none of them could stir Xu Qing's emotions.

When he "liberated" corpses and read their life stories, the major and minor events he had seen were far more exciting than what these commoners knew. His taste had long been spoiled, and these half-baked melon seeds were simply not enough to satisfy his appetite.

Listening to the gossip, Xu Qing blew the foam off the duck blood soup and was just about to taste it when a Guanzhong treasure saber, a palm wide and three feet three inches long, suddenly slapped onto the dining table in front of him.

"Old Zhang, by the head, one bowl of lamb offal soup per person, two flour cakes, and add more green onions!"

Zhao Zhonghe sat brazenly opposite Xu Qing. The two were separated by a long table, and their eyes met.

At this moment, Zhao Zhonghe was covered in the smell of smoke and fire. If one smelled carefully, there seemed to be the smell of charred corpses as well.

Looking at the back of his hand with thick knuckles, it was full of charcoal-black ash. Clearly, he had just come from the fire scene and hadn't had time to wash his body.

"What are you looking at!"

Zhao Zhonghe, who was already in a bad mood, glared at Xu Qing. Seeing the other party lower his head and drink soup silently, he spat and said the same thing he said when he first met Xu Qing—

"Sissy, smelling of powder, ptooey!"

"..."

Xu Qing stopped drinking soup and slowly raised his head to look at the other party.

He had cast a "Dumb Dog Curse" on himself and sprinkled medicine powder to cover up the zombie smell. It was true that he had a smell similar to powder, but what the hell did that have to do with you?

Zhao Zhonghe saw him looking over and snorted roughly, not knowing where such a big temper came from.

These two had been at odds from the beginning, and Xu Qing was also unhappy now.

You find fault with me time and time again, fine. You carry my dream stick around and show it off every day, I'll endure it. But you, damn it, eat your lamb offal soup, but you actually pick out the cilantro in the bowl piece by piece!

This he couldn't endure!

Xu Qing picked bones out of an egg, found an excuse, and got up to pay the stall owner.

"How much?"

"Eight wen."

"Here's twenty wen, keep the change."

Taking out the strung copper coins, Xu Qing, before leaving, used the method of "Stealing Yang and Plundering Yin" to swipe the thin stick the stall owner used to clean the chimney.

When passing by Zhao Zhonghe, he used the same trick again, a "Stealing the Beam and Replacing the Pillar," swapping the chimney-cleaning stick with his own lost dog-beating stick.

Then he walked away.

When Zhao Zhonghe finished his bowl of lamb soup and was about to get up to pay, he reached for his waist and immediately felt something was wrong.

This feeling wasn't right!

Touching the stick he favored, Zhao Zhonghe raised his hand and lowered his head.

Whoa! A hand full of pitch-black soot!

The stall owner happened to see this scene and hurriedly waved his hand: "If Constable Zhao likes this stick, take it. I'll just make another one later..."

Hearing this, Zhao Zhonghe's face instantly became blacker than the soot on his hand.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 28 =====