by Qing Lu

Translated by Grenn

Edited by Tsubaki & Sleepycatz

Chapter 29 – Qian Jing

---

In the hot spring garden

The moonlight was charming and romantic while the night wind were billowing. As the fragrance of flowers seeped into people’s heart, the green grass was covered in mist. The sound of water could be heard and, from the water, smoke could be seen rising in spirals. Candle light brightly lit the inside of the main living room which was filled by the scent of tea. Everything was very beautiful, except for the atmosphere in the room. It was… a bit worrying, a bit awkward, a bit strange, a bit of everything.

Lou Xiyan and Zhuo Qing had already change out from their wet clothes. Lou Xiyan was sitting in the seat of the host and holding a cup of green tea. Like usual, the corner of his mouth was stretched into a light smile, but his eyes was slightly narrowed as he observed the tea leaves floating and sinking in his cup. Keeping silent, it was impossible to determine if he was happy or angry. Qian Jing was half leaning on the door frame and was flipping a dagger as thin as a cicada’s wings. On his face, it could be seen that he was bored and impatient. Mo Bai stood next to Lou Xiyan. His blue eyes were cautiously watching Qian Jing’s dagger. As for Zhuo Qing, she was sitting on the rightmost chair. In one hand, she was holding a pastry while the other was holding a cup of green tea. She ate with great enthusiasm while drinking tea leisurely. She completely ignored the men who were secretly competing with each other.

Qi Tianyu gulped and glanced at the two men. He felt like if he didn’t say anything, the atmosphere would worsen. He was afterall the host. He lightly coughed, then stood up and walked until he was between them. He looked at Lou Xiyan and said with a smile, “This is Lou Xiyan.” It wasn’t convenient to reveal Xiyan’s identity, that’s why Qi Yuntian hesitated for a moment before he continued, “He is… my good friend.”

Once again he looked at Qian Jing and pondered a bit before he finally said the same ambiguous words. “This is Qian Jing. He’s also my good friend.”

Lou Xiyan slightly lifted his head and with a trace of a faint smile, he narrated, “Earlier, many thanks to young master Qian for your help.”

‘He’s Lou Xiyan?! That graceful and benevolent man famous in the six countries?!’ Qian Jing inwardly cursed on how fake that man could be. Earlier at the hot spring, he really didn’t act as graceful and benevolent as the rumors! Qian Jing reluctantly cusped his hand and mockingly said, “I don’t deserve your thanks! As expected, hearing about Chancellor Lou can’t compare to meeting you in person!” ‘That ugly woman, by following him, she will be cheated to death and will not even know what kill her!’

‘Eh? What kind of grudge did they both have?!’ Qi Tianyu was unable to make head or tail of the situation, but he wasn’t stupid to directly ask them. He hurriedly pointed to Zhuo Qing who was eating without a care and said with a smile, “This is Miss Qing Feng from Hao Yue.”

“The three beauties of House Qing?” Qian Jing suddenly straightened his body and stared strongly at Zhuo Qing for a good moment until he let out a desperate sigh. “Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Rumors cannot be trust. Ah, really can’t be trust… I really can’t believe it…” He heard many people say that the three Qing’s sisters were outstanding beauties that had an elegance free from the mundane world with a gentle grace. He once desired to go to Hao Yue to take a glimpse of the beauties. It was a good thing he didn’t go.

He lightly flipped his hand and the dagger that was in his hand had already been hidden without anyone noticing. Qian Jing touched his nose before speaking. “I better go.” ‘If I don’t go, I don’t know which person will be revealed as fake next!! The Jianghu is such a dangerous place… Hahaha!’

Qian Jing just stepped out of the door when an anxious Qi Tianyu chased after him. “Wait, wait! Brother Qian, don’t be in a hurry to leave! We still haven’t properly discuss about that matter, right?”

Qian Jing stopped and waved his hand as he impatiently replied, “Alright, alright! You look for me because you had a task you want me to undertake. As for the price, it will depend on the task. I will not extort you.”

As he pondered about it, Qi Tianyu nodded. “That’s alright!”

Tianyu was rarely this anxious, so Lou Xiyan’s brows slightly wrinkled as he asked, “Tianyu, what is the difficult problem that you couldn’t tell me about? If you told me earlier, I will not come and disturb you.”

“No, no! Xiyan, in reality, it’s not something major!” He looked at Lou Xiyan getting up and also became anxious. He was afraid Xiyan misunderstood and thought it was an urgent matter. Qi Tianyu straightforwardly stated, “Well, the situation is like this… An unknown man came to our casino and gamble grandly for three days. He lost more than a hundred thousand taels. He firmly said that our casino cheated and want us to return his money which is an impossible thing. After causing a scene, he left and, unexpectedly, sneaked into our house, intending to kidnap Tianxin and threatened me. He ended up kidnapping Tianxin’s personal servant girl. It has been two days, but every single day, she kept being noisy about it, disturbing the peace inside the house. I was looking for Brother Qian to help me find that kidnapper, rescue the girl and make Tianxin stop annoying me.”

‘That kind of thing happen?’ Lou Xiyan knitted his eyebrows as he asked, “Did you report the case to the authorities?”

“I reported it. Your body was unwell and, with your position, you have much more important works to do. I don’t want to trouble you with this kind of small case.” At first, he want to asked Xiyan, but, when he heard about Xiyan’s old illness recurring, he hesitated since what good was there to go and trouble Xiyan with it!

“Any news from the Government office?” Lou Xiyan suspected there was no news since if there was, Tianyu won’t go look for someone else to help him.

Sure enough, Qi Tianyu was fidgety as he replied, “None.”

When Qian Jing who was about to leave heard the reply, he lightly snorted and said with an air of complacency, “Isn’t that how the authorities handle their cases? Otherwise, why would there be a need to look for me to help out?”

Lou Xiyan lightly frowned. Once again, he looked at the man who was outside the door. The Qi Family were the owner of a casino in the capital. For them to actually request the help of that man, what could be his identity? Moreover, he seemed to be an acquaintance of Qing Feng.

Since Qian Jing didn’t seemed to avoid Lou Xiyan because of his identity, Xiyan was very interested in Qian Jing. Qi Tianyu laughed in a clear voice, “Brother Qian is Qiong Yue’s most famous bounty hunter. Quite a few number of people who the Government couldn’t catch had been captured by him. From finding people to arresting murderers, he could do them all making him very awesome.”

Bounty Hunter! Qiong Yue had a lot of bounty hunters, but there were only two people that could actually be called the most famous bounty hunters : Yemei and Aotian.

Lou Xiyan reckoned when a clear and resounding female voice sneered, “Indeed, very awesome. So awesome that the captured criminal could escape from him!” Zhuo Qing was clapping her hands while still holding a pastry. Her face showed a disapproving expression.

Qian Jing’s originally proud face went rigid as he glared at her. He angrily rebucked her, “Woman! Don’t be so arrogant! You still need to repay me!”

Zhuo Qing found his rebuck laughable. “You really are well named Qian Jing[1]. Since when did I owe you money? Or are you having Alzheimers?”

“What is Alzheimers?!” When he heard of the word, he had no idea what it was. Qian Jing went back into the room and glanced at Lou Xiyan and, then, he cursed at Zhuo Qing, “Last time you were wounded, I gave you medicine worth 50 taels! Fifty taels! The medicine you took was worth that much! As the Chancellor’s woman, you can easily get 50 taels!”

“Since when am I the Chancellor’s…”

“Many thanks to young master Qian for helping at that time. This is the money for the medicine cost.” Zhuo Qing was interrupt by Lou Xiyan’s cold and unhurried voice before she could finish her sentence.

Lou Xiyan’s voice barely fell, but Mo Bai was already in front of Qian Jing with a banknote. Qian Jing widened his eyes. ‘Oh wow! How generous! This banknote is worth at least 200 taels!’

Qian Jing was about to reach and take the banknote when a fair hand already grabbed it and escape with it.

‘Is not just fine to give me that money that had no place to be spend? There’s no need to waste it on him!’ In front of Qian Jing, Zhuo Qing took off with the money before putting it in her sleeve as she coldly sneered at him. “You dare mentioning about that wound incident to me. Then, I won’t be polite and give you an account of everything.”

She slightly lifted her head and the faintly noticable trace of a knife wound could be seen on her neck. Zhuo Qing clearly stated, “The criminal you were arresting grab me and hurt me. Up until now, the wound still hurts which also caused great physical and psychological harm to me. Furthermore, this could also leave repercussions in longer term. Thus, you should pay the medical expenses that came from the secondary injuries, the cost for work absence, food expenses, without forgetting cost for mental damage and others things. In consideration that after the incident, you tried to remedy to it, I will just charge you 100 taels. I will deduct the cost of your so-called medicine that you gave me which should be around 50 taels. I don’t want to be on bad terms with you so I won’t haggle the price down further.”

Standing firmly in front of Qian Jing, Zhuo Qing extended her hand nimbly before blurting out the following words, “Fifty taels! This is still money!”

‘Medical expenses? Cost for work absence? Food expenses? Cost for mental damage??’ Qian Jing was dumbfounded, but, when he heard “50 taels”, he immediately woke up from his confusion and shouted, “Fifty taels?! You, rip off!!”

Zhuo Qing leisurely replied, “I don’t know from where you got that lousy pill, but you want 50 taels for it. In the end, who is ripping who off?”

“What lousy pill?! That was a medicine from the Devil Doctor Ximu!! Fifty taels is still considered cheap for that kind of medicine!” As expected, he cannot reasoned with that woman! His hand was fidgety as he waved his hand at Zhuo Qing. Qian Jing ferociously replied, “Forget it! Forget it! I don’t feel like arguing with an ignorant and childish woman like you.”

‘Ignorant and childish?! Very well…’ The corner of Zhuo Qing’s mouth lightly stretched into a fake smile as she coldly laughed, “Good! But, even if the value of your lousy medicine is 50 taels, you still owe me 50 taels. Spit out the money!”

“YOU!!” He didn’t bicker with her, but she didn’t even spare him any thoughts! Qian Jing widened his eyes as his angry voice trembled, “I really have shitty luck! Woman, don’t let me see you!!” The next time she needed to look for him, she’d need to kneel in order to beseech him. It’s unlikely that he would go look for her!

Qian Jing snorted before rushing out. He left without turning back once. Zhuo Qing crossed her arms and watched the desolate and fleeing figure disappear. She laughed out loud without restraints, “Next time, remember to bring the money!”

Her evil voice drifted to Qian Jing’s ears. He lowly cursed. ‘There’s no next time! Absolutely no next time!!’ He also didn’t want to see this ugly woman!

Watching Zhuo Qing laughing, Lou Xiyan’s expression darkened. What could be the relationship between her and Qian Jing? In front of that man, she who was usually calm, haughty and who keeps people at distance, was completely arrogant and loudly laughing…

‘Qian Jing, was it? I, Lou Xiyan, will remember you…’

---

[1] Depending on the chinese characters, Qian Jing can also means Money (qian) Essence (jing) which is the meaning Zhuo Qing used.

---

[Previous Chapter][Table of contents][Next Chapter]