Chapter 5: Touching Porcelain
That day, in the evening.
In Anlefang, adjacent to the canal on the west, stands a majestic seven-story building.
The sky was dark, and hundreds of huge red lanterns were lit up on the tall buildings, illuminating the ancient brown buildings. On the more than ten feet long golden signboard, the three large gilded characters "Zuixianju" were clearly visible from a distance.
There were laughter and joy in the building, and the aroma of wine and meat drifted for miles in the wind.
On the seventh floor of Zuixianju, the Lu family school’s farewell banquet for teachers was at its most lively.
Accompanied by the clear sound of cloud boards, Lu Jun, the head of the Lu clan school, sang loudly. He sang the gentle and graceful song "Charming Eyes" in a way that was so charming that he really had the charm of a top courtesan in a brothel.
Just like the previous three years of Jiayou 15, Jiayou 16 and Jiayou 17.
The end-of-year teacher appreciation banquet of the clan school had just reached its climax when Lu Yi used the excuse of being too drunk to leave early.
With her long hair simply tied into a ponytail at the back of her head and wearing a loose green cloth double-breasted cotton jacket, looking a little shabby, Lu Yi walked out of Zuixianju, stood on the steps in front of the door, and looked up at the sky covered with dark clouds and heavy snow falling continuously.
"It's you! It's because of this rubbish!" Lu Yi sneered softly, "If that's the case, just break both legs this year! Breaking all three legs at the same time is still too cruel. Tsk, why am I so kind-hearted?"
Just now, at the farewell banquet for teachers, when Lu Yi toasted to the academician Lu Jun, he deliberately mentioned Bai Qiong's name.
At that moment, Lu Jun's eyes were full of panic.
Lu Yi understood that in the past few years, Lu Jun had deliberately made things difficult for him and suppressed him in the clan school, deliberately ruining his reputation in the Lu clan, and even making his notoriety of being "unlearned" and "unmotivated" widely known. It was indeed related to Bai Qiong, or the Bai family.
Since this is the case, Lu Yi will naturally not be merciful when the other party resorts to such underhanded means.
With his hands tucked into his sleeves and humming a nondescript tune, Lu Yi walked down the steps to the north of the Tian'en Marquis Mansion, stepping on the snow, as the waiter greeted him attentively.
Braving the strong wind and heavy snow, Lu Yi walked slowly along the street. His body was as tall and straight as a green bamboo, and his demeanor was as calm as an old pine that had been through frost. He did not look embarrassed at all, but rather as if he was out for a spring outing, relaxed and carefree.
If someone looked closer, they would find that not a single piece of the cold snow blown up by the strong wind could fall on Lu Yi.
The big snow flakes swirled and slid to the side as soon as they got a little closer to Lu Yi's body. Lu Yi's cotton-padded jacket was spotlessly clean, without any trace of water or snow.
Across the street, diagonally opposite Zuixianju, is also a seven-story building.
The building is all green and also has hundreds of lanterns hanging on it, but the lanterns are an ambiguous pink color.
On the plaque of the tall building, there are also three large gold-plated characters "Qionghua Pavilion".
This is the number one brothel in Anlefang, and is also ranked among the top 36 brothels in the city of Haojing. Usually, the dignitaries of Anlefang like to drink, enjoy the flowers and spend a happy night here.
On the top floor of Qionghua Pavilion, in an elegantly decorated private room, Bai Qiong was drinking and chatting happily with a middle-aged man who was wearing a light red robe, a rhinoceros horn belt around his waist, a five-beamed gauze wing crown on his head, and inch-thick white-soled official boots on his feet.
The blinds made of Xiangfei bamboo in the private room are drawn up, and through the sparkling crystal windows, one can see everything happening on the street outside.
Bai Qiong, with a flushed face and slightly drunk, was holding a wine glass. He grinned through the window and stared fiercely at Lu Yi who was walking slowly on the street.
After taking a sip of the old wine, Bai Qiong stared at the middle-aged man sitting opposite him and said with a smile, "Brother Nian, thank you very much for taking care of this matter."
The middle-aged man waved his hand lightly and said calmly: "It's just a trivial matter, not worth mentioning. Frankly speaking, if he is a direct descendant of the Lu family, it is really difficult to touch him. How big is the Jingyang Lu family?"
Bai Qiong laughed: "He is just a poor boy! Although his last name is Lu, there are hundreds of thousands of people in the Jingyang Lu clan!"
The middle-aged man put down his wine glass and said calmly: "After all, his surname is Lu. Marquis Tianen is also a legitimate and unreasonable person."
Bai Qiong filled a glass of wine for himself and the middle-aged man, and chuckled, "So, Brother Nian's two nephews, don't worry, you will definitely rank first in the Imperial College's spring exam next year and get a place in the academy."
The middle-aged man sighed and raised his glass: "Anyway, it's for the future of our nephews and nieces. What do we, as elders, want after working hard all our lives? Isn't it for the younger generations? Niece Wei Shuang, you can't let this greedy, rampant, talentless and immoral filthy boy bring disaster to you."
Bai Qiong nodded vigorously: "Brother Nian, what you said is very appropriate! Uh, where are the people you arranged?"
Lu Yu was walking slowly along the street when a figure suddenly rushed out from the intersection of a side street in front of him. Maybe it was because the road was slippery, or maybe it was because the snow and wind blinded him, the figure cried out "ouch", and rushed towards Lu Yu's chest with his arms across.
As soon as the man rushed out from the street corner, Lu Yi noticed him.
The figure staggered towards him, and Lu Yi was like a paper man, light and weightless. He was blown back seven or eight feet without touching the ground by the cold wind.
The figure failed to hit Lu Yi, his feet slipped and he fell heavily to the ground.
A white linen package flew out of the figure's hand and fell at Lu Yi's feet with a "bang".
The man struggled on the ground for a while, then suddenly raised his head, revealing a thin, handsome face, but with his eyes rolling around, revealing a cunning look.
"Help! Someone's been beaten to death!"
"Oh, my treasure, my ancestral heirloom, a Meizhou official kiln white porcelain plum vase with a dragon button worth thousands of taels of silver!"
The man's voice was extremely shrill, like the howling of a wolf with its tail broken.
Lu Yu widened his eyes and stared at the man with extreme vigilance.
The pedestrians around all around burst into an uproar, and many people turned around and looked over here, pointing in this direction.
The New Year is coming soon, and a large number of lanterns have been lit in the restaurants, brothels, shops, inns, etc. on both sides of the street.
Some street vendors, such as those selling wontons, fried cakes, noodles, and various small odds and ends, also had torches and lanterns lit on their stalls.
The whole street is bright and the view is excellent.
Not to mention the constant coming and going of people, not to mention the crowds, there is also a lot of traffic and it's very lively!
The New Year is coming soon. No matter you are rich or poor, now that you have money and free time, why not take advantage of the few days before the New Year to have a good time?
The man got up from the ground, opened his arms and grabbed Lu Yi. With an inexplicable excitement on his thin face, he shouted hoarsely: "You broke my family heirloom , compensate me, compensate me!"
Among the people on the street, more than a dozen burly men with fat faces, who had their clothes open even in the middle of winter, revealing their hairy chests and tattoos of ferocious beasts and birds of prey on their chests, suddenly jumped out from the crowd.
These men roared and yelled in indignation.
"Catch him, catch him! He's robbing people in the street. I'm a witness!"
"Catch him, catch him, what a vicious man, ah, he dares to beat the victim?"
"Report to the officials, report to the officials. Where is the patrol censor? Where is the patrolling lord?"
More than a dozen big men surrounded him from all directions and in an instant they approached Lu Yi, only seven or eight feet away from him.
The young man who fell to the ground and kept saying that his heirloom was broken waved his hands and almost pounced on Lu Yi.
In a flash, Lu Yi swung his right hand and slapped the young man on the face.
This palm was extremely heavy, like a hammer hitting us.
The staggering young man let out a scream and was thrown three feet off the ground. His body spun seven or eight times in the air like a top, and flew more than ten feet away with the sound of wind before falling miserably to the ground.
"Oh my God!" the young man cried out hoarsely. Half of his face swelled up at a speed visible to the naked eye. Blood spurted out from the corner of his mouth, and a few yellowish teeth sprayed out along with the blood.
" So fierce, so fierce!"
A dozen big men who were originally shouting and yelling but looked quite lazy and did not take Lu Yi seriously suddenly perked up and rushed towards Lu Yi one by one with swift moves.
"Take it, take it!"
"This evil guy must be on the wanted list!"
"Take it, take it!"
"Take it to the Fangling Yamen to collect the reward. Haha, you brothers deserve to make a small fortune!"
Several burly men grabbed Lu Yi's arms with their strong arms, while several other burly men had already pulled out short sticks and iron bars, and were hitting Lu Yi's waist, back, thighs and other parts viciously.
Not far away, at the street corner where the young man who had just been beaten jumped out, a sharp bamboo whistle sounded.
An inspector wearing a blue robe with a one-horned xiezhi pattern embroidered on his chest, with his hand on the sword at his waist and a bamboo whistle in his mouth, came running towards this side with big strides.
Behind this inspector were dozens of strong warriors dressed in black tights, rhinoceros leather armor on their upper bodies, and short black cloaks.
These military marquises carried crossbows on their backs, swords on their waists, and held eight-foot-long black and red water and fire sticks in their hands. They lined up in neat rows and followed closely behind the inspectors with rumbling steps.
The Patrol Censor and the Patrol Lord were responsible for maintaining public order in the capital city of Haojing. They presided over curfew patrols, arrested bandits, apprehended evildoers, and even market hygiene, fire prevention and waterproofing, etc., all of which were within their authority.
The crowds on the street quickly parted to both sides, and countless people shouted in unison, "Make way, make way, the inspector is coming!"
Seeing the chaos on the street, Bai Qiong took a big sip of wine with a proud look on his face: "Brother Nian, thank you for your help!"
The middle-aged man took a piece of the delicious stewed fish belly slowly, waved his hand disapprovingly and said: "It's just a little thing, just a..."
At this moment, a series of earth-shaking slaps rang out.
The dozen or so burly men who pounced on Lu Yi flew up with ghostly howls, spinning in the air even more miserably than the young man just now, spitting blood, and fell heavily on the snow-covered street.
The patrolling censors and the patrolling military marshals were still about seven or eight feet away from Lu Yi. Lu Yi raised his right sleeve to cover half of his face, lowered his body, and scurried into the crowd like a catfish coated with oil, disappearing in the crowd in a few seconds.
By the time the inspector and his men arrived at the scene, Lu Yi had long disappeared. There were only a dozen big men and a "victim" wailing and spitting blood on the ground. In the light of the lanterns, dozens of big teeth could be vaguely seen on the street, which were extremely dazzling.
Bai Qiong was dazed.
The middle-aged man was dazed.
After a long while, the middle-aged man murmured, "Brother Nian didn't seem to say that this kid has such skills ?"
Bai Qiong was stunned for a long while, then he gritted his teeth and stamped his feet and sneered: "The monk can escape, but the temple cannot. From now on, I'll have to trouble you, Brother Nian."
Bai Qiong bowed to the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man was silent for a while, then he slowly said: "Catching someone on the street, with solid evidence, the subsequent conviction process is simple. Once the conviction is confirmed and the case files are finalized, it will be an ironclad case and no one can find any flaws. But we failed to catch the person on the spot. If we want to go to Tianen Marquis Mansion to arrest him... Brother Nian's price will have to be increased!"
Bai Qiong's face became wrinkled. He rubbed his hands and began to bargain with the middle-aged man.
Time passed little by little, and suddenly someone knocked on the door of the private room where they were.
A delicate and crisp voice came from outside the door.
"My two husbands, let's play together, shall we?"
