Chapter 22
Chapter 22: Skipping Updates Is Shameful
Gu Yan Qing heard Mu Kang’s report and didn’t answer. He simply closed the register in his hands with a quiet, final tap.
Jiang Chao Sheng… that one could be useful.
Because behind him stood Jiang Jiang.
Who exactly was Jiang Jiang? Why did she seem able to see tomorrow coming—able to know other people’s secrets as if she’d read them off a page?
Gu Yan Qing still couldn’t make sense of it. But he could change tactics: nurture Jiang Chao Sheng first, then keep Jiang Jiang under silent observation. Some things couldn’t be forced.
Gu Yan Qing liked to win slowly.
He did it that way in court.
With people… he did it that way, too.
“Chancellor.” A guard entered at a measured pace, holding a letter with both hands. “This just arrived from the Divine Constable Office.”
Gu Yan Qing nodded. Mu Kang stepped forward, took the letter, scanned it, and his expression shifted.
“Chancellor,” Mu Kang said lowly, “the assassin Chen Jin Ting that Lin Jing delivered to the Divine Constable Office has a long list of blood on his hands. Tonight alone, he killed Eunuch Hong. By law he should be executed, but he’s from the jianghu, and his martial arts are strong. The Divine Constable Office wants you to decide…”
“Lock him up for now,” Gu Yan Qing said idly. “Later… he might be useful.”
The court was the court, and the jianghu was the jianghu. Most days, neither splashed in the other’s pond.
But once a jianghu criminal was caught, punishment was punishment.
The Divine Constable Office’s dungeon already held plenty of vicious, highly skilled prisoners. One more didn’t change a thing.
Eunuch Hong…
The name tugged Gu Yan Qing’s thoughts back to what Lin Jing had seized from Chen Jin Ting: a thick stack of silver notes, a pile of martial manuals, and even… several secret letters.
Gu Yan Qing knew Eunuch Hong.
Back in the Late Emperor’s time, Eunuch Hong had been a palace-attendant eunuch. Rumor said he was obsessed with cultivation—bold enough to dream of immortality.
After the Late Emperor passed, many old palace servants were dismissed and sent out. Eunuch Hong left the Imperial City then, bought a residence, and settled in the capital.
Gu Yan Qing had never paid attention to a nobody like that.
And yet, this retired eunuch had kept close ties with people still inside the palace. Worse, he’d been forming cliques and trading favors right in the capital.
The secret letters, the silver notes, the manuals—hard evidence, all of it.
Lin Jing also reported that Jiang Jiang had pocketed a few of the notes and even casually taken a manual.
Heh.
Young as she was, that little girl had nerve.
Gu Yan Qing’s gaze slid to the Capital Gazetteer on the desk. A single diary entry had tugged another case into the light.
This gazetteer really was earning its keep.
He picked it up, long fingers brushing the cover.
Mu Kang had long since stopped finding it strange. Lately, the Chancellor carried that book everywhere.
The residence servants had even whispered about it in secret. Was the Chancellor planning some grand move?
Waterworks near the capital, perhaps?
Or… reopening those abandoned mines in Jing Xi?
Wild guesses. No one dared ask.
“It’s late,” Gu Yan Qing said. “Go rest. And tell Jiang Wen—move faster on the Meng family. His Majesty isn’t known for patience.”
Mu Kang acknowledged and led everyone out.
Alone at last, Gu Yan Qing opened the Capital Gazetteer.
His brows lifted.
No update tonight.
This late, and still nothing?
Had she gone to sleep?
Gu Yan Qing wrote a single line.
“Skipping updates is shameful.”
A heartbeat later, another line appeared beneath it—light, shameless, unmistakably hers.
“Hehe.”
Capital City — Huang Family
After the Shang Si Festival market, Jiang Chao Sheng escorted Huang E Er all the way to the Huang family gate.
“Miss Huang, it’s late. Go in and rest early.” His gaze was steady as he spoke. Huang E Er held a lotus lantern in her hand, and the candlelight painted a faint blush across her young face.
Under his eyes, Huang E Er lowered her lashes shyly. “Brother Jiang, thank you for walking me home. Today… I was very happy.”
“Mmm.” Jiang Chao Sheng answered out of habit, his thoughts already drifting. It was this late—he needed to hurry back. He wondered if Jiang Jiang was feeling any better.
“Brother Jiang, then… then I’ll go in?” Huang E Er asked again, reluctant.
Jiang Chao Sheng blinked back to the present and nodded.
Huang E Er turned, taking a few slow steps. Then she spun back—
Only to find Jiang Chao Sheng already gone, head never turning.
He… walked away that fast.
For a heartbeat, disappointment sank in.
Then she brightened, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted at his retreating back, “Brother Jiang, tomorrow you will definitely make the list! I’ll wait for you!”
[Wait for you… to marry me.]
Without waiting for an answer, she dashed inside, cheeks burning.
“Miss, you’re finally back!” A maid had been pacing at the gate. She grabbed Huang E Er the moment she stepped through. “Madam and Master have been waiting all night. They were about to worry themselves sick!”
Huang E Er’s expression tightened. “Did something happen at home? It’s Shang Si—I told them I’d be late.”
The maid only shook her head and hurried her toward the front hall.
“So you still know how to come back!” Madam Zhu’s angry voice hit her the instant she entered.
“Mother…” Huang E Er tried to soften it, voice small and coaxing. “Tonight was Shang Si night. You promised I could go out. I even bought you a gift.”
Qing Yun Kingdom was open-minded. Women could go out, show their faces, even do business. And the capital was usually safe. Huang E Er had come home late before.
She just hadn’t expected her mother to be this furious.
“Your mother is worried about you,” Huang An said heavily from the side. Even his face looked grim. “There was a murder case tonight. A jianghu assassin slipped into the capital and killed a lot of our brothers.”
“Ah!” Huang E Er covered her mouth, eyes wide. Fear punched her all at once. “Was he caught? Where did he strike? Did he hurt any innocent commoners?”
Her first thought was Jiang Jiang, still at the Cloudcoming Inn. A young miss alone—what would she do if she ran into a monster like that?
She never should have left Jiang Jiang by herself.
Who could have guessed the capital would be this unsafe tonight?