"Yi Yixian? We have to release him today?"
Boss Shen nodded: "Yeah. Release him tonight."
"Yeah…?" I sat on Boss Shen's desk and chomped on my pear. With my mouth full, I said: "Do we need to release him so soon? That punk injured old Huang. Old Huang is still bed-ridden."
"I don't want to either." Boss Shen shrugged, "But he qualified for the rematches and has to compete tomorrow. Furthermore, old Huang didn't die. It's not really right for us to lock him up when he's an official after all."
"Hmm……." I casually flipped through the documents on Boss Shen's desk and took another bite of my pear. The distinct sweet pear juice entered my mouth and it felt like the atmosphere turned much more pure. I asked: "So we have to release him tonight?"
"Yes. This is my hand-written decree." Boss Shen tossed a book over. On it was her mark she uses. The ink was still wet so she must've just finished writing it. Boss Shen didn't raise her head: "I got punished by the emperor trying to resolve the mess you all caused. I have to write a report explaining what happened with Long Zaitian so don't bother me."
I only realised it when I took the hand-written decree. Boss Shen wants me to go and release him?
Hey, hey, hey, are you joking here? I'm the only head-constable at Nan Jing's Liu Shan Men, Liu Shan Men's minor lord. You want me to go and handle something so trivial?
"Can't you just get somebody else? I mean, it's just releasing Yi Yixian."
Boss Shen didn't reply. She suddenly frowned and said: "Why are you sitting on my desk? Mind your manners." But she didn't kick me out right away. She just re-arranged the books that I made a mess of. Boss Shen doesn't care about her subordinates' hygiene and tidiness, but she is extremely attentive of maintaining order in her work environment. I heard that her thinking gets affected if it's messy.
"Give me back the document in your hand. You're all grown up already and yet you're like a kid." Boss Shen snatched the document in my hand and glared at me. In a tone that indicated that she had set expectations for me, hoping I'd pick up the slack, she said: "You're only good at wasting your time on those meaningless things. Start being more mindful of yourself, alright!?"*
Sigh, that hurt my heart!
What she just said made me feel like a prostitute that was having an illicit affair with the minister of households, got busted by his wife and concubines, and then got locked up and tortured before finally jumping out the window and breaking my leg. I was just scanning some documents and gossiping. What's wrong with that?!
Boss Shen then redirected the topic back to Yi Yixian: "Of course we can't get somebody randomly to release him. Yi Yixian is a narrow-minded person. Once we release him, he'll definitely come back to try and get back at us. You've fought him before, and you're much more despicable, so of course it's on you to come up with a way to mess with him so he doesn't cause too much trouble in future."
"He's useless though. Anybody can scare him, right?"
"Feizhen, don't underestimate him." Boss Shen sneezed beautifully and then glared at me with her alluring eyes, "While he only got promoted to the Jia rank out of pure luck, he's still someone who has the skills of a warrior at the Bing rank. You and Su Han might not even be able to beat him together."
Uhm, that makes sense, boss.
Normally, I could squash Yi Yixian with a single finger, but once the burden Su Xiao is added to the equation, I'm no longer so confident.
"Alright then. I'll choose the method I use myself then."
"It's all in your hands." Boss Shen looked at as if to imply something, then laughed and said: "I'll allow you to use some despicable means."
"Hmm? What means?"
Boss Shen looked at me with a teasing gaze: "You and Tang Ye… You know what I'm talking about."
……
Fuck!! Boss, can we schedule some time to clear up some things?!
That mistake is ridiculous!
Not only do you think Tang Ye and I… You want me to "serve" that Dong Po's Liu Zi looking organism Yi Yixian…?! Fuck me!!
"There's nothing between tang ye and I!!"
"Who knows?" Boss Shen shrugged and then suddenly stared at a spot on my body I can't mention, "Well, it'll just depend on whether or not you can get it up for a woman."
What?! You're so perverted, girl!!
I quickly covered myself up.
Boss Shen on the other hand was enjoying herself.
Seeing Boss Shen laugh uncontrollably like that, I knew she was teasing me.
I ought to let her taste the counterattack of a veteran.
"Boss, you seem to be in a good mood today." I cleverly snuck a glance at the part on Boss Shen's body where my goddess resides, the celestial region of my sect where the twin divine weapons reside, "Oh, you're wearing silk black today. It's different to the flower print yester-"
*Smack*
An inkstone smacked me on my face.
Boss's hand speed seems to have improved again……
"I'm going now."
It was fine with me.
I massaged my face.
It's time for me to do some legitimate work now anyhow.
I took out another pear from my shirt and took a bite. I then continued walking towards our jail with the mark of an inkstone on the left side of my face.
Inside Liu Shan Men's cells, the new prisoner, the Qilin Guards' Yi Yixian's cell. His identity was special so he was locked up in a single segregated cell.
At the beginning, Yi Yixian was somewhat disturbed when he heard he had beaten someone to death. But then when he heard the old geezer wasn't dead, he naturally stopped worrying about having to repay the blood debt with his own life. However, he then started worrying about his future prospects.
Being captured by a low-ranked constable from Liu Shan Men basically equated to smothering poop on the Qilin Guards' reputation, so his arrest would have a great impact on his future as a Qilin Guard. Long Zaitian didn't like him to begin with. When he returns to his post, he might end up getting kicked out. In other words, the longer he spent locked up, the more danger he was in.
Tonight, the sky was beautiful and it was quiet, but unfortunately, it wasn't a time where Yi Yixian could be at ease. He pondered those things over and over, tossed and turned but couldn't fall asleep. He then suddenly heard the sound of the lock at the door come unlocked and the door suddenly opened.
"Who goes there?!"
Yi Yixian immediately sat up, and looked across the dark cell. While he wasn't a top level master in the pugilistic world, he did spend ten years training diligently. When the door opened, he only heard the lock come unlocked. He didn't hear any footsteps or breaths, so his first reaction was someone skilled had come!
"Who… who are you?"
Yi Yixian just managed to recognise that it was a tall male thanks to the faint light outside. The male seemed to have some special characteristic causing one to be unable to avert their gaze once they caught sight of him. His aura gave off a very oppressive feeling, as though he could take a life without any effort. To put it into perspective, it was like being in an oxygen filled room where even the oxygen is your enemy. Yi Yixian's entire body kept sending him danger signals.
"Th-Thirteen Winds Black Wings?!!"
Yi Yixian couldn't help but think that way. Who else with such an intense murderous intent that you could virtually see with your naked eyes would visit in the middle of the night? If he had to guess, it'd be the Black Winds Thirteen Wings who'd been killing Qilin Guards lately.
But the male didn't look like he intended to attack. He just slowly walked over.
He had a pear in his hand and ate it without any reservation for manners while his gaze looked like he was mocking him.
Yi Yixian slowly began to see his facial features more clearly. He was a young man, around twenty-five or twenty-six, give or take a few years. He had dark black eyes which he used to look at him. All of his other facial features were relatively unimportant compared to his breathtaking eyes. In terms of appearance, he looked rather ordinary with no outstanding features, but he was also free of short-comings. Objectively speaking, he could be considered a flower boy. While he doesn't possess any attractive features, the longer you looked at him, the better he seemed to look.
Yi Yixian suddenly realised he had seen him before. He was there at their place with that crazy bitch Su Xiao.
When he knew that it wasn't the Black Winds Thirteen Wings, he stopped fearing for his life, instead getting angry. He cursed: "What do you want? You want to frame me, don't you? Listen up, I……"
Before he could finish, the guy lifted up one leg and sent Yi Yixian flying out with a kick. Yi Yixian got caught off guard so he flew out like a piece of cotton.
"Y-You dare hit….."
Yi Yixian was now much more careful. He carefully watched his two legs. But when a shoe suddenly appeared on his chin, Yi Yixian realised that the location where the foot originally was, was now vacant. He grunted. Yi Yixian took a kick right to his chin and he flew vertically up into the air like an onion getting ripped out of the ground. He looked like somebody with a huge invisible hand grabbed his hair and lifted him straight up. His blood sprayed all over the place.
When he landed on the ground, he was completely incapable of moving.
"Wh-What exactly do you want?! What do you want?!!"
Yi Yixian spat mouthfuls of blood that were stuck in his mouth; otherwise he wouldn't be able to speak. He had to speak. He to continue speaking because otherwise, he felt that he was going to get driven crazy by this person before he would even respond.
"So fucking annoying….." The man cussed out of annoyance. His speech was mixed with the sound of his teeth tearing into the pear, and the chewing sounds he made were like a wild beast. Yi Yixian's heart started to beat faster was if the piece of the pear he was chewing was his own flesh being ripped from his bones raw. His back suddenly started hurting.
Is he really human? Yi Yixian had never seen anybody chew on a pear so violently.
The man crouched down and looked at the top of Yi Yixian's head. Yi Yixian felt like he was getting squashed by a big mountain. He couldn't budge a finger. Yi Yixian suddenly felt that his life was in the hands of the man. All his rage, confusion and unease had vanished into thin air, and what was left was an instinct to submit. He felt like he had met his born enemy. He felt fear seep into every part of his body causing him to lose any remaining courage he had to put up a resistance.
In a callous tone, he said: "You'll do what I tell you to do." His tone made Yi Yixian realise that his life was completely worthless to the man.
Yi Yixian replied in a panicked manner: "U-Understood!"
"I want you to do three things. First, you must never mention the fact that I visited you tonight."
"I… I will never mention it."
"Second, when I call you Liu Zi in the future, you must respond."
"…… Understood."
Yi Yixian then suddenly felt that the man wasn't so frightening.
"Third…… "
The man softly finished mentioning his demands. However, Yi Yixian didn't respond. Instead he questioned him: "Wh-Why is that?"
The man didn't speak. Instead, he just smiled silently.
Some things need to be explained through words, but sometimes, a smile is enough to relay the idea.
Yi Yixian understood what he was implying from his smile. The smile meant for him not to ask anymore and that it wasn't his place to know.
Yi Yxian felt his throat freeze up. He struggled to nod and reply: "I understand now….."
"I'll release you."
The man nonchalantly slapped his hand on the ground, placed the core of the pear on the ground, and then reached his hand out to unlock the lock.
Yi Yixian watched him come closer. He suddenly had an evil thought from somewhere. Maybe it was a fight response since his life was hanging in the balance. He decided to muster up all his strength and strike at his head with a palm strike using all his might!
But that person unlocked the lock very quickly so the lock came undone in a quick moment. He just had the thought. He didn't actually have the time to execute it.
Just when he felt it was a pity, Yi Yixian saw the ground by coincident and his entire body broke out in a cold sweat.
The man slammed the pear core right into the ground. The core of a pear is soft while the ground is hard, so he managed to put the pear core in the ground using the strength behind his palm strike. Moreover, not only did he dig it into the ground, he even used his hand to level the ground within a split second.
The power of his palm strike was definitely not beneath the grand commander of the Qilin Guards. If we're comparing the balance of yin yang, gentle and hard, then he would probably be even superior.
Yi Yixian had never seen anybody who could match their grand commander's skills. He had always seen the grand commander of the Qilin Guards as an invincible existence.
But this man… How can he be just a constable?!
Yi Yixian felt he was going nuts!
"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you." The man seemed to have remembered something. He turned his head around and added, "Remember to bring me two braised pork shoulders in soy sauce when you come to the imperial city for the tournament tomorrow."
"……"
Yi Yixian really was going to go mad this time.
Glossary
*The phrase she used here indicates that she cares about him and he does somewhat occupy a place in her mind.