Chapter 138 When You’ve Lived Long Enough, You See All Sorts of Things…

Chapter 138: Live Long Enough, See Everything New...

No sooner had Eunuch Ning returned to the manor than he heard from his subordinates that King Ming had gone to the garden. He hurried over and indeed found King Ming by the pond.

He stepped forward quickly and bowed respectfully. "Your Highness."

King Ming stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the pond with a displeased expression. "Where's my fish?"

Eunuch Ning was taken aback. "All the fish are right here in the pond, Your Highness."

"I mean the one I selected earlier."

"Well..." Eunuch Ning hesitated, then suggested, "How about picking a different one? Look at these—they're all nice and plump. The young lord said you could pick any you like."

Who could've guessed that the moment the young lord gifted the fish away, the prince would come looking for it?

"I want that one. Where has he taken it?"

King Ming's frown deepened, and Eunuch Ning dared not lie. "The young lord gave it away, Your Highness."

"He gave it away?!"

King Ming could never have imagined that a fish already in his grasp could grow wings and fly away!

"That ungrateful brat!" King Ming took a few steps, then turned back to Eunuch Ning. "I worked my fingers to the bone raising him, and now he steals my fish?"

Eunuch Ning bowed his head deeply, not daring to interject. He thought to himself that the prince hadn’t exactly suffered much hardship, and besides, the fish had been raised by the young lord.

But he didn’t dare say it aloud.

As the year drew to a close, all the government offices in the capital were busier than usual, and the Bright Mirror Bureau was no exception.

To ensure peace in the capital during the Spring Festival, the Qianhu officers on duty before the holiday didn't dare slack off in the slightest, almost all taking their subordinates out to patrol the streets.

When King Ming arrived at the Bright Mirror Bureau, the guards didn’t dare stop their Chief.

After he entered, the two guards whispered among themselves, wondering if the prince had important matters to discuss with Commander Bai, given his stern expression.

The door flew open with a kick while Bai Xiuming was reviewing case reports submitted by various Bright Mirror Bureau offices. He'd noticed something odd, staring at one particular file for a long time.

At the sound, he looked up. "Father?"

King Ming stormed up to the desk. "You little brat! You talked me into setting up the Dragon Gate at your manor, and I agreed. Where’s the fish?"

Bai Xiuming set down the file. "Father, you've got it backwards. If you hadn’t persuaded me to make that trip to the Dragon Clan for you, would you have agreed to help me secure the Dragon Gate?"

King Ming clicked his tongue. "Aren't you too old to be arguing with your father?"

Then he grew serious. "Did you find out what happened with the Dragon Clan to delay the Dragon Gate’s descent?"

The Dragon Gate that A Chan saw last night wasn’t the true one but a so-called Lesser Dragon Gate, crafted by the Dragon Clan.

While jumping through this gate wouldn’t turn one into a dragon, it could still enhance one’s bloodline, helping sea creatures advance further and helping the Dragon Clan identify promising talents.

However, the Dragon Gate wasn’t supposed to appear in the twelfth lunar month but around the tenth.

Bai Xiuming nodded. "The Azure Dragon Pearl that controlled the Dragon Gate was stolen. They called back several Dragon Kings, deliberated for over a month, and finally decided to use another dragon pearl as a substitute."

King Ming made a face, but considering it was the Dragon Clan, taking a month to fix it sounded about right.

After a moment of thought, he said, "If I remember right, that Azure Dragon Pearl was once seized by the Demon Emperor and set in his crown. After his death, the Dragon Clan took it back."

"So, demons did this? Why would they want the Azure Dragon Pearl?" Bai Xiuming asked.

King Ming stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Snatching the pearl from the Dragon Clan is far riskier than stealing the Demon Seal. I initially thought their last theft of the Demon Seal was to found their kingdom, but now it seems that might have been only part of the reason."

"Aside from both the Demon Seal and the Azure Dragon Pearl being items once used by the Demon Emperor, is there anything else special about them?" Bai Xiuming had handled the Demon Seal before but hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

"You’re human—you wouldn't feel it. These two items were by the Demon Emperor’s side for years, soaked in his energy. Regular demons can't use them, but if a demon sought to reach the Fifth Realm by following the Demon Emperor’s path, they’d be indispensable."

"Following the Demon Emperor’s path?" Bai Xiuming guessed. "The Demon Emperor’s last descendant is the so-called Princess Xue Yao. Is she about to break through?"

"Unlikely to be his descendant," King Ming waved that off. "I heard that before his death, the Demon Emperor cast a curse, using his descendants as payment. He severed the path forward for his descendants—none of them can reach the Fifth Realm."

"Who said that? Can we trust it?"

"Of course it’s reliable. Right when the Demon Emperor died, he had more than one surviving descendant, including some just a step away from the Fifth Realm. Other Fifth Realm demons also protected his descendants, but they all met with accidents. Now only one remains. What else could explain it?"

King Ming made sense. Bai Xiuming pondered, "If not his descendant, it must be someone close to them."

He looked at King Ming. "Should we stop them?"

King Ming didn’t answer directly. "Has the Dragon Clan found any traces of the Azure Dragon Pearl?"

Bai Xiuming shook his head. "Not when I left."

"This likely involves a Fifth Realm demon concealing the traces. It seems the demons still haven’t given up on the Demon Emperor’s lineage." After some thought, King Ming said, "Forget it. The culprit is likely in demon territory—going after them would be tough. We'll watch and wait."

Bai Xiuming nodded in agreement.

Then King Ming asked, "Have you taken the Nine Yuan Pill yet? How do you feel? When can you break through?"

Of the two Nine Yuan Pills the Prince of Xiling obtained from the demons, both were brought to the capital, and one was taken by Bai Xiuming.

Bai Xiuming sighed. "Father, it hasn’t even been a month since I took the pill. Do you have to be so impatient?"

King Ming glared. "Of course I’m impatient! Do you know how many juniors are eyeing my throne? If you don’t hurry, someone else might surpass you."

"Such as?"

King Ming thought seriously for a moment but couldn’t recall any names. Among the imperial clan, apart from Bai Xiuming, the strongest of the younger generation were only at the Third Realm—quite a gap, hardly motivating.

So he changed tack. "Even without rivals, you shouldn’t slack off. You should strive even harder."

"And then succeed your throne so you can roam free, is that it?" Bai Xiuming scoffed. "Dream on."

King Ming’s scheme exposed, his face darkened. "Unfilial son!"

Their conversation began with "unfilial son" and ended the same way.

Having walked into the trap himself, King Ming was forced by Bai Xiuming to handle several official matters at the Bright Mirror Bureau before sneaking away.

A Chan had no idea that the dragon carp she’d painstakingly chosen had been snatched from under King Ming’s nose.

This year’s New Year’s Eve feast, she was most looking forward to that fish.

Little did King Ming know, his son hadn’t just taken his fish—a few days later, he also found time to visit the palace. Shortly after leaving, the emperor sent a trove of women’s jewelry to the Bai manor.

That same day, A Chan received a uniquely styled New Year’s gift from Eunuch Ning: a box of hairpins.

Before A Chan could respond, Eunuch Ning quickly took his leave, as if afraid she might refuse the gift.

A Chan found the hairpins exquisitely made, loving every single one. Chen Hui, however, recognized that these were likely the work of imperial craftsmen.

Even the once ruthless and cold Lord Bai, whom she had first met, was now sending A Chan hairpins as gifts. Truly, live long enough, and the more novelties one could witness.

Time flew by, and soon it was Lunar New Year's Eve.

By noon, the handful of shops still open in the vicinity had almost all closed their doors. The once lively streets fell quiet, as most residents had already returned home to prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner.

In the past, A Chan had seen others celebrating the New Year with joy and festivity, but without family by her side and unable to fit in with humans, she had never experienced such happiness. This year, however, was different.

At midday, Chen Hui heated water for a bath. After washing, A Chan changed into the newly tailored "Hundred Fortunes" skirt—red with gold embroidery, scattered with characters for "fortune" of varying sizes.

She had been dying to wear this beautiful dress, but Hui Niang had insisted she wait until New Year's Eve. Now she understood why changing into new clothes for the New Year was so delightful—she, too, was thrilled.

After doing her hair, she selected a peach-blossom hairpin from the box of golden hairpins Bai Xiuming had gifted her, then added a red velvet flower to her hair. She admired herself in the mirror for a while, quite pleased.

"Done changing?" Chen Hui asked, knocking on the door.

A Chan opened it to find Hui Niang also dressed in new clothes, wearing a red velvet flower similar to hers.

"Done. What's next?" A Chan asked.

"Time to hang up the couplets."

Chen Hui carried a pot of homemade paste, while A Chan held the couplets. They made their way from the inner courtyard doors to the kitchen door, then to the shop's entrance.

One applied the paste, the other affixed the couplets, then stepping back afterward to check if they were aligned. Instead of door gods, they pasted an upside-down "fortune" character on the shop's door, meaning "fortune has arrived."

With the couplets up, Hui Niang hung a pair of red lanterns at the shop's entrance, to light at dusk and kept until after the Lantern Festival.

The most important task of the day completed, A Chan glanced at the shops next door. Boss Xu's shop had closed two days prior, but Boss Lü's shop remained unlocked.

A Chan whispered to Hui Niang, "Isn’t Boss Lü going home to celebrate with her parents?"

Chen Hui sighed softly, hesitating slightly. "She isn't planning to. I was thinking..."

Before she could finish, A Chan said, "Then we should invite her to celebrate with us. More people mean more fun, and we can even play card games."

Chen Hui smiled. "Alright, shall I ask her?"

"Let me do it." Without waiting for a reply, A Chan lifted her skirt and slipped into the neighboring shop.

Lv Ruhui descended from the second floor at the sound. Seeing A Chan, she smiled. "Miss Ji, your outfit is beautiful."

"Yours is lovely too," A Chan replied cheerfully before asking, "Are you free later?"

"I don't have anything planned."

"Would you like to join us for the New Year?"

"This..." Lv Ruhui was taken aback. She had never considered celebrating New Year's at someone else’s home.

In the past, she had celebrated either with her family or her husband's.

Before marriage, the New Year had been joyful—her mother bought her new outfits and hair ornaments, and her father taught her and Lv Ruxin to write New Year couplets, which they could hang outside their courtyard, if not the main gates. Occasionally, her elder brothers would tease them about whose writing was worse.

After marriage, she had become much busier—handling gifts for relatives and Liu Xiangze’s colleagues, supervising decorations, ensuring not a single detail was amiss to avoid ridicule.

Tiring as it was, those days had also been happy, filled with hope that life would only improve year after year.

Realizing she had drifted into memories, Lv Ruhui snapped out of it and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Of course," A Chan replied without hesitation.

"Then I'd be delighted," Lv Ruhui agreed with a smile.

Two days prior, her sister-in-law had visited, likely fearing another fight if she returned home for the New Year, and had gently persuaded her.

Her sister-in-law probably assumed she would spend the holiday with the Lü family. Lv Ruhui knew her parents had sent her as a gesture.

But she didn’t really want to go back.

She knew her parents’ temperaments. After the ugly fight last time, they would inevitably say something. If she retorted, it would ruin the holiday. Why bother?

For what might be her last New Year, she would spend it as happily as she pleased.

Lv Ruhui turned and fetched a small jar of wine from a shelf. "I specially bought this Qingzhou sweet wine a few days ago. I’ll bring it along."

"Great!" A Chan eyed the jar with interest. Previously, due to her poor health, Hui Niang had forbidden her from drinking. But now that she had recovered and it was the New Year, surely there would be no objections.

As Lv Ruhui picked up the jar, A Chan suddenly asked, "Boss Lü, I want to give someone a gift. Any recommendations?"

Hui Niang had said humans valued reciprocity—when someone gave a gift, one should return the gesture. The dragon carp had been her own effort, not a gift, but she adored the box of golden hairpins and didn’t want to return them, so she needed to prepare a reciprocal gift.

A Chan felt Boss Lü would have more expertise in this matter.

Lv Ruhui paused, intrigued. "Miss Ji, is the gift for a woman or a man?"

"A man."

"I see..." Lv Ruhui pondered. "I recently acquired a pair of jade pendants. They’re not antiques, but the quality is excellent. Would you like to see them?"

A Chan nodded. "Please."

Lv Ruhui went back upstairs and returned with an embroidered box, handing it to A Chan.

Inside lay a pair of translucent twin-fish jade pendants. As Boss Lü had said, their superior quality and craftsmanship were evident at a glance.

A Chan was tempted, but Lv Ruhui added, "No one has owned these yet. But if you’re giving them to an ordinary friend, they might not be entirely suitable."

Paired jade pendants were often used as tokens of love between couples. Unfamiliar with A Chan’s circumstances and having never heard Chen Hui mention any romantic interests, Lv Ruhui felt obliged to mention it.

"I’ll take them," A Chan declared without hesitation.

Boss Lü smiled and quoted a surprisingly low price.

Noticing A Chan’s surprise, she explained lightly, "It’s a New Year's discount, of course."

"Thank you, Boss Lü." A Chan didn't argue, agreeing to fetch the payment later.

With that, Lv Ruhui locked up her shop and, carrying the sweet wine, followed A Chan next door.