Chapter 27 A Grand Drama

Chapter 27: A Grand Play

Arriving once again at the Embroidery Tower, Qin Jiao couldn’t quite describe how he felt. Perhaps it was the words on that note that made him uneasy; at this moment, the Embroidery Tower in his eyes seemed like a monster with an open mouth that could devour people, and those exquisite brocades were a sinister, glaring red like blood.

“Embroidery Tower hides a bloody case, eleven, nine, a fair soul is cut off.”

The first six characters of these twelve words are easy to understand, but “fair soul”... who is that fair soul, and how will it be severed?

Qin Jiao felt a chill down his back. Xiao Nianzhang had gone to dispatch constables, so Qin Jiao entered the Embroidery Tower first.

He took note that today the Embroidery Tower was spotless, and the flowers in front of the counter on the first floor had been replaced anew. Before he could look more carefully, Xun Xi came up to him, fanning herself.

“Isn’t this the young master from yesterday?” Today Xun Xi wore a pomegranate-red brocade dress with chupu motifs, with her hair in a cloud-like, disheveled style, exuding unparalleled beauty.

Qin Jiao glanced at Xun Xi’s hair bun and thought of the broken hairpin. “Miss Xun Xi, I have something...”

Qin Jiao started to speak, but before he could finish, he felt a dull pain at the back of his head!

“Ugh...” Qin Jiao grunted, then slowly fell backward.

“Young master, today I’m treating you to a grand play.”

The woman’s voice gradually became hazy, and Xun Xi’s face slowly blurred before Qin Jiao’s eyes. Only then did Qin Jiao belatedly realize that today the Embroidery Tower was not only spotless but also completely silent and empty.

————

Moonlight filtered through thin clouds, illuminating a hot spring. Steam rose in curling white smoke. A night breeze swept down from the mountains, stirring the stray hairs on Xie Nai’s forehead.

This was a natural hot spring to the north of the Lingnan Army encampment. To the left of the spring stood a red maple tree; perhaps because it was warmed by the nearby spring, its leaves were exceptionally vivid and beautiful.

A gentle night breeze sent the red maple leaves swaying down into the spring pool. One of them drifted onto Xie Nai’s half-open chest.

Xie Nai raised his hand to pick up the maple leaf. As he moved, his white inner robe pulled open further, revealing his well-defined physique and the horrifying scar beneath his left ribcage.

The scar was about the length of an adult’s forearm, running almost horizontally across Xie Nai’s whole breastbone. It was a deep red, sunk into his skin like a deep ravine.

The steam blurred Xie Nai’s features. Holding the wet red maple leaf, Xie Nai’s mind suddenly flashed an image of Qin Jiao’s face.

Their first meeting had been because of the Red Maple Pendant.

Xie Nai toyed with the red maple leaf in his hand. Suddenly, using the leaf as a brush, he moved his wrist slightly.

—“Xiao Jiu.”

After a moment, two words appeared faintly on the bluestone slab.

Xie Nai seemed lost in thought, not moving for a long while. The bluestone slab was slightly slanted, so before long the originally blurred “water characters” completely dissolved into a single blot, as if they had never existed.

Not far from the bluestone slab, a wooden tray was placed. The bottom of the tray was lined with soft brocade, and an indigo bracelet lay on it.

The hot spring water flowed slowly. Suddenly, Xie Nai, still underwater, suddenly changed his expression. A familiar piercing cold spread from the old wound beneath his left sternum. In seconds his face turned deathly pale and he broke into a cold sweat.

Covering the old wound under his sternum with one hand and grabbing the bracelet from the tray with the other, Xie Nai plunged his entire body into the hot spring.

The hot spring pool was not large. After Xie Nai had submerged for a while, the swirling steam gradually disappeared, as if frozen by ice.

After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Xie Nai emerged from the water. The red maple leaves that had been floating around him had turned even more vivid. If one looked closely, the leaves were covered with a thin layer of ice crystals and frost.

The indigo bracelet in Xie Nai’s hand was also dusted with white frost. He caressed the bracelet, his eyes unreadable.

“Coo coo coo!”

Suddenly, a golden-feathered carrier pigeon appeared, flapping its wings. Xie Nai reached out, and the pigeon obediently landed in his palm.

It was a message from Luo Bei.

Usually, when Xie Nai was recuperating in the hot spring, his guards would only protect the perimeter and not attend to him closely. Only in emergencies would they release the golden-feathered pigeon to send a message.

Xie Nai took down the short note and unfolded it. It read: “Report from the Governor’s office: The Qin residence caught fire, Little Master Qin has gone missing in the Embroidery Tower, and there are other murder cases in Nanzhou to be reported. Please return quickly, Your Highness.”

Qin Jiao is missing?

Xie Nai’s gaze suddenly turned sharp, and then he strode out of the hot spring pool.

At the Lingnan Army camp, Xiao Yue had already been pacing anxiously. “Your Highness!” Upon seeing Xie Nai appear, he rushed over.

Xie Nai’s voice was icy: “Talk as we walk.”

Xiao Yue: “Yes!”

Xiao Yue caught up to Xie Nai and reported the broken hairpin message and Qin Jiao’s disappearance. The more Xie Nai heard, the darker his expression became. Luo Bei and Luo Yue followed closely behind their master, their faces also grim.

This had all come too suddenly...

————

Cold, pain, weakness.

That was Qin Jiao’s first feeling upon waking after an unknown period of unconsciousness.

“Where is this?”

Qin Jiao opened his eyes groggily. He was now in an extremely luxurious room, bound hand and foot, with a piece of soft cloth stuffed in his mouth. A large rosewood screen inlaid with mother-of-pearl depicting human figures fully concealed him from view at the front of the room.

Qin Jiao struggled to sit up.

The dull pain from being knocked out still lingered at the back of his head. He tried to struggle free of the ropes but found that his body was extremely weak.

He had been drugged.

Qin Jiao’s heart sank as he realized he had lost control of his body. Then he thought of Xun Xi, whom he had seen before passing out, and suspicion arose in his mind.

Why did she knock him out?

Every time Qin Jiao tried to think, his head throbbed with pain. He didn’t know how long he had been lying on the ground, only that his whole body was ice-cold, as if he had fallen into an icy pit.

The human-figure screen in front blocked his view. Qin Jiao slowly crawled forward, trying to go around the screen to see more of the room.

When he finally managed to reach the screen, Qin Jiao was stunned.

The huge room was filled with red silk and flowers. Not far away, the carved bed draped with red gauze was scattered with peanuts and red dates, and half-burned wedding candles and the bright red “double happiness” character on the wall told Qin Jiao clearly — this was actually a wedding chamber.

At the same time, Qin Jiao noticed that the human-figure screen in front of him actually depicted erotic paintings — naked men and women entangled in various positions. The painter had been meticulous, even vividly capturing the expressions and postures of the figures in passion.

“This is insane.”

Qin Jiao blushed and turned his face away. But as he turned, he suddenly realized that his current position was very concealed; he was almost hidden in a corner of the wedding chamber. Qin Jiao could see the entire room, but it would be difficult for anyone in the room to find him.

Qin Jiao suddenly remembered Xun Xi’s words: “Today, I’m treating you to a grand play.” A chill ran down his spine, making his hair stand on end.

A grand play? What kind of play? The cutting off of a fair soul?

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