Chapter 58

Chapter 58: The Fifty-Eighth Episode

Lian Cheng originally intended to run toward Yiqiu, but he had just come from Penglai Pavilion to the Orchid Garden. There were no large boxes of gold and silver being carried into Yiqiu, and Lian Xiusheng was not in the courtyard either. Man Cai and Jin Cai were also absent...

Right, why hadn't he thought of it before? Usually, they didn't bring servants to the office. If Lian Xiusheng really hadn't left the office yet, then why weren't both of them here?

There was only one truth!

Lian Cheng ran swiftly toward the most hidden side gate of the Lian residence. Thanks to practicing swordsmanship with Qiu Fang every day, his stamina had improved far more than during his university days. He ran from the Orchid Garden to the side gate without stopping to catch his breath. When he arrived, he wasn't even panting. He grabbed two servants carrying lacquered wooden boxes and asked where Lian Xiusheng was.

"Third Brother is looking for Sixth Brother? Sixth Brother was just called away by Fu Guang from the Master's side. He won't be back for a while."

Lian Cheng walked behind them and asked, "May I inspect these boxes?"

"Third Brother, it's not that we're disobeying you, but these items have been sealed by Sixth Brother himself. If you want to see them, perhaps you could wait until Sixth Brother returns. We dare not make this decision."

Lian Cheng expressed understanding and sat down in the corridor, watching a group of people carry things in and out. The sky grew dark, lanterns were lit everywhere, and Huqiu came walking like a mountain, holding a lantern in one hand and a peach-colored silk-lined cloak in the other. He draped the cloak over Lian Cheng's shoulders. "Two young mistresses sent me to find you, asking why you haven't returned yet."

Lian Cheng took the lantern. "No need for you to wait for me. Go back first. I still have something to ask Sixth Brother."

As Huqiu left, Lian Cheng added, "If Li San hasn't left yet, find Tong Xue and give him two taels of silver. His family can't make ends meet right now. Give him the silver first so he can have a hot meal."

Huqiu acknowledged and left quickly. By then, the boxes had finally been moved, and the room was locked. Lian Cheng waited for quite a while longer, but Lian Xiusheng never showed up.

There was no other way. In for a penny, in for a pound. A man who wants to achieve great things must not be bound by trivial matters—

Lian Cheng wrapped his cloak tightly, moved with light, catlike steps, and slowly crept to the door of a rarely used storeroom in the deep courtyard. He was stunned by the lock on the door, which was bigger than his own head. He tried to lift it incredulously—it was very heavy. Were they really guarding against theft this tightly within their own home?

"Who's there?!" A shout came from around the corner, followed by two men dressed as clerks walking out.

They scanned Lian Cheng's attire from head to toe, then bowed. "It's the young master of the household. Forgive our rudeness earlier. Please don't take offense."

Lian Cheng cleared his throat and pointed at the lock on the door. "I was out for a stroll after dinner and saw this oddly large lock. I got lost staring at it."

One of the clerks said, "Since Vice Minister Lian took office, he has thoroughly cleaned up everything inside and out. Even old accumulated items were dug out, inventoried, and stored. To avoid the chaos that occurred during the previous official's tenure, Vice Minister Lian ordered us to forge many different locks. This lock looks clunky, but the key is extremely delicate. Unless you dismantle the door, it's not easy to get in."

Damn, he's really getting things done!

Lian Cheng thought this in his mind but didn't show it on his face. He placed one hand behind his back, nodded approvingly, then raised his sleeve. "Could you demonstrate it for me?"

The two men exchanged glances and didn't respond.

Lian Cheng raised his sleeve again and produced two ingots of silver.

Money is great. Money makes the world go round. Lian Cheng gave the two men ten taels of silver in exchange for the key, promising that he would just go in for a look and come right out.

After he carefully stepped inside, the two men closed the door from outside and locked it again.

Once inside, Lian Cheng raised his lantern and shone it in all directions. He was shocked by what he saw. He quickly walked over to the piles of boxes, randomly tore off several seals, pried open a lid, set it gently on the ground, and examined the contents closely with his lantern.

Ah, his eyes! He couldn't see! Lian Cheng had never seen so much gold even in his own treasury. Pieces of gold of varying sizes, mixed with large, smooth, warm pearls... if he took one now, would anyone notice?

Hey, who hacked into his brain? How could he have the idea of taking someone else's property?

Lian Cheng closed that box, resealed it, and went to look at others. This time, he opened seven or eight boxes in one go. Two were filled with jade, two with bronze artifacts, and the rest were full of calligraphy and paintings.

The Emperor's collection of paintings and calligraphy should be top-notch. Although Prince Hui didn't seem like a man of taste, you can't judge a book by its cover. Moreover, wealthy families often hired professionals and amateurs to appraise and critique antiques and famous works.

So Lian Cheng set the lantern aside, sat cross-legged on the floor, and unrolled scroll after scroll. The first calligraphy piece he opened was signed by someone he didn't recognize, but the brushwork had the vigor and structure of Wang Xizhi.

Lian Cheng held the scroll and gasped. Who could resist being tempted by this? He had set too high a standard for his younger brother.

After looking at the first piece, Lian Cheng carefully rolled it up and set it down. But then he felt he was treating it too lightly, so he tucked it into his chest.

He was just holding it, not taking it away.

Lian Cheng couldn't bear to skip any scroll. He went through the contents of both boxes of paintings and calligraphy. The Dayao dynasty never existed in history, but these works were all too familiar to him. There were Li Si's "Inscription on Mount Tai," Yan Zhenqing's "Draft for the Eulogy of Nephew," Huai Su's "Autobiographical Essay," Zhao Mengfu's "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River," and so on. The paintings included works by Gu Kaizhi, Wu Daozi, Wang Mian, Qiu Ying, and others.

Lian Cheng had a broad appreciation for such things and could rattle off eight hundred words of praise for each one. He had thought there might be a roomful of good stuff, but he never expected it to be this good!

He became so engrossed that he completely lost track of time. When he heard voices outside, it was too late to leave. The two clerks hadn't expected the commissioner to be in there for so long, as if he had died, nor had they expected Prince Hui to arrive with Vice Minister Lian. This made it impossible for them to use the brother excuse to cover things up.

-

Prince Hui looked at the two clerks, heads bowed and feet together, and laughed heartily. Turning to Lian Xiusheng, he said, "Youth is wonderful. In the middle of the night, I feel cold and shivery, but these two are sweating buckets."

Lian Xiusheng agreed with Prince Hui and told the two men to unlock the door.

The two clerks first wiped their incessant sweat, then together opened the door. They had braced themselves for a few beatings over the silver, but the storeroom was pitch black, all the boxes were still sealed, and there was no trace of anyone.

Lian Xiusheng bowed and invited Prince Hui to enter first, following behind. The two clerks lit candles and lanterns in the room, illuminating the surroundings. After they left, the only people remaining in the storeroom began to speak.

Prince Hui surveyed the room full of boxes, his heart feeling heavy. He turned to Lian Xiusheng and forced a smile. "I plan to host a few banquets at my residence in the coming days. Will you come?"

"If Your Highness invites, how dare I, your subordinate, decline? But I have many official duties and fear I won't be able to spare the time. If Your Highness sends an invitation, I'll have someone pack some fine gifts and send them to the Prince's mansion. I hope you'll understand." Lian Xiusheng respectfully declined.

"You're a favorite of the Emperor. Whether I understand or not doesn't matter much to you. I need you to understand me," Prince Hui said, stumbling forward a few steps. "These old treasures of mine..."

Lian Xiusheng stood behind him. "These items are just passing through my hands for official registration. Your Highness is the Emperor's elder brother. Once the inventory is complete, everything will be returned to the Prince's mansion. Please don't worry yourself sick over this matter."

"I specially built a courtyard to store them, to give them a good home. If your third brother hadn't stayed overnight, how could I have suffered this unexpected disaster?" Prince Hui waved his sleeves, his plump face reddening as he dropped the pretense.

The other party was blaming his third brother, which displeased Lian Xiusheng. "If the young prince hadn't insisted, how would my third brother have stayed overnight at the Prince's mansion?"

"My son invites him, and he stays?"

Lian Xiusheng said calmly, "My third brother has always been gentle and sensible. He wouldn't dare defy the young prince's orders."

Li Po snorted like an old cow. He raised both hands above his head and waved them wildly. "Nonsense! Everyone in the capital knows that Lian Cheng treats my son like a little lapdog!"

Lian Cheng was hiding behind a box not far away, secretly watching Prince Hui jump around in anger at Lian Xiusheng. After venting his temper, Prince Hui returned to his previous manner and tone, talking to Lian Xiusheng, repeatedly asking him not to report these treasures. "After all, they were dug up from my residence—they are mine." Lian Cheng stared wide-eyed, waiting for Lian Xiusheng's reply. The latter said, "I will consider Your Highness's proposal."

Having achieved his goal, Li Po swaggered off. Lian Xiusheng, however, did not leave immediately. Instead, he said, "Come out?"

?

Does he have X-ray vision?

Is this actually a fantasy historical novel?

Lian Cheng gritted his teeth and stood up from behind the box. "How did you know there was someone else in this room?"

Seeing it was his third brother, Lian Xiusheng asked, "Why is Third Brother here?"

"Who else could it be?" Lian Cheng walked over. "I heard that you dug up quite a few good things from the underground of the west courtyard where the fire started in the Prince's mansion. I wanted to come and take a look. I waited for you for a long time, but when

"Rustle," "Rustle, rustle."

Fortune is fickle. After taking two steps, the scrolls that Lian Cheng had forgotten fell out of his clothes.

Among them, a calligraphy piece rolled straight from his feet to the threshold, spreading out completely. It was Zhao Mengfu's "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River."

Lian Xiusheng's gaze gradually moved from the calligraphy to his third brother's face. His third brother was completely red, still dressed in peach-red clothes. At this moment, he looked like a blooming crabapple flower, a thoroughly ripe, overripe peach.

Lian Cheng dared not look back at Lian Xiusheng. Flustered, he crouched down to pick up the scattered scrolls, speaking incoherently: "Wealth and honor are what men desire; paintings and calligraphy are what gentlemen desire. I just had a look and forgot to put them back. Don't do what I did. I must be haunted by a ghost today, you..."

Lian Xiusheng, without his third brother realizing, had crouched down in front of him, rolled up the "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River," grabbed his third brother's wrist, and placed it in his hand. "If third brother wants it, I'll just ask His Majesty for it."

"Would he give it to you?!" Lian Cheng was both surprised and delighted.

His third brother's face was still pink, like lotus petals floating on a pond, dewy and delicate, with bright, charming eyes. Lian Xiusheng's heart melted, sweet crumbs spilling inside.

He hummed, half-closing his eyes to suppress the urge to tackle his third brother and bite him, and asked: "But I have no recent merits, so it's not easy to ask for a reward. What can third brother use to reward me?"

Lian Cheng was delighted and said with a grin: "If sixth brother wants something, just say it. Whatever I have, I can give to you."

Lian Xiusheng lifted his eyes and stared intently at his third brother, saying he wanted his third brother to help him with that thing.

"..." The smile on Lian Cheng's face turned into a hard mud mask.

But Lian Xiusheng simply helped his third brother up and explained: "Third brother, don't overthink it. There are few things in the world I am not good at, but this one thing I have yet to master. If third brother knows how, could you teach me? If third brother is unwilling, I intend to spend silver to bring a few courtesans and young male entertainers home to practice daily."

Courtesans and young male entertainers? Daily practice? What about proper business? Don't you know that a thousand-li dyke can be destroyed by an ant hole?

"No," Lian Cheng came to his senses and gripped his brother's forearm. "I'll teach you, then."

Lian Xiusheng made a bow to Lian Cheng. "Your little brother thanks you, Third Brother."

Lian Cheng felt very conflicted inside, but he could understand. No one is perfect. Who would have thought Lian Xiusheng didn't know how to jerk off?

Oh well, being the older brother, it's no big deal to teach his younger brother a few things. Holding a scroll behind his back, he said seriously: "Recently, neither of us has free time. We can schedule the lesson for next month's day off. What do you think?"

Lian Xiusheng said he would listen to his third brother.