Chapter 579
The Snow Stopped
The Danbi Grand Music Hall was completely empty.
The usually bustling Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment district) was deserted today, with not a single person daring to come in and watch the spectacle.
Bai Li stood quietly in the center of the stage where the actors were supposed to be performing, still wearing that empty blue Taoist robe, her long hair tied up with a white jade hairpin.
She gently closed her eyes, her hands forming the Three Mountains Mudra in front of her, seemingly detached from worldly concerns, and softly recited the scriptures.
Feng Luan sat behind the official's desk at the Jiaofangsi, his face tense. He glanced at the entrance from time to time, and then stole a look at Bai Long, who was resting with his eyes closed in the first row: "It's already 9 PM. How much longer do we have to wait? We can't really wait until tomorrow."
Having said that, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the dagger pressed against his neck. Following the dagger upwards, he saw a slender, pale hand. Looking further up, he saw Jiao Tu, sitting cross-legged on the official desk in front of him: "You've coerced an official of the court, so the Secret Service can do whatever it wants?"
Jiao Tu patted Feng Luan's cheek with her dagger, a half-smile on her face: "You usually curse the eunuch faction every day, and you even curse them in the stories you write. How come when you actually meet the eunuch faction, you don't call me a eunuch faction anymore? Don't rush me. If it were any other day, I wouldn't bother to make things difficult for you, but today is a huge business opportunity."
Feng Luan asked in bewilderment, "A huge deal?"
Jiao Tu smiled and said, "Helping Lord Chen today might save your life in the future. Human life is more important than anything else. Isn't this a huge deal?"
At that moment, the clear sound of jade pendants came from the doorway, breaking the deathly silence in the hall.
All eyes turned to her, and there walked in with a stern face. She wore a crimson long dress with gold-embroidered begonia flowers and a phoenix tail, covered with a cloud-brocade shawl, and a red-gold phoenix crown with kingfisher feathers and pearls.
Qi Zhaoning stared intently at the stage, walking step by step closer, and looked up at the white carp before her. The simple Taoist robes on the stage contrasted sharply with the vibrant flowers below, as if they were two different worlds.
Qi Zhaoning gazed at Bai Li's face: "I am Chen Ji's fiancée. Chen Ji and my Qi family have already completed five of the six formalities of marriage. The engagement is settled and known throughout the world."
The white carp remained unmoved.
Qi Zhaoning said solemnly, "Now, for your sake, he has willingly fallen into depravity and joined the eunuch faction, abandoning his promising future and causing a great uproar throughout the city. He has given up the quasi-legitimate son of the Chen family on Fuyou Street, he has given up the Gufu Tower left to him by his mother, he has given up five hundred acres of fertile land, he has given up Plum Blossom Ferry, he has given up the salt permit business, and he has given up the Evening News. He has given up so much, risked his life, and carried the infamy of the eunuch faction just to save you, but what have you done for him?"
The white carp, whose face had remained as calm as a still lake, finally twitched its eyelids slightly.
Qi Zhaoning's voice was low and deep: "You know, I wouldn't be this sad even if I lost to Zhang Xia, because Zhang Xia had been with him for so long, risking his life in Guyuan, braving the White Tiger Hall of Xijing Road for him, and risking his life for him. But I'm not willing to lose to you. You clearly didn't do anything for him, so why should you make him give up everything? If you care about him, you should give him a way out and not ruin his future."
Jiao Tu exclaimed "Eh!" and corrected with a smile, "Third Miss Qi, I was the first to know Chen Ji. Back then, Chen Ji was just a peasant working at a clinic. The princess didn't look down on him and made clothes and scabbards for him..."
Qi Zhaoning ignored Jiao Tu and glared angrily at Feng Luan: "The prisoner Bai Li is here, the bidder has arrived, what are you waiting for? Sell him immediately!"
Feng Luan looked at Bai Long.
Qi Zhaoning hysterically retorted, "Why are you looking at him? You're an official from the Ministry of Rites. When did you start having to cater to the eunuch faction? My Qi family hasn't fallen yet. If he's got the guts, kill me. If he doesn't dare, just watch me buy the white carp."
The white dragon sat motionless, ignoring her.
Feng Luan hesitated for a moment, then immediately raised the gavel on his desk and slammed it down: "Sell it immediately, according to the old rules of the Jiaofangsi, the highest bidder wins!"
Qi Zhaoning immediately shouted, "Ten thousand taels!"
Bai Long calmly replied, "Fifty thousand taels."
Qi Zhaoning glared at Bai Long: "Sixty thousand taels."
With a smile, Jiao Tu took a string of Buddhist coins from her wrist: "This is my savings of twenty thousand taels over the years. Add it to Lord Bai Long's account, and it's seventy thousand taels!"
Qi Zhaoning raised his chin: "One hundred thousand taels!"
Now, Jiao Tu was at a loss. She looked at Yun Yang, but Yun Yang turned his head away.
She then looked at Bai Long, who calmly replied, "150,000 taels."
Jiao Tu gasped, exclaiming, "Lord White Dragon is so rich! Where did you get all this money from the people? I've never heard of you confiscating anyone's property recently. You must be from a wealthy family. I wonder which young master is behind that mask? Why don't you take it off and let me see if you're handsome..."
Before he could finish speaking, Qi Zhaoning shouted sharply, "Two hundred thousand taels!"
This time, neither Jiao Tu nor Bai Long spoke. Jiao Tu looked at Qi Zhaoning with suspicion: "Where did you get the silver? I need to verify your Buddhist coins."
Qi Zhaoning held up the Buddhist coin in his hand: "It's genuine."
Jiao Tu jumped down from the official table, came to Qi Zhaoning, took the Buddhist coin, and exclaimed in surprise after just touching it with her fingertip: "It's real! Lord Bailong, keep bidding, or Princess Baili will be bought."
But the white dragon remained silent.
Feng Luan looked left and right, hesitant and undecided.
Qi Zhaoning glared at him intently: "Highest bidder wins. Don't forget whose side you're on!"
At this moment, Feng Luan couldn't care less about anything else; he just wanted to end this farce that was making his scalp tingle. He picked up the gavel and raised it high...
But just then, a commotion arose outside the Danbi Grand Hall: "They're here!"
Qi Zhaoning shouted sternly, "Take the picture now!"
Feng Luan gritted his teeth and slapped the clapper, but Jiao Tu grabbed his wrist. Jiao Tu leaned forward and said in a low voice, "A lowly ninth-rank official like you dares to meddle in this kind of thing? If you dare to slap the clapper, I'll kill your whole family tonight. At worst, the Inner Minister will demote me to a gyrfalcon, but Chen Ji will definitely help me return to the Zodiac. When your whole family is reincarnated, I'll kill you all again."
The clamor of the crowd outside the Jiaofangsi gate was growing louder and louder, surging in like a tsunami.
"Viscount Wu Xiang, Viscount Wu Xiang is here!" "Make way, make way quickly!"
"My God, it really is him! That Qilin-patterned robe!"
"It's finally here!"
The Yanle Hutong outside the Danbi Grand Music Hall was already packed with people. The walls, rooftops, and even the second-floor windows of the shops facing the street were all crowded with a sea of people.
At first, people simply held up the evening paper and discussed the Qi family's scandal, angrily denouncing them.
But when Chen Ji's figure appeared at the end of the long street and broke through the crowd with an almost brute force, all the discussions instantly turned into exclamations and an even more intense surge.
There was no entourage, no carriages or ceremonial processions.
Only one person, dressed in a disheveled robe adorned with a qilin emblem, shot straight towards the gate of the Jiaofangsi (Imperial Music Bureau) against the flow of people, cleaving through the night.
Bai Li finally opened her eyes, her gaze following the red carpet in front of her to the end.
A red figure burst through the door, carrying with it the heavy night air. In those eyes, there was the sunrise, the sunset, the passing years, and the endless cycle of time.
The white carp's eyes finally lost their composure, and tears gently streamed down its face.
For seven days, she did not shed a single tear.
She had almost learned how to pretend to be a composed adult, but the moment she saw Chen Ji, everything crumbled.
Chen Ji looked at Feng Luan and asked in a deep voice, "How much have you bid?"
Feng Luan stammered, "Two...two hundred thousand taels."
Chen Ji stated unequivocally, "Two hundred and forty thousand taels."
Qi Zhaoning looked at Chen Ji: "Two hundred and fifty thousand taels."
Chen Ji frowned: "Miss Qi, why bother?"
Qi Zhaoning said sorrowfully, "What can I do? I've been longing for her, but it's not a good match. Chen Ji, today I'm going to beat you, and only you, so that you'll regret tonight for the rest of your life. You were just a little short of saving her, but you just couldn't!"
Just then, Shen Ye walked in from outside the door, laughing loudly: "Tonight is destined to be remembered by the world, how can it be without me, Shen Ye? Shen Ye, the top poet of the Jiangnan Tiger Hill Poetry Society and the top scholar of the first class in the thirty-second year of Jia Ning, offers 40,000 taels of silver for Chen Ji, totaling 280,000 taels of silver."
Qi Zhaoning stared intently at Chen Ji, his eyes fixed on him: "Two hundred and ninety thousand taels!"
The next moment, Liu Su also walked in from outside the door: "Liu Su, the head of the Plum Blossom Ferry, was taken in by the master and will pay the master 20,000 taels and 300,000 taels."
No one present expected that Liu Su would come.
Qi Zhaoning remained unfazed: "Three hundred and ten thousand taels!"
Jiao Tu pinched Yun Yang's waist: "If you don't help me today, don't ever speak to me again!"
Yun Yang said in a deep voice, "Add another 20,000 taels, that's 320,000 taels... That's all I have."
Qi Zhaoning glared around: "Three hundred and thirty thousand taels! Anyone else want to help her? Come on over!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man hurried over, looking travel-worn.
Chen Ji looked surprised. His uncle, Chen Lizun, walked along the red carpet to his side and handed him a string of Buddhist coins: "Here is fifty thousand taels. This is all the help your uncle can give you."
Seeing that people who had helped Chen Ji were coming to the Jiaofangsi one after another, Qi Zhaoning hysterically staked everything: "Five hundred and thirty thousand taels of silver, no one can take Bai Li away!"
But when she looked at Chen Ji, she found that there was no panic or anger in his expression, only a trace of pity: "Don't look at me like that, I don't need your pity!"
Chen Ji sighed, "Five hundred and forty thousand taels."
Qi Zhaoning couldn't believe it: "Where did you get so much silver? How could you have so much silver? If you had so much silver, why did you..."
At this moment, the Gelaohui (a secret society) also entered the Jiaofangsi (a government-run business), and said with a smile, "My Meihuadu (a branch of the Plum Blossom Ferry) deals in salt permits, taking one out of every thousand. Although this business doesn't earn much money right now, salt merchants have to deposit their salt permits with my Meihuadu account for seven days. Little by little, it accumulates, and eventually, more than two million taels are circulating in my hands. This money isn't idle; I lend some out at a monthly interest rate of three percent, and I've also invested some money with Huang Que to do some small business together... So, my boss is never short of money; you've all been deceived by his tricks."
Chen Ji calmly walked onto the stage and threw all the Buddhist coins on the ground.
He approached Bai Li, grasped her wrist, and whispered, "Come on, I'll take you home."
Qi Zhaoning collapsed to the ground: "You gave all your money, your entire future, to have her, and now you have nothing left. Chen Ji, you have nothing left now!"
They ignored the traces of the past.
He led the white carp away without looking back. One of them was wearing a bright red robe, and the other was wearing a blue Taoist robe. They walked one after the other across the long red carpet of the Jiaofangsi (Imperial Music Bureau) and through the crowded and long stream of people.
The crowd quieted down, parting to both sides like a tide. The dark, silent mass of people stood on either side, just like last year when Li Changge led the princess through that long, dark, narrow passage.
The heavy snow that blanketed Los Angeles for 268 days finally stopped. (End of Chapter)