To the emperor, Zhao Jin Yu’s existence was as common as an ant, he could squeeze her to death with a move of his fingers…, therefore ever since a long time ago, he has been arrogant, despicable, even more carrying an aloof and remote superiority, looking down at her, even though he knew, Zhao Jin Yu can lock him up, and can starve him, as it should be, this girl has conceded and reached a compromise with him in the past, but from deep in his heart, he still didn’t feel she was a dangerous person, who could harm his life.
Only one day, he suddenly found, that sort of thinking was too arrogant.
Before the emperor slept he was still thinking of what dish Zhao Jin Yu made would be waiting for him, without any dignity he drooled, filled with expectations he fell asleep, certainly, after two days of arrests, almost all woman called Zhang Hong were together in the prison of the Ministry of Justice, but still she could not be seen…, however this did not cause any waves in the emperor’s cold as steel heart, just like a cat chasing a mouse, so long as she was in the capital city, this was a matter of sooner or later?
Who would have imagined, opening his eyes, it was dark all around, based on his previous experiences, he was certain he was once again locked in the jewellery box, beneath him was the silk handkerchief, silk soft and slippery to the touch, a rice-ball was also placed to the side of him, for him to enjoy as he wishes, but it was only these things, nothing more.
The emperor whose five senses were even more sensitive than before, felt there was something different this time, it was eerily silent all around…, so much so there wasn’t a sense of a being, as if there was only him in this area.
Where was this place? Where is that woman? A lot of questions rushed to his head, only very soon he stopped thinking about these…, he keenly sensed a threat approaching, a feeble vibration shook the ground accompanied by a disturbing squeaking sound, it was particularly distinct on such a quiet night.
“Rat?” The emperor guessed correctly, during the winter rats stayed in holes, but if they ate all their stored provisions they naturally would come out to find food, it was evident this group of rats had been starving for a long time, the smell of the rice-ball inside the jewellery box, made them lose their rationality.
If the emperor could see what was happening outside he would definitely be frightened, tens of fist sized grey rats gathered together rushing forth, in a flash they surrounded the jewellery box, they continuously used their nose to smell the fragrant rice-ball, without a word they began nibbling.
The emperor could hear the noise of rats nibbling on wood, kakaka, shashasha, he knew the rats were most likely rushing in for the rice-ball, he was a stone, those rats couldn’t hurt him…, but that thought of being with rats made him so nauseated he wanted to throw up.
That woman! The emperor’s forehead was grave and stern, a cold murderous intent in his eyes, chest moving up and down, anger surging up in violence, he felt his whole body could explode.
The rats weren’t weak, further still there was a lot of them, in less than a quarter of an hour, a crack appeared in the jewellery box, the rats excitedly squeaked, putting even more strength into it.
A rat finally stuck half its head in through the crack, seeing the spotless white stone, it showed a somewhat greedy glance, as if it also thought it was also food, opening its mouth to bite. The rat’s biting and nibbling was tentative, that’s why after it felt this was a stone it abandoned it. But the sticky saliva of the rat stuck to his skin, feeling disgusted goose bumps appeared on the emperor.
The anger in the emperor’s heart boiled over, moving and hopping, it knocked against the rat which had just stuck its head through the crack making it dizzy, the rat let out a bitter squeak, suddenly all the rats also squeaked out, the sound of extremely ear-piercing and unpleasant to hear, suddenly their biting and gnawing became frantic.
“Yi, what is that noise?” Just when the rats were about to bite apart the box, a man’s husky voice was heard outside the dried up well.
“It seems to be rats! What are they biting at?” Another man’s voice was heard, “It’s a jewellery box!”
His voice rose on the last notes, as if he was very excited.
“What jewellery box? Boy you didn’t see wrongly did you?”
“Hehe, Master Lu Er, I’m not good at anything else, but my eyes are extremely good, how else would I have seen Qian Shi is only chaste in appearance, and actually an immoral woman, allowing Master Lu Er to experience Qian Shi once right?”
“Hahaha, Zheng Xiao Liu, this old man likes your eyes.” The person called Master Lu Er spoke up to here, as if he was somewhat dissatisfied, “Boy your eyes for women is very good, but the fact is how have you made a shambles leading the way? We actually made our way to this abandoned temple.”
“Master Lu Er, I have wronged.” Zheng Xiao Liu had a simple-minded smile on his face, saying, “Master Lu Er, if you can help me out, I can go down to pick up that jewellery box and we can split the things inside?”
“What good things can be in this wild and mountainous place?” Master Lu Er clearly wasn’t very willing.
“Master Lu Er, maybe it’s a rare treasure? Who can tell?” Zheng Xiao Lu however had a good temper, completely pandering to his whims, “I will undo my waist band in a moment, pull on it to climb down, you solely have to focus on holding my belt, I can do everything else.”
Master Lu Er clearly did not want to, but under Zheng Xiao Lu’s eager consolation he agreed at last, saying, “Agree it first, if you take too long I won’t wait for you.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll go down then.”
The emperor frowned, of course he heard the conversation between the two people outside, but at this moment his mind didn’t care, because the rats finally bit through the box, a swarm rushed over, on his face, on his body, it ought to be said his body from top to bottom was licked by rats, stamped on, even being pushed down by grey hairy rats bottom…, the emperor’s face immediately became gloomy, an evil intent intimidating to people emitted from his body!
“Repulsive rats, move aside, that is mine!” Zheng Xiao Lu cried out while he climbed down.
The rats were scared of people after all, anyway the rice-ball had been eaten by them in a blink of an eye, and were not reluctant to leave.
Using the moonlight, Zheng Xiao Lu saw a spotless white smooth and round stone inside the jewellery box which had been gnawed at until only the frame remained, even though there were several rat footprints, but its splendour could not be concealed, again seeing the stone lay on a silk handkerchief, his mood altered, it must be a night pearl! Could it be that I will be rich this time?
Zheng Xiao Lu was even more excited, pulling at his belt he slowly walked down, as soon as his feet touched the ground he hurriedly reached out to place that stone in his palm. Master Lu Er who waited above saw Zheng Xiao Lu holding a stone in his hand, set off against the dim moonlight, it had an indescribable gentle lustre, he also couldn’t help be excited, “Xiao Liu, hurry up and let me look!”
Zheng Xiao Lu agreed, then carefully looked all around, seeing there was nothing else he placed the stone against his chest pulling at the belt to again climb up.
Master Lu Er took the stone, only glancing at it, the brightness in his eyes dimmed, saying, “What rubbish is this, it’s just an ordinary stone.” Immediately he dropped the stone on the ground…, the stone fell head first into the layer of snow, over this month it had continuously snowed, on the roofs, snow covered below the knees on the ground.
Zheng Xiao Liu showed a painful expression, at once he stooped to pick up the stone, crudely rubbing it with the back of his hand, saying, “Master Lu Er, look at it carefully, it’s so smooth and round, how can it be a common stone?” Zheng Xiao Liu reaction wasn’t strange at all, because this stone had a spirit, it had a kind of divine spirit flowing from it.
“Xiao Liu, I think you’ve gone crazy thinking about money, this stone is indeed extremely beautiful, but it is just a common stone, if you don’t believe me, you take it back and ask someone.” Master Lu Er rubbed his cold ears, impatiently saying, “Let’s leave quickly, this place is eerie, strangely frightening.”
Zheng Xiao Liu looked at the stone turning it over front to back, again feeling maybe he didn’t see it clearly, spitting onto it he rubbed it…, the emperor could bear anything, after all he was now a stone, waiting for these two people to find that he was just a common stone and place him back he would be free right? But when Zheng Xiao Liu’s spat covered his head, it was really more than he could bear, shouting, “Outrageous, are you courting death!”
“Oh mother, there’s a ghost!”
Zheng Xiao Liu threw the stone on the ground in fright, breaking in a run he ran back, as a result his ankle twisted and he fell flat on his face, back once again.
The emperor angrily jumped up ruthlessly knocking against his eyes, thinking of stabbing him
blind…, only sadly, just because Zheng Xiao Liu looked like a plebeian, he actually learned martial arts before, he still had a bit of skill, just now due to fright he had lost his balance, now however he had recovered some rationality, seeing the stone rush over, he extended his five fingers, using all his strength to grab it, the stone was firmly trapped in the palm of his hand.
“Hey, it’s actually a stone spirit!” Zheng Xiao Liu watched the stone struggle free of his hand, but again there was no way out, the remaining fear in his heart also completely disappeared, “You want to run? Hehe, with such weak strength, you can be considered unlucky falling into my hand!”
Master Lu Er had been so frightened just now both his legs trembled, he simply did not run anywhere, now he also recovered some consciousness, saying, “Stone spirit?”
Zheng Xiao Liu was in the middle of a fit of anger, and was thinking of some way to warn the stone, dropping the stone in the snow, the stone dropped in the layer of snow constantly struggling, only the snow was too thick he could not get out, watching he laughed hehe twice, without trouble he picked up a large stone from the side, “Watch me crush you to death!”
Black and green, the ice-cold and solid stone headed towards the emperor like this, the stone the emperor turned into was only a quail egg size, and compared to that stone Zheng Xiao Liu held in his hand, it was simply like the contrast of an elephant and an ant, appearing tiny and weak.
Zhao Jin Yu and Chen Rong left that abandoned temple and headed towards Tongzhou, this time they were going along the waterway, but nowadays it was cold and the ground frozen, a thin layer of ice on top the water surface, the usual boats simply was unable to travel along the route, only large boats could go through, wait for these types of boats usual take three days, Chen Rong thought, because the interrogation in the morning was so strict they had been late leaving the city, even if they hurry through the night they might not necessarily arrive at Tongzhou dock, besides when they arrive they still needed to wait…, that’s why having only travelled for two hours they stopped to find a tavern to stay in, thinking of resting well today.
Zhao Jin Yu felt ill at ease throughout this journey, even eating dinner she was a little listless.