A quarter of an hour later, Qin Chaoyang escorted Lin Sheng out of the eastern courtyard.

After saying his goodbyes, Lin Sheng walked into the rain with his paper umbrella, moving further and further away.

Qin Xiao stood by the window with his hands behind his back, his dark eyes staring blankly toward the southwest.

The carved window lattices were fully propped up, the sashes facing outward, and raindrops dripped onto them with a muffled pattering sound.

The breeze brought wisps of moisture, damp and cool, which dissipated most of the heat.

Qin Chaoyang walked back into the hall and prepared a new cup of tea for Qin Xiao, then handed it to him.

Qin Xiao accepted it and took a sip. He then placed the teacup on the white jade windowsill with a crisp clack.

“Is My Lord thinking about what Lin-daren said?” asked Qin Chaoyang.

Qin Xiao stroked the rim of the cup with his fingertip and asked: “What do you think about this matter?”

“This subordinate will be bold.” Qin Chaoyang gave a slight bow. “Just in case, this person should be eliminated.”

Lin Sheng had just made things very clear. He could not fully discern the identity and origin of that strange man, but he could see that there was indeed something miraculous about him.

Such a miracle could be an opportunity and a great blessing for the Great Ning Dynasty, but it could also be a great catastrophe!

Everything depended on that person’s intentions.

In addition, the other party’s destiny was capable of restraining Qin Xiao. Although it seemed like Qin Xiao had the upper hand now, the other’s destiny may just be stronger than his.

At that time, Qin Xiao would be at a disadvantage and could be ordered around with merely a gesture.

Qin Chaoyang was shocked to hear this, and his thoughts immediately converged with those of Lin Sheng.

This variable must be eliminated as soon as possible, just in case!

But he knew that Qin Xiao would most likely not accept his suggestion.

Because although their lord had a bad reputation, he had never been one to kill innocent people.

Sure enough, he heard Qin Xiao chuckle: “Such talk of ghosts and gods……”

With these words, Qin Chaoyang understood.

Their lord did not believe in the supernatural, and only used the “divination” of the Imperial Observatory as a political tool, so he would never kill a person whose guilt or innocence was unknown just for the reason of “mutual restraint.”

Qin Chaoyang continued: “This subordinate has already sent people to investigate. I believe that the identity of that person will soon be known.”

If it was discovered that the man was involved with other forces, given his personality, Qin Xiao would definitely not be soft-hearted.

Qin Xiao gave a hum of acknowledgment.

He had been concerned that the other party would once again control his body and make him act against his will, but Qin Xiao had tested him. Whether he was in physical contact with him while strangling that person’s neck or talking with him through the cell door, that loss of control never occurred again.

This meant that Chu Jiubian might not be able to control his body at will, and that what happened previously was just a special case.

That special case being when the other party nearly fell from the sky to his death.

This, Qin Xiao had also tested. He had really wanted to break the other’s neck at that time, but even under such a threat of death, Chu Jiubian still hadn’t controlled him.

So it seemed that Chu Jiubian might actually not be able to control people at all, and there was a different explanation for why he was controlled before.

In that case, considering the other party’s weak appearance, he probably wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble. Qin Xiao would just need to have someone keep an eye on him.

Qin Xiao disregarded Chu Jiubian for now. His dark eyes gazed out at the rain, and there was an unshakable gloom to his expression.

Could it be true that there would be no rain in the south?

*

*

Inside the prison, a young jailor brought a food box and a waterskin and handed them to Chu Jiubian.

The jailor smiled and said courteously: “Sir, Commander An has instructed that you be given good food and drink for the next few days. If you need anything, please feel free to ask me.”

Chu Jiubian had thought that after Qin Xiaos’ visit, An Wuji’s attitude toward him would change. That was, when he calmed down and realized that he was actually a fraud, he would no longer take him seriously.

But now, it seemed that the other party still harbored some “awe” toward his identity as a god.

This was good. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about not getting enough to eat for these two meals.

Chu Jiubian took the food box and sat down on the ground without putting on airs.

His role as the High Priest in his previous film had required him to be extremely slender, so he had been controlling his diet. With a height of 1.83 meters and a weight of less than 120 kilograms, his body was somewhat overly thin.

Now that he could eat normally, he was actually quite pleased.

However, when he opened the food box with great anticipation, it was like having a bucket of cold water poured over him.

The food box contained meat soup served in a ceramic bowl, along with brown rice porridge and some dried jerky.

When he was reading the novel, he’d vaguely felt that the development of this world was similar to the Warring States Period, but he hadn’t foreseen that the food would also reflect that time period.

At that time, iron ore was scarce and was only used to make weapons. It was naturally impossible to manufacture iron pots, so the people of this period used ceramic or bronze utensils for cooking.

Due to the difference in materials, food could only be steamed or stewed. 

Thus, there was no stir-fry in today’s Great Ning Dynasty, nor rich seasonings, and even the technology to grind wheat into flour was base and crude!

Chu Jiubian was silent for a while, then endured the burning pain in his throat as he ate this lunch that looked like a reduced-fat meal.

The meat soup had a faint taste of ginger, and the unique bitter, salty flavor of coarse salt, but basically nothing else.

But this meal was actually very good. Ordinary people might never be able to taste meat soup or brown rice porridge.

Thinking of this, he could no longer be hypocritical, and ate up all of the meat soup and brown rice porridge. He also gave the remaining dried meat to the jailor when he came to collect the food box.

In any case, his throat was injured and he couldn’t eat such solid food, so he might as well give it away as a favor.

The jailor obviously didn’t expect Chu Jiubian to give him such rare dried meat as a reward, and he knelt and kowtowed twice in gratitude.

Before Chu Jiubian had a chance to react, the jailor stood up with a beaming smile on his face and said: “Thank you, Immortal! Thank you, Immortal!”

Chu Jiubian said in surprise: “You called me…..Immortal?”

“Yes, ah,” the jailor said with shining eyes. “I just heard from the Imperial Guards that you are a god from heaven. You said it would rain and it rained, without even being a quarter of an hour off. You are truly divine!”

So that’s how it is. It was likely the two Imperial Guards who came together with An Wuji who spread the news.

Chiu Jiubian opened the System and took a look. The 0.5 points deducted for buying medicine had been restored!

This was just like having a pillow appear when he was sleepy. He didn’t have to do anything, yet his Faith Value increased on its own. 

Chu Jiubian had already conceived of a “godlike character” for himself, which was to appear cool and aloof on the outside, but gentle and kind on the inside.

Who could resist an unattainable beauty showing only you his kind and gentle side?

The bright moon hangs high in the sky, shining on me alone. If this wasn’t favoritism, then what was?

Chu Jiubian looked into the jailor’s bright eyes and smiled faintly:  “I’m trapped here for now, so I am in need of Little Brother’s care.”

An immortal was in trouble, but still smiled at him and called him “Little Brother” in a gentle voice, asking him to take care of him. Who could resist such a thing?

The young jailor felt a surge of heat rush to his head, and his face flushed.

He lowered his eyes in a fluster, but then saw the young man’s thin waist outlined by his wet clothes and was immediately embarrassed and at a loss.

“Y-you’re welcome. It’s my honor to take care of you,” the jailor stammered. “This younger one is called Tian Sheng. You can just call me Xiao Tian.”

Chu Jiubian said readily: “Okay. Thank you, Xiao Tian.”

Xiao Tian felt even more embarrassed, but also a bit exhilarated.

Good fortune!

The immortal remembered his name! This was truly a stroke of good fortune!

“Oh, right.” Tian Sheng had almost forgotten the main objective. “Lord Ning-wang also told me to get you some dry clothes. I’ll fetch them for you right away!”

After saying this, he didn’t even dare take another look at Chu Jiubian. He fled with the food box, even forgetting to close the cell door.

Chu Jiubian: “……”

He stared at the open cell door, paused, then walked to the wall and leaned against it with his arms folded. Xiao Tian returned with a blanket and a set of dry, coarse linen clothes in his arms.

He was initially given a shock when he saw the wide-open cell door, but when he found Chu Jiubian waiting obediently inside the cell, he was filled with even more gratitude.

This was a god, ah!

Not only did he have the ability to probe the secrets of heaven, he was also good-looking, soft-spoken, and honest and open-minded.

The points on the System panel increased by a slight 0.1, and Chu Jiubian blinked slowly.

It seemed that as one’s faith deepened, the corresponding points would increase significantly.

“Great God, these are the clothes Lord Ning-wang sent me to prepare for you. And this blanket.” Xiao Tian sent Chu Jiubian a quick glance, a little shy and nervous. “This is what I usually cover myself with at night. I washed it the day before yesterday and haven’t used it again yet. If you don’t mind, I’ll spread it on the ground for you so that you can rest more comfortably.”

What a pleasant surprise, ah.

Chu Jiubian approached him in two steps, showing the appropriate amount of concern as he said: “What will you use if you give me your blanket?”

Perhaps realizing that Chu Jiubian wasn’t looking down on him, Xiao Tian patted his chest excitedly and said: “This one has tough skin, so it’s no problem. I’ll lay this out for you right away.”

Having said this, he handed the clean clothes to Chu Jiubian and quickly set out the blanket for him.

After doing so, Xiao Tian didn’t stay long. He bowed and said: “Then I’ll take my leave. Please let me know if you need anything.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“It is my pleasure.”

The jailor locked the cell door and left quickly in high spirits, probably planning to vent his excitement somewhere private.

Chu Jiubian went to the spread-out blanket, set the clean clothes on it, and then peeled off the damp, sticky ones and tossed them aside.

He put all of the jingling jewelry on his body into the Space. In this era, such cheap industrial products were rare, good things, and he might be able to find a use for them someday.

He waited until the dampness on his skin dried before putting on his new clothes.

They were the most basic coarse linen clothes, a top and trousers, loose and baggy.

Materials were scarce here, and only royalty and nobles could afford to wear silk and satin. Therefore, Chu Jiubian hadn’t had high expectations for his new outfit. At least he wasn’t sticky and uncomfortable anymore.

He just hadn’t expected this linen clothing to be completely different from the linen worn in modern times. It was really rough. Just from wearing it, numerous red marks appeared on Chu Jiubian’s fair and tender skin.

He also had a well-proportioned body and exceptionally long legs, so when he put on these trousers, his ankles were exposed, and his fragile bones were prominent.

Chu Jiubian looked down, feeling helpless.

Never mind. Just having a change of clothes was good enough.

He took off his shoes, wiped his feet with his old clothes, and lay down on the blanket.

There was no cotton in the Great Ning Dynasty, so there were no quilts.

Princes and nobles could use fine silks and satins on their blankets to ensure softness and comfort, but ordinary people could only sew things like straw into the linen.

And this kind of blanket was thin, not much of a step up from laying directly on the ground. He was still uncomfortable, but it was better than nothing.

The rain outside grew heavier during the night and didn’t show any signs of stopping until noon the next day. On the contrary, gauging from the dark clouds, it looked as if an even bigger rainstorm was about to arrive.

Before the shift change, Xiao Tian brought Chu Jiubian’s lunch.

Presently, the “immortal” had changed into a coarse linen shirt, which had rubbed a circle of red marks into his neck. Coupled with the purple bruises from the Regent’s strangling the previous day, the sight was so shocking that Xiao Tian couldn’t help but touch his own neck.

But Chu Jiubian didn’t seem bothered by the pain. He took the lunch box and said to Xiao Tian: “It’s almost noon. Could you please ask Qin Xiao to come over for me?”

Xiao Tian seemed frightened when Chu Jiubian called Qin Xiao by his full name. His face paled, and he subconsciously glanced around.

After confirming that no one else had heard, he felt relieved, and said with some embarrassment: “Great God, I dare not disturb Lord Ning-wang.”

Qin Xiao had a notorious reputation. Chu Jiubian understood Xiao Tian’s difficulties.

So he didn’t intend to make things difficult for the other party, and said with a smile: “Okay, it doesn’t matter.”

Xiao Tian breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he truly wanted to have a good relationship with this immortal, he was more afraid of the decisive, ruthless Qin Xiao.

“Then I’ll leave first. After the shift change, another jailor will come to collect the food box,” he carefully explained.

Chu Jiubian gave a hum of acknowledgement and said: “You should wait until after noon, when the rain will stop.”

As soon as he finished speaking, thunder crashed outside. The rainstorm showed no signs of abating.

Xiao Tian gulped, his heart pounding. It was unknown whether he was startled by the thunder or excited about the possibility of encountering a miracle.

After Xiao Tian left, Chu Jiubian opened the lunch box. As expected, he found the same meat soup and brown rice porridge as usual.

He’d had this for dinner yesterday, for breakfast, and now for lunch…..

Chu Jiubian wasn’t too picky, but eating this every day was really hard on a modern person’s stomach.

It seemed that the first thing to do after leaving prison was to improve his food situation. Everything else could be set aside for the time being.

Just as he was lost in thought, two sets of footsteps sounded again, just like yesterday afternoon.

It seemed there had been no need to specially invite him. Wasn’t he here now?

A smile flashed in Chu Jiubian’s eyes, and he stood up, looking toward the cell door.

Very soon, the Regent, dressed in crimson-purple court robes, walked unhurriedly through the door. Qin Chaoyang stood silently a few steps behind him, holding two dripping oil paper umbrellas.

It was at the coronation ceremony yesterday that Qin Xiao had worn the black and gold python robes to display his status.

Now that Bai Lihong had taken the throne, he had changed into crimson-purple court robes that only officials of the first and second ranks could wear. As a “subject,” he was demonstrating his dutifulness and submission to the emperor, and also setting an example for the civil and military officials so that no one would dare to look down on the young emperor.

Of course, this simple action wouldn’t eliminate the ambitions of those officials. It simply conveyed a signal telling everyone that the Qin family and he, Ning-wang Qin Xiao, were behind the emperor. 

As long as Qin Xiao was in the Imperial Court, no one could take the throne away from Bai Lihong.

Chu Jiubian found Qin Xiao truly stunning today – for no other reason than that this crimson-purple color suited the man so well, making him look more imposing, and his face more handsome and stern.

Qin Xiao had been handling state affairs all morning. During the morning court session, Xiao Wendao, the Deputy Minister of Works, had taken advantage of the rain to bring up the issue of repairing the dam in Hexi Prefecture, and pleaded with the court for funding.

Hexi Prefecture was located at the junction of Northern Zhili and Henan, and had often suffered from flooding in previous years. The dam was repaired on a yearly basis, but every time the money from the court was passed down from hand to hand, only a small amount remained for repairs

Xiao Wendao, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Works, hailed from the Xiao family of Lin’an. He was the nephew of the Empress Dowager, and the one who benefited most from the water conservancy funds.

And when he brought up the allocation of funds, Minister of Revenue Su Sheng had immediately stood up to bewail the court’s poverty.

The two sides volleyed back and forth, seemingly engaged in a confrontation, but in the end, they all pointed their spearheads at Qin Xiao and demanded that he come up with a way to refill the Imperial Treasury.

What was the purpose of refilling the treasury?

Wasn’t it to make it easier to enrich themselves?

However, most of the Qin family’s power lay in the army, and they had practically no civil servants in the court. Qin Xiao couldn’t just say that he had no money, so he could only let the anger stew in his heart.

After morning court, he called several first-rank officials to the meeting hall to discuss ways to refill the treasury.

However, these wealthy old foxes evaded the topic and didn’t offer any helpful advice.

These old bastards who called themselves loyal ministers only cared about how many benefits the families and forces behind them stood to gain. As for the country and the common people, those were not things that needed to be considered.

After sending those people away, Qin Xiao was irritated and in no mood to eat lunch, so he just went out for some fresh air.

But as he walked, he ended up at the prison.

He glanced at the sky and saw that the rain showed no signs of stopping, so he decided to meet with Chu Jiubian and see what else he had to say.

Due to his lingering anger, he said bluntly upon seeing Chu Jiubian: “You lose.”

They hadn’t spoken yesterday of what would happen if Chu Jiubian lost, but they were both well aware that Qin Xiao would do with him as he pleased.

However, Chu Jiubian did not panic at these words as he had imagined. Instead, he gave an unflappable smile and said: “It’s not time yet, is it?”

Ancient people didn’t have a reliable method for telling time, but Chu Jiubian did.

From now until noon, there was still…..

“Ten, nine, eight……”

A countdown?

Qin Xiao’s eyes darkened slightly. Was this person so confident?

However, before he could think about it further, he noticed that when Chu Jiubian said “five,” the sound of the pouring rain miraculously weakened.

Then, the sound of rain became lighter and lighter, and a faint, dark light flashed in Qin Xiao’s gloomy eyes.

It wasn’t until Chu Jiubian’s hoarse voice uttered the word “one” that the rain stopped completely.

Water droplets condensed on the eaves and fell into puddles on the ground. The water reflected the fleeting clouds, where a ray of sunlight peeked through.

The rain had stopped. The sky was clear.

---

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Chapter 4 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 6