IDWBE -Chapter 578 Restoring the Meridians

“Master!”

Ye Jinyu was immediately struck in her heart by her master’s words and burst into tears.

In the past, she had been the Sacred Maiden of the Jizhao Nunnery, at the pinnacle of the ninth rank, with a status beyond ordinary people. Except for her master and the senior disciples inside the sect, she had never shown any deference to anyone else.

Because of this, she had indeed offended many.

Now, with her cultivation completely lost, she had become a weak woman, powerless, and how could she possibly survive in the nunnery in the future?

The more she thought, the heavier her heart felt.

“Listen to your master. Now that you have no cultivation, tangling with them is useless—you can’t fight or resist,”

Jingkuan sighed. “They’ll just hang you up, drop you around, nothing more.”

As she spoke, her head suddenly drooped. Her eyes, previously half-closed, snapped open as if she had realized something in that instant.

“Senior.”

Seeing her eyes dazed and her mouth muttering in the Sichuan dialect, seemingly unconscious, Ye Jinyu couldn’t help but call out.

“It’s nothing. Just recalling many past memories. When I was very young, my grandfather told me that one must be carefree in life,”

Jingkuan couldn’t help but smile. “After your master passed away, her ashes don’t need to be kept intact—just take a handful and put it in a jar. You know our old family residence in Sichuan; just bury them under the yew tree in front of my grandfather’s door when you return. As for your master’s ashes, follow the usual rules for sect leaders.”

Ye Jinyu was stunned.

Although her senior wasn’t the sect leader, she should still be interred properly in the Jizhao Nunnery shrine. How could it be done casually?

Jingyi sighed. “Listen to your senior. Now that Jizhao Nunnery has been ruined by my hands, even I have no face to be buried within the sect. But as the sect leader, I must still face the ancestors of Jizhao Nunnery.”

“Master…”

Ye Jinyu’s tears flowed without stopping.

“Don’t cry,” Jingyi gently wiped the tears from her eyes. “It would be embarrassing for others to see, wouldn’t it?”

Her hands, once delicate, were now rough and wrinkled. As she stroked Ye Jinyu’s face, Ye Jinyu was taken aback.

Throughout her life, her master had always been strict with her and never this gentle.

When her master withdrew her hand, Ye Jinyu even felt a bit of loss.

Just as she was about to speak, she noticed her master’s breathing quicken. Hearing her senior uncle chant a Buddha’s name, she hurriedly shouted, “Master!”

Outside the iron gate, Chen Xinluo heard her shout. Peeking through the iron window, he saw Jingyi’s fate uncertain, Jingkuan with palms pressed together in silence, and Ye Jinyu crying out loud.

Suddenly, a voice said, “Their cultivation is completely lost. Without someone to guide their qi and restore their meridians, they won’t last half an hour.”

Chen Xinluo turned and saw Yu Xiaochun, holding a knife in one hand, the other sleeve empty, leaning casually against the wall as he spoke.

Chen Xinluo gritted his teeth. “Brother Yu, please help guide their qi and save their lives.”

Yu Xiaochun shook his head. “If Chief Hong wants them dead, I won’t dare interfere.”

Chen Xinluo said, “Without the Prince’s order, they shouldn’t die yet.”

Yu Xiaochun scoffed. “Every action of Chief Hong represents the Prince. Do I need to say more?”

The Chief Hong is merely the Prince’s blade; where the blade strikes is determined not by its own will, but by the one wielding it.

So, for Chief Hong to target Jizhao Nunnery’s members means the Prince doesn’t want them alive.

“Prince once said that even killing must follow basic law. Now that we are officials, you should understand: whether it’s the imperial guards or the three departments, all matters follow the Prince’s edict and documents,” Chen Xinluo said sternly. “When Chief Hong entered this prison, he didn’t say a word. I’ve seen no edict or document from the Prince.”

Yu Xiaochun waved it off. “So what?”

Chen Xinluo snorted coldly. “You know in your heart; why ask further?”

“And what will you do?”

Yu Xiaochun sighed.

“Guide qi for the three of them, at least until I report back to the Prince,” Chen Xinluo said seriously. “I am the chief of the three departments, you are an assistant in the imperial guards. If they die mysteriously here without documentation, do you think the blame will fall more on the Chief Hong or on the one who saved them?”

His martial skills were good, but against Yu Xiaochun, a Grandmaster, Ye Jinyu at the pinnacle of the ninth rank was not a match.

To restore the meridians of the two former Grandmasters of Jizhao Nunnery, a Grandmaster’s assistance was required.

“If they truly die, it’s only their careers and incurring the Chief Hong’s wrath—at worst, a beating,” Yu Xiaochun frowned. “Better the lesser of two evils. Open the door.”

“Thank you.”

Chen Xinluo exhaled and hurriedly ordered the prison warden to open the door.

Once opened, he stepped inside, turning to call Yu Xiaochun in, but suddenly heard an outcry. Turning, he saw Yu Xiaochun already inside the cell, one palm on Jingyi’s back. Thinking Yu Xiaochun intended harm, Ye Jinyu attacked, striking and biting.

“Do you want your master to die faster?”

Ye Jinyu’s actions, powerless as she was, would barely affect a normal person, let alone a Grandmaster like Yu Xiaochun. Yet her behavior was a bit irritating to him.

Chen Xinluo stepped forward to hold Ye Jinyu, coldly saying, “Miss Ye, you should know who he is. Your master has lost all cultivation. If we wanted to harm her, we wouldn’t need this.”

“Who knows what you’re plotting!”

Before she could finish, she heard a muffled groan. Jingyi’s face gradually regained color. When she tried to ask Yu Xiaochun, she realized his one arm had already moved to Jingkuan’s back.

Seeing her senior Jingkuan’s face no longer pale, she felt a warm current spread through her body. She couldn’t tell if it was an illusion, but her meridians had been restored, and faint internal power flowed again.

Suddenly, the hand lifted, and she heard the clanging of the door as Yu Xiaochun and Chen Xinluo exited. The gate closed behind them.

She hurried forward. “Master, Senior, are you alright?”

“Amitabha,” Jingyi frowned. “I can’t understand them at all.”

The northwest wind howled through every alley of Ankang City, carrying swirling snow that blanketed the world in white.

Inside Chunxiang Tower, warmth and liveliness reigned.

In the large side room, Butcher Jiang’s face was flushed from drinking. He said to Zhu Ruorong, equally unsteady, “It’s so late, you still not going home? Your wife didn’t come looking for you, did she?”

Zhu Ruorong, hiccupping from the wine, slurred, “I’ll stay here tonight. Let her try and stop me!”

Li Sanniang scolded, “Enough bragging. Time to go. If no one’s picking you up, go together. Drinking this much and freezing outside? Not worth it.”

In the dead of winter, only entertainment districts stayed open all night, which was why they drank there. Otherwise, she wouldn’t bother coming to such a filthy place.

Zhu Ruorong waved his hand. “Sanniang, I’m happy today. The ticket money’s worth it. Finally saw what real wealth is. Not the emperor’s lunch, but that broken jade pendant—it sold for seventy thousand taels? People really don’t treat money like money—how dare they bid like that?”

Li Sanniang snorted, “It was worn by the Regent Prince. How’s that broken pendant?”

“Oh, my bad,” Zhu Ruorong laughed, sobering halfway. “Don’t tell anyone. I just think the pendant is too expensive.”

Wang Xiaoshuan sighed. “You don’t understand. The pendant itself isn’t the point. Its meaning is. Tang Jiyu made it clear: wearing it, you never need to kneel to anyone. Too bad I don’t have the silver; otherwise, it’d be a family heirloom.”

Li Sanniang sighed. “Exactly. And once it’s bought, your fame spreads across the land. Even if someone wants to cause trouble later, they’d think twice.”

“True,” Old Dao, who had come with Wang Xiaoshuan, spoke boldly after drinking too much. “For the rich, seventy thousand taels is just a month’s expenses. Only we poor folks care so much.”

“Enough, don’t overthink. Real rich people go for the emperor’s lunch,” Wang Xun yawned. “Like Jin Buhuan, every raise starts at fifty thousand taels. Crazy rich.”

Butcher Jiang proudly said, “So what? Still lost to our Wang and Liang families.”

After a woman fed Wang Xun a slice of tangerine, he continued, “If not for us pooling together, we wouldn’t have beaten him.”

Liang Qingshu, silent until now, sighed. “Indeed, the Jin family is the richest in Jizhou. Single-handedly offering so much silver—astonishing.”

The Liang family, a prominent household in Sanhe, was worth less than Wang Cheng, but as Liang’s chief steward, he knew their wealth well. Compared to Jin Buhuan, they simply couldn’t compete.

Fourteen million taels in cash—Liang’s family, even if dismantled, couldn’t produce that much!

Sanhe people succeeded because their wealthy families pooled together.

“And the Xiao family from Jingzhou—Xiao Chuhong, a woman, but no less than any man,”

Wang Xun admired. “She bid up to nine million taels and didn’t stop until eleven million. If she had teamed with Jin Buhuan, we Sanhe people wouldn’t have a chance.”

Liang Qingshu shook his head. “Impossible. If they did that, they’d offend the Prince.”

Li Sanniang laughed. “Our Sanhe people are united. They are from different regions. Teaming up would be seen as collusion, and neither the court nor the Prince would tolerate it.”

After years as Sanhe suppliers, she understood the inner workings well.

“Exactly,” Liang Qingshu added, glancing at Zhang Shun teasing the girl in his arms. “Zhang, I hear the Xiao family likes your eldest son?”

Zhang Shun cupped his hands. “Steward Liang, that shouldn’t be said lightly.”

Liang Qingshu smiled. “What’s there to hide? Xiao Chuhong spent over a hundred thousand taels to buy the priciest house from Tian Sishi and gave it to Ye Qiu. Everyone in Ankang City knows.”

Zhang Shun sighed. “Our eldest son’s temper is known. Better speak carefully.”

He was an elder of the Ye family and understood both Ye Chen and Ye Qiu well.

Ye Chen had a big temper, but mistakes meant a scolding, maybe a punishment, possibly even a small reward like a sweet date. Very businesslike.

Ye Qiu was different. No one could read his expression—happiness or anger. A wrong word might even earn a sword through the heart.

So with the eldest son of this family, the best strategy is to say and do as little as possible. Mistakes could be deadly.

“In short, Xiao Chuhong is extraordinary,” Hearing Zhang Shun, Liang Qingshu realized Ye Qiu’s temperament. Moreover, as a Grandmaster, it was wise not to provoke him and to avoid the topic. “Compared to the Jin family, she’s not much worse.”

At daybreak, Lin Yi got up, ate breakfast, and went straight to the palace.

In the Taihe Hall, officials crowded around, listening intently as Gan Mao reported the silver gained from yesterday’s auction.

Hearing the number—48 million—everyone was utterly shocked!

For reference, the annual taxes of the Daliang Kingdom amounted to only a few million taels!

No one expected the Delong Emperor to be so valuable!

If they’d known there was this much silver, they wouldn’t have worried about etiquette or face—they would have done it long ago!

One auction alone equaled over a decade of tax revenue!

“Gan Mao.”

Lin Yi himself was stunned.

“I am present,” Gan Mao stepped forward and spoke loudly. Having money in his pocket made his voice much louder.

“Are you sure the calculations are correct?”

Lin Yi asked again seriously.

“I would never deceive Your Highness,”

After Hong Ying retrieved the slips from his hands, Gan Mao continued, “Please judge for yourself, Your Highness.”

“Damn, there really is this much money,” Lin Yi said to Gan Mao, “From now on, if you dare say we’re short on funds again, I’ll beat you to death.”

Finally, he could be truly extravagant!

Previously, when the treasury was empty, he had been cautious with Gan Mao, afraid the Ministry of Revenue’s clerk would quit on the spot.