Jiang Zhao pushed open the door and entered the Buwenzhai.
As soon as she stepped into the shop, a chill came over her. It was sunny outside, but the interior was extremely dim.
The shop was deathly quiet. Only an oil lamp on the table emitted a faint light. The faces of the paper figurines of boys and girls were illuminated by the candlelight, looking so eerie that they seemed to come to life the next second.
Suddenly, a pale hand silently landed on Jiang Zhao's shoulder.
If it were someone else, they would probably have been scared out of their wits. In contrast, Jiang Zhao didn't even blink an eye.
"Fu Shengyan, aren't you bored?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a man emerged from behind Jiang Zhao. He was wearing a loose gray robe. He was so thin that it seemed a gust of wind could blow him away.
He had a pair of long and slender phoenix eyes. His face was an ashen gray from lack of sunlight for a long time. His chin was pointed, and the whole person exuded a creepy ghostly aura.
She had known Fu Shengyan for many years and they were barely considered partners.
Fu Shengyan and she recommended customers to each other. Since Fu Shengyan was in the business related to the dead, he often encountered some strange things. He would then introduce Jiang Zhao to those people.
And the coffins and sacrificial items in her morgue were all bought from Fu Shengyan.
Jiang Zhao came to him this time to buy a wooden puppet to resolve the problem for Jiang Yunxi.
"Here, this is fifty taels. I want the wooden puppet." Jiang Zhao took out a money bag and threw it to Fu Shengyan.
Fu Shengyan caught it and weighed it in his hand. Then he took a lifelike little puppet tied with a red thread from the cabinet: "You're quite generous this time."
Of course, Jiang Zhao wouldn't tell Fu Shengyan that Jiang Yunxi had given her a full one thousand taels.
All the items sold in this shop were made by Fu Shengyan himself. Despite his frail appearance, he had a pair of dexterous hands.
Jiang Zhao put away the wooden puppet and casually asked, "Are there any interesting things happening in the capital recently?"
Although no one knew where Fu Shengyan came from or where he was going, he always had first - hand information about all kinds of strange and gossiping news in the capital.
Fu Shengyan leaned forward, getting closer to Jiang Zhao, and said in a low voice, "You've come just in time. I really heard an interesting story."
"Tell me." Jiang Zhao said succinctly.
"Not asking for much, just five taels of silver." It had to be said that Fu Shengyan was a money - grubber, only interested in money.
Jiang Zhao rolled her eyes but still took out the silver from her bosom and slapped it into Fu Shengyan's hand: "Hurry up and tell me."
Fu Shengyan stuffed the silver into his pocket satisfactorily and pulled Jiang Zhao to sit down: "Recently, those noble ladies have been flocking to a temple on the outskirts of the city. They say there's a very powerful spiritual Buddha enshrined there."
"They claim that after worshiping it, they can stay young forever, recover from illness and avoid disasters. Don't you think it sounds ridiculous?"
Jiang Zhao's hand holding the teacup paused. Stay young forever...
"Although it sounds absurd, it's said that quite a few ladies have really become much younger, and their husbands are so infatuated with them that they don't even visit their concubines' rooms."
Jiang Zhao had a general idea in mind. Presumably, Lady Wang must have also heard the rumor and gone to worship that so - called spiritual Buddha.
"Do you know where that temple is? Where does the spiritual Buddha enshrined there come from?"
"Also, who was the first person to worship that Buddha? Are the family members still in good health?"
Fu Shengyan slightly curled his lips and leaned back on the chair in a slovenly manner: "I don't know about this."
"If you really want to know, it's not impossible, but you have to add more money." Fu Shengyan rubbed his fingers.
Jiang Zhao drank the tea: "I won't treat you badly if it's done. Help me find out about it."
Fu Shengyan nodded in agreement: "But I still have to advise you. A so - called spiritual Buddha with such an unclear origin and immediate effects is mostly not on the right path. You should be careful."
"The capital has been restless recently. There have been many more dead people. I'm almost too busy to cope. It's better for you to go out less."
Jiang Zhao nodded thoughtfully.
...
After leaving the Buwenzhai, Jiang Zhao didn't take a carriage. She strolled alone on the street, holding a bunch of candied haws in her hand.
Just as she was about to put the candied haws into her mouth, she suddenly heard a whistling sound behind her.
Relying on her perception of danger, Jiang Zhao instinctively twisted her body to dodge.
"Clang!" An arrow was stuck in the tree in front of the spot where she had just been standing. Most of the arrow shaft had penetrated into the tree trunk, indicating how strong the person who shot it was.
If she hadn't dodged, this arrow would have pierced through her body and taken her life.
Then, the crowd let out shrill screams and scattered in all directions.
Jiang Zhao looked back and saw a tall and straight man in red sitting on a black horse in the distance.
And that arrow was shot by him.
She couldn't see the man's face clearly, but their eyes met. His brown eyes were like those of a falcon, intimidating.
Jiang Zhao watched helplessly as the man drew out another arrow, nocked it on the bow and pulled the string.
This time, the man was aiming at her forehead.
"My lord, you can't do this!" The man's attendant rushed up quickly to stop him and pleaded with a crying voice, "My lord, this is on the street! If someone really dies, how will you explain it to the prince and the eldest young master when you go back?"
"Get out of the way!" The man kicked the attendant away.
There were tears in the man's blood - shot eyes, and his hand holding the bow was trembling slightly if you looked closely.
Then he suddenly let go of the string.
The attendant beside him covered his face tremblingly. It was all over now...
Jiang Zhao knew that she probably couldn't dodge this arrow. At the critical moment, a carriage turned out of the alley.
The coachman leaped into the air, drew out his long sword and knocked down the second arrow flying towards Jiang Zhao.
Seeing this, Jiang Zhao quickly dodged into the shop beside her.
The carriage stopped beside the man. A well - jointed hand reached out from inside, lifted the curtain of the carriage, and said something to the man.
The man glanced at the direction where Jiang Zhao had disappeared, tightened the reins of his horse, and galloped away.
The bright red brocade robe fluttered like a raging fire, and dust billowed on the long street.
When Jiang Zhao saw that the man had left, she came out of the shop and casually grabbed a passer - by and asked, "Who was that just now?"
The passer - by looked at Jiang Zhao with a bit of sympathy: "That's the young master of the Rong Palace, Xie Si."
"Although I don't know how you offended the young master Xie, I advise you that if you've been targeted by him, pack your things and run away quickly. It's best to find a cool place."
Jiang Zhao was puzzled: "Why do I have to find a cool place?"
The passer - by: "So that you can die decently and your body won't stink."
"You should know that if you offend that lord, even if you run to the ends of the earth, he will find you and kill you." The passer - by shook his head. It was a pity that such a beautiful girl didn't have much time left.
Jiang Zhao had heard something about Xie Si.
Xie Si was from the Rong Palace. The Rong Prince was the only non - royal prince in the Northern Qi Dynasty. His ancestors were enshrined in the imperial ancestral temple. For a hundred years, half of the queens in the dynasty had come from the Xie family.
The current queen was Xie Si's aunt. The power of the foreign relatives was intertwined. According to the ancestral precepts of the Xie family, no matter whether they were legitimate or illegitimate daughters of the Xie family, they would never be concubines.
His elder brother, Xie Weiwei, although born of a concubine and having no chance of inheriting the title of the young master, was well - known at a young age. He entered the imperial cabinet at a young age and served as the acting chief assistant of the cabinet.
People in the world said that there were two outstanding figures in the capital, one from the Xie family and the other from the Jiang family.
Xie Weiwei was also the object of admiration of many noble ladies in the capital.
Not to mention that the Rong Palace held military power. Even the emperor had to be wary of their family.
Xie Si had been pampered since childhood, which had made him a willful and naughty character.
He had no interest in official careers and didn't need any achievements. His father, elder brother and the whole family had already paved a smooth path for him.
Offending him meant offending the entire Xie family.
It had to be said that the only person in the capital who could rival Xie Si was that bastard from the Ning family.
"Xie Si..." Jiang Zhao murmured, "What a psycho."
He came out of nowhere and left suddenly.
Jiang Zhao was sure that she had never had any contact with Xie Si before, and she didn't know where she had offended him.
Now, she completely lost the mood to stroll around.