Translator: Myuu Editor: Myuu

The next morning, before the sun had even risen, Yan Liqiang, who changed into a green leather gown and a small hat, secretly left the manor with Sun Bingchen and Liang Yijie who also similarly changed their attire from the side entrance. They went through an alley, evading those horse carriages which were waiting outside the manor, and arrived on the main street near the Plum Gardens.

At this hour, Pingxi City had just woken up. There were already people on the street, but many shops were still not open for business yet. The snow buildup from two days ago had yet to completely melt and the air was still chilly. Quite a number of dung collectors were silently traveling back and forth in the city on their ox-drawn carts, carrying huge wooden buckets…

Liang Yijie was dressed in a form-fitting attire with a sword hanging at his waist. On the other hand, Sun Bingchen was dressed like a merchant, complete with a leather hat. So long as they kept their identities unknown, it was indeed unlikely for people who had never seen Sun Bingchen before to associate him with the Patrol Inspector, a high official in the imperial court.

“Sir, where are we heading to now?” After taking a look around the street, Liang Yijie was the first to speak.

“Don’t call me ‘Sir’ when we’re out here, just call me ‘Old Master’!” Sun Bingchen corrected him with a smile.

“Yes, Old Master!”

“Do you know your way around here in Pingxi City, Liqiang?” Sun Bingchen looked at Yan Liqiang.

“Just tell me the place you wish to visit and I will be able to find it, Old Master!” Yan Liqiang replied.

“Good. Let’s find a place to get some breakfast first. Lead the way, Liqiang. Bring us somewhere more crowded and lively…”

“Are we calling a carriage?”

“There’s no need for that. We will take a walk and look around the city. We seldom walk around like this…”

“Understood!”

Yan Liqiang wasn’t sure just what Sun Bingchen wanted to see when he came out today. Was he just going to gain some superficial understanding by observing Pingxi City on a day tour, or was he really hoping to understand the lives and sufferings of the commoners in Pingxi City? There were quite a number of lively places to enjoy breakfast in Pingxi City. The only difference between them was that some were places frequented by the wealthy ones while some were frequented by the commoners of lower social classes. The things one could eat, see, and hear were entirely different in these two places.

While Yan Liqiang was pondering, he led Sun Bingchen and Liang Yijie to a restaurant which was not too far from the Plum Gardens first. The name of the restaurant was the Eternal Spring Restaurant, and they served various fine and exquisite pastries which were very popular in Pingxi City. Many people would go to that restaurant for a pleasant chat over breakfast early in the morning. Naturally, this was a place frequented by the wealthy people in Pingxi City.

By the time the trio arrived at the restaurant, the three-story restaurant was already filled with quite a number of customers. The waiters were walking around the restaurant, carrying baskets of steamy pastries, steamed buns, and soup. As soon as the three of them went in, they found a place to sit down, and a waiter immediately came up to them to take their orders. Soon after that, he served them a few baskets of the restaurant’s signature golden steamed layered cake.

Sun Bingchen ate one. He couldn’t help but smile when the aroma of the treat exploded in his mouth. “Not bad at all!…”

Seeing the Patrol Inspector savor his breakfast here at ease, Yan Liqiang took his mind off the questions and thoughts he had and didn’t make that many comments.

By the time they leisurely finished their breakfast, Pingxi City had completely awakened. The main streets started to get crowded and the shops had opened for business. Sun Bingchen wanted to take a look around the most lively marketplace in Pingxi City, so Yan Liqiang led both of them out of the restaurant without any further comments.

As soon as they exited the restaurant, Yan Liqiang slightly frowned as he suddenly sensed that they were being secretly watched and spied on. He scanned the surroundings and noticed that unbeknownst to him, a horse carriage with dark cover was already parked at the roadside not far from the restaurant. The coachman appeared to be feeding the horse something, but he was watching the restaurant from the corner of his eye.

Just when Yan Liqiang was hesitating on whether he should warn the others, Liang Yijie came over to him and patted him on the shoulder. The moment his palm made contact Yan Liqiang’s shoulder, he gave him a firm squeeze as his face broke into a mysterious smile. He then threw Yan Liqiang a meaningful glance. “Let’s go, your responsibility for today is to lead the way, Liqiang.”

“Understood!”

……

Deep at night in the Prefectural Governor’s study room, Ye Tiancheng was attentively listening to one of his subordinates’ reports on Sun Bingchen and the other two’s activities today…

“Sun Bingchen left the Chu Manor early this morning in plain clothes with another two attendants by his side today. They toured around Pingxi City and went to have their breakfast at the Eternal Spring Restaurant first before they walked around the Crimson Marketplace the entire morning. At noon, they had their lunch at Drunken Moon Restaurant. In the afternoon, they went to Xuanyue Temple and the Nine Dragons Bridge. After leaving the Nine Dragons Bridge, they had two pots of tea at Mingxiang Teahouse on Zhongshun Mainstreet while listening to the conversations of others for about an hour. By nighttime, after they had dinner at You Clan Eatery, they called a horse carriage and returned to the Chu Manor…”

Ye Tiancheng squinted his eyes and asked, “Who are the attendants that Sun Bingchen brought out with him today?”

“One of them was Liang Yijie, while the other one was his new recruit, a youth by the name of Yan Liqiang. Both them followed Sun Bingchen around for the whole day!”

Upon hearing the answer, Ye Tiancheng’s furrowed eyebrows slightly relaxed. He had a small smile on his face and he seemed to be visibly relaxed. “And who did Sun Bingchen speak with today?”

“He spoke with the owners of a rice and fabric shop when he was at the Crimson Marketplace. At noon, he asked about the livelihood of one of the waiters at the Drunken Moon Restaurant. During his teatime at Mingxian Teahouse, he casually conversed with a few people sitting near him. Nothing else apart from that. The Law Enforcement Office sent someone to ask about the contents of their chat. Those people were ordinary individuals in Pingxi City without any profound backgrounds. The contents of their conversations and their biodata are all here…” The person who replied handed over some thick papers filled with handwritings to him.

Ye Tiancheng skimmed through them for a while, then folded them up again after discovering that there was nothing out of the ordinary and those people whom Sun Bingchen conversed with weren’t that special. “Good. Continue keeping a close watch over them. As long as Sun Bingchen leaves the Chu Manor, I need to know his every move!”

“Understood!”

……

The next day, Yan Liqiang continued bringing Sun Bingchen around to mingle with others while remaining incognito. However, they were going outside the city this time.

There were a few towns outside Pingxi City and there were also a quite a number of villages around it. If Sun Bingchen wished to visit them, he couldn’t stop him either and had no choice but to go. Fortunately, there was quite a bit of distance from outside the city, so Sun Bingchen had Liang Yijie prepare a horse carriage. The three of them traveled to and from there on the horse carriage. The so-called ‘mingling’ was about the same as sightseeing. They observed the lives of people living outside Pingxi City along the way. Everything seemed to be normal and there weren’t any cliched scenes like those in movies during their observation.

On the third day, Sun Bingchen was still traveling outside the city on his horse carriage. They went to the closest town from Pingxi City to take a look and they returned by nightfall.

In the early morning on the fourth day, Liang Yijie ordered the guards and honor guards in their company to pack up their things and prepare to leave Pingxi City. Yan Liqiang also received an assignment to run some errands in the city on Sun Bingchen’s behalf. He went to the Prefectural Governor’s Office and Military Governor’s Office to send an invitation card to Pingxi Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng, and also the Military Governor, Huangfu Qianqi, to invite both of them to a dinner at the Chu Manor.

The Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng, and Military Governor, Huangfu Qianqi, gladly accepted the invitation.

Today was the 18th of the twelfth lunar month in the 12th year of the Yuanping reign in the Great Han Empire…

….