"Dong Da? Dong Da?"
Zhang Sheng suddenly pushed his dazed companion walking beside him, puzzled, "Why are you laughing foolishly?"
Dong Da snapped back to his senses, shook his head, and said:
"It's nothing, it's just that I didn't sleep all night, my energy's a bit off."
"You should perk up a bit, those cultivators from Liang Kingdom are fierce. When we're patrolling, we need to keep our eyes peeled. If anything seems off, report immediately."
"I know."
Dong Da nodded, followed behind Zhang Sheng, lagging a few steps, and looked around.
This place is the outskirts of the Imperial City, with rows of houses. The layout is simple, mostly the residences of musicians from the Taichang Temple.
Speaking of the Taichang Temple, which is in charge of ritual music, people might not be very familiar.
But mention another official institution with similar duties—the Imperial Music Bureau—and it would be well-known.
Though both are involved in dance and music, the Imperial Music Bureau handles internal affairs, indulging privately in wine and smoke, with no taboos. The Taichang Temple is in charge of sacrificial dances and ceremonies, embodying the Emperor's dignity.
But Emperor Wen of Liang, Su Yu, is a refined man who appreciates elegant music, not frivolous tunes.
Therefore, the work originally meant for the Imperial Music Bureau was also assigned to the Taichang Temple, nearly leaving the Imperial Music Bureau out of work...
Chen Kuang was originally a loose official in the Music Bureau of the Taichang Temple. Though he was summoned and dismissed by nobles at will, he was actually an eighth-rank official.
If one day he could return to the family that blinded him and sold him for a bushel of rice, it would be a triumphant homecoming.
The layout of these residences is mostly the same, making them hard to distinguish.
But luckily, the musician gave him a distinguishing feature—
Both his and Le Zheng's residence have a crabapple tree with low branches at the door, always catching his hair as he passes.
Dong Da focused his gaze, scrutinizing carefully.
He found that most houses had crabapple trees at the door, now half-wilted, spreading fallen red petals across the ground.
Dong Da: "..."
He shouldn't have trusted that blind man's nonsense!
A blind man only knows what's at his own door, how could he know what's at others'?
A wasted trip, what bad luck!
Dong Da cursed, planning to make that blind man pay next time when shifts change!
He hurried a few steps, preparing to catch up with Zhang Sheng, but suddenly stopped.
He took another close look.
"There don't seem to be many houses with crabapple trees; if I search them all, it won't take much effort..."
The patrol task was randomly drawn from the resting prison guards on their shift, but today he voluntarily took it, and the Squad Leader praised his initiative.
The patrol route is fixed, but the time is flexible... as long as someone else helps with the alibi.
Dong Da settled his mind, suddenly clutching his stomach, moaning in pain.
Zhang Sheng heard the noise and turned back nervously:
"What's wrong? Is there something wrong?!"
Dong Da looked pained:
"I-I have a stomach ache, maybe I ate something bad yesterday..."
Zhang Sheng was not suspicious:
"No wonder you've seemed troubled today, what can we do?"
"Oh no, why don't you go patrol first, and I'll go to the nearby house to relieve myself. I'll catch up later."
"This... alright."
Zhang Sheng instructed:
"Be quick, I'll wait for you for a maximum of fifteen minutes!"
Dong Da hurriedly nodded.
As he watched Zhang Sheng go far, Dong Da quickly rushed into the nearby houses and began rummaging frantically.
"Where is it? Golden Cup and Glazed Box, that blind man sure dares to speak. Even if rewarded, how could a few little musicians possess these things?"
"If the Emperor truly favored them, they wouldn't live in such a shabby place! Do you think I'm a fool?"
He's not a fool. That musician spoke with exaggeration, some truth mixed in the falsehood.
Dong Da turned over a silver ingot he had found and chuckled smugly:
"But... if I find even a bit of truth, I'll profit; if he's not lying, I'll reap a great reward!"
Under the bed, buried in the cellar, about fifty taels of silver, far less than the supposed two hundred, but still beyond his imagination.
Dong Da, with greedy eyes, thought for a moment and tucked the silver ingot into his collar, then buried the rest of the silver back.
Liang Kingdom's official silver is hard to deal with, but for someone at the bottom like him, he has his own ways.
As he backed out of the narrow cellar, a rag doll suddenly fell from above the bed.
The rag doll was very old, the sewing skills very poor, the filling of cotton and grain leaking out, its original appearance indistinguishable.
The words sewn on it were barely readable: "Poor family, talentless, Kuang'er must not return."
"... What a lousy thing?"
Dong Da frowned and tossed it aside.
He closed the cellar, calculated the time, and murmured:
"Still won't look for that glazed box; it's nonsense anyway. How could a musician be rewarded with an elixir meant for the Emperor?"
Dong Da turned around, suddenly seeing a pitch-black figure standing at the door, eyes crimson and fixated on him.
"What... Elixir did you say?"
Dong Da, frightened, stumbled back two steps, falling to the ground, terrified.
"B-Black Armor Guard?! I I I I I didn't do anything, I just... just had a stomach ache, looking for the toilet..."
Black Armor Guard was different from the Black Armor Army, they were Li Hongling's twenty personal guards, monitoring the prisoners through Spiritual Sense.
The Black Armor Guard impatiently took a step forward.
In an instant, Dong Da's arm flew off!
Blood spilled everywhere.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!"
Dong Da, in pain, broke into a cold sweat and screamed hoarsely: "That musician said Le Zheng and Emperor Liang were close; he was bestowed an elixir once, kept in the glazed box!"
Black Armor Guard nodded: "Very good."
Dong Da breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly felt the cold gauntlet grasping his head, pulling up hard.
He found himself lifting his head languidly, realizing the view was rising... until he met the crimson eyes of the Black Armor Guard.
"Search this place!"
Black Armor Guard released his hold, letting the head roll to the ground.
Behind him, a large number of soldiers in black armor flooded into the alley, starting a door-to-door search.
The recently departed Zhang Sheng was also captured and beheaded on the spot.
Black Armor Guard seemingly remembered something and instructed:
"This matter must not be disclosed. Now, which ones are serving as prison guards? That musician and... never mind, just fifteen people, kill them all."
He waved his hand, his men respectfully retreated.
...
Chen Kuang held a bowl of vegetable rice soup, feeling a scorching gaze on him like a glaring lamp.
He glanced sideways, indeed spotting a short figure pressed against the railing, gazing eagerly.
"Gulp."
Swallowed hard.
The echo filled the empty prison.
Chen Kuang chuckled inwardly, looked at the vegetable rice soup, and suddenly sighed in regret:
"Hey, there's a bug in the soup, now how can I eat this?"
"With no appetite, why not just dump it."
He pretended to search around cluelessly, grumbling:
"But I need to sleep here, where should I dump it? Why doesn't the Celestial Prison provide a slop bucket?"
Nearby, a mysterious voice said seriously:
"Here, here, the slop bucket is here."
"Really? Where?"
"You can't see it; I'll tell you, just step forward three steps, then shift slightly to the right."
"Oh..."
Chen Kuang walked over and stood still, trying not to laugh as he avoided looking at the earnest little rascal.
She tilted her head up, staring directly at the bottom of the bowl.
She sidestepped precisely, nodded with satisfaction.
"Alright, it's right here, you can dump it."
Chen Kuang tilted the bowl, the thin soup flowing like a waterfall.
The young 'slop bucket' glowed with bright eyes, tipping her head up and catching it in her mouth.
She was gifted, swallowing all the thin porridge without closing her mouth.
Lady Liang watched, dumbfounded, at the big and small duo, one dared to pour, the other dared to catch.