Royal Gold Magistrate

At King Wu’s mansion.

King Wu, with a serious expression, was fiddling with an enormous telescope in the courtyard, constantly adjusting it, turning it left and right.

A steward and a pretty maid stood by his side.

The steward was continuously explaining something.

King Wu suddenly stopped his movements and straightened up, saying, “So, Liu Xun is dead.”

The steward answered, “Yes, Your Highness. What should we do with Liu Xun’s son now?”

“He’s useless now. Bury him.”

“Heh, that fool Liu Xun, he really thought I appreciated him. I had already told him not to provoke Fang Zheng.”

“Yet he insisted on seeking his own death.”

King Wu strolled back into the hall, wiping his hands with a handkerchief, saying as he walked, “Clean up the loose ends, don’t let anyone find any clues.”

“Stop the private salt trade for now, don’t make any moves recently.”

The steward hesitated, “Your Highness, but Taoyuan County needs to buy salt…”

“Sell it to them, keep all transactions with Taoyuan County normal.”

King Wu sat back in his seat, picked up a teacup and took a sip, “Fang Zheng has already become a trouble. When he returns to the capital, I plan to meet him.”

“Remember to help me invite him then.”

“Oh, right, release that spy from Taoyuan County.”

The steward was somewhat hesitant and asked, “Your Highness… is it alright to just release that spy like this?”

King Wu suddenly looked coldly at the steward and said slowly, “What? You didn’t torture him, did you?”

The steward broke out in a cold sweat and nervously said, “No… I wouldn’t dare. Without Your Highness’s orders, I wouldn’t dare to use torture.”

King Wu nodded slowly, “Since they didn’t discover any information, just release him.”

“Fang Zheng is the type to bear grudges and protect his own people.”

“He will eventually be one of my men, don’t offend him.”

As he spoke, King Wu suddenly chuckled, “With Fang Zheng not in the capital, the city is really boring.”

“I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Are there any interesting events in the city lately?”

The steward answered honestly, “In response to Your Highness, there are none.”

The maid by his side suddenly spoke up, “Your Highness, I have some interesting news.”

“Oh? Let’s hear it?” King Wu looked at the maid, his eyes filled with curiosity, clearly interested.

The maid, as if presenting a treasure, took out a piece of paper from her sleeve.

Looking at King Wu with anticipation, she said happily, “This servant bought a Number One Scholar Ticket and won the grand prize!”

…

…

The curiosity in King Wu’s eyes slowly disappeared. He stared at the maid and said calmly, “Hanyao, how long have you been with me?”

“Fi… five years…” The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and Hanyao felt at a loss.

King Wu slowly stood up and walked to the maid’s side, placing a hand on her shoulder, “…Cut it off.”

As soon as the words fell, the steward by his side, with lightning speed, pulled out a short knife from his sleeve!

With extreme speed, he slashed at Hanyao’s hand holding the ticket.

The severed hand fell instantly.

Immediately, a jet of blood spurted from the severed arm.

Hanyao raised her severed arm, staring blankly at the spraying blood, clearly not yet realizing what had happened.

The next second, excruciating pain began to spread from the severed arm throughout her body.

She immediately collapsed to the ground, wailing, “Your Highness… ah… why… it hurts…”

“…It hurts… ah…”

Soon, Hanyao was covered in fresh blood.

King Wu watched expressionlessly as Hanyao rolled in the pool of blood.

“Five years, you’ve been with me for five years.”

“You should know that I despise fools the most.”

“Being by my side and yet doing such a stupid thing, are you insulting me?”

No one responded to King Wu.

Hanyao, lying on the ground, had stopped wailing and fallen unconscious.

One hand was tightly gripping the severed arm, but blood was still gushing from the wound.

King Wu glanced down and said, “Bury her too, and clean this place up.”

“Yes!”

………….

Inside the Hidden Fragrance Pavilion, Luo Ningxin sat dazed in her room.

Beside her, Sister Chun was holding a pile of papers filled with writing, muttering non-stop.

“Ningxin! At least show some face to those young masters outside, just meet them, it’s not like you have to do anything.”

“If you don’t show your face, the Hidden Fragrance Pavilion’s reputation will be ruined!”

“Look at all these poems, they’re so well-written. Didn’t you used to like reading these things?”

Luo Ningxin looked at the stack of poems and pouted.

For some reason, after reading those letters from Fang Zheng, these poems all seemed unbearably sour.

There was something about the things Fang Zheng wrote.

She felt uncomfortable if she didn’t read them for a day, but after reading them, she’d feel uncomfortable for a whole day.

It left her in an awkward state.

The key was that Fang Zheng wasn’t in the capital now and hadn’t written to her for a long time.

“Sister Chun, I can’t bear to look at them. Take these sour poems away! I don’t want to see them!”

Sister Chun frowned deeply, “Give them a chance, Ningxin. These young masters are all here for you!”

“What’s going on, you suddenly don’t like poetry anymore?”

Suddenly, Sister Chun seemed to remember something, a smile appeared on her face, and she said in a low voice, “Oh, I understand now.”

“Is it because the poems Lord Fang wrote for you are so much better than these, that you can’t appreciate ordinary ones anymore?”

Luo Ningxin’s eye twitched twice.

Then she got up, rummaged through the cabinet in the room, took out a stack of letters, and handed them to Sister Chun.

“These are the poems Lord Fang wrote. You read them!”

Sister Chun looked at Luo Ningxin with a mischievous smile and took the letters to read.

Just after glancing at them for two seconds, she immediately felt unwell!

“Ugh! What the hell is this crap!”

“I almost threw up my dinner from yesterday. I’ve been in this brothel for so many years and never seen such disgusting poetry. You call this poetry?”

“If the village idiot could write, he’d probably write better than this!”

“No wonder you’ve lost your appetite, I get it now!”

Sister Chun threw the letters on the ground in disgust.

“Hey! Don’t throw them around.”

Luo Ningxin hurriedly bent down to pick them up.

Sister Chun looked at Luo Ningxin suspiciously, “You don’t… like reading this stuff, do you?”

Luo Ningxin’s pretty face turned red, and she silently turned to put the letters back in the cabinet.

Did she like it? Not really, but reading it every day felt like she was being brainwashed…

Seeing her not answering, Sister Chun said self-pityingly, “Sigh, Lord Fang is gone, and Brother Zhang has gone with him. Who knows when Brother Zhang will be back, I should have gone with him.”

“When Brother Zhang comes back, I’ll ask him to buy me out.”

“But that Lord Fang is not bad either. A man who can subdue Brother Zhang, you definitely won’t go wrong following him.”

Luo Ningxin was immediately speechless, “What’s so good about that rough Zhang Biao? And don’t you have money? You could buy yourself out, why wait for a man to do it!”

Sister Chun giggled, “He’s not just rough, Brother Zhang is a beast among men, you’re too young to understand!”

“For women, we need a sense of ceremony. How can buying myself out be the same as a man buying me out? If Brother Zhang is willing to buy me out, it means he has feelings for me!”

“If Brother Zhang buys me out, do you think he’ll marry me? Love comes so suddenly, I’m not ready yet… hehe…”

Luo Ningxin: “……….”