My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 8

Yu Luocha sensed the watchful gaze above him the moment he walked out of Hefang Shop.

That kind of scrutinizing and guarded observation was all too familiar to him from when he first rose to power in the Western Regions.

Yu Luocha walked out of Hefang Shop carrying four or five packages of pastries.

–Someone quickly followed behind him.

Yu Luocha had briefly lived in Jiangnan years ago. Though it had been nearly five years since he last set foot here, Jiangnan’s uniquely graceful Central Plains scenery remained unchanged from those days.

He strolled along the street, stopping at vendors to buy a pouch, two small ornaments, and a paper umbrella decorated with a soaring eagle.

Yu Luocha didn’t go anywhere else. He returned to Yan Hong Hall with his various packages, then sat in the front hall with the pastries, chatting pleasantly with the family members of patients who came seeking treatment. Occasionally he would give two or three pieces of pastry to visitors with children.

His questions mostly concerned Yan Hong Hall and the person Yan Hongyin, as well as local customs in Jiangnan, upcoming festive activities, and whether the local government officials were strict, among other topics.

The young Jinyiwei officer personally followed this man with somewhat Western Region features for over two hours but found nothing suspicious. When he returned to report to Yan Hongyin, his face showed traces of embarrassment.

Yan Hongyin was still sitting by the window on the third floor of Hongyun Restaurant, though her window was slightly ajar with just a two-finger width gap – impossible for anyone outside to peek in.

The tea and snacks on the table had been cleared away, replaced by a box full of small bamboo tubes densely packed together, just retrieved from carrier pigeons.

A small brazier burned nearby containing two or three pieces of silver-threaded charcoal.

This type of charcoal was expensive and filled the room with a faint bamboo fragrance, most favored by officials, nobles, and wealthy merchants.

Given Jiangnan’s advantageous location and concentration of wealthy merchants, there were even more luxuries here than in the capital, including novel items brought by horse merchants.

“How did it go?”

Yan Hongyin would extract a paper slip from each small bamboo tube, read it, then toss it into the charcoal brazier, letting the flames leap up briefly before settling down again.

The young man replied somewhat sheepishly, “After leaving Hefang Shop, he first went shopping, buying a pouch from the stall next to Tongfu Inn, then a cat and dog ornament from the stall opposite Yan’s Rouge Shop, barely speaking with the vendors. Later he bought a paper umbrella from the umbrella shop, then sat at Yan Hong Hall for an hour and a half, giving those pastries to the children of patients who came for treatment.”

The young man knew Yan Hong Hall was his superior’s residence, but strictly speaking, it was a private property his superior had acquired, not a Jinyiwei outpost.

“Afterwards, he went to the back courtyard of Yan Hong Hall, then left to speak briefly with the manager at Fengsheng Pawnshop across the counter. The manager kept his head down playing with his abacus, seeming somewhat dismissive. After that, the man returned to Yan Hong Hall and didn’t come out again.”

After finishing, the young man paused, then took out a folded letter from his sleeve and presented it to Yan Hongyin with both hands, head lowered. “This is a record of all conversations this man had with everyone today. This time… your subordinate must have misjudged.”

Yan Hongyin smiled.

For a young person to both voice their opinions and later admit their mistakes was quite commendable.

“If you’ve concluded you misjudged, why report in such detail?” Yan Hongyin took the letter, opened it and read it carefully, the corner of her lips curving upward.

The young man replied in a clear voice, “Just because I misjudged someone doesn’t necessarily mean they’re definitively not a problem. I should record all their behaviors and actions for the superior to judge and verify. If anything unexpected happens later, we can review the intelligence and look for clues.”

Satisfaction flickered in Yan Hongyin’s eyes. She asked, “What’s your name?”

“Reporting to Daren, this subordinate is Ji Qing.”

“Ji Qing.” Yan Hongyin held the corner of the letter to the flame, lighting it before dropping it into the brazier as the flames rose. “Do you remember the contents of the letter?”

Ji Qing answered firmly. “Yes!”

“Then remember it forever. When Jinyiwei dark envoys are in the field, all received intelligence and materials must be memorized by the handler and destroyed in person, leaving no evidence. What you keep in your mind may one day save your life in times of crisis.”

Yan Hongyin looked at Ji Qing and said, “During my time in Jiangnan, you’ll stay by my side.”

Joy and excitement appeared on Ji Qing’s face as he quickly replied, “Yes, this subordinate obeys!”

Yan Hongyin stood up, her gaze passing through the two-finger width window gap to check the sky outside.

“Get ready, tonight you’ll accompany me to the black market.”

“Yes!”

****

At dusk, the bustling street noise had diminished somewhat, though there were still scattered people hurrying by with bamboo hats covering their faces and swords at their sides.

Fengsheng Pawnshop.

Yu Luocha sat in the main seat, holding the paper umbrella decorated with a soaring eagle in one hand, while the other hand slowly pulled out an extremely thin steel wire from the umbrella’s ribs and handle.

“Sect Leader, since Hefang Shop has been exposed, should we notify the sect members to withdraw?” The tall, thin pawnshop manager who looked quite shrewd stood beside Yu Luocha, bowing respectfully.

“Withdraw what?” Yu Luocha methodically inserted sharp silver needles one by one into the mechanism slots guided by the steel wire on the table beside him. The poisoned needle tips occasionally gleamed with a faint blue light. “Send the news back to the sect.”

“The-the sect?” The manager stammered, his hands trembling at his sides.

Yu Luocha lifted his eyelids to look at the manager, giving a slight smile, his tone gentle as water. “Don’t be afraid, we’re just fishing for some fun. Some fish think the pond is too small and aspire to leap out and become dragons. How could I obstruct their chosen path?”

The manager certainly understood what Yu Luocha meant.

With the Sect Leader missing, the sect had been unstable lately, and recently sent many people to infiltrate the Central Plains – their purpose was obvious without saying.

The manager had harbored other thoughts before, but with Yu Luocha alive and standing before him, he no longer dared harbor any rebellious courage.

Not just because of Yu Luocha’s accumulated prestige, but also because earlier that day when Yu Luocha came to the pawnshop, he had passed over a jade pendant contaminated with deadly poison.

The manager knew no martial arts; his family had previously been merchants.

Back then when working as a horse merchant, he encountered bandits and had no choice but to join the Luocha Sect to preserve his life.

When the Luocha Sect planned to infiltrate the Central Plains, he maneuvered with the sect’s money to successfully return to Jiangnan and establish roots by running this pawnshop.

All these years he had carefully hidden his identity and avoided much overt communication with the sect, yet unexpectedly still couldn’t escape the jianghu conflicts.

“Don’t want to do it?” Yu Luocha tilted his head, his slightly curled hair sliding off his shoulder.

“How dare this subordinate – this subordinate will write the letter right away…”

If this letter wasn’t written well and the sect members discovered something amiss, not only would the manager’s business be finished, but his family wouldn’t survive either.

“Then write.” Yu Luocha’s light, cool voice entered the manager’s ears, making sweat gather and drip down his forehead, though he didn’t dare raise his hand to wipe it. “I’ll watch you write.”

“Yes… yes…”

The manager brought paper and brush, laid them out, but his hands wouldn’t stop trembling.

Yu Luocha said flatly, “Why are you shaking? Sit down and write properly.”

The manager quickly wiped his face with his sleeve and carefully sat on the edge of the chair, took a deep breath, held it, and wrote a letter in one go.

The gist was that Hefang Shop had found traces of the Sect Leader in Jiangnan, but had been spotted by the Liu Shanmen without realizing it, and the Sect Leader’s whereabouts had vanished again, impossible to track.

Yu Luocha glanced at it and raised an eyebrow, “Add another line, saying… I’m suspected to be severely injured, with depleted internal energy.”

Hearing this, cold sweat poured even more heavily down the manager’s head as he responded meekly and took out another sheet of paper to write a new letter.

This time Yu Luocha was satisfied. “Not bad.”

The manager finally relaxed and let out his held breath.

After this Yu Luocha fell silent, only lowering his eyes to unhurriedly adjust the deadly umbrella that looked no different from an ordinary paper umbrella but contained hidden mechanisms.

The manager didn’t know whether to stand or sit, stay or go.

Cold sweat had nearly soaked through his brocade robe embroidered with coin patterns.

“Any news about the sarira?”

In the silent room, Yu Luocha suddenly asked.

The manager was startled, then instinctively replied, “Reporting to Sect Leader, at today’s market auction, the final item is indeed a sarira, said to be from the nirvana of a high monk from Dali…”

However, when he realized what he had answered, his body began trembling again.

A sarira was formed upon the nirvana of high monks who practiced orthodox Buddhist mental cultivation, priceless and extremely rare. This sarira at tonight’s auction had actually been up for auction in the black market for a long time, with an extremely high starting price.

Sarira had few uses, except for one – when used in medicine, it could nourish meridians to better contain internal energy.

However, it had little effect on martial artists, only suitable for ordinary people who had never cultivated internal energy and had normal meridians, or for those whose meridians were so severely injured they couldn’t be treated with medicine or inner power.

Though generally speaking, if injured to such an extent, even a sarira would be like a drop in the bucket – beyond help even for immortals.

As they say, those who want it can’t afford it, while those who can afford it don’t want such a useless thing, so this sarira had remained in the Jiangnan black market for auction until now.

For the Sect Leader to ask about this thing, could it be…

The manager’s heart stirred.

“When I came by earlier, I happened to meet the manager’s pair of children – they’ve grown up quite well. Have you considered having them serve the Luocha Sect in the future?”

Yu Luocha raised the corner of his lips, expression bland, turning the paper umbrella in his hand.

The manager clenched his jaw so hard he bit his tongue, but ignoring the blood in his mouth, he fell to his knees and repeatedly kowtowed, trembling as he said, “Begging the Sect Leader’s understanding! Begging the Sect Leader’s understanding! This subordinate is utterly loyal to you, without any other thoughts!”

Yu Luocha’s fingertips slid across the smooth surface of the paper umbrella, the smile at his lips gentle and merciful, like a Bodhisattva lowering his brow, “Oh?”

Watching the manager swear repeatedly, Yu Luocha’s fingers holding the umbrella moved slightly, and that deadly umbrella much heavier than ordinary paper umbrellas was laid across his lap.

“So the auction opens today?”

“Yes, yes yes!” The manager felt as if granted amnesty. “This subordinate will take the Sect Leader there right away!”

Yu Luocha looked down at his wealthy young master’s clothes, his eyes flickering as he spoke, “Find me some dark colored clothes.”

Those clothes in that woman’s wardrobe – it would be troublesome if they got dirty…how annoying.

TN:

Sarira refers to the sacred relics, typically small, pearl-like objects, that are believed to be found in the cremated remains of enlightened Buddhist monks or saints. These relics are considered highly revered and are often enshrined in stupas or temples.

Sarira or “舍利子” (shè lì zi) typically refers to a relic in Buddhist context. It often denotes the remains or sacred items, such as bone fragments or ashes, believed to have belonged to an enlightened being, especially a Buddha. In some stories or historical contexts, “舍利子” may also be used metaphorically to describe something revered or valuable, not necessarily a literal relic.