Now that they have no evidence whatsoever, they were just like a headless chicken. They could only wait quietly. Jing Rong sent orders to continue covert surveillance on both the Si and Wen Residences.
The next morning, Jing Rong changed into a set of rough-spun clothes and a tattered, old straw hat. As the disguise went on, that handsome and dashing figure disappeared into thin air, transforming into an authentic, ordinary citizen. Just as he was about to step outdoors, a figure suddenly dashed out in front of him. “We’ll go together.”
Eh? He turned his head to see Ji Yunshu clad in clothes of rough hemp, with two little wisps of hair stuck above her mouth, thickly drawn brows, and a large black mole on the left side of her face… with a single hair sticking out of it.
If not for her delicate facial structure, that face really looked rather disgusting!
“What are you doing?”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Do you know where this prince is going?”
“To shadow Wen Xian.” She replied crisply. “You want to investigate the disaster relief funds while I want to investigate whether what Miss Ye’er wanted to report to the authorities was related to her lover Wen Xian. Thus, we both have the same target, so we should travel together.”
The same target for two different investigations! They really do have to take the same path.
Thus, Jing Rong could only agree. “Let’s go.”
But after merely two steps, he turned around to take another glance at that woman. “Could you be uglier?”
“Mn… I can.” She silently produced another black mole and stuck it on her chin.
Like that, she even could pass off as a matchmaker.
Jing Rong stared blankly at her. Truly, there was nothing this woman couldn’t do, only things that he couldn’t imagine. To think that she was so good at disguising as someone uglier than her! He shook his head in admiration.
With that, they headed out and went to the Flying Crane House. They went up to the second floor and sat by the window. They then ordered a pot of tea, a plate of peanuts, a few dishes, and two bowls of rice.
Jing Rong used his chopsticks to tap on the plates, creating a high, clear, tinkling sound. He looked extremely lazy and leisurely.
“Will he be here?” Ji Yunshu asked.
“Wen Xian comes to sit in the Flying Crane House for two hours every other day, and he always sits in that seat.” He pointed at the table beside them and continued, “He just sits there without doing anything. After he leaves, he would go to the pharmacy opposite to get medicine, then return to his own courtyard. But he would come out again after less than an hour and sit by the lake outside the city for a few hours, returning only after nightfall. His routine is extremely regular. Of course, with the exception of the days he returns to the Wen Family Textiles or the Si Family Silks.”
As Ji Yunshu listened, she looked down at the street. She was still doubtful. “Are you certain that he will come at this critical juncture?”
“He’s not stupid. He must know that this prince has people surveilling his silk shop. If he doesn’t come at this time, isn’t that announcing his own guilty conscience? If he came, he could still feign ignorance and divert suspicion away from himself.”
“Since he knows that someone is watching him, he would merely be going through the motions of whatever he was really here to achieve.”
“As an intelligent person, he naturally would expect that this prince has someone following him. But now, this prince has chosen to come personally, to take a closer look at just what he does all day long.”
Ji Yunshu looked at him and smiled.
Just as he finished speaking, Jing Rong jerked his chin towards the street below them. “He’s here.”
Ji Yunshu looked down as well. Wen Xian has really arrived!
He was dressed in his usual dashing style, accompanied as always by that dizi stuck in his belt. The waiters of the Flying Crane House all recognised him. When they saw him, they welcomed him with a smile and dusted off their hands with the white towel on their shoulder. “Young Master Wen, the table upstairs has been reserved for you.”
“Mn.”
“Will you be having your usual dishes?”
“Mn.”
“Alright!” The waiter led him upstairs and seated him at that empty table. He bent down and used his towel to wipe the table surface before he left.
Jing Rong and Ji Yunshu’s disguises were so successful that Wen Xian did not pay any attention to their table at all. He sat here, head turned slightly to look out of the window, at the colorful hustle and bustle of crowds on the street. And then… he just continued sitting there.
Before long, the waiter had laid out a full table of food, but he didn’t take in a single bite. He continued looking outside, but it was difficult to tell what exactly he was looking at. In all this time, he never had a single conversation nor interaction with anyone. He didn’t even make any unnecessary movements. There was nothing at all that would appear suspicious.
Ji Yunshu and Jing Rong exchanged a look. Just as they thought.
Suddenly, a rowdy male voice sounded from the second floor staircase. “Everyone, come and take a look!”
A crowd of five or six people squeezed up the stairway, one of them hugging a roughly cut, shiny stone. He put the stone on a table, quickly grabbing the attention of the people on the second floor. However, they all seemed to be so used to this strange sight that there was no further reaction.
Is this… gambling stones?
That burly man who had brought the stone spoke to the surrounding crowd. “Who would like to submit a bid for this stone?”
“Old Zhao, how much are you selling this stone for?”
“A hundred taels. It’s very cheap, cheaper than ever before.”
“Not a single stone I bought the past couple of months has been real. There’s nothing at all after the stone is cut open.”
Old Zhao turned anxious. “Hey, it’s not right for you to say that. Didn’t that old lady from the Shi family nearby strike it rich after buying a stone from me? And in the earlier half of the year, didn’t the youngest of the Liu family also make his fortune from a stone? Gambling on stones is still gambling after all. A cut may be poor, but another may reveal riches, you gotta understand.”
A few old hands at this trade closely inspected the stone, rubbing their hands over its edges and scratching at its surface with a nail. All kinds of strange movements were revealed as they performed what insiders would call ‘testing the stone’!
One of them commented, “A hundred taels is expensive. It’s not guaranteed that there will be top quality jade inside this stone.”
Old Zhao placated him, “I’m telling you, this stone is different from those before. Look at that shape and that luster! There’s an eighty percent chance that this will strike true.”
“You say that every time.”
A crowd started to surround the stone to inspect it.
Wen Xian, who had always been looking out the window, suddenly stood up and walked over. “I want this stone.”
“Ah, it’s Young Master Wen. Are you sure you want this stone?” Old Zhao asked, eyes twinkling.
Wen Xian took out a hundred silver taels and set it on the table without another word. “Bring the stone to my residence.”
“Alright!” Old Zhao started counting the taels happily.
Someone tried to dissuade him, “Young Master Wen, this stone really isn’t that great. Don’t waste your money.”
“That’s right, you aren’t an expert. Don’t get cheated.”
Wen Xian didn’t respond to any of them.
……
At the other side, Jing Rong suddenly asked Ji Yunshu. “Make a guess. Will that stone really have jade?”
“Nope!” She replied directly.
“How do you know that it won’t?”
She smiled. She may not be in the trade of gambling stones, but she could still be considered half an archeologist after spending so much time with experts in that field. Along the way, she’s picked up quite a bit of knowledge. Gambling on stones does touch on a bit of archeology, so she certainly knows a thing or two.
“Gambling stones is considered as such because jade is embedded in stone before it is mined. Only after the stone is cut, can the presence and the quality of the jade be confirmed. From the surface coloration and the tiny cracks on that stone, it’s unlikely that there’s any jade within.”
“You even know that.”
“That’s just basic knowledge!”