Leaving the proximity of Changchun Palace, Zhou Aimin parted with Jing Wen to visit Consort Ru. A servant of the empress called Eunuch Tie was assigned to lead him out of the palace.
After walking along the Imperial Court for an unknown amount of time, the imperial city gate finally emerged in the darkness. Eunuch Tie held a palace lantern in his hands, wobbling it with his every stride. The lantern suddenly stopped swinging as the eunuch slowed his steps down to look at Jing Wen. “Marquis Jing, Her Majesty is missing His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Jing Wen immediately understood the intentions of the Empress. After thanking Eunuch Tie for guiding him, Jing Wen did say nothing.
After returning to Jing manor and exiting the carriage, Jing Wen noticed Yang’er standing outside the gate. He said after a moment, “Zhou Aimin is still at the palace.”
Yang’er shook her head. Her expression was somewhat wronged as she said, “Master has been staying over at the palace for the past week. I wouldn’t wait for him.”
Jing Wen ‘looked’ at Yang’er and frowned. “What do you want with me?”
Yang’er said helplessly, “Hong Jingfei has left the manor and Lady Wang has followed behind her to make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble.”
Jing Wene thought for a moment, before saying, “If Hong Jingfei wants to leave, let her. Just… send a couple of people to make sure no harm comes to Lady Wang.”
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Hong Jingfei had entered a restaurant called ‘Peaceful Pavillion’, a very high-class establishment that had once been visited by the Emperor in incognito. The place seemed to be always overflowing with clients; some rich government official, gifted scholar or beauties. The business does not seem like somewhere she could have previously dined at with her father, so Wang Zhixin following the girl judged that the choice should be something rather spontaneously. Since it was unlikely Hong Jingfei would get into any trouble in such a well-known restaurant, Wang Zhixin did not enter in, merely lingering in the similarly lively streets.
Hong Jingfei walked past the dense crowd of people gathering about that seemed to be capable of blocking a flood. After searching for a moment, she managed to occupy a table just as the previous client had finished their meal.
Hong Jingfei was still mute, but after a waiter came, she easily ordered the dishes by pointing to them. The waiter had seem all forms of people come and go, so cared little outside of Hong Jingfei’s ability to pay. After seeing Hong Jingfei had ordered so much and all were the most expensive dishes, the waiter was brimming with enthusiasm as he left.
Sipping on the tea left behind by the waiter, the silent air Hong Jingfei had seemed out of place in such a lively restaurant.
After some time, a young man, along with several bodyguards took seats at the opposite end of the table. His eyes remaining on the menu, he said to the bodyguards, “Others could wait around for an hour without finding a seat, but this sat down almost immediately after entering. How interesting.”
The young man soon ordered his dishes, pointing out every single item aside from the few cheap dishes. As he waited, he began tapping the table with one hand, while the other, hidden within a broad sleeve, began to approach Hong Jingfei’s thigh beneath the table.
Hong Jingfei should be someone fourteen, but bear a faint air of sophistication and indifference. Her indifference could not be considered to be that of a typical icy maiden that loathed the world surrounding her, but rather the demeanour created when one seemed out of this world, very much at odds with life. If one were asked to explain it a bit further, they would probably describe her as human, yet not human at the same time.
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To the young man, a woman sitting by herself at a table naturally meant she was looking for a male companion. Hong Jingfei was a beauty as well, so the young man dared to act impatiently. Of course, since the restaurant was relatively high class, he would not do anything too intimate in the lobby - but touching the thigh should be fine, right?
Seeing that Hong Jingfei did not speak of a word as his hands continued to approach her leg beneath the table, the young man felt even more emboldened. A moment later, his hand was only a fen (3.33 millimetre) away from her robes.
Suddenly, the lobby of the restaurant was filled with an echoing smack. The people gathering about stopped their conversion to look at the sound’s voice. Only the waiters and waitresses seemed undisturbed, continuing to serve the dishes in their hand.
Both hands of Hong Jingfei was on her teacup, as though she had never moved. However, one hand was actually slightly colder than the other.
The young man was crouched on the floor. The bridge of his nose has been completely shattered, and blood gushed out along with his tears.
Hong Jingfei indifferently glanced at the body of the young man. She could have easily killed him by attacking any of his meridians, but did not since it would force the restaurant to temporarily shut down and strip her of her meal.
The bodyguards looked at their young master, who was brought onto the floor by a seemingly weak girl in a single punch. They quickly unsheathed their swords, with one of the guards saying, “How dare you injury the young master!”
The same guard guards brought his sword to Hong Jingfei’s neck, touching the strangely smooth and supple skin. He continued, “You’ve got quite a lot of nerves, little girl.”
Hong Jingfei looked at the blade, then the man holding it. Her expression was utterly calm, as though the sword was not there at all.
The bodyguard was very confused. How could this girl be so calm when a blade was at her neck? Unknowingly, he slightly tilted his head.
With this tilt, his head and that of several other guards fell down like an overripe fruit breaking from branches, rolling smoothly across the floor.
There was an extremely flat and smooth opening on the bodyguard’s neck. It was as though a renowned executor had cut it.
However, Hong Jingfei’s hands were still on that cup of tea, not to mention that she did not have a sword.
Many clients involuntarily stared at the rolling heads on the floor. Their faces growing paler and paler until they can no longer watch.
The owner of the establishment also had a poor complexion from seeing the blood, but still managed to place all the extravagant items displayed on the reception table into cabinets. He had seen countless fights broken out between the spoiled youths of Lin’an, but he had never seen a case such as today where people’s lives were removed from existence in a mere moment.
The heads rolled towards the sides, leaving a trail of blood. It ran until the foot of a stunned man and stopped. Everyone present felt their mouth dry, and no longer dared to look at the beautiful girl directly.
This place was a restaurant; it’s meant to smell of good food, how can it be engulfed by the stench of blood?
Finally, one of the restaurant guards gathered their courage and pulled out their sword. The sword broke into two pieces. Another guard screamed as he flew out. Their waist snapped in half. Many more people stared with shock at the beautiful girl. Their legs shook, pinning them to their spot. Even if they could not bear the sight and stench of blood, they could not look away from the girl who was continuing to sip the still-warm tea.
Unknowingly, some bigshot dining in ‘Peaceful Pavilion’ returned with his best guards in hopes of forcing out this girl.
Seeing a frown slowly manifest between the girl’s brows, the guards behind the owner dissolved into black shadows. Splitting into four directions, they leapt towards that table akin to diving eagles.
Hong Jingfei had run out of teawater, so she frowned. The guards had taken this as an opportunity and did not hesitate to explode into action. Unless she was in the state of Qi Manifestation, it would be impossible to sustain such a clean method of killing without even moving a hand. All of them were at least Body Supplementation cultivator and one was even a Heart Purification expert - how could they lose?
Yet before the shadows could arrive, a powerful breeze entered the restaurant. Hong Jingfei curled her finger, and a sword was quickly carried by the wind into her hand like a flash of lightning.
Hong Jingfei casually waved the sword. Her movement was rather casual, yet the strike seemed to have surpassed the realm of mortals. It contained a power that cannot be stopped, pushing forward past all existence. Hidden behind it was a cold indifference and tranquillity that froze the very soul.
The single strike cut through four people. The four guards silently collapsed onto the ground.
Hong Jingfei placed down the teacup and threw away the weapon in her hand. The common steel sword pierced straight through the chest of the the one that had brought the guards until the hilt could not be seen.
In this simple and clean manner, the restaurant owner died and many, many more died.
Observing the scene from the outside, Wang Zhixin was likewise disturbed, but far calmer. After spending a few dozen years in Mo Xi’s chamber, she had grown used to the sight of bloodshed.
Moreover, there was a very big question in her mind.
A few weeks ago, Hong Jingfei clearly had the intentions to kill Jing Wen, but could only resort to strangle him. Why was she showing such power now?