Your Ninth Royal Highness, Please Change Your Clothes

The arena of the Meeting of the Heroes under Heaven was built in the central area of Jile City, next to the residence of the City Lord.

The City Lord was warm and hospitable. He was participating in the hosting of the Meeting of the Heroes and had sent a green wooden card to all the famous martial families in Xi Liang. After the ones with the cards come to Wu Yue Island, they could directly drop him a visit and he would arrange a place for their accommodation and food.

Among Wen Chan’s group, two people had the cards with them. One was Dan Ke, and the other was Situ Zhoulan. The two led the group of people to the center of the city.

On the way, Ah Fu leaned over to Wen Chan and whispered, “Young Master, do you know who this City Lord is?”

“I don’t know.” Wen Chan responded casually.

Ah Fu said, “This humble one has already inquired about it clearly. Didn’t we hear about the four famous figures in the Jianghu?”

Wen Chan remembered this clearly, and he could still call that poem to his mind even now. He asked, “Is the City Lord related to them?”

“It’s more than just being related. This City Lord is one of those four.” Ah Fu said, “He is the Gu Shan immortal who is rumored to have a peerless face that cannot be described with any praise. It is said that he is very young and rarely shows up.”

Wen Chan listened carefully but did not respond. Ah Fu continued, “But one thing is very strange. This City Lord Gu Shan came to Jile City ten years ago. After he killed the previous City Lord who used to ride roughshod over people and push them down, he has been in charge of Jile City to this day. But anyone who has seen the City Lord says that his face has not changed in the past ten years……”

“That’s why he is called a celestial immortal who had ascended from heaven to earth, isn’t it?” Zhong Wenjin suddenly leaned over from the other side of Wen Chan and joined the conversation between the two with interest.

“Have you heard about him too?” Wen Chan glanced at him in surprise.

“Of course, I have heard no less than you along the way.” He stretched out his hand and said, “About Shu Land’s Tang Sect, Jin Ling’s Situ, Feng’s Buddhist Temple, Da Xing’s Songhua, and in addition to that, about Immortal Gu Shan, Saint Doctor Su Shou, Young Master Qianmian and Dark Sleeved Yama as well. I have specifically inquired about these.”

“I didn’t expect you to be interested in these.” Wen Chan suddenly felt that he didn’t know enough about Zhong Wenjin. He thought that in addition to eating, this devil incarnate only had beauties in his eyes, or he was thinking about how to beat others……

As he was talking, he suddenly leaned into Wen Chan’s ear. His voice extremely suppressed, “That girl named Situ Zhoulan is from Situ in Jin Ling, and I suspect she is the Saint Doctor Su Shou.”

Wen Chan raised his eyes and looked at Situ Zhoulan, who was walking in the front. He saw the woman in a plain hairpin and light-colored skirt, her dark hair fluttering. Just looking at her back, he could imagine the woman’s beautiful face. His face was indifferent, “No.”

“What?” Zhong Wenjin asked suspiciously.

“The Saint Doctor Su Shou is her father.”

“How do you know?”

“Hearsay.” Wen Chan said mysteriously.

Zhong Wenjin stared at Situ Zhoulan with an expression of disbelief.

Wen Chan didn’t argue anymore, just raised his eyebrows slightly and let him go.

He couldn’t tell Zhong Wenjin that he had seen the Saint Doctor with his own eyes in his previous life.

The more you went to the center of Jile City, the fewer girls who laughed and played music on the streets. On the contrary, there were more and more brothel buildings. After walking for a while, you could see one as soon as you look up.

The style of the brothels here was very different from that of Yu Fu House. The women standing at the door showed a large area of their tender white skin and did not speak, but exchanged glances with the people coming and going.

This trick was indeed useful. As long as the pedestrians on the road looked at them, face to face, they would turn their steps, and enter into the building.

Ah Fu blocked both sides of his eyes with his hands and kept saying without glancing sideways, “See no evil, see no evil.”

Wen Chan secretly thought that it was funny. He had no feelings for these beautiful women. The beauties in the harem in the previous life, the soft and charming Concubine Yi, and the even more beautiful Queen Lu, all couldn’t appeal to him at all, let alone these.

He looked along the road and saw a three-story golden roof house at the end of the road – That was where the City Lord lived.

The entire Jile City was spread out around this house as the center, and there was an extremely vast open space in it, where the ring was set up.

When you get closer, you could see the whole picture of the house.

The gates of the residence were divided into the east, west, south, and north; and there were four in total. The east gate was the largest. The gates of the residence were ten feet high and one foot wide. The entire bodies of the gates were in dark yellow. There were two stone statues of Pixiu1 in front of the door, which look quite magnificent.

This was probably the most magnificent door Wen Chan had seen except for the palace gate.

There were guards guarding the door. As soon as they saw them, they immediately leaned forward and asked respectfully, “What’s your business here?”

Dan Ke stood in the forefront and he first asked politely, “Is this the official residence of the City Lord?”

After the guard answered, he took out the green wooden card, “Myself Dan Ke, the son of the Dan family head. I have come here at the invitation of the City Lord.”

Situ Zhoulan on the side took it out as well, and said succinctly, “Situ.”

Many names were already written in that book. Wen Chan took two steps forward and took a general look. When he saw that the names of the Tang Sect and the Yao family that he had heard of before were both on the top, he asked, “Did all these people who are on the top only arrive in the last few days?”

The guard glanced up at him when he heard this, and replied with a slight smile, “Only the Fang Family of the Songhua Sect arrived two days ago, and the rest came earlier.”

“How many people haven’t come yet?”

“If you count the green wooden cards only the people from the Yun Palace are left.”

“Oh.” Wen Chan nodded as he was clear.

While speaking, Dan Ke and Situ Zhoulan had already written their names, and the guards saluted again before moving out of the way. “After you enter the door, you only need to report your surname, and the people waiting there will arrange your residence.”

So a group of people stepped through the extremely magnificent door. After entering the door, there was a very wide arched hall. After walking out of the hall, their line of sight suddenly opened up to a wide panorama.

In front of them was a tall rockery, with a trickle of water on the mountain, flowing down the lofty and rugged rockery, and flowing into a clear and bottomless stream.

Looking down the stream, you could see an arched stone bridge on a splendid path.

There were subordinates waiting on the side. A middle-aged man was in the lead and he was dressed simply and he took the initiative to salute when he saw them.

First, he asked Dan Ke’s surname, then looked at all the people behind him, and then said, “I am the steward of the house, Yang Lin. The City Lord is not in the city for the past few days. So I will temporarily take care of the affairs of the house. If anyone needs anything or is dissatisfied with something, just call someone to tell me, and I will make arrangements for you.”

“Thank you for your trouble, Steward Yang.” After the two of them exchanged pleasantries, Yang Lin let the servants show them the way.

After walking across the stone bridge, there was a corridor with slightly tilted cornices. The roof and pillars intersected with vermilion and grass green colors, and hollow copper bells with yellow tassels hung under the eaves. The wind blew softly, and the sound of jingling was refreshing.

The corridor inside the house winded and meandered through a delicate lotus pond before arriving at a small courtyard that had trees with shade-giving foliage and several ginkgo trees2. It was a pleasant view from afar.

The courtyard was wide, and there were several rooms. One of them was the main room with two warm pavilions. As it should be by rights, everyone wanted Wen Chan to stay in this room.

But Wen Chan said, “Let the two girls stay there. After all, they are girls. I, Ah Fu and the others can just squeeze in two rooms. And we are only staying here for a few days.”

As soon as his voice fell, everyone turned to look at him, all of them in surprise.

Zhong Wenjin took the lead and asked, “Are you leaving?”

He nodded blankly, “Yeah. I’ll leave after staying here a few days.” He just came here to join in the fun and stay for a few days to see what this Meeting of the Heroes would look like.

“Where are you going? Are you going back to the capital?” Qiao Yanci also asked anxiously.

This was the issue that both Zhong Wenjin and Qiao Yanci were concerned about. If Wen Chan said that he wanted to go back to the capital at that time, then there was no doubt that the two of them would also be packed and sent back together with him.

Wen Chan wondered why everyone was looking at him. Everyone didn’t come together. Liang Yanbei and Xie Zhaoxue came from the capital to receive the Emperor’s order, while Dan Ke and Situ Zhoulan came to participate in the Meeting of the Heroes. When it came to Zhong Wenjin and Qiao Yanci, one was fleeing for their life while the other was chasing a person.

They got together just because they knew each other.

Why did these people all look surprised when he said now that he was leaving?

“I won’t go back to the capital.” Wen Chan replied truthfully.

Hearing this, Zhong Wenjin and Qiao Yanci breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. Xie Zhaoxue was surprised, “Where are you going if you are not going back to the capital?”

“To do some business.” He replied with a straight face.

Obviously, he didn’t want to say it. Xie Zhaoxue didn’t ask anymore. Dan Ke on the other side couldn’t pay attention, and he turned his eyes to look at Liang Yanbei.

He saw that Liang Yanbei was looking pensive, and after listening to Wen Chan’s words, he seemed to find it funny, and his eyes were stained with a smile, “Then stay for a few days until you go to do your business.”

Qiao Yanci also agreed, “Yes, Young Master Wen. You don’t have to worry about us. Sister Zhoulan and I live very well and we can talk in the boudoir at night.”

As she said this, she held Situ Zhoulan’s arms, looking very affectionate.

Wen Chan looked at it and said in his heart: It’s only been a few days, and the relationship between the two has become so good. If they fight because of a man in the future, it will be ridiculous3.

Since both girls said that they didn’t need to live in a big room, Wen Chan couldn’t say anything anymore. So she pursed his lips slightly.

Seeing that there were many of them, Yang Lin gave them a few more servants. At this time, they were standing by the side. One of them was slightly older and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, may I ask if the lunch should be delivered separately to the room, or will you have it under the pavilion?”

There was a pavilion in the courtyard, which was extremely wide, with a round stone bead on the pointed eaves, and a huge round stone table inside. Even if twenty people sat together, it wouldn’t feel cramped.

“In the pavilion.” Liang Yanbei said, “Every meal in the future will be laid out in the pavilion.”

“Yes.” The servant replied and said, “Everyone can go inside and rest for a while. When lunch comes, this humble one will send someone to inform you.”

After speaking, he took a few people out of the small courtyard, and the remaining few people waited in front of each room.

“Why do you want to eat together?” Xie Zhaoxue felt that it was a bit inappropriate for men and women to sit at the same table.

“Master Xie, this is a place that you are somewhat unfamiliar with.” As a person from the Jianghu, Dan Ke naturally knew more about this aspect than him. “Our place is very dangerous. If my guesses are right, the Yao family and the Tan family are next to each other, and the Tang family and Situ are next to each other. Therefore, it must be people from Tang Sect who are staying next door to our small courtyard.”

“We have three meals together in the morning, noon, and evening. Firstly, it’s easy to discuss things, and secondly, it’s also to prevent you from being hurt secretly.”

“The people living next door to us are people from the Tang Sect?” Wen Chan’s nose ached when he heard about Tang Sect.

“That is my guess.” Dan Ke said.

Wen Chan breathed a sigh of relief and was about to speak. But at that moment a loud yawning sound sounded, causing everyone to look up at the source of the sound.

They saw a handsome man sitting on the branch of the big tree growing very tall outside the wall. After a yawn, his still watery eyes looked down.

With a glance, he showed a wanton and lazy smile, “You guessed it right.”

Translator’s corner

Guess who?

1

 Mythical animal that brings luck and wards off evil, having head of a dragon and lion’s body, often with hoofs, wings and tail / also written 辟邪 / fig. valiant soldier

23

Lemme guess. In this life, they will marry and live happily ever after. The end!