Transmigrated as the Emperor, but Slacking Off - Chapter 9

Inside the Tower of Illusion Seas, the sound of singing and music was at its peak.

In the center stood a Nine-Bend White Jade Bridge. At the head of the bridge, a performer struck the strings of a pipa; the notes fell like pearls onto a jade plate, drowning out the clamor of the hall.

In a private room along the courtyard gallery on the third floor, a lean, elegant gentleman wore a jade crown. His azure brocade robe made his skin appear as fair as fresh snow under a cold moon, untouched by the dust of the mortal world.

“Master.” Beside him, a boy in a blue shirt grabbed pastries from the sprawling spread on the table and stuffed them into his mouth, his cheeks bulging. “Soon. The illusion show starts right after this performer finishes.”

As soon as he spoke, the pipa music ceased abruptly, and the thousand lamps hanging from the ceiling flickered out.

In the darkness, a cluster of ghostly blue flames erupted without warning on the jade bridge, transforming into starlight that scattered through the void.

“Wow! It’s starting!” Xinghe shouted excitedly.

Wen Xing’s eyes brightened, drawn in by the illusion show in the courtyard. Suddenly, a voice came from beside him: “So it is Mr. Wen. What a coincidence. May I sit here?”

In the dark, Xinghe’s internal alarms blared. When did this person get so close? Why didn’t I notice at all?

He nearly drew his sword, but the newcomer lightly pushed the hilt back; the blade, which had emerged three inches, clicked instantly back into place.

Xinghe:!

Just then, a firework exploded, and the dark night was torn apart by a flash of light.

Taking advantage of the fleeting glare, Wen Xing looked over to see Ning Wujie. He was dressed in plain, narrow-sleeved off-white clothes, his hair held by a jade pin and his waist cinched by a leather belt. Standing there like a refined gentleman, he looked like a jade mountain suppressing the murky winds of the courtyard.

The bright light illuminated their profiles before quickly dying out.

Wen Xing was dazed for a moment. “Ning Wujie?”

Swish—

The ceiling lamps flared back to life, bright as day.

Xinghe, who had been about to draw his sword again, froze. “Master, you know him?”

Ning Wujie watched the ever-changing performance in the courtyard and answered for Wen Xing: “Naturally.”

Wen Xing was surprised. Does a ‘good kid’ like Ning Wujie also hang out at brothels?

His curiosity piqued, he smiled and said, “Please, take a seat.”

Ning Wujie brushed his robe aside and sat next to him. “Mr. Wen certainly has a refined taste for leisure.”

Running off to a private room during an investigation? Isn’t the auction happening in the basement?

His men were already stationed outside the auction hall, waiting for his signal. Yet, instead of looking for his “treasure” underground, this tyrant had come upstairs to watch a play?

At that moment, a dancing girl in the courtyard opened her mouth and spat out a plume of fire, drawing a roar of applause from the hall.

Wen Xing looked at him with amusement. “Aren’t you the same?”

Ning Wujie: “…”

The same? Then why are you still here?

Ning Wujie noticed the dancing girl was draped in nothing but a nearly transparent veil, a camisole clinging to her chest, her shoulders and arms completely bare. As she danced, the gold bells on her bare ankles jingled with a delicate sound.

He suddenly gripped his teacup tight.

I see. You’re ‘investigating’ while taking the opportunity to look at beauties?

Hah. As expected of a faint-hearted tyrant!

Infatuated and befuddled by lust!

Boom—!

The fire from the dancer’s mouth suddenly transformed into a flaming phoenix, soaring toward the ceiling before bursting into a rain of sparks.

Wen Xing understood now; the so-called “illusion show” was essentially magic combined with acrobatics. It was quite interesting. As a modern person, he had seen endless forms of entertainment, so the dancer’s attire didn’t faze him at all.

He wasn’t particularly invested and wanted to see Ning Wujie’s reaction, only to find the other man staring deathly still at the dancer in the arena.

Eh? Is she that good-looking? Wen Xing was astonished. Ning Wujie likes this heavily made-up type? How unexpected.

The three people in the private room all watched the dancer one with a face of iron, one with a look of confusion, and only Xinghe continuously shouting “Woah!” in amazement.

Soon the dancer retreated, and the scene at the jade bridge shifted. A table appeared, and a storyteller walked from the end of the bridge. After taking his seat, he struck his gavel: “Picking up where we left off!”

Wen Xing’s attention was immediately snatched by the storyteller.

“They say that General Lin caught the eye of the Emperor of Great Yong. A Phoenix Carriage brought him into the palace, and the Silver Palaces became a golden cage this is the ‘Hidden Beauty on the Dragon Bed’!”

“Cough—!”

Ning Wujie choked on his tea, coughing repeatedly. He coughed so hard that a faint flush spread from his neck to the tips of his ears.

Wen Xing turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. “Why are you drinking so fast?” He pushed the teapot toward Ning Wujie. “No one’s fighting you for it.”

Ning Wujie looked at him with a complex gaze. Before he could speak, the storyteller continued: “From then on, the deep palace was like an ocean. General Lin’s heart was on the battlefield, yet he could not fly from this cage. He looked on with sorrow: ‘Today I receive His Majesty’s favor, but who knows who it will be tomorrow?'”

Ning Wujie closed his eyes and stood up abruptly. “Mr. Wen, surely you have important business to attend to?”

Wen Xing looked blank. “Huh? No, I don’t.”

“The Emperor of Great Yong swept his sleeves: ‘I shall disband the Imperial Harem this instant!'”

Crack—!

Ning Wujie’s fingertips clamped down, and the teacup shattered into powder.

Xinghe alerted: “Killing intent!”

In the blink of an eye, a sword flashed out, its silver light piercing toward Ning Wujie’s face like a silk ribbon.

Ning Wujie kept one hand behind his back. With a slight tilt of his body, he caught the tip of the sword between two fingers and gave it a light flick. With a clink, Xinghe was actually shaken back two steps.

Xinghe’s eyes widened, and he attacked again, refusing to back down.

Two lightning-fast figures began to duel within the room. The wind from the sword and palms tore through the pearl curtains.

The guards outside sensed the commotion and rushed toward the room. However, just as they reached the door, they saw their Majesty calmly picking up melon seeds from the table, leaning back in his chair, and leisurely watching the two fight while cracking seeds.

Wen Xing caught the guards out of the corner of his eye and waved them away. The guards froze for a moment before closing the door and quietly retreating.

Xinghe attempted a flying side-kick, but Ning Wujie raised his arm to block it mid-air, then flipped his palm to yank the boy down.

With a thud, the child was slammed onto the table, a palm pressed against the back of his neck, pinning him down.

“Master, run!” Xinghe’s voice sounded aggrieved. “I can’t beat him.”

Wen Xing strolled over and lightly tapped the boy’s head. “Who told you to attack him?”

Xinghe? “But, he had killing intent.”

Ning Wujie’s brow twitched.

Wen Xing found it funny. “I think you’re just using that as an excuse to fight.” He signaled Ning Wujie to let the child go.

As soon as Ning Wujie let go, he heard the storyteller again: “The Emperor rubbed the General’s palm to coax him: ‘I shall conquer the Northern Di for you. You need only stay peacefully in the palace and wait for my victorious return. I shall crown you as my Empress!'”

He couldn’t take it anymore.

He extended his palm outward, and a sleeve-arrow shot into the air above the courtyard, exploding into a firework.

The next second, a large number of investigators from the Inspectorate swarmed in with blades drawn, sparking a wave of chaos and screams in the hall.

Ning Wujie said in a deep voice, “Your Majesty, I am closing the net. I will find your belongings for you.” With that, he pushed open the door and left.

Wen Xing was left in a daze. My belongings? What belongings of mine?

He looked out at the investigators who had now surrounded the entire Tower of Illusion Seas so tightly that not even water could leak through. Finally, he realized: Ning Wujie hadn’t come to see beauties; he was here to handle a case.

Seeing the storyteller trembling and hiding under the table, Xinghe let out a sigh: “Aww, I didn’t get to hear the ending!”

Chests of treasures were being carried up from the basement by the investigators. Constant shouts and pleas for mercy rang out in the massive courtyard. The guests had been evacuated, leaving only the staff of the Tower of Illusion Seas tied up and detained.

Ning Wujie sat leaning against the railing of the jade bridge, his face dark as he watched the busy investigators.

Behind him came a trembling voice: “Officer, Sir I’m just a storyteller this none of this has anything to do with me.”

The storyteller was so shaken by the murderous aura radiating from Ning Wujie that he could barely speak.

Ning Wujie didn’t turn around, his half-closed eyes reflecting a sharp light. He toyed with a confiscated snuff bottle, his voice as cold as ice: “That storybook from just now, you are not allowed to tell it ever again.”

“Otherwise, your entire clan will be executed.”

The storyteller was scared out of his wits, kowtowing repeatedly: “I wouldn’t dare! I’ll never do it again!”

A subordinate brought over a record for Ning Wujie. “Commander, we found 162 precious items at the auction, all from the inner palace treasury. The manager refuses to reveal the source. Should we take him to the Imperial Prisons?”

Ning Wujie: “Aside from the laborers and performers, detain everyone else.”

The subordinate then pointed to a box on the ground full of books. “By the way, these are the storybooks you wanted us to find. They’re all here.”

Ning Wujie scanned the box, his gaze turning several degrees colder. “Burn them all.”

With that, he strode away.

So the garbage Wu Jing was reading was this kind of stuff? I should have gouged his eyes out!

Just you wait. I’ll gouge out the eyes of every person who has read that book.

The subordinate froze, watching Ning Wujie’s grim silhouette. He scratched the back of his head in confusion. Does our Commander have some deep-seated blood feud with these books?

Oh, I get it, he thought. This is called ‘burning away the filth to purify the source.’ Truly a man from the Ningyuan Army.

The subordinate watched Ning Wujie’s back, his heart swelling with admiration.

Ning Wujie walked out of the Tower of Illusion Seas. After giving instructions for the follow-up work, he climbed into a carriage at the side of the road.

Ning Wujie knelt on one knee. “Your Majesty.”

“The seized evidence will be sent to the Inspectorate for temporary holding. I only wish to know: what exactly was Your Majesty looking for today?”

Wen Xing was half-lying on the soft couch at the back of the carriage, letting out a yawn. “Huh? I wasn’t looking for anything.”

After a night of excitement, he was exhausted. He was about to fall asleep and didn’t have the energy to think about why Ning Wujie thought he was searching for something.

Ning Wujie’s eyes darkened. Li Dequan lied to me.

So this tyrant really did just go there to visit a brothel. Hah.

Why on earth do I still believe this tyrant could have any sense of responsibility as an Emperor?

“In that case, I shall take my leave.”

“Wait.” Wen Xing found a comfortable position, pulled a storybook from under his pillow, and tossed it to Ning Wujie. “Read.”

Ning Wujie frowned. This tyrant always made him read storybooks at bedtime, using his voice as a sleep aid. He wanted to refuse on the grounds of having official business, but he remembered he had been so busy with the investigation that he hadn’t been to Funing Hall in a long time. Who knew if the tyrant had found someone else to read to him?

At that thought, he sat on a cushion at the side, opened the book, and began to read aloud: “Old Man Zhou was originally a jade craftsman from Suzhou. Because his hometown suffered a flood, he brought his ancestral Han Dynasty double-dragon jade disc to the capital to sell.”

Hearing that familiar, cool, “God-tier” voice again, Wen Xing closed his eyes in satisfaction.

The carriage moved slowly along the official roads of the capital.

Wen Xing had just drifted into a light sleep when he realized the rocking carriage had suddenly jerked to a halt. A horse let out a sharp neigh. He snapped his eyes open.

Suddenly, someone shouted: “Assassins!”