Love Lock

Chapter 293 That Damn Hairy Beast

"What's wrong?" Zhao Zun immediately noticed her unusual behavior, his brows furrowing.

He quickly took off his mink coat and draped it over Han Lei's shoulders without a word, his warm hands gently stroking her back. "Are you cold? This awful weather, let's hurry back."

Han Lei waved her hand, about to speak, when another wave of nausea hit her. She gagged, and tears welled in her eyes.

Zhao Zun's eyes suddenly lit up, and he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "You wouldn't happen to be... pregnant?"

A mischievous smile played on his lips, but his eyes gleamed with anticipation.

After the imperial army suffered a crushing defeat and fled back to the capital, the situation in Cangzhou temporarily stabilized. He brought up the topic of having children with Han Lei again, and Han Lei shyly acquiesced.

Since then, he has never found that small medicine bottle again, and given his nightly service, that's highly likely.

"What do you mean, 'like'?!" Han Lei's pretty face flushed red, and she playfully punched him, though not hard.

Zhao Zun exaggeratedly took a step back, a hint of disappointment on his face, which amused Yang's mother and Tang Xiaotong, who couldn't help but laugh.

"What's wrong? You look like you're in a lot of pain." Zhao Zun's face still showed concern.

"It's nothing," Han Lei said, covering her mouth and nose as she straightened up. "I just smelled an unpleasant odor."

Han Lei loosened one finger, and the strange smell entered her nostrils again.

Han Lei was not used to the pungent and unpleasant smell, but it was very familiar to her.

She endured the discomfort and quickly took out two medical masks from her storage space and put them on.

“Ask these Turks,” she said, pointing to the Turkic merchants wrapped in sheepskin coats, her voice muffled by their masks, “if they’re carrying any special goods.”

Zhao Zun understood. He also wanted to know what was emitting such a strange smell, so he strode towards the group of Turkic merchants.

He pointed to the samples laid out on the ground and asked in broken Turkic, "Besides these, do you have any other...special...goods?"

The leading Turkic merchant, his face weathered, eyed the richly dressed man from Dajing with suspicion, still trying to process his broken Turkic language.

At the end of the group, a younger merchant suddenly lifted the tattered tarpaulin on the carriage, revealing a dark wooden barrel, and said in even more broken Dajing dialect, "Yes, this is it, Blackwater."

Han Lei's eyes lit up, and she quickly walked over.

The wooden barrel contained a viscous black liquid that shimmered with an eerie iridescence in the dim light.

Han Lei squatted down, carefully dipped her finger in the mixture, and rubbed it between her fingers—

It really is unrefined crude oil!

"You guys... sell this too?" She frowned slightly, covered her mouth and nose in a gesture of disgust, and tried to keep her tone calm, but her heart was pounding like a drum.

The older Turkic merchant scratched his beard and, with a look of disgust, raised his hand to fan his nose.

"These are the devil's tears, plentiful deep in the grasslands. They burn too fiercely and smell too foul, nobody likes to use them."

He kicked the wooden bucket. "If you want to buy my sheepskin, this is free."

Are there many deep in the grasslands?
Han Lei was overjoyed and quickly exchanged a glance with Zhao Zun.

She cleared her throat: "I won't take advantage of you. I'll take all the goods you brought today. How about exchanging them for sweet potatoes and flour?"

The merchants immediately stirred, whispering amongst themselves in a jumbled Turkic language.

The young merchant asked excitedly, "Does the young lady still want this black water? We can bring it every time we come! As long as you buy our goods, I'll give it to you for free."

"I'll take as much as you have," Han Lei said decisively, then lowered her voice and said to Zhao Zun, "Quickly tell Lao Meng to go back to the coal mine canteen and bring some grain."

Zhao Zun understood. He knew that it would be inconvenient for Han Lei to use the system in front of these Turks, and he trusted Han Lei's judgment. He knew that Han Lei must have a great use for the black water.

He summoned his personal guard commander, Lao Meng, and ordered him to fetch several more cartloads of sweet potatoes and flour from the canteen at the Yinshan coal mine.

Without a word, Lao Meng led the horse over, mounted it, and rode away, the horse's hooves kicking up a string of snowflakes on the frozen ground.

"Girl, what do you need this for?" Zhao Zun leaned close to Han Lei's ear, his warm breath brushing against her earlobe.

Han Lei smiled mysteriously: "This is something more precious than gold."

She gazed at the Turkic merchants who were sorting and counting their goods, her eyes sparkling with a light Zhao Zun had never seen before.

Han Lei whispered, "With this, we can do so many more things."

The wind gradually subsided, and a ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds, shining on the barrel of dark crude oil and refracting a colorful halo.

Han Lei seemed to see the not-too-distant future—burning flames, roaring machines, and changes that no one in this era could imagine…

The Turkic merchants had already unloaded their goods and were binding the sheepskins with thick ropes.

Han Lei noticed that they were being extra careful when moving the wooden barrels. The black, viscous liquid sloshed around inside the barrels, occasionally splashing out a few drops and leaving strange marks on the snow.

“Deep in our grasslands, this thing will emerge from cracks in the ground on its own.”

The young businessman gestured haltingly in Dajing dialect as he explained things to Han Lei.

"When it rains, the water accumulates in puddles, and cattle and sheep get sick if they drink from it. Later, someone discovered that it could be burned, but the smoke is too much and it smells too bad... Besides cattle and sheep, there aren't many things on the grassland that can be used for trade, so this time I brought a bucket to try my luck and see if anyone likes it..."

Han Lei listened intently, every detail precious. A simple blueprint for a distillation apparatus already formed in her mind.

Soon, the squeaking sound of wheels rolling over frozen ground could be heard in the distance. Old Meng was driving back in two oxcarts loaded with grain, the ruts leaving deep tracks in the snow.

The Turkic merchants cheered when they saw the carts full of grain and eagerly crowded around them.

The transaction proceeded quickly. Han Lei gave them several extra bags of refined salt, much to the delight of the merchants who bowed repeatedly in gratitude.

As he was leaving, the older merchant leaned closer to Zhao Zun mysteriously: "If you really like that black water, sir, I know a valley where the ground is seeping out..."

A glint flashed in Zhao Zun's eyes, and he casually tossed him a small piece of silver. The merchant caught it, gritted his teeth, and happily stuffed it into his pocket.

Under the warm sunlight, the caravan's silhouettes gradually disappeared into the vast snowfield.

Ignoring the pungent smell, Han Lei stepped forward and stroked the barrel of oil, a smile unconsciously creeping onto her face.

"So happy?" Zhao Zun put his arm around her shoulder.

“Brother Zun,” Han Lei looked up, her eyes sparkling, “we’re going to get rich.”

Zhao Zun laughed and pinched the tip of her nose: "My girl is such a little money-grubber."

"It's not that we're greedy, it's just that the gasoline we use in our three-wheeled vehicles is refined from this black liquid." Han Lei chuckled twice and quickly instructed Lao Meng, "Be careful when you move it, this black liquid can't be exposed to open flames, it will ignite as soon as it's lit."

"Oh?" Zhao Zun suddenly became interested. "Then you have to tell me all about this black water when you get back. What's so magical about it?"

Han Lei smiled but didn't answer. She simply held his hand tightly and turned to walk towards the carriage in the distance. Yang Haibo and the others followed behind them. Tang Xiaotong walked while looking into the depths of the grassland, secretly regretting her actions.

He should have just asked those Turkic merchants to pass on a message to Princess Yujia, telling her that he had fulfilled his promise to her.

Unfortunately, the Turkic caravan had already gone far away.

The silhouettes of the group stretching long across the snow as they returned, while the barrel of crude oil lay quietly on the wagon, like a sleeping giant awaiting its awakening...

The capital city, the imperial palace, the Tangli Palace.

Da Shisan leaned lazily against Xiao Liuzi's bed, his head resting on the folded brocade quilt, his long legs casually crossed.

The warm afternoon sun shone through the window, casting dappled shadows on him.

He was holding a erotic picture book that Xiao Liu had collected, and he was reading it with great interest, occasionally letting out a few low laughs.

"This artist is quite talented," he muttered to himself, a slight smile playing on his lips, his fingers gently tracing the lifelike illustrations on the page. "He even managed to come up with such a difficult pose."

His M16 assault rifle, carefully wrapped in a dark cotton cloth, lay securely in his arms, as intimately as a lover.

This modern-day murder weapon stands in stark contrast to the antique palace furnishings around it.

Da Shisan seems to have gradually gotten used to this contrast. He is trapped in this gilded cage-like palace, spending his days with eunuchs and palace maids, and always on guard against being discovered.

Fortunately, Xiao Liuzi was the head eunuch in Consort Ru's palace and had his own private room.

So, these days, Da Shisan has been living openly with Xiao Liuzi. Whenever Da Jiu and the others send supplies from outside the palace, he changes into his guard's uniform and goes to the dry well to receive them.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside the door. Da Shisan immediately sat up straight on alert, his right hand instinctively grabbing the weapon in his arms.

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Xiao Liuzi rushed in, panting, his round face full of panic.

"Quick, quick, hide!" Xiao Liuzi gasped for breath, his chest heaving. "I was just about to go find them to gamble when I saw His Majesty's imperial carriage heading towards Tangli Palace!"

Da Shisan frowned and muttered under his breath, "Why is that damned emperor here again?"

Xiao Liuzi didn't have time to answer. He wiped his sweat and looked around the cramped room. "I have to hurry and serve the Empress. You figure out how to hide yourself!"

After saying that, he straightened his clothes and left in a hurry.

The room fell silent. Da Shisan looked around; the eunuch's quarters were tiny, with barely any room to hide except for a narrow bed, a wardrobe, and a small table.

The sunlight outside the window was suddenly blocked by clouds, and the room darkened, as if foreshadowing something ominous.

"Damn it," Da Shisan cursed under his breath, quickly getting up to check his hiding place.

The wardrobe was too small, and the space under the bed was crammed with clutter. In the end, he had no choice but to stand against the wall by the window, using the heavy curtains to conceal himself.

Through the gaps in the window paper, he could clearly see everything happening in the courtyard.

Before long, a group of guards escorted the yellow-clad figure into the courtyard.

Emperor Jing was not wearing his dragon robe today, but only an apricot-yellow casual robe with a jade belt around his waist, looking much more casual than usual.

But a gloomy cloud hung over his sharply defined face; his brows were furrowed and his lips were downturned, clearly indicating that he was in a bad mood.

“It seems they didn’t come for me,” Da Shisan breathed a sigh of relief, his tense muscles relaxing slightly. “They came to see Ru Fei to relieve their boredom.”

Da Shisan's gaze followed the bright yellow figure into the main hall, and he quickly took action.

He rummaged through the depths of Xiao Liu's wardrobe and quickly changed into the guard's uniform. Then he carefully covered the M16 with the bedding to make sure that nothing was amiss.

"I hope that kid Xiao Liu doesn't rummage through my things," he muttered, giving his disguise one last check before tiptoeing out the door.

In the courtyard, the real guards stood ramrod straight, their eyes fixed straight ahead.

With his head down, Da Shisan pretended to be on routine patrol and quietly approached the side window of Consort Ru's bedchamber. From here, he could hear the conversation inside the palace, but he was unlikely to be discovered.

A deep voice came from inside the hall: "How have you been, my beloved consort? I have been preoccupied with state affairs these days and have neglected you. Please do not take offense."

Emperor Jing's tone carried a deliberate gentleness, yet it could not conceal the arrogance in his bones.

Consort Ru's reply was cold and distant: "Your Majesty is preoccupied with state affairs and has no need to visit me."

Just then, a sharp, hoarse voice suddenly rang out: "Idiot, you have no need to visit me! Idiot, you have no need to visit me!"

It's obvious who this idiot is insulting.

But who would dare to criticize the emperor?

Da Shisan almost burst out laughing, and quickly covered his mouth.

He was so curious that he dipped his finger in saliva and gently poked a small hole in the window paper to peek inside.

A jet-black myna bird was standing on a gilded bird stand, tilting its head and repeating its mistress's words with an extremely comical, earnest expression.

This myna bird was originally a gift from Zhao Zun to Emperor Jing. All the concubines in the harem and Emperor Jing were scolded by it, and no one could stand its spiciness.

The myna bird circled the inner palace and fell into Consort Ru's hands. Just then, the former emperor and empress were killed in an explosion, and the myna bird stayed with Consort Ru ever since.

Upon hearing the myna bird's curses, Emperor Jing's face immediately darkened, and he glared fiercely at the bird.

The myna bird, however, was completely unaware and continued preening its feathers.

"Damn hairy beast!"

Emperor Jing cursed under his breath, then turned to Consort Ru, his tone softening once more.

"My beloved consort, please don't be offended. The Eastern Ming Empire has already mobilized troops on the border. It's all because that scoundrel Shen Daohong fled with his family, otherwise I wouldn't be so troubled."

As he spoke, he reached out and put his arm around Consort Ru's slender shoulder.

Through the small hole in the window paper, Da Shisan saw that Consort Ru's body stiffened for a moment, and a barely perceptible look of disgust flashed in her eyes.

But she quickly lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes casting shadows on her cheeks, concealing all her emotions.

"Your Majesty is busy with many affairs of state; it is of utmost importance that you take care of your health."

Ru Fei's voice was calm as still water, but it ignited a fire in the heart of Da Shisan, who was listening outside the window.

Emperor Jing was clearly not satisfied with this answer. He waved to the palace maids and eunuchs serving in the hall: "You may all leave."

Da Shisan clenched his fists outside the window. He felt disgusted just looking at the emperor who had taken his brother's wife. He wished he could shoot him dead, but when he reached out, he realized he hadn't brought his M16 with him.

"Could it be... that I can't avoid it this time?" Da Shisan thought anxiously to himself.