Martial Arts Crossover: My Wife is the Top Scholar

Chapter 142 The Most Precious Artifact in the Martial Arts World: The Bottle

Jade Rakshasa is not the best scapegoat.

The blame should be placed on the father-in-law, Feng Shaoqing.

If Feng Shaoqing hadn't sent Li Zhaoting to Jingzhou to help Cheng Yantang investigate the case, none of this mess would have happened.

Madam, please let me explain. I really didn't have any philandering. It was all my master, father-in-law, and the leader of the evil cult who caused this trouble. I am an innocent and upright gentleman!
Li Zhaoting carried roasted chestnuts home.

The next morning, the sleeping potion had expired. He used his inner energy to heat the chestnuts and had Lan Fenghuang distribute them to the children. Even if Gongsun Lan was lying, she certainly couldn't hide it from Lan Fenghuang.

The advantage of having the Five Poisons Master in the family is that you never have to worry about being poisoned. If the enemy throws a few scorpions or centipedes, they are just food in Blue Phoenix's eyes.

Jiang Yuyan and Meizhu went to the kitchen to cook.

Just as breakfast was being served, Lu Xiaofeng pushed open the Li family's door and rushed over to freeload a meal.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted!"

Lu Xiaofeng found a seat, picked up a bowl of porridge, and slurped it down in one gulp. He rubbed his stomach, feeling the warmth inside, and let out a satisfied burp.

"Who made the porridge? The cooking skills are quite good."

Lu Xiaofeng and Li Zhaoting share the same hobbies.

Beautiful scenery, delicious food, fine wine, and beautiful women—none of these should be missed. It's not about demanding the finest and most exquisite dishes, but they must have flavor and reflect the chef's heart. Overemphasizing technique can actually diminish the original taste of the ingredients.

Li Zhaoting pointed at Jiang Yuyan: "Lu Xiaofeng, Yuyan cooked the porridge. Master Lu is enjoying it so much, shouldn't you reward the maid and cook?"

Lu Xiaofeng smiled bitterly: "I don't even have a single penny left in my pocket. What do you think of my beard?"

"Don't you always carry a stack of silver notes with you? It's said that the smallest denomination of silver note is five thousand taels."

"I ran into some experts last night. When I was running away, I tore my pockets and all my money spilled out. I'm not only here to freeload, but I'm also here to freeload. Li Zhaoting, you're not going to just stand by and watch me sleep on the streets, are you?"

“We’re good friends, how could I stand by and watch you die? Here’s what I’ll do! I’ll introduce you to my sworn brother, he can help you out of your predicament.”

"Your older brother? Xiao Feng?"

"I asked him to write a letter of recommendation, recommending you as a disciple of the Beggars' Sect. Wearing tattered clothes, with a broken bowl and a dog-beating stick, you can fill a broken bowl with a few clouds. The place where you lie in the setting sun is Penglai."

"Why would someone as handsome as me be a beggar?"

"His handsome appearance makes him perfect for begging. He can go to rich families to beg for food and get more leftovers."

What if someone is ugly?

"Try to look as pitiful as possible, the more pitiful the better."

"Where did you learn all this?"

"My father taught me in Dali!"

"Isn't your dad a seller of amulets?"

“When we first arrived in Dali, we were no different from beggars. My father’s capital for his business was given to him by my master. My wife can testify to that!”

Li Zhaoting gave Feng Suzhen a wink.

Feng Suzhen rolled her eyes!

Feng Suzhen thought of Li Nanxing's white jade bracelet.

I thought it was a family heirloom of the Li family, and only the matriarch could wear it. I didn't expect it to be a set. When I left Dali, Lan Fenghuang also wore one.

It was later learned that Li Zhaoting's master gave Li Nanxing a large piece of jade blank, and Li Nanxing extracted the most exquisite part to make more than a dozen jade bracelets.

Let alone having three wives and four concubines, even if Li Zhaoting brought back three palaces and six courtyards, Li Nanxing could still afford to give him gifts.

Jiang Yuyan secretly glanced at Lu Xiaofeng.

When Jiang Yuyan was working as a maid for Ke Baisui, she heard Ke Baisui comment on martial arts masters, saying that the two most dangerous masters in the martial arts world were Lu Xiaofeng and Chu Liuxiang!

It's not about martial arts skills or intelligence, but rather that they have a very special kind of luck that allows them to sabotage sinister schemes that have been planned for two or three decades. The more meticulous and rigorous the plan, the easier it is for them to break it.

Ke Baisui bluntly stated that Lu Xiaofeng and Chu Liuxiang are the enemies that should not be provoked, and if anyone provokes them, they must be cut off immediately.

Those mysterious forces that hide in the shadows of the martial arts world and have been plotting their schemes for decades have only one way of cutting ties... by killing them to silence them!
Dead men tell no tales!

Death is the most convenient form of dismemberment!
In other words, if Lu Xiaofeng discovers Jiang Yuyan's weakness, Ke Baisui will definitely kill her.

Jiang Yuyan glanced at Lu Xiaofeng a few times, thinking to herself, "How could Lu Xiaofeng be so powerful? It's all just hype, isn't it? His attitude of freeloading is no different from that of a street thug."

He's handsome, articulate, and a master at singing lotus flower ballads; he'll never go hungry in his life!

Apart from that, there's nothing special about it.

After breakfast, Li Zhaoting, Lu Xiaofeng, and Feng Suzhen went to the study to analyze the case, Meizhu gave lessons to the Five Rats and Jiang Yuyan, and Lan Fenghuang made snacks in the kitchen.

Yunnan specialty flower cakes.

Some people are absolutely enamored with it.

Some people politely decline this offer.

"The Green Bamboo Thief entered the treasure vault from the wine cellar. I found a hidden passage in the wine cellar, using a technique commonly used by tomb raiders, and the traces were very obvious."

Ordinary people use shovels and spades to dig holes, while tomb raiders use iron rods and round shovels. Ordinary shovels require a large digging area, but tomb raiders' shovels will actively narrow the digging area and pursue digging depth.

Lu Xiaofeng stroked his beard: "Jin Jiuling has been a constable for thirty years and has handled hundreds or even thousands of cases. After becoming the chief guard of the Prince's Mansion, he must have personally investigated the theft of the treasury. He must be able to find the secret passage."

Feng Suzhen said, "The problem lies here. Whether it was setting up a trap to lure Ye Gucheng away in the early stages or failing to discover the secret passage later, it all proves that Jin Jiuling is guilty."

This leads to two speculations.

Firstly, the conclusion that Jin Jiuling's skills were not excellent is likely wrong. Given Jin Jiuling's spending habits, he would have been dismissed from the Six Doors long ago if he hadn't been highly skilled.

The reason why the Six Doors didn't investigate Jin Jiuling was because he was good at investigating cases and didn't cross any lines.

Secondly, Jin Jiuling was the Green Bamboo Bandit, or colluded with the Green Bamboo Bandit, just as he himself said, based on the Iron Shoe Bandit model of multiple people working together to commit crimes.

Jin Jiuling had extremely high expenses and was very short of money.

His motive was to impersonate a bandit and amass wealth. The question is, why frame an official? Such an obvious frame-up clearly indicates hatred!
The official had little contact with Jin Jiuling, and they had exchanged no more than ten words. Where did the hatred between them come from?

Is it to steal the limelight?

Let's leave this speculation as it is for now.

Let's continue reasoning along this assumption.

Jin Jiuling was jealous of the official's constant attention and plotted to frame him, using the opportunity to amass a large fortune.

The purpose of robbing a caravan is to make money.

What was the purpose of robbing the royal palace's treasury?
It's important to understand that the flaws Jin Jiuling revealed most likely stemmed from the royal treasury. This was a risky move. Why would Jin Jiuling take such a risk if there weren't huge benefits to offset the risks? What benefits could he possibly gain?
Currently, Jin Jiuling replacing Jiang Chongwei as the chief guard of the Prince's Palace can be considered a positive development.

However, according to the clues I found, Jiang Chongwei has long intended to retire while he is still at the peak of his career. The Eighth King and Jin Jiuling have been in frequent contact. At most next month, Jiang Chongwei will suffer a qi deviation during his practice, lose all his martial arts skills, and retire from the martial arts world.

Jin Jiuling couldn't possibly have that little patience, could he?

I'm driven by self-interest.

The royal treasury contains a treasure that made Jin Jiuling risk so much danger; this treasure is extremely valuable.

The Eighth Prince had the style of Meng Chang, and liked to support scholars. His retainers were divided into several levels, and different levels enjoyed different treatment. With Jin Jiuling's martial arts skills, he could be ranked in the top level, but he could not get his hands on this treasure.

Jin Jiuling desperately needed this treasure, but he couldn't obtain it through normal means. So he disguised himself as the Green Bamboo Thief and sneaked into the Prince's Palace Treasury to steal it.

What is this treasure?
Why were the Eight Kings not mentioned?
One last question: how much discrepancy is there between the amount of gold and silver jewelry stolen by the Green Bamboo Thief and the amount reported by the Eighth Prince? Were the two sides in cahoots beforehand? Royal affairs are truly troublesome!
That's the difference between an imperial uncle and an imperial brother-in-law!

If we couldn't win it back then, and so many years have passed, the gap has only widened. What's there to fight for now?
My lord, what are your thoughts?

Feng Suzhen took out two files.

This is a clue that the Imperial City Guard discovered.

The Eighth Prince has recently acquired two treasures.

One piece, named "Jade Qilin," is a Qilin carved from warm, sun-facing jade. It stands one foot tall, and its base is a seal. It has been passed down for over a thousand years.

The other item is a crystal glass bottle that looks like an ordinary vase, about half a foot tall. It contains a rich vitality. If a plum branch is inserted in it in the summer, it will produce buds and bloom. When the epiphyllum blooms, if it is placed on the bottle, it can bloom for a whole season. It also contains the vitality of yin and yang. If a man obtains this item, he will gain an iron kidney.

This object is called "Golden Plum Vase." It is a vase, not a novel item. It is a very special vase and has nothing to do with Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian. The maker was a person from the Tang Dynasty.

Liu E was a disciple of the Yin Gui Sect. She had read about this item in the sect's records. It was made by the evil emperor Long Ying during the Wu Zhou period. Its core was a yellow crystal similar to the evil emperor's relic, which could be used to carry true essence and blood. The vitality inside the Golden Plum Bottle came from this.

Li Zhaoting was drooling over it.

Lu Xiaofeng gently rubbed his lower back.

For a womanizer, an indestructible kidney is more attractive than the Yi Jin Jing, Xi Sui Jing, Jiu Xiao Zhen Jing, or even the War God's Manual.

Jin Jiuling was a womanizer who indulged in nightly revelry. Even with his Shaolin internal strength as a foundation, he was nearing his limit. At over forty years old, he was starting to feel somewhat powerless.

What was Jin Jiuling's pursuit?
reputation!

They crave praise wherever they go.

The so-called "first-class enjoyment" is actually a byproduct of fame. In the past, others entertained Jin Jiuling with first-class enjoyment. Now, for the sake of appearances, huge sums of money are spent to maintain first-class. Ultimately, it all comes down to reputation.

What kind of life did Jin Jiuling hope for?
When they arrived at a certain place, the local tyrant heard that Jin Jiuling, the head constable, had arrived. He thought to himself that he couldn't afford to offend him, so he brought out the best wine and food to entertain him, and his words were full of flattery.

When they went to a brothel for pleasure, the courtesans said that Jin Jiuling was full of energy and brought them great joy.

It can't be the kind of exaggerated praise like that of the Starry Night Old Monster or the Sun Moon Cult. Jin Jiuling has to put on airs and enjoy the praise from others with a pretentious attitude.

For such a person, living in seclusion with gold and silver is far from enough; he must have an exceptionally beautiful woman and receive her praise. To some extent, the prestige in bed is even more important to Jin Jiuling.

What is decency?

What is first-class?
At its core, it's about "emotional value".

For men, it's either about strategizing on the battlefield, writing brilliantly in the examination hall, speaking eloquently to foreign tribes, or wielding power over the world while intoxicated by the beauty's grace, her shyness and gentle anger.

Upon seeing the case file, Li Zhaoting and Lu Xiaofeng felt a sudden sense of relief and joy. They exchanged knowing glances, their expressions extremely lewd, almost causing their eyebrows to fly off.

Feng Suzhen endured countless hardships, implying that she was a gentle and virtuous wife and mother. "I am a virtuous wife and mother, I cannot be a shrew, I cannot be a shrew."

After repeating this more than a dozen times, seeing Li Zhaoting and Lu Xiaofeng becoming increasingly lewd, Feng Suzhen finally couldn't contain her anger, roared, and kicked out.

"Snapped!"

Li Zhaoting was kicked away by Feng Suzhen and flew out of the window, landing in the garden outside the study. His head was covered in flowers and plants, but he still had a lewd smile on his face.

Feng Suzhen glared angrily at Lu Xiaofeng.

Lu Xiaofeng hurriedly said, "Sister-in-law, spare my life! No need to trouble you, I'll get out of here on my own..."

With that, Lu Xiaofeng jumped out of the window.

Li Zhaoting and Lu Xiaofeng found an inn and continued studying the case file. The case file was really well written!

……

Jin Jiuling was very depressed.

According to Jin Jiuling's plan, Lu Xiaofeng and Li Zhaoting will find out about the Red Shoes and make Gongsun Da Niang, the leader of the Red Shoes, the murderer. Jin Jiuling will use her as a tool to kill, shift all the blame onto Gongsun Da Niang, and support Er Niang of the Red Shoes to become the leader. Er Niang is his lover and also the rich woman he is clinging to; they are all in the same boat.

The Red Shoes group consists of nine members and their main businesses are intelligence gathering, assassination, money laundering, and underground banking. Their business has a very large turnover, with an annual income of over one million taels of silver.

Second Sister is the finance manager. She has embezzled money by taking advantage of her position and has already lost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

The audit will be held in a few days.

Once Gongsun Da Niang discovers the problems with the accounts, Er Niang will have a hard time even if she wants to die. Therefore, Jin Jiuling and Er Niang hit it off and devised a series of plans to frame her.

Second Sister repeatedly urged that all the members of Red Shoes were stunning beauties, and that if Second Sister became the leader, the entire Red Shoes would become Jin Jiuling's harem.

How did Jin Jiuling resist temptation?

Relying on his thirty years of experience in handling cases, Jin Jiuling orchestrated a major case, using Li Zhaoting, Lu Xiaofeng, and Gongsun Da Niang as scapegoats, and then safely retired from public life.

The plan was wonderful, but things changed too quickly.

The treasures collected by the Eighth Prince were too tempting, and Jin Jiuling couldn't resist making a move, revealing a fatal flaw.

Li Zhaoting and Lu Xiaofeng didn't bother looking for the red shoes and white socks at all; they relentlessly pursued the flaws in the Prince's treasury, their actions more frenzied than a mad dog biting someone.

The two of them didn't care at all about the flaws that Jin Jiuling deliberately revealed, such as his thick cotton-padded coat, the red shoes he was wearing, and the red embroidered satin handkerchief.

From the moment they received the case, Li Zhaoting and Lu Xiaofeng devoted themselves entirely to investigating one thing:

How to infiltrate the royal palace's treasury!
Other than that, nothing else was done.

What paintings and calligraphy were lost from Huayuxuan?
How were 800,000 taels of silver transported?
How to disable Jiang Chongwei's eyes in one move?
What do red shoes represent?
What secret does the peony on the satin handkerchief hold?
Jin Jiuling was extremely meticulous, setting traps and misleading people in these questions.

This is like the final battle at the Forbidden City. Jin Jiuling carries a box of weapons and uses the eighteen kinds of weapons repeatedly, wielding them with great force. Lu Xiaofeng pulls out a sniper rifle, and Li Zhaoting carries a rocket launcher!

"Clap!"

Soft footsteps could be heard outside the window.

Jin Jiuling shouted, "Who's there?"

I opened the window, and there was a person in purple outside.

Jin Jiuling knew him.

Ke Baisui, leader of the Funiu Sect.

When Jin Jiuling went to handle the case, Ke Baisui fawned over him and gave him several large red envelopes.

Jin Jiuling sneered, "Ke Baisui? Weren't you killed? You think you can fake your death and escape? Do you want to pay money to save your life, or do you want to be buried back in your coffin?"

Ke Baisui said calmly, "Captain Jin, I'm here to save your life. You've committed such a big case, it's impossible for you to get away unscathed. Li Zhaoting and Lu Xiaofeng have already set their sights on you, and you're on the verge of despair."

"What did you say? I don't understand!"

“Captain Jin, you are meticulous in your work, but you are not ruthless enough. You forgot to kill the people who helped you transport the silver and silence them, and you also forgot to silence the people who helped you transport the books and paintings. They have all been caught by me.”

"Ke Baisui, do you want to die?"

“Jin Jiuling, you are a smart man. The fact that I dare to show up here proves that I have a chance to survive.”

What do you want to gain?

"Golden Plum Vase!"

"What do I gain?"

"Jin Jiuling, you've worked diligently in the Six Doors for thirty years, handling cases with utmost care, yet you've never been promoted..."

Ke Baisui's voice was seductive.

(End of this chapter)