The Reticent Blade-Chapter 95 - The Wine Thief

By the time the Unbound Bodhisattva descended from the city walls, it was already deep into the night.

Xue Qiming stood in the middle of an empty street, feeling as if something was off, yet he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. He scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "Forget it... I’ll just find a place to get some wine to drink."

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. After walking up and down four streets, Xue Qiming still did not see anywhere with an open bar where he could drink.

"What is going on?" Xue Qiming muttered softly, "Do the people of Northern Qiang really go to sleep this early?"

While he was still trying to figure things out, a chorus of footsteps came from around the corner ahead. Xue Qiming was overjoyed and was about to go up to ask what was going on and where he could find a drink, when the owner of the footsteps turned the corner.

As soon as Xue Qiming caught sight of the figure, he immediately ducked behind the eaves of a house at the side of the street.

Approaching his street was not just one person but a whole group of people. They were clad in iron armor and wielded long spears, this was a group of soldiers.

Although their footsteps were not in perfect unison, the group was not disordered. Not a single person spoke as they marched in a clear formation, creating a solemn atmosphere.

"What is this?" Xue Qiming breathed, as he hid in the shadows and watched the soldiers walk away. "A patrol?"

At last, Xue Qiming understood why he hadn’t seen a single person in the city, there was a curfew!

However, generally speaking, a curfew would only be enforced during wartime, except in the inner imperial city. But this wasn’t the inner imperial city, and it wasn't wartime either.

Why was there a curfew then? Xue Qiming thought about the situation in confusion.

"Forget it, it’s none of my business"—Xue Qiming shook his head and threw all these questions aside—"I'm here on a mission."

***

"Hmm... that smells amazing!" Xue Qiming pressed his nose against the door of a small shop, and inhaled greedily, his face filled with bliss. "Hehe... finally found you, my precious."

He stood outside a small tavern, the inside of which was pitch black, indicating that the owner had probably gone to sleep. A faint aroma of wine wafted through the door. Xue Qiming's eyes lit up as he came up with an idea.

He quickly circled around to the back of the house, arrived at the outer wall of the backyard, and effortlessly jumped over the low wall into the small courtyard.

Next to the small courtyard was the house, and intermittent snoring could be heard from inside.

Xue Qiming silently grinned. Holding his breath, he focused on finding the source of the wine scent. Following the smell, this little wine thief found a wine cellar, but the door was tightly closed and secured by a copper lock.

Xue Qiming scratched his head, seeming a bit hesitant, but ultimately could not resist the temptation of the wine. He slowly reached for the copper lock. Gripping the lock, he exerted a little force, and the lock broke off with a click.

The door swung open, and Xue Qiming looked into the dark wine cellar. The aroma of wine grew stronger, and he licked his lips. His eyes sparkled like those of a wild cat in the night.

"Hehehe." Xue Qiming sat down in the wine cellar holding a jar of wine, quickly removed the clay seal, and dipped his hand in to sample his first .

"Tsk tsk..." Xue Qiming pouted in disappointment, "Boring... this wine isn’t that interesting."

But it was better than nothing. In the end, Xue Qiming filled his gourd with wine and drank to his heart's content in the cellar.

Cockadoodle doo—

When he heard the rooster crowing in the courtyard, Xue Qiming knew it was time to leave. Tavern owners generally woke up early, and he didn’t want to be caught red-handed.

Just after the rooster crowed for the third time, the tavern owner yawned as he stepped out of the house, still a bit drowsily as he stood in the courtyard.

"Hmm?" The tavern owner rubbed his eyes. "Eh? What is this...?" He looked at the open wine cellar and the copper lock on the ground and felt a sinking feeling in his heart. The owner quickly walked into the cellar, and upon seeing the mess inside, he felt empty inside. "Who the hell did this!?"

***

The news spread that Yuanyang City was haunted.

This was already the fifth day since Xue Qiming and Xue Niang arrived in the capital of the Kingdom of Northern Qiang.

That afternoon, Xue Qiming was comfortably sitting on the threshold of their rental house, basking in the sun, with a gourd of wine at his feet. Not far away, Xue Niang was hanging clothes out to dry in front of the door.

"Hey, did you hear?" Two women carrying a washbasin of clothes walked past the door, seemingly headed for the river to wash their clothes.

"What’s wrong? What happened?" the other woman asked in confusion.

The woman speaking had a look of terror on her face, sounding quite serious. "Yuanyang City is now haunted!"

"Is that true? Don’t try to scare me!"

"How can it not be true? I heard that some people have even seen it!"

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"Really?! Quickly tell me, what’s going on?"

"It’s said that in the past few days, taverns have had their wine stolen every night. There's nothing left behind, only empty jars of wine."

"Haunted? I'm afraid it's just a petty thief, right?"

"Hey! If it were a petty thief, he would have been caught by now. Yuanyang has a curfew these days, and soldiers patrol the streets every night. How could a petty thief be that capable?

"Even if such a skilled thief existed, there should have been some clues left behind, yet no one has been able to see what the thief looks like..."

"But I heard that a waiter from Drunken Spring Pavilion saw a figure on the roof at night. They said it had two heads, one on its shoulders and another on its stomach! What do you think? That has to be a ghost, right?"

"I can’t believe this... but... it makes sense... If it only had one head and one mouth, it probably couldn’t drink that much wine..."

The two women gradually walked away, their voices fading into silence.

Xue Niang turned her head to look at Xue Qiming, blinking her eyes.

Xue Qiming chuckled awkwardly, discreetly hiding his gourd behind him, "About that... the wine from Drunken Spring Pavilion isn’t bad. I had a great time that night... Hehe... I didn’t notice anyone coming..."

Xue Niang ignored him and turned back to continue hanging up their clothes.

Xue Qiming shook the gourd... it was nearly empty again. He couldn’t help but feel distressed. It might not be a good idea to keep stealing wine in the capital. What was he to do now?

Compared to the imperial city of the Ruen Dynasty, the imperial city of Northern Qiang didn’t have much of the eye-catching gold and red.

The dominant color of the entire imperial city was a heavy black. If the imperial city of the Ruen Dynasty could be described as resplendent, the first impression of the northern Qiang imperial city was one of oppressive majesty.

Yelü Jiejia was the king of Northern Qiang. In the prime of his life, he was a strong, rugged man who embodied the many characteristics unique to his people of Northern Qiang.

He was indeed a Northern Qiang man, born to be on horseback. But he also possessed qualities that most Northern Qiang people lacked, such as wise eyes, a delicate mind, and a greater ambition.

At this moment, the highest ruler of Northern Qiang, Yelü Jiejia, sat on the edge of the bed, holding a letter that had been urgently delivered by the Qihuang Society not long ago.

The letter contained few words, but the content foreshadowed an impending upheaval...

A seismic event was coming, one capable of changing the landscape of two nations.