My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband-Chapter 22 - Day of Wearing a Disguise

The woman led the two of them to an elegant private room and then excused herself.

This room had been arranged by the Jinyiwei, and because Yu Luocha was by her side, Yan Hongyin couldn’t openly inspect it, but she still swept her gaze around the room’s furnishings.

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After pouring a cup of hot tea, Yan Hongyin walked to the incense burner where fragrant incense was burning and raised her hand to extinguish the incense powder in the burner. She explained to Yu Luocha who was looking over. “The incense in places like this isn’t clean. It’s better not to smell it.”

Yu Luocha nodded with a smile, but his expression paused slightly when he saw something behind Yan Hongyin.

Yan Hongyin seemed to sense something and was about to turn her head when Yu Luocha quickly stepped forward and covered her eyes with her hand.

The warm, dry sensation over her eyes made Yan Hongyin’s face flush slightly. Yu Luocha rarely came this close to her, and she seemed to detect a faint scent of wormwood on this person.

It carried a slightly charred quality, as if burned by the fierce sun, with a bitter-sweet lingering sensation, trembling and dangerously entangling.

This was the first time Yan Hongyin had smelled this unique scent on Yu Luocha. This scent was different from ordinary perfumes or medicinal powders. Although slightly bitter, it gave Yan Hongyin a comfortable feeling of being surrounded by warmth under the scorching sun, along with a vague, thrilling sense of danger.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Yu Luocha covered Yan Hongyin’s eyes with one hand while using his other hand to lower the window prop behind Yan Hongyin, closing the window with a bang. He said softly, “Don’t look. Let’s not pollute Ah Yin’s eyes.”

The Luocha Sect secret guard who had watched the window close right in front of him: “…”

He seemed to have faintly heard the Sect Leader saying something just now.

The secret guard dressed as a servant silently turned around, inconspicuously placed something beneath the windowsill, and expressionlessly walked away.

This place had previously been a Luocha Sect stronghold, otherwise Han Mei wouldn’t have arranged the transaction here. But coincidentally, Xunfang Pavilion had been exposed even earlier than Hefang Shop, and afterward, the Jinyiwei had quietly infiltrated quite a few people.

Yan Hongyin suddenly realized what kind of place this was. No matter what Xunfang Pavilion did in secret, on the surface it was indeed thoroughly a brothel, and the back courtyard of a brothel was naturally not clean. What would “pollute the eyes” was self-evident.

She frowned slightly, raised her hand to pull down Yu Luocha’s hand, and led him to sit at the table. Looking at Yu Luocha’s expression, she seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

Yu Luocha: “…?”

What was this woman thinking about now?

Yan Hongyin sighed inwardly. Ah Yu had previously been imprisoned in a brothel and abused. He must surely detest such places deeply. It would be better to finish their business and leave this place as soon as possible.

Just then, a coquettish laugh came from outside the room. It sounded like the woman who had spoken to them earlier.

“Master Mei, you’ve finally arrived! Our girls have been waiting for you for several hours!”

Yan Hongyin’s motion of pouring tea for Yu Luocha didn’t pause in the slightest, and Yu Luocha’s face showed no ripples of emotion as he lowered his eyes to accept the teacup Yan Hongyin handed to him.

Yan Hongyin picked up her tea and took a sip. A few moments later, they heard the woman knock on the door and say through the door panel. “Madam? Young Master Ji has arrived.”

The fish had taken the bait.

Yan Hongyin gathered her thoughts and said to Yu Luocha, “Ah Yu, I’ll be right next door. These private rooms aren’t very soundproof, so you’ll be able to hear my voice. I’ll be back soon after collecting the consultation fee, and then we’ll leave this place.”

Yu Luocha smiled gently and replied. “Alright, I’ll wait for you here.”

With that, one remained sitting at the table while the other pushed open the door and left.

A few moments later, Yan Hongyin’s voice could be heard from next door, conversing with a clear, youthful male voice.

It sounded like Yan Hongyin had treated this young man’s father, but it had involved some complicated conflicts between the inner household and a merchant guild.

Yu Luocha listened for a while, confirmed that Yan Hongyin wouldn’t return anytime soon, then stood up and moved silently to the window he had closed earlier, and slipped out.

.....

In the adjacent private room, Yan Hongyin, now dressed in a crisp, practical outfit with a leather collar around her throat and wearing a Jinyiwei dark envoy mask, emerged from behind a screen.

She nodded to the voice impersonator sitting at the table, signaling them to continue, then disappeared into the night through the window.

****

The quiet night was filled with unusual commotion.

Yan Hongyin hooked onto a tree branch, using her lightness skill to land softly on a rooftop, the Embroidered Spring Blade of the Jinyiwei at her waist gleaming with an ominous edge.

Her exceptional lightness skill allowed her to walk on fragile tiles without making the slightest sound. She waited with bated breath at a room with “Spring Splendor” carved on the door lintel. After identifying the voices of those conversing below, Yan Hongyin removed a few tiles and gazed at the man and woman talking below.

The Luocha Sect elder Han Mei was a middle-aged man with a lean build and sharp features. The veins slightly bulging at his temples were a sign that he had reached the first-class level in external martial arts.

Sitting opposite him was a woman with her hair done up in a matron’s bun. Her appearance wasn’t stunning, but she had impressive phoenix eyes that slanted upward, revealing hidden ambition as she moved her gaze.

“Madam Xiang, I had already sent someone to deliver my message. As long as Madam Xiang is willing to trade the portrait, whether the portrait is real or fake, I can fulfill whatever Madam Xiang wishes to obtain.”

“Must Master Mei discuss the transaction in this manner?” The woman raised her hand to cover her smile and said coquettishly, “And why is Master Mei so cautious? You won’t even drink a cup of tea from me. Could it be that you’re wary of me?”

Han Mei coldly replied. “I still remember how that shop assistant was poisoned to death by your cup of tea. You were willing to use Tianyi Divine Water to kill a mere shop assistant. Madam Xiang, that’s quite extravagant of you.”

“Mei Jian! Must you speak to me this way?!” Madam Xiang seemed to have been struck where it hurt. She stood up and angrily rebuked him, her emotions running high. “If you hadn’t broken your promise back then, how would I have fallen into such a miserable situation now? Your Luocha Sect spies wanted to use the portrait to threaten me, insulting and harassing me with their words. Why shouldn’t I kill him? How else could I kill someone who practices external martial arts? Besides Tianyi Divine Water, what else could I use to protect myself?!”

Yan Hongyin raised an eyebrow.

So these two were former lovers?

She just wasn’t sure if it was before or after this woman entered the Divine Water Palace. If it was after…could the Luocha Sect be after the Tianyi Divine Water?

Han Mei’s face showed emotion. After a moment, he sighed and said, “Xiang Ning, I wronged you when I fled from our marriage. After escaping to the Western Regions, I always thought of you but could never find your whereabouts… I’ve remained unmarried these ten-plus years because I felt I had wronged you.”

“Now that we’ve reunited, it must be fate. As long as we stand together against outsiders, kill Yu Luocha, and use Tianyi Divine Water to infiltrate and intimidate the Luocha Sect, we can spend countless decades together afterward.”

After such gentle words, Madam Xiang’s expression quickly softened. She stood up, walked to Han Mei’s side, took his sleeve, and said in a coquettish voice. “What Master Mei says is correct. However, I keep the portrait on my person. If Master Mei wants it, why not search for it yourself? How about that?”

Yan Hongyin replaced the tiles, retreated to the rear of the room, flipped down from the eaves, and after surveying the surroundings and waiting for a passing servant to leave, she flashed through the window, rolled on the ground, and slid under the bed.

In Xunfang Pavilion, the bed was separated from the outer room by only a screen. The pair of old lovers who were cuddling in the outer room soon moved intimately into the inner chamber.

Yan Hongyin heard the bed creak for a while, and then suddenly heard Han Mei’s voice turn harsh as he shouted. “You dare—!!”

The sentence wasn’t completed. The bed made a heavy sound as a body slammed down, followed by the woman’s soft, coquettish, yet ruthless low laughter. “Heartless, unfaithful scum. You want so much. This Tianyi Divine Water doesn’t only work when ingested; even the slightest contact with the skin causes instant death. All the assets and power you’ve painstakingly stolen from the Luocha Sect over many years will soon belong to me.”

After pushing the man who had collapsed on top of her aside, the woman got off the bed. Just as she was arranging her clothes, she felt a sharp pain at her ankle. Then her vision blurred, and a sharp black blade was already at her throat.

Madam Xiang was greatly alarmed, but she quickly understood and said urgently, “You want the portrait, right? Don’t kill me. The portrait is in that vase. I don’t know martial arts, so I certainly wouldn’t lie to you!”

Yan Hongyin silently raised her hand to seal the woman’s acupoints, then turned and walked toward the vase.

Just as she broke the vase and revealed the scroll inside, Yan Hongyin suddenly turned and looked up, swinging her sleeve to throw a willow-leaf dagger straight at a spot on the ceiling, piercing a hole right through the tiles!

A figure flashed across the roof. Yan Hongyin thought this was bad and was about to grab the portrait on the ground when a black-clad person darted in through the window and with a kick sent the broken porcelain pieces flying toward Yan Hongyin!