Translator – Xiao He Lian
This is a translation hosted on KnoxT, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized. Please support the translator by reading it at KnoxT.
Chapter 4.1
On the seventh day of the tenth lunar month, third quarter of Chen Shi1(the period of the day from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m; 7 a.m.-9 a.m.)
——”Search for me, don’t leave even one bottle behind.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the guards of Jingzhao Prefecture immediately surrounded Baixiang Pavilion.
Lu Yan stepped across the threshold, fiddled with his cuffs and said to Shen Zhen, “I ask Miss Shen to please take out all the fragrant powders in the pavilion and those hidden in the warehouse and place them one by one on the table. “
When Shen Zhen heard the harsh word “hidden”, she frowned slightly, stood up slowly and said, “Lord Lu, what does this mean?”
Lu Yan’s face remained normal and he said according to the rules: “One of the guards beside me fell into a coma after coming here yesterday. The reason is still unknown. We are here to investigate as usual. Nothing will happen to the Young lady, if there is nothing wrong with the powder here” After speaking, he pointed outside and said: “Everyone inside please evacuate immediately.”
After Shen Zhen heard this, her heart sank.
It wasn’t easy to get rid of the debtor yesterday, how did they provoke the officials again today? Ever since she had experienced a house raid in her family, Shen Zhen was particularly resistant to scenes like this, for fear of causing trouble again.
She took a step forward and asked cautiously, “Do you have a search warrant on Lord Lu?” The reason why Shen Zhen asked this was because she knew that when investigating a case, the government would not issue a search warrant without definite evidence.
She had the right not to let them in without a search warrant.
Shen Zhen’s unwillingness to cooperate looked like an act of fear of crime in Lu Yan’s eyes.
He glanced at Yang Zong, who immediately handed over a search warrant.
Below the order is his eloquent signature – Lu Yan.
“Miss Shen, just hand over the key to the warehouse. I’ll find someone to help you move it. After all, Jingzhao Prefecture has a lot of affairs and can’t afford to be delayed.” After saying that, he waved his hand without waiting for Shen Zhen to answer.
The guards outside broke in through the door.
Shen Zhen looked at the search warrant in her hand and felt secretly anxious. She couldn’t help but use some force to crumple the paper.
This is a translation hosted on KnoxT, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized. Please support the translator by reading it at KnoxT.
Seeing this, Lu Yan spoke again: “Official property must not be damaged.”
Shen Zhen froze, her fingers stuck in place.
She knew that the other party had made all the preparations and couldn’t avoid it even if she wanted to, so she turned around and walked back to the desk, opened the drawer, took out a bunch of keys and handed them to Lu Yan.
Lu Yan took it, stepped forward and opened the door of the warehouse. He ordered the guards to move quickly, while he stayed next to Shen Zhen and watched her.
He was afraid that she would come up with some psychedelic magic.
After a while, they carried several large boxes to the center of the room.
One of the guards stood up and bowed: “My Lord, the warehouse is empty. I knocked on the wall and found that there are no other secret rooms.”
Lu Yan nodded, looked down at Shen Zhen and said, “You answer truthfully, is that’s all?”
Shen Zhen looked up at him with a magnanimous look, “Originally there were still some, but they were all smashed yesterday.”
Lu Yan thought about yesterday’s scene and said “hmm”.
After a while, three doctors came in. They opened the bottles and cans one by one, smelled them, crushed them and smelled them again. By the time they had checked them all, a full hour had passed.
They reported from left to right one by one, “Reporting to My lord, the ones in the flat jars are fine rouge powder, for women to apply makeup. The ones in the shallow-mouth bottles are fragrant hair oil. There are also some freshly made ones here and there is also some newly made lip balm here.”
Another person said: “My side are all powder from far away, Hangzhou’s official powder and so on.”
The last person had the most varieties. He spoke a little slower and said slowly: “These are all original spices, including Musk kernels, cinnamon, chrysanthemum, jasmine, and some string incense, coil incense, tower incense2
, and incense cubes… nothing else.”
As the young magistrate of the Jingzhao Mansion, Lu Yan naturally understood some pharmacology. After patiently listening, he couldn’t help frowning and said in a deep voice, “But have you checked carefully?”
The three of them nodded in unison and said: “We’ve all checked ourselves.”
Lu Yan obviously didn’t believe this result. He glanced at Shen Zhen’s solemn eyes and slightly trembling hands with his peripheral vision and immediately felt that there must be something missing.
After a moment of silence, Lu Yan turned to the crowd and said, “You go out first. No one is allowed in without my order.”
After everyone retreated, for a while, they were the only two people left in the room.
Lu Yan quickly looked around the entire room, and finally his eyes fell on a hollow sandalwood low cabinet.
There are two fans placed on it, one is a cattail fan embroidered with crabapple flowers and the other is a folding fan with a painting of Jun’an Waterside Pavilion.
He took two steps forward, took out the folding fan and closed it with a snap and turned around again.
Shen Zhen thought that it was over just now, but when she saw Lu Yan coming towards her again, she couldn’t help but take a step back and said, “What are you going to do, Lord?”
Lu Yan didn’t say much to her, and only used his tall stature and the aura of a long-time official to force her into a corner.
In the blink of an eye, the dark purple official uniform was only half a foot away from Shen Zhen.
His voice was thin, like an inhumane cool breeze, “Miss Shen, please cooperate with me in the body search and raise your arms.”
After all, Shen Zhen was the legitimate daughter of the Marquis family. She was not like ordinary daughters who would lose their courage when they saw an official. Although she was afraid, she still had a trace of reason. “I don’t think Lord Lu looks like he is here to do justice, it seems that you came to bully me, a defenseless woman.”
Lu Yan couldn’t help but sneered when he heard her secretly changing the topic: “If I want to bully you, I have thousands of ways to do it. Don’t play tricks and raise your hand.”
Although Shen Zhen was scared, she still had to bite the bullet and say, “Aren’t there any female officials in Jingzhao Prefecture?”
Lu Yan was silent, but his cold and aggressive eyes were telling her – don’t force me to take action.
Jingzhao Prefecture does have female officers at its disposal, but sometimes in order to seize the time and not lose evidence, the chief will do it himself. Even if there are differences between men and women, they can still use objects when doing a search.
Shen Zhen held her breath and raised her head to look at him. She didn’t want to raise her arms and her sharp nails secretly pressed hard, leaving red marks on the flesh of her palms.
Lu Yan took another small step forward and now the two of them were about to touch each other. The cold smell around Lu Yan completely broke Shen Zhen’s defense. She closed her eyes and raised her arms.
