Seventh day of October. Early morning.
——“Investigate without causing damage.”
As soon as Lu Yan’s order fell, the guards of the Supreme Court surrounded Baixiang Pavilion.
Pulling on the cuffs of his official’s robe, Lu Yan walked in and coldly addressed Shen Zhen.
“Miss Shen, please present all your cosmetics, including those in the storage, up for investigation.”
Shen Zhen frowned ever so slightly at the word “storage”.
“What does Lord Lu mean by this?”, she asked, slowly rising to her feet.
Lu Yan’s indifferent expression did not falter as he concisely explained.
“A guard of this Official’s fainted after yesterday’s intervention. The reason being unknown, we have come to investigate and check the composition of the Miss’s cosmetics in passing.”
Once finished with his explanation, he pointed to the outside and ordered his men around.
“No outsider is to enter until we are done.”
Listening to his words, Shen Zhen had a sinking feeling. Yesterday, it had been the debt collectors. Today, it was the official who had helped her drive the debt collectors away. Since she had had her shop trashed just yesterday, she was not exactly willing to have people go through her products by fear of incurring further losses.
Stepping forward, she cautiously asked:
“Does Lord Lu have a search warrant?”
Knowing the government would not issue such a warrant without concrete evidence, she had hopes she could refuse the investigation on legal bases. However, in Lu Yan’s eyes, this reluctance of Shen Zhen’s was almost an admission. She was guilty of a crime and feared it to be discovered.
A glance Yang Zong’s way was all that was needed for the bodyguard to immediately produce the search warrant. Signed by none other than —— Lu Yan.
“Miss Shen would be well-advised to give this Official the keys to the storage. This Official will have someone help you move your products here as to finish this visit as soon as possible. After all, there are many affairs at the Supreme Court that cannot suffer delay.”
At those words, Lu Yan waved his hand without giving Shen Zhen the chance to retort.
The guards who had been waiting outside immediately burst into the shop.
Looking at the search warrant between her fingers, Shen Zhen could not help but feel uneasy. In her fear, her hand convulsed, crumpling the paper. Sardonically examining her actions, Lu Yan spoke in his cold voice once more.
“Official documents must not be damaged.”
Her fingers froze. She could not keep them from shaking. Knowing who had prepared this investigation, she was aware there was no sense in struggling. Thus, she turned on her heels, opened a drawer to her desk and retrieved a bunch of keys she handed to Lu Yan.
He took them and went ahead with opening the door to the storage. The guards entered quickly while he was left to keep an eye on Shen Zhen. He was obviously fearing she might have the bad idea of pulling some tricks.
After a certain lapse of time, the guards came back, carrying large boxes they carefully placed in the center of the shop. One of them stepped forward, bowing.
“My Lord, the storage has been emptied. This subordinate has knocked through the walls in search of a secret room but has found nothing.”
Lu Yan nodded his head, turning to Shen Zhen.
“Speak truthfully. Are these all your products?”
Shen Zhen looked up at him, her eyes limpid.
“Originally, there were more containers. However, many were damaged yesterday.”
Lu Yan recalling the scene simply produced a noise of assent in his throat.
The next moment, the three doctors who had come along came in and started opening, bottles, jars and other containers one by one, smelling their contents before closing them and moving on. The whole investigation was over in one hour. Each of them reported back to Lu Yan.
“Reporting to Your Lordship, these flat dishes contain high-quality rouge, used by women to give their cheeks a healthy glow. These small bottles contain hair oil. As for these, these contain lip paint.”
Another doctor continued:
“I, for my part, have gone through the imports such as Hangzhou powder and the likes and have found nothing amiss.”
The last one had gone through the more varied products. Thus, he thought his words through and spoke slowly as not to forget anything.
“I have examined all the raw products used to make perfumes. These included musk, cinnamon, chrysanthemum, jasmine. There were as well different types of incense such as coiled and backflow incense. None of these products presented any irregularities.”
Being an official at the Supreme Court, Lu Yan had some basic knowledge in pharmacology. Listening through these reports patiently, his frown grew deeper and deeper.
“Have you indeed checked carefully?”
The three physicians nodded in unison and invited His Lordship to check for himself.
It was obvious enough Lu Yan was unwilling to believe their conclusions. He swept over Shen Zhen’s earnest eyes but trembling fingers with a dismissive glance. He was convinced there was something amiss. After a moment of silence, Lu Yan ordered all the people, beside Shen Zhen, out.
“No one is allowed to enter without my permission.”
After the group had retired, only Lu Yan and Shen Zhen remained.
Sweeping the whole room with a cold glance, Lu Yan eyes came to rest on a sandalwood cabinet on top of which two fans were to be found. One was a round fan embroidered with a crabapple flower motive. The other, for its part, was a folding fan painted in a Jun’an waterside pavilion scene. Picking the folding fan up, it rustled menacingly as he closed it before turning around once more.
Shen Zhen had naively thought the ordeal was over. However, seeing Lu Yan slowly advancing towards her, she could not help but ask:
“What is Your Lordship proposing to do?”
Lu Yan did not answer. Rather, he stalked her into a corner, looking at her stepping back in surprise. She could not resist, whether because of his height and stature or because of his standing as a powerful, high-ranked official. In the split of an instant, his dark purple official robes were separated by no more than a foot from Shen Zhen.
He was voice was cold and indifferent as he announced his next move.
“Miss Shen, this Official hopes you shall cooperate with this body search by lifting your arms.”
Shen Zhen was the legitimate daughter of a marquis. She did not have the thick skin of a commoner’s daughter who would have borne the affront, going no further than serving the official a few well-deserved insults. Doing her best to gather her wits about herself, Shen Zhen tried to appeal to Lu Yan’s reason.
“I do not believe Lord Yu’s desire is to torment a helpless woman instead of handling this affair with impartiality.”
Listening to this new exhibit of her wit, or the lack thereof, Lu Yan could not help but laugh.
“If this Official wished to torment you, he hopes he would resort to more original means. Now, please, lift your arms.”
Though fear was freezing the blood in her veins, she still had to fight for herself.
“Are there no female officials at the Supreme Court?”
Lu Yan did not answer. Rather he shot her a cold and irritated look carrying a message that anyone would understand —— do not push your luck.
The Supreme Court would indeed dispatch female officials for the more delicate affairs implicating women and children. However, at times, not to lose any time, a high-ranking official would rather investigate by himself, in order for no evidence to be lost. To preserve the prudent reserve that should prevail between men and women at all time, a male official might have carried out a body search through the medium of an object. Such as a folding fan, for example.
Shen Zhen looked up at him. But did not lift her arms. In fact, her sharp fingernails were biting into the flesh of her palm, leaving angry red marks behind. Lu Yan did not seem to see her silent refusal, stepping forward without a care until they were almost pressed against one another. His freezing coldness broke through her last defenses.
Closing her eyes in anguish, she lifted her arms in one movement. Her fingers shook ever so softly while her heart seemed to have been reduced into ashes.
He was well-aware she was a woman who had yet to leave the boudoir. Seeing as she was finally cooperating, the thought he was indeed tormenting her crossed his mind. The only result being that he leaned into her, the folding fan making contact with her body.
As soon as the fan touched her, a crimson blush crawled up her blood, all the way to the roots of her hair. Though separated by her clothes and the fan he was wielding, Lu Yan could still feel her body quiver.
It did not distract him from the task at hand. Sliding down her raised arm, he stroked her figure from top to bottom. His movements were neither light nor heavy. From time to time, he would pat parts of her body with the fan, never crossing the line of what was acceptable. The body search was thorough from beginning to end. However, he kept himself from grazing two particular spots.
“Turn around”, Lu Yan ordered in his deep voice.
Shen Zhen clenched her teeth for fear of making a sound. In fact, there was no sound beside the rustling of clothes and the patter of feet. She turned her back to him, her nervousness ever-increasing. But since he had tactfully avoided the places she had been most worried he might touch, proving that he held no lustful intentions towards her, she dared address him in a low voice.
“Could Your Lordship hurry?”
The fan in Lu Yan’s hand travelled up her spine, but suddenly stopped as he reached her neck. The agreeable fragrance of her hair made him remember the mole he had seen in his dream at once. Everything from the dream swam up to the surface. And, like a bridegroom lifting the veil covering his bride’s face, Lu Yan raised her thick, black hair with the tip of his fan.
And indeed. There it was. The mole. Dream and reality got entangled at that moment. No bigger than a pea, that mole he had seen in his dream rested against the snow of her skin. Unquestionable. Tangible.
Lu Yan became faint and retracted his hand in horror. Shen Zhen, seeing that the shadow by her side had suddenly disappeared, turned her head, full of hope. She fixed her sparkling eyes on Lu Yan.
“Is Your Lordship finished?”
If he were to negate, she feared her long eyelashes would not be able to keep the tears at bay any longer and that she would humiliate herself by crying in front of him. Lu Yan did not know why, but seeing her eyes moist and unhappy caused the same pain he had felt previously to assail his chest. He did his best to bear it, clenching his fest and pressing his lips together. But to no avail.
“It is over”, he bit out.
“Is something wrong?”, she asked, feeling something to be off.
“Not at all.”
Shen Zhen’s hair had been left disorderly after he had tussled it. Her red eyes accusingly stared at him, daring him not to answer her following question.
“May I dare to ask His Lordship why, if there were something wrong with my scented powders, does His Lordship not seem to have experienced any negative effects from it? After all, he was also present yesterday.”
As soon as her question reached his ears, Lu Yan felt his temple pound, though his facial expression remained as blank as always. However, him being a high-ranking official, Shen Zhen could not blatantly blame him. He looked down at her, his black pupils constricting, not letting her break visual contact.
“It is an official’s duty, especially if said official works at the Supreme Court, to support the government in handling cases and protecting the population. Since this Official showed her the search warrant, what does Miss Shen not understand?”
Shen Zhen did not answer. She might have been full of discontent, however she did not dare contradict him.
Looking down at her small face, Lu Yan’s chest hurt so much he could not wait to leave her shop.
“This Official has other things to deal with. Two men shall remain to help Miss Shen put her products back in place.”
At those words, spoken in his deep voice, he walked out and disappeared.
Returning to the government, Lu Yan realized he had taken the folding fan with him. A fresh fragrance seemed to linger on it.
The file he had taken out was closed impatiently and a darkness took hold of his heart.
If he was perfectly fine, then why did he have such strange dreams one after the other? Was it possible that priests were right when talking about the ability some had of recalling events in their past lives?
Ridiculous.
By the time evening came, he was still thinking about it.
The streets outside were bustling with laughter and chants. Drums were to heard, children were jumping allowed and happily screaming:
“The bride! Look! The bride is coming!”
Lu Yan had no strength to finish writing the petition in front of him. It was too noisy outside. With a heavy face, dark clouds filling his head, he fantasized about kicking those noisy brats home, one by one. Unfortunately, rather than the noise dying out, the matchmaker also decided to join into the fun. Her voice was so loud that it must have reached the clouds. Raising his head in rage, Lu Yan threw his brush against the brush-holder.
At that very moment, Zheng Zhonglian, the main judge of the Supreme Court, as well as Sun Xu, another young official, came into Lu Yan’s office. Official Sun bowed his head and inquired about Lu Yan.
“Is Lord Lu still busy?”
Lu Yan got up to greet them simply.
“Lord Zheng, Lord Sun.”
Zheng Zhonglian rushed in to retell the main matter he had worked on for the past few days.
“That case of the Sun family of Wannian County has finally been settled. Sun had been poisoned by his wife. Since her paternal family is full of money, they went as far as to attempt bribing the post-mortem examiner. They wanted him to say Sun had died of natural causes. The wife has been sentenced and taken to the Central Judicial Office. Another case off our plate. What is Lord Lu doing in the office so late? How about going for a drink with us?”
Actually, they were just asking out of politeness. They had asked Lu Yan to go drink with them many a time and each and every offer of theirs had been mercilessly rejected.
But they had to repeat the act over and over again because, though at that moment, they might have had a higher standing at the Supreme Court than Lu Yan, they did not match his pedigree. Offending him was tantamount to offending the imperial family through his mother.
They did not expect for Lord Lu to take off his official’s robes, remaining in nothing but his casual clothes and acquiescing to their offer with a generic smile.
