Chapter 45: The World is So Dark, It Cannot Tolerate a Ray of Light
Ye Ning had no idea that his daily visits to the Censorate for the past three days had not gone unnoticed.
In a nearby tavern, a voice was heard.
“That Censorate official has been coming to the office every day for three days.”
The speaker was a large, greasy middle-aged man with skin as dark as the bottom of a pot and a thick beard around his chin. The most terrifying feature was a hideous scar running from his forehead to behind his ear.
His appearance was downright scary.
Anyone timid would likely avoid him.
At the moment, he held a wine cup, and despite his seemingly drunken eyes, there was a glint of sharpness.
“What? Moved by it? Think this official can get things done? Rekindled your old fighting spirit?”
A sarcastic voice interjected.
It came from a gaunt, peculiar old man in a black coat, with the buttons undone, revealing his bony ribs. Beside him laid a black box, which he instinctively kept a hand on.
When he spoke, he revealed two missing front teeth and a mouthful of yellowed teeth.
“I just heard… this Lord Ye has a great reputation.”
The hideous fat man, referred to as “Old Ox,” hesitated.
“What’s the use of a good reputation? Old Ox, you haven’t just started in the officialdom today. Haven’t you seen enough officials with good reputations?” The old man sneered, “They’re just shiny on the outside but rotten inside. The better the reputation, the more ruthless they are.”
“Even if we assume this Lord Ye can actually accomplish something, what good would it do?”
“Once he’s in the Censorate, he’ll end up like us, just another useless person!”
As he spoke, his words were filled with intense resentment.
This resentment seemed almost tangible, causing everyone in the room to pause their actions.
Their eyes showed varied emotions: numbness, pain, anger, and hatred.
“This world is beyond saving. We, the forgotten waste, are just waiting to die in the Censorate!”
A burly man gave a bitter smile, lifted his head, and gulped down a pot of wine, burping as he spoke.
“Even if it’s Lord Ye, don’t expect me to work for him. If he’s got the guts, he should just kill me. I haven’t wanted to live for a long time!”
Thud!
With that, he fell off his chair, completely drunk.
“Look at that, Old Ox. This was once the most famous constable in Jiangnan. Now look at him…” The old man cackled.
“We have no place in Great Zhou. We should just rot away in the Censorate, die, and no one will ever know. Accept it!”
Old Ox sighed.
He closed his eyes in pain and drank in silence.
The glimmer of hope he had was extinguished by his colleagues.
The world is so dark, it could not tolerate a ray of light.
So be it.
—
I am a member of the Secret Service.
Disguised as a mute and using the alias Xuanxuan, I infiltrated Ye Ning’s residence.
Before coming, the steward told me that this Lord Ye was different and that I should observe him carefully.
I didn’t pay much attention.
But now I realize I was wrong. This Lord is truly strange. I can’t fathom what he’s doing.
The mute girl watched Ye Ning busily working in the kitchen.
Since his return, he had been in the kitchen, fiddling with pots and pans, not knowing what he was making.
This had been going on for a long time.
The mute girl squatted on the threshold, resting her chin in her hand, staring at Ye Ning.
Generally speaking, scholars avoid the kitchen, preferring elegant pursuits like composing poems.
But Ye Ning seemed to have no such awareness. He was humble, calling the cook “Auntie” and the old servant “Lao Huang.”
Even to her, the new maid, he treated her equally, not as a servant.
Such a person, not only in the current corrupt Great Zhou but even during the time of the founding emperor, would be rare.
At least, she had never heard of such a person.
“It’s done!”
The mute girl, lost in thought, was startled by Ye Ning’s excited shout.
“Finished!”
He came out holding a jar, grabbed a handful of sparkling things, and stuffed them into Xuanxuan’s mouth.
“Taste it!”
Instinctively, she opened her mouth. As her tongue tasted it, an unprecedented sweetness spread through her mouth.
She looked down and saw the jar was full of snow-white granules.
This is… sugar?
Her mouth moved slightly.
She wasn’t a poor person without experience. On the contrary, she had a good upbringing.
But she had never tasted such sweet sugar before.
“This is white sugar,” Ye Ning said, wiping his sweat and placing the jar in her arms. “Take it and eat.”
In his past life, Ye Ning was an only child and had always envied those with younger sisters.
In this life, although he didn’t have a sister, this mute girl’s pitiful situation and likable nature made him treat her like a sister.
At fourteen or fifteen, she should be studying, yet she had to endure so much at such a young age.
He felt sorry for her.
So he made white sugar.
This world had no white sugar. People ate coarse sugar full of impurities, often finding sand in it.
Yet even so, sugar was still very valuable, not affordable for ordinary people.
Ye Ning, through dissolving, boiling, and refining the impurities, produced this white sugar.
“Unfortunately, my skills are limited, and I can’t make anything better, just this.”
Ye Ning didn’t think his actions were anything special.
He just wanted to give the poor girl something good to eat.
In his past life, children wouldn’t even bother with this kind of sugar, given the abundance of tasty treats like ice cream and chocolate.
“Eat it, eat it. When it’s finished, I’ll make more.” Ye Ning patted her head and turned to leave.
Xuanxuan remained on the threshold.
“He spent all this time making white sugar for me?”
She instinctively hugged the jar tightly.
She had enough knowledge to know that this sugar would cause a frenzy among the wealthy if sold outside.
Pure white sugar—who had seen that before?
It’s no exaggeration to say that this sugar-making method alone could make endless money, but Ye Ning had no such thoughts.
He just wanted the mute girl to have something nice to eat.
She grabbed another handful, put it in her mouth, and chewed gently, feeling a stream of sweetness flow into her stomach, making her heart feel warm.
“So sweet,” she whispered almost inaudibly.