Geschichte über einen Ehemanndiebstahl

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The author's note: This story is set during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, mainly to facilitate the design of geography and official titles.

It does not involve major historical events, nor will it feature any real historical figures.

Please point out any inaccuracies in the descriptions of specific details of life during the Northern Song Dynasty.

But please don't get hung up on things like Bao Zheng and Zhan Zhao from Kaifeng Prefecture. Thanks!

Dear viewers, please give me some flowers! Little Snowflakes bows to you all~

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Good morning, Young Master Zhan!" a young boy in blue greeted him in a clear voice, stretching out his arm to invite him forward, saying, "Young Master Zhan, please! My master has been waiting inside for a long time."

Zhan Yun smiled slightly, put away his umbrella, and handed it to the boy standing to the side: "Thank you for your trouble." With the end of the year approaching, a light snow began to fall early in the morning, covering the bluestone path with a thin layer, making it slightly slippery. Just as Zhan Yun stepped into the government office gate, a figure in light blue instantly appeared beside him. The figure had a fair face, clear, aloof eyes, slightly upturned lips, and jet-black hair tied high at the back of the head. The figure brushed past him without glancing at him, then used his light-footed skill to head east, quickly disappearing into a thin white mist.

Zhan Yun turned halfway around, one foot already stepping over the threshold. His delicate brows furrowed slightly, and his pink lips curved into a faint smile. The little boy beside him saw this, curled his lip, and said in a crisp voice with great disdain, "That person is very strange. Young Master Zhan, don't pay any attention to him."

Zhan Yun turned his head, a slight smile playing on his lips. This faint smile captivated Xiao Tong, leaving him mesmerized. So handsome! Even after seeing him so many times, even though they were both men, Xiao Tong blushed secretly and exclaimed in admiration, "Young Master Zhan is truly handsome! No wonder all those maids, upon hearing that Young Master Zhan was coming, put on makeup and bought new clothes, just so they could catch his eye when serving tea and water."

"Why are you standing here in a daze so early in the morning? Xingzhi, you ate so many steamed buns for nothing! You're already dizzy and weak so soon?" The man in the crimson brocade robe raised his hand and patted Zhan Yun's shoulder, his handsome eyebrows raised high. He teased him while smiling wickedly, and glanced at the man in black who was climbing the steps.

Xiao Tong stood there, completely dumbfounded. Every time she saw these three appear together, she couldn't suppress the urge to scream. The young master Zhan, dressed in white, was as handsome as a fairy. Young master Zhou favored brightly colored and luxurious clothes; his handsome, masculine face always carried a wicked smile, and his deep eyes would occasionally flicker with a seductive glance, causing the women on the street to excitedly shout and scream. The one always dressed in black was taciturn. Although extremely handsome, he exuded an icy aura that kept strangers at bay. It was said that he had fought against the Liao people on the border in his younger days; perhaps because of his military service, every time he spoke, he carried an aura that made people involuntarily submit.

Zhan Yun glanced at Zhou Yufei with a half-smile, then subtly dodged away. He then looked at Zhao Ting, who was walking towards the gate, and asked, "Zhengping, guess who I just saw?"

The man in black shrugged, slowed his pace, and said in a low voice without turning his head, "How many times have I told you, don't call me by that name. Just call me Zhao Ting."

"Alright, Zhao Ting. Guess who I just saw?" Zhan Yun readily agreed, his clear voice carrying a hint of amusement.

Zhou Yufei scoffed and lazily followed him inside: "Who? Who made our gentle and refined Young Master Xingzhi stand here in a daze at the entrance of the Hangzhou government office so early in the morning, and even smile so broadly when you mention him?"

Zhan Yun shook his head helplessly and walked side by side with Zhou Yufei. Looking at Zhao Ting, who was walking ahead, he raised his voice slightly: "Zhao Ting, haven't you always wanted to see him?"

The group had already entered the inner hall of the government office. The man in black had already sat down in a chair without saying a word, giving a barely perceptible nod to the old man sitting in the seat of honor as a greeting. Then, without any ceremony, he picked up a delicate white porcelain teacup placed to the side, lifted the lid, scraped off the layer of emerald green buds covering it, and took a leisurely sip. He then looked up, his sword-like eyebrows slightly raised, at Zhan Yun, who was dressed in snow-white robes: "Who?"

"Who else? Isn't it that little Duan you were talking about last night?" Zhan Yun said helplessly. How could this person be so forgetful? He first bowed to the old man who was squinting and stroking his beard, "Lord Li." The latter nodded with a smile. Zhan Yun then lifted his robe and sat down opposite Zhao Ting, picking up his tea and slowly sipping it.

Li Qinglan had been stroking his beard all morning. Now that the three of them were seated, he stood up with a smile, handed a square apricot-yellow bag to Zhan Yun, and then cupped his hands in thanks: "Young Master Zhan, gentlemen, this matter was resolved so quickly thanks to your help. Now the people of Hangzhou can enjoy a peaceful New Year! On behalf of all the people of Hangzhou, I thank you all three of you."

Zhan Yun stood up with the small cloth bag in his hand and bowed, saying, "Lord Li, you are too kind. The fact that this case was resolved so quickly is the result of everyone's cooperation and hard work. Lord Li is enlightened and understanding, and he has also done us a lot of favors."

Li Qinglan smiled and waved his hand, "It's only right." Just then, Zhou Yufei, who was sitting to the side, leaned over, took the bag from Zhan Yun's hand, reached inside and took out several silver notes. He twirled them in his hand, then frowned, "I say, Lord Li, wasn't it five hundred taels? The three of us brothers each need one hundred taels! Where's the remaining two hundred taels?"

The old man chuckled, sat back down in his chair, and continued stroking his beard: "Young Master Zhou, as Young Master Xingzhi just mentioned, it's that young Duan."

"Why does he get two hundred taels, while we brothers have been working ourselves to the bone for days and only get one hundred taels each?" Zhou Yufei pouted, his handsome eyebrows raised high, his deep peach blossom eyes filled with deep dissatisfaction.

"The case was indeed solved thanks to the two clues found by that young master Duan. We only contributed some physical labor and ran errands. The money was divided fairly, Yiran, so stop making a fuss." Zhan Yun took the silver notes and bag from Zhou Yufei, carefully packed them up, and nodded to Lord Li to express his gratitude.

"Tch! He just got there early! If we had arrived two days earlier, we could have found the same clues too. Why would that kid have gotten the better deal?" Zhou Yufei curled her red lips, her face full of disdain.

"Are you that short of money? The white jade bracelet you bought for that 'Keyun' girl the other day cost more than that." Zhao Ting didn't even raise his eyes, coldly snorting, not believing that this kid would be bothered by a hundred taels of silver less.

“Yes, it’s not about the money.” Zhou Yufei glanced at Lord Li, who was squinting and stroking his beard, and gritted his teeth angrily. “I just can’t stand that Duan guy. Last time in Suzhou Prefecture, and the time before that in Huzhou Prefecture, he beat us to it and took the lion’s share of the money. I just think it’s weird. We were rushing over as soon as the results came out, but how come we always ended up behind him? What I can’t understand the most is that we’ve fought three times and I haven’t even seen what he looks like! Is this guy even human?!”

“It’s a person, it’s a person. I can vouch for that.” Lord Li, who had been seemingly oblivious, suddenly spoke up. When all three of them turned to look at him, he cleared his throat, narrowed his eyes, and continued stroking his small, graying beard.

Zhan Yun smiled slightly: "I saw him this morning, he is definitely a person."

Zhou Yufei rubbed his forehead and cursed under his breath: "You all know that's not what I meant! What I meant was, if he were a human, how could he always arrive before us, find clues faster than us, and come and go from the same government office with so many eyes watching, yet we've never even run into him once!"

Zhan Yun smiled, Zhao Ting frowned, and Lord Li continued to squint and stroke his beard. The four men in the room fell silent. Outside the window, the snow intensified, turning everything into a white expanse, obscuring everything.

2

Chapter One: A Romantic Encounter Worth Five Hundred Taels of Silver...

Fragrant Snow Pavilion.

With one arm around Qianqian's slender waist and the other holding a light blue wine cup, Zhou Yufei tilted his head back and drank the spicy liquor in one gulp. His handsome brows furrowed, and he stared blankly at the myriad lights outside the window.

"Young Master seems troubled. Would you like to tell Qianqian?" Qianqian's voice was soft and gentle. Her fair hands lightly touched Zhou Yufei's shoulders, and her cherry-red lips parted slightly as she gently breathed on his ear. The sweet scent of peach blossoms made Zhou Yufei's handsome brows furrow even more. Just as he was about to speak, a shrill scream came from downstairs, followed by the sound of a table being overturned and porcelain shattering on the floor. The door was kicked open with a bang, and a cold, handsome man dressed in black stood by the door, his sword-like eyebrows slightly furrowed: "What are you dawdling for? They've run away, why aren't you chasing them!" Then, with a turn, he leaped down from the second floor.

Qianqian stood up and reached out to tug at Zhou Yufei's sleeve. They'd finally found a fat sheep; how could they let him get away so easily! Zhou Yufei flicked his sleeve, his deep, peach-blossom eyes flashing coldly: "Let go." He strode out of the room, and just as he rounded the corner, he bumped into a woman in a pink dress. Her face was covered with a light blue gauze handkerchief, and a scarlet beauty mark adorned the corner of her eye. With a tug and a bump, Zhou Yufei stumbled back several steps and was knocked into a room. Actually, the woman wasn't very strong, but Zhou Yufei was stunned the moment he saw her. Although she wore the light, thin dress of a courtesan, she didn't smell of any cosmetics. Instead, she carried a faint, grassy fragrance. Her long, narrow phoenix eyes were clear and aloof, and the scarlet beauty mark at the corner of her eye added a touch of cold allure. Even Zhou Yufei, who prided himself on being a womanizer and having tasted all the beauties of the north and south, couldn't help but secretly admire her. Such a wonderful person was definitely not someone that a small Fragrant Snow Pavilion could contain!

The woman tugged at his sleeve, leading him directly to the bed. Zhou Yufei narrowed his peach blossom eyes, a carefree smile playing on his lips. Using this trick again? How cliché! Just as he was about to tease this aloof and beautiful woman, she suddenly released his sleeve, half-bent over the bed, and carefully felt around the headboard. Then, with a "click," a hidden compartment appeared. The woman straightened up, gesturing for him to look. Zhou Yufei leaned forward, squinting in the dim light from outside, and examined the contents before looking around the room. The woman stood silently to the side, seemingly understanding his gesture, then turned and walked towards the half-open window.

Zhou Yufei chuckled wickedly, stretched out his long arm, and pulled her back into his embrace. He lowered his head and gently breathed on the woman's fair neck: "Such a beautiful night, don't—" The woman raised her elbow and struck his abdomen, then turned to chop at his neck. Zhou Yufei, caught off guard, quickly reacted after being hit, restraining the woman's wrist. His deep peach blossom eyes were full of mockery: "So you're a little firecracker!"

The woman's hands were subdued by him in two moves, yet her eyes remained cold and indifferent as she met his gaze, neither flustered nor angry, which amazed Zhou Yufei. A smirk played on his lips as he leaned down to kiss her, when the woman suddenly raised her leg, her knee slamming into his groin. Zhou Yufei, naturally prepared, slid his foot back to narrowly avoid the attack, but his grip loosened slightly. The woman changed her palm into a fist and lightly tapped his collarbone. Zhou Yufei was startled, and the woman used the opportunity to slide back several feet, leaping out of the window. Zhou Yufei didn't chase after her, standing by the window, watching her graceful figure in her pink dress, lightly stepping on the roof tiles, quickly disappearing into the vast night.

A handsome young man, who always prided himself on his charm, smiled, his deep, alluring eyes narrowing slightly. His earlier attempt to kiss her was merely to gauge her reaction; he hadn't expected her to be so composed, only delivering the fatal blow when his lips were almost touching the thin veil on her face. Interesting, indeed interesting. Such a captivating woman—who knows when he'll see her again?

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The serial murder case that had caused such a stir in Tokyo a few days ago has been solved. Several courtesans who had married into good families died tragically within a month, and the murderer turned out to be the madam of Xiangxue Pavilion. At noon, Zhan Yun and Zhao Ting sat on the second floor of "Zhuangyuanlou" and looked down at the bustling crowds on the street below, and sighed together.

The case was solved, and Zhou Yufei, that peacock, was being arrogant again. As soon as the Prefect of Kaifeng saw Old Master Zhou, he happily recounted how Young Master Zhou had solved the strange case with his wisdom and courage. The old man was so happy that when he got home, he patted Zhou Yufei on the shoulder, gave him five hundred taels of silver, and told him to treat the brothers to drinks. Then he went to the Seventh Prince's mansion and told him the story again, making it more and more mysterious, describing the process of the three of them solving the case as if it were a miracle!

Within three days, the entire capital city of Tokyo knew that Zhao Ting, the only son of the Seventh Prince, had led 100,000 elite troops to a great victory against the Liao army at the age of sixteen. At the age of twenty-five, he, along with Zhou Yufei, the second son of Zhou Jixiang, and Zhan Yun, the renowned young master of Xingzhi, solved a series of murders within five days that the Kaifeng Prefecture and the Ministry of Justice had failed to crack. This allowed the Prefect, who had been sleepless for a whole month, to finally breathe a sigh of relief and get a peaceful night's sleep on the thirty-sixth night.

Zhou Yufei naturally didn't hide anything from the two men. That very evening, he placed the small wooden box containing the beaded hairpins of several murdered women in front of Zhan Yun and Zhao Ting, and recounted his "romantic encounter" with the woman who had bumped into him a short while earlier. Then, the three of them went downstairs, tied up the madam who was loudly shouting about bringing back the "little slut," and handed her over to the Kaifeng Prefecture along with the evidence.

However, the two weren't as carefree as Zhou Yufei; they felt the case had been solved in a rather dishonorable way. Although all three of them had put in a lot of effort, initially discovering the problem lay with Xiangxue Pavilion, the evidence was ultimately found by the young lady herself. Without it, even if the three suspected the madam, they couldn't do anything to her! After all, there's an old saying: "To catch an adulterer, you need to be caught in the act; to catch a thief, you need to be caught red-handed."