"No Wedding Unless Enemies and Lovers" 《不是冤家不拜堂》Chapter 37

 Xiao Yi Chen frowned as he stood in front of the wall on the second floor, looking at the bumps on the wall in front of him, his emotions were already high.

When he was ten years old, his thesis had been praised by his father, his calligraphy style became it's own font, regular yet bold and unconstrained, something a lot of scholars tried to mimic.

The people spoke of prince Chen's treasured scroll, it can't even be purchased with gold.

Wangshan restaurant was a property under his name, thus he left his treasured scroll on the wall of the second floor, firstly to increase the flow of diners, secondly this treasured scroll was inspired by an intimate song, it was one his works that he was most pleased with.

Writing poems on the walls of Wangshan also became a distinctive feature of the restaurant, that's why in the large lounge downstairs he intentionally left a wall to allow some scholars and literary people to write poetry.

He remembered that day was Ji Yu Qing's birthday, she had insisted on treating him to a meal in Wangshan, just at that time Ji Ling Xue fell ill, he still took Ji Yu Qing to the largest private room.

Half way through the meal, Ji Yu Qing gasped in admiration at the food of Wangshan, just that sadly the entire restaurant had no distinctive feature, and proposed he should leave a treasured scroll on one of the walls, his talents were already well known, just a treasured scroll could attract a lot of customers, maybe it could even become the number one restaurant in the capital.

Hearing this he felt Ji Yu Qing's idea wasn't bad, under the influence of alcohol he immediately ordered someone to prepare paper, pen and ink, just as he took up the brush, in a private room on the second floor came a beautiful soulful sound of a qin, like a pot filled to the top he was instantly inspired, this poem came about in this way.

The next day the shopkeeper sent a message, someone had drawn several willow branches on his poem, it complimented the verse.

At that time he had thought, could the person who dared to draw on his treasured scroll be that qin player, sadly there was no answer to that question.

Xiao Yi Chen uttered, "Patchwork of waterways, beautiful colours of spring, green jade willow with waters as far as the sky. Joy fall on the fragrance of celebration, jade cups, gold wine-jars filled exquisitely."

With every word, the attendants behind Xiao Yi Chen couldn't help pull back their neck.

Chi Feng could only sigh for that blind literary robber, they dared to provoke his prince, they will definitely suffer.

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Xiao Yi Chen ordered with a overcast expression: "Investigate every person who came to Wangshan restaurant to eat this month, before the next day this prince wants a list of people."

The shopkeeper and Chi Feng couldn't help look at each other, just in one day thousands of customers came, wouldn't this task be rather extreme, there was clearly not enough time to do it!

The shopkeeper looked anxious, looking at Xiao Yi Chen he wanted to say something but then hesitated.

Chi Feng said: "That...master, the scope of investigation is a bit wide, I feel like the regular customers have no motive to commit the crime, it's better to look into the new diners, did the shopkeeper notice any new faces or irregular customers?"

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment then said: "Yesterday I noticed two unusual people..."

"Who?" Xiao Yi Chen eyes narrowed asking.

The shopkeeper said: "The young master of Ji family and a fresh faced young lady came to eat, I paid special attention to the two people, I found the young lady had been looking at that treasured scroll since coming in, and had wanted to draw on it with a brush, in the end she was stopped by young master Ji."

Chi Feng frowned, "A fresh face young lady...shopkeeper can you recall that young lady's features?"

He didn't know why, he felt the truth was going to be discovered soon, there was only a layer of fog separating them, it made it impossible to figure out their connection.

Xiao Yi Chen glanced at Chi Feng, turning to say to the shopkeeper: "It's better to investigate each customer which has come in the last month, Chi Feng you'll be in charge of this, three days should be enough?"

Chi Feng nodded, even though investigating people were boring and tedious, but he never questioned his master's orders.