Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 199 Where did Zhao Qi'an hide the person?
Ji Qingkong didn’t come to see him?
This surprised Zhao Qian.

A few days ago, Fuyan Palace sent someone to inquire about this year's summer rent, and Zhao Qi'an was waiting for Ji Qingkong to come to him.

But several days passed, and it was already July, and Ji Qingkong still hadn't come. This was truly unexpected.

He thought that with Ji Qingkong's temper, he should have come to the princess's mansion to make a scene and demand the summer rent a long time ago, but he didn't expect him to be so patient?

However, the surprise on Zhao Qi'an's face was only fleeting, and he nodded to indicate that he understood.

Gou Xiangxi smiled and said, "It seems that the boss has made a rare miscalculation. Master Chu is also recovering and cannot be delayed any longer. Why don't I delay for Master Chu for a few days?"

Zhao Qi'an was a little surprised that Gou Xiangxi actually volunteered, and said with a smile: "Mr. Gou, do you still have the time to do these trivial things? You look tired, I'm afraid you haven't had a good rest these days, you should finish the task at hand first, and I will choose the person for this job later."

Gou Xiangxi was flattered and said, "Thank you for your concern, sir. However, I dare not say that it is hard to work for you."

Then, he raised his hand and pointed at Li Yulu who was standing stupidly beside him, and said with a smile: "Besides, I have some selfish motives. I want to use this matter to train my little apprentice. This time, I will only help with the plan, and the one who really does the work... is him."

Li Yulu was as obedient as a quail in front of the two men. He only dared to listen to the conversation between Zhao Qian'an and his master and did not dare to interrupt a word.

It was not until the two of them looked at him that he raised his head and pointed at himself unexpectedly: "Me?"

Zhao Qi'an turned his gaze towards him and smiled slightly, "Butler Li, can you do it?"

Being stared at like this by Zhao Qian'an, Li Yulu felt extremely anxious, his mouth was dry, and his heart was in a state of panic.

"Here……"

He couldn't help but look at his master, but what he saw was Gou Xiangxi nodding secretly at him.

Li Yulu's heart immediately warmed up, and he felt a surge of heroic spirit. He bowed to Zhao Qi'an and bowed his head deeply: "I am willing to do my best!"

Zhao Qi'an nodded and said, "If that's the case, then you two can use your skills to your heart's content."

Gou Xiangxi and Li Yulu bowed and said, "Yes."

……

After coming out of Zhao Qi'an's study, Li Yulu felt a little scared. He smiled bitterly and looked unconfident: "Master, can I do it?"

Gou Xiangxi twisted his mustache and sneered, "What are you afraid of?"

Li Yulu smiled wryly and said, "After all, I have only been with you for less than three months. I haven't even learned the three basic skills of you. Can I really do these great things for the boss?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gou Xiangxi slapped him hard on the back of his head.

"You want to learn three things from me in three months? You don't know how to be humble, do you?"

Gou Xiangxi cursed, then curled his lips and said disdainfully: "You only learned 10% of it."

Li Yulu dared not say no, so he could only smile bitterly and nodded yes.

Gou Xiangxi continued to twirl his beard, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said in a long voice: "But... to deal with a worshiper from our family, you have the skills of a master, which is enough."

"If you say so, then so be it."

Having said that, Li Yulu's face was full of disbelief.

Gou Xiangxi laughed and scolded: "You have a quick mind and learn things quickly, but you are a little timid and too conventional. I let you take charge of this task today, not only to let you show off in front of the boss, but also to teach you a lesson."

Li Yulu then turned serious and bowed to Gou Xiangxi, "Please give me some advice, Master."

Gou Xiangxi twisted his beard, his eyes flashed with a hint of coldness, and he said with a fake smile: "I taught you how to do things within the rules before, and now I want to teach you how to do things outside the rules."

"From now on, you just do whatever I tell you to do. Don't ask why. Do you understand?"

……

In a house in the west of Kyoto City, not far from the market town.

A carriage stopped outside the house. The coachman jumped out and knocked on the gate.

After a while, the gate opened and a man in a tight-fitting shirt poked his head out. After taking a look, he opened the gate and welcomed the carriage in.

When the carriage drove into the courtyard, Ruan Yu just got out of the carriage.

He was wearing a white fox fur coat and was a little tipsy. He got off the carriage with the help of a fellow apprentice.

When he first got off the carriage, his steps were still unsteady, but as he walked towards the house, each step became calmer, and in the end he no longer needed anyone's support.

In three or five steps, the smell of alcohol dissipated.

After Ruan Yu got rid of the smell of alcohol, the seemingly frivolous smile on her face gradually disappeared and her expression became gloomy.

"So many days have passed, what have you found out?"

He asked in a cold voice, and several fellow apprentices behind him lowered their heads in shame.

Ruan Yu turned his head to look at the reactions of the people behind him. He immediately became angry and shouted, "Are you all mute? Speak!"

Several people shivered, and someone hurriedly spoke:
"Yes, I found it."

A junior fellow student said, "We found out that Zhao Qi'an has opened many charity halls over the years. Wherever there is a Zhao's business in Daqian Jiuzhou, there is a Zhao's charity hall."

"The Zhao family business has eight stewards who are in charge of all matters of the business. Zhao Qi'an is not involved in the actual management, and the dean of the White Deer Academy, An Shoudao, is only in name only to manage the business for the Zhao family."

"Also... Zhao Qi'an seems to be having a disagreement with Princess Yuzhen."

The fellow disciples talked at once and told each other all the information they had gathered in the past few days.

But Ruan Yu's face became worse and worse as he listened, and in the end he couldn't help but curse: "Do you need to investigate these things? Tell me something I don't know!"

"Most importantly, where are the people Zhao Qi'an transferred from the East China Sea hiding?"

The fellow disciples were so scolded that they dared not say a word. They all lowered their heads and dared not speak, for fear of offending their senior brother.

Ruan Yu snorted heavily, turned and walked towards the lobby.

When he entered the hall and sat on the armchair, he was still feeling irritated.

During the ten years since Zhao Qi'an came to Kyoto, he gradually transferred more than 10,000 elite troops from Donghai to Kyoto. This was said by the Grand Duke of Donghai himself.

In his opinion, Zhao Qi'an's actions were undoubtedly seeking death.

Do you really think that the current emperor will ignore the affairs of state and not care about anything?
In fact, the emperor had a clear mind and understood the pros and cons better than anyone else.

Given the character of the current emperor, how could he tolerate the existence of such a huge force that is completely out of control near Kyoto?

As long as Ruan Yu can find the people under Zhao Qi'an's command and present the evidence to Emperor Tianwu, Zhao Qi'an will be finished!
Even if Emperor Tianwu didn't kill him, he would definitely not be able to protect this elite force, which would be equivalent to cutting off one of Zhao Qian'an's arms.

Only by eliminating this elite force can Ruan Yu deal with Zhao Qi'an.

He thought everything would go smoothly after coming to Kyoto.

After all, how can an elite army of more than 10,000 people be hidden? The daily expenses for food and necessities for the men and horses are sky-high, so there should be some clues.

But... he couldn't find any clues. He had looked for them along the way these days.

Zhao Linan thought that he came here to delay the delivery of the birthday gift and deliberately embarrassed Zhao Qi'an, but in fact it was not the case.

He was checking whether Zhao Qi'an had stationed troops in the county towns along the Beijing-Canal.

His suspicion was justified. After all, the Zhao family was strongest in shipping and they had countless ships. If they stationed troops in the county towns along the Grand Canal, it would be extremely convenient to temporarily dispatch personnel to the capital city.

However, there were no signs of military garrisons in the county towns along the Beijing Grand Canal.

Ruan Yu also thought that Zhao Qi'an might have hidden someone in the suburbs of Beijing, so when he was socializing in Kyoto these days, his men were not idle and were sent out to gather information.

But after searching everywhere in the suburbs of Beijing, we still found nothing.

Ruan Yu couldn't understand why he didn't expect Zhao Qi'an to divide his people into small groups and bring them all into Kyoto City.

He didn't even know that he had already contacted the people he was looking for.

They might be street vendors, waiters in taverns, wealthy men who put on a show in taverns, or scholars with feather fans and long scarves...

Ruan Yu did not notice, nor did he know that his every move had long been exposed under the eyes of those people. What he did every day and who he visited were all compiled into news and sent back to the Tianji Pillar on the fourth floor of the Treasure Pavilion.

He didn't know, so he had no way of finding Xiao Wei's whereabouts.

He wanted to find out the whereabouts of Xiao Wei, unless he started from the business company, after all, it was the business company that whitewashed the identities of Xiao Wei.

But is the business firm a place where he can make the decisions?
A group of accounting experts made some fake things for him. How could he, a layman, tell the difference?

Ruan Yu just felt a headache and rubbed his eyebrows with his eyes closed.

Just at this moment, a voice sounded beside him:
"Brother, have a cup of tea first."

He opened his eyes and saw a handsome young man standing in front of him.

The one who brought the tea was a young man named Wei Zhaofeng. He looked to be in his early twenties, but he was already at the fifth level of Zhoutian realm.

When Ruan Yu saw him, his expression softened a lot, and his attitude was no longer as bad as it was with other fellow disciples. He took the tea and took a sip.

After Wei Zhaofeng served the tea, he did not leave, but stood beside Ruan Yu and asked curiously: "Brother, is it necessary for you to go to such lengths to see Emperor Tianwu?"

Ruan Yu patiently explained, "The current emperor has not been involved in worldly affairs for a long time, so it is not easy to see him. Even if Master comes to the capital in person, he may not be able to see him."

The reason why he was particularly kind to Wei Zhaofeng was because Wei Zhaofeng was his junior fellow apprentice whom he had brought up.

Although he brought many fellow disciples into Kyoto City this time, besides him, Wei Zhaofeng was the only direct disciple of Marquis Dingbo.

Wei Zhaofeng was the youngest disciple of Dingbo Hou. When he started to practice, Dingbo Hou was already old. Therefore, it was Ruan Yu who was responsible for teaching Wei Zhaofeng from the beginning. He had been with Wei Zhaofeng since he was still young and couldn't control his urine. It is no exaggeration to say that he brought up Wei Zhaofeng by himself.

The relationship between the two is more like father and son or master and apprentice than that of brothers.

This time, Ruan Yu brought Wei Zhaofeng to Kyoto to see the world.

It was the first time for Wei Zhaofeng to leave Lingying Island. He was still naive about the outside world. Hearing Ruan Yu say this, he was extremely puzzled: "If even Master can't see him, can the people you have seen these days also see His Majesty?"

Ruan Yu smiled slightly and replied, "They can't see him either, but they can introduce someone who can see Emperor Tianwu to you."

"Who?"

"Of course it's the current princes. Your Majesty, even if you can't see them anymore, can't you even see your own son?"

Ruan Yu narrowed his eyes slightly and answered.

Since the second prince's approach doesn't work, let's try someone else.

There is more than just one prince in the Daqian Dynasty.

However, the whereabouts of the elite troops that Zhao Qi'an transferred from the East China Sea to Kyoto City are unknown, so he is not in a hurry to meet Emperor Tianwu.

What’s the point of meeting if you can’t get evidence?

It’s a pity that the Grand Duke of Donghai couldn’t bear to deal with his own son. Even if the elder sister whispered in his ear, it was useless. Otherwise, if there was a personal testimony from the Grand Duke of Donghai, why would he work so hard?
Now, not only does he have to deal with Zhao Qian'an, but he also has to do it as soon as possible.

Only by creating facts can the Duke of Donghai make up his mind to stand on his side.

Wei Zhaofeng was a little discouraged, and he stammered as he stood aside, "Well... I don't think I can help you at all, why did you bring me to Kyoto?"

Seeing his dejected look, Ruan Yu patted his head and smiled slightly, "Don't worry, there will always be a time when you can help."

After comforting Wei Zhaofeng, he looked at the other fellow disciples beside him, his smile faded, and he asked calmly, "Can Zhao Qi'an send someone to look for me today?"

The fellow disciple who was asked shuddered and quickly answered honestly, "No."

Ruan Yu frowned slightly.

This Zhao Qi'an... is more patient than he thought.

He thought that Zhao Qi'an would urgently call him over after he learned from the Second Prince that he had brought the seedling of the enlightenment tea tree from the East China Sea.

He even thought about how to make Zhao Qian'an get a cold shoulder.

But unexpectedly, Zhao Qi'an never sent anyone to look for him, not even to ask him.

Could it be that... the Second Prince did not tell Zhao Qian'an about the enlightenment tea tree?

Could it be that I had guessed wrongly about the relationship between him and the second prince?
Ruan Yu was a little unsure for a moment.

He had a vague premonition that Zhao Qi'an would not remain indifferent and must have a backup plan waiting for him.

However... fighting with the current King of the East China Sea is exactly what he is looking forward to.

……

The next morning.

Ruan Yushan was meditating in a quiet room when a loud bell rang outside the door, interrupting his practice.

Being interrupted in his practice, his face immediately turned ugly and he hurried out of the meditation room, suppressing his anger.

When he walked out of the quiet room, he saw Wei Zhaofeng waiting anxiously. When she saw him coming out, she hurried over to him:

"Brother, it's bad, there are government officials outside!"

Government?

Ruan Yu frowned immediately and asked in confusion: "Which government official are you from? What are you doing here?"

Wei Zhaofeng suddenly had a constipated expression on his face, as if he couldn't speak: "Yes, it was Jingzhao Prefecture, they said... they said someone sued us to the government office!"

"what?!"

(End of this chapter)