Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

222. Cooperation Achieved

Translator: Bryan

Du Chuxuan smiled, waiting for Qian Ye to name her price. Both of them knew what was going on, so Qian Ye promptly made a response. “If you want me to handle that, it’d be no common deal. Normally, when the imperial clan is involved, we’d ask for something of equal value in exchange.”

Du Chuxuan, naturally, understood that. “What do you want in exchange for Lanfeng Pavilion finishing the job?” He looked at her unhurriedly. Qian Ye was a businesswoman, and since she had let him in, she definitely had the intention to strike a deal with him. It all depended on whether her terms were acceptable.

“I’m afraid you don’t have the final say in a decision like that,” Qian Ye said slowly after taking a deep breath. She stared at Du Chuxuan, a ghost of nervousness in her eyes. “We’ve received a message from a reliable source saying that Sect Luo has sided with the crown prince, which means this city is no longer a safe place.”

Du Chuxuan finally understood what Qian Ye was planning to do. It was unsurprising though. Seeing as how Lanfeng Pavilion had access to such information, it was understandable that Qian Ye wanted to trade it for something that could ensure her survival. Du Chuxuan felt that the reason why Lanfeng Pavilion had gained such a firm foothold in this country was because generations of its members had always tried to seize every opportunity within their reach.

“Of course. Only if it’s a fair deal can I set my mind at ease,” Du Chuxuan smiled. He abruptly leaned forward and gripped Qian Ye’s wrist. “As long as you can say for sure that Lanfeng Pavilion had no part in that issue, there would be no problem.”

Qian Ye’s face stiffened slightly. She asked coldly, “Very funny. You seriously think the imperial members would ever let Lanfeng Pavilion get involved in a secret like that?”

“Stop playing possum. You have your ways of getting information, and I have mine. Be honest with me and all you past wrongs will be forgiven, which is equivalent to an imperial pardon. If you refuse and I ascertain the truth by myself…”

The undertones contained in his words were easy to perceive. Qian Ye, naturally, caught on to what Du Chuxuan meant. She was silent for a long while. In fact, she wouldn’t get the better end of the bargain if she made a deal with him. Provided that Yuxing Tianrui’s plan was a success and she was exculpated, it would be worthwhile.

But if Yuxing Tianrui failed, the emperor would regard her as a traitor. After pondering for a long moment, she shook her head. “There’s too great a risk involved. If you really fail, my whole organization would go down with you.”

Du Chuxuan chuckled. Naturally, he wouldn’t waste time haggling with her over any petty profits. “Seeing as how you’ve come to find out about my partnership with the crown prince, I think it’s safe to say you also know why he’s managed to defend the borders for such a long time without any provisions sent from the court. Unless your price is insanely exorbitant, I can make a final decision on the deal.”

After hearing his promise, Qian Ye finally nodded her agreement. As the owner of Lanfeng Pavilion, she had never struck a deal that she wouldn’t profit tremendously from. Judging from Yuxing Tianrui’s capabilities, he would definitely become a good emperor, so why didn’t she make a high-risk and high-yield deal? Why not take her chances?

Thus, the two of them reached an agreement. When walking out of the secret chamber, Du Chuxuan suddenly turned around and said to Qian Ye, “Given you’re carrying poisoned weapon, you must be an audacious woman, but if you keep doing that, I’m afraid you might not live long enough to see a peaceful era of Shenglan country.”

Du Chuxuan was probably the only one who dared make such arrogant remarks in front of her. However, those words were tallied with his public image of being the leader of Sect Luo, so nobody dared contradict him.

Qian Ye sneered, “Lanfeng Pavilion naturally does not have a comprehensive system like Sect Luo does. We specialize in one thing, and that comes with a price.” Having finished speaking, she handed a token to Du Chuxuan. “You may send someone down there to pick a specially trained carrier pigeon.”

“Or,” she said as she glance at Luo Yi beside her, “you may directly have someone deliver messages to this place with this token in his hand. Of course, no matter what, once the message leaves Lanfeng Pavilion, it’d have nothing to do with us who eventually gets it.”

This was the rule of Lanfeng Pavilion. They were only responsible for collecting and selling information. As for who received the information in the end, they didn’t care. After all, the information was only useful to the buyer for a limited time. The deal would be pointless if the buyer couldn’t even live long enough to get the information, no matter how rich they were.

“Sure. You don’t have to worry about that,” Du Chuxuan said, pulling his coat tighter around him. Winter was coming, and the weather was getting colder by the day. The instant Du Chuxuan walked out of the door, a chill wind began to blow its way into his clothes. He wondered if Yuxing Tianrui was in such cold weather as well.

The idea of Yuxing Tianrui fighting a war in such weather concerned Du Chuxuan. He wanted to know if Yuxing Tianrui had enough food and warm clothes. His mind instantly flew to the borderlands, refusing to come back.

“You, stop right there!” Du Chuxuan and Luo Yi had hardly left the teahouse when they saw many soldiers searching the houses nearby one by one.

The two of them remained composed. Having noticed that some soldiers were heading their way, Luo Yi took a step forward and snapped, “What are you people doing? This is Lord Zhang’s youngest son. He’s here for fun. If you scare him, Lord Zhang will make you rue the day you were born!”

The capital city were teeming with people that common soldiers couldn’t afford to mess with. Therefore, after hearing Luo Yi’s words, the soldier promptly bowed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know Lord Zhang’s son’s here. We have orders from our superiors to look into the rebellious flyers scattered on the streets this morning. The culprit has probably not fled this city yet. We didn’t mean to alarm the lordling.”

Du Chuxuan artlessly poked his head around Luo Yi and said, “I saw one of the letters at home this morning as well, which was why I came here to check. Who on earth did that? Have you found any clues?”

At the sight of Du Chuxuan’s fair-complexioned face, the guard came to know that he was a spoiled lordling. He promptly lowered his guard and replied, “We haven’t. I’m afraid there’ll be more disruptions on the streets in the next few days, so please don’t come out again unless you have to.”

Pleased, Luo Yi nodded, pulled a gold ingot from his pocket and put it into the guard’s hand. “Thank you, buddy. I’ll take my young master back home right away. Actually, I was having trouble convincing him to go home with me,” Luo Yi said, looking greatly relieved.