Anshuyuan is the best place for refining Gu insect velvet.
Wu Xu asked Xu Zhiqiong to explore the route. The reason for waiting until three days later was to give Xu Zhiqiong some time to prepare.
First, you need to prepare the expenses. The tools for exploring the path are very complicated, such as those for climbing walls, those for unlocking, those for digging holes, and those for wiping footprints...
But Xu Zhiqiong has no requirements for tools. As long as Anshuyuan is not too big, a mouse can do it.
The second is to prepare manpower. Although Wu Xu mentioned Chu He and Niu Yuxian, are these two people reliable?
This was a matter of life and death. Not to mention that he didn't know Niu Yuxian very well, even Chu He couldn't completely believe it. Even if this guy leaked a piece of information in his sleep, Xu Zhiqiong might lose his life.
On the way home, Xu Zhiqiong was considering whether to take these two people with him when he suddenly saw a girl in plain clothes coming towards him at the intersection.
"Sir, do you want to buy eggs?"
It's Shani.
Today, Shani is still dressed simply, with a little dirt on her face.
Xu Zhiqiong stepped forward and looked at the basket of eggs on Shani's arm with a smile.
"Are your eggs cooked?"
"I sell raw eggs."
"Did you give birth?"
"What a joke!" Shani spat, then smiled and said, "I heard that the young master killed someone again?"
Xu Zhiqiong puffed up his chest and said, "What does murder mean? I am the lantern-carrying man, and I execute all criminals."
"In short, it's okay to be a bad guy. The young master executed the criminal, but how do you plan to deal with the aftermath?"
"There is no need to deal with the aftermath," Xu Zhiqiong pointed to the street intersection in the distance, "Let's expose the body there first."
"Sir, you know that's not what I meant."
"If you have any other meaning, let's talk about it another day."
Xu Zhiqiong entered the alley and suddenly heard Xia Ni say: "Aren't you going to punish the evildoer?"
The sound was barely audible, but the judge's ears were sharp and Xu Zhiqiong heard it clearly.
He exited the alley and walked back to Shani.
To be precise, it was beside Xia Hu.
"Xia Tuiguan, are you too lazy to pretend?"
Xia Hu lowered her voice: "You and I have already seen through each other's true identity, so it doesn't matter if we tell the truth."
"Isn't this inappropriate? We judges have rules and cannot reveal our identities to outsiders."
"Am I still considered an outsider?"
"Of course not, you are my wife."
"Stop talking nonsense. To tell you the truth, since I first took over your business, I have never done anything for anyone else. Now I can't live any longer."
What are these words? Did I make you poor?
Xu Zhiqiong frowned and said, "I gave you my first time, so it's right for you not to accept other people's business."
"Another nonsense! I have no intention of fooling around with you. I really have no business now. Two new female promotion officers have arrived these days. They guard the door of the Punishment Department every day. They are willing to do anything for the sake of merit. I am here.
Just to remind you, don’t be fooled by their dirty tricks.”
No wonder Xia Hu took such a big risk and revealed his identity. It turned out that he had met a competitor.
Is it true that the promotion official is so involved? That he is so involved that he wants to please the mortal officials of the ninth grade?
Xu Zhiqiong smiled ferociously: "Don't be afraid, madam, I want to see what those two officials can do?"
Xia Hu said angrily: "Why are you going to see me? Let me tell you, if your business is also taken away, don't blame me for turning against me. I know your identity in the mortal world. If I see you making meritorious deeds in the future, I will go and snatch it away immediately!"
"
"Young lady, you are joking. Those two people's crimes are not enough..."
"Nonsense! I've seen them all, one is four inches, and the other is more than three inches."
There is another one over three inches, but you didn't see it.
Xu Zhiqiong said with a smile on his face: "Since Madam has seen it, I won't hide it anymore. I have already taken away the karma. It's just that I have been busy these past two days and I really don't have time to punish the evildoer. Don't worry, wait a few more days. This
This business must belong to the lady."
After Xu Zhiqiong was about to leave, Xia Hu said again: "You are almost at the eighth level. If you want to hide your meritorious deeds, do you think I don't know about it?"
Xu Zhiqiong stepped back: "What do you know?"
Xia Hu smiled and said: "I am a seventh-level judge, so I naturally know the difficulties. It is more difficult to get one merit point at the eighth level than ten merit points at the ninth level. To advance to the eighth level, it takes two hundred merit points. You are
I want to take advantage of the ninth grade to accumulate more merit."
Xu Zhiqiong remained silent. Xia Hu was in the seventh rank, so this matter really couldn't be hidden from her.
Xia Hu smiled deeply: "When I was promoted to the eighth rank, I did this kind of thing. As long as I was more careful, I wouldn't be discovered. But if the long history of being punished for evil comes to know about it, and the merits have to be taken back, you still have to do it?"
You will be punished, even if your cultivation level is reduced."
Xu Zhiqiong trembled in his heart: "Are you going to report me? We are a family."
Xia Hu sneered: "Whether we are a family or not, it depends on who you give the business to. If you give it to me, you can say anything. If you give it to someone else, I will be the first to tell the Chief of Punishment!"
Xu Zhiqiong nodded and said: "I understand, I will listen to Officer Xia's instructions."
Xia Hu warned again: "Don't be too greedy. Just save a hundred or so. Since you are about to be promoted to the eighth level, it's hard to say whether the Chief of Punishment will notice you. Even if the Chief is too lazy to care, don't forget
And Feng Shaoqing."
…
Save up a hundred or so?
I currently have thirty-eight horns hidden in my hand. These three horns add up to more than one hundred horns, and I count them as one hundred horns.
Do I need to spend one hundred gems to upgrade to the eighth level, or are there thirty-eight gems left, which means I have to stop after I save sixty or seventy more gems?
That won’t work!
If you get promoted one level, it will cost you two hundred. I have to save some money no matter what.
But Xia Hu is right, this matter needs to be done more secretly.
…
Arriving at the Yamen in the evening, Xu Zhiqiong found Niu Yuxian, took him to a deserted place, and secretly confessed something: "Brother, Qianhu asked us to go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs tomorrow night."
Niu Yuxian nodded and said: "Okay."
Strange, why didn't he even ask why?
Xu Zhiqiong added: "It's a matter of confidentiality. You can't tell others about it."
Niu Yuxian nodded and said, "Don't worry."
Niu Yuxian continued to do his work as if nothing happened.
Xu Zhiqiong went to Chu He again and told him the same thing.
Chu He was very curious: "Why did Qianhu ask us to go to the Ministry of Personnel?"
Xu Zhiqiong said: "Qianhu had some discord with Zhou Kairong before. Now that Zhou Kairong has been transferred outside the capital, his disciple Sun Jideng has come out to cause trouble again. He has written a letter of impeachment to the Imperial City Division. The commander blames us Qianhu. Qianhu asked us to go and punish him."
Sun Jideng can teach you a lesson."
Chu He was a little scared: "I heard that Sun Jideng is a seventh-grade Confucian. Can the two of us deal with him?"
Xu Zhiqiong said: "Don't worry about this. Since it is Qianhu's order, there must be someone secretly taking care of it. Just remember, you must not let others know about this."
The matter was settled, and each went on patrol at night. At dawn the next day, Niu Yuxian asked for leave from Qing Deng Lang, saying that he was not feeling well and wanted to rest for a day. Qing Deng Lang agreed to take leave.
Apart from that, Niu Yuxian said nothing. This attitude made Xu Zhiqiong very satisfied.
At dusk, when Xu Zhiqiong arrived at the Yamen, Chu He stepped forward and asked, "Do you still need to say hello to Wang Zhennan in a while?"
Xu Zhiqiong looked around and signaled Chu He to speak softer. Chu He lowered his voice and asked, "Who will meet us tonight?"
Before Xu Zhiqiong could speak, Yang Wu also came over: "I heard that you two don't have to patrol tonight. Where are you going?"
Xu Zhiqiong looked at Chu He.
Chu He looked innocent.
I didn't tell him where he was going, I just said we didn't have to go on patrol tonight.
Xu Zhiqiong pulled Chu He away and said softly: "We don't need to go tonight, Qianhu has arranged for someone else."
Chu He was stunned: "Can't you trust us?"
Xu Zhiqiong said: "As you said, how can we two ninth-rank Confucians defeat a seventh-rank Confucian? Maybe Qianhu didn't think about it."
"Then let's still watch the night as usual tonight?"
"Yes, we will continue our night patrol as usual."
Everyone followed Wang Zhennan to patrol the night as usual. On the road, Yang Wu asked Xu Zhiqiong: "Didn't I say that you two won't patrol the night tonight? Why are you following me again?"
Xu Zhiqiong looked around, pulled Yang Wu to a place where no one was around, and whispered: "I'm telling you something, but you must not tell anyone else. Do you know Sun Jideng from the Ministry of Civil Affairs?"
"I know, he is a disciple of Zhou Kairong, a seventh-grade Confucian practitioner."
"Sun Jideng has always grudged us, Qianhu, for what happened before. He wrote a letter to impeach me in charge of the Deng Yamen. Qianhu became angry and wanted to teach him a lesson. At first, he asked Chu He and me to go, and then he found someone to ambush us secretly. I didn't expect that Sun Jideng was prepared.
, I can’t do anything tonight.”
Yang Wu let out a long breath: "If you don't take me with you, I'll think it's a good thing. It turns out that this is the case. Zhiqiong, it's better not to do this. We can't make the relationship too deep. That's the official department..."
Xu Zhiqiong told half the truth. Sun Jideng wrote a letter to impeach Zhong Shen. This was true, but Zhong Shen did not blame Wu Xu because Wu Xu was not to blame. The content of Sun Jideng's impeachment was the Imperial City Inspector
The case is weak.
Wu Xu had no intention of retaliating against Sun Jideng. This incident was made up by Xu Zhiqiong. Through this incident, Xu Zhiqiong discovered an important issue.
Chu He couldn't participate in this operation. There were some things he hadn't learned yet.
Around the ugly time, Xu Zhiqiong finished lighting the night watch lights and asked Chu He and Yang Wu to go to Goulan first. He claimed that he was going to the second sister Lin's house to eat flower cakes.
In fact, he went to Niu Yuxian's house.
Most of the Mohist cultivators come from poor families, but Niu Yuxian's family is quite good. His father is a sixth-grade Mohist cultivator. He serves as a state worker in Kuhan Gongfang and owns a rather exquisite house.
Hearing that his son's colleagues came to visit him, Niu Yuxian's father Niu Yuncheng welcomed him into the main hall.
"For some reason, this child complained of abdominal pain when he came back today. He didn't eat a grain of rice the whole day."
Xu Zhiqiong went to Niu Yuxian's room. Niu Yuxian wanted to have a few words with Xu Zhiqiong alone. When his father left, Niu Yuxian stood up and said, "Everything is ready. You can leave now."
This is the attitude of carrying out a confidential mission, and not even a word is revealed to the parents.
Xu Zhiqiong asked: "If you go out now, won't you disturb your family?"
"You have to go out, but don't use the door." Niu Yuxian opened a secret passage under the bed. This is the attitude of Mohist practitioners towards life!
Xu Zhiqiong said: "I won't go to the official department tonight."
"Why?"
"Qianhu has other important tasks assigned to you and me. Tomorrow night, we will visit An Shuyuan at night."
"An Shuyuan?" Niu Yuxian frowned, "This is a bit troublesome."
Xu Zhiqiong said: "Why do you say it's troublesome?"
"I've heard of Anshuyuan. It seems to be a forbidden area."
"Don't you dare to go?"
"I dare to go, but I don't have enough equipment at hand." Niu Yuxian's eyes were a little excited. "To explore the forbidden area, we need some useful guys."
Xu Zhiqiong originally didn't care much about equipment. He relied on rats to find his way around, but seeing how serious Niu Yuxian was, it was hard to refuse.
"What equipment do you lack? I'll go to the Yamen to get it for you."
Niu Yuxian shook his head and said: "It's useless. All the equipment in the yamen are useless. I'll go steal it from my father!"