Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2224 Much the same 14.0

Shen Haolin watched Qin Zheng and Shen Cha finish one set of health-preserving boxing and prepare to start another one. He quickly stood up, smiled at Qin Zheng, ran to his other side, and began to stretch his legs and feet, preparing to follow the second set.

Qin Zheng didn't expect Shen Haolin to come over as well. He shook his head helplessly. Fortunately, the room was big enough. Even if everyone in the room practiced boxing together, there would be more than enough space.

"If you want to fight, fight well. Don't let me see you two slacking off!" Qin Zheng looked at Shen Haolin, then at Shen Cha, and finally at the others. "Anyone else wants to join in the fun? If you want to join in the fun, come over quickly. I'm ready to start."

"Come on?" Shen Cha saw Shen Haolin coming over and waved to Xue Ruitian, Jin Jing and Jin Miaomiao, "Let's do some boxing together to help digest the food?"

"No, I'm tired after a night of shopping." Xue Ruitian waved his hand and rejected Shen Cha's invitation. He looked at Jin Miaomiao and asked, "Have you prepared the things you want to bring back to that person?"

"Of course!" Jin Miaomiao raised an eyebrow. "It's a pity that Brother Zhen is leaving soon, and I haven't figured out how to treat him! And the Third Master just came, and I was thinking of asking him to take a look!"

"Give up this idea!" Shen Cha sighed softly, "It's best if they don't meet before Wanyan Xi becomes the King of Gold."

"That's right." Jin Miaomiao nodded, thought for a moment, and said, "But then again, it's reasonable for Second Grandfather to expose himself. He has no experience in this area. Even if he investigates carefully, there will always be omissions. Besides, salt is probably the most sensitive thing in the entire Jiangning Prefecture."

"Yes, Jiangning Prefecture knows its biggest weakness, and the thing it fears the most is salt. Whenever someone comes to ask or inquire, they are like frightened birds, and will definitely stare at the person who comes to inquire. If it is really a foreign merchant, then everything is fine, but if it is really to investigate the salt administration, they will take action." Shen Cha followed Qin Zheng and started the second set of health-preserving boxing. While doing it, he said, "I don't know what his excuse is, but if it is the same trick as the wonton stall, I'm afraid it won't work."

"Xiao Cha is right." Xue Ruitian stretched lazily and said, "The wonton stall trick can be used to deal with the old woman. The old woman was the first victim. She probably just hoped that someone would hear about her experience and seek justice for her late husband and her tragically dead son. But as for other things that are closely related to salt, Second Grandpa's trick will not work. Not only will it not work, it will also easily arouse other people's suspicion, right?"

"You are all right. That's why he was targeted on the third day after he came back to Jiangning Prefecture. There were two groups of people targeting him. One group was the private salt dealers, and the other group was the private salt dealers."

"The mysterious Xiao family member?" Shen Cha followed Qin Zheng and started to practice the second set of punches. After hearing what Qin Zheng said, she immediately reacted, "The Xiao family should be here to receive the private salt, right?"

"No, the other group that targeted the Second Master was indeed the Liao people who were doing private salt trade with the noble families, but they were not from the Xiao family."

"There are actually disagreements within the Liao Kingdom regarding smuggled salt?"

"Because it's too expensive, the Xiao family wanted to come and see why the salt is so expensive when it's shipped from Xia to Liao. Is the person in charge of buying the salt honest enough? Is he making dirty money?"

"I see." Xue Ruitian nodded. "This is such a coincidence. Second Grandfather was ordered by the Emperor to investigate the smuggling of salt, while the Xiao family was investigating whether their own people were making dirty money, which led to the high salt prices in Liao. In this way, the two people's directions are consistent. One needs to get evidence of smuggling salt, and the other needs to get evidence of buying salt to make dirty money." "When he was targeted, your Second Grandfather had not met the Xiao family yet, and didn't know that someone was investigating the transaction like him." Qin Zheng slowly shot with both hands, "What he needed to do at the time was to get rid of the people who were staring at him, or pretend to be a foreign merchant who knew there was smuggled salt to sell and wanted to add another item to his purchase list."

"Second Grandfather knows someone is following him?"

"We noticed it on the night we were being targeted. After all, the guards around him and the people borrowed from Master Liu were not pushovers. If they couldn't find him even after following him so blatantly, they might as well just find a piece of white silk. And those who were watching him, relying on their status as local bosses, didn't hide their whereabouts and followed him openly to see where the master and servants lived and what they did. They even asked the people at the inn about it."

"Ask the people at the inn?" Shen Cha couldn't help but smile. "Wouldn't that be a waste of time? The people at the inn won't tell them the truth."

"So, when they heard that the person following them was a young man who came here to travel, they were more or less relieved."

"The emperor's uncle's people are quite capable. They didn't let Second Grandpa run away, nor did they say he was a merchant. They just said he was a young man who went sightseeing." Shen Cha thought about it and nodded, "This is actually the safest explanation. Did Second Grandpa really go sightseeing later?"

"Really." Qin Zheng nodded. "After the stalkers left, the innkeepers went to explain to Second Master. Moreover, they suggested that Second Master really go sightseeing and experience the local customs in the next period of time. In this way, their vigilance will gradually disappear and they will not follow. As for investigating the evidence, you can investigate while playing." As he spoke, he stopped and wiped the sweat from his face, and said, "The innkeepers knew that Second Master didn't know much about this, so they spent some time teaching him what to do, what to do when he found someone being followed, and how to eliminate his suspicion. When Second Master learned this for the first time, he realized how stupid he was in the past few days. He was lucky not to be killed."

"That's true. Fortunately, he only met people from aristocratic families. If they were really desperate criminals, he would have been dead."

"So, he felt guilty and accepted the kindness of the innkeeper, agreeing to go out with the innkeeper for the next two days."

"Going out together?" Shen Cha frowned slightly, "If I'm not mistaken, they shouldn't be able to interfere in Second Grandpa's affairs at will, right?"

"Before your Second Grandfather came to Jiangning Prefecture, His Royal Highness the Eagle King had already requested an imperial decree that the Eagle King's subordinates in Jiangnan would provide any help and protection to Second Grandfather as long as he needed it or was in danger. This was your Royal Grandfather's intention. Even if someone would make a fuss about this later, His Royal Highness the Eagle King would not worry."

"That's good!" Shen Cha breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "But Master, if they go out with Second Grandpa, won't they be suspected?"

"No." Qin Zheng shook his head slightly and said, "The innkeeper told those people who were following him in advance that this young man had already booked a tour companion with them. Their servants will serve as guides to accompany him on his tour."