No. 1 Girl in the Imperial City

Chapter 271 News from Mingyin Pavilion
The two walked up to the small building on the side of the road. The light in the small building was dim, and there seemed to be a faint damp smell of moldy wood.

Even the stairs are not as stable and solid as other places, and they make a creaking sound when you step on them.

The two walked up to the second floor, and they saw an old man with gray and messy hair, dark complexion and wrinkled face sitting at the window smoking a pipe.

The old man was wearing patched clothes. If you didn't look at the smoking pot in his hand, which was obviously made of gold, you might think it was some unremarkable old beggar on the street.Luo Junyao even remembered that she had indeed seen this beggar on a certain street in Shangyong.

The old man squinted his eyes and looked at the two of them for a while, then frowned and said: "I remember... General Luo only has two sons? Who is this young master?"

Luo Jinxing blocked his sister behind him, stared at the old man and said, "Who is the old man?"

The old man seemed to find it a little funny, and said, "You want to see me, but you don't know who I am? I'm the person that young master behind you wants to find."

Luo Jun shook and pulled Luo Jinxing's sleeve, Luo Jinxing looked back at her before stepping aside.

Luo Jun shook his head and said with a smile: "Old Mr. Bian, excuse me."

The old man narrowed his eyes and looked at her for a long time before slowly saying: "It is true that I am old, and my eyesight is already blurry. So it is not a young master but a young girl, this is the daughter of General Luo?"

Luo Junyao didn't deny it either, "The old man's eyes are like torches, I admire him." Where is this old man blind?The eyes are clearly sharp.

She dressed up this men's outfit seriously in broad daylight, not as perfunctory as the night before, and no one noticed anything wrong along the way.

The old man nodded and got up and said, "Princess Regent, Second Master Luo, please sit down."

The two walked to the old man and sat down. Looking down from the window, there were already people cleaning up the aftermath on the street below.

"That's the old man's subordinate? I'm really sorry." Luo Jun shook his head, but neither his tone nor his expression meant that he was sorry.The old man shook his head and said: "They are not my subordinates, if they don't have the eyes to attack the two of them, they deserve to die." What he said was very flat, flat and somewhat cold.Looking down, the old eyes were also very calm, as if he didn't care at all about someone making trouble on his own territory.

"The princess regent is here, what is the matter?" asked the old man, "The princess has also seen that the people living in this area are all similar to those below. Although I, an old man, can still speak a little bit, it's not enough. He's just an old beggar who hasn't had a good life for a few years, I'm afraid he won't be able to help the princess."

Luo Jun said: "I shouldn't have bothered the old man, but I heard that the old man is the most well-informed person in this area."

The old man shook his head and said with a smile: "I'm afraid this is overrated. In the west of the city... there are various forces entrenched in the dark. Let's just talk about the Mingyin Pavilion, which is incomparably rich, and the Fenglei Hall, which is backed by the Thunder Gate. Which one is me, an old beggar?" Can you afford it? Besides...the Prince Regent's Mansion and the Luo family, why do they need to ask others for information?"

Luo Jun shook his smile and said: "The old man is too modest. The Luo family and the Regent's Palace also have places beyond their reach. The Fenglei Hall and the Mingyin Pavilion are powerful, but they haven't invaded this place, have they?"

The old man shook his head and said, "It's not that they don't want to, it's that they disdain. Although they are not aboveboard, the people who live here are all old, weak, sick, vicious but incompetent scum. It's not worth their trouble That's all."

"Why did the old man stay here?" Luo Junyao asked.

The old man shook his head and said: "The old man was born and grew up here, so he will naturally die here."

Luo Jinxing gave the old man a strange look. Although the old man looked like an ordinary old beggar, just listening to his words, he knew that the old man was by no means as ordinary as he looked, at least he should have read a lot of books.

Luo Junyao didn't scribble, and said, "Mister, I know the rules."

The old man looked up at her and didn't speak. Luo Junyao reached out and put a bank note on the table, and slowly pushed it to him.

The old man raised his hand and opened it. It was a silver note of 1000 taels.

The old man looked at the bank note in front of him and did not speak, and Luo Junyao was not in a hurry. The old man asked after a while: "What does the princess want to ask?"

A sweet smile appeared on Luo Junyao's face. She looked at the old man and said, "The question I want to ask is very simple. I heard that there was a change of power in Mingyin Pavilion a few years ago. What happened at that time?"

The old man froze for a moment, and looked at Luo Junyao with meaningful eyes, "The question of the princess...is not simple. The news about Mingyin Pavilion, such a place full of gold and jade, how can we people find it?"

Luo Jun shook his chin and said, "But Mister has probably been in the west of the city longer than the time Mingyin Pavilion has existed. I don't believe Mister doesn't know anything."

The old man chuckled twice, and did not deny Luo Junyao's compliment.

The small building was silent for a long time, and the people downstairs had already cleaned up the street, but no one paid attention to the blood on the ground.However, all kinds of traces on the street have piled up for several layers, and after the little blood stain dries up, it will probably not attract attention.

"The people of Mingyin Pavilion... I, an old man, can't be offended." The old man sighed.

Luo Jinxing looked at the old man and couldn't help but said, "Do you think you can offend us?"

The old man obviously didn't expect the honest-looking Second Master Luo to say such a sentence, and couldn't help but look him up several times before nodding and smiling, "Second Master Luo is right, I can't afford to offend you."

Sighing helplessly, the old man said, "I can tell you what you want to know, but... the princess must agree to one request."

Luo Jun shook his head and said, "Old sir, please tell me."

The old man said: "After this incident, the princess will send someone to take the people in the courtyard at the end of this street out of the west of the city, and find a place to resettle them so that they can survive and never come back again."

Luo Junyao didn't agree immediately, but just asked: "Among those people, there won't be any fugitives?"

The old man laughed and said, "Of course not. Since I said it was an afterthought, naturally there will be no one that the princess can't accept. Otherwise, what if the princess regrets me as an old man? They are all ordinary people."

Luo Junyao glanced at the old man in surprise, he was very old and looked very thin, just like any inconspicuous old beggar on the street.Although if the gold on the bong in his hand was taken out, it would at least be enough for him to live peacefully like an ordinary person outside for several years.

Before coming here, she naturally knew something about the situation in the west of the city, and she also knew something about this old man.Although he is very old, he seems to be just an ordinary beggar, but he is very talkative in this area, and the residents in this area are willing to give him some face.

Even in such a place, such a person could have lived a good life.But he looked so thin and old, and so down and tired.

Luo Jun shook his head and said, "Okay, I promise you."

"Shaking..." Luo Jinxing frowned slightly and reminded in a low voice.

Luo Junyao smiled at him, and said softly: "Second brother, don't worry, I know it well." She probably knew who the old man wanted her to take care of.

The old man said: "General Luo and the regent are both heroes of the world. I believe in the promise of the princess."

Luo Junyao smiled and said, "Thank you, old man."

The old man looked at Luo Jun and shook his head, "The concubine just asked about the Mingyin Pavilion?"

Luo Jun shook his head, the old man laughed and said: "Mingyin Pavilion... There was no such place here when I was a child, I remember that Mingyin Pavilion appeared here for the first time... 36 years ago. Of course, the Mingyin Pavilion at that time was not It’s not as beautiful as it is now, it’s just a gambling house. Mingyin Pavilion has really become powerful, but it has been several years since Emperor Gaozu ascended the throne. As for your question... the power change of Mingyin Pavilion happened four years ago .”

Luo Junyao asked: "What kind of person is the owner of the Mingyin Pavilion?"

The old man smiled and said, "Is the princess asking about the previous Pavilion Master or the current one?" Without waiting for Luo Junyao to answer, he said: "I saw the Pavilion Master in front of Mingyin Pavilion when Mingyin Pavilion first appeared. He should be sixty now if he is not dead. There is nothing to say about that man. I don’t know what his background is. To be able to open a gambling shop in this kind of place, at least if you have money and are not afraid of trouble, you will never be an ordinary person. And at that time There are many masters around him, and newcomers are always troubled by others, but he was able to gain a foothold here in two or three years. Later, he gradually became less and less, and this Mingyin Pavilion became more and more mysterious. Young and don't know much."

After saying this, the old man sighed and said: "As for the current pavilion master... I met him ten years ago, when he was a boy of sixteen or seventeen years old, he was the old pavilion master's disciple. What happened in the pavilion... It's easy to say, now the pavilion master and the old pavilion master fell out, so he killed the master and took the position."

Luo Jun shook his head and said: "But I heard that the old pavilion master was...chopped up and fed to the dogs."

The old man smiled and said: "The princess is well-informed. That old pavilion master...has some shady hobbies. It's nothing. These people... How many of them are normal? But a few years ago, a luthier suddenly appeared in Mingyin Pavilion , this luthier should have a good relationship with the current Pavilion Master. No one knows what exactly happened. We only know that the old Pavilion Master died half a year later. On that day, it was said that the entire ground of Mingyin Pavilion seemed to be stained with blood. For this reason, Mingyin Pavilion deliberately closed down for a month before cleaning up the blood. Since then, I have never seen those stewards of Mingyin Pavilion who I used to be familiar with in the west of the city, and I have never seen a dead body. I know where it was taken. As for what the princess said... hello the dog, I haven't seen it, so I don't know if it's true or not."

Luo Jun shook his head and thought, the old man looked at her with a smile, "What else do you want to ask, Princess?"

Luo Jun shook his voice and said: "Now Mingyin Pavilion, is it the owner of Mingyin Pavilion who has the final say, or the luthier?"

The old man kept silent, just staring at Luo Junyao steadfastly.Luo Junyao didn't force it, and changed the question, "Is there a third entrance to the underground palace of Mingyin Pavilion?"

The old man's expression changed slightly and he still didn't speak. Luo Junyao was not in a hurry and didn't ask any other questions.

Luo Junyao looked at the old man and said with a smile: "Old man, you are not kind. I agreed to all of your conditions without haggling, but you only gave me some innocuous news."

The old man was silent for a long time before he sighed, shook his head and said: "General Luo's daughter is really not a cheap lamp."

The old man looked up at Luo Jun and shook his head: "The luthier in Mingyin Pavilion, I don't know what his background is, and I don't know if he is the eldest son of the prime minister's family. But I know... before he came, the current Pavilion Master He never thought of rebelling against his master, and their master-student relationship should be pretty good. In fact, he has no ability to rebel against his master." Luo Jun shook his head, it was Xue Ya's arrival that gave him the ability or motivation to resist.

The old man continued: "As for the second question of the princess... I guessed later that the underground palace under the Mingyin Pavilion was tricky. Decades before that, I didn't know there was such a big underground palace under the west of the city. Later I also I had some doubts, so I wandered around in the western suburbs for two years, but I didn’t see anything special. If the princess really suspects that there is something wrong with the underground palace, I guess the exit outside the city should be in the western suburbs. In a certain mountain. As for the city... I don't know."

The old man shook his head and said: "I'm just an old beggar who occasionally inquires about some news, and that's all I know. If the princess is not satisfied, I have no other way. Mingyin Pavilion has become more and more difficult to enter in recent years. If you want to It’s not easy to check their news.”

Luo Jun raised his eyebrows and said, "What does the old man mean, it wasn't difficult to enter the Mingyin Pavilion in the past?"

The old man said: "At least 20 years ago, Mingyin Pavilion was just an ordinary place to run brothel gambling houses. Although it was more mysterious than those brothel gambling shops outside, and some people outside seemed to be out of the ordinary, but... What are you talking about?" There is not much difference in power in the Jianghu. Those shady businesses are not run by the Mingyinge family." They would choose to open a store in this kind of place, because they are doing business that is not easy to do outside.

"It didn't work later. I was able to get this information because I had a few friends in Mingyin Pavilion in the early years, and these people disappeared later. The power of Mingyin Pavilion is getting bigger and bigger, and the stalls are getting bigger and bigger. It is as difficult as going to the sky to inquire about the news of Mingyin Pavilion.

Luo Jun shook his head, "Thank you, old man."

After saying goodbye to the old man, the two went down from the small building and walked out all the way.

Perhaps because of the previous lesson, although there were still people who were spying on them secretly this time, no one came forward again.

Luo Jinxing was puzzled and said, "You came here on purpose to ask for these news?"

Luo Jun shook his head and said: "Yes, I still asked some questions, didn't I?"

Luo Jinxing rolled his eyes, "You don't need to go there yourself, and the Prince Regent's Mansion can also inquire about the news, right?" Luo Jun said with a smile, "I've lived here all my life, and those who have witnessed the rise of Mingyin Pavilion are all I can find out about this. Does the second brother think that the news of Mingyin Pavilion is easy to inquire about? Besides, that old man is not a simple person. At least in the west of the city, the news he didn’t say just now is either because he refused to tell us, or he really checked it out. not."

Luo Jinxing didn't believe it. The old man might indeed have some abilities, but he seemed to be living in a bit of desperation.

Luo Jun smiled and said: "Second brother, don't underestimate him. If he really wants to trouble us today, it will be quite troublesome."

Luo Jinxing shrugged and said, "Okay, anyway, the elder brother only said to let me follow you, and you can decide where to go. Where shall we go now?"

Luo Junyao thought for a while and said, "Go to Fenglei Hall and see if General Yu has finished talking with that Hall Master Lei, maybe there will be some news from him."

Luo Jinxing reminded: "Feng Lei Tang came later." If the old man didn't know, Feng Lei Tang might not know either.

Luo Jun smiled and said: "But that Master Lei must have dealt with Master Mingyin. Second brother, what do you think is the origin of this Mr. Xueya?"

Luo Jinxing shook his head and said that he didn't know, he didn't like to use his brain on these things, he was too tired.

Luo Junyao smiled and said: "Perhaps... Mr. Xueya is the person of Yisi Luan. As for Mingyin Pavilion..." Mingyin Pavilion must have something to do with Yisi Luan, but maybe it is not the relationship they originally thought.

"These are all your guesses."

"Boldly assume, carefully verify." Luo Junyao pulled his second brother's sleeve and said, "Let's go, let's go to General Yu now."

(End of this chapter)