Judge of the Lamp

Chapter 78

Anshu Courtyard, the best place to refine Gu worms.

Wu Xu asked Xu Zhiqiong to explore the way. The reason why he had to wait until three days later was to give Xu Zhiqiong some time to prepare.

One is to prepare for the cost. The tools for exploring the road are very complicated, such as those for climbing walls, unlocking locks, digging holes, and wiping footprints...

But Xu Zhiqiong didn't have any requirements for tools, as long as the place in Anshuyuan is not too big, a mouse can handle 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 fully believe it, even if this guy leaked a word of news in his sleep, Xu Zhiqiong might lose his life.

On the way home, Xu Zhiqiong was considering whether to take the two of them with him when he suddenly saw a plainly dressed girl greet him at the intersection.

"Master, do you want to buy eggs?"

It's Shani.

Today, Xia Ni is still dressed plainly, with a little dirt on her face.

Xu Zhiqiong went up to meet her, and looked at the basket of eggs on Xia Ni's arm with a smile.

"Are your eggs cooked?"

"I sell raw eggs."

"Did you give birth?"

"Tricking you up!" Xia Ni spat, then smiled, "I heard that the young master killed someone again?"

Xu Zhiqiong puffed up his chest and said, "What is murder? I am the Lantern Lantern, and all those executed are criminals."

"In short, it's right to be a bad person. The young master executed the prisoner, but how do you plan to deal with the aftermath?"

"There's no need to deal with the aftermath," Xu Zhiqiong pointed to the street entrance in the distance, "Let's expose the corpse there first."

"My lord, you know that's not what I meant."

"If there is any other meaning, we will talk about it another day."

Xu Zhiqiong entered the alley, and suddenly heard Xia Ni say: "Aren't you going to punish the evil division?"

The sound was inaudible, but Xu Zhiqiong could hear the judge's ears clearly.

He exited the alley and walked back to Xia Ni.

To be precise, it was by Xia Hu's side.

"Officer Xia Tui, are you too lazy to pretend?"

Xia Hu suppressed her voice to the lowest level: "You and I have already seen through each other's details, so it doesn't matter if we tell the truth."

"Isn't that right? Our judges have rules and we cannot reveal our identities to outsiders."

"Am I still an outsider?"

"Of course not, you are a wife."

"Don't talk nonsense anymore, to tell you the truth, since I took your business for the first time, I have never opened a business with others, and now I can't live on."

What is this nonsense?Did I make you poor?
Xu Zhiqiong frowned and said, "I gave you the first time, and you should not take other people's business."

"Nonsense again! I don't have the heart to play tricks on you. I really have no business now. These days, two new female pushers have arrived, guarding the gate of the Punishment Department every day. They are willing to do anything for merit. I am here. Just to remind you, don't be fooled by their tricks."

No wonder Xia Hu took such a big risk and exposed her identity. It turned out that she had met a competitor.

Is the pusher really involved to this extent?Introverted to please the mortal officials of the ninth rank?
Xu Zhiqiong smiled ferociously: "Don't be afraid, my lady, I'd like to see what methods those two pushing officials have?"

Xia Hu said angrily: "Why are you going to see it? Let me tell you, if even your business is taken away, don't blame me for turning your back on me. I know your mortal status. When I see you earn meritorious service in the future, I will go and grab it immediately! "

"My lady was joking, the sins of those two people are not enough..."

"Bullshit! I've seen them all, one is four inches and the other is more than three inches."

There is also a three-inch one, which you didn't see.

Xu Zhiqiong said with a smile on his face: "Since my lady has seen it, I will not hide it anymore. I have already accepted the crime. It's just that I have been busy for the past two days and I really don't have time to punish the criminal. Don't worry about waiting a few more days. The business must belong to the lady."

After Xu Zhiqiong finished speaking, he was about to leave again. Xia Hu said again: "You are almost at the eighth rank, and you want to steal meritorious deeds. Do you pretend that I don't know?"

Xu Zhiqiong stepped back again: "What do you know?"

Xia Hu smiled and said: "I am a seventh-rank judge, so I naturally know the difficulties. It is more difficult to get one merit for the eighth-rank than ten grains for the ninth-rank. It takes two hundred merits for the eighth-rank to advance to one level. Are you I want to take advantage of the ninth rank to accumulate more meritorious service."

Xu Zhiqiong didn't make a sound. Xia Hu was a seventh rank, so she really couldn't hide this matter from her.

Xia Hu smiled deeply: "When I was promoted to the eighth rank, I did this kind of thing. As long as I do it carefully, I won't be found out, but if the long history of being punished knows and the meritorious deeds will be withdrawn, you still don't know." You will be punished, even if your cultivation base is lowered."

Xu Zhiqiong trembled in his heart: "Aren't you going to report on me? We are a family."

Xia Hu sneered: "Whether it is a family or not 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 long history of punishment!"

Xu Zhiqiong nodded and said, "Understood, I will follow the orders of Officer Xia Tui."

Xia Hu warned again: "Don't be too greedy, just save a hundred or so. Since you are about to rise to the eighth rank, it's hard to say whether Chang Shi, who punishes evil, will notice you. Even if Chang Shi is too lazy to care, don't forget And Feng Shaoqing."

……

Save a hundred or so?

I have thirty-eight hidden in my hand now, and these three horns add up to more than one hundred, counting as one hundred.

I need to spend a hundred coins to upgrade to the eighth rank, or are there thirty-eight coins left, that is to say, if I save another sixty or seventy coins, I have to stop?

That won't work!

It costs [-] yuan to upgrade to one level, so I have to save one level no matter what.

But what Xia Hu said is also right, this matter has to be done more secretly.

……

When he came to the yamen at dusk, Xu Zhiqiong found Niu Yuxian, took him to a place where no one was around, and secretly confessed one thing: "Brother, Qianhu asked the two of us to go to the official department tomorrow night."

Niu Yuxian nodded and said, "Okay."

Strange, why didn't he even ask why?

Xu Zhiqiong said again: "It's a matter of secrecy, 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 had happened.

Xu Zhiqiong went to Chu He again and said the same thing.

Chu He was very curious: "Why did Qianhu ask us to go to the Ministry of Officials?"

Xu Zhiqiong said: "Qianhu had some quarrels with Zhou Kairong before, but now that Zhou Kairong was transferred outside the capital, his disciple Sun Jideng came out to make trouble again, and wrote a letter to impeach the Secretary of the Imperial City. Sun Jideng should teach you a lesson."

Chu He was a little apprehensive: "I heard that Sun Jideng is a seventh-rank Confucianist. With just the two of us, can we deal with him?"

Xu Zhiqiong said: "Don't worry about it. Since it is Qianhu's order, there must be someone secretly responding. You just need to remember that this matter must not be known to others."

After the matter was settled, they patrolled the night separately. At dawn the next day, Niu Yuxian asked Qingdenglang Banner for leave, saying that he was unwell and would have to rest for a day, and Qingdenglang was allowed to leave.

Other than that, Niu Yuxian didn't say anything, Xu Zhiqiong was very satisfied with this attitude.

At dusk, when Xu Zhiqiong had just 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 motioned Chu He to speak softly. 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 watch the night 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 don't have to go on watch tonight.

Xu Zhiqiong pulled Chu He far away, and said softly, "We don't need to go tonight, Qianhu has arranged for someone else."

Chu He was taken aback: "Can't you trust us?"

Xu Zhiqiong said: "As you said, how can we two rank nine Confucians beat seventh rank Confucianists? Maybe Qianhu didn't think about it."

"Then shall we still watch the night tonight?"

"Yes, watch the night as usual."

Everyone followed Wang Zhennan to watch the night. On the road, Yang Wu asked Xu Zhiqiong: "Didn't you say that you two are not going to watch the night tonight? Why are you here again?"

Xu Zhiqiong looked around, pulled Yang Wu to a place where no one was around, and said in a low voice, "I'm telling you something, you must not tell others, do you know Sun Jideng from the Ministry of Officials?"

"I know, he is Zhou Kairong's disciple, a seventh-rank Confucian cultivator."

"Sun Jideng has always hated our Qianhu for what happened before, and wrote to impeach us in charge of the Yamen. Qianhu got angry and wanted to teach him a lesson. At first, he asked Chu He and me to go, and then found someone to ambush us. I didn't expect Sun Jideng to be prepared. , I can’t move my hands tonight.”

Yang Wu let out a long breath: "If you don't take me with you, I will take it as a good thing. It turns out that this kind of thing, Zhiqiong, it's right not to go with this matter. We can't tie Liang Zi too deeply, that's the official department..."

Xu Zhiqiong told half the truth. Sun Jideng impeached Zhong Shen. The case is weak.

Wu Xu didn't intend to take revenge on Sun Jideng, this matter was made up by Xu Zhiqiong. Through this incident, Xu Zhiqiong discovered an important problem.

Chu He couldn't participate in this operation. There were some things he hadn't learned yet.

Around Choushi, Xu Zhiqiong finished lighting the night watch lights, and asked Chu He and Yang Wu to go to Goulan first. He claimed to be going to eat flower cakes at Lin Erjie's house.

In fact, he went to Niu Yuxian's house.

Most Mohist cultivators come from poor families, but Niu Yuxian's family is not bad. His father is a sixth-rank Mohist cultivator. He works as a laborer in Bitter Cold Gongfang and owns a rather exquisite house.

Hearing that his son's colleague came to visit him, Niu Yuxian's father, Niu Yuncheng, welcomed him into the main hall.

"This child doesn't know why, but he complained of abdominal pain when he came back today, and he hasn't eaten a grain of rice for a 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 got up and said, "Everything is ready, we can start now."

This is the attitude of carrying out confidential missions, not revealing a word to parents.

Xu Zhiqiong asked: "You go out now, but won't you disturb your family?"

"To go out is to go out, but not through the door." Niu Yuxian opened a secret passage under the bed, this is the attitude of Mohist cultivators 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 Anshu Courtyard at night."

"An Shuyuan?" Niu Yuxian frowned tightly, "This is a bit troublesome."

Xu Zhiqiong said: "Why do you say it's troublesome?"

"I've heard of Anshu Courtyard, it seems to be a forbidden place."

"You dare not go?"

"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 didn't care much about the equipment at first, he relied on mice to find his way, but seeing that Niu Yuxian was so serious, he couldn't 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, the yamen's equipment is useless, I'll steal it from my father!"

(End of this chapter)