My wife has a secret

Chapter 169 Meeting Again
"How dare you! Are you here to tease the adults?"

Shan Yongpei took a step forward and scolded in a deep voice.

His face was full of ferocity, which frightened the guard so much that he trembled all over. He finally calmed down after Xu Qing waved his hand.

"What good is a boot?"

Xu Qing's cold eyes narrowed and he looked at the other person carefully.

This guard is over thirty years old. He was able to enter the Si Mansion, so he should be an old figure with some seniority in the Five Cities Military Department. He would not lie and report useless information.

The guard looked at Shan Yongpei with lingering fear, then bowed again and reported.

"Sir, that... that thief was caught eating buns from a bun shop on Yong'an Street in the East Market. And according to the testimony of the neighbors nearby, this person has been stealing for many days. According to the calendar, he should be beaten with fifty sticks and paraded through the streets."

Xu Qing knew that due to the low productivity in ancient times, the punishment of various types of criminal laws were much stricter than the laws of previous generations.

There are also many human rules here, such as parading thieves and peddlers through the streets, which is usually done to vent the anger of nearby residents and merchants who have been robbed, so there are many prisoners who are beaten to death.

If he was beaten with fifty sticks and then paraded through the streets, he would be half dead if not dead.

"Sir, after hearing the punishment, the prisoner took out a pair of shoes and smelly socks from the cloth bag he was carrying, saying they were yours... I thought he was lying, but after taking a closer look at the pattern on the shoes, it seemed that they really had something to do with you."

Shan Yongpei still looked down on him and said, "What can you tell from a pair of shoes?"

"Those shoes are velvet rain boots worn by the nobility. Although they look a bit worn out, they are still worn by children of wealthy families... Sir, rain boots are not common in the north."

Xu Qing nodded in agreement, confirming the guard's inference.

"Yes, there are more rain boots in my hometown in the Jiangnan water town."

"So after I noticed that the rain boots were of the style worn by the Jiangnan nobles, I felt that his words were somewhat credible... He said that he and you met in the Tianlao of the Ministry of Justice Prison, and that you had a life-and-death friendship."

"Sir, this..."

After listening to the guard's true story, Xu Qing fell into silent contemplation. Shan Yongpei felt that this matter was not simple.

The adults are silent, could this really be true?

But aren't all the people imprisoned in the prison the most heinous criminals? Who would you want to risk your life for?

"Take care of things here first, let's go check on that kid."

Xu Qing stood up and left with Shan Yongpei and the guard who reported the news. In an instant, the mansion became a mess.

But soon, new messengers brought in intelligence and information from all sides in the capital, making the interior of the Si Mansion return to its bustling and busy state.

……

Capital city, prison.

The prison of the Wucheng Bingmasi is also very different from the Tianlao of the Ministry of Justice. It is generally used to detain criminals awaiting trial, or minor offenders who cause trouble and disrupt public order.

Therefore, the prison here does not lead directly to the underground, but is more like a dilapidated stable filled with straw and sealed with iron bars.

The guard named Song led the way and brought them to a small solitary prison.

"Hey, wake up."

Song Wu untied the chains and pushed open the prison door. The first thing he saw was an ugly man lying on the weeds. He was less than six feet tall, had short eyebrows, small eyes, a crooked mouth and a slanted nose.

This man had a mouth full of sour and smelly yellow teeth, and looked wretched and slovenly, which made Song Wu feel disgusted.

But Lord Guangping Hou was standing behind him, and Song Wu kicked him twice, forcibly waking the boy from his sweet dream.

“Hehe, hehe… Damn, who kicked my ass!”

The ugly man jumped up from where he was, intending to get angry at someone, but his shifty gaze passed the official who opened the door and caught sight of Xu Qing who was standing not far away.

Although the last time he met Xu Qing, he was also a handsome young man in brocade robes.

But this time, Xu Qing was surrounded by people, not only was he beautiful, but there were also masters with calm auras sitting beside him, which showed that he had obviously made a fortune.

"Big... lord!"

He slid to his knees and fell beside the iron railing. Then he looked at Xu Qing with eager eyes and a look of longing.

"Sir! I have missed you so much after not seeing you for so many years!"

"It's the day, not the year."

Xu Qing squatted down, stared at his cellmate in the prison for a while, and sighed.

"Shui Haozi, it's my fault that I didn't send anyone to look for you after the turmoil in the capital... I'll repay your favor this time, Yongpei, go to my house and get some money and food and travel expenses, and send someone to escort him out of the capital."

When Shui Haozi saw that Xu Qing still recognized him, he nodded excitedly.

But when he heard that Xu Qing was going to send someone to escort him out of the city, he hurriedly shook his head, waved his hands and said excitedly: "My lord! I..."

"What? You don't even want to give me money?"

Shui Haozi nodded again. After he found that his actions were inconsistent, he simply gave up body language and said in a low voice: "Sir, I was arrested this time on purpose."

"on purpose?"

"Yes, I have top-secret information to share."

Xu Qing looked at Shui Haozi's earnest and serious expression, coughed lightly and stood up.

Song Wu and Shan Yongpei understood what he meant. They clasped their fists in salute and strode away, standing at the intersection inside and the door outside.

Seeing that the two were ready, Xu Qing turned around and asked, "Tell me, what news do you want to report?"

Xu Qing didn't expect Shui Haozi to have any important clues. He came from the market and had only been doing petty thefts in recent days. How could he be as well-informed as Chengxuanfang?
He planned to wait for Shui Haozi to tell him a few trivial things, give him some money, and let the boy go home to be a good person, and avoid working in tombs.

"Sir, everything I'm going to say next is what I saw with my own eyes."

After Shui Haozi laid the foreplay, he caught Xu Qing off guard with his first sentence.

"Sir, I met that person yesterday... He is the prisoner in the same cell as you, the Spring Envoy of the White Lotus Sect."

"Spring Envoy?"

Xu Qing asked: "Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"

Shui Haozi was so anxious that he said, "No doubt about it. Before you came to the prison, I had been locked up for a while, waiting to be executed after the festival... I am not good at other things, but I am good at recognizing people in the dark."

Shui Haozi made a simple gesture and continued, "We disciples have our own methods, and Chunsheng didn't notice my face, so he probably didn't know that I recognized him."

"Where did you meet him?"

The water rat bit his cracked lips and replied unconfidently, "The Imperial Tomb."

"what?"

"The Imperial Tomb."

When Shui Haozi repeated the location, Xu Qing's head buzzed, and he recalled the topographical distribution map of the capital. On the surface, the capital looked flat, with the Luo River running through it, dividing the entire city into two parts, north and south.

There are mountains crisscrossing in the northwest direction, and the canyons under the hills are where the royal families of the Great Qi Dynasty are buried. These are what people call the imperial tombs. They are guarded by the guilty clan, and people other than the royal family are strictly prohibited from approaching.

"What are you doing at the Imperial Mausoleum?"

Although the news about Shui Haozi was very important, Xu Qing thought of the most critical issue.

If Shui Haozi had no legitimate reason to enter or leave the imperial mausoleum and claimed that he had seen Chunshengshi, then it was very likely that the White Lotus Sect had set a trap for him.

Whether Shui Haozi's subsequent answer is reasonable will prove how credible his information is.

"Sir, you know... I was homeless a few days ago and stole a lot of people's things..."

"It's stealing."

Xu Qing corrected him casually, causing the water rat, whose face was thicker than the city wall, to smile awkwardly and said, "Yes, it was stealing... But I am not a heinous criminal. I just want to repay what I have borrowed. It won't be difficult to borrow again, right?"

"you?"

Xu Qing blinked and shook his head helplessly.

The water rat dug up other people's ancestral graves and pried into other people's coffins. How could he not be an unforgivable criminal?
However, he had read about the customs and rules of the tomb-robbing officers in Chengxuanfang, and knew that when they were first established, they were a regular force used by warlords to supplement military expenses and were specifically responsible for tomb robbing and seizing goods.

It has been passed down to this day, and although it has lost its military rank and size and gradually evolved into a martial arts school, there are still many martial arts-style rules within the school.

They would not rob the tombs of ordinary people or those of their ancestors who had done good deeds, but would only target wealthy families and royal aristocrats.

So he said that he took other people's things and wanted to give something back, which was barely reasonable and could be discussed.

"Well, continue."

Shui Haozi touched his messy head, and hurriedly smiled and said, "But you know, sir, I, Shui Haozi, have no other skills except the ability to go to graves, so I had some evil thoughts..."

"Be bold!"

Water Rat was startled by Xu Qing's sudden voice and shuddered.

However, as a shrewd man, he could see that Xu Qing had no intention of getting serious and was just trying to intimidate him.

"My lord...I know I was wrong!"

"Okay, let's continue talking."

Xu Qing raised a new question, "There are actually quite a few tombs of the ancestors of officials and wealthy businessmen in the wild land near the capital, and people in your line of work should know a little bit about Feng Shui, right?"

Shui Haozi answered in a serious tone, "Yes, if you don't understand Feng Shui, you won't be able to see the correct location of the tomb, and you will most likely fall into a trap and die inside."

"There are so many lonely graves and tombs of ancestors, aren't there enough for you to dig?"

Shui Haozi swallowed his saliva and responded to Xu Qing's question somewhat awkwardly.

"Sir, this is different... Those withered graves may be the lifeblood of some people's ancestors, and they are related to the feng shui of the whole family. Although I am a little ignorant and poor, I will not harm innocent people!"

"You believe this."

“You can’t believe it exists, and you can’t believe it doesn’t exist.”

The water rat said with a smile on his face, "You are too timid and scared yourself, but you don't follow the rules and dig up every grave you see... Sooner or later you will be torn into pieces by five horses and suffer retribution."

"Oh, that makes sense."

Xu Qing looked at Shui Haozi with amusement, waiting for him to continue.

"Although the royal mausoleum is guarded by the families of past criminals and is heavily guarded, in fact, those of us in this industry all know that the royal tombs of previous generations were dug up long ago during the turbulent times. Only the current Great Qi Mausoleum... has the most treasures."

The conversation between Xu Qing and Shui Haozi completely involved the heinous crime punishable by beheading.

But fortunately, one was a death row prisoner who had robbed the imperial tomb, and the other was the nephew of the empress dowager who was preparing to ascend the throne to seize the throne. Neither of them took the dignity of the Da Qi royal family seriously.

Xu Qing asked, "Didn't your clan of tomb robbers all end up in this imperial mausoleum? How dare you choose this place?"

"Sir, because it's valuable!"

Shui Haozi said earnestly: "People die for money, birds die for food... Any few items in the imperial mausoleum are worth a thousand gold coins, which can bring a lifetime of wealth and honor. As long as you sell two items in the mausoleum, I will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of my life."

"That makes sense."

"And, sir, although all of our clan except me were killed in there, most of the mechanisms of this imperial mausoleum have been broken. If you give me another chance... I will definitely be able to empty the mausoleum."

"It's shameless to talk big."

Xu Qing made a casual comment, and the murderous intent in his heart gradually faded.

He originally thought that Shui Haozi was a bait secretly sent by the White Lotus Sect, but now it seems that there is nothing wrong with Shui Haozi's words and deeds, and his idea of ​​robbing the tomb is similar to his own temperament.

This doesn't seem fake.

"Envoy Chunsheng is in the imperial mausoleum?"

"Yes, there are three noble families stationed at the imperial mausoleum, namely Qiong, Bie, and Ri. I sneaked in that day and found that the guards near the imperial mausoleum had changed their appearance, so I had to change my itinerary and ended up in the meeting hall of the three families."

Shui Haozi still felt a lingering fear when he recalled what happened that day.

"The leaders of the three tribes came here, and heavy soldiers were sent to guard the gate... At first I thought some important person was coming to inspect the imperial mausoleum, but I didn't expect to see Envoy Chunsheng and a man in black robes inside."

Chunsheng had confirmed it again and again, so Xu Qing was not surprised.

What puzzled Xu Qing was that the person following Chunsheng was obviously the God of the North Star, who was very powerful in martial arts.

Based on his understanding of the Star Gods, a few water rats are no match for a Star God.

"The White Lotus Sect's Beidou Xingjun often wraps himself in a black robe and speaks with his ruined voice... but these people are not freeloaders. How did you hide there?"

"Sir, I dare to ask you a question. Do you remember my best skill?"

Xu Qing gave Shui Haozi a look and said, "I know, isn't it just tomb robbing?"

“It’s just the same.”

Shui Haozi chuckled twice and said, "My lord, I have studied the art of escape quite a bit, especially feigning death, feigning sleep, shrinking bones to hide one's body shape, and hiding one's breath. I have practiced them quite well."

Xu Qingyuan wanted to say that he was lying, but suddenly he remembered.

Qin Shuying had followed him on the day of the incident in the capital. After he and Shui Haozi ran to the Queen's Changsheng Palace, the boy saw that the situation was not good and ran away.

His agility in escaping had been recognized by Qin Shuying.

Moreover, when this kid disappeared behind him, he was indeed silent and no one could be seen.

Just let Shan Yongpei try this technique later. He shouldn’t have the courage to lie in front of me.

(End of this chapter)