My wife has a secret

Chapter 29 Hidden Soldiers
Hearing this, the crowd calmed down a little.

Although the gamblers were still skeptical, this was the dealer's territory after all, so they didn't dare to act too rashly.

Xu Qing sat on the chair, playing with the dice cup with a playful smile on his face.

"Your gambling house is really interesting. Don't you know that I hate people who say one thing to my face and another behind my back?"

"Master Xu, you are joking. I have been in the gambling world of Suzhou for some years. You can go out and ask around... Who doesn't know my name, Tao?"

The shopkeeper was very confident in his reputation, and many gamblers gave him face and calmed down.

But Xu Qing's next move made the shopkeeper break out in a cold sweat and feel as if he was sitting on pins and needles.

Xu Qing turned the dice roll twice, then knocked it on the table and said calmly, "I guess this time it's a big one, do you believe it?"

After hearing these words, everyone looked at each other with disbelief in their eyes.

As Xu Qing took away the dice cup, the gamblers were anxious because of the all-red dice on it.

Even if they were fools, they would know that this gambling house had tampered with the gambling equipment.

"I can dice out the number you want, whether it's big or small... Because the dice are not made of pure wood, but hollowed out and mixed with substances such as mercury. You use its physical properties to control the heaviest side to face downwards and dice out the number you want."

These gamblers were all gnashing with hatred when they thought that all their fortunes had been won away by this gambling house.

In an instant, the room was in chaos, and almost everyone rushed forward, wanting to tear Manager Tao and his assistants into pieces.

"Oh, you are such a shameless guy."

The shopkeeper saw that his trick was exposed and knew that he could not save the situation, so he abandoned his previous flattering attitude and stood there and sneered twice.

"I treat you with respect because of the Xu family behind you. I never thought you would come and destroy my livelihood... Xiong Da, Xiong Er!"

"exist!"

At the call of the shopkeeper, two tall men, about 1.9 meters tall, entered from the back door. They were followed by several servants in blue clothes. They were obviously a group of servants doing odd jobs in the gambling house.

"Catch everyone here. Don't let any of them escape... Beat the troublemaker in the middle until he's paralyzed! He won't be able to remember anything!"

Xu Qing didn't expect that the shopkeeper would turn against him so suddenly. He turned around and rushed towards the open window, jumped out of the window with a handrail, and came to the yard.

This plot was beyond Xu Qing's imagination. He originally thought that the shopkeeper would beg him to let him go humbly, but the facts proved that there are always some uncontrollable emergencies in reality.

Jiao Tingzhang can only hope for the best and act accordingly.

"stop!"

"Mad, how come this guy runs so fast?"

Xu Qing's morning jogging these days came in handy. It took him almost no effort to leave the casino thugs chasing him behind.

But before he could be happy for long, he saw several strong men holding wooden sticks standing at the gate of the courtyard. It was obvious that they were no match for him given their stature and size.

"Stop! I am Xu Qing, the young master of the Xu family. If you attack me, the consequences will be serious."

Seeing that this group of people had blocked the exit tightly, Xu Qing had no choice but to bring up his family background.

But just as he thought, those who could become security guards in the gambling house were all desperate criminals who only acted according to the wishes of their bosses.

Each of them held a weapon and slowly approached Xu Qing.

Xu Qing took two steps back and was about to go to the backyard to pull out Jiao Tingchang for a fight when he heard another burst of hurried horse hoof sounds coming from the door.

Xu Qinggang felt that the noise was somewhat familiar, and then he discovered that the red brick wall was pushed to the ground by the huge force, making a loud "bang".

After just a moment, a bright silver figure flashed out, and with a few simple moves he subdued the tall guard who wanted to step forward.

When Xu Qing saw the man's face clearly, he was dumbfounded, because wasn't this guy Shan Yongpei, the Zhaowu Captain whom he met in the Refugee Street?

Although those guards were muscular and tall, there was still a clear difference between them and this man who had practiced martial arts. They would often be knocked to the ground by Dan Yongpei in the first encounter, and would curl up, tremble and wail.

At this moment, the most troublesome bears, Big Bear and Little Bear, also chased out of the house and rushed straight towards the silver-armored captain.

Seeing that everyone's attention was attracted by Shan Yongpei who suddenly broke in, Xu Qing immediately gave up the idea of ​​escaping and ran into the house to look for the shopkeeper.

As expected, the shopkeeper was frightened after seeing the military armor and phoenix-wing crown on Shan Yongpei, and he sneaked away through the back door.

Even though Xu Qing reacted early, he only saw the other person's back.

"Run so fast!"

Not long after Xu Qing entered the house, Shan Yongpei also finished the fight in the yard. He followed in with a stern expression and frowned as he looked at the indoor environment.

The gamblers fled in all directions, leaving the house in a mess.

Previously in the Refugee Street, he had looked up to this dandy young man because of his fantastic policies. He did not expect that just a few days later, this man would cause quite a stir in the gambling house.

"go back."

Xu Qing glanced at the Zhaowu school lieutenant and said, "The camp of the Zhennan Zhongwu Army is stationed in the suburbs of Suzhou, right?"

Shan Yongpei remained silent, his expression did not change at all.

"The Zhennan Zhongwu Army is a fully-organized military unit, and is separate from the city guards under the jurisdiction of Suzhou Prefecture. Therefore, they are not allowed to enter the city without orders, and they are not allowed to go out on the streets with weapons to suppress refugees."

Xu Qing saw that the other party was a taciturn person and continued to express his speculation.

"I felt strange when I was at Baolin Street last time. I went to Baolin Street on impulse, so why were the soldiers of Zhennan Zhongwu Army able to come from the suburbs? It's an hour away from the city... Not only that, even the governor of Suzhou got the news and sent someone to inform the old lady in the mansion in advance."

When Xu Qing returned home, he always felt that the matter on Baolin Street was not that simple.

In particular, this group of soldiers appeared at the right time and helped him deal with the difficult situation of the siege by refugees.

These factors are obviously not coincidences, but someone got the information and did it deliberately.

Therefore, the reason why Xu Qing acted so ostentatiously was that he wanted to confirm his own inference.

"Who assigned you to protect me?"

Shan Yongpei replied calmly: "You don't need to know."

"I can guess it even if you don't tell me."

Xu Qing smiled and stretched out his right index finger to shake it in front of him. "I am in a high position, and there are not many people who care about my life. Most of the people who issued the orders were my aunt, and the person who gave the specific instructions... was Shen Shuangxu, right?"

From the other person's suddenly shrinking pupils, Xu Qing got the answer he wanted.

Regular troops were not under the jurisdiction of local provincial governments, so the only person who could dispatch them was the empress dowager who loved them.

But in this incident, there was one thing that made Xu Qing feel scared.

Suzhou and the capital are thousands of miles apart, and the most convenient way to send messages is by carrier pigeon. The murder case in Zuiyuan Pavilion happened only one night before she was looking for Fang Youlang, but Shen was able to judge from the clues in the letter that she would investigate the Baolin Street area and there would be a risk of being attacked.

Being able to predict the future is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

"Since Master Xu already knows, please don't cause me any more trouble. Please return home as soon as possible."

Xu Qing put away his smile, and his mind became clearer.

The cleverness of Mrs. Shen, the eldest wife, will only make the matter of her poisoning more and more complicated.

The other party has this ability and is the most trusted confidant of my aunt, but he couldn't find out that he was poisoned... Was it her negligence or did she ignore it intentionally?
The Zuiyuange case is very likely related to the poison in Mandragora, so I must investigate it myself.

"Master Xu, Captain Shan... Captain Shan?"

Captain Jiao, who was slowly coming out of the cellar, was obviously surprised when he saw the figure of Captain Zhaowu.

As the head of a guard post in Suzhou Prefecture, he was usually responsible for patrolling the city's security. He was well aware of the orders from above that soldiers were not allowed to enter the city wearing armor or carrying swords.

"Just pretend he doesn't exist. Did you find anything in the cellar?"

Hearing Xu Qing's question, Jiao Tingzhang took a deep breath and said to him seriously: "This Tongfu Casino has steel weapons for a hundred people."

"weapon?"

"impossible!"

Before Xu Qing realized the seriousness of the problem, it was Shan Yongpei beside him who spoke first and flatly denied Chief Jiao Ting's discovery.

Seeing Xu Qing looking at him with surprise, he had to explain: "Although the technology of smelting steel blades has been popularized in the previous dynasty, the power of iron and steel is completely different, and most of them are only used in military weapons."

Chief Jiao answered from a distance, "Yes, and the amount produced by the court each year is limited. The workshops and craftsmen are also strictly controlled. Each prefecture will report the number to the Ministry of Revenue... The appearance of these weapons among the people is a big problem no matter how you think about it."

"Can you show it to me?"

Seeing that Shan Yongpei was still a little unconvinced, Jiao Tingzhang turned over and pulled out a steel sword.

Shan Yongpei drew his sword from its sheath with a "swish" sound, which made Xu Qing's hair stand on end beside him.

This was the first time Xu Qing had come into close contact with an ancient sword. He could clearly see the bright cold light on the blade, which hurt people's eyes in the sunlight.

Thinking of the broken knife that Jiao Tingzhang had worn before, I wonder how many times better it is than the latter.

"This craftsmanship... seems to be made by forging steel and wrought iron, and is the work of an experienced craftsman."

Shan Yongpei looked at the sword for a few seconds, then suddenly swung his hand and chopped it to the side.

The wooden table opposite Xu Qing suddenly broke, breaking into two pieces like chopping melons and vegetables.

This scene made Xu Qing’s head buzz.

"Fuck you, could you have said hello before you attacked? I thought you were going to kill me!"

A smile emerged in Shan Yongpei's cold eyes. He had thought that the young master of the Xu family was a scheming young man from an aristocratic family, but he did not expect that this man did not hide his temper at all and showed his fear of death to the fullest. He was much more interesting than he thought.

"This sword is of high quality. The steel weapons supplied by the Zhennan Zhongwu Army cannot reach this level."

The Zhennan Zhongwu Army was Qi's elite division guarding the south. It was stationed near Suzhou, an important town in the south of the Yangtze River, and received the most abundant supplies among all the armies.

Even the weapons of the Zhennan Zhongwu Army did not meet the passing line of this batch of goods. It is conceivable that there must be a bigger secret behind this.

Upon seeing this, Jiao Tingzhang stopped talking and pulled out a wooden stick more than a finger long from his body.

He unscrewed the veil, pulled out the fuse at the top, and pointed it straight to the sky.

After a moment, a firework jumped out and exploded into a green firework in mid-air.

……

The night was like a curtain, covering the sky, leaving only a hint of light from the hazy moonlight.

In Suzhou City, a middle-aged man was jogging in the dark night. When he came to an abandoned house, he looked left and right with a panicked expression on his face.

After making sure that everything around him was safe, he took a deep breath and dived into the dry well in the yard.

With a dull sound, the soft haystack absorbed the weight of his body.

Not long after the man got up, he mustered up the courage to move forward in the dark and explore deeper into the dry well.

Gradually, a few faint lights shone on the broken mud walls, and in the silent darkness, noisy voices could be faintly heard.

When the first ray of light appeared, the structure of this underground space suddenly unfolded before the man.

In this vast space, several bright torches were burning. Wherever he looked, he could see countless men in black robes kneeling on the ground and kowtowing, worshiping and praying to a figure on the altar.

"The world has two colors of yin and yang, and the freedom of all things is within me. The three thousand worlds are full of life, and the spirit returns to the white lotus heart."

The man did not dare to be negligent in the slightest. He followed the crowd and knelt down to worship the unclear holy messenger on the altar.

"stop."

An ethereal voice sounded, stopping everyone's movements, as if time had come to a standstill.

At this moment, everything was so quiet that even the sound of a needle falling to the ground could be heard.

"Manager Tao, today is not the day for you to worship the Holy Messenger and chant scriptures."

Suddenly, a melodious and beautiful female voice came from the spiritual platform.

The other party's voice was melodious, echoing throughout the entire space, as if coming from the distant sky.

"Look up, look at me."

The middle-aged man raised his head tremblingly.

What came into view was a woman with a red and white fox mask on her face and wearing a luxurious long dress, leaning on the spirit platform.

The surroundings of the altar were built with luxurious gold utensils, and even the couch beneath her was shining with dazzling golden light, making the man stare in a daze and slightly obsessed.

But compared to the glittering golden ornaments around her, the woman is obviously more charming and attractive.

Her long orange-red gauze skirt dragged on the ground, her hair was exposed in a bun, and her eyes hidden under the mask were slightly full of spring, making people never forget her after seeing her once.

The skin exposed outside the dress is as smooth and delicate as warm jade.

"I...I'm exposed."

(End of this chapter)