Dressed as the regent's palm

Chapter 76 The Underground Market
"Is it here?" Qing Yange looked at the graceful and luxurious Gongsun Ye who was wearing a dress beside her, with a trace of suspicion in his eyes.

Gongsun Ye nodded solemnly, and pointed to the ordinary teahouse, "Yes, this is the tip I received, and the entrance to the underground trading market is here."

Qing Yange said in a concentrated voice: "Let's go."

Afterwards, Qing Yange, Gongsun Ye, and Qing Yuan entered the teahouse, and under the leadership of Gongsun Ye, they walked to the deepest table.

Sitting in front of this table was a squinting, white-haired, seemingly casual old man. Behind him was a floor-to-ceiling curtain.

Seeing the three people approaching, he opened his slightly dry lips slightly, and gave the order to evict the guests, "The three of you have gone wrong, please go to the lobby for tea."

The corner of Gongsunye's mouth curled up into a confident smile, and the folding fan flickered slightly, and unfolded in front of the old man, "Look carefully, are we going the wrong way?"

The old man fixed his eyes, stretched out his hand and seemed to wipe a folding fan inadvertently, and immediately showed a respectful smile. He stood up and said to the three of them: "The three of you are new here, right? Know Taishan, three please come in."

Gongsun Ye put away his folding fan, swaggered open the curtain, and walked in, followed by Qingyange and Qingyuan.

After entering the curtain, there was a dark passage. Gongsun Ye took out a huge night pearl from his bosom, and illuminated the road ahead.

Seeing that there was no one around, Qing Yange asked, "Is there a mystery hidden in the folding fan you brought?"

Gongsun Ye replied: "Yes, this folding fan is a token for entering the underground trading plaza. Just now the old man pretended to accidentally touch my fan, but in fact he was checking the material of the fan to identify the authenticity."

"I see." Qing Yange nodded clearly, no wonder Gongsun Ye brought a folding fan today.

Finally, after they passed through the passage with seven turns and eight turns, a wooden door appeared in front of them.

Qing Yange was about to open the wooden door, but Gongsun Ye stopped him and said, "Princess, put on the mask first."

"Mask?" Qing Yange raised her eyebrows, and there was a trace of doubt in those eyes.

Gongsun Ye took out three prepared masks from his bosom, and handed two of them to Qingyange and Qingyuan respectively.

He explained aloud: "In the underground trading market, everyone is not allowed to reveal their true identity, so everyone will wear a mask."

Qing Yuan asked curiously: "Isn't this just a trading market? Why do you want everyone to wear masks?"

Gongsun Ye put on the mask, stretched out his hand and pushed open the wooden door, "Because most of the transactions here are shady things, if you reveal your identity, you will easily bring about murder, in order to protect everyone's privacy, this regulations."

Qing Yange looked out of the wooden door, only to see a brand new world unfolding in front of her.

This is a bustling street, everyone wears various masks, some vendors are sitting on the ground, buying and selling on the spot, there is noise and shouting one after another.

If not for everyone wearing masks, Qingyange would have thought that this was a street in Kyoto.

"I heard from Feng Yinyin that the underground trading market mainly relies on commissions to make money, right?" Qingyange asked while looking at the dazzling array of commodities.

"Yes, but there is one place that is run by the regent himself, and that is... hey, Miss Gong... Young girl, where have you been?" Gongsun Ye was explaining when he suddenly turned around and found the two people beside him. The petite figure disappeared, and he immediately panicked.

On the other side, Qingyange's gaze has long been attracted by those small commodities.

Sure enough, as Gongsunye said, all the strange things are sold here.

There are blankets from Persia, all kinds of weapons, and ivory and so on.

What made Qingyange even more surprised was that there were all kinds of colorful comic books and yang-strengthening artifacts sold here!
"Qing Yuan, pay quickly!" Qing Yange's eyes lit up, she walked up to the little book without hesitation, calling happily.

"Miss... are you sure you want to buy it?" Qing Yuan asked in disbelief as she looked at Qing Yange who was holding a large stack of books with a happy face.

Qingyange nodded hastily, her eyes gleamed with glazed light, and said cheerfully: "If you miss this village, this shop won't exist! These are all high-quality goods!"

The small vendor also booed from the side, "Yes, these are all out-of-print masterpieces of Mr. Qianhu! Each one is unique!"

"Hurry up, pay quickly!" Qingyange hurriedly urged as if she lost her mind when she heard the word "out of print".

Qing Yuan reluctantly opened the money bag, frowning and asked, "How much money?"

"Two ingots of silver." The peddler happily spread out his palms and announced a number.

"What?" Qing Yuan immediately tightened the money bag, "Ten books in this area cost two ingots? Why don't you grab them!"

The vendor's expression froze, and he quickly explained: "Girl, your master has packed all the books on my stall..."

"Miss?! There are hundreds of books here, how do you take them back!" Qing Yuan asked.

Qing Yange stretched out her small white hand, and patted Qing Yuan's shoulder reassuringly, "He said that he would hand it over to the old man at the door in a while, and then the old man would pack it for me, and we'll just ask someone to come and pick it up."

"Then what if he turns his face and refuses to admit it?" Qing Yuan was very suspicious.

It was rare for the small vendor to encounter such a big deal, so he was afraid of slipping away, so he responded immediately: "Don't worry, girl, I will give you a written receipt after you pay the money in a while, and you can just give the old man the written receipt. It is distributed uniformly, and one receipt corresponds to one booth, if I deceive you, the boss of this underground trading market will not let me go!"

"Qing Yuan~~" Qing Yange pouted her small mouth, staring at Qing Yuan pitifully.

Qing Yuan sighed, and finally took out the silver and paid the money.

Seeing that the two ingots of white silver had turned into a pile of colored books, Qing Yuan's expression became a little more sad.

Ugh.

It seems the regent's decision was right.

The princess really needs to go to the Hanlin Academy to study hard.

"Miss, since he promised to pack them all together, why do you insist on holding these ten books by yourself?" Qing Yuan asked Qing Yange, looking at Qing Yange who was holding ten books as if holding a baby.

"These ten books are the best of the best. I'm afraid that something will go wrong, so I'd better carry them with me~" Qing Yange held the color book in his arms, his heart was full of joy, and his face was full of joy.

"Young girl!!! I finally found you!" Gongsun Ye ran from a short distance, panting, and his frightened heart finally let go.

"It's just in time~" Qing Yange smiled and threw the book in her hand into Gongsun Ye's arms.

"Miss Qing never thought that you would still read books. Recently I heard that you are going to study in the Imperial Academy soon. What a joy...you, Miss Qing...you actually read this kind of book?!" Gongsun Ye came holding the heavy book. He was full of praise, but when he saw the cover of the book clearly, his face turned red and his pupils dilated.

(End of this chapter)