In the early morning after the rain, the vendors cleared away the mess on the streets and set up their stalls again.
The whitebait tofu soup was mixed with spring onions and tofu. When someone asked, the young waiter threw the rag for wiping the table over his shoulder and said, "You dare to drink Yaksha saliva, but I don't dare to drink it."
Who doesn't know that there are dead bodies in Yuyue Shibabo? No matter how courageous he is, he doesn't dare to compete with Lord Yaksha.
"Earn some small business, right? If you can't make ends meet with money, you can't risk your life." The stall owner brought a bowl of thick soy milk to the only female customer at the table and said with a grin: "Girl, I went to the dojo a while ago to listen. ?”
Lu Taotao drank the soy milk in one breath, with a milky white color on his lips, and licked it with the tip of his tongue, "Do you know me?"
"It's rare that you are the only ones with unique style. I can't forget it once I take a look at it. What's the matter, if you have any connections, would you like me to recommend you? It only takes a hundred taels."
"Hey, you make so much money."
"I'm not allowed to look up and down. I'm just asking for a reward."
Lu Taotao crossed his arms and his big eyes flashed through his eyes, "Who are you going to take care of? Is Qian the magistrate of the county?"
"What can Magistrate Qian do?" The young man said in a slightly disdainful tone. He covered his lips with one hand and lowered his voice: "You don't know who is in charge now, right? Mr. Shao Fu, who is famous in the capital!"
Lu Taotao chuckled, rolled his eyes, and said, "Oh~ even Mr. Shaofu is on the line, you are very wild."
Seeing Lu Taotao's lack of connection with Taoism, the vendor sighed inwardly that he couldn't earn any more money. Just as he was adding water to the pot to boil, he saw a round-faced girl approaching him.
"Want to get rich?" Lu Taotao quickly scooped up a few wontons with long chopsticks and put them in a bowl. While eating, he said, "I have an errand to introduce to you."
The vendor didn't take it seriously, and listened as Lu Taotao continued: "I'm a foreigner, and I'm not familiar with this place. According to my observation, your heavenly appearance is full, and your face is red, which is destined to be gold, so I decided to find you as a partner. Let's Sanqi opens the account."
The vendor was confused, "What?"
"Do you know why I came to Diqiu?" The long chopsticks turned and pointed outside the city, "There is a treasure cave hidden in the watershed, but we have been looking for it for more than half a month and haven't found it. Aren't you familiar with Diqiu? There is a way Right?"
"Real or false?" The vendor's eyes almost popped out of his head, and he was full of suspicion.
Lu Taotao finished eating and threw the bowl away, "Do you know the origin of Diqiu's name? The gathering of dragon energy will inevitably disturb the order of heaven and earth. We must find something to suppress it. What is the best thing to ward off evil? Isn't it gold?"
The whole scam made the money-loving vendor dizzy. In the end, Lu Taotao waved her hand and said, "Forget it, if you don't want to do it, I'll find someone else. Anyway, you'd be a fool if you don't make money."
Lu Taotao walked happily, but not long after, the vendor accidentally discovered an old piece of paper on the ground. He looked around and knelt down to pick it up. When he opened it, he found a rough map with undulating mountains and deep forests. Densely covered, with a few small dots interspersed among them, as if they were specially marked.
The vendor hurriedly closed up and glanced around secretly from the corner of his eye, his heart beating strongly.
But he didn't know that this situation had been repeated many times in Diqiu.
On the roof facing the street, Lu Taotao grabbed a handful of peanuts and sprinkled them into his mouth. He was beaming with joy and said to himself: "I am really smart."
—
It's late at night, the forest is quiet, and the moonlight is like frost.
A figure walked out of the deserted and abandoned farmhouse, startling the birds that were resting on the nearby trees. The jackdaws spread their wings and stirred up a gust of wind.
He lit a fire in his hand and walked to the forest with a windproof lantern. He didn't need to identify the road, he walked into a very familiar path, turned around and stopped under a towering tree.
After waiting for more than a stick of incense, no one came or moved. The whole person was immersed in darkness. Only the chest was illuminated by the light of the lantern, and a few hairs hung down from the shoulders, mixed with white flowers.
Finally, someone came over with a rustling sound of dead branches and leaves. Judging from the silhouette, the figure was petite and delicate, and she must be a woman.
The two of them whispered to each other at first, and then their voices got louder. The old man in the lead roared in a suppressed voice: "...Don't talk nonsense. It's just a day or two. If you continue to be so reckless and disregard the overall situation, what we did before will be done." All previous efforts are in vain!”
The woman's voice was delicate and crisp, with a little bit of anger, "But there is nothing in this wretched place, how can you live there."
"Be patient and don't come out for the next few days. Didn't you say you bumped into someone last time? Fortunately, the woman was timid and careless. If people find her again, our big plan will be ruined."
"My whole body stinks after living for such a long time." The woman reluctantly said, "Go and get me some ice cream from Yurongfang and rouge gouache from Xinxiangzhai. I need some fresh pastries. Those... I’m all fed up with it.”
"Well, I'll deliver it another day. Don't go into the city."
After chatting for a while, the woman thought about what she heard in the city yesterday, "Why is everyone saying there is a treasure in the watershed? What's going on?"
"Don't worry, there's no way they'll find that place."
"But……"
"In order to avoid future troubles, I can only do this."
"do what?"
"Let everyone stop thinking about looking for treasure, and also because that thing will always be ours."
After that, the woman took the things from the old man's hand and hid in the forest again. The old man waited for her to leave and then returned from the original route.
But they didn't know that after they left, two men in secret guard uniforms came out and gestured to each other. One followed the woman, and the other went straight back to the city.
Not long after, lights were lit in the backyard of the Yun Mansion. The secret guard knelt down and reported, "Ling Qi followed and found out where the woman was staying."
"Where are the guards?"
"Still searching in the watershed area."
"Find a way to lure them there."
"yes."
After the secret guard left, Lu Anran turned to look at Yun Qi, "You plan to let Nangong Zhi and Qi Shang deal with the aftermath."
"My prince has done enough. If they can't catch the real culprit and find the truth, what does it matter to me?"
"The prince's strategizing is admirable."
Yunqi looked back, his peach blossom eyes sparkling with heart-wrenching light, "Sincerely?"
Lu Anran ignored his flying eyebrows and said calmly: "It would be better if I were a little more cautious."
Yun Qi chuckled, "There are only two kinds of people in this world who can take care of my son, one is the parents, and the other..." The tip of his tongue curled up, and he said with profound meaning, "Do you want to know?"
Lu Anran knocked on the armrest and motioned for Qiu Chan to push him out, "It's late at night and the prince should go to bed early."
Qiu Chan regretfully pushed Lu Anran out, barely listening to half of the words, and felt a twinge of discomfort in her heart.
Yun Qi touched his chin, waved and asked Mo Yan, "Has my prince's charm diminished recently?"
Mo Yan spared no effort in applying eye drops and said categorically: "The person named Lu is ungrateful!"
—
It was originally just a rumor that there was a treasure in the watershed, but it turned out that there was a dragon palace there with countless gold and silver treasures, and whoever found it would belong to him.
Countless people poured into the watershed for a while, but the mountain road was rugged and there were many unknown dangers inside. The escorts were not only responsible for arrests, but also rescued one or two people who were accidentally injured from time to time.
Nangong Zhi and Yu Fang Jingyi put it together and the government simply posted a notice at the city gate saying that there was no treasure in the watershed. However, someone reported that they had picked up red gold stones in the mountains and suspected that there was a gold mine nearby. They were just not sure of the location. If someone provided clues , a bounty of one hundred thousand taels.
As soon as this announcement came out, there was an uproar.
"No wonder the guards kept digging into the mountains and forests, and they discovered a gold mine."
"It's amazing, our Emperor Qiu is truly a paradise."
"Look at this, how much is the gold mine worth? Is it possible that someone discovered it and hid it secretly without telling the government?"
Everyone else looked at him like a fool, "Not to mention how difficult it is to mine gold. Do you dare to use it outside? This is a serious crime of decapitation!"
Silver, copper, gold, etc. mines are all under the control of the government and are not allowed to be mined by private individuals. Those who violate the law will be exiled or beheaded depending on the seriousness of the case.
Everyone gathered together and whispered, not paying attention to Butler Zhou who was walking behind him carrying a box of Chongshanfang pastries.
He paused for a moment in front of the notice, then lowered his head and walked towards the incense shop, his hair covering his expression, but his pace was much faster than before.
After that, the government has issued an order prohibiting unrelated persons from entering the forest again. Anyone with knowledge can go to the government and provide clues. Once your information is confirmed to be true, you will be rewarded with a hundred thousand taels.
Although the bounty is heavy, the locals have lived here for decades and have never heard of any gold mines. A few of them want to try and see if they can get lucky. The government is polite. I've written it down for you.
In the courtyard of Yun Mansion, Mo Yan talked about the external affairs, and did not forget to flatter him at the end, "The prince is still very good. Look at what Nangong Zhi did. It caused an uproar in the city. Who doesn't know that the government is looking for gold now?" Mine, the murderers must be hiding."
It seemed that it wasn't Yunqi's fault to let Lu Taotao spread the news about the treasure in the watershed.
Yun Qi played with the jade bone fan and said with a smile, "Nangong Zhi's move is called Knocking the Mountain and Shaking the Tiger."
"What's the meaning?"
"You'd better not ask about complicated things." Yun Qi shook off his fan and said calmly: "Withdraw all our people and don't do anything extra. Nangong Zhi is not in vain."
Mo Yan sighed, "I always feel like I made Nangong Zhi a wedding dress."
—
Diqiu County Office
Meng Xueli lifted up his official robe and walked into the lobby. When he saw Nangong Zhi and Yu Fang Jing inside, a flash of contemplation flashed in his eyes.
When the two saw Meng Xueli coming in, they stood up together and said, "Mr. Meng."
Meng Xueli was followed by Qian Liang. He stood closest to the door with a drum in his heart. After bowing, he smiled and took his seat.
"There has been a bit of noise among the people these past two days. What is going on about this gold mine?" Meng Xueli asked directly without saying anything.
Yu Fangjing glanced at Nangong Zhi secretly, and said with a smile: "It's not your fault, Sir Meng. I'd like to bother you, Sir Meng. I'm going to report it to you as well."
Meng Xueli did not try to find out whether the words were true or false, "Master Yu, aren't you investigating the princess's subordinates Yao An and the two young ladies who caused the accident? How come there is another gold mine?"
"It's a long story." Yu Fangjing had prepared the draft a long time ago and quickly replied: "The case of Emperor Qiu's Zhou family extermination has not yet been concluded, so the official had trouble sleeping and eating, and finally found some clues. It turned out that in Zhou's case, The farmer who worked at home was suspected of stealing gold nuggets and selling them as stolen goods, and was caught by the subordinate's men."
"Is there really a gold mine?"
"I haven't seen it before, so I dare not say for sure, but the gold nugget was not made by the government, and I don't know how the rumors turned out to be treasures. I suspect that someone is deliberately stirring up trouble. So I and Nangong Shaofu combined it and simply reported the news Let it out so that no one can fish in troubled waters."
Meng Xueli's eyes were full of emotions, and he didn't know what he was thinking. After a long time, he said: "Oh, that's it."
Before he could say anything, he suddenly heard a distant roar coming from the sky, and several people stood up at the same time and looked outside.
"Is the earth moving?" Qian Liang asked.
Yu Fang Jing and Nangong Zhi looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time.
A quarter of an hour later, the escort hurriedly entered the county office, clasped his fists and said: "Shaofu, the mountains ten miles outside the city are moving, and there is a smell of sulfur. I suspect someone is blowing up the mountains."
