Chapter 226

"Hmm?"

Li Rui suddenly turned his head to look at the crowd.

"Brother Li, what's wrong?"

Ning Zhongtian noticed Li Rui's abnormality and asked.

"Nothing..."

Li Rui shook his head, lost in thought.

At this moment, several acquaintances walked out of the crowd, interrupting his train of thought.

Dao Mo laughed heartily and greeted him: "Brother Li, why didn't you say anything when you came? At the very least, I should have given you a twenty percent discount."

While speaking, he pulled Li Rui into a nearby Wu Kingdom shop.

This was a government-run shop of the Wu Kingdom.

It was directly managed by the Wu Kingdom mission, and the people of the Wu Kingdom mission were all staying here now.

As soon as he walked into the shop.

He saw Xia Xiaotang and several other people from the Wu Kingdom mission, all of whom cast friendly gazes.

They had all seen it with their own eyes.

If it weren't for Li Rui during this escort, it probably wouldn't have been as simple as losing the goods; they would have lost their lives.

Although they paid double the price, compared to the other two ports, this was simply perfect to the point of being beyond perfect.

All of this was because of Li Rui, and they had all seen it.

A Wu Kingdom man laughed heartily:

"Brother Li will always be the most loyal friend of the Wu Kingdom. In the future, if Brother Li goes to the Wu Kingdom, if anyone dares to speak loudly to my big brother, I, Dao Meng, will be the first to hack him to death!"

"..."

Li Rui blinked.

Why did this sound so strange?

And as a Yu Kingdom military officer, there was probably only one situation in which he would go to the Wu Kingdom—fleeing after committing a crime.

It was better not to go.

Dao Mo laughed and kicked Dao Meng: "You can't expect ivory to come out of a dog's mouth."

However, just as Dao Meng said, they had already regarded Li Rui as a friend.

It is easiest to build true feelings during times of adversity, and even if they were in two different countries, this could not be avoided.

Ning Zhongtian watched this scene.

He blinked.

He secretly praised in his heart: "My big brother truly has great ability."

The people of the Wu Kingdom were known for being unruly and rebellious; although they wouldn't be mortal enemies upon meeting like the northern barbarian tribes, it was still rare for Yu Kingdom people to become friends with Wu Kingdom people.

Yet his good big brother had managed to do it.

What did this mean?

His good big brother had great ability!

Ning Zhongtian suddenly felt that his decision to become sworn brothers with Li Rui was an incredibly correct one.

Li Rui laughed: "I just did what I could."

Dao Mo said seriously: "One thing is one thing; Brother Li was doing it for official business, but he helped us a great deal, and we will always keep this kindness in our hearts."

Li Rui no longer acted humble.

Because he would indeed have places where he could use these people in the future.

He brought Ning Zhongtian to the Trade Office today.

One was to try his luck to see if he could find clues, and the other was specifically to meet Dao Mo and the others.

Previously he avoided them, but now he took the initiative to visit.

Why?

Of course, it was because the documents for the Tiandi Alliance to do business had been approved.

Anyway, after that incident, the relationship had already been established.

Blindly avoiding them would instead be a lower-class move.

It would be better to use this opportunity to turn it into assistance.

If the Tiandi Alliance's caravan wanted to do business in the Wu Kingdom, even if the upper echelons of both countries strongly promoted it, when it came down to specifics, they had to have someone covering them locally, and these people from the Wu Kingdom mission were just right.

Li Rui brought Ning Zhongtian to get familiar with them in advance, without mentioning the Tiandi Alliance at all.

If he had brought it up today, Dao Mo would definitely have agreed, but the bond between the two sides would definitely have been broken; what could have become a long-term friendship would have ended up as a one-off deal.

Of course, he wouldn't do such a stupid thing.

Dao Mo asked: "Brother Li, you came to the market today, is there something you want to buy? I'll just give it to you, Brother."

He was now the chief envoy of the Wu Kingdom caravan.

Those shops would definitely give him this much face.

What's more, he had provided fifty percent of these goods, the caravan thirty percent, and the Trade Office twenty percent; he was the biggest proprietor.

Li Rui shook his head with a smile:

"No, I came for the case."

Hearing about the case, the people from the Wu Kingdom mission immediately became interested: "You have clues so soon?"

Li Rui continued to shake his head:

"Just trying my luck. We ruined someone else's good deed, so it's highly likely they will send people to the market to check; perhaps we can gain something."

Dao Mo nodded in agreement:

"Makes sense."

However, he didn't think Li Rui could catch the evildoers on the spot.

Excluding the Wu Kingdom caravan, there were thousands of people who came to the Trade Office market this time; those princes' subordinates must have been disguised, and wanting to find them in the sea of people was no different from looking for a needle in a haystack.

And it was impossible for Li Rui to use too many people and make too much of a scene.

Subsequently, Li Rui found a seat by the window on the second floor.

From here, he could see the scene of the street below, an excellent observation position.

While observing, he chatted with the people from the Wu Kingdom mission.

Now.

Dao Mo finally had the opportunity to ask the question in his heart:

"Magistrate Li, how did you foresee the danger in advance?"

Li Rui smiled.

"Because I had people place traps in the forests along the official road in advance. My hearing is quite good, and once triggered, I can hear it from three miles away."

Dao Mo was suddenly enlightened.

No wonder Li Rui said he had gathered two hundred soldiers, but at most he saw one hundred and forty or fifty; it turned out the others had all been scattered to set up traps.

The Wu Kingdom people said in surprise:

"You have such a skill?"

Hearing sounds from three miles away, this method could be considered extremely rare.

Li Rui acted humble, not wanting to be too flashy.

Hearing sounds from three miles away?

Of course he couldn't; it was all inspiration he fabricated from that pig-shaped Lord Chai.

He couldn't say he had a divine eye and could foresee danger, right?

Everyone in the hall marveled at Li Rui's meticulous thinking and great ability.

With this kind of thinking and means, why worry that things wouldn't be accomplished?

'The Yu Kingdom truly is full of talent.'

Dao Mo looked at Li Rui, secretly marveling in his heart.

In a small Qinghe, there was talent like Li Rui; looking at the entire Yu Kingdom, the strong were truly as numerous as crucian carp crossing the river. He felt dejected in his heart.

The Wu Kingdom had also had such a glorious moment, but unfortunately, several successive Wu Emperors died halfway, leading to the national fortune going from bad to worse, and now it was almost on the verge of falling apart.

Looking at the Yu Kingdom.

It was in its prime!

Dao Mo couldn't help but feel even more envious; if Li Rui weren't a Yu Kingdom official, he would really have wanted to recruit Li Rui to be an official in the Wu Kingdom.

Li Rui sat for half a day.

The people from the Wu Kingdom mission each had their own things to do and went downstairs one after another to handle business, and soon only Dao Mo and a Wu Kingdom girl were left on the second floor.

When Dao Mo also went downstairs.

Only Li Rui, Ning Zhongtian, and the Wu Kingdom girl were left on the second floor.

Li Rui turned his head.

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Looking at the Wu Kingdom girl who was sitting in the corner and hadn't made a sound the whole time.

Although he didn't turn back, he could feel that the Wu Kingdom youth named Tang Xiaoxia had been observing him in secret.

Their gazes collided in mid-air.

Xia Xiaotang turned her head to the side, her cheeks slightly flushed.

Li Rui couldn't help but feel puzzled.

A girl blushing?

Because of love?

But Li Rui couldn't imagine that he actually felt fear from this Wu Kingdom girl in front of him.

'Why is she afraid of me?'

Li Rui was puzzled in his heart.

'Could it be that I am more terrifying than her saber-toothed black tiger?'

The atmosphere became eerie for a moment.

A full stick of incense passed.

Xia Xiaotang curled up in the corner, muttering something to herself, seemingly cheering herself up.

Ning Zhongtian found this scene funny.

"Brother Li, your charm is truly as great as ever."

He only thought it was the girl's admiration.

Finally.

Xia Xiaotang gathered her courage, stood up, and walked forward:

"I want to be alone with Magistrate Li for a while."

Ning Zhongtian, with an "I understand" expression, laughed and walked downstairs, saying as he went:

"You two chat, you two chat."

Soon.

Only Li Rui and Xia Xiaotang were left on the second floor, followed by a long silence.

Before Xia Xiaotang could speak.

Li Rui said first: "Envoy Tang, is something the matter?"

Xia Xiaotang was taken aback.

Her beautiful big eyes blinked again and again, looking at Li Rui in disbelief, and she blurted out:

"How did you know?"

But she regretted it immediately; by saying this, she had confirmed the matter of being the envoy.

Li Rui smiled slightly:

"This is actually not hard to guess."

Although Dao Mo and the others hid it well, they had been together for two days after all, and in Li Rui's eyes, he could still see it through the bits and pieces of details.

These people all vaguely treated this Wu Kingdom girl in front of him with respect.

So guessing her identity became simple.

Xia Xiaotang sighed, and without being coy, she directly stated her identity: "It wasn't intentional concealment; I am indeed the envoy of this mission. Also, my name isn't Tang Xiaoxia; I am actually called Xia Xiaotang."

'Xia Xiaotang.'

"Xia"

Li Rui said this word softly, lost in thought, with a vague guess in his heart.

The surname Xia was not simple in the Wu Kingdom; it meant the same thing as the surname Zhu in the Yu Kingdom.

It was the imperial surname.

Although not everyone surnamed Zhu was imperial royalty, they could also be cooks, but being surnamed Xia and being the envoy of the Wu Kingdom mission made it hard not to make associations.

Xia Xiaotang gave the answer directly: "That's right, I am of imperial blood, but my branch has long since fallen and is not noble."

"So that's how it is."

Li Rui nodded.

Then he returned to the initial question: "Envoy Xia, is something the matter?"

Xia Xiaotang took a deep breath, her expression becoming unprecedentedly serious.

She spoke slowly:

"Magistrate Li, please tell me what relationship you have with the Beast God?"

Beast God?

Now it was Li Rui's turn to be confused.

What the heck?

He had originally thought Xia Xiaotang had secrets regarding the high echelons of the Wu Kingdom to discuss with him.

He didn't expect such a shocking statement.

What kind of existence was the Beast God?

Let's put it this way: the Wu Kingdom imperial family claimed to be descendants of the Beast God, and there were at least ten thousand statues of the Beast God in the Wu Kingdom.

"Me?"

"The Beast God?"

Li Rui was confused for a moment.

Xia Xiaotang, however, was incomparably firm: "My companion beast is actually not a saber-toothed black tiger, but a Clear Water Golden-Eyed Beast, which can see things that ordinary people cannot see. In you, I saw the shadow of the Beast God."

Li Rui raised his eyebrows slightly.

Clear Water Golden-Eyed Beast; just hearing the name, one knew it possessed some kind of strange eye.

It could see things that ordinary people could not see.

But Li Rui knew too well.

He had absolutely nothing to do with the Beast God.

Before he could speak.

He saw Xia Xiaotang seemingly thinking of something, her pupils widening sharply, and then she knelt on the ground with a thud, muttering words.

"I understand."

"I understand."

Her small face lifted sharply, her big eyes shining terrifyingly bright.

"You are the reincarnation of the Beast God!"

(End of chapter)