Chapter 206: Passing a Note

Chen Guanlou followed the original plan, took a cold shower to wash away the sweat and stench, changed into clean clothes, bought meat at the street corner, hit two pots of wine, and swayed to Master Du's house.

He took the goods from the Liu family, but he didn'

He didn't want to attract thieves, and even more so, he couldn't expose his secret identity.

His home had been ransacked, and this incident reminded him that the capital is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers; the market has been unstable lately, so he must be more cautious than in the past.

Master Du was busy grading student assignments at this moment, feeling dizzy and furious from the grading.

Seeing Chen Guanlou was like seeing a savior. "You come and grade the remaining essays for me. If you make me keep reading those nonsensical essays, I'll surely be angered to death on the spot."

"Why take it so seriously! They are just a bunch of good-for-nothings; it's fine as long as it's passable."

"That won't do. The Second Master sent word that he will inspect the private school next month and examine the students' progress. If I'm not strict, I'm afraid I won't be able to pass the Second Master's test."

"The Second Master is clearly looking for trouble where there is none."

"You can't say it like that. Inspecting the private school is also being responsible for the younger generation of the Chen clan. It's just that those brats are too unruly, and my abilities are limited, making it hard to manage them."

"The cane isn't just for show; beat whoever doesn't listen!" Chen Guanlou's method was simple and brutal.

Master Du's beard twitched. "Last time it almost caused a disaster; I don't want to go through that again."

Chen Guanlou shook his head repeatedly, strongly disagreeing. "I also studied in the clan's private school; I know what the situation is like inside. Let me tell you this: if you don't beat them, it means you're weak. Only if you give them a couple of hard lashes will those brats know fear. They fear power, not virtue; without a bit of ruthlessness, none of them will know what's good for them."

"If I beat someone to injury, I'll suffer for it too. Forget it, forget it; it's not worth risking my life for this little money." Master Du appeared very indifferent, refusing to adopt Chen Guanlou's method no matter what.

Chen Guanlou felt helpless; he had given the method, but the man wouldn't use it.

He picked up an essay at random and chuckled as he read it.

"You can still laugh at such a nonsensical essay?" Master Du didn't understand.

Chen Guanlou waved his hand. "Master, you don't understand."

"I truly don't understand. You came over today—could it be that there's progress on the matter?"

Chen Guanlou nodded. "The goods are already in hand. Help me set a time; when should I send them to the Eldest Master?"

"The Eldest Master said that once the goods are in hand, you can go see him at any time. The Eldest Master is usually at the mansion and doesn't go out."

That was indeed true.

The Eldest Master was a veteran shut-in of this era; because of his lame leg, he basically never went out. For any social engagements, he would either have the steward go on his behalf or have the Second Master show his face.

He stayed in the mansion playing with style and elegance, playing with real gold and silver, long-legged beauties; his life was truly comfortable.

Moreover, his "shut-in" lifestyle was different from that of later generations. Young people in later generations who stayed home lived in, at most, a hundred-square-meter apartment, and their daily step count was probably less than a hundred.

The Eldest Master's "shut-in" lifestyle was within a mansion covering over a hundred acres. His daily step count was enough to match a commute to work.

The joys of the wealthy!

"Then let's make it tomorrow, to avoid any complications. After I finish my shift tomorrow, I'll go directly to request an audience with the Eldest Master."

"Remember to use the back door," Master Du nagged. "No need to verify the goods, right?"

"No need. Is the gatekeeper at the back door one of the First Branch's people?"

"They are the Eldest Master's people."

There was a subtle difference in this.

"The Eldest Master values loyalty. If his personal guards are injured or disabled, he will try his best to arrange a position for them in the Hou Fu. The gatekeeper woman at the back door is the wife of one of those disabled personal guards; she only listens to the Eldest Master's orders, and no one else can command her."

"Has the Second Branch never thought of driving them away?"

"The Eldest Master isn't dead yet; how would the Second Branch have the ability to drive them away? The Hou Fu, in the end, is still decided by the Eldest Master. The Eldest Master is the legitimate heir and a First-Rank Marquis of the imperial court. If it weren't for the Old Madam still being alive, the Second Branch would have been driven out of the Hou Fu long ago."

Chen Guanlou nodded in realization, understanding.

He ate and drank at Master Du's place, then went home. On the way home, he didn't discover anyone following him.

It was very strange!

Could it be that he accidentally left traces when picking up the goods and was tracked?

That makes no sense!

At night, he pretended to be asleep, but he wasn't actually sleeping.

He wanted to see if there would be any movement at night.

He stayed up all night, but his energy was still very good, as he was a practitioner of Wu Gong. It was just that there wasn't a single sound all night, only three or five stray cats; not even a petty thief.

He couldn't figure it out!

He went to work as usual and patrolled the prison cells as usual.

Liu Daowen was listless; in one night, his beard had grown a chunk, and he looked particularly dejected. That is, if you ignored his white, chubby belly.

Seeing Chen Guanlou, Liu Daowen only glanced at him slightly before lowering his head again. Clearly, he had taken to heart the words Chen Guanlou said to him yesterday, knowing that all struggle was futile and would only implicate his family.

He could abandon his wife and children; at worst, he could marry and have children again later. As long as one is alive, there will be wives, and there will be sons.

But he couldn't abandon his elderly mother, couldn't bear to implicate the more than one hundred members of the Liu clan, and couldn't bear to implicate his uncles and brothers in the clan.

He was certain that if he escaped today, the Liu clan would be executed to the third degree tomorrow.

The Heavenly Prison was actually not heavily guarded. For a martial artist with a martial pulse, it was actually very easy to get out of the Heavenly Prison and face a group of prison guards who only knew street-fighting tricks.

However, for so many years, no disgraced official had ever escaped from prison. Why?

It was because the world was at peace, the imperial court was majestic, the laws were strict, and imperial power was supreme and could not be challenged.

It is easy for one person to escape, but difficult for a whole family to escape, and even more difficult for an entire clan to escape.

If you escape, where can you go?

The world is so big, but the Great Gan Dynasty is the center of the world, and the surrounding areas are all barbarians. As a person of the Heavenly Dynasty, how can one flee to the barbarians? That is the degeneration of civilization into barbarism. Rather than living in ignoble degeneration, it is better for one person to die to preserve the whole family.

He gave up!

Let death come if it must!

From the first time he committed graft, he should have had this realization.

At noon, there was white rice and meat buns; it was truly generous.

The prison guard serving the food gave him two meat buns, and the rice was piled with two types of green vegetables, with two slices of meat inside.

Eating like this every day without moving, no wonder he would get fat.

Other disgraced officials were given less money, and their food was sometimes good and sometimes bad, depending entirely on the mood of the kitchen chef. Because he gave a lot of money, his food was always unique.

He bit into the meat bun without tasting it. As he chewed, his expression suddenly stiffened. He looked left and right, then hid in the deepest part of the cell and secretly took out the foreign object from his mouth.

A slip of paper!

On it were written two words: Jinzhou!

After reading it, he swallowed the slip of paper and continued eating his meal without tasting it.

Who sent the slip of paper?

Why send it to him?

What does Jinzhou mean?

His brain felt like it was filled with explosives, buzzing and chaotic.