Chapter 200

Ande Quan offered no explanation, gazing meaningfully at Hu Xiaotian. He believed this brat's intellect would surely discern Qiqi's origin, then said: "Kid, your father is skilled at making plans, but things in this world may not go as one wishes."

Hu Xiaotian felt a chill rise from his spine up to his neck; although it was the height of summer, he nevertheless felt a bone‑deep cold. Ande Quan's words clearly hinted at something—could he have seen through his father's true motive in sending him to serve as an official in Qingyun Xian? Or had something changed in the court? No, he hadn't heard of any major event in the capital. Perhaps this senior eunuch was merely trying to scare him, hence the alarmist talk. He said respectfully, "I hope you, sir, can point me the way!" His mind was in turmoil to the extreme; his father had never openly supported Long Yelin, and when the crown prince fell from power he had even taken the opportunity to impeach the prince's tutor Zhou Ruiyuan, effectively putting himself on the opposite side of Long Yelin's faction. Recent events proved that Long Yelin was likely making another move; if this man regained power, his father's situation could be easily imagined.

Ande Quan took out an old ebony tablet from his waist and threw it in front of Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian took the ebony tablet, but saw only a single forbidden character carved on the front; turning it over, he discovered the two characters "bearing grace" engraved on the back, not knowing what the tablet signified—could it be even more powerful than the Hu family's vermilion‑script iron charter?

Ande Quan said, "Keep it safe; perhaps it will save your life someday."

Hu Xiaotian solemnly put the tablet away, his mood suddenly turning heavy; he did not know why Ande Quan had come here, but felt that this senior eunuch's arrival was certainly no coincidence and certainly not just for him.

Ande Quan said, "The girl who just came looking for you is a demoness of the Wuxian Sect."

Hu Xiaotian sucked in a breath of cold air; since Ande Quan knew this, it proved that while he and Xi Yan were chatting earlier, this senior eunuch had already been monitoring them—his lack of martial skill made it unsurprising that he couldn't sense the eunuch's presence, yet even Xi Yan, with her astonishing lightness skill, failed to notice his arrival, showing just how terrifying Ande Quan's martial cultivation must be.

If everything Ande Quan said were true, then the assassination attempt in Flying Eagle Valley and Xi Yan would be inseparably linked; her coming tonight to see him was surely not to cheer his charity auction but to take revenge! Hu Xiaotian only then realized he had just walked around the gates of hell; if Xi Yan wanted to kill him, he probably wouldn't even have a chance to escape.

At this moment Hu Xiaotian still feigned ignorance, furrowing his brow as he said, "I have no connection with the Wuxian Sect; I thought she was just a courtesan from the Huan Cai Pavilion."

Ande Quan chuckled, reached out and lightly patted his shoulder, saying, "What you see isn't necessarily true, and Prince Zhou, Your Highness, didn't come here just to cheer you on."

Hu Xiaotian said, "Sir, what exactly brings Prince Zhou to Qingyun?"

Ande Quan said, "I have received word that a delegation from the Shajia Kingdom will soon arrive in Dakang; Prince Zhou's visit to Qingyun this time is to receive that delegation."

Hu Xiaotian suddenly thought of the broken Qingyun Bridge—could this be aimed at the Shajia delegation? If so, this would indeed be troublesome.

Ande Quan noticed Hu Xiaotian's expression suddenly turn grave, and calmly asked, "What news have you heard in Qingyun?"

Hu Xiaotian whispered, "A month ago the Qingyun Bridge collapsed; opinions differ on the cause, but after my on‑site inspection I found the bridge was not washed away by flood but deliberately destroyed."

Ande Quan furrowed his brow, his left hand unconsciously forming an orchid finger, his deep eyes shifting as he said, "Man‑made destruction?"

…Hu Xiaotian nodded and said, "I followed the Tongji He upstream; upstream I found someone had built a dam to block the water, apparently trying to wash away the bridge by storing and releasing water, but when that failed they switched to blowing it up—I investigated this specifically, many people heard the explosion, and the scattered stones at the scene prove it."

Ande Quan asked, "What is the purpose of blowing up the Qingyun Bridge?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "If the Qingyun Bridge is blown up, the only remaining route besides crossing by boat is to go south seventy li, cross the river at the Yongji Qiao in Red Valley County; I have received word that the bandits of Heavenly Wolf Mountain are likely to set an ambush on that road."

Ande Quan said, "This is no trivial matter; if anything happens to Prince Zhou and his delegation, the superiors will certainly investigate, and by then it may be more than just losing your official hat." He glanced at Hu Xiaotian and added, "You are the local official of Qingyun; you must protect Prince Zhou, Your Highness. If anything happens to him, I will hold you responsible."

Hu Xiaotian thought, "What the hell, I'm just a deputy in Qingyun," and said quietly, "Sir Ande, protecting Prince Zhou is my duty, but I simply don't have enough personnel."

Ande Quan said, "You're the Qingyun Xian secretary and you claim you lack manpower? The county's soldiers and clerks together number several hundred, don't they?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "I'm the secretary; there's also the county magistrate!"

Ande Quan gave a sinister chuckle and said, "Then it's not my concern; what to do is up to you." He rose to leave.

Hu Xiaotian said, "Sir, take your time—do you still have any Violent Rain Pear Blossom Needles?"

Ande Quan gave him a cold glance, then indeed took a tube of Violent Rain Pear Blossom Needles from his sleeve and handed it to Hu Xiaotian before turning and walking away.

Hu Xiaotian rose to see him out, but when he reached the door he found Ande Quan's figure already vanished without a trace; he scratched the back of his head in bewilderment—truly astonishing, how could this senior eunuch, dragging a lame leg, move so swiftly?

Although it was already deep night, the lights were still on in the second hall of the Qingyun Xian government office—a rare occurrence. County Magistrate Xu Qinglian paced back and forth uneasily, six colleagues standing beside him, each face showing panic. At that moment Chief Clerk Guo Shouguang hurried into the hall, his voice trembling as he said, "Sir, my house has been robbed!" Only after speaking did he notice the colleagues who had arrived before him; from their grim, fearful expressions he instantly understood what had happened—everyone present had likely suffered the same fate.

County Captain Liu Boju said, "I have already ordered the city placed under lockdown and the capture of the flying bandits."

Xu Qinglian halted his steps, his brows nearly knotted together, he shook his head firmly and said, "This matter must not be made public."

Everyone stared for a moment, then immediately understood his true intention.

Xu Qinglian sighed and said, "Don't forget that Prince Zhou, Thousand Years, is in the city; under no circumstances may you disturb his procession."

Liu Boju said, "Old Guo, just how much silver did you lose?"

Guo Shouguang was taken aback by the question, then quickly replied, "Actually I didn't lose anything important—just a few old clothes…"

The people exchanged glances; in fact they all knew the truth. Seeing Guo Shouguang's frantic rush when he entered, it was clear he had suffered a considerable loss, yet because of his status he dared not admit it openly even if the loss were grave—these people were all the same, burning with anxiety but unable to speak of it, a torment too bitter to bear.

Xu Qinglian said, "Fortunately everyone's losses aren't too great; Sir Liu must handle this carefully, investigate in secret, and above all avoid causing panic in the city."

Liu Boju nodded, his heart also bleeding; tonight when he went to the Wild Goose Tower to attend the charity auction, thieves sneaked into his mansion and stole a full hundred taels of gold, plus a pair of jade ruyi he treasured; he could not make this public, otherwise people would surely ask about the source of his wealth, so for now he had only to swallow his broken teeth. Enduring the feeling of his heart being cut by a knife, he said: "Sir Xu is right; Prince Zhou, Thousand Years, is still in the city, we must absolutely not cause panic in the city; besides, we didn't lose anything important, I believe we'll crack this case soon." Even he himself didn't believe those words.

…A wail of hysterical weeping came from the rear hall—it was Xu Qinglian's wife, wailing as she ran over: "My lord… my lord… all my jewelry has been stolen… even that Night Pearl…"

Hearing his wife's wail, Xu Qinglian's head buzzed! and then swelled; he lunged forward in a single stride and slapped his wife's broad face that had just appeared: "Shameless woman, what nonsense are you spouting?"

With a crisp crack! the slap left him dazed; everyone knew Xu Qinglian was a strict husband, yet no one imagined he would publicly abuse his wife. After reacting, his wife let out a howl, flailing her hands and lunging to scratch him; although Xu Qinglian dodged in time, his face still bore several bloody scratches.

Xu An and a group of officials rushed over, frantically pulling the couple apart; Madame Xu screamed, "You dare hit me… Xu Qinglian, you bastard, you've lost all this stuff, you feel bad, but I feel worse than you…"

Xu Qinglian's face turned livid with rage as he shouted, "Drag that shameless woman back; if she dares to spout nonsense again, I'll divorce her!"

Those words stunned his wife; Xu An whispered something to Madame Xu, who instantly went limp like a deflated balloon and began to wail loudly.

The officials all knew the truth; it looked like the County Magistrate Sir had suffered the worst today, possibly even losing his entire fortune. Night Pearl? I say, he actually still had something so valuable—he deserves it! He deserves it!

After Madame Xu left, everyone turned their gaze to Xu Qinglian; his face was mottled with blue and purple, and added to the scratches from his wife's claws, he looked increasingly disheveled and wretched.

Chief Clerk Guo Shouguang had calmed down a bit; originally, having lost so many things, his spirits had sunk to rock bottom, but upon arriving here he immediately realized he was far from the worst off—almost everyone present was worse than him, with so many people at the bottom, his heart felt much lighter, and he whispered, "All you Sirs, I think something's fishy about this!"