Chapter 378: The Beauty of Qingyin Pavilion

Jin Ling, Gongyu Street, Qingyin Pavilion.

Qingyin Pavilion is quite famous in Jin Ling. It is not a flower house or a brothel, but a proper music hall specializing in raising female singers, musicians, and dancers.

Because the female artists here are highly skilled, the officials and nobles of Jin Ling, as well as scholars and elegant scholars, will invite female artists from Qingyin Pavilion to perform and add to the fun whenever there are banquets, celebrations, festivals, or literary gatherings.

Whether there are female artists from Qingyin Pavilion present has almost become a symbol of whether a banquet or gathering in Jin Ling is extravagant and elegant.

Jia Cong took a carriage to the place, and in front of him was a four-story pavilion with exquisite and magnificent form, standing on Gongyu Street.

Compared with the surrounding shops and stores, it was like a crane standing among chickens, outstanding and extraordinary.

Under the flying eaves of the two-story pavilion, a huge plaque with gold characters on a black background was hung, with the words "Qingyin Pavilion" written on it, and the font was elegant and fluttering.

Although the regulations of this four-story pavilion were complex, there was no vulgar and lewd atmosphere of ordinary flower houses. There were windows opening and closing on each floor, and the sounds of conversation, silk and bamboo singing, and chanting came from inside.

Jia Cong entered the main hall, which was a patio structure. Looking up, the surroundings were painted corridors and elegant poles surrounded by various floors. Many wine guests and elegant scholars were leaning on the railings and looking down at the bottom.

In the center of the main hall stood a high, circular stage where a dancer, dressed in flowing, iridescent robes, played a pipa behind her back while dancing gracefully; the music and dance complemented each other, creating an elegant and enchanting atmosphere.

Jia Cong passed through the main hall and was stopped by two strong women in front of a large door.

One of the strong women said: "This young master, the back is the place where the ladies in the pavilion live and practice. Male guests and outside guests are not allowed to enter."

Actually, Jia Cong didn't just make an appointment with one person here today, but two.

One of them was a bit unusual, which made him a bit more cautious.

As soon as he entered the main hall, he noticed the door guarded by the two strong women. He just approached just now as a tentative move.

Back then, when he unexpectedly met Du Du Qingniang, the owner of Qingyin Pavilion, at Liu Jing'an's house, he paid attention to Qingyin Pavilion and heard many rumors about Qingyin Pavilion later.

Qingyin Pavilion is not only a famous music hall in Jin Ling, but also enjoys a great reputation throughout Jiangnan, and even has a great reputation in Shen Jing in the north.

It is said that the owner of Qingyin Pavilion is a reclusive and low-key wealthy businessman in Jiangnan, and some say it is a high official who has retired from the imperial court. There are many opinions, and no one can agree.

But it is well known that Qingyin Pavilion maintains a good relationship with the government, especially its relationship with the Ministry of Rites of Da Zhou, which is even more close.

The Ministry of Rites even hired Du Du Qingniang, the owner of Qingyin Pavilion, as the head of the Pipa color of the Ministry of Rites' Music Bureau.

When the Retired Emperor celebrated his sixty-fifth birthday, the palace held an imperial birthday banquet and selected female musicians with high skills from Qingyin Pavilion to enter the palace for several days to perform and add to the fun.

I don't know if it is because Qingyin Pavilion has such a special background, or if the owner Du Du Qingniang is really supernatural.

Such a music hall that is full of women inside and out, and even has many peerless beauties who are skilled in both color and art and are easy to attract covetousness.

In Jin Ling city, where fish and dragons are mixed and forces are intertwined, no one dares to calculate and make trouble.

……

Jia Cong left the door, turned and went to a private room on the third floor, pushed the door and entered, but there was already someone inside.

He was in his twenties, with a decent appearance and a steady demeanor, drinking and drinking by himself.

The man saw him come in and said: "Jia Yuzhang, you are really good at choosing a place, looking for such a place of singing and dancing."

Jia Cong flicked his sleeves, his demeanor was free and easy, and he sat down opposite the man.

He laughed: "Now who in Jin Ling city doesn't know that Yang, the Yang Yang Sizheng from Shen Jing, is busy investigating major cases every day? Brother Yang is a person who is watched by everyone."

"But I am different. I am here to handle idle errands on imperial decree. Since it is an idle errand, I should have the appearance of an idle errand. It is appropriate to come to this Qingyin Pavilion to listen to music and drink."

The person in the private room was Yang Yang Hongbin, the Correct of the Sun Dali Temple.

Two years ago, Yang Yang Hongbin followed Prince Ning Li Li Zhongrui to Jin Ling to handle the major case of the Water Supervision Office, and once joined forces with Jia Cong to wipe out the Dong Ying ronin hidden in the construction site of Daci'en Temple.

Later, he cooperated with Jia Cong to capture Zou Zou Huaiyi, and the two formed a friendship. They also had many contacts in Shen Jing and were good friends with private friendship.

Jia Cong came to Jin Ling this time, ostensibly to establish a branch of the Jin Ling Firearm Office, but that was just a cover to facilitate his actions.

The real imperial decree he accepted was to join hands with Yang Yang Hongbin of the Sun Dali Temple to investigate and break the Zhou Zhou Zhengyang major case in Jin Ling.

At that time, because Luo Luo Qingchang, the criminal record officer of the Sun Dali Temple, leaked the secret, Zhou Zhou Zhengyang, the commander of the Jin Ling Guard, fled in advance, and Yang Yang Hongbin, who was ordered to enter Jin Ling, fell into a stalemate.

Even if the Pursuit Court carried out a large-scale cleaning of the personnel involved in the leak, but the matter involved high-ranking military officials, no one could guarantee whether there were any omissions.

In order to avoid information leakage again and regain the lost opportunity.

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao listened to Jia Cong's suggestion and no longer implemented ordinary methods.

Yang Yang Hongbin continued to do his best to investigate the case in Jin Ling, attracting full attention.

After Jia Cong received the decree, he was busy with the affairs of the Firearm Office and arrived late, leaking the momentum and reducing his sense of existence.

After arriving in Jin Ling, he naturally wouldn't go to the Sun Dali Temple of the accompanying capital to see people.

Instead, he chose this place where the sound is clear and smooth to meet Yang Yang Hongbin.

Yang Yang Hongbin laughed at himself helplessly: "When I entered Jin Ling with Jia Yuzhang back then, helping Prince Ning to handle the major case of the Water Supervision Office, how neat and happy it was."

"But this time, it's like stepping into a quagmire, in a dilemma. Before entering Jin Ling, the defeat was revealed. After entering Jin Ling, there were barriers everywhere, and it was difficult to start."

Jia Cong comforted: "Brother Yang doesn't need to be discouraged. If the news hadn't been leaked from Shen Jing in advance, you wouldn't have been trapped in the current situation."

"This time the Emperor sent me to Jin Ling to assist Brother Yang in investigating the case. You and I are one in the light and one in the dark, and we will definitely be able to regain the initiative and open the stalemate."

Yang Yang Hongbin's expression softened, and he said: "I already know that the person who leaked the secret this time was the criminal record officer who interrogated Zhou Zhou Suqing with me. Being drilled by someone under my own nose, I lost not unjustly. Now that the Emperor sent Jia Yuzhang over, you have always been resourceful and good at using strange soldiers, so I have confidence in my heart."

Jia Cong poured a full cup of wine for Yang Yang Hongbin and asked: "Brother Yang, do you still remember Zhang Kangnian, the Commander of the Jin Ling Commandery?"

Yang Yang Hongbin was stunned. When he investigated the major case of the Water Supervision Office in Jin Ling back then, he had seen Jia Cong once. He knew that Jia Cong was sharp-minded and could often hit the point. He suddenly asked about this person, naturally not without a target.

"Naturally, I remember. At the birthday banquet of the Zou mansion back then, this person once persuaded Zou Zou Huaiyi to surrender, so as not to implicate his family."

"I wasn't there at the time, but Jia Yuzhang's description of the case file was extremely detailed, which had to make people pay attention."

Jia Cong said solemnly: "You only saw the process of the matter from the case file, but unlike me, I saw and heard it with my own eyes, and the impression was extremely deep."

"For the past two years, I have often recalled the scene at that time, and I often feel a sense of horror in my heart."

"At that time, Zhang Kangnian persuaded Zou Zou Huaiyi to surrender and promised to try his best to protect his family. Shortly after his voice fell, Zou Zou Huaiyi committed suicide suddenly. It seems that there was a strange tacit understanding between the two."

Yang Yang Hongbin said: "Jia Yuzhang described this matter in detail in the case file, and many people noticed this detail."

"After you and I returned to Shen Jing one after another, the Sun Dali Temple and the Pursuit Court in Shen Jing both sent personnel to handle the aftermath of the major case of the Water Supervision Office. According to the case file, they all conducted secret investigations on Zhang Kangnian."

"His family did use the convenience of maritime trade to earn some wealth, but they were all within the scope of the law. Zhang Kangnian's daily behavior couldn't find any flaws."

"Plus this person has some background, even if it is the cruelty of Zhang Zhou Junxing of the Pursuit Court, he dare not use extraordinary methods that exceed the rules on such people."

Jia Cong frowned and asked: "What is the background of this person that makes people afraid?"

Yang Yang Hongbin said: "Zhang Kangnian comes from the Zhang family of Jiangling, a famous family in Da Zhou."

"The current eldest son of the Emperor, Zhao Wang Li Li Zhongmao's wife, is the eldest daughter of the Zhang family of Jiangling, and is also Zhang Kangnian's cousin. Their fathers are born of the same mother, and the kinship is very close."

When Jia Cong heard this, his heart tightened.

He had met Zhao Wang Li Li Zhongmao a few times, and even received a precious sword from Zhao Wang.

Even with Jia Cong's vision, he had to admit that among the princes, Zhao Wang was outstanding.

It is rumored inside and outside the court that Zhao Wang must be the one who will succeed to the throne after Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao. Then his wife will be the Queen who will be the mother of the world in the future.

Zhang Kangnian has this special background, no wonder even with Zhou Zhou Junxing's cruelty and arrogance, he dare not act rashly, otherwise it would trigger a royal dispute, and the consequences would be unpredictable.

When Jia Cong was writing the case file back then, he once described the Zou mansion incident in detail, just to attract the attention of the three judicial departments of the imperial court, but this matter has been sinking into the sea.

After the incident, he was somewhat surprised, but at that time he was just a scholar with an eighth-grade virtual position, and he wanted to stay out of it, so after the matter passed, he didn't take it to heart.

Only now did he truly understand the real reason why no one got to the bottom of Zhang Kangnian.

Perhaps Zhang Kangnian just said those words to Zou Zou Huaiyi out of colleague friendship, and Zou Zou Huaiyi's suicide was just a coincidence.

If Zhang Kangnian was really as he guessed, one of the people behind the scenes of the major case of the Water Supervision Office.

In the Sun Dali Temple and the Pursuit Court, after double-checking him, he still didn't reveal any flaws, then this person is extremely simple.

Yang Yang Hongbin said again: "There is another thing. In October last year, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War in Jin Ling died suddenly, and the imperial court transferred Zhang Kangnian to succeed the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War in the accompanying capital."

Jia Cong was puzzled and asked: "As far as I know, Zhang Kangnian has been serving in the Jin Ling Commandery for several years, why was he suddenly transferred?"

Yang Yang Hongbin replied: "You can only know by checking the case file of the Ministry of Personnel, but that must be some high-sounding reasons, and it should be impossible to see anything."

"Transferring from a third-grade military position to a third-grade civil position, this is a good thing in the officialdom."

Jia Cong couldn't think of any clues for a while, so he put it aside for the time being, and deduced other details of the case with Yang Yang Hongbin, before leaving the private room one after another.

……

However, Yang Yang Hongbin really left Qingyin Pavilion, but Jia Cong took a detour and went to another private room on the third floor.

He had just arrived in Jin Ling when someone sent a letter to the old mansion in Xinglong Fang, making an appointment for him to meet in Qingyin Pavilion at the Shen hour today.

There was a strange graphic secret seal on the letter.

Before leaving the capital, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao specially allowed the Central Vehicle Office to assist Jia Cong in handling affairs in Jin Ling.

And let Guo Lin allocate the elite personnel of the Jin Ling Central Vehicle Office to be temporarily under Jia Cong's command, so as to facilitate the investigation of relevant important matters and the collection of intelligence.

Guo Lin once sent a confidant eunuch to pass the relevant secret keys of the Central Vehicle Office to Jia Cong, and the information included this graphic secret seal.

So the person who made the appointment must be a key member of the Central Vehicle Office in Jin Ling.

The private room was empty, the doors and windows were tight, and there was no sound.

Only a pot of freshly brewed tea on the table was warm to the touch, and it should be prepared by someone in advance.

Time passed in silence, and Jia Cong's heart rippled.

Jia Cong had heard many rumors about the Central Vehicle Office in the past few years.

As the most mysterious internal agency under the Emperor's jurisdiction, it is more mysterious than the Pursuit Court and more frightening.

The Pursuit Court acts arrogantly and has a cruel style, which makes people terrified, but after all, most things are in the open, and everyone can hear and see them.

The Central Vehicle Office is a pure secret agent internal agency, acting in the darkness, although it does not have the power of arrest and investigation of the Pursuit Court outside the three judicial departments.

But the secret agents of the Central Vehicle Office are everywhere. Many noble families who have inherited titles for generations and high officials who have been granted purple clothes have their mansions mostly mixed with sand by the Central Vehicle Office.

The page beside the noble, the maid of the official's daughter, the teacher in the account room, the coachman, who knows which one is a secret agent of the Central Vehicle Office.

Transgressive words, rebellious actions, illegal acts, private secrets of the mansion, collusions, which official can guarantee that his foundation is pure and flawless, and has not been recorded in the secret files of the Central Vehicle Office.

For officials, the most terrible thing is not the open officialdom fight, but the side of the bed, the inner house of the mansion, full of holes, impossible to guard against.

Those officials who were rectified by the Pursuit Court to the point of family destruction still know who they should hate.

But those officials who fell into disaster because of the secret agents of the Central Vehicle Office, many of them died as confused ghosts.

This kind of internal agency that is completely insidious in the darkness is criticized by people in every dynasty and is deeply hated by civil and military officials.

But for consolidating imperial power and forging deterrence, it can have an immediate effect.

For Jia Cong, he really couldn't have any good feelings for this kind of insidious secret agent internal agency, and he usually avoided it, preventing it before it happened.

This is also why, when he first settled in the East Mansion, the servants used in the mansion not only did not accept the gifts from the Chen Jiu Matriarch, but even dared not buy them near Shen Jing.

Instead, he went far away to let Qu Qu Hongxiu and Qin Qin Keqing help him screen and buy them in Jiangnan.

……

He really didn't expect that one day he would have a close connection with the Central Vehicle Office.

The copper leak in the private room made a slow and steady dripping sound, and the water surface rippling at any time finally approached the Shen hour scale.

The door of the private room was pushed open, and a young woman stepped into the room, the fragrance moved, and the figure was graceful.

Jia Cong's eyes lit up slightly. The person who came was tall and graceful, with a beautiful appearance, and a pair of bright eyes like lacquer, full of spirit, which seemed to be able to ripple the heartstrings and was unforgettable.

She wore a green cold plum-embroidered jacket, a thin silk cross-collared inner garment, and a rice-white plum-embroidered horse-face skirt on her lower body. Her demeanor was graceful and dazzling, but the elegance revealed a coldness that made people's hearts palpitate.

On her black hair, there was an old copper hairpin, which looked too simple and dim, and was out of place with her overall attire.

Jia Cong's gaze stayed on that old copper hairpin for a while, his expression was difficult to hide his surprise and accident.

The private room was filled with an unusual atmosphere, and a difficult-to-describe emotion was colliding and condensing. The dripping sound of the copper leak seemed to be swallowed up, and the room was silent.

Jia Cong's mind rolled with memories: the mansion surrounded by troops, the birthday banquet suddenly interrupted, the blood splashing with the knife, and that painful and hateful gaze.

Although he had a clear conscience about all this, that scene was deeply imprinted in his heart. Two years passed, and when he recalled it slightly, it was still vivid.

Jia Cong took out a black iron plate from his body and placed it gently on the table.

The iron plate was carved with fish and dragon exotic patterns, intertwined, mysterious and exquisite, and four yin characters were engraved in the center.

The woman's gaze was calm and cold, and she said: "Young Master Jia doesn't need to state his identity. I received the secret decree of the Central Vehicle Office when I entered Jin Ling to assist in the investigation of Zhou Zhou Zhengyang, and I am under the command of Young Master Jia to assist him." (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 379 =====

The iron plaque was carved with strange fish-dragon patterns, intertwined neck-to-neck, exquisite and mysterious, with four intaglio characters engraved in the center.

The woman's gaze was calm and cold as she said, "Lord Jia does not need to reveal his identity. I have come to Jinling to assist in the investigation of the Zhou Zhou Zhengyang case, acting under the imperial edict of the Central Vehicle Office, and I am under Lord Jia's command to assist you in your actions." (End of chapter)