Chapter 659: The Goodwill of the Golden Swallow Sect

"Miss Zhao seems to be doing well..."

Li Yan's face also revealed a smile, and he nodded slightly.

Meeting an old friend, his mood was naturally not bad.

Although there were many romantic rumors about the two of them in the Pingkang Lane of Chang'an, they both knew that this kind of joy did not carry half a point of romantic love.

Talking about romantic love was all a joke.

One of them had lived two lives, seen too much of the fickleness of human hearts, and was used to people scattering due to profit, so from the bottom of his heart, he would not, and could not, put his mind on matters between men and women.

The other had been drifting since childhood, falling into the dust, and believed even less in that kind of thing.

If true love were easy, why would so many people praise it?

Between the two, there was more tacit understanding.

In Zhao Wanfang, Li Yan saw his previous self, lonely and helpless since childhood, talking about revenge, but it was just a motivation to live and continue moving forward.

And Zhao Wanfang envied Li Yan for being able to control his own destiny.

That tone of treating each other as equals was also a rare ray of light in her dark life.

Therefore, they could only be considered good friends.

To let Li Yan trust her as much as he trusted Sha Lifei and Wang Daoxuan, entrusting his life to her, was simply impossible.

However, to outsiders, the tone of the two was not like that.

Sha Lifei winked at Long Yan'er, indicating that this was Li Yan's old lover.

The scholar who was threatening Kong Shangzhao also had a gloomy face, but he didn't want to fight for jealousy in public and lose his demeanor, so he pretended to be relaxed, twirled his oil-paper umbrella, and smiled: "Miss Zhao, it seems you are very familiar with this young master. Why not introduce him?"

Not to mention him, even the two people who were fighting earlier looked at Li Yan fiercely.

"Hahaha..."

Zhao Wanfang shook her fan, covered her mouth and laughed: "Young Master Ming, they are the famous Twelve Yuan Chen, and this one before you is Li Li Shaoxia Yan."

"Didn't you just tell me that you have a friendship with me?"

Between the words, there was no half-point of teasing, and her eyes were full of simplicity.

But it was this appearance that made the scholar surnamed Ming feel ashamed, a heart fire surged onto his face, his skin flushed red, and without saying a word, he cupped his hands and turned to leave.

It is normal for men to boast a little when they encounter wine and beautiful women.

But the main character had arrived, and there was no way to round it off.

And hearing the name "Twelve Yuan Chen," Yuan Heng and Tian Fan, who were fighting, also looked at each other, cupped their hands, and quickly turned to leave.

At the window on the second floor, Zhao Wanfang smiled faintly: "Young Master Li, I have prepared some wine and food to welcome you."

Sha Lifei's eyes narrowed. "Be careful."

"Hmm, you go first."

Li Yan nodded, casually picked up his luggage, and entered the tavern next door.

The moment he stepped into the room, Li Yan knew why Zhao Wanfang had chosen this place.

The tavern was called "Zuihe Pavilion." Although it was old and not high-end, it was very clean.

Blue-tiled building, elm wood pillars hanging with faded "Drunken Universe" cloth curtains, eaves hanging with three tung oil paper lanterns, reflecting the blue brick steps with a moist light, reed-woven door curtains revealing a refreshing feeling.

The waiter with a gray cloth towel on his shoulder was carefully cleaning the melon seed shells in the brick seams with a bamboo broom.

In the hall, the east wall was lined with pottery jars, pickling canal carp, and the west wall was nailed with cedar wine racks, with "Kaoliang Burn" and "Yellow Millet" written on rough red paper on the black pottery wine jars...

The boss was clearly a diligent person, clean and with the smoke and fire of life.

A round-faced girl in green clothes was running down the wooden stairs from the second floor. Seeing Li Yan, she was a bit panicked, hurriedly stood firm, and performed a standard curtsy: "Li... Young Master Li, please follow me."

Opening her mouth, it was authentic Beijing dialect.

Li Yan wasn't surprised when he heard it.

When Zhao Wanfang left, she was appreciated by the Golden Swallow organization and went to the capital for key training. It was nothing strange to have a Beijing girl by her side.

Not only that, he could also sense that there was someone in the room next to Zhao Wanfang upstairs, with a gloomy and evil aura, breathing evenly and weakly, clearly a master sent to protect her.

Arriving upstairs, Zhao Wanfang was also waiting at the door.

After the two sat down, Li Yan shook his head slightly: "You are looking for trouble for yourself."

He said this without a beginning or an end, but they both knew what it meant.

Those three earlier were clearly the type who liked to cause trouble.

Today they lost face; perhaps they wouldn't dare to find trouble with Li Yan, but after they left, they would definitely find a way to vent their anger on Zhao Wanfang, so it looked like Zhao Wanfang was using him to block disaster, but in reality, she was burying hidden dangers for herself.

"Young Master Li is overthinking."

Zhao Wanfang smiled beautifully, raised her hand to pour him tea, and opened her mouth: "You walk through life and death in the martial world, and now you can suppress people just by your name. I dance on the tip of a knife, and now I don't need to worry about these small characters."

"Besides, if they don't leave, the food will get cold..."

Before the words fell, the round-faced little girl serving beside her immediately clapped her hands.

Seven or eight waiters entered one after another, and the steaming wine and food soon filled the table.

These waiters were dressed uniformly, full of energy, walking like the wind, holding exquisite dining plates with one hand without even shaking, clearly not waiters of this shop.

Not only that, while putting down the dishes and lifting the lids, they also reported the names of the dishes.

"Braised Weishan Lake Carp!"

"The fish mouth holds money, wealth rolls in, the live carp from Weishan Lake is killed and cooked on the spot, the meat is tender and odorless, the fish leaping over the dragon gate leads to the great road!"

"Yellow-braised Canal Beach Mutton!"

"Guest, this is skin-on mountain goat meat cut into inch-sized pieces, supplemented with canal reed cores and Acheng yam, simmered together. The mutton fat melts into the sauce soup, sprinkled with green garlic sprouts to enhance freshness. What is paired for you is Linqing steamed bread, tribute brick pottery stove, baked with jujube wood dark fire..."

"Soured Jingyang Pheasant!"

"The pheasant breast meat from Jingyang Ridge is thinly sliced, fermented with Jiangnan red lees for three days, stir-fried with Wen River water chestnuts. It is exactly the hero who beat the tiger on Jingyang Ridge, and the true hero who enjoys wine by the canal..."

"Ten-Fragrance Noodles!"

"Linqing's original 'Nine Silks, One Noodle'! One bowl eats all the freshness of the north and south!"

The dishes served were more particular than the last, with color, fragrance, and taste, all of which were not enough to praise.

"Thank you."

Li Yan held the teacup, smiled slightly, and after these waiters left, he opened his mouth: "It's 'General Vegetable's' craftsmanship. You prepared it for so long, it seems you came specifically to wait for me."

These dishes were steaming when the lids were lifted, clearly just out of the pot.

It wasn't easy to invite "General Vegetable" to cook in person.

But it was even less simple to estimate the time they entered the city.

Zhao Wanfang smiled slightly: "Linqing City gathers the north and south, and the wealthy gather here, so it is a place that must be contested by the culinary lineage, and the dishes have unique characteristics. Even if this 'General Vegetable' has a good relationship with our Golden Swallow Sect, it is because of you that I have this blessing."

"Oh..."

Li Yan's eyes narrowed. "Did the Golden Swallow Sect ask you to find me?"

His heart raised vigilance.

The Eight Outer Gates of the martial world: Gold, Skin, Color, Hanging, Comment, Group, Tune, Willow. The Eight Inner Gates: Bee, Hemp, Swallow, Sparrow, Flower, Orchid, Ge, Rong, can be said that snakes have snake paths, rats have rat paths, none of which can be underestimated.

The Golden Swallow Sect belongs to the highest-end category among the Swallow Gates.

One is buying and selling information, the other is playing both sides, pulling strings.

The relationships behind it are intricate, from the imperial court to the market, no one can figure it out.

Offering favors for no reason, naturally, one cannot be careless.

"Don't worry."

Zhao Wanfang covered her mouth and laughed: "The sect asked me to find you, naturally it is because they value the friendship between you and me. Friendship is something that money can't buy. If it were calculated randomly, what would be the difference from those cunning and inferior vendors?"

"What's more, the elders don't want to offend a future master."

"Overpraised."

Li Yan was unmoved, his expression calm as he opened his mouth: "What exactly is the matter, why don't you say it directly? Otherwise, I really can't bring myself to eat this table of good wine and food."

"Qiankun Academy!"

Zhao Wanfang said directly: "The current situation in the Shenzhou is like cooking oil with fire."

"The war in the southwest has just ended, the imperial court wants to reward, the civil officials don't want the power of the military generals to expand too fast, and they argue in the court all day long..."

"There was a major corruption case in the northern frontier, and officials were dragged into the water by the Maitreya Sect. Two imperial envoys sent by the imperial court were assassinated..."

"In the southern coastal area, since the opening of the sea, the trade routes have been prosperous, but the Japanese pirates have also increased day by day, and there are those red-haired ghosts. I heard that their emperor actually issued an edict allowing the looting of merchant ships of other countries. Now the sea has become a mess..."

"Not to mention the Nine Tripods matter you discovered, which has already caused the Mystic Sects to shake."

"But even with all the noise, the soon-to-be-established Qiankun Academy has attracted the attention of the entire court."

Looking at Zhao Wanfang, who was talking eloquently, Li Yan felt a burst of emotion in his heart.

Sure enough, one should look at each other with new eyes after three days of separation.

The courtesan who was confused and only thought about revenge at the beginning, after just two years of training, was already at another level in terms of speech and vision, simply like a different person.

It seems that the capital is indeed a gathering place for dragons and snakes.

Although he felt emotional, Li Yan's expression remained unchanged. He drank a cup of tea and said lightly:

"It's just an academy, how can it attract so many people's attention?"

"This academy is not simple!"

Zhao Wanfang said: "When the current Emperor first proposed it, not many people in the court paid attention to it, but until the academy was about to be established, many people realized something was wrong."

"The official positions within the academy are of the same rank as the Imperial Academy. The Commandant's Office sent quite a few people, traveled all over the Shenzhou, invited those master craftsmen and masters of arithmetic everywhere, the amount of silver allocated was astonishing, and they even specifically expanded the Feathered Forest Army to guard it..."

"Someone touched the silver allocated to the academy, the Emperor was furious, ransacked their homes and exiled them, and sent Master Huo Yin to sit in town personally..."

"As of now, the Emperor no longer hides it. As long as there are achievements, in the future, he might even open a separate imperial examination for the miscellaneous studies of Qiankun Academy. More than a dozen great Confucians jointly submitted a memorial, but the Emperor avoided seeing them..."

"Oh, it's made such a big fuss?"

Li Yan was also surprised when he heard this.

He certainly knew the potential of such an academy, but he didn't expect the imperial court to attach such importance to it, even willing to offend the Confucian school.

According to those scholars, this is a major event that shakes the foundation of the country.

This Emperor...

Wouldn't he be the same as him?

Just at this moment, Zhao Wanfang whispered again: "This matter is secret, but too many people want to buy the information, so the sect also spent a lot of effort to inquire before knowing the reason."

"The imperial court opened the sea, and the royal family also has a team of considerable scale. Because they didn't want to cause gossip in the court, they disguised themselves as a merchant group to trade at sea, and the harvest was very rich. I heard they even discovered a gold and silver mine of considerable scale."

"But this merchant group encountered the red-haired barbarians and was almost wiped out."

"Their fire weapons are very amazing, and they even came up with new gunpowder formulas, but the formulas are slightly different. After asking those foreign merchants, I learned that the major powers at sea are developing rapidly."

"They all have similar academies. For example, the new gunpowder formula flowed out from a place called 'Old Ox Ferry Academy'..."

Old Ox Ferry Academy?

Li Yan was stunned. Isn't it called Oxford?

Zhao Wanfang naturally didn't know what he was thinking and sighed: "This Emperor of ours only wants to establish unparalleled achievements. If he only focused on the Shenzhou, he might still be stable, but now that he has opened the sea and is competing with the powers at sea, how can he swallow this breath?"

"Moreover, in the war in the southwest, the power of the new gunpowder was seen by everyone. Even if those great Confucians opposed it, how could they block the forces of all parties in the court."

"Qiankun Academy will definitely be the focus of the court's struggle in the future!"

So that's how it is...

Li Yan shook his head slightly. "Your Golden Swallow Sect knows quite a few people, right? I'm just a martial artist, I don't look for those big figures. What does it have to do with me finding me?"

Zhao Wanfang blinked. "Don't forget what my Golden Swallow Sect does."

"Outsiders don't know, but we know very clearly that Minister Tian Feng of the Ministry of Works has been summoned into the palace by the Emperor several times in the past two months, talking for at least three hours each time. He is an elder of the Mo Sect and will likely serve as the supervisor of the academy..."

"And your good friend Yan Jiuling, who became the top scholar in the Golden Hall and entered the academy for training, is on close terms with many high-ranking officials of the Open Sea faction and will definitely be reused in the future..."

"Alright, alright."

Li Yan waved his hand. "You guys have inquired very clearly. What exactly do you want me to do?"

Zhao Wanfang smiled beautifully. "Don't worry, the elders in the sect asked me to see you just to show goodwill in advance. When you arrive in the capital, naturally someone will invite you. The Golden Swallow Sect is responsible for pulling strings. Whether to go or not, whether you are willing to contact some people, depends entirely on your will."

"Moreover, with the reputation of the Twelve Yuan Chen today, it is already the fortune of the Golden Swallow Sect for us to help introduce you."

"Easy to say!"

Li Yan suddenly realized upon hearing this, and without saying a word, picked up a piece of mutton and put it directly into his mouth. "The skin is crispy and the meat is tender, fragrant but not greasy. It is worthy of 'General Vegetable's' handwriting. You eat too."

He put down his chopsticks and ate, which meant he had agreed to the matter.

Just as Zhao Wanfang said, with the status of the Twelve Yuan Chen today, ordinary people really can't afford to hire them.

Some secret commissions are not easy to come to the door directly.

Having the Golden Swallow Sect in the middle to mediate is indeed more appropriate.

And he also values the information of the Golden Swallow Sect spread all over the Shenzhou.

Seeing him agree, Zhao Wanfang also breathed a sigh of relief, then served him wine with a full face of smiles, chatting about the old days while chatting about the situation in the capital.

Li Yan also listened very seriously, asking questions from time to time, so as not to be blind when he arrived in the capital.

A wine banquet lasted for two full hours.

"Is Wanfang going with me?"

"There are still these things in Linqing, Young Master, you go first, and we will meet again when I return to the capital."

"That's fine. The world is full of hardships, take care!"

"Take care!"

Li Yan didn't ask much and directly said goodbye and left.

Zhao Wanfang came to Linqing City, and seeing him was probably just on the way.

But as for what the other party was going to do, there was no need to ask more.

Everyone has their own path. When Zhao Wanfang represented the Golden Swallow Sect to contact him, the courtesan who was once confused and only thought about revenge had already disappeared.

No matter how enthusiastic the words were, there was more precaution between each other.

Out of the tavern, it was already pitch black, and some shops on the street had already closed.

"Li Li Shaoxia, I'll lead the way for you."

A Boatmen Gang disciple had been waiting outside.

"Good, thank you."

Li Yan nodded with a smile, glanced at the inn again, and walked into the night.

And on the second floor, Zhao Wanfang looked at his figure disappearing through the door crack, a trace of sadness flashed in her eyes, but hearing the footsteps behind her, her eyes became gentle and firm.

"Uncle Liu, send all the information from the dark lines."

"Linqing City has become a powder keg. Some people want to use Eunuch Ma to make trouble, some want to protect the royal face, and some want to fish in troubled waters. No matter who is stirring the water, we must be the first to know!"

"Yes, Miss Zhao!"

……

Just as Li Yan guessed, Zhao Wanfang came with a mission.

Linqing City, as the world's first banknote pass, has intricate interests and many troublesome things.

Eunuch Ma, as a tax supervisor trusted by the Emperor, although he had been scolded for his reputation in the past, he had raised quite a bit of silver for the national treasury, allowing the imperial court to catch its breath, but he had also made a lot of money, causing public anger.

A tax riot was already brewing in the dark.

Many people in the martial world participated in it. They thought they were doing it secretly, but they had already fallen into the eyes of interested people in the court, muddle-headed, becoming knives in others' hands.

The market, the martial world, and the court have never been separated.

Of course, this matter has nothing to do with Li Yan.

The Boatmen Gang is very good at doing things; the inn they arranged for them was clean and quiet.

Li Yan had just returned to the courtyard when he saw Wang Daoxuan walking in a hurry, holding the Xu Fu bamboo slips in his hand, full of excitement: "Solved, the secret words on the path to immortality left by Xu Fu have been solved!"

As he spoke, he looked at Kong Shangzhao who was following behind. "This child is indeed a genius!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 660 =====