Chapter 437: Shipping

Pan Yun's pupils contracted slightly; she gave the three a slight nod, then quickened her pace after passing them.

The three heroes turned to look at him; the eldest spat and muttered under his breath, "Acting all high and mighty."

The second and third heroes quickly grabbed him. "Big brother, keep your voice down—Qu Le's cultivation isn't low. What if he hears?"

"I'm afraid of him?" Even as he said this, the three brothers ran off quickly.

After walking two streets and turning a corner, they ran into Qu Le leading a group out of an inn.

The three brothers: …

Qu Le saw them and was unusually courteous, smiling as he greeted them. "Are your wounds from earlier healed?"

The three brothers exchanged glances, instantly sensing something was off.

In just over a minute, Qu Le had not only gotten ahead of them, but changed his clothes?

Even his expression toward them had changed.

The three brothers swallowed hard, all realizing something was wrong.

Seeing them stunned, Qu Le assumed they were still angry about the incident a few days ago. He wasn't in the mood to chat, so he bowed and said, "We're still investigating inns in Chengnan. Farewell."

With that, he led his men away.

The three brothers watched Qu Le disappear into the distance, then turned to each other and sprinted back.

When they reached the spot, Pan Yun had already vanished.

The three began asking around along the street.

Unfortunately, this area wasn't residential—it was all schools and escort agencies. At this hour, no one was loitering outside; everyone was either studying in school or training in the escort agencies.

No one had seen the fake Qu Le.

The three brothers circled the area, completely missing the escort masters carrying sacks, and still hadn't decided whether to tell Qu Le about this.

"No proof," said the second hero. "From what happened a few days ago, you know they don't believe us three brothers. Without catching the fake Qu Le, they won't believe us."

"Then what do we do? We can't even find him now."

"Keep looking. If we find him, good. If not, pretend we never saw anything," the second hero sneered. "Qu Le's always looked down on us. Let him suffer a loss—it'll do him good."

If they couldn't earn credit, let Qu Le suffer—they'd be quite pleased.

Pan Yun ran in through the back door; as soon as she shut it, she grinned with Pan Xiaohei, who had jumped down from the roof.

Wang Cong stood silently to the side, waiting until they finished laughing before speaking. "Little Master, where did you go?"

Pan Yun jumped, turning to find him standing beside the corridor pillar—she'd been so excited she'd forgotten to check her surroundings.

"You're back? Did you buy everything?"

Wang Cong nodded. "I'm back. Not only did I buy everything, I also sold off everything I needed to."

That night, Pan Yun broke into the imperial palace; the next day, the Embroidered Uniform Guards watching their residence left. Wang Cong and Seeing Miao Zhen followed shortly after, departing Jingcheng.

Jingcheng was prosperous, but since the goods were stolen and tied to Wang Zhen, and under Embroidered Uniform Guard surveillance, he dared not sell them there.

Near Jingcheng, there was a better place to fence stolen goods—San Bao Ding!

San Bao Ding, controlling three passes to the north, reaching nine provinces to the south, linking four regions, and dominating the Central Plains—a strategic military battleground.

It was also the gateway to the capital, with smooth land and water routes, dense trade, and countless factions from the martial world, court, and common folk intersecting here.

Whoever held the position of Prefect of Baoding府 would become a cabinet candidate; if they survived and were transferred back to Jingcheng, they'd be guaranteed at least Third rank.

So Wang Cong took Seeing Miao Zhen straight to San Bao Ding, sold a batch of jewels, then used barter to acquire a large quantity of grain and cloth.

Finally, he enlisted the help of the Canal Guild and escort agencies to ship the purchased grain and cloth separately to various counties.

Additionally, he approached three reputable trading houses, gave them money, and had them transport grain to Runing Prefecture; only then did he entrust an escort agency with a banknote to exchange for copper cash locally.

After arranging everything, Wang Cong had not only spent all the stolen gold, silver, and jewels, but also lost eighty-five taels himself.

Now he held a receipt and reported to Pan Yun: "When the Canal Guild heard I was sending grain to Runing for disaster relief, they waived the freight for one barge. I used the extra money to buy more grain—but I bought too much. After paying all freight and labor costs, I was left with an excess of eighty-five taels."

Pan Yun checked the receipt, then generously pulled out a hundred taels and handed them to him. "Big nephew, you've worked hard. Keep the extra—buy meat with Seeing Miao Zhen." Fifteen taels' worth of meat? Wang Cong happily went off.

Everything was shipped out. Now they waited for good news.

The search in Jingcheng intensified; even Yin Zhai, under special protection, was searched by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

This group of Embroidered Uniform Guards was different from the last—far more serious, far more orderly. After their search, not a single bowl was broken, not a single copper coin went missing.

For the Embroidered Uniform Guards, this was rare—Pan Yun, hiding behind a pillar, stared at them with bright, intense eyes.

For the first time, Pan Yun saw something handsome in them.

She murmured, "Now this is what Embroidered Uniform Guards look like in the videos."

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He stood on either side of her, pressing close to her arms, whispering, "Little Master, what did you say?"

Pan Yun: "I said, don't you think they're kind of good-looking?"

Seeing Miao Zhen glanced and replied, "I don't think so. Not as handsome as Third Brother, let alone Big Brother. It's just their uniforms that look nice."

Miao He nodded in deep agreement. "Big Brother and the others would look good in these uniforms too."

!. 讀

"No way," Pan Yun shook her head. "Big Nephew and the others have gentle temperaments and appearances. These uniforms would ruin their aura."

The Embroidered Uniform Guards, standing in the courtyard, scanning the area with piercing eyes: …

After enduring the three girls' stares for a long while, the guard couldn't resist turning to look at them. Meeting three pairs of bright, eager eyes—with not a trace of fear—he paused, then waved them over.

The three immediately stepped forward, lining up before him.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard unfolded a portrait and asked, "Have you seen this man?"

All three glanced and shook their heads in unison. "Never seen him."

Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He truly hadn't seen him—on that night, Pan Yun had disguised herself and kept them from seeing her face, and after returning from the palace, she hadn't shown them either.

Pan Yun herself had only seen "him" once. Her painting was perfect—surely no one would realize she was a woman?

The Embroidered Uniform Guard didn't expect them to recognize him; he rolled up the portrait and waved them off. "Alright, go play. Don't loiter here."

The other Jinyi Guards quickly finished their inspection and came out to report: "My lord, we've checked everything—this household has no issues."

The Jinyi Guards turned around: "Let's go, on to the next one."

Pan Yun and Seeing Miao Zhen Miao-he saw them off at the door together, and once the men had gone off to search other households, the three of them were still clinging to the doorframe, reluctant to leave.

Wang Cong silently appeared behind them and said in a low, eerie voice: "Enjoying the view?"

"Very much!"

The three of them nodded in unison.

One said: "The people are good-looking."

One said: "The clothes are good-looking."

The other said: "The blades in their hands are good-looking too."

Wang Cong stared back at them in speechless silence, and only after a moment said: "The Spring Examination is right around the corner. Third Junior Brother and I plan to go earn some money—are you coming?"

Pan Yun: "Fortune-telling?"

Her face was full of hesitation: "Wouldn't that be wrong? We enter the examination hall tomorrow, and today we go tell people's fortunes—if the results turn out bad, wouldn't that be harming people?"

Wang Cong said meaningfully: "That all depends on the art of language."

Wang Cong swapped out the words on Pan Yun's banner, changing them to "Nine coppers per divination," then hoisted the banner and walked at the very front. "Come on, today Senior Brother is taking you for your last lesson—Yiyan, the Art of Language in short!"

Good night.

(End of chapter)