Chapter 535: White Lotus Scent

Xu Zhenzhen's belly was already showing; pregnant women tend to be drowsy, and her energy wasn't great. By rights she should have risen to greet him with proper ceremony, but Zhao Jin said there was no need — among family, such formalities were unnecessary.

After serving Zhao Jin tea, the serving women and maids, having received their instructions, all withdrew. Leaning against the soft couch, Xu Zhenzhen smiled and said, "I'm not very mobile at the moment, but the few girls around me are all trustworthy. Husband, you..."

Halfway through her words, Zhao Jin understood. No wonder the maids had put on makeup — with Xu Zhenzhen's meticulous nature and authority, how would the maids dare to beautify themselves before their mistress's husband without her permission? It was just that Zhao Jin had noticed, partly from attentiveness, and partly from a young man's instinctive awareness.

"It's not as if I can't live without women. Why do you fuss over these things? I'm in no mood to care about this right now!" Zhao Jin's tone carried some impatience. He'd spent the whole day explaining and analyzing things to his subordinates, losing his temper several times, and now finding such matters at home left his mood truly poor.

Yet this attitude of Zhao Jin's made Xu Zhenzhen's face bloom like a flower. But happy as she was, her words took a different turn: "Husband, surely you're not still thinking about those few from Yangzhou?"

"Nonsense!" Zhao Jin was genuinely angry now. Xu Zhenzhen's smile didn't fade; supporting her waist, she stood up, went to the pastry box at the side, and took out several delicate treats. She handed Zhao Jin two walnut milk crisps and slowly chewed a golden-thread hawthorn cake herself.

He'd thought the topic would end there, but after finishing her hawthorn cake, Xu Zhenzhen unexpectedly spoke again: "Husband, you've been thinking of Little Sister Xiaolan all along, haven't you?"

This persistent questioning drained Zhao Jin of all anger, leaving him utterly at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Sitting there, he lightly slapped the table and said, "Nonsense. I don't even think of that name anymore, yet you bring it up from time to time. I don't even know where Xiaolan is now — what use is thinking of her? Don't overthink things. Just focus on a peaceful pregnancy."

Xu Zhenzhen was feeling somewhat tired by now. In the past she did everything herself, but now she directed Zhao Jin to do this and that, leaning on him as he helped her back to sit on the bed.

Zhao Jin managed to keep his patience and simply used these trivial tasks to settle his mind. After leaning back against the bed, however, Xu Zhenzhen continued rambling: "Earlier it was said that the Xu family's vast properties would all be managed by you, husband, but you pay them no mind at all, only sending those accountants from Yunshan Trading to keep an eye on things..."

At this, Zhao Jin recalled a matter and asked, "Your family's business is wide-reaching. Do you have any familiar contacts in Nanjing?"

Leaving aside the couple's nighttime talk, after Liu Yong left Zhao Jin's residence he didn't rest immediately. Instead, he took Nie Hei on a full circuit of the encampment, then brought the two new recruits, Wei Mugen and Ding Jun, over to He Village, where most of the Internal Guard's various duties were based.

They stayed in a separate courtyard house, two red lanterns hanging outside its gate. Various groups from in and around He Village all came by to greet him and report in. Then Shi Manqiang, on night duty, would also come by once. Only after the two had conferred could Liu Yong go and rest.

Group after group came in, and Liu Yong kept shifting the pebbles at his hand — one pebble moved for each person entering. When the count was about right, Liu Yong stretched and yawned. The moment he made that motion, Nie Hei walked in with hurried steps.

Within the Internal Guard's structure, Nie Hei was also one of the core cadres, with high clearance on Liu Yong's side. Once inside, he hastily had the two guards withdraw first. Seeing Liu Yong's hand signal, the two men lowered their heads and left.

"Master Yong, it seems people from the cult have been here on our turf — more than one group — and they slipped right past us!" Though his voice was kept low and his tone even, a hint of fury was audible.

It turned out that earlier that evening, Zhao Jin had told Liu Yong that if the Embroidered Uniform Guard's people were intent, they would arrange for men to observe quietly and leave quietly. As long as he conducted business and watched his trade normally, there would be no flaws to expose. And across the vast area of Zhao Camp, there were in truth no so-called forbidden zones — if someone was determined to watch and take note, no information could be hidden.

This insight broadened the thinking of the Internal Guard's men. They couldn't just watch for those acting suspiciously; some who appeared perfectly normal also posed potential danger. Nie Hei had specifically gone around to inns and such places to ask questions, and as a matter of habit, he'd checked certain "hidden spots" — places where the most secretive members of the Smelling Incense Sect would leave covert marks.

And this time, he actually saw something...

"This is my dereliction of duty and my fault. I thought our own defenses were tight and that Chieftain Zheng's side was keeping a close watch. I never imagined the Smelling Incense Sect still harbored such stubborn designs, still scheming against us in secret." Nie Hei was deeply ashamed, admitting his mistake the moment he entered.

Hearing that the Smelling Incense Sect was still active here, and in covert operations his own people hadn't detected, Liu Yong was immediately alarmed and had Nie Hei lead him straight there to see.

"... At least four groups have been here. But there's something odd — three of the teams look like they came from the main headquarters in Yuncheng, yet one group's secret marks and such are very fresh, though they still follow the methods of the White Lotus Smelling Incense branch..."

Though the secret marks were left in hidden places, they were easy to find for those who knew the trade. The reason they'd been overlooked was that Nie Hei had never imagined people from the Smelling Incense Sect could still come here — more precisely, that cult members from outside the Xuzhou Smelling Incense Sect would come. First, the defenses here were strict; they didn't fear the Smelling Incense Sect's power at all and would kill without hesitation. Second, the followers under Zheng Quan's line knew the score — coming here to preach or spy was impossible to hide, and they couldn't gain the slightest advantage.

"No need to beg forgiveness. I'll discuss this with Big Brother tomorrow. We've both been careless. Let me ask you — next time these people come, can you keep them under watch?" Liu Yong asked bluntly.

Nie Hei nodded with full confidence and said assuredly, "As long as we're thorough, everyone in and around He Village is ours. Rats and bedbugs can't hide!"

After saying this, Nie Hei smiled and added, "Master Yong, those children in our hands can't just spend all day studying and playing. They're not from wealthy families — they need to get out and make themselves useful."

Liu Yong nodded slowly. After one trip into the Grass Den, they'd taken in over twenty children. With so many battles fought since, casualties were inevitable, and Zhao Camp had taken full responsibility for sheltering them all. The Internal Guard now had nearly fifty children, of varying ages. The girls had all been sent to Xu Zhenzhen's side, entrusted to the care of the serving women and maids she'd brought. The boys were treated the same as Zhao Camp's household troops — well-fed and well-drunk, they also underwent drills, and tutors were hired to teach them reading and writing.

This was actually something Zhao Jin had set up with a few pointers, modeled on the elementary schools and kindergartens of his former life. Once established, everyone connected to Zhao Camp thought well of it, and some even took the initiative to send their own children here.

In taking in the orphans of Ding Family Enclosure, Liu Yong was partly motivated by kindness, but he also wanted to train these children as the Internal Guard's foundation. For such covert and critical work, no matter how loyal an outsider was, they were still an outsider, entangled in all sorts of interests and complicated relationships. These orphans had no such complications.

But these children couldn't be coddled and pampered either. It was time to put them to work on some tasks.

"And one group that's especially similar to the Smelling Incense Sect? What could that be? Could it be that apart from our Xuzhou, that so-called cult master in Yuncheng has people he can't command?" This was what truly concerned Liu Yong.

They'd already fought the Smelling Incense Sect to the death — it was just a matter of tightening security. But if some new enemy emerged, that would be a different story. Now, nearly all covert reconnaissance and intelligence work fell to the Internal Guard. If a new enemy appeared out of nowhere and the Internal Guard knew nothing of it, that would be a failure of duty.

At this question, Nie Hei's expression turned quite serious. He answered with great gravity, "Master Yong, our Xuzhou is an anomaly. Other places are different. That Xu Hongru has run the Smelling Incense Sect so tightly that not even water can seep through — no one dares disobey his orders. There's absolutely no chance of some other faction popping up. However, Shandong has many cults. Though the Smelling Incense Sect is the largest, there are still plenty of other groups, great and small. Some are offshoots of the old White Lotus Smelling Incense line that broke away to go independent."

After this incident, many more children appeared in and around He Village. These boys, aged ten to fifteen, were very polite. If they saw someone unfamiliar with the roads, they'd come forward to guide them, and they'd beam with gratitude at a single coin or a few. In their idle moments they ran about everywhere, but these children didn't steal or swipe things, nor did they eye the food on the vendors' stalls. No one found them bothersome; people simply felt the children's laughter and chatter brought a good deal of life to the marketplace.

Few noticed that the children were divided into shifts — one group in the morning, another in the afternoon, with rotations every other day. There were always a few plainly dressed, ordinary-looking men keeping an eye on them. But who among ordinary folk would pay attention to that?

The children were all quite young, with little worldly experience — some couldn't even manage to be consistently careful and attentive. But their sheer numbers made up for it. Once the Internal Guard made this arrangement, not a single matter, great or small, not a whisper of wind or stir of grass in and around He Village could escape their grasp.

Still, nothing of great significance occurred. The Smelling Incense Sect from outside Xuzhou left no further traces. Yet it couldn't be determined whether those cult followers and devotees had never come again, or whether they'd simply grown more skilled at concealing their movements.

Beyond Xuzhou and its immediate vicinity, not everyone knew that He Village was a dragon's pool and a tiger's den. Beggars and thieves coming from Shandong and Henan had only heard of He Village's prosperity in Xuzhou and came hoping to scavenge some easy pickings.

What made Xuzhou's underworld folk not know whether to laugh or cry was that some even set their sights on these children. Whether beggar gangs or thief rings, they all sought to snatch children for begging and stealing. Such things had once been common in Xuzhou, but after Zhao Camp rose to power, these practices were strictly forbidden under severe penalties. The children were handed over to be adopted or placed in estates to work for their food. The ringleaders were all executed, and at the very lightest, worked to death.

Many in the underworld and aboveboard circles, both inside and outside the city, had ties to these child-harming criminal bosses. But when such incidents occurred, they didn't even dare to plead for mercy.