Chapter 536 - 265: City-Wide Manhunt

Chapter 536: Chapter 265: City-Wide Manhunt

"Enter."

The Red King was a man of few words.

Qing Shisan straightened his clothes and calmly entered. As soon as he stepped inside, he saw his master holding a familiar book and froze. "Ah, Master, you read this too?"

Zheng Xiu and Qing Shisan stared at each other. "You too?"

Qing Shisan silently pulled the same book from his robes.

Zheng Xiu sighed deeply. "You’ve changed."

Qing Shisan smiled sheepishly. "Not really. It’s just that Ji Hong’ou likes to read it, so I bought a copy to see what it’s about."

It seemed the Great Scholar’s writing was extremely popular among the circle of lonely, high-society wives, having carved out a niche of its own.

Zheng Xiu calmly closed the book and slid it under a mountain-like stack of heavy scrolls. After a moment of silence, he said nonchalantly, "Feng Bei bought it."

Qing Shisan’s face showed his understanding. "So that’s how it is." Then, he gave a thumbs-up in admiration. "Master is truly considerate."

"Alright, that’s enough of your bootlicking. Do you think I’m the type to fall for that?"

Zheng Xiu leaned back languidly in his high-backed chair, his fingers interlaced over his knees. The corners of his mouth were slightly turned up in a look of mock "displeasure" as he asked, "Find anything?"

"I have not disappointed you." Qing Shisan dropped his flippant expression and said seriously, "I’ve found something."

He fiddled with the tobacco pipe at his waist and began to explain.

"Master, do you know of ’Xiaoyao Square’?"

Zheng Xiu thought for a moment, then nodded.

Xiaoyao Square was the name of a gambling den on West Market Street. The owner on paper was a nouveau riche man in his early fifties known in the underworld as "Lord Blade." Qing Shisan had told Zheng Xiu long ago that the man had been a mountain bandit twenty years ago when the world was in chaos. Qing Shisan had even seen his wanted poster. But later, he used his connections, changed his name, and became the "Lord Blade" of today.

Twenty years ago, mountain bandits ran rampant. There were quite a lot of them. Zheng Xiu recalled his experience in Baili Village—the mountains and fields had been swarming with bandits, as vast and relentless as a plague of locusts. They moved on rainy nights, working tirelessly. It had been terrifying.

Lord Blade ran Xiaoyao Square in the Capital City and usually kept a low profile. When Zheng Xiu had first opened his own gambling den, they’d had some friction, but Zheng Xiu later sent Pei Gaoya to negotiate. Lord Blade was convinced, and since then, the two sides had kept to their own business, with no contact in recent years.

Besides, the Zheng Clan was involved in numerous industries, so he didn’t think much of the gambling business. Moreover, Zheng Xiu disliked taking money from the poor, so his own gambling den remained small. Xiaoyao Square, on the other hand, became a playground for the city’s wealthy merchants and young masters.

"What does this have to do with Xiaoyao Square?"

Zheng Xiu asked with a frown.

"Patience, Master. Listen." Qing Shisan smiled, then asked, "Master, do you remember who Lord Blade’s backer was for Xiaoyao Square?"

Zheng Xiu paused. He truly didn’t remember.

He had, after all, endured the erosion of a full century inside the Cannibal Painting. Such unimportant details had been all but forgotten, cast to the back of his mind. But Zheng Xiu simply took a sip of tea, tilting the lid to push aside the leaves. This inscrutable gesture prompted Qing Shisan to volunteer the answer:

"Of course, Master wouldn’t forget. Xiaoyao Square’s backer was Zhou Ji."

’Zhou Ji? Which Zhou Ji?’

Zheng Xiu’s movement to skim the tea leaves paused for a fraction of a second. He recognized the name.

Qing Shisan shook his head. "But Zhou Ji, the former Minister of the Ministry of Justice, is dead, so Xiaoyao Square lost its backer. Afterward, Lord Blade tried to send gifts to Lord Jiang Gaoyi’s residence, but Jiang Gaoyi politely refused them."

"At first, Lord Blade thought Lord Jiang just had a big appetite, so he gritted his teeth and offered more. Eventually, Lord Jiang got so fed up that he told him he often visits Master Zheng’s home for long chats and friendly conversation."

"Lord Jiang was using you as a shield, Master. Lord Blade understood immediately. It wasn’t that he wasn’t offering enough, but that Master Zheng was offering more."

"It was the third day of the third month, with the Ancestral Worship Ceremony and the appointment of the crown prince imminent. The higher-ups were too busy with their open and hidden struggles. So even without a backer, Xiaoyao Square truly was ’free and easy’ for a while."

"Later, after the Great Emperor appointed a crown prince, the higher-ups had more time on their hands, and people started eyeing Xiaoyao Square—a juicy piece of meat with no one watching over it."

In a few sentences, Qing Shisan laid out the cause and effect.

But Zheng Xiu still couldn’t see what any of this had to do with the Second Lady’s troubles.

Qing Shisan took down his tobacco pipe, turning it over and over in his hands, reluctant to actually smoke it.

"Later, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Dou Jiuyi, arranged a private meeting with Lord Blade. Heh, he wanted an eighty-twenty split."

Zheng Xiu couldn’t help but laugh, asking uncertainly, "The Minister of the Ministry of Rites gets eighty, and Lord Blade gets twenty?"

"Hee hee, of course you understand, Master."

Zheng Xiu hummed, nodding with his eyes closed. He then casually unraveled the situation’s many intricacies: "A man who’s been an official for as long as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites would surely know the principle: ’Why fleece the poor when you can butcher the rich?’ How much can you make off the poor anyway? And Venerable Wei Yang is no fool. He used to have the Secret Ministry gathering intelligence for him; what in this city could be hidden from him? If you get too greedy, once the ’chives’ are ripe, Venerable Wei Yang issues a Holy Decree and harvests the lot. That way, he punishes corrupt officials, wins the hearts of the people, and fills the national treasury. Isn’t that what ’raising’ corrupt officials is for? To be harvested and lose your life on top of it... any man smart enough to become a Minister wouldn’t be so foolish as to be randomly corrupt. But skimming a gambling den is different. That money isn’t clean to begin with. The Minister of the Ministry of Rites can contribute a portion to the treasury and keep a little for himself, and Venerable Wei Yang will turn a blind eye. Zhou Ji must have done the same thing. A happy outcome for all. An eighty-twenty split... heh, the only one suffering is the master of Xiaoyao Square. But would that fellow who calls himself Lord Blade really agree to such a losing proposition?"

Although Xiaoyao Square was small, it was still a piece of meat. The waters looked shallow on the surface, but for the Minister of the Ministry of Rites to dare negotiate with Lord Blade personally, there must have been some turbulent undercurrents among the higher-ups.