Chapter 537 - 265: City-Wide Manhunt (Part 2)

Chapter 537: Chapter 265: City-Wide Manhunt (Part 2)

"Naturally, the talks fell through." Seeing that Zheng Xiu had a clear understanding of officialdom, Qing Shisan felt a secret admiration and shrugged. "But Dou Jiuyi, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, is no benevolent soul either. While Lord Blade was just going through the motions with him, Dou Jiuyi has spent the last two months making a lot of trouble for him, both openly and behind the scenes."

"Right then—heh, what a coincidence—an old, travel-worn couple entered the city."

"Xiaoyao Square has three tiers of games: ’Heaven, Earth, and Human.’ From top to bottom, they correspond to the wealthy, the common, and the poor. As long as you have an acquaintance to get you in, even ordinary folk can go inside and try their luck."

"The husband in the couple was a gambling man. He spent a little silver to pull some strings and get into Xiaoyao Square, hoping to use his last bit of money to turn his fortunes around and establish a foothold in the Imperial City all at once."

"But Xiaoyao Square has its ’Thousand Gate Generals’ keeping watch. How could an ordinary person with money in his pocket possibly walk away with it? The man got a taste of winning at first and, like a fool, didn’t see the setup. He just kept charging in, and within a few days, he’d lost several hundred silver."

"As for Xiaoyao Square’s Lord Blade... well, although he’s been keeping a low profile under your... imposing influence, my lord, the pressure from above has been so intense lately that he’s started dusting off some of his old, unsavory methods. Tricking people out of their gambling debts, forcing them to sell their homes and fields, pushing innocent women into prostitution... all the lowest of the low tricks."

"Unfortunately for him, the couple was dirt poor. They had no money, only their two lives to offer. It made Lord Blade so angry he declared it a losing business."

Qing Shisan couldn’t hold it in anymore. He stuck his pipe in his mouth, puffing away with a series of wet smacks. But the pipe clearly wasn’t lit. Qing Shisan wasn’t smoking tobacco; he was smoking his loneliness.

He fell silent for a moment, then let out a long breath and sighed. "And it was at that very moment that the wife couldn’t help but mention that many, many years ago, they had sold their own daughter into the city. Sold her to... the Zheng Family."

WHOOSH—

In an instant, the oil lamp on the table flickered violently, nearly extinguishing. Only a faint spark remained, plunging the room into darkness. The air in the study grew incredibly heavy, as if filled with lead. Qing Shisan stared in astonishment at Zheng Xiu, whose expression remained as calm as ever, but the space behind him was distorting visibly, as if something had been opened.

Qing Shisan stumbled back a few steps in fear, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He subconsciously gripped his pipe, and when he came to his senses, his palm was soaked.

’What is my lord hiding behind him?’

Qing Shisan was Zheng Xiu’s trusted confidant, but he never pried into his master’s little secrets. Aside from knowing that the "four golden flowers" had become Mystics, that there was something off about that cat, and that his lord often cultivated secretly with the four of them, Qing Shisan knew absolutely nothing else.

This sudden, oppressive aura felt like a hand closing around Qing Shisan’s throat. He found it hard to breathe, gasping for air with his mouth wide open. After a few moments, in addition to the suffocation, his limbs felt as though they were bound by heavy shackles, creating the illusion that he couldn’t move.

This strange "illusion" didn’t last long. It ended the moment Zheng Xiu silently took a sip of his cold tea. The nearly extinguished spark flared back to life, and light once again filled the study.

Qing Shisan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked, somewhat uncertainly, "My lord, are you angry?"

"A little," Zheng Xiu said, setting down his teacup and looking at Qing Shisan. "It seems that after becoming the Red King, I’ve appeared far too amiable in the eyes of outsiders."

Qing Shisan tucked his pipe back into his sash and coughed lightly. "Actually, my lord, you may have misunderstood something."

"Oh?"

"Lord Blade is as cunning as a demon. How would he dare to openly move against you? He’s practically tripping over himself to curry your favor! When Lord Blade learned that the couple was actually the Second Lady’s biological parents, he treated them as honored guests. He let the man gamble to his heart’s content, finding all sorts of ways to basically hand him money."

"After a few days of this, the man took the money and went off to live extravagantly elsewhere. He quickly became a pauper again, then immediately ran back to Xiaoyao Square to gamble. Back and forth like this, he managed to fleece Lord Blade for another few hundred silver."

"The couple had originally promised to act as an intermediary, to help you and Lord Blade become friends, my lord. But instead, they just kept running to Xiaoyao Square to collect money. Eventually, Lord Blade couldn’t stand it anymore and resorted to a desperate measure. Gritting his teeth, he gave the wife another hundred silver. The woman’s eyes lit up at the sight of cash, and only then did she write the letter, have it secretly delivered to the Second Lady, and stage this whole ’family reunion’ drama."

Huh?

Huh??

And with that, Zheng Xiu’s simmering rage turned into sheer exasperation.

To put it simply, the owner of a small gambling den was at his wit’s end because his patron had fallen, and he needed a new one. Since talks with the Minister of the Ministry of Rites failed due to his exorbitant demands, this Lord Blade decided he wanted to suck up to the Red King. Just then, Zheng Erniang’s biological parents appeared, giving Lord Blade a glimmer of hope for a way in. Unfortunately, this couple was no easy mark; they were happy to take his money but refused to do their part. This pushed Lord Blade to his breaking point, forcing him to make the parents send the letter and seek the reunion, which ultimately just made the Second Lady unhappy.

Why was the Second Lady unhappy? The reason was simple. It was her parents who had heartlessly abandoned her all those years ago. If not for Zheng Haoran and his wife taking her in, treating her as their own, and allowing her to form a deep sibling bond with Zheng Xiu, it’s impossible to imagine where the Second Lady would be or what fate would have befallen her. Now, after more than twenty years, her biological parents had appeared out of the blue to claim kinship, throwing her thoughts into chaos and leaving her at a loss as to how she should face them.

For years, she had considered herself part of the Zheng Clan’s bloodline. Though not her blood relatives, the Zheng couple had been more than family to her. But the Second Lady was kind-hearted. The appearance of her biological parents threw her into disarray, leaving her worried and sad.

Having been with the Second Lady for over twenty years, Zheng Xiu had never once heard her mention her parents. Clearly, her blood relatives had not left her with any fond childhood memories.