Chapter 39 Chapter 39 [VIP]

Chapter 39

Before tonight, she had used the pretense of running a teahouse to confuse everyone, secretly hiding a boatload of tea, and deliberately brought him with her in order to eliminate his suspicion. If she was innocent in his eyes, then she would also be innocent in the eyes of the government.

He was certain that she already knew his identity before she formulated this plan.

In the past, she used an account book to deliberately mention the salt permit in front of him, taking advantage of his desire to investigate the case, and made him willingly give the salt permit to the Qian family.

Then, there is the account book.

She first tricked him into going to the mountain stronghold by dropping out the clue about the tea leaves. That night when he was surrounded by bandits, he once suspected that she wanted to kill him. But when he saw that she took the initiative to hand over the accounts to him, he thought he had overestimated it.

Looking back now, his initial suspicion was correct.

She had murderous intentions towards him.

Why kill him?

It was because he summoned her to the prefectural government and exposed many of her secrets. He knew that she was the real head of the Qian family and also knew about her past relationship with the eldest son of the Park family. He suspected that she was colluding with the Park family.

She had murderous intentions at that time, and then he gave the Qian family a month's salt permit, which completely angered her.

In order to obtain salt permits, she took him to the market to give him flowers, allowing him to see the Qian family's reputation among the people, and also took him to see the widows of the Qian family's workers.

When the government summoned her, she thought she could successfully obtain the salt permit, but instead, he interrogated her.

Therefore, she wanted to kill him. She tricked him into going to the village, intending to kill him with the help of Young Master Duan. However, she didn't expect that his kung fu was better than Young Master Duan's. Fearing his revenge later, she had to come back to save him.

At that time, she should have known his identity.

Going back further, it was the dentistry of the second son of the Cui family. He was just a poor and down-and-out young man she had randomly kidnapped. Logically, she shouldn't have let him get involved in these things, but she deliberately found him that night and took him to the dentistry of the Cui family.

He saw with his own eyes the evil deeds of the Cui family.

Because she knew that as long as he witnessed that scene, the Cui family would never be able to recover.

And why did the Cui family's second son's pawnshop come to light? It was because she went to the Cui family's teahouse and vowed to avenge him. At that time, he was not sure whether she had already known his identity.

Because of all this, he no longer dared to move forward.

If she had recognized Bai Yi from the beginning, then everything she had done to him could be described as a heinous crime. But how did she know something that frightened him even more than this?

Only the confidants around Your Majesty and his mother knew about his journey south.

Even his family didn't know about it, so how did she know?

Song Yunzhi was frightened by Bai Yi's guess and broke out in a cold sweat. The warmth in his eyes slowly faded away, and a cold feeling crept up, condensing into an ice knife in the bottom of his eyes, as if it was about to stab the young man opposite him in the next moment.

"I really didn't lie to you." Qian Tong sensed his murderous intent and took two steps back in fear. He shrank his neck and raised two fingers to the sky and swore, "I'm sure I recognized you that day at the prefectural government office, but if I were to say I had suspicions even earlier, do you remember the Cui Family Restaurant and how I stood up for you and reported it to the police?"

Song Yunzhi looked at her silently.

Qian Tong reminded him, "How dare you stop the police?"

Song Yunzhi remembered that she had indeed shown doubts about this at the beginning.

"Later, County Magistrate Zhang arrived." Qian Tong continued, "The prince probably didn't have much dealings with this man, so he doesn't know him well. He came to the small town of Baixiang, with little experience and no connections. After being sent to Yangzhou by the court, he willingly accepted Lan Mingquan's treatment as a slave in order to integrate into the officialdom. But to say he's a bad man isn't entirely true. When Lan Mingquan wasn't around, he was a good and honest official who did a lot for the people. But as long as Lan Mingquan was involved, he would never step out."

"That day was different," Qian Tong said. "When he saw you, his legs went weak at first, but then you helped him up. He suddenly became a different person. He ignored Lan Mingquan's presence and stated his position in front of many people, as if to prove to someone that he was a good official who was dedicated to the people."

"The unusual behavior of the Crown Prince and Magistrate Zhang made me suspicious, but I wasn't sure at the time." Qian Tong tried to scratch his head in distress, but found his hands were tied. He gave him a mocking smile, "Who could have imagined that I would be so lucky that I could just pick up someone at the dock to become a son-in-law, and I would pick up the son of the current princess, the Crown Prince of Song?"

"However, when I was a child, my parents did have my fortune told by a Taoist priest, who predicted that I would have a great future, either rich or noble." Qian Tong seemed a little embarrassed when he spoke of this. He lowered his head and rubbed the gravel with his feet, apologizing to the young man beside him, "I didn't mean to offend the Crown Prince. I hope you will be magnanimous."

The two of them fought all the way, and she felt very helpless.

She glanced at the prince quickly, with admiration and a hint of shame in her eyes.

Song Yunzhi was shocked by her glance.

I heard her say, "You are the Crown Prince of Song. I wouldn't dare offend you even if I had a hundred guts. A prostitute of my background, even if I were to take the title of Crown Prince, would be a blasphemy to you."

After she finished speaking, she stared at the fire in silence, her curled up back looking lonely and desolate. The usually arrogant young man lowered his head in front of him and dared not look at him again because of the difference in their social status.

Although Song Yunzhi no longer trusted her, he had his own judgment.

The Qian family is a century-old merchant family and has never had any connection with officials of the imperial court.

When the Xin Dynasty was first established, the imperial court selected salt merchants. In addition to their technology and experience, they also took into account the Qian family's attitude of never taking sides.

The Park family is close to the Pyeongchang Palace, so it is possible that people in the Park family knew about his journey south.

He had met Mr. Park at the Qian family last time, but he did not recognize him. It remained to be seen whether he was pretending like her.

Did the Qian family and the Park family share the information?

Song Yunzhi thought that at least among the elders, the Qian and Pu families had not yet reached the point of sharing information. When the two families knew that she and the eldest son admired each other, they did not choose to marry them, but used tough means to separate the two, which showed that the relationship between the two families had not reached the point of forming an alliance.

Unless she is still in private contact with Mr. Park and their old feelings still exist.

However, she would not admit these speculations without evidence, so before meeting the eldest son of the Park family, he would believe what she said today.

Song Yunzhi then asked, "Are you smuggling?"

Qian Tong looked up at him again, his eyes a little confused, and asked, "Sir, do you think I look like someone who would smuggle?"

Don't judge a book by its cover. This was the first lesson Song Yunzhi learned from her. He glanced at her coldly, turned his head away without answering, and gave her a positive answer with silence.

The prince's silence made the young Bai Zuoduoqing feel somewhat embarrassed.

But Qian Tong didn't care and asked, "Did the Lu family surrender to the court?"

Song Yunzhi glanced sideways and heard her brazenly say, "Is that idiot Lu Daozhong really worthy of the Crown Prince's efforts to win him over? What kind of ability does he have? He couldn't even protect the Crown Prince last night."

Song Yunzhi said coldly, "Are you very proud?

She had no other intentions, only stating the facts, "There was clearly a fire on his ship, but in order to preserve the family's reputation, she would rather watch the prince disappear into the sea."

She looked at the prince, her eyes revealing a resolute sincerity. "If I had taken refuge with the prince and saw him fall into the water, I would have been the first to jump in to save him. The raging fire is nothing. I'll just abandon the boat and ram it. Let's see who's more resilient."

Song Yunzhi knew that she was extremely bold and did not deny what she said.

But she said this was not to show off, there must be some purpose.

She hadn't answered him yet.

Qian Tong continued, "If it weren't for the foundation and connections built by the Lu family's ancestors, and if they had relied on the Pu family for food for so many years, how could their silk and spice business have survived to this day? However, the Lu family doesn't have it easy either. Sixty percent of the profits from a shipload of silk and spices go to the Pu family, and on top of that, they have to take twenty percent of the forty percent to maintain their relationship with the Pu family. All in all, it's still not as profitable as the 80% salt tax that my Qian family gets."

Afraid that he would misunderstand that the Qian family was ungrateful, she explained: "The Qian family is different. The Qian family follows the right path and obtained the salt permits from the court in an upright manner."

She looked serious and spoke sincerely, "The Qi people in this world will eventually take back the sea routes. Silk and tea are the lifeblood of Dayu's business, and they will eventually return to the court. Lu Daozhong also saw this, so he first competed with me for salt permits and then defected to the Crown Prince. However, he cannot leave the Park family, so he can only play fence-sitter between the court and the Park family, unable to be loyal to the Crown Prince wholeheartedly."

"The prince gave the salt to my Qian family, so I took the lead." She tilted her head to look at the prince, and the sparks dancing beside her reflected in Shaou's eyes, dotted with stars. The desire to win was evident in her eyes, "The Lu family cannot leave the Park family, but my Qian family is different."

She made a big detour, and Song Yunzhi roughly guessed what she wanted to say and asked, "So what?"

The murderous intent in the Crown Prince's eyes faded, and Qian Tong took the two steps back, approaching Crown Prince Song and analyzing the situation in detail. "Both the Cui and Lu families have great ambitions, but they're timid. They've been involved in shipping for so many years, but they've only paid protection fees for the Park family and never ventured into their territory. The Crown Prince must have asked Lu Daozhong how many warships and soldiers the Park family had. Did he tell you?"

She said this with an air of knowing that there was no way he could know.

Song Yunzhi stared at it and asked, "Do you know?"

"I would have known something tonight." Qian Tong sighed regretfully, "It's a pity that the prince chased me and dragged me to this deserted island."

Song Yunzhi understood completely this time.

What she meant was that she went to the Park family tonight to inquire about the Park family on behalf of the court.

Song Yunzhi had to admit her intelligence and cleverness. She fell into Bai Yi's hands, and this was her only way to survive. But why would he believe her, a person who was full of lies and dared to push him into the sea?

He said, "You still haven't answered what I just said."

Qian Tong didn't answer immediately this time. He was silent for a while, then slowly said, "A month ago, I blocked the eldest son of the Cui family at sea and blew up ten of his cargo ships full of tea."

Song Yunzhi was sarcastic in his heart, but it was a relief that she finally admitted it.

Qian Tong turned his gaze back to the fire and whispered, "My sister took poison. Before she died, she told me that Cui Wanzhong was smuggling and had already acquired Bai Yi's property in Liao. My sister also said that the Qian family should not sell out the country and asked me to kill him."

Song Yunzhi heard the hatred in her voice.

But he had been fooled by her for so long that he didn't know which of her words were true and which were false.

Then she said, "I want to know what kind of property the Cui family has acquired."

"If you want to find out what the Cui family did, you have to follow their old path. First, gain the trust of the Park family, then take over the tea business. Only then will you know where all the tea ended up." Qian Tong suddenly turned around and asked the sullen young master, "Prince Song raided the Cui family and obtained the accounts of their smuggling, but why didn't he choose to question the Park family?"

Song Yunzhi looked at the light and fire dancing in her eyes.

Qian Tong smiled knowingly, "Because the prince also knows that just one account is not enough to convict the Park family."

"I want to establish a naval fleet belonging to the Qian family." She looked into his eyes, no longer hiding her intentions. "And the Qian family is the court's biggest internal supporter in Yangzhou. Although I, Qian Tong, am not talented, I believe we are stronger than the Lu family. If the prince hadn't stopped me tonight, I would have met with the Pu family by now. When daybreak comes, my Qian family's ships will return to Yangzhou and deliver a great gift of surrender to Wang Zhao."

It's not a complete failure.

There was still hope. She ambitiously asked the noble young man beside her, "What does Prince Song think?"

She analyzed Bai Yi's strengths and the Lu family's weaknesses. Even though Song Yunzhi no longer trusted her, he knew in his heart that what she said was true.

Among the three major families, the Cui family is gone, Lu Daozhong is unreliable, and if he wants to conquer the Pu family, the seventh lady of the Qian family is actually the most suitable candidate.

However, success and failure are both due to Xiao He.

She was too cunning, and he didn't know how sincere her surrender was.

But she was able to drag him into the sea in front of everyone last night because she was sure that he would not settle the score with her, and that it would not have any impact on the Qian family afterwards.

She has been scheming and planning for so long, and is definitely not a reckless person. She is not the kind of person who would ruin Bai Yi's retreat just to smuggle a shipload of tea.

Song Yunzhi began to seriously consider what she said. After a while, he asked, "You had an affair with the eldest son of the Park family. How can I trust you?"

She was facing the fire in front of her, and he could only see half of her profile as she said decisively, "When it comes to family business, what's the point of talking about personal relationships? Feelings that conflict with interests will end in vain. Prince Song, rest assured, there's no possibility of a relationship between me and the eldest son of the Park family."

After she made such a promise, Song Yunzhi didn't ask any more questions. After all, he didn't care about her past relationships.

"What does the Qian family want?"

Shaou blurted out, "To seek the welfare of the people and peace in the world."

Song Yunzhi didn't want to listen to her nonsense, "Speak nicely, I'll give you another chance."

Qian Tong then said, "After this is accomplished, I hope the court will continue to retain the Qian family's maritime transport rights in the Yellow Sea."

The Qian family does not have a fleet in the Yellow Sea now. Profits come first, and Song Yunzhi understands this.

Just as I was wondering whether I should agree to her promise, I suddenly heard her burst out laughing. Her laughter was different from before, with a hint of mockery and ridicule. "See, whether it's a lie or not doesn't depend on the person speaking, but on the person listening. If they're willing to believe it, it's the truth, and if they're not willing to believe it, it's a lie."