Chapter 528: The Fat Fish Takes the Bait (Part 1)

"Hey, who's this?!"

Gong Shuwu returned covered in sweat.

From a great distance, I could see a strange face that was swollen and distended.

That appearance almost startled him.

Although his facial features were unrecognizable, his braided hair was quite distinctive. Gong Shuwu tentatively asked, uncertainly, "Wen Shi?"

Xu Quan glanced at him and turned his head to the other side.

Gong Shuwu laughed and stepped forward to ask with concern, "Tell me, brother, who beat you up like this?"

Xu Quan snorted and turned his shoulder away.

Gong Shuwu feigned vigilance: "Could it be an enemy attack?"

Another guess is: "Or is it some other spies who slipped through the net and caused this trouble?"

Tu Rong, who was crouching not far away keeping watch, spoke up: "No, it was when the lord was sparring with Brother Wen Shi and they accidentally got into a fight."

Gong Shuwu seemed to only then notice Tu Rong's presence.

Upon closer inspection, he chuckled again: "How come you're all bruised and battered too? Did the lord also inflict this? The wounds don't look like it..."

Tu Rong's face was covered in injuries, one patch on the left and one patch on the right.

The swelling varies in height and depth.

In contrast, Xu Quan's figure is very well-proportioned and uniform.

Even the size of the bruises around his left and right eyes is symmetrical.

Tu Rong pointed at Xu Quan: "He's the one who hit me."

Xu Quan finally reacted, frowning irritably, and said, "Didn't you ask me to spar with you?"

How can a friendly exchange be called a fight?

Gong Shuwu keenly sensed something unusual. He knew his lord's strength and that Shen Tang was more skilled with weapons, rarely fighting bare-handed, let alone aiming directly at someone's face. Had Xu Quan offended someone somehow?

"Have you offended the lord?"

Xu Quan's already unpleasant face turned ashen.

Tu Rong, that brat, was gloating: "He just flirted with the lord and said that the lord was not in good shape, so the lord beat him up and made him stand here in the wind to reflect on his actions."

Gong Shuwu: "..."

For a moment, I didn't know whether to say Xu Quan was brave and fearless, or that he was good at courting death, as he could even harass his own lord.

Blind at such a young age?

Xu Quan was embarrassed and annoyed: "How was I supposed to know that was our lord? We were so far away, and our lord was dressed as a woman... Who knew our lord had a penchant for women's clothing... How can you blame me for this?"

"Besides—my lord's figure is indeed not good. I even kindly suggested that my lord could ask Registrar Qi to make some changes so that the outfit would be seamless, but my lord not only didn't appreciate it but also hit me..." Xu Quan pulled at the wound on the corner of his mouth as he spoke.

He hissed in pain.

"I'm so wronged... Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have thought that was my lord." After this impassioned speech, he asked Gong Shuwu, "If you were walking down the street and saw my lord dressed as a woman, with that face, wouldn't you recognize him?"

Gong Shuwu calmly replied, "I won't make a mistake."

His unconventional answer surprised Xu Quan.

Unconvinced, he asked, "You really won't admit your mistake?"

Gong Shuwu nodded firmly.

"But our lord has a fetish for cross-dressing..."

Gong Shuwu couldn't help but correct Xu Quan's mistake, lest this naive young man fall into the same trap again: "First of all, our lord doesn't have a fetish for women's clothing; secondly, women of our lord's age know what's beautiful and ugly, and you rashly flirted with her and then said she wasn't attractive... who else would we hit but you? By the way, this matter hasn't reached the ears of Chief Clerk Qi and Chief Clerk Chu, has it? Otherwise, you'd be..."

Xu Quan: "..."

Xu Quan: "???"

Xu Quan: "!!!"

Gong Shuwu looked at Xu Quan's wide-eyed expression and said with amusement, "You haven't known all along, have you? You can tell whether Lingde, Shaoxuan, and Weiheng are men or women at a glance. How come you can't tell the lord's gender?"

Xu Quan: "..."

After a long while—

His neck stiffened and twisted toward Tu Rong with a cracking sound.

The mischievous boy blinked innocently and nodded firmly: "My lord has always been a lady, you can't mistake that face, can you?"

Xu Wenshi called his junior sister "Lingde Meizi" every day, and he thought she knew the lord's gender too, but it turns out she didn't.

Xu Quan: "..."

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

How could anyone possibly know that?!

Before he took office, his cousin would often remark on the deep bond between the lord and Wu Xian, praising her as a gentleman, a person of high moral character, a person of noble integrity, a person who loved the people like his own children, and a person who worked diligently and tirelessly for the position of Governor of He.

How could he possibly doubt her gender?

Xu Quan was filled with pent-up grievances.

My cousin really led me astray this time!

Cousin, do you even know that the Shen Jun you've always wanted to talk to all night and sleep side by side with is actually Shen Niangzi?

Xu Quan's expression went blank.

He appeared calm, but inside he felt like he had been struck by lightning.

Gong Shuwu patted him on the shoulder reassuringly: "It was a little hard to accept at first, but as long as our lord is a qualified lord, that's fine. Nobody comes here for a man's thing, right? What man doesn't have that thing? Just think it through."

Xu Quan: "..."

Gong Shuwu's logic is truly impeccable.

Xu Quan felt that if he uttered a single word of objection, it would mean that he didn't even have the item, yet he came for it...

He forced a smile and said, "I'll just be alone for a while."

Gong Shuwu nodded in understanding, then casually pulled away Tu Rong, who was watching the commotion, and said, "Tonight is Da Yi's farewell banquet..."

Xu Quan said, "I won't be absent."

He stood bewildered in the wind for a moment, then turned and crawled back into his tent. While circulating his martial energy to speed up the reduction of swelling on his face, he took out a small box containing letters from home that he had been saving for a long time. He stared at the letters for a long time before writing down his pent-up frustrations.

certainly--

He still knows his limits.

No matter how good his relationship with his cousin was, it couldn't change the fact that they each served their own masters and had their own duties. Shen Tang naturally had to keep quiet about holding the Imperial Seal, but the gender of their lord—he couldn't be the only one confused; his cousin had to be dumbfounded too!

“…Brother, you’ve really got me killed…” Xu Quan wrote about twenty letters home in one go, which piled up and bulged. “If it weren’t for you, brother, I wouldn’t have gotten this beating…”

Xu Quan had never kept his contact with Xu Jie a secret from Shen Tang. If necessary, he could even check the documents before sending them out. But Shen Tang wasn't that suspicious—she was just a small company owner; why would she care about other people's relationships?

but--

Shen Tang rubbed his hands together shamelessly: "Help me ask your brother if he has any extra grain seeds. The price is negotiable. We don't need the best, just enough to get through this year..."

Even without Shen Tang mentioning it, Xu Quan would have already sided with his cousin, mentioning it in a letter home—why not take advantage of his cousin's good fortune, it would make him feel good.

The box containing the letters from home set off on its journey to the River Governor. To ensure the letters arrived safely, the messenger was a second-class official, easily dispatched by ordinary thugs. Little did anyone know that this box of letters would reel in two big fish!

At the farewell banquet, everyone was enjoying their drinks.

Looking at the familiar faces, Zhao Feng, who considered himself a rough and unrefined man, couldn't help but feel tears welling up in his eyes.

To be honest, he spent more time doing odd jobs under Shen Tang than under his proper lord, Wu Xian. If it weren't for Wu Xian's patronage and saving his and Qin Li's lives, given the preferential treatment and care he received from Shen Tang over the past two years, he might even have felt an urge to stay and never leave…

Alas, all good things must come to an end.

As Zhao Feng's spirits rose with the effects of the wine, he declared with great gusto, "Gentlemen, let me sing you a song! The journey ahead is long and arduous—"

Shen Tang raised her little hand.

"Come, I will accompany you on your journey of righteousness!"

\(￣︶￣*\))

Baby Xixing has a new book out!

It's still an ancient story, so those who like this kind of thing shouldn't miss it.

(End of this chapter)