When the retro-style palace complex came into view, one after another, the palaces, each with a different appearance and covering an extremely large area, were built in the royal palace surrounded by the red high walls of the four capitals.

Around the towering red walls, squads of Imperial Guards, clad in full black armor and armed with firearms, moved about according to their designated routes.

Some of them also spotted Gu Changqing and his companion flying overhead.

"Hey! Someone has broken into the palace! Go and catch them!"

A young guard, who looked somewhat immature, looked at the two people flying overhead and shouted to his companion.

However, the instant he opened his mouth, the captain of his guard rushed to his side, grabbed his mouth with one hand, and warned him:

"You brat, that man was personally ordered by Marshal Maurice to stay out of our way. Don't cause us to lose our lives for no reason."

The guard captain who held the young guard's mouth was naturally someone who had witnessed what happened when Wang Qi and Gu Changqing left the palace.

At that time, he only saw that the high-ranking officials and nobles in the royal palace, even if they only glanced at Gu Changqing casually, fell to the ground and died.

He didn't want this recruit's actions to anger some official, and in the end, the entire guard would be dragged down with him.

Once the two figures flying rapidly through the air were out of the guard captain's sight, he lowered his arm from the recruit's mouth and then sternly lectured him:

"You little brat, you need to learn from this. Don't yell and scream at every little thing. Do you know you almost got us killed?"

After he finished speaking, the captain of the guard explained to him what Marshal Maurice had ordered, and told the other guards about what he had seen earlier.

The young guard who had been shouting moments before was also shaken after hearing the captain's words, and cautiously apologized:

"I'm so sorry, I almost killed everyone..."

The other guards only then realized that they had almost lost their lives for no reason, but since the man was a new recruit, they all offered words of comfort:

"It's alright, it's not your fault. We only learned about that person's situation after hearing what the captain said."

"Yes, don't worry about it. We were new recruits back then, and because we didn't know any better, we caused our captain a lot of trouble."

"It's okay, don't worry, we don't blame you."

...

The captain of the guard, seeing the young, inexperienced recruit surrounded and comforted by the other guards, nodded with satisfaction and then said to them:

"Very good, that's what makes a qualified Imperial Guard. As for me, I'll be retiring soon and then I'll go home and live a peaceful life with my wife. In the future, it will be the world of you young people. You should treat the other new recruits well, just as I treated you, and teach them some principles of life."

Upon hearing the captain of the guard's words, the others also looked at him and responded in unison:

"Of course, we will never forget what you said, Captain."

"Haha, Captain, you're going to enjoy life after you retire."

And so, the group patrolled while joking with each other.

...

At this moment, Gu Changqing had already led Li Anqi to the Imperial Finance Headquarters that she had mentioned.

Because Li Anqi kept talking during the journey, and Gu Changqing found it noisy, he simply blocked out the space around her, preventing her voice from reaching his ears.

Now that they had arrived at their destination, he naturally removed the protective barriers around her and spoke in a cold voice:

"This is the Imperial Finance Headquarters you mentioned. In which room did you hide that gold jade pendant?"

As Li Anqi listened to Gu Changqing's words, her eyes were fixed on the familiar financial headquarters palace. Although she hadn't been here for a long time, the palace remained unchanged, just as it had always been.

"It's inside the finance headquarters, in my grandfather's original office. I don't know whose office it is now... I'll take you there."

After saying that, Li Anqi walked towards the palace of the Imperial Finance Headquarters, while Gu Changqing followed behind her without giving any reply.

After entering the palace, the two walked through a passageway covered with red carpets.

Since this area was at the front of the palace, there weren't many officials in charge of the emperor's finances in the passageway.

However, as the two ventured deeper, they gradually began to see other people.

At this moment, a young-looking man saw Li Anqi walking ahead and immediately thought that there was such a beautiful girl, and that she was in the Imperial Finance Headquarters.

Is he the newly appointed financial officer of the Empire?

The young man was thinking this when he was about to walk up to Li Anqi and start a conversation.

The various imperial officials walking around naturally saw the young man walking towards Li Anqi, and they recognized him.

As an imperial finance official, he relied on his status and position, and despite being married, he still philandered everywhere. Beautiful female officials who had just joined the imperial finance department were often defiled by him.

At this moment, the other imperial officials also stopped in their tracks, ready to see how the young man was flirting with Li Anqi.

Gu Changqing had spent nearly half a day on a gold jade pendant, and now he saw that the crowd around him seemed to be causing trouble for Li Anqi again, which would probably waste a lot of his time.

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