Chapter 278: The pain is felt only when the knife cuts oneself (two chapters combined into one)
The next day, Xiao Zhen met Zhao Shiqing and finally learned from Zhao Shiqing what happened yesterday.
No wonder the retired emperor felt such disgust and gnashed his teeth when he mentioned Emperor Yongjia and his son. It turned out that he knew the truth about the hooked nose.
Sure enough, it only hurts when the knife cuts yourself.
The same is true for the emperor emeritus.
However, Xiao Zhen was still very pleased to know that Zhao Shiqing had secured benefits for Wan Ruyi and himself.
Even though these benefits are just a piece of paper now, I am serious about my words. As long as Dayong survives, this piece of paper will be valid forever.
Xiao Zhen only had a quick meeting with Zhao Shiqing before going down the mountain again. The big bomb about the disaster relief grain had not yet exploded.
Before leaving, Xiao Zhen said to him again, "The official road from Tongzhou to Gaoping has been washed away. Can you go to Gaoping now? Yes, but it's a life-threatening situation. Right now, Dayong is plagued by natural disasters and man-made disasters, and treacherous people are in power. If you make a mistake now, you will ascend to heaven and be done with it. Think of Dayong, think of the ancestors of the Zhao Dynasty, and think of Xiao Yue!"
After Xiao Zhen left, Zhao Xingzhou walked around the mountain and then went to find Zhao Shiqing leisurely.
Xiao Zhen and his friends did not return empty-handed last night, they also brought back a pair of grandparents and grandchildren.
This pair of grandfather and grandson were originally servants of the Han family, a wealthy family in Tongzhou. When the Han family mansion was flooded, the master of the Han family fled in a hurry. He didn't bring many things with him, and he lost some on the way. He was unable to take care of himself, so he abandoned all the old and weak servants and fled to Gaoping with only a few strong servants and beautiful maids.
This pair of grandparents and grandchildren were abandoned by their master, Grandma Wen and her granddaughter Xiaoru.
When Xiao Zhen met them, the two of them had been trapped on a roof for several days.
There were no empty houses on the mountain. Xiao Zhen originally wanted to send them to the Huang family's farm, but when he learned that they were from the Han family, and remembered that the young lady of the Han family also lived on the mountain with her children, he brought them here.
When they came back last night, Xiao Zhen let the grandparents and grandchildren spend the night in the lobby of the teahouse for fear of waking up Zhao Shiqing. They only met Grandma Han this morning.
When Zhao Xingzhou found Zhao Shiqing, he happened to see this scene.
When Granny Wen saw Grandma Han, whom she hadn't seen for many days, she came with her granddaughter and cried with joy.
"Madam, I thought I would never see you again in this lifetime."
Zhao Xingzhou stood aside and listened to his mother-in-law talk about her experiences in the past few days.
"Alas, when we left home, the eldest young master asked the head of the household to stay behind with his eldest son to look after the house. My daughter-in-law refused and wanted to stay with her eldest son. I tried to persuade her but she refused to listen. She asked the old slave to take Xiaoru and run with the masters.
But it was raining so heavily at the time that the carriage could not move forward as soon as it left the city, so it had to be rowed on a boat. There was no boat in the mansion, so the eldest young master spent a full thousand taels to buy a boat.
The boat was not big and could not accommodate many people. The old master brought the eldest young master, four strong servants, Chunmei and two maids, and did not take the rest with him.
We, the old and the young, could only walk to Gaoping on foot, but we got separated soon after.
The old slave and the granddaughter both knew how to swim. Seeing that the road ahead was blocked and they could not go to Gaoping, they gritted their teeth and walked back, thinking that the family would die together.
However, when the old slave and his granddaughter returned to the mansion with great difficulty, they found that the mansion had been flooded and all the old slave's family members had disappeared.
My granddaughter was too young to swim, so the old servant found some food in the house, and we, the grandparents and grandchildren, relied on this little food to survive on the roof.
We thought we would either drown or starve to death, but we didn't expect someone to pass by here yesterday and save us. We also didn't expect to see the eldest young lady and the young master!"
Grandma Han's eyes were red. Granny Wen's family was the same as Old Chen's, and she was their companion. She left home in a hurry that day and only took Old Chen and his sons with her. She had been talking about Granny Wen's family with Meixiang these days, and didn't know how they were doing. She didn't expect to see them now.
"Don't worry, Mom. Since you didn't see anyone in the house, I think Uncle Wen and the others must have escaped."
Granny Wen smiled while shedding tears: "Yes, I thought so too. They must have escaped."
However, thinking that Han Dalang actually let Wen Bo and his son stay to look after the house, Han Grandma gnashed her teeth in anger. In that situation, everyone knew that staying would mean waiting for death, but Han Dalang not only kept people, but also let her companion stay. To put it bluntly, he did it on purpose.
It's immoral, so immoral.
Zhao Xingzhou's attention was all on the word Gaoping.
He asked Granny Wen, "Your master has been to Gaoping. Has he heard about the flooding of the official road?"
Granny Wen said, "When the master left, I hadn't heard anything about it. Later, someone returning from that direction told me that the road ahead had been washed away and was extremely dangerous. That's when I changed my mind and returned to the mansion with my granddaughter."
Zhao Xingzhou sighed. It seemed that his grandson was not exaggerating. The road to Gaoping was indeed blocked.
Grandma Han was secretly gritting her teeth, thinking that it would be best if that scumbag and his Chunmei were swept away by the flood. Aren't these two people in love with each other? It would be a good opportunity for them to accompany each other on the road to the underworld.
Zhao Shiqing had already learned from Xiao Zhen that Zhao Xingzhou wanted to take her to Gaoping. Seeing Zhao Xingzhou sighing, she guessed what was going on.
People can't be too idle.
"Do you want to make use of your remaining energy?"
Zhao Xingzhou was stunned: "What? Thinking about it."
Although I still don’t understand what it means to make use of one’s remaining energy, I have already said it as soon as my upper lip hit my lower lip.
Zhao Shiqing led him to the back of the house, where an old woman was with a group of children. The old woman saw Zhao Shiqing and then looked at Zhao Xingzhou who was following Zhao Shiqing: "Second Miss, is this the one you sent to help me take care of the children?"
Zhao Shiqing smiled and said, "Yes."
She then said to Zhao Xingzhou, "The children's parents are all out at work. Originally, Auntie Sun and Auntie Di were taking care of the children. But it rained yesterday, and Auntie Di's old cold legs came back, and she couldn't get out of bed. Auntie Sun couldn't handle it alone, so it's just right that you're here. Please help Auntie Sun take care of the children."
Before Zhao Xingzhou could speak, Aunt Sun pointed at him and shouted, "You, that's you, take the little fat boy to poop!"
A little fat boy ran over, holding his butt: "Hurry up, I'm going to poop in my pants, hurry up and hold me!"
Zhao Xingzhou subconsciously picked him up. Aunt Sun pointed to the distance and said, "The toilet is over there!"
Seeing the old man and the child walking away, Zhao Shiqing said to Aunt Sun, "This old man always wants to go to Gaoping to find his grandson. You've heard that the official road to Gaoping has been washed away by the flood. If he goes there, he will die. Please find him something to do and don't let him be too idle."
Aunt Sun agreed: "That's right, don't worry, Second Miss, I will make sure he is so busy that he won't have time to think about his grandson."
After arranging things for Zhao Xingzhou, Zhao Shiqing went back to busying herself with her own affairs. She heard that her mother-in-law and Xiaoru were both injured, and Xiaoru even had a slight fever. These were all matters of concern.
And Xiao Zhen's plan is still going on.
Yang Fan drove his small boat for several hours but still couldn't find the ten boats, so he had to go back and meet up with Liu Wang.
He had already thought about how to explain it, in order to make it realistic,
Yang Fan slashed his leg and smeared the blood on his face and body. Liu Wang was shocked when he saw him, but he was smart and quickly understood why Yang Fan did this.
The two men returned to Huangjiazhuang with the remaining ten boats of food and went to see Li Qing first.
As soon as he entered the door, Yang Fan knelt on the ground, crawled to Li Qing's feet and burst into tears.
"Li Tou'er, something happened, something happened!"
Seeing Yang Fan covered in blood, Li Qing asked, "Did you encounter robbers?"
Yang Fan nodded while crying, "It was very difficult along the way. I was worried about being targeted by robbers and surrounded from behind. On the way back, I discussed with Ding Gao and decided that he would lead the brothers to cover our retreat.
Everything went smoothly along the way, but when I turned a corner, I suddenly found that the boat behind me did not keep up. At first I thought they would catch up soon, but after waiting for a long time, they did not come. I lost patience and drove the boat back. I saw the shadows of the ten boats from afar, so I chased them all the way.
But before I could get close, a boat rushed over from the side and stopped me. Several people jumped out of the boat, all holding swords. Although I fought back hard, two fists were no match for four hands, and I was knocked into the water by them.
Fortunately, I am a good swimmer, so I was able to save my life. I just don’t know what happened to Ding Gao and those brothers.”
Liu Wang started crying too: "And Zhang Hui, he's on the boat too!"
Li Qing looked at the two of them coldly. There was a big loophole in Yang Fan's words, but the most important thing now was the ten ships of food that were lost.
"This matter is too big. Please follow me to see the Fourth Prince first."
However, Yang Fan and Liu Wang did not even see the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince asked them to take a bath in mugwort before seeing him.
Li Qing had no choice but to repeat Yang Fan's words to the Fourth Prince. He had originally expected the Fourth Prince to be furious, but unexpectedly, the Fourth Prince simply frowned and asked, "I have only heard that Gao Pingmin is a tough and daring person, but I didn't expect that other places are also like this."
We encountered robbers once on the way from Yanzhou to Tongzhou, and now there are robbers on the way from Tongzhou to Huiji Warehouse. Even the Jinyiwei are no match for them.
The Fourth Prince was a little scared. What if those vicious robbers came here to rob? What would he do then?
Li Qing didn't know that the Fourth Prince was worried about his own safety. He said, "I will personally lead people to search for the whereabouts of those ten boats along the river. You see..."
The Fourth Prince's brow furrowed even more tightly. "Governor Li, you should let your subordinates do it. You don't have to do this kind of thing yourself."
In an instant, Li Qing understood what the Fourth Prince was thinking. He was worried that he would become the target of robbers like the ten ships, so he asked him to stay as a bodyguard.
Li Qing had no choice but to retreat and arrange for other people to look for the ten boats and the Jinyiwei.
Yang Fan had a leg injury and was unable to move. Liu Wang took a shower and returned to his room, where he was stunned.
The ship was gone, and the promised 10,000 taels of silver were gone without even a mention.
Liu Wang is different from Zhang Hui. The You family is behind him, and his sister is the favorite concubine of Master You, so he thinks he has more face in front of the Fourth Prince than Zhang Hui.
For this reason, he handed the transaction with the merchant over to Zhang Hui and did not go himself, but he did not expect that something would go wrong.
Yang Fan trusts Ding Gao because they have been through life and death together, but Liu Wang does not trust Ding Gao. He now suspects that Ding Gao and those Jinyiwei are behind this.
Zhang Hui was just a weak scholar with no martial arts skills. There was no need for robbers. Killing him would be as easy as crushing an ant for Ding Gao.
At this moment, the servant's voice sounded outside the door: "Master Liu, someone is looking for you outside the manor."
Liu Wang was feeling annoyed and asked unhappily, "Who's looking for me?"
The servant said, "The man said his surname was Dai."
Last name Dai?
There are not many people with the surname Dai, but Liu Wang happens to know one. The businessman who does business with them is named Dai!
He slipped on his shoes, opened the door, and asked, "Where is the person?"
"The man was stopped outside the manor. Mr. Dai said he was your friend." The servant said hurriedly.
There were soldiers guarding outside the mansion where the Fourth Prince lived, and no one was allowed to approach. However, there were only yamen runners patrolling outside the manor. Therefore, if Mr. Dai wanted to see Liu Wang, he could only ask the yamen runners in the manor to pass the message to his superiors.
Liu Wang walked out quickly and after walking for an incense stick of time, he finally left the village.
Mr. Dai was wearing a conical hat with the brim pulled down low. Only when he saw Liu Wang did he take off the hat, revealing a familiar face.
It turned out to be that businessman.
Liu Wang was anxious and angry. He lowered his voice and asked, "What's going on? Where's the food and the silver?"
The merchant's face turned pale, and he trembled as he said, "Master Liu, we've fallen into a trap! Those Jinyiwei had no good intentions. They killed Master Zhang, stole the silver, and they want to kill me. I told them that my attendant was waiting for me in Baofeng City. If they didn't see me and returned, they would report me to the authorities. If they were willing to let me go, I would pay another 50,000 taels. If there was still food, I would increase the price by another 10%. They were tempted and sent someone to follow me back to Baofeng City to get the 50,000 taels. On the way, I took advantage of their unpreparedness and escaped."
Liu Wang narrowed his eyes, it was indeed those Jinyiwei!
"Then how did you find this place?"
The merchant muttered to the yamen runners not far ahead, "They took me here as a disaster victim. I heard that the Fourth Prince lived in the mansion up there, so I guessed that Master Liu must be there too, so I asked someone to invite him out."
Liu Wang knew that there were many disaster victims living in Huangjia Village, all of whom were rescued by yamen runners from all over the place. It was reasonable for the merchants to be sent here as disaster victims.
More importantly, what the businessman said was exactly consistent with his guess!
"Okay, you can stay in the manor for the time being. Those Jinyiwei haven't returned yet, so you are still safe. As for what happens next, wait for my news."
The merchant thanked him profusely and said to Liu Wang, "Master Liu, what I said to those Jinyiwei was half true and half false. My attendant is indeed still in Baofeng City, but my silver is not 50,000 taels, but 500,000 taels. And it's not just my attendant, but several others as well. This silver was pooled from several of our families, and they are all in Baofeng City as well."
Liu Wang understood that it was just a few businessmen who wanted to make a fortune from the national crisis. Among them, there was a man named Dai who had dealings with him in his early years, so he sent him to do the transaction.
Five hundred thousand taels, that’s five hundred thousand taels.
Liu Wang had seen wealth and honor when he was with the Fourth Prince, but his heart still beat wildly when he heard the number five hundred thousand taels.
He returned to the house, but he still couldn't calm down for a long time.
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