Xiao Nanhui sighed in his ear: "Alright. It's just a pity that I brought back those mushrooms from Beizhi with so much trouble. The weather is about to get hot, and I'm afraid I can't keep them anymore. I'll just have to feed Jixiang..."
Jixiang is Xiao Nanhui's mount, a spotted horse with mixed hair that loves to eat mushrooms.
Yao Yi almost jumped up from his original position, so agilely that Xiao Nanhui thought he was going to drill a hole through the roof and escape in one go.
"Xiao Nanhui! You prodigal son! How can a living person like me be inferior to a beast with hooves?!"
Sometimes, Xiao Nanhui thought Yao Yi and Jixiang were quite similar. Yao Yi was ugly, had a bad temper, and was very picky about his food. He wouldn't eat anything other than the freshest mushrooms, but when you really needed one, it was quite reliable.
Yao Yi was still sniffing, and Xiao Nanhui quickly pulled him back onto the cushions with a grin, "How can it compare to you? I've had someone chisel those mushrooms and put them on ice. How about... I'll send them to you tomorrow?"
Yao Yi grabbed the tangerine on the table, peeled it, and stuffed seven or eight petals into his mouth. "Tomorrow?"
Xiao Nanhui quickly expressed his determination: "Today, today, I will have someone send it to you when I return home. Hmm..." After pondering for a while, he couldn't avoid the serious matter, "Brother Yao, do you have anything to share with me?"
Yao Yi swallowed the orange in his mouth, took a sip of tea, and then hooked his finger.
Xiao Nan understood what he meant and hurried closer.
Yao Yi lowered his voice and said slowly, "Have you heard of the Qu family in Wancheng?"
Xiao Nanhui looked bewildered: "Qu family? Which Qu family?"
Yao Yi said with disdain: "If you hang around in that military camp any longer, you'll become a fool. You should know Buxugu, right?"
After hearing this, Xiao Nanhui suddenly understood.
Wancheng is located in the central part of Jizhou. It is a thousand-year-old ancient city. The whole city is surrounded by mountains and water. There is a quiet valley in the west. Only people from the valley can enter. It is Buxu Valley.
For thousands of years, Buxu Valley has produced many extraordinary people. To this day, the legend of their family is still circulating in the territory of Wancheng. Xiao Nanhui, who has traveled all over the country with the army, naturally knew about it.
She nodded, unwilling to be labeled a fool. She half-opened her mouth and thought hard, "Are you saying that the unrest in the palace is related to this Qu family?"
"Who knows?" Yao Yi remained silent, fiddling with a white bead on the abacus as he chatted about the past. "It's rumored that the Qu family, once so powerful that it could upend the world, came from Buxu Valley. But since Tiancheng, we haven't heard of this family in years. Their sudden appearance now is probably not a good thing."
Three hundred years ago, the Chizhou Continent gave rise to the Qu clan. At its peak, the Qu clan consisted of only a dozen or so members, yet these few individuals both founded and destroyed a dynasty.
Legend has it that the Qu family produced extraordinary individuals, their bloodlines linked, and if one person advanced, the rest would follow. At the time, the dynasty still bore the surname Qiu, and the emperor favored the Qu family, appointing them to oversee confidential matters. Though they held no official position, they were likened to second emperors, a legacy that continued until the dynasty's fall.
The Qiu family built their empire, and it was they who destroyed it. Historical records comment on this: "There was the Qu family of the southwest, emerging from the valley. In their time, they were saviors, now they are demons who destroy the world." Impermanence.
Such beings have always been favored and feared by kings since ancient times.
Yao Yi was quite gifted at storytelling, and he clearly didn't want to say more today. He only whispered, "Half a month ago, someone in Muerhe, Huozhou, offered a high price to a descendant of the Qu family to appraise jade. Now, half a month has passed, and I don't know if anyone has responded."
After saying that, Yao Yi lowered his head and continued to count the accounts. Xiao Nanhui knew that the other party would not say anything more, so he started to think about it himself.
Huozhou Murhe, Yu, a descendant of the Qu family.
What underlying connection was there between these three that caused the almighty king to become so restless that he summoned even important officials to the palace for a discussion? Could it be...
A vague idea flashed through Xiao Nanhui's mind, and then he himself found it a little unbelievable.
Among the matters the Qu family once oversaw for the royal family was the safekeeping of the imperial seal. After the fall of the Niehyun Dynasty, the whereabouts of one of the three seals became unknown, and it was last seen near Murhe in northern Huozhou.
In recent years, rumors about this jade seal have never ceased, but most of them are just hearsay. Xiao Nanhui is not one to inquire about news, but he has been paying attention to this matter, simply because this jade seal is related to a piece of Xiao Zhun's family history.
Although Yao Yi didn't even raise his head, he seemed to know what Xiao Nanhui was thinking. He said bluntly, "Stop thinking about that. Some things cannot be investigated by you alone."
Xiao Nanhui was unwilling to give up and stammered, "But..."
Xiao Nan's reply was fine, except he was a bit stubborn. Yao Yi instinctively felt that his temper was about to break down.
"Seventy-nine people from the Xiao family died, but Xiao Zhun was the only one missing. Tell me, why did the person who committed the crime let him go?"
Xiao Nanhui didn't expect Yao Yi to bring up such a taboo topic so easily. He was stunned for a moment, and after a while he said, "Maybe it's because he doesn't know."
"Yes, because he doesn't know. Do you think those people would let him go if he knew now?"
Xiao Nanhui fell silent.
Yao Yi sighed slightly and said no more.
For a moment, the only sound in the side room was the clacking of the abacus.
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