old subordinates
Emperor Sheng trembled as he read through it, then burst into laughter. After a long moment, he raised his head grimly, stared at Baili Hongyuan, and said, "My dear, do you know what your punishment would be if this matter is unjust?"
Baili Hongyuan said without hesitation, "I am not afraid to die to prove my loyalty! The Supervisory Office is the last line of defense for Your Majesty. If I were to be as timid and hesitant as those court officials, trying to balance the pros and cons, how could I protect Your Majesty? I have already put life and death aside!"
After saying this, he took off his soft armor and threw it on the ground: "It is at your Majesty's disposal."
Baili Hongyuan was very sure that Emperor Sheng would not kill him. He could not cut off his arms before confirming whether Marquis Xichang had any intention of rebellion.
As expected, Emperor Sheng said, "Wangji, that's not what your uncle meant. Why are you throwing away your armor to apologize? Put it on quickly."
Wangji is Baili Hongyuan's courtesy name, and Emperor Sheng would only call him that when he needed to improve their relationship.
"Yes!" Baili Hongyuan finished putting on his clothes and said, "The northwestern border has been completely controlled by the Marquis of Xichang. I haven't found any more evidence or details, but this matter concerns the stability of the country. Your Majesty must be on guard, but you must not alert the enemy."
"What are you going to do?" asked Emperor Sheng.
"We must lure the Marquis of Xichang back to the capital and separate him from the main army. This will give the Supervisory Office an opportunity to infiltrate and investigate, and then defeat them one by one. The best bait is the Marquis of Xichang's son."
Emperor Sheng narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment before saying, "Go ahead and do it, but before you have irrefutable evidence, you must not harm the lives of anyone in the Marquis of Xichang's mansion."
"Yes!" Baili Hongyuan gritted his teeth. The emperor was really partial to the Marquis of Xichang!
To deal with the Marquis of Xichang, solid evidence is required, but to deal with the Qin family, only empty words are heard.
With the emperor's tacit approval, the Censorate immediately went to the Marquis of Xichang's mansion to arrest Duan Zheng.
This time, with the kidnapper's body, it would not be difficult to fabricate a case and investigate for several months. It would not be as easy as just scaring Duan Zheng and letting him go.
After hearing the news, Qin Yousi felt relieved for the time being, but because of the kidnappers, he also paid attention to his own safety.
She is no longer the talented Qin Yousi, but now just the frail Sang Youzhi.
You can't hide in Qingshan Lane in Baili Hongyuan all day without going out.
Time to catch up with old buddies.
Back then, the Qin family was very wealthy and powerful, with nearly three hundred masters and servants in the main house, the Duke of Jiguo's Mansion alone.
To support so many people, the court salary alone is far from enough, and the Qin family also has its own general business.
Although the Qin family held real power over the three major institutions, namely the Imperial Medical Service, the Imperial Pharmacy, and the Medical Administration Bureau, the family motto clearly stated that they were not allowed to use public resources for personal gain. Therefore, the Qin family's core industries avoided medicine and instead made considerable achievements in banking, weaving, construction, and other areas.
Many of the time-honored shops on Shengjing Street back then had connections with the Qin family.
While visiting the temple fair earlier, Qin Yousi had noticed that the signs for the old Qin family businesses were gone. She felt a little reluctant, however, as these businesses weren't registered under the Qin family's name. When the Qin family was destroyed, the imperial court wouldn't have wiped out all the foreign affairs stewards. There should have been some left.
Maybe the managers changed their names for safety?
Holding on to a glimmer of hope, Qin Yousi, when she was leaving the city to see Ye Jiashu off, followed the secret code her father had taught her. She piled three thin stones into a small stone tower at the corner of the relevant shop, and then pressed a leaf under the stone, like the Chinese character "Qin".
If any old friend of the Qin family saw her and was willing to contact her, they would place a crimson gauze lantern under the eaves to signal her to come and meet them.
As night falls, the lights come on.
On his way back to Bailutai from his work, Baili Hongyuan passed by Jiufeng Bank and saw a crimson gauze lantern under the porch. He took a closer look.
After crossing two streets, I saw the same crimson gauze lantern at the entrance of Siding Construction Workshop.
He looked at it thoughtfully for a few seconds, and his personal attendant Xin Chen soon noticed it: "Sir, isn't this the Qin family's secret code for contact?"
Baili Hongyuan nodded. When he and Qin Youan, the eldest son of the Qin family, went to the four southern states to quell the epidemic, he had seen Qin Youan use this method to seek support in a critical moment.
In the past few years, he has secretly helped the Qin family members and used this method.
Right now, who else is there in the capital besides him?
He subconsciously thought of Sang Youzhi.
However, if it was really her, a relative from another family, how could she know things that only the Qin family’s legitimate children could know?
Was it Qin Yousi who taught her five years ago?
As far as he knew, Qin Yousi and his little cousin Sang Youzhi were not that close!
Gripping the reins, Baili Hongyuan asked Xin Chen, "Have you arranged all the secret guards around Miss Sang?"
Xin Chen replied, "Don't worry, Governor. Gu Wu returned to the capital yesterday and will follow you today."
Gu Wu is the first female secret guard of the Supervisory Office. Not only is she skilled in martial arts, but she also knows many strange escape techniques, and is highly regarded by Baili Hongyuan.
Baili Hongyuan transferred her back to personally guard Qin Yousi, and Xin Chen and other subordinates had a rough idea of her position.
Qin Yousi didn't know that she was being followed. After she gave the Qin family's secret code, she happened to turn to Zhuque Street.
Her two shops are right here, and she plans to go and take a look.
As he was walking on the road, he was suddenly rushed from behind by a galloping carriage.
"Get out of the way! Get out!" the driver shouted arrogantly, waving the whip in his hand in a show of force.
Qin Yousi couldn't avoid it in time, but fortunately a young lady who passed by helped her and she was able to escape.
"Thank you..." Just as she was about to say thank you, she saw two teams of guards running wildly after the carriage, and passers-by were pushed and scattered. Qin Yousi didn't see clearly who saved her.
Qin Yousi hid in the corner in embarrassment and looked at the carriage and guards with displeasure. They looked so majestic and it was indeed not an ordinary family's trip.
There are only two kinds of people in the same family. The person sitting in the carriage was the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Xichang, Duan Zheng’s younger sister Duan Yao.
Duan Yaoben was on vacation with his mother at a farm outside Beijing when he suddenly learned that his elder brother had been arrested and imprisoned, so he rushed back immediately.
As soon as she got off the carriage, she raised her hand and whipped the guard Tianying and the housekeeper Wu Bo who came to greet her.
"You bastards! You've kept this a secret! You haven't told Father, Mother, or me. If anything happens to my eldest brother, I won't deserve to chop off the heads of your entire family!"
Everyone in the Marquis' Mansion knelt down, not daring to make a sound.
If Duan Yao hadn't heard others say it at the gathering, he wouldn't have known that something big had happened in the Marquis' Mansion.
When Yan Rong arrived, she saw this scene.
Yan Rong usually treated the sister-in-law of the Marquis' Mansion with respect and did not dare to offend her in the slightest.
"Yao'er, you're finally back... The prince forbad us to make it public, and he didn't leave any other arrangements. We've tried everything these past few days, but we haven't been able to get into Bailu Terrace to see him. We really don't know what to do. Come up with a plan quickly..."
Useless fool.
Duan Yao cursed in her heart. Due to the presence of servants, she did not directly offend Yan Rong, but she had always looked down upon her sister-in-law.
Normally, he only has some petty tricks that are not worthy of being shown on the public, and he is very confused when doing things.
Duan Yao ignored her and directly scolded Tian Ying: "Hurry up and tell me everything. If you dare to hide it again, I will punish you on behalf of my father!"
While the Duan family was busy going to Bailu Terrace to rescue people, Qin Yousi also became busy.
In the bright month of May, she welcomed the Yuan couple after several months of absence.
The Yuan couple were very excited when they saw Qin Yousi again, especially Mrs. Yuan. She checked her from head to toe and finally stopped crying when she saw that she was in good health.
Qin Yousi took them to the shop on Zhuque Street and told them his idea.
When the Yuan couple learned that she had partnered with a noble person of such status and position to open a rouge shop, they were quite frightened, but they were also very glad that they decided to tell her about her life story.
Opening a clinic and a rouge shop is not an easy task, but some of them have experience and they can prepare quickly.
The Yuan couple brought their apprentice, Sixi, to set up the clinic. Qin Yousi invited Yu Huan and her fiancé, the accountant Wu Jun, to come over. Liu Ying instructed the people from the Prince's Mansion to manage the rouge shop, and both shops gradually took shape.
When preparing for the opening, Qin Yousi sent out invitations everywhere and specially gave a few to Uncle Zhou in Qingshan Lane.
Before the Rouge Shop was closed, Qin Yousi had been living in Qingshan Lane. She had noticed that Uncle Zhou had been going out at night recently, so she took the opportunity to send him a message while sending out invitations: "Uncle Zhou, please tell the old members of the Qin family that I am opening a small shop and I hope they will come and show their favor."
Uncle Zhou's eyes widened in surprise, but he lowered his voice and asked, "Was the Qin family's mark left by you, my cousin?"
Qin Yousi nodded and said, "I left signs in front of four shops, and three of them responded by hanging crimson lanterns. However, I wasn't sure if they were still loyal to the Qin family, so I didn't dare to meet them. After waiting for a few days, I found that two of them contacted you, so I thought they must be reliable."
Uncle Zhou nodded immediately and said, "If I had known it was you, my cousin, it would have been much easier! The head of Jiufeng Bank is the son of Manager Sun, and the owner of Siding Construction Workshop is Fangzhu Deng. They're both former members of the Qin family and very reliable. But we also saw the crimson gauze lanterns at Ningxi Weaving House. The owner there is now from the Sang family, so I'm afraid they might have ulterior motives... We're also worried that whoever left the mark might mistakenly trust Ningxi Weaving House, so we've got people watching them all day long."
Qin Yousi wrote them down one by one and thanked them, "Thank you for your concern. Uncle Zhou, please make arrangements for me. I want to meet Boss Sun and Master Deng."
When Baili Hongyuan returned to Qingshan Lane, Qin Yousi was just coming out of Uncle Zhou's gatehouse.
Seeing Baili Hongyuan's questioning look, Qin Yousi said, "The clinic and rouge shop will open soon. I'll send Uncle Zhou an invitation and invite everyone to come and show their support."
Baili Hongyuan nodded and extended his hand.
Qin Yousi looked at him in confusion.
Baili Hongyuan's expression turned colder: "Not mine?"
Qin Yousi was very embarrassed. She really had no intention of inviting him.
A "big shot" like him, who is busy with all kinds of affairs every day and is also a powerful supervisory official, has nothing to do with the opening of her small shop.
But Baili Hongyuan took the initiative to reach out, and she couldn't resist, so she said hurriedly: "Your post is in my room, I'll go get it! Wait a moment!"
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