Seeing Qingqiu's serious expression, it seemed she wasn't lying—given Qingqiu's simple nature, it seemed unlikely she would lie.
Jing Zhe then realized that Qiu Qianqian didn't even know about Qi Gulong's murder, so he asked Qingqiu again. Sure enough, she didn't know either.
It seems that the Prince of Jin is indeed controlling the dissemination of information in Jinxi.
So I explained it to Qingqiu, and she finally understood.
He sincerely said, "You're really amazing."
Jing Zhe was overjoyed by Qing Qiu's praise.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Fairy Maiden, I brought your token with me too!"
He took it out as he spoke.
Qingqiu looked at him with some doubt: "Fine, then bring it."
"Huh? Don't sects usually check tokens? Doesn't your sect check them? If you don't have your token, won't your sect blame you?"
"We won't check."
Qingqiu shook her head, then looked at him with some suspicion: "What, do you know about the inspections conducted by other sects?"
"Well…"
Jing Zhe quickly waved his hand: "I was just guessing!"
He quickly put the token away again; it seems only Tongtianque has such a perverse habit.
"Oh, right."
Qingqiu looked at him and said in a somewhat flat voice, "What he was talking about earlier—Junior Sister Wang? Sister Yingqiu?"
"Uh...yes!"
"How did you two meet? Are you... very close?"
Qingqiu's clear, transparent eyes were fixed on Jing Zhe's eyes. Jing Zhe didn't dare to blink or waver, afraid of failing to control his micro-expressions.
"It's like this, the Mid-Autumn Poetry Gathering was held at Wuxian Garden, right? The garden owner was the host, which is how we met. This time, we came from Jingzhou, and the garden owner happened to be returning to Ruzhou. We were on the same route, and that guy surnamed Lin saw us and, out of jealousy, maliciously slandered me!"
Qingqiu nodded, confused about the difference between "garden owner" and "estate owner".
But it's clear that she trusts Jing Zhe.
Seeing this, Jing Zhe breathed a sigh of relief and then smiled, "Fairy, lead me inside and let me pay my respects to your Qingyun Sect!"
The Qingyun Sect lived in a detached house with a courtyard. At this moment, the two were standing in the alley outside the courtyard. After Jing Zhe finished speaking, Qing Qiu's face turned red instantly.
"What...why are you going to our sect?"
"Of course we should pay a visit! Given our relationship, shouldn't we go in and pay a visit?"
"What...what's our relationship?"
Qingqiu whispered.
"Have you forgotten how much silver your sect earned by working together to crack down on the fake Qingyun Sect? We're comrades-in-arms! For that reason alone, shouldn't you invite me to visit your sect? I bet your elders would welcome me if they heard it was me!"
Jing Zhe's words seemed to make some sense, but Qing Qiu's face turned red and white in waves. Suddenly, she was taken aback and asked, "You just said that your newspaper is mainly responsible for interviewing others, and you were personally sent to Jinxi by His Majesty Emperor An—are you, like other court officials, actually here to win over the major sects?"
"..."
I never expected Qingqiu to be so clever.
"Well... it's not really about trying to win them over, it's more like a friendly exchange and consultation!"
Qingqiu glanced at him coldly, her expression a half-smile, and said, "Is this why you want to come and see our sect?"
"..."
Before he could answer, Qingqiu directly refused, saying, "Then I can tell you very clearly: no! The Duke of Wei has come several times before, but my master refused him each time, so it's normal for him to refuse you too. We can't show favoritism!"
After saying that, he looked rather smug, his lips slightly upturned, and said with a hint of pride: "You said you came specifically to see me? Liar!"
"Fairy, this is not right."
"What's wrong with it?"
"We were comrades who fought side by side, and you left me a keepsake before you left. I traveled all the way to Jinxi to find you. If you refuse such a small request, isn't that a bit too hurtful to a comrade?"
"snort!"
Qingqiu pouted: "What I left you was our Qingyun Sect's token, not some kind of keepsake! Besides, it was given to you to thank you for earning so much silver for our Qingyun Sect! Also, you traveled all the way to Jinxi for the imperial court, and coming to see me was just a side trip—no, you didn't come by side trip, you came here on purpose to have me bring you into our sect!"
She wasn't particularly angry at first, but after speaking, Qingqiu felt a surge of anger and let out a cold snort.
"Pah, shameless!"
"..."
Jing Zhe felt he should feel honored, since Qing Qiu usually acted like a fairy who was detached from worldly affairs and high above others. For her to say something like "shameless" with a hint of coquetry, of course he should feel honored.
When a woman tells herself she's shameless, treat it as a sign of affection; this is Jing Zhe's principle.
"Fairy Maiden, have we lost even the most basic trust between people? You're hurting your comrades' feelings!"
Jing Zhe clutched his chest. He didn't necessarily want to go to Qingyun Sect—because he knew he would go sooner or later—but rather he wanted to tease Qingqiu. He found it cute and amusing to see such a serious fairy lose her composure.
As if she knew Jing Zhe was joking, Qing Qiu didn't care. Suddenly, she remembered that since she met him, she had only ever heard him called A-Kun—but no matter how she looked at it, the name didn't seem like his real name, so she decided to ask him.
"Young Master!"
Before she could speak, a deep, honest voice came from the end of the street. Turning around, she saw it was indeed the same simple-minded man who had been following her.
Why are you here?
Looking at the panting Hanhan, Jing Zhe asked curiously.
"Young Master..."
Hanhan glanced at Qingqiu, leaned to the side with obvious fear, and then said, "Young Chieftain, we just got back to the inn when Prince Jin's men arrived, saying they wanted to take us back to Prince Jin's mansion! His Highness immediately sent me to find you. Hurry back!"
After listening, Qingqiu said, "Since you have something to do, go and get busy!"
Jing Zhe cupped his hands in farewell, nodded, said "Goodbye," and ran off.
Qingqiu stared at his back for a long time. Only when Jing Zhe completely disappeared into the narrow street did she come back to her senses and smile slightly.
She really is a special person.
...
Back at the inn with Hanhan, Jing Zhe saw a carriage and a troop of soldiers outside, along with some onlookers pointing and whispering.
"Stop looking, everyone disperse, everyone disperse!"
A man who appeared to be a minor leader among the officers and soldiers saw the crowd of onlookers growing larger and larger, and he impatiently tried to drive them away, but to little avail, as the people did not seem to be afraid of him.
We were just watching the show, we didn't steal or rob, what are you going to do to us arresting us?
The foreman sneered, "The Prince of Jin doesn't like so many people watching his affairs!"
"..."
As soon as these words were spoken, the area that was just packed with people vanished in an instant.
————
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