Li Wei felt a chill run down his spine. He had witnessed those people appearing and disappearing mysteriously; they were clearly not ordinary people. Why would they take Zhao Fangjing away while he was fast asleep? With these questions in mind, Li Wei went to Zhao Fangjing's bedside, felt around, and finally found a bundle under the pillow.
Li Wei picked up the bundle, walked to the round table in the room, placed the candlestick on the table, and then began to untie the bundle little by little. When he opened it, he was immediately stunned by what he saw. The bundle was full of gold.
Li Wei picked up a gold ingot, weighed it down, and figured it was worth ten taels of gold. He spread out his bundle, counted them, and found there were ten in total, which meant it was worth one hundred taels of gold.
How could a scholar possibly carry so much gold with him?
Li Wei thought for a moment, then packed his bag and hurried back to his room, not forgetting to close the door to Zhao Fangjing's room.
If it weren't for the fact that it was already late at night, Li Wei would have loved to immediately take the bundle to the Lu family and find Fourth Master to report everything that had happened.
Helpless, he could only sit on the bed and wait for dawn, because after the fright and discovery, he could no longer fall asleep.
...
As dawn broke, Li Wei dressed and hurriedly left the inn, grabbing the gold he had found under Zhao Fangjing's pillow. The servant who had helped him wash up the night before couldn't help but greet him when he saw Li Wei up so early, only to see the latter rush out as if he hadn't heard him at all.
Li Wei went into the courtyard, led out the horse that had been left in the stable the day before, mounted it, spurred it on, and galloped away.
As for the Fourth Prince, he had rested at Yan Yu's place last night and got up early this morning to return to his own room. After leaving Kangxi's place yesterday, he had found the Prefect of Jinan and given him a portrait of Li Wei's younger brother, instructing him to send people to find him. Thinking of Li Wei, the Fourth Prince felt that this man was very capable, and his shrewdness was very similar to his own, so he should be able to become his capable assistant. Sure enough, early in the morning, someone from the gatehouse came to report that Li Wei was outside, saying that he had important business to discuss with him.
Fourth Master immediately ordered them to let Li Wei in quickly. After exchanging greetings, Li Wei excitedly said, "Master, you were right. This Zhao Fangjing really is suspicious. Look, this is what I found in his room."
After saying that, Li Wei unfolded the package in front of Fourth Master, revealing its contents.
Fourth Master stared at the gold for a long time, then picked up a gold ingot and examined it repeatedly in his hand.
"Judging from the gold, we can't tell where it came from. Are you saying that Zhao Fangjing was intercepted by a group of men in black last night?" Fourth Master put the gold back.
“Yes, this servant found these men in black to be acting suspiciously and possessing extraordinary skills; they are likely all martial artists. There were four or five of them, and this servant feared I was no match for them, which is why I did not go out to stop them from taking Zhao Fangjing away,” Li Wei said.
"It seems that Zhao Fangjing was indeed acting under orders. Otherwise, how can we explain the gold? It's very likely that he was instructed to say those things to Father Emperor." The Fourth Prince said with a stern face, "For a hundred taels, Zhao Fangjing actually dared to risk losing his head to say those things to Father Emperor. It seems that this may not be the whole story."
Li Wei pondered and said, "What should we do now? Zhao Fangjing was suddenly intercepted. If we want to investigate further, we probably won't be able to find any clues."
Fourth Master nodded and said to him, "You have done your best. Go and rest. Let's leave this matter here. I will have someone find a solution. As for your brother's matter, I have already asked the Prefect of Jinan to look into it."
When Li Wei heard that Fourth Master had already begun to help him find Li Chuang, he was naturally very moved. He immediately expressed his gratitude to Fourth Master again before taking his leave.
Zhao Fangjing has disappeared? A man in black? Was he abducted in the dead of night?
With these questions in mind, the Fourth Master sat in his armchair, staring intently at the glittering gold laid out before him, lost in thought…
Surprisingly, Zhao Fangjing's body had already been buried in the wilderness. In a few days, the wild dogs that roamed the area would devour his corpse completely, leaving not even a bone fragment.
Just yesterday, he delivered a passionate speech before Emperor Kangxi, defying public opinion and uttering those shocking words.
“Let’s go, we should go back and report to our master,” one man said. The other man looked at the desolate scenery around him and couldn’t help but shiver. The two of them left immediately.
After the two men left, a head suddenly appeared where no one should have been. He went to the spot where the two bodies had been buried, dug at the soil with his hands, and after about half an hour, a bloody hand appeared. The man thought for a moment, then immediately covered the hand with soil again before getting up and running quickly towards the city.
Meanwhile, the Fourth Prince, Eighth Prince, Ninth Prince, and other princes arrived at the Mingzheng Hall early in the morning to hear Kangxi's plans. They had already stayed in Jinan for several days and should have set off by then. However, Kangxi said he suddenly felt unwell and needed to stay a few more days, ordering them to return and depart again in three days.
The Eighth Master and the Ninth Master lived very close to each other, so they rode back together in a carriage.
"Is it cleaned up?" Eighth Master suddenly opened his eyes and said coldly.
"Don't worry, that guy surnamed Zhao will never speak again," Ninth Master said with a sneer.
"Did you get the gold you gave him back?" Eighth Master asked again.
Ninth Master suddenly remembered that he had forgotten about this and hurriedly laughed awkwardly, "Damn it, I actually forgot about that. But no one should notice. Even if the people at the inn find out, they will be too greedy for the gold to arouse suspicion."
Eighth Master glanced at Ninth Master and said in a cold voice, "When did you become so careless? If that gold falls into the hands of someone with ulterior motives, it will surely cause some trouble."
Ninth Master was taken aback, then his expression changed and he said, "Then I will send someone to the inn to retrieve the gold right now."
Eighth Master nodded, then added worriedly, "We must be careful this time and avoid arousing suspicion."
Ninth Prince nodded, then said resentfully, "It's a pity that despite all we've done, Father Emperor still wholeheartedly protects the Second Prince. It's truly unfair!"
Eighth Prince gave a slight, cold smile and said, "Not necessarily. You don't know Father Emperor's temperament. As long as we bring up the evil deeds of the Second Prince again and again, Father Emperor will inevitably leave a mark in his heart."
Ninth Master still said, puzzled, "But the Crown Prince is still the Crown Prince, and we can't touch him at all."
Eighth Prince glanced at Ninth Prince and said coldly, "Tell the people in Kyoto who are keeping an eye on the Crown Prince to be on their best behavior and keep a close watch on him. I think our good second brother will definitely do something."
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