Qin Tian Pavilion, Fu Hu Hall.
Mo Hun knelt on the ground, his back straight, but his head was bowed.
Qin Kou'er sat in the pear blossom chair, her hands tapping on the back of the chair. She didn't speak, but the entire room was filled with an extremely oppressive atmosphere.
"Is killing someone really that difficult? You can't even kill anyone and you've chosen the wrong master. Has Qin Tiange become so muddle-headed these days? Or are our rules too lax?!"
Qin Kou'er's voice remained low and gentle, seemingly calm yet each word was like a lash, causing pain not to the body but to the heart.
Mo Hun kowtowed to the ground with a crisp thud, then looked up to find blood seeping from his forehead: "It's all my fault for failing in my duties! I'll go to the punishment hall to receive my punishment after I find the person!"
With that, Mo Hun stood up and started to walk out.
"Too late!" Qin Kou'er's eyes flickered as she looked at Mo Hun: "Lan Linxue has already entered the city; she must be chasing after Shi Mengjian. Do you think you can still find her now?"
Mo Hun stopped again, without saying a word.
At this moment, a man in white robes hurried in, handsome as a fairy from a painting. He bowed to Qin Kou'er first, then reported, "Shi Mengjian has found out! He's hiding in the Mandarin Duck Pavilion in Yangzhou with a courtesan named Zhao Ling'er. We just don't know exactly where she's hiding! Also, tonight is the day Ling'er will be deflowered at a high price!"
"A brothel?" Qin Kou'er slowly stood up, a smile playing on her lips. "A brothel? Interesting!"
After saying that, he turned to look at the white-clad man on the ground: "Where did the Crown Prince leave?"
The man in white paused for a moment before saying, "They disappeared after entering the city!"
Qin Kou'er immediately glanced at the white-robed Jun Yannuo, and then gave him a charming smile: "Good! Good! I've heard these words twice in one day! And at the headquarters of Qin Tian Pavilion! You've done a good job!"
After saying that, Qin Kou'er turned around and walked out, never looking at the two people on the ground again.
"Arrange for someone to go to the Mandarin Duck Pavilion!"
"Yes!" Mo Hun and Jun Yan Nuo bowed and accepted the order.
Just as Qin Kou'er was about to leave, Jun Yannuo suddenly said, "Sect Master, shouldn't we send more people to investigate Lan Linxue's whereabouts?"
Qin Kou'er paused for a moment, then said without even turning her head, "The Crown Prince is in a brothel!"
After saying that, he left behind a graceful figure and walked into the night.
Qin Kou'er felt pressured to approach Lan Linxue, but Lan Linxue easily found out about Qin Kou'er.
"Master, we've found out everything about Qin Kou'er!" the subordinate said cautiously, standing below with a scroll in his hand.
Lan Linxue lay lazily on the soft bed, which was covered with a snow-white fox fur. He stroked the Persian cat in his arms while gesturing to the ground below.
"Yes!" The subordinate quickly opened the scroll and reported, "Qin Kou'er, ancestral home unknown! Parents unknown! Background unknown!..."
Before his subordinate could finish speaking, Lan Linxue threw the Persian cat from his hand, which landed directly on his face. With a "meow," the cat cried out in surprise, and five bloody scratches appeared on the subordinate's face.
"Wow!" The cat landed and ran away instantly.
"You've said so many ominous things, yet you still dare to stand right in front of me?" Lan Linxue tilted her head slightly, a bloodthirsty coldness appearing on her stunning face.
"Your subordinate knows his mistake!" The man immediately knelt down, abandoning the book he was holding, and said directly, "Five years ago, Qin Kou'er founded Qin Tian Pavilion and personally served as its head. Within a few years, she opened thirty-five banks and twenty-six pawnshops across the country! Moreover, she acquired all the mulberry and silkworm fields in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, and runs the largest silk shop in Jiangnan. The silk supplied to the palace is all made by her."
That's the surface level. What's still unsubstantiated is that she owns the best cosmetics shop in the country, Shui Xiu Ge; the largest horse ranch in the Northwest; and vast tracts of land in Henan and beyond the Great Wall. She controls enough grain to feed the entire capital for a year!
After saying this, the subordinate fell silent.
Lan Linxue picked up a cherry from the fruit plate next to her and examined it with great interest. "So it's a pile of silver. No wonder the luminous pearl in her sedan chair is bigger than the ones in the palace! Is she involved with the court or the palace?"
"I can't find anything!" Although his face was scratched all over, he had to tell the truth in front of Lan Linxue; he absolutely couldn't lie, or he'd lose face. "Qin Tian Pavilion has extremely strict rules, and we can't even infiltrate them! But, according to outsiders, Qin Kou'er never deals with the government..."
Lan Linxue suddenly sat up, half-bent over, and looked at her subordinate with amusement, glancing left and right as if her subordinate's face was blooming with joy.
"I sent you out to find out what was going on, and you come back and mimic me without even thinking. Are you a parrot? You actually believe Qin Kou'er's claim that she doesn't deal with the government? If she doesn't, how did those silks in the palace fly in by themselves? How did I end up raising such a bunch of pigs!"
As she spoke, Lan Linxue suddenly flicked the cherry in her hand, which hit her subordinate on the forehead. With a "plop," the cherry shattered, as if blood was flowing out.
Just as Lan Linxue was about to unleash her fury and continue hitting the cherry blossoms, a cold-faced man dressed in blue walked in. Upon seeing Lan Linxue, he neither bowed nor knelt, but simply said coldly, "Qin Kou'er has arrived!"
Lan Linxue paused for a moment, tilted her head, and suddenly laughed, "How come whoever I want just shows up? I think I should give her something, otherwise it would be a disservice to the fright I suffered last night!"
"Are you going to kill her?" A dark red glint flashed in the blue-robed man's eyes.
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