This arch-rival is fantastic!
Baibu Tower is located in the very middle of East Street in Luocheng. The bronze-colored three-character plaque is said to have been inscribed by the late emperor himself, and it still looks as good as it did back then.
Tang Qi had barely stepped onto the stairs when he was ushered inside by a shop assistant waiting outside: "Hey, young master, I've been waiting for you! Room number one, Young Master Lin is already waiting inside."
Tang Qi nodded and continued to follow him. From a distance, she saw Lin Jiacuo pacing back and forth at the door, looking very uneasy.
"What's wrong?" Tang Qi asked him, "What are you doing standing outside? Come inside."
Tang Qi put his arm around Lin Jiacuo's shoulder and led him inside. Lin Jiacuo still looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't, and there was a hint of sympathy in his eyes when he looked at Tang Qi.
"What kind of watch is this—" Tang Qi's teasing words were swallowed back as he pushed open the door.
Inside Room Number One, Cheng Junshi sat in the center, drinking tea without any ceremony.
"Why did you call him over?" Tang Qi asked Lin Jiacuo beside her, trying her best to maintain a friendly smile.
Lin Jiacuo, on the other hand, had a smile that looked more like a grimace: "I'm innocent! He came here himself. Who would dare to bother him once he sat down there?"
"Hey, who do we have here? It's our Junior Supervisor Cheng! I'm so sorry for not welcoming you properly. If I had told you you were coming, I would have had the dishes served much earlier. How could I have let you just sit here drinking tea? Jiacuo, what's wrong with you? Don't you know how to properly entertain the Junior Supervisor?"
Tang Qi was still spouting those polite words when he suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of his hand. He had to fumble with his fingers in the air several times before he caught what Cheng Junshi had thrown at him.
"Young Master Tang, the Criminal Law Department is not your private interrogation room." Seemingly tired of polite words, Cheng Jun spoke very bluntly.
Tang Qi chuckled twice, weighed the token he had just received in his hand a few times, and then tied it back to his waist. Seeing Cheng Junshi get up to leave, he subconsciously asked, "Won't Young Supervisor Cheng stay a little longer?"
Cheng Junshi frowned slightly, staring at Tang Qi with little emotion: "What do you think?"
His official robes were still on, and he didn't look like someone who had been sitting for a long time. Tang Qi suddenly felt that Cheng Junshi's gaze towards him held a hint of pity for a fool.
He touched his nose guiltily, but fortunately Cheng Junshi didn't stare at him for long before leaving. Just as he reached the door, Cheng Junshi suddenly paused, turned around and said to Tang Qi, "His name is Zhang Dong, and he used to be Wang Shili's protégé."
Tang Qi paused for a moment, then replied, "Thanks, I'll treat you to dinner later."
Cheng Junshi glanced at Lin Jiacuo standing to the side, then at Tang Qi. He seemed to want to say something, but in the end he just silently pushed the door open and left.
"Damn, Zhong Le, did you see that? The way he looked at me just now, I almost thought he was going to stab me."
"Stay calm, he sees everyone like that."
Tang Qi sat back down at the table and poured himself a cup of tea. As soon as he took a sip, he frowned at the bitterness: "What kind of tea did you choose? It's so bitter!"
"Cheng Junshi ordered the Thousand Leaf Tea." Tang Qi swallowed the tea she was about to spit out.
Thousand-leaf tea, known for its bitter taste and high price, is famous among the playboys of various aristocratic families. It is their first choice for holding grand banquets to show off. Tang Qi pushed the tea on the table away and said, "He really is rich and powerful."
"Oh, I forgot to mention, this tea is on your tab."
Tang Qi: ...
Okay, very good. A vein throbbed on his forehead.
"But Zhong Le, how do you know that Cheng Junshi will try to extract information according to your wishes?"
Tang Qi shrugged: "I don't know."
"Huh? You don't know?"
"I didn't expect him to help me get information out of him. I just sent that kid to the criminal justice department to teach him a lesson. I didn't expect to have such an unexpected gain."
No sooner had they finished speaking than the sounds of shattering bottles and curses came from downstairs. Tang Qi and Lin Jiacuo exchanged a glance and went out one after another, leaning on the railing to look.
It was a man wearing a yellow cloak, with his arm around a girl, holding a wine jug in his hand. The words coming out of his mouth were extremely filthy. Tang Qi felt too disgusted and before he could speak, the people below saw them first.
"Oh, isn't this the young marquis? Come down for a couple of drinks?"
He put his arm around the girl, looked up at Tang Qi with a sinister smile in his eyes, and Tang Qi leaned a few inches closer to the pole: "No, your wine is too strong, I can't get used to it."
He sniffed the air a few more times, then covered his nose in utter disgust: "Wang Shili, take your hand away, the smell is so strong, don't let it bother the girl."
Lin Jiacuo couldn't help but laugh. Wang Shili, who was below, was somewhat embarrassed and angry by Tang Qi's retort. He let go of the girl's hand and, as if he had found some reason to vent his anger, pointed at Lin Jiacuo's nose and cursed, "What are you laughing at? You're just Tang Qi's dog. You've been with him for a few years and you really think you're something special?"
Before Lin Jiacuo could speak, Tang Qi spoke up first: "Wang Shili, don't just attack anyone you can find. Are you so eager to show your vulgarity? The Wang family is a respectable family in Luocheng. Your father was in charge of Jingzhou. How could he have raised someone like you?"
"Pah! Tang Qi, how dare you talk to me like that? You think you're so great just because you're a general in some lousy Wolf Army? You think you're so important, looking down on everyone."
He suddenly overturned the table next to him, shattering wine bottles and cups all over the floor. A girl in fine clothes and elegant hairstyle slowly walked down from upstairs. Her face was cold and aloof. She glanced at the messy floor and said, "A total of six hundred and seventy taels. I will send someone to your residence to collect it tomorrow. Young Master Wang might as well return home early today."
She raised her hand and called people up from behind; they were all thugs who looked like they could take on three people at once.
"You just wait."
Wang Shili led a few men around him, cursing as they walked, and even couldn't help spitting on the ground several times.
"Master Chen, how come just anyone can come in and have a couple of drinks here?"
Tang Qi, who was upstairs, asked her with a smile.
Shen Zhiqing raised her hand to signal someone to clean up the floor, then slowly turned around and lifted her skirt to go upstairs: "Naturally, it can't compare to the Wolf Strategy Army's strict personnel management. Young Marquis, please excuse my poor performance."
Shen Zhiqing followed Tang Qi and the others into the top-tier room. Tang Qi spoke first, "You actually went back to Luocheng?"
Lin Jiacuo, who was standing nearby, took a pot of freshly brewed tea and poured a cup for each of them.
Shen Zhiqing sipped her tea, her emotions unreadable, and simply hummed in response.
"I thought you would stay in Cangzhou forever."
Lin Jiacuo asked her with some surprise.
“My dad told me to come back.”
Why did he call you back in such a hurry?
Shen Zhiqing paused in his tea-drinking, his eyelashes fluttering almost imperceptibly, before slowly speaking: "Get married."
"marriage??"
Lin Jiacuo was so shocked he almost fell off his chair, while Tang Qi remained calm, looking at Shen Zhiqing with a hint of teasing: "What, Zhou Ziye has become a general?"
Shen Zhiqing appears quiet, but she is surprisingly bold when it comes to love. She was rescued by Zhou Ziye when she was young and has admired him ever since. Unlike other women, Shen Zhiqing never hides her feelings for someone. She wants the whole world to witness it, so she blocked Zhou Ziye's path in public.
After being cornered by her for several weeks, Zhou Ziye finally declared, "When I become a great general, I will come and marry you."
Shen Zhiqing actually believed it and waited for him to become a great general. This childhood story spread widely among Tang Qi's circle of people, and it seemed that everyone tacitly believed that they would eventually get married.
"It wasn't him."
Shen Zhiqing's tone remained indifferent, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her.
"Not him??"
Lin Jiacuo was even more shocked. He knew that Shen Zhiqing was stubborn. Even when people pointed fingers at her back, she still stood upright in front of Zhou Ziye and expressed her feelings without any concealment. Such courage left Lin Jiacuo speechless.
"Not Zhou Ziye? Then who is it?"
After a long silence, Shen Zhiqing finally uttered a name: "Ye Qian".
"Ye Qian? Impossible."
If there is one indispensable person in the story of Shen Zhiqing and Zhou Ziye, it must be Ye Qian.
North of Tangjia Town, east of Yejia'an, Ye Qian is the eldest son of the Ye family.
In that story from back then, the name Ye Qian was omitted. He had been in love with Shen Zhiqing since childhood. For as long as she blocked Zhou Ziye, Ye Qian stayed by her side.
"Nothing is impossible. The Emperor has issued a decree, and imperial orders cannot be disobeyed."
Shen Zhiqing's voice sounded tired, as if talking about this matter had drained all her strength.
Tang Qi was momentarily stunned. Compared to Shen Zhiqing, he was more familiar with Ye Qian. When Shen Zhiqing was pursuing Zhou Ziye, Ye Qian was behind her, carefully protecting her reputation.
Just as Shen Zhiqing loudly confessed her feelings, Ye Qian stood firmly behind her, defending her just as firmly.
If Tang Qi hadn't stumbled upon him arguing heatedly with someone about frankness and debauchery, this relationship might have truly been buried in a place unknown to anyone.
"He traded his father's military achievements for his marriage to me."
When Shen Zhiqing finished speaking, he could not hide the disgust in his eyes.
How could she not hate someone who could so easily decide her life by using her family's military merits to even arrange a marriage?
"No, Ye Qian would never do such a thing."
“Young Marquis, I know you have a close relationship with him, but that’s the truth. Do you think there’s any point in defending him anymore?”
Shen Zhiqing interrupted Tang Qi somewhat forcefully. Her feelings for Ye Qian were complicated. They used to be friends. She thought Ye Qian was steady, upright, and a good man, so she was happy to associate with him. But after this incident, it was like dirt in her tea. Although she could still drink it, the resentment in her heart was constantly pricking her heart.
Tang Qi also frowned. Shen Zhiqing didn't know, but he did. If Ye Qian really had the intention to force a marriage, why would he wait until now?
When will you get married?
Shen Zhiqing finally put down his cup: "The ninth day of next month."
"So urgent?"
Lin Jiacuo was surprised again: "The battle of Qing Teng Valley ended less than a month ago, and General Ye has not yet returned to Jingzhou. You and Ye Qian are getting married next month?"
Shen Zhiqing was also taken aback. "General Ye hasn't returned to Jingzhou yet?" She then turned to Tang Qi and asked in confusion, "Then what are you doing here?"
"After the Battle of Qing Teng Valley, I was originally going to go south with General Ye to assist my father in his southern expedition, but I was suddenly transferred back to the capital by General Ye. After spending more than half a month in Jingzhou reporting on my duties, I received an imperial decree and returned to Luoyang."
Tang Qi focused his mind. He had already found the transfer order strange, and now his doubts only deepened. As he pondered, the door to room number one in the "Heavenly" section was suddenly flung open, and a young man rushed in, his expression panicked and his voice urgent: "Brother! Something's happened!"
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