The Ace Bigshot Becomes A Farmgirl

Meng Yunzheng couldn’t be bothered with him and was still searching for the meridian points on Shu Yu, ”Here?”

”Yes, yes, yes, a bit lighter.”

Zhao Xi said, ”Are you guys even listening to me?”

Meng Yunzheng directly pulled Shu Yu back to the room, ”He’s just looking for trouble when he’s bored, I’ll take you back to rest and have the inn’s staff make some cooling tea to bring up.”

”Okay.”

Off to the side, Xia Yan hurriedly asked Ying Xi, ”Do you want some cooling tea?”

”Yes.” Ying Xi nodded immediately, without stopping his packing motions, calculating the expenses for the journey. With the pace they’re going, they might not be able to enter the next city and would have to camp outside, so he would have Xia Yan buy some more dried goods later.

With that in mind, Ying Xi caught up with Xia Yan.

Zhao Xi, ”...” He rubbed his chin, how come it felt like he was the only one doing nothing?

No, he was enduring a mental assault from both couples.

But after getting used to it, Zhao Xi numbly followed along the journey, and when they reached the southwest, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

Linzhang Prefecture seemed a bit more lively than a few years ago; they originally intended to head straight to Heichang County.

But thinking of the letter Qiao Rou had received earlier, indicating that some of her friends saw suspected black market people in the prefecture, they extended their stay by half a day, browsing the city while shopping.

However, the time was too short, and they found nothing suspicious.

Shu Yu was somewhat regretful and asked Meng Yunzheng, ”When will you contact Lord Qi?”

”No rush. We’ve just entered the city, and we don’t know if anyone’s watching us yet, so let’s assess the situation before contacting him.”

Shu Yu nodded, ”I wonder how the investigation by Lord Qi is going.”

”Probably not making much progress.” Zhao Xi clicked his tongue twice, ”Otherwise, how could Linzhang Prefecture remain so calm?”

As they chatted, he suddenly lowered his voice to ask Meng Yunzheng, ”Do you think, since the black market has been rooted in Linzhang Prefecture for years, does Lord Cheng, as the governor here, know about it? Or is he actually one of the Second Prince’s men, like the magistrate of Changjin Prefecture?”

Shu Yu found it unlikely, ”Remember Cheng Dong from back then? He was one of Gong Qiu’s people. If Lord Cheng really were in cahoots with the Second Prince, then Cheng Dong would be one of his own. There’s no need to hunt him down.”

Meng Yunzheng agreed with a ’hmm’, ”I guess Gong Qiu intended to recruit Lord Cheng into his faction, which is why he placed Cheng Dong by his side. I never understood why Gong Qiu targeted Lord Cheng. Although he was the governor here, he’s not in the capital, and the southwest is a remote area, so why buy him off? Later, when I found out the last black market was here, I understood Gong Qiu’s intent. It’s likely to make Lord Cheng a protector of the black market.”

In fact, Cheng Dong being able to become Lord Cheng’s personal guard indicated they were halfway successful.

Who knew, at this critical moment, that Meng Yunzheng would come to the southwest for Shu Yu and expose his identity, causing Gong Qiu’s plan to fail.

Zhao Xi thought that made sense.

But Meng Yunzheng sighed, ”However, whether or not Lord Cheng is one of us, he’ll likely be held accountable after this. With a black market in Linzhang Prefecture and even the Second Prince’s last forces here, yet he remained unaware, that’s negligence of duty.”

Shu Yu furrowed her brows, remembering that the last time Fang Xiyue wrote, her husband Ma Lu was currently working under Lord Cheng.