"Oh?" Li Zhao was truly surprised. He had thought that Xiao Jingcheng was so discouraged by his words yesterday that he left in a hurry last night. It turned out that it was Mu Jin who drove him away?
"Why did Mu Jin drive him away?" Li Zhao asked. "Weren't they getting along fine yesterday afternoon?"
Qi Wen scratched his head and said, "I don't know either. I only know that the two of them had a fight last night. Lady Jiang threw a large bag of silver on the ground and drove Brother Jing away."
"I wanted to mediate and persuade Brother Jing to stay, but Lady Jiang wouldn't let me," Qi Wen muttered.
"It's the first time I've seen Lady Jiang get so angry. She usually seems to have a really good temper and always greets people with a smile. I didn't expect her to be so stubborn when she gets angry."
Li Zhao looked at Ye Wanmian.
She was smiling as she felt people's pulses. She seemed no different from usual and didn't seem to be affected by last night's incident.
But he clearly saw that there was a wisp of melancholy lingering between her eyebrows. Maybe even she didn't notice that her gaze always drifted to the right, as if subconsciously looking for someone.
After all, she did care about that person to some extent. He just didn't know what else that surnamed Xiao had done to make her so angry.
Forget it. The only person he cared about was Mu Jin. Since Mu Jin didn't want to keep him, there was nothing to be sorry about.
Moreover, it was good that that person left. In this way, they didn't have to be on tenterhooks to cover for him, nor did they have to deal with that hypocritical Prince Xuan.
Li Zhao said indifferently, "He was going to leave sooner or later. Whether he left earlier or later doesn't make much difference. Besides, it's good that he left. Otherwise, that prince from the Liuxiang Tower would come here to inquire about things every now and then, which wouldn't do any good to Mu Jin either."
Qi Wen understood this principle, but after getting along for so long, he always felt a bit reluctant.
Moreover, his storybook wasn't finished yet!
If His Highness the Crown Prince left, wouldn't this story be aborted?
Wouldn't his wish to make a fortune with this storybook also be aborted?
"Sigh—" Qi Wen sighed again.
Just then, someone came for cold tea. Li Zhao and Qi Wen perked up and began to get busy.
Once they got busy, they didn't have time to think about other things. However, for some reason, it seemed even hotter today than yesterday. In just a moment, Li Zhao's clothes were soaked with sweat.
A stuffy and hot wind blew out of nowhere. The sweat had already broken out again on his forehead, which he had just wiped with a handkerchief. Li Zhao frowned and looked up at the sky.
The temperature was a bit off. It seemed that a change in the weather was coming to Dongli Town.
...
At the Zhao family's, Xiao Yixuan was sitting in the main seat, while Zhao Hu was standing beside him with his hands hanging down.
"Tell me. Why did your gambling house catch fire last night for no reason?"
Zhao Hu said with a bitter face, "It's all because of my brother. He had a fight with his wife yesterday. His wife even slapped him in public. He followed his wife home and was then driven out by her. I heard that his wife was talking about divorcing him."
"Maybe he was so angry that he caused a ruckus in the gambling house. He not only drove everyone away but also set the gambling house on fire. It almost made me mad."
Xiao Yixuan stared closely at Zhao Hu's expression, then raised his hand to take a sip of tea. The bitter taste was really hard to bear, so he silently put down the cup.
"Oh? Since it caught fire, why didn't you report it to the authorities but just let the fire spread?"
"Do you know how terrifying a big fire can be in this kind of weather? If the fire spreads to other houses and hurts people, you'll be punished!"
Although there was a smile on Xiao Yixuan's face, his gaze was extremely oppressive. Different from the fear he felt when facing Xiao Jingcheng, Zhao Hu's legs were really a bit weak and trembling at this moment.
A black dog was following beside his leg. It looked at Zhao Hu and let out a low growl from its throat.
Zhao Hu gave a start and said, "There are no other people living near the commoner's gambling house, so it won't affect others. Moreover, he's my own brother, and the commoner doesn't want to pursue this matter..."
Xiao Yixuan laughed, "I didn't expect you to be such a kind person."
Zhao Hu forced a smile, "Your Highness is joking, joking."
"The Liuxiang Tower where I stayed last night was burglarized, and 5,000 taels of silver notes were stolen. Now I'm searching the whole town for suspicious people. I heard that there was something strange here last night, so I came here."
Xiao Yixuan stood up. "Since you said it was done by your own brother and you don't plan to pursue it, let's just leave it at that."
"However, please also keep an eye out for me. If you see any suspicious people with silver notes printed with the words 'Fenglong Bank' squandering money in your gambling house, you must send someone to inform me."
Fenglong Bank?!
A thunderbolt went off in Zhao Hu's heart. Isn't that the 5,000 taels of silver notes that General Tunri gave him?
It turned out that those silver notes belonged to His Highness the Prince Xuan?!
Zhao Hu tried his best to restrain himself from showing any signs. He nodded and bowed, smiling, "Yes, yes, yes. The commoner will definitely keep an eye out for Your Highness. However, the gambling house was burned down, and it will take time to rebuild it. I'm afraid the gambling house won't open again for a while."
After seeing Xiao Yixuan off and returning home, Zhao Hu's legs went weak, and he almost knelt on the ground. The people beside him quickly supported him and said, "Master, are you okay?"
Zhao Hu waved his hand and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his forehead. "I'm okay, I'm okay."
Suddenly remembering something, he quickly steadied himself and ran towards the room where Xiao Jingcheng was staying.
If he had known that those 5,000 taels of silver notes belonged to His Highness the Prince Xuan, he wouldn't have taken this job even if he was beaten to death! Not to mention a 30% share of the benefits, even if it was 50%, he couldn't earn this money!
If he was caught by His Highness the Prince Xuan, his whole family would be executed!
However, when he came to the door, he found that the room was empty and Xiao Jingcheng was nowhere to be seen.
The more Zhao Hu thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He planned to go back to his room to pack his luggage and leave Dongli Town temporarily to avoid trouble for a while. Who would have thought that when he pushed open the door, he saw Xiao Jingcheng sitting in his room, holding a jade pendant in his hand and looking at it with great interest.
Zhao Hu was so frightened that his heart was pounding. He subconsciously knelt down in front of him.
"Boss, I, I—I didn't reveal a single word to His Highness the Prince Xuan just now!"
Xiao Jingcheng looked up at him, "You did a good job just now. You're really worthy of being the person I carefully selected."
Was this some great special honor? Zhao Hu was almost crying.
"But Boss, you didn't tell me before that those 5,000 taels of silver notes were stolen from His Highness the Prince Xuan! If he finds out, will I still be alive?"
Xiao Jingcheng glanced at him lightly, "Now that you know, it's up to your ability to exchange all those silver notes into ones from other banks without leaving any traces."