Cui Jintang couldn't bear to hear such words the most.
She said, "On the day of the Lantern Festival, you go with me to collect payments from the shops."
She carefully calculated in her mind.
She would go half a day earlier. After collecting from all the shops, judging by the time, she could go to the Court of Censors to find Pei Zhaolin. It would be about time for the lantern - riddles event on the colored tower.
"Yes," Zhu Er replied.
---
Three days later, on the night of the Lantern Festival in Shengjing.
When the first watch drum sounded, the lantern market on Zhuque Street suddenly lit up from end to end, as if someone had scattered a handful of stardust.
Thousands upon thousands of lanterns were arranged in a disorderly yet charming way.
Firecrackers were going off near the Drum Tower, attracting many commoners who were holding lanterns to watch the shadow puppetry.
The three - foot wooden puppets were flying in the air. As the gongs and drums beat more quickly, the audience cheered in unison.
The place with the brightest lights was the seven - story colored tower at the end of Zhuque Street.
Thirty - six lotus lanterns were hanging from the eaves of the tower, and the lantern faces were made of a whole piece of fine silk.
On the railing of the tower, the imperial attendants were putting out lantern riddles for the passers - by to guess.
In the dense crowd, a figure suddenly appeared and then disappeared into the crowd in a blink of an eye.
Pei Zhaolin, who was naturally suspicious, stopped in his tracks.
He wondered: Could that person just now be Cui Jintang?
But he had invited Yan Liangwen tonight. Without anyone to accompany her, why would she appear here?
Huang Zuoshi, noticing that Pei Zhaolin had fallen behind, turned around and urged, "My lord, please hurry up!"
He was still anxious to accompany his wife to release lanterns later!
Pei Zhaolin lowered his eyes and responded.
---
The manager of the Yongle Gambling House was counting the money happily when he suddenly heard a sound -
Dong, dong, dong.
The manager immediately stood up and opened the door.
The back door was pushed open, and a young man in a blue shirt walked in, twirling a very light bamboo - framed folding fan in his hand. The young man had a handsome face and a smiling expression, but when he looked up, a faint red mole on the side of his neck was revealed.
Seeing the young man's attire, the manager almost bit his tongue.
"O... Owner?"
"Shh."
Cui Jintang, dressed as a young man, closed the folding fan in her hand and lowered her voice extremely low.
"I'm just here to check the silver tonight. You can continue business as usual. I came quietly. Don't alarm others."
For the Lantern Festival, the gambling house had just hung up a new gold - lettered signboard today.
The two characters "Yongle" were gilded and very heavy, weighing about a hundred taels.
Even so, the manager handed over a sandalwood box, which was extremely heavy: "Seventy percent of today's interest is here."
Cui Jintang picked open a crack with the handle of her fan, and the golden light dazzled her eyes.
Even Cui Jintang, who was not short of silver, gasped: "So much?"
No wonder Yan Liangwen had begged her crying and shouting to help him improve his cheating skills.
"Not much," the manager grinned from ear to ear, "The pair of dice that the owner asked to change last month helped the gambling house win another two thousand taels from the salt merchant in the west of the city tonight!"
Cui Jintang threw the box behind her, and Zhu Er caught it steadily and stuffed it into the basket.
The basket was already stuffed to the brim.
Two thousand taels from the Wanxing Silk Shop, five thousand taels from the Drunken Immortal Restaurant, four thousand taels from the Chaihengfeng Jewelry Shop...
All were the tributes from the managers of each shop during the Lantern Festival tonight.
It seemed that she didn't need to collect from all the shops. After collecting from a few more, it would be almost enough.
Cui Jintang was in a hurry. After saying a few words, she left quietly.
Just as she passed by the fireworks shop, Cui Jintang casually picked up an unlit "Fire Tree and Silver Flowers" firework.
She gently rubbed her fingertips on the fuse.
"The fuse is damp. Replace them with a new batch."
The stall owner broke out in a cold sweat and quickly replied, "Yes, Owner!"
After collecting the money from the fireworks shop, Zhu Er, who was following her, was puzzled: "The gambling house is the least short of silver. Why doesn't the young lady just take more silver from the gambling house instead of collecting it so laboriously?"
Cui Jintang was speechless and pointed at the basket behind him with her folding fan.
"Do you mean to let the gambling house suddenly have thirty thousand taels of silver missing?"
For shops like the gambling house, the daily revenue had to be registered with the government. It was possible to fudge a shortage, but thirty thousand taels of silver was a deficit that couldn't be covered up no matter what.
Realizing how stupid his question was, Zhu Er silently looked up.
Wow, the moon is so round tonight!
On the colored tower, Pei Zhaolin stood with his hands behind his back by the railing.
The lights on Zhuque Street were reflected in his eyes, like a pool of broken gold, shining brightly.
His eyes swept across the crowd, and then, they accurately landed on the figure in the blue shirt -
Cui Jintang, dressed as a young man, was standing on tiptoe. Her face was blushing as she reached out to touch the shoulder of the man in front of her. The two of them seemed very intimate.
The lights outlined the soft curve of her side face, but the small mole on the side of her neck was so red that it was burning.
"Cui Jintang..." Pei Zhaolin murmured this name in a low voice, and his eyes were as dark as night.
There was never a shortage of people around her.
He let out a soft laugh, with a hint of mockery on his face and a trace of impatience in his eyes.
"My lord Pei?" Yan Liangwen, who couldn't find Pei Zhaolin, came out with two beautiful women in his arms, smiling, "Why are you standing here?"
As he spoke, he didn't forget to ask the beautiful woman to offer a cup of wine to Pei Zhaolin: "Since we last parted, Peony has been missing my lord Pei very much!"
Pei Zhaolin stepped aside to avoid it.
His attitude was even worse than when he was in the private room earlier.
"I will submit the ledger to the emperor early tomorrow morning."
The emperor, who had been unable to find evidence of the court officials' corruption, would surely target them if they were found out about the ten thousand taels. It would be more than just having their families confiscated and being exiled.
Yan Liangwen gritted his teeth secretly: "Please wait, my lord Pei!"
If he had known this, he shouldn't have hesitated because of Huang Zuoshi's official status. He should have just killed him!
He wouldn't have been in such a predicament now.
But why was this Pei Zhaolin so heartless?
Didn't he really fear that the emperor, who doted on Concubine Rong, would blame Luo Xiang instead?
He was really a madman!
"I... am willing to cooperate with my lord Pei. I will count the gold and silver tomorrow and hand over all the money. The rest of the people will be handed over to the yamen."
Yan Liangwen's face was ugly: "Then, my father will sue Concubine Rong in court tomorrow for embezzling national silver with the Minister of Revenue at the Tianxiang Tower."
Pei Zhaolin's expression was cold and he showed no emotion: "That's good."
Suddenly.
At the busiest fireworks stall in the lantern market, a sudden change occurred.
Some hooligans suddenly appeared out of nowhere and kicked over the fireworks stand. Sparks flew everywhere.
"The fireworks stall is on fire—!"
Screams rang out, and the crowd started to push and shove.
Pei Zhaolin stopped in his tracks. Suddenly, he realized that Cui Jintang had also been in front of that stall just now.
At the moment when he leaped down, his heart almost burst out of his chest.
The screams in his ears, the explosion of the kerosene, and the cries of the crowd were so noisy that it almost made him deaf.
For some reason, at this moment, the only thought in Pei Zhaolin's mind was—she must be okay!
The black robe on his body was flapped by the heat wave. Without even having time to pour water, he rushed into the fire.
The heat wave hit his face, and the bloodshot eyes in Pei Zhaolin's eyes suddenly appeared. A very low and hoarse voice rolled out of his throat: "Cui Jintang—"
It was as if it was torn out of his lungs, with a tremor that he himself didn't even notice.
Pei Zhaolin panicked.