Chapter 842: Indecision (I)

"Brother Liu, you must be exhausted after a day of hard work. Why don't you take a rest early?"

"Okay! I'll take you out..."

"Brothers don't need to be bound by conventions. I'm leaving!"

"Brother Qin, take care!"

Following a warm greeting, Qin Wei bowed and said goodbye to Liu Xunyi, then walked out of the courtyard with a smile on his face.

However, the moment Qin Wei heard the sound of the door closing behind him, the smile on his face immediately disappeared, and was replaced by a deep worry.

At this time, Tulong and Tuhu led a dozen golden sword captains waiting anxiously outside the courtyard. When they saw Qin Wei, they all came forward to greet him.

"What are you doing?" Qin Wei looked at the respectful crowd with a hint of displeasure in his eyes. "Why are you standing here instead of going to find Chu Mao?"

"Reporting to the Marquis, Chu Mao has returned."

Hearing this, Qin Wei's eyes suddenly condensed, and he asked anxiously: "Where is it?"

"Waiting in the hall." Tu Long carefully asked, "Should we call him over..."

"No need!"

Qin Wei hurriedly refused and walked towards the inner courtyard.

"My Lord, the Prime Minister is over there..."

"I know!" Qin Wei said without turning his head. "Prepare the car and tell Chu Mao to wait at the gate. I will go change my clothes first and interrogate him slowly on the road."

"Prepare the car?" Tu Long was shocked and asked in astonishment, "Where are you going so late at night?"

"The Privy Council!"

After a cup of tea, the carriage slowly left the Tianji Pavilion, escorted by the Dragon Slayer, the Tiger Slayer and a dozen Golden Sword Captains.

In the dim carriage, Qin Wei and Chu Mao sat opposite each other, with different expressions.

Qin Wei stared at the fearful Chu Mao with a gaze as sharp as a knife, as if he was brewing some emotion, and he didn't say a word for a long time.

Chu Mao knew that he had made a big mistake, so he held his head, hunched his neck, hunched his shoulders, and trembled all over, sweating profusely. Even so, he did not dare to break the silence, let alone defend himself.

"Snapped!"

Suddenly, without any warning, a slap hit Chu Mao's face hard, making his head go dazed and his body fall backwards subconsciously.

Trying hard to suppress the burning sensation on his face, Chu Mao knelt tremblingly in front of Qin Wei, ignoring his red and swollen cheeks and the blood flowing from the corners of his mouth.

"I know my crime..."

"Snapped!"

Before Chu Mao finished speaking, Qin Wei slapped him again.

"I know my crime..."

"Clap! Clap! Clap..."

As Chu Mao admitted his mistakes again and again, Qin Wei hit him harder and harder, until his face was swollen like a pig's head, but he still had no intention of stopping.

From beginning to end, Chu Mao endured the pain, kneeling upright in front of Qin Wei, allowing his slaps to continue like a storm, remaining motionless and enduring silently.

"You're useless. You can't even take care of one person. What's the point of keeping you?"

"My Lord, please calm down. I know my crime."

Looking at the furious Qin Wei, Chu Mao kowtowed repeatedly like pounding garlic.

"I have repeatedly warned you that Lin'an is not peaceful right now, so you must be careful and cautious and never cause trouble. But what about you? You caused me such a big mess. How can I end this?"

Qin Wei became angrier and angrier as he spoke, and he kicked Chu Mao hard in the chest, almost kicking him out of the carriage.

"My Lord, please calm down. It's all my fault..." Chu Mao rolled over and knelt in front of Qin Wei, saying in annoyance, "I never expected Ding Chou to appear in West Lake Langyuan..."

"Shut up!" Qin Wei's eyes turned cold, and he cautiously lifted the curtain to look outside. Seeing that there were only his confidants around and no one on the street, his nervousness eased a little, and he said in a deep voice: "Not long ago, I ordered you to track down the whereabouts of Ding Chou and Qiu Han. How did you promise me at that time?"

"I……"

"You said that you have turned Lin'an City upside down. Unless they go to heaven or hell, there is no place to hide. The reason why we can't find their trace is that the two of them have already fled Lin'an." Qin Wei said angrily, "Humph! If I had known that you would act so carelessly, I really shouldn't have believed your lies. In my opinion, you must think that the City God Temple is dirty and messy, so you didn't even check it."

"Maybe... maybe they just came back recently..."

"You still dare to quibble?" Qin Weihu glared and shouted angrily, "Qiu Han has been paralyzed in bed for a long time. He and Ding Chou depended on each other for survival. The beggars in the City God Temple can all testify to this. How can you deny it? If you had carefully investigated at that time, how could this marquis fall into such a predicament today?"

"I never thought that the great Guardian of the Tianji Pavilion would become a beggar..."

"Stupid as a pig, stupid as hell!"

"I know my crime..."

"Admit your guilt, admit your guilt..." Qin Wei interrupted impatiently, "Now that things have come to this, what's the point of admitting your guilt? You are a bunch of useless people who are always causing trouble and can't even handle a small matter. You are all good-for-nothings! If you were in the Tianji Pavilion in the past, all of you useless people would not survive for more than three days..."

At this point, Qin Wei seemed to recall the past and couldn't help but feel irritated. He quickly changed the subject: "Forget it! Tell me everything that happened today. Don't leave out any details."

"As you command!" Chu Mao sorted out his thoughts and recalled carefully, "This afternoon, the Marquis left the cemetery first..."

In less than half an hour, Chu Mao had told Qin Wei everything that had happened today in detail.

After hearing this, Qin Wei's brows were furrowed and his eyes were solemn, as if he was silently thinking about something in his heart?
"Is it really a coincidence?"

"I swear to heaven, this is absolutely a coincidence." Chu Mao said firmly, "If the Marquis had not ordered not to use force against Lord Liu, I would never let him wander around."

"Humph!" Qin Wei sneered at Chu Mao's explanation, "You think you can use force against Liu Xunyi? I'm afraid you don't know how to write the word 'death'."

"This……"

"Stop talking nonsense! According to what you said, Ding Chou did not mention the relationship between me and Xifu?"

"At least not when we were in West Lake Langyuan." Chu Mao pondered, "But after they left... I don't know."

"It seems that Liu Xunyi didn't lie to me." Qin Wei thought thoughtfully, "Qiu Han and Ding Chou knew that they had no chance of winning against me, so they didn't want to drag him down in vain... Maybe Liu Xunyi really knew nothing about everything."

"My Lord, please forgive me for making such a bold guess." Chu Mao hesitated, "Is it possible that... Lord Liu already knows everything and he is just pretending to be confused?"

"Impossible!" Qin Wei said confidently, "I know him very well. With his personality, if he knew that I had colluded with the West Mansion, he would never let it go. He would definitely come to me angrily to accuse me. He would never be as calm as he is tonight."

"This……"

"Tonight, he was able to chat and laugh with me calmly, and even advised me to 'return to nature' intentionally or unintentionally... This shows that he knows very little about me and the West Mansion. Even if he noticed a clue, he was not completely sure, and there was no solid evidence. Otherwise, he would not have told me the whereabouts of Qiu Han and Ding Chou. In this way, there is still room for this matter to turn around..."

At this moment, Qin Wei's tone contained a sense of relief that he had escaped danger.

Chu Mao rolled his eyes and said viciously, "My Lord, Qiu Han and Ding Chou are always potential risks. As long as they are not eliminated, the relationship between you and Lord Liu will not be stable. There will always be a barrier between you two."

Hearing this, Qin Wei raised his eyebrows and asked with interest: "In your opinion, how should this matter end?"

"Only the dead can keep secrets forever. Since we already know the whereabouts of Qiu Han and the other two, we might as well go all out and send someone directly to the City God Temple..."

Having said this, Chu Mao gently stroked his neck with his hand, the deep meaning of which was self-evident.

"Do you have a pig brain?" Qin Wei laughed angrily, looking at Chu Mao with contempt, "Liu Xunyi told me the whereabouts of Qiu Han and Ding Chou, and you sent people to kill them. Even a fool can guess the whole story. By doing this, aren't you confessing yourself?"

"This..." Chu Mao was stunned by Qin Wei's words and said awkwardly, "The Marquis is far-sighted, and I am the one who is abrupt. However, Qiu Han and Ding Chou are always troublesome. The Marquis will not...really want to recall them to Tianji Pavilion, right?"

"This is indeed a difficult matter." Qin Wei looked annoyed. "I only regret that I couldn't send them to the west in the woods outside the city, otherwise there wouldn't be such a disaster today." At this point, Qin Wei suddenly had an idea and hurriedly said, "Oh, right! Can you find the whereabouts of the group of masked men who ruined our good deeds?"

"Those people came suddenly, without any warning beforehand, and then they handled all the clues cleanly afterwards. We have no trace to follow at all."

Although he had expected this, Qin Wei still couldn't hide his disappointment, and said sadly: "In fact, Qiu Han is seriously injured and will not live long. Ding Chou is just a timid kid..."

"Although Ding Chou is timid, Liu Xunyi is a desperate man who fears nothing." Seeing Qin Wei wavering in his mind, Chu Mao hurriedly said malicious words to instigate him, "If the matter gets out of hand, regardless of whether he is the opponent of the Marquis, the impact of this matter alone... I'm afraid it will be very detrimental to the Marquis's future. After all, the Tianji Pavilion is still under the jurisdiction of the East Palace, and there are still many people in the East Palace who are attached to the Prime Minister and Zhao Yuan. Especially Lord Jia... He is upset because the Marquis refused to obey his orders and spoke out boldly in front of the emperor. If you think about it carefully, Lord Jia's previous dismissal and questioning are also related to this matter. Although the Marquis and him have not yet reached the point of irreconcilable, the gap has already arisen and the contradiction cannot be reconciled. Don't forget that Lord Jia has always been dissatisfied with the Marquis' succession to the head of the Tianji Pavilion and has been looking for an opportunity to make things difficult for the Marquis..."

"Alas!" Qin Wei frowned and sighed repeatedly, "It is precisely because of these hidden dangers that I am worried and undecided. I went to the Privy Council overnight to seek a solution from Lord Qian. He is knowledgeable and far-sighted, and he will surely be able to come up with a solution for me that satisfies both sides."

……

(End of this chapter)