Chapter 877: The more you try to hide, the more obvious it becomes (Part )

An hour later, the carriage arrived at the shore of Qiutang Lake.

"My lord, watch your step!"

With Qin Wei's careful help, Lord Qian slowly stepped down from the carriage. Two guards on the left and right hurried forward. One of them used a whisk to brush the dust off Lord Qian's robe, and the other put a fur coat on him to prevent the weak Lord Qian from catching a cold in the chilly autumn wind.

"Has anyone arrived?"

"Reporting to the Lord, they have arrived!"

In response to Mr. Qian's question, a burly man answered humbly with his hands clasped.

"Lead the way!"

"That..." Before the burly man could accept the order, Qin Wei, who looked embarrassed, suddenly said, "Your Excellency's meeting with the leader of the martial arts world is a secret of the West Palace. Should I avoid it..."

"If I didn't want you to know, why would I let you get on the car?" Lord Qian interrupted nonchalantly, "Today's incident is not only related to them, but also to you."

"It's related to me?" Qin Wei was stunned. "Your Excellency means..."

"You must cherish this great mission from heaven." Lord Qian said, pretending to be profound. "Qin Wei, if you can firmly grasp this opportunity, not to mention entering the West Palace to serve, even entering the West Palace to participate in politics... is just around the corner."

"This……"

Lord Qian's words hit the mark exactly what Qin Wei wanted. Although he was not clear about Lord Qian's intentions, nor did he know what "a great mission from heaven" meant, his intuition after years of working in officialdom told him that this might be another chance for him to make a breakthrough since he succeeded Marquis Tianji.

Thinking of this, Qin Wei could no longer suppress his inner excitement. He fell to his knees with a plop and kowtowed repeatedly to express his gratitude to Lord Qian, who was smiling but not saying a word.

"When you see Qingfeng later, don't be submissive, be open and honest." Lord Qian helped Qin Wei up, straightened his wrinkled robes, and reminded him, "You are no longer the same as before. You must pay attention to your manners no matter when and where. Although Qingfeng is the leader of the martial arts world, he is just a commoner after all. The people of the martial arts world respect and fear him, but we don't have to take him to heart. You must remember that we are the officials appointed by the emperor, and they are just bandits who occupy the mountains and act as kings. Officials are officials, and bandits are bandits. , never confuse the primary and the secondary, and don't allow them to become the host. Therefore, you should be gentle when you need to be gentle, and don't be taboo when you need to be strict. Most people in the underworld are cruel and cunning, and those who can become overlords are even more cunning and ruthless. You must never take it lightly in front of them, so as not to be deceived by them. There is no need to talk about morality and make friends with them. You just need to hit them at their weakest point, know what they want most and what they fear most, and then use both hardness and softness, kindness and force to make it easy and handle heavy tasks. "

"I will remember your teachings!"

"To remember something in your heart does not mean you can use it freely. Today I will teach you a lesson. Please listen carefully and think carefully. In the future, you will inevitably have to deal with them alone."

"This……"

Looking at the horrified Qin Wei, Lord Qian said no more and walked towards the lake.

At this moment, the breeze, the lonely star and the lonely moon have been waiting by the lake for a long time.

"I am not feeling well, so I am late. I hope you can forgive me."

"We have heard about what happened ten days ago. I have been worried all along. Unfortunately, Lord Bai died. We have no way to visit him, so we can only stay in the inn and wait for news." Upon seeing Lord Qian who had arrived late, Qingfeng hurried forward and greeted him with a bow, "I am relieved to see that you are safe today."

"Thank you for your concern, Taoist Qingfeng. I am very grateful."

After saying this, Lord Qian brought the solemn Qin Wei to his side and introduced him to Qingfeng and the other two: "This is the new 'Marquis of Tianji', Lord Qin. He is currently a favorite of the Emperor and a hot figure in the court. He is highly regarded by both the East and West Prefectures and is a rare young talent."

"Three Taoists, I, Qin, am here to greet you!" Qin Wei kept in mind Lord Qian's reminder, and his attitude was neither humble nor arrogant, and his expression was neither gloomy nor aggressive.

When Qingfeng saw Qin Wei, he suddenly felt like he had seen him before. After a brief recollection, his expression changed immediately, and his eyes turned toward Qin Wei with caution and vigilance.

"I never thought that in just half a year, Lord Qin would become the backbone of the Song Dynasty." Qingfeng said with a hint of meaning, "I remember that on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month last year in Luoyang Xianwang Mansion, Lord Qin was just a servant beside Zhao Yuan. At that time, the people sent by the court to encircle and suppress Luo Tianjin... In the end, only you, Zhao Yuan, and Liu Xunyi left alive. In less than a year, things have changed. Now Zhao Yuan has passed away, and Liu Xunyi's life and death are unknown. The two of them have all been ruined and their reputations have been ruined. Only Lord Qin... not only did not follow in their footsteps, but he rose rapidly and was promoted to a higher position. It really fits the saying 'A scholar should be looked at with new eyes after three days of absence'. Lord Qin's rapid rise to prominence is really... rare in ancient and modern times, and incredible."

Although Qingfeng's tone was plain, his words were full of ridicule towards Qin Wei, as if he had bad intentions and was trying to make things difficult for him.

It was normal to think about it. After all, Qin Wei personally participated in the incident on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month last year. He was well aware of the collusion between Qingfeng, Ling Xiaoxiao and Yun Zhuiyue. And this matter... was exactly the sore spot that Qingfeng was most reluctant to mention and did not want to be caught by others.

Therefore, facing Qin Wei who held the evidence against him, Qing Feng could not help but feel gloomy and uncomfortable. "Oh?" Before Qin Wei could retort with embarrassment, Master Qian, who pretended to be confused, spoke to smooth things over, "So, today is not the first time you have met?"

"Of course!" Qingfeng replied with a smile, "After all, Lord Qin and I are old acquaintances."

"That's perfect!" Lord Qian nodded in mock delight. "Since you two have known each other for a long time, it saves me the trouble of acting as a matchmaker."

"What do you mean?"

"Bai Jin is gone. From now on, Qin Wei will represent the court in dealing with Taoist Qingfeng." Lord Qian explained patiently, "I have discussed with the Privy Councilor that Qin Wei can make decisions on behalf of the Western Palace on all matters related to the martial arts world in the future. He does not need to report back on everything, let alone ask for permission. The court is busy with many things, and the Western Palace is busy with military affairs. The Privy Councilor and I have limited energy and are really overwhelmed. We can only choose a person with outstanding ability from among our confidants to take on this important task. I hope Taoist Qingfeng will understand."

"hiss!"

Lord Qian's words were tantamount to pushing Qin Wei to the position of "imperial envoy of the court". It contained not only the trust that Xifu had in Qin Wei, but also the power to make decisions on the spot and control life and death.

In this section, today's Qin Wei is like Zhao Yuan in the past, and they both have plans for the Central Plains martial arts world, except that one of them represents the West Palace and the other represents the East Palace.

What's more, Qin Wei's power today is far greater than Zhao Yuan's in the past. As everyone knows, Zhao Yuan was just a puppet of the prime minister and did not have the power to "act arbitrarily".

Until this moment, Qin Wei finally understood what Mr. Qian's "great mission from heaven" meant. It was to deal with Qingfeng on behalf of Xifu, so as to gradually erode and interfere until he completely controlled the Central Plains martial arts world.

"Master Qian, there is something I shouldn't say, but... I have to say it." Looking at the pretentious Master Qian and the ambitious Qin Wei, Gu Xing's face suddenly darkened and he spoke quietly, "If I remember correctly, our agreement with Master Qian is that you hand over Liu Xunyi to us before we agree to exchange courtesy with the court. But now... Master Qian keeps talking about 'martial arts affairs' but doesn't mention Liu Xunyi at all. Isn't that a bit evasive?"

"That's right!" Gu Yue agreed, "We have been delayed in Lin'an for many days. If the court can no longer fulfill its promise, we will have to return home. As for the original agreement... I'm afraid we have to think about it in the long run. After all, we have expressed our sincerity without reservation, but the court has disappointed us again and again. If you can't even deal with a little Liu Xunyi, how can you resist foreign invasion? The leader is the leader of the Central Plains martial arts world, and must consider the lives and future of the heroes in the world in the long run."

"You two are right!" Lord Qian smiled instead of getting angry. "Even if you don't mention Liu Xunyi's matter, I will mention it. Otherwise, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to find you."

"Oh?" Qingfeng raised his eyebrows and asked, "Could it be that Lord Qian has already captured Liu Xunyi?"

"No."

"That……"

"Master, please calm down!" Lord Qian waved his hand to interrupt Qingfeng's questioning and said calmly, "In fact, it is not accidental that Liu Xunyi can survive in desperate situations again and again, but inevitable."

"how do I say this?"

"Let me ask you three first, have you ever heard of 'Young Qin Prince' Yelu Tai?"

"What?" Qingfeng's eyes changed, and he asked suspiciously, "Could this matter be related to the Young King of Qin?"

Hearing this, Lord Qian secretly said "As expected" in his heart, but on the surface he remained calm and said bluntly: "In fact, the group of mysterious people who rescued Liu Xunyi ten days ago were the subordinates of the Young King Qin."

"This……"

Qingfeng and the other two looked at each other, their brows filled with confusion.

"Young King Qin once had an affair with my son-in-law... Lord Qian and Lord Qin should know everything about this matter." Qingfeng pondered, "But he and Liu Xunyi seem to have no relatives or friends, and they don't have any friendship. Liu Xunyi is not as powerful as my son-in-law, and is not worthy of Young King Qin's friendship. Why did he help him?"

"What a coincidence! This question is also puzzling to me. I was planning to ask Taoist Qingfeng for advice today, but unexpectedly... you asked me instead. Haha..." Lord Qian made insinuations, especially his weird expression with a fake smile, which made people shudder. "After all, when it comes to Young King Qin, Taoist Qingfeng... no! It should be your daughter, who is much more familiar to us outsiders."

"What do you mean by that, Lord Qian?" Qingfeng's face darkened, and his tone became more and more unhappy. "Do you suspect that my daughter is secretly in contact with the young king of Qin to protect Liu Xunyi?"

"Definitely not!" Lord Qian waved his hands quickly. "Liu Xunyi is a stumbling block for Taoist Qingfeng to conquer the world, and he is also a traitor who betrayed Luo Tianjin. How could your daughter protect him? I am just curious, what extraordinary ability does a dying man who has lost his time and power and is at the end of his rope have to attract such an ambitious person like the Young Qin King... and risk his life to save him by any means necessary?"

……

(End of this chapter)