Chapter 251 Game within a game
The first day of June, Shantong Prefecture, He family.

The luxurious ink stone lamps emit a soft glow. As the saying goes, "live by the mountain and eat by the mountain", the ink stones that many Tianjing officials are reluctant to use are used very naturally in the Shantong Mansion.

Under the light, He Qigong finished reading the newspapers delivered today and sighed repeatedly, "It's not easy, it's really not easy."

Shantong Prefecture and Tianjing are 5,000 miles apart. If one wants to get newspapers, then one needs to ask the flying eagles that travel back and forth between Shantong Prefecture to bring back a few copies every day. The He family is one of the few wealthy families that has both the ability and awareness of the value of newspapers, so they ask the Mohist monk who drives the flying eagle to bring back newspapers from Tianjing.

He Borong, the head of the He family, also finished reading the newspaper. Although the information was incomplete, combined with the recent issues of the newspaper, he could roughly imagine the dangerous situation in Tianjing and the strategic planning of their backers.

He whispered, "Is it really that powerful?"

This newspaper reported that last week Tieyi not only arrested all the merchants in Tianjing, big and small, but also dared to seize the power to collect taxes from the Ministry of Revenue.

Dare to seize power from the Nine Departments...

Even General Zhou Qinlong, the mighty general, couldn't do it in Tianjing.

He Qigong regained his composure, and calmly put down the newspaper, saying, "After all, he is a hidden dragon who has been patient for seventeen years. He has been able to deceive the world for seventeen years. It is normal for him to play tricks on others at this time."

When you are successful enough, all your previous abnormal behaviors will be reasonably interpreted by others in order to maintain your mysterious image in their minds.

He Qigong looked at Tao Mengxue, the counselor of the He family, who was frowning and still thinking, "Is Tangzhou Prefecture ready?"

Tao Mengxue came back to his senses and replied respectfully, "The people have been arranged..."

He hesitated and asked, "But are they really so gullible?"

He Qigong laughed, "You don't know the stubborn personalities of Cui Yu and Mo Tianheng..."

As he spoke, he looked out at the quiet night. Dark clouds obscured the starry sky, leaving only the bright moon floating in the sky, appearing and disappearing from time to time.

He couldn't help but think of what happened a few years ago, and thought of Mo Tianheng who not only refused to recruit him but also wanted to gamble with him for a pariah.

Thinking about it now, I should have been more tactful and not made such a fuss. However, I was arrogant at the time and didn't think I did anything wrong.

After defeating Mo Tianheng, he returned to the academy triumphantly. However, not only did he not receive praise from his classmates, but he had to cut off all ties with them.

He Qigong himself thought about this for a long time. What on earth were they doing for a lowly person? Didn't they understand that the world was ultimately controlled by only a few people? The so-called benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom were only means after all.

"madness."

He Qigong commented out loud, then looked at the newspaper again, thinking of Zhou Tieyi's demeanor. After seeing the debauchery in Tianjing, he felt that the two were even more stupid. Even Cui Yu, whom he had always admired, was eclipsed by Zhou Tieyi like a pearl in front of the bright moon.

He sneered again, "Don't they want to be righteous and want to file a complaint? Then let them file a complaint and see if they can handle the affairs of the world! Can you follow the right path in the world? You want to file a complaint for a few dozen taels of silver? Then when the real evil is in front of you, see if the righteousness and morality in your hearts will still work, or in other words, the so-called righteousness and morality are just a means for you to flaunt yourself!"

He Borong asked with a hint of worry, "But this matter will involve the Ning Wang faction of Tangzhou Prefecture... When they review the situation, they will most likely guess that we were behind it..."

He Qigong laughed and said, "Father, why is he still confused now? Let's not talk about whether Prince Ning cares about coming to Shantong Mansion... If we don't use this strategy, will we really send our retainers to assassinate us? This is so stupid. Before the Confucianists and Prince Ning can make a move on us, Young Master Zhou Er will not tolerate us!"

"Besides, the most important thing for us is to help Young Master Zhou Er to confuse the situation. When the time comes, Young Master Zhou Er will handle the affairs of Tianjing. As for Prince Ning..."

He Qigong saw the words "luxury tax" mentioned in the newspaper for five issues and sneered, "It will come true sooner or later."

Everyone in the world knows that Prince Ning is extravagant.

Shantong Prefecture is close to Tangzhou Prefecture, and Prince Ning often purchases inkstone from the He family. Therefore, the He family knows a lot about Prince Ning's affairs and knows how to arrange them. The past twenty days have been spent on this.

He Qigong continued, "Mr. Tao, go contact Dark Moon Tower."

The Dark Moon Tower is an assassination organization that has existed in the martial arts world for a long time. It suddenly appeared two hundred years ago. Although Daxia has repeatedly ordered local encirclement and suppression, the Dark Moon Tower has still revived like a weed.

Tao Mengxue asked, "Should we assassinate him during the chaos, or..."

He Qigong smiled and said, "Of course we will keep them alive for a while longer in the hands of Prince Ning, and try to make the Confucians confront Prince Ning completely. Even if Prince Ning blames us, we can't let the Confucians go. Instead, we may weigh the pros and cons and unite with the Zhou family to fight against the Confucians. After all, it is the Confucians who are chasing and biting people, not us. In an emergency, we will make decisions based on the circumstances. As long as the counselors in Prince Ning's mansion are not stupid, they will know how to prioritize."

Tao Mengxue had no doubts about He Qigong's plan. The only problem was, "Dark Moon Tower may not accept the protection mission. That would be too troublesome."

He Qigong waved his hand casually, "It's just that I didn't give enough."

Then he sighed, "After seeing the debauchery of Tianjing, I realized the usefulness of money, and I also understood why Master Zhou Er first targeted the merchants."

······
Tangzhou Prefecture is a ferry crossing of three rivers, where all kinds of people gather. The climate is humid, and the sky is still dark with thick fog.

Suddenly, there was a noisy sound outside the inn. After a while, there was a knock on the room of Li Jianhu and the other two. Li Jianhu opened the door and saw a few burly warriors and a middle-aged man who looked like a scholar following the waiter.

"what's up?"

Li Jianhu frowned and looked at the waiter.

The second boy was trembling with fear, but the middle-aged scholar spoke first, "There is a demon in this city. Someone saw the demon escape into this inn. For your safety, we came to search."

At this time, Cui Yu came over and bowed to the middle-aged scholar, "Are you from the God-Slaying Division?"

The middle-aged scholar sneered and said, "It is everyone's responsibility to kill the evil gods."

Then he signaled to the warriors around him with his eyes, and several warriors rushed in like wolves and tigers.

Li Jianhu was about to get angry when Cui Yu held his shoulders.

When the warrior went in to search, he only saw Mo Tianheng and no one else. He walked over and shook his head at the middle-aged scholar.

The middle-aged scholar frowned slightly, and began to calculate the Plum Blossom Divination with his hands behind his back. After a while, he still didn't get the desired result. Could it be that he really ran away?
Cui Yu bowed and smiled, "Everyone, now that we have searched, should we leave? I am a candidate from Lulin Academy who is going to Beijing to take the imperial examination. This is my servant, and that is my bodyguard."

The middle-aged scholar glanced at Cui Yu and said with a fake smile, "If you find any traces of the evil spirit, please contact the authorities immediately."

Cui Yu smiled and didn't answer.

After the ferocious crowd left, Li Jianhu curled his lips, closed the door, and complained to Cui Yu, "Who are these people!"

Cui Yu smiled without saying anything, and another cup of tea passed.

Cui Yu first took out the paper-cut and blew on it. The paper-cut immediately expanded ten times and was pasted on the door and window, reflecting the fake figures of three people inside.

Then he walked to the wall and peeled it off. A piece of paper-cut appeared in his hand. Hidden in the paper-cut was a woman dressed in black, who was smart and dashing. The woman was about twenty years old, with a pale face and many wounds on her body that had not been treated yet. If Cui Yu had not just used the paper-cutting technique to hide the other person and the smell of blood, she would have been caught by the middle-aged scholar long ago.

The woman stepped forward and bowed in thanks, saying, "My benefactor..."

Cui Yu raised his hand to stop the woman from thanking him, "Don't thank me yet. If you are really a divine evil, I will have to escort you there."

Shi Yutong smiled bitterly. "How many people in these forty-nine states have been sentenced to death for crimes committed by evildoers? How many real evildoers have been captured?"

Li Jianhu asked curiously, "Then why are you being hunted by them?"

Shi Yutong glanced at Cui Yu and gritted her teeth and said, "I stole a copy of the Ning Wang Mansion's account book for smuggling inkstone."

"Stolen?"

Li Jianhu asked in surprise.

Shi Yutong puffed out her chest with pride, "I am the heir of the 'Gentleman' faction' of thieves. Some time ago, I got news that a batch of treasures and inkstones were to be transported to Prince Ning's mansion, so I robbed the rich and gave to the poor."

Li Jianhu looked at Cui Yu. He knew very little about cultivation.

Cui Yu frowned and explained to Li Jianhu, "The Thief Sect is also known as the Gentlemen on the Beam. They specialize in stealing the wealth of the rich and ill-gotten gains, and secretly donate the stolen money to poor families."

Cui Yu sighed, "Did someone ask you to come to us?"

Shi Yutong barged into their room so directly and "happened" to be followed by the pursuers. There must be an "expert" behind her giving instructions.

Shi Yutong nodded quickly and said, "Yesterday I was being hunted and had nowhere to go. I met a master of Yishu who not only saved me from the disaster, but also taught me to come here to save my life."

At this point, Shi Yutong looked at Cui Yu in awe. This scholar with a gentle face was so powerful. It was not that she had not thought about escaping from Tangzhou Prefecture, but King Ning had masters of Yishu under his command, and her whereabouts would be quickly tracked down. If it were not for the corresponding masters of Yishu to cover up for her, she would have no way of escaping.

And this scholar was actually able to help me hide my tracks in front of others.

At this time, Mo Tianheng walked up to Cui Yu, and the two looked at each other. Ever since Shi Yutong broke into their room and they started to meddle in other people's business, they had already fallen into the other party's calculations.

The people in Prince Ning’s Mansion don’t care whether they have looked at the account books in Shi Yutong’s hands or whether they have backups.

As long as they found out that Shi Yutong had stayed here, then everything should be done according to the backup plan. This is common sense. However, Cui Yu used his status as a student of Lulin Academy and wanted to go to Tianjing, which would only make King Ning more murderous.

(End of this chapter)