Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 104: Twists and turns (asking for monthly tickets!)

The night deepens and the waning moon appears like a hook.

Soldiers soon cleared the streets, beating gongs and drums and shouting:
"At dusk, curfew is in effect!"

The vendors on both sides of the street were packing up their stalls in an orderly manner, and the children playing under the banyan tree were pinched by their ears and carried back home by their parents.

In a short while, the street, which had originally been somewhat bustling with life, was now deserted.

For a moment the long street was silent, with the only sound being the chirping of crickets.

After a while, a group of soldiers came from the other end of the long street.

The leading general in silver armor rode on his horse, holding the reins with both hands.

He was riding a rather sturdy black horse with a bit on its back. Its hooves moved forward steadily, making a "thump thump" sound on the bluestone slabs of the street.

Behind him, two servants followed on horseback, one on the left and one on the right.

The servants each held a flag in their hands. The flag held by the general on the left had the words "Dai Tian Xun Shou" written on it, while the flag held by the general on the right had the words "Bing Er Liu" written on it.

Behind these three mounted generals followed a team of black-armored guards, holding two-meter-long spears. Their armor made a clanging sound when they walked, and their footsteps were uniform, showing that they were obviously well-trained.

This is the most common night parade team during curfew, and they are all people from the Astronomical Observatory.

After the group left, the lid of an empty water tank in an alley was pushed open from the inside.

Ji Hengyi stuck his head out to observe the street, and noticed that the Astronomical Patrol team had just passed by. Only then did he feel relieved and get out of the empty water tank.

"For the next half an incense stick, there will be no more patrol teams from the Astronomical Observatory passing by... that's enough time for me to enter the Ministry Hall."

He pondered silently in his mind, then nodded, walked out of the alley and came to the street.

The place where Ji Hengyi was hiding was not far from the hall of Zongzheng Temple, just two streets away.

But after just a few steps, his heart was in his throat. After all, Qianbu Gallery was not like Yongkangfang. Although they were both in the inner city, the area around Qianbu Gallery were all government offices of various ministries in the court. Some of them contained important official documents, so the frequency of patrolling this street by the Xuntianjian was much more frequent than other places, and multiple teams would pass through this area for patrol.

Fortunately, the information obtained from Ruyi Casino was reliable. Ji Hengyi arrived at the gate of Zongzheng Temple and did not encounter any night patrol soldiers along the way.

He looked at the familiar government office gate in front of him, breathed a sigh of relief, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

After catching his breath, he walked to the gate, grabbed the copper ring on the door and knocked on it.

"Dong dong..."

After a few muffled noises, the door of the government office opened a crack, and a middle-aged man poked his head out stealthily. When he saw that it was Ji Hengyi outside the door, he breathed a sigh of relief and moved aside.

After Ji Hengyi entered, the crack in the door of the government office was immediately closed.

Behind the door, the middle-aged man went to bolt the door, and said with lingering fear: "Fortunately, the new earl of Ning didn't come earlier. Today, the Duke and the man surnamed Gou stayed until shortly before curfew. If you had come earlier, you would have run into them."

This middle-aged man was an official of the Zongzheng Temple.

After all, the Zongzheng Temple is a government office, so officials are stationed there to take turns to keep watch every day.

This middle-aged clerk had long been in cahoots with Ji Hengyi. Over the years, when Ji Hengyi worked for the Third Prince and needed to go into the Zongzheng Temple in the middle of the night, he always relied on this clerk to help him.

When Ji Hengyi heard this, he couldn't help but feel scared.

Fortunately, he was careful and waited until curfew before sneaking in, for fear that such an accident would happen.

He asked, "Did Gou just leave? Did he enter the book library?"

The middle-aged official shook his head and said, "No, it was the Duke who was talking to that Gou about the things that were purchased first after the renovation of the ministry. Don't tell me, the Zhao family is really rich."

"Humph, it's nothing but ill-gotten gains!"

Ji Hengyi snorted, his eyes revealing a hint of contempt.

A few generations ago, the Zhao family might have been fishermen who went out to sea to fish. With such a humble background, how could they be qualified to live such a superior life?
On the other hand, he, a nobleman with royal blood flowing in his body, can only drink water to fill his stomach, and his wife has to go dig wild vegetables to eat...

God is blind and fate is unfair! Although Ji Hengyi tried his best to show his arrogance of "regarding money as dirt", his words sounded sour.

After he said this, he felt that the middle-aged clerk in front of him was mocking him with his smiling face, and said angrily: "Okay, give me the oil lamp, I want to go to the book library."

The clerk was totally confused and had no idea what he had said to anger Ji Sicheng.

……

Ji Hengyi and the clerk entered the book library one after the other.

He picked up a book from the shelf and burned it on the oil lamp.

This action immediately startled the clerk: "Master, what are you doing?"

"What?" Ji Hengyi sneered and threw the burning book in his hand onto the shelf. "Doesn't Zhao Qi'an want to repair the ministry? Why not burn it down and let him rebuild it? Wouldn't that be better?"

The clerk widened his eyes and said quickly: "But..."

Ji Hengyi didn't listen. He waved his hand and said coldly, "No buts. If what we did is exposed, we will die! Let's just go all out!"

"No, what I want to say is..."

"This is all for the Third Prince's great plan. When the Third Prince succeeds to the throne in the future, you and I will both be his loyal subjects!"

"Listen to me..."

"Don't try to persuade me anymore, I have made up my mind!"

As the two were arguing, the fire gradually went out.

For a while, there was no sound.

After a long while, the middle-aged clerk smiled bitterly and said, "My Lord, I was thinking that it has rained recently in Kyoto and it is a bit damp. You can't light it like this."

Ji Hengyi: "..."

The middle-aged clerk asked, "Since you have such a plan, don't you have any kerosene?"

Ji Hengyi looked away guiltily.

The middle-aged clerk sighed and said politely, "Why don't you go back tonight?"

"No."

Ji Hengyi didn't speak until this time.

The ministry will be renovated tomorrow, and these things in the book library will be moved to the house prepared by the Zhao family.

How else can we start?

Ji Hengyi coughed lightly and told the clerk, "Hold the lamp for me. I'm going to get some account books."

At this point, we can only take the problematic accounts away first.

……

This busy work took more than an hour.

Ji Hengyi didn't bring a book box, so he could only hold up his clothes and wrap the account books with his clothes, preparing to go home first.

He waited at the gate of the government office until the third watch gong sounded, and then he pushed open the door of the government office.

But just as he was swaggering towards Yongkangfang, suddenly there was a loud shout from behind him:

"It's curfew time, who's walking at night?!"

This sound almost scared Ji Hengyi to death.

(End of this chapter)