Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 12 A Great Deal
Among Zhao Qi'an's adopted sons and daughters in Beijing, Zhao Nishang is the eldest. She was released from Yangshengtang to work early on. Now she is in charge of the Xiaowei for him, secretly gathering information from all over the world.

To secretly gather information from all over the world, the Zhao Trading Company, which is spread all over the world, is the best help. Therefore, Zhao Nishang's official identity is a deacon of the Kyoto Trading Company, responsible for businesses such as brothels, wine shops, and gambling houses.

Zhao Qi'an came to the market today just to see Zhao Nishang.

Zhao Nishang was very sensible and made way for Zhao Qi'an, sitting down and pouring him some tea. "Foster father, how did you find me? Even Dean An can't guess my transformation seven out of ten times."

Zhao Qi'an held the teacup and said leisurely, "President An once competed with the current Imperial Master for the position of Imperial Master and lost. When I mentioned the position of Imperial Master to him, do you think he would say 'you are being flattered'? Or would he turn hostile on the spot?"

Zhao Nishang frowned and said, "That's not right. You must have had doubts before you spoke to test me, right?"

Facing her doubts, Zhao Qi'an tapped his fingers on the lines of wet ink on the open pages of the book on the table and said, "Is Dean An's cursive script so easy to imitate? Go back and practice for a few more years."

Zhao Nishang was immediately annoyed. She didn't expect that her last-minute addition would backfire.

Zhao Qi'an smiled at her annoyed behavior and asked, "Where is Dean An?"

"The dean said that the fifth floor is cold and damp, and sitting here for a long time will cause rheumatism. I'm going out for a walk today because the weather is good."

Zhao Nishang was honest this time and answered truthfully, asking, "You came here today without any prior notice, I will send someone to find Dean An right away."

She stood up and was about to leave, but Zhao Qi'an said to keep her back: "No need, I just came to see you."

He pondered for a while, tapped his fingers on the table, and then said, "Tonight, Concubine Zhen is hosting a family banquet in the palace and has invited Yuzhen and me to enter the palace. Please prepare a gift for me and load it on my carriage later."

Zhao Nishang said angrily, "This Concubine Zhen's family is either celebrating this festival or holding a family banquet every other day, and they are all using this as an excuse to ask you for money. Godfather, you are such a person, why do you have to endure the anger of Princess Yuzhen's family?"

Zhao Qi'an smiled calmly, "A concubine with a high status in the harem but whose mother's family is weak and who can only rely on me, her son-in-law; a prince who is neither the legitimate son nor the eldest son; a princess who never asks me a single word... I paid only a little money, but got the status of a royal family and the title of Viscount Haiqing. How can I say I was bullied? I only saw a very cost-effective deal."

Zhao Nishang's eyebrows were almost twisted together, and she really wanted to say how could marriage be treated as a business matter.

But she couldn't say it, because she knew what kind of grand ambitions her adoptive father had in his heart, and in front of such ambitions, any sentimental feelings seemed ridiculous.

She could only say, "But Princess Yuzhen has been restless recently. She has sent people to investigate the Health Hall. The people sent by the Princess's Mansion last time were dealt with by the Xiaowei, but this can't happen again. If an ordinary Health Hall is impregnable and experts are sent one after another but still can't investigate the situation, Princess Yuzhen will find out that something is wrong with the Zhao Health Hall no matter how stupid she is."

"Foster father, why don't you let me kill Princess Yuzhen and transform myself into her appearance..."

Zhao Nishang was eager to try it out. She had had this idea in her mind for a long time, and now she finally found an opportunity to put it forward.

Zhao Qi'an refused without even thinking: "No."

"Why?"

"Yuzhen is a princess after all, and she often entered the palace in the past. Are you sure there is no expert in the palace who can see through your disguise? Even if others can't see through it, can you hide it from Concubine Zhen? Can you hide it from the emperor? At the very least, you can't hide it from the imperial teacher."

Zhao Qi'an and the Daqian Imperial Master had only met a few times and had never fought each other.

But even Dean An could see through Zhao Nishang's "Thousand Illusions Technique", let alone the imperial master who had defeated Dean An in the past?
Zhao Nishang suddenly wilted, her head drooping listlessly.

Zhao Qi'an said, "I will handle Yu Zhen's case myself. Please find out the origins of Gong Xinying for me."

"There are too many experts in Baiyun Temple. Xiaowei is a spy, so it's hard to find out information." Zhao Nishang suggested, "I want Lao Si to help me. Lao Si is an official after all. Sometimes an official uniform is more useful than anything else."

The "fourth child" she mentioned was Zhao Qi'an's fourth adopted son, Zhao Guanxiang, who was a rebellious son.

When he first came out of Yangshengtang, Zhao Qian'an wanted to arrange a place for him, but he was unwilling to be under the protection of his adoptive father anymore, so he changed his identity and pretended to be an orphan to register for the imperial astronomical examination.

What is the Kexuntianjian place?
That is the territory of the national teacher!
With the imperial master in charge, Zhao Qi'an couldn't get his hands into the Astronomical Observatory at all.

When Zhao Guanxiang joined the Astronomical Observatory, the last hurdle was to find out his origin and see if his identity was innocent.

At that time, the Zhao Family Health Care Hall was in a state of chaos as it tried to cope with the inspection of the Astronomical Observatory.

Five years later, Zhao Guanxiang, without any help from Zhao Qian'an, was doing quite well in the Astronomical Patrol. Now he was also the Astronomical Patrol Captain, a seventh-rank official, in charge of more than a hundred people.

Although his official position was not high, he was highly respected in the Astronomical Observatory and was known as the "young tiger". He was also a highly-regarded figure in Kyoto.

Zhao Qi'an agreed: "I'll leave this matter to you and Guan Xiang."

"Yes."

……

It was already noon when Li Yulu came out of the market.

As soon as he walked out of the market, a few young boys who were waiting outside the market for work came up to him.

"Brother Donkey."

"Brother Donkey, I made three taels of silver today!"

These children are not very old, the oldest is fifteen or sixteen years old, and the youngest is only seven or eight years old.

Li Yulu waved his sleeves and said angrily, "How disrespectful, how disrespectful... What donkeys and horses... I am a scholar with a good reputation... Do you know that you don't have to kneel when you see the master of the government office? How can you call me so vulgarly?"

But his pretended anger was really ineffective. Not only did it fail to scare the young boys, but it made them make faces at each other, push their companions, and laugh at each other.

A child wearing a tiger-head hat squeezed to Li Yulu's feet, stretched out his hand to tug at his shirt, tilted his head back to reveal his tender face with snot hanging from his nose, and smiled to reveal his missing teeth:

"Brother Donkey, I made money, look~"

He opened his palm as if offering treasure, revealing two large copper coins inside.

Li Yulu picked him up and snorted with laughter, "What kind of money is this? I really met a noble man today and made a lot of money! Call me Scholar Brother, and I will treat you to some fire cakes!"

One of the children's eyes suddenly lit up: "Is there any meat?"

"Yes! Just eat donkey meat...donkey meat is delicious!"

Li Yulu waved his hand, and the children immediately cheered and surrounded Li Yulu, shouting "Scholar Brother" and "Scholar Brother" loudly, as if they were afraid of being left behind.

(End of this chapter)