Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 109 Secret Agent
In the Wuding Marquis' Mansion, Wei Chan pushed open the door of the boudoir and saw Shen Lingshu sitting in front of the window in a daze.

"Are you still sad about that couple?"

As she asked, Wei Chan walked over to sit next to her and said, "I told you a long time ago that there is something fishy going on between Pei Nian and Gu Jingnian, but you refused to believe it. Now you've suffered a great loss, haven't you?"

When Shen Lingshu heard this, she put her head on her arms and burst into tears.

Wei Chan was helpless and said with some regret: "You are still crying? For a stinky man."

"No!" Shen Lingshu cried, "Every one of you said that."

In just half a day, the maids, nannies, relatives and friends in the mansion all said, "It has been said for a long time that they have an affair, but you don't believe it, young lady." She was so tired of hearing it that her ears were almost callused.

"I hate it so much! You guys are right, all of you are right, I am just a big fool, okay?! Wuuuuu, I am so mad, I owe you."

If others saw Shen Lingshu getting angry, they would be so scared that they would have to coax her with sweet words.

But Shen Lingshu would not lose control in front of others. She would only confide in Wei Chan, her good friend. Unfortunately, Wei Chan was the only one who would not coax her. Instead, she scolded her when she heard what she said.

"Of course you don't owe us anything. We feel sorry for you and want to know what happened to you. You were just fooled around by that couple. Now they owe you."

As he spoke, Wei Chan put his arm around Shen Lingshu's shoulders and helped her up.

"Cheer up. You treat Pei Nian as a friend, but she stole your kiss..."

"No, Gu Jingnian broke off the engagement with me a long time ago."

"You are stupid, why did he break off the engagement? He must have fallen in love with Pei Nian first. You even went to ask him for the reason, but he lied to you from beginning to end." Wei Chan became angrier and angrier as she spoke, "He even sniffed my... Humph, I was deceived by him at Deadwood Cliff, and he faked his death to get away. I really should kill him. These two will be my enemies from now on."

"I don't think so." Shen Lingshu said.

Even though things have come to this, she did not blame Pei Nian and Gu Jingnian in her heart. Instead, from the time she heard the news until now, she has been thinking in her mind that Pei Nian is really brave.

In fact, she also thought about saving Gu Jingnian, but when she thought that it could not be done, she gave up. After all, the relationship between the two had not reached that stage. It can be seen that Pei Nian really likes Gu Jingnian.

"I...I bless them, woooooo!"

"You are really hopeless." Wei Chan couldn't help but shake her head upon seeing this.

In comparison, Wei Chan understood the situation better and knew that Gu Jingnian had always been against alchemy, but her position was not to support those alchemists. She wanted to find a powerful alchemist to use for herself.

In fact, Gu Jingnian killed Prime Minister Zheng Kuangfu, and now the alchemists are in chaos, which is actually beneficial to her. She has already had some clues in the past two days.

Wei Xie, on the other hand, had recently fallen behind her in this regard as he had gotten into big trouble due to the Lu Yanning case.

After a while, her maid ran in and whispered in her ear: "Princess, we found an aide to the Prime Minister's Office."

"Really?"

Wei Chan was overjoyed and said to Shen Lingshu, "Silly girl, I have something else to do. Think it over. I'm leaving now."

Shen Lingshu thought she was going to comfort herself, but was stunned when she heard that.

Wei Chan ignored her and left in a hurry. When she returned to the princess's mansion, she saw an old man sitting in the hall. He was probably in his seventies and looked like an immortal.

"I am Qiao Xu, honored to meet Princess Yushu."

"I heard that you once refined aliens for the prime minister. Is that true?"

Qiao Xu didn't expect Wei Chan to be so direct. He was slightly stunned, stroked his beard and nodded, saying, "Not bad."

Naturally, he would not say that he usually just helped Xia Juqi and prepared herbs. After all, this was indeed a step in refining alien creatures, so he picked up some small things about Zheng Kuangfu's refining of his eyes and told them.

Wei Chan was quite happy and asked, "Then can you make me stay young forever?"

Qiao Xu smiled mysteriously and did not give a direct answer. Instead, he took the opportunity to guide the conversation.

"Initially, the prime minister captured Womin for immortality, but he didn't expect that he was a descendant of the phoenix. Gu Jingnian, who has been making a big fuss in the capital recently, has refined the wings of the phoenix."

When mentioning Gu Jingnian, one cannot help but talk about the incident in which Pei Nian kidnapped him.

Qiao Xu seemed very interested in this, and while talking he brought out Wei Chan's attitude, scolding her several times. From what he heard, one could tell that there were already signs of their conspiracy to treason and elopement.

After hearing these words, Qiao Xu had some ideas in mind.

As a spy from Yong State, he stayed in Rui State for many years, but he only became an insignificant staff member and did nothing. The good thing was that Rui State could not realize that he was a spy and could find out the truth of some things.

Gu Jingnian is a very capable person, and he is the son of Gu Beiming. He has also committed the unforgivable crime of treason. Such a person is most suitable to be recruited to Yong State. If this can be done, it will be regarded as a contribution made by Qiao Xu during his many years as a spy.

So, that night he sent a message to the Yong spies lurking at the Rui Pass, telling them that if they met Gu Jingnian, they could help him to serve the Yong State.

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As the news spread, the guards at various passes in the State of Rui had also received news that the traitor Gu Jingnian had escaped from prison.

People often look up at the sky, thinking that if they see a creature with flaming wings appearing in the sky, they will shoot it down with an arrow.

Especially at Zhenyun Pass, which was guarded by Marquis Wuding himself, this atmosphere became even more intense.

No matter what Shen Jichi himself thought, he could not let Gu Jingnian break through his defense and defect to Yong State.

Gu Beiming was originally his old subordinate, and his defection to the enemy had severely damaged his prestige. Gu Jingnian had been engaged to his daughter, and now he had betrayed his country and fled with another woman. If he managed to get through his defense, he would be humiliated.

There is no shortage of powerful strangers in his army. Even if Gu Jingnian can fly or heal himself, he can't fly out of Rui easily.

However, half a month passed, and no one in Rui country had seen the waving flaming wings in the sky. It seemed that Gu Jingnian and Pei Nian had left Rui country.

People then began to suspect that they might not necessarily go to Yong State to seek refuge with Gu Beiming, but might have gone somewhere else.

But in fact, he was just moving slowly and only just came out of the Yidi Mountains.

Before heading to Yong State, Gu Jingnian still wanted to go somewhere else. ————————

Lanshui Village.

The village is much more desolate than before.

Gu Jingnian led the horse along the path and came to the dilapidated courtyard on the edge of the village.

The door was not locked and was ajar. It opened with a slight push.

But what he saw was not the happy scene of the family preparing for the New Year as he had imagined. The yard was deserted and empty.

When you walk in, every room is empty, even the furniture has been moved away.

Gu Jingnian touched the ground and found that there was not much dust, which meant that someone had left not long ago.

After leaving the courtyard, Pei Nian was waiting outside and asked, "Is it done?"

“No.” Gu Jingnian said, “This is a family that took me in, but now they are gone.”

"Go and ask."

The two men entered the village and first went to find the half-blind man.

But the half-blind man's house was empty and no one knew where he had gone.

Walking further into the village, I saw a few old men squatting in the corner of the house, chatting in the sun. The only one sitting on a bench was the village chief Zhang Fugui.

Zhang Fugui didn't recognize the former Ah Chou. Seeing a pair of elegant men and women approaching, he quickly stood up and said, "You two nobles, are you passing by our village?"

"Where are all the people from Zhang Dashi's family over there?"

Gu Jingnian asked bluntly.

If it was Zhang Fugui who persecuted Zhang Dashi's family again, he would act without mercy.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Fugui sighed and said, "Where else can we go? The imperial court is recruiting soldiers, and all the able-bodied men in the village have been conscripted. Logically, one of the two Zhang brothers should stay, but this time they were all conscripted at once."

Gu Jingnian looked around and saw that the village was quiet, so he knew that this should be true.

"If that's the case, where is Zhang Xiaofang? And Zhang Dashi's new wife."

Zhang Fugui was a little surprised and said, "It seems that the young master knows their family very well."

He secretly thought that Zhang Dashi, a poor man, had such a noble relative, so he sighed.

"Yes, that is Zhang Dashi's father-in-law, Zhao Bo, who is a very cunning man. Seeing that the Zhang brothers had joined the army, he sold the Zhang family's land and fled with his daughter. Before he left, he borrowed some money from someone. The day before yesterday, Zhang Xiaofang couldn't pay back the money, so the lender took her away."

"Really?" Gu Jingnian didn't believe it at first, and said, "You usually bully them, how do you know it wasn't you who did it?"

"Hey, hey, hey, please don't wrongly accuse me." Zhang Fugui was terrified, not knowing how the nobleman in front of him could know so many things. He said with a bitter face, "We are all from the same clan in the village. I have taken advantage of their family in the past, but it is not necessary to cause the family to be destroyed!"

This is true. Compared with the blow brought about by the current collapse of the world, the conflicts between people's lives are nothing.

Gu Jingnian asked, "Where is the half-blind man?"

"He has been drafted into the army, too."

"Him? Isn't he disabled?"

"He can read."

After asking where Zhang Xiaofang was taken, Gu Jingnian turned and left.

Zhang Fugui stood there thinking about the questions he had just asked, feeling confused and uncertain. Behind him, Zhang Cuihua came over and pulled him.

"Dad, who was the young man you were talking to just now? He's so handsome."

Zhang Fugui seemed to have not heard anything and muttered, "Those eyes, and the questions they asked, could it be that... Ah Chou? Impossible."

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Jingyuan County.

There was a market for slaves in the east of the county town. In one of the largest shops, a fat man in a blue silk shirt was selecting slaves.

A row of slaves were kneeling timidly on the ground, with their heads lowered, trying their best to appear submissive.

There was only one person left, with his hands and feet tied and his mouth stuffed, and a fierce look in his eyes. It was Zhang Xiaofang.

"Hey, can such a fierce little maid be dragged out to be sold?"

As soon as the fat man asked, the boy whipped Zhang Xiaofang with a whip.

"This is still under training, please take a look at something else."

After saying this, the young man was about to swing the whip again, but the next moment, his hand was grabbed by someone. He turned around and saw that it was a handsome young man, and he quickly smiled apologetically.

"Son..."

"Snapped!"

A slap suddenly hit the smiling face.

Zhang Xiaofang, who was tied there, didn't know what was going on. She looked up and met the eyes of the handsome young man. She was stunned for a moment, and then, inexplicably, she felt a sense of familiarity.

(End of this chapter)