Chapter 0269: You’re So Naughty, Second Young Master; Long-Term Fishing by Xie Chengze
Hu Lai instantly became alert, looking at Xie Chengze with wary eyes. “Young Master! Using family members to threaten someone is the act of a petty person!”
Xie Chengze was momentarily stunned, then looked at Hu Lai with a subtle expression.
Who was it, after all, who in the original story habitually loved using others’ family members to threaten them?
Probably aware of his own nature, Hu Lai declared with righteous indignation, “I may indeed be a petty person, but you, Young Master, are a great man. You must not resort to such crude and lowly methods.”
“A great man is benevolent and charitable,” Hu Lai praised with great earnestness. “You are a model for all under heaven to emulate.”
“Flattery doesn’t work on me,” Xie Chengze said helplessly, pushing away Hu Lai’s fawning face as he leaned in. Then, he leaned close to Hu Lai’s ear and whispered, “When the time comes, I’ll borrow your wife, and then…”
After a series of devilish, seductive whispers, Hu Lai looked up at Xie Chengze in shock, confirming that he wasn’t joking.
“Young Master…” Hu Lai stroked his small mustache. “You’re so naughty.”
Xie Chengze also reached up to stroke his non-existent beard and agreed, “I think so too. I’m so naughty.”
Sometimes he even felt a bit like an evil cult leader.
As the merchant convoy’s carriage gradually approached Jizhou, Wuhen and Wuji caught up with them.
“The palace is in an uproar,” Wuji reported to Xie Chengze about the events of that day.
After Emperor Jian’s funeral that day, he and Wuhen were sent by Shen Yuan to Taiji Hall to find Xie Chengze. There, they encountered the hidden guards set by the Crown Prince. A fight broke out, and by the time they reached the inner chamber of Taiji Hall, they only found the guards knocked unconscious and the room empty.
When Xie Jinyu learned that Xie Chengze was gone, he angrily went to Shen Yuan to demand his whereabouts, nearly turning the imperial palace upside down. He ordered the city gates closed and, under the pretext of “arresting an escaped death row prisoner,” dispatched the imperial guards to search house by house, causing quite a stir.
Wuhen and Wuji returned to Cheng Huan Palace. The next day, they received a letter from a retainer who had returned from outside the capital and immediately rushed toward Jizhou without stopping.
“The Crown Prince sent people to secretly follow us, but we’ve already taken care of them,” Wuhen added.
“Then…” Xie Chengze hesitated, leaving his sentence unfinished.
“Don’t worry, Young Master, we didn’t kill anyone,” Wuji said with a curved lip and a smiling expression. “We just knocked them all out. We’re very well-behaved.”
Xie Chengze nodded in relief. They were all just forced laborers; there was no need to resort to lethal measures.
He then informed them of the next steps. “We’re going to Zhuolu County to pick up Zhu Xiaobiao, and then we’ll head to Pingcheng.”
Before the palace coup, Xie Chengze had already sent Zhu Xiaobiao and his concubines back to Zhuolu County. As for Jing Ze, Bian Yangchun, and the others, they were staying with the Shen family. They had previously left the capital with the Shen family members to avoid the turmoil and had now returned to the capital, waiting for the results of the Palace Examination.
Speaking of Zhuolu County, Wuji pulled a letter from inside his robe. “Before leaving the capital, Wuhen and I checked the courier station. There was a letter for you.”
Most letters sent to Xie Chengze from outside involved confidential matters. To prevent leaks, these letters were not delivered to the palace. Instead, Wuhen and Wuji went to the courier station every three days to check for any incoming mail.
Since they would be away from the capital for several months this time, Wuhen and Wuji naturally had to tie up loose ends. They instructed their contact at the courier station to liaise with the Shen residence, where Shen Yuan would arrange for someone to take over the task.
Xie Chengze opened the letter and found it was sent from Zhuolu County. After reading its contents, his expression instantly darkened, becoming unreadable.
His pair of dark, beautiful eyes held a rare seriousness as he stared at the words on the letter, his fingertips tapping the wooden window frame of the carriage lightly and then heavily. After a long while, he turned to ask Shen Yuan some questions, only to find the spacious carriage empty of that person’s presence.
For a moment, his heart felt hollow, a faint sense of insecurity spreading.
The only one who knew the details of past events and could discuss them thoroughly with him was Shen Yuan.
Suppressing the emptiness within, Xie Chengze handed the letter to Hu Lai.
Hu Lai quickly scanned it, then stroked his chin, momentarily unsure of Xie Chengze’s intentions.
The letter read: “Recently, many carriages have been frequently entering and exiting the back gate of the county office. Among the local gentry, a premium scented sachet has become popular.”
The handwriting on the letter was crooked and uneven, as if written by a novice, and upon closer inspection, it carried a faint scent of pomade.
Hu Lai inquired carefully, “Young master, are you interested in this premium scented sachet? And suspect it might originate from the county office? Do you think the county office is using the scented sachet to amass wealth? And plan to go to the county office for another round of profit?”
He had heard that Zhu Xiaobiao, originally the son of the magistrate of Zhuolu County, had once helped the Crown Prince secure a considerable sum of silver to purchase relief grain for Yi Province.
This trip to Pingcheng would likely require a large amount of silver again. Returning to Zhuolu County for a repeat performance seemed very much in line with the Second Prince’s style.
Xie Chengze glanced at him but said nothing. Just as Hu Lai was pondering again, he suddenly remarked calmly, “Did you know that Xiaobiao was once drugged by his stepmother at home? That drug was addictive, and withdrawal was a living hell.”
Hu Lai shuddered. Having traveled far and wide, how could he not have heard of such addictive drugs? He just never imagined that Zhu Xiaobiao had suffered such torment and managed to break the addiction.
But what did this have to do with the letter…
“Young master, are you suspecting that Magistrate Zhu is using this addictive drug to make scented sachets and control the local gentry of Zhuolu County?” Hu Lai frowned. “But this drug is clearly harmful. Why would the gentry willingly continue using it? The word ‘popular’ is rather clever, making it seem as if the scented sachet is something desirable.”
Xie Chengze slightly lifted the carriage window curtain, his gaze fixed on the distant city of Jizhou they were about to reach. His voice was thin and meaningful, “Perhaps this drug has been refined to make people addicted to beautiful illusions, unable to break free.””
He thought to himself that the long line he had casually cast a year ago when passing through here had finally hooked a fat fish.
He just wondered, who was this fish?
——
After entering the city, Xie Chengze did not go to Zhu Xiaobiao’s temporary residence. Instead, dressed in plain clothes and wearing a veil hat, he discreetly entered a small alley and knocked on the door of a modest courtyard.
The door was opened by a young woman. If Zhu Xiaobiao were here, he would surely recognize her as one of the concubines who had not accompanied him to Yi Province.
Her name was Fang Qian. In the original storyline, she was the lead dancer performing at the Qionglin Banquet and one of the masterminds behind the six-year-long assassination plot orchestrated with Jing Ze.
Before leaving Zhuolu County, Zhu Xiaobiao’s concubines were divided into two groups: one group courageously followed him to Yi Province, while the other, under the protection of the Crown Prince’s guards, left the county office and temporarily stayed in Zhuolu County, awaiting Zhu Xiaobiao’s return.
On the night Xie Chengze conspired with Zhu Xiaobiao to stage their act, he had already sought out Fang Qian in advance and assigned her a task.
“The poppies grown in the county office’s backyard are something that could endanger Jian’an and its people. Stay in Zhuolu County and keep a close watch on the county office. If you notice frequent visits from strangers or if wealthy households in Zhuolu suddenly take up something that requires burning for use, immediately send a letter to the Jingcheng post station.”
Originally, when Xie Chengze discovered the poppies and corn poppies cultivated in the county office’s backyard, his strong anti-drug instincts urged him to destroy all the flowers. But upon second thought, doing so would be too conspicuous. If noticed by those with ill intentions, they might simply plant them elsewhere.
It was better to keep them under close watch, preventing any future misuse.
Perhaps—just perhaps—someone with ulterior motives might use these to produce addictive opium, attempting to undermine Jian’an’s foundations…
Thus, Xie Chengze laid this precautionary line with a “just in case” mindset, genuinely believing such a scenario wouldn’t occur, especially since the original plot had no such development.
Little did he expect to stumble upon exactly what he feared—like a blind cat catching a dead mouse.