The flea was standing by his side, wiping sweat incessantly, not daring to utter a sound.
Yang Ge exhaled a breath, forcefully suppressing his anger, and waved his hand, "That’s enough, go have your fun, let me know if there’s any news..."
Like having received a royal pardon, the flea nodded his head like pounding garlic, "Yes, yes, yes, I will definitely report to you the moment there is news."
He turned around and tiptoed back into the inn, quickening his pace as he went. When he reached the courtyard, he realized his back was already soaked through.
Xiao Baoqi, who was shuffling mahjong tiles, saw his flustered appearance and asked curiously, "What’s the big deal? Look at the sweat on your forehead..."
The flea, wiping the sweat from his forehead, looked at Xiao Baoqi and then at the thugs at the mahjong table, hesitating to speak for a moment.
Seeing this, Xiao Baoqi lowered his eyelids, "If you can’t say, then forget it. We’re about to finish this round, you take over..."
After pondering for a moment, the flea spoke in a low voice, "There’s nothing that can’t be said... The head of the Eastern Factory, Wei Heng, Eunuch Wei, is dead."
"The Eastern Factory? And the head of the factory?"
Xiao Baoqi wondered, "Why should we care whether that foreign dog is dead or not, does your Yuèlái Inn still do business with the government?"
The thugs at the table and others like Dogshit all nodded in agreement.
With an expressionless face, the flea said, "If you’re not afraid of getting beaten up, feel free to speak louder!"
Xiao Baoqi stiffened, then came back to his senses and flipped a thumb towards the entrance of the inn, "...It’s related?"
The flea nodded and whispered, "Back when Second Master was executing those corrupt officials in Hangzhou, it was Eunuch Wei who lent a hand to his elder... And as far as our Yuèlái Inn knows, during the case with the three major grain merchants, Second Master and King Yang, Yang Tiansheng, snuck into the imperial envoy’s private garden, and it was this Eunuch Wei who let the two brothers off."
"The relationship... is close!"
Xiao Baoqi suddenly sat up straight, staring intently at the flea and seriously asked, "Who did it?"
The flea also fixed his gaze on him, then slowly turned to the thugs who also looked puzzled, "So far, our Yuèlái Inn has not found out who did it. However, the suspects won’t be outside of the Ming Sect, White Lotus Sect, and Five Poisons Cult. We are all brothers here, so don’t blame me for not warning you. Better ask your own houses pronto to see if this has anything to do with your own. If it does, think of a way to make amends quickly... Second Master is very angry, the consequences will be very serious!"
"Fuck..."
Xiao Baoqi’s mouth gaped open suddenly, and then he quickly cupped his fists towards the flea, "Thank you, brother, no matter whether this has anything to do with the White Lotus Sect or not, I, Xiao Qi, will definitely reward you handsomely!"
The thug also hurriedly thanked him with a hand gesture, "No words needed, Flea, for telling us brothers this. This favor, I, Niu Meng, will remember!"
Both got up as they spoke...
Dogshit looked on, bewildered, "Not playing anymore? We haven’t finished this round!"
Xiao Baoqi, "Keep playing, my ass. If we keep playing, Second Master is going to grind us all into mahjong tiles!"
Thug, "Stop dawdling and go pass the message... Damn it, the braindead idiots from the main temple better not be so full of themselves that they start trouble like this. It’ll get people killed!"
Xiao Baoqi, "What the hell are you afraid of? At least you Ming Sect people still have King Yang, who can speak with Second Master. The bunch of lunatics from the White Lotus Sect who drink amulet water as if it’s curing hysteria, they’ve never really gotten along with Second Master. If they stir up trouble with Second Master this time, they won’t just be crippled, they’ll be dead meat!"
The two, with hearts in turmoil, whispered complaints to each other and hurried out the door.
At the entrance, Yang Ge was motionless, looking at the book in his hands, but his mind was filled with the smiling face of Wei Heng, blooming like a chrysanthemum...
Some people are just like that, when they are around, you don’t realize how important they are, you might even find them annoying and in the way.
But all of a sudden, when that person is gone, you realize too late that perhaps they were quite important.
Wei Heng... one could say he was the only good man among the many officials Yang Ge had dealt with.
Likewise, this old man held rules and reverence in his heart just like most officials.
But under the premise of not violating his rules and his awe, he was willing to go out of his way to do things he believed to be right.
Back then, in the case of the three major grain merchants, if it wasn’t for Wei Heng going with the flow, Yang Ge’s fire would not have been able to reach them.
One could even say, if Wei Heng hadn’t been just and let Yang Ge go at the time, there might not have been a Yang Erlang afterward...
Yang Tiansheng had the Ming Sect and his father Yang Yinghao backing him; if he were captured by mistake, perhaps he would have been all right.
But at that time, Yang Ge was truly alone and helpless, without a single friend in the world. If Wei Heng had been just a bit more ruthless, he could have been killed as easily as a chicken.
Shen Fa?
If Yang Ge appeared before Shen Fa as the corpse of an assassin sent to kill an imperial envoy, that scoundrel would definitely avoid involvement and would never challenge Wei Heng, who was the imperial bodyguard, because of Yang Ge.
The corruption case in Jiangzhe later on was the same. It was Wei Heng, the Emperor Xiping’s secret envoy, who turned a blind eye and let things slide so that Yang Ge could successfully send those murderous corrupt officials to the execution ground...
If Wei Heng had harbored even a slight notion of seizing the opportunity to enrich himself, had been more dominant, more forceful, Yang Ge actually wouldn’t have been able to do much... At that time, Yang Erlang didn’t have the confidence or determination to confront the court. As soon as an imperial edict from Emperor Xiping arrived, even if he held solid evidence of the corrupt officials’ crimes, he would still have to reluctantly release them.
Also, during the joint law enforcement by the six departments, if it hadn’t been for Wei Heng and Shen Fa working together to protect the family of the Yuelai Inn, the old shopkeeper and his family might have been harmed by that dead eunuch from the Eastern Factory...
Upon deeper reflection, Yang Ge realized he owed that old fellow quite a few favors!
The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.
’Going with the flow, going with the flow, pushed along all his life, and in the end, he fell because of going with the flow...’
Yang Ge tried hard to recall the last time he saw that old fellow. It turned out the last time was when that old fellow went to Chaimen Street with the imperial edict to bestow a marquisate during the New Year festival. However, not only had Yang Ge not shown any gratitude, but he hadn’t even offered a meal.
Lately, when that old fellow went south to Jiangzhe to oversee the imperial court’s campaign against the Five Poisons Cult, he didn’t even stop by the inn when passing through Lu Ting. He must have felt that Yang Ge never considered him, Wei Heng, a friend...
Yang Ge remembered someone had said that the greatest regret between people is not being able to properly say goodbye for the last time.
He didn’t know whether that saying was right or wrong.
All he knew was that his heart felt uncomfortably tight at the moment.
He wanted to cry out loud, yet it didn’t quite seem to be at that point.
To say it was inconsequential, well, it truly wasn’t so easy to dismiss...
In short, every time he thought that he would never see that old, chrysanthemum-like smiling face again, his heart felt severely congested.
"Second brother, second brother..."
Zhao Miao’s fair little hand waved vigorously in front of Yang Ge’s eyes.
Yang Ge finally snapped out of his memories and looked up to see Zhao Miao staring with her round, twinkling eyes, full of curiosity, and he forced a smile, "What’s up?"
Zhao Miao: "I thought you had fallen asleep... What are you thinking about? You’re holding the book upside down."
She stretched out her hand, turned the "Zhuangzi" in Yang Ge’s hands upside down, and handed it back to him.
Yang Ge glanced at the book in his hand and awkwardly smiled, "Nothing much, just lost in thought..."
Zhao Miao sat down beside him on the steps in front of the inn door and asked, "Is something wrong? I just saw Xiao Baoqi and those thugs climbing out of windows and sneaking around like thieves..."
Yang Ge narrowed his eyes slightly, and the forced smile on his lips suddenly turned cold as he reassured in a soft voice, "Don’t worry about it, there’s really nothing wrong."
Zhao Miao looked at him skeptically, "So, what were you thinking about just now? You seemed so lost in thought."
Yang Ge lowered his eyelids and murmured softly, "Just now... I was remembering an old friend who has gone on a long journey."