Chapter 90 Di Renjie Arrives

After Zhao Ji reached a cooperation with Zeng Tai, he did not stay for a moment, but immediately set off for Changcheng County.

Shen Tao and Xiao Bao were sent by Zhao Ji to keep an eye on Yingyu and the prince's guards respectively. If there was any sign of trouble, they would immediately go to Changcheng County to inform Zhao Ji.

On the way back to Changcheng County, Zhao Ji and Zeng Tai rode in the same carriage in order to avoid the eyes of the inner guards and discuss future plans.

Zhao Ji showed his goodwill to Zeng Tai and said, "Brother Zeng, you are a few years older than me. How about I call you Brother Zeng from now on?"

Zeng Tai hurriedly declined: "No, no, General Zhao, you are a fourth-rank official, and I am only a sixth-rank official. There is a difference between the superior and the inferior. How can this be allowed?"

Zhao Ji smiled and said, "In terms of official business, there are naturally differences in status. But as friends, why should we care about these red tape?"

Zeng Tai could not refuse, so he had to let Zhao Ji go, but he insisted on calling Zhao Ji "general".

"Brother Zeng, please tell me in detail what you know about the internal security situation in Huzhou." Zhao Ji said.

Zeng Tai nodded and said, "Yes. But I am only an outer guard, so I don't know much."

"It's okay, just say it." Zhao Ji gestured.

Zeng Tai gathered his thoughts and began to speak: "As far as I know, they have spies on all the official roads in and out of Changcheng County, such as the one we are taking now. Any suspicious person passing by will be followed and investigated by them."

Zhao Ji already knew this, so he nodded slightly and motioned Zeng Tai to continue.

Zeng Tai then said, "Also, I know that the Internal Guard has a man in a place called Liujiazhuang. The owner of this Liujiazhuang is called Liu Chali, who used to be an official in the court, but has resigned many years ago."

Zhao Ji's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Liujiazhuang? Good, this is a key clue. Anything else?"

Zeng Tai frowned and thought for a while, then added, "There is another strange thing. For a long time, the Internal Guards almost lost contact with me, as if they had forgotten me, but recently they started to contact me again."

Zhao Ji laughed: "The leader of the inner guard has arrived. Changcheng County will soon become a place of trouble."

Zeng Tai suddenly realized, "So that's it."

The two were talking in the carriage. When they passed a house on the official road, several people dressed as farmers started talking about the carriage.

"A carriage is coming. I'll follow it and take a look." said one of them.

Another person stopped him and said, "No need. This is the car of the Changcheng County Magistrate. Let it pass."

So Zhao Ji and Zeng Tai came to the Changcheng County Government Office smoothly.

Zeng Tai led the way: "General Zhao, please. Since there are humble officials in the county government, the internal guards are not superfluous. Just send someone over, you can rest assured."

"Don't call me General Zhao. Just treat me as your cousin or your subordinate. Just call me Chengyuan to avoid leaking the news." Zhao Ji reminded.

"Oh, General Zhao...Oh no, Chengyuan." Zeng Tai immediately changed his words.

Zhao Ji nodded with satisfaction: "That's right."
-
At night, in a wing room of the Changcheng County Government Office, Shen Tao found Zhao Ji as agreed and brought important news.

"You mean a man named Liu Chali redeemed Yingyu? So quickly?" Zhao Ji asked in surprise.

"Yes, General. And the group of people you asked us to monitor also went to Liujiazhuang. Xiao Bao is still watching them. I came back to report to the general." Shen Tao bowed.

Zhao Ji nodded and said, "Since Yingyu has entered Liujia Village, there are internal guards in the village. In order to prevent her from being exposed, we can no longer monitor her. You and Xiao Bao will take turns to keep an eye on the group of people under her."

"Oh, by the way. By the way, find out when the wedding will be held in Liujiazhuang. As soon as you have any news, come here to find me." Zhao Ji ordered again.

"Yes, I'll take my leave." Shen Tao accepted the order and left.

After Shen Tao left, Zhao Ji walked to the oil lamp, cut the wick short, and fell into deep thought. On the day when Di Renjie took Li Yuanfang to Liujiazhuang to collect autumn wind, it was already time for Yingyu to use the bee trick.

Liu Da also said that Nalan Tihua was brought to Liujiazhuang by his new wife "a few days ago". This means that Liu Chali should not have married Yingyu immediately after taking her back to Liujiazhuang, but prepared for it for a few days.

According to this calculation, Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang will reach Huzhou in a few days at most.

After not seeing them for several months, Zhao Ji really missed Di Pangpang and Yuan Fang.

Being with Di Renjie, I didn't have to worry about political risks and could just keep moving forward. Even if the sky fell, there was always a tall man to hold it up. How could I not miss him?
-
A few days passed in the blink of an eye, and Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang were already within the jurisdiction of Changcheng County.

This time, Di Renjie dressed up as a teacher, and Li Yuanfang dressed up as a disciple.

The two of them were chatting with an old farmer who had been raising bees for many years. Li Yuanfang paid some money and exchanged it for a bowl of honey from the old man.

Di Renjie took the honey, took a few sips, savored it carefully, and then handed the bowl to Li Yuanfang.

Li Yuanfang was not so particular and just picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

Di Renjie laughed out loud: "Yuan Fang, you can't taste honey like this, you are drinking it like a cow."

Li Yuanfang scratched his head and smiled disapprovingly: "I just know that sweet is good, I don't care about so much."

However, Li Yuanfang knew that if he didn't finish drinking quickly, he would not get his share, and he still had to pay for it himself.

Following Di Renjie on his incognito visit, Li Yuanfang finally experienced the old man's stinginess once again.

"How about it, sir, our honey is pretty good, isn't it?" said the beekeeper proudly.

Di Renjie began to discuss the quality of the honey and bluntly said that it was only low-grade honey.

I don’t know if it was because Di Renjie said the honey was not sweet, but the bees of the old beekeeper got angry and suddenly swarmed up.

The three of them followed the bees and looked into the distance. They saw a large group of bees forming a black cloud and flying towards the west.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked the old beekeeper in surprise.

Di Renjie frowned and said, "It's really rare to see bees swarming like this."

The old beekeeper nodded and said, "Yes, I have been raising bees all my life and I have never seen anything like this."

Di Renjie asked again: "Where are the bees going?"

The old beekeeper replied, "To the west is a wealthy local manor called Liujia Manor. I heard there is a happy event in the manor today."

Di Renjie speculated: "There must be a large flower garden in the manor, which attracted the bees."

The old beekeeper shook his head and said it was impossible: "Impossible, Liujiazhuang is more than ten miles away from here, and bees generally won't fly that far to collect honey."

Di Renjie smiled and said, "When something is out of the ordinary, there must be something fishy going on. Yuan Fang, let's go to Liujiazhuang and take a look. It just so happens that they are having a wedding, and maybe we can even have a good meal there."

After saying this, Di Renjie walked away without waiting for Li Yuanfang's consent.

Li Yuanfang shook his head helplessly. The purpose of investigating the bees was fake, and the main purpose was to get free food and drinks.

　Thanks to Uncle95 for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)