The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun

Page 469

Not long after, another person walked in.

"Why doesn't the Prefect tell him about this? With his abilities, he should be able to resolve the troubles that have been plaguing the Prefect lately."

Upon seeing this man enter, the Xi'an prefect was not surprised. After hearing what the man said, he shook his head and said, "He is not a person of officialdom, so telling him is useless."

This person was an advisor to the prefect of Xi'an.

Upon hearing this, the aide said, "Although he is not a government official, his martial arts skills are enough to accomplish things that we cannot."

"No!"

The Xi'an prefect shook his head again: "Precisely because he is a江湖人 (jianghu person, a person of the martial arts world), we cannot let him know, otherwise things will get out of hand and it will be difficult to handle."

"I will report the matter of the granary to the imperial court truthfully. As for the matter of those grain merchants, I will find another way."

……

After leaving the government office, Jiang Ning did not rush back to Lantian County, but walked on the street.

Now that Xi'an Prefecture is suffering from disaster, in addition to the disaster victims in the subordinate counties, there are also many people in Xi'an Prefecture whose houses and fields have been flooded and who are homeless and living on the streets. The government has set up tents to temporarily accommodate them.

At this time, Jiang Ning arrived at a place in Xi'an Prefecture where the government was distributing porridge, and many disaster victims were queuing up to receive porridge.

"This porridge isn't enough to fill me up."

"Yes, just like water."

"The porridge being given out every day is getting thinner and thinner, I really don't know why."

The disaster victims in line whispered among themselves.

Jiang Ning went up to look at the porridge bucket and found that the porridge inside was very thin, not much different from that in Lantian County.

"Stop complaining, you should be grateful to have something to drink."

Other victims said.

"It's good enough that the imperial court can take care of us. I guess the imperial court is also short of food; they're almost out of food now."

"What if we run out of food later?"

Listening to the whispers of the disaster victims, Jiang Ning glanced around, didn't linger, and left.

Jiang Ning continued walking down the street, passing several grain shops along the way. He noticed that all the shops were either closed or open but had signs saying "Closed".

Jiang Ning went up to one of the grain shops, and before he could finish speaking, a shop assistant came over.

"Closed for business, closed for business."

He urged Jiang Ning to leave as he spoke.

Jiang Ning glanced at the sky: "You're closing so early? I came to buy grain."

The shop assistant said impatiently, "Didn't you see there's no food left in the shop?"

There wasn't a single grain of food in the grain shop.

Seeing that the shop assistant was unwilling to say more, Jiang Ning turned and left. But as soon as he left, a commoner rushed to the grain shop, obviously to buy grain, but he received the same answer.

"How could there be no food? I clearly saw that your store had so much food yesterday!"

The people didn't leave; instead, they started making a scene in the shop.

"Didn't you understand when I said no?"

The shop assistant kicked the man out, but he continued to shout.

"You must still have some grain. Please sell me some. I've been to so many grain shops but haven't been able to buy any. If we run out of grain, my whole family will starve to death. Please, I'll pay any price."

The shopkeeper ignored the people's complaints and slammed the door shut.

The man, dejected, prepared to leave.

"This fellow."

Jiang Ning stepped forward and asked, "You just said that this grain shop had grain yesterday, but it's empty today. What happened?"

"How should I know? I clearly saw it yesterday, and they still said it wasn't there."

The commoner grumbled and ignored Jiang Ning, running straight away.

Jiang Ning didn't chase after him to ask, his brows furrowing slightly.

Not right.

Jiang Ning had a feeling that something was wrong ever since he arrived in Xi'an. He felt that something was off about both the Xi'an prefect and the grain shops on the street.

Jiang Ning glanced at the name of the grain shop and then left.

night.

Li House.

"Sir, the Assistant Magistrate invites you to Juyu Pavilion for a chat tomorrow."

The butler said to Li Bo.

Upon hearing this, Li Bo immediately shook his head: "Tell the Assistant Magistrate that I am unwell and cannot go."

The steward said with difficulty, "Master, the Prefect has invited you several times recently, but you have declined each time. The Prefect is already displeased and said that if you don't go this time..."

Before the butler could finish speaking, Li Bo interrupted him.

"Do as I say!"

Seeing that Li Bo seemed to be angry, the butler quickly replied, "Yes."

Li Bo's face remained grim even after the butler left.

After an unknown amount of time, the servants entered the hall.

"Master, someone outside wants to see you."

Li Bo was feeling annoyed at the moment, and without thinking, he said, "I won't see you!"

Before the servant had left, he said, "Master, the man outside said his name is Jiang Ning."

"What do I care what he's called? I don't know anyone... what?"

Li Bo spoke subconsciously, but the next second he quickly stood up, looking astonished.

"What did you say that person's name was?"

The servant replied, "Jiangning."

Li Bo was startled, his legs went weak for a moment, and he immediately walked outside after realizing what had happened.

"Take me to see him!"

Before Li Bo could even step out the door, someone walked in from outside.

"No need, I'm coming in."

Upon seeing this person, Li Bo's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but stammer.

"Jiang...Master Jiang."

Jiang Ning sat down at a seat and gestured.

"sit."

Li Bo sat down opposite Jiang Ning.

"I was unaware that Master Jiang had arrived in Xi'an, and I did not pay my respects to him immediately to ask for his forgiveness."

Li Bo trembled slightly when speaking to Jiang Ning.

"No need for a formal visit, I only arrived today."

Jiang Ning said, and after noticing Li Bo's condition, he added, "You don't need to be nervous, relax a bit."

"Yes Yes."

Li Bo nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Jiang Ning said, "I came to see you today because I have something to ask you."

As soon as Jiang Ning opened his mouth, Li Bo's face turned panicked, his legs went weak with fear, and he hurriedly said...

"Master Jiang, this matter has nothing to do with me. I wasn't involved."

Chapter 638: Gathering Rain Pavilion

"what?"

Jiang Ning was taken aback. He hadn't asked anything yet, but Li Bo was already this scared. Clearly, the other party knew something.

Seeing this, Jiang Ning didn't ask any more questions. Since the other party thought he was there to interrogate him, he went along with it and said, "So, you knew about what they did?"

Li Bo trembled, his legs went weak, and he knelt down involuntarily. He hurriedly said, "I...I know, but I absolutely did not participate. Not long ago, the Assistant Magistrate invited me, but I did not go. Please spare my life, Master Jiang."

Tongzhi?

Jiang Ning frowned slightly and said, "Get up."

Li Bo shuddered. "Yes, yes."

After the other party stood up, Jiang Ning asked, "Since you say you weren't involved, then tell me what you know."

Li Bo was about to speak when Jiang Ning reminded him again.

“Tell me in more detail, tell me the whole story. If you really weren’t involved, then it has nothing to do with you, and you don’t need to worry.”

Hearing Jiang Ning's words comforted Li Bo, and his body stopped trembling so much. His voice also stabilized, but he didn't speak immediately. Instead, he glanced at Jiang Ning and said cautiously.

"Master Jiang, I only know a little about this matter. I don't know exactly what they're going to do, since I wasn't involved."

Jiang Ning said expressionlessly, "Then tell me everything you know."

"Yes Yes."

Li Bo nodded repeatedly and continued, "Half a month ago, Boss Zhang thought he was just inviting me to a party, and I thought it was just an ordinary party, so I went. But when I got there, I found that there were quite a few people there."

Two weeks ago, Li Bo attended a party and discovered that there were many other people there besides him. It could be said that all the prominent and wealthy businessmen in Xi'an Prefecture were present.

"I didn't think much of it at the time. After the party, I was about to leave, but Mr. Zhang stopped me and said that there was a small party later and invited me to attend."

The number of people attending the small gatherings later decreased, but each one of them was extraordinary, with impressive backgrounds, and some even had family members holding official positions in the imperial court.

Jiang Ning's face remained expressionless.

"Go on, what did you talk about at your gathering?"

"Yes."

Li Bo continued, "At first, everyone was chatting about everything under the sun and had a very pleasant conversation. But halfway through, they were all talking about the disaster and speculating about how long it would last."

"Until...until later, Boss Zhang asked me about Master Jiang, inquiring about my previous encounter with Master Jiang and whether what Master Jiang said was true."

Li Bo glanced cautiously at Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning remained expressionless and unresponsive.

Li Bo continued speaking.

"They asked many more questions about Master Jiang. After the gathering ended, I returned home. Two days later, I received an invitation from the Assistant Magistrate."

"It was only after that invitation from the Assistant Magistrate that I learned that the gathering last time was actually led by the Assistant Magistrate."

"The magistrate asked me if I was interested in transporting grain from other places back to Xi'an Prefecture. I originally thought that the magistrate wanted everyone to work together to deal with the disaster, but the magistrate then asked me if I was involved in the next business. He asked me to buy grain on the market and to purchase grain from other places and hoard it, so that the government could raise the price of grain after it ran out of grain for disaster relief."

Jiang Ning's expression changed upon hearing Li Bo's next words.

After speaking, Li Bo glanced at Jiang Ning from time to time. Seeing that Jiang Ning still did not speak, Li Bo continued, "I absolutely did not participate in this matter. I had previously donated all the grain from my shop, and I have been buying grain and distributing porridge to people these days. I hope you can see the truth, Master Jiang."

Jiang Ning glanced at him and asked, "How many people were involved?"

Li Bo shook his head and said, "I don't know. After I refused the Assistant Magistrate, he invited me several times, but I refused each time. Now we have fallen out. I know nothing about these things, but seeing that most of the grain shops in the market have closed down, I think quite a few people are involved."

Jiang Ning pondered for a moment, then asked, "Do you know about Huang's Grain Shop?"

Li Bo quickly replied, "I know, that's a shop under Huang Maocai's name."

Huang Maocai?