Chapter Eighteen: The First Encounter with the Japanese

  That Sisi was so scared that her whole face was twitching, wiping sweat with her sleeve non-stop, following me like a dog and saying words of gratitude.

  I waved my hand impatiently and said, "Governor, is there anything else? If not, then go back to work. If there's something, I'll summon you again."

  The fat man hastily said: "I, your humble servant, will set up a banquet in the Ruyi Alley tonight to welcome Your Highness, please do me the honor of attending."

  I hesitated and said: "This... isn't right, is it? I'm a prince, according to the law, I shouldn't get too close to you local officials. I think I'll just forget about it."

  "This fatty said: 'Your Highness, you're absolutely right, but I'm different from other local officials. In the past, I served under Your Highness's command in the Grand Hall, and although I've now become the Governor of Yangzhou, I still consider myself an old servant of your household. So please, go ahead and eat this meal, no one will gossip about it.' As he spoke, his chubby face smiled obsequiously at me, and his round body, like a ball, leaned in closer."

  I dodged his foul-smelling mouth and said: "It seems you're quite knowledgeable, if that's the case then I'll go".

  Those four happy pills were thanked and left, watching him turn around the door and disappear, Xu Yu Xian smiled and said: "Really have your own, more like real than real, you see how scared Xiao Pangzi was, I think he almost fainted".

  I smiled and said: "There's one more thing I'd like to trouble you with, miss. Please set up a large sign at the entrance, and prepare a wooden box with a lock on it. On the sign, write that the Second Prince has arrived here, and let the local people put all the evidence of corruption and malfeasance by the officials in this area into the box, whether they want to leave their names or not."

  Qin Qiong burst out laughing and said: "Great, it's really easy to deal with you!"

  I continued: "General, go to the Yangzhou Prefecture government office again and order all the officials, big and small, to come to the gate to pay homage to His Majesty's token. I'll go find a wooden tablet to place the token outside the main gate. The two of you must guard this thing well, it's our means of livelihood."

  After a flurry of activity, everything was arranged. I walked over to Xu Yuqian's side and asked in a low voice: "Miss Xu, do you have any money? If so, can you lend me some?"

  Xu Yu Chan smiled and took out two silver ingots from her body, asking: "Is it enough?"

  I took a look and it was about 40 taels. He hastily said: "Enough, more than enough." As he spoke, he took it over and stuffed it into his bosom.

  Xu Yu Chan asked: "What are you going to buy with this silver? Tell me and I'll help you come up with a plan."

  I smiled and said: "Not buying anything, I'm going to eat." And then walked out.

  Naxue Yuetian listened to me and immediately came to her senses. She jumped beside me and said: "Alright, you want to go eat good food and leave us all here to guard the stall? No way, if you're going, I'm going too!" Then she asked: "Which restaurant are we going to?"

  I smiled wryly and said: "I want to go to Drunken Moon Building, not just for the food, but mainly to snoop around first."

  Xu Yu Chan nodded and said: "Makes sense. I'll accompany you, now that you're the prince, you can't just go out on your own, someone has to be by your side to serve you."

  I thought for a moment and said: "Okay".

  After arriving at the backyard and climbing over the wall out of the rice store, we two inquired about the location and headed towards the Drunken Moon Building. This time was completely different from when I first entered the city; I was wearing expensive silk robes, had silver coins tucked into my waistband, and had a beautiful woman accompanying me - this feeling was truly wonderful.

  As I gazed at the bustling crowd on the street, my heart felt wonderful. Just as I was getting dizzy and couldn't find my bearings, Xue Yueqian suddenly pulled me over. Following her gaze, I saw that Siki Maru, dressed in casual clothes, was crouching down to jump off a horse carriage onto the ground. In front of him stood a large mansion with its gate tightly closed. Siki Maru walked up to the gate and knocked three times, then the door opened slightly, and he quickly slipped inside through the gap.

  We stared at the door gap that was about to close in shock and were a bit stunned. This fat guy could actually squeeze into the door gap which wasn't much bigger than a rolling pin, I've really gained some insight.

  After exchanging a glance, we circled around the wall for a few laps, found an unmanned corner and quickly climbed over the wall and jumped into the courtyard.

  After entering the yard, I took a look around and found that it was a small vegetable garden. The ground was filled with all sorts of vegetables, and in the middle, there were two large pear trees with bright yellow fruits hanging from them. Opposite to me, there was a small moon gate.

  After seeing this comfortable environment, I suddenly felt a sense of unease in my heart. Xue Yuechun beside me whispered: "It's so quiet here."

  I led him to a pear tree and stopped, suddenly reaching back and tightly grasping her neck, looking at her shocked face I said in a low voice: "Sister, you know I came from afar just for you, but why did you get engaged to someone else? Have you forgotten the promise we made back then? Today, I'll kill you with one knife right here, and then I'll take my own life. Let's go to the underworld and be husband and wife again." As I spoke, I drew out the Moon-Eating Short Knife from my waist and stabbed it fiercely into Xu Yuexian's chest.

  When it was halfway through, the knife suddenly turned around and stabbed into the trunk of a large pear tree next to him. With a single upward thrust, blood spurted out from the trunk like an arrow. After pulling out the knife, he saw a small dwarf in strange clothing tumble out from the crack in the trunk and fall to the ground.

  Release the mouth of Xu Yuetchien which has been pinched by me and turned purple, I squatted on the ground to flip through this corpse. A small wooden plaque was found from his arms, with a curved and twisted dragon-like thing that looked more like an earthworm. The back is engraved with four words: (Song Jing Mu Gen).

  After seeing this, I secretly took a shock. Huasang people. At this time, the back of the head was hit by a heavy slap, and only heard Xu Yuqian scolding in a low voice: "You're going to die, if you have this kind of thing again, you won't make a call first, can't you change another move? Just now I was almost scared to death."

  I didn't respond to her and instead picked up the small dwarf's strange knife, took a look at it, and then stuffed the sign into my bosom. I reached out, plucked two pears, habitually wiped them on my front lapel, and handed one to her, saying: "Let's go."

  As soon as they left the yard, Xu Yueqian hastily asked: "Are we just going to leave like this? Won't we go and eavesdrop on their conversation?"

  I bit into the pear and said: "No need to, just knowing what kind of people they are is enough. I know your lightness skills are good, but you also saw that these Japanese people's abilities are quite strange. I'm afraid if you go in, you won't be able to come out."

  Xu Yu Chan also sighed and said: "I didn't expect this person's disguise technique to be so brilliant, I was standing next to him and couldn't see through it". Then she asked: "How did you figure it out? I didn't notice any clues at all".

  I chuckled and said: "It's not surprising at all; it's just that this Japanese dwarf is unlucky. When I was a kid, I lived in a village where there was an orchard owner who would scold me for stealing his fruits. Not only did I steal, but I also damaged the trees, and people would say that I must have been born as a wild boar in my previous life. One day, the old man couldn't take it anymore and caught me, beating me up. After that, he told me to help him with his orchard work instead of stealing from him. So, I went there every day and learned some skills about growing fruits. Look at this pear tree; it's still 10 days away from ripening, but the pears have all fallen off. The tree next to it doesn't have a single fallen pear, though. If you look at the trunks, they're exactly the same. There's only one explanation for this: this tree has been hollowed out by insects. But why didn't the insects hollow out the other tree as well? It's not normal for insects to hollow out one tree and leave another intact. If it were insects, they would have done it a long time ago, and the trunk wouldn't be so fresh-looking. So, it's not insects; it must be human. But why would someone hollow out a tree? That's why I gave the trunk a cut."

  Xu Yu Chan Ge Ge smiled and said: "I didn't expect you to be good at this, so in the future when you're not a soldier, you can become a fruit farmer?"

  I said: "Not good enough, I'm not proficient in this aspect, you haven't seen the real deal yet, I'll let you see it when I have the chance."

  Xu Yuqian asked in surprise: "Really? Quickly tell me what's going on, don't play dumb with me."

  I proudly raised my head and said: "My specialty is... cooking".

  Just as I finished speaking, Xu Yuqian was already laughing so hard she couldn't straighten her waist. Looking at Xu Yuqian who suddenly became half a head shorter beside me, and then looking at the curious gaze of the group of people beside us, I hurriedly whispered: "Stop laughing, let's go quickly, don't let others see you like this. If we're exposed, it won't be good."

  After walking for a while, the Drunken Moon Building was right in front of me. It's a three-story small building made entirely of wood, looking elegant and refined with a unique taste. I nodded my head in satisfaction, puffed out my chest, tilted my head back, put my hands behind my back, and swaggered into the Drunken Moon Building.