PROOFREAD BY AFREANA

Chapter 23.1

Jiang Hongqing, who was waiting outside the door, faintly heard the sound of arguing inside the room and looked worried. Seeing Yao Kun come out, he busily greeted him.

Yao Kun’s anger hasn’t evaporated yet, and he did not stop. Jiang Hongqing could only follow him.

No one noticed there was a person on the roof. When no more movement could be heard in the room, the man got up and disappeared.

After a while, the window of Big Long’s room resounded with two light knocks. Xie Gang walked up to it as if nothing had happened and looked at the sky, “General, dawn is about to break.”

“Hmm.” Big Long replied from inside the room.

Zong Zeqing said, “I can’t believe we’ve waited all night like this. I wonder how things are at the governor’s side?” He said aloud while opening the door.

Outside the door, there were two guards . Another two officers stood not far away from them, patrolling outside the room from time to time. Zong Zeqing opened the door and waved. The officers went over and asked whether they wanted anything.

Zong Zeqing said: “It’s already dawn. Go and ask the governor whether the matter is already handled. Our general still has things to do.”

The officer responded and asked what else the lords needed and if they wanted breakfast first. While talking, he snuck a peek inside the room.

In the room, Big Long sat in front of the table while Xie Gang stood by the window with his back turned towards it, talking with Big Long in a casual manner. Nothing seemed to be amiss.

Zong Zeqing did not want to be overly polite and ordered the food to be served. The two officers retreated in response.

As soon as Zong Zeqing closed the door, Xie Gang moved away from the window. Below it, outside, a figure left quietly.

The two officers passed by the window and looked inside again. Everything remained as usual.

Xie Gang sat down and softly repeated the report provided by the spy just now to Big Long. After finishing, he said: “Qian Pei is more arrogant than we expected. Is there something else hidden between the Lord Governor and him?”

As he said that, he looked at Zong Zeqing. Zong Zeqing was the one who explored the rumors and gossip on relationships between the officials and businessmen at the beginning.

 Yao Kun was twenty-four years old when Qian Pei recommended him. He got the appreciation of the former governor of Pingnan County, Meng Yunshan, and became the governor. Twenty years ago, during the South Qin and the Great Xiao war, because of Qian Pei’s relationship with the South Qin, Yao Kun managed to obtain a lot of information and offered a great deal of good plans to governor Meng. He had earned two major achievements. During those years, he was in a lot of limelight. After Yao Kun caught the assassin of the former governor and ruined the last move of South Qin, the relationship between the two countries pushed forward to the peace negotiations. He was appointed to become the governor and has remained in this seat until today.

Big Long studied Yao Kun’s performance, character, and way of handling matters before he came to Zhonglan City. He also took time to understand the local affairs of Yao Kun when they first came here. He knew Yao Kun and Qian Pei’s relationship was deep but did not expect it to be ‘deep’ to such an extent.

Zong Zeqing furrowed his eyebrows: “Even with the hidden entanglements, it’s still the governor, a third-ranking official. Qian Pei’s son still got to be only a county magistrate in this Pingnan County. How dare he act so presumptuously? Even more, I heard that Qian Shixin is so dissatisfied with his father that he built a wall in the mansion to separate the courtyards belonging to the father and son, and each courtyard has its own gate access. He thinks Qian Pei is old and reckless, so he would just let him live by his nature, and does not care what the other does. But I also heard the old man was not like this when he was young. He was well-read and knowledgeable, but unfortunately, he didn’t get admitted to the official exam. This person was deep-minded and arrogant. Feeling that his talent was not recognized properly, he no longer bothered to take the test at the age of 20, but chose to travel around instead, venturing into the South Qin. Along the way, he made a lot of friends. Rumor has it that he won the admiration of several dignitaries in Southern Qin by virtue of his talent. They gave him money and beautiful women. He taught there for a few years and gained some prestige. After that, he wanted to win back his face, so he returned to his hometown. He returned to Fu’an County, opened a school, used his South Qin connections to do a lot of business in Pingnan County, and became the object of everyone’s affection. He was attentive to the students under his tutelage. He was tactful. He made friends with the noblemen in the Great Xiao, South Qin, and other places. That year he was the actual head of Pingnan County, the most famous person here. However, the more arrogant and unscrupulous one becomes, the more one does not care to hide their lustful and greedy face. As he became older, his actions turned more absurd. Nowadays, people who value fame and reputation avoid dealing with him. Qian Pei’s popularity did not extend further than that particular year in the past. More than ten or twenty years have passed since then, and the governor is now in charge of this Pingnan County. Yet, he still dared to not give the governor any face. He is stupid.”

Big Long did not speak and remained expressionless, making people around him unable to see his mind. Zong Zeqing and Xie Gang were accustomed to seeing Big Long act like this, which meant he listened attentively and thought this thing was strange.

Soon after, breakfast was delivered. Along with the food, Yao Kun also arrived.

Yao Kun came to eat with Big Long and talk about the current situation. He said Qian Pei was reluctant to take the initiative to withdraw from the marriage. To avoid trouble, he didn’t spend more time at Qian Pei’s side. Instead, he asked Jiang Hongqing to talk to An Zhifu and let the An family withdraw from the marriage.

An Zhifu was listening to Jiang Hongqing at this time. As soon as he heard they expected him to withdraw from the marriage, he immediately took out an abacus in his mind to calculate the gift money for wedding expenses and other losses. Then, he thought of the various consequences of annoying Qian Pei after withdrawing from the marriage. He hesitated, then warily said: “This matter, how about letting Master Qian withdraw from the marriage? I will agree to it.”

If it is Qian Pei that withdraws from this marriage, he will not be offending him, right?