Chapter 356: Qinhuai Tower

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Grand Secretary Shen was dead.

He was shot in the chest and fell into the grand canal of Jinghang. There was no news.

When the news reached the palace, Emperor Jingchen almost fainted!

“This, this is impossible!” Emperor Jingchen could not believe it.

How could Shen Yao die just like that?

“Your Majesty, I heard that the news has already reached the Shen family…” Eunuch Wan, who was serving the emperor, carefully considered the emperor’s expression and asked softly.

“No, that’s impossible!” Emperor Jingchen immediately shook his head. “With Shen Yao’s ability, nothing will happen to him. Something must have gone wrong!”

On the other side, Zhao Lanhua, who had received the bad news, had also fainted.

The huge Shen residence was in chaos.

The Princess Imperial’s residence.

Upon learning that Ji Zhao insisted on going to Jiangnan alone, Princess Kang Le hurriedly stopped her!

“No!” Princess Kang Le waved her hands. “Zhaozhao, don’t you know how dangerous Jiangnan is?”

“Mother, I’m going to bring Shen Yao home,” Ji Zhao, who was kneeling on the ground, said with a determined gaze.

“Zhaozhao, I know you’re sad, but… but you still have Kang’er. How can you not think about Kang’er?” Princess Kang Le persuaded anxiously. “Since this news was sent back by Qin Minghong, it must be true. You…”

“Mother, he promised me that he would return safely,” Ji Zhao said firmly. “Zhaozhao, why… why are you so stubborn?”

Ji Zhao pursed her lips and remained silent.

Shen Yao was her husband. Before seeing his corpse with her own eyes, she would not believe this so-called grievous news.

The next day, in the palace.

Emperor Jingchen looked at Ji Zhao’s determined expression and suddenly couldn’t say the words he wanted to persuade her.

“I will send a team of imperial guards to protect you.” After a moment of silence, Emperor Jingchen said with a complicated expression, “Shen Yao is my right arm. I don’t believe that anything has happened to him, but if something has really happened to him…”

“That won’t happen,” Ji Zhao interrupted him forcefully.

Eunuch Wan’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

This Madam Shen was quite bold. She actually dared to interrupt His Majesty!

“He’ll be fine.” Ji Zhao emphasized again. “Hl have to trouble Your Majesty to prepare an entry badge for me.”

“Okay.”

Two days later, Ji Zhao went to see Zhao Lanhua before she left.

“Ah Tao.” Zhao Lanhua looked at her and cried sadly. “Although I don’t believe that something has happened to Third Brother, I don’t want you to take the risk. Ah Tao, you… you shouldn’t go to Jiangnan, okay? What if something happens to you? What will Kang’er do?”

“Mother.” Ji Zhao held her hand and said with a faint smile, “Have you forgotten? I dream. If something really happened to Shen Yao, I’ll definitely dream of it! Mother, don’t let your imagination run wild. Hurry up and recuperate. Get well soon and help me take care of Kang’er. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely bring Shen Yao back!”

On the eighth of April, Ji Zhao disguised herself and took a detour back to Dingyuan County.

Then, she changed to the waterway and traveled south along the canal. Finally, she arrived at Yangzhou before the Dragon Boat Festival.

When Ji Zhao appeared in front of him, Qin Minghong rubbed his eyes in disbelief. In the end, he was extremely worried. “You! How can you mess around like this? Do you know how dangerous the situation in Yangzhou is now? How dare you barge in alone? Do you want to die?”

“I’m here to look for my husband,” Ji Zhao said concisely.

At this moment, Qin Minghong felt a dull pain in his heart.

“Shen Yao fell into a trap to save me…” The grief-stricken Qin Minghong covered his eyes in pain and sobbed.

After he calmed down, Ji Zhao asked in a low voice, “Big Brother Qin, what exactly happened?”

“In Jinling City, not far from Yangzhou, there is a famous Qinhuai Tower.” Qin Minghong, who had calmed down, recounted the situation from before. “Ever since I came to Yangzhou, I have been secretly investigating the salt tax case. Later on, with the help of the Cao Gang, I finally found some clues. Most of the officials in Jiangnan liked to go to Qinhuai Tower to listen to music, and there is a famous Lady Liu in Qinhuai Tower. She is the confidante of the Jiangnan salt trader, Lin Zhixuan. Therefore, I want to follow this clue of Qinhuai Tower to continue investigating.”

On the surface, Qinhuai Tower was a brothel, but in reality, it was also a gambling den.

People with a net worth of less than 500 taels of silver were not qualified to enter the gambling den. However, 500 taels of silver was just a drop in the bucket for Qin Minghong.

“There are a total of seven floors in Qinhuai Tower. The lowest price on the first floor is 500 taels of silver, and each floor is ten times higher. And so on and so forth. Only on the seventh floor can I see that Lady Liu,” Qin Minghong said with a frown. “Fortunately, my gambling luck is not bad. I won all the way to the sixth floor, but when I reached the sixth floor, I lost completely. Not only did 1 lose all the money I had won, but I also gained a lot of interest. I owe Qinhuai Tower a total of 6,530,000 taels of silver…”

“In other words, Qinhuai Tower is a casino that only enters but never leaves?” Ji Zhao narrowed her eyes and seemed to be deep in thought. “What happened after that? What happened after Shen Yao rushed over?”

“After Shen Yao came, I told him about this matter. Hence, we set up a trap together and sealed off Qinhuai Tower.” Qin Minghong frowned and said, “On the second day after Qinhuai Tower was sealed off, someone handed us a letter. After that, we went to the appointment.”

“Actually, Shen Yao had already expected that it would be an ambush, but with the mentality of taking a gamble, I… I insisted on going to the appointment, but in the end, I fell into the enemy’s trap. In order to save me, Shen Yao was stabbed in the heart by the enemy’s arrow and fell into the Grand Canal. He disappeared without a trace…”

Embarrassed, Qin Minghong silently covered his face. “Ah Tao, I’ve let you down!”

“Where did Shen Yao go missing?” Ji Zhao, who had calmed down, asked in a low voice.

“On a pleasure boat adjacent to Qinhuai Tower. I’ve already led people to search for an entire month, but there arc still no clues. It wasn’t until a few days ago that someone said that they saw Shen Yao in Yangzhou City that I came back.” Qin Minghong hurriedly explained, “Ah Tao, I… I’ve really let you down. Why don’t you hit me? You can scold me, but don’t be so calm…”

“Brother Qin, assemble a group of people for me. They don’t need to be too strong. Ten people are enough,” Ji Zhao said softly.

“Ah Tao, what… what are you doing?”

Ji Zhao smiled and didn’t say anything. She turned around and left the teahouse. She mounted her horse and rushed towards Jinling.

Jinling City, where the lanterns were lit, was a place of luxury.

On the banks of the Qinhuai River, there was soft words and gentle laughter

All kinds of pleasure boats floated on the Qinhuai River, forming a beautiful scenery.

Among them, the most eye-catching was the seven-story Qinhuai Tower.

Ji Zhao, who had changed into a male outfit, stuck a fake Adam’s apple on her neck and covered her ear piercings. She strode onto the deck of the pleasure boat..