"To guess that 'One Night Spring' is a Japanese just by their clothes, young master, may you live a thousand years, benevolent and wise!" the old man exclaimed obsequiously, but a faint laugh blocked the next line, "Unify the martial world."
"Merchants come first, then the Japanese," Shangguan said.
"Why?"
"In the past six months, 'One Night of Spring' has frequently caused trouble in the two capitals, the North and the South. The two capitals are a thousand miles apart, and the only people who can frequently travel between the two places are the post station officials and the merchants who sell goods from the North and South. During the Shengde era, in order to reduce the expenditure of the court, except for a few important post stations in each prefecture, most of the post station officials were laid off. The remaining manpower was not enough to travel between the North and South, so the chance of them causing trouble was even smaller. Merchants, on the other hand, are different." Shangguan Jun lowered his eyes and looked at the new painting on the table.
"Because this person was dressed as a merchant, we suspected he was Japanese. Japan also has its own martial arts world, and martial arts practitioners are skilled in ninjutsu. Ninjutsu is good at disguise, drugs, hiding, and hidden weapons. However, in terms of solid martial arts skills, they are far inferior to the martial arts world of the Central Plains. Therefore, they often use drugs to induce the victim before they strike, so that the victim has the illusion of a night of passion. Furthermore, after the incident, the governors of the two capitals were on high alert, and the families with beautiful women strengthened their guards. Yet, he still succeeded. This shows that 'a night of passion' either disguised himself and sneaked in or had been hiding all along. This shows how careful he was in his actions."
The old man blew on his beard and said disdainfully, "No matter how careful you are, the young master and young mistress will see through you."
"See through it?" Looking at the beauty in the painting, Shangguan shook his head. "'One Night Spring' has reappeared during the Southeast Japanese pirate raids. It's probably not that simple. Your young mistress has a very big heart, big enough to hold the whole world. Since she dares to flaunt her new clothes every day, she must be determined to capture 'One Night Spring' alive." His words came out slowly, sounding calm at first, but upon closer inspection, his eyes and brows were filled with sourness.
"Oh no, this is really bad!" Uncle Lin glanced around and took a step back. He really didn't want to get into trouble at this moment and become the pitiful scapegoat. Just as he was about to move to the door, he saw his young master's fierce eyes flash like lightning, leaving him nowhere to hide.
"Young Master, this old servant will send my maternal uncle back immediately and tell my in-laws that the so-called 'collapse of Longfuchang Bank and the loss of silver notes' is just a lie. We will stop making things difficult for my seventh uncle's clothing shop and inform those江湖人 (jianghu people) who borrowed money to stop harassing Wei San Shao, so that my ninth uncle can return home in peace. We will also send more people to ensure that those 'mochi's' money can't fly into Xingyuan overnight." As he spoke, the old man's conscience trembled.
So he can be this despicable and shameless. Although his conscience isn't called a dog, but rather... cough, the one the young master ate, he's determined to take the blame for others. The young mistress's family is powerful; she has six brothers-in-law alone, six of them!
He really wants to continue being despicable and shameless, but can't he please not take the blame?
“Okay,” his young master said.
"Why?"
"Uncle Lin, you've said it." Shangguan glanced at him. "You don't need to be afraid. This despicable and shameless act was tacitly approved by your young mistress."
"Silence... acquiesce? Acquiesce to the old servant's cruelty, no, 'friendly' treatment of his maternal uncle?" The old man was dumbfounded, completely dumbfounded.
Shangguan snorted coldly: "With six vicious older brothers and a treacherous master at home, even if 'One Night Spring' had several kilograms of sleeping pills, she wouldn't dare to pick flowers. Your young mistress calculated that I couldn't swallow the anger at A-Kuang's wedding banquet, so I took action to send her father and brothers away. It's reasonable yet suspicious. Then, under the cover of darkness, with no one at home, we just waited for 'One Night Spring' to make her move."
"Young Madam is too..." amazing! To openly scheme against the young master, she is truly a heroine among women, a heroine of the martial arts world, a rare woman who appears only once in a century!
While secretly singing praises in his heart, the old man had already switched sides. Suddenly, a crisp sound was heard, and a corner of the pearwood table was chipped off.
"Yes, this woman is too audacious." His handsome face revealed a bloodthirsty and wicked look.
The old man nodded fiercely, switching sides once more: "That's incredibly audacious!"
"Young Madam, Old Man Lin admires you, though he can only say this in his heart." No, he couldn't even say it in his heart, the old man added silently as he watched the pear wood powder slip from the young master's fingers.
"How many people are still with her now?" Shangguan asked.
"Replying to the young master, there are also Eighth Uncle and Tenth Uncle. Eldest Uncle hasn't come out these past few days."
"Hmph, it seems Fu Changyu is determined to be an accomplice. We'll settle this score later." Shangguan tapped her fingers lightly on the table, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the beautiful eyes in the painting: "So what if your martial arts are exceptionally high? There are plenty of ways to take down a woman. I've been too lenient with you in the past, but this time..." She paused, a chilling smile curving her thin lips.
"Uncle Lin, I've always trusted you with your work. You must know where she's flaunting herself right now."
Regardless of whether the old man behind her responded, Shangguan lay on the couch without taking off her shoes, letting her long, black hair fall over her body. Outside the window was a very domineering blue.
"Go see her and tell her—"