Chapter 34

After Bai Qianruo left, Li Qi continued to lie under the big tree and sleep.

Just now, this Bai Niangzi had given him a fright, but after learning that she was a good friend of Lady Qin, Li Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

A woman like Lady Qin, with her personality, generally had few friends, but if she did have friends, their relationship was usually extraordinary. Therefore, Li Qi was not very worried about Bai Qianruo, especially since she had not completely figured out his plan.

He slept until the afternoon.

To be precise, Li Qi was woken up by hunger.

Carrying a fishing rod, wearing a bamboo hat, and stepping in a pair of old straw shoes, he returned to the city and found a small restaurant to solve his hunger. After that, Li Qi aimlessly wandered the streets.

Although it seemed aimless, it was not. Whenever he encountered a blacksmith shop, Li Qi would definitely go in to take a look, chat a bit with the owner, and then walk out.

In the afternoon, Li Qi visited at least four or five blacksmith shops, but he did not buy anything. However, his smile grew wider and wider.

As the sun set, the clouds in the western sky were dyed a beautiful golden red.

Li Qi thought that Uncle Wu should have finished work by now.

Seeing that the time was about right, Li Qi headed toward Zui Xianju.

By the time he reached Bianhe Street, night had quietly descended upon the imperial capital.

However, for a relatively open dynasty like the Northern Song, nightlife was naturally lively. The streets, taverns, wine shops, and teahouses were still bustling with activity.

But today, the topic of conversation was still stinky tofu.

Li Qi walked down the street, listening to the people discussing stinky tofu, feeling extremely happy.

This meant that Wu Furong and the others had not made any mistakes today.

Moreover, with these voices, he believed that the old fox was almost out of the den.

Li Qi hummed a tune as he approached Zui Xianju. Before he even entered, he saw Wu Furong standing at the door, waving and shouting, "Uncle Wu!"

Wu Furong turned around, his face lighting up with joy, and hurriedly greeted him, "Young Master Li, you're finally back. I was just about to look for you."

Hearing this, Li Qi felt something was off and frowned, asking, "Uncle Wu, is something wrong?"

"Something big has happened!" Wu Furong slapped his thigh and grabbed Li Qi's sleeve, pulling him into the inner room, "Young Master Li, come—come with me quickly."

Something big has happened?

Li Qi was completely stunned and could not think of what could go wrong with selling stinky tofu. He hurriedly asked, "Wait—wait, Uncle Wu, what happened?"

"You'll see when you look."

Wu Furong, looking anxious, dragged Li Qi into his room.

"Wow, wow, wow! What is this? So shiny, so shiny!"

As soon as he entered the room, several beams of silver light shot at him. Li Qi quickly covered his eyes and exclaimed in an exaggerated manner, his voice slightly trembling.

It turned out that when Wu Furong opened the door, Li Qi saw a pile of silver ingots of various sizes, all gleaming on a square table by the bed.

Anyone who saw so much silver would be pleasantly surprised.

"Brother Li, you're finally back. My uncle was almost worried to death."

It was Wu Xiaoliu's voice.

Li Qi lowered his hand and saw Wu Xiaoliu, who had appeared from somewhere, looking at him with a mix of fear and joy.

Behind Wu Xiaoliu stood two unfamiliar faces, about the same age as him, one tall and one short, both with a somewhat similar appearance, staring at Li Qi blankly.

"Who are they?" Li Qi asked, puzzled.

Wu Furong quickly explained, "These two are the brothers I mentioned to you yesterday." Pointing to the tall one, he said, "This is Chen Dazhu," and then to the short one, "This is Chen Xiaozhu."

After that, Wu Furong turned to the two brothers and said, "Haven't you greeted Young Master Li yet?"

"Greetings, Young Master Li!"

The two quickly bowed.

Li Qi, understanding, recalled that Wu Furong had mentioned finding two young men to help him yesterday. Seeing their honest faces, he felt a liking for them and chuckled, "You don't have to call me Young Master Li. Just call me Brother Li, like Xiaoliu does."

"Understood, Brother Li!"

The two answered in unison.

"Good!"

Li Qi chuckled and then suddenly focused on the pile of silver ingots on the table, about a dozen of them, each at least five taels, totaling at least a hundred taels.

Even if he used his imagination, he knew these silver ingots could not have come from selling stinky tofu.

Li Qi had already set a rule that each person could only buy one portion, and each portion cost only three hundred coins. How could they have earned so many silver ingots? Pointing to the pile, he asked Wu Furong, "What is this silver?"

"Oh, how could I forget about this?"

Wu Furong patted his head, pulled out a piece of white paper from his chest, and handed it to Li Qi, saying, "Young Master Li, you'll understand when you read this."

Li Qi looked at him suspiciously, took the paper, and opened it. He immediately drew a sharp breath. The paper listed names of mansions and people, most of whom he did not recognize, but the official titles that followed were shocking.

Most were at least fourth-rank officials.

What—what is this all about?

Li Qi swallowed hard and read it again. The first and second columns only listed mansion names, no titles or names, but the second column's mansion name was very familiar to him.

The second column read 'Cai Taishi's Mansion.'

Cai Taishi? Li Qi thought for a moment and was suddenly startled. Could this be the notorious leader of the "Six Villains"—Cai Jing, the great villain?

Oh my God!

Although Li Qi knew that Cai Jing had retired, he also knew that in two years, Cai Jing would become the chancellor for the fourth time, making him feel a chill down his spine.

His eyes moved to the first column, which read "Wang Xiang's Mansion." Anyone who could rank ahead of Cai Jing was definitely not an ordinary person. The surname Wang—Li Qi thought for a moment and drew another sharp breath, asking Wu Furong in a trembling voice, "This—this Wang Xiang—could it be Wang Fu?"

Wu Furong nodded with a mournful face.

Damn!

Li Qi plopped down on a stool.

The names of these two great villains were well-known to him.

The Northern Song Dynasty could be said to have been half-destroyed by their hands.

In fact, when Emperor Huizong first ascended the throne, he had great ambitions to be a good emperor, issuing edicts to seek honest advice and talent. However, after Cai Jing became chancellor, Emperor Huizong gradually became a昏君 (corrupt ruler). Later, he appointed Wang Fu, Li Bangyan, and other villains as chancellors, leading to the country's decline and the people's suffering.

With a house full of villains, how could the Northern Song Dynasty not fall?

Of course, the blame could not be entirely placed on the "Six Villains."

When Emperor Huizong was still the Prince of Duan, the then-chancellor Zhang Dun had said a very prescient sentence, "The Prince of Duan is frivolous and cannot rule the empire."

He hit the nail on the head!

Emperor Huizong was simply not cut out to be an emperor. He might be the emperor who disliked being an emperor the most in history.

To be honest, Li Qi was not prepared to deal with these "big tigers."

Or rather, he had never even thought about it. Even now, names like Cai Jing and Wang Fu still seemed to belong to the pages of history.

But these names suddenly jumped from the history books to his face, making it hard for him to accept.