novelhk Chapter 237 "The Plan"
Chapter 237 "The Plan"
Seeing Zheng Luoqi's straightforwardness, the old man decided to stop hiding his intentions and slowly said, "This official? So you are an official, young master. May I ask what your position and rank are?"
"This is none of your business!" Zheng Luoqi retorted bluntly, her tone tinged with impatience.
"Forgive my bluntness, but if you want to investigate this matter concerning Bai Ding, but you don't have a background or can't find a reliable backer, I'm afraid it will be difficult to bring down Cao Yan!" the old man replied.
Upon hearing this, Zheng Luoqi scoffed, then his lips curled into a smile: "You don't need to worry about that. However... if you really want to save those children, I might consider making a deal with you!"
"A trade?" The old man frowned and asked in confusion, "Oh? What kind of trade does the young master want?"
"You just need to do as I say. Whether it's for yourself or for these children, I can assure you that Cao Yan will die!" Zheng Luoqi said confidently.
The old man's expression shifted for a moment, then he suddenly grinned: "So, young master, you already have a plan?"
Zheng Luoqi smiled, neither admitting nor denying, but instead asked, "Have you thought it through? Once you're on my ship, there's no getting off!"
The old man hesitated for a moment, feeling the sword at his neck grow heavier. He smiled awkwardly, then nodded: "Young master, there's no need for this. I'm old and will eventually die anyway. If I can get rid of this black sheep before I pass away, why not?"
“Alright!” Zheng Luoqi’s eyes were cold as she gestured for the guards to remove the sword from the old man’s neck. She then told the old man what she needed him to do.
After listening to Zheng Luoqi's plan, the old man nodded in agreement, and then made a request to Zheng Luoqi: "I want to personally take Cao Yan's head!"
“Okay!” Zheng Luoqi agreed immediately.
The sound of rain outside the temple grew louder and louder. At first, it was just a light drizzle, but in the blink of an eye, it turned into a torrential downpour, cascading down like a waterfall.
Large raindrops pounded violently against the ground and the roof of the temple, making a crackling sound, as if trying to drown the whole world in the torrential rain.
Meanwhile, Cao Yan sat in the prefect's study, listening intently to his servants' report on Zheng Luoqi's whereabouts that day. He frowned slightly, a question nagging at him: "The temple? What was she doing there for no reason?"
The servant hurriedly replied, "Sir, as far as I know, Lord Zheng first bought a lot of wood carvings, and then followed that old man to the temple."
Upon hearing this, Cao Yan's doubts were not completely dispelled, and he pressed on, "Is that all? Did you hear what they said in the temple?" After all, in his impression, Zheng Luoqi was no good person and would never do anything without a reason.
Cao Yan always felt that there must be some kind of unspeakable secret or conspiracy hidden behind this matter.
Just then, the butler standing to the side coughed lightly and slowly said, "My lord, in my opinion, this matter may just be a whim of Zheng Luoqi."
"Think about it, which of the adults in the capital doesn't like to do good deeds to earn a good reputation for themselves? It's not impossible that this is the case!"
"Perhaps Lord Zheng saw that the old man was blind and kindly took him home, but then it happened to rain heavily, which is why he hasn't returned yet!"
Upon hearing the steward's words, Cao Yan frowned, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Impossible. If he wanted to do something good, he could have just had his subordinates escort him. Why would he need to go himself? Besides, does Zheng Luoqi seem like someone with so much free time?"
Cao Yan turned to the guard who had reported the news and asked, "Besides this, have you found any other useful clues?"
The guard quickly bowed and replied, "Sir, there seem to be many children in that temple."
"Oh? A child?" Cao Yan looked surprised, clearly taken aback by the news.
"Yes, sir!" the guard replied hastily.
"Children? Where did all these children come from?" Cao Yan then asked.
Faced with Cao Yan's questioning, the guard dared not be negligent and immediately replied, "According to my investigation, these children should be the children of some of the commoners you previously conscripted."
After hearing the guard's reply, Cao Yan sneered and said disdainfully, "Hmph, I only conscript those commoners to do things for the Prime Minister."
"If Zheng Luoqi really finds some clues, he will probably choose to kill him to cover it up, so that things won't be exposed!"
Cao Yan analyzed the situation in his mind and found it increasingly plausible. He knew the personalities of the Prime Minister and his son well, and he didn't believe that Zheng Luoqi would go out without any ulterior motive.
temple
A guard dressed in black quietly approached Zheng Luoqi and whispered something to him.
Zheng Luoqi nodded slightly to indicate that he understood, and then waved his hand gently, signaling the guards to leave.
Just as Zheng Luoqi had predicted, his outing today indeed aroused Cao Yan's vigilance.
Given Cao Yan's personality and methods, he would definitely send his men to secretly follow them.
When Cao Yan discovered that these children were the families of the commoners he had forcibly conscripted, he would surely have assumed that he would come to kill them to silence them after learning about the situation here.
Zheng Luoqi knew that Cao Yan was suspicious and ruthless by nature, so she already had a plan in mind the moment she saw the children.
After learning about the situation, Zheng Luoqi realized that Cao Yan would definitely take action even if she hadn't killed them. So, she decided to take the initiative and go back to discuss the matter of the Bai Ding's family members with Cao Yan, so that he could eliminate them completely.
Zheng Luoqi wanted to take advantage of this, first getting Cao Yan to eliminate the children here, and then, at the moment of the action, letting the old man discover that Cao Yan was going to kill them.
Then have the old man kill Cao Yan, creating a situation where Cao Yan fails to kill Cao Yan and is killed instead.
Zheng Luoqi had already thought of the reason for Cao Yan's execution: Cao Yan was an inhumane official who forcibly conscripted commoners to do hard labor, which aroused public anger. A righteous man from the martial arts world stepped forward and ended the life of the corrupt official.
To make the evidence more convincing, Zheng Luoqi made a deal with the old man: he would have him create a petition written in blood by ten thousand people.
Zheng Luoqi had already had a complaint written on burlap, accusing Cao Yan of embezzlement, bribery, exploitation of the people, and forced conscription of commoners.
The old man was responsible for getting the families of the commoners to put their bloody handprints on the lawsuit, and that was it.
Zheng Luoqi wanted this petition written in blood by ten thousand people mainly to tell the emperor that this incident did indeed happen, that Cao Yan was not wronged, and that he deserved to die.
Anyway, by the time this matter reached the emperor's ears, Cao Yan would already be long dead.
After all, Cao Yan was a prefect of a prefecture, and he couldn't just be killed without a clear reason. There had to be a suitable reason to avoid being investigated.
If this matter is not handled properly and iron and gold mines are discovered, then all our efforts will have been in vain.
However, the presence of these commoners is a huge hidden danger. Those commoners all know about the mine; what if…?
After much deliberation, Zheng Luoqi still felt that this matter needed to be handled cleanly, and the only way was to use Cao Yan to nip it in the bud.
At this moment, the heavy rain outside the temple gradually subsided, and a sliver of light began to appear in the sky. Zheng Luoqi looked up at the sky, and seeing that it was getting late, he slowly stood up, straightened his clothes, and then walked towards the door.
[Author's note: Thank you everyone for your support!! I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting! Waaaaah!]