Chapter 206 3/3

Moreover, he has little education, so it’s easy to see through dealings with such people.

This time, he was able to gain Du Yongning’s trust mainly because Du Yongning was unfamiliar with Taoist classics, so he couldn’t tell that the Taoist was a fraud.

Lu Mingshan felt that Li Qingzhi wouldn’t expose him.

And this time, he followed along to see if he could really live a stable life and send his apprentice to study.

He used to think wandering around was great, but as he got older, he began to crave stability. Most importantly, the apprentice he took in… It would be great if this child could study.

Indeed, Li Qingzhi didn’t expose Lu Mingshan.

After a night’s sleep, Li Qingzhi had come to terms with it.

Nowadays, wealthy people donate so much incense money to temples… Compared to that, what Lu Mingshan did wasn’t much.

“Master Lu, I didn’t expect to see you again!” Li Laogen was extremely delighted.

Lu Mingshan recited a blessing towards Li Laogen.

When he first saw Li Laogen yesterday, he thought Li Laogen was a servant of Li Qingzhi, especially since Li Laogen looked like he had suffered hardships. So when Li Laogen initially asked him, he said that since Li Laogen had suffered in the past, he would enjoy his later years after meeting a noble person.

Later, after Li Laogen talked to him non-stop, he found out that Li Qingzhi was Li Laogen’s son.

It was through Li Laogen that he gained further insight into Li Qingzhi’s family, allowing him to speak to Jin Xiaoye and the others later.

Unfortunately, Li Qingzhi didn’t believe him and even caught up to him to take the money back.

Li Laogen was very pleased, and so were Wu Baichuan and the others. There were even merchants from the caravan who came to find Lu Mingshan, wanting him to read their fortune.

But the fleet was about to depart… These merchants could only leave disappointedly, watching Lu Mingshan board Du Yongning’s ship.

Over the next few days, the fleet resumed sailing all day and only stopped to rest at night.

During this time, Li Qingzhi went to find Du Yongning, but didn’t have a private conversation with Lu Mingshan.

Six days passed in the blink of an eye, and on this day, the fleet docked at a pier early in the morning.

People from the caravan could once again disembark and rest!

Li Qingzhi and his companions disembarked as usual.

This pier was located in the provincial capital, which was quite spacious.

In Li Qingzhi’s mind, there were memories related to this place.

This was precisely the provincial capital of the province where Yuxi Prefecture was located, which the original owner had visited.

The city had been affected by floods in the past, but now there was no trace of it.

After disembarking, Li Qingzhi said to Jin Xiaoye, “Xiaoye, there’s a kind of pastry here that’s very delicious. I’ll take you guys to buy some later.”

“Okay,” Jin Xiaoye replied.

The provincial capital was bustling, with many places to eat.

As soon as Du Yongning got off the ship, he said he wanted to eat at a big restaurant. Considering the hardships everyone had endured on the boat in the past few days, Li Qingzhi decided to go to the restaurant as well.

They looked a bit travel-worn, but their clothes were still decent. After entering the restaurant, they received enthusiastic service from the waiters.

Li Qingzhi ordered some local specialties, and when he learned that the restaurant also sold the pastry he wanted, he bought some and invited those around him to eat together.

Next to them, a few scholars were chatting.

One of them was full of resentment as he spoke, “If it weren’t for Li Zhao, how could Fan Weiyan have passed the exam? He really thinks highly of himself!”

“Shenyan, that’s Li Zhao’s son-in-law.”

“I admire Lord Li, but his son-in-law is really not up to par and thinks highly of himself.”

…

These people spoke poorly of Fan Weiyan, and Li Qingzhi also didn’t like the original owner’s brother-in-law.

But when he heard Fan Weiyan’s name, he thought of Li Zhu and wondered whether she was alive or dead…

The capital.

The capital was quite chaotic recently.

The Prince of Jin, the Prince of Yan, and Lü Qingxi’s three forces were mutually restraining and attacking each other from time to time, creating a delicate balance.

In addition… the emperor, who had been ill for a long time, had finally recovered a bit.

But even so, the emperor knew that his days were numbered.

He had been diligently serving as the emperor for many years, but now that he didn’t have much time left, he couldn’t help but have other thoughts.

He wanted to go out of the palace.

He hadn’t left the palace in many, many years.

Today, the emperor said to Lü Qingxi, “I often hear you mention Qingyun Tower, I want to go see it.”

The emperor wanted to go to Qingyun Tower for a meal.

Given the emperor’s health, going out was very dangerous, but Lü Qingxi still agreed.

In the current situation, no one should dare to harm the emperor.

If something happened to the emperor at this time… it wouldn’t be good for anyone.

Lü Qingxi made a lot of preparations and had the emperor disguise himself before taking him and a group of guards out of the palace.

With the emperor’s health, he definitely couldn’t walk on his own, so Lü Qingxi arranged for a sedan chair for him. On the way, he introduced various things to him…

The sedan chair finally stopped at the entrance of Qingyun Tower.