Chapter 586: Flipping Their Cards
The waiter was overjoyed again. Now, all the food could be given to the poor people in the alley. However, he was now the deputy manager, no longer just a waiter, and felt a greater sense of responsibility for the restaurant. "What will our pigs eat then?"
Padi Tu flashed an enigmatic smile, his aura that of a dominant CEO filling the restaurant. "Kill the pigs and share the pork with the poor. Let's call it a grand opening celebration, offering benefits. "
The waiter's joy was immense, but it was quickly followed by the deputy manager's worry. "But then we won't have any pigs later! What will we do when customers order twice-cooked pork, braised pork, or shredded pork?"
Padi Tu hesitated. "Hmm? This..."
Wang Tang burst into laughter beside him. "Don't worry, we plan to build a pig farm on the outskirts of Xi'an. In the future, pork will be delivered regularly from the farm. The restaurant won't need to raise its own pigs anymore."
The waiter, or rather, the deputy manager, finally felt at ease.
With arrangements made, the restaurant would operate temporarily under the deputy manager's care. Gao Family Village would select an outstanding graduate from its middle school to serve as the main manager later—that was a matter for the future.
Padi Tu led Wang Tang out of the restaurant, a grin spreading across his face. "What should we buy next? The Heavenly Lord said to buy up all the businesses we can in this city, but... I don't seem to know where to start."
Wang Tang's gaze landed on the "Mule and Horse Exchange" nearby. He spoke in a low voice, "Rabbit Master, clothing, food, housing, and transportation are the four most important things. Let's start with those four. Look, there's a Mule and Horse Exchange over there."
The two men, with the swagger of money gods, strode towards the Mule and Horse Exchange...
As Padi Tu and Wang Tang dashed around the city, spending money like water, Li Daoxuan himself appeared outside the Prince of Qin's residence, birdcage in hand.
The grand gates of the Prince of Qin's residence stood solemn and majestic, but the street before them was deserted, devoid of pedestrians.
Ordinary folk steered clear of this place; no one would idly wander around here.
Li Daoxuan didn't approach directly. Instead, he found a private room on the second floor of a restaurant diagonally across the street. He sat by the window, peering through it to observe the Prince of Qin's residence from a distance.
The conflict with the Prince of Qin's residence had entered its second phase.
It was time to resort to underhanded tactics!
Li Daoxuan didn't want his little people to suffer a disadvantage in this regard, so he decided to personally engage in some strategic subterfuge.
From ancient times, the most crucial element in any covert operation was intelligence. If you knew your opponent's cards, how could they possibly outmaneuver you? So, Li Daoxuan had come specifically to flip their cards and uncover their scheme.
The Prince of Qin's residence hadn't yet entered his diorama's direct field of view, so Li Daoxuan couldn't use the "focus" function outside the box to peer into its contents. However, he still had "co-sensing." As long as there was a "Heavenly Lord Dao Xuan statue" inside the residence, in any form, he could enter it.
Facing the opulent mansion, he activated "co-sensing."
Li Daoxuan immediately felt numerous potential mediums for "co-sensing" ahead, some near, some far, some large, some small. But he couldn't pinpoint exactly what they were, where they were, or their surroundings. He would only know once his consciousness passed through, which meant he'd have to spend some time testing.
In any case, he decided to start with the closest one.
Li Daoxuan chose the nearest medium to his front-right and "co-sensed" himself over in a flash.
The scenery before him shifted instantly.
He found himself in a dilapidated small room, appearing to be a maid or servant's quarters, with scant, impoverished furnishings. He was perched on a table...
It turned out that a copy of "The Heavenly Lord Dao Xuan: Demon Slayer" lay on the table, and he had "co-sensed" onto the image of Heavenly Lord Dao Xuan depicted on its cover.
Li Daoxuan chuckled inwardly. So, this comic book had already made its way into the hands of the servants in the Prince of Qin's residence. Indeed, the common folk would surely be the first to read such a story.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, the door creaked open. A maid entered, dressed in rough hemp cloth, a sturdy, countrified girl who clearly hadn't been sold into the Prince of Qin's residence long, lacking the polished air of a manor maid.
This copy of "The Heavenly Lord Dao Xuan: Demon Slayer" must have belonged to her. The moment she entered, she began to undress, doing so quite quickly. In less than a second, her outer garment was off, revealing her undergarment.
Li Daoxuan thought, *Good heavens! See no evil.* This young girl had been sold into servitude; he shouldn't further sully her innocence. He quickly switched his "co-sensing," jumping to the next medium.
This time, he found himself suspended on a horse, with many other horses nearby, their heads lowered, eating fodder from their troughs.
Apparently, a layer of "Chengcheng embroidery," a piece of intangible cultural heritage, was draped over the saddle. It was meticulously stitched by the girls of Chengcheng County and sold to the high-ranking officials and nobles of Xi'an.
Chengcheng embroidery typically featured motifs of tigers, swift horses, qilin, or phoenixes. However, in recent years, images of Heavenly Lord Dao Xuan had begun to be incorporated into these embroideries, mingling unnoticed among the various designs.
Now, these embroidered images had become excellent targets for Li Daoxuan's co-sensing.
But what good was co-sensing a stable? It wasn't even as interesting as the maid's room.
He was just about to switch again when he saw a group of people enter from outside the stable. They wore ordinary martial arts attire, but their demeaner was not that of commoner figures; instead, it carried the distinct, murderous aura of "official soldiers." "
One of them said in a low voice, "The Prince of Qin's heir is truly angry this time. To actually order us, his guards, to impersonate bandits."
Another chuckled, "Those civil officials are too insolent. They brought in some great figures from who knows where to guard the celestial fertilizer shop, and even beat our men. Of course, His Highness would be angry. "
The first man asked, "Where are we going to set up the ambush?"
A man who appeared to be their leader said, "We'll go to the only route from Chengcheng County to Xi'an Prefecture, find a small woods, and hide. Once the celestial fertilizer shop sells out, the Li family will surely transport more fertilizer from Chengcheng County. We'll intercept them midway and slaughter everyone."
"Hiss! If this matter leaks out, I fear..."
"Just don't let it leak, then, right?" the leader said. "As long as we don't botch it, we can blame it on bandits. If we do botch it, then you all end yourselves. Don't let yourselves be captured alive by those civil officials."
At these words, the entire team fell silent.
This was a life-or-death undertaking.
However, they didn't value their lives lightly, for their lives had been given to them by the Prince of Qin.
The group mounted their horses and galloped out of the city.
The embroidered Heavenly Lord, hanging on the side of a saddle, trotted along with them, out of the city. The group, fearing that being too close to Xi'an would make it difficult to clear their names, deliberately rode far, traveling about fifty li until they reached the vicinity of the modern Gaoling District of Xi'an.
This was already north of the Wei River, far from the city center of Xi'an. The team rode along the official road for a while, then found a patch of woods beside it, where they concealed themselves.
They didn't know when the "Li family's" celestial fertilizer transport team would arrive; they would simply wait.
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