Chapter 66: Repeated Under the Jedi
In his previous life, the remote street a few dozen meters away from Jiang Qing’s home was the local market place.
Every time there was a market, the empty space downstairs became a bird market, with many people gathering downstairs of his house.
These people carried bird cages and made bird-singing sounds to tease their birds.
Communicate, exchange, buy and sell...
Whenever Jiang Qingzhi saw them, he would always think of the image of the Eight Banners descendants walking their birds in TV dramas.
The most common bird in the bird market was the bulbul, but Jiang Qingzhi was young at the time and did not have the patience to play with birds. He even thought those people were boring.
Jiang Qingzhi walked around the bird market.
"no one."
Dou Jialan said with certainty.
It feels great to have an anti-tracking expert by your side, Jiang Qingzhi said:
"Go to the bird market."
The bird market is in an open space next to the market.
More than a hundred people were divided into dozens of circles, and the sound of birds singing was endless.
A middle-aged man squatted beside it, with the birdcage right in front of him, but he was too lazy to play with it.
"Hey!"
Jiang Qingzhi squatted down and asked, "Your bird is pretty good!"
A person who can gain a foothold in a foreign country and build a foundation, and whose ability to get close to others, is invincible.
Jiang Qingzhi went from praising the bird to implicitly praising the man. Not long after, Dou Jialan sighed, "It's only been a short time, and Master Bo has become as close to this man as a brother."
The man even enthusiastically invited Jiang Qingzhi to have a drink at the nearby tavern.
"It's my treat." The man said without giving any room for rejection.
The two of them were slightly tipsy, and Jiang Qingzhi told them his purpose. "I came here to buy a bird."
The man enthusiastically introduced him to the grades of thrushes, which one was the best and which one was fake...
Jiang Qingzhi learned a lot and finally asked, "Which is the best bird here?"
The man pointed to one of the circles and said, "Right there, damn, sixty strings of cash."
Sixty strings of cash is a huge sum of money for ordinary people, but here you can only buy a bird.
Jiang Qingzhi stood up and said he wanted to change clothes.
He came back not long after, had a few drinks, and said he was going to buy a bird.
"See you next time." Jiang Qingzhi left with a smile.
The man burped and said, "Check out."
The guy came over and said, “It’s over.”
"Huh! When? How come I didn't know?" the man was stunned.
"Just before."
The man then realized that Jiang Qingzhi had quietly settled the bill under the pretext of changing clothes.
"Be particular!"
Jiang Qingzhi walked into the circle, observed it first, and then started bargaining with the bird owner.
"Seventy strings of cash, not a penny less." The bird's owner saw that Jiang Qingzhi was a rookie among bird dealers, and his attitude was cold, as if he was waiting for a higher price.
Jiang Qingzhi planned to invest most of his money in his business, so seventy strings of cash was a bit too much.
After some bargaining, the bird owner refused to give in.
Oh shit!
Jiang Qingzhi didn't have time to waste time with him, and was ready to agree with a distressed heart.
"Hey! Wang Lao Er, you said yesterday that you would sell it for sixty strings of cash."
The man who was drinking earlier appeared beside Jiang Qingzhi without him noticing, "This is my brother. What? Are you trying to cheat him?"
When the expert came, the bird owner looked unhappy and insisted for a while, but finally the price was fifty-nine strings of cash.
Jiang Qingzhi asked some more details about bird-raising, made an appointment with the man to meet again at the next bird market, and then went home.
After returning home, Fucheng asked Dou Jialan how he was doing.
"I now believe that even if you lose the trust of His Majesty, you can still live a prosperous life." Dou Jialan praised sincerely.
After Fu Cheng learned what happened, he smiled even more proudly, "When I first saw Master Bo, I knew it was a rough gem."
……
The emperor must have a prison that he can control, and the imperial prison is one of them.
Jinyiwei Prison should be independent of Jinyiwei system. But Lu Bing was trusted by Emperor Jiajing, so he was included in his jurisdiction.
As the deputy centurion, Li Jing was responsible for the daily management of the imperial prison.
Old-fashioned, this is how the Jinyiwei people perceive Li Jing.
Old-fashioned and meticulous...only this kind of personality can make Lu Bing feel at ease.
He would get up at the beginning of the Mao hour every day, practice his sword skills, eat breakfast, and appear in the imperial prison on time at the end of the Mao hour.
For seven years, every day was like this, except for rest days.
No bathing today.
After getting up early in the morning, Li Jing played with the birds he raised in the yard for a while.
After breakfast, he carried two bird cages to the bird market next to the West Market.
"Old Li is here."
"Ok!"
Here, identity is the least valuable.
The most valuable thing is naturally the birds.
Li Jing seemed like a different person at this moment. He was full of energy, with bright eyes, pointing at the birds with high spirits.
At noon, Li Jing had lunch at a nearby tavern.
He was drinking by himself, feeling quite content, when a young man came in carrying a bird cage.
The bird cage was new, and the weaving looked rather crude, showing that it was from a new owner.
However, the thrush in the birdcage immediately attracted Li Jing's attention.
"Shopkeeper, give me two pancakes." The young man sat down with a sad face.
Li Jing couldn't help but ask, "Young man, are you here to sell birds?"
The boy nodded, "Yeah!"
"how much is it?"
"Five strings of cash." The young man said indignantly, "Those people are too cruel. They said it was three strings of cash. I went through a lot of trouble to get this bird. I asked my neighbors and they said it was at least five strings of cash."
"Five strings of cash. Let me see."
Li Jing was delighted to see the prey and came over to observe the bird carefully.
nice!
Not only is it good, it is simply a dragon among birds...
"Five strings of cash?" Li Jing frowned.
"Yes, I want five strings of cash." The young man bit a piece of the cake fiercely, chewing it while mumbling, "If I can't sell it for five strings of cash, I'll roast it and eat it."
Young people are stubborn... Li Jing smiled and looked at the bird carefully to make sure there was nothing wrong with it.
"Three kan!"
"Don't even think about it."
"I'll give you an extra hundred coins." "I want five coins!"
The transaction was finally concluded at four strings of cash.
"You need proof." The young man sniffed.
"Why?" Li Jing was puzzled.
"My neighbors said there were many swindlers in the city. If I sold the bird, they would turn against me, hide the bird and say I stole their money..."
The young man looked at Li Jing suspiciously, "They can only give three strings of coins at most, but you want to give four strings of coins."
You are not a fool, are you?
I am a deputy captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the man who has the final say in the imperial prison. How much money would I cheat you out of?
Li Jing laughed in his heart, but he was worried that his identity as a Jinyiwei would scare the boy. So he nodded, asked the store owner for paper and pen, and wrote down the receipt.
"What is this?" the boy asked, pointing at the last signature.
This country boy couldn't read a single word, so Li Jing smiled and explained, "These two words are Li Jing."
"Oh!" The boy took the receipt and confirmed, "You won't lie to me, will you?"
Li Jing waved his hand, and the boy turned around and ran away like the wind.
Li Jing finished half of his meal and happily went home carrying the bird cage.
That day he squatted under the birdcage in a trance, and finally confirmed that he had found a bargain.
Picked up a big leak.
The next day, he arrived at the imperial prison on time at the end of the morning hour, carrying the bird cage.
"Captain Li!"
"Hey! Captain Li, did you change the bird?"
Li Jing hung the bird cage under the eaves of his duty room, turned around, and there was an undisguised pride in his eyes.
"This bird is worth a hundred gold coins. Do you know how much I spent on it?"
The Imperial Prison is notorious, and most of the people who are imprisoned here are high-ranking officials. I'm sorry, ordinary officials who want to come in, please go to the Ministry of Justice, which is a suitable place for you.
The imperial prison was a special prison for high-ranking officials and dignitaries of the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Bing managed the imperial prison very strictly. He once caught a jailer who accepted bribes from prisoners and executed him. All the men in his family were driven to the north as slaves, and all the women were made prostitutes.
Li Jing was old-fashioned and never accepted benefits, so when everyone heard this, they knew he was getting a bargain.
"Oh! At least eighty kan?"
"Seventy strings of cash!"
Li Jing smiled. He did not accept benefits, but with his salary, he had only saved more than 30 strings of cash so far.
Everyone who knows him knows this.
So, everyone just praised him.
Li Jing held up four fingers.
"Forty strings of cash? Captain Li has lost everything he has." People who knew him were amazed and thought that this man was crazy about birds.
"Four strings of cash!" Li Jing said proudly.
"Four kan?"
"Yes."
Enjoy life to the fullest when you are happy!
Li Jing introduced the extraordinary features of the bird to his subordinates with great enthusiasm, and only stopped when they were about to inspect the prison, feeling that they were still not satisfied.
Li Jing took his men into the imperial prison.
"Xia Yan!"
Someone called the name.
It is difficult to describe Xia Yan's treatment in the imperial prison.
Lu Bing wanted to kill him, but he wouldn't give anyone an advantage, so the cell looked fine, but the food was either rotten or so rough that it was difficult to swallow.
Xia Yan was sitting on the straw and looked up suddenly. When he saw Li Jing and others behind the jailer, the light in his eyes dimmed.
……
"Be careful over there Xia Yan!"
In the afternoon, Yan Song and two other people met, and Cui Yuan reminded Lu Bing.
Lu Bing said confidently: "The people in the imperial prison are all the ones I trust the most. They are the most stable and will never make mistakes."
Cui Yuan nodded, "That's good." He stood up with great confidence, "Three days later!"
Yan Song held the jade pendant at his waist, his mind filled with the frustration and torment that Xia Yan had suppressed over the years. "Three days later!"
"Xia Yan, you deserve to die!"
But there was a hint of inexplicable excitement in Lu Bing's eyes.
Now, compared with Xia Yan's death, he hopes to bring Jiang Qingzhi down to earth and eliminate his biggest threat.
"Jiang Qingzhi!" A fierce look flashed in Lu Bing's eyes.
Yan Song knew what he was thinking and said calmly, "Don't worry, he's just a teenager, he can't turn the world upside down!"
"Let's work together, that little bastard won't be able to escape this disaster!"
Lu Bing said cautiously, "I'll go to the Imperial Prison to take a look."
"Caution is a virtue." Cui Yuan said with a smile.
Everything in the imperial prison remained the same.
Li Jing reported Xia Yan's situation, and everything was still normal.
"Keep an eye on Xia Yan, and don't let anyone get close."
When Li Jing escorted him out, Lu Bing gave instructions.
"Don't worry, Commander."
Lu Bing turned around and patted his shoulder, "I'm at ease with you doing the job."
The revenge was about to be taken, and the person who stole his favor was about to be in trouble. Lu Bing was very excited. He looked at the setting sun with his hands behind his back and said, "A man should be like this!"
Li Jing returned home and settled the bird first. When his family called him to eat, he looked back every few steps.
After dinner, Li Jing still squatted under the birdcage.
His family had long been accustomed to his behavior and went about their business.
"Master, we have a visitor."
The only servant in the house reported.
"who is it?"
"He said he was an acquaintance of the master, a bird seller."
Ah!
Li Jing's first thought was that the young man had changed his mind.
So, when he saw the boy selling the bird, he sneered, "It's clearly written in black and white on the receipt. Why are you going to regret it?"
The boy shook his head, "I never regret what I do."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I want to go to the imperial prison, Captain Li, can you give me a favor?"
Li Jing's expression changed drastically. He pointed at the boy and asked, "Who... who are you?"
The young man smiled and said, "Jiang Qingzhi!"
……
Asking for votes.
(End of this chapter)
