Chapter 14: Purchasing Intelligence
Ji Qing was visiting An Yang City for the first time.
The reason he traveled thousands of miles to “settle” Ji Yao in An Yang City was simple: Yun Niang was originally from An Yang.
In other words, An Yang City was Yun Niang’s family home.
Settling Ji Yao in Yun Niang’s family home was naturally the most appropriate.
However, Ji Qing did not know much about Yun Niang’s family home.
He only knew it came from the An Yang “Zhao clan.”
He knew nothing about the specific situation.
Ji Qing wandered around An Yang City for a while, but slowly inquiring about the An Yang Zhao clan would take too much time, and he might not even find any useful information.
He took a token from his bosom, with the words “Listen to the Wind” engraved on it.
This was the Listen to the Wind Token, which could be used to purchase any intelligence information at the Listen to the Wind Tower.
And An Yang City had a Listen to the Wind Tower.
Ji Qing walked straight into the Listen to the Wind Tower.
Since it was still morning, the building was very quiet.
This Listen to the Wind Tower appeared on the surface to be a tea house, but in reality, it had other secrets.
“Guest, what tea would you like to drink?”
The waiter attentively greeted Ji Qing.
Ji Qing did not hesitate and directly took out the Listen to the Wind Token.
Seeing the token, the waiter’s expression turned serious.
“Guest, please follow me.”
The waiter led Ji Qing to the back, passing through layer after layer of mechanisms, and finally entered an underground secret chamber.
Candles were lit in the secret chamber, and a woman with a seductive figure but her face veiled was sitting there.
“Distinguished Guest, do you want to purchase intelligence or sell intelligence?”
The woman asked.
“Purchase intelligence on the An Yang Zhao clan, just a simple introduction to the overall situation is fine.”
“An Yang Zhao clan? Ten taels of silver.”
The woman quoted a price.
“So cheap?”
Ji Qing was somewhat surprised.
“The situation of the An Yang Zhao clan is known to almost everyone. The Distinguished Guest is only purchasing ordinary intelligence, so the price is naturally cheap. However, if after hearing the intelligence, the Distinguished Guest wants to learn more in-depth information, that would be a different price.”
Ji Qing nodded and took out ten taels of silver, throwing them on the table.
The woman calmly collected the silver, then took out a sheet of paper and handed it to Ji Qing.
“Please look, Distinguished Guest. This has intelligence on the An Yang Zhao clan. If the Distinguished Guest has any unclear points, you can ask me, and as long as it’s within the scope of what you purchased, I will answer for free.”
Ji Qing examined it carefully.
It listed many figures from the An Yang Zhao clan.
For example, who the clan leader was.
What branches there were?
What influential clan members there were, etc., all listed clearly for easy understanding.
However, Ji Qing did not find Yun Niang’s name on it.
Perhaps married women were not listed.
So Ji Qing asked: “I want to know, which branch of the Zhao clan does Zhao Yun Niang, who married into Liang City a few years ago, belong to? What specific people are in Zhao Yun Niang’s branch of the Zhao clan?”
“Zhao Yun Niang…”
The woman thought for a moment, then lowered her head and searched through the pile of documents.
“Fifty taels of silver.”
This was the price for the new intelligence.
Ji Qing did not hesitate at all and threw out fifty taels of silver.
The woman handed over a sheet of paper detailing the people in Zhao Yun Niang’s line and the current general situation of that line.
Ji Qing indeed found Zhao Yun Niang’s name.
It turned out that Zhao Yun Niang’s branch was only a branch of the An Yang Zhao clan, belonging to the minor sect.
Zhao Yun Niang’s branch was in business, a merchant family in An Yang City, and quite wealthy.
However, Zhao Yun Niang’s parents no longer managed affairs and stayed at home enjoying their grandchildren in retirement.
The business and clan matters were basically handed over to the eldest son, Zhao Yungui.
This Zhao Yungui was Ji Yao’s maternal uncle.
“A merchant family…”
Ji Qing was quite satisfied.
Merchants meant they had money.
Once Ji Yao returned to the Zhao clan, there would be no worry about expenses.
As for whether Zhao Yungui was willing to take in Ji Yao, that was not something Zhao Yungui could decide on his own.
“Listen to the Wind Tower lives up to its reputation.”
Ji Qing was very satisfied and stood up to leave.
This Listen to the Wind Tower had almost no flaws except for being expensive.
“Distinguished Guest, please wait. Here is some intelligence on Villain Ranking Eighth, Liang City Xiucai Scholar Ji Qing. I wonder if the Distinguished Guest is interested?”
The woman suddenly asked.
“Hm?”
Ji Qing’s expression turned cold.
“Please don’t mind, Distinguished Guest. We at Listen to the Wind Tower only do intelligence business and nothing else.”
“Is that so? So, my intelligence in An Yang City can also be sold by your Listen to the Wind Tower?”
“In theory, yes, as long as someone can afford the silver.”
“Then how much silver is my latest whereabouts worth?”
“At least five hundred taels of silver! After all, the government bounty is one thousand taels.”
Ji Qing’s eyes narrowed slightly.
He didn’t expect “his own” intelligence to be worth so much?
“If I killed all of you…”
“Please don’t do that, Distinguished Guest. Everyone’s intelligence is sent out of Listen to the Wind Tower immediately. From the moment you stepped into our Listen to the Wind Tower, intelligence about you was sent out. Even if you killed everyone in the entire Listen to the Wind Tower, it would be useless.”
“Moreover, if the Distinguished Guest really did that, Listen to the Wind Tower would no longer do business with you. Even more, we at Listen to the Wind Tower would send experts to hunt you down.”
Ji Qing knew the woman was right.
If Listen to the Wind Tower didn’t have such means, it would have been destroyed countless times, so how could it have grown to its current state?
Ji Qing gave the woman a deep look.
He did indeed still need Listen to the Wind Tower.
In the future, if Ji Qing wanted to track the traces of “demons,” he might need intelligence support from Listen to the Wind Tower.
Falling out with Listen to the Wind Tower would bring him no benefit.
In the end, Ji Qing did not purchase “his own” intelligence.
Five hundred taels?
He would have to be crazy to buy it.
However, the experience at Listen to the Wind Tower also made Ji Qing wary.
He had to settle Ji Yao as soon as possible.
Otherwise, once his whereabouts were exposed, someone might risk it all for the bounty.
Ji Qing soon found out where Zhao Yungui’s family lived.
He crouched outside the Zhao Mansion.
In just a quarter of an hour, Ji Qing saw a sedan stop.
A somewhat portly middle-aged man stepped off the sedan.
Ji Qing immediately strode forward.
“Zhao Yungui?”
Ji Qing called out.
“Hm?”
“Who is calling me?”
The middle-aged man turned around and saw Ji Qing, but he did not recognize him, and a trace of confusion appeared on his face.
“Master, be careful. This man has a saber on him; he might be a person of Jianghu…”
The two guards nearby hurriedly approached Zhao Yungui.
“Whoosh.”
Ji Qing was actually still two or three zhang away from Zhao Yungui.
But at this moment, Ji Qing used Grass on Flying and instantly crossed that distance, arriving in front of Zhao Yungui.
“Protect the master…”
The guards immediately stepped forward to protect Zhao Yungui.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
“Clang.”
A crisp sound rang out as Ji Qing drew his saber.
His saber had only one characteristic: speed!
When the saber was fast to the extreme, it also had a dazzling beauty.
In everyone’s sight, it seemed only this dazzling blade light remained.
Only Zhao Yungui shivered all over.
Because he felt a chill on his neck.
The blade light disappeared.
A sharp long saber was now already at Zhao Yungui’s neck.
The blade edge had even cut a bit of the skin on his neck, leaving a shallow bloodstain.
“How much silver do you want? I’ll give it all! Great Hero, spare my life!”
Zhao Yungui’s voice was trembling.
As for the two guards he had hired at great expense, they were useless, completely ineffective.
They even claimed to be famous experts in Jianghu.
And yet?
The two of them hadn’t even seen the blade light clearly before the long saber was at his neck.
“Who exactly are you? Someone in Jianghu with such saber technique is definitely not unknown!”
The two guards’ expressions were also grave.
Laymen watch the excitement, experts watch the technique.
With Ji Qing’s saber just now, they hadn’t even seen the blade light clearly. If it had been aimed at them, one saber would probably kill them.
Ji Qing ignored the two guards and fixed his gaze on Zhao Yungui.
“Perhaps, I should call you Uncle.”
As soon as the words were spoken, Zhao Yungui’s expression changed drastically!
