Chapter 108

  Bai Yutang's work efficiency is still very high.

  The next evening, he got a copy of the list of people who attended the dinner party that day and sent it to Lu Xiaofeng.

  Lu Xiaofeng studied the list and then, based on some information provided by Emperor Renzong, identified Xu Qian as the key target.

  I hope the information provided by the Emperor is correct, otherwise there will be a problem.

  While Tang Zhen was carefully searching for evidence of Cheng Yuan's crime, Lu Xiaofeng seemed to have a lot of free time. He had Feng Si pay special attention to news from the residence of retired official Xu Qian, especially whether anyone was monitoring the Xu family.

  Feng Si reported back after observing for a day, and indeed there was someone monitoring the Xu family.

  Xiao Feng immediately changed his mind and decided to let Feng Si monitor the people watching Xu's family. This is called - mantis catches cicada, yellow sparrow in the back!

  Because she was afraid that Feng Si would inadvertently reveal their whereabouts, Lu Xiaofeng drew a few pictures and then went around the streets for a while before finding a few beggars. She promised them money to report back to her if they saw these people.

  At the same time, Luk Siu-fung also paid attention to the movements of the Four Seas Money Changer.

  Places like money houses are always prone to problems.

  The vigilance of lawbreakers is usually very high, even if Lu Xiaofeng knew that the Four Seas Money House had a problem, but she knew it was not easy to infiltrate its interior.

  It's usually hard for them to accept and believe a new face.

  Little Phoenix Maiden is slightly worried.

  The worried little phoenix girl took her daughter to the street to find inspiration.

  "Your money is fake."

  "Are you kidding me? How could the money I withdrew from the bank be counterfeit?"

  "It's fake."

  "It's impossible."

  “……”

  This dispute attracted Lu Xiaofeng's attention, and he took his daughter over to watch.

  "Uncle, may I take a look at that copper coin?"

  "Give."

  Lu Xiaofeng carefully examined the copper coin several times, then took out a copper coin from his own bag and compared it with the one in question. He then turned to the crowd waiting for the result and said, "This copper coin is indeed fake."

  "How is this possible?" The owner of the copper coins snatched them back, "I just withdrew these from the bank."

  Lu Xiaofeng said calmly, "The copper coins you took out are all fake. At first glance, they look the same as real ones, but upon closer inspection, there's a problem."

  You can carefully look at the casting characters above, and there is a difference between the fake and the real. The real one is obviously more rounded and smooth than the fake one. Moreover, the layout is different, and the fake layout is coarser than the real one.

  Furthermore, the weight of the fake one is also different from the real one. It's said that old coins should be heavier than new ones, but this new coin is actually heavier than the old one, which is too obvious."

  "What kind of person are you? Just because you say something is fake, does it necessarily mean it's fake?"

  Lu Xiaofeng smiled incredulously and said, "Whether you believe it or not is up to you, whether I say it or not is up to me."

  "This bag of copper coins was just taken out by me, can you help me take a look?"

  Lu Xiaofeng raised an eyebrow, "Don't you believe it?"

  He said with a strong and confident tone: "I just want to see if you will say that all the money in this bag is fake."

  Lu Xiaofeng took over the bag of copper coins and then examined them one by one, distinguishing between the genuine and fake ones.

  "This pile is true, this pile is false." After saying that, she turned to the nearby shop and said, "Excuse me, may I borrow a basin of water to wash my hands?"

  "Please, miss."

  "Thank you."

  Lu Xiaofeng wiped his hands clean and dried them before taking his son from Xiaohe's arms.

  "Xiaohe, let's go."

  "Yes, miss."

  Lu Xiaofeng walked for a few steps before realizing that someone was following her, but she didn't make any noise.

  Is she stirring up trouble?

  It seems that she inadvertently moved this hidden chess piece to the surface.

  Little Phoenix Maiden couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Things always go against her wishes. Let's take it one step at a time and think about it as we go along.

  As he walked past a teahouse, Luk Siu-fung casually strolled in.

  As expected, soon after she sat down, someone sat across from her.

  "The lady seems to be quite familiar with the way of giving money."

  Lu Xiaofeng didn't mind his uninvited arrival, but just smiled slightly and said: "As the saying goes, a hero can be defeated by a single coin, and without money, it's hard to take even a step. This shows how important money is. I will naturally pay special attention to such an important thing. If there are counterfeit ones among them, won't my loss be great?"

  The man couldn't help but smile, "What you said is absolutely right, madam."

  "May I ask who you are?"

  "In the lower four seas, Qianzhuang's shopkeeper is Xizan."

  "It turned out to be the shopkeeper, I apologize for the disrespect."

  "You're too kind."

  "It's only fitting, the reputation of the Four Seas Money House is quite large, Li Zhuangzhu's business has reached an extreme scale, it's likely that he can be called the richest man in the Great Song Dynasty. One hundred and eight money houses spread all over the world, it's really making me envious."

  "Is your wife a traveling merchant?"

  "I suppose so, our family does indeed run a shop."

  "As expected, upon seeing Madame, I realized she is a kindred spirit."

  "I don't know why the shopkeeper has come looking for me, what's the matter?"

  "We are from Qian Zhuang, and we are most particular about the authenticity of coins. Just now, I saw that you, madam, were expertly distinguishing between those copper coins, so I took the liberty of approaching you to strike up a conversation. Please forgive my impertinence."

  "It's understandable."

  "The lady does not look like a native of Dengzhou."

  "It's really not."

  "May I ask, madam——"

  "Are you interrogating me, shopkeeper?"

  Xiang Zan hastily said: "No, I was just casually asking."

  Lu Xiaofeng nodded, "Since it's just a casual question, I won't answer then. As a woman, it's not proper for me to say too much to someone I'm not familiar with."

  "It should be like it should be."

  "If there's nothing else, may I ask the shopkeeper to return me a quiet environment for drinking tea?"

  "Sorry to disturb you." Xiang Zan bid farewell and left with a hint of understanding.

  However, he turned back to Lijiazhuang and reported the situation to the owner Li Kun.

  On the second day, Lu Xiaofeng received Li Kun's invitation at the inn where he was staying.

  So quickly found her inn and even posted a message, this Li Kun is quite capable.

  "Miss——" Are you really going?

  Lu Xiaofeng smiled and threw away the invitation, saying: "Go, how can I not go? This is truly a case of 'a pillow being sent while one is drowsy', what a wonderful thing!"

  "Can——" Isn't this just surfacing now?

  Xiaohe was somewhat perplexed.

  "Don't worry, let's see how things go."

  "Yes."

  Little Phoenix Maiden gets dressed up to attend the banquet.

  When she saw the three words "Welcome Pavilion", she couldn't help but laugh, wasn't this where they had entertained Tang Zhen that day? It seemed that today it was being used to entertain her again.

  On that day, Li Kun prepared many beauties for Tang Zhen. I wonder if he will give her some handsome young men today?

  This imagination seems a bit off... Li Kun shouldn't be so avant-garde, right?

  "Bring wine for the old man."

  As Lu Xiaofeng entered, a rough voice came forth to greet him.

  It's quite normal for such conversations to appear in a place like this wine house, and Little Phoenix didn't take it seriously.

  "What? Feng Niang, you're married?"

  "Yan Dashao!" Xiao He recognized the man and was taken aback.

  "Is this Feng's daughter's child?"

  Yes, it is indeed a child.

  "We parted in Xiuzhou, and I didn't expect that when we met again, you would already be a mother."

  "Yes, how did Lord Yan end up coming to Dengzhou?"

  "It's normal for people in the jianghu to be on the move all the time."

  "Oh."

  "Are you girls coming to eat?"

  "No, I have an appointment, someone has invited me."

  Yan Wusuo looked at her and then glanced behind her, a look of surprise on his face. "Just the two of you young ladies?"

  "It's not the Hongmen Banquet, what's the point of having so many people?"

  "The girl is still fearless."

  Lu Xiaofeng smiled.

  "Some accompanied girls went up."

  "Thanks for your trouble, Sir."

  "You're welcome."

  Lu Xiaofeng accepted the bodyguard Yan Wushuang without any discomfort, after all, having a bodyguard guaranteed his safety.

  So when Li Kun saw her, there was Yan Wushuang, a sturdy man, standing behind her, and it looked like he was very powerful.

  Li Kun's pupils behind him involuntarily contracted slightly.

  "Mrs. Lu, this is our village head." Xiang Zan made the introduction for the two of them.

  Li Kun smiled and said: "I am Li Kun, I'm so sorry to trouble you, thank you madam for your presence."

  "Mr. Li was being polite, it's an honor for me to be invited by the master of Four Seas Money House."

  "Please sit down, madam."

  "Please take a seat."

  Both sides sat down as host and guest.

  The waiter comes in and sets out the dishes.

  "Madam must be wondering why I invited you down."

  "There is indeed something."

  "In the lower reaches, I heard that Mrs. Xian's family was also engaged in business."

  "Yes."

  "Is your wife here in Dengzhou for business?"

  "Take a look, if it's suitable, do some business. However, Dengzhou seems not to be a place suitable for outsiders like me. So I just took a casual stroll around, taking a look, and it wasn't a wasted trip."

  Li Kun smiled, but his heart was moved. He understood the implication of the woman's words. The other party's background had not been investigated yet, and it was not good to take action lightly. He still needed to probe further before making a move.

  "The lady is joking."

  "Master Li, let's not beat around the bush. Given your relationship with the governor of Dengzhou, an outsider like me will never be able to gain a foothold."

  Li Kun was shocked again in his heart. He didn't expect that this lady would make the conversation so clear from the start. However, it's also good this way, both sides don't have much to guess about anymore.

  "What does madam think about the counterfeit currency encountered on the street yesterday?"

  Lu Xiaofeng said bluntly: "I have no comment."

  "Didn't you see it?" Li Kun was incredulous instead.

  "Of course, how much profit can be made from counterfeit copper coins? Unless it's on a large scale and in large quantities, there won't be any profit. Businessmen are after profits, if there's no profit to be made, they naturally wouldn't take the risk."

  Li Kunyue was even more shocked in his heart, this is indeed "the speaker has no intention, the listener has intention", this lady unintentionally touched on the key to the problem, if she thought of the crux of the matter again, I'm afraid...

  "Yes, what you said is absolutely right."

  "But if the other party has the financial resources of a wealthy merchant, then it's hard to say. After all, a money house is a place where large amounts of currency circulate, and the master of the house is said to have 108 such establishments..." Lu Xiaofeng left his words hanging in the air with malicious intent, a tactic known as "beating the mountain to scare the tiger".

  Although there is also a great risk in doing so, since Yan Wushuang has accompanied him, her courage has naturally increased by several points, and she took the opportunity to knock on the door.

  It doesn't matter whether I knock or not!

  "Madam, you're joking! How could I possibly do something so illegal and forbidden?"

  "Yes, I also think that someone as clever as the landlord wouldn't do such a thing. This kind of thing is like walking on a tightrope over a cliff, one misstep and everything will be lost."

  "Where is your wife from?"

  "Liuzhou ah."

  "Liuzhou?"

  "Right."

  "Is this your home?"

  "Mother's home."

  Li Kun's heart was slightly darkened, he felt that he had been clearly deceived.

  Just then, someone suddenly rushed in from outside the door and whispered a few words to Diao Zan. Diao Zan's face changed, and he hastily went over to whisper something in Li Kun's ear.

  Lu Xiaofeng smiled secretly, it seemed that Tang Zhen had already taken action.

  Since there are counterfeit coins, it is natural to investigate, and the investigation must go to the place where the currency circulates - the money house, which is a logical consequence.

  The news was naturally leaked by her to Tang Zhen, and it had the effect she wanted now.

  It's better to let the snake make the first move before taking action.

  Having done such a dangerous thing, to prevent Li Kun's possible murder and destruction of evidence, Xiaofeng immediately decided to go recognize relatives - Brother Cheng Yuantai, sorry to disturb you!