Repugnant Gateway

Chapter 79

At daybreak the next day, the people sent by the Gathering

Shang Manor arrived.

This time, the messenger was Zhuang Fei Fei Fei’s personal maid, the Red Luan.

She was a girl who looked

especially blushing, a year or two older than Ann, very white skin, big eyes, the sort of girl who was especially pleasing to the

eye.

He was just a little shy when talking to strangers.

“”This is for you. The eldest teacher asked me to deliver it.””

The Red

Luan stuffed a small package into An Zeng’s hands, then lowered her head and looked at her toes as she spoke, “”Mister said that

there are some things you don’t need to worry about, if you don’t do it, it will affect you greatly. It will be troublesome, so

bear with it.””

Since you’ve already done it, the Gathering Shang Academy will never sit back and wait for your death. Furthermore

… this matter may not be as serious as what you were worried about.

“”Mister wants me to tell you one thing … Gathering Merchant

House is more capable than you think.””

“”Go back and tell the First Mister that I thank her.””

The Red Luan made an “”oh”” sound

and raised its head to look at An Zhe before quickly lowering its head, “”The eldest sir also said that the debt that is owed to

you by the Orthodox Academy is still owed because it is too big.””

An Zhan couldn’t help but ask, “”What kind of favor is this?””

The Red Luan seemed to not have expected An Zhe to ask this, how could it help others to forget this.

But perhaps she felt that

the relationship between An Zhe and the big mister was not shallow, so she said a few more words: “”A few years ago, our host was

seriously injured when he fought against others. At that time, he tried everything he could think of, but he could only barely

keep the owner alive.””

“”However, his injuries are still worsening. Because the person who injured my master is too powerful, if

he doesn’t find a suitable medicinal herb to refine pills, my master won’t be able to endure for long.””

“”In these past few

years, the Gathering Shang Manor has been doing their best to maintain the owner’s life, but they have been unable to find any

medicine. Until Mister returned from the Cang Man Mountain, he had gathered the last few medicines.

Even though the proprietor was

still unconscious, he was beginning to show signs of improvement.

The proprietor and the master were very fond of each other, and

they never left each other.

Now the proprietor was about to recover, and the master’s days were almost over.

“”These past few

years, the Star Condensation Institution has relied on her to bitterly support them. A woman is simply too difficult.””

Seemingly

sensing that she had said more, the Red Luan hurriedly took its leave.

An Zaiyue couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. Zhuang

Feifei might seem like a hot and seductive person, but deep in his heart, he was extremely loyal.

Her love for the owner was the

most genuine and genuine.

An Zeng opened the bag and took a look. Inside, there were two names on the list of people.

The first one

was those geniuses that deserved attention during this year’s Autumn Ceremony. An Zhe discovered that the first to be ranked was

Su Feihun of the Grand Cauldron Academy, the second was Feng Xiuzhu of the Supreme Court, and the third was Nie Qing of the War

Department’s Martial Arts Academy.

There were still many names, at least a hundred and ten people.

It seemed like Zhuang Feifei

didn’t have much confidence in An Zhe’s cultivation, hence his long list of people.

Last time, when Chen Shaobai came, he reminded

An Zongming that he only needed to pay attention to three people.

However, on this list, An Zhe did not find Chen Shaobai’s name.

As he walked, he flipped through the second list.

The first photo was of Hao Ping, assistant minister of the Ministry of War, and

the second was of Chen Zaiyan. There were also many officers of the Ministry of War.

However, the strange thing about the dispute

was that there were no close friends of Grand General Iron Liuhuo on this list.

On the other hand, Fang Dao, who An Zaiyi had met

before, was straightforward. This person was Tie Liuyan’s deputy general, and was also a fourth rank general, Ying Yang.

Anjou

flipped back and found a list of names for the Ministry of Rites. One of the names entered Anjou’s line of sight.

He was not an

extraordinary person. He was the Minister of Rites, Li Yinian of the Department for Purging Officials.

The Ministry of Rites was

divided into four divisions, of which the host and guest, the Department for Purging Officials, was in charge of receiving and

receiving foreign guests.

The head guest of the Department for Purging Officials was a fifth-grade official. Although it was not a

high position, it held actual authority, and it was also a very solid and oily official position.

All the arrears needed to

receive the foreign guests must be allotted to him.

This person had been an official of a Yan Kingdom for more than ten years.

Thus, when Emperor Huai, Emperor Chen Zhong, came to Yan Kingdom, all of the hospitality had been arranged by Li Yenian.

He put

the list back in his room and sat down to think about it.

The important ministers of the Yan Kingdom would surely know of what had

happened back then.

The heavy words of this important official symbolized that it was not easy to find out the truth of the

dispute.

Relatively speaking, contact with Li Yenian was the best choice.

An Zeng packed up the necessary things and told Skinny Du

and the others to continue cultivating. Then, he left the sect alone.

Through the stream of people, through the streets and

alleys, An Xuan appeared outside a restaurant.

Diagonally across the street was the residence of the host, Li Yinian of the

Department for Purging Officials. The residence of an official of the fifth rank was not very large.

The officials were as

numerous as a cow’s hair. No matter how rich he was, he wouldn’t dare to be impudent.

This courtyard seemed to be similar in size

to the courtyards of wealthy families. Although the front and back courtyards occupied a small amount of land, it was still

rather small.

An Zaiyue entered the restaurant and found a window seat on the third floor. He ordered a pot of wine and a few

dishes before leaning against the window and looking out.

It was the morning assembly, and today was the assembly, so even the

officials of the fifth rank and above had to attend.

Ordinary officials of the fifth-grade did not have the right to participate.

They would report to the yamen where they worked early in the morning.

An Zaiyue wasn’t just waiting for Li Yannian; he also

wanted to take a good look at the Li family’s environment.

Not far from An Zeng, there were two men sitting at a table near the

window drinking wine. Yan Zhaoge was very forthright, so he never took any time to drink.

Elsewhere, restaurants did not open in

the morning, but in the Yan Kingdom, restaurants did not close for nearly twenty-four hours.

One of them should be from the

outside world, constantly asking questions.

The person who had entertained him should be from the capital, and he had answered the

questions in detail.

The more problematic one was the bearded man. He asked the middle-aged man sitting opposite him, “”I heard

that the officials in the capital outnumber the commoners. If you walk on the streets and casually step on someone’s feet, you

might not be able to tell which yamen’s official it is.””

The middle-aged man smiled. Although he looked gentle, he had a

magnanimous bearing when he drank wine. “”That’s a bit too much, but there are indeed a lot of officials around.””

Do you see the

courtyard diagonally opposite? That is the residence of the Minister of Rites, the Minister of Purging Officials, Li Yinian, one

of the fifth-grade officers of the Department for Purging Officials.

That courtyard is nothing compared to my family’s courtyard.

Lord Li’s movements are also casual, he never takes a sedan chair, so even if you walk on the street, you wouldn’t be able to

tell that he’s a rank 5 official. “”

The man with a full beard said, “”The host is the minister of the Department for Purging

Officials?””

“”That is an absolute lack of fat. Every year, there will always be large amounts of silver. Casually putting some

into your pocket will also make you rich.””

The middle-aged man put down his wine cup and sternly said, “”You’re not allowed to

say that about Lord Li Yinian. I’ve seen many officials before, but there are simply too few people like him.””

My house and Lord

Li’s house are almost adjacent to each other, and they have been neighbors for more than ten years.

But in all these years, he had

never seen anyone present a gift to Lord Li.

His family wore simple clothes, and if it wasn’t for the especially important guests,

they would never eat in the restaurant.

His Second Young Master is seven years old this year, and the clothes he’s wearing are the

remnants of his older brother’s. He hasn’t added a new set of clothes. “”

“”Lord Li’s clothes are the same, clean, but they’ve

been worn for years.

Other people’s back gardens were planted with flowers and plants, while Lord Li’s back gardens were planted

with vegetables.

You have seen people like this before?

I remember once, when the lady’s family came, Lord Li had a banquet.

At that

time, the Li family’s Second Young Master was only four or five years old.

However, in the restaurant, the people were sitting

upright and unperturbed. Without saying anything, the adults would not dare to move their chopsticks first. “”

“”Later, I heard

from Old Zheng who was in charge of the Li family that Second Young Master had repeated the words several times and still wanted

to eat this house’s lion heads, but Madam had never bought one.

That’s right, the amount of money Lord Li had spent was

terrifying, but he didn’t even take a single copper coin.

All these years, the neighbors all knew that Lord Li was famous for his

cleanliness.

“”The most important thing is … as an official of the Ministry of Rites, he must have interacted with many people,

so he spent more of his salary on it, to the point that his family is all rough tea and light food … Just thinking about it

makes me sad. A cleaning officer, a good official, yet his life is so miserable, how could there be any justice in it.””

An Zhan’s

heart stirred when he heard this, and he felt more respect for Li Yinian in his heart.

Officials of the Ministry of Rites were

indeed more communicative than those of the other departments, especially officials of the Department for Purging Officials. They

received all sorts of visitors almost every day.

The man with a full beard was stunned for a moment before he sighed and said,

“”In this year, I have led a good life and suffered under the purge of officials. Sigh …””

The middle-aged man said, “”Everyone

said that if Lord Li had been willing to give you some gifts, you would have been promoted long ago. With his academic ability,

it is only natural that you would have been promoted.””

However, because he was unwilling, he has always been on this person for

over ten years, and he has never moved from it. “”

An Zhan put down his money and left the restaurant.

On the main street, An Zeng

paused for a moment on the side of the street. Just as he was about to leave, he saw a fifty-year-old man hesitating for a moment

before walking over and knocking on Li Yinian’s door.

The side door opened and an old man came out. “”Mr. Deng, what are you doing

here?””

The person called Mister Deng hesitated for a moment before saying, “”It’s like this … Last time when Young Master was

sick, he didn’t pay the medical fees … I also know that this small amount of money shouldn’t have come to ask for it, but a few

days ago, my store lost a lot of medicinal ingredients, it’s really … I really can’t turn around.””

That old man was Old Zheng,

the manager of Li Yinian’s house. His expression changed as he cupped his fist and bowed. “”Mister Deng … I’m sorry about it.

I’ll go ask the Madam about it in a moment.””

“”Why don’t you wait in my room … Sigh!””

His long sigh was filled with endless

desolation.

The husband entered the room and sat in a daze. He was here to collect the debt, but his face was full of guilt.

A

short while later, An Zhe saw a young maid hastily running out of the courtyard with something in her hand.

He followed her and

found that she had deliberately run two more streets to a pawnshop farther away from Li’s house.

He saw her hand over a hairpin,

and then the man gave her a few taels of silver.

That hairpin was not a valuable price, so the large amount of money that the

pawnshop had given him was not too black-hearted.

An Zizheng entered the door and stopped the young maid from pressing him down.

“”You dropped something.””

He handed a silver note to the maidservant, then walked to the counter to redeem the hairpin.

The young

maid looked at him blankly before looking at the banknotes in her hands. She was startled by the number on the banknotes.

An

Zaiyue pulled her out of the room. “”Back then, Lord Li had helped me before, so I came to seek Lord Li’s gratitude.””

However, he

didn’t dare to rashly come here. He had been lingering outside the mansion for a few days.

Today, he saw that the husband was here

to collect the debt, and he felt really bad.

“”Back then, when my family was poor and destitute, it was Sir Li who helped me. This

silver is just something that I should repay.””

The maidservant refused to take the hairpin no matter what. Gritting her teeth,

she returned the hairpin to the pawnshop, tightly grabbing the few silver taels in her hand as she ran back.

Watching her run,

tears streamed down her face.