Chapter 723: Taihe Building (Part 2)

The waiter slightly bowed his head and waist to him, then took the order and left.

Throughout the process, neither of them spoke a word.

Duan Rong watched the departing back of the waiter, sighing slightly. Although he had traversed here, for some unknown reason, at that moment, he suddenly felt like a country bumpkin entering the city.

Soon after, a pot of clear tea and a few small dishes were served. The waiter placed the dishes, bowed, and retreated.

Duan Rong sipped a few mouthfuls of clear tea, finding it indeed pure and fragrant.

He tried a few plates of small dishes but frowned slightly.

Honestly, the taste was quite ordinary, not even as good as that of the secluded teahouse in the East District.

Only then did Duan Rong notice that the guests at the nearby tables were sitting there chatting idly and rarely touched their chopsticks.

He quickly understood that Taihe Building could certainly make the dishes well, at least not worse than the secluded teahouse in the East District.

However, a teahouse is a teahouse; a teahouse is not a restaurant.

What is most valuable about Taihe Building is probably its ambiance.

As long as this ambiance remains, those who have been here will want to come again.

And dishes with good taste are in conflict with this ambiance, so Taihe Building would rather sacrifice the taste of the dishes to preserve the purity of this ambiance.

This is also a business strategy.

Duan Rong stayed at Taihe Building for two consecutive days.

During these two days, some topics discussed by the dignitaries truly shattered Duan Rong’s worldviews. The fondness for Longyang, needless to say, as it also existed in ancient Blue Star. Some topics were truly indescribable…

After listening for two days, Duan Rong felt his whole person was in turmoil.

So-called high society is nothing more than fleas on a gorgeous robe, after all.

Nevertheless, not everyone was talking about such topics, and Duan Rong still gained significantly over the two days.

The next day, before dawn, Duan Rong crawled out of the inn room.

He walked to the lobby on the inn’s first floor, only to find the inn’s door still closed.

At the counter, a candle was about to burn out, its flame flickering. Behind the counter, there was a faint sound of snoring.

Duan Rong walked over and saw a clerk sleeping on a long bench behind the counter.

Duan Rong stood there and knocked on the counter.

The clerk woke up, almost falling off the bench. He rubbed his drowsy eyes and stood up, looking at Duan Rong.

Duan Rong smiled and said: “Sorry to disturb your rest. Please help open the door.”

The clerk said: “Guest, you’re going out so early?”

Duan Rong replied: “Yes, I have some matters to attend to.”

The clerk took out the two middle door panels, and Duan Rong stepped out of the inn.

The clerk poked his head outside, seeing that it was dark and silent, yawned, replaced the door panels, turned around, extinguished the almost burnt candle on the counter, lay back on the long bench, and went back to sleep.

Duan Rong, in the darkness, displayed his form like a ghost, floating in the dark night.

It was before dawn, a lone star hung upside down in the sky. But he was still a bit late.

These past few days, after monitoring public opinion, he had amassed a vast amount of information.

One piece of information was that civil servants above Third Grade in Divine Cloud Prefecture had a court meeting every three days.

The meeting place was in the main hall of the Prefecture Government Office.

The time was the third quarter of Mao Hour.

After passing through several blocks, he faintly heard the distant sound of the Night Watchman’s baton. As his form flashed, he silently counted the points in his mind…

After counting the points, Duan Rong thought to himself: “It’s already Mao Hour, hoping to make it in time.”

With this thought, he couldn’t help but speed up.

Two more blocks later, he suddenly stopped at a corner not far from a certain alley.

It was pitch-black inside that alley, with two lanterns hanging in front of a large mansion gate deep in the alley. From afar, those two dimly lit lanterns looked like stars dimming in the dark sky.

On the other side of the alley entrance, there was a wonton stall, with steam rising. Two figures were busy under the lantern, seemingly a couple.

In the early autumn morning of Divine Cloud Prefecture, there was still a chill; a bowl of wontons would do well to warm up.

Duan Rong walked over, took a seat at the stall, and ordered a bowl of wontons and a basket of buns.

“Guest, the wontons are ready and just need to be cooked. The buns will need a little wait, they are just steamed and are steaming now.”

“No rush, let’s have a bowl of wonton first to warm up.”

“Alright!”

Soon, steaming hot wontons topped with scallions were brought up.

Duan Rong poured a big spoonful of chili on them, slurping the wontons while his eyes were fixated on the entrance of the alley.

Li Shensi lived in that alley. Today was the day of the morning assembly. As the Minister of the Secretariat, he was certainly going to attend.

Duan Rong was waiting here to get a glimpse of Li Shensi. To be honest, up until now, he didn’t even know what the person he was supposed to kill looked like.

They needed to meet first.

Duan Rong slurped half a bowl of wontons when suddenly he saw a sedan chair being carried out from the alley.

Four hefty sedan carriers supported it, and the sedan chair swayed gently at a fixed rhythm. In front of the sedan was a young servant riding a horse slowly, carrying a lantern to light the way.

At this moment, someone placed a tray of buns in front of Duan Rong, but he didn’t even lift his head.

By this time, his Divine Sense had already been released, penetrating the sedan chair and locking onto the person inside.

The person in the sedan had a tall and burly build, muscled arms, and a face full of whiskers.

The Minister of the Secretariat was the top civil officer, yet this person looked like a martial artist.

Duan Rong’s Divine Sense swept over the insignia on this person’s official robe, which bore the image of an Immortal Crane.

It’s the official system of Qingzhou.

The insignia on a civil servant’s official robe was a bird, while a military officer’s was a beast.

And the Immortal Crane was the leader of birds, indicating that the person in the sedan was a First Grade civil servant.

It was indeed Li Shensi!

After confirming the identity, the next moment, Duan Rong’s Divine Sense penetrated the person’s dantian.

“True Qi Realm Fourth Level!”

Duan Rong took another slurp of wontons and thought to himself: In the mortal world, this is indeed considered the prowess of a top expert.

At this time, the sedan chair had already passed the wonton stall and went toward the street ahead.

Duan Rong watched the sedan in the darkness, his gaze flickering.

In fact, to get rid of Li Shensi, he could strike now.

Even the couple at this wonton stall, who had seen him, could be eliminated together.

For him, who had reached the Fourth Level of Primordial Qi Realm, this was nothing but a trivial task, as simple as lifting a finger.

However, if Li Shensi were assassinated on his way to the court assembly, the public opinion in the market would certainly explode, and it would inevitably ferment towards the political whirlpool.

After all, two consecutive Ministers of the Secretariat had died of unnatural causes.

And Li Shensi had only been in office for two months before being assassinated on the street.

Such news would be like pouring cold water into a pot of hot oil, impossible not to explode!

“Li Shensi! Li Shensi! How exactly should I kill you?”

Duan Rong sat there, quietly eating the wontons and buns, pondering in his mind.

After finishing, he wiped his mouth, paid a few copper coins, and then left.

After leaving the wonton stall, Duan Rong turned into the alley amidst the pitch-black night.

He walked slowly to a large house in the alley and saw two lanterns hanging at the gate, with the words “Li Mansion” written on them.

Duan Rong slipped into the darkness, and with a thought, his Divine Sense expanded again.

His Divine Sense instantly penetrated walls and courtyards, covering most of the mansion at once.

Except for the yawning guards patrolling, the entire mansion was in complete silence.

Suddenly, Duan Rong moved like a ghost, climbing over the courtyard wall.

He landed gracefully and was already hidden in the shadow of a large tree in the courtyard.

Not long ago, a team of guards had patrolled past this spot.

Subsequently, Duan Rong stealthily moved in and out in the darkness, thoroughly exploring Li Shensi’s mansion.

However, he found nothing out of the ordinary.

Originally, Li Shensi was the Mansion Master of Nanyang Prefecture and had always been serving locally. Counting the time, he had only been at Divine Cloud Prefecture for two months, and the mansion was recently acquired, with no time for any significant arrangement, holding no secrets whatsoever.

After completing his investigation, Duan Rong noticed that it was already dawn, so he leapt out of the mansion from a shadowy spot and turned out of this block along the other end of the alley.