Nightfall

In Search of the Brothel

The ranking of the Department of Provincial Censor was not high, but its power was not small either. In the bureaucracy, the censor of a sixth rank was already considered a vital person. Wherever he went, regardless of whether it was the yamen (government office in feudal China) or his mansion, countless bodyguards would be by his side protecting him. Should a poor lad that sold writing words decided to kill an officer in Tang Empire, not only did it sound fantasy, it was even in line with the heroism fantasy in the East.

However, Ning Que had never considered how he could kill the other party. To him, killing was the simplest thing in this world. His life journey had started with a murder, followed by the killing on Northern Mountain Road in the grassland at the frontier fortress among the Min Mountain. His sharp blade killed countless beasts and humans.

He was only concerned with one thing—how could he kill the censor, Zhang Yiqi, without anyone discovering it. This would depend on how much confidence he had with his own killing technique so that it could face with the yamen that ensured peace and security in the Tang Empire. The thought of the presence of those fathomless experts in the Chang’an made him sure that he would not be able to escape swiftly after the killing, hence simply to go without a plan would mean death to him.

There was little information on Zhang Yiqi on the oilpaper, and they were not helpful for Ning Que’s plan, except for one particular sentence: “The censor Zhang Yiqi appears to be a strict and serious person, but it’s heard that he’s actually very fond of women and extremely lustful in reality. He’ll even often visit the brothels in private. However, he has a ferocious wife at home and he carries the responsibility and reputation of a censor, so he’s usually very careful when he visits such areas.” After all, Zhuo Er was just a low-grade spy in the military and thus, did not manage to check which brothel this man often visited.

“There’re so many brothels in the Chang’an, so which one are you visiting first?”

Ning Que frowned his brows and thought hard about it. Neglecting his initial thought of stalking the man to find out which brothel he visited, if the professional spy in the military could not even discover the place Zhang Yiqi went to for his needs using the usual method, then this censor must have his way of hiding it. Furthermore, he doubted the commoners in the teahouse at Chang’an would not mind serving a high-grade officer like Zhang Yiqi, and thus it would certainly be tough for him to obtain the information he wanted from the market. Things were getting inconvenient for him.

With his hand supporting his chin as he stared at the sun after the rain for a long time, he suddenly stood up.

His mood instantly became better. He finally understood that such a matter was no different from the hunting at Mountain Min and chopping on the grassland. Since he wished to know where that old bear and horse gangs were without any directions provided by the old hunter or the kind general, then the only thing he could do was to use his legs to explore the Mountain Min and grassland. He needed to explore to search for the abrasion markings on the tree branches, dried faeces in the wild and bonfire remained that were buried under the soil.

He was a good hunter and an excellent wood-chopper. He could determine which mountain the old bear was hiding from these details, whether the bear was injured, how many members there were in the horse gang and whether they had left the Shubi Lake. Hence, he trusted that through observing these details with his effort, he would be able to determine the living preferences of the Tang censor, and a method to assassinate him. What he would need to do now was to enter the Chang’an.

“I’m going out for a walk.” Ning Que informed Sangsang as he stretched his body and walked out.

Sangsang hurriedly ran and leaned by the door as she asked, “Where are you going? Do you need me to follow?”