While Nick was busy reading Records of the Three Kingdoms to improve his Chinese, he kept feeling that someone was pacing back and forth outside his window, seemingly trying to get his attention.
So Nick opened the window and found the provincial graduate standing outside his door.
Though the area around the residence was heavily guarded, considering that the provincial graduate had once worked as a stand-in, it was not hard to understand how he had slipped in. After letting him inside, Nick warmly gave him a hug.
The provincial graduate found a seat and told him roughly what was happening outside.
Cao Xi was busy handling the murder of a court official, as well as searching for the person who had punched Nick.
Nick was a painter and also an eyewitness. The sketch he had drawn was far more accurate than a composite portrait, and the crucial thing was that those who had plotted against him might not know this.
Some of the Green Standard Army soldiers responsible for maintaining order in Guangzhou had withdrawn. First, because there were no signs of disorder in the city at all; second, because it could make the enemy lower their guard. Only once they came out to act could anyone learn what they intended to do.
The provincial commander only wanted everything to remain safe and peaceful before he left office. He had even gone incognito to Mystic Temple to have his fortune told.
Many high-ranking nobles in the capital believed in such things, so fortune-tellers like Zhang Mingde, who specialized in reading the faces of the powerful, had also wormed their way in. The Nine Princes' War for the Throne had happened largely because of these "prophets."
These princes still retained many customs of the northern nomadic peoples. Once Zhang Mingde