Informing

At the sight of the Imperial Guard Strongman taking the initiative to greet Su Mo, Yao Shitou's heart was rocked by boundless stormy waves!

Everything made sense now.

Why he had dared to smash the county clerk's cheap brother-in-law's shoulder with one punch.

Why, despite being wanted throughout the city, he had still dared to stroll around the Eastern Market as brazenly as he pleased!

This Su Lengzi actually had connections with the Imperial Guard!

And judging by the Strongman's tone—

Su Lengzi... no... Su Mo's connections led straight to a Principal Sixth Rank Imperial Guard Centurion!

In the vast Changping County, who would dare touch him?

Even if offending the Imperial Guard did not get you punished immediately,

as long as they kept their eyes fixed on you, they would find a way to send you to the execution ground one day!

One absolutely must never doubt the Imperial Guard's ability and methods!

My goodness!

Luckily, he had placed three hundred copper coins on Chen Gan.

Otherwise, if he had gone to the county office to report Su Mo after seeing him, wouldn't he have offended him to death?

Seeing Yao Shitou's reaction, Su Mo secretly found it amusing!

Earlier, he had kept calling him "Su Lengzi" and "you brat."

Now he had immediately changed to "Brother Su!"

He truly had to study this ability to read the wind and change the helm!

The Imperial Guard's tiger skin was useful!

Of course, he would not tell Yao Shitou that he had given something to Lin Moyin, and that the Strongman suspected he had a connection with Lin Moyin, which was why he had deliberately tried to curry favor with him.

Su Mo looked straight at Yao Shitou and said seriously, "Brother Yao, you can't just say things recklessly!"

"I'm not familiar with the Imperial Guard. We've only met once!"

"As for that Lin Moyin, Captain Lin, I don't have even half a copper coin's worth of connection with her!"

"I'll eat your big-headed ghost!" Yao Shitou cursed inwardly. "You even called out the name of the boss of the Centurion's Office, and you still claim you have no connection!"

"This Su Lengzi is hiding things so damn deeply!"

There were two kinds of Imperial Guard.

One was the Ming Guard, and the other was the secret guard!

There was no need to explain the Ming Guard. They were people like Gao Xin, openly wearing Imperial Guard uniforms.

The secret guard was far more hidden.

Aside from their immediate superiors, no one knew their true identities!

These secret guards were scattered throughout every corner of the Great Wu Dynasty!

Street vendors, courtesans, stewards, servants, and the like could all be Imperial Guard spies!

This Su Lengzi was ninety-nine percent one of them!

Yao Shitou was convinced that he had guessed Su Mo's identity.

Naturally, he did not dare say it outright.

Who knew whether Su Lengzi would silence him to keep the secret!

He hurriedly smiled and said, "I see!"

"Brother Su's connections are truly astonishing. You can even deal with the Imperial Guard!"

"Big Wart Ma had no sense and provoked Brother Su. He probably won't have an easy time of it!"

Su Mo waved his hand. "Brother Yao, you're mistaken again!"

"A country has its laws, and a household has its rules. If I really committed a crime, then even knowing someone in the Imperial Guard wouldn't help!"

"Of course..."

His tone shifted. "That fellow Zhou Meng publicly insulted a respectable woman. I was merely acting in defense of justice."

"Once the county magistrate learns the truth, he certainly won't hold me accountable."

After a pause, he added a pointed reminder. "The three constabularies are, after all, directly under the county magistrate's command. Don't mention this to the county magistrate, lest it look bad. Otherwise, people might say he was playing favorites and protecting his own."

Yao Shitou nodded so hard that his head bobbed like a chick pecking grain!

Su Mo smiled again. "I have something to take care of."

"Thank you for your guidance today, Brother Yao. I'll definitely buy you a drink another day!"

Yao Shitou hurriedly said, "Go on and get busy, brother. Don't worry about me!"

After Su Mo left,

Yao Shitou's eyes instantly lit up like lightbulbs.

What a joke!

Could he really not tell the county magistrate?

If the county magistrate did not tell him, and he did not tell the county magistrate, who would know that he was the one who had informed?

Even a servant had ambitions, all right!

His grandmother belowground had no idea how much effort she had exerted before allowing him to encounter such a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity!

If he did not know how to seize it,

how would he explain himself to his grandmother after death!

Yao Shitou could not be bothered to patrol the Eastern Market anymore.

He scurried back toward the county office.

As he ran, he pondered whether the betting pool had closed. If it had not, he would place another five hundred copper coins and make a full silver tael!

Unfortunately, he could wager no more than one tael.

Still, one could not be too greedy.

Everyone knew that this money had been squeezed out of Chen Gan's pocket!

Yao Shitou hurried back to seize the opportunity.

Outside the city, the illicit salt smuggler Chen Bao had already returned to Eagle Ravine Dock.

He first explained what had happened with Su Mo returning to the city, then had people settle Madam Qian and Widow Qin, who were both worried sick.

Before he could even take a sip of tea, Chen Hu came running in with a look of terror.

Chen Bao's eyelid twitched, and he asked in a deep voice, "Why are you panicking?"

"Could that brat have been caught?"

Chen Hu drew several deep breaths and calmed down somewhat before lowering his voice. "He wasn't caught!"

Chen Bao frowned. "If he wasn't caught, why do you look like that?"

Chen Hu lowered his voice even further. "I secretly followed him into the city earlier. Guess where he went, Big Brother?"

Chen Bao snorted. "Spit it out. Stop keeping me in suspense!"

Chen Hu hurriedly said, "He actually went to the Imperial Guard Office!"

Chen Bao sprang to his feet. "What?!! He... where did he go?"

Chen Hu emphasized each word. "The Imperial Guard Office!"

Chen Bao was dumbfounded for a long while before finally forcing out a few words. "That brat... Su Mo went to the Imperial Guard Office for what?"

Chen Hu said with a bitter smile, "I don't know either!"

"How would I have dared get close and take a careful look? What if the Imperial Guard noticed me? Wouldn't that be the end of me?"

He swallowed. "All I know is that when he approached the Imperial Guard Office, the Imperial Guards on duty seized him by the neck."

"He seemed to take something out and hand it to the guards on duty."

"Then the Imperial Guard let him go!"

After a pause, he continued, "I didn't dare follow him any farther."

"I figured that since the brat had connections with the Imperial Guard, nothing would happen to him, so I immediately came back to tell you the news."

As he spoke, he seemed to recall something and hurriedly added, "Big Brother, we have to treat Madam Qian and the others well, especially the Qin... the Qin mother and daughter!"

"Whatever you do, don't offend them!"

Chen Bao's expression shifted between light and dark!

When all was said and done, he was merely a powerful bandit.

Relying on decent martial arts, along with a hundred-odd fierce men at Eagle Ravine Dock who dared to fight and kill, he had made a name for himself within a hundred li of Western Mountain and scraped out a living.

But in the eyes of the authorities, and in the eyes of the Imperial Guard, what was a mere illicit salt smuggler worth?

Seeing his big brother staring blankly without saying a word, Chen Hu could not help asking, "Big Brother, what's wrong?"

Chen Bao took a deep breath and suddenly asked, "Where is that girl Qianyu?"

Chen Hu was stunned. "When I had just returned to the stronghold, I saw her heading toward Huilong Pool with her sword."

"She probably went to practice her swordsmanship at the waterfall again."

Chen Bao snorted. "All day long, she's reading those ridiculous martial-arts stories!"

"Does she really think that practicing with a sword beneath a waterfall will let her improve by leaps and bounds in a single day?"

Chen Hu said honestly, "Let her be. We never expected her to charge into battle anyway!"

In the eyes of the two battle-hardened men, true martial arts were forged through slaughter.

How could practicing beneath a waterfall for a few days cause one's cultivation to soar?

Chen Bao said with a dark expression, "She's nearly twenty, yet all she does is wave swords and brandish blades. What kind of behavior is that? Who would dare marry her in the future!"

"We have to find her something to do!"

"Go call her back and have her properly look after Madam Qin and the others!"

Chen Hu was not stupid. He immediately smiled and said, "I'll go right now!"

He knew exactly what his big brother was plotting.

If they could use that brat Su Mo to establish a connection with the Imperial Guard,

then Eagle Ravine Dock would not merely dominate a hundred li. They might even gain a foothold across a thousand li.

How much illicit salt could they sell then!

Chen Bao would surely become Changping County's biggest illicit salt boss!