What Do You Mean, Stripped-Bare Iron Mines?

General Qin looked at Qin Changkong and asked, "What are you trying to do?"

Qin Changkong looked at him and said, "Father, of course I want to bring you home, and this young lady too."

General Qin looked at Qin Changkong and said, "Qin Changkong, don't think I don't know what you're up to! Let us leave now."

Qin Changkong smiled faintly and said, "Father, you're getting old and your mind is becoming confused. Of course, I won't let you suffer outside."

After saying that, Qin Changkong waved his hand and said, "Take General Qin home."

Soon, they entered a mansion with the sign "Qin Mansion".

General Qin looked at the mansion and said, "So you already had your own mansion a long time ago."

Qin Changkong smiled faintly and said, "Father, why do you have to do something when we have a perfectly good life now?"

General Qin stared coldly at him and said, "What do you mean I'm being difficult? Don't you know what your mother did?"

Qin Changkong sighed and said:

"Father, the matter is already settled, why are you still so insistent?"

Now that you have all your subordinates under you, wouldn't it be better for you to stay home and enjoy your retirement?

And you, a child of only a few years old, who gave you permission to meddle in my family affairs?

Zhou Wanwan looked at Qin Changkong and said, "Don't you feel ashamed? Your mother did such a thing, and you're still protecting her?"

Qin Changkong laughed heartily:

"What's shameful about it? It was clearly my father who wronged my mother."

When I was little, I never saw my father; my mother always took care of me.

"We've gotten to this point because of my mother's careful planning."

Zhou Wanwan was speechless. This family's values were truly appalling.

As soon as Qin Changkong finished speaking, Madam Qin walked over with Old Madam Qin and said, "This old hag is annoying to look at. Let's lock him up together!"

Old Madam Qin looked at Madam Qin and said:

"You wicked woman! Why are you doing this?"

Why are you treating us like this? Aren't we good enough to you?

Madam Qin sneered:

"What's so good about it? I've disliked you for a long time. You guys can just stay here!"

From now on, this side hall will be your living quarters.

After saying this, Madam Qin left with Qin Changkong.

General Qin sat blankly on the stool and said, "How could it have turned out like this?"

Old Madam Qin wiped away her tears and said:

"I put the entire Qin Clan under her management. Other mothers-in-law are always very picky about their daughters-in-law."

But I've always obeyed her every word, so why is she treating me like this?

Zhou Wanwan looked at Old Madam Qin Old Madam Qin was known for being very good to her daughter-in-law.

General Qin said, "It's all my fault. I didn't expect her to be like this."

Looking at the secluded courtyard, Old Madam Qin said, "Are we going to be trapped here forever?"

Zhou Wanwan said, "It's not that bad. Let's stay here for a while! I think this side courtyard is quite nice."

The Qin Clan's side courtyard has dozens of rooms.

It also has a very large Little Flower.

Apart from being locked up, everything else is fine.

The Old Scholar Tree returned quickly and said:

"The tree outside brought news back: Zhao Lili's people have gone to take over the iron mine."

But when I got into the mine, I found it completely empty; I almost went crazy.

Zhao Lili is still causing trouble for the Emperor of Great Qi!

Zhao Lili was truly going crazy. "I can understand if you don't want to give me the iron mine, but you can't give me two bare, useless iron mines."

The Emperor of Great Qi rubbed his head and said:

"What do you mean by a bare iron ore mine? When I gave it to you, this iron ore was still in good condition."

Do you even know how much iron ore these two mines produce each year? Can you stop joking around?

Zhao Lili was so angry that she smashed everything in the palace.

"Liar, you're just trying to fool me. My men are going to take over the iron mine today."

There wasn't a single piece of iron ore to be found there; it was completely empty.

The Emperor of Great Qi said helplessly, "Bring me the annual production records for these two iron mines."

The ledgers were brought over quickly.

Zhao Lili opened the ledger and checked it over and over again, saying:

"How did this happen? Why were so many iron ore produced every year back then?"

But when I took over, everything was gone.

The Emperor of Great Qi looked at her helplessly and said, "I don't understand either. Why is it that once these iron ore mines were in your hands, there was nothing left?"

Zhao Lili paced back and forth in the main hall:

"The last few years have been really strange. Not only the mines, but even one of my cities was taken over."

Many of my treasures also mysteriously disappeared, and I still don't know who did it.

A while ago, I went to the Jianghu Alliance and spent some money to inquire about information. The people from the Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion actually said that a mountain spirit was targeting me.

Isn't this ridiculous?

The Emperor of Great Qi looked at her and said, "Is this what the Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion told you? Then this matter is indeed quite troublesome."

"What should we do then?"

The Emperor of Great Qi said to the eunuch beside him, "Go and invite those old fellows from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau over here. They have their own ways of dealing with spirits."

The eunuch responded and quickly invited ten old fellows from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau over.

The ten old men looked at the Emperor of Great Qi and asked, "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

The Emperor of Great Qi recounted the events and said, "Help me calculate what's going on. Is it the work of a demon?"

The ten old men started calculating, but they used different methods.

Some people calculate directly with their fingers, some use a compass, and some hold a book while muttering incantations.

After a long while, the ten old men nodded and said, "There is indeed a spirit causing trouble, and it should be a wood-type spirit."

Zhao Lili nodded and said, "Yes, that's what they seemed to say."

The Emperor of Great Qi looked at them and said, "Then this matter will be entrusted to you. Do you have any way to get rid of these monsters?"

The old men shook their heads and said, "These are no ordinary spirits. These spirits must be extremely strong, and they must have someone backing them."

The Emperor of Great Qi squinted and said, "You mean, these spirits all have masters behind them?"

The old man nodded and said, "Yes, and we've calculated that this person is within the territory of Great Qi, but we can't determine who it is."

The Emperor of Great Qi broke out in a cold sweat. "If he has many monsters under his command, wouldn't that be terrifying?"

The old men nodded and said, "Yes, it is indeed quite terrifying."

"Investigate! I want to see who's behind this."

One of the Daoist priests said, "Why don't you leave this matter to me? I'll definitely handle it perfectly."

The Emperor of Great Qi looked at him and said:

"I'm entrusting this matter to you, Perfected Baoyi. Thank you for your hard work."

"Someone, prepare a carriage and horses for Perfected Baoyi, and also prepare 1000 taels of silver."

Perfected Baoyi quickly boarded the carriage, and his two disciples beside him said:

"Master, this emperor is quite good to you. He even prepared a carriage and dozens of guards!"

Where should we go to catch monsters now?

Perfected Baoyi took a sip of tea and said, "Preparing only 1,000 taels of silver is too little. Let's not catch the monsters yet, let's go back to our Daoist temple first."

The two disciples nodded, and soon they returned to the Daoist temple. Perfected Baoyi looked at the temple and said:

"Alas! I serve in the imperial court just to repair this Daoist temple."

If it weren't for repairing my Daoist temple, would I need to be his slave?

"I went to catch a monster, and they only gave me 1,000 taels of silver. That's not even enough to repair a statue of the patriarch. They're so stingy."

He arranged for some people to help him repair the Daoist temple before he began to do some divination and said, "Hey! Behind these monsters is actually a child of a few years old. I'd like to meet this child."