Chapter 144: The Restaurant Has Closed Down

Page 1 of 3

“How could they possibly owe rent?” he asked in disbelief.

It was practically impossible. The Thousand Enterprises Restaurant was connected to the imperial court, after all. If it had truly fallen into arrears, surely the court would have offered some assistance.

Was this deliberate?

Or had no one been willing to help them anymore?

“My lord, the court did provide assistance before. But just last month, it shifted its attention to the borderlands and stopped looking after this little place.”

The reason was plausible enough.

“Look into the Wang Clan Bank. Surely the shortfall isn’t that great?”

The other man nodded.

The investigation left them stunned.

All told, the restaurant owed roughly a thousand taels of gold.

What on earth was going on?

“I heard the owner of the restaurant took the money and fled. They had no choice but to mortgage the establishment.”

“I see.”

Lord Gao investigated the matter from every angle. Apart from those tangled affairs, there seemed to be nothing else to worry about.

Yet ten servants from the Marquis of Gu’s household had also gone missing.

Wasn’t that an outright provocation?

It was simply too much.

Especially in light of what had happened, they could not help suspecting that there was more to the matter than met the eye.

If things continued this way, those several marquis’s estates would certainly bring pressure to bear on him.

He was probably close to breaking.

But when they questioned the Wang Clan Bank, they learned nothing.

Young Master Zhu, however, knew that the servants’ disappearance had not been without cause.

But what use was the Thousand Enterprises Restaurant?

He had just been about to ask Han Qing when—

“Why have you come back again?”

Lord Gao had only just left. How had he returned so quickly?

“The Thousand Enterprises Restaurant is gone. Apparently, it owed a great deal of money. I was suspicious, but the investigation showed that they really had debts and had mortgaged the place.”

Young Master Zhu was slightly shocked when he heard this.

How could this have happened?

“I merely thought the restaurant might have had close dealings with merchants in other regions. I never said those people could help you investigate this case,” Han Qing said abruptly.

There was a trace of silence in his voice.

At first, he had suspected the other man’s intentions, but now he was far more clearheaded.

“What? But there are no clues left,” Lord Gao said irritably.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

No one had expected matters to develop to this point.

Yet Han Qing made no offer to help him. After all, this was Lord Gao’s own case.

If he handed it over to someone else and certain censorial officials discovered it, they would undoubtedly impeach him.

Besides, Han Qing himself still had historical records to compile.

The case had not yet been solved when several corpses were discovered near the Thousand Enterprises Restaurant.

They were none other than the restaurant’s former owners.

The common people considered it a good thing. After all, those men had run the restaurant into the ground, and some believed their fate was Heaven’s retribution.

Several others lying nearby had also once been managers of the restaurant.

It seemed someone had a deep grudge against the establishment.

The current manager must have heard some rumors and fled in the middle of the night.

But it had done him no good.

He had still been found.

Han Qing heard about the matter as well, but did not pay it much attention.

There were countless cases, large and small, in Luojing every day. It was impossible to understand every one of them in detail.

Besides, they were not professional crime investigators.

It was perfectly normal to hear a few stray remarks now and then.

“Why don’t you ask about those corpses?”

The old beggar suddenly spoke.

He rarely involved himself in such matters. Why had he suddenly raised the subject now?

Could it be that he knew how those men had died?

The whole thing was exceedingly strange.

“A coroner is already examining them, and Lord Gao is handling the investigation. I’m sure the truth will come to light in a few days,” Han Qing said calmly.

But the old beggar was far more serious about the matter than anyone else.

“No. All three corpses contain deadly poison. Rumors say they endured a beating, but the true cause of death should be the poison in their bodies.”

So was everything happening here because of the Southern Frontier?

Had someone deliberately set another enormous trap, intending to cause more and more people here to perish?

Were they trying to leave the Kingdom of Qing utterly bereft of hope?

Perhaps he had merely been offering a warning.

Having said this, the old beggar walked away without another word.

At times, the beggar appeared without warning; at others, he hurried away to take on his assignments.

His sudden appearance this time was not merely to help solve the case. It might also have been because certain people had overextended their reach.

Those three corpses soon became the most shocking case in all of Luojing.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

Virtually every official from the Ministry of Justice came to investigate the case.

But the three men had merely died from poisoning.

There was no way to determine where the poison had come from.

What was more, the border was already in crisis.

The fifty thousand troops dispatched by the Kingdom of Qing had possessed an overwhelming advantage in numbers.

But their weapons were inferior to those of the enemy.

This had led directly to a grave problem: their numbers were dwindling constantly.

The enemy might soon be at the gates.

Several letters had already arrived from the front lines.

His Majesty informed all the officials of the situation and ordered them to come up with a solution at once.

The safety of the entire Kingdom of Qing was at stake. This was no minor matter that could be settled with ease.

The Kingdom of Chu was also growing exceedingly arrogant.

Ever since it had used sulfur to create gunpowder, its momentum had become terrifyingly swift.

The soldiers defending the city were left with virtually no avenue of retreat.

No one knew what to do next.

“Lord Li, do you have any way to resolve this?”

“Your Majesty, we have never witnessed the power of gunpowder before, so we do not know what countermeasures to employ.”

He was certainly an honest official.

Nor did he fear that his words might anger His Majesty.

But matters had already come this far.

There was no way for them to call black white.

For a time, the officials in the court exchanged glances.

Most dared not utter a word.

After all, not one of them dared to confront such danger directly. Most could only wait for what came next in trembling silence.

Han Qing, however, had an idea.

Although gunpowder was powerful, the enemy was using nothing more than sulfur in its composition.

It was also extremely inconvenient to transport.

The soldiers at the front ought to have weapons that were simpler and easier to carry.

“Your Majesty, I believe the Kingdom of Qing can also create weapons with even greater suppressive power.”

Those words utterly enraged several officials.

After all, those old foxes had spent many years maneuvering within the court. They could not tolerate some newcomer inexplicably winning His Majesty’s favor.

“Lord Han, this is not something one can understand merely by reading a few books and writing a few essays. Your literary accomplishments are indeed impressive, but do you truly think you can casually create weapons of immense power? Are you joking?”

Lord Li spoke with a trace of mockery.

Page 3 of 3