Uncle Xu's intelligence is as follows:

"Zhou Li has been behaving well these days, probably warned by Zhou Shilang, without any illegal actions, spending his days indulging in pleasure with a group of yamen's sons, frequenting places like gambling houses, restaurants, and the Official Brothel Sector.

"In addition, during my surveillance, I found that Zhou Li frequently enters and exits a certain house. The house has no plaque and should be a private residence he bought outside. Inside, there is a maid, an old woman, a gatekeeper, and a woman.

"That woman is most likely his kept woman..."

Xu Xinnian and Xu Qi'an listened in silence, each lost in thought. Xu Qi'an looked down at the ground, unconsciously tapping his fingertips on the table.

Xu Xinnian tilted his head back at a 45-degree angle, folding his arms and looking like he was lost in thought.

After Uncle Xu finished speaking, he looked at his nephew and son and asked, "What do you think?"

The nephew and son ignored him tacitly, exchanging a glance. Xu Xinnian said, "Our academy's students are not the same as those from the Imperial Academy. We look down on and oppose each other.

"But the juren from the same year occasionally gather together. The schools of thought are opposed, but personal relationships can be established."

The juren from the same year could be considered half classmates. If the relationship was established, it might come in handy later. As for the dispute over schools of thought, it had to take a backseat to personal interests.

"Zhou Li is arrogant and domineering, and has conflicts with many of his classmates from the Imperial Academy. But he's not a brainless playboy. People who have conflicts with him have ordinary backgrounds."

Xu Qi'an was not surprised by this. From Zhou Li's methods of dealing with him, he could tell that this yamen's son's methods were not very clever, but effective, and had a certain amount of cunning and scheming.

His arrogance and domineering only targeted those with lower backgrounds and power than himself.

"This undoubtedly increases the difficulty of dealing with him," Xu Qi'an sighed.

Xu Xinnian gave him a sideways glance. "Don't interrupt me, listen to me finish.

"Zhou Li has been infatuated with the courtesan Fu Xiang from the Official Brothel Sector for a long time. Whenever he goes to the Official Brothel Sector, he must find Fu Xiang. But he's been rejected many times during the 'tea ceremony'."

Fu Xiang? The courtesan from the Official Brothel Sector? The beauty that Captain Wang said was worth sleeping with for a night in this lifetime? Xu Qi'an's spirits were lifted.

Xu Xinnian lifted his teacup, looked at the empty cup, and reluctantly put it down, saying, "I originally thought we could play 'driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf' again. Use Zhou Li's conflicts with his classmates to formulate a plan. But those classmates don't have enough weight, and with Zhou Li's caution, it's too difficult to provoke higher-level yamen's sons. It's almost impossible to achieve.

"Zhou Li goes to the Official Brothel Sector very often. If we want to get more information out of him, that Fu Xiang is an excellent breakthrough point."

Tap, tap...Xu Qi'an tapped the table.When Uncle Xu and Xu Xinnian arrived, he said in a low voice, "I must remind you that we must always do subtraction, no matter what, the more complicated the plan, the more loopholes there are.

To deal with Zhou Li, we cannot have too complicated and ingenious plans, because the gap between us is too big. Cijiu, don't fall into the trap of thinking."

The reader is most likely to be smart and be smart, when calculating, it will add difficulty to oneself, and think about the subtlety of the layout and the sophistication of the means. Especially for Xu Cijiu, who is self-righteous and familiar with military strategy.

Xu Cijiu frowned, somewhat agreeing and somewhat unwilling, "What's your point, big brother?"

"Simple, the simpler the better." Xu Qi'an thought, "Real crime without traces is a crime of passion, and we should also make our plan like this."

"How to simplify? First, don't involve too many people, and second, don't make things too complicated. Cijiu, if Zhou Li has a conflict with a certain yamen's son, and that yamen's father happens to be able to wrestle with Zhou Shijiang, what would you do?"

Xu Xinnian fell into contemplation.

"Okay, your silence says it all." Xu Qi'an waved his hand and interrupted his little brother's thoughts. In his mind, there must have been a lot of palace schemes and conspiracies.

"My idea is that we can disguise ourselves and directly beat up that yamen's son when we have the chance, and then leave."

Xu Pingzhi finally caught the opportunity to interrupt and slapped his thigh, "Ning Yan, this idea is exactly what I was thinking."

The two brothers rolled their eyes at the same time.

"Is it that simple?" Xu Cijiu frowned.

Xu Qi'an nodded, "Simple does not mean ineffective. Most of the time, leaving blank space is beneficial. The beaten yamen's son will think, who did I offend recently? Upon reflection, oh, it's that bastard Zhou Li.

"And this kind of thing, Zhou Li will definitely not admit, but it doesn't matter, everyone can testify with their own hearts, and the contradiction will intensify. You hit me, I will retaliate."

Xu Cijiu is a smart person with high comprehension and understands his big brother's meaning as soon as he thinks about it.

He nodded slightly and looked proud, "Not bad."

He added, "What intelligence did big brother collect?"

Xu Qi'an didn't sell the suspense and said, "I found out who Zhou Shijiang's political enemy is."

Xu Xinnian and Uncle Xu both leaned forward, their faces suddenly serious, showing a listening posture.

Xu Qi'an sneered, "The Minister of Revenue."

The Minister of Revenue?! Xu Xinnian's heart trembled, and many doubts were suddenly solved.

No wonder Zhou Shijiang of the Ministry of Revenue wanted to plan for tax and silver, because he knew that he was about to be stabbed in the back by his immediate superior and urgently needed a huge sum of money to fill the deficit.

And precisely because they were in the same ministry, the Minister of Revenue could catch Zhou Shijiang's tail."How did you know about this, Ning Yan?" Uncle Xu was skeptical.

How could an ordinary person have access to the struggles of the court officials?

"It was told to me by the girl Caiwei from the Bureau of Astrology," Xu Qianan said.

And the price was just a candied fruit skewer, a roasted goose leg, a bowl of fermented rice balls, and a bowl of fish ball soup...he silently added in his mind.

Beautiful women with big eyes are easy to bribe, that's an advantage. The disadvantage is that she has no interest in politics, and the Bureau of Astrology doesn't involve itself in politics, so the information is limited.

This is not good. Caiwei, you need to read "The Self-Cultivation of Xu Daling's Virtuous Wife," and I'll write it for you later.

Xu Qianan clapped his hands and interrupted his cousin's contemplation, saying, "It seems that our collected information is not enough to formulate a detailed plan, but it's okay. Rome wasn't built in a day. What's the next step?"

Xu Xinnian thought for a moment. "I suggest we go to the Official Brothel Sector and get information from the courtesan Fu Xiang...I definitely can't do it. I never go to those places."

In the Great Feng, officials often consort with prostitutes, but for scholars without official positions, there are different standards.

You haven't even finished your imperial examinations, and you're already thinking about playing with women? You're obviously unreliable, and you won't have a good future.

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

It's like when I was studying before, my parents didn't let me play games on the internet. If a student spends all day in an internet cafe, he's a potential social scum...Xu Qianan leaned back in his chair and looked to the side, speaking in a relaxed tone:

"I definitely can't go either, because I haven't even entered the Qi Refining stage."

So the question is, who will be responsible for getting information from the Official Brothel Sector?

The two brothers looked at Uncle Xu in unison.

"Why are you looking at me? Am I the kind of person who goes to the Official Brothel Sector? I don't even know how to read, and if I go, I'll just be asking for trouble," Uncle Xu said, indicating that he was not interested in the fireworks district.

Seeing that his father was unwilling, Xu Xinnian threw the responsibility to Xu Qianan. "Big brother's poetry is very popular in the Official Brothel Sector."

Uncle Xu immediately rejected his son's proposal, frowning and saying, "Your brother is an honest man who doesn't even go to the Theater. If you send him to the Official Brothel Sector to gather information, he might get trapped and fail to accomplish the task, and he might even be taken by the women in the Theater."

For a martial artist at the peak of refining the essence, breaking through before entering the Qi Refining stage is indeed a huge loss.

Xu Qianan, who never went to the Theater to listen to music, nodded, indicating that he was not that kind of person.

"Then why don't you go, Cijiu?" Uncle Xu still believed that the Official Brothel Sector was a place for scholars.

This is a fixed idea.

Xu Cijiu snorted.

Uncle Xu refused to go to the Official Brothel Sector not only because it was a place for scholars, but also because he didn't like rough places.Xu Ci refused to go to the Official Brothel Sector, and there was a reason besides the need for scholars to pay attention to their reputation and public image.

Xu Qi'an refused to go to the Official Brothel Sector, not only because he never went to the theater to listen to music, but also because of social death!

The three of them looked at each other and fell into silence.

PS: I heard that recommendation tickets are something that can make authors go crazy. My lovely readers, you all have stacks of recommendation tickets, right?