Xiao Gui Gong was hit, but he didn't get angry. He smiled and acted respectfully, even flatteringly:

"Please wait a moment, I'll go right away. Young Master Yang's arrival will make Madam very happy."

Xu Qi'an visited Fu Xiang's place every few days. The courtyard had already recognized him as the lover of the courtesan, and the gatekeepers were arrogant and cold to other customers, but they didn't dare to neglect Xu Qi'an. They even wanted to kneel and lick his boots.

Xu Qi'an led the Nightwatchers into the courtyard. The fragrance of plum blossoms wafted from the corner, and the white walls and black tiles were quite elegant.

When the courtesan heard that Xu Qi'an had reserved the whole place, she immediately had her maids dress up and put on exquisite makeup. She wore a pink and white floor-length dress that revealed her delicate collarbone and fair neck. Her white chest was faintly visible under the thin veil.

Fu Xiang personally served them tea and wine, occasionally whispering in Xu Qi'an's ear, her smile as beautiful as flowers. The Nightwatchers were envious.

Fu Xiang was already a famous courtesan, and her value skyrocketed after the release of the song "Fragrance in the Moonlight." It was said that she no longer accompanied guests, at least not ordinary ones. However, many customers still came to the Shadow Plum Pavilion every day to drink, listen to music, and play drinking games organized by Fu Xiang.

After three rounds of drinks, Xu Qi'an gave Song Tingfeng a signal with his eyes and stood up, saying, "Fellow colleagues, I can't handle my liquor. I'll rest first, you guys continue playing."

The Nightwatchers had no objections and exchanged glances, laughing mischievously. Fu Xiang looked at Xu Qi'an strangely and let him hold her fragrant shoulders as they left.

...

After bathing, Xu Qi'an wore a white robe and sat lazily, holding a wine glass.

"Xu Lang rarely brings colleagues here for drinks." Fu Xiang, who had just finished bathing as well, sat on a bed a little far away, tilting her head and wiping her hair.

Her skin was smooth and her face was flawless, with a hint of enchantment and mystery in the flickering candlelight.

"This is a long story." Xu Qi'an took a sip of wine and sighed. "A few days ago, two Jin Luo wanted to recruit me and fought in the Nightwatcher's yamen."

Fu Xiang got out of bed, her skirt falling down to cover her two snow-white legs. She hugged Xu Qi'an from behind and chuckled, "Did you make someone jealous?"

"Jealousy has existed since ancient times." Xu Qi'an didn't deny it.

"Xu Lang should have told me earlier. I would have taken care of your colleagues." Fu Xiang regretted it.

She didn't pay much attention to the other Nightwatchers during the banquet.

"No need." Xu Qi'an smiled.

He didn't lack social skills. He hugged Fu Xiang and tilted his wine glass, letting the cold liquid flow down her snow-white neck.

"This is how to drink." Xu Qi'an laughed heartily and lowered his head.

Fu Xiang, who was full of alcohol, soaked in it again. Xu Qi'an made an excuse to go out for some fresh air and left the main bedroom. He glanced at the banquet hall where his colleagues were playing games happily to reveal a new world.

In fact, as long as they had enough money, the maids in the Official Brothel Sector's courtyard would not refuse. This had been the case since ancient times.

Xu Qi'an leaped over the wall and took out a piece of paper from his pocket, lighting it up.He looked up, and two clear streams of qi shot through the darkness, flickering away in an instant.

In his line of sight, various auras appeared, and the world became colorful.

Xu Qi'an learned from Chu Caiwei that green represented demonic energy. That night during patrol, he clearly saw a flash of green light above the Official Brothel Sector.

This meant that there were demons lurking in the Official Brothel Sector. It was a daring guess, as the Official Brothel Sector was where the nobles and officials drank and enjoyed themselves. Such a place actually hid demons.

But that was the reality.

This time, Xu Qi'an remembered the principle of not seeking death, and did not go to spy on the Celestial Observatory, lest he be blinded by the monitor.

He scanned the sky above the Official Brothel Sector, and saw various colors shimmering, but no demonic energy.

"Did the demon leave... or is it hidden by a special method?" Xu Qi'an jumped off the wall and returned to Fu Xiang's boudoir.

...

The white-robed young master Xu Er fought bravely in the midst of Fu Xiang's entanglement, but after seven battles, he finally exhausted himself, spitting blood and retreating.

The battlefield was in chaos, and both sides suffered heavy losses, in urgent need of rest and recuperation.

Fu Xiang, with her disheveled hair and flushed cheeks, curled up in Xu Qi'an's arms, fluttering her bright eyes. "Xu Lang, can you redeem me?"

Talking about money hurts the feelings... Xu Qi'an, the sage of time, was unmoved.

The courtesan pouted and said, "I only want to be a concubine, just want to serve by Xu Lang's side."

Xu Qi'an touched her head and ran his fingers through her hair. "Don't be silly. Our sincere feelings should not be mixed with the smell of copper."

Fu Xiang's eyes turned red, tears streaming down her face. "You just want to play with me, and when you get bored, you'll kick me away."

You found out about that? Xu Qi'an was surprised.

Helplessly, he said, "You are a courtesan, and to redeem you, I need four or five thousand liang, which is impossible. Moreover, the Ministry of Rites may not agree."

"I have saved some money over the years, and I have inquired about it. With three years of savings, I can buy a courtyard in the inner city." Fu Xiang hugged him and pleaded in a soft voice. "Xu Lang, redeem me."

The charming courtesan not only knew how to act cute, but also made full use of her assets, her curvy figure pressed tightly against Xu Qi'an.

Her eyes were filled with tears, pitiful.

Xu Qi'an frowned. It was not that he was difficult to handle. He had encountered this type of girl in his previous life, who knew how to act cute and demanded to buy this and that (luxury goods), but Xu Qi'an could deal with it.

He was just a little surprised that a famous courtesan with a thriving career and in the prime of her youth, even if she wanted to change her life, it was too early.

Moreover, as a Nightwatcher, even if it was due to organizational reasons, they were feared by the officials. With Fu Xiang's rank, being a concubine for a fourth-rank official was more than enough.

"It's not urgent. I'll redeem you when I've saved enough money." Xu Qi'an casually placated her, hugging the courtesan's slippery figure and falling asleep in three seconds.

In the darkness, Fu Xiang silently gazed at Xu Qi'an's face, her eyes clear.

...

The next morning, a group of people left the Official Brothel Sector.Colleagues greeted Xu Qi'an with smiles, and their relationship became much closer. If before, they only saw Xu Qi'an as a colleague, now they saw him as a buddy.

It worked well.

As long as they didn't have too much jealousy or too high of a position, the copper gongs of the same rank wouldn't blindly resent him.

With a flexible mind, showing goodwill and catering to their interests, most people were willing to befriend Xu Qi'an.

Because of this, a lucky guy who was favored by two gold gongs had his identity transformed into "This guy favored by the gold gongs is my friend."

As they walked and chatted along the way, a copper gong suddenly laughed and said, "Ning Yan is really talented. He made me realize how ignorant and boring I was before."

Colleagues let out a kind and ambiguous laugh.

Xu Qi'an shrugged, "I'll teach you guys some more interesting things next time."

More interesting...everyone's eyes lit up.

They arrived at the Nightwatcher yamen before dawn and, after checking in, Xu Qi'an and Song Tingfeng went to the side hall of the Spring Breeze Hall, drank some tea, and were about to go out for patrol when an official hurriedly arrived.

"Three lords, Lord Li requests your presence."

Looks like there's some work...Xu Qi'an and the other two put on their swords and went to the Spring Breeze Hall.

Li Yuchun, who dressed immaculately, blended perfectly with the orderly Spring Breeze Hall without being conspicuous.

Spring Brother, it must be tiring to live like this...Xu Qi'an sympathized with his boss's OCD.

He thought to himself, when sleeping with a woman in the future, if one position has a score of 100, the other position must be 100 as well, otherwise, it would be uncomfortable.

Search "pawℝead.com" for the original.

Li Yuchun pointed to the three plaques on the table, "Today, we're going to search a house. The three of you will represent me. I'll repeat it again, don't do anything unnecessary."

"Fifteen minutes later, gather in the front yard and go with the other colleagues."

Search a house? Xu Qi'an was surprised. Searching a house was one of the Nightwatcher's businesses, and the target was corrupt officials.

"This is the document." Li Yuchun handed the document issued to him to the three of them.

The target of this search was the head of the Household Department's Ministry of Revenue, a sixth-rank official. He was to be exiled and his house searched on charges of embezzlement and dereliction of duty.

To search a house meant to confiscate all of the household's property and all valuables. In Xu Qi'an's past life, it was equivalent to depriving a criminal of their personal property.

Li Yuchun looked at Xu Qi'an and said, "This person is a subordinate of the Household Department's Assistant Minister Zhou."

This was telling Xu Qi'an that this matter was related to the tax and silver case.

When a high-ranking official fell from power, the officials who relied on him would inevitably be dismissed and punished. It was like pulling out a radish and bringing out the mud.

As Xu Qi'an and the others left to carry out their mission, Song Tingfeng said, "This is your first time searching a house. You don't understand some of the rules, so let me explain them to you."

"When confiscating property, the officials will gather all the valuable items in the front yard, record them, and take them back to the yamen. But they won't participate in the search."

At this point, Song Tingfeng gave Xu Qi'an a look that said, "You figure it out yourself."

"Listen to the boss's instructions..." Xu Qi'an tentatively said."Hey, don't mind him." Song Tingfeng sneered, "The boss is stubborn and inflexible, he doesn't know how to adapt. We need to reasonably seek benefits for ourselves."

Xu Qi'an nodded in agreement, finding it a reasonable way to seek benefits.

Like Xu Qi'an, Song Tingfeng didn't want to extort merchants or oppress the people. But now they were raiding the homes of corrupt officials.

Silver itself was not clean, they were taking the Great Feng's wool, not the people's.

Xu Qi'an had seen this kind of thing too many times in his past and present lives, so he took a neutral stance.

This raid was led by a young silver gong, with four groups of copper gongs and twenty-four white slaves.

Every three copper gongs were assigned to a different silver gong, and the system of multiple teams was for mutual supervision and reporting.

The system was good, but over time, everyone knew the unspoken rule that they all took a little something, so it was as if nobody had taken anything.

Listening to Song Tingfeng's explanation, the three of them arrived at the front yard and saw that some copper gongs had already gathered.

The leader was a young silver gong in his thirties with thin lips and a fierce look in his eyes. Just by looking at his face, one could tell he was not an easy person to get along with.

Song Tingfeng led his two colleagues over to meet the silver gong, taking out his voucher from his pocket.

When the silver gong saw the three of them coming, his eyes suddenly became sharp and he said in a low voice, "You three are late."

"We're not late," Xu Qi'an said in surprise.

They had come as soon as they received the message, and although they had talked along the way and didn't walk fast, it had not taken more than fifteen minutes.

The silver gong's eyebrows furrowed and his eyes became even sharper. He drew his sword from his waist and struck Xu Qi'an's cheek.

With a whooshing sound, Xu Qi'an's body tilted back and he avoided the fierce blow in an instant.

The silver gong was surprised that Xu Qi'an was able to dodge, and he sneered, "You dare to dodge?"

"Sir, sir..." Song Tingfeng quickly stepped in between them, with a smile on his face, and said, "Yes, we were late. Please don't be angry, sir. We have delayed the matter, and there are still good things waiting for you."

He could remind him of the raid.

But the silver gong didn't give him face at all. He kicked Song Tingfeng in the abdomen, sending him flying and struggling to get up.

He's targeting me... but I haven't offended him... Xu Qi'an felt anger rising in his heart and instinctively grasped the handle of his sword.

The silver gong narrowed his eyes and sneered, striking again with his sheathed sword, "What, do you want to draw your sword? Are you worthy?"

If I draw my sword, I'm done for... Xu Qi'an raised his hand to block a few times, feeling the pain in his arm from the strikes.

With so many people watching, it was a bit embarrassing.

Seeing Xu Qi'an back down, the silver gong struck a few more times and sneered, "Get in there."

Xu Qi'an and his team joined the group.

Later, more copper gongs arrived one after another, but the silver gong didn't care and let them join the team.

Seeing this, Xu Qi'an was certain that the silver gong was targeting him, but he wondered why he hadn't offended him.

"If you had drawn your sword just now, you would have been finished," someone behind him said.Xu Qi'an turned his head and glanced at the copper gong who had drunk flower wine with him last night.

"I'm not that stupid. Drawing a knife on a silver gong is a serious crime," he said.

The copper gong nodded and whispered, "His surname is Zhu, and he's the youngest silver gong in the yamen."

Xu Qi'an was annoyed and said, "I don't know him."

The copper gong exclaimed, "Hey! His father's surname is also Zhu."

Xu Qi'an thought this was a useless piece of information, but then Zhu Guangxiao next to him whispered, "Zhu Jinluo?"

The copper gong who had drunk flower wine nodded and added, "He's the youngest silver gong and the most promising young talent in our capital yamen... well, before Xu Qi'an appeared."

"The other day, I was drinking with the copper gongs under his command, and he mentioned that Zhu Yinluo doesn't like you. He has said more than once that you are just a lowly copper gong..."

At this moment, Zhu Yinluo's sharp gaze swept over everyone, and the copper gong immediately fell silent.

PS: There is one more chapter. I'll go to bed after posting it.