Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

"What do you know, silly boy? I'm practicing a new dance step." Hua Jinxiu rolled his eyes at him, took him by the arm and led him into her boudoir, blocking the curious eyes of others, "Here Let me tell you the truth, where did you die all this time, why has there been no news for so long?"

"I don't want to either. That day, the Red Lotus Sect sent assassins to intercept the people in the Shangqing Palace. You should know about this, right? We fought with the Red Lotus Sect assassins. I accidentally got poisoned and passed out. After several days, when I woke up, I was already in the Qingfeng Pavilion of the Shangqing Palace. The place is so high, and it is deserted, I have no way to contact you at all."

"Are you poisoned? How is it? Is it important?" Although Zhang Chi came to her alive and kicking, Hua Jinxiu still asked nervously.

"It's all right, I've been recuperating in Qingfeng Pavilion for a month, and I'm all well now." Zhang Chi said with a smile, "No, I'll report to you as soon as I get down from the mountain."

"Is it just to report safety?" Hua Jinxiu squinted at him, "Don't you have anything else to tell me?"

"Normally there is no hair on the Qingfeng Pavilion. I haven't found any new news. But I stayed in that almost isolated place for more than a month. What happened in the rivers and lakes recently, I have two eyes. Once you are black, you don’t know anything.” Zhang Chi said with a playful smile, “Sister Hua, tell me about it.”

"You little bastard, if you don't have any new news for me, it's fine, but I'm here to find out the news." Hua Jinxiu smiled and pinched his face again.

"Sister Hua knows everything." Zhang Chi said cheekily, "By the way, Sister Hua, I came out to buy things under an excuse. You can find someone to help me with my errands, and I can explain it when I go back."

"Okay, okay, it's all up to you, little ancestor." Hua Jinxiu looked at him with eyes that were almost loving and pampering.

***

Hua Jinxiu ordered the doorman to buy the things Zhang Chi needed, went back to the room and opened the closet, pulled the mechanism hidden in the closet, and saw that the bookshelf on the side was loose, revealing a gap, Zhang Chi pushed it away with ease. She held the oil lamp and groped into the secret passage behind the bookshelf.

The secret passage leads to a fairly spacious basement, surrounded by bookshelves, and various files are placed in different categories and layered on top of each other.

Ordinary people would never have imagined that the above-ground part of this small building is the famous Fengyue Field in the capital, while the underground part is a database for "inquiry".

Although the organization "Bao inquire" specializes in inquiring about other people's secrets, it doesn't seem to have much mystery. Many people in the world know what kind of organization "Bao inquire" is and who their members are.

The most widely distributed members are called "sparrows". "Sparrows" may be any inconspicuous ordinary people around you, such as the boy in the inn, the driver, the groom, the bearer, the dock worker, the aunt who sells vegetables, the street Beggars and the like, these people are distributed in any corner you can think of and unexpected, and report the bits and pieces of information they have-such as the number of shipments at the dock, the latest vegetable prices, the flow of people, etc., to the connector "pigeon" ", get a few hard-earned money.They are ubiquitous like real sparrows, inexhaustible and inexhaustible, because strictly speaking, they are not members of Baoqian, and they don't know anyone except their own contacts, so no one has ever thought about it. Don't bother with them.

"Pigeons" are responsible for collecting and summarizing information in these marketplaces, doing work similar to accounting documents, while the work of "Night Owls" is more dangerous. More secretive information, so there are often "night owls" who are not clever enough to disappear inexplicably, because they know something they shouldn't know, and they are discovered and silenced. If "Bao inquiring" knows who the murderer is, he will Leaking their news everywhere to their enemies as revenge would somewhat make others scruples, but more often than not, even "Bao Inquiry" didn't know what happened to those disappearing night owls.

The news brought back by "Night Owl" and "Pigeon" is concentrated in a few news distribution centers that only a few people know. The "Parrot" analyzes and organizes it, and then transcribes it into the file. These "Parrots" are all knowledgeable and creative. Agile, even photogenic, they are like spiders squatting in the middle of a spider's web, collecting information from all directions, and finally sorting it out into reliable intelligence to sell.

Hua Jinxiu is one of the "parrots", but very few people know her hidden identity. People just talk about her beauty and dancing skills, and that she was born in a wealthy family in the former dynasty, and then suffered a family change. The past, and the fact that she was taken care of by a big man in the capital and lived a reclusive life, but from time to time she brought some strange men into Jinxiu Tower, and closed the door to do shady things.

Hua Jinxiu has always been one of the people Zhang Chi especially admires. She can rely on her face for food, but she has to rely on her brains. She has a very high status in "Bao Inquiry", and she usually works tirelessly to practice dance and vocal music, and to teach Lou The sisters in the film play music and talent, and try their best to help these poor women live a better life.

When Zhang Chi asks her, she can tell it in an open mouth, but occasionally she needs to look up the books when some specific numbers are involved. Even so, she clearly remembers the location of each book.

It wasn't until more than half an hour later that they reviewed everything that happened in the Jianghu in the past month in detail. Hua Jinxiu took a sip of water to moisten her dry throat, and asked: "Basically, that's all. , what else do you want to know?"

"It's gone...But in fact, there are a little bit of my personal affairs..." Zhang Chi scratched his head and said embarrassedly, "Sister Hua, I...I like someone."

"Really? That's great, Xiaochizi has finally reached the age to talk about marriage!" Hua Jinxiu suddenly put away her businesslike tone, and asked a bunch of questions, "Which girl is it?" Ah, what's your name, what does he look like, is he interested in you?"

"...It's not a girl." Zhang Chi lowered his head awkwardly, "It's a man."

"Men?!" Hua Jinxiu covered her mouth in surprise, "How come I never knew you liked men?!"

"I didn't know before." Zhang Chi said, "until I met him."

After the initial surprise, Hua Jinxiu's spirit of gossip was ignited: "Tell Sister Hua, what kind of person he is, and how he fascinated my little pool."

"He... looks good, is very good at martial arts, and writes very beautifully. He doesn't like to talk. Sometimes he has a bad temper, but he is very upright..."

Hua Jinxiu interrupted: "Wait, you are talking about Mu Liuyun, the junior brother of the Seventh Son of the Shangqing, right?"

Zhang Chi didn't turn his head around all of a sudden, and asked in a daze, "How do you know?"

"Based on your recent whereabouts, who else could it be if it wasn't him." Hua Jinxiu poked his forehead, "You are confused, you dare to provoke such a person? What if they just hate such things, If you send it forward recklessly again, they won't slap you to death?"

"He knows." Zhang Chi said, "He didn't refuse me."

Hua Jinxiu took a deep breath: "...No way!"

"I also find it a bit unbelievable..." Zhang Chi didn't want to hide anything from Hua Jinxiu, although he hesitated and couldn't let go when he spoke, he still clearly expressed his intention of coming.

Mu Liuyun didn't like him at all, but agreed to "try" with him, and if he didn't feel good, he would regret it someday.This forced Zhang Chi to be more cautious, and he didn't dare to let go of his hands and feet on the bed. He could only adopt some conservative methods to make Liu Yun comfortable and at the same time try his best to avoid arousing his disgust.

Zhang Chi is not satisfied with the status quo, and has been thinking about finishing the last step, but Mu Liuyun doesn't know anything, and he has no experience, but he has been mixed in various religions since he was a child, and he doesn't know where he heard of it. For the first time, the people below would be in so much pain that it would be unbearable to watch, so even if he borrowed his courage, he would not dare to do that kind of thing to Mu Liuyun. Don't let him touch it again, then there is really no place to cry.

So he also has another very important purpose for going to Jinxiu Tower this time, which is to learn from Sister Hua.

Although Zhang Chi has always been thick-skinned, he couldn't help but blush now: "...I can't ask others about this kind of thing, so I have to come to you, Sister Hua, Sister Hua, you must help me."

It's rare that Hua Jinxiu didn't tease him this time, but patted the back of his hand comfortingly: "Okay, there are girls in Jinxiu Building, so I can't help you, but I also know some 'sisters' who know this well, you If you really want to, I'll find someone to teach you."

"That's great, thank you Sister Hua!" Zhang Chi smiled with relief, but Hua Jinxiu sighed softly.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Chi looked at her in confusion.

"Xiaochizi, let Sister Hua say something more. It's a lucky thing to have someone you really like, but you shouldn't take this relationship too seriously."

"Huh? Why?"

"People like them are like the bright moon in the sky. Maybe they can share some brilliance with you, but they won't belong to you alone."

"Who else could it be?" Zhang Chi said puzzledly, "He has never been close to women, and he has never been close to others. I am the only one by his side."

"I'm not saying that he has someone else, what I mean is... Maybe for him, the most important thing is martial arts, school, family, country, and world, but you are the only one." Hua Jinxiu sighed again, " Forget it, you are still young, you have to experience some things yourself before you can understand."

"...Oh." Zhang Chi scratched his head half-understood.

***

Due to some unexplainable reasons, Zhang Chi did not return to the barracks until it was completely dark.

Mu Liuyun was sitting cross-legged on the bed and meditating, when he heard the noise, he opened his eyes and looked at him: "Why are you back now? It's past dinner time."

"It's okay, I've already eaten." Zhang Chi put all the big and small bags in his hands on the table.

Mu Liuyun sized him up suspiciously: "Where have you been?"

"Shopping." Zhang Chi said casually.

Mu Liuyun got out of bed, and leaned over to look at the miscellaneous things he brought back.

As soon as he got close, Zhang Chi naturally got tired of going up as usual, put his arms around Mu Liuyun's waist and rubbed his shoulders: "Liuyun, I haven't seen you for a long time, do you miss me?"

When he hugged Mu Liuyun, he could still feel Mu Liuyun's body stiffen, but today, Mu Liuyun didn't relax as quickly as before and respond to his hug, but frowned : "You smell like powder all over your body."