Quick Transmigration Cannon Fodder's Record of Counterattacks

Chapter 3184: The Emperor’s Personal ATM

Marquis Xuanping’s household was essentially the emperor’s personal ATM. Whenever there was a natural disaster, the emperor would tell his ministers to find a way to raise disaster relief. Marquis Xuanping’s household would always tacitly hand over several dozen times more money than other households.

That was how the household had managed to survive all these years.

Ning Shu’s mind was spinning. The handwriting, the golden ancestral hall, this cousin of hers who had appeared so suddenly…

Ning Shu turned to Gu Fanlu and asked, “Cousin, where did you work before?”

Gu Fanlu replied, “I worked as a minor official in Yong County.”

Yong County? That was a real remote place. To be transferred to the capital from that place was, honestly, no small feat.

Ning Shu showed a look of surprise. “Then you must’ve done an excellent job. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have brought you back to the capital.”

Gu Fanlu gave a small, slightly shy smile, like a rabbit. “I didn’t do that well. I was just a little lucky.”

Lucky? Fate was the excuse of the weak, while luck was the modesty of the strong.

Once they reached the marquis’s study, the servant who usually attended the marquis stepped inside to report their arrival to him.

Ning Shu and Gu Fanlu waited at the door. The servant returned and said, “Master says the young master may enter. Second Miss, please return to your courtyard.”

Since Gu Fanlu was an outsider male, the marquis would naturally meet him first.

Ning Shu didn’t press the issue. She turned and headed back to her own courtyard.

She’d resume her cultivation first. The matter of the ancestral hall could wait. She’d bring it up with the marquis later.

It wasn’t a matter so large as to shake the heavens, but neither was it trivial. It could very well become the final straw that crushed the marquis’ household.

Ning Shu felt that she should keep a better eye on this cousin of hers.

Lianqiao followed behind her and remarked, “The young master is so funny. Imagine, a grown man getting lost?”

“Yes,” Ning Shu replied calmly. “Getting lost actually makes him look a little cute.”

No one would ever raise their guard against someone like that.

Back in her room, Ning Shu told Lianqiao, “I’m going to rest for a while. Don’t disturb me.”

“Yes, Miss.” Lianqiao closed the door on her way out.

Ning Shu lifted the hem of her dress, kicked off her shoes, and sat cross-legged on the bed. Her fingers formed seals as she set up a yang gathering formation, then began cultivating.

Spiritual energy and fiery yang energy surged into her body. Pain spread through her meridians, and filth surfaced on her skin. The filth was impurities purged from within.

She stayed in her room until night fell. Lianqiao, who was worried, eventually pushed the door open.

Ning Shu rose from the bed. “Prepare bath water for me.”

She washed away the grime, ate a little, and waited until the rest of the household had gone to bed. Then, dressed in dark clothes, she slipped past the guards and made her way to Gu Fanlu’s quarters.

The candle in his room still burned. Ning Shu leapt onto the roof and gently lifted a tile.

Inside, Gu Fanlu was still reading. He turned the pages slowly.

At this hour, everyone else had already gone to sleep, yet he remained absorbed in his book.

By the modern way of telling time, it was only nine o’clock. The night was just beginning. However, in ancient times, unless one went out carousing, it was already time for a middle-of-the-night bathroom trip.

Ning Shu crouched on the roof and quietly observed Gu Fanlu.

He finally yawned, put his book away, and went to bed.

Even after he fell asleep, Ning Shu kept her watch from above.

She could not rest easy. The many lives in the marquis’ household depended on her vigilance.

While Gu Fanlu slept soundly, Ning Shu endured a miserable night on the roof, serving as a feast for mosquitoes. When dawn broke, she hurried back to her own room.

After washing and eating breakfast, she said to Lianqiao, “Pack some light dishes in a food box.”

Ning Shu timed it carefully. She waited outside the study for Marquis Xuanping to return from court.

Civil and military officials had to rise very early for their court assemblies. They usually skipped breakfast and were half-starved by the time court was dismissed.

For officials who lived farther from the palace, attending court assemblies meant getting up in the dead of night. It was truly no easy task.

MTL Editor: Ran