Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 842 - 12: Competing in the Tournament

Investigate, how to investigate?

Without a destination, there’s no way to find anything.

The people from Mingyu Pavilion had no choice but to call Luo Zhongwei, who is in charge of Gu Jingji’s security, to investigate the case.

But they’ve been investigating until it got dark, yet yielded nothing.

The late Emperor’s urn went missing, and the person who left the note also clearly stated they would protect Ling Yuezi, so it can be inferred that the urn has already reached Ling Yuezi’s hands.

At today’s tea banquet, Ling Yuezi would have been well prepared to come, so holding the banquet is meaningless.

Seeing that the plan failed before it even began, the Regent King was filled with resentment and had no choice but to cancel the tea banquet.

He pretended to have caught a cold the previous night, saying it was inconvenient to go out.

Ling Yuezi received the message sent by him, and a sneer flashed in her heart.

Ah Qing said suspiciously, "Princess, the Regent King actually broke his promise, what a surprise."

Ling Yuezi looked at her father’s urn, sneering, "Because the chess piece he was using to threaten me is already in my hands, what else can he use to threaten me?"

Ah Lan said, "Princess, the Regent King has always been wary of you, and since he failed this time, he will definitely have a backup plan. We must be on guard against him at all times."

Ling Yuezi sneered coldly, "Since stepping onto the territory of Nanyue Country, I’ve always been on guard against him."

.

Lou Chengye had just finished breakfast and was idly leaning by the window, watching the pedestrians on the street to pass the time.

Li Xingsheng knocked on the door, "Open up, it’s me."

Lou Chengye opened the door, looked at Li Xingsheng in confusion, "Second Brother, where did you go last night? Why are you only coming back now?"

Li Xingsheng glanced at him, smiled, and took off his night-walking clothes, "Fetch me some water, I need to bathe, rest, and recuperate, so I can fight tomorrow."

Lou Chengye became interested, "Second Brother, who are we going to fight?"

"We are going to participate in the martial arts contest. Let me take a nap first, then we’ll go sign up this afternoon." Li Xingsheng placed a token on the table.

Lou Chengye had always dreamed of joining a martial arts contest but never had the chance. Initially, he wanted to take the Martial Champion exam, but his family didn’t agree.

"That’s great, Second Brother." Lou Chengye rubbed his hands joyfully.

Lou Chengye found an attendant, gave him five coins, and the attendant promptly brought hot water upstairs.

After comfortably bathing and changing clothes, Li Xingsheng closed his eyes to rest.

As soon as he closed his eyes, he thought of Ling Yuezi, sighed, grabbed a pillow to hug, and continued sleeping.

.

Li Xingsheng slept until after noon, had a bit of lunch with Lou Chengye, and the two dressed as martial artists headed to the training grounds.

At the entrance of the training grounds, a notice was posted, and there were two small officials at a table registering participants for the martial arts contest.

There were many people signing up, crowding the official’s table almost to bursting.

Someone was maintaining order, "Line up, line up, if you’re not signing up, step aside, those registering, line up, and register one by one."

After several shouts, people finally started lining up.

But there were still people trying to cut in line from time to time.

Lou Chengye exclaimed, "Second Brother, there are quite a few people here, but it seems their skills aren’t that great. Aren’t they afraid of being beaten by Second Sister-in-law?"

Li Xingsheng glanced at him, his expression darkened.

Lou Chengye covered his mouth, "I mean the Princess, the Princess."

"There are many people here, don’t cause trouble for her." Li Xingsheng reminded again.

"Got it, hehe." Lou Chengye sheepishly rubbed his head.

Li Xingsheng walked over, glanced at the chaotic crowd, and went to the person at the front of the line, saying, "You’re number one." He then pointed at the person behind, saying, "You’re number two, you’re number three." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He continued assigning numbers to people in order.

Soon, the chaotic and noisy crowd quieted down.

Everyone orderly lined up according to the assigned numbers.

But there were still a few unruly individuals who yelled at Li Xingsheng, "Who are you? Why are you bossing us around?"

With that person’s shout, some who were forcibly given numbers but didn’t want to line up immediately echoed, "Yeah, who are you? Where did you come from? Why meddle with us!"

Li Xingsheng took out a token from his chest and showed it to them, "Someone from the palace, any objections?"

On the copper waist card, a Golden Phoenix was engraved, with the three golden characters "Bright Moon Palace" inscribed on it.

Those who could read, read it aloud.

This time, no one dared to make a fuss.

Their gazes towards Li Xingsheng turned respectful and awe-filled.

The two small officials registering and the two soldiers also smiled at Li Xingsheng and Lou Chengye, saying, "So you two are from the palace, our apologies, our apologies."

"We are also here to participate in the competition, registering in order, no need for special treatment." Li Xingsheng nodded, pulling Lou Chengye into the queue.

Even people from the palace followed the rules and queued up, so how could the unknown soldiers cause any disturbance by cutting in line?

Soon, the queue here became orderly.

The line became neat, no one was making noise, and the registration speed also picked up.

The two small officials were very grateful to Li Xingsheng. When it was Li Xingsheng’s turn, a small official warmly poured him some tea.

The other one moved a chair for Li Xingsheng to sit, "Brother, sit, sit, sit, you’ve been standing for so long, must be tired? Take a rest."

Although the registration speed picked up, there were still many people, with over a hundred people lined up in front of Li Xingsheng, and indeed, he had been standing for quite a while.

With a chair to sit on and tea served, Li Xingsheng didn’t stand on ceremony, thanked them, and sat down with ease.

Lou Chengye was dumbfounded, extremely impressed in his heart.

If Li Xing’an were here, seeing the pleased Li Xingsheng, he would certainly sneer and roll his eyes.

Because, at any time, Li Xingsheng would never let himself suffer any loss, no matter the person, he always had a way to make others like him.

Like the two small officials and two small soldiers present, they treated Li Xingsheng as an honored guest.

Sipping the tea, Li Xingsheng asked them about the competition rules.

One official continued registering, while the other explained the rules to him.

"Eight people per group, scored based on points, the highest scorer advances to the next level. The next level is also a group of eight, and the winner moves on to a higher level group of four, with the final winner competing against the Princess," the official said. "The types of competitions include archery, horseback archery, wrestling, stick fighting, and formation simulation."

Lou Chengye listened from the side, joyfully rubbing his hands.

Li Xingsheng smiled faintly, "I will definitely come out victorious."

The official boldly asked, "May I ask, this Assistant Eunuch Brother, what position do you hold in the Moonlight Palace?"

Assistant Eunuch is an elegant term for eunuch.

Li Xingsheng was dumbstruck, "..."

Lou Chengye couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Li Xingsheng glared at him with a dark face, "I am a palace guard of the Moonlight Palace, ordered by the Princess to come and inspect the competition. Additionally, the Princess has commanded me to assess the competitors’ abilities, I am not an Assistant Eunuch! Sir."

Official, "..." With delicate skin, how could he not be an Assistant Eunuch?

.

The afternoon tea party was canceled, Ling Yuezi simply covered her head and slept.

Li Xingsheng disturbed her for most of the night last night, she was really exhausted.

Ah Qing and Ah Lan felt sorry for her, ordering everyone not to approach the bedroom to avoid disturbing Ling Yuezi’s rest.

The maids Ling Yuezi brought from Feihu Village all listened to instructions, but the people dispatched by the Regent King were not so compliant.

This time, they came openly with a decree from the Regent King, demanding to search the Moonlight Palace.

"Search? Why search?" Ah Qing prevented these people from going near Ling Yuezi’s bedroom.

"Something was stolen from the Regent King’s residence. The Prince ordered a search of all places in the palace. Miss Ah Qing, by blocking our way, are you implying that you have stolen it and hid it in the Princess’s room?" The leading eunuch smirked.

Ah Qing was furious, "Nonsense, we’ve never even been to the Regent King’s residence, how could we steal anything? You are slandering us!"

"Miss Ah Qing, why are you so agitated? Isn’t it better to let us check if there’s no false accusation? Even the Emperor’s palace has been searched, so why can’t the Princess’s palace?"

"You..." Ah Qing still wanted to argue, but Ah Lan came and said, "Ah Qing, the Princess instructed to let them search, an innocent person fears no investigation. However, if they fail to find anything, if they disturb her rest again, she will not let them off lightly!"

As she spoke, she winked at Ah Qing.

Understanding her signal, Ah Qing stepped aside, with a mocking sneer, "Then trouble the eunuchs to be quick. By the way, let me remind you first, the items in this palace are the Princess’s beloved possessions. If anything falls and breaks, the eunuchs will have to compensate."

The eunuch forced a smile, "We understand." He nodded to the people behind him, "Come on, everyone, act quickly."

A group of people rushed into the main hall, heading straight for Ling Yuezi’s bedroom.

The canopy over the bed in the bedroom was hanging down, and several maids stood before the bed.

The maids looked unfriendly, staring at the eunuchs who stormed in.

Ah Qing also followed into the bedroom, overseeing the eunuchs’ actions.

The group searched around in the bedroom but found nothing. In the end, they turned their attention to the bed.