The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#727 - Taking control

Guo Shouhuai was the superior of the two, and Xia Huai was unwilling to criticize him in private.

But she had to admit that Lu Jing's guess had some merit.

As the Shao Jian of the Si Tian Jian, Guo Shouhuai shouldered burdens that others could hardly imagine, which forced him to abandon personal feelings as much as possible, and prioritize the interests of the Si Tian Jian and the people, even to the point of seeming somewhat cold and ruthless at times.

For example, allowing disciples from the academy to enter the Si Tian Jian early.

As far as Xia Huai knew, six disciples from the academy had died in the first case alone, which made many teachers and students critical of Guo Shouhuai's decision.

If it could be postponed for a year, no, even half a year… allowing more people to be better prepared, the number of casualties should be much less than now, and the Si Tian Jian would have six more inspectors who could stand alone in the future.

But Guo Shouhuai obviously did not regret his choice, because the Si Tian Jian's existing manpower was indeed at its limit to cope with the current situation, and it was urgent to introduce fresh blood.

The addition of these hundred or so academy disciples helped the Si Tian Jian through the difficulties, and the casualties were within an acceptable range, which was enough for Guo Shouhuai.

So if Lu Jing and she could be used to fish out the spies within the Si Tian Jian, Guo Shouhuai might not mind trying it.

But this was not a good thing for the two of them.

"If it's the latter possibility, then no matter how hard we rush, I'm afraid we won't be able to reach the designated place," Lu Jing said, "It's even possible that there is no designated place at all."

Xia Huai's curved willow eyebrows furrowed, "But sending the saber is, after all, a task that Shao Jian Guo assigned to us… we can't just drop the ball and not do it, right?"

"We can't quit halfway, but not doing it doesn't mean we can't do it in a different way."

Lu Jing's words sounded a bit convoluted, and then he explained, "Now Mr. Ji's people and the internal spies of the Si Tian Jian are all coming for us. We are in the open while they are in the dark. If this continues, we will be too passive. We have to find a way to turn the tables."

"How do you want to turn the tables?"

"After we finish eating, I plan to find a money house to deposit this saber and the paper frog."

Xia Huai was stunned when she heard this.

"But… wouldn't we be separated from the saber? What if it gets lost?"

"I want to separate from the saber so that those guys can shift their attention from us to the saber, and we can make arrangements near the money house in advance and wait for them to fall into our trap," Lu Jing said leisurely.

"In this way, our danger is indeed much smaller, but… Mr. Ji has many strange objects, maybe there is a strange object that can steal the saber from under our noses without us knowing," Xia Huai reminded.

"I know, this is also something we can't help," Lu Jing spread his hands, "Mr. Ji's side has many capable people, but the Si Tian Jian only has the two of us, not even enough people to form a ring-protecting team. It's normal if we can't beat them. As long as we are safe, Shao Jian Guo will definitely understand."

"If he really doesn't want the saber to fall into Mr. Ji's hands, he can temporarily give up catching the internal spies and transfer experts from the Si Tian Jian to take the saber away."

"… … … …"

Hearing this, Xia Huai had completely understood what Lu Jing wanted to do. He was not only scheming against Mr. Ji, but also scheming against Guo Shouhuai, forcing Guo Shouhuai to no longer use the two as bait.

Xia Huai didn't know what to say. What they were doing was definitely something Guo Shouhuai didn't want to see.

But seeing that Lu Jing had already made a decision, Xia Huai didn't refute, but just nodded and said, "Okay."

The idea of depositing the black saber in the money house was very bold, but it had to be said that this might be the only way to solve the two's current predicament.

And Lu Jing did what he said. After finishing eating, he immediately came to the largest money house in the city with Xia Huai.

Before even entering the door, they saw the four large characters 'Taiping Money House' on the plaque.

As one of the four major money houses, Taiping Money House certainly didn't only have business in the capital. The surrounding prefectures and counties, and even some large cities in the south, also had branches of Taiping Money House, making it convenient for the money house's patrons to withdraw silver.

And Lu Jing didn't hide his identity. He immediately revealed his name, which made the manager of the money house come out to greet him.

Then Lu Jing took out two long boxes and placed them in front of the manager.

These two long boxes were both zither boxes he bought on the roadside. The sizes and styles were similar, but one long box contained the black saber, and the other long box contained the paper frog that Guo Shouhuai gave him.

"Store these two items separately, in your safest place," Lu Jing said.

The manager nodded and said to an accountant beside him, "Go, open it and check the contents."

However, the accountant was stopped by Lu Jing before he could move, "There's no need to look at the contents."

"This… I'm afraid it's not in line with the rules of the money house," the manager said somewhat embarrassedly, "We trust in Grandmaster Lu's character, but if we don't check the contents, it will easily cause misunderstandings and disputes during the handover in the future."

"No need, I won't swindle you," Lu Jing smiled, "How about this, we can make a contract, no matter whether the contents inside have changed, or even whether the contents inside are still there, I won't blame your money house."

The manager stroked his beard and said, "If that's the case, then there's no need to check it again. Also, please rest assured, Grandmaster Lu, that it definitely won't be lost. We will lock the important items in the big iron box in the vault. The big iron box weighs a thousand catties and is made entirely of pig iron.

"No one can carry it away, and the thickness is also amazing. Even a top expert can't split it open with an axe in the time it takes to burn a stick of incense. And there are two keys to the iron box, which need to be combined to open the iron box.

"Our money house will take good care of one of them, and the other one will be handed over to you, Grandmaster Lu. What do you think, are you satisfied?"

"Not bad," Lu Jing was indeed very satisfied after hearing this.

Then Lu Jing heard the manager continue, "However, such an iron box is very troublesome to build. Our money house only has seven in total, so the price…"

"How much?"

"One tael of silver per day."

This price was not only not cheap, it was simply astronomical, but Lu Jing didn't bargain. He very readily took out two ingots of silver from his luggage and said to the manager, "Ten days first."