Luo Wei didn't want these five secret guards with him, but he can't go against an imperial command. The only thing he could do now was to keep them, and so he took the five of them home with him.

Luo Zhi Qiu didn't react to the five guards sent to follow Luo Wei. He already knew that the emperor would send the Dragon's Secret Guard to protect Luo Wei, but Bo Hua and Luo Ze weren't as calm as he was. Looks like the favor that the emperor was bestowing on Luo Wei was far exceeding the mother and son's expectations.

Luo Zhi Qiu only asked Luo Wei, "Are you going to bring along anyone else from the estate?"

Luo Wei answered, "I'll just take Qi Zi with me."

Luo Zhi Qiu nodded. Qi Zi knew some martial arts, and he'd also been attending to Luo Wei for a while now, this wasn't a bad choice. "Which route are you going to be taking to Yu Zhou?" He followed up with another question at Luo Wei.

Luo Wei responded, "I'm going to go visit the Qi Lin Mountain Villa(1) first."

Luo Zhi Qiu and Luo Ze were both surprised.

In the world of those who practiced martial arts, the most powerful group was Ming Jian Villa(2). Qi Lin Villa wasn't exactly weak by comparison, but they were often sidelined as an evil and immoral sect.

For many years, the story that had been playing out in Greater Zhou's martial arts world was the struggle between Ming Jian and Qi Lin. The stories all ended the same way, though: Good conquers evil, Ming Jian was a righteous cause that was given much support by others, while Qi Lin was an unrighteous group that could find no one to support them.

"Why are you going there?" Luo Ze furrowed his brows when Qi Lin Villa was mentioned.

Luo Wei replied, "Ming Jian Villa has already cast their lot in with the second prince, who else could I go to if not Qi Lin?"

"What did you say?!" Luo Zhi Qiu slammed his hand into the desk.

Luo Wei could only bring a bitter smile to his face as he watched his usually calm father lose his composure. Ming Jian Villa's sixth young master, Ning Fei, would later become a grand general under Emperor Ping Zhang's rule, and would be commended by Long Xuan as a star general of Greater Zhou, one in a hundred years. And this Ning Fei would also be the one who led the soldiers as they came to confiscate the property of the senior chancellor's estate.

Luo Zhi Qiu folded his hands behind his back as he paced with heavy steps. Suddenly stopping, he asked, "Is this information credible?"

Luo Wei nodded, "Extremely credible."

Luo Zhi Qiu said, "Then why did you only bring it up today?"

Luo Wei blinked, "I forgot."

"You forgot?" Luo Zhi Qiu ground his teeth from anger, but he couldn't bring himself to lose his temper.

Luo Wei glanced at his second eldest brother, Luo Ze, who was still a little dazed from the information, as he addressed Luo Zhi Qiu, "Father, the way that the second prince and the Junior Chancellor is going about this is understandable. They need help from the outside."

Luo Zhi Qiu replied, "Ming Jian Villa is a paragon of virtue in the world of righteous martial artists, how could they have agreed to this treacherous plot?"

Luo Wei answered, "That's not hard to understand either. It's only logical they'd follow the second prince. If they help the second prince now, they'll be commended for their outstanding service to the throne in the future. Between the two sides, Ming Jian Villa is just trying to get a bigger piece of the pie and seek out a better future for themselves. If I'm not wrong, by my estimate, Ming Jian Villa's sixth young master, Ning Fei, otherwise known as Ning Zi Zhou will participate in this year's imperial military examinations come spring. He'll take top place, and his name will be spread far and wide."

Luo Ze jumped up with unstrained rage, "If that kid dares to show his face, I'll kill him!"

Luo Wei laughed out loud, "Big brother, you're an proper imperial general, why would you waste your time with someone from the martial arts world? Since he's from that world, we'll just get someone from that world to deal with him."

Luo Zhi Qiu understood, "So you want to use Qi Lin Villa to deal with Ming Jian Villa? Qi Lin aren't known for being moral and righteous people."

Luo Wei asked in response, "Father, how clean do you think the people in Ming Jian Villa are? How many shady deals do you think the Junior Chancellor pulled off using them, how much dirty money do you think they received in return? Qi Lin Villa might be 'unrighteous' but how bad do you think they could get? They're only tools, we should focus on who's using them instead."

Luo Zi Qiu sat back down, "How do you know Qi Lin Villa is going to do what you want them to?"

Luo Wei shrugged, "They might not be in it for merit or wealth, but they won't say no if they knew that they could crush Ming Jian Villa underfoot. This has been Qi Lin Villa's Luo(3) family's goal for generations."

Luo Zhi Qiu kept the crease between his brows, "And what are you going to give them?"

Luo Wei tugged at the wick of the candle next to him, the flame flickering uncertainly as he let out four words, "Yi Zhou's salt mines."

FOOTNOTES:

1. Qi Lin Mountain Villa - The characters used for "qi lin" are the same for the mythical animal in Chinese folklore, often translated into "unicorn". The mountain villa is this group's base.

2. Ming Jian Mountain Villa - The name can be translated into "famous sword".

3. Qi Lin's Luo family - The Luo family from the Qi Lin villa uses a different character for the "luo" in their name, and has a different tone. Not to be mistaken with the same Luo as Luo Wei.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES:

Do y'all remember Zi Zhou from chapter 1??? : ) He's ba~aaack.

Also thanks so much for comments guys!! Some of them are really informative since I don't end up reading a lot of English translations of Chinese novels. I made a revision in the previous chapter due to some of these comments, and will be nudging things around as I find better ways of expressing them! : )