Chapter 41: Banquet

"Chief Qi." Shen Yuqing took the initiative to speak.

Qi Xuansu also went over: "Assistant Shen, hello."

In formal occasions with many people, or when the relationship is not that close, it is not good to call the secretary directly, but to call the position.

These big secretaries all have the position of assistant. Qingwei Zhenren is the head of Beichen Hall, and Shen Yuqing is the assistant of Beichen Hall. At the same time, he also serves as the chief secretary of Beichen Hall and the boss of other Beichen Hall secretaries.

The chief secretary and the personal secretary of the head of the hall are two positions, or they can be two people, but the two people often have power struggles. The chief secretary has a higher position and is the direct boss of the personal secretary, but is far away from the head of the hall. The personal secretary is close to power, but the position is lower, and the two sides often have various games.

The reason for separating these two positions is mainly because of energy issues. One is responsible for the Daotang and the other is responsible for the head of the hall. Although the two often overlap, they are sometimes separated. It is difficult for one person to take care of both and they are unable to split their time.

However, considering that most of those who can reach this point are celestial beings, the energy problem is not a big problem, and there are also people who hold two positions.

Because Li Zhuyu often assumes some functions of secretary or chief secretary, Shen Yuqing's position is both the chief secretary and the personal secretary of Qingwei Zhenren. The power of a secretary often depends on the "boss" he follows. Considering that Qingwei Zhenren is the second-in-command Zhenren, it is no exaggeration to say that Qi Xuansu is the second-in-command of Beichen Hall in public, and Shen Yuqing is the second-in-command of Beichen Hall in private.

This is close to power.

The only drawback is that this position is not of high grade, and the five generations of great masters clearly stipulate that in order to prevent power abuse, no one can serve as a secretary for a long time and needs to be replaced regularly, so Xie Jiaofeng was sent out, away from power, and had to be careful with Qi Xuansu. This is also the pain point of many secretaries. When they are in office, of course they are in high positions and have great power, after all, they are the second-in-command. But they also have to make friends widely. After all, sooner or later, there will be a day to go out. Away from power, they do not have real power. They are foxes who rely on the power of the tiger. Without the tiger behind them, their influence will drop drastically.

Today, Qi Xuansu has to be polite to Shen Yuqing, but once Shen Yuqing is sent out, she will not be treated like this when she sees Qi Xuansu again. She will have to learn to be flexible like Xie Jiaofeng.

It is better to be respectful early than late. Shen Yuqing naturally understands this principle, so she hurriedly returned the greeting to Qi Xuansu, as if she was competing with Qi Xuansu to see who is more polite. ..

Then Shen Yuqing said softly: "Master, please ask Chief Qi to come over."

Qi Xuansu nodded: "Please lead the way, Assistant Shen."

Shen Yuqing did not walk on the huge stone disc driven by the formation, but led Qi Xuansu to a mountain trail next to it.

On the way, Qi Xuansu wanted to find out the attitude of Qingwei Zhenren from Shen Yuqing, so he asked: "Assistant Shen, what does Zhenren want to see me for?"

Shen Yuqing's answer was flawless: "It should be about the implementation of the Jinque Resolution by the Jiangnan Daofu."

Qi Xuansu didn't ask any more questions.

Shen Yuqing didn't lead Qi Xuansu all the way to the top of the mountain, but stopped at about halfway up the mountain. There were waterfalls, bamboo forests, pools, and rivers here. The scenery was excellent, but there were Taoist priests who were very unsightly guarding, and ordinary people were not allowed to enter.

However, with Shen Yuqing's guidance, it was naturally unobstructed all the way. Going deep along the river, there was a pavilion between the half-hidden bamboo forests, and Qingwei Zhenren was sitting inside.

Shen Yuqing stopped outside the pavilion, and Qi Xuansu walked into the pavilion alone.

Qi Xuansu leaned back against the beauty backrest in the pavilion and casually stretched out his hand: "Sit down."

Qi Xuansu sat down, but he didn't lean against the beauty backrest behind him, and he stood straight. This was not a confrontational attitude, but a respectful attitude. No matter what, Qingwei Zhenren is his superior. The so-called neither humble nor arrogant, many people only remember not being humble, don't act humble and flattering, but forget not being arrogant, what is not arrogant? Simply put, it means being humble, not arrogant, and not confrontational.

Qingwei Zhenren said in a flat tone: "I have heard about the Jiangnan Daofu. This time I asked you to come here because I want to talk to you about a few of my views."

Qi Xuansu said: "Please give me instructions, Qingwei Zhenren."..

"Not instructions, just opinions, and there are some questions." Qingwei Zhenren's attitude is very subtle.

Qi Xuansu had to answer: "Yes."

Qingwei Zhenren said: "First of all, it is about the blockade of Fenglinzhou. You have done a good job in Jiangnan Daofu. You have implemented Jinque's resolution well and helped Jiangnan Daofu complete the initial work of blocking Fenglinzhou."

Qingwei Zhenren first gave Qi Xuansu affirmation. Qi Xuansu knew that there must be a "but", and then it should be denied.

However, to Qi Xuansu's surprise, Qingwei Zhenren then affirmed: "You did a good job in Li Tianlan's case. You had a good sense of proportion. You did not affect the normal work of Jiangnan Daofu, and you controlled the impact within a certain range, without causing too much shock."

One affirmation after another reminded Qi Xuansu of a very inappropriate metaphor that had many similarities: Xiao Yin must be quiet because of something. If one day, Xiao Yin becomes quiet, it means that he is either plotting something bad or has already made trouble.

Will the continuous affirmation lead to a greater negation?

Qi Xuansu hurriedly said: "Zhenren, you are too kind..."

"Don't interrupt me." Qingwei Zhenren interrupted Qi Xuansu's interruption, "I have read the relevant files, I have no opinion, I just have a question, I hope you can answer me truthfully."

Qi Xuansu couldn't help but look deeply at Qingwei Zhenren: "Zhenren, please ask."

Qingwei Zhenren said: "This key witness Liu Hu has never been found in the past. How did you find him?"

Qi Xuansu was silent for a moment: "Qiniang helped me find him."

Qi Xuansu asked again: "How did Qiniang find Liu Hu?"

Qi Xuansu said: "From my perspective, Qiniang always likes to play idle chess and burn cold stoves. It should be the first time that the Jiangnan case At that time, Qi Niang had already found Liu Hu. As for how she found him, I didn't even have the qualifications to participate in the first major case in Jiangnan at that time, so I naturally didn't know. But I guess that Qi Niang might have happened to meet him and saved him. "

Qingwei Zhenren asked again: "Why didn't Qi Niang hand him over to the Taoist sect?"

Qi Xuansu was still responsible. He didn't ask Qingwei Zhenren to ask Qi Niang, but chose to answer Qingwei Zhenren directly: "Maybe she didn't trust some people in the Taoist sect. Even Qing Xiao was assassinated several times because of this case, not to mention Liu Hu."

"Who are these certain people specifically?" Qingwei Zhenren looked at Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu said as a matter of course: "Of course it is Li Tianlan, and Li Tianlan's accomplices."

"As far as I know, Liu Hu also passed the exam in Wuxu Palace and registered as a Taoist priest. What do you think?"

"This matter is related to Ziwei Hall. I have not worked in Ziwei Hall for a long time, so I don't know."

Qingwei Zhenren finally asked: "How did you arrange that Liu Hu?"

Qi Xuansu said: "Liu Hu is the daughter of Liu Shiying. The Taoist sect did not hold Liu Shiying accountable, so Liu Hu is considered a Taoist orphan. This time she has made contributions again, so I temporarily arranged her in Jiangnan Daofu, with Chief Lei."

Qingwei Zhenren looked deeply at Qi Xuansu and said nothing more.

People of Qingwei Zhenren's status must speak correctly and stand firm. Many things can be done but not said. Once they are said, they are politically incorrect. Once leaked, it is a question of right and wrong.

So Qingwei Zhenren has to go around with Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu naturally understood, but he was deliberately pretending to be stupid, and also grasped the line of correctness and said some seemingly correct nonsense.

At this point, Qingwei Zhenren finally got impatient and stopped beating around the bush and started to directly hit Qi Xuansu: "What do you think about the Qingping Society?"

Qi Xuansu was really silent this time.

After a while, Qi Xuansu said: "Is this matter related to the Qingping Society?"

"Isn't Liu Hu's foster father a member of the Qingping Society? Isn't it also thanks to the power of the Qingping Society that Liu Hu was able to escape the pursuit of certain people in the Taoist sect? How can it not be related?" After all, Qingwei Zhenren is the head of Beichen Hall. As long as he wants to know something, Beichen Hall, this behemoth, will work at full capacity and can find out the truth in a very short time. In the past, Qingwei Zhenren didn't know the existence of Liu Hu, a little person, but now that it's on the file and he knows, there is no secret at all.

Qi Xuansu felt a huge pressure.

Qingwei Zhenren then asked: "Is there any problem with Liu Hu? How does Ziwei Hall conduct background checks?"

Qi Xuansu took a deep breath and replied: "All members of Qingping Society have dual identities. Maybe Liu Hu's adoptive father is a member of Qingping Society, maybe not. Regardless of whether it is or not, it does not mean that Liu Hu knows the truth, let alone that Liu Hu is a member of Qingping Society."

Qingwei Zhenren's words went straight to the point: "Are you guaranteeing her?"

Qi Xuansu was silent again.

This question is not easy to answer. If he answered yes, and then Qingwei Zhenren immediately threw out some evidence that he didn't know about, confirming the relationship between Liu Hu and Qingping Society, then he would fall into a very passive situation, and even himself could not be saved.

Qingwei Zhenren slightly emphasized his tone: "Reply."

Qi Xuansu could only answer: "These are just some of my opinions."

Qingwei Zhenren said: "Then it's just speculation? Is it an analysis of the situation or your feelings mixed with personal emotional factors?"

Qi Xuansu said: "Feelings are not made out of nothing, but also come from analysis. I think that Liu Hu's problem is essentially no different from Li Tianlan's problem. Li Tianlan is not a member of a secret society, but it does not prevent him from being on good terms with Wu Guangbi, the head of the 'Heavenly Court', and even let Wu Guangbi personally take action to obstruct the Dao Mansion from handling the case. We can't say that the second deputy palace master of the Taoist sect is a member of the 'Heavenly Court'. Similarly, maybe Liu Hu really got help from the Qingping Society, but we can't say that Liu Hu is a member of the Qingping Society because of this."