Pancake Stall

After spending his time for almost an hour in Consort Xian's palace, Qin Zhi Hao finally left the place. His stepped halted as he reached the garden and he turned around towards the direction of his Consort Mother's palace with a complicated look in his eyes.

The trees nearby rustled and a man dressed in all black appeared beside the prince.

"Your Highness," Pei Yan clasped his hand and stood erectly. He stared at the Prince hesitantly and decided to speak. "Your Highness, you are already troubled with the matter of the Lantern Festival. But His Majesty—"

His words were left unfinished as the Prince had raised his hand, motioning him not to speak a word.

"It has not been a long time since we have returned to the city," Qin Zhi Hao spoke. "It was only natural if His Majesty assigned us to inspect this matter. I have no choice but to do things personally." His eyes narrowed and there was a slight crease on his face. "His Majesty wanted to test my capability."

The guard merely lowered his head into a bow.

"Pei Yan." Qin Zhi Hao motioned the man to step closer and whispered a few words. Then, the guard stood up straight and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

…

The sun was glaring as Officer Zhou Ming tilted his head to look up at the sky.

However, at this time, the West Market was still bustling with business activity. The people were walking around, minding their own business.

The Lantern Festival will begin in a few days. More and more merchants came through both land and sea to join in this festivity as well as took part to do their business and the crowd was making it hard for Officer Zhou to walk through.

"The city is getting crowded each day," the guard who was following closely to Officer Zhou commented with an annoyed look on his face as someone had just bumped into his shoulder. "If you ask me, they should be limiting the number of entries to the city. Having too many people around this city is too troublesome. The office received reports of steal and robbery every day. And that does not include other crimes."

Officer Zhou snickered as he listened to the man's words. "Lin Da Wei, are you complaining about His Majesty's decision?"

The guard's face immediately paled. "Officer Zhou, don't scare me like this. I am merely a guard. How can I dare to complain."

"Then just shut up and do your job well. If they wanted us to patrol the city, then we can only comply and patrol in the city," Officer Zhou said. A slight frown appeared on his face as he thought of his fate. For someone in his position, he can just stay in the building and give his command to his subordinate to do the job. However, the higher-ups did not favor him. When Chief Zhang Yue assigned him and his team to do this menial job, he can only comply.

"The economy will only bloom and with more and more people coming into the city," Officer Zhou continued. "Do you know how much the merchant had to pay to enter the city and do their business here?" He watched as Lin Da Wei shook his head and chuckled. "Of course you don't. The amount of money they paid to do their business in the city is more than your yearly salary."

Lin Da Wei's face turned to shock. His mind started to calculate the amount of money the country made just by allowing the merchant to do their trade during this festivity. His heart started to bleed as he imagined the amount of money.

A helpless sigh escaped from Officer Zhou Ming as he looked at his man. "Just do your job well and followed what your supervisor asked you to do if you want to live well. Who knows, if we're lucky, we might get ourselves some bonus."

"Yes." The guard nodded.

"Besides, this patrolling job is not too bad," Officer Zhou said. "At least we can walk around and pretend that we are a part of this festivity as well. If you're tired, you can stop and rest. If you're hungry, you can stop by the stall and try varieties of delicacies."

Liu Da Wei's face brightened up and he inches closer to Officer Zhou Ming. "Officer Zhou, later, let's visit the noodle stall near the south entrance for lunch. Their noodles are very delicious."

Officer Zhou stopped on his track upon hearing the guard's words. He turned around and raised a brow. "Are you sure you like to eat at the stall because their noodles are delicious? Don't think I don't know that you liked that young lady at the stall."

An embarrassed look appeared on the guard's face. "Officer Zhou, why do you have to expose me? Just pretend that you know nothing."

A loud laugh escaped from Officer Zhou as he and his team continued to walk and patrol the city. However, this laugh soon faded when Officer Zhou Ming saw a familiar face not far away from him. His eyes flashed with a serious look and quickly disappeared. Officer Zhou waved his hand to his team and spoke languidly," You guys go first. I'm going to buy some onion pancake first."

"Yes." The guards answered in unison before they turned to leave.

Once the guards disappeared among the crowd, Officer Zhou turned around and head over to the pancake stall. "Old man, give me one piece of pancake. Be generous with the sauce."

"Alright." The old man nodded happily as he reached for his spatula. "One piece of pancake with extra sauce."

Officer Zhou leaned on the wooden panel and whispered, "What do you have for me?"

His hand moved stealthily to push down the red stick at the side of the stall. Earlier, he had noticed that the red stick was sticking out and knew that his master left some urgent message for him.

"Pei Yan left a letter for you," the old man whispered without moving his lips too much.

A slight frown appeared on Officer Zhou's face. A message from Pei Yan could only mean that it was a message from His Highness Prince Yi.

"Gentleman, your pancake," the old man spoke He stretched his hand with the hot pancake wrapped in a thick paper.

Officer Zhou turned around and reached for the pancake. The corner of his lips moved as he felt the letter under the paper. Once he had paid for his pancake, Officer Zhou quickly walked away, munching on his pancake slowly.

He reached a corner and pulled out the letter upon confirming that the area around him was safe enough. His expression changed a few times as he read the instruction from Prince Yi.