Inside the room, the anxious Qian Wutong suddenly stood up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, the hairs on his body standing on end, his heart beating like a drum.
He hoped he had misheard, hoped it was his own illusion, but alas, that weird and sarcastic tone from outside had called out more than once, chanting repeatedly.
He walked quickly to the door, but hesitated to open it.
There was still a faint yellowish glow on the horizon that had not completely faded, but the night in the mountains was already deep.
By the mountain path, Nanzhu walked back and forth with his hands behind his back, occasionally letting out a weird, drawn out cry.
“Who is wailing over there?”
A shout came from the courtyard at the entrance of the horse stable. Someone leaped over the courtyard wall, rushed to Nanzhu, and stared with wide eyes at him in the dim light for a while before softening his tone and saying, “Who are you, and why are you making such a racket here?”
Actually, he had already realised this was a conference attendee. The sect had stated beforehand that everyone in the sect must treat attendees politely and show hospitality, so he also had to restrain himself a bit.
Nanzhu saw another person flash out from behind him. After vaguely making out his face, he smiled and replied, “A mountain wanderer just passing through!”
The former frowned and said, “Wandering around in the middle of the night? Are you here to attend the Chaoyang Assembly? This is no place for you to wander.”
The latter patted his shoulder and said, “You go back and rest first, let me talk to him.”
The former was dismissive, but the latter pulled his shoulder and gave him a push. Only then did the former leave, flicking his sleeves with slight dissatisfaction.
The latter who remained at the scene was none other than Qian Wutong, who was now staring coldly at Nanzhu.
Nanzhu, on the other hand, wore a smiling face.
After a quiet standoff, Qian Wutong, having made some kind of decision, spoke up, “Who are you?”
Nanzhu: “Who I am is not important, you will know once you check. What is important is that I will do my best to keep the secret between you and your senior sister.”
With the truth laid bare, Qian Wutong could no longer keep up the pretence. His face instantly became somewhat hideous, his breathing grew heavy, and he seemed to be on the verge of an outburst.
Nanzhu smiled and said, “It is best not to act impulsively. Since I dare to come here, your impulsiveness is useless. Even if you kill me, you cannot silence me. If I do not return within a certain time, your sect will probably come to clean house. You should be able to imagine what that situation would be like. Besides, you may not necessarily be my match!”
Qian Wutong struggled to suppress his impulse, having realised the other party had ulterior motives. He gritted his teeth and asked, “What do you want? I am a useless person, a handyman, a coachman. I have almost nothing, and I hold no status in Kunling Mountain. I cannot give you anything.”
Nanzhu: “I heard your carriage can travel freely to and from the Kunling Mountain sect. I hope you can do me a favour when I need it.”
Qian Wutong’s pupils suddenly contracted. “What do you want to do? Do you want me to betray my sect?”
Nanzhu: “Rest assured, as long as your sect does not actively provoke us, we will not do anything detrimental to your sect. Asking you for this favour is also to avoid any misunderstandings with your sect.”
Us? Qian Wutong realised there was more than one person. He said in a deep voice, “Things are probably not as simple as you say. Once you are exposed, once you are caught, how can I escape?”
Nanzhu: “Do you think we can be caught that easily? We will not act rashly on things we are not sure of. Taking a step back, if you had to choose between being punished for betraying the sect and being punished after an affair is exposed, which would you choose? As long as it is not too excessive, the most likely outcome for the former is being beaten up and then expelled from the sect.”
Qian Wutong fell silent, looking hesitant.
Nanzhu sighed. “Fine, I will not force you. Since you are unwilling, I will go find your senior sister. Perhaps she will help me figure something out.” Having said that, he turned and walked away.
“Wait.” Qian Wutong hurriedly called out to stop him.
Nanzhu stopped, turned around, looked at him, and quietly waited for his reply.
After much hesitation, Qian Wutong finally gritted his teeth and said, “Do not let my senior sister know about this, otherwise she will definitely stop it. She would rather ruin her own reputation than agree to your demands. As long as you guarantee that no matter what happens, my senior sister will not be implicated, I can agree to your terms!”
Since he cared so much about that senior sister, Nanzhu, who had only been testing the waters just now, was finally relieved. He smiled and said cheerfully, “Good! I swear to heaven, as long as you cooperate well, I guarantee your senior sister will not be implicated. Otherwise, may heaven strike me down and let me die a terrible death! Brother Qian, I can only guarantee this much. Saying more would be pointless.”
Looking at the fat man before him who seemed like a demon, Qian Wutong’s shoulders slumped.
So Nanzhu leaned in close to him and whispered about the details.
When Nanzhu returned to the hilltop building in the Dingyin District, the personnel secretly tailing him from the neighbouring house also returned. They met with Keran immediately and detailed the observations regarding Nanzhu after taking over the surveillance.
However, due to the nature of the tailing, they did not dare to get close and did not know what happened in that large warehouse courtyard. They only knew Nanzhu was following Qian Wutong. In view of this, they suspected that the person Nanzhu met at night by the horse stable might also be Qian Wutong. It was too dark to see clearly at night, so this remained to be verified.
“A coachman? Following him and then meeting him, what does he want to do?”
Gu Gou. Keran paced and muttered, but he did not dare to alert the enemy. He could only have his people continue to watch and arrange for someone to investigate secretly, wanting to confirm whether the person meeting Nanzhu by the horse stable was indeed Qian Wutong.
In the building next door, Yu Qing spent some effort persuading Baili Xin to leave before pulling Nanzhu back into the room to ask how things went.
Nanzhu put on a look of leave it to me and rest assured. “Rest assured, I have him in my grasp, and he agreed. As long as he coordinates the loading of the goods, we can go to the sect at any time and wait for our notice to depart. However, he said it is best to leave before dark, as departing at night easily attracts attention. There is another point, he said he cannot help us get past the checkpoints, so we have to figure that out ourselves.”
Yu Qing was just wondering if it had come too easily, and asked upon hearing this, “What?”
Nanzhu: “Things are not like they used to be. In the past, most disciples of the Kunling Mountain sect could walk around freely. Now, the Chaoyang Assembly has established ten major districts. To prevent troublemakers from causing chaos, his carriage must also be searched when leaving the Ding District. That is to say, he cannot help us evade the checkpoint searches. Only after we pass the checkpoint can he take us along the remaining route.”
Mu Aotie reminded him, “Last time we went to the Spirit Valley, we did not encounter any checkpoint interceptions or searches along the way.”
Nanzhu: “I asked about this too. He said that is different. He said that was a carriage pulled by the spiritual beast Qianshu, which indicates it is carrying distinguished guests of the sect. It is equivalent to the sect directly guaranteeing it. If anything happens, it has nothing to do with the guards, and the checkpoint will let it pass directly. His broken carriage for loading goods cannot be compared to that at all. He also lamented that many things are indeed divided by status and class.”
Yu Qing waved his hand. “This is not a big deal, passing one checkpoint should be no problem. By the way, with your sharp tongue, old seven, did you not ask him how he ended up with his own senior sister?”
He had always been worried about this. To be precise, he now could not help but suspect any coincidence.
Nanzhu chuckled. “I asked. He did not want to talk about it, saying it had nothing to do with me, so I did not ask any further.”
Time in the mountains passed quickly. Since the three brothers registered to enter the mountain, more than half a month had passed in the blink of an eye. There were only eight or nine days left until the assembly officially began. More and more miscellaneous people gathered on the mountain, and it became increasingly lively.
Yu Qing, who would go to the edge of the mountain to sit every evening before dusk, followed his routine this day. He grabbed a handful of soil and kneaded it. After his kneading gesture stiffened, he pushed aside the weeds nearby, looked at the back of the grass, and then stood up. Gazing at the distant valley, he saw a faint mist rising in the sunless, shady valley. He immediately threw the soil from his hand and walked quickly back into the small building.
Seeing Nanzhu, he leaned close to his ear and said just one sentence, “Notify him to depart.”
Nanzhu was stunned. After waiting for all these days, old fifteen was finally willing to move. He nodded and left immediately.
He went quickly and returned just as fast, bringing back the agreement made with Qian Wutong.
Seeing the few people packing their things, Baili Xin naturally sensed something was wrong and stuck to Yu Qing’s side, not leaving him for a step.
Yu Qing did not drive her away. Instead, taking advantage of her inattention, he directly poked a pressure point on her back with one finger, and then rapidly tapped a few more points.
Baili Xin’s eyes widened as she fell down. She never dreamed this guy would be so direct. After waking up to the reality, her eyes were full of anger and unwillingness.
Nanzhu and Mu Aotie were dumbfounded. They had long been pondering how to shake off this woman when carrying out their task, but they did not expect old fifteen to be so simple and crude.
Yu Qing caught her falling figure and said to the dumbfounded Nanzhu, “What are you staring at? Why not carry her back to the room? If you do not carry her, I will.”
“I will do it, I will do it, no need to trouble you.” Nanzhu hurriedly squeezed over and directly embraced Baili Xin. It was truly a case of holding a fragrant and soft beauty, but Baili Xin’s eyes stared at him as if she wanted to eat him alive. He could only chuckle dryly and shift the blame, “This is not my fault. Old fifteen is the one who made a move on you. I am just following orders.”
Baili Xin immediately made eye gestures, signalling him to release the restrictions on her body.
Nanzhu, however, tapped her with a finger to knock her unconscious, and only then asked, “Are we really going to leave her here alone?”
Yu Qing: “You stay here and keep her company.”
“Me staying again?” Nanzhu widened his eyes, looking unwilling.
Yu Qing: “If you do not stay, do you expect me to stay and keep her company?”
“If you do not go…” Nanzhu lost his confidence as he spoke. If old fifteen did not go, and let him and old nine go, it would probably be very difficult. Sometimes one had to admit that he indeed did not have old fifteen’s capabilities.
Yu Qing tilted his head and gestured towards Mu Aotie. “Can you rest assured letting old nine stay? Do not let his indifferent appearance fool you. In reality, you and I both know he is quite reserved but secretly passionate. Leaving an immobilised woman by his side, who knows what he might do to her? Who knows if he might take the opportunity to grope her?”
Nanzhu was speechless. Looking again at the woman in his arms and thinking about old nine’s habit of pretending to be cool in front of women and taking off his clothes to show off his muscles, he truly felt worried.
Mu Aotie, on the other hand, looked disdainful but did not talk back. The meaning that an upright person does not fear a crooked shadow was obvious, as he had always been so aloof.
Thinking that he would soon go on an adventure with him again, Yu Qing cleared his throat, showed some mercy with his words, and changed the subject. “Someone has to watch her. What if someone comes? Old nine is clumsy with words and cannot handle it. You are more cunning, so it is perfectly suitable for you to stay.”
Nanzhu sighed. “Alright, say no more. There are no good words coming out of your mouth. I will stay.”
Yu Qing reached out his hand again and indicated, “Give me that bead.”