He could say whatever he wanted but the masked men did not believe him. They immediately started searching him.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie could not avoid it either. They were searched on the spot as well.
The items in the bags scattered all over the ground. The papers recording the situation at Jianyuan Mountain flew around. In the end the masked men even took the loose silver coins on the three men. They still could not gather much more money.
Anything of some value was taken away. Throughout the process Yu Qing looked at his two senior brothers who were under control. He held back and did not resist at all. He even watched as the point demon dew he was reluctant to sell cheaply was taken away.
In the end the three men were searched thoroughly. They really had no money left.
The masked men gathered together and whispered for a few moments. Then they flew away. They kept their word. After taking the money they left without killing anyone.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie tidied their messy clothes that had been searched. They spat out a few mouthfuls of bloody foam. They saw Yu Qing still staring darkly in the direction the robbers had gone. So they went over to him.
“Hey, stop looking. Robberies outside Youjiao Wharf are common. We were just unlucky.” Nan Zhu patted Yu Qing on the shoulder to comfort him.
Yu Qing said coldly, “It was not bad luck. It must have been done by that bastard Qin Jue.”
“Qin Jue, the chief manager of Jianyuan Zhai?” Nan Zhu asked in surprise.
Mu Aotie also asked in astonishment, “How do you know?”
Yu Qing turned to look at them. “When I handed the money to that person earlier, after counting it he said something. Only four million or so?”
The two senior brothers were stunned at the same time. They gradually understood what he meant. Nan Zhu asked, “You sold that fart bug for over six million?”
Yu Qing gritted his teeth and said, “How much I sold it for, I did not tell anyone. You did not know. Tie Miaoqing and the others did not know either. Only the money house and Qin Jue knew. The money house would not casually leak customer privacy.”
Old Seven and Old Nine finally realised they had suffered a hidden loss. Nan Zhu immediately became so angry that his teeth itched. He pointed at Yu Qing and cursed loudly. “You had to show off. You had to take advantage. Now look what happened. We got cleaned out completely. Even the two of us were dragged down and cleaned out too. Now the three of us do not have a single coin. What do you say we should do?”
Yu Qing said with a cold face, “I was wondering why that surnamed Qin was so generous. I even thought he was a decent person. I did not expect him to stab us in the back. When Tie Miaoqing and Sun Ping mentioned it before I did not take it seriously. Now it seems that bastard is really not a good person.”
Nan Zhu said, “Stop talking about useless things. Think of a way to get the money back.”
Yu Qing replied, “What can I do? We have no evidence. Would they admit it? We cannot beat them either. Even if little martial uncle came he might not be their match.”
Nan Zhu shouted, “Then what do you suggest? Walk back on two legs drinking the northwest wind?”
Yu Qing turned and looked around. He went to find his sword and sheathed it. Then he called his two senior brothers to collect the scattered papers about the Jianyuan Mountain situation.
After all they had spent three thousand taels of silver on them. The three injured men ran around a large area before they collected all the scattered papers again.
Holding a stack of papers Nan Zhu walked back and shoved them into Yu Qing’s hands. “If I had known they would become someone else’s money I would have spent sixty thousand taels to buy the latest information. What is the use of picking up these papers? We spent three thousand taels to buy them. If we sell them now I am afraid we cannot even get one tael. Over four million taels. My money and old seven’s money are gone too. You are the sect leader. What do you say we should do?”
Yu Qing felt the pain in his heart. He hated it even more. “I will settle this account with him sooner or later. That Tie Miaoqing. Whoever can get their hands on him I will reward with ten thousand taels. I want to piss that surnamed Qin bastard off to death.”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie were stunned when they heard this. They were simply speechless.
Then he added another sentence. “Never mind. If I count on you two that surnamed Qin probably would not die of anger. I would be angered to death by you first. It is a pity that little martial uncle that pretty boy is not here.”
Fortunately the masked men did not take the three horses away.
Unable to beat them or outsmart them they had suffered a loss in silence. With anger hard to dispel and hatred making him talk nonsense Yu Qing suddenly ran towards one of the mounts. He jumped on it and rode away swiftly.
“Hey, where are you going?”
Nan Zhu shouted but got no reply. He immediately followed with Mu Aotie onto the horses and chased after him.
Jianyuan Zhai, in a small courtyard in the inner residence. Qin Jue stood with his hands behind his back in a pavilion. His face was gloomy.
Outside the pavilion stood three shop assistants covered in cold sweat.
Cui You strode over. Seeing the scene he could not help but pause. After getting closer and seeing no one speak he touched one assistant’s arm and asked, “What happened?”
That assistant said with a sad face, “The fire cricket ran away.”
Cui You was shocked. “It was fine. How could it run away? Did I not tell you that the fire cricket is extremely fast? Once it escapes even ordinary profound level cultivators cannot catch it. Who told you to take it out so casually?”
Qin Jue suddenly spoke up. “I told them to take it out. Who knew an accident would happen.”
“Uh…” Cui You was speechless.
The assistant explained from the side, “Steward Cui, you did not see it. That fire cricket had such a good appetite. It stuffed its belly until it was almost bursting. It swelled up to the size of an egg. It became so round that its legs could not touch the ground. It was so full it could not even move. We got scared too so we asked the chief manager to come and look. Who knew… who knew…”
Cui You said, “Stop stammering. What happened?”
The assistant stamped his foot and said, “We all thought that since it was so full it should not be able to run anymore. The chief manager was worried there was a problem and told us to take it out to check. Then the accident happened. It let out a fart, a really big fart. It suddenly blew out a room full of black ash. It scared all of us. We were afraid it was poisonous. When the smoke and dust cleared there was no sign of it anywhere. It had run away without a trace. We searched everywhere but we do not even know which direction it went.”
“…” Cui You was left speechless. He looked blankly at Qin Jue in the pavilion. This man had planned to hype up that fire cricket and sell it for ten million taels. Now it was gone with one fart. Where could they even reason about this?
After sighing lightly he waved his hand at the three assistants.
After the three left he walked into the pavilion and said in a low voice, “Those three guys were caught up with but there was a small accident.”
Qin Jue frowned. “What accident could there be? Did someone interfere?”
Cui You said, “No, it went smoothly. It is just that the money was less. Together on the three of them they only got about four million four hundred and ninety thousand taels. Almost two million less.”
Qin Jue said slowly, “In just one day what did they spend two million on…”
Cui You replied, “They were afraid of exposure so it was not good to ask where the two million went.”
Qin Jue was silent in thought for a while. Finally he said with hands behind his back, “Forget it. We still got back a few million.”
Cui You said, “Chief manager, this subordinate does not understand. Since we already made a move why leave them alive?”
Qin Jue glanced at him. “No choice. Their background is good. We cannot compare. His father was the former head of the Yu department in Jin country. The forces behind him are huge. That kid could become a favoured person around the imperial censor once he enters officialdom. In the capital he dared to throw a tantrum and resign. After being surrounded like that he was still released after being caught. If you say there was no help from his father’s forces behind the scenes would you believe it?
Even if we want to kill him now is not the time. He was just killed right after leaving Youjiao Wharf. Unless we can keep it completely secret otherwise with such large dealings between us and him how could we escape suspicion? He said he resigned. Once news of his death spreads who knows if his father’s forces will ignore it. If we really get targeted by those people it will be very troublesome. Plus that fellow’s reputation is indeed big. It would not be strange if it attracts people who come to take revenge after hearing of his fame.”
Cui You looked as if he suddenly understood. He cupped his hands and said, “The chief manager is truly far sighted.”
Qin Jue looked around. “The fire cricket. Send people to search again. Search every corner of the entire shop carefully once more.”
“Yes.” Cui You accepted the order. He had just turned around when he thought of something. He turned back and said, “Chief manager, the purpose of those three guys going to the lookout tower should be clear now. Our people found a detailed written record about Jianyuan Mountain in Luan prefecture of Jin country on them.”
“Jin country… Luan prefecture… Jianyuan Mountain…” Qin Jue muttered for a while then said hesitantly, “Why did they go to the lookout tower to buy information on this?”
Cui You said, “I do not know.”
…
In a desolate area, a small town.
When Yu Qing and the others arrived on horseback it was already close to evening.
This was a place they had passed through before on the way to Youjiao Wharf. They had rested here and eaten.
Now after making a big circle the three martial brothers had come back again. They were going to Youjiao Wharf once more.
No choice. They were completely out of money. They planned to borrow from Tie Miaoqing. Apart from finding Tie Miaoqing they did not know who else to ask in this godforsaken place.
They could only circle back to the original small town.
As before the three sold their horses again. There were people here who specialised in buying horses.
The horses they had bought for several dozen taels each at the horse market before could only be sold for five taels each here. Take it or leave it. No pressure.
After all the buyers would then transport them back to the horse market to sell. What could you do?
Generally people who came here had to sell. After leaving Youjiao Wharf they would already be very far away. Few were willing to make a big circle to come back.
The three martial brothers also had to sell two horses. They were so poor they did not have a single coin. They had to sell horses to gather ten taels of silver to buy skateboards into Youjiao Wharf.
In the end the three only had one horse left. They led it towards the outside of the town against the setting sun.
“How about I go find iron maiden.” Nan Zhu looked like he had decided to thicken his skin and go.
Yu Qing said, “I really do not want to make this trip but are your builds not too eye catching? Before we could be spotted from so many people. It is probably related to this. I still need to disguise myself when going in and out. If you are not afraid of death and want to get done by Qin Jue again then you go.” He showed the ten taels of silver in his palm.
With just this little money only one of the three could go.
Nan Zhu withdrew his hand. He placed both hands on his big belly and stayed silent.
Yu Qing put the silver ingot away.
Just as the three walked out from under the old wooden archway of the town Yu Qing’s hand that was putting away the silver had not yet come out of his robe when a bug lying on the wooden archway rushed towards him.
Yu Qing reacted fairly well. The hand he pulled out from his robe slapped the bug away.
The bug fell to the ground and struggled to flip over. The three casually glanced at the ground. Their gazes had just moved away from the bug when they all froze at the same time. They looked back very neatly and were all stunned.
The bug flew over again with a whoosh and pounced towards Yu Qing once more.
Yu Qing grabbed it in his hand. He pinched it with two fingers and turned it over and over to look. His face full of doubt he muttered to himself, “It looks a bit like the fire cricket. There is one in this open area too?” He looked around at the surroundings.
The two senior brothers were also very puzzled. Nan Zhu said suspiciously, “Why does it feel like that fart bug you raised?”