The shop assistant saw her acting suspiciously and asked in confusion, “Shopkeeper Sun, what is it?”
Sun Ping gestured for him to lean in closer, pointed at the shop that Yu Qing had entered, and whispered in his ear for a while.
“This…” The shop assistant looked somewhat reluctant. “Is this appropriate?”
Sun Ping immediately pulled out a hundred-tael silver note and slapped it into his hand. “Take this for tea. I am not asking you to fight or kill anyone.”
The shop assistant was caught between laughter and tears. “Alright, but you must keep watch nearby. If that person gets annoyed and things turn violent, you have to show up in time.”
Sun Ping said, “Relax, this is Youjiao Wharf. No one dares to cause trouble. If anything happens, just push it all on me.”
The shop assistant sighed. “Fine.”
“Stop dawdling and go quickly.” Sun Ping actually pushed him out, showing how anxious she was.
The shop assistant entered the shop, looking back every few steps.
Shortly after, the masked Yu Qing came out of the shop. Sun Ping, hiding by the street, felt slightly relieved. As long as he did not change his appearance and run off, it was fine.
Just as Yu Qing stepped down the stairs at the entrance, the shop assistant followed out and suddenly made his move. From the side he grabbed Yu Qing’s mask and yanked it off directly. “Old Song, why are you wearing a mask?”
Yu Qing was startled, instantly drew his sword, and turned to face him.
Pedestrians on the street were alarmed by the scene and moved aside one after another.
The shop assistant jumped in fright, quickly pretended to have mistaken the person, hurriedly returned the mask, and bowed repeatedly. “Sorry, sorry, I mistook you for someone else. It was my eyes failing me. I got the wrong person.”
Yu Qing sheathed his sword, snatched back the mask, quickly covered his face again, then swiftly scanned the surroundings. His heart was now highly alert.
Although the other party had said sorry and apologised claiming it was a misunderstanding, he did not believe such a coincidence at all. He instantly realised there was something fishy. It was very likely he had been spotted when coming out of Miaoqing Hall, and it was probably the Jianyuan Zhai that had been watching Miaoqing Hall all along.
He dared not linger any longer. Instead of taking the main street, he quickly slipped into a side alley and disappeared.
In another alley, Sun Ping was already leaning against the wall with her back, her eyes full of disbelief. She had seen it. She never dreamed that the one secretly meeting with the young miss would be A Shiheng. She really could not believe it.
Previously she had wondered who would secretly meet with the young miss, who had long secluded herself and avoided outsiders.
She did not expect it to be a man, and that guy. Had that guy not already left Youjiao Wharf?
She was not against Tie Miaoqing finding another man. She had always felt the young miss did not need to remain a widow for life, after all she was still so young.
Moreover, with the young miss’s abilities insufficient to protect and establish herself, she hoped the young miss could find a man truly worthy of lifelong reliance.
She had even advised Tie Miaoqing that past matters were in the past, and jianghu daughters should not be bound by trivialities. She should let go at the right time and seek a new beginning.
She just never expected things to happen so suddenly. Heavens, she had no idea when the two had hooked up. If she had not suddenly returned midway and spotted the flaw, she feared she would have been kept in the dark forever.
It was actually that Tanhua Lang?
A young man and woman, both talented and beautiful, having spent so much time privately together, and the young miss still nervously hiding it. One could imagine what the two had been doing behind closed doors.
Sun Ping began to feel some worry.
It was normal for Tanhua Lang to like their young miss. Their young miss was naturally beautiful. How many men could claim they did not like her?
What she worried about was how the young miss could like such a young fellow. The age difference was quite large. If the man was older it would be one thing, but the woman was nearly ten years older than the man, which felt somewhat inappropriate.
The other party was young and unmarried, while the young miss was a widow. Could this be suitable?
The key point was that the lad had done something unreliable, abandoning his promising future, shouting about abandoning literature for martial arts. A proper scholar, a top jinshi, had blindly mixed into the jianghu. What kind of thing was this? How much water must have entered his brain for him to do such a thing?
If that lad were still on the official path, it would be fine for the young miss to follow him.
Actually the young miss had from childhood been almost like a proper young lady from a great family, just born into a jianghu household. Her temperament really was not suited for the path of cultivation. Becoming an official’s wife, protected by that person’s family background, supporting her husband and teaching children for life would actually be more suitable.
The bad part was that the lad had taken the wrong medicine, refusing the good road and insisting on jumping into the pit himself. The cultivation world was a place of fighting and killing, not so easy to mix in. Now he probably could not even sort out his own affairs, so how could he have the ability to protect the young miss completely.
She knew very clearly, having learned from Yan Xu’s case, that a person without sufficient ability not only could not give the young miss anything but might even be dragged down by the young miss’s beauty. After the young miss married Yan Xu, she was almost trapped in Youjiao Wharf not daring to go out, and Yan Xu lost his life. Was that not exactly the reason?
She soon also found the answer to why the young miss would like that lad. Same as before, the young miss was not suited for the cultivation world. Deep down she liked refined things. Such a great scholar would not perfectly suit the young miss’s taste?
Thinking of this, she felt somewhat amused and helpless. What she worried about more now was that the lad might just be playing around.
For a moment she did not know whether she should go find Tie Miaoqing and expose this matter. After thinking it over repeatedly, she still felt it best to observe the situation first. After all, a widow privately meeting a wild man at home was not exactly an honourable thing.
To be honest, she still found it a bit hard to believe that their young miss could do such a thing. Because she knew their young miss well, she suspected it was that Tanhua Lang who had actively seduced her.
Once again flying out from the rumbling waterfall, treading the iron chains to fly along the shore, Yu Qing after landing looked up at the starry sky while secretly observing the surroundings.
At this time he had already taken on the appearance of an old man.
After discovering he might have been spotted by Jianyuan Zhai again, he immediately played hide and seek all over Youjiao Wharf, specifically finding a shop specialising in disguise and directly paying them to change his appearance.
Without lingering, he headed straight for the horse market down the mountain again.
He bought five horses, rode one, led four, and thus galloped off across the vast Gobi Desert, constantly observing left, right, and all around along the way.
Switching horses along the way, about half an hour later, he arrived at a small hill that looked as if it had been bitten.
Upon his arrival, Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie who had been waiting there almost did not recognise him.
Only when Yu Qing threw the reins and shouted “Mount up” did the two realise who it was.
Nan Zhu asked strangely, “Why disguise as an old man?”
Yu Qing on horseback said in a deep voice, “No choice. I ran into something suspicious. I might have been spotted by people from Jianyuan Zhai again. Let’s go, hurry.”
Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie were startled and immediately climbed onto the horses.
With the extra horse from before, there were now clearly three extra mounts.
Before they could ask, Yu Qing explained, “Two horses per person, switch mounts along the way, to leave this place at the fastest speed.”
The six horses quickly thundered off, reached the official road, and then followed the official road under the stars and moon towards the distant horizon.
“Old Fifteen, how much money did you borrow?”
“You will not help me repay it anyway. What business is it of yours?”
“Fine, we will not interfere. You have to cover all the expenses on this trip.”
“First honestly call out ‘Sect Leader’ for me to hear.”
“Old Fifteen, you are being boring now. This is taking advantage of someone’s misfortune, you know? If you insist on this, in terms of friendship my bond with Iron Maiden is much closer than yours. I could go back now and still borrow money. You believe that?”
“You dead fatso, even with disguise your figure can be recognised. If you are not afraid of Jianyuan Zhai killing you, then go ahead.”
“You… Old Nine, can you swallow this anger? My figure is no good. You go back to Miaoqing Hall once.”
The martial brothers argued along the way. When they truly encountered large expenses, Yu Qing had no choice but to take care of the two.
The two senior brothers did not have a single coin on them, so he could only keep accounts for them and calculate how much they owed him again.
And the expenses on this trip were indeed large. Travelling like this with double horses switching, day and night without stop, once reaching a post station to change horses, they changed two at a time. Just the road fees alone were nearly a hundred taels per person per day, three hundred to four hundred for three people.
Three days without sleep or rest, rushing day and night, they ran straight to three thousand li away. Only when they saw clear mountains and beautiful waters did the three martial brothers feel safe and dare to slacken and rest.
Jianyuan Zhai, inner courtyard pavilion, Qin Jue sat alone, flipping through recent account books. Having lost over two million in vain, he was pondering where to find some balance, after all it was not his business alone.
Cui You hurriedly barged in from the outer courtyard, directly entered the pavilion, cupped his hands in greeting, then bowed and reported, “Great Shopkeeper, you asked me to keep an eye on that ‘Jian Yuan Mountain’. I arranged people to investigate. Based on some returned messages, ‘Jian Yuan Mountain’ might truly have some situation.”
Qin Jue gave an oh, interested. “What situation?”
Previously when arranging people to rob that Tanhua Lang, they unintentionally discovered that the fellow had bought information about Jian Yuan Mountain from the Wanglou. It made them somewhat curious, feeling that the fellow’s identity at Youjiao Wharf was probably for going to Jian Yuan Mountain. Otherwise there was no need to spend money on targeted information. The timing matched perfectly.
First, curious why the Tanhua Lang would travel far to Jian Yuan Mountain. There must be some reason.
Second, also worried that the guy might stir up trouble that could implicate Jianyuan Zhai.
So they had people maintain some attention, and unexpectedly there really was a situation.
Cui You said, “Currently the demon cultivator controlling Jian Yuan Mountain is a tiger demon named Hong Teng. This mountain king recently wants to take a concubine, and the concubine he is taking is actually the spirit pet of Mu Lu Kai, the prefect of Luan Prefecture. His spirit pet is a spirit fox named Ming Yue, who already has considerable cultivation and can transform into human form.
About half a month ago, Mu Lu Kai wanted some mountain delicacies and asked Hong Teng for help. Hong Teng assisted.
Later, in reciprocity, Mu Lu Kai invited Hong Teng to the prefectural manor to thank him and hosted a banquet.
During the banquet, Mu Lu Kai’s spirit pet Ming Yue, charming and seductive, performed songs and dances, instantly captivating Hong Teng’s soul.
After some back and forth communication, Mu Lu Kai agreed to gift Ming Yue to Hong Teng as a concubine, but with a condition: treat it like marrying off a daughter, saying he usually treated Ming Yue as his own daughter. Therefore, a joyous event is about to occur at Jian Yuan Mountain: the mountain king Hong Teng taking a concubine.”
Qin Jue listened while savouring it, then after hearing hesitated. “Lusting after beauty is very normal. Is there any problem?”
Cui You said, “Great Shopkeeper, there really is a problem. A familiar acquaintance often interacts with the Luan Prefecture manor side. Recently they discovered that some disguised strangers had appeared around the soon-to-be-married Ming Yue. Unintentionally they found out they were actually people from Si Nan Prefecture. The people from Si Nan Prefecture had disguised themselves as Ming Yue’s escort guards for the wedding. It was clear they intended to seize the opportunity to quietly enter Jian Yuan Mountain.”