Before leaving, Yu Qing first gave Nan Zhu a greeting.
Nan Zhu found it both amusing and understandable. This woman was afraid that if she went to buy clothes it would let Old Fifteenth run away. She was watching tightly enough.
Yu Qing, who had gone onto the street, pulled his hat brim low, and accompanied Qiao Qie’er for a good stroll. Along the way they even passed by the entrance of Miaoqing Hall.
They did not stroll for too long. They bought several sets of clothes to change into and some daily necessities, then returned. Moreover they were the relatively simple style kind.
A stroll through the clothes-selling shop made Yu Qing ponder whether to convert Miaoqing Hall into this kind of shop. Later he thought, even if this business operated at Youjiao Port, for one shop to want to earn a million taels a year was basically impossible.
He also knew, for relatively normal, ordinary businesses, wanting to earn over a million taels of silver a year was very very difficult.
All kinds of money-making thoughts had long since turned over in his mind who knew how many times. Wanting to earn big money, and wanting to earn big money in the short term, in the end could only be thoughts. There was no such good thing. If there were such good things they would long since have been monopolised in other people’s hands. It would not be his turn for this clever soul to pop up now.
After returning, Qiao Qie’er probably realised there was no way to watch Yu Qing forever. After returning she needed to bathe, and had to make Yu Qing step out for a moment.
Thus Yu Qing again hid in Nan Zhu’s room. Mu Aotie had not yet returned. The two senior brothers continued to put their heads together muttering.
“Old Fifteenth, I have to say, always keeping this woman around is not the way to go.”
“She insists on following. What can be done?”
“Come off it. If you really did not let her follow, she might not be able to follow. Back then at Horseshoe Island, when she was unconscious, you could have shaken her off.”
“Alas, after all it was us who implicated her, causing her family to be ruined and people dead. If by chance bad people sneaked into the secret tunnel, would that not harm her life?”
“I said so. Either your sympathy is overflowing, or you see that she is pretty. Old Fifteenth, think clearly. Searching for the Golden Ruins with her along is not convenient. She is not our person. These things should not be known by her.”
Yu Qing fell silent and said nothing.
Just at this time, the door opened. Mu Aotie returned. Under the gaze of the two, he directly found brush, ink, paper and inkstone, and wrote and drew on a sheet of paper.
Yu Qing and Nan Zhu naturally leaned over to look.
Mu Aotie only put down the brush after writing eight place names, and pointed. “I only wrote down these eight place names. You see if they will do.”
Yu Qing took the place names and looked. Not one had he heard of. “You went to find them yourself. Whether they will do or not, you yourself should have some idea.”
“Found according to what you said. All are ancient place names. There are remote places, and also prosperous places. There are from the demon realm, and also from the human world.”
In order to produce these place names, he specially ran to shops selling ancient objects according to Yu Qing’s meaning, found some ancient books to flip through, looked up some ancient place names distributed in various places comparing past and present, wrote them down and brought them back.
“You would not even mess this up. Very well, just use these.” Yu Qing nodded and replied, silently memorising the place names on the paper.
“Shall I go to the Watchtower?”
Yu Qing shook the paper in his hand to indicate the reason for doing this. “Still the same words. That Watchtower says it is a place that strictly keeps secrets, but who dares guarantee whether there will be any problems or not. Your two builds are more distinctive. My frame is more ordinary. Better I go.”
The words had just fallen when knocking came from outside. Qiao Qie’er’s voice rang out. “Are you there?”
“Yes.”
Nan Zhu immediately pointed toward the door, and said in a low voice. “That woman is clinging to you to death. How will you go?”
Yu Qing scoffed. “If I really wanted to shake her off, could she follow? Rest assured, I have a way.”
Nan Zhu immediately pointed at him, and said to Mu Aotie. “Old Ninth, see it or not. At the end of the day, it is still himself seeing that she is pretty and not wanting to shake her off. Continuing like this, believe it or not, once this brat acts muddled, he is not a good bird. Sooner or later he will bed this woman.”
“Enough, am I not the same as you two?” Yu Qing finished speaking and abandoned the two, opening the door and going out. Seeing the woman outside, freshly washed, with half her face covered by a gauze scarf, he could not help looking up and down a few more times, then returned to the room with her.
In the room where the two senior brothers were together, Mu Aotie however furrowed his brows.
“What is it?”
Seeing his reaction was off, Nan Zhu, strolling with hands behind his back, asked.
“Do you really think Old Fifteenth will sleep with this woman? Have you seen some sign?”
Nan Zhu chuckled. “You and I are both experienced people. Do we still need to see signs? A lone man and woman sharing a room long term. The woman is also pretty, she has both the looks and the figure. Old Fifteenth’s looks are also not bad. Continuing according to this situation, it would be strange if the two did not spark fire.”
“Old Fifteenth’s heart is not bad, but he is also not a proper gentleman. Long since he was trained crooked by Little Martial Uncle’s group. When he turns wicked he is a beast. This woman is also blinded by hatred. She actually dares to live together like this with a man. Is this not a little lamb delivered to the hungry wolf’s mouth?”
“If it really happens like this, would she not become a sister-in-law?”
“Uh…” Nan Zhu was stunned. The smile on his face vanished.
Thinking about it, if it really were like that, would she not become a sister-in-law? You could not tell Old Fifteenth to play then dump her. I am afraid Old Fifteenth himself might not agree.
Returning to his own room, Yu Qing’s nostrils slightly flared. He smelled the scent after bathing. Looking again at Qiao Qie’er’s pretty appearance, he could not help having some wandering thoughts in his mind.
Of course, some secret thoughts would not delay him from doing proper business. Looking at the room environment, he said. “Only one couch. Sleeping is inconvenient. Perhaps I should still go to the other room to rest.”
“No need. I will not sleep. You use the couch. I just need a space to sit cross-legged in meditation.”
“Fine.” Yu Qing shrugged his shoulders, with an indifferent appearance. However he turned and left, again wanting to open the door and go out.
Qiao Qie’er immediately followed.
Yu Qing stopped, turned his head and said. “I also feel uncomfortable all over. I also want to go wash. Men also need to wash. You would not let me bathe before your eyes, right?”
Obviously not expecting to discuss this topic, a trace of shyness and panic flashed in Qiao Qie’er’s eyes. She turned her head to avoid his gaze and said. “I will go outside to guard. That is fine.” She finished speaking and was about to go out.
Yu Qing reached out to block her. “No need, no need. I like to slowly soak in a bath. Moreover, me bathing while you guard the door for me, what kind of matter is that. You just stay here. Rest assured, I will not run.” He finished speaking and opened the door and went out.
Qiao Qie’er stood guarding the open door in a daze for a while, with a sense of being in a dilemma.
Yu Qing outside shouted for a waiter to come, asking for bath water to be delivered. After that he burst into the two senior brothers’ room, closed the door, immediately walked to the desk, took out that paper and put it down.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie leaned over. The former asked. “What is it?”
Yu Qing did not speak, answering with practical action. He pulled over a paper, picked up the brush dipped in ink to copy the place names, deliberately hiding his own handwriting, and among the eight ancient place names added the ancient place name “Golden Valley”, making it equal to nine ancient place names.
The two senior brothers looked and knew what was happening.
Yu Qing lifted the paper to blow dry the ink traces, put it in his bosom, and crumpled what Mu Aotie had previously written into powder, then explained the situation to the two.
When the waiter delivered several large buckets of cold and hot water and closed the door, Yu Qing then used a piece of black cloth to cover his face, borrowed the cloak from this room to put on, with his head covered, quietly opened the window, lightly slipped down, quickly left the inn, and vanished into the street.
After that was another spell of twists and turns, even taking water routes, to prevent someone from following.
With difficulty arriving outside the “Watchtower”, he observed the surroundings, found an unclosed ladder passage and went in, then closed the door to prove this room had a guest, then slowly groped up along the long ladder, trying his best to pretend to be a first-timer.
Passing through the long corridor to arrive at the second floor, he quietly waited in a pitch-black space.
Not long after, light suddenly appeared in the room. Firelight refracted from the roof mirror, shining obliquely onto a table.
Very quickly, a one-eyed man emerged from behind the table. Dressed all in black, wearing a black ingot-shaped hat, satin ribbons hanging from both sides of the brim. Combined with the room environment, it gave people an extremely eerie atmosphere.
The one-eyed man reached out to make a “please” gesture. “There is a chair. Come sit.”
Yu Qing walked over and sat down. He still sat in the darkness. Only the one-eyed man himself was clearly illuminated by the light column.
“What do you need? Please tell me.”
Yu Qing deliberately spoke in a hoarse voice. “Flipped through some ancient books, wanted to resolve some doubts, therefore want to find what several ancient place names are called nowadays. I do not know if the Watchtower can solve this.”
“No need to explain reasons to us. We have no interest in guests’ privacy. Even if guests say it we will only treat it as not heard. Just tell me the place names.”
The meaning in the words was easy to understand. Probably few guests who came here would speak truth. It was better for both sides to be simple and direct.
Very well. Yu Qing also did not nag, took out the nine ancient place names written previously and handed them over.
He did not know whether covering the ancient place name “Golden Valley” like this was useful, but it was better than bringing a bare “Golden Valley” place name. That would be too conspicuous.
The one-eyed man reached out to receive it, opened and looked, then asked. “Are you looking for the present names of these nine ancient place names?”
“Yes.”
“Very well. We will do our best to help you search, but must inform you that the results may not be as you wish, and we may not be able to provide all clearly. If you are certain you wish to continue, nine place names, each place name requires a deposit of one thousand taels. You need to pay nine thousand taels deposit. Three days later you come again, we will give you a reply.”
“Three days later, whether or not we can provide the results you want, the deposit will absolutely not be refunded. After that according to the results of the nine place names, we will charge per item, each charging you five thousand taels. For those not found out, no need to pay extra. See whether you wish to continue. If continuing, please first pay nine thousand taels deposit.”
Yu Qing could be considered to have submitted to this so-called Watchtower. Look at how they conduct business. That is what you call polite overbearingness that leaves you helpless. Always regardless of whether there are results or not they do not refund guests’ money. The key point is that after finally providing the message they also do not take responsibility for the message results they provide. If you have doubts you can choose not to come.
Hearing this charging method, Yu Qing had some reservations in his heart. Had he known earlier he would have written two fewer place names. But his hands still honestly took out money, counted nine thousand taels and handed it to the other party.
The other party received the money and immediately picked up the brush to make records. After finishing, they handed out a token to Yu Qing. “Three days later come to complete the transaction. We only recognise the token and money, not the person.”
“Mm.” Yu Qing received the token, stood up and left.