Volume Four: Traces in the Dark Sea
Danyun Pavilion was a shop in Youjiao Wharf specialising in the buying and selling of pills.
Outside, the streets were bustling with people, and inside the shop there were a few scattered customers. In the side hall for receiving guests, a delicate round table held a plate filled with a pile of tender yellow pills. Xiao Hei sat there swinging his bare feet, tossing the pills into his mouth and chewing them as if they were sugar drops.
Slung diagonally across Xiao Hei’s back was the “Big Stick”. It had to be slung that way because it was taller than him. It was not exactly being carried either, as the “Big Stick” had stretched out two legs to cling to him. Looking after itself was better than being dragged on the ground, and the wear and tear from the journey was unpleasant enough.
Of course, Xiao Hei occasionally passed a pill to the “Big Stick” behind him to taste.
Manager Tong stood by with a beaming smile, holding a teacup and sipping his tea while watching the dishevelled child gorge himself.
By the time the pills on the plate were almost gone, a person walked in quickly from outside and headed straight for the side hall. The shop assistants did not stop him.
Wu Hei had arrived. He pushed aside the beaded curtain of the side hall and strode in. Staring at his son, whose mouth was constantly crunching, his face darkened.
Xiao Hei grabbed the last few pills from the plate in one sweep and quickly hid his hands behind his back.
Manager Tong stood up with a smile and said, “Boss Wu is here. I have been keeping a good eye on your son for you, not daring to let a single thing go wrong.”
Wu Hei said with a straight face, “Manager Tong, what have you fed him this time?”
Manager Tong replied, “Please rest assured about this. I would definitely not let him eat anything he should not. It was just a few ‘Snow Heart Pills’, a good thing for clearing the mind and brightening the eyes.”
Wu Hei said, “Manager Tong, I have told you not to give him anything else to eat.”
Manager Tong sighed and said, “I understand what you say, but what can I do? Do you not know your own son? He carries his big stick and barges in, looking like he is going to sweep away all demons and monsters. The first time he came, when I did not give them to him, he smashed my counter to pieces with one strike of his stick and took them himself. He eats pills like sugar drops and even picks his flavours.
I was stunned at the time. I have never seen anyone so wild. Someone daring to be so arrogant in Youjiao Wharf is truly something I have seen for the first time. I had no idea where he came from and did not dare to provoke him. I went to complain to Youya, and when the people from Youya came to take a look, they found it was just an ignorant child and could not be bothered to manage it, telling us to settle it privately.
Now look, he has carried his stick and come again. Given your son’s temper, what can I do with him? Do you believe that if I chase him out, he will immediately smash the front door of my shop? I hear he has already smashed a few others. There is truly no way out, so I can only treat him like an ancestor and serve him.”
Wu Hei said with a gloomy face, “Stop talking nonsense. Just tell me, how much?”
Manager Tong immediately pointed to three porcelain bottles on the table and said, “Not much, just three bottles, a little over fifty thousand taels. Since we are old acquaintances, let us make it an even fifty thousand taels.”
Without a word, Wu Hei took out his banknotes, counted out fifty thousand taels, and threw them on the table. Then he walked around to the other side of the table, grabbed the back of his son’s neck, and marched him straight out.
Manager Tong quickly chased out to the door, holding a pair of children’s shoes in his hand, and shouted, “Shoes, Boss Wu, the child’s shoes.”
Wu Hei looked back, took the shoes, and continued to stride away.
Manager Tong, however, winked playfully at Xiao Hei, who was looking back. The meaning was very clear that he would still welcome him next time, encouraging him to come again.
Xiao Hei was still stuffing the “sugar drops” in his hand into his mouth, continuing to crunch away.
Wu Hei, with his straight face, was somewhat furious. Where was this? This was Youjiao Wharf, where everything was ridiculously expensive. They had only been here for a few months, and this little brat had already wasted nearly a million taels of his silver.
He was now truly doubting whether bringing his son into the world was a mistake.
In the past, when he was alone with his son, there were not so many messy things to worry about. Now, this son made him watch him as if guarding against a thief. If he was slightly inattentive and the boy ran out, he would cause trouble.
He had originally wanted to be a low key boss, but now, because of this son, many merchants nearby knew him.
That was right. He was now the boss of “Miao Qing Tang”, taking over the position of Boss Tie Miaoqing, and just like Tie Miaoqing before him, he became a boss in name only.
As for Tie Miaoqing, she had already left Miao Qing Tang and had no face to stay.
After Yu Qing and the others returned from the Golden Ruins, they exposed the fact that there was a mole inside Miao Qing Tang, which led to Tie Miaoqing conducting a self investigation.
The manager, Sun Ping, honestly confessed that she was the mole. The reason was that her husband, Zhu Shangbiao, was not dead and had fallen into the hands of the other party. They used this to force her. Moreover, Sun Ping felt that the group of Yu Qing had never treated them as their own people and deliberately avoided them on many matters. In short, the accumulation of emotions from all aspects led her to become a mole, and she had been providing information about Yu Qing and the others to the outside world.
As for who the mastermind was, she did not know either.
Tie Miaoqing was probably the most devastated. The people of her Miao Qing Tang had become spies for others one by one, even her most trusted person. How could she bear it?
Yu Qing did not do anything to Sun Ping. Although he had the heart to kill her, he ultimately did not touch her. The identity of Sun Ping in Youjiao Wharf was also one of the reasons.
He did not say anything about driving Sun Ping away, but Sun Ping could not stay on her own either. Not touching her was already very lenient.
Having almost caused the deaths of Yu Qing and the others, Tie Miaoqing could not escape blame, so she took the initiative to resign.
Yu Qing did not drive her away, but faced with the resignation of Tie Miaoqing, he did not keep her either.
He also liked having such a great beauty in the house, and it was pleasant to look at her usually. Besides, there was a little ambiguity between the two. However, he really did not dare to keep her.
The reason was simple. This time Sun Ping had confessed without reservation, but how did he know Sun Ping was telling the truth? How did he know if Sun Ping was covering for Tie Miaoqing? Who could guarantee that Tie Miaoqing was not a spy? Who could guarantee that the life of Zhu Shangbiao could not be used to threaten Tie Miaoqing?
Sun Ping could not produce evidence to prove the innocence of Tie Miaoqing, and Tie Miaoqing had not proved her own innocence from beginning to end.
What was he supposed to do? Should he investigate? Could he investigate it clearly?
Take the risk of keeping people who might be spies? The risk was too great. The original people of Miao Qing Tang were too unreliable. Should he risk the lives of these fellow disciples?
No more, really no more. One life had already been lost, and it was his lover.
Although he appeared calm on the surface, he wished he had never met Qiao Qie’er. The moment Sun Ping admitted she was the mole, he truly wished he could tear Sun Ping to pieces!
So in his view, Tie Miaoqing taking the initiative to leave was the best choice. It was good for everyone, allowing them to keep some face, and could be considered a parting on good terms. Otherwise, what would they do in the future? If they guarded against Tie Miaoqing day and night as if guarding against a thief, they would be uncomfortable, and Tie Miaoqing herself would be sad.
Perhaps Tie Miaoqing had hoped to see Yu Qing keep her, but she did not wait for it.
Nan Zhu and the others also spoke a few words for Tie Miaoqing. After all, she was a great beauty and everyone liked her, but Yu Qing did not respond at all.
On some issues, Yu Qing had more or less stood from the perspective of a sect master to handle them.
The others did not have much more to say, knowing that the death of Qiao Qie’er had truly hurt Old Fifteen severely. At that time, Old Fifteen did not even care about his own life and wanted to retrieve her!
Not keeping her was an attitude in itself!
Tie Miaoqing was not stupid, so she made a thorough handover of Miao Qing Tang. After cancelling her identity in Youjiao Wharf, she left silently with Sun Ping.
Yu Qing did not kill Sun Ping, but before parting, he still gave a sentence to Sun Ping, which was actually meant for Tie Miaoqing to hear. “What happened this time is far bigger than you imagine. The mastermind will not leave any clues that could expose himself, and it is impossible to leave your husband alive!”
At that time, they only knew that they had gone to the Dark Sea to compete for the task of Youya, and did not know that they were eventually lured to the legendary Golden Ruins. He could not tell them about the matters concerning the Golden Ruins.
Saying this was also to prevent Tie Miaoqing from being held back by someone using the life of Zhu Shangbiao. The character of this woman was somewhat hesitant and indecisive, not suitable for running a household, and truly only suitable for being an ornament.
Thus, the two women left Miao Qing Tang like this, leaving on their own initiative. As for where they went afterwards, Yu Qing and the others did not know.
During the handover, Yu Qing did not change the name of the shop. It was still called Miao Qing Tang, preserving this memorable signboard for Tie Miaoqing.
Wu Hei took over Miao Qing Tang under such circumstances. He never expected that as soon as he entered the world, he could be the boss of such a large shop in Youjiao Wharf, even though he was only a figurehead like Tie Miaoqing before him.
In short, taking it over was somewhat inexplicable. Anyway, he did not understand it at the time, so he just listened to what Yu Qing and his fellow disciples said, and properly obtained his identity in Youjiao Wharf.
Later, Yu Qing took out the frozen immortal peaches for him and his son to eat.
He and his son also needed to cultivate. In the past, they had no cultivation resources and completely relied on their long lives to slowly accumulate their cultivation. Now that they had good things, they naturally did not reject them.
The key point was that the evil energy in the immortal peaches would not have any effect on Wu Hei and his son. Unlike others who had to drink the bathwater of Datou before they could eat them, these immortal peaches were naturally a good thing for the father and son.
Yu Qing also told him that Miao Qing Tang still had a forest of immortal peaches in the Great Wasteland, and they owed a huge debt to keep this forest. Originally, Miao Qing Tang did not worry about being unable to repay these debts, as one immortal peach was to be sold for five hundred thousand taels each. Who knew that a bastard would cause trouble, making no one dare to buy them.
In short, the currently frozen immortal peaches, as well as those that would grow in the future, would all be shared with Wu Hei and his son.
Then Wu Hei inexplicably felt that he had taken advantage, so he took out fifteen million taels and let Yu Qing and the others pool twenty million taels to pay off the interest first.
Finding that the conditions here were indeed quite good, Boss Wu, who became half the master as soon as he arrived, also took the initiative to bear the daily expenses of the shop, which made Yu Qing and the others applaud and praise him.
However, they later discovered that Youjiao Wharf had rules. This was not a place that gave you shelter for free. If you did not reach a certain sales volume within the specified time, the shop would be confiscated, and Miao Qing Tang simply had nothing to sell.
What shocked Wu Hei even more was discovering that Yu Qing had purchased a large amount of Ice Souls back then to keep this batch of immortal peaches. The money to buy the Ice Souls was obtained by mortgaging the shop, with an agreement to repay thirty million taels within two and a half years. If they could not repay it, the shop would belong to someone else.
Thirty million taels was not a small amount, and it was not something you could just pick up casually in the Golden Ruins.
Even if they pooled all the money from top to bottom in the entire Miao Qing Tang, they could not possibly scrape together thirty million taels even if beaten to death.
Wu Hei was somewhat at a loss, not knowing why he had taken the initiative to put out those fifteen million, and what was the point of throwing out those fifteen million taels?
The money was already given, and the price had already been paid. What could he do? He could only endure it together with them.
He just never expected that after bringing so much money into the world, he would still feel immense financial pressure, and on top of that, he had a spendthrift son.