Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 260: Peeling Cocoons Drawing Silk

Well, she must have her own motives. She could also be intentionally or unintentionally leaking information to other visitors from the Central Plains. Otherwise, why would she suddenly start treating me differently when I asked for Jiangnan cuisine? Then, when I said that I would rather just eat some shredded mutton, she seemed to lose interest.

She was probably referring to Situ Xiao when she was talking about a drunkard that lingered here. He probably also dug up a lot of information before leaving.

Lady Three, who was still happily drinking, extended her hand and said, “Anything else you want to ask? Ten taels for each question.”

Zhao Changhe smiled and suddenly said, “Hey, now I can’t help but suspect that you're using the information your organization has to make some money for yourself.”

“Don’t spout nonsense!” Lady Three immediately sat up straight, her eyes darting around. “What organization? This is all the information I collected painstakingly on my own!”

As she spoke, she started putting on an act and began fake crying. “As a weak woman, do you know how difficult it is to survive alone here where the barbarians are?”

“Hm, I guess you probably have to deal with bullies like Ubalu, right? It must be tough, huh?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“I see, I see. You’re pretending to be innocent because you’ve got to entertain guests.”

Lady Three’s fake crying stopped abruptly, and she smiled slyly. “Well, what can I say, life isn’t easy... Do you want to buy anything else?”

Zhao Changhe thought for a moment and asked, “What about the distribution of powerful experts on the Grasslan—”

“No.”

“Then what about some strange secret realms or mysteries? Like how a lake formed in the desert? Did it form naturally, or...”

Before he could finish speaking, Lady Three’s expression changed and she interrupted him again. “No. Why do you keep asking such strange things? Are you looking for trouble? I’m not going to sell you any such information.”

Zhao Changhe glanced at her and sighed. “Alright, alright. I, Wang Daozhong, just can’t seem to read people sometimes. I guess this is why I get scolded wherever I go.”

Lady Three was speechless.

“One last question,” Zhao Changhe handed over another piece of silver.

Lady Three quickly put away the money and said with a bright smile, “Go ahead.”

“Didn’t Yue Hongling kill some Black Wolf Khan in the Grasslands before? Is she still there now?”

Lady Three glanced at him curiously. “Why? Are you planning to capture her and claim a reward from the khagan? Or are you planning on pursuing the heroine?”

“I’m just here to buy information. Why do you care what I do with it? When others buy a butcher’s knife, the sellers wouldn’t ask whether the customer is planning to use it to slaughter pigs or humans.”

“Fair.” Lady Three held her chin and thought for a while. “But if her whereabouts could easily be obtained here, then it would prove that she’s in danger. If you’re pursuing her, then you should pray that no one knows her whereabouts.”

Zhao Changhe nodded. “That makes sense. So, no one still knows her whereabouts?”

“No... You know, recently, it doesn’t matter if men come and go, but as soon as a woman appears, she might immediately be surrounded by a large group of soldiers.”

“All because of Yue Hongling?”

“Exactly.” Lady Three smiled faintly. “So, Yue Hongling is probably in a bit of trouble now. She’s likely in need of supplies. Even if she robs people as a bandit, what she can get might not be that useful. Whether it’s money or silk, it’s not like those can be eaten. She needs food, water, and horse fodder. If things go on like this, she might have to take a risk and come to Huangsha Market again. If you stay here, you might actually get to see her. As for whether you want to play the hero saving the damsel in distress, that’s up to you. As you said, what you do with the information I give you is none of my business.”

Zhao Changhe nodded. “I understand. You not only sell information, but also your analysis. It was worth the money.”

Lady Three smiled brightly. “Of course, if there’s anything else you want to buy, just ask me!”

Zhao Changhe could not shake the feeling that she was waiting for him to say that he wanted to buy her, and then she would splash him with the water she used to wash her feet. Unfortunately, he had no intention of cooperating with her in playing out such a scene. He simply said, “I feel like going out for a bit. Do you have any recommendations? Something unique to see here... I don’t mean jewelry and spices from the Western Regions, but rather the local specialties.”

Lady Three eagerly watched his hand, but he did not pass her any money.

She brushed her nose and said, “Well, I guess it would be a bit much if you’re just asking for directions. How about you go to the beast ring in the middle of the market?”

“What’s a beast ring?”

“Just think of it as a place for underground fights to the death, similar to some of the underworld activities in the Central Plains, but here they have slaves fighting.”

“I see. It sounds more like an arena, why is it called a beast ring? Is it because the opponents are fierce beasts?”

“No, the opponents are people. The reason why it’s called a beast ring is because besides fighting, there’s also some business being done... Aren’t humans just like beasts?” Lady Three smiled slightly. “Whether it’s the ones being sold or the ones doing the selling.”

Zhao Changhe sipped his wine and glanced at her.

Lady Three continued calmly, “Among the slaves being sold, there are strong men, and maybe even martial arts experts who specialize in fighting beasts...”

Zhao Changhe nodded. “Got it. I’ll go take a look.”

As they drank and talked, they soon finished their flagons of wine. When they finished their wine, Zhao Changhe did not order another and staggered as he left the counter. “Lady Three, you’re quite stingy. I bought you a drink, yet you didn’t even offer a single peanut for snacking.”

Lady Three stomped and cursed at his departing figure. “I’m running a business here! Isn’t it you that’s stingy? You invited someone to a drink and you didn’t even buy a serving of peanuts!”

Before she finished speaking, Zhao Changhe had already walked out of the inn and onto the street.

Lady Three grumpily tidied up the empty wine flagons, and suddenly, a waiter appeared by her side. “Third lady, that man...”

“It doesn’t matter who he is, as long as he’s from Xia, it’s fine.” Lady Three gritted her teeth. “I can’t believe it, they’re all quite cunning. I’ve tried to trick all of them into killing Ubalu, but from Yue Hongling to Situ Xiao to Han Wubing, not a single one of them has taken the bait. This Wang guy is even more cunning. He keeps saying random things. I still haven’t figured out what his true purpose is. I’m even starting to think that he came here targeting us.”

“His surname might not be Wang.”

“He also might not have a wang.”[1]

The waiter looked at her with a pained expression. “Third lady... My surname is also Wang.”

Lady Three: “...”

The waiter sighed. “The fifth lord never mentioned anything about killing Ubalu. It’s one thing if you take matters into your own hands, but selling information about someone you want to kill for money... It’s simply shameless...”

“Is it? You pig-headed fool,” Lady Three huffed. “They’ll question the information if it’s given for free, but if they pay for it, they would be more inclined to think that it’s hard-earned intelligence and are less likely to think it’s false. What do you know?”

“I feel like you just want to make some money. Be careful that Ubalu doesn’t come after you first, he’s beyond the fifth lord’s reach.”

“When have I ever relied on the fifth lord here?”

“Yes, yes...”

Lady Three smirked triumphantly. “Anyway, with that guy surnamed Wang going to the beast ring, there’s at least some drama to watch...”

“Wait.” Another waiter rushed in and reported, “Third lady, that guy surnamed Wang did not go to the beast ring.”

Lady Three’s smile froze on her face. “Then where did he go?”

“He headed out, out of the market...”

Lady Three was dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, after leaving the inn, Zhao Changhe slowly walked along the streets illuminated by dim lights, heading toward the outskirts of the market.

His surroundings were full of a foreign charm, and it felt like travelers would enjoy taking in the sights here. Unfortunately, he had no intention of enjoying the sights at the moment, as his mind was occupied with thoughts.

He dared not engage in deep conversation with Lady Three, so he could only speak vaguely, concealing his true intentions. Safety was paramount, but with so many loose ends and no direct point of entry, unraveling the situation required careful consideration and was quite mentally taxing.

Sometimes Zhao Changhe grew a little tired of doing things like this. Ever since he refused Tang Wanzhuang’s token, he found himself having to investigate things again and again. He had initially envisioned a life wandering the jianghu freely, but everywhere he went, he found himself racking his brains. It was exhausting. But he now understood that it was not because of some token from the Demon Suppression Bureau, but because of his lack of strength.

With Xia Longyuan’s strength, he could simply not care. To him, all the rest were nothing more than monkeys in a circus. But since Zhao Changhe was far from that level, he had to think carefully wherever he went, otherwise he would not even know why he suddenly died.

Nevertheless, the gains were significant.

At least this time, Zhao Changhe was eighty percent confident that he could determine the whereabouts of the missing team if they weren’t dead.

But if they had been indeed sold to the beast ring, would he have to face Ubalu? He had to carefully consider how to go about this situation... From Lady Three’s attitude toward Ubalu, it seemed that she hoped he would go there and do something.

But unfortunately, there was no need for him to go. It would be meaningless because there was no way he would be able to save all the slaves in the beast ring. The objective of his mission was to simply find the team.

The Qiao Clan’s merchant caravan came here to sell goods—they passed by the tribe where the team went missing, heading north with empty carriages.

There was a good chance that some of those seemingly empty carriages were actually carrying slaves. Since they had passed by the street outside the inn to enter the market, he had been watching the street through the window to prevent the Qiao Clan from causing any trouble, but no one from their side had entered, indicating that the “goods” were still outside and had not been handed over.

Therefore, he could head to their caravan to further complete the task entrusted to him by Cui Yuanyong. As long as the members of that team had not died, there was a possibility of rescuing them. And if they were dead, he could still extract information from the caravan.

After going through many thoughts in his mind, he came to the conclusion that he had to go on a night reconnaissance mission and have a look around the Qiao Clan’s caravan no matter what.

1. This is an untranslatable triple pun. In Chinese, the original here is 王八蛋 (wáng bā dàn), which literally means turtle egg. 王(wáng) is one of the most common family names in China, so it’s completely normal to have unrelated people with that name. The 王八 (king eight) part means turtle/tortoise (because a tortoise shell is made of separate pieces and the lines between them look like the character 王) but it’s also a homonym for 忘八 (forgetting eight), meaning “forgetting the eight virtues,” as in someone who abandoned the Confucian virtues—specifically that of loyalty, so calling someone 王八 is calling them a cuckold (or promiscuous if addressed to a woman). Finally, the parenthood of any given turtle egg is unknown, so calling someone a turtle egg is basically calling them a bastard. There are a lot of jokes and curses involving turtles in Chinese, mostly related to genitals, cuckoldry, and the likes. There are many theories as to how exactly these terms came to be, and they’re as old as the early Song Dynasty, so 10th century BC. ☜