It must be said, Huang Yingying's appearance is quite distinctive. The man in black returned hurriedly in less than a two-hour after leaving, and whispered in Mei You's ear, who was pouring tea, "Assistant Director, I found out. I checked the entries and exits on the day in the records of the supervision, and discovered it wasn't someone from the mountain, it was 'the son-in-law from Bai's Rice Shop,' that old Huang Yingying. When Fan Wuzhe was punished, he just happened to go up the mountain to deliver rice, so he probably saw it. Except for him, I really can't recall anyone else on the mountain having that face."

"It's him..." Mei You, holding the teapot, seemed thoughtful, remembering who it was, and then said sternly, "Whether or not he recognized Fan Wuzhe, the matter of Fan Wuzhe's capture must not be known to Dong Wenshu. Once he finds out, he will surely figure out what's happened. Even if things work out, given Dong Wenshu's character, we'll have a hard time of it."

Setting the teapot aside, he emphasized, "This matter must not fail. Quickly find that Huang. It hasn't been long since he saw Fan Wuzhe, so any spread should be limited in the short term. Arrest and interrogate him quickly to confirm if any news has leaked, make sure to pry open his mouth, and eliminate all who know. Remember, capture secretly, don't make a big commotion."

"Understood." The man in black left once more with his orders.

Outside the city, amid the endless grasslands, Huang Yingying treaded on the Heart-wrapping Grass, bouncing up and down while looking around as he leapt into the air.

After circling around for a long time and looking for quite a while, only then did his distant gaze notice a place with disorderly grass, and he immediately flew over.

Seeing a group of scattered fine-scaled colts grazing, and no herders around, he immediately raised his neck and shouted, "Little Gao, Little Gao, where are you?"

After waiting a while without a response, he shouted again, "Little Gao, Little Gao, I'm here to pay back the debt, do you want it or not, if not I'm leaving."

As he finished speaking, a figure leaped out from one side of the grass forest, landed on a leaf of grass and bounced, sliding and drifting to his side. It was Wu Jinliang.

Like the sun rising in the west, Wu Jinliang looked him up and down, actually coming to pay back the debt, how could he not suspect if it was a fake.

It should be the person himself, no doubt, Wu Jinliang reached out directly, "Where's the money, give it here."

Huang Yingying slapped his hand away and instead grinned slyly, reaching out, "Give me the IOU, and also another hundred gold, and I'll tell you a secret."

Wu Jinliang raised an eyebrow gradually, then turned and walked away, leaving a parting word, "Get lost!"

Huang Yingying hurriedly changed his tone, "Forget it, old friends, a discount, fifty gold."

Wu Jinliang still ignored him, turned over and mounted a fine-scaled colt to ride away.

Huang Yingying quickly shouted, "The second lady of the Book Pavilion is getting married, you didn't know?"

"Huh..." Wu Jinliang was startled, looking at him, admonished, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

He often went to the Book Pavilion, if Dong Liangyu was getting married, how could he not know.

However, he was suspicious, this cunning old man wouldn't come all the way here to amuse him.

Seeing him pause, Huang Yingying immediately realized the situation was steady. The other party was indeed interested, but turned and walked away, waving a hand behind him, "Don't believe it, then forget it."

Wu Jinliang was left staring blankly, the conversation was half-finished and dull. Seeing the person truly disappearing into the grass forest's depths, he finally shouted, "Even if she's getting married, what's it got to do with my debt?"

Huang Yingying couldn't be bothered, walking away faster, his figure already vanishing into the deep of the grass forest.

Wu Jinliang grit his teeth and, well, he finally gave in, tapping the fine-scaled colt's belly with his legs, riding it to chase after. Soon he caught up, got off and let the colt run away, landing next to Huang Yingying, coldly harrumphing, "If you can't offset the debt, if it isn't worth fifty gold, see how I handle you."

While speaking, he took out the IOU and an additional fifty gold, tossing them in front of Huang Yingying.

Seeing the Sandal Gold Flame Energy, Huang Yingying's expression immediately couldn't hold, his eyes lit up at the sight of money, he seized it eagerly, first checking the IOU with no issues, quickly destroyed it, then counted the Sandal Gold amount, also no problem. He swiftly stashed them into his money pouch, then chuckled, "Little Gao, I knew at a glance you are a passionate seed, truly didn't mistake it, by the way the second lady of the Book Pavilion getting married, you really didn't know?"

Wu Jinliang frowned, "Where did you hear from?"

"What do you mean where did I hear, saw with my own eyes, now it's common knowledge in the city..." Huang Yingying eagerly talked about what he saw.

Wu Jinliang had to acknowledge this guy, couldn't change his old habit of roaming wherever there's excitement, after listening, hesitantly asked, "What kind of person is the man?"

Face full of glee, Huang Yingying shook his head, "Not sure, heard people call him some cousin."

"Cousin?" Wu Jinliang muttered, after thinking, snorted, "Just this, and you took a few hundred Sandal Gold from me?"

"Don't worry, if you truly have feelings for that second lady, these few hundred Sandal Gold are certainly well spent." Huang Yingying said, glancing around, suddenly lowered his voice, "That cousin has issues, whether the marriage is true I don't know, but eight or nine out of ten, he has other agendas."

Wu Jinliang frowned, "Don't be cryptic, be straightforward."

Huang Yingying, "Little Gao, don't look down on me. In Dazhi City, some matters might really be only discernible by me. Speaking of which, every trade in Dazhi City has to pay taxes, my family's rice shop is no exception. What's special is, my rice shop never pays in cash, always uses Spirit Rice to offset taxes, after all, the mountain in the city also needs to eat Spirit Rice, deducting directly from rice price is fine.

Every time delivering rice to the tax supervisor, it's basically me personally escorting. Once after delivering rice to the tax supervisor and going down the mountain, I saw two tax supervision guys who were beaten, looking bruised and swollen, they also went down the mountain. Out of curiosity, I secretly followed them, wanting to see what's going on.

Turns out they went to a tavern in the city, shut the door and drank in silence. I was curious and couldn't help but eavesdrop at the wall, heard a bunch of complaints, only then learned they were punished for incompetence by Assistant Director Mei You."

Wu Jinliang was skeptical, "Related to the Book Pavilion?"

Huang Yingying, "Don't rush, listen to the old man slowly. Why did Mei Shaojian punish them? You guessed right, it's related to the Book Pavilion, Mei Shaojian took a liking to the 'Chao Yue Hall' property, you know that location, one of the best in Dazhi City, and it's a compound with several courtyards, how much do you think that's worth?"

Wu Jinliang estimated, "Probably starts at ten million, Mei Shaojian was tempted by wealth?"

Huang Yingying explained softly, "Not just tempted by wealth, not for that money, heard it was for some important figure looking to settle in Dazhi City, and took a liking to the Book Pavilion land, thinking a mansion there would be nice, then somehow someone took on the task boastfully, simple reason, Dong Wenshu refused to sell, claiming it's an ancestral home.

Mei Shaojian might just be running errands in this matter, negotiated tediously for a long time, not only willing to buy at a high price but also to find another plot in the city to rebuild the Book Collection Pavilion, but that old Dong Wenshu is notoriously stubborn. Once he decided not to sell at any price, money couldn't buy it.

So the tax supervisor wanted to find an entry point in the Book Pavilion's taxes, but Dong Wenshu, just as firm as his character, made no fault to be found. The two tax supervisor guys who got beaten were due to incompetence in this matter, causing Mei You's ire.

I understand why Mei You doesn't dare to force his way, City Lord knows about the Book Pavilion, occasionally visits to look for books and may chat with Dong Wenshu. In other words, Dong Wenshu is among the rare merchants in the city who can talk directly to the City Lord, though he doesn't have much of a name, yet he can enter the City Lord Mansion directly."

Wu Jinliang listened intently, also somewhat surprised, didn't expect such matters hidden behind the Book Pavilion.

"Then about a month ago, I went to deliver the rice to the tax supervisor again, then heard someone being tortured with miserable screams, don't know who was suffering. I couldn't resist curiosity, sneaked over for a look, you guess who I saw?"

"..." Wu Jinliang was speechless, although long aware of this old man's extreme curiosity, loving to bustle wherever there's trouble, he still couldn't help but admit; he peeks everywhere, not afraid to invite trouble?

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