Zhelan Slope, the longest stretch of road a few dozen miles outside of Dazhi City, is actually a cross-mountain ridge, merely covered by the growth of Heart-wrapping Grass, making it look like a slope.

Dozens of miles are not a flat path, especially with a heavy load, yet the Fine Scale Horse can still gallop up, even when facing the long slope it charges ahead with vigor.

The two carts full of Spirit Rice reached the top of the slope and stopped. Huang Yingying also stood up on the piled rice bags, looking around and found the surroundings empty, with no one in sight.

"Fangzi, where is the person? Are you sure it's supposed to be delivered here?" Huang Yingying shouted.

The guy standing on another cart, looking around, said, "No mistake, there can't be another place called Zhelan Slope, right?"

He suddenly pointed to the road on the other side of the slope and shouted, "Don't know if that's it."

Everyone looked over and saw a cart approaching from afar.

Huang Yingying touched his small mustache and muttered, "A single cart isn't convenient either."

Though he said so, he still waited patiently.

Yet after the cart rushed up the slope, the people on it glanced at them and did not stop, continuing down the slope towards Dazhi City.

"Hey, what's the situation, are we really going to wait until dark?" Huang Yingying cursed, his pocket full of Sandalwood Gold was restless, those glamorous girls were waiting for him.

Just as the cart they encountered ran far away, there was a sudden commotion from both sides of the Heart-wrapping Grass woods. At first, the rice shop people thought the delivery people had arrived, only to be met by a group of black-clad masked men emerging from both sides, five on each side, coming in to encircle them.

Huang Yingying was shocked, his first reaction was not to resist but to escape immediately, diving towards the ground like diving into water.

The ground met him like water indeed, and with barely a sound, he easily burrowed into the earth using the Earth Escape Technique.

However, the people charging from both sides seemed to know him quite well, and almost simultaneously two chains shot towards him, clanking twice consecutively, locking his ankles just before they could sink underground, yet both chains were also dragged into the ground by his legs.

The two black-clad men holding the chains landed, then leaped up simultaneously, yanking the chains fiercely.

With a bang, earth and rocks flew as the two chains forcefully pulled the underground Huang Yingying back to the surface.

Before Huang Yingying could react, another four chains flew over, locking his neck, waist, and both wrists with a click.

"Who are you?" The astonished and struggling Huang Yingying shouted mid-air.

No one responded. After landing, the black-clad men swiftly took off again, dragging him with the chains into the Heart-wrapping Grass woods on one side.

The other three shop clerks, facing these masked men, were also helpless, each falling instantly into a pool of blood.

They were just ordinary people doing chores in the shop, with just a little cultivation for physical fitness, how could they withstand this?

After committing the crime, the masked men didn't bother to destroy evidence but quickly chased after their fellow group into the forest.

Lao Changtai, lurking in the woods, was horrified by the scene, grateful for his caution, otherwise, he might have been discovered by the masked men lurking in the forest earlier.

This caution was really based on suspicion towards Huang Yingying. He found it suspicious when Huang Yingying's group stopped and didn't dare approach lightly, not expecting to witness such a change.

Seeing that the killers didn't destroy the evidence, he realized they wouldn't leave any other traces and would likely retreat far from here. If these people got away, it would be almost impossible to find out who the culprits were. Although he didn't know why anyone would target someone from a rice shop in such a manner, he made a quick decision to follow in the direction the killers escaped.

If anything changed, he wasn't too worried about getting away himself, because he held the Magical Treasure Wind Scale.

Having been through some big scenes with Shi Chun and others, such small situations he could already face calmly.

Just to be safe, he also took out the Mother-child Talisman, quickly sending an urgent message to Shi Chun.

The evening Dazhi City bathed in the sunset glow was beautiful, and the guests in the library were gradually leaving. Shi Chun was gathering books strewn on the table.

As usual, he stacked them and carried them upstairs.

On the second floor, Dong Liangyu had already switched with her brother. Although her brother let her rest today, wanting to give the elder sister time to socialize more with the future brother-in-law, Dong Liangyu refused his good intentions and, as usual, was putting the returned books back on the shelves one by one.

Unlike usual, this time Shi Chun did not go over to help her with the books, putting down the books and turning to leave.

Dong Liangyu, slowly behind the rows of bookshelves, saw this, paused, stopped, held a book half put down, lost in thought, wondering if it was because Shi Chun found out about her upcoming marriage to Fan Wuzhe.

She was unaware she somewhat overthought it. Regardless of who she married, Shi Chun had no thoughts about it. Shi Chun merely sensed someone messaging him urgently and was eager to check the message at the stair corner.

Otherwise? He couldn't just show others he was using the Mother-child Talisman, which isn't something a mere errand boy can afford to use.

Seeing the message from Lao Changtai, Shi Chun was also puzzled. Who would organize such a setup for someone like Huang Yingying?

His thoughts almost immediately turned to Wu Jinliang; among them, only Wu Jinliang probably knew Huang Yingying the best.

Huang Yingying had specifically left the city to meet Wu Jinliang only to return immediately, which didn't seem odd at the time, but now that something happened to Huang Yingying, that specific distant run just for a meet and return immediately caught his attention and reflection.

So he took out the Mother-child Talisman to contact Wu Jinliang, first checking his surroundings, listening to movements upstairs and downstairs, then swiftly sent Wu Jinliang an inquiry message: What did Huang Yingying want from you?

Outside the city, at the racetrack under the yellow sunset, Wu Jinliang had just herded a group of fine-scaled colts into the stable. After locking the gate, he was about to wash up and head into the city to find Shi Chun and see if his cousin was as handsome as he claimed.

Suddenly, he sensed a message. After looking around, he slipped between two piles of hay, pulled out the Mother-child Talisman, and froze upon reading the message. He double-checked the code in the message; it was indeed sent by Shi Chun.

How could Chun Tian know that Huang Yingying was looking for him?

He didn't think Shi Chun was deliberately spying on him; there was no need.

What he intended to say in person, Chun Tian had now specifically inquired about; there had to be a reason. He immediately gave a brief account of what Huang Yingying had mentioned.

Standing at the corner of the Book Collection Pavilion's staircase, Shi Chun raised his eyebrows slightly, immediately guessing where the problem lay and even speculating who the possible culprit might be.

He couldn't help but curse Huang Yingying's ancestors, realizing this old man really had nothing better to do than stir up trouble.

He wanted none of this goodwill; why should he care about this lousy message? He didn't care whom Dong Liangyu married, nor did he care if the library would be seized by someone. Whether his cousins were good people or had ulterior motives was none of his business, they weren't his family, nor was it his property. As a laborer paid a meager salary, he didn't need to worry about that.

If he lost the Dong Family's job, he could find work elsewhere; there was no need to hang himself on this tree.

Now that Old Huang had stirred things up, it had become troublesome. As someone who used to conduct kidnappings, he could see the culprit wanted to silence someone. Once they pried open Old Huang's mouth and found out he had told Wu Jinliang the secret, those people would surely target Wu Jinliang.

He didn't care about the lives in the library but couldn't disregard Wu Jinliang's safety.

Lying low peacefully, he was inexplicably dragged into this mess, forcing him to curse his bad luck.

But he didn't rush to reply to Wu Jinliang's message, instead sending a message to Lao Changtai, asking: What's the strength of those people?

Lao Changtai replied: It's unclear, but they didn't destroy the bodies at the scene, and two carts of Spirit Rice were untouched. It seems they can't afford a Qiankun Bag.

With this explanation, Shi Chun had a rough idea who it was, estimating it didn't require him to step in personally. He replied immediately: Just follow them. Don't act rashly, don't get exposed. I'll have Jinliang deal with it; he'll contact you.

Lao Changtai replied: Understood.

Shi Chun quickly replied to Wu Jinliang: Huang Yingying was ambushed and captured at the Obscuring Slope, likely related to what you mentioned. It might be the tax supervisor trying to silence someone. Since they didn't kill on the spot, it means they haven't defined the message's spread. Lao Changtai is tailing the culprit. Get there quickly to handle it. Don't let what Huang Yingying told you reach the tax supervisor.

Upon reading it, Wu Jinliang couldn't help but grit his teeth, not expecting such a mess, thinking how Old Huang was so smug and unaware he exposed himself, still running here and causing trouble.

Now he had to heighten his guard, fearing an ambush.

Understanding the severity in Shi Chun's words, he knew that exposure would make all the time and effort spent here go to waste and could even cause a stir. He replied immediately: Understood, I'll handle it.

After putting away the Mother-child Talisman, he quickly pulled out another to contact Lao Changtai directly.

After confirming the location, he quickly headed to the racetrack and informed the manager he was going to town for a stroll.

Leaving the racetrack, he swiftly slipped into the heart-wrapping grass forest.

After covering a distance, he rode the Wind Scale, breaking through the grass and skimming swiftly over the vast grassy ground.

Lao Changtai, tailing them, couldn't stop and wait for him, so he had to designate a landmark and start leaving marks along the way.

Arriving at the landmark, Wu Jinliang retracted the Wind Scale, found the trail markers, and followed quietly. It wasn't time to alert the enemy yet, fearing they'd kill Huang Yingying.

It wasn't that he wanted to save Huang Yingying, but that even if she had to be silenced, he had to do it personally. He needed to find out if she exposed him…

"Is Old Huang back yet?"

Bai Qiru, puffing on a pipe behind the counter in the rice shop warehouse, asked the worker who came in to deliver something.

The worker replied, "Not yet, ma'am."

Bai Qiru acknowledged, got up, and walked around the counter, carrying her pipe at the elbow with a graceful figure, swaying her hips as she walked to the outer hall, leisurely moving to the entrance, looking at the now dim sunset in the sky.

It was getting dark, and the fact he hadn't returned felt a bit abnormal.

Calculating the time, a heavy cart has to be careful. The return trip with an empty cart should be quick, as no one wants to travel in the dark. Normally, they'd hurry back before dark, even if they took their time.

Even if Old Huang liked to have fun, the workers wouldn't indulge him. At the very least, the workers should have returned by now.

Thinking about the order for a thousand bags of Spirit Rice to the Obscuring Slope entrance, it seemed a bit strange as she thought about it now.

Taking a couple of puffs, she turned her head and asked, "About the order for a thousand bags of Spirit Rice, do you know the person who placed it?"

The worker replied, "A new face, never seen before. Paid rather promptly."

Bai Qiru said calmly, "In this town, there's actually a big customer you don't recognize. No bargaining?"

The worker replied, "Not at all, just asked us to deliver to the specified place."

Squinting at the sunset, Bai Qiru whispered through smoke, "Send two people to Obscuring Slope as quickly as possible to check."

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