Chapter 177: Chapter 170: Returning to Qinghe County
Zhao Lin rested at the Liuhe Sect that night. The next morning, before the apprentices and disciples arrived, he left for South City.
The Chu family was in South City.
South City was home to many wealthy people, so people from all walks of life came here to make a living.
There was a bakery near the Chu family’s estate. The owner had partitioned off a room in his house, turning it into a large common bunk room that could house ten people. A day’s stay cost just three copper coins.
To avoid drawing attention, Zhao Lin disguised himself as a laborer, found the landlord, paid for three days, and moved right in.
The bunk room was filled with rough men who went out to find work during the day and returned to rest at night.
Zhao Lin also pretended to go out for work during the day, but he stayed near the Chu family’s estate.
He focused his hearing completely, listening to the activity within and making sure not to miss a single conversation.
Before arriving, Zhao Lin had already learned about the Chu family’s situation from Gao Yuan.
The Chu family was in the silk business. Their family enterprise was quite large, and their residence took up almost half a street.
The current Patriarch of the Chu family was Old Master Chu Hongtai, who had four sons and one daughter.
His daughter was married and lived in Songyuan County, while his four sons helped manage the business here.
Ordinarily, sons would establish their own households after they came of age, but this was not the case for the Chu family.
The reason was that among the four sons, only the eldest had a son—Chu Liu. The other three brothers either had no children or only had daughters.
With such a massive family enterprise and only one heir, Chu Liu, it was no exaggeration to call him the single sprout in a vast field. Naturally, he had been spoiled since childhood, arrogant and bossy.
’Having been raised in a family like this, there’s no way Chu Liu could handle living a hand-to-mouth existence on the outside.’
Such a large enterprise couldn’t possibly be protected without martial strength. In addition to family members who practiced martial arts, they also employed household guards to protect the mansion year-round.
Zhao Lin listened for three straight days until his head was about to split, but he made no progress whatsoever.
The name "Chu Liu" seemed to be a taboo. Other than the servants and maids occasionally gossiping behind their backs, no one in the entire mansion mentioned it!
And the closer someone was to Chu Liu, the more they refused to breathe a word about him.
Clearly, a gag order had been issued.
In these three days, Zhao Lin had only heard Chu Liu’s mother say one thing: "My lord, do you think our son..."
"Shut up..."
’The fact that they couldn’t even say Chu Liu’s name meant something was definitely wrong.’
Zhao Lin knew he would eventually find a clue if he kept up his surveillance, but time was short. He couldn’t afford to just wait around here forever.
’If this drags on for half a year or more, the Xingyun Sect might just expel me.’
A large number of people came and went from the Chu family estate every day. Zhao Lin couldn’t be everywhere at once, so he could only pick two or three people to follow, but unfortunately, he didn’t find a single trace of Chu Liu.
Zhao Lin felt he couldn’t go on like this. ’I have to come up with a plan!’
’I have Chu Liu’s dagger, and it still has his scent on it. But a person’s scent is too faint. I can only use it for tracking at very close range. Unless... I could be like those bandits from Baitou Mountain and use a special Musk for tracking. That scent travels far and lasts a long time.’
At this thought, an idea suddenly sparked in Zhao Lin’s mind.
...
「Baitou Mountain, Fish Scale Village.」
Old Man Ma held a watering can in one hand and a garden hoe in the other, tending to the flowers and plants in his courtyard.
More than ten years ago, he had been captured by bandits and taken into the mountains to raise Fragrant Minks. To pass the time, he started planting flowers and herbs in his free moments.
Now, even though he was back in the village, the hobby had remained. When he wasn’t farming, he often kept company with his flowers and plants.
The courtyard gate opened with a CREAK, and a sturdily built young man with a slightly dark complexion walked in. He smiled at Old Man Ma and said, "Old sir, do you still recognize me?"
Old Man Ma looked at the visitor in surprise. The voice was familiar, as if he’d heard it somewhere before, but he couldn’t quite place it. He asked, "You are...?"
"We met last year in Fuli Valley."
"Fuli Valley? You’re Lord Zhao!"
Old Man Ma recognized Zhao Lin, a trace of fear in his eyes. He still remembered the scene of Zhao Lin effortlessly killing the vicious bandits.
Zhao Lin smiled and said in a reassuring tone, "I’m not here for any trouble. Do you still have any of the scent formula you used to feed the Fragrant Minks?"
Last year, when the bandits were captured, the interrogations were handled personally by Zhao Lin, including those of the kidnapped villagers.
The old man had made a strong impression on Zhao Lin, who had made a special note of him. He remembered that his home was in Fish Scale Village, so he came straight here.
Hearing Zhao Lin ask about the formula, Old Man Ma visibly relaxed. "I was only thinking of escaping at the time, so I didn’t bring anything," he said. "But I know the ingredients and the method for making the Musk powder."
Zhao Lin was delighted and smiled. "Good. Tell me the recipe, and I’ll go buy the ingredients now."
Not daring to delay, Old Man Ma went back into his house, retrieved a piece of rough paper, and wrote on it with a charcoal pencil: Musk, horny goat weed, honey, Southern Wood, cardamom, atractylodes...
Zhao Lin silently memorized the formula. ’This might be useful later.’
"These ingredients have very strong scents, so you don’t need large amounts."
After he finished writing, Old Man Ma handed the rough paper to Zhao Lin.
Zhao Lin didn’t delay for a moment. He went straight to town, had the prescription filled, and bought all dozen-plus ingredients.
By the time he returned to Fish Scale Village, Old Man Ma had already set up a pot and boiled the water.
Old Man Ma put all the ingredients into a clay pot and boiled them for about half an hour. Then, he poured the entire mixture, liquid and solids, into an urn and began to grind it with a pestle, one strike at a time.
Seeing Old Man Ma sweating profusely from the effort, Zhao Lin gestured for him to hand it over. He then began to pound the mixture with a speed that was difficult to follow with the naked eye.
THUD THUD THUD...
In a matter of moments, the ingredients were reduced to a black paste.
Old Man Ma was dumbfounded, exclaiming, "Lord Zhao, your Divine Skill is peerless."
"This hardly counts as a Divine Skill."
Zhao Lin smiled and asked, "What’s next?"
Old Man Ma replied, "Once it’s dried into a powder, it’s ready to use."
Zhao Lin frowned. "That’s too slow. Can we roast it dry?"
"Yes."
Old Man Ma poured the paste into the pot, dried it over a low flame, wrapped it in oil paper, and finally placed it in a cloth pouch.
"Thank you, old sir."
Zhao Lin expressed his thanks and left behind two taels of silver as he departed.
...
In South City, not far from the Chu family’s estate, there was a street called Water Buffalo Street. It was said that the street had existed since the initial founding of Qinghe County.
A dozen or so men dressed in rough cloth, with white towels slung over their shoulders, sat by the side of the street basking in the sun, chatting idly.
These men were also laborers, but unlike the dockworkers who had guild-like organizations of hundreds, they formed small groups of three to five, ten at the most.
Although wealthy households had their own servants and attendants, they each had their own duties. When temporary work arose and they couldn’t gather enough hands at a moment’s notice, they would come here to hire help.
Zhao Lin slung a white towel over his own shoulder and found a random spot to sit down.
’I can’t believe I’m a laborer again,’ he mocked himself inwardly.
’Now that I have the Musk powder, the next step is to "dose" everyone in the Chu Mansion who might be in contact with Chu Liu. Old Master Chu, Chu Liu’s father and three uncles, all the relatives, even the household guards, hired escorts, and the Tutor... any of them could be in contact with him. I’ve only heard their voices; I can’t put faces to them. I’ll have to get inside the mansion and scout around to match them up.’
"Hey kid, what are you here for?"
Among the men waiting for work, one with a tuft of hair by his mouth glanced over.
Zhao Lin glanced at the man and chuckled lightly. "Waiting for a job, what else?"
The man with the tuft of hair sneered, "Do you know whose turf this is?"
Zhao Lin shook his head. "I don’t."
"If you want to work here, you have to pay a ’work fee’ for the first month. Got it?"
"Don’t understand."
"You don’t know, and you don’t understand? Then get the hell out of here!"
"I don’t know how to ’roll away.’ Why don’t you do it first and show me?"
The man’s expression changed. The dozen or so men around him exchanged glances, then all stood up and advanced on Zhao Lin with ill intent...
THWACK... THWACK... OUCH!
A few breaths later, no one was left standing except for Zhao Lin.
"Boss, with skills like yours, what are you doing here trying to be a laborer?"
The man with the tuft of hair said with a pained expression.
In truth, Zhao Lin hadn’t used heavy blows. The man was acting this way because he was afraid of getting hit again.
"Stop faking it. Get up."
Zhao Lin ignored his question and said, "I have one small request. When an employer comes looking for workers, no matter what the job is, I get first pick. No one is to compete with me for it. Got it?"
"Got it," the laborers replied in unison, before the man with the tuft of hair could even speak.
