Chapter 52: Chapter 52: The More You Know, the More Dangerous It Is
As Yang Xiao’s words fell, a discordant voice started clamoring, "Hey! Who are you people?"
Looking toward the source of the voice, a dark-skinned woman stood outside the dilapidated walls, with the right half of her face burned by fire, looking very fierce.
"We’re here to find someone, may I ask if you know..."
"Don’t know, get lost, hurry up!" The woman’s attitude was very poor, saying so as she was about to come in and shoo them away, "I warn you, no matter how much booze money Qiu Dianzi owes you, you can’t touch anything here. He still owes me two qian of silver anyway!"
Qiu Dianzi... It seemed this was Uncle-in-Law Lord’s name. In such a place, taking out broken silver might invite trouble, but Yang Xiao smiled as he took out a few copper coins.
Indeed, upon seeing the copper coins, the woman’s attitude immediately changed. Yang Xiao walked forward and stuffed the coins into the woman’s hand, "We’re not here to collect debts, we have an old friend who has a history with Qiu Dianzi, and he asked us to deliver a message. May I ask where he is right now?"
The woman, with a wide grin, scooped up the copper coins and took the opportunity to look a few times at Yang Xiao’s chest, where he had pulled out the coins, "Hey, where else could Qiu Dianzi be? He’s definitely in the wine shop in the back alley, running up a tab!"
Following the woman’s directions, the two reached the depths of the alley, only to find it buzzing with activity, even busier than the mouth of the alley outside. Yet, it was also noticeably more chaotic, with some rooms huddled together, filled with the sounds of dice hitting each other, the calls of bets placed, as well as men’s raucous laughter and virulent swearing. This area was a gambling den.
Looking further, to the south, were some even more secluded houses, each with its doors half-closed and some garishly dressed women sitting on the stone benches outside, and older ones soliciting customers by the wall. It appeared this place was for prostitutes.
To the right of the alley, there were some taverns hoisting banners, including restaurants, but more of them were liquor shops with red tattered banners.
Just then, a gust of wind carried with it the rich scent of alcohol.
Su Tingting had originally thought that finding the liquor shop would mean finding Uncle-in-Law Lord, but she never imagined that there would be so many people here begging for drinks.
Shirtless and barefoot, covered head to toe in dirt, with filthy words spilling from their mouths, a group of such people gathered at the door of the wine shop, causing a clamor, and playfully cursing back and forth with the rough proprietress, simply trying to convince her to credit them a bowl of wine, vowing to repay double after earning some silver.
Yet the proprietress holding the wine ladle knew all too well what these men were like, hands on hips, and not giving them the time of day, her few words nearly digging up the rowdy bunch’s ancestral graves.
Su Tingting had never seen such a scene before, and for a moment, she hesitated to move, but Yang Xiao patted her arm, his voice low, "Don’t be scared, stay close to me."
The two entered a small and quiet wine shop. Yang Xiao approached the counter, shaking out dozens of copper coins and purchasing a jug of good wine recommended by the shopkeeper. He also took a worn rag, carelessly folded it a few times, and covered Su Tingting’s face with it.
When the two went out, Su Tingting quickly asked, "Why didn’t you ask the shopkeeper who Qiu Dianzi was? How will we find him ourselves?"
Yang Xiao gave her a calm down look, tilting his chin up to signal her to look at the person squatting behind the rowdy drunks begging for wine, "He’s the one we’re looking for."
Su Tingting was stunned for a moment; the man was short and seemed to be squatting there enjoying the spectacle, and she couldn’t see his face, just a profile, "Do you know what he looks like?"
"I don’t, but I know he’s Old Water Ghost," Yang Xiao left the words hanging as he had Su Tingting stay outside the wine shop where they bought the alcohol while he, with the newly purchased jug of wine tucked under his arm, approached the man.
After getting close, he squatted down beside the man in the same manner, without having to say much. All he did was shake the wine jug, and the man’s eyes lit up instantly.
Once Yang Xiao had moved in for a closer look, he confirmed that the thin and dark old man was indeed Uncle-in-Law Lord. The old man’s right leg, which was revealed beneath his pant leg, was tattooed with the pattern of fish and dragon. Such a design could ward off evil but also suppress one’s life, and no ordinary water worker would dare to touch such things.
After luring the old man to a less crowded spot with the wine jug, Yang Xiao stated his purpose, "Uncle-in-Law Lord, we’ve come to seek your advice on a matter."
The old man who was savoring the wine from the jug suddenly fixated his gaze upon hearing the name "Uncle-in-Law Lord". Su Tingting shuddered for no apparent reason, as the old man, who had appeared utterly dejected before, seemed to transform into someone else.
"Who exactly are you?" the old man clutched the wine jug, "I’ve never mentioned the name ’Uncle-in-Law Lord’ around here. How did you come to know it?"
"We were referred by a friend," Yang Xiao said, not interested in small talk. Pulling out a piece of Silver from his chest, he continued, "We’ve come to ask you a few questions. If you tell us the truth, I’ll cover your drinking expenses for a month, and I promise complete secrecy."
"Alright," Uncle-in-Law Lord agreed promptly, his somewhat cloudy eyes giving Yang Xiao the sensation that he had already seen through his intentions.
Yang Xiao couldn’t help but become cautious, "You know what I’m going to ask?"
Uncle-in-Law Lord sized up Yang Xiao and Su Tingting, "What else could two Settle Guests be looking for me for if not the sunken ship case from 10 years ago?"
Having said that, Uncle-in-Law Lord turned and walked deeper into the alleyway, "Follow me. It seems that you have a way to deal with ’that thing’."
"Wait!" Yang Xiao called out to him, smiling, "Elder, let’s go to your place; it would be more convenient."
Uncle-in-Law Lord turned, his lips curling into a strange smirk, "Youngster, I didn’t expect you to be so astute. Why, are you worried that this old man might harm you?"
"Not at all," Yang Xiao said naturally, "we have friends waiting for us outside, and we are just doing our job in exchange for money and settling disasters."
In an unfamiliar place, who knew whether Uncle-in-Law Lord might suddenly turn on them? Moreover, Uncle-in-Law Lord’s left wrist had hardly moved, always maintaining a peculiar rigidity. Yang Xiao had once read in a book of strange tales that some old Water Ghosts would tie Clam Knives to their wrists with dried fish guts, which was considered the Water Ghosts’ ultimate weapon.
But Uncle-in-Law Lord merely nodded, sat on the ground, and slowly, his mood seemed to return to that rainy night, "To tell the truth, I am glad you were able to find me. That matter has haunted me for 10 years, and I haven’t been underwater since then."
"Aren’t you curious about who sent us to you?" Yang Xiao asked.
"No, don’t tell me either. The more you know, the more dangerous it is. All I need to know is that you’re specialized in handling such matters, capable of resolving it. That’s enough. If this issue isn’t dealt with, I’m afraid this old man won’t live much longer."
As he spoke, Uncle-in-Law Lord stretched out his leg and slowly lifted his pant leg. In the next second, both Yang Xiao and Su Tingting were stunned. They saw five distinctly clear, dark blue scratch marks overlaying the deep green fish and dragon scale tattoos.
What was critical was that the scratch marks appeared very fresh; one could see the writhing flesh underneath, as if the event had occurred just yesterday.
