Chapter 213: Robbed
Chu Li saw in the Omniscient Mirror that were two huge men in neat uniforms carrying him down the stairs. They sealed his acupuncture points and stuffed him into a sack before putting a large stone inside the sack and throwing him into the river. The entire process was done smoothly and they looked as if they were full of experience; apparently, it was not their first time.
This time they killed Zhu Ziwen. However, the people they have killed in the past might not have deserved death.
Chu Li toyed with the thought of killing them, but he managed to calm himself down. He then saluted and said, “Third Master Qi, I’ll be back tomorrow. I hope you can find him soon as I shall take my leave now!”
“Don’t you worry master, I will surely find him tomorrow – so long as he’s alive!” Third Master Qi smiled and said.
Chu Li turned around and went downstairs.
The two men came over from the table to the side. They stared at Chu Li’s silhouette that was making its way downstairs. After this, they went forward to Third Master Qi and asked, “Third Master Qi, should we…?”
Master Qi wiped his neck with his hand, his gaze was intense. After contemplating it for some time, he shook his head, “Get some people to check his background.”
“No problem.” the two middle-aged men replied before taking their leave.
Chu Li aimlessly walked through the streets. After some time, he had gotten rid of the people who were following him. He leisurely took a detour and arrived at an antique shop.
A middle-aged man sat behind the counter reading a scroll. There were two shop a.s.sistants who were cleaning the antiques in the shop carefully. Eventually, they saw Chu Li entering the shop; the three men nodded and smiled.
Chu Li went forward to the middle age man and took out a jade pendant. He handed it over and said, “I want to sell this. Have a look at it.”
The middle age man had a thin figure and a sunken face. He seemed to not practice any forms of martial arts.
He put down the scroll and looked at the white jade waist tag. His expression changed and he said in a calm manner, “This is a really good item. Follow me and I’ll have a closer look.”
They raised the curtain and went to the back of the shop where they entered a well-maintained courtyard.
After this, the middle age man immediately gave a closed fist salute, “Ning Pingbo greets Chief Chu!”
Chu Li saluted back, “Brother Ning, help me find two adults and a child.”
“Alright.” Ning Pingbo said, “What do they look like?”
“Pa.s.s me a brush and ink stone.”
“Will do, follow me.”
The two of them entered the study room of the courtyard. Ning Pingbo quickly started rubbing the ink stick on the ink slab. Chu Li then used the brush and swiftly drew twelve pictures. The three staff members got four portraits each.
Ning Pingbo sized up the people and looked curious, “They are…?”
“The child is the one I want to find. These two are the one who bought the child from the Flying Blade Elder Guo!” Chu Li explained.
“Okay, I’ll send some people over immediately!” Ning Pingbo said in a serious tone, “The chief can stay here for a night’s rest.”
Chu Li nodded, “I appreciate the help.”
“You’re welcome.” Ning Pingbo smiled before continuing, “By the way, business is slow at the moment … do you need two helpers to serve you?”
Chu Li smiled and the offer, “I came here in secret. It would be wise not to startle the others. However, thank you for your kindness.”
“Alright.” Ning Pingbo took the portrait and left.
The Fairy’s Capital was soon overcome with a wave of darkness. Both the local and regional mafia started to send out people to search for the two culprits.
Chu Li quietly went to the Imperial Residence of Prince An. He hid in a secret spot and observed him for some time. It appeared that Prince An’s injury had not fully recovered yet – in fact, the injury appeared to have actually gotten more serious.
Chu Li was now more interested in the heart technique that hurt Prince An. He saw a young lady in Prince An’s mind. She must have been the one that attacked the prince.
This woman looked as pretty and as the radiant as a flower. Her eyes glistened like an iridescent pearl, her beauty was as striking as Siao s.h.i.+’s.
It was a pity that he did not know the lady’s ident.i.ty, she looked about his age as well.
When he saw the woman he immediately thought of Mei Aoshuang. Chu Li sighed in dismay, this world contained many secretly talented individuals. There were still a lot of people that were better than him!
At midnight, Chu Li sat on the couch in a lotus position while meditating. Soon he heard some footsteps approaching from the outside.
Chu Li came got down from the couch and opened the door. Ning Pingbo stood under the moonlight and saluted him before speaking in a hushed tone, “Chief, I’ve got news!”
“Come in and talk.” Chu Li beckoned him inside.
Ning Pingbo followed Chu Li into the house. The two of them sat in the living room and started conversing.
“The two people have been identified. They are human traffickers – we already have found the child.” Ning Pingbo added, “Oh yes, we also found the people from the Domain of Aroma looking for them too.”
“Was it the Third Master Qi who found them first?”
“Erm… people under the Third Master Qi, but they got stopped in the middle of their operation.”
“Hmm, how’s the child?” Chu Li stroke his chin and asked.
Ning Pingbo smiled, “I’ve already sent him to a safe location. Do you want me to bring him over?”
Despite how skilled and intelligent Chief Chu Li was, he was still clueless as to how to take care of a five-year-old. Ning Pingbo was very thorough in his task – he even arranged the child be sent to a loving family who would cook for him and help the boy relax. This was to help him calm down so that the kid’s crying would not burden and make Chu Li suffer.
Chu Li replied, ” I’ll take him away tomorrow morning, is that ok?”
“Don’t you worry Chief, that won’t be a problem.”
“Then it will be fine. I’ll go over tomorrow” Chu Li smiled.
“Okay.” Ning Pingbo slapped his thighs and stood up.
The two of them left the antique shop and went through an alley. After walking for about a kilometer, they entered a house. Chu Li saw a five-year-old child with a chubby face. The child’s eyes were wide and he emitted a strong aura.
He was holding a bowl and happily eating. He had a grain of rice stuck by the side of his mouth. A middle-aged woman next to him wiped it off with a smile.
Chu Li knew that he was Zhu Quan as soon as he saw him. This was Yang Xu’s son.
Chu Li let out a long sigh of relief, “Brother Ning, thank you so much.”
“Working for Chief Chu Li is an honor.” Ning Pingbo politely smiled.
Chu Li smiled and shook his head. He was really counting his blessings.
The next morning, the birds were chirping loudly and insistently outside the window.
Third Master Qi opened his eyes. He had a ma.s.sive headache that made him feel like his skull was about to split open. He felt incredibly dizzy.
He got up and sat on the bed to steady himself. He held his head and slowly got up. He noticed that his concubine was still sleeping below the red silk blanket, hiding her fair and tender body. She was sleeping heavily so he tried to pat her thigh to wake her up.
His concubine rolled around under the blanket and turned her body as she continued to sleep.
He gave up and left the room while two maids came over to have his face washed.
He went to the courtyard after refres.h.i.+ng himself and cultivated his martial arts for a while. As he stretched, he felt the feeling of dizziness start to disappear. He sat at the stone table in the courtyard and thought about the matter from yesterday.
He found the culprits but was almost immediately interrupted by someone else; turns out, there was someone else looking for the men too.
Was this by coincidence or was it because that of that generous master he had met?
Based on his demeanor, Third Master Qi guessed that it would not be difficult for him to look for someone. If he had offered Third Master Qi a substantial reward of ten thousand taels for the culprits, he could have set an even higher award outside for the mercenaries to fight for.
The silver caused this mess. People were desperate for the ten thousand taels. Furthermore, he did not reveal his ident.i.ty, it was very possible that he was from the other Imperial Residences.
He grinned and laughed and laughed at the thought.
He then remembered that he had actually checked this man ident.i.ty. He was not from any Imperial Residence, he was a foreigner.
Huh, what guts! As the maxim goes, do not reveal the silver we have in our pocket. The Innate Master was indeed powerful, however, two fists would find it difficult to defeat juggle multiple attacks. Just a few more innate masters should be enough to take his down – it was not impossible to kill him!
Master Qi was afraid that Chu Li still has thousands of banknotes with him. He has to kill him today regardless of whether or not he was acting like he was indeed good!
“Bang! Bang!” There was an urgent knock on the doors of the courtyard room.
A man in a uniform rushed in and shouted, “Third Master Qi, something serious has happened!”
Third Master Qi furrowed his brows and looked at him, “Steady.Tell me right away, what happened?”
“The Domain of Aroma got robbed!” The man in a green robe angrily said, “Every silver in the Domain of Aroma taken, not even a dime is left!”
“What about the banknotes?” Third Master Qi stood up and clenched his teeth.
He gripped the table tightly as the veins on his hands started to pop.
“Not even a single banknote is left!” The man in green robe said distastefully, “Furthermore, income this month has not been banked in yet. We lost at least a hundred thousand taels worth of banknotes!”
“A hundred thousand tales…” Third Master Qi staggered backward and grit his teeth, “b.a.s.t.a.r.d…”
“What should we do, Third Master Qi?” The man in green robe said, “How should we track him down? Just give us the order!”
“Track your a.s.s!” Third Master Qi snapped out in anger, “Do you not think we have been embarra.s.sed enough?”
He turned around and entered the house. He went over to his concubine’s dressing table and flipped it open. It was absolutely empty.
He opened another jewelry box, it too was empty. He opened each and every trinket box in the room and found that they were all empty. Even the banknote and the ten thousand taels he got yesterday was gone!
“Ah ——!” Third Master Qi cried out in frustration.
He suddenly understood why he had a headache. He was drugged last night!