Chapter 1251: The Spread of Silk (Part 1)

The rain continued until nightfall, gradually ceasing.

Under the inky sky, the wet city was illuminated by lights.

The events in Houguan County were spreading in all directions via a special network of information. Unease was brewing in the darkness, but at least for this moment at the start of the night, the streets still appeared calm.

Silver Bridge Quarter, the night market was as lively as ever. Auntie Pang had set up her rice cake stall early. While steaming the cakes, she gossiped and laughed with the other stallholder sisters nearby.

In recent days, the stall at the entrance of Silver Bridge Quarter had become the central topic of discussion among the surrounding vendors. The lively atmosphere of fighting and killing had emerged ten days ago and reached a climax yesterday. Auntie Pang's stall had been affected multiple times, but because she had received compensation each time, her tables and chairs had now been replaced with new ones. This made her state of mind quite calm. Setting up her stall early each day felt like reserving a seat at the theater. Occasionally, she even made a windfall. Her life had never been so exciting or interesting in the past few decades.

The other stallholders on the street also knew that some extraordinary figures had arrived at the street entrance. Out of curiosity, they often came to Auntie Pang for advice. Auntie Pang boasted and exaggerated, greatly satisfying her vanity.

"Do you know where they're from? How can their martial arts be so high?"

"Shaolin Temple!" Auntie Pang said with certainty. When the boy next door arrived, she would even jump up and ask loudly, "Little monkey, are you from Shaolin Temple?"

The cold-faced boy next door would glance at her, then wave his fists in the air. "That's right, I came from the Dharma Academy! Wukong is my Dharma name."

"Hehehe, did you hear that? Did you hear that? Dharma Academy, Wukong is his Dharma name, Wukong is his Dharma name..."

Her relationship with the boy she had once called "a dog eating leftovers" was still not good, but she knew that these two didn't bully ordinary people, so Auntie Pang was no longer afraid, and the pattern of communication remained.

This third night of the lunar month was even more interesting. After the assassin who had attacked the head of the Ministry of Justice came to make trouble last night and was beaten away, it seemed to have added a lot of fame to the two boys here. As soon as night fell, many beautiful women came one after another. Some were dressed flamboyantly, beautiful beyond compare, obviously the courtesans from the brothel, arriving nearby in carriages. There were also modestly dressed women from good families, "female warriors" carrying wooden "swords", all coming this way, entangling themselves at the grocery stall.

Some sat at the rice cake stall for a while, ate something, and then secretly asked Auntie Pang what the boy next door liked. Auntie Pang chuckled and told them, "He's a monk, his Dharma name is Wukong."

"I don't believe it."

The women didn't believe it.

Auntie Pang was also a little puzzled. In the past, Long Aotian, Young Master Long, was in charge of the stall. Young Master Long was handsome, beautiful, and polite. The courtesans from Golden Bridge Quarter and some of the local landlords' daughters often came, but most of the people who came today were not the same group as before.

Moreover, after yesterday's incident, only the young man with the surname Sun, who had argued with her, was setting up the stall today. Watching him deal with the women who came up to talk to him, even trying to touch him, with a frustrated expression, Auntie Pang felt a burst of satisfaction.

After a while, several young maids from the brothel in Golden Bridge Quarter also came, standing next to the stall and confronting the women who had suddenly come, and then started scolding, "Where are you from? Shameless, running to our Golden Bridge Quarter to seduce men..."

"Hmph, shameless, this is clearly Silver Bridge Quarter, where is it your Golden Bridge Quarter's territory? And are people not allowed to go to your Golden Bridge Quarter? We sisters heard that there are two powerful heroes here, and came specifically to get to know them... we charge even more than your Golden Bridge Quarter..." The maids who followed the women scolded back.

"I see you muttering nonsense..."

"!@#$%&**()&)###￥——"

Several young girls began to scold each other fiercely. The beautiful women responsible for pretending to be dignified moved closer, but soon became angry because they were pushed away.

"Where's Young Master Long..."

The little girl Pink Butterfly, who was the first to participate in the battle when she saw someone stepping on their territory, shrank back after discovering that the main character was absent.

"Gone on a date with Zheng Huahua." The young man replied with a sneer.

"Zheng Huahua... a date? Who is Zheng Huahua?"

"My dog."

"Hmm." Pink Butterfly's expression darkened, and she began to get angry, but immediately realizing that the other party was unmoved, she took out a handful of broad beans from her arms. "Here, no more arguing, have some broad beans."

Ning Ji calmly accepted them. "Could it be that you want to poison me?" He threw one into his mouth and found that it tasted good.

"People just want to know where Young Master Long went."

"Said he had something to do, gone on a date."

"...When will he be back?"

"None of your business."

"My lady will be free later and wants to come find him."

"Heh heh, usually she calls him to the brothel, but today she's coming herself?"

"My lady is free today." Pink Butterfly tightened her face, trying to make herself look cute, and then bowed deeply. "Brother Sun, I apologize to you, please tell me."

Ning Ji's mouth twitched, and he took a step back, then leaned closer. "Then you tell me, where did all these strange things that suddenly ran over today come from?"

"Strange things..." Pink Butterfly laughed and looked back. In fact, these women who had suddenly come were all pretty good-looking, and from the perspective of the brothel, they were all top courtesans with skills. If it were true that they had suddenly come after hearing the fame of some great hero, it would be a little strange, but thinking about the stall that Young Master Long operated, if there were other reasons, it could be explained. She rolled her eyes. "Actually... the one who just left seemed like Miss Mu Xiaoxiang from Flying Rain Pavilion in the city, and the rest should also be from Flying Rain Pavilion... I've seen them at the courtesan competition, but I don't remember them all..."

"Oh, Flying Rain Pavilion... Who's the boss?" Ning Ji remembered the name.

"I don't know, I guess my lady would know," Pink Butterfly said. "So when will your Young Master Long be back?"

"Said he had something to do, he won't be coming today." Ning Ji threw another broad bean into his mouth.

"Ah..." The girl looked at him, trying to discern the truth, then pounced on him. "Give me back my beans—Aigh—"

Ning Ji stuffed all the broad beans into his mouth with one hand, and grabbed the other party's braid with the other, pulling the flailing girl to the side.

With his cheeks puffed out, he crunched and chewed all the broad beans, then stuck out his tongue.

"Bleah bleah bleah..."

"You martial arts hero bullying a little woman..." the girl cried out in accusation.

"When did I say I was a martial arts hero, hahaha..." He laughed with his hands on his hips.

The night was colorful, and people came and went on the street. Ning Ji surveyed the movements around him in his heart. A wave of strange women came, and after being dismissed, several more beautiful ones came one after another, with clear goals and impure motives. They had received orders, but it was not easy to determine whose. According to speculation, the greatest possibility came from Yu Hezhang and his group.

His heart was calm, occasionally greeting acquaintances, arguing, and even bullying the little maids from the brothel, waiting for more possibilities to arrive. At the third quarter of Xu time (around 8:45 PM), a head constable came here. The other party had a steady lower body and a figure like an iron tower, a good hand with a steel whip. It wasn't Tie Tianying, but another head constable from the Ministry of Justice.

"...I am Miao Fang, a disciple of the Tianqing Sect of Jiangnan. Two years ago, I was recruited here by Lord Tie, and now I also hold the position of chief constable in the Ministry of Justice. I heard that two young heroes have come to Silver Bridge Quarter, so I came specifically to get to know them."

"Shake hands." Ning Ji extended a hand. Although he was in his teens, and looked sturdy because of his martial arts practice, his arm was only half as thick as the other party's, an adult martial artist who wielded a heavy steel whip year-round. Miao Fang was slightly stunned, then had to extend his large hand. "This... haha, alright... Let's not hurt each other..."

The two palms collided, and in the blink of an eye, grappling and disarming, they both grabbed each other's wrists. Veins popped out on Miao Fang's head as he tried to overwhelm Ning Ji's strength, but the stalemate only lasted for a moment. Ning Ji withdrew his hand and kicked over the stool from the stall with his foot.

"Sit down."

"Ah?"

"Your internal cultivation is not in place, and you also practice hard martial arts. Dark injuries have accumulated in the hand Shaoyang meridian, and your upper arm has been hurting for a long time. You also have hidden illnesses in the foot Shaoyang meridian. Your vision deteriorates at night, and eating internal organs can't completely cure it. In addition, you have an injury on your left waist, and old injuries under your ribs and on your back... Your elders taught you when you left home to give way to local bullies. I'll treat you."

He took out medicinal oil to massage and circulate the blood for the other party, then took out long silver needles and inserted them all over him.

The silver needles were useless, mainly for show, to prevent the other party from moving easily.

On the busy street, with silver needles sticking out of his shoulders and limbs, Miao Fang, feeling the other party's strength after the massage and blood circulation, laboriously turned his head to look back.

"Actually... I am also a good friend of Song Xiaoming. He was killed yesterday, and the murderer was rampant, and then came here to find trouble for my brothers. Fortunately, he was beaten back by my brothers. Now the Ministry has issued a mission, and I don't know which school your brothers come from..."

Ning Ji was writing a prescription with paper and pen in the back, not even raising his head at this time. "I treated you for your illness to show respect for the government. My brothers and I are here doing legitimate business, paying stall fees, not begging for food or paying respects to the local boss. I gave you face? And you're still trying to find out my background?"

"No... no. Since my brothers are unwilling to say, I naturally won't force it... By the way, where is that Brother Long? I didn't see him today."

"Have you caught Ni Po?"

"This is... not yet..."

"My brothers and I roam the pugilistic world, and we talk about 'if the Tao is one foot high, the devil is ten feet high'..." Ning Ji paused slightly here.

Miao Fang also narrowed his eyes. "...Uh?"

"No, we talk about 'if people respect me one foot, I respect them ten feet'..." The young man changed his words, pretending he hadn't said the previous sentence. "The same goes for friends and enemies. This time in Fuzhou, we were living a good life, but suddenly we were attacked by bad people. This is your fault, and you don't know who was behind Ni Po's attack, who was watching my brothers and I. These things make people very uneasy."

"That's right, that's right..."

"You have to find the person." Ning Ji finished writing the prescription, stood up and blew on the ink, then threw it into the other party's arms. "If you find the person, give me a chance to ask things clearly, then we'll be friends, and I'll chat with you about my family history. If you can't find them, and you want to act official in front of me, then that means I respected you, but you didn't respect me, and we'll see who's better on the blade... Do you think I'm right?"

His internal strength was strong and pure, higher than the other party's. He also had the advantage, and spoke eloquently, reasonably and justified. Miao Fang smiled bitterly for a moment, and had to nod. This was indeed the old way of the pugilistic world. He came as a member of the pugilistic world, so he couldn't say other things.

Ning Ji sat down beside him.

"My brothers and I also think that Ni Po's matter is very strange. I don't know if you can handle it well, so... my older brother went to handle it."

After he said this, Miao Fang turned his head in shock.

And the other party's words were low. "Those who provoke first are contemptible. Ni Po took the initiative to cause trouble for my brothers, and we were just protecting ourselves. If you really find him... you won't have any objections, right?"

"Don't cause a big mess," Miao Fang said, then added, "If possible, I still hope... you can hand him over to us."

"Don't worry, my brother's actions won't cause a big mess. As for handing him over to you, we'll have to see if he has anyone left... But why are you worried? My brothers and I are new here, and we don't know anyone. Maybe you'll find him first, and then show him to me."

"..." Miao Fang frowned, estimating the destructive power of that "Long Aotian" in his heart.

Before he could figure it out, the other party tilted his head again. "By the way, there's a Fish King at the market."

"Ah," Miao Fang nodded.

"...Yesterday, Ni Po escaped, and he arranged the boat. I've already threatened him. If he can't find a clue within two days, he'll die." The young man turned to look at him. "I know he has a grudge against your government, you won't have any objections, right?"

"..."

Miao Fang was stunned for a while.

Finally said:

"I am a head constable after all... I can only pretend I don't know about this kind of thing... Do it cleanly..."

He had only sat for a moment, and already knew about two possible murders, and had to be asked "you won't have any objections, right". This was a bit of an unprovoked disaster. After chatting for a while, Miao Fang considered it again and again, and revealed some information about "Chen Shuangran" to build goodwill before leaving. Through shaking hands, he knew the other party's skill after all. He also temporarily expressed that he would be a "law-abiding citizen". That inquiry could basically be explained.

After Miao Fang left, the Fish King came from the other end of the street. After hesitating for a while, he finally came over and greeted Ning Ji. The two sat down in front of the rice cake stall.

"The news has already been released... but Chen Shuangran is difficult to contact. Young Master Sun... can you... grant me two days... no, grant me one day..."

Ning Ji looked at him with the eyes of a dead man.

After a long while, he finally opened his mouth. "My big brother is not here today."

"..." The Fish King nodded.

"...He personally went to deal with this matter, these people."

"..."

"If you don't bring back any news tomorrow, I'll kill you on time."

People came and went on the surrounding streets. In the noisy sounds, the local snake at the table nodded with difficulty. He swallowed his saliva and wanted to get up, but sat down again. "Young Master Sun, I am really working hard on this matter. If I can find her, I will definitely risk my life to help you find her, but if I can't find her, I have some news today that should be related to Chen Shuangran. I'll tell you about it, so I can prove that I really tried my best. If that little bitch really doesn't come out tomorrow, you can consider how you want to kill or slice me."

"...Speak."

"Speaking of this evening, that Yue Yun who fought with you before, Young Master Yue... the one from the Back-We Army, had an accident in Houguan County..."

Figures passed through the streets, and lights flowed like water. In front of the rice cake stall, the elderly local snake was talking in a low voice with the young man, and bright and dark lights flashed across people's faces...

"...It's being spread privately..."

……

"...The matter... was done by Chen Shuangran..."