In Emei, start by obtaining golden attributes.

Chapter 194 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, a rat in the gutter
Su Xin didn't come to her senses until the beggar's figure had completely disappeared into the alley.

After regaining her senses, Su Xin did not show any excessive shock. Instead, she subtly looked towards the jewelry shop in the distance, picked up the spoon from the bowl with her right hand, and gently lowered her head, as if continuing to savor the tofu pudding in the bowl.

Seeing this, the stall owner, who had been quietly watching Su Xin, finally turned his attention away.

Not long after, Gu Santong, who had left earlier, came out of the jewelry shop on the street.

After returning to Su Xin's side, Gu Santong spread out his large hands and plopped down on the stool. The narrow stool creaked and groaned under the weight of his massive body.

This prompted Su Xin to instinctively raise her hand to support him.

"How old are you? Still so careless?"

Su Xin's voice still sounded gentle, and her gaze always carried a touch of tenderness when it fell on Gu Santong.

Even with disguise and clothes made to resemble those of an ordinary farm woman, she could never truly conceal the poise and gentle grace of a lady from a prominent family.

Gu Santong raised his right hand and placed a long, narrow wooden box in front of Su Xin.

"See if you like it."

Upon hearing this, Su Xin gently opened the small wooden box.

There was no fancy brocade lining in the box, only a piece of equally rough plain cloth.

Lying quietly on it is a silver hairpin shaped like a magnolia flower. The design is not complicated, but it is carved with great care.

The tiny silver buds are just beginning to open, their petals thin and lifelike, their shapes graceful and elegant. At the center of the flower, there is a tiny, rice-grain-sized, shimmering white jade stamen.

Although the materials used are ordinary, the ingenious design and meticulous craftsmanship are truly rare and precious in the crude silver shops of this remote town.

Su Xin looked at the hairpin, then glanced at Gu Santong's face, which was full of wrinkles, weathered by time, yet brimming with nervous anticipation.

A warm yet bittersweet feeling surged through my heart, suppressing the faint, strange tingling sensation deep in my throat.

Her fingertips brushed the silver petals with extreme gentleness, and a smile spread slowly across her face like ripples.

"It's very elegant, I like it very much."

When Gu Santong heard her say she liked it, his tense shoulder line relaxed almost imperceptibly.

But then, an even heavier sense of guilt pressed down on him like a boulder.

He sighed, a deep, resonant sigh that seemed to emanate from the deepest recesses of his chest, carrying with it twenty years of buried regret and pain.

"I've wronged you; this is the first time in all these years that I'm giving you jewelry."

Su Xin gently shook her head, interrupting his heavy confession. Her gaze was gentle and warm as she looked at Gu Santong: "I owe you nothing. Being able to be by your side and with you is enough, even without these things."

Her voice was soft, yet it carried a calming power that could soothe all pain.

Gu Santong's eyes welled up with tears, his Adam's apple bobbed a few times, and he could no longer speak.

Su Xin gently patted Gu Santong's hand. Although she didn't speak again, her warm and satisfied eyes and the serene smile on her lips, like a magnolia, were more beautiful than anything else.

Some people's love is like the blazing sun in the sky, bright and intense.

Some people's love is like winter snow, poignant and tinged with melancholy.

In Gu Santong's eyes, Su Xin's love was like the spring breeze in February, silent yet always full of tolerance.

Looking back on his actions over the years, Gu Santong felt even more guilty.

After exhaling and calming down, Gu Santong turned around and picked up the sesame seed cake on the table.

Just as Gu Santong picked up the sesame seed cake, Su Xin's gentle voice slowly rang out.

"I still feel a little unwell."

Upon hearing this, Gu Santong's expression changed, and he released his grip, asking, "Shall we go back and let that kid take a look?"

Su Xin nodded slightly, then glanced at the items on the table before turning to the stall owner beside her and saying, "Please help us wrap up these foods, otherwise they'll go to waste."

Although Gu Santong did not understand, he did not speak up to stop him.

The stall owner took a bamboo tube from under the stall and filled it with the tofu pudding on the table. Then, he skillfully wrapped the food on the table with oil paper and finally strung everything together with thin bamboo strips.

Gu Santong subconsciously took out his money pouch.

"It's already been paid for."

But before Gu Santong could take out his money, his action was interrupted by Su Xin's gentle voice.

After Gu Santong brought out the food, Su Xin turned slightly and habitually took his arm. She nodded to the stall owner and then turned to walk towards the inn.

After the two left, a sinister and greedy glint flashed in the stall owner's eyes, who had just been all smiles.

After a stick of incense.

Inside the inn.

Gu Shaoan closed his eyes lightly, like a monk meditating, his internal energy circulating like a surging river at times and a babbling brook at others.

Between movements, Gu Shaoan's true essence was also gradually increasing at a steady pace.

"knock knock"

Just then, a few soft sounds came from the tightly closed door.

Immediately afterwards, Gu Santong's voice rang in Gu Shaoan's ear.

"Kid, Su Xin seems to be feeling a little unwell. Could you check if there are any remaining injuries or cold toxins in her body that haven't been cleared away yet?"

Perhaps knowing that Gu Shaoan was cultivating, Gu Santong's voice transmitted through true essence was not very loud.

Upon hearing the voice, Gu Shaoan raised an eyebrow slightly.

After controlling the true energy within his body to return to his dantian, Gu Shaoan got up and opened the door.

Su Xin, standing at the door, glanced discreetly at the stairs at the end of the corridor. After confirming that no one was following, she and Gu Santong entered the house.

Taking in Su Xin's expression, Gu Shaoan seemed to have thought of something.

After Su Xin and Gu Santong entered the room, Gu Shaoan closed the door.

He then walked to the table, circulating his true energy to disrupt the auras around himself, Gu Santong, and Su Xin before speaking: "Miss Su Xin, you can speak frankly now."

Upon hearing this, Gu Santong's expression stiffened, clearly realizing that something was amiss.

Without delay, Su Xin recounted what had just happened at the stall.

Gu Shaoan reached out and lifted the lid of the bamboo tube containing the tofu pudding.

After so long, the tofu pudding inside the bamboo tube was only slightly warm.

But the moment the smell wafted up, Gu Shaoan had already discerned the problem from it.

Gu Shaoan said, "This tofu pudding contains a kind of poison called 'Ershi San'."

"Unlike ordinary sleeping potions that work quickly, 'Ershi San' takes effect slowly after entering the body, causing the poisoned person to fall into a coma after two hours. After waking up, the person will feel weak all over for three days."

After listening to Su Xin's story, Gu Santong's expression changed drastically.

Why didn't you say so just now?

Su Xin shook her head and said, "If we had said it outside, how could you have held back, given your personality?"

As she spoke, Su Xin patted Gu Santong's hand and said, "I'm fine, aren't I? Besides, we've all disguised ourselves. What if we get into a fight in the street and our whereabouts are exposed?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Santong paused, then fell silent.

Seeing the two who were bound to get agitated, Gu Shaoan couldn't help but shake his head.

Although Su Xin did not practice martial arts, she was able to remain calm and composed when faced with a situation, never revealing any unusual behavior from beginning to end. Afterwards, she was able to quietly bring back the poisoned food for Gu Shaoan to identify.

Her composure and meticulousness in handling situations alone are unmatched by ordinary women.

Although Su Xin had calmed him down, Gu Santong was still furious that Su Xin had just woken up and suffered such a thing. At this moment, Su Xin looked at Gu Shaoan and said, "Just now, I saw that beggar. It wasn't voluntary. It seemed like someone was deliberately manipulating him behind the scenes. But the situation is special now, and I'm worried that it might affect Young Master Gu's arrangements."

Gu Shaoan nodded and said, "Miss Suxin guessed correctly. If what Miss Suxin said is true, even if the beggar poisoned the food, in the short time that Miss Suxin was away from the beggar, it wouldn't have been enough for 'Ershisan' to be mixed into these foods and the tofu pudding."

"It looks more like these packaged items were pre-treated with medication."

Su Xin's thoughts raced, and she exclaimed in surprise, "So, the stall owner was also an accomplice?"

Gu Shaoan nodded: "That's most likely the case."

Immediately, Gu Shaoan turned his head to look at Gu Santong.

Just by looking at Gu Santong's face, Gu Shaoan knew that Gu Santong's anger had not subsided.

Gu Shaoan was not surprised. After a moment's thought, he said, "Senior, there's no need to rush. Since the other party has placed the second-hour penalty, someone should arrive soon. Once they arrive, let's ask them what's going on and decide what to do!"

After a brief discussion, Gu Shaoan did not continue cultivating in his own room, but went to the room where Gu Santong and Su Xin were, and casually sat on a stool to cultivate.

Gu Santong was originally a martial arts fanatic.

Furthermore, through Gu Shaoan, she learned the truth about what happened on the shores of Taihu Lake back then.

Knowing that his more than twenty years of living in darkness in the imperial prison were entirely due to Zhu Wushi's deliberate framing, Gu Santong felt that as long as Zhu Wushi lived, he would never have peace of mind in the future.

Over the past few months, whenever I have free time, I have focused my mind on cultivation.

Seeing this, Su Xin remained silent and picked up the storybook that the inn had placed in the room to read.

Two hours later, the sky outside the window turned as dark as ink dripping into water, layer by layer spreading into an endless deep blue, until it swallowed up the last ray of light, announcing the true arrival of night.

Inside and outside the inn, lights gradually came on, outlining the dim, yellowish silhouettes of the buildings.

Gu Shaoan sat cross-legged on a low couch by the window, his eyes slightly closed, his breathing deep and lingering.

Gu Santong sat on another hardwood chair next to the table, his eyes closed in concentration. His rugged face appeared even more angular in the dim candlelight, but the vertical line between his brows, furrowed by the events of the day, had never smoothed out.

The only sounds in the room were the faint crackling of the burning candle wick and the occasional rustling of Su Xin turning the pages of her book.

She sat quietly at a table a few steps away from Gu Santong, flipping through an old thread-bound storybook by candlelight, her expression calm and gentle, as if the crisis of the day had never happened.

Just then, Gu Shaoan and Gu Santong, who were cultivating, suddenly opened their tightly closed eyes like lions awakened from a slumber.

After getting up, the two of them quietly moved to either side of the doorway.

Su Xin, who was reading with her eyes down, looked up and saw the two people who had been standing on either side of the door. Su Xin's gentle gaze immediately turned to the door.

Immediately afterwards, under the intense, focused gazes of the three people, a thin, almost transparent piece of iron quietly slipped through the crack in the door.

The tip of the iron sheet was cleverly ground to be extremely thin, like a willow leaf.

After being inserted into the door gap, the iron plate gradually moved upwards until it finally pressed against the heavy wooden bolt that was inserted horizontally inside the door.

Then, the metal piece seemed to be stuck in the metal piece and moved laterally at an imperceptible speed. Each tiny movement was accompanied by the friction between the wooden plug and the metal piece, and a "rustling" sound immediately rang out.

The bolt was pushed open little by little, extremely slowly, laterally!

The sound wasn't loud, but it wasn't quiet either.

If the people inside were still conscious, they would have heard these strange noises immediately.

Soon, in just a few dozen breaths, the bolt inserted from the inside slid open the lock groove, propelled by the iron plate.

Then, with a creak, the door that had been tightly closed was quietly pushed open.

The moment the door opened, two figures rushed into the room in a straight line.

However, just as the two stepped over the threshold and into the house, they seemed to sense something and turned their heads away.

When their eyes met those watery eyes beside the desk, eyes that seemed to gaze at a dog with deep affection, both men were startled. One of them, a man with a black mole the size of a soybean on the corner of his left eye, couldn't help but mutter a curse under his breath.

"Damn it, why are there still some awake? What's Old Li up to?"

However, before his companion could speak, two gusts of wind rose up almost simultaneously, then stopped abruptly as they landed on the two men.

The two uninvited guests who had just barged into the house suddenly froze, becoming as immobile as rotten wood.

At the same time that the two men's acupoints were pressed, Gu Santong's figure darted out of the room like a strong, large cat.

Two breaths later, he quickly returned to the house.

After closing the door, Gu Santong said in a deep voice, "There's no one else, just the two of them."

After glancing at the two people in front of him, Gu Shaoan looked at Gu Santong.

"You coming or me?"

Gu Shaoan's voice was calm and emotionless.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Gu Santong, standing to the side, said in a deep, booming voice, "I'll do it."

As he spoke, Gu Santong glanced at Su Xin, then grabbed the shoulders of both of them with his hands and darted out the window.

Just as his body leaped out of the window, Gu Santong suddenly tapped one foot on the window sill, and with a strange, elusive movement in mid-air, he jumped onto the roof.

In response, Gu Shaoan looked at Su Xin and said, "It seems that Senior Gu really cares about Miss Su Xin, as he even knew to take her out."

Su Xin smiled faintly and said, "Although Santong seems to care about nothing, he is actually quite meticulous despite his rough exterior. It's just that he is a bit lively in his daily life."

Gu Shaoan was stunned when he heard Su Xin's description of Gu Santong.

Then he burst into laughter.

What does "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" mean? This is it.

In Su Xin's eyes, Gu Santong's usual behavior was simply "lively".

Gu Santong did not leave for long.

It was much faster than Gu Shaoan had anticipated.

In the short time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he brought the two people back into the house.

At this moment, both of them had fainted, and their faces were pale and bloodless, as if they had just been pulled out of the water, their clothes soaked with sweat.

After dropping the two men on the ground, Gu Santong casually said, "Alright! We've got the answers."

As he spoke, Gu Santong recounted everything he had just learned from the interrogation.

As the others had guessed, there was a gang in Gushan City that committed all sorts of evil deeds, including swindling and cheating.

That vendor was one of the gang members, who usually used his stall to help find suitable prey.

Those little beggars today are deliberately taken in by gangs to act as informants or to secretly poison them.

The reason I drugged Su Xin today was simply because I had my eye on the money in her purse.

After learning that the other party was only after money and not trying to kill him, Gu Santong's expression improved considerably.

After all, the kind of thing that involves making money is not uncommon, not only in Gushan City, but also in the capital.

After listening to Gu Santong's explanation, Gu Shaoan asked, "What's the name of this gang?"

Gu Santong curled his lip and said, "It seems to be called something like the Ghost Hand Gang."

It was just a casual question, but when Gu Santong spoke and Gu Shaoan heard that familiar name, his expression turned slightly serious.

His eyes lowered and swept over the two unconscious people on the ground, his eyes unconsciously narrowing.

"Ha! It's those rats from the gutter again."

　The next chapter will be around 10 PM!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)