From slave trader to the Immortal Lord of Ten Thousand Laws

Ah!

Jiang She was secretly pleased, but Little Sun mistakenly thought he was daydreaming, so he waved his hand in front of Jiang She's eyes:

"Brother Jiang, what are you thinking about?"

"I want to fuck someone."

"What?!"

Xiao Sun was stunned.

Jiang She snapped out of his daze and quickly changed his words, saying, "Little Sun, you know how good the Second Manager was. He was poisoned to death! I wish I could curse that villain's ancestors for eighteen generations!"

"Um."

Little Sun nodded emphatically: "Me too!"

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, they saw Xiao Sun leading a dozen guards out of the Xu residence in a hurry. Xiao Sun didn't say that he had come back to gather people to go to the Xu family's shop.

But as Xiao Sun walked along, a sinister thought crept into his heart:

"Since Brother Jiang sold his ancestral treasured sword to me, he has truly changed his mind. We two made an agreement beforehand, but I couldn't remember it, and Brother Jiang probably forgot as well. The Brother Jiang of today is probably not the same Brother Jiang anymore..."

Xiao Sun smiled, a hint of bewilderment in his eyes.

...

Yunshuifang.

One of the most prosperous wards in the capital of the Great Qian Dynasty, it is located in the East Market, about three miles long, and is adjacent to the districts where high-ranking officials and nobles reside, such as Pingkang Ward and Xuanyang Ward. Together with several other prosperous wards, it is known as the "metropolitan city" of the Great Qian Dynasty.

It has nine streets and twelve alleys, with shops set up according to industry. There are shops selling jewelry, silk, and rare items to the nobility, as well as places like opera houses, entertainment venues, and taverns for the common people to enjoy and make a living.

Led by Xiao Sun, the group walked along Yunshuifang Street. Everywhere they went, the shop signs on both sides all bore the name of the Xu family.

This caused a commotion among the crowd.

"Alas! The owner is truly wealthy and powerful; the entire market is filled with his shops. How much money must he make this year!"

"Ha! What do you know, you scoundrel? The master pays bribes to the higher-ups every year, doesn't it? The amount can't be small!"

"That's true."

"Alas, how dare we even dream of such a thing?"

The group chatted for about half an hour until they reached the entrance of a restaurant. They then tacitly stopped talking, exchanged shifts with the guards at the front and back doors, and stood still.

The private room, named "Tianzi," is on the second floor of the restaurant.

Xu Ningyuan, carrying a birdcage in one hand and a teacup in the other, sat at the head of the table. His eyes swept over the delicacies on the table, but he only glanced at the panicked man opposite him, and said:

"Feng Yuan, your father is dead, why don't you shed a tear? Instead, you're here summoning a few courtesans to drink and make merry? Do you think this position of second manager is definitely going to fall to you? Or... is it because you killed Manager Feng in the first place!"

"Oh! Uncle, you've been wronged!"

Upon hearing this, Feng Yuan was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing frantically.

"Injustice?"

Xu Ningyuan chuckled, not even glancing at him directly, and said only, "It seems you've forgotten. Then I'll give you a pointer."

"Your father's concubines have already confessed to everything. They said that you obtained medicinal herbs from foreign merchants, ground them into powder, mixed them into a poison powder, and secretly added it to ginseng soup and other tonics, which you then served to your father in his meals..."

Xu Ningyuan walked and talked, and when he got close to Feng Yuan, he raised his hand, grabbed his chin, and shouted at him almost face to face:

"Young Master Feng, how cruel you are! You killed your father, seized his wealth and concubines, and now I ask you, is that right? Is that right?!"

"This...this..."

Feng Yuan was so terrified that his face turned ashen, his legs trembled so badly that he wet himself, but he could only kowtow to Xu Ningyuan and beg for mercy.

"Uncle, I know I was wrong! I know I was wrong!"

"That vile woman harbored treacherous intentions, whispering sweet nothings in my ear and causing me to lose my mind and commit a grave mistake. But I only made the poison powder; she was the one who poisoned me, she was the one who poisoned me..."

"snort!"

"Do you really think I'm so easy to fool!"

Xu Ningyuan swept his sleeve aside, shoving away the ingrate who was clinging to his sleeve and begging for mercy, and angrily said, "What a wolf in sheep's clothing! You may be able to fool me, but can you fool my life?"

"But we cannot hand you over to the authorities for prosecution."

"Xu An".

Xu Ningyuan called out towards the door, and a middle-aged man with bulging arms pushed the door open and walked in.

"I am here."

The burly man immediately bowed down.

Xu Ningyuan nodded, pointed at the ungrateful wretch Feng Yuan, whose head was bleeding profusely, and said coldly:

"Take him to my Xu family's private dungeon, and release him with snakes, scorpions, and poisonous insects, so that he may wish he were dead!"

"Yes."

The burly man obeyed, grabbing Feng Yuan by the back of his collar and dragging him out. But Feng Yuan knew the dangers of the Xu family's water dungeon, and could only cry out pitifully with a mournful face:

"Uncle, I know I was wrong! Please, report it to the authorities. I won't go to the water dungeon, I won't go to the water dungeon!"

His cries grew more and more desperate, but he was dragged further and further away until he finally disappeared at the end of the corridor and could no longer be heard.

Before long, the burly Xu An returned to the private room.

He raised his hand in a traditional martial arts salute and said:

"Second Master, the yamen has followed your instructions and placed Manager Feng's remains in the mortuary, and posted a notice stating that he was poisoned."

"Very good."

Xu Ningyuan held his teacup and nodded slightly: "It's no wonder my family has been so generous in their arrangements; they've come in handy now. However, the reason Manager Feng died was ultimately due to the knife wound in his mouth. This is the only thing that must be kept secret from outsiders."

"I understand."

Xu An clasped his hands in a fist and said solemnly, "The mortuary is all set up. If that thief comes tonight, he will not be able to escape!"

Xu Ningyuan nodded, then smiled and teased, "I'm afraid we'll have to do all this work, but that person won't be the one to calm the storm."

...

"It's called 'Calming the Waves'!"

Inside the Xu family mansion, a group of guards huddled together, chattering about the major events that had occurred at the Xu family's shop.

"Alas, Manager Feng is dead. It's a pity that he was so diligent and conscientious, but he didn't get to enjoy his old age. Instead, he was ruined by the Dingfengbo incident."

"How did you get hurt?"

"The government office issued an obituary saying that he was poisoned."

"Brother Sun, what is this 'Calming the Waves'?"

"A group of assassins in the martial arts world secretly formed an alliance, taking money to kill people, and specializing in doing shady things."

As he spoke, Xiao Sun glanced around.

He had just returned from his shift at Yunshuifang when he entered the courtyard of the back room and heard a commotion among the people. He then spoke with a few of them about the secret alliance of the Jianghu, Dingfengbo. However, when others asked him questions, he did not answer. Instead, he frowned and waved his hand, saying, "Disperse, everyone. Don't be so idle as to gossip behind people's backs."

After hearing this, everyone dispersed.

But Jiang She, standing to the side, truly listened.

He leaned against the window, his gaze fixed on the orchids and bamboo in the courtyard, but his thoughts were wandering, and he muttered to himself:

"The yamen issued an obituary stating that the second manager, Ding Fengbo, was poisoned. But Xu Lian is Ding Fengbo's assassin. If she didn't lie to me and she really did kill him, then she would definitely go to the morgue to examine the body and see whether it was poisoned or stabbed with a dagger."

hehe...

"What kind of behavior is this? Professional ethics?"

Jiang She chuckled at this thought, shook his head, and reached out to close the window when he saw Little Sun step out from the crowd and bow to him.

"Brother Jiang".

"Um."

Jiang She nodded in agreement and returned the greeting.

Little Sun leaned closer, glanced around, and said to him in a mysterious tone, "Brother Jiang, the master's family is facing many misfortunes, and you've only just recovered from your injuries, so you must be careful in everything you do."

"I know."

Jiang She clasped his hands in a fist and bowed politely, but in his heart he thought, "I'm afraid that young lady Xu Lian will be ambushed when she goes to the morgue tonight, and I will lose her."

"We need to be more cautious."

As Jiang She pondered this, he looked up and realized that the sky had unknowingly darkened, and the corridor lamps were lit all around, casting a red glow.

...

The moon was high in the sky, and all was quiet.

Madam Xu, however, had no desire to sleep. She put on her night clothes, concealed a hidden weapon in her sleeve, and tied a dagger to her calf. She glanced up and saw that all the lights around her were out. Then she pushed open the wooden window, used the window sill for leverage, and with a thud, leaped onto the roof of the opposite building. She then zipped and scrambled towards the government office.

Before long, they saw rows of upturned eaves and brackets, built in the style of government offices, which was the mortuary of the yamen.

Madam Xu, crouching behind the roof ridge, saw that no one was around, and there were no patrolling guards, which made her more vigilant.

"I don't believe anyone's really talking about it."

Madam Xu remained calm and patient, holding her breath and waiting for a while. Seeing that there was still no movement in the courtyard, she felt a little relieved. Then, she moved like a ghost, sliding from the eaves to the window, and poked a small hole in the paper window with her index finger, looking into the room through the hole.

The room was dimly lit, with only three or five wooden beds visible, covered with white cloths that vaguely revealed human figures, likely the remains of those who had died recently. Wooden shelves stood on the surrounding walls, cluttered with shrouds, packets of lime, and other items, emanating a strange stench of mustiness mixed with herbs.

"Squeak!"

Madam Xu pulled out a dagger, inserted it into the crack in the door, and with a quick pull, she opened the latch and slipped into the house.

They continued forward, lifted the white cloth, and searched for a while before finally finding Manager Feng's corpse. They pried open his mouth and saw a knife wound deep in his throat. Madam Xu immediately laughed:

"Ha! I'm so stupid! I killed him! Those stinking government officials think they can fool me? I'm not stupid!"

As Madam Xu was laughing, she suddenly heard a whoosh of wind. She turned her head and saw a bean-sized object flying from behind her, spinning in a line as it was blown by the wind, heading straight for her face.

"Hey!"

Madam Xu was stunned for a moment, but instinctively lowered her head as the bean-sized hidden weapon grazed past the top of her head.

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, the wall cracked like a spider web.

Madam Xu looked up and saw a shiny black iron lotus seed embedded in the wall, its end still trembling.

She paused, then glanced towards the corner:

Which pot?

A sharp shout came from the darkness:

"Your grandfather doesn't collect night watchmen!"