196: New life?

“Shopkeeper, don't spoil it. It's just greedy and won't eat much.”

Xia Zhijie finished speaking, stomped his foot, and raised his voice by three points to scold Little Yellow.

With its head drooping, Little Yellow dejectedly returned to its den, looking at the three with a pitiful expression.

Jiang Hanwen picked up his chopsticks, looked at Wang Ye, and said while eating:

“I remember you’ve been here for about five months, haven’t you?”

“Shopkeeper, I’ve been at the teahouse for four months and twenty-two days.” Wang Ye was confused and looked suspiciously at Xia Zhijie, as if to say, what does the shopkeeper mean by this? Is he trying to send me away?

After slurping a mouthful of noodles, Jiang Hanwen continued to ask:

“Do you still remember how you arrived that day?”

Wang Ye and Xia Zhijie exchanged glances, and they suddenly understood what Jiang Hanwen’s earlier words meant.

The missing pair of chopsticks wasn't for Little Yellow, but for the person who had connected Xia Zhijie and Wang Ye.

Jiang Hanwen gestured in front of his heart:

“That day, as soon as I touched you, I felt something was wrong. There was something inside you, probably a Gu.

Later, someone said they fed you a Heart-Devouring Gu.

The timelines don't match—”

Xia Zhijie’s face instantly flushed. It was he who had told the shopkeeper to use the Heart-Devouring Gu to control Wang Ye.

It turned out the shopkeeper knew all along but just didn't expose him.

He immediately stood up, looking at Jiang Hanwen with trepidation.

Concealing information was an unforgivable mistake, but the condition of his deal with Zheng Yunxu was that she could help, but he absolutely couldn't tell Jiang Hanwen.

“Shopkeeper, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hide it—”

“Don’t worry.

I’m not here to blame you today; if I were, your head would have been gone long ago.

Call her over. Why does she always hide from me? How long will she keep hiding?”

After speaking, Jiang Hanwen looked up, his gaze fixed on the adjacent inn.

Xia Zhijie’s heart trembled. The shopkeeper actually knew!

His past disguise was so fragile; he had even planned to confess everything to the shopkeeper after this transaction was over.

Xia Zhijie rushed out of the courtyard and quickly climbed to the next building. At this point, hiding it any longer was meaningless.

“Why are you just standing there? Sit down. It’s a waste not to eat.” Jiang Hanwen looked relaxed.

Wang Ye looked at him, then at the noodles on the table, feeling like an ant on a hot pan.

Both were his benefactors. They were clearly next door, yet they kept hiding and not meeting. Even a fool would know something was wrong.

If the two of them came into conflict, could he stop them?

His heart, calm for five months, couldn't help but stir with turbulent waves.

A quarter of an hour later, Xia Zhijie returned to the courtyard with a grim expression, looking dejected. His clothes were torn as if by a knife, leaving him disheveled, like a beggar.

“Shopkeeper, she said if you want to see her, you should go up alone.” After saying this, Xia Zhijie added:

“Shopkeeper, this matter is my fault. She said she would leave today, leave City Name, and never return—”

Before he could finish, a streak of light flashed past Xia Zhijie and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Only the two stunned people remained in the courtyard. Such…such fast movement technique!

Wang Ye reacted, rushed to the door, and anxiously looked at Xia Zhijie:

“Will they fight?”

Xia Zhijie clutched his stomach, wincing in pain:

“If it weren’t for the shopkeeper, I’d be several pieces of shredded meat by now. Do you think they could fight?”

...Jiang Hanwen arrived at the top floor of the pavilion, at the end of the corridor, where there was only one large room with a closed door.

He stopped outside the door. The four potted pines on either side were all withered, the ephedra dry, devoid of any life.

The air was filled with a strange smell, like…like the stench of a corpse.

“Thump-thump~”

Jiang Hanwen knocked on the door.

“Click~”

The latch opened, retreating into its groove, then there was no sound. The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet, as if behind the door was a bottomless black abyss.

Jiang Hanwen pushed open the door, and a strong stench of corpse assailed him.

All the windows in the room were closed, the light dim. The doorway was the only source of light.

A graceful figure in a dark red robe sat at the dressing table by the bed, her back to him, her long black hair cascading to her waist like a waterfall.

What was eerie was that black spider silk covered everything in the room, as glossy as her black hair, as if this wasn't the human world but a subterranean spider cave.

“You've seen the person; you can go back.” A cold voice rang in his ear.

Go?

Jiang Hanwen stepped into the room and walked towards the figure's back.

As Jiang Hanwen approached, the figure on the long bench trembled slightly.

Just as they were only a meter apart.

“Bang!”

The door suddenly slammed shut. In an instant, the white windows turned black, and there was no light left in the room, turning into pure darkness where nothing could be seen.

“Don’t come any closer!” The voice held a three-point tremor, just like that night when they first drank together.

“The first day I saw Wang Ye, you were here, right?” Jiang Hanwen asked.

In response to his question, there was only silence in the room.

“During this time, to have developed so many eyes, those two deserve great credit, but those things should all be your doing. Thank you.”

In these past few months, Heavenly Secret Pavilion had been rapidly expanding its forces.

From the initial few dozen people receiving monthly stipends to now over three hundred, the methods of control were nothing more than carrots and sticks.

The carrots were money, Cultivation Techniques, and future development; the sticks were house rules and timed antidote pills.

Only after officially becoming a Late Stage Heavenly Secret Pavilion member would the need for antidote pills be removed.

For several key figures, they didn't use ordinary antidote pills, but rather trump cards like the Heart-Devouring Gu, which were very difficult to resolve.

Silence, still silence.

Jiang Hanwen walked to the stool, and a faint fragrance entered his nostrils. Amidst the strong stench, it was like a clear stream, particularly distinct.

“I came today for no particular reason, just to tell you that you can’t always live in the past. Some things, when it’s time to move on, you have to move on.

Staying with rotten people and rotten things for too long, it will grow into your own flesh.”

Zheng Yunxu's gritted teeth voice echoed in the darkness, every word seemingly stained with blood.

“Not everyone can eat meat; some people can't even gnaw on grass roots!”

Will she finally talk?

Jiang Hanwen's eyes narrowed slightly. He deliberately provoked her to see if Zheng Yunxu was still capable of communication.

This girl had been helping him from behind, and he couldn't let her continue to hide in her memories.

“Avenge your enemies, settle your grievances.

The Black Tiger Gang is gone. You can have your own new life.”

After a long silence, Zheng Yunxu’s voice carried a hint of sarcasm.

“Look, is this what you call a new life?”