Chapter 632: Fang Canran's Hospitality

Inside, it was a seated design, so distinguished guests wouldn't squat until their feet went numb. The secret room was always lit with heavy incense, and underneath it was paved with incense ash and bamboo charcoal to remove odors.

He Lingchuan waved his hand: "No need, I'll go, go myself." After saying that, he swayed as he got up.

He seemed to be stepping on cotton, one step deep and one step shallow, his center of gravity unstable, but in the end, he walked over.

Fang Canran waited outside the secret room for a long while, when suddenly he heard a thud, as if a heavy object had fallen behind that heavy door.

He rushed over to take a look, and He Lingchuan had fallen on the way out, lying prostrate on the ground.

He squatted down and shook He Lingchuan's shoulder: "Brother He?"

The youth had no reaction.

Fang Canran called out twice more, but He Lingchuan still had no movement.

So Fang Canran's smile vanished, he took out a rope, muttered two lines of incantations, and looped it onto He Lingchuan's hand. The rope automatically tightened, wrapping around twice.

Fang Canran even tugged twice to make sure it was bound tight.

Just at this moment, the wooden window was blown open by a strong wind with a bang, and the whole room was instantly filled with wind.

It didn't know when it started raining outside, and the cold rainwater was carried in by the wind, slapping wildly on people's faces.

Fang Canran was afraid that He Lingchuan would be slapped awake by the wind and rain, so he rushed in two steps to close the window.

Just at this moment, someone knocked on the courtyard door outside and called: "Manager Fang."

Fang Canran responded: "Speak!"

The wind was very loud; the person had already walked from the courtyard to outside the door, and leaned against the door calling: "General Yang is entertaining guests in the Wanxiang Courtyard, seven or eight people are all drunk, and are about to leave. But the one hundred taels of silver he took out to pay the bill is, is fake; when cut open, it's a lead block in the middle. What do you think?"

Fang Canran immediately said: "Accept it, send the guests off as usual. Tomorrow evening, take the fake silver to the Yang residence."

"Yes!"

Fang Canran listened to the servant's footsteps leaving, and only then did he walk to the prisoner's side, lifted him back to the small hall, pressed him onto a chair, and took out a golden toad ornament half a palm wide, throwing a spark into the toad's big mouth.

Before long, wisps of clear smoke emerged from the toad's mouth, actually in three colors: red, blue, and black, and the three colors steamed separately without mixing.

Fang Canran held his own breath and placed the golden toad ornament under He Lingchuan's nose.

The three-colored smoke seemed to be guided, drilling into the prisoner's nose.

He Lingchuan seemed a bit uncomfortable and moved, and Fang Canran's expression tightened.

Fortunately, the prisoner soon had no movement again, and his breathing became lighter.

If there were others on the side seeing this scene, they would be shocked. The Grand Manager most relied upon by the Golden Horn family, the Boss Fang who made business big and strong, was actually personally plotting against someone!

Ordinary people wouldn't be able to think of the reason for him doing this even if they racked their brains, only thinking this was the highest realm of business warfare.

Fang Canran estimated the time; after forty breaths, he moved the golden toad away, extinguished the three-colored smoke, and performed a wind-summoning incantation, summoning a light breeze to blow all the residual smoke in the air to the back hall, only then did he dare to breathe freely.

He leaned close to He Lingchuan and whispered: "Young Master He?"

He Lingchuan had no reaction.

He asked again, and only then did He Lingchuan mumble an "Hmm."

Fang Canran's voice was extremely gentle: "Young Master He, where are you?"

He Lingchuan: "I, don't know."

"Don't be afraid, you are very safe, very comfortable, no one will do anything to you... Do you know who I am?"

"I don't know."

Fang Canran asked again: "What is your full name?"

"He Xiao."

"Where are you from?"

"Fu Kingdom."

What Fang Canran used was the three-colored soothing smoke, which could put the subject in a relaxed state of being half-asleep and half-awake. As long as the guidance was proper, or the questions were answered, the person involved wouldn't know what happened afterward.

This kind of smoke was the best for questioning suspects, without anyone knowing.

Even Fan Sheng had lost to the person in front of him; Fang Canran didn't think he could gain any advantage from force; but young people mostly didn't have firm enough wills and were easily confused by luxury and pleasure, so he could start from there.

Asking a few routine questions was to dispel the prisoner's subconscious concerns. Fang Canran entered the topic: "What did you come to Lingxu City for?"

"Bai Ziqi wanted me to come; I couldn't not come."

His story was well-known throughout Lingxu City; Fang Canran naturally knew what this sentence meant.

"Anything else? What else do you want to do?"

He Lingchuan's tone was very blank: "What matter?"

"In Lingxu City, do you have any other important matters to attend to?"

"I don't know." He Lingchuan was even more puzzled than him, "Do I?"

Whether he had any or not, how would Fang Canran know? He could only change the question: "What is your relationship with the Songyang Prefecture Master, Li Qingge?"

"Friends."

"How did you meet?"

"I met her when I asked the Songyang Prefecture to cast a sword for me."

Fang Canran frowned: "What matter were you discussing when you met a few days ago?"

He Lingchuan moved: "The Lord wanted to recruit me as, as a guest elder."

"Just like that?" No other schemes? He Lingchuan had no reaction.

Fang Canran said again: "Do you recognize a signet ring with five spiral patterns on it?"

"I recognize it."

The following was the key point: "How do you recognize it?"

"I have seen it."

Fang Canran's heart tightened: "Where have you seen it?"

"In the hands of the Dun Garden Grand Manager, Fang Canran."

"..." Fang Canran was a bit helpless, "Have you seen it before?"

"Yes. In the west."

This answer greatly exceeded Fang Canran's expectations.

Using three-colored smoke to interrogate for answers had this problem: the subject lost the ability to reason, like a marionette, and it was very difficult to answer completely.

"Where is the west?"

"West of Beijia, further west."

"What is the place name?"

Fang Canran asked several more times, and only then did the other party say: "Linhe City."

When these three words were spoken, Fang Canran's face turned black instantly. His chest heaved, and he seemed to endure his anger: "The current owner of this signet ring, what do you want to do to him?"

"Fang Canran?"

"Yes."

He Lingchuan tilted his head: "Hard to say, it depends on what he wants to do to me."

"Last question." Fang Canran's expression was about to collapse: "Are you talking nonsense?"

"Yes."

And then, He Lingchuan opened his eyes.

His gaze was clear; where was there any confusion?

Fang Canran's dagger was also simultaneously placed against He Lingchuan's neck.

"Manager Fang, is this your way of hospitality?" He Lingchuan shook his bound hands. Fang Canran took a look and found that the rope was still twisted very tightly, so he felt slightly relieved.

He Lingchuan could pretend to be unconscious and pretend to answer questions, but he was unwilling to suffer this silent loss.

Falling into a disadvantage in the first encounter would only make Fang Canran look down on him, thinking he could play with him in the palm of his hand at will.

Speaking of which, although his story was widely circulated in Lingxu City, others only knew that Cen Poqing sent people to assassinate him, but did not know the specific methods.

Fang Canran probably hadn't found out; otherwise, if he had heard that even a curse master couldn't kill He Lingchuan, he would definitely be more cautious about using methods like drugging and three-colored smoke.

Fang Canran sighed long and long: "If you had honestly fainted, honestly confessed, and then woken up without knowing anything, how good would that be?"

If the three-colored soothing smoke had taken effect, He Lingchuan wouldn't remember what he said or what he experienced when he woke up, just thinking he was a bit dazed from drinking; wouldn't that be a happy ending for everyone?

This Chiyan special envoy had made quite a name for himself in Lingxu City, and others found it difficult to move against him, so Fang Canran wanted to use this method to probe him quietly. After asking, he could snap his fingers, and both sides could happily eat and drink together, pretending nothing had happened.

He Lingchuan shook his head: "Your smoke smelled too pungent; I woke up as soon as I smelled it."

Fang Canran was a bit depressed; he hadn't used three-colored smoke many times, and this thing varied from person to person, making the dosage hard to grasp.

Since He Lingchuan had already seen through it, and the tacit understanding between the two sides had been broken, then—

"Now the scene won't be good to look at."

"Still not untying me?" He Lingchuan looked at him, lifting his chin, "So many people at Pianxiang Manor saw you and me leave together; they are all witnesses. If you untie the rope now, maybe I will let bygones be bygones."

He looked fearless. Fang Canran sat up straight: "It's good that you're awake; we don't need to talk in circles. Where exactly did you find out about this spiral ring?"

He Lingchuan was between laughter and tears: "Binding people over such a small matter? Manager Fang, you've gone too far!"

He struggled twice, but the rope tightened instead, making him hiss in pain, his face somewhat distorted.

Seeing that he was indeed unable to break free, Fang Canran withdrew the dagger: "This is the Earth Immortal Rope, which can bind true power."

Otherwise, with He Lingchuan's strength, wouldn't breaking free from an ordinary rope be a matter of minutes? "I just looked at that ring casually; believe it or not, it's up to you."

Fang Canran looked at him as if he were being stubborn: "I've given you chances several times, but you won't say; then don't blame me."

After several contacts, he was already tired of probing and didn't want to leave such a hidden bomb.

He Lingchuan was startled: "What do you want to do? What do you dare to do?"

With so many eyewitnesses, would Fang Canran dare to kill him? The Grand Manager of the Golden Horn family had always behaved gracefully. Could it be that this extreme appearance now was his true face?

Fang Canran poured a cup of wine and pushed it in front of him: "A toast; tell me the whole story, and I can spare your life."

He Lingchuan saw him take out another soft cowhide bag, spread it out, and inside were actually various metal tools: small scissors, small knives, small tweezers, clamps, hammers, and some strange-shaped ones, not knowing what they were for.

But each one was wiped until it shone.

"A penalty toast; I have twelve types of torture here, and thirty-six types of lower torture; you can taste each one before you die."

A dignified big businessman, hiding so many torture instruments, is that appropriate?

He Lingchuan sneered: "My many opponents don't dare to do things, and Grand Manager Fang wants to do it for them?"

"Those opponents all have scruples, all focused on their own wealth and future, which is why you have room to maneuver." Fang Canran raised the spiral signet ring and shook it in front of him, "You keep staring at it, so you should know that the owner of this ring has never been afraid of death!"

The last few words were resonant.

Since he had already offended He Lingchuan and exposed his own anxiety, he was not afraid of offending him to death.

The matter was botched, but there had to be some harvest, right? He Lingchuan also stopped struggling and seriously examined this ring.

(End of chapter)