Chapter 159: The Unexpected Person

"Why won't the ghost be sucked away?" Li Lin asked.

"I don't know," Li Yanjing said helplessly. "Before I became like this, I was just a woman who looked slightly more beautiful than others, nothing important."

"Then haven't you investigated the reason over all these years?"

Li Yanjing sighed, "More than ten years ago, my spiritual intelligence was still muddled; I barely knew a few things. It wasn't until I accidentally possessed a courtesan that I truly gained my own spiritual intelligence. Usually, I just thought about how to eat my fill and how to avoid being discovered and killed by the Spirit Hunters. Where would I have had time to consider such matters?"

I see.

Li Lin subconsciously fell into thought. Logically, a world with ghosts should also have Immortals.

This world does indeed have Immortals, but they seem to be missing in action.

It all relies on the Spirit Hunters to fight the anomalies.

As for Taowu Zhenjun... that is also an agreement reached between the Spirit Hunters' predecessors and the Gowned Apparitions.

Seeing Li Lin frown, Li Yanjing leaned closer to him and advised, "Don't think so much. You are just a County Lieutenant. The world has taller people to hold up the sky. You just need to look after your two younger sisters, as well as me and the Eldest Lady."

I must say, Li Lin felt she made sense.

One can only do as much as one's ability allows.

Currently, his strength stops at protecting a small family.

Thinking too much is indeed useless.

However, he still needs to make an effort to improve his strength.

Continue making Spirit-Condensing Stones at home, continue building a house at home.

The situation in Fuxin Village, though tragic, is also the norm in this world.

Moreover, the trouble lies with the Magistrate, not with him, the County Lieutenant.

Days passed, and the pile of Spirit-Condensing Stones in the rear courtyard warehouse grew larger and larger.

It was estimated that construction on a small house could begin very soon.

Li Lin himself was very much looking forward to it.

And Huang Qi and Hong Luan were also very much looking forward to it.

And it was on this day that Li Lin arrived at the county government office's public hall.

Zhang Guangqi sat above, his expression neither cold nor warm, and said in very ordinary words, "County Lieutenant Li, Prefect Huang of Jincheng has ordered you to lead the village militia to Jincheng and bring one hundred Southern Barbarian women back to the county town here."

"Why?" Li Lin was somewhat puzzled. "Our county town has no Laundry Bureau."

Zhang Guangqi said flatly, "Although there is no Laundry Bureau, there is a Matchmaker Bureau."

Oh, Li Lin understood.

This was to place some women at the Matchmaker Bureau to be 'matched'.

It was a welfare benefit for ordinary men; some foreign tribe women captives could be distributed to those old bachelors.

Li Lin nodded and asked, "When do we depart?"

"Tomorrow."

"As you command." Li Lin clasped his fist and was just about to leave.

At that moment, Zhang Guangqi suddenly said, "County Lieutenant Li, have you considered my previous suggestion?"

"The matter of exchanging the incense temple for Taowu Zhenjun?"

"Yes." Zhang Guangqi's voice became a bit gentler. "After all, we are truly one family."

Li Lin shook his head. "Sorry, no exchange."

"Understood." Zhang Guangqi's voice turned cold again.

As soon as Li Lin exited the county government office, he saw a man hiding in a corner, beckoning to him, and then disappearing.

Li Lin had seen this man before; he was someone close to Jiang Jili.

Li Lin followed this man into an alley and then arrived before an old, small house.

The man made a gesture of invitation, and Li Lin pushed the door open and walked in.

Afterwards, he saw Jiang Jili sitting inside, drinking a small cup of wine.

"You're here!" he said with a smile.

Li Lin sat down. "It seems you must have made some discoveries."

"Correct."

Jiang Jili said with some pride, "Do you know how I found it out?"

"You seem to have hardly investigated at all..." Li Lin smiled. "At least, you didn't investigate on the surface."

Jiang Jili chuckled lightly. "It seems County Lieutenant, you are also very concerned about this matter."

"That is natural."

Jiang Jili said proudly, "I borrowed twenty government office Runners from you just to mislead others; I have other personnel investigating this matter."

"I guessed as much."

Seeing that Li Lin did not seem surprised, Jiang Jili said, "What I say next will surely shock you."

"Go ahead."

He looked into Li Lin's eyes and smiled. "The assassin who died was very likely someone sent by the Huang family."

Li Lin's expression was very calm.

"You aren't surprised?"

"Quite surprised," Li Lin nodded and said.

Seeing Li Lin's calm demeanor, Jiang Jili felt somewhat uncomfortable inside.

When he first obtained this news, he had been very excited; he eagerly wanted to see the feeling of disbelief on Li Lin's face when he learned that someone from the Huang family was unfriendly to him.

After all, the Huang family was the power behind Li Lin.

But he never expected Li Lin to be so quiet.

"You don't look very surprised."

Li Lin smiled; in truth, he was quite surprised inside.

But he had prepared himself mentally long ago.

After all, his relationship with Zhang Guangqi had not been very good lately.

He continued, "Do you have evidence?"

Jiang Jili handed Li Lin a piece of paper and a black token.

"This is what I found by following the trail," Jiang Jili said with a smile. "Investigating this far is already my limit; going further would trigger an all-out war between my Jiang family and the Huang family. Moreover, this matter seems to concern you even more."

Li Lin nodded: "I'll take this. This time I owe you a favor. What do you want?"

"We'll talk about it later," Jiang Jili said with great pride. "There will be a chance to collect a favor from you."

Li Lin chatted with Jiang Jili for a while, drank a small cup of wine, and then left.

Jiang Jili was very happy, gently swaying his body, drinking a small cup of wine while humming a little tune.

How delightful.

Li Lin returned home and found Huang Qing.

"Do you still have a way to contact your father-in-law?"

"Father?" Huang Qing thought for a moment and said, "Find Brother-in-law Zhang."

"That's exactly who we cannot find."

Huang Qing's expression immediately turned serious; after all, she was raised by a great family and understood many things clearly in her heart.

"What happened?"

Li Lin handed her the list and that token.

After reading it, her expression turned very angry: "This seventh brother-in-law has gone too far."

"Rather than saying County Magistrate Zhang has gone too far, it would be more accurate to say the Huang family is about to split."

"How could this happen?"

"It's a very normal thing," Li Lin smiled. "Your father-in-law is indeed the eldest legitimate son, but he has been away from home for a long time, while resources in Jingcheng are abundant; someone rising up and developing other thoughts is quite normal."

Huang Qing looked at Li Lin: "What do you plan to do?"

"I will go to Jincheng tomorrow, so... you all be careful."

"With Sister Yan Jing here, it won't be a big problem," Huang Qing smiled. "Besides, I have been practicing fist technique and sword technique lately; I may not defeat experts, but dealing with ordinary people is no problem."

Li Lin smiled: "Lady Tree Immortal will also help."

Huang Qing nodded.

Li Lin sneered, embraced Huang Qing, and went to the room.

He needed to rest well, after all, he was departing tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)