Chapter 159: An Unexpected Person

“Why wouldn’t the wraith be sucked in?” Li Lin asked.

“I don’t know,” Li Yanjing said helplessly. “Before I became this, I was just a woman who happened to be a bit more beautiful—not anyone important.”

“Then all these years, you never investigated the reason?”

Li Yanjing sighed. “More than ten years ago, my spirit was still foggy, barely aware of anything. It wasn’t until I accidentally possessed a courtesan that I finally gained my own consciousness. All I ever thought about was how to eat and how to avoid being found and killed by Spirit Hunters—how could I have time to ponder such things?”

I see.

Li Lin fell into thought unconsciously. Logically, if a world has wraiths, it should have immortals.

This world does have immortals, but their whereabouts are unknown.

The Spirit Hunters alone bear the burden of fighting the wraiths.

As for the True Lords… they too are the result of an agreement between the elder Spirit Hunters and the wraiths.

Seeing Li Lin frown, Li Yanjing leaned close to him and urged, “Don’t overthink it. You’re just a County Commandant. The world has taller people holding it up. Just keep your two sisters safe, and me and Lady Dai, and that’s enough.”

To be fair, Li Lin thought she had a point.

Only as much ability as you have can you do as much as you can.

His current strength was only enough to protect a small household.

Overthinking truly served no purpose.

Still, he must push harder to improve his strength.

Keep making spirit stones at home. Keep building the house at home.

The tragedy in Fuxin Village was terrible, but it was also the norm in this world.

Besides, the County Magistrate was the one burdened by this matter—not him, the County Commandant.

Days passed, and the spirit stones piled higher in the backyard storage.

He estimated he could soon begin construction on a small house.

Li Lin personally looked forward to it.

Huang Qing and Hong Luan looked forward to it too.

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

Zhang Guangqi sat above, expression neutral, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone: “Commandant Li, Military Governor Huang of Jincheng has ordered you to lead the village militia to Jincheng and bring back one hundred southern barbarian women to our county.”

“Why?” Li Lin was puzzled. “Our county has no laundry bureau.”

Zhang Guangqi replied calmly: “Though we have no laundry bureau, we do have a certain broker’s office.”

Oh, Li Lin understood.

They intended to place these women at the broker’s office for “marriage arrangements.”

It was a benefit for ordinary men: captured foreign women could be assigned to old bachelors.

Li Lin nodded and asked: “When do we depart?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Understood,” Li Lin bowed, preparing to leave.

At that moment, Zhang Guangqi suddenly said: “Commandant Li, have you considered my earlier suggestion?”

“The temple’s incense altar for the True Lord?”

“Yes,” Zhang Guangqi’s voice softened slightly. “After all, we are truly one family.”

Li Lin shook his head. “Sorry. I won’t switch.”

“Understood,” Zhang Guangqi’s voice turned cold again.

As Li Lin stepped out of the government office, he saw a man hiding in a corner, gesturing to him, then vanishing.

Li Lin had seen this man before—he was one of Jiang Jili’s men.

Li Lin followed the man into an alley, arriving before an old, rundown house.

The man made a gesture of invitation. Li Lin pushed open the door and entered.

Inside, he saw Jiang Jili seated, sipping small amounts of wine.

“You’re here!” he laughed.

Li Lin sat down. “It seems you’ve found something.”

“Yes.”

Jiang Jili said with pride: “Do you know how I found it?”

“You didn’t really investigate… at least not visibly,” Li Lin smiled.

Jiang Jili chuckled. “So the County Commandant is quite invested in this matter.”

“Naturally.”

Jiang Jili beamed. “I asked you for twenty government office runners only as a cover—I had other men investigating this.”

“I guessed as much.”

Seeing Li Lin wasn’t surprised, Jiang Jili said: “What I’m about to tell you will shock you.”

“Go ahead.”

He looked into Li Lin’s eyes and smiled: “The dead assassin was very likely sent by the Huang family.”

Li Lin’s expression remained calm.

“Aren’t you startled?”

“I am startled,” Li Lin nodded.

Seeing Li Lin so composed, Jiang Jili felt a pang of disappointment.

When he first uncovered this information, he had been thrilled, eager to see Li Lin’s disbelief upon learning the Huang family had turned hostile toward him.

After all, the Huang family was Li Lin’s backing.

Yet he never imagined Li Lin would remain so calm.

“You don’t seem surprised.”

Li Lin smiled. In truth, he was startled.

But he had prepared himself mentally.

After all, his relationship with Zhang Guangqi had grown strained lately.

He continued: “Do you have proof?”

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

“I found these by tracing the trail,” Jiang Jili said with a grin. “This is as far as I can go—further investigation would trigger open war between my Jiang family and the Huang family. Besides, this matter seems more directly tied to you.”

Li Lin nodded. “I’ll take these. I owe you a favor. What do you want?”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Jiang Jili said, full of satisfaction. “I’ll find a chance to call in that favor.”

Li Lin chatted with Jiang Jili for a while, shared another cup of wine, then left.

Jiang Jili was delighted, swaying gently as he sipped wine and hummed a tune.

How pleasant.

Li Lin returned home and found Huang Qing.

“Can you still contact your father?”

“Father?” Huang Qing thought a moment. “Ask Brother-in-law Zhang.”

“That’s exactly who we can’t ask.”

Huang Qing’s expression turned serious at once. As someone raised in a great family, she understood many things implicitly.

“What’s happened?”

Li Lin handed her the list and the black token.

After reading them, her expression turned furious: “This Seventh Brother-in-law has gone too far.”

“It’s not so much that County Magistrate Zhang has gone too far—it’s that the Huang family is splitting apart.”

“How could this happen?”

“It’s normal,” Li Lin smiled. “Your father is the eldest legitimate son, but he’s long been away. The capital holds more resources; someone else rose up and developed other ambitions—it’s natural.”

Huang Qing looked at Li Lin. “What do you plan to do?”

“I’m leaving for Jincheng tomorrow, so… be careful yourselves.”

“With Sister Yanjing here, it won’t be a problem,” Huang Qing smiled. “Besides, I’ve been practicing fist and sword techniques lately. I can’t beat experts, but ordinary people are no match for me.”

Li Lin smiled. “The Tree Immortal Lady will help too.”

Huang Qing nodded.

Li Lin gave a cold laugh, then pulled Huang Qing into the room.

He needed a good rest—tomorrow he was leaving.

(End of Chapter)