Chapter 280: The Proprietor

The theater.

The disciples were gathered around the old man, covering him with quilts and serving him water; Pei Ye had already left once more.

The streets of Qijiu City were devoid of bright lanterns; filth was scattered about, and scraps of paper swirled in the light breeze. Pei Ye looked up at the bleak moon, which was already nearing the zenith.

He headed straight for the docks.

Both Changsun and that proprietor were in the compound; to investigate news of that batch of secret cargo, one did not necessarily have to clash head-on with them.

This was information obtained just moments ago while chatting with the theater disciples—although the cargo was gone from the dock warehouse and the subsequent accounting records would likely be erased, the tallyman's first draft would, in all likelihood, still contain some records to balance the later financial accounts.

And getting one's hands on this draft was far simpler than breaking into the Changsun estate.

In an instant, Pei Ye crossed the entirety of Qijiu City, the city river gurgling as it flowed.

Four tall ships were docked at the shore, their masts seemingly touching the pale clouds beneath the moon.

Pei Ye had already asked Ji Yun; the ship docked yesterday was indeed the innermost one from the West, and since the ship was docked facing the warehouse, the cargo unloaded from it should be in the nearest "Di" character warehouse.

The security for such large-scale cargo was indeed far more lax than expected. Pei Ye took a quick look and discovered that the most troublesome guard was actually the giant black wolfhound at the entrance.

A massive lock hung on the warehouse door, and right beside the lock was this large dog, tethered in the brightly lit open space, visible at a glance to the guard in the small room opposite, who might or might not be asleep.

This interlocking defense guarded the main gate; if one wanted to enter from here, one would have no choice but to kill.

Pei Ye thought for a moment and circled the large warehouse, failing to find a second point of entry until he quietly leaped onto the roof and felt a few loose tiles.

This warehouse was guarded against people stealing cargo; if one only sneaked in to take a look at the ledger, one could always find a loophole.

Pei Ye landed silently, and a warm, cool flame ignited beside him. The bookkeeping table was right at the warehouse entrance. The youth carefully avoided the vicious dog just a wall away and gently opened the ledger; dense, ink-black characters immediately rushed into his field of vision.

He felt dizzy and overwhelmed at once.

It was worthy of being a synchronized record of cargo entering and leaving; it was written fast enough, and not only was the handwriting dense and chaotic, but strokes were frequently added or crossed out. Pei Ye had originally felt that he had made progress in recognizing characters, but at this moment, it was as if he had returned to the time when he was blind to books.

". Li Piaoqing, this ledger is so messy, how do I read it?" Pei Ye was annoyed.

The black cat transmitted the young girl's faint, tiny voice: "I don't have time to deal with you right now."

"."

Pei Ye frowned tightly and flipped forward several pages, identifying them for a long time before finally finding the divider for "September 18th."

He let out a sigh of relief and looked down from there, guessing and identifying line by line, until he finally gradually distinguished the format recorded by this accountant—first the cargo name, then the weight and quantity, when and by whom it was delivered; some even had the departure time and destination added later.

Pei Ye combed through them line by line until his finger paused, pressing down on a record that did not follow the format.

There was no cargo name listed, only a short line. Pei Ye narrowed his eyes and identified it for a long time, recognizing these dozen or so characters as:

"Eighteen pieces in the inner cabin, retained by Qiyun, not entered into the warehouse."

Pei Ye paused his finger: "Retained..."

He recalled the inquiry he had just made at the theater: "Have you all heard of anything happening in Yinyang County recently?"

Everyone was bewildered. After a while, someone said it seemed like the County Magistrate was changing, and someone else said it seemed a woman had given birth to four children at once. In short, they spoke all at once, until finally, Ji Yun revealed a weak smile: "The big event in Yinyang recently, isn't it just Sister Yi getting married?"

Pei Ye was stunned for a moment: "Is this... Yinyang's business?"

Ji Yun looked at him: "The Yi family is right in Yinyang County."

"."

Pushing this memory aside, Pei Ye was silent for a while, restored the ledger to its original state, leaped back onto the warehouse roof, and left the docks in a few bounds.

He headed straight north.

Lingzi Guanshi Changsun's residence was very close to the docks. Pei Ye crossed two alleys, and the spacious compound was already in sight.

In the dead of late autumn, the lanterns were bright.

Pei Ye quietly lowered his posture, narrowing his eyes to search for a possibility of infiltration.

In fact, there wasn't a single guard to be seen, as if anyone could climb over this high courtyard wall, but Pei Ye now knew that the things the Yi family wanted to transport back to Yinyang were kept here, and Qiyun's proprietor was guarding it personally.

And when his gaze shifted to the second courtyard, the text in his mind unexpectedly interlocked with the scene before him.

Three carriages.

Without concealment or hiding, they were placed side by side in the courtyard; the two cargo wagons were already neatly stacked, and the carriage for passengers was still empty.

But it had a coachman.

At the very first glance, Pei Ye's gaze paused on this person.

Light-colored martial arts attire, hair tied completely behind his head, a long, straight pole wrapped tightly in cloth leaned obliquely beside him—young, silent, clean, and sharp.

The man leaned against the carriage, looking at the sky, one leg bent on the carriage shaft, the other hanging down. The hand holding the wine flask rested on his thigh, while the other hand was weaving an unfinished bracelet.

A white cloth strip covered his eyes.

He seemed as if he would never speak, and also as if he had already said all there was to say.

He just looked quietly toward Pei Ye.

Pei Ye did not move, his body tensed like a spring, silently staring at the man. From this angle, he could only see his right cheek, so that small earring did not appear in the youth's field of vision, but the piercing sharpness already pressed against his face from seven zhang away.

Seventh Life.

And the strongest Seventh Life the youth had ever seen.

Pei Ye's heart and lungs contracted more and more slowly, but in the end, neither made any further move.

The man looked at him for a while, then actually turned his head back again, as if he did not care where the youth on the eaves came from or what he wanted to do; as long as he had not stepped into the courtyard, it seemed to have nothing to do with him.

Pei Ye did not want to expose Liuli so abruptly and passively. Watching the man take a sip of wine and begin weaving the bracelet again, he slowly retreated into the night.

He returned toward the theater.

————

Bixiao Pavilion.

"Pei Ye said that Qiyun's proprietor is the Yi family, and that person is indeed in Qijiu City." The black cat's voice sounded in her ear.

Li Piaoqing nodded. Although she was already at the person's residence, having received the youth's confirmation, her body felt a bit more relaxed. She looked at the 【Shuiyang Yuke】 entry again and began flipping the booklet forward in large sections.

She had not forgotten that this trip was for the sake of Fang Xitian's matter.

But as expected, flipping to the very beginning, she still could not reach thirty years ago.

Expecting Qiyun to use one booklet for thirty years was indeed unrealistic.

Then where should she go to find those previous private accounts?

There was another closed booklet on the corner of the table, which also looked old and worn. Li Piaoqing flipped through it with a faint hope, but was stunned once more.

It was indeed not the booklet from thirty years ago, but the young girl was no stranger to its contents—this was clearly the public ledger from twenty years ago, the very one the proprietor had taken out of the public accounting room just as night fell.

That's right, why did he take this volume?

Li Piaoqing held it sideways before her eyes. The booklet, flattened by years of pressure, was flipped once, and the traces were incomparably obvious. The young girl extended a finger to hold the page and opened it; sure enough, she saw a line of extremely fresh ink.

But it was not writing; it was a smear.

A line of old ink was smeared out with thick ink, and it was no longer possible to see what had been written.

Li Piaoqing was stunned for a while. Shifting her gaze up and down, she saw that they were all entries like "East Sea Sword Furnace, Grade C-Lower Sword, Banshuang, starting at 60 taels, sold for 97 taels," continuing for two or three pages.

Thus she understood that this was a record of entries and exits from a singing auction twenty years ago.

What was sold in this entry? And why did it need to be singled out and crossed out twenty years later?

The young girl daydreamed for a while, knowing that the answer could only be found in the private accounts.

She noted this time, carefully restored the desktop, and just as she looked up toward the second floor, she heard the black cat suddenly say: "The remaining private account booklets might not be in this small courtyard."

"Hmm?"

"When night fell, that person didn't return straight here after leaving the public accounting room, but went to the pavilion next door for a while. Now that these two booklets are placed together... I think he might have gone to fetch this private account at that time."

The pavilion the black cat spoke of was the one next to the small courtyard, pitch-black and quiet. Li Piaoqing recalled it now, and it indeed looked more like a place to hide things than this brightly lit courtyard.

Thus, she carefully restored all traces in the room, closed the door, came to the courtyard wall, leaped over nimbly, and was already before the pavilion door.

There was actually no lock outside the door. Li Piaoqing was stunned for a moment, pushed the door—and it just opened.

Li Piaoqing closed the door gently behind her, and in the reflection of the ghostly blue flame, she looked around the room.

For a moment, she praised the little cat's wisdom.

This was clearly the right place!

Shelves filled with dazzling and orderly items, precious pearls, jade, goldware, white porcelain, and calligraphy and paintings were placed on them. Further inside, there was a small room, and the young girl saw at a glance the books placed in layers and in orderly sequence inside.

An upstart with petty habits like Zhang Dingyun simply didn't understand the rules of a large merchant alliance.

How could a business be so large, yet still act like a restaurant proprietor, pressing a booklet under his pillow to sleep every day?

Even private accounts needed to be managed and arranged in orderly sequences, unlike the Zhang Dingyun family, where a small box could hold everything.

Li Piaoqing walked in here and regained that sense of ease from the public accounting room. A six-foot square cabinet shelf had the years and categories clearly marked. Li Piaoqing saw at a glance the four characters "Chilong Ren Zi" in the corner.

She reached out to hold the lock and gently broke it, and the young girl carefully pulled out this volume.

Thirty years of dust seemed to be pulled out along with it.

Why did Fang Xitian submit several painting booklets in succession, and why were none of them sold? Li Piaoqing flipped through it lightly; inside, it was also arranged by month. The young girl flipped through large sections toward the back until she reached October.

The origin and destination of that painting immediately came into view: "Ren Zi Winter, made for Danjun," gifted by Fang Xitian, already left at the Yinyang residence.

"." Li Piaoqing didn't react in time. For a moment, she suspected she was still looking at Yi Chengxin's betrothal gifts, but the paper and ink of the booklet were indeed in the state of twenty years ago.

Already left at the Yinyang residence?

As if she had discovered something she dared not confirm, the young girl's brows rose and her face turned solemn. Her fingers quickly flipped the pages, and with a few "rustles," she arrived directly at 【November】.

Her gaze fixed.

The neat format was exactly the same as the public ledger she had glimpsed at dusk.

Under the major entry "Danjun This Year," "Danjun Twelve · Part 1," "Danjun Twelve · Part 2," "Danjun Twelve · Part 3"... twelve items were listed, filling half a page.

And at the end of this entry, the person from that year finally did not spare ink to note the origin of this set of calligraphy and paintings.

"Fang Xitian's betrothal gift."

Danjun, Danjun...

Yi Danjun.

——

The theater.

When Pei Ye returned, the faces of the people already showed a relaxed fatigue, while the old man was still sleeping peacefully.

Seeing Pei Ye return, one of the dan actors immediately handed over tea and food with enthusiasm, while the other senior brother hurriedly asked him to wait a moment, turned into the room, and brought out a heavy bag of things.

Pei Ye was stunned for a moment, looked carefully, and hurriedly waved his hands with a smile: "What is this for..."

Amidst the refusal, the few people were ultimately unable to overcome a determined Fifth Life cultivator. Pei Ye pushed them behind him and walked toward the inner room with a smile: "Don't come, don't come, there really is business..."

Having finally escaped the enthusiasm and closed the door that was about to break, the youth turned around. Before him, Ji Yun was still lying weakly; the true Qi injected earlier had ultimately had some effect, and the man's complexion was much better.

Pei Ye walked up close and stopped his movement to express gratitude: "Brother Ji, you said earlier that you didn't know who Qiyun's proprietor was?"

". Yes."

"I'll mention a word to you—if this proprietor is the Yi family, do you think there's anything wrong with that?"

Ji Yun was stunned.

"."

"."

". No, nothing..." Ji Yun's eyes went blank, and he muttered, "Right, very right... So it was the Yi family..."

Pei Ye smiled: "I saw a man in Lingzi Guanshi Changsun's courtyard today, twenty-something years old, wearing light white clothes, long hair, eyes covered, looking very formidable, and also not appearing to like talking... Does Brother Ji know who this is?"

"This is... Yi Nandai!" Ji Yun looked at him in astonishment, "Is he carrying a long spear wrapped tightly in cloth?"

Pei Ye nodded, his eyes bright: "Indeed."

Ji Yun smiled weakly: "I heard that many opponents he defeated weren't even worthy of making him unwrap the cloth."

Having busied himself all day and finally unveiled the face of Qiyun's proprietor, Pei Ye felt a bit more relaxed and smiled: "This person looks cold and fierce, but he has quite a few accessories on him—cloth covering his eyes, bracelet woven on his hand, and he even wears a pendant on his left ear—"

His words paused, but he saw Ji Yun's expression was stunned.

". What's wrong?"

"Wh-what pendant?" The man was bewildered, "Yi Nandai doesn't wear a pendant."

————

Bixiao Pavilion.

Li Piaoqing took a deep breath and closed the booklet.

Fang Xitian was still submitting betrothal gifts to the Yi family in November; why did he enter the mountains alone in December?

Where did this Yi Danjun go?

At this point, the young girl confirmed the direction for the next step of the investigation—not the Qiyun Merchant Alliance, but Yinyang County; not Bixiao Pavilion, but the Yi family.

She put the booklet back properly, stood up, found the cabinet from twenty years ago, also broke the lock, took out the account book, and flipped to the time corresponding to the one smeared out in the small courtyard's public ledger.

【Xinyou Year Yangchun Singing Auction】

The records here were indeed much more detailed. Li Piaoqing didn't spend much effort to find the entry "East Sea Sword Furnace, Grade C-Lower Sword, Banshuang." Looking down further, the text that came into view once again caught her off guard.

"Heart Amber, five taels, starting at 160 taels, sold for 280 taels, purchaser: Bowang Prefecture Inspector Yu Zhaocai."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 281 =====