Chapter 319: Lingnan Black Widow

Li Qingying also went along and echoed.

Jin Wuya scratched his head and said, "Her? She counts as my boss or partner, I guess. Her temper isn't great, she's hard to get along with, so for now I won't introduce her to you."

Not saying anything would've been fine, but once he spoke, we became even more curious.

Li Qingying tilted her head, looking at him, and asked, "Is he a partner from Lingnan?"

That head‑tilt ploy left Jin Wuya momentarily not knowing where to look.

This made me realize the woman in the car was cool, and she really reminded me of how Li Qingying looked when I first found her.

It wasn't just her looks; it was that cool, aloof, icy vibe.

Could it be…

Looks like Jin Wuya is into that type.

"There's a sorcerer clan in Lingnan named Shi; they occupy most of the yin‑yang trade there." Jin Wuya compromised, giving a general explanation: "She's the eldest granddaughter of Elder Shi, called Shi Rou."

Shi, that surname is quite unusual.

Now that we know the name, looking her up will be much easier.

I then shifted the conversation to the main topic.

I handed the bone whistle Liu Junyan gave me to Jin Wuya.

Jin Wuya took it, and his face changed at once: "Heavy yin‑killing qi, Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, this is an evil device—who brought it in?"

I told him the origin of the bone whistle.

"Because this bone whistle is too evil, I wanted to show it to you to see if we can modify it to suppress the backlash when using it."

Jin Wuya held the bone whistle, seeming somewhat embarrassed.

I asked, "No idea where to start?"

"Not exactly, I have an idea, but…" Jin Wuya hesitated, "This time I came back specially to deliver the Soul‑Stab; after that I have to return to Lingnan."

Li Qingying teased: "Oh, so now someone's in charge, you're not free, no wonder you didn't want to come to our pawnshop before—turns out Boss Jin has high standards, looks down on our shop, and wants to marry into the Shi family of Lingnan as a son‑in‑law."

Jin Wuya flustered: "No way, how could that be? I still have some self‑awareness—I'm old, and I'm afflicted with loneliness and widowhood; in this life I could never bloom in love, and Shi Rou's fate is even harder—whoever touches her dies; I wouldn't dare even with a hundred and eight guts… I… I'll go ask, see if we can get a two‑day extension…"

Saying that, he stood up and hurried out.

I and Li Qingying stared at each other again.

We then tacitly pulled out our phones and started a Ferry search.

This search did turn up quite a few entries, but most were just odd rumors; the Shi family as a whole remains rather low‑key.

Among those rumors, the one described most often was Shi Rou.

Shi Rou has a loud‑sounding nickname: — the Lingnan Black Widow!

She is 38 this year, has had four marriages, but without exception, each fiancé died shortly after the engagement for various mysterious reasons.

As a result, no one in all of Lingnan dares to discuss marriage with her.

But that's only one reason she's called the "Lingnan Black Widow"; the more important reason is that she acts swiftly and decisively, her methods extremely ruthless.

Now Elder Shi has already handed over most of his assets to her; she will be the future head of the Shi family.

This golden thigh really has been grabbed by Jin Wuya.

But would such a person really travel a thousand miles just to be a driver, specially bringing a partner to Wufu Town just to deliver a bottle of Soul‑Stab?

Is Shi Rou doing this for Jin Wuya himself, or does she have some design on Wufu Town?

But Lingnan is far from Jiangcheng—what could she possibly gain from Wufu Town?

Jin Wuya didn't come back; he messaged me saying he has to rush back to Lingnan because there's business waiting there.

But he will have the bone whistle fixed as soon as possible and send someone to deliver it.

Of course I trust Jin Wuya's character, so I went along with him.

This little incident was odd, but we soon forgot about it.

Who would have thought that Jin Wuya's fate would be completely changed from this Lingnan trip?

That aside for now.

Hui Moqiong returned at lunchtime, grass and leaves in his hair, mud all over his feet, scrapes on his arms—he looked utterly miserable.

He didn't have time to wash or change; as soon as he entered he asked, "Where's Seventh Lord?"

"He went to Linghai Dragon Palace for something." I asked, "What happened?"

Hui Moqiong gestured for us to go to his back room, closed the door, and said solemnly, "That patch of land is a serious problem; I led people to sneak in, and when we got near that tower, we saw its surface seeping blood."

"Seeping blood?"

I and Li Qingying said in unison; I hurriedly asked, "Did you touch that blood?"

Hui Moqiong nodded.

Li Qingying was frightened, immediately grabbed his hand and checked up and down, anxiously asking, "Did you touch the blood? Any injuries?"

"No, no." Hui Moqiong said, "But a little mouse in the squad touched it—guess what happened?"

"The blood started spreading from where the mouse touched, corroding; the mouse eventually turned into a puddle of blood, and anyone or anything that later touched that puddle met the same fate." I said.

Hui Moqiong exclaimed, "How do you know? Did someone send word back first?"

Li Qingying said, "Xiao Jiu today poked the Copper Coin Person's foot with a stick, and the whole stick got corroded by the blood."

That means the Copper Coin Person's situation is exactly like that of the tower.

I was just saying, this plot of land—neither giving nor withholding at the right time—being handed to the pawnshop now must have a reason.

Even I reasonably suspect that when we asked Fang Chuanzong what reward we should get for the pawnshop, it was Fang Chuanzong who suggested giving us that plot.

He took the hot potato that had been in his hands for years and successfully shoved it into ours.

So… does Fang Chuanzong know the secrets in the west wing of the pawnshop?!

I immediately took out my phone and called Fang Chuanzong.

The phone rang only a few seconds before the other side picked up; Fang Chuanzong's voice came through, laughing as he greeted me: "Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, hello."

That calm and composed tone seemed as if he had been waiting all along to answer my call.

A nameless anger flared in my heart, but I quickly suppressed it.

This is the jianghu: we cooperate and also exploit each other; you cannot judge a person or a matter by a single standard.

Even if Fang Chuanzong doesn't give us this land, as long as whatever is inside that three-story tower is related to the Dang Pu, we will eventually have to face it.

Having Fang Chuanzong as a guide is actually a good thing.

Thinking this, I got straight to the point: "Old Fang, who founded the Wufu Town Dang Pu? Who is trapped inside the three-story tower? Is it related to him?"

Fang Chuanzong said faintly: "Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, that's not a three-story tower; what you see is only three stories above ground."

"Only three stories above ground?" I exclaimed in shock, "Are there more underground? How many in total?"

I was gripping the phone so tightly that my palm broke out in a sweat.

Hui Moqiong spent a busy night merely approaching that tower, but never got a chance to explore its interior.

At this moment, his face was dark and frightening.

Li Qingying tightly gripped his hand, restraining his emotions.

Then I heard Fang Chuanzong's side say: "We don't even know how many layers are underground; the most advanced drone could only go down to the second underground level before being shot down by an unknown force, but even just the first underground layer is enough to make us feel creeped out."