Li Banfeng rode a horse carriage and rushed to Freewind Wharf. Inside the carriage were Song Zhigang, the two Martial Cultivators, and several thugs with cultivation.

Ling Miaoying's tape really was effective. Once pressed over a wound, it could stop the bleeding and hold the injury together for a while. Those men could no longer move, but they were still barely alive.

By the time Li Banfeng drove into Freewind Wharf, it was already eight o'clock in the evening. The wharf was still bustling, with people coming and going everywhere.

Li Banfeng circled around to the warehouse behind Freewind Wharf. When no one was paying attention, he had the Film Projector summon a helper to unload the carriage.

The Film Projector had learned its lesson and did not dare summon a woman this time. The women it summoned always stripped first and worked afterward.

Fortunately, the film Ling Miaoying had recorded earlier was still there. The Film Projector played her image and helped Li Banfeng carry the dozen or so people into the warehouse.

Once the carriage had been emptied, Li Banfeng returned to his room and found the key beneath his bed. Then he went back to the warehouse, recorded a segment with the Film Projector, opened the door, and entered the Pocket Dwelling.

The Gramophone shouted furiously, "HEYAAAAA!! You madman! Where have you been fooling around this time? Do you even still have me in your heart? Do you still care about this home? Your hea, hea... You have worked hard, Husband!"

The moment Wifey saw Li Banfeng had brought back more than a dozen people, her fury vanished, and her voice turned sweet at once.

"Husband dear, come sit over here. Have a cup of hot tea first. Why are your clothes so dirty? This little wifey will wash them for you. Husband dear, don't grab this little wifey's armpits. This little wifey is really ticklish..."

The Gramophone quickly wrapped Li Banfeng in steam, afraid the house would lose its temper at him.

After waiting for a while and seeing no reaction from the house, the Gramophone asked curiously, "Why is the house so well-behaved today?"

Li Banfeng sneered. "How dare it misbehave? If it hadn't caused trouble, would I have been stuck wandering outside for so many days?"

Wifey fell silent for a moment. From what Li Banfeng had said earlier, it seemed he had begun to understand a few things about the house.

Seeing that his anger still had not faded, Wifey asked with concern, "Heyaaaa! Husband dear~ What happened to you these past few days?"

Li Banfeng asked, "Do you know someone called Face Not-Big?"

Huff~

"Face Not-Big? Is that a person's name? This little wifey has never heard of him."

Li Banfeng turned to Hong Ying. "Have you heard of him?"

"I haven't heard of him either." Hong Ying answered quickly. However, even though she answered quickly, there was this tension in her voice.

Li Banfeng stared at Hong Ying for a moment and asked, "Why are you wearing pants?"

"I am a young woman. Isn't it normal for me to wear pants?"

"Then why do you have an extra red tassel on you?"

"I have a red-tasseled spear! Isn't a spear prettier with a red tassel?"

Hong Ying had never had a red tassel on her before. She had only hung it there moments ago, partly to cover her big "heart" and arms.

"Why are there black threads in your red tassel?"

Those black threads were the hair Hong Ying had grown.

Hong Ying was nearly out of excuses. "If a red tassel is made entirely of red threads, wouldn't that be too boring?"

Wifey spoke up from the side to help her out. "Husband, stop bothering that wretch woman. The food is getting cold."

"Wifey, don't you rush. Let me ask them a few questions first."

Li Banfeng looked at Song Zhigang first and had the liquor gourd feed him a mouthful of wine. After that mouthful, Song Zhigang recovered a little strength and could just barely speak.

Li Banfeng lit a candle and placed it in front of Song Zhigang. "Eldest Master Song, I invited you into my home for a proper talk. That should be sincere enough. Today, you are going to explain everything clearly. Who sent you to Blue Poplar Village to cause trouble?"

Song Zhigang panted weakly. "Master Qi, Grand Old Master Lu sent me. Everything I said earlier was true."

Could it really have been Lu Maoxian?

Lu Maoxian had caused Li Banfeng plenty of trouble before. Since Li Banfeng was closely connected to Monkey Qiu, Lu Maoxian had every reason to make things difficult for him. However, why would he choose Blue Poplar Village as the place to cause trouble?

Blue Poplar Village held no special value to Lu Maoxian. If he wanted to ruin Li Banfeng and Ma Wu's business, it would have made far more sense to cause trouble at Blackstone Slope instead.

There had to be another reason.

Li Banfeng asked again, "Did you see Lu Maoxian with your own eyes?"

"Grand Old Master Lu is far too important to meet me in person," Song Zhigang said. "These two support hooks came to me and told me to take Blue Poplar Village back."

Li Banfeng looked at the two Martial Cultivators. They were the support hooks Song Zhigang had mentioned.

The one whose throat had been slit could not speak, but the one with the broken spine could still make a sound.

Li Banfeng tore the tape from his mouth, had the liquor gourd feed him some liquor, and asked, "Was Lu Maoxian the one who told you to find Song Zhigang?"

"The order didn't come from the Grand Old Master himself. It came from his chief steward, Xu Yangbo."

Lu Maoxian's chief steward?

Li Banfeng had barely dealt with Xu Yangbo before.All he knew came from something Monkey Qiu had once mentioned. Xu Yangbo was Lu Maoxian's chief steward, and Lu Maoxian trusted him deeply.

If this had not been Lu Maoxian's own idea, then Xu Yangbo was likely plotting something on his own. His purpose was clear enough. He wanted to push Li Banfeng and Lu Maoxian into a deeper conflict.

What benefit would he gain from doing this? And if someone else had instructed him to do this, then who could that person be?

There was only so much Li Banfeng could get out of these people, and he had no interest in wasting any more breath on them. "Wifey, let's eat."

"Husband dear~ Thank you for caring for me!" the Gramophone said. She couldn't wait to start eating.

Off to the side, the Film Projector started recording the scene secretly.

Wifey noticed at once and snapped, "What are you doing?"

The Film Projector trembled and quickly turned its lens away, but it was already too late. Wifey hooked it with her needle, pulled out the film it had recorded earlier, and snipped it to pieces.

The Film Projector trembled as if its heart ached over the ruined film. Fortunately, that had not been its only recording. Over the past few days, it had recorded everything it had seen and heard.

"Each scene is only a little over two minutes long. If I had enough film, I could have recorded more," said the Film Projector.

Li Banfeng had wanted Wifey to see what Face Not-Big looked like, so the Film Projector played the scene from Oil Lake. However, the image showed nothing but an oily yellow blur.

"How is that possible?" the Film Projector cried. "I really did record it properly!"

Li Banfeng could guess the reason. "Face Not-Big has a very high standing. Since he doesn't want you to preserve his true appearance, you won't be able to record it. Face Not-Big isn't his real name either."

While the Film Projector was still feeling frustrated, it played the second piece of footage.

In the scene, the land deity Meng Yuchun had her back to Li Banfeng as she took off her changshan, revealing the scars on her body.

Wifey coughed softly. "Heyaa~ Husband dear~ Is this lady Face Not-Big? I don't see how her face is big, but that peachy butt of hers sure is. Not only is it big, it's fair too. Husband dear~ Things must have been hard for you these past seven days!"

Li Banfeng kicked the Film Projector. "Don't just play this part! Play the part where I fought those aberrant creatures on the land!"

The Film Projector declared loudly, "I didn't record any of that!"

Li Banfeng kicked the Film Projector aside and was about to tell Wifey everything he had gone through over the past few days.

He had only just reached the part about Oil Lake when a shout suddenly came from the Glove in the third room. "Boss, you wronged me before! How could I have stolen the oil? I don't know what stole it all, but the oil is here!"

Li Banfeng entered the third room and found every bottle, jar, vat, bucket, water tank, and anything else that could hold liquid filled with oil. It was the same oil he had seen at Oil Lake.

He looked at the Glove and asked, "Where did all this oil come from?"

The Glove snapped, "I definitely didn't take it! How could I possibly carry this much? No matter who took it, you shouldn't have blamed me!"

Li Banfeng reached out and touched one of the oil-filled bottles.

An elderly voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. "Careful. Don't spill it."

"Who's there?" Li Banfeng cried out, preparing for a fierce fight.

The Gramophone quickly spoke up. "Husband, don't get angry. That was our house speaking!"

The room instantly fell silent.

In the past, only the Gramophone, Hong Ying, and Crimson Lotus could hear the Pocket Dwelling's voice because everyone else had a much lower standing. Today, however, everyone heard it. The Pocket Dwelling had changed the way it spoke.

After more than ten seconds of silence, Li Banfeng suddenly asked, "Why did you steal the oil?"

"Burn," the Pocket Dwelling answered in a single word.

The Gramophone did not hear that word clearly. Neither did Crimson Lotus, Hong Ying, or the enchanted artifacts. Only Li Banfeng heard it.

Hong Ying was afraid Li Banfeng was arguing with the house again, so she said to the Gramophone, "You vicious woman, talk some sense into that madman. Don't let him do anything reckless. He's no match for this house. He won't survive even one move!"

Before the Gramophone could persuade him, Li Banfeng asked, "Why don't you burn coal instead?"

This question stunned the Gramophone.

Burn coal? Why would the house need coal? For heating?

The elderly voice sounded again. "After running around with you every day, that little bit of coal burned up long ago."

The Gramophone still could not hear clearly. It was not just the house's voice she could not hear. Even Li Banfeng's words were muffled by a low, rumbling noise that kept interfering with her hearing.

"Husband dear, you still shouldn't..."

Li Banfeng ignored her and continued questioning the Pocket Dwelling. "You took me to Oil Lake just to steal oil?"

"You were the one who wanted to go to Oil Lake. I only took some oil along the way."

"You used to move by following the key. How can you move on your own now?"

"Because there are tracks now. Hehehe!" the Pocket Dwelling laughed.

"When did you get tracks?"

The Pocket Dwelling did not answer again.

The Gramophone still could not hear their conversation clearly. She lowered her voice and tried to coax him. "Husband, don't provoke it anymore. This little wifey will let you oil me up, okay?"

***

At Yuezhou Third Hospital, the button on He Jiaqing's chest kept trembling. He Haisheng was sitting right beside him, so He Jiaqing could only ignore it.

After lunch, He Haisheng went off to smoke. He Jiaqing tightened his grip around the button, and Wan Jinxian's voice came through at once. "Jiaqing, Ling Miaoying is still alive!"

"Alive?" He Jiaqing responded. He was delighted at first, but then doubt rose in him. "Didn't the Lu Family already spread the news that they had taken Miaoying's head?"

"Our spy at Freewind Wharf saw Ling Miaoying enter the warehouse there. It happened just last night."

"Freewind Wharf..."

What is Ling Miaoying doing at Freewind Wharf? Maybe he faked his death and is now monitoring Ma Wu from the shadows?

He really is different from Ling Miaowen. Since he can hide his schemes this deeply, I need to be more on guard against him in the future. For now, though, this is a good thing.

At least we don't need to waste any more effort on Ma Wu. Now, we can focus on dealing with Lu Maoxian.

Before He Jiaqing could answer Wan Jinxian, a cloud of smoke drifted in front of him.

The smoke lingered around him for a long while, and beads of sweat rolled down his face.

He Haisheng's figure slowly appeared in front of He Jiaqing. "Jiaqing? You are awake?"

He Jiaqing stayed silent for a moment before slowly opening his eyes. "Third Uncle, I am awake."

He Haisheng stared at him in silence. He did not want to believe it, but the truth was right in front of him.

"Big Brother didn't trust you, and I even argued with him. I told him his own son would never lie to him." He Haisheng said through gritted teeth. "Tell me, how fucking stupid was I?"

As He Haisheng said this, he kept gritting his teeth.

He Jiaqing said calmly, "Third Uncle, may I say something?"

"Go on. I am listening."

Author's Note:

PS: Hong Ying has grown hair. I can't even imagine what she might grow next!