"Darling Qi, high-level Artificer Cultivators can change their appearance. That woman you caught last time had that level of cultivation," Hong Ying said. "It's a pity she died before she had the chance to show me. Next time, catch one alive and bring her back. Let me have a proper talk with her, and I promise I won't disappoint you. Darling Qi! Darling Qi! What are you doing?"

Li Banfeng was reading the newspapers. He had spread papers all over the floor again, searching for news about Tu Shumei.

Looking back ten years, Tu Shumei had indeed been quite famous. Even the newspapers in Greenwater City had reported on her, and she had once bought two paper mills from the Ma family.

However, three years ago, Tu Shumei's business suddenly took a turn for the worse. One after another, she sold off her factories. As for who bought them and how much they paid, the newspapers did not record those details.

After all, these were Greenwater City newspapers, while Tu Shumei was a wealthy merchant from Blackstone Slope.

Li Banfeng then turned his attention to news about Tu Yinghong. A year ago, Tu Yinghong had made her name through the Ling Family's film studio. After appearing in several films one after another, she quickly became a popular star.

By the filming of The Legendary Bloodblade Detective IV, Tu Yinghong had taken Xiao Xiufei's place as the leading actress. After that, she was awarded the title of Movie Queen of Puluo Province.

Since The Legendary Bloodblade Detective had failed to beat The Legendary Bloodspear Detective at the box office, Tu Yinghong's rise to Movie Queen had not been all that impressive.

By now, the whole chain of events was clear. Tu Shumei's business had failed on Blackstone Slope, so she sold off her assets and went to Greenwater City to become a Movie Queen.

But why would she want to become Movie Queen?

By any normal person's logic, a high-level Artificer Cultivator should have found another place to open a factory, even if she had left Blackstone Slope. Perhaps it was because she really did have the talent to be an actress?

Leaving aside the matter of her real age, Tu Yinghong was certainly beautiful. However, Ling Miaoying was always surrounded by beauties.

According to Ma Wu, Tu Yinghong was not especially good at acting either. She was not even as good as Xiao Xiufei, who had started out as a songstress. So what did she rely on to become the Movie Queen?

What exactly had happened between the collapse of her business and her rise in Greenwater City?

Li Banfeng told Bai Qiusheng to look into the matter, though Bai Qiusheng could not quite see what was so special about it.

On Blackstone Slope, there were numerous factory owners. Some made fortunes, some lost everything, and nobody blinked twice. This was as normal as eating rice at home. Why, then, would Master Qi pay so much attention to this one failed business?

However, since Master Qi had ordered, Bai Qiusheng naturally didn't dare take it lightly, and to his own surprise, he really did dig something up.

"Master Qi, Tu Shumei used to have an accountant named Lü Yuesan. He followed her for many years, so he should know something about what happened behind the scenes.

After Tu Shumei sold off her assets, she fired him. Lü Yuesan has changed jobs several times over the years, but his hands aren't clean, so he never lasts anywhere for long.

"A couple of days ago, his latest employer fired him too. He came to us looking for work, but I acted courteous and told him to go home and wait for news."

"His hands aren't clean?"

"He uses accounting tricks to skim money from his employers."

Li Banfeng asked, "He worked as an accountant for so many years. Does he really not have any savings?"

Bai Qiusheng shook his head. "That fellow loves gambling. Whatever he earns at the start of the month, he will lose it all before the month is even halfway through.

"Once he runs out of food money for the remaining half of the month, he will start stealing from his employer. After stealing, he goes right back to gambling. Who would dare hire a man like that?

"A proper accountant would never talk about a former employer's affairs, but this fellow has no such principles. I will give him a few silver dollars later, and I guarantee he will answer whatever you ask."

Li Banfeng nodded, and Bai Qiusheng sent someone to fetch Lü Yuesan.

Lü Yuesan thought Night-Blooming Jasmine was finally willing to hire him, so he came to the newspaper office in high spirits.

When he heard from the workers that Boss Ye had arrived, he showed himself to be a man with a very bendy backbone. The moment he saw Li Banfeng, he called him "Boss" with every other breath, as if Li Banfeng had already hired him on the spot.

Li Banfeng did not bother circling around the matter. He asked Lü Yuesan directly about Tu Shumei.

The moment Lü Yuesan heard the question, he realized this was not a job offer at all. They had called him here to dig up old secrets. He gave a dry little laugh. "Boss Ye, that isn't something you should ask about. It wouldn't be proper."

Bai Qiusheng slipped five silver dollars into his hand and smiled warmly. "Brother Lü, whatever you say to Boss Ye today, I won't know a thing about it. No third person will know either. Just speak freely."

With that, Bai Qiusheng left the room.

Lü Yuesan pocketed the money and told Li Banfeng everything from beginning to end.

"When Tu Shumei's business was at its peak, she had two paper mills and five printing factories under her name. She also dealt in porcelain, iron, coal, and ore. Back then, apart from the four major families, no one on Blackstone Slope had a bigger business than Boss Tu."

"Then how did she fall so far?"

"She didn't," Lü Yuesan said. "Her business was still booming. Later on, she bought something that cost a really frightening amount of money, and that was what emptied out the family fortune."

"What could possibly cost enough to drain a fortune that large?"

Lü Yuesan looked at Li Banfeng and smiled without saying a word. He wanted more money.

Li Banfeng gave Lü Yuesan another ten silver dollars.

Lü Yuesan accepted the money and lowered his voice. "Tu Shumei bought a weapon. As for what kind of weapon it was, I don't know."

Li Banfeng thought, Tu Shumei is an Artificer Cultivator. What sort of weapon can she not make herself? What kind of weapon would be worth emptying her entire fortune to buy? It's obvious! It must be that pair of iron rulers!

"Who did she buy the weapon from?"

"Feng Chongli," Lü Yuesan said. "A merchant who deals through hidden channels. Ordinary people don't know him, but I have met him once."

"He won't be easy to find. He doesn't have a fixed place to stay."

"A merchant that big has no fixed place to stay?"

Lü Yuesan gave a little lift of his brows and fell silent again.

Li Banfeng handed him twenty silver dollars.

Lü Yuesan lifted his brows once more. Clearly, twenty was not enough.

Li Banfeng emptied every silver dollar from his pocket. He even took out the Huan yuan notes, and stuffed the whole bundle into Lü Yuesan's hands.

Lü Yuesan thanked him again and again before continuing. "He's a merchant with a path of his own. Like the Peddler, he likes traveling all over the place."

"Like the Peddler?" Li Banfeng asked. "What path is that?"

"I heard Tu Shumei mention it before. I think they are called Mercantile Cultivators. Their path relies on doing business. The more business they do, the higher their cultivation rises."

Mercantile Cultivators? This is the path of the Peddler?

Li Banfeng looked at Lü Yuesan. "What else do you know? Name your price, then tell me everything."

Lü Yuesan then asked Li Banfeng for another fifty silver dollars.

Li Banfeng nodded. "Go to the accounts office later and collect the money."

"Boss Ye, I really don't know where Feng Chongli is," Lü Yuesan said. "But he has a younger brother named Feng Xincheng, and that fellow runs a general store in the Inner Gully of the Medicine King Gully."

"Are you talking about the Feng's General Store?" Li Banfeng asked.

"Boss Ye, you know the place?"

Li Banfeng nodded.

"In that case, I have got nothing more to tell you."

Li Banfeng asked, "How did you find out about all this?"

"Well..." Lü Yuesan rubbed his hands together, and there it was again. That greasy little gesture. That hungry little pause. "There's a bit of a story behind it."

"That's fine," Li Banfeng said. "Name your price."

Lü Yuesan asked for another fifty silver dollars before he continued.

"When Tu Shumei first met Feng Chongli, she took one look at that weapon and wanted it. She paid the deposit on the spot. I was her accountant, so of course I knew about the payment.

"Later, Tu Shumei went around trying to sell her factories, but she could not sell them all at once. Feng Chongli had other business to attend to, so he returned the deposit and left Blackstone Slope.

"That made Tu Shumei anxious. She searched everywhere for news of Feng Chongli. Boss Tu had spent many years dealing with people on the road, so she had sharp ears and a long reach. In the end, she really did manage to find out about Feng Xincheng.

"I went with Tu Shumei to Medicine King Gully back then. Through Feng Xincheng, we found Feng Chongli. I was the one who helped Boss Tu transfer the money through various banks. After the deal was done, Boss Tu vanished, and I lost my livelihood too."

Tu Shumei had spent every last bit of her savings to buy the iron rulers from Feng Chongli. After that, she changed her face, changed her identity, became Movie Queen, and turned into Tu Yinghong.

The sequence of events made sense. The problem was, the matter itself did not.

This was Tu Shumei's greatest secret. If this accountant knew so much, why had Tu Shumei not silenced him for good?

Is this accountant telling the truth? Li Banfeng thought.

Li Banfeng smiled. "Good. Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

Lü Yuesan shook his head. "No more, Boss Ye. I've told you everything I know about what you asked."

Li Banfeng stood up. "Everything you told me today, including the fact that you met me, must not be mentioned to anyone."

"Don't worry. My lips are sealed!"

"I believe you." Li Banfeng smiled and took out a contract paper. "But you still need to sign a contract."

Lü Yuesan was a Bleater and did not recognize contract paper for what it was. He had signed plenty of contracts before, so he did not take this one seriously at all. He picked up the brush, wrote his name, and pressed down his fingerprint.

Li Banfeng then sent him to the accounts office to collect his money.

While he was gone, Bai Qiusheng gave a quiet reminder. "Master Qi, should we get rid of him?"

Li Banfeng shook his head. "I paid him for information. As long as what he told me is true, I have no reason to kill him. Besides, there will be plenty of things I'll need him to verify later."

"I am just afraid that he will go out and run his mouth afterward."

"He won't be able to say a word," Li Banfeng said. "And if he really dares to try, he would be doing me another favor."

***

Lü Yuesan returned to his lodging with more than two hundred silver dollars from the office of Night-Blooming Jasmine. He counted the money twice, very carefully, and began wondering how he should live from now on.

It was no small sum. It was enough for him to start a little business on Blackstone Slope. However, he knew that it wouldn't be easy doing business and he did not want to spend that kind of time and effort on it.

He decided that he would buy food first and then some clothing. He had pawned all his old clothes long ago, and the set he was wearing had lice in it. It was about time for a change.

As for the rest of the money, he would keep it for now. Later, when he found a suitable gambling den, he would win back all the capital he had lost before. Then he would have nothing to worry about for the rest of his life.

Just as he was thinking about gambling dens, someone knocked on the door.

When he opened the door, he saw Ai Chixiang from the Pure Conduct Society.

Ai Chixiang was the disciple of Tang Peigong, an elder of the Pure Conduct Society. On Blackstone Slope, that made him a man of considerable standing. Unfortunately for him, Little Gen had once dumped a bucket of "golden juice" over his head, and he had later taken a fierce beating at the duel. Since then, his standing had quite obviously fallen.

Even after all this time, the smell on Ai Chixiang still had not faded completely. Lü Yuesan wanted very badly to cover his nose, but he did not quite dare.

"Lord Ai, what brings you here..." Lü Yuesan held his breath and forced out the greeting with some effort.

Ai Chixiang said, "I heard you just went to the Night-Blooming Jasmine newspaper office."

Lü Yuesan's heart tightened as he thought, How did you know about that?

With Ai Chixiang's status, there was no reason for him to keep watch on a nobody like Lü Yuesan. From the look of things, he had set his sights on Boss Ye long ago.

Lü Yuesan answered without the slightest pause. "I lost my livelihood, didn't I? So I went to the newspaper office to see if I could find some work. In the end, they told me they didn't need an accountant, so I left without a job."

Ai Chixiang nodded. "Who did you see at the office of the Night-Blooming Jasmine?"

"Their manager, Bai Qiusheng. You know him too. He came from Blackstone Slope."

"He's the only one you met?"

"A few workers under him too, but I don't remember their names."

Ai Chixiang frowned. "Tell the truth!"

"I am telling the truth. How would I dare lie to you?"

Ai Chixiang took out twenty silver dollars and pressed them into Lü Yuesan's hand. "Do you think I don't know what sort of man you are? Who else did you meet? Did you meet their boss too?"

Lü Yuesan accepted the silver dollars and gave a dry little laugh. "Nothing gets past you, Lord Ai. I did meet their boss once."

"The one surnamed Ye?"

"Yes. Everyone calls him Boss Ye."

"What did he want from you?"

Lü Yuesan rubbed his hands together. "Well, that part is not something I can..."

Ai Chixiang took out another twenty silver dollars.

Lü Yuesan felt that was not quite enough. "Lord Ai, that amount is, well, I am afraid, afraid it is..."

Before he could finish, he started coughing non-stop. It shocked Ai Chixiang, causing him to take two steps back.

Lü Yuesan coughed for a long time. Then something gurgled in his throat, as if he had finally coughed up a mouthful of phlegm.

But when he spat it out, it was a mouthful of rusty water.

Ai Chixiang was horrified. He turned and fled.

Lü Yuesan clutched his chest, coughing and gasping without end. The pain became so unbearable that he could not help pounding his chest with his fist.

Bam!

With one dull sound, his hand broke into pieces. Then, his chest started breaking apart too.

Lü Yuesan stood there in a daze for a moment. Then his body collapsed to the floor and scattered into a heap of rusty dregs.

***

Ai Chixiang hurried all the way to Tang Peigong's residence.

"Master, I've confirmed it. The spy's report was right. That man surnamed Ye really has come to Blackstone Slope. Lü Yuesan saw him at the newspaper office."

Tang Peigong was still afraid the information might be wrong. "Did you bring Lü Yuesan back?"

"I wanted to, but the fellow seemed to have been poisoned. He was vomiting yellow water."

Tang Peigong nodded. "That man surnamed Ye is Li Qi. He killed Lü Yuesan to silence him for good. Bring me the enchanted artifact. I will send a message to Elder Lu. Are the men ready?"

"They have been ready for a long time."

Tang Peigong said, "Remember Elder Lu's instructions. Follow the plan we agreed on. Take our men and keep Li Qi occupied. No matter what happens, we cannot let him leave Blackstone Slope!"

Author's Note:

PS: Has Tang Peigong lost his mind? What is he trying to do?