Chapter 156
Chapter 156
The next day, they bid farewell to Ling Family Village and continued north.
After leaving Kaiming County, they saw mountains stretching endlessly into the distance, range upon range rising one behind another.
Yan Zhengchu lifted the carriage curtain and pointed at one peak that towered into the clouds. “See that? That mountain is Mount Yunhe.”
Yu Lang narrowed his eyes, then sucked in a breath. “It’s that high? It’d take at least half a day to climb, wouldn’t it?”
Yan Zhengchu said with no small amount of pride, “Back when I went down the mountain to buy things for my junior brothers, I did it all by myself. I never once complained I was tired.”
Yu Lang immediately gave him a thumbs-up.
This instantly made Ren Fengjue think of his Little Uncle, Ren Yao, and for a moment, he did not know what to feel.
The mountain looked close, but it still took them the better part of the day to reach the small town at its foot.
As the local host, Yan Zhengchu made the arrangements directly. “We won’t go up the mountain tonight. Everyone should rest for the night and recover their strength. Tomorrow morning, we’ll head up.”
After driving the carriage all day, Yu Lang felt as if every bone in his body was about to fall apart. He hurriedly said to him, “Daoist Master, quickly recommend an inn so This Young Master can soak in a hot bath.”
Yan Zhengchu said, “This little town can’t compare to Kaiming County. There’s only one inn here.”
Yu Lang immediately grew wary. “It isn’t haunted, is it?”
“No, not that.”
Yan Zhengchu looked completely confident. “At the foot of Mount Yunhe, what evil spirit would dare make trouble here?”
Only then did Yu Lang relax. “As long as it isn’t haunted and there haven’t been any murders, I can stay there without worry.”
Then he asked Ren Fengjue, “Lord Ren, do you have any objections?”
Ren Fengjue snapped out of his daze, but he instinctively glanced at Xia Ximo before saying, “No.”
Yan Zhengchu knew the area well and led everyone to the only inn in town-Yunjian Inn.
Shopkeeper Wang of the inn was acquainted with Yan Zhengchu. After coming forward to exchange a few pleasantries, he gave them the best rooms in the inn.
Since they had been on the road all day, everyone ate together in the dining hall, then returned to their rooms to rest.
Yan Zhengchu, however, quietly left the inn and went to the town’s money house. He took out an ingot of gold he had “earned” in the capital, intending to exchange it for some smaller currency and buy New Year goods for his junior brothers up on the mountain.
For a money house in a small town like this, a single gold ingot was no small amount, so exchanging it was rather troublesome.
The clerk led Yan Zhengchu to a small room off to the side to drink tea and wait.
The sky slowly darkened, and for no reason, a gust of wind swept through the street, sending fallen leaves skittering in every direction. The scene looked desolate at a glance.
Just then, a thin, frail figure slowly emerged from the dusk.
After hesitating for a moment in front of the money house, she finally stepped over the threshold and went inside.
The clerk recognized her at once and hurried over with a warm greeting. “Miss Qiao, why are you dressed like this today?”
The woman called Miss Qiao was wrapped up tightly from head to toe, with only her eyes exposed.
Even so, through those eyes, the clerk could tell she seemed different from usual.
When their gazes met, he froze for a moment as well. “Has everything been all right at home recently? You should take better care of your health too.”
“I’m fine.”
Miss Qiao smiled uneasily and took a gold lock charm from her robes. “Please estimate a price for this.”
The clerk lowered his head for a look, then was startled again.
It was not because of the lock.
It was because of her hand. Though it was tightly wrapped in gauze, he could still faintly see the dark bruising of her fingernails and the deathly pallor of her skin.
It was truly unsettling.
The smile on the clerk’s face slowly faded, and the way he looked at her became rather strange.
He carefully took the gold lock from her and managed a perfunctory reply. “Wait here a moment. I’ll take it to the manager for a look.”
Miss Qiao nodded once, then stood motionless by the door.
A strange gust of wind suddenly swept down the street. Yan Zhengchu, who was sitting in the small room drinking tea and cracking melon seeds, caught a thick, fishy stench at that very moment.
His brow furrowed at once, and he nearly spat out the tea he had just swallowed.
“What is that awful smell?”
Daoist Yan covered his nose. He felt as if he had smelled it not long ago, but when he tried to think back, nothing came to him.
Just then, Manager Qian and the shop assistant came out from the inner room as well.
The moment the two stepped into the main hall, they also covered their noses and retreated several steps.
“What rotted in here? Why does it stink so badly?”
Hearing this, Yan Zhengchu poked his head out from the small room and called loudly, “I thought I was the only one who smelled it. Manager Qian, is there something filthy in your shop?”
The assistant was just about to speak when the manager smacked him on the forehead. “Go check. See if another rat died somewhere.”
The assistant was about to start looking when Miss Qiao suddenly stepped forward in agitation and snatched the gold lock straight from Manager Qian’s hand.
“I’m not selling it anymore.”
She turned and rushed out the door.
Manager Qian failed to react for a moment, then immediately grew irritated. He asked the assistant, “Who was that just now? Why did she look so unfamiliar?”
The assistant, who had been ordered to look for a dead rat, turned back and said, “Manager, you don’t recognize her? That was Miss Qiao.”
“Miss Qiao?” Manager Qian mulled over the name, then his eyes widened. “Miss Qiao?! Why was she dressed like that? I didn’t recognize her at all.”
The assistant was puzzled too. “I thought something was off when she came in just now.”
As he spoke, he stretched out his nose and sniffed hard, then asked the manager, “Manager, don’t you think that stink just disappeared?”
Manager Qian also sniffed hard. “It does seem like it doesn’t stink anymore.”
He turned to ask Yan Zhengchu, “Young Daoist Yan, is the smell gone now?”
Yan Zhengchu, inside the small room, had noticed as well. “It really does seem to be gone. How strange!”
The assistant suddenly shuddered and whispered to Manager Qian, “Manager, that smell just now… it couldn’t have been coming from Miss Qiao, could it?”
Manager Qian immediately glared at him. “Don’t talk nonsense. How could a young lady like her possibly smell bad?”
“But…”
Thinking of those bluish-black fingernails, the assistant felt another chill crawl through him.
He still couldn’t help saying, “Manager, haven’t you noticed that Miss Qiao has been a little different lately?”
At that question, Manager Qian really did think it over.
Recently, Miss Qiao had been coming to the money shop rather often.
During this stretch, she had come almost every other day to sell something, all of them hair ornaments and jewelry. By his estimate, she had already sold seven or eight pieces.
Could something have happened at home?
Manager Qian pondered to himself, then agreed, “It is a little strange. And now that you mention it… her family’s tofu shop hasn’t opened in some days either…”
At that moment, Yan Zhengchu suddenly walked out of the small room with a grave expression and said to Manager Qian, “I thought it over just now. That smell really did seem to appear only after Miss Qiao arrived. The moment she left, it vanished.”
Most importantly, he had remembered where he had smelled that fishy stench before.
It had been in Qiongying Inn, in that guest room where someone had died and the mess had not been properly cleaned up.
If he was not mistaken, that was the smell of a corpse.