Chapter 85: Misfortune Attracts Defilement
After leaving Pingzheng Village, Li Lin took a detour to the county city.
He first spent a night in his new residence, then early the next morning went to a pharmacy to buy some prepared medicinal herbs and refined a batch of Body-Strengthening Pills.
He first delivered three bottles to the Huang residence, then went to find Su Huafang.
Su Huafang’s home was quite large as well, a residence with three successive courtyards. It was also located near the marketplace, making shopping very convenient.
Li Lin drank tea while looking at Su Huafang’s complexion.
“You look a bit drained.”
Su Huafang laughed awkwardly.
“You’re mistaken.”
At that moment, a young woman entered from outside carrying preserved fruit.
“Young Master, please enjoy.”
After speaking, she walked away with graceful steps.
Li Lin looked at Su Huafang’s weakened appearance again and immediately understood.
“So you really are drained. As expected of the famous Fragrant Thief Gentleman...”
“If you’ve got something to say, then say it. You didn’t come here just to mock me, did you?”
Li Lin placed a bottle of Body-Strengthening Pills on the table.
“I refined these pills myself. They can increase physical strength. Even the County Magistrate said they were excellent. They’re a gift.”
Su Huafang froze for a moment.
“I can be considered half a physician myself. I know quite a few yang-strengthening formulas. There’s probably no need.”
“No side effects, and the results are excellent.”
Li Lin thought for a moment before adding,
“A family-inherited pill formula.”
Li Lin knew that people of this era held a peculiar trust in family-inherited secret arts.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Su Huafang immediately picked up the bottle, removed the stopper, and lightly sniffed the medicinal aroma inside.
Then he froze.
“Licorice, gentian, thunder-attuned stone... Wait, these ingredients are all fairly ordinary. How can the effect be this good?”
As an expert, he could tell with a single sniff that the efficacy of this medicine was absurd.
“My thanks.”
Su Huafang cupped his fists.
He felt that he genuinely needed it. Ordinary yang-strengthening formulas were no longer sufficient.
After all, recently taking a new concubine naturally led to such consequences.
“Why be so polite?”
Li Lin smiled.
“Have there been any escort jobs lately?”
Su Huafang looked at Li Lin in surprise.
“Are you really that short on money? The thirty...”
“You mean the thirty gold ingots? No.”
Li Lin shook his head.
“The real reason is that I want to visit Jin City. Besides... it’s safer to travel with others, and I can earn a little money along the way.”
“Go find He Yumao at the Longwind Escort Agency. He’ll be very happy to have you join.”
Li Lin nodded and stood up.
“I’ll take my leave. I won’t disturb the carefree life of the Fragrant Thief Gentleman any longer.”
“Get lost.”
Su Huafang laughed and cursed good-naturedly.
Li Lin arrived at the Longwind Escort Agency and met He Yumao.
Although He Yumao was only a chief escort, he effectively had absolute authority within the Longwind Escort Agency.
The reason was simple. The head escort was his wife, and he was a live-in son-in-law.
Sitting in the seat of honor, He Yumao said,
“We really are organizing a group of more than seventy people to travel to Jin City tomorrow.”
“That seems a little too few.”
Li Lin frowned.
Generally speaking, the average blood vitality of ordinary people was relatively weak. Only by gathering large numbers together could they create enough deterrence against wilderness ghosts.
At least a hundred people were usually needed for reasonable safety.
“But our escort agency has enough martial artists.”
He Yumao smiled.
Martial artists possessed abundant blood vitality. One martial artist’s blood vitality radiance was worth several ordinary people’s.
After thinking for a moment, Li Lin said,
“How about recruiting a few more Spirit Hunters to accompany the group?”
“Then there wouldn’t be enough money to divide.”
That was indeed true.
Fewer people meant less money collected. The Longwind Escort Agency would take a share, and Spirit Hunters charged relatively high fees. If several more were recruited, there really would not be enough profit to go around.
“Then forget it. Maybe next time.”
Li Lin stood and cupped his fists with a smile.
“No matter. The road ahead is long. There’ll be opportunities to cooperate in the future.”
After leaving the Longwind Escort Agency, Li Lin went to the Yulin Silverworks Bureau.
To commission gold jewelry, one had to go to the prefectural city. Government-operated Artisan Bureaus followed a hierarchy.
The prefectural city had both goldworks and silverworks bureaus, while county cities only had silverworks bureaus.
The Silverworks Bureau stood right beside the Artisan Bureau.
Li Lin entered, explained his purpose, and an artisan immediately brought out a catalog.
“Patrol Hunter Li, please take a look. These are all the silverware styles our bureau can produce.”
It had to be said that although it was merely a county-city silverworks bureau, the selection of designs was indeed extensive and quite beautiful.
Li Lin selected two newly designed hairpins with dangling ornaments, two silver hairpins, and one silver bracelet.
“They’ll be finished within three days.”
The artisan was smiling broadly. Another major order.
Li Lin paid a deposit and returned to his residence to rest.
Three days was not long. He could afford to wait.
During those three days, he mainly practiced short-sword techniques while also cultivating talisman arts and paper-figure crafting.
The little paper figurines running all over the floor seemed somewhat frightening at first.
But after getting used to them, one would find them rather cute.
The four young maidservants in the house had even started picking them up to play with them for a while before letting them go again.
The three days of cultivation yielded considerable gains.
On the fourth day, he was preparing to retrieve the silver ornaments from the Silverworks Bureau.
The moment he opened the door, he saw a yamen runner standing outside, panting heavily.
“Patrol Hunter Li, the County Magistrate requests your presence at the county yamen for duty. There is urgent official business.”
Li Lin nodded.
“Understood. I’ll go back and collect a few tools of the trade, then head over immediately.”
The yamen runner cupped his fists toward him, then hurried off to notify the others.
Li Lin took his red-tasseled spear, Shengxi Pills, and a few other small items before hurrying to the county yamen.
A weeping woman was kneeling there.
Not only were Spirit Hunters present, but even Commander Shi of the local militia was there.
One look was enough to tell that something major had happened.
Huang Yan sat in the seat of honor within the court hall.
Upon seeing Li Lin arrive, he gave a slight nod.
The hall was extremely quiet.
Apart from the woman’s sobbing, there was no other sound.
Important figures from the county yamen arrived one after another.
Even the rarely seen Assistant Magistrate came.
Once everyone had gathered, Huang Yan said sternly,
“Madam Guo of the Longwind Escort Agency, repeat your case once more.”
“My husband led more than eighty people to Jin City the night before last. Our family has conducted this business for over thirty years, and there has never once been an accident.”
The woman cried as she spoke.
“But yesterday someone escaped back overnight and reported that something had happened. My husband and more than seventy customers all died in the wilderness. Their flesh was gone.”
Hearing this, Li Lin froze.
Then a trace of melancholy arose in his heart.
The same had happened to Ding Junhui. One moment he was alive, and the next he had been killed by a ghost.
Now He Yumao had met the same fate.
Only a few days ago they had been chatting together.
Now he was gone as well.
When dealing with ghosts, one careless mistake truly could result in sudden death.
“Madam Guo, do you believe this was murder rather than an accident on the part of the Longwind Escort Agency?”
Madam Guo cried,
“Our escort agency has conducted this business for decades without incident. My husband was also a steady and prudent man. Someone must have harmed them out there.”
“Do you have any clues?”
“Yes.”
The woman suddenly looked toward Li Lin.
Hatred filled her eyes.
“A few days ago, this Patrol Hunter Li came to my home and discussed the Jin City escort business with my husband. It seemed they failed to reach an agreement, and he left. Shortly afterward, something happened to my husband. It seems this matter is connected to him in one way or another.”
Everyone’s gaze fell upon Li Lin.
A trace of anger flashed through Huang Yan’s eyes as he looked at Madam Guo.
Then he turned toward Li Lin and asked,
“Patrol Hunter Li, what do you have to say in response?”