Upon hearing this, Yan Qing immediately gave Murong a nod. Murong produced a banknote from her pocket.

Yan Qing took it and handed it to the old woman. “Elder, I have no way to help you keep this shop. But this money is enough for your family to find another place to settle.”

“No, no, no. I cannot take your money. We are not family, not even acquaintances.” The old woman and old man quickly declined.

“We are business people. This amount of money is nothing to us, but given to you it can relieve your most pressing difficulty. We have meddled in this affair, and I’m afraid those people will take out their anger on you. So you must accept this money.”

Yan Qing persuaded them for quite a while before the old woman finally accepted the money. She and the old man wiped away tears, both grateful and unsettled. “Girl, you are truly a good person. Rest assured — leave us your address. Once we have earned enough, we will certainly return it to you.”

“There is no need, Elder.” Yan Qing pressed the money into her hands.

The old woman asked with reddened eyes, “Girl, what brings you to Huxi Town? Are you merchants? Here to buy goods?”

Yan Qing shook her head. “Elder, I want to inquire about someone.”

“Girl, you’re here to find someone?”

“Yes. I want to find someone I once knew. This person lived in Huxi Town over ten years ago.” Yan Qing said. “Elder, do you know of a family here named Chen who worked in spices?”

“Old man, do you know?” The old woman turned to ask her husband. “My old man used to be a porter specifically for the spice workshops. When merchants from outside came here to buy goods, he would carry the cargo to the dock. If anyone would know the spice-making families of Huxi Town, he should.”

“There are not a thousand but certainly eight hundred spice families in Huxi Town with the surname Chen. There are indeed some Chen families, but there are so many — I’m not sure which one you mean.”

“Their family had a daughter named Chen Lingling.”

The old man shook his head. “Girl, it’s not that I don’t want to help. There are hundreds of spice-making families here, and I can’t even remember all the bosses’ names, let alone recall which family’s daughter was named Chen Lingling.”

“Old man, think harder.” The old woman pressed anxiously. “Go over all the Chen families in your mind first, and among them, which ones had daughters.”

“There are easily twenty or more Chen households. Among those, not a few had daughters. I truly can’t remember.”

“This Chen family is no longer in Huxi Town anymore.” Yan Qing said. “Sir, please think hard — a Chen family that used to make spices in Huxi Town but has since vanished.”

The old man thought hard for a moment, and in the end still shook his head. “I’m sorry, girl. This Chen family perhaps had nothing particularly unusual about them, and I truly cannot recall.”

“It’s all right.” Yan Qing smiled. “So much time has passed. It’s quite normal that you can’t remember. Think nothing of it.”

The old man was already advanced in age. If she kept pressing him to keep thinking, it would probably yield nothing useful either.

To find Chen Lingling from that year among the vast sea of people — easier said than done.

Yan Qing had long since prepared herself mentally, so she had not placed too great a hope in this. But meeting this old man still lit a small spark of hope in her heart. At the very least, in this town, the Chen family would not have vanished without a trace. Existence leaves marks; even if someone intended to deliberately wipe them away, there would always be some remaining thread of clues.

“Girl, you should both go back and pack up.” The old woman urged anxiously. “Those people will surely come back. You don’t know how vicious these people are. In the past half year, quite a few people have been beaten to death or crippled by them.”

“What about you two?”

“We’ll pack up and get out too, to avoid them finding their way back. If they really do come back, this shop is theirs.” Seeing the old woman wanted to be sure Yan Qing wouldn’t be in danger, Yan Qing said she understood.

Then she lifted her head and looked at the old man. “Sir, if you happen to remember anything, write a note and leave it with the innkeeper. I’m staying in Room 201 on the second floor.”

The old man eagerly nodded. “Girl, rest assured. Anything I remember, I will certainly tell you.”

Leaving the old couple’s tofu shop, Murong asked, “Miss, where do we go now?”

“Keep looking.” She turned toward Mu Bai, who sat upright by the shop entrance. “Master Mu, let’s go.”

Mu Bai heard her voice and only then rose from the chair, then followed silently.

By the time evening came and the group returned to the inn, the tofu shop across the street was already empty, its front door sealed with two crossed white paper strips.

Dihuai went to ask the neighbors. The family of three had already left, and the bald man had brought people back to seal the tofu shop.

“You still haven’t left?” The man recognized Yan Qing’s group. “The bald man has put the word out that you won’t leave Huxi Town alive. You still dare to come back — are you tired of living?”

Dihuai glanced at Mu Bai standing not far away and thought: as long as that bald man dares to come, the one who won’t be living much longer is yet to be determined.

At this moment he felt ever greater admiration for Xie Yan. What sort of people did this Xie Yan keep under him? Just take this Mu Bai — his fighting speed was simply not like that of a human.

Even if the bald man brought an entire company, he would probably be no match for Mu Bai.

But if a real fight broke out here, the commotion would be too great. A big commotion would draw attention, and their entire trip to Huxi Town was supposed to be a covert investigation — not suitable for too many people to know about.

“I estimate the bald man has already had people staking out this place.” Dihuai said. “Even if we leave now, we would probably be tracked down.”

As he finished speaking, Mu Bai’s gaze turned toward a teahouse across the street. In the evening, the teahouse did a brisk business with patrons listening to storytellers and performers, with at least a hundred people inside. But Mu Bai’s eyes were fixed on the second floor, on a man wearing a black top hat who sat by the window.

Mu Bai was a man of few words, but over these two days Dihuai had figured out some of his patterns. For instance, when Mu Bai stared fixedly at a place like this, it meant something was wrong there.

It seemed his guess was correct: the bald man’s people had truly stayed to watch them, and once they made a move to leave, these people would follow.

“Miss, what do we do now?” Dihuai stepped forward to ask.

“Since we’ve stirred up trouble, we needn’t fear it. With Mu Bai here, there’s no need to worry.” Yan Qing said. “Go tell him to try not to make too big a scene.”

“All right.” Dihuai went to find Mu Bai, while Yan Qing and Murong entered the inn together.

Just as they entered, the innkeeper called out. “Miss, there is something here for you.”

“Something for me?” Yan Qing thought — no one knew she was staying here; how could anyone have left something for her? But she immediately thought of the tofu shop family.

The innkeeper produced a small rusty iron box. “Someone asked me to pass this on to the guest in Room 201.”

“Was it the old man from the tofu shop?”

The innkeeper shook his head. “It was their simpleton son.”

The innkeeper finished speaking and then muttered to himself, “That simpleton son of theirs hasn’t left that tofu shop for over ten years. No matter how great a commotion outside, he would never step outside that shop. Never imagined that today the sun would rise in the west — he not only came out of the room but ran right over to my shop.”

Yan Qing had initially thought the tofu shop’s old man had sent his son on an errand, but hearing what the innkeeper said, she suddenly felt puzzled.

Would a person who had not gone outside for over ten years run an errand over something like this?

Yan Qing thanked the innkeeper and gripped the little box as she returned to the room.

“Miss, do you think this might be some sort of clue?”

“Let’s look first.” Yan Qing quickly opened the small rusty iron box in her hand. Inside lay a badge.

She recognized this badge very well.

“The Dragon Cloud Society badge.” Yan Qing said in surprise. “Looking at the peeling paint on this badge, it must be quite a few years old.”

“How would a Dragon Cloud Society badge end up here in Huxi Town?” Murong was puzzled.

“Don’t forget — right next to Huxi Quarter is the Five Clans Territory. There are many criminal society organizations over there, and it would be perfectly normal for the Dragon Cloud Society to have influence there. But…” Yan Qing furrowed her brow. “Why would the old woman’s son send this badge to me? What is he trying to express?”

“Isn’t that son simple-minded?” Murong found this hard to understand. “How would a simpleton have hidden away something like this? Perhaps this badge is just something he collected because he found it interesting, with no connection whatsoever to Chen Lingling.”

“There is an illness called intermittent psychiatric disorder. These people’s minds are sometimes normal and sometimes not. When their minds are normal, they are clearheaded and capable of discerning and controlling their own behavior. When a episode strikes, they lose the ability to tell right from wrong and control themselves. If the old woman’s son is not pretending, then he has this illness — he is not a complete simpleton. Under certain kinds of stimulation, he can also become like a normal person.”

“Miss’s meaning is that when we were asking about Chen Lingling, the simpleton son suddenly became normal? If so, he very possibly knows Chen Lingling — or at the least, knows something about the Chen family.”

“That is possible.” Yan Qing gazed at the already-aged badge in her hand. “Is he trying to tell us that the person we are looking for has a connection to this badge? The old woman’s son used to work as a porter alongside his father. Perhaps during that time he came into contact with people connected to the Chen family and learned some things about them.”

“Then shouldn’t we quickly go find him?”

“The whole family has already moved out and has probably left Huxi Town by now. And even if we found him, we would have to wait until his mind was clear again before he could give us any clues. This kind of illness — you never know when he will be lucid. And excessive stimulation can also trigger a violent episode.”

Yan Qing put the badge back into the small iron box. “Looking at his age, he appears to be quite a bit older than Qian Lan. Could he have had some intersection with Qian Lan?”

“Miss, what do we do now? There are people watching us outside, and that bald man could come looking at any moment.”