Melon-Eating Guest

Ignoring the useless, nonsensical rewards, Xu Qing finally looked at the only useful item in his hand: a Truth-Speaking Pill.

The so-called Truth-Speaking Pill, as its name suggests, is a pill that makes people tell the truth.

This Mysterious Pill came from Zhu Youshi, the third-generation beggar of a begging family from Jinmen.

Zhu Youshi had no name when he was young and wandered around. Midway, he recognized a beggar as his godfather, who gave him the surname Zhu. From then on, he inherited the family business and started begging with his ancestral broken bowl.

Begging also has its own methods. You need an elder to guide you, to know the routes of the streets and alleys, where the markets are on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, which families are kind-hearted, when the benevolent people in the mansions will come out to give alms, and where you cannot go, and where the people are fierce. These are all skills.

Once you are familiar with your surroundings, you won't have to worry about three meals a day, and you can even earn extra money to buy a pot of wine and a few taels of meat and live a carefree life.

Zhu Youshi had his father, a gold-medal lecturer, guiding him since childhood. At a young age, he was already miles ahead on the path of begging. There was no place in Jinmen that he didn't know or wasn't familiar with!

One day, the meticulous Zhu Youshi went out to beg as usual, but he found that Jinmen Prefecture City had inexplicably changed.

He looked around the familiar yet unfamiliar streets and alleys, and after careful consideration, he finally found the reason why something was wrong.

It turned out that there were more than half fewer beggars on the streets of Jinmen Prefecture City. No wonder he felt that the streets before him were so out of place.

Zhu Youshi was puzzled, and even his meals didn't taste as good. He pondered whenever he had free time, where had everyone gone to make a fortune?

Could it be that in Jinmen, there were still hidden begging spots that he didn't know about, and everyone had formed a group to beg?

And so, Zhu Youshi lost his appetite and couldn't sleep. It wasn't until nightfall, when masked bandits placed a knife at his throat, that he finally understood the truth behind the strange disappearance of Jinmen beggars.

The masked bandit had a long upper body and short lower body. He spoke with a distinct Jinmen accent. Zhu Youshi recognized him at a glance.

"Brother Cai Jiu, why are you bothering me when you're not on duty at the yamen?"

Seeing that his identity was exposed, the masked man simply took off his mask and said directly, "Since you know my identity, you should know that I've come to find you because you've committed a crime!"

"What crime could I, a beggar, commit? Is begging a crime?"

As soon as Zhu Youshi finished speaking, he saw Cai Jiu nod.

"You've got it. Begging in Jinmen is a crime!"

Zhu Youshi's eyes widened at this. He slapped his face to confirm if he was still dreaming.

"Brother Cai Jiu, don't joke. I've been a beggar in Jinmen for over forty years, and I've never heard of this."

"Never heard of it? Well, now you have! To tell you the truth, our Jinmen is the most prosperous and flourishing region in the Great Yong Dynasty. You begging here is a disgrace to the current Emperor and the Crown Prince who is inspecting the area."

"For the sake of our old acquaintance, I'll give you one night. If you're smart, you'll leave Jinmen immediately!"

In the abandoned house, Zhu Youshi became anxious. "My father found me when I was a child. I've been begging in Jinmen since I was little. My godfather was also a beggar. If I leave Jinmen, how can I live! Brother Cai Jiu, don't you remember two years ago, you fell under Shuimen Bridge and almost drowned, and it was I who jumped in to save you."

"You can't repay kindness with enmity!"

Cai Jiu was about to sheathe his knife and leave, but his expression turned grim when he heard this.

"Don't bring up the past with me. If I let you go, how can the Prefect save face? Do I still want my job? I'm putting it bluntly today: if you don't leave, don't blame me for not showing mercy if I see you tomorrow."

With that, Cai Jiu spat on the ground and turned to leave the abandoned house.

The next day, Cai Jiu returned to the dilapidated hut. Before he even entered, he saw a hemp rope hanging from the roof beam, and someone was putting a noose around their neck.

Who else could it be but Zhu Youshi?

Zhu Youshi heard the movement and turned to look at Cai Jiu. His will to live was rekindled, but when he saw the other man suddenly stop and refuse to take another step forward, he completely lost hope.

Thus, a beggar family that had spanned three generations came to an end.

Xu Qing looked at the Truth-Speaking Pill in his hand, unsure of what to say.

You could say Cai Jiu didn't cherish their past relationship, as he did speak frankly with Zhu Youshi, revealed the truth, and gave him a chance to leave.

But if you say he cherished their past relationship, then Cai Jiu could stand by and watch his former savior be forced to hang himself without taking a step forward, which was the height of callousness.

Truly, the hearts of men are unpredictable. Who would have thought that those in power, dressed in crimson and black, were the real murderers of these beggars?

However, their ultimate goal was merely to rectify the atmosphere in Jinmen and to put on a show for the Crown Prince's inspection.

Connecting this with the clues obtained from the recent supervention, Xu Qing figured out the whole situation after a moment's thought.

Currently, Emperor Longping was over eighty years old, and even the Crown Prince was sixty-three, past sixty.

At this critical juncture, if Emperor Longping were to have a bad day, this old Crown Prince would become the new Son of Heaven.

'Wait! The rebels of the Tianxin Cult also came to Jinmen a few days ago. Why would they come precisely at the time of the Crown Prince's inspection?'

Xu Qing felt that he had inadvertently stumbled upon an invisible web, filled with countless juicy secrets.

After supervening the Corpse Laborer of Courtyard C, he immediately turned his attention to Courtyards A and B.

Now, in addition to obtaining the reward of the Duren Sutra, Xu Qing had an additional motivation: to see if he could fully satisfy his curiosity about the secrets of the night.

At the fifth watch, the night watchman struck his gong, shouting the old tune of sleeping early and waking early to take care of one's health. Xu Qing, who had been toiling in the workshop all night, reluctantly finished his work.

He rushed to supervene the Corpse Laborers in several courtyards. Although he didn't encounter any major secrets, there were still quite a few minor ones.

Things like a father-in-law having an affair with his daughter-in-law and a brother-in-law sneaking into his sister-in-law's room at night were just appetizers.

If he hadn't supervened so many people from all walks of life, how would Xu Qing have known that the Prefect had a difficult-to-speak-of ailment, and that the Baisha River County Magistrate's daughter was a master of "grinding tofu" and loved to disguise herself as a man to spend all night chatting with the good girls at brothels?

He didn't know how they chatted, but Xu Qing got this information from a Brothel Lounger.

That lounger had witnessed something he shouldn't have, and even more so, he shouldn't have used it to blackmail the County Magistrate's daughter for money. Therefore, he deserved his fate.

Honestly, look at you. You got to see a rich young lady do that for free, and you're still not satisfied? How could you possibly demand money for it?

Even a Free Rider isn't as audacious as you!

The rewards from those Loungers were also quite interesting, specifically a Hundred Beauties Erotic Scroll.

And this scroll wasn't just any static image. If you focused your mind on it, the beautiful figures within, who were generously baring themselves, would become incredibly alluring.

But if you truly indulged your desires and became engrossed, the figures in the Hundred Beauties scroll would instantly transform into gaunt, horrifying specters, eager to claim your life. They'd appear to be trying to break free from the painting to harm you!

Xu Qing, caught off guard at this point, almost threw the scroll out the window.

This wasn't spiritual sustenance from a painting; it was clearly a terrifying object! Thankfully, he had a strong mental fortitude. If it were a timid man, he'd likely end up as a fellow patient with the Jinmen Prefect, completely losing any desire in that area from then on.