Something Happened

When she pressed him further, he refused to say another word. That made Yun Yao lose her temper.

Yun Yao got to her feet, rolled up her sleeves, and went straight for Jiang Yujie's ear.

"Ow... ow, that hurts, hurts, hurts!" Jiang Yujie shouted.

"Tell me honestly—where did you go this morning? Why was no one able to find you all morning?

"If you don't tell me, I'll twist your ear right off!" Yun Yao glared at Jiang Yujie, fuming.

Jiang Yujie cried for mercy as he said, "I went and fought that brat surnamed Chen.

"With the Vajra Talisman Yutong gave me this time, I won. I beat that brat until his face was black and blue."

Yun Yao asked Jiang Yujie in confusion, "Wait, why did you go looking for him to fight?"

Jiang Yujie craned his neck and said, "Because he bullied Yutong! Grandpa Yun said Yutong's grandfather once did our family a favor.

"Though I don't know what kind of favor it was, a favor is a favor.

"I couldn't just stand there and watch Yutong get bullied by him. If I hadn't known, that would have been one thing.

"But the problem was, I did know. So there was no way I could stand by with my hands tucked into my sleeves."

Hearing that moved me somewhat. I had no family left in this world, yet someone was willing to stand up for me.

I walked over, removed Yun Yao's hand from Jiang Yujie's ear, then dusted him off and sincerely thanked him.

My martial uncle had once told me something. He said, "A phoenix fallen into hardship is not worth as much as a chicken."

Now, seeing someone willing to risk his life to repay a favor, I honestly began to wonder whether my martial uncle's words were true or false.

Perhaps Jiang Yujie already had a grudge against Chen Hao. Perhaps he had merely used repaying a favor as an excuse to fight Chen Hao.

But since he said he had gone for my sake, I was touched.

After that, Yun Yao gave Jiang Yujie a lesson right there in the living room.

Only after Jiang Yujie clearly promised that he would never be so reckless again did Yun Yao spare him.

The days passed peacefully like that. I had thought nothing else would happen before Grandpa Yun's birthday.

Until one morning, when someone who looked like a steward handed Yun Yao a letter.

The moment Yun Yao opened it, her pupils contracted sharply. Seeing her tense expression, I asked what had happened.

Yun Yao frowned. "Something happened at one of the shops Yun Mansion runs in Yun City. A shopkeeper was killed inside the store."

I was shocked. "What...? Isn't Yun City your territory? Someone actually dared to kill a person here—and the victim was even a Yun family shopkeeper?"

Yun Yao said this was not the first time such a thing had happened. It was just that most of the victims had come from elsewhere, and people from Yun Mansion were rarely killed like this.

Jiang Yujie's expression turned solemn. "Could it have been murder for treasure? There are plenty of good things in Yun family shops.

"What if someone had their eye on something but had no money, so they conceived the idea of killing for treasure?"

Yun Yao replied, "That possibility can't be ruled out, but every Yun family shop has an expert stationed there.

"Logically, there should have been a warning before the incident. But so much time has passed now,

"and not a single message has come through. That is what I find strange."

I thought it over and said, "Then there are only two possibilities. One is that the expert stationed at the Yun family shop was in league with the murderer.

"The other possibility is that he had already been harmed before the incident."

Yun Yao replied, "The first possibility is unlikely, because these Yun family experts have all gone through layer upon layer of selection.

"Both their abilities and backgrounds were thoroughly checked, so I think the second possibility is more likely."

Yun Yao then had the steward send people to investigate and seal off Yun City's exits. People could enter, but no one could leave.

The steward nodded, answered, "Yes," and left the living room.

Then Yun Yao said she needed to discuss the follow-up arrangements with her grandfather, and hurried out.

After Yun Yao left, I asked Jiang Yujie whether he had any thoughts on the matter.

Jiang Yujie shook his head and said he was no good at this sort of thing. Asking him to fight was fine, but making him use his brain was worse than taking his life.

I was speechless...

Before long, Yun Yao returned and said we were going to take a look at the scene.

Jiang Yujie and I got in the car and went with her. No one spoke along the way, and the car felt somewhat stifling.

When we arrived, we got out and I saw that it was a rather secluded shop.

It looked somewhat rundown. Even some of the paint on the rolling shutter had peeled away.

I wondered how a great family like the Yun family could have a storefront like this.

But the moment I entered, I understood. Good heavens, this was a tiger hiding beneath a pig's skin.

Inside, everything from the furnishings to the utensils was extravagantly luxurious.

Not to mention the antique porcelain pieces in the display cases, each of which looked enormously valuable.

Seeing how my expression had changed before and after entering, Jiang Yujie grinned at me. "Heh heh, stunned, aren't you? This is called a Hidden Shop."

I looked at Jiang Yujie in confusion. "What's a Hidden Shop?"

Jiang Yujie said, "The shops of great families are divided into two kinds: Open Shops and Hidden Shops.

"Open Shops deal in common items from the underworld practices. Of course, their quality is far better than that of ordinary stores.

"As for Hidden Shops, they deal with things that even those in the underworld practices consider too hot to handle—such as top-grade cultivation resources, or antique paintings and calligraphy."

Jiang Yujie then gestured for me to look at the items inside the display cases.

Seeing me raise my head to look, Jiang Yujie leaned close to my ear and whispered:

"See those things? Take any one of them out into the outside world, and if you get caught, you'll one hundred percent be shot."

"That scary? There isn't even room for negotiation?" I asked Jiang Yujie.

Jiang Yujie said firmly that there was not. If you got caught with other things from the underworld practices, you might still get ten or eight years in prison.

"Or life imprisonment or something. At least you'd keep your life. But if you got caught with the things here, other than death, there was no second choice."

I remembered the Black Market they had mentioned before and asked Jiang Yujie, "Is the Black Market like a Hidden Shop too?"

Jiang Yujie nodded, then shook his head. "Yes, and no."

I was completely confused and hurriedly whispered, "So is it or isn't it?"

Jiang Yujie said that both the Black Market and Hidden Shops handled things that could not see the light of day. But if one had to name the difference,

"the goods in Hidden Shops are guaranteed. Basically, you pay, take the goods, and leave.

"But in the Black Market, after you pay and take the goods, the owner might follow you.

"Then, once he finds a deserted place, he'll kill you, take your goods back, and return to his stall to sell them again."

I was startled and muttered softly, "You can actually do that?"

"Of course. The Black Market is a place outside the reach of all authority, so dragons and snakes are mixed together.

"Things like taking the money, killing the buyer, and taking the goods back happen all the time," Jiang Yujie said.

He went on to say that there were definitely good things there, but it depended on one's ability. Either your mind had to be sharp, or your fists had to be hard.

"Otherwise, it was better not to go. You might not even know how you died."

After hearing him, I quietly kept it in mind. If I ever went to the Black Market in the future,

I would have to keep my guard up twelvefold, because I had no intention of losing my life in a muddle.