Escort Agency Oddities (Please Vote, Please Keep Reading)

A flash of inspiration crossed Xu Bai's mind. Staring at the Small Stool, he thought of an approach.

Of course, he wasn't going to use the Small Stool itself as a hidden weapon. That huge lump of wood would make anyone who used it as one an idiot.

The Small Stool reminded him of when he had first paid.

Reaching into his clothes, Xu Bai took out two copper coins and weighed them in his palm.

These were perfect for use as hidden weapons.

Great Chu Kingdom copper coins were of excellent quality. If he paired them with Maple Leaves Like Rain, not only would their power increase, but their concealment would improve considerably as well.

As a resident of Sheng County, carrying a heap of copper coins on him was perfectly reasonable.

"It'll work!" Xu Bai immediately made up his mind.

The only drawback was that he did not have enough copper coins.

But that was not a major problem. He could exchange for them.

The Money House could completely solve that problem. The difficulty was that exchanging too many at once would arouse suspicion.

"How can I exchange them perfectly?" Xu Bai sank into thought.

Just as he was pondering it, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Brother... Brother Xu?"

"Hm?" Hearing the voice, Xu Bai turned around, his right hand resting on the Ghost-Head Saber as his gaze fell upon the man beside him.

When Xu Bai's eyes swept over him, and he saw that hand pressed against the Ghost-Head Saber, the man in his twenties shuddered.

"It's me, Brother Xu. I'm Little Liu. We came back together from Fierce Tiger Stronghold." Liu Er raised his hands and hurriedly explained.

Xu Bai looked him up and down. "Business at the escort agency is so poor that you have time to stroll the streets?"

Seeing the escort agency uniform on him, Xu Bai finally recalled the man's identity.

Wasn't he one of the escorts who had returned from Fierce Tiger Stronghold last time?

After returning from Fierce Tiger Stronghold, aside from Xu Bai, none of the other escorts had left. They had remained at the escort agency.

"Ah, ever since that incident, hardly anyone has come to entrust escorts to us. Brother Xu, you know it too—the escort agency had an accident, and its reputation is gone. The Young Escort Chief has been looking for a buyer lately." Liu Er sighed.

Xu Bai had merely been listening for amusement, but when he heard that the escort agency was being sold, his eyes lit up slightly.

The Old Escort Chief had gone on that escort mission and never returned. Now, the Young Escort Chief truly had the final say at the agency.

"It must cost quite a bit, right?" Xu Bai asked.

In his memories, that escort agency had been quite large. Buying it would surely require a considerable sum.

He wanted to buy it. Once he did, he could openly exchange for copper coins.

Anyone doing business would keep copper coins on hand, and inns especially would stock even more of them.

He had thought it would be expensive, but Liu Er shook his head.

"As long as someone pays, the Young Escort Chief will sell it. Fifty taels of silver will do."

"How much? Fifty taels?" Xu Bai stroked his chin. "He's selling it that cheaply?"

In Great Chu, one ingot of silver was worth ten taels. In other words, all he needed was five ingots.

The purchasing power of one tael of silver was equivalent to five hundred yuan in his previous life, and one tael could be exchanged for a hundred copper coins.

That made one copper coin equivalent to five yuan.

Fifty taels of silver would only be twenty-five thousand yuan in his previous life.

Housing prices in Great Chu Kingdom were not high.

But the Fulong Escort Agency occupied a vast area. Selling it for merely fifty taels of silver was truly strange.

"It is cheap, but no one wants it. Some people came to look at it, yet for some reason, they left that very day." Liu Er showed a bitter smile.

As soon as he mentioned this, Liu Er's expression held not only bitterness, but also a trace of unease.

Remembering the recent abnormalities at the escort agency, he involuntarily shuddered.

The Young Escort Chief's behavior was far too bizarre. Quite a few escorts were already considering leaving, and even he could no longer endure it.

Staying at the escort agency every day felt like years passing by. Living in constant fear and apprehension left his heart unable to settle.

"The Young Escort Chief has a problem too. Starting some time ago, every night after we had all fallen asleep, he would get up by himself and wander all over the escort agency."

"I ran into the Young Escort Chief one night and even spoke to him, but he ignored me. An older escort said he might be possessed by evil."

"The next day, when we asked the Young Escort Chief about it, he said he was fine. But anyone with eyes could tell."

As he spoke of this, Liu Er could not stop trembling, fear visible in his eyes.

They escorts were all lowly martial men. To put it bluntly, they only knew a few crude farmhand tricks. Otherwise, they would not have been completely wiped out at Fierce Tiger Stronghold.

How could they ever have encountered something like this?

Thus, lately, the entire escort agency had been gripped by panic.

"Come on. Let's go take a look." After thinking it over, Xu Bai spoke.

If he could acquire the escort agency, the matter of hidden weapons would be settled.

As for the abnormalities Liu Er had just described, how would he know without taking a look? There were issues involved.

For example, if someone had been watching the escort agency and learned that he had taken it over, they would definitely grow suspicious.

But he had his own methods. Once he took it over, he had a way to dispel their suspicions.

"Brother Xu, you mean... you want to take over the escort agency?" Liu Er understood Xu Bai's meaning, and his eyes brightened slightly.

If that was truly the case, he dearly hoped Xu Bai would buy the escort agency.

Ever since their parting at Fierce Tiger Stronghold, the escorts had all received some money, but they were still willing to continue in their old trade.

They could not do anything else. Their families had no land, and they knew even less about doing business.

After being escorts for so many years, they knew nothing but delivering escorts. They could not possibly rely on the money divided at Fierce Tiger Stronghold for the rest of their lives.

Besides, the agency's reputation had suffered and business was gone, but their wages had not been cut. How could they bear to give that up?

If not for the recent strange happenings at the escort agency, they would never have considered leaving.

As for Xu Bai, Liu Er and the other escorts had only two words to describe how they felt about him.

—Reverence and fear.

Even now, they could not forget the scene at Fierce Tiger Stronghold.

That figure had carried a long saber and cut down the entire Fierce Tiger Stronghold as though chopping melons and vegetables.

One man had cut down an entire mountain bandit stronghold.

Life had been so fragile in his hands, like an egg that shattered with the slightest touch.

They revered and feared him, yet they also hoped Xu Bai would remain at the escort agency.

It was a deeply contradictory feeling.

Their reverence and fear came from their respect and dread of Xu Bai.

Their hope that Xu Bai would remain at the agency was the instinct of the weak to follow the strong.

"Brother Xu, if you take over the escort agency, all the brothers will be willing to work under you." Liu Er spoke excitedly.

Xu Bai smiled and looked in the direction of the Fulong Escort Agency. "Let's take a look first."

"Alright, Brother Xu. This way, please." Liu Er's listless appearance from before vanished as he eagerly led the way.

The two passed through street after street before finally stopping in front of a building.

This building was unlike those around it—grand and imposing, with two stone lions placed at its entrance.

After Liu Er led Xu Bai inside, a spacious courtyard came into view, filled with racks of various weapons.

But Xu Bai's gaze did not linger on those things. Looking past the courtyard, he saw a long bench placed within it, with a young man lying on it.

The young man had dark circles under his eyes and stared lifelessly at the sky.

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