Sell for Twenty Taels?

Five days. A full five days.

For those five days, Lin Song had lived a life too miserable to bear looking at.

As the Young Escort Chief of the Fulong Escort Agency, ever since his old man died, the Fulong Escort Agency had been his to take.

He was very filial. In just one day, he had wrapped up the funeral.

Someone had originally suggested choosing an auspicious day. Since his old man's body had never been recovered, they should at least make him a cenotaph.

Lin Song thought that made sense, so he casually gathered a few sets of clothes and buried his old man at lightning speed within a day.

The escort masters at the agency were practically moved to tears by that impatient display of filial piety.

Once the funeral was over, he had hurriedly taken over his position.

He had thought he would finally live the life of the man in charge, but reality slapped him across the face.

The agency's reputation plummeted, there was no business, and even the merchants who had once associated closely with them now kept them at arm's length.

Watching things worsen by the day, Lin Song was worried sick, and he had visibly aged as well.

As the saying went, a rope always snaps at its thinnest point, and misfortune only seeks out the miserable. He had already suffered enough, yet strange incidents kept happening one after another.

Speaking of these strange incidents, they had begun with a tree in the back courtyard.

There was a tree in the Fulong Escort Agency. It had been there ever since his old man bought the house and converted it into an escort agency.

They had originally planned to cut it down, but his old man had said no, so it had remained there ever since.

Then, five days ago, the strange incidents began.

That night, he had urgently needed to pee and was heading for the toilet.

But he had been in too much of a hurry, and he happened to see a tree, so he could not hold it in.

When a man desperately needed to pee, no man could resist a straight tree.

On a whim, Lin Song ran beneath the tree, ready to undo his belt and relieve himself.

But before he could begin, his head suddenly went fuzzy. Then he had no idea what happened, and the next day, he inexplicably woke up in bed.

Then, on the following night, he suddenly woke in the middle of the night and wandered around the courtyard in a half-asleep state. Some escort masters saw him and even came over to speak with him, and he had actually answered them.

It was not until the morning of the third day that he woke up in bed again.

The vague memories still lingering in his mind made his hair stand on end.

He felt that he had been possessed, and deeply so.

The cause was that tree.

He had originally considered cutting it down.

But when he thought of that sinister feeling, Lin Song gave up on the idea.

Now, all he wanted was to sell the escort agency and let another buyer bear his pain.

The Fulong Escort Agency occupied a large plot of land. Once word got out, several wealthy merchants really did come to buy it. Yet after entering the agency and seeing that tree, they would inexplicably leave before long.

And when they left, their movements and expressions were strange. Their eyes were completely vacant, as though they were sleepwalking.

On the fourth day, he sought those people out again, but every one of them said they had never intended to buy it.

From beginning to end, every single thing was steeped in strangeness.

These past few days, because of that tree, Lin Song had not slept for a long time.

Whenever he wanted to sleep, he would think of that tree.

"Maybe I should just run away." Lin Song lay in a chair, staring blankly at the sky.

He felt he could not hold on any longer. All it would take was one final straw for him to flee.

As for cutting down the tree, he dared even less.

Who knew what would happen after the tree was cut down? If it stirred up something major, he could not guarantee that he would be able to handle it.

"No! I have to find someone to take it over!" Lin Song suddenly sat up from the bench and gritted his teeth.

He absolutely could not stay in this place any longer. He would sell it cheaply, take the money, and fly far away.

If something really happened one day, it would be too late even to cry.

With that in mind, Lin Song was about to call over a few escort masters and have them go out to spread the word.

At that moment, he noticed Xu Bai entering through the gate.

Led by Liu Er, Xu Bai stepped into the front courtyard.

Liu Er kept nodding and bowing, just short of kowtowing twice to Xu Bai.

Xu Bai also saw Lin Song lying on the bench and walked over.

"Young Escort Chief, I trust you have been well."

That simple sentence pulled Lin Song out of his daze.

Of course, Lin Song recognized Xu Bai.

When that group of escort masters had returned last time, Xu Bai alone had quit, so Lin Song remembered him clearly.

"It's Xu Bai." Lin Song replied, looking uninterested.

Right now, he only wanted to sell the escort agency as quickly as possible. He did not want to do anything else.

Seeing Lin Song's attitude, Liu Er hurried forward and said, "Young Escort Chief, Brother Xu wants to buy the escort agency."

He had witnessed Xu Bai's ruthlessness before. He was afraid that Lin Song might accidentally anger Xu Bai, and then Lin Song's little life would end right here.

Xu Bai saw Liu Er's behavior and could not help shaking his head.

Why did everyone seem to regard me as some flood beast? I'm a very kind person.

How had I ended up looking like a demon?

At this time, several escort masters happened to pass by. When they saw Xu Bai, they hesitated for a moment before hurriedly coming over to greet him.

As they greeted him, they were so cautious and restrained that it seemed they feared doing anything wrong and making Xu Bai unhappy.

Lin Song saw this and was dumbfounded.

Why did it feel like... Xu Bai was the escort chief? Of course, the thought only surfaced briefly before he quickly cast it aside.

"Come, come, please, please." Lin Song reacted quickly, springing up from the bench and speaking at top speed.

Never mind anything else—upon hearing that Xu Bai wanted to buy the escort agency, Lin Song instantly perked up.

As long as Xu Bai took it over, he would be free.

"Xu Bai—no, Brother Xu, let me introduce the special features of our escort agency." Lin Song said eagerly.

"Young Escort Chief, I used to belong to this escort agency too, so there's no need to say anything else. I'm a straightforward man. One price: twenty taels." Xu Bai raised two fingers.

"Fine, fine, fine—huh? No, Brother Xu, I'm selling this escort agency for fifty taels." Lin Song came to his senses and hurriedly waved his hands.

Xu Bai curled his lip dismissively.

On the way here, Liu Er had already explained the situation clearly.

Liu Er did not know about the rest, but as for those buyers, whenever they went to the back courtyard, they would inexplicably leave.

At this point, could this thing even be sold?

Forget fifty taels—whether anyone wanted it at all was the question.

Xu Bai needed a shop, but he was not stupid.

Money was not something to spend recklessly.

If he agreed outright without bargaining, it would instead seem abnormal.

"Brother Xu, you've driven the price too low. Twenty taels of silver can't possibly buy an escort agency. You couldn't even buy an ordinary shop for that." As Lin Song spoke, he kept extolling how excellent his escort agency was.

"But... you can't sell it either." Xu Bai stroked his chin.

Lin Song choked on his words.

His gaze turned to Liu Er. Seeing Liu Er's innocent expression, anger surged in his chest.

He had originally hoped to find some fool to take the bait, but it had backfired instead.

"Fine! I'll sell it!" Lin Song said through gritted teeth.

He had no choice but to sell. He truly could not endure it any longer.

"Wait, Young Escort Chief. I'd like to take a look at the back courtyard." Xu Bai said with a smile.