Reporting to the Authorities

Ye Qianfan gave a cold laugh. "I don't know any Old Fu. I stripped these clothes off a dead man!"

"What?!"

Hearing this, Auntie Fat collapsed onto the ground, disbelief written across her face. "How could Old Fu possibly be dead!"

"Even if everyone else died, Old Fu couldn't possibly die. You must be lying!"

"You're lying, aren't you?"

"Heh!" Watching Auntie Fat, who was always bullying him, look so panic-stricken and grief-stricken gave Ye Qianfan an indescribable sense of satisfaction. "If your Old Fu was so formidable, why would I get into a brawl with an expert just for a set of clothes?"

"Impossible... That's impossible..."

Auntie Fat still shook her head in disbelief, then clutched Ye Qianfan's sleeves with both hands. "My Old Fu wouldn't die. Where did you see him?"

"Yes, young man, where did you see Master Fu and the others? Was he alone, or were there several of them?"

"What about the Patrol Soldiers? Did you see the Patrol Soldiers?"

Upon hearing that this man had seen Master Fu, everyone immediately crowded around to question him again.

This was exactly the sort of situation Ye Qianfan hated, yet he had still ended up surrounded!

"I told you, I'm not sure. I don't know!"

Actually, Ye Qianfan could have sent these women charging into the mist to their deaths with a single offhand remark. All he had to do was tell them their men were a hundred meters ahead.

He was sure these women would risk entering the Fog Forest to check.

But after thinking it over, he chose not to.

After all...

If he piled up too much slaughter, he would never be able to repay the karmic debt.

"All I saw was an old man's corpse lying on the ground. My clothes happened to have been torn by a branch, so I borrowed something to wear while I was at it. What's wrong with that?"

Ye Qianfan offered an explanation.

Only then did everyone disperse with regret, but Auntie Fat refused to let up and kept tugging at Ye Qianfan's clothes. "I don't care. My Old Fu definitely isn't dead!"

"Give me back his clothes, and whatever else you took from him, you have to give that back too!"

"And Old Fu's money must be on you too!"

"Give it all back to me!!"

That was the kind of person Auntie Fat was.

Someone who had fallen headfirst into a money hole!

More than whether Old Fu was dead, she cared about whether someone else had taken his money!

"You want money?" Auntie Fat had truly angered Ye Qianfan into laughing. "Fine. Come with me!"

"Where are you taking me? Why should I listen to you!"

Seeing Ye Qianfan suddenly become so agreeable, Auntie Fat grew a little timid.

After all, Ye Qianfan was now a young man over six feet tall, while she was merely an old woman in her fifties. She was no match for him in a fight.

She only dared act so brazenly toward Ye Qianfan because there were so many people here who could help if something happened.

"Didn't you ask me to give your clothes back?" Ye Qianfan said with a smile. "I can't exactly strip in front of everyone, can I? We need somewhere private, right? That secondhand pawnshop up ahead looks good. I can buy some old clothes to change into and give these back to you!"

"Well... All right!"

Seeing that the pawnshop was close by and right beside the main street, Auntie Fat naturally felt less afraid.

Besides, she still had questions to ask this young man.

Other people might not know...

But as Ye Fu's wife, she naturally knew how capable her old codger was.

Moreover, before the old codger left, he had clearly conspired with her to force Ye Qianfan out to earn money. Then that foolish boy would surely choose corpse bearing, the quickest way to make money!

He could then take the foolish boy to be sacrificed to the Deity in exchange for lots and lots of money.

They could get rid of the boy and seize his property in one stroke!

Why wouldn't she be happy to do it?

So...

She was still waiting for Old Fu to bring back a pile of gold for her to enjoy. How could Old Fu die!

As the two turned into an alley, Ye Qianfan suddenly leaned close to Auntie Fat's ear and said, "Auntie Fat, Old Fu really is dead! He deceived the Deity, so the Deity turned him into a monster!"

"Ah!"

Startled by Ye Qianfan's sudden words, Auntie Fat collapsed onto the ground, utterly stunned. "Y-you... Who are you? How do you know I'm called Auntie Fat?"

"Because I'm little Fan!"

Seeing that there were few people around, Ye Qianfan finally revealed who he really was. "Your Old Fu tricked me into going to the Altar and tried to kill me! But he never expected that heaven would claim him for all his wicked deeds!"

"Little Fan? How could you possibly be little Fan?" Auntie Fat kept shrinking backward. "Besides, little Fan doesn't look like this. You're lying to me, aren't you? You must be lying!"

"I don't look like this. But someone tricked me into being sacrificed, so I've lost my body and have only a layer of skin to rely on now!" Smiling, Ye Qianfan extended a pitch-black tentacle from his sleeve and clamped it around Auntie Fat's neck. "See? This is what I really look like now!"

"A ghost... A ghost!!!"

Auntie Fat screamed and fainted on the spot.

Her scream naturally drew plenty of attention, since they were on the street. Ye Qianfan smiled gently at the people around them. "Sorry. My aunt's husband went out as a Corpse Bearer and never returned, so she's been badly frightened!"

"How pitiful!"

At the mention of a Corpse Bearer, everyone immediately understood.

Ye Qianfan hauled Auntie Fat up and headed toward her home. Although he could easily kill this woman now, he did not want to, because he had promised the original owner of his body that he would avenge his grievances!

Now the original owner had even sacrificed his soul for him. Ye Qianfan had to do something for him, at least!

The flatbread shop.

It was a shabby little house with three rooms and a small courtyard.

Auntie Fat had converted one of the street-facing rooms into a flatbread shop, selling mixed-grain flatbreads to the people of Guanxiang. They did not taste good, but they were large and filling, so business was usually decent.

"Splash!"

After entering the house and casually dumping Auntie Fat on the floor,

Ye Qianfan picked up a cup of water from the table and splashed it over her!

"Ah!"

Auntie Fat immediately woke from the splash.

Once she woke and recognized her own room, her pupils contracted. "Y-you... Are you really little Fan?"

"How else would I know where you live?" Ye Qianfan said with a smile. "I came today to settle the whole account with you. After all, thanks to you and your husband, I've lost my house, and now I don't even have a body!"

"No... Please don't kill me!"

Auntie Fat finally knew fear. Trembling violently, she said, "Little Fan, for the sake of all those years I looked after you, and the fact that your Elder Uncle died over this too, please spare me!"

"So you know all about Ye Fu's business." Ye Qianfan smiled. "Then you should also know perfectly well that my father wasn't Ye Fu's actual younger brother. They were only sworn brothers, weren't they?"

"Well..."

Auntie Fat's expression shifted again and again.

Since this concerned ownership of the house, she neither wanted nor dared to admit it.

"Whew!"

Ye Qianfan sighed. "So you knew. You knew everything."

"But you and your husband still joined forces to treat me like this. How do you expect me to forgive you?"

"I... I..."

Now Auntie Fat truly knew fear.

She trembled all over and even kept kowtowing to Ye Qianfan, admitting her wrongdoing. "It was all Old Fu's fault. He said you were still young, and as long as we didn't tell you the truth, you'd never find out!"

"He said your three flames of yang fire were the key to him becoming a man above other men again. He was the one who wanted to keep it from you."

"You can't blame me! You can't blame me!"

"I don't blame you. Why would I blame you?" Ye Qianfan easily found a house deed on Old Fu's bookshelf. "Sign this, then you can get lost."

"The... The house? You want to steal my house?"

Seeing Ye Qianfan find the deed so effortlessly, Auntie Fat grew utterly terrified. She had planned to report him to the authorities once she escaped.

She would say a monster had entered her house and even threatened her!

Once the authorities arrested Ye Qianfan, everything would be fine.

But...

Ye Qianfan actually knew where her house deed was hidden?

How was that possible?

"Not signing?"

Ye Qianfan raised an eyebrow at Auntie Fat.

But as Auntie Fat stared at the deed, her expression grew increasingly savage. Where would she live if she lost the house?

She had already lost Old Fu. She could not lose the house too!

No...

I have to get out and report him to the authorities!

At that thought, Auntie Fat could no longer suppress the urge to flee. She hurled the human-hair brush in her hand at Ye Qianfan and charged outside!

She intended to run. Everything else could wait until she got out!