"To be honest, Brother Yun, Old Zhao and the others have been hiding in plain sight for at least a dozen years. Before I came to Blackwater Town, I had someone look into this street. Their backgrounds were all reasonably clean, and nothing had ever gone wrong in all those years."
"Why have incidents started happening one after another these past few days?"
Pei Junyao lowered his voice. Gone was the drunken rambling of that day; a rare trace of reliability actually showed in his expression.
Yun Qing raised an eyebrow at that. "You investigated this street, Brother Pei?"
Pei Junyao remained perfectly composed. "Liu Niang and I were going to settle here. Surely I had to ask a few questions about our neighbors?"
"Especially Blacksmith Zhao. One look at the calluses between his thumb and forefinger told me they came from wielding a saber, not swinging a hammer. Then there's Old Sun, who sells sweets. The way he boils syrup is like refining pills. He was probably an expert in poisons back in the day. And Uncle Wu at the clothing shop..."
Yun Qing looked at him with a smile. "And what about Shopkeeper Yun of A Little Shop?"
Pei Junyao choked briefly, then met Yun Qing's gaze frankly. "You are a true recluse, sir. You neither pry into the past nor stir up trouble."
The truth was that he had found nothing at all.
Utterly spotless, just like the Great Xia Ancient Dynasty, as though they had appeared out of thin air.
Ye Hui caught the implication and gave a derisive chuckle.
Pei Junyao turned on the bench to look at Ye Hui, who was busy laying medicinal herbs out to dry, and tried to win back some ground elsewhere.
"But I do know a thing or two