Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 25: Inciting hatred

The man in black lowered his head and glanced at him again.

You said you were just a customer, and our rules were lax, so why would a customer be angry... and you even scolded me, but I'm a customer, who can scold me...

Anuo sat aside, munching on sweet potatoes and sighing like a little adult.

"Forget it." Lu Xingzhou took a deep breath to calm himself down, then said calmly, "Your branch stationed in Xiazhou is not strong enough. Send a request to your superiors and ask for experts."

The man in black asked carefully, "What's the deadline? What are the requirements?"

"You must arrive before nightfall tomorrow night. What level of talent is acceptable?"

"Tomorrow night..." The man in black calculated for a moment. "At this time, even if we use the communication talisman to send someone over as quickly as possible, the journey is not long enough. At most, we can only send a fifth-rank person from the county. If we deliberately avoid those people, the number of people who can come will be even more difficult to predict. We may only be able to be sure of one person."

"That's enough. I didn't want to find someone too high anyway. The higher the rank, the easier it would be for those people to know I'm here. A fifth-rank is perfect, and it's in line with this mission." Lu Xingzhou forced a smile and handed over two gold ingots. "This is the deposit... Anything higher, I can't afford right now."

The man in black looked very strange: "I can't accept this money..."

"No, you must."

"That's too much..."

"With the extra money, you can bring some people to help me secretly monitor the movements of the Huo family. Once Huo Yu goes out, you will immediately help me do something..."

…………

Sheng Yuanyao stepped into the Huo residence.

She has been working overtime these past two days to investigate the demon case, but no clues have been found from outside.

Dugu Qingli suggested going to see the death row inmates, but she didn't want to alert them for the time being, and planned to find a suitable excuse to quietly investigate. At this moment, Huo Yu invited her to the Huo residence to discuss the Huo family murder case and Huo Shang's affairs in detail.

Sheng Yuanyao was exhausted from investigating the case and really didn't want to go. Honestly, as a high-ranking official of the Demon Suppression Division, Huo Yu was just a young man without any official title. With a little bit of etiquette, Huo Yu should have gone to see her. But he invited her to see him for such a huge sum of money, which was really disgusting.

But unfortunately, her father was only a deputy, not the chief. The chief of the Demon Suppression Division was a top-rank official. If he wanted to gain the full respect of the Huo family, he had to remove the word "deputy".

In order not to cause trouble for his father, Sheng Yuanyao reluctantly entered the Huo residence no matter how disgusted he was.

As soon as I entered the hall, I saw singing and dancing. Huo Yu was holding a maid and eating grapes. There was another maid next to her peeling grapes and feeding her whenever she had the chance.

Sheng Yuanyao's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

This is so disrespectful... Never mind that she is a woman, this can almost be considered harassment.

There are people who want to arrange a marriage between me and this guy. It's so disgusting. Fortunately, my father doesn't want to be too involved with the Huo family and directly declined. Otherwise, just discussing this matter would become my criminal record.

The image of Lu Xingzhou inadvertently flashed through his mind... If he was Huo Shang, then no one in the Huo family could compare to him.

Fortunately, the Huo family wasn't so foolish as to turn the Vice-President of the Demon Suppression Division into an enemy, so Huo Yu wouldn't dare flirt with her. Glancing at Sheng Yuanyao's gloomy expression, Huo Yu didn't go too far after all. He coughed twice, let go of the maid, and sat up straight: "Miss Sheng, please take a seat. It's been a few months since we last met, right?"

Sheng Yuanyao acted in a businesslike manner and sat aside as a guest. "Don't talk nonsense... The details of the case are clearly written in my report. Mr. Huo should have read it."

"I have." Huo Yu looked at Sheng Yuanyao with a little surprise, thinking that although this woman was beautiful, she looked like a wild person running around in Beijing, so she didn't have much of an impression. Now she is the head of a small local government, wearing a cloak, holding a sword at her waist, with a serious face, but her temperament is awe-inspiring and inexplicably attractive. It hasn't been long since then...

"Since you've seen it, and the old butler is now more awake, Mr. Huo, it would be much more intuitive to ask him than to ask me. What do you want to ask me by inviting me over?"

Huo Yu barely concealed the lust in his eyes and tried to look serious. "Of course, I'm asking about Huo Shang's clues. After all, Miss Sheng has been investigating for so long, so she shouldn't have any results?"

Sheng Yuanyao had a blank expression on her face: "I'm sorry, Yuanyao's ability is insufficient, and I really haven't found any clues. That's why Master Huo needs to come in person, right?"

In fact, when it comes to this, Sheng Yuanyao really doesn't understand what Huo Yu is doing.

You, Huo Yu, came here to investigate Huo Shang, hoping to kill him if you found any. But you came with such fanfare, the whole city knows about it. If Huo Shang was hiding here, he'd have already fled! What on earth are you doing here? Just to show off your wealth and glory? You're putting the cart before the horse.

What Huo Yu said shocked Sheng Yuanyao even more: "If I, Huo, can resolve this matter, would that count as a credit to Miss Sheng? How would Miss Sheng thank me?"

Sheng Yuanyao almost vomited: "This is Master Huo's own family feud. If I don't thank you, will you stop investigating? Then eat and drink well, and then return to the capital." "I have never taken that bastard seriously. He was a waste back then. How can he be so strong now?" Huo Yu chuckled and said, "I heard that Miss Sheng once investigated a cripple named Lu Xingzhou. Could he be Huo Shang?"

Sheng Yuanyao clearly felt that there was a certain possibility that Lu Xingzhou was the real deal, but she replied, "It shouldn't be. Yuanyao knows all the young masters of the Huo family, and they all have similarities in appearance. But this Lu Xingzhou doesn't look like any of them at all, and he doesn't even resemble your father in the slightest."

"Wouldn't the appearance be altered? Or covered up with magic?"

"...There are no such marks on his face." Sheng Yuanyao wanted to say that he was much more handsome than you, because you had surgery on your face.

Huo Yu sneered and said, "His mother was a lowly servant. Perhaps he takes after her."

Sheng Yuanyao finally couldn't help but frown: "What do you mean by saying this, Mr. Huo?"

"It's better to kill the wrong person than to let him go. Even if it's not him, can't we kill him?"

Sheng Yuanyao stood up suddenly and said sternly, "As the commander of the Demon Suppression Division, I will not sit idly by and watch this kind of wanton slaughter of innocent people!"

"Just kidding, just kidding, Miss Sheng, why are you so nervous?" Huo Yu smiled and pressed his hand. "I didn't expect Miss Sheng to be so upright and heroic now. It's really impressive. Well... it's almost time for lunch, why don't we have lunch together?"

Sheng Yuanyao suppressed her nausea and said, "Yuanyao still has official business to attend to, so I won't bother Mr. Huo any more. If there's nothing else important, I'll take my leave."

Watching Sheng Yuanyao stride away, Huo Yu's eyes became a little ferocious: "You don't know how to be polite."

Liu Qingcang appeared from the back, offering an apologetic smile. "What do you think? I was saying there must be something fishy going on between Sheng Yuanyao and Lu Xingzhou. I strongly suspected Lu Xingzhou was Huo Shang, and Sheng Yuanyao was covering up for him. Otherwise, how could the Commander of the Demon Suppression Division have investigated for so long without finding a single clue? If she was helping to cover it up, that would make sense."

"A mere crippled seventh-rank cultivator, plus a child who just entered the rank?" Huo Yu almost wanted to laugh. "It seems my father made a big fuss by sending so many guards to me. Uncle Fu, please help, but don't kill him. We need to bring him back to confirm whether it's Huo Shang, or the real Huo Shang won't take advantage of the situation and get away."

The old man standing behind him bowed slightly and soon disappeared.

Huo Yu sighed, "Boss Liu, you're a dignified sixth-rank martial artist leading a large gang, how could you be brought down like this by a mere cripple? In the face of absolute strength, conspiracies are useless. He's trying to trick you, so you won't kill him?"

Liu Qingcang also sighed: "I wanted to, but in the end, either Sheng Yuanyao was obstructing it, or it was Shen Tang. This cripple is really lucky."

"Lucky fortune?" Huo Yu sat up a little straighter. "So, Shen Tang is as pretty as Sheng Yuanyao?"

Liu Qingcang spoke with unwavering sincerity this time: "He lives up to his name, blooming like a tangerine tree, unrivalled in beauty... but it's a pity he's also crippled."

Huo Yu's eyes lit up, and he stood up suddenly: "Is it the Shen's Trading Company that occupied your old base?"

Liu Qingcang was secretly delighted: "Yes, but my lord, please be careful. There is a white-haired, blue-eyed woman beside her. She has a strange cultivation method and is extremely powerful in swordsmanship..."

"A woman with white hair and blue eyes?" Huo Yu wasn't interested. He frowned and said, "With such a monstrous appearance and such strength, how could she not be well-known? I'm afraid no matter how strong she is, there's a limit to her strength. Boss Liu, you're really going backwards..."

Liu Qingcang thought that Huo Yu should be able to handle it anyway, so he didn't remind him any more and just smiled apologetically: "Yes, yes, it will be easy to capture him if you take action."

"Then let's go." Huo Yu fanned himself and walked out leisurely: "Let me see that extraordinary cripple."

Huo Yu led his guards across the farm and headed straight for Shen's Trading Company.

Before he even reached the door, he heard his subordinates' anxious cries behind him: "Master! Master! It's bad! The housekeeper has been kidnapped. A bloody word 'Shang' has been left on the wall!"

Huo Yu stopped in his tracks, glancing at the nearby Shen's Trading Company with a shaky expression. His expression paled, then paled. After a while, he gritted his teeth and decided, "Let's go back first. Huo Shang is the priority. We can talk about the Shen's business later."

Inside the trading company, Shen Tang was silent for a long time as he listened to his subordinates report that Huo Yu had led the group and was then transferred away due to other matters. He then whispered, "Is my judgment correct?"

Dugu Qingli remained silent.

He actually attracted Huo Yu's attention and exposed himself to the storm, just to avoid implicating them.

But this is not just about not being burdened, it is already protection.

The sudden request to treat his leg was indeed a kind of "making arrangements for his final affairs". In case of failure, the prescription given to Shen Tang was still there.

"Keep an eye on Huo Yu." Shen Tang said calmly, "There will be a time when we can take action."

(End of this chapter)