The Martial Lord of the Troubled World

Chapter 98 Beauty Skin

After Cao Tian finished getting ready, Fu Juemin led the two of them out the door. A carriage was already waiting at the door, carrying them swaying and bumping as it drove into the concession area.

After walking for more than an hour, following the address given by Cao Tian, ​​we finally stopped at a certain place.

Fu Juemin waved for the carriage to go back first, then turned around to examine the old building with a distinct sense of history.

It's unclear when it was built, but the paint on the four gilded characters "Xinglong Commercial Building" is peeling, yet it stands majestically at the street corner.

Not far away is the bustling city center, where trams clatter along the street. There are two fish stalls downstairs, as well as vegetable vendors, and sewage flows everywhere.

The six-story building was flooded with all sorts of signs—"Hualin Detective Agency", "Tianyi Ming Fortune Telling Studio", "Deyi Tea House", "Kuaili" typewriter repair, "Renji Massage".
There was even a dance hall called "Moon Palace" located on the third floor, with a neon sign.

"The fifth floor."

Cao Tian led the way with his head down, and the two bypassed the fish stalls and vegetable shops on the ground floor, going up the stairs from one of the entrances of the shopping mall.

They soon arrived at the fifth floor. At the entrance, on the left was a glass sign with red lettering that read "Dachang Trading Company". A man in a wrinkled Brazilian suit stood at the door smoking and curiously looked at the two of them.

On the right, there were stacks of old newspapers piled high like mountains.

A dilapidated little door is hidden behind a mountain of old newspapers, with a sign in black lettering painted on white paper hanging in front of it: "Midnight Talk, Human Touch".

"Wenjin Newspaper".

Fu Juemin glanced at the sign on the door, raised his hand to brush away the dust that floated in the light, and gestured for Cao Tian to knock on the door.

Cao Tian went straight up and pushed the door open. With a muffled bang, a woman's slightly shrill voice came from inside: "Who are you looking for?"

Before Fu Juemin even entered the room, a strong, strange smell of ink mixed with cheap tobacco hit him.

What came into view was a small room of about thirty square meters, with four or five tables, old newspapers and ink stains scattered all over the floor, and a small coal stove in the corner with a hissing aluminum kettle on it. Next to it was a shrine with incense burning in front of it, and it was unclear which deity was being worshipped there.

There were only three people in the room: a young woman with freckles on her face and thick glasses, who was glaring at Cao Tian.

A bald old man in his fifties, wearing work clothes and arm sleeves, glanced at the two of them and then turned back to continue fiddling with the paper cutter in front of him.

There was also a man hunched over a table made of two old beechwood tables, writing furiously. He seemed to be writing a manuscript and didn't even lift his eyelids when he heard someone come in.

"We're looking for the man who came into your newspaper office yesterday afternoon carrying a suitcase."

Cao Tian briefly described the appearance of the man that Fu Juemin had asked him to follow at the dock yesterday.

After hearing Cao Tian's words, the woman looked wary and didn't answer. Instead, she asked, "And who are you two?"

Cao Tian, ​​his face cold and stiff, retorted, "What business is it of yours who we are?"

Fu Juemin, who was listening from behind, found it too difficult to hear. He shook his head, took out his pen and checkbook from his pocket, wrote a few lines, tore off a page, and gently placed it on the table.

"We'll ask a few questions, then we'll leave."

Fu Juemin closed his pen and put it back in his suit pocket, speaking in a calm tone.

"Stop pretending to be rich."

The woman muttered something as she picked up the check from the table, but her expression suddenly froze the next second.

She rubbed her eyes hard as if in disbelief, then rushed over to the man next door who was writing at his desk.

The small office was filled with the chattering of Shanghai dialect.

Soon, the man slumped over the desk abruptly stopped writing, and the bald old man fiddling with the paper cutter in the corner also stopped.

"call--"

A middle-aged man wearing a shirt and a sweater vest suddenly stood up, his hair looking like it hadn't been washed in ages, and strode toward Fu Juemin and his companion, his face already beaming with a warm smile.

"I am Chen Weidong, editor-in-chief and chief writer of Wenjin Daily. May I ask your names?"

Cao Tian stepped in front of Fu Juemin and replied expressionlessly, "My young master's surname is Fu."

"So it's Young Master Fu who has graced us with his presence." The middle-aged man laughed heartily, personally bringing over two chairs and placing them in front of the two. Then he called out to the woman beside him, "Miss Zhou, quickly go and make some tea for Young Master Fu!"

"oh oh."

The woman hurriedly ran to the coal stove in the corner, and cried out as she was burned by the scalding hot aluminum kettle.

No one paid her any attention. The middle-aged man who claimed to be the newspaper's editor-in-chief sat down in his original spot, subtly wiping away the remaining ink and sesame seed cake crumbs on the table with his sweater sleeve, and said with a smile, "Judging from what Young Master Fu just said, you were looking for Mr. Lin?"

"Mr. Lin?"

Fu Juemin's eyes flickered slightly, but before he could say anything, the freckled woman who brought over two enamel teacups quickly chimed in: "Don't you know what his surname is?"
Mr. Lin is Ms. Liu's husband! I thought you two were Ms. Liu's fans, which is why you came to our newspaper office.

The woman rattled off a string of words, prompting the middle-aged man beside her to cough incessantly in dissatisfaction.

"Why are you looking at me? They've already paid! Who says otherwise?"

The freckled woman's words left the middle-aged man speechless, making him roll his eyes.

Fu Juemin found it amusing. He glanced at the enamel cup in front of him, which was covered in years of tea stains, and politely declined the cigarette offered by the middle-aged man. He then said, "Please tell me more about Mr. Lin and Miss Liu."

The middle-aged man nodded, perhaps worried that the freckled woman would beat him to it again, and this time he spoke much faster.

"Ms. Liu is a freelance cartoonist who contributes to our newspaper. Her works are very popular among our readers."

Mr. Lin is Ms. Liu's husband. He comes every month to pick up her artwork and collect her payment.

"Does the Tianjin Daily still publish comic strips?"

"Yes, its sales volume is definitely not as good as that of posters, after all, the printing cost is higher."

The middle-aged man spat tea leaves into his teacup, then quickly called out, "Miss Zhou, bring me all the newspapers from the last issue of the comic book—no, the ones with Miss Liu's work."

Before the freckled woman could even make a move, the bald old man who had been busy with layout and cutting in the corner silently took over a stack of newspapers.

Fu Juemin picked up a copy at random.

The black-and-white newspaper, titled "Illustrated Tales of the Strange," is in line with "Records of Strange Tales of the Republic of China."

The comics of this era are vastly different from those of the previous one. Although they are called comics, the illustrations are still filled with large swaths of text. In fact, it would be more accurate to call them "text illustrations".

"Ms. Liu's work is published here!"

The middle-aged man reached out his hand and offered to turn to the second page of the newspaper for Fu Juemin.

Fu Juemin looked down and saw three large characters on this side of the newspaper, deliberately distorted and dripping with blood—

"The Beauty Skin".

Fu Juemin's eyes flickered slightly as he slowly continued reading.

The small office fell silent instantly, with only the sounds of newspapers turning and the hissing of an aluminum kettle on the coal stove.

Fifteen minutes later, Fu Juemin stopped what he was doing and casually put the comic book aside.

He had almost finished reading the so-called "Beauty Skin" story.

The story begins in the previous dynasty and tells the tale of a brothel maid named "Ugly Moth." Because of her ugly appearance and stupid personality, she was bullied by everyone. After she clumsily offended a customer, she was beaten to death and thrown into a well.

Seven days later, she "came back to life" and emerged from the well as a half-human, half-ghost monster.

She first took revenge by killing all those who had bullied her in her previous life, and then she peeled off the entire skin of the top courtesan of the brothel whom she had always admired and put it on herself, thus substituting one person for another.

Later, she used her beauty as a top courtesan to meet the son of a high-ranking official. The two fell in love, but she was tragically abandoned by him.

So she also skinned the high-ranking official's son, and did the same thing, changing her identity to continue wandering the world.
The story is roughly about a prostitute named "Ugly Moth" who, after becoming a ghost, takes on the bodies of other people and falls in love with handsome men and beautiful women.

The story combines thriller, horror, gore, and eroticism, which is quite eye-catching, no wonder it is so popular with readers.

(End of this chapter)