Chapter 255

Chapter 255: A Familiar Face

Seeing Li Rou collapsed on the floor, Marquis Wu’an’s heir went white. Official Yu was gone.

At that moment, the missing Official Yu was slung over a waiter’s shoulder, carried through a passage like a secret tunnel out of the inn.

About a quarter of an hour later, the waiter stopped, felt around above his head, and quickly found a door that could be pushed open from below.

Outside the door, two people were waiting. One was a woman, Yu San Niang. The other was a man who had not appeared at the inn. He looked sleazy and smelled strongly of perfume and powder.

Yu San Niang told the waiter to set Yu Zhi Yi down. She held up a torch and lit the woman’s face. The perfumed man’s eyes lit up and he said: “Beautiful. So beautiful.”

He had seen many fine goods, but someone this special was a first. The woman was not only pretty, she gave off a rare kind of air. And his guests loved women who were different.

Pleased, Yu San Niang smiled and said: “With quality like this, one thousand taels is not too much, right?”

The perfumed man shot her a glance. He thought she was greedy, but the goods were worth it. He believed this woman would earn the money back for him quickly. He said: “Fine. One thousand.”

Money and goods changed hands. Soon, Yu Zhi Yi was loaded into a carriage.

The carriage did not head into the city. It rolled toward the wild hills outside.

After a long, bumpy ride, the carriage stopped. The man got down first, had his people lift Yu Zhi Yi out, and said: “This one is top grade. Change her clothes. I will train her myself.”

When someone reached to pull at Yu Zhi Yi’s clothing, she woke up. She did not panic when she saw the unfamiliar place. She asked calmly: “Where is this?”

The sleazy man lifted the curtain and came in with a smile and said: “This is the immortal grotto. Ever heard the saying ‘better to be a pair of lovers than to be an immortal’? If you behave, you will have more money than you can spend and more joy than you can count.”

Yu Zhi Yi looked at him and cut through the pretty words, going straight to the point: “So this is a brothel. You plan to force a good woman to sell her body.”

He chuckled and said: “No need to make it sound so ugly. A brothel is for serving low people. We serve men who only appear in legends.”

He added: “Countless women try to recommend themselves and still cannot reach their beds. But the women in this immortal grotto win their favor. What a great honor.”

She kept her face blank and said: “You call filth honor, then expect everyone to think like you. You got caught in the rain, so you tear down other people’s umbrellas and block their path to shelter?” She had seen at a glance that this man had also ‘served’ guests.

His smile froze and a cold light flashed in his eyes. He said: “Don’t think reading a little and knowing a few rules makes you better than others. Here, whether you are a dragon or a tiger, you will lie down and obey.”

He said coldly: “If you refuse to serve, I have ways to make you.”

He had prepared himself for a fight, sure that this cool, hard-to-handle woman would resist. He was ready to “train” her. But she only glanced at him and said: “Lead the way.”

He stared: “?”

You talk big, and then that’s it? Not even a little struggle?

He felt something was off, but she was just a woman from out of town. Yes, she had about twenty escorts, but he did not take them seriously. Plenty of women with powerful families were kept here. Their households had dozens or hundreds of servants, and they still could not find the door to the immortal grotto.

His doubt lasted only a breath before he swallowed it. Looking down on her, he said: “You sure acted lofty, but I see you know how to bow to the times.” He reached out a hand, pale and soft, even more well-kept than most women’s, to touch her face. Yu Zhi Yi turned her head and avoided him. Annoyed, he sneered: “Acting pure while wanting favor.”

He said: “Since you will behave, stay quiet for one night. At this time tomorrow, a noble will visit. Serve the noble well and earn his favor, and you will never worry about food and clothes again.” With that, he left.

Yu Zhi Yi lowered her eyes without expression. Feeling the heavy resentment in this so-called immortal grotto, her gaze cooled. Truly, they had done every possible evil and had no conscience left. From Yu San Niang’s face alone she had already figured out how that black inn worked: killing, robbery, treating people like goods to be sold and even eaten.

The murders at the black inn would be easy to solve. She could even calculate the hiding places of every victim’s remains, though most of those bodies were now only white bones. But in Yu San Niang’s web of cause and effect, there were still many women alive. She had stepped into the trap herself for their sake.

Tomorrow night, the noble would come. From the oily man’s face, she already knew what that noble looked like, but she still needed to catch him with the evidence. She closed her eyes and waited quietly for tomorrow night.

The next day, daylight came and went, and night fell again. The Jiang father and son were already frantic. The heir blamed himself over and over. Jiang Liu Yun, in a rage, beat the heir up again. In the end the two groups split in anger. Both said they would find the missing girl. After that, both sides searched the city like headless flies.

Night fell fast. A low-key but luxurious carriage rolled out of the city, took small lanes, and reached the wild hills. Soon, it vanished down a hidden country path.

The moment that carriage left the city, Jiang Yu Chuan and his son moved at the same time as Marquis Wu’an’s heir. They lit a stick of incense. The thin smoke rose and drifted in a single direction. Neither group hesitated. They followed the smoke.

Before long, they met at the foot of the hills. The smoke still pointed ahead. Constables from the city followed behind both parties. With the direction clear, a few dozen people took the path the smoke showed.

At the same time, Yu Zhi Yi finally met the noble. She did not care much about the noble himself. It was the person beside him that made her frown. It was someone she knew.