After finishing the battle report, He Lingchuan stared blankly at the ivy climbing the wall.
Counting both large and small, only twenty-one bandit gangs remained in Longchuan.
Squeezed from within by the annexations of the Xiji puppet troops and pounded from without by the crackdowns of the Yuheng City Army, the river bandits had fallen on exceptionally hard times under this double-team assault.
Over fifty gangs reduced to just twenty-one. Tsk, tsk—still too many. Should he step in again to give them another push?
"Boss." Hu Min arrived.
He Lingchuan gave no response, so Hu Min repeated himself.
"We found the man."
He Lingchuan gathered his thoughts, realizing what he meant. "In Bantou Town?"
"Right on Putiao Street, in the old quarter of Yuheng City."
He Lingchuan chuckled. "Quite bold, operating right under our noses." What was he after—cheap thrills?
"How long has it been open?"
"About seven or eight years."
"Let's go have some tea with him."
He, Hu Min, and A'luo changed into plainclothes and headed toward Putiao Street.
This street lay a hundred-odd feet behind the main thoroughfare. The construction of the new Yuheng City followed an orderly grid running straight and true in all directions, and Putiao Street enjoyed lively foot traffic, with many adults and children bustling to and fro. The storefronts here lacked the grand facades of the main avenue, with neither sprawling restaurants nor large inns; they mostly sold pastries, candied fruits, and sundries from north and south, alongside a few modest hostels. If one knew how to pick and rummage, quite a few treasures could be unearthed here.
Hu Min stopped before a shop and signaled to He Lingchuan. "We're here."
The shop wasn't large. A cloth banner hung at the entrance, fluttering in the wind, inscribed with the words "South Port Goodies."
People here in Yuheng City were fond of using "Goodies" in store names, much like the sundry shops He Lingchuan was familiar with.
It happened to be dusk, and several shops along the street were closing for the night. South Port Goodies had already put up two door panels, leaving only a single board open for entry and exit—an unwritten signal that it would close within fifteen to thirty minutes.
The three strolled inside to find an eye-dazzling array of merchandise, predominantly products from Baisha Port to the south. Occupying center stage in the shop was a cluster of palm-sized figurines. Their facial expressions and features were remarkably lifelike, and even their coiffures and attire had been crafted with meticulous detail. Most intriguing of all, the figurines were not simply lined up in a row, but set against a complete miniature landscape backdrop, as if every little figure had a story of its own.
A'luo's attention was drawn to several translucent resin jars on the shelves, which held medicinal herbs.
Hu Min took a brief turn around the shop and whispered to He Lingchuan, "Not a single piece of contraband on display. This place definitely has something wrong with it."
Certain goods were strictly prohibited from sale in Yuheng City. Setting aside high explosives, addictive drugs, blades, spears, and weapons, even a colorful candy from Baisha Bay known as "sweet vine" that quickly rotted teeth yet was adored by children was banned. Most sundry shops would secretly sell a bit to boost profits, but this shop had none at all.
He Lingchuan nodded.
Selling no contraband indicated the shop feared inspections and unwanted attention, and also meant its profits were lucrative enough that it didn't need to chase petty gains.
The curtain to the back room was pushed aside, and the shopkeeper emerged, his voice arriving before him: "Welcome, guests! Catch your eye on anything? We have a complete stock of goods here."
He had just finished a meal, the grease on his lips not yet wiped clean.
Hu Min pointed at He Lingchuan. "He wants to buy dragonscale spikemoss. Got any here?"
The shopkeeper froze.
Dragonscale spikemoss was an herbal specialty of Beijia, which could be refined into "spikemoss pills" to dramatically invigorate male virility. It was costly even in Beijia, and far more expensive here.
Yet anyone buying such a thing would come alone in secret, wishing nothing more than to slip in and out unseen by anyone—who would ever show up in a group like this?
He Lingchuan said testily, "Don't listen to his nonsense! I want to buy a doll for my little niece. How much for these?"
He pointed at the shop's centerpiece display. The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Those are for display only, not for sale. But I have several other figurines back here. Would you like to take a look?"
"Sure." He Lingchuan and A'luo followed him toward the back, while Hu Min continued wandering idly around the shop, actually guarding the front door.
After taking two steps, A'luo asked, "Where's the latrine? Nature calls."
"Out the back door, take a left."
A'luo hurried off.
The shopkeeper retrieved several figurines from a back cabinet, which were also exquisitely crafted. He Lingchuan examined them one by one and inquired about the price, finding them predictably steep.
They were remarkably similar to figures from his original world. As the shopkeeper noted, in Beijia and the Mou Kingdom, these figurines were far from merely children's toys—adult collectors vastly outnumbered child owners.
He wasn't wrong on that point; He Lingchuan had indeed seen such figures in Lingxu City in the later era, where a single one could fetch several, or even dozens of, taels of silver. It appeared this business had been thriving for a century or two.
While they spoke, A'luo returned and gave him a nod. "All done."
No sooner had the words landed than He Lingchuan struck like the wind, swiftly jabbing a finger beneath the shopkeeper's ribs.
This was the technique of intercepting blood and fixing the meridians. Once struck, sharp pain would flare between the ribs, cutting off one's breath so severely that even breathing hurt—much like an extreme side stitch, though in truth it caused no lasting harm to the body.
Who would have thought this short, pudgy shopkeeper would be so nimble? Twisting like a spinning top, he dodged the strike and tried to slip through the gap back toward the front hall, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Someone—!"
Yet before the rest of the shout could leave his throat, he went limp, the strength drained completely from his body.
Unable to move his legs, he dropped with a thud, landing right on his knees before He Lingchuan.
"Oh my, you flatter me." He Lingchuan chuckled, hoisting him up with one hand and dumping him onto a chest.
A'luo, however, furrowed his brows. "The drug took effect too slowly. It actually let him scurry two steps. It still needs fine-tuning."
The medicine he released was odorless and colorless, designed to render tendons and muscles completely limp.
He Lingchuan brought out his spider-silk rope and bound the shopkeeper tightly. "You gave him too heavy a dose—he can't even speak."
A'luo produced a smelling bottle and held it under the shopkeeper's nose. The man sneezed, and his speech returned.
"Who are you?!" the shopkeeper demanded warily. "Don't try anything stupid—I have men here!"
"Your men are fast asleep in the warehouse." A'luo shook the bottle in his hand. "They'll be out for at least half a shichen, and when they wake, they won't even realize they were ambushed."
Earlier, his excuse to use the latrine had been a cover to quietly toss some sinew-limp powder into the warehouse. "There were three men guarding the goods in there."
Hu Min had already fitted the shop's final door panel into place. Hearing this, he went to take a look in the warehouse and returned holding a wooden bottle, asking A'luo, "He's taken in quite a bit of stolen loot here. Appraise this for me—are these White Dragon Pills?"
A'luo took it, pulled out the stopper, sniffed it once, and nodded. "Top-grade White Dragon Pills."
The shopkeeper's face had long since turned ashen.
He Lingchuan asked him, "Your name is Fu Lin'an, isn't it? Fencing stolen goods for the Longchuan river bandits—do you know how that is punished?"
Fu Lin'an still argued stubbornly, "What's strange about keeping a few bottles of White Dragon Pills in my shop? How can you slander me and claim they're stolen goods!"
A'luo poured out a pill and held it before him. "Do you see the green mark on the surface of this pill?"
The other three saw it clearly.
"This is a first-rate product from Liren Hall in southern Baisha Bay, known as the 'Green-veined White Dragon Pill.' Its shelf life is very short, only six months, so there is an inscription at the bottom of the pill showing the date it was furnace-refined." A'luo pointed it out to the three of them. "This was refined just half a month ago. During that period, Liren Hall entrusted a single shipment of White Dragon Pills heading north to the Hexin Caravan, which was plundered. What more do you have to say?"
Chapter 858