Chapter 43: The mystery is revealed. These are all beautiful girls,...

Chen Yu took a closer look and saw that it was a piece of wood scattered on the ground.

Hongxiu noticed the movement behind her, turned around, picked up the wood, and threw it into the basket full of wood beside her. She dusted it off and said,

"Master, please be careful. If you fall, I will be heartbroken!"

In such a long and narrow underground passage, Shen Yu's face was half hidden in the darkness, reflected in the flickering candlelight, adding a bit of charm.

"I'm not familiar with the road, but luckily I have you." Chen Yu burst out laughing, and then he took two steps forward, meeting Hongxiu's tender eyes, and asked jokingly:

"But, doesn't anyone clean up here on weekdays? Are all this firewood just left here?"

"Firewood? That's castor wood." Hongxiu chuckled, then a hint of annoyance spread across her face. She spread her hands and said,

"Aside from being used as a condiment in Soul-Snatching Powder, it can only be used as a dye. This is Handan Workshop, not a clothing shop. Is it really necessary to buy so much? If it's left there, no one will clean it up, and it will just become clutter and take up space!"

Chen Yu rubbed his lower lip calmly, glancing at the dozens of baskets of large and small castor trees in the passage. The subtle curve at the corner of his lips deepened a little.

It turns out that the Soul-Capture Powder was made here!

It's really like searching for a needle in a hawthorn tree. I have previously used the power of Gu Yi Piaohao to investigate the buyers of the oak wood, but these buyers are very scattered, both men and women. If they are used for daily use, there is indeed no problem on the surface.

But I didn't expect that they contributed all those oak trees here, which was indeed my negligence.

Just like before, he had long known that Murong Fei was working for the mayor of the Shicha underground casino, but he had never understood -

After all, Murong Fei was a Jinshi who had passed the imperial examination and held an important position in the Dali Temple. No matter how conceited he was, he had no reason to give up the broad road and collude with the shady underground gambling city of Shicha.

Because of this, I put too much of my experience into the Shicha underground casino itself, while ignoring the role of its side branches, and therefore never connected Handanfang with it.

Chen Yu's amber eyes were clear and bright. He feigned ignorance and said, "Soul-stealing powder? I've often heard Brother Murong mention it, but I never knew its effects."

"Master, you are so innocent that you don't even know the beauty of this thing!" Hongxiu fiddled with her handkerchief and swept it across his chest. Then she hugged his arm in her arms and said in a sweet and crooked voice:

"Oh, it's actually okay. You can check the goods first. After all, each guest has different needs. But don't worry, I'm here and I will make every arrangement for you. But this——"

Chen Yu gently placed his right hand on her slender hand that was resting on his left arm, squeezed it and said, "We are all family, Miss Hongxiu, please feel free to speak."

To Hongxiu, the word "one of us" sounded like it had been soaked in the wine produced in western Denmark. It was low-mellow, charming and touching.

She grabbed his collar like a fascinated person and pulled him towards her little by little.

Chen Yu always felt that something was different about her, but he couldn't tell where, so he could only follow her strength and lower his upper body.

"Sir, you know, although Lord Murong doesn't need to make a reservation with us, in this business world, even the people he brings with him have to pay for it themselves. After all, different goods[1] have different prices."

Hongxiu was very close to him, one hand still holding his collar, the other hand slid down his smooth neck and stroked his cheek, and her hot breath blew on his face as she spoke.

"Of course." Chen Yu didn't dodge or evade, letting her do whatever she wanted on his face. He then raised his eyebrows and said, "Miss Hongxiu understands my feelings so well, so of course I won't treat you unfairly."

"So, I have other wishes that can be fulfilled as well?" Hongxiu's thumb had already slid from the corner of his lips to his lower lip, and even rubbed it repeatedly with some force.

After all, Chen Yu was already nearly thirty years old, and he immediately understood the naked implication of Hong Xiu, but he was not touched at all, and even felt disgusted. He just wanted to stay away from her.

Before, when he was in the Ningbei Army, during leisure time during training or at victory banquets, these young and energetic men in the army liked to gather together to discuss their romantic past. Generally speaking, they said that they had no resistance to lively girls who came to them on their own initiative.

This is probably the reason why institutions like Handanfang are doing such a booming business.

I still remember that it was two years after my father passed away. I established three major camps in the Ningbei Army and studied military tactics day and night.

Xiaobai and his family were once worried about their mental state, so they hurriedly focused their attention on finding their ideal partner. They were even more concerned about their lifelong affairs than their father before.

Unfortunately, he had grown up to such an age, and no matter when he was by Empress Yuan's side or when he traveled to various countries to fight for his country, although he had seen many beautiful women, no one could enter his heart.

During the first days after returning to Ningbei, I was plagued by nightmares and couldn't sleep at night. In order to numb myself, I naturally thought that I was an adult man after all and I always had physical needs.

Perhaps, just as the soldiers said, finding some women like that might not only relieve my worries, but also maybe lead to love over time.

By then, I will have a new home.

But every time someone wanted to get close to me, I really couldn't bring myself to eat, and even felt extremely nauseous. But I didn't want to offend the girl right away, so I had to bite the bullet and send them away before I could run away and vomit.

In severe cases, bile may even be vomited out.

If this goes on, he simply won't bother himself with it anymore.

But no one knows what the women who were sent back intact said. Over time, rumors spread that she was a homosexual.

But my reputation is not that good to begin with, so I will let the innocent prevail and there is no need to worry about it.

But for some reason, whenever I was alone with Xiaojiu, I always naturally wanted to be closer to her. I even let the desire that was about to burst out ferment in my body more than once, as if I was the one who was poisoned by the blood pill.

I had suspected before that the blood pill experiment that He Lianzhu forced on me, even if it was not successful, might have had sequelae and changed my physique.

But in fact, when Hongxiu and those women came close to him, he still felt as extremely uncomfortable as before.

It turns out that it’s just different for Xiaojiu?

Do you really like being like this—stubborn, crazy, and self-righteous?

Why did he come along on this adventure with her? Shouldn't he have planned each step carefully before taking action?

Chen Yu was a little hesitant, and then he realized that his mind had wandered a little too far. He turned his head away and missed her lips that were eager to try. He took away her hand that was grabbing his collar and smiled gracefully:

"Well, why should we be here? Once I've seen the goods, I'll send a letter to Brother Murong and have him tell your shop owner to say hello. Then I'll take you back to the mansion. We have a lot of time to spend together, so why rush into this moment? Don't you agree?"

Hongxiu was secretly delighted. She felt that she had not misjudged the man. Although he had failed this time and twice, this gentleman was clearly not a playboy who talked without restraint. He must be saving a big surprise for her.

I don't know whether the wife of this gentleman is easy to get along with.

However, in every family, the husband has the final say. As long as he is satisfied, there is no need to worry about not getting a position as a concubine.

"No problem, no problem." Hongxiu was so delighted by his coaxing that she smiled happily. She took two steps at a time and came to the mechanism at the end of the underground passage. She pressed down several areas to form uneven gaps.

Then, the stone door in front of them opened.

Before Chen Yu stepped into the stone gate, he smelled the bloody odor coming towards him. Then, what came into view were the giant iron cages lined up on both sides. Inside were some women in uniform clothes, who were estimated to be about the same age as Xiao Jiu.

Judging from the remaining red lines in some of their eyes, they must be people with blood residue.

At first, he just suspected that the Yue Kingdom spy might be involved with the traitor in this dynasty, but now it seems that they should be the same person, and this person may just be coveting the power of the blood pill and is not completely controlled by the Yue Kingdom.

If He Lianzhu had placed mature Blood Surplus people here, it would be impossible for there to be such a strong blood energy. If nothing unexpected happens, this place should be a Blood Surplus people synthesis base.

Moreover, the Yue people already possessed the Blood Pills, so there was no need to risk discovery by developing them in the restricted Sheng Territory. Furthermore, if a higher-purity Blood Residue Human was synthesized, it would be difficult to transport it back to the Yue Kingdom without anyone noticing.

It is obvious that this person must have reached some kind of cooperation with the Moon Country and obtained the blood pill through some means, but he does not want to work for the Moon Country, so he is secretly conducting experiments on the synthesis of blood residue people.

But even if the synthesis is successful, such a large organization of blood remnants will be difficult to hide.

Therefore, they were probably using the name of “high-ranking pimps”[2] to be enjoyed by the “nobles” who held important positions among the regular customers of Handanfang. After a while, they dragged them into the water and made them willingly become members of the underground gambling city of Shicha and be driven by the city lord without realizing it.

It really is, what a big drama!

However, following this connection, they did find a breakthrough. After all, it was much easier to track down the whereabouts of the abbot Mei Niang than to sneak into the underground casino of Shichahai like a headless fly.

The women in these nearly twenty giant iron cages totaled at least two hundred. Besides the women who were sold to Handanfang as slaves, there was no telling how many were abducted from the common people or stray girls...

As Shen Yu pondered this, he couldn't help but think of the human trafficking organization that Shuangjiang had mentioned before. A frightening speculation slowly emerged in his mind -

Could it be that the condition for the traitor to obtain the blood pill from Yue Kingdom was to recruit women of appropriate age from Sheng Territory as blood slaves and send them to He Lianzhu?

Isn't this just helping foreigners who invade your own country to harm your own women?

For a moment, Chen Yu felt his scalp tingle, and it took Hongxiu calling him several times before he responded. He said as if waking from a dream:

"You, what did you just say?"

Falling in love, Hongxiu paid no attention to his unusual absent-mindedness, thinking he was just being dazzled by the choices. She then patiently repeated, "Master, I'm asking you if you've found anyone you like?"

-----------------------

The author has something to say: ps——

Now I understand more and more that by the end of the story, the characters all have souls. They seem to jump out and talk to you and me in reality!

Anyway, I was really angry when I wrote this chapter. I was upset when I saw the villains bullying the little girl!!!

This is the eve of the climax, right? Shen Shuai and Xiao Jiu have discovered the villain's secret base. However, they really can't do anything for a while, alas! But don't worry, the hero and heroine are no rookies. Just think about it, no matter how awesome the hero and heroine are, they can't defeat the ultimate boss overnight, right? Just like in "The Avengers", Iron Man also grew a lot and united the power of countless righteous forces to be able to compete with Thanos.

The heroes we admire are not because they are strong enough, but because they set their minds on heaven and earth, their missions on people, inherit the unique knowledge of past sages, and bring peace to the world for all time. They do what they know is impossible, and that is why they become heroes!

To be more precise, here is a quote from Zhang Zai's "Four Sentences of Hengqu" in the Northern Song Dynasty. Also, everyone is looking forward to the sequel~

Note:

[1] Goods: refers to the quality of something. It is not the modern meaning of the word “goods” itself.

[2] Powdered head: popular in the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Refers to prostitutes. Originally refers to women with oily hair and powdered face. In the first act of "Blue Shirt Tears": "The sutra board is like powdered head calling out in the sun, and the falling one is like an official hanging his name."