Ye Feng nodded and continued, "As you know, our Silla City is under construction, and because of the previous attack by the Crimson-Tailed Beast, we don't have many laborers left in Silla City. So I set my sights on the refugees and planned to capture a group of them and transfer them to my Silla City to serve as laborers."

"But to my surprise, during my capture of refugees, I encountered a well-equipped and formidable mercenary team. And that mercenary team had the same goal as us: to capture refugees."

"After my interrogation, I discovered that the mercenary team was actually connected to your Huasheng City. The captain of the mercenary team led his team to capture refugees at your behest, Lord Li. And you, Lord Li, would buy the refugees they captured without hesitation."

"That mercenary group has been doing this for seven or eight years, sending tens of thousands of refugees to your Huasheng City."

Ye Feng stopped speaking here and smiled as he looked at Li Huayun, who was sitting across the long table.

Zijing was already tense, her muscles were taut, and even her inner energy was circulating, ready to strike at any moment.

Li Huayun smiled slightly and said, "Isn't this normal? Our Huasheng City also needs labor."

"This brings us to another strange point."

Ye Feng smiled and continued, "According to my investigation... no, observation, I found that there aren't many job opportunities in your Huasheng City. The vast majority of commoners and serfs simply can't find work that is enough to support their families."

"This is clearly a labor surplus, how could it be a labor shortage? Even if you, Lord Li, need a large number of people for some personal reasons, you can directly recruit those unemployed commoners and serfs. So why go to the trouble of buying refugees from mercenaries?"

Li Huayun pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, Lord Luo, I am not very clear about the things you have mentioned. I will investigate them later and explain them to you when I have the results."

"Alright." Night Breeze nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

After finishing early, Ye Feng took Zi Jing to wander around the city lord's mansion.

Ostensibly, Ye Feng was showing Zi Jing the scenery of the Huasheng City Lord's Mansion, but in reality, Ye Feng was observing the place.

Ye Feng and Zi Jing were not traveling alone; their steward and bodyguard, Zhou Dong, was with them, guiding them.

Night Breeze glanced at the tall tower in the distance and asked, feigning curiosity, "What's that tower for?"

Zhou Dong glanced over there and said indifferently, "That's where the city lord's wife lives."

"Why would the city lord's wife live in the tower?" Night Wind asked again.

Zhou Dong replied again: "The city lord's wife is frail and sickly, and cannot fall asleep even with the slightest noise. Therefore, the city lord specially built this tall tower for her to live in in a secluded place in the city lord's mansion."

"I see... May I go take a look over there?" Ye Feng said with a smile.

Zhou Dong's expression changed, and he immediately said, "I'm afraid that won't work. After all, that's where the City Lord's wife lives. Without the City Lord's permission, I cannot lead you to the tower without authorization. Please understand."

Zijing immediately muttered, "Tch, why make it so mysterious?"

Zhou Dong ignored Zijing's words.

Ye Feng laughed and said, "Since it's inconvenient, then forget it."

Seeing that Ye Feng did not insist on going to visit the tower, Zhou Dong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But then Ye Feng asked, "I'm very curious, the city lord's wife looks so young, why did she marry your city lord? After all, their age difference is quite large."

Li Huayun is already around sixty years old this year, while the city lord's wife looks to be only in her thirties.

The two are thirty years apart in age!

As the saying goes, there's a generation gap every three years, so wouldn't there be a full ten generation gaps by the age of thirty?

Can two people with such a large age gap have anything in common?

Zhou Dong hesitated for a moment before saying, "Actually, that city lord's wife was not our city lord's first wife."

"Oh? How so?" Ye Feng asked, feigning curiosity.

Zhou Dong sighed and said, "This all started with a disaster thirty years ago."

Then, Zhou Dong began to explain in detail.

It turns out that the city lord Li Huayun already had a wife thirty years ago, whose name was also Zhao Yanzhi.

Moreover, Li Huayun and Zhao Yanzhi had a son together.

However, on a rainy night thirty years ago, Li Huayun, Zhao Yanzhi, and their son went out to visit a friend. On their way back, their carriage slid and fell into a valley.

The next day, Zhao Yanzhi, covered in blood, finally returned to the city lord's mansion and immediately dispatched guards to search for the bodies of Li Huayun and their son.

Zhao Yanzhi was severely injured and died just a few hours after returning to the city lord's mansion.

But Li Huayun and their only son were lucky enough to survive and were found by the guards.

"After that, the city lord was heartbroken until he met his current wife."

Zhou Dong sighed with a wry smile and continued, "Perhaps the city lord felt that this wife looked similar to his first wife, and even had the same name, so he used her as a substitute and that's why he married her."

"This matter is a secret within our city lord's mansion, and not everyone knows about it, so please, Your Highness Prince Nanling, do not mention it to others."

Oh, so that's how it is.

A look of sudden realization appeared on Ye Feng's face.

Zijing whispered, "Isn't this very unfair to the current city lord's wife? She's become someone else's substitute..."

Zhou Dong said in a low voice, "Madam Zhao was originally a dancer, a commoner with no status or position. It is a fortunate thing for her to marry into the city lord's mansion and become our city lord's wife."

Zhou Dong stopped there.

In such an environment, being cautious in speech and action is undoubtedly a virtue, and Zhou Dong has put this into practice very well.

He tries to say as little as possible what should be said, and doesn't say a word about what shouldn't be said.

Ye Feng wanted to ask more, but seeing Zhou Dong pursing his lips as if he didn't want to explain anymore, he didn't say anything more.

The sun has set.

Night Breeze and Bauhinia returned to their guest room, and Jiang Wei finally came back as well.

As soon as Jiang Weigang entered, Zijing smelled a strong odor of alcohol on him. Annoyed, she said, "Well, Lao Deng sent you to gather intelligence, and you went drinking! Lao Deng, what do you think we should do about this?"

"I think you're the one who needs to be dealt with," Ye Feng said irritably.