The most prosperous capital of Huozhou is Murhe. Due to its geographical advantages, it used to be a military base. A hundred years ago, there was a plague here, and there were no more troops stationed there. However, it also became a free city that welcomed people from all over the world.
It's said that genuine Murhe people are few and far between. Most of those living in the city today migrated here with their ancestors, and after several generations, it's no problem for them to call themselves Murhe. Even more remarkable is that after three generations of hard work, the Zou family has become the wealthiest in Murhe: they made their fortune from precious medicinal herbs.
Yao Yi was always well-informed about the underworld, and the news of the precious jade first came from the Zou Mansion. Tracing back to the source, it all started with the Xiong family, the maiden family of Zou Sifang's third concubine. Speaking of the Xiong family, the maiden family of Zou Sifang's third concubine, they had long been on the same boat with the Zou family, and marrying off their daughter was just a further kinship.
The Xiong family was once a well-known landlord in the area outside Murhe Pass. Baiyao Pass was an important trade route hundreds of years ago, but it gradually became deserted for some reason and was soon swallowed up by the northern swamps that spread year by year. It was such a deserted and ghostly place that the Xiong family abandoned it early on, but who would have thought that it gave Old Master Zou an opportunity to make a fortune.
The Beidi Swamp is neither far nor near from Guantian Gorge. Under the swamp is actually an underground river that leads to the Hun River. When the swamp is filled with water, the underground river flows towards the gorge, slowly bringing some things deep in the swamp to the edge.
Among them is a precious medicine called "Lingqian Blood", which is a kind of crystal formed year by year in the bones of a deer that died in a swamp. It is dark red in color and round like pearls and jade. It is insoluble in water but soluble in virgin blood. Women can keep their youthful looks after taking it.
No matter how effective this kind of treasure is, its miraculous effect will spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred, so many wealthy nobles are willing to spend a fortune to give it a try.
The Zou family collects herbs, and the Xiong family guards the territory. The two families have been working together to deal in this magical medicine for three generations. Old Master Zou was very smart at that time. He set a rule that no more than nine taels of blood should be sold in front of the tomb every year. In this way, things become more valuable because they are rare. Over the past few decades, the value of this medicine has not only not dropped, but has increased several times.
With such wealth, the Zou family was naturally considered wealthy, and the Xiong family also rose to prominence. Even a concubine's daughter marrying a county magistrate was considered marrying down. The two families lived in harmony for many years, but when Zou Sifang's generation came around, something unexpected happened.
This brings us to Zou Sifang's first wife, Zhao. Zhao was a native Murhe. Although her family didn't have much, they were considered a truly prestigious family. Logically, marrying into the Zou family was considered a good marriage. However, no one expected that after almost seven or eight years of marriage, this first wife still couldn't bear a son. Seeing that the Zou family was on the verge of extinction, Zou Sifang took in two concubines, one of whom was the daughter of the Xiong family.
This was not a big deal, the drumbeat of family civil war began to sound.
Feeling threatened, Zhao desperately clung to the chance of bearing a son, locking out the two concubines' aunts and uncles from the very beginning. During Xiong's first year after marriage, she didn't even see her family. Furthermore, Zhao, insinuating something into Master Zou's ear, plotted to buy Xiong's land near the swamp.
The medicinal materials business was originally managed by the Zou family alone, and the Xiong family could just provide a piece of land and reap the benefits. If they bought the land, they could kick the Xiong family out once and for all, and it would only be a matter of time before the Zou family became the dominant family.
Xiong was anxious and tried many tricks, both overt and covert. Recently, he accidentally found an opportunity.
Just over a month ago, when Xiong Bingnan was inspecting his territory, he found a corpse larger than a deer deep in the swamp. It looked like a horse or a cow.
The edge of the swamp is soft and wet. Animals with slightly heavier bodies will sense the danger of sinking into the mud when they reach the edge, and most of them will not go deep into the swamp. Small animals such as hares and mice are not strong enough to sink into the mud. Only smaller deer or musk deer are likely to fall into the mire.
Xiong Bingnan felt something was amiss. After he dissected the corpse, he unexpectedly found a piece of beautiful jade. The jade was square in shape. Although it was cut by humans, it was not overly polished. Its color was so smooth and its quality was so pure that he had never seen it before.
How could there be jade in an animal corpse? Xiong Bingnan was a rough man who only knew that it was a good thing, but he didn't know what was good about it. After thinking about it, he thought it would be a good thing to offer to Buddha. He privately called Master Zou out and presented him with a piece of beautiful jade.
Huozhou is a large place, but Murhe is a small one. The news spread quickly, and those with ulterior motives had long since set their sights on Zou Sifang and his possessions. Several people came to his house to ask for prices, and Master Zou, no fool, naturally saw something fishy and was even more reluctant to make a move. Hence the rumor that he had paid a large sum of money to the Qu family to come and appraise the jade, and that led to Xiao Nanhui's trip.
After all, apart from Mr. Zou and Xiong Bingnan, no one had ever seen what the jade actually looked like. There were definitely many people who wanted to find out, and a place like an inn, where all sorts of people gathered, was definitely not the best choice for them.
As soon as Xiao Nanhui and Shrike entered the city, they went straight to the busiest street. You know, the more open-minded a place is, the more popular the brothels are. Brothels like Wangchenlou are definitely much larger than those in Quecheng.
The afterglow of the setting sun had not yet faded, and the sky was still tinged with the red glow of the sunset, but the entire Flower Street had already been brightly lit. Although the air was a little damp and cold, it obviously could not cool down the fiery hearts of the people of Huozhou who were looking for fun at night.
The whole street was filled with a faint smell of cosmetics. The tiny fragrant dust floating in the air made the light and shadows seem to have shapes. The drifting smoke was like a thin ribbon lingering around the noses of the patrons, tickling their hearts.
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