Chapter 552 The True Colors Are Revealed
As the night grew later, the road became increasingly deep.
This metropolis is not only the largest market town in the eastern part of the city, but also the largest market town in the entire Daxing City. It is twice the size of the surrounding ordinary markets. The roads are crisscrossed and the houses are lined up. The further you go in, the more you feel like you have entered a fantastical maze.
Before long, Pei Xingyuan had lost his way.
He cautiously looked around, but the tall, dark buildings around him kept moving backward, and he could hardly find a familiar spot that would put him at ease.
At this moment, a man in black standing next to the carriage suddenly stopped.
Pei Xingyuan immediately turned around and saw that this was the fourth person to stop at the intersection along the way. The carriage continued to move and soon left the person far behind. However, Pei Xingyuan could still see that the person was guarding a crossroads, and no matter which direction one wanted to follow, there was no place to put their feet.
He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, then turned to look at Jin Daji, who was still driving the cart, and laughed, "Brother Jin is being a little too cautious."
Jin Daji said, "Better safe than sorry."
Pei Xingyuan said, "I don't care if you travel by car or boat, but you've gone so deep into the area. I don't know how I'll get back after I transport all that medicine."
"..."
After he finished speaking, he felt the surroundings suddenly become quiet.
Looking at Jin Daji again, he saw the other man turn his head and glance at him. A hint of a smile appeared in his small eyes, which were flashing with cunning and greed, and he could not hide it under the swaying light above his head.
It seems like they're laughing at what he said.
Pei Xingyuan was slightly taken aback, but Jin Daji had already smiled and said, "Young Master Pei can rest assured."
"..."
"In short, there's a path for you to take."
After saying that, he cracked the whip again, the tip of the whip making a crisp sound in the air, and the carriage moved a little faster.
It was only then that Pei Xingyuan realized they had left the area where there were still inhabitants and gone deep into some unknown place. There was no light around them, only the low outlines of bungalows standing on both sides of the road. The closer they got, the more the road became winding and twisting, clearly indicating that no one lived here anymore.
Pei Xingyuan frowned and couldn't help but ask, "Aren't we there yet?"
Jin Daji smiled and said, "Soon."
Pei Xingyuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "If it's going to be quick, why haven't I smelled the medicine yet? Logically speaking, with so many medicinal herbs, there should be some smell, right?"
As he spoke, he immediately sensed that in addition to the cool scent of night dew, a fragrance was gradually beginning to mingle in the air.
Upon closer inspection, it smells of spices.
Pei Xingyuan was no stranger to this smell, after all, there was an entire street in the metropolis where merchants from the Western Regions sold spices, and the smell was just as strong.
However, the further you go in, the stronger the smell becomes. At first, it just smells nice, but soon the fragrance is like layers of gauze hanging in the air, constantly wafting towards your face and then covering your mouth and nose. Later, the fragrance is like needles piercing straight into your nostrils, inescapable, and so strong that it makes you dizzy.
Even though he liked the smell of spices, Pei Xingyuan couldn't help but rub the tip of his nose: "Why does it smell so good here?"
Jin Daji laughed and said, "This is where the East Market stores spices."
"oh?"
Upon hearing this, Pei Xingyuan, though already somewhat dizzy from the fragrance, couldn't help but look around. This was indeed not a place for ordinary people to live. The surrounding houses were flat and simple, without any light, clearly warehouses used for storing things. And with such a strong fragrance, it was indeed a place for storing spices.
Jin Daji laughed and said, "Now, does the young master understand why he can't smell the medicine anymore?"
"..."
Pei Xingyuan didn't speak, but he breathed a slight sigh of relief in his heart.
Having reached this point, the carriage slowed down more and more, and finally, after turning into a narrow and long alley, it came to a stop.
Jin Daji put down the reins and whip, and jumped off the carriage: "We've arrived."
Pei Xingyuan hesitated for a moment, then followed him off the carriage. However, he did not immediately move forward but remained standing under the carriage, looking ahead by the faint light emitted from the lanterns that were still swaying overhead.
Before them lay a small open space, about seven or eight zhang long and wide. Several deep cart tracks were left on the ground, and some scattered spices lay on both sides. Clearly, these were traces left by carriages or porters when they came to transport spices in the past. Not far ahead, the low outlines of three bungalows were illuminated by the dim light.
Pei Xingyuan said, "That is—"
Jin Daji turned to look at him and smiled, "Young Master Pei, that's our storeroom."
"...!"
Pei Xingyuan's eyes lit up immediately.
Although he knew he should try to calm himself down and not show too much excitement, he still couldn't stop his heart from pounding like thunder, his breathing becoming increasingly heavy.
However, he tried his best to calm himself down.
He glanced at the three not-so-large bungalows and said, "You keep all your medicinal herbs here?"
As he spoke, he tilted his head and looked at it again: "Can you fit it in?"
Jin Daji smiled and said, "Young Master Pei has probably forgotten that it has been nine days since the plague was discovered. Even if our medicine is piled up like a mountain and sent to Yanzuofang every day, more than half of it has already been used up."
"……oh."
"So, five hundred pounds of medicine disappeared out of nowhere. I'm doing this business with my head on the line."
"..."
"If it weren't for the high price you offered, Young Master Pei, I would never have agreed."
Pei Xingyuan smiled and said, "I really have to thank Brother Jin."
Jin Daji grinned, and at this moment, the greedy light flashing in his small, black bean-like eyes was even stronger than before. He said, "So now, shouldn't Young Master Pei give me the money?"
That was when—
Pei Xingyuan was about to reach into his pocket for money.
But subconsciously, he suddenly stopped, looked at the three dark bungalows in front of him, and then laughed, "Brother Jin, why are you in such a hurry? I'm right here, how could the money run away? Let me take a look at the medicine first, and then I'll pay you right away after I load the things onto the car."
"..."
Upon hearing this, Jin Daji's expression remained unchanged, but the corner of his mouth twitched slightly involuntarily.
He let out a deep breath and smiled, "Alright."
Whether it was my imagination or not, at this moment, his smile looked somewhat ugly, even distorted.
With the items right in front of him, Pei Xingyuan didn't care about anything else and turned to walk towards the three bungalows. As he walked, he kept an eye on his surroundings. Although Jin Daji had driven the carriage on the way here, and he could clearly feel that the other party had taken a roundabout route, as if he didn't want him to know the exact location of these bungalows, he had an excellent memory and had been outstanding in mathematics since childhood. Along the way, he had memorized a few intersections.
If he goes back tomorrow and brings people back, he will definitely be able to find this place.
Finding this place will allow us to identify the owners of these houses. Even if they are not directly subordinate to their "others," they must have some connection. Given Yuwen Ye's status in Daxing City, it won't be difficult to trace the clues back to them.
Thinking of this, Pei Xingyuan couldn't help but smile faintly.
By this time, he had already reached the door of one of the rooms.
The door was not locked, and there was a small window in the wall next to it. However, it was dark inside, and it was impossible to see what was piled up inside.
We still have to go in.
Pei Xingyuan reached out to push the door open and said, "Brother Jin, it's too dark in here. Could you please light a lamp?"
Jin Daji, standing behind him, laughed and said, "Of course."
As he spoke, he heard a sharp crackling sound; someone behind him had lit a torch with a tinderbox. The bright flame suddenly shot up the moment he pushed open the door, instantly illuminating the room before Pei Xingyuan's eyes—
It's completely empty!
He was startled and immediately sensed something. Just as he was about to turn around to ask what was going on, he felt a sudden push on his shoulder and stumbled and fell in!
"ah!"
Pei Xingyuan exclaimed in surprise, barely managing to stand up, and hurriedly turned around. He heard a clang as the door was closed, and then someone locked it from the outside.
Pei Xingyuan panicked and lunged forward, pushing the door open forcefully. The door shook a few times but remained motionless. Pei Xingyuan was somewhat flustered, but he managed to remain calm and asked in a deep voice, "What are you doing?"
But no one answered him outside.
Pei Xingyuan's unease grew stronger, even more suffocating than the pitch-black night that enveloped him. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Let me out!"
After saying that, he began to kick and pound on the door, but apart from a few cracking sounds in the quiet night, nothing else happened.
After struggling a few more times, Pei Xingyuan was already panting heavily.
He then realized that the houses they had just passed were quite far from here. Since this place was a warehouse for storing spices, there should be no one living nearby. Moreover, he had heard that many people had been taken away here due to the plague. Therefore, since these people brought him here, they were certain that no one would disturb him.
So tonight—
He forced himself to calm down, let out a deep breath, then smiled and said to the person outside the door, "Brother Jin, what do you mean by this?"
"hey-hey,"
Jin Daji's familiar laughter rang out, but in the quiet night, the ferocity in that laughter was no longer concealed.
He said, "Young Master Pei, do you think we don't know what you mean?"
us……
Upon hearing those two words, Pei Xingyuan gasped.
The other party seemed to no longer care about anything, and continued with a cold laugh: "You think we really believe that you're just here to buy medicine?"
"..."
"Of course, it's true that I bought medicine."
"..."
"But you must come with us to our warehouse, so that we can find out where it is, who it belongs to, and then follow the clues to find out the identity of our master."
Pei Xingyuan's face darkened.
At this moment, it seemed as if the truth had finally come to light.
After a long silence, he sneered and said, "Your master is truly a clever and astute person—a prophet who can foresee the future."
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