Li Wan Heng Jin
After Cha Suxun brought him to the glazed tile house where he had talked with Li Wanxiang last time, he did not leave. Instead, he dragged a chair and sat next to Li Wan.
"Acha is not an outsider, there is no need to avoid him. The evil spirits are causing chaos and have already endangered the human race. As the Lord of the Underworld, Acha must also take care of this matter. From now on, Acha will talk with us. Emperor Hengjin, do you mind?"
"If I say I mind, will the Demon Lord be willing to drive him out and leave us alone to talk?"
Li Wan moved her chair and sat closer to Cha Suxun. "Of course not. I'm just asking you hypocritically as a formality."
She pulled out a stack of files. "This is all the information I've found so far that's related to that woman, or even potentially related to her, and her lover."
Heng Jin didn't prioritize reading the files on the table. Instead, she placed the antidote she had bought from the lamb demon on the table. "This is a small gift I prepared for your visit. I hope you will accept it."
"Anti-poison? I think the Emperor needs this more. Just because I failed to poison you last time doesn't mean I've given up on poisoning you. It's best for you to keep it as a lasting hope. Did you buy this while browsing the Demon Realm market? Or did you dig it up yourself in the Misty Forest east of the Demon Realm?"
"I bought it from a little lamb demon. If the Demon Lord wants me to dig it myself, I'm happy to go to the Misty Forest to dig it."
Cha Suxun interrupted, "So you were doing business with that kid? Then why did he kneel down to you? Emperor, are you... deceiving the kid?"
When he spoke, there was a hint of contempt in his expression of doubt.
Although Li Wan knew Heng Jin wouldn't trick a child into kneeling before him, and that there must be something else behind this, she still put on a protective air and condemned him, saying, "You're deceiving my people? You're deceiving a child, you're ruining your pants."
"I didn't trick him into kneeling down. I wouldn't have my pants ripped! Cha Suxun clearly knew the truth. I said something to that kid that changed his fate, and he knelt down to express his gratitude. I would have been punished for revealing the secret, but he knelt down to express his gratitude for not stopping me because I didn't want him to forget my kindness and become stubborn for the rest of his life. I'm a good person."
Heng Jin took out the cloth-wrapped book that the little sheep demon had given him, "I spent a spirit stone to buy him a book about curing all kinds of poisons and a story about your love and sorrow."
"Brother Heng is interested in our love story? He's even willing to spend spirit stones to buy it to read. Brother Heng is rich, so why not spend the spirit stones to listen to the most authentic version of the story. This book of yours was probably compiled by a black market merchant. They always like to write imaginary and saccharine love stories. If the Emperor just wants to read the story, I have every version of the story book and picture album compiled by black market merchants. I can lend it to the Emperor. It only costs one spirit stone per copy."
Li Wan opened the cloth package and saw the words written on the cover: A match made in heaven.
She curled her lips speechlessly and put the book back on the table. "You've been deceived."
Li Wan crumpled the cloth that wrapped the book into a ball, picked up the smoke that slowly drifted out of the incense burner with two fingers and wrapped the cloth ball. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment, then took out a spirit stone and put it back in front of him along with the book.
"Although he lied to you about the contents of the book, this antidote is genuine. For an antidote of this quality, even a single spirit stone is a bargain. I'll compensate you for your losses. As for the words you gave me, they were a kind gesture. You're a good child who knows how to repay a favor, so I won't interfere."
"Can the Demon Lord still see memories through a piece of cloth?"
He flipped through the book "Heaven-Sent Marriage" and read the contents on that page. It was indeed written in a cheesy and sweet way, like the books and storybooks collected by the Moon Fairy.
"This book, 'A Match Made in Heaven', is the best-selling one, and I have collected several copies. Although the content is a bit corny, one or two of the stories do actually happen," said Cha Suxun.
"Really? But, black market merchants are using the stories compiled by the Demon Lord and the Nether Lord to sell for money. If the Demon Lord doesn't crack down on them, will they still compile them?"
"We've cracked down on it, so now it's only sold on the black market and secretly. I never thought they'd even be able to swindle the Emperor's spirit stones. I've also seen the memories of the monsters who created and compiled these books, and even bought them from the black market and sold them secretly at the market. Most of them are poor people who just need a decent job to support their families. At least, they don't do this business out of bad intentions, and the content of each story book they wrote doesn't discredit me and A-Cha. A-Cha didn't mind, and I didn't mind either, so we didn't conduct a thorough investigation and crackdown."
Li Wan placed the plate of peach blossom cake sprinkled with white powder that looked like powdered sugar on the corner of the table.
"Since you have helped my people today, I will not poison you."
"Repaying kindness with enmity?" Heng Jin asked back, her words quicker than her brains.
"If I don't poison you, am I repaying kindness with enmity? I remember the poison cake I gave you last time didn't contain any poison that could damage your brain."
"The experience of my last poison attack was indeed novel and interesting, but it didn't hurt my brain. Anyway, I like your poison cake."
Li Wan muttered to herself, "It seems like there's something wrong with your brain."
After reading Li Wan's lips, Heng Jin pretended not to know what she was trying to say and asked, "Ah Li, why are you just opening your mouth without making any sound? What did you say?"
"Since the Emperor likes the poison cake I make, I'll have Jiuwei deliver it to you every day. However, to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, it's best for the Emperor to have the immortal messenger in front of your mansion pay Jiuwei a small reward, just as if you were buying the poison cake. Just give him a low-grade small spirit stone. I'll return it to you when we meet again."
"That's good. If you ever get too powerful and poison me to death, the people in the heavens will just think I paid you to buy the poison cake and then committed suicide."
He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly it became clear.
"Do you need me to write a written agreement to the Demon Lord? Just say that I bought the poison cake from you, and any consequences or losses caused by my personal use are not your responsibility."
"The Emperor is indeed intelligent. He can see my purpose and even cooperate with me. He is helpful and understanding. Thank you."
Heng Jin did not show any displeasure, but was very happy instead.
This happiness, it seems, comes from the heart.
He immediately produced a pen and paper to write a receipt for her. Li Wan looked at him with increasing confusion and bewilderment, and even looked at him as if he were a fool.
After writing it eloquently and handing it to her, Heng Jin said impatiently, "Then please start delivering it from tomorrow."
After she put it away, Heng Jin picked up the file on the table and read it carefully.
Li Wan put aside all distractions and talked about the file seriously.
"During my investigation, my people discovered that Bo Yuexiang, a female demon from the Hongchi Snake Clan who lived deep in the mountains, changed her name to Que Mi after moving to the waterfront. She also wrote about this in her letters to her lover: 'The grass is thin and the flowers are blooming. The fragrance of Yuexiang is veiled, and the birds are chirping.' Based on these lines of poetry, we eliminated her as a possible suspect, and then verified other evidence to confirm that it was her. She was living with an old woman and later found the wounded Tinglian. Tinglian was also a pseudonym she later adopted. When questioned, the old woman refused to recognize her, but her reaction when she first saw the portrait of the Fire Snake Woman was a bit strange, so I looked into her memories. It was her."
Li Wan skillfully found two vivid portraits from the files. The appearance of the two people in the portraits was so clear that it seemed like a memory reappearing.
The Yuexiang in the scroll looked the same as the Fire Snake Woman, but she was dressed more simply, her body was not covered in fire, and her scales were not as bright as they are now.
Most of Tinglian's face was covered with scars from severe burns, and his eyes were full of inferiority, but he was tall, muscular, and dressed simply.
"Is this Bo Yuexiang and Tinglian? I feel like this Tinglian looks a little familiar."
"Yes, then think carefully about where you've seen him before. I saw in the old woman's memories that Ting Lian used fire magic. He once secretly used it to set off fireworks for Bo Yuexiang. They were very poor and couldn't afford fireworks. Bo Yuexiang loved the beauty of fireworks blooming in the sky, but because she was afraid of fire, she didn't dare to set them off even if she could afford them."
"I've seen in the records in this file that the people living in this area along the water are mainly members of the Hongchi Snake Clan."
"Yes, so in order not to be driven out by the other Hong Chi snakes who were afraid of fire, Ting Lian never revealed his magic, and even announced to the outside world that the magic fire had burned him to the point where his magic power was almost completely destroyed. In this way, the three people who depended on each other became the most easily bullied family in Shui'an, and they lived the poorest life. They never provoked others, but Bo Yuexiang's unusually plump figure brought the biggest crisis. In order to earn spirit stones to support them, Ting Lian followed the great man praised by everyone in Shui'an to escort goods, and they were the only ones left at home. When the lonely old woman fell asleep and woke up, she saw Yuexiang lying in a pool of blood, dying. Many of her scales had been pulled out, and there were wounds everywhere from fighting. She had no money to treat Yuexiang, and no one was willing to help her, so she could only find herbs to keep her alive, so When Tinglian returned home, Yuexiang was almost on her last breath. Later, Tinglian said he had a way to save her, and he took Yuexiang and her scales away from the waterfront that night, never to return, and there was no news of her again. But later, an old woman found a lost child from a wealthy family. The family came and said they would support her for the rest of her life as a token of gratitude, but the old woman didn't want to leave the waterfront and wanted to wait for Yuexiang and Tinglian to return, so she refused. The family then promised to send someone to protect her and provide for her. Later, she saw fireworks blooming in the sky, brilliant and dazzling fireworks, just like the fireworks that Tinglian had used his magical powers to bloom that night. The old woman knew that they must be living well, and she guessed that the people who supported her might be Tinglian and Yuexiang. Her memories after that were of no use.
Heng Jin covered the part of the portrait where Tinglian didn't have the burn scar and said, "Looking at it this way, he looks a lot like a monster I fought with and was almost caught by me."
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