"Didn't you say we're going to find that secret enclosure?" Xi Shaoqi gave Feng Yixuan a sideways glance, then laughed mischievously. "Or is our beautiful young lady Feng afraid of being hit on again?"
A strange wind blew Xi Shaoqi's bag flying and tousled his hair into a mess, even ripping apart Xi Shaoqi's clothes, exposing a beautiful maiden.
"Your body's not bad." Feng Yixuan raised a brow and laughed.
"You!" Xi Shaoqi cried indignantly. However, he pervertedly agreed with Feng Yixuan's words. His current body was indeed not bad. Pah! What was he thinking! Xi Shaoqi immediately dispersed his thoughts and pitifully asked Qi Aoshuang for clothes to wear.
"The enclosure is not in the city. It is in a village some distance away from here." Only now did Feng Yixuan resume his seriousness.
"Didn't you say you didn't know where it was?" Xi Shaoqi asked angrily as he put on clothes.
"I can't lie to you?" Feng Yixuan's devious response left Xi Shaoqi filled with anger.
"Then let's go there now." Leng Lingyun looked up at the sky. "Can we get there before the sky darkens?"
"We should be able to." Feng Yixuan also looked up at the sky, then looked around their surroundings. "Just continue in that direction."
Once everyone arrived at the small fishing village, the sky had already darkened. The villagers were extremely cautious towards outsiders, exhibiting one message with their gazes clearly: unwelcome!
"Who are you? Why are you here at our village?" A middle aged man faced them, brandishing a harpoon. The other villagers stood behind him with cautious expressions.
Qi Aoshuang and the rest had been discovered the moment they entered the village, and then had been surrounded by the fishermen.
Feng Yixuan saw their hostile gazes. He smiled and walked forward, saying amiably, "We are merchants here for trading. If you may inform your village chief, we would be most grateful."
"What kind of trade? All of our business is scheduled in advance. Leave, you are not welcome here," the leading man said aggressively, his eyes filled with hostility. He was completely unwavered by Feng Yixuan and the rests' beautiful appearances.
"We are here to buy the biggest products." Feng Yixuan continued to smile.
For a moment, he wavered, but then his hesitation disappeared. "They're all scheduled to be sold, none left." He refused just as impolitely, just a little less fierce than before.
Feng Yixuan took a step forward, then created a strange hand signal with both hands.
Qi Aoshuang and the rest were then amazed to see the hostility in the middle aged man's eyes disappear. He lowered the harpoon.
"Can you bring us to the village chief now? We are really here to discuss trade."
The middle aged man took two steps back. With a wave of his head, all the other villagers dispersed. Qi Aoshuang's eyes narrowed. These fishermen were definitely not as simple as they appeared. They surrounded them so quickly, and dispersed in orderly fashion so quickly as well.
"Follow me." The middle aged man turned around.
Under the dim light of the moon, they could see small houses made of stone bricks everywhere. Many houses had fishing nets in front of them. Dried fish hung from roofs and many houses had fishing gear laying before them. No matter how you looked at it, it looked like an ordinary fishing village. If not for the brief conversation between Feng Yixuan and the middle aged man along with the actions of the other fishermen, no one would be able to know that the secret enclosure was here.
After bringing everyone to the biggest stone house, the middle aged man stopped and turned to Feng Yixuan. "Please wait here. I will go to inform the village chief."
"Of course." Feng Yixuan smiled and stayed put.
The middle aged man gently knocked on the door. A muffled voice came from within. "Who is it?"
"Chief, it's me," the middle aged man said quietly.
"Come in," the voice said quietly.
The middle aged man entered, the closed the door.
"Young master Feng, what was that hand signal just now?" Xi Shaoqi stood close to Feng Yixuan and asked quietly.
Feng Yixuan rolled his eyes, not responding.
Xi Shaoqi suddenly understood and covered his mouth. Since there were merfolk raised here, then the people inside were definitely unordinary. If they heard what he said, then it would be bad.
Luckily, it did not seem they heard him. After a while, the door opened. The middle aged peeked out and looked at Feng Yixuan. "Please enter."
Everyone followed Feng Yixuan into the door.
The house was arranged simply. One square table, a few wooden stools. At the head of the table sat who appeared to be an ordinary old man. He wore simple clothing that was even patched in places. His hair was white, and he squinted to see. The old man coughed before speaking. "I am the village chief. Please sit."
Everyone sat down. The village chief remained seated, squinting at everyone, his expression unchanging.
"May I ask where you all are from?" the village chief's voice was weak. He looked completely like a sickly, old man.
"Lagark," Feng Yixuan replied quietly.
"Oh, is that so." The village chief still appeared extremely feeble.
"We want to look at the goods, is that ok?" Feng Yixuan smiled.
"I understand. It is too late today." The village chief squinted at Feng Yixuan. Before Feng Yixuan could respond, he turned to the middle aged man and said, "Ian, bring the guests to their resting quarters."
After saying this, the village chief closed his eyes and stopped speaking.
Feng Yixuan wanted to say something, but Ian walked up to them. "Please follow me." He had a hard to refuse tone of voice.
Feng Yixuan and the rest stood up and followed Ian out the door.
Ian led them to the west side of the village until they arrived at a row of stone houses. He called out, "Lola, we have guests! Take care of them!"
Ian then turned around and left, not giving Qi Aoshuang and the ret so much as a glance.
Soon, a stone house's door opened. A chubby woman with a dress walked out, laughing. "Guests who have traveled a long distance, please come in."
Without any hesitation, they all entered.
Their lodging was simple and crude, yet clean. The four beauties shared a room, whereas Qi Aoshuang had a room of her own.
At the dead of night, only the sea breeze brushed past.
Qi Aoshuang lay in bed, looking out the window at the swaying dried fish. She frowned. Wasn't everything going too smoothly?
"Aoshuang…" said a low voice.
"Feng Yixuan?" Surprised, Qi Aoshuang sat up and looked out the window.
"Follow me," Feng Yixuan said in a low voice.
Without another thought, Qi Aoshuang hastily put on clothes and quietly leapt out the window.
"There's one problem. That old thing is definitely not ordinary." Feng Yixuan said quietly.
Qi Aoshuang paused. So Feng Yixuan also realized this problem.
"The hand signal I made is a secret signal between them and customers. However, the village chief's reaction was very strange. He didn't ask any questions at all. Perhaps, he was already suspicious," Feng Yixuan continued quietly.
"Then should we go check right now?" Qi Aoshuang frowned.
"I don't know where the enclosure is. I heard that they only bring out the mermaids after customers have scheduled in advance and won't bring customers to where the enclosure is. We should first scout out the area before deciding what to do. I let Leng Lingyun and the Xi brother stay in their room temporarily."
Qi Aoshuang nodded. Those three were not trained in assassination skills. If their opponents were experts, then they would be discovered easily. Only she and Feng Yixuan could go scouting.
"Let's go." Feng Yixuan concealed his aura, then advanced silently. Qi Aoshuang followed him closely from behind.
The two arrived at the village chief's house, both with concealed presences. They heard his feeble voice. "Ian, when are you going to mature?"
"Sorry, boss. I was too careless," said Ian's low voice. Ian now addressed the village chief as boss.
"Think before you act in the future. Don't be completely convinced by just our hand signal." The village chief sighed. "When have you seen such beautiful people personally come to buy the goods?"
"Boss is correct. For such beautiful people to buy mermaids is strange, and there are so many of them too," Ian responded.
"But we cannot fully reject them. There are many questions in the world that cannot be answered. I am only suspicious. I cannot tell if they are genuine or fake." The village chief's voice was still casual.
"Which is why Boss left them first to see?" Ian asked.
"Correct. We are businessmen. There is no need for us to become enemies with money." The village chief's voice was calm.
"Yes, Boss is correct." Ian nodded again deferentially.
"Enough. Send men to watch them carefully. Also be careful that no one follows you." The village chief motioned for Ian to leave. "Go. I am tired."
"Yes." Ian nodded, then left.
Feng Yixuan and Qi Aoshuang shared a glance, then both nodded.
Following Ian would definitely lead them to the secret mermaid enclosure.