In those days, if you wanted to get ahead in the Jianghu World, without some special skills, it was difficult to hold your head high in front of others.
All those extraordinary feats like breaking stones with your chest or eating noodles while standing on your head aren't even worth mentioning.
Wang Yunxiao had originally thought that the mysterious organization behind Liu Jinfa would at least have some level of decorum, perhaps using Little Gourd green bean cakes as a code name or wearing uniform masks or something. Turns out, they went the lowest of the low.
Quite literally the lowest of the low, they played below the horizon.
This criminal gang, which treated the criminal code as a resume, had somehow survived last year's intense crackdowns, must have had something going for them.
It's hard to know whether it was because they had strong backup or there was a high market demand.
History isn't short of Faith Warriors who could endure physical torture, but Liu Jinfa certainly wasn't one of them.
After revealing his background, his last line of defense was also broken, and now he was spilling everything.
"Do you know who I am?" Wang Yunxiao asked with a smile.
"I don't recognize..." Liu Jinfa looked at Wang Yunxiao's face and hurriedly added, "I really don't know you, could you give me a hint?"
"My name is Wang Yunxiao, people in the Jianghu World call me Brother Yuanxiao."
"Ah! Brother Yuanxiao! I have long admired you!"
Liu Jinfa quickly tried to appease with a smile, "You see, it's like the flood has hit the Dragon King Temple..."
Feeling his fingers tighten, he quickly shook his head desperately, "No, no, no! I know! I know! Xiao Baili mentioned your name in front of the boss just the other day!"
"Who is Xiao Baili?"
"He's a favorite of Third Master Ding, just an actor, his stage name is Bai Lihua; we all secretly call him Xiao Baili…"
Wang Yunxiao, recalling the unctuous yet venomous voice on the phone last night, asked quietly, "How long has he been with your Third Master Ding?"
After thinking it over, Liu Jinfa said, "It's only been since the beginning of this year. That kid is really sneaky, always knows who talks behind his back, and loves to tattletale. Third Master has fallen out with several old brothers over him."
"What is he doing for a living now, does he still perform?"
"He stopped performing long ago. That kid is just good-looking; his acting skills are mediocre. After losing his voice, no one promoted him anymore. Third Master gave him the shop on Qingxi Street to manage, but he hasn't made much money..."
"What does the shop sell?"
"Glass cups, ceramic jars, all sorts of bits and bobs that young ladies like."
Feeling the grip on his fingers tighten, Liu Jinfa quickly added, "And funerary objects! Mainly Qin Jade!"
Funerary objects, also known as artifacts from the underworld, refer to antiques dug up from underground.
If it were just that, it would have been fine, but Liu Jinfa didn't realize he had just slipped up, those funerary objects were actually made by Third Master Ding himself.
Ancient people liked to use Jade articles in burials, and the nobility would use jade artifacts to seal everything from top to bottom. Such unearthed jade articles almost always carry traces of corrosion and discoloration, also called Qin color. Overtime, Qin color gradually became a mark of authentic ancient jade.
Where there is demand, there is a market, so some people started burying new jade inside animal carcasses and underground to age them artificially and develop the Qin color.
Dig it up after three to five years, process it a bit, and then it enters the antique market, specifically to deceive newcomers.
The business Third Master Ding handed to Xiao Baili was exactly this kind.
In truth, what business he was involved in didn't matter, he was surely wearing the Silver Bracelets by now.
Wang Yunxiao was more concerned about other issues.
"How did this Xiao Baili get to know me? What does he want with me?"
"I really don't know... Ah! Don't, don't! Brother! Brother, hear me out!"
Seeing his fourth finger about to be ruined, Liu Jinfa exploded with unprecedented potential in the nick of time and hurriedly begged for mercy, "That day I heard him mention in passing, while calculating someone's fortune, he saw a Qinghe Middle School student skipping class, and then he sent someone to inquire about someone named Wang Yunxiao..."
"Calculating what fortune? Whose fortune?"
"I really don't know, but it was definitely for a girl; recently, Third Master Ding just had a young master who needed to be arranged in a marriage, I guess it was to find him a companion!"
"A ghost marriage?"
"Yes!"
"With a living person?"
"Not exactly... Ah, Ah, Uh, Uh..."
Living people can die at any time; this didn't need to be said by him for Wang Yunxiao to understand.
So without hesitation, he broke his fourth finger.
"Your Third Master runs quite a diverse business."
Liu Jinfa was just a lowly loafer, it was normal that he didn't know much.
If this were a TV drama, by simply saying I don't know anything, he would mostly have been abandoned by the protagonist's team.
You can't ask everything, right? What if you actually find something, how would you continue with the remaining fifty episodes?
But the snippets of information pried from his mouth were enough for Wang Yunxiao to complete the puzzle in his mind.
He hadn't done anything himself, why was he targeted? Now he had an answer—it was not him but rather class president Chen Yan, or maybe Little Gourd, who was actually being targeted.
The gang led by Third Master Ding specialized in the underworld business, arranging ghost marriages for young masters, searching for girls with matching horoscopes everywhere, and they reached Chen Yan's house... Considering Little Gourd's own uncertainty about her horoscope, it could only be Chen Yan.
And a few days ago, when he and his brothers went to Chen Yan's house to borrow a pot to render lard, they inadvertently caught their eye.
Qinghe Middle School is a closed boarding school, ordinary students can't go out even during holidays; they would be picked up directly by parents. Only Wang Yunxiao and his friends, who climbed over the wall to skip classes, couldn't be controlled by teachers.
To those with a motive, this represented exploitable value.
This explained the threat over the phone last night.
Otherwise, being strangers, I don't even know what you're about, how could you suddenly bring up my sister's issue?
How presumptuous!
It could only mean they had been watching the Chen Family for more than a day, and only after seeing Wang Yunxiao did they hastily make a plan, which led to the subsequent appearance of Lv'er and the Du Family brothers.
Could Chen Yan be the ghost? If she is a ghost, would they still dare to take her for a ghost marriage?
Aren't they afraid of committing a taboo?
Of course, there must be deeper things behind this.
Although Liu Jinfa said Xiao Baili was Third Master Ding's favorite, Third Master Ding's attitude towards this favorite was somewhat intriguing. If it were truly mutual love, why would he specifically assign Liu Jinfa to spy at the entrance of the police station, sneaking peeks at the police activities?
It feels like he knows Xiao Baili will court disaster yet remains indifferent, just watching coldly from the sidelines.
Could it be the old silver coin of the legendary "But it's also part of my plan"?
By now, Xiao Baili would have already worn the silver bracelet. Those in grey military uniforms clearly looked like an experienced elite unit; Wang Yunxiao didn't doubt their capability but just found it strange, like Xiao Baili, a "Advisor" with special powers, shouldn't she have some value to be saved?
Since she's Third Master Ding's favorite, as soon as she gets caught, they definitely need to trace back and pull out Third Master Ding's forces.
Just how deep is Third Master Ding's influence that he doesn't care even about this?