In the room, someone let out a soft hmph and walked out of the shadows.

This man was around fifty or sixty years of age. His clothes and accessories were of a considerable quality. He wore a well-tailored dark coloured shirt, low-key yet luxurious, making him appear tall and upright and a few inches slimmer. Unfortunately, a middle-aged man's face was not suited to wearing excessive accessories, hence there was nothing to hide his face that looked like a dried persimmon. The sagging cheeks on either side of his face pushed the corners of his mouth down until they had nowhere to rest and his mouth resembled a small cherry. It looked almost cartoon-ish.

The little cherry mouth opened and a sinister voice spat out, "Your Beggars' Sect is really something. It's one thing to go around begging but you even collect scraps. Nowadays, any kind of person can move into No. 110. Why, are you guys tired of being righteous and reputable?"

Back in the years when the printed publication "Yanning Weekly" hadn't yet gone out of business, this face had once appeared on the cover of one of the issues. The issue introduced Wang Jiusheng, the old president of Futongda Courier Services, an outstanding local enterprise. A person didn't have to be particularly outstanding to appear in this magazine. They just needed to take their photos themselves, write the article themselves, and then send them to the publication company together with the advertising fee. All year round, they featured this type of people and blinded the eyes of their readers—there was clearly a reason why Yanning Weekly went out of business.

This North Branch Master of Travellers' Sect, who was rumoured to have never gotten along with Beggars' Sect, was unexpectedly mingling with a Beggars' Sect disciple right at this moment.

The corner of the man dressed in a beggar's garb's eye twitched. He lowered his head to look at his own arm where his sleeve had been cut open by a razor blade. The blade had just barely scratched his skin, slicing loose a very fine layer of epidermis. It was not bleeding. "Sect Leader Yang is old and muddled! When I told you guys to come and see for yourself, you just needed to see with your eyes! Why did you take action? What if you alerted her?"

"If we did, then so be it." Wang Jiusheng lit up a cigarette, unbothered. "She's just a foolish little girl."

"I've already said that she has the true skills handed down by Wei Xiao!"

"What's so great about Wei Xiao?" Wang Jiusheng laughed coldly. "He's just an old tortoise hiding in his shell. People on that path of theirs are talked about as though they are gods, but isn't it just because they like to hide in the dark and use dirty tricks? Right now, she's in the light while we are in the dark. She's a ghost under the glare of a lamp, how powerful can she be?"

"Branch Master Wang should first wipe his own ass clean." The Beggars' Sect member laughed coldly. "Your esteemed sect takes in all kinds regardless of whether they're fragrant or smelly. You're all registered at the police station."

"So what." Wang Jiusheng smiled, revealing teeth that had been artificially whitened until they looked like something out of science fiction and not something that should be growing out of a human mouth. "I didn't attack the police nor did I order them to. If you want to accuse me of being from a criminal organisation, do you have proof? It's a lawful society now. Even I don't bully people in this manner."

"That's not for sure," the Beggars' Sect member said. "President Wang, a large tree attracts the wind. Do you think that it's only the police who are watching your people? In the future, if you want to do anything, you better do it carefully. Make sure there aren't any beggars around."

"It's an evil thing to be old and impudent." Cigarette dangling from his lips, Wang Jiusheng's words were unclear. He turned his head towards the Beggars' Sect member and smiled again. His eyes crinkled in a harmonious smile, yet his teeth were still clenched and his features twisted. He was like an animal grinding its teeth and sucking on blood. "Didn't I find you? If you ask me, your esteemed sect's Sect Leader Yang Qing is already at that age and should be enjoying his golden years. Give him something to do so that he won't spend all day watching me."

"Don't rush, it'll be soon. We are thankful to President Wang for sending us coal in the midst of snow by giving us this great piece of information we can make use of," the Beggars' Sect member said. "Just one thing, that girl… nothing will happen to her, right?"

"What could happen to her?" Wang Jiusheng smiled. "With a load of high-interest loans on her ass and so desperate that she's on the verge of selling her body, when someone gives her a way out, how would she dare do anything?"

"Then that's good."

"Ai." Wang Jiusheng waved a hand. "You know that I'm the one who hates stirring up trouble the most. We people who do business are most particular about 'harmony brings wealth.' In the recent couple of years, the competitive pressure in the market is so great and I have so many brothers under me that I have to feed. It's not easy. I just want everyone to keep to their lanes and do what they should do, live their days peacefully and don't cause trouble for each other… If you let a murderer stay next door, how is it any different from keeping a tiger at your bedside? Can you really sleep well at night?"

In any case, he wouldn't be able to do it.

Ever since Wang Jiusheng heard that "Wei Xiao" appeared at the little guest house and had nearly strangled the unlicensed cab driver Niu Liang, there hadn't been a single night where he had slept soundly. Even in his dreams, he dreamed that there was a cut measuring three cun and two fen on his neck.

Wang Jiusheng threw the half-smoked cigarette on the ground and carelessly grinded it with his foot. He did not even check to see if the flame had gone out before clapping the Beggar's Sect member on the arm and leaving.

The man from Beggars' Sect turned his head and watched him get into a car waiting at the intersection before cursing in a low voice. He picked up the half-smoked cigarette from the ground, wiped it carelessly with his hand and stuffed it into his mouth. Then, he blended into the cold wind without a sound.

His head aching like it was splitting apart, Yu Lanchuan walked into No. 110 Courtyard. Ever since he left Mudpool Backlane, there was a smothering feeling in his chest that not even the northwest wind could blow away.

Ever since he was young, he had thought highly of himself, almost to the point of narcissism. During Lunar New Year, his mother had tried to pressure him into getting married but she had barely started when this young master immediately displayed his position of "I will not wallow in the same mire as the profane world" and poured all his fortune into the down payment for his house.

In the past, Yu Lanchuan had thought that if he did not meet a girl who met the requirements, then he'll forget about it. In any case, he was not willing to force himself to settle for less.

If he could be just like his granduncle—mighty and vigorous when young, free as a lark to travel the world when old—wasn't that pretty good too?

The so-called "a girl who meet the requirements'' should at least have the beauty to make a person's eyes light up, have an educational background that was on par with his, have both IQ and EQ, have good self-control, have a warm and friendly personality but should not be too clingy, and must be matured and and controlled in handling matters… He didn't think he was being overly demanding because that was what Yu Lanchuan demanded of himself, so of course he was not willing to lower the requirements for other people.

But Gan Qing was the complete opposite of those requirements.

That person was unconcerned with her appearance, did not finish senior high school and even had a criminal record. She amused herself every day by swindling and conning people. When she should step up to handle matters, she hid in fear; when it was time to stay calm, her knife would always be faster than the wind. No one knew when she would lose control and she wandered around the edges of the law all year round.

But he had never imagined that, after just one year, he would want to hand over the freedom he had gotten in exchange for being a house loan slave for thirty years.

...And the other person had not even appreciated it!

Little Master Yu knew how to read between the lines. His dignity and his heart were both shattered into a mess; yet, amidst the fragments, a thought that had been tightly and securely wrapped up was leaking out.

He thought, Why is the first person I seriously have feelings for someone like this?

Yu Lanchuan wandered around aimlessly for a while but his pent-up emotions still could not be vented. His thoughts muddled, he followed the crowd into a cinema and randomly bought a ticket for a movie that still had available seats. Perhaps it was due to the prohibition on fireworks and firecrackers this year, the cinema management and filmmakers seemed to take pity on the moviegoers' ears for the lack of excitement and had come up with a New Year's movie that had as much action as an air raid on Yanning City. For more than two hours, the actors put all their strength into shouting and howling on screen, and the noise from the surround sound system was deafening.

Yu Lanchuan had wanted to find a place that was pitch dark to think about life. He didn't expect his ears to be filled with donkey brays and his brain was shaken until it became a pot of congee. However, there were no empty seats in the cinema hall and he was in the innermost corner. If he wanted to leave halfway, he would have to hold the popcorn for a whole row of people and step on their toes as he made his way out. He had no choice but to endure for the whole show.

This perfect example of good health did not drown his heartbroken sorrows in alcohol but due to this unexpected turn of events, he still reached the state of intoxication.

When Yu Yan bumped into him at the entrance of No. 110 Courtyard, his very first line was, "Hey, Master Lan, were you drinking?"

"...Fake alcohol," Yu Lanchuan said. "Who are you looking for?"

"Old Master Yang," Yu Yan said. "You know we've been putting all our efforts into looking for Wang Jiake these few days, right? I've checked the CCTVs until I'm becoming short-sighted. Old Master Yang said that their Beggars' Sect has some clues. I came to ask him."

Yu Lanchuan was shrouded in his personal worries and was not in the mood to pay any attention to meaningless gossip. Hearing Yu Yan's words, he didn't even look up and only grunted and continued walking.

"I ask you—this girl is still young, her family earns a normal income and she works at a school—by right, she isn't in a competitive environment. So how did she live her life until it's such a mess? Now, she has disappeared to who knows where and the credit card creditors are hounding her for their money. That's still okay, at most it will only affect her credit score. But we made a rough assessment and we think that she might have taken out a high-interest loan. Right now, we don't know whether she's safe or not." Yu Yan sighed. "People online all say that she's someone brave who dares to expose the dark inner workings of the rich and might have been silenced by some parties. The rumours are so many that they can't be deleted in time. If we censor the keywords, we'll be accused of covering up. The pressure is heavy… Do you think that the 'Upside-Down Scissors Ritual' that Teacher Meng-Meng posted yesterday will be effective here? How about I secretly ask her to conduct a ritual?"

Yu Lanchuan only felt as though there was a fly near his ear, buzzing non-stop. He basically heard not even a single word and only the words "Teacher Meng-Meng" hit against his eardrums. He answered coldly, "When I get home, the first thing I'm going to do is call your boss and make a report about the personnel from his police station spreading feudalistic superstitions during work hours."

Yu Yan took a careful sniff but didn't detect the smell of alcohol. "...Were you bitten by a dog outside just now?"

"Go away."

While they were talking, the two of them reached the elevator lobby. Yu Lanchuan saw clearly the person waiting for the elevator and his legs came to a sudden stop.

Yu Yan said, "Hey, what a coincidence!"

Before Yu Lanchuan could turn and walk out, Yu Yan was clapping Gan Qing heartily on her shoulder. "Teacher Meng-Meng, we were just talking about you!"

This clap landed right on her shoulder that the brick had scraped past earlier. His strike made Gan Qing stagger a few steps forward before she caught her balance and her entire posture was askew.

Yu Yan looked at his own hand in bewilderment. "Did I… master the 'Buddha's Palm' technique on my own in just one night?"