Otherworldly Merchant

When I got back, I handed the Corpse Scattered Essence to Uncle Duan.

When he saw me with the Corpse Scattered Essence, his facial expression was something else. I guessed he didn’t expect to see me come back alive with what he had asked.

However, he still acted as if he was really excited and asked me to have dinner with him, which I politely refused.

I handed him the Corpse Scattered Essence and didn’t even ask for a commission. Everything was for the sake of buying time. Since the members of the Zhang family had experienced a bloody lesson during their encounter with the Corpse Scattered Essence, they were no longer arrogant. If they weren’t well-prepared, they wouldn’t take action.

Right now, I wanted to give Uncle Duan the impression that the Zhang family was scared and didn’t dare to take action. It was to make him lower his guard.

From his appearance, he seemed to believe me. At least, in the near future, the Longquan Villa wouldn’t attack the Zhang family.

When I returned to my antique shop, I saw an acquaintance, the gold-toothed man.

He was squatting in front of my shop and looked sleepy. When he saw me, he walked up to me and bowed. “Young Master Zhang, you’re back!”

This man knew how to take advantage of the situation. Since he knew that my status in the Zhang family was now different, his attitude toward me had changed. He even called me ‘Young Master.’

Still, why is he here? I knew that he wouldn’t come here for nothing.

It was impolite to turn down someone who was being so courteous, so I invited him to my shop for some tea.

When the gold-toothed man entered my antique shop, he was startled. “Young Master, you’re so powerful, so why do you live in this tiny house? Come to our family. I’m sure you can enjoy wealth for the rest of your life.”

I waved my hands. “No need. What’s so special about living in a lavish house? I’m not really interested.”

The gold-toothed man smiled reluctantly. “All right, I won’t force you.”

He then scanned the place and lowered his voice. “Young Master, the Zhang family sent me here to discuss an important matter with you.”

“What is it?” I asked immediately.

It had been two days since I last saw the bearded man. Had they already come up with a plan to deal with the Longquan Villa? That seemed too quick!

However, by the looks of the gold-toothed man, I knew that he was serious. This wasn’t a trivial matter, and it could possibly relate to the well-being of the entire Zhang family. I walked around to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on us before returning to my shop.

The gold-toothed man was fiddling with an electronic device that I had never seen before.

I asked, “What is that?”

“We should be careful. This is an anti-eavesdropping radiofrequency blocker,” he told me.

The man was actually equipped with such a high-end device!

Then, he sat down and explained the situation to me… The Zhang family had six branches in total, which were divided based on the categories of otherworldly items they specialized in. These included pottery, jade, and bronze tools.

Since the Zhang family was declining, in order to deal with the Longquan Villa, the various branches stopped specializing in a single field. They had blended in and studied everything they could.

Senior Shu and I were from two out of the six branches. Our lines only had one living descendant.

Since the bearded man was the leader of two branches, he was the current pillar of the Zhang family.

As for the two remaining branches, they had lost contact with the Zhang family. We didn’t even know if these two branches still had members who were alive.

Just recently, the gold-toothed man had contacted one of the two missing branches. The situation of that branch wasn’t really optimistic. It had only one descendant left, but that person wasn’t an otherworldly merchant. She was a policewoman.

The Longquan Villa had their eyes on her. She was now pestered by an otherworldly item and was in a critical situation. If we didn’t help her, she wouldn’t be able to survive this ordeal. If that happened, the already declining Zhang family would receive another blow.

After considering things, the gold-toothed man’s family decided to contact me and Senior Shu, hoping that we would help that policewoman. In the meantime, the gold-toothed man’s family would concentrate on finding the other missing branch.

Then, the gold-toothed man gave me a file. “This contains the information that we’ve gathered until now. If you two agree to help me, you better go as soon as possible. One hundred years ago, we were a family. We should support each other.”

He had a point. I nodded my head without much hesitation.

After obtaining a positive answer, the gold-toothed man exhaled in relief, asking me to depart soon. If we didn’t hurry, that branch would disappear.

He then turned around and left. I took Senior Shu to my car, and we departed as well.

Before leaving, I gave Li Mazi a call. Despite the fact that Li Mazi wasn’t a real otherworldly merchant, he was pretty smart and could run errands for us. He could even save our lives if there was a need to. In short, he was an excellent assistant.

When we arrived at Li Mazi’s house, we saw Ru Xue and Yin Xinyue there. It turned out they were about to ask me to eat with them.

When Yin Xinyue found out that I had to leave again, she shed tears. “You’ve only been home for two days. Why do you want to leave again? How about your body’s condition?”

I couldn’t help it when I saw a woman cry. I gently pulled her to my chest and comforted her. “It’s okay, honey. I’m like a cockroach who never dies. You don’t have to worry.”

Ru Xue and Li Mazi were also reluctant to part. I felt sorry for Li Mazi. He had nothing to do with this issue, and yet I had wanted to pull him into this mess.

“Li Mazi, you don’t need to go, really. Senior Shu and I can handle this.”

Li Mazi smiled and said, “Nah, if I don’t earn money, how will I feed my family?”

In the end, Li Mazi went with us.

As Li Mazi drove, I studied the document the gold-toothed man had given me.

The otherworldly item we had to deal with this time seemed to be a book. However, they didn’t have detailed information about the book. They just knew that it was a Wordless Heavenly Book that came from ancient times. The age of this book couldn’t be verified, either.

The person that we needed to help this time was a police trainee called Zhang Ai. She was in charge of the Wordless Heavenly Book murder case.

She lived in Qingjiang City, which was our neighboring city. The living standard and pace in Qingjiang City was quite fast, and its economy was stronger than our city’s. Being able to work as a government officer in this city was no different from holding a golden bowl in your hands; it was a secure and lucrative job.

When we arrived, I called Zhang Ai. It sounded like she was somewhat annoyed when she answered. She asked me where we were before picking us up.