Beauties in Simulation Cross over into Reality-Chapter 191 - 172: Danyang Sect
「The next day at noon.」
Xiao Mo was in the kitchen, teaching Jiang Xin how to cook fish porridge.
Catfish has relatively few bones, especially the belly portion, making it perfect for fish porridge.
Once some chopped scallions were sprinkled on top, the fragrance instantly filled the air.
The other parts of the catfish were stir-fried with a few wild chilies and some shredded ginger, making for an incredibly delicious dish.
When Jiang Xin put a bite of fish in her mouth, her eyes instantly lit up, and she began to eat a little faster than usual.
"I’m heading into the city for a bit. You can just wait here in the courtyard."
After lunch, Xiao Mo told Jiang Xin that he planned to go into the city to ask about Ah Zi and exchange some gold for silver while he was there.
But just as Xiao Mo turned to leave, Jiang Xin reached out and gently tugged on the corner of his clothes. "Can... can I go with you...?"
Looking at Jiang Xin’s exquisitely doll-like features, Xiao Mo frowned. "It might not be a good idea for you to come with me. You’re too conspicuous."
Jiang Xin’s skin was fair and delicate, and her features were refined. One look was enough to tell she would grow into a great beauty. In the dog-eat-dog Western Regions, she would be targeted too easily.
"It’s okay, I have a way," Jiang Xin said, quickly running into the kitchen.
When Jiang Xin came back out, her little face had been blackened, just like when they first met.
"This should work," Jiang Xin said confidently. "My mother and Sister Zi always told me that I’m too pretty, so I have to blacken my face and pretend to be a boy when I go out. Otherwise, it’s easy to get sold."
Xiao Mo smiled. "When I told you to take a bath and change your clothes, you refused no matter what. Were you afraid that if I saw you cleaned up, I’d turn around and sell you?"
Jiang Xin lowered her head, poking her two small fingers together, her large, limpid eyes filled with guilt.
Although Jiang Xin didn’t answer, her expression was a tacit admission.
’If she hadn’t gotten an unintentional bath in the creek while catching fish last night,’ Xiao Mo thought, ’she probably would have faced me looking dirty and disheveled for several more days—until she truly came to trust me.’
"I’m not blaming you. Being cautious is a good thing. Since you want to go, let’s go together."
With that, Xiao Mo went back to his room, took out two or three small pieces of gold, and tucked them securely inside his robes, close to his chest. Then, he led Jiang Xin toward Luofeng City.
Luofeng City was a little over an hour’s walk from the abandoned village where Xiao Mo lived.
After entering the city with Jiang Xin, Xiao Mo planned to head directly to Ma’s Pawnshop in the western part of the city.
The business dealings of the boss behind Ma’s Pawnshop were quite similar to Landlord Fang’s.
As they say, two of a trade can never agree.
Even though Boss Ma and Landlord Fang appeared amicable on the surface, behind the scenes, they each wished the other were dead.
That was why, even if Landlord Fang secretly sent people to look for the "punks" from that night, it was highly unlikely they would trace them to Boss Ma.
Otherwise, Boss Ma would absolutely spread the news that Landlord Fang was not only keeping a mistress but had also gotten his secret stash of money stolen, which would be a massive public humiliation for the landlord.
Upon entering the pawnshop, a shop assistant saw Xiao Mo’s ragged clothes and moved to block him, but let him pass immediately after seeing the small pieces of gold in his possession.
At the current exchange rate for gold and silver in Luofeng City in the Western Regions, the two taels of gold Xiao Mo carried should have been worth twenty taels of Silver. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
However, the pawnshop owner guessed that the gold in this little beggar’s hands was of questionable origin—stolen from who-knows-where—so he deliberately lowballed the price to fourteen taels of Silver.
In the end, after some haggling, Xiao Mo settled for seventeen taels of Silver.
’It can’t be helped,’ Xiao Mo thought. ’This is probably the highest price I can get for this ’dirty’ gold. I might get another tael or so if I ran to a few more pawnshops, but doing so would greatly increase my risk of being exposed.’
After exchanging the gold, Xiao Mo took the silver, left the pawnshop, and led Jiang Xin toward the back courtyard of Luofeng City’s Fengyue Building.
Although Fengyue Building was a brothel, brothels have a unique characteristic: they attract all sorts of people. And men, well, they tend to loosen their tongues once they’re with a woman—especially when lying in bed with one.
And the proprietress of Fengyue Building’s business acumen lay in the fact that she would compile the information her clients let slip and act as an information broker.
Some people even specifically sold intelligence to Fengyue Building.
As for the clients’ "leaked secrets"?
All information from our Fengyue Building is mere "speculation," with no guarantee of authenticity.
So what "leaks"? All the information is just hearsay that our Fengyue Building has picked up.
As for whether you’ll come back to sleep with our brothel’s girls in the future?
The figures and faces of our Fengyue Building girls are in a class of their own.
If you’ve got the guts, then stay away.
Otherwise, when you do come back, just keep a tighter lip and don’t tell our girls everything.
And if you really want to make an issue of it, then you can go talk to my old backer—the Lord City Lord of Luofeng City.
In truth, Xiao Mo wasn’t very confident he’d be able to find any news about "Sister Ah Zi."
But to his surprise, Fengyue Building actually did have a similar lead.
"Little brother, you’re asking about a woman carrying a longsword, leading three or four children? A sword-wielding woman with a mole by the corner of her eye, about my height?" a scantily clad and heavily made-up woman smiled at Xiao Mo after he gave her three taels of Silver.
"Yes," Xiao Mo nodded.
"What a coincidence. A client did mention seeing a woman with several children, flying toward the Danyang Sect.
"Because the woman was indeed very beautiful, and her practice of flying on a sword was quite impressive, the client remembered her clearly. He was quite excited when he mentioned it to one of our girls afterward."
"The Danyang Sect?" Xiao Mo frowned. "What kind of Sect is that?"
As soon as Xiao Mo asked, the woman gave him a second look.
Xiao Mo’s brow twitched, and he handed her another tael of Silver.
"The Danyang Sect specializes in the art of Alchemy. It’s not a high-ranking Sect; their Sect Leader is only at the Golden Core Realm. As for their reputation, well, it is what it is. We don’t know much more.
"After all, young man, as you know, we’re just a small brothel in a small city.
"Even with the Lord City Lord backing us, we can only sell so much information. How many secrets can we really come into contact with? If you want anything deeper, even just a little bit, it would cost you a lot more than the small amount of silver you’re paying."
"Understood. Thank you, sister," Xiao Mo said, clasping his hands in a respectful bow.
"HEE HEE HEE..." The woman covered her mouth, laughing lightly. "You’re a cute one. Your bow is quite proper, just like one of those scholars. And you’re not bad-looking either. How about it? Want to join our Fengyue Building and become one of our pretty boys?"
