stand back, let me come

Chapter 1396: Snow in June (Part 1396) [Happy New Year]

She seemed to notice the change in Shen Tang's expression, and she also became alert: "Sir, why are you looking at me like this?"

"The lady resembles an old friend."

The woman in front of me does look like someone.

"An old friend?"

Shen Tang said: "Yeah."

I see her every day when I look in the mirror.

"This is also fate." The proprietress gently stroked her face, which was already marked by the years. Frequent running around made her age faster than her peers. There were already some fine lines at the corners of her eyes, and strands of snow-white quietly emerged in her temples. "The rain won't stop for a while. If you are not in a hurry, why don't you sit down and rest your feet?"

"That's annoying."

"Sir, that's very polite. You are here to take care of our business, so how can you say that you are bothering me? Sir, do you have any preference for tea?"

Shen Tang shook his head and said he didn't know and asked the proprietress for recommendations.

The proprietress recommended the store’s signature dish to her.

Shen Tang: "May I know your surname?"

"Shen."

Her surname is Shen, and she is the teahouse owner who looks very similar to the real person.

The two labels superimposed together reminded Shen Tang of an event that happened many years ago - during the Northern Desert War, Gu Chi Liaojia was sent as an envoy to the Gao Kingdom, and on his way back he entered a roadside teahouse.

The proprietress looks very similar to the real person.

Counting on my fingers, they should be about the same age.

So, could they be the same person?

Shen Tang watched the lady boss preparing tea with swift hands and feet, and took the initiative to find a topic: "Excuse me, Miss Shen's elegant accent doesn't sound like a local, it sounds like she has some northern accent?"

"Sir, you have good hearing. I am from the north." The proprietress did not hide her past, with the northern directness. "My family fell into poverty in my early years. I was the only one left in the family, so I had to flee to seek a living."

Shen Tang: "The North is not prosperous now, but it has been peaceful for many years. Have you ever considered going back? After all, people still have to return to their roots. In addition, there are rumors that chaos is about to break out in the central region. It may not be safe to stay here."

The boss lady said: "I have no choice but to do so."

It is hard to leave one's hometown. Unless there are special reasons, one does not want to go to a place where he is unfamiliar with the place to make a living. There is a risk of losing one's life at any time.

Looking at the flowers and leaves floating in the teacup, emitting rich fragrance, Shen Tang showed an expression of empathy. He took a sip of the steaming tea, feeling the floral and fruity aroma spreading in his mouth: "Good tea, no wonder it has become the signature of the store."

Outside the teahouse, the rain was falling.

Due to the weather, no other traveler passed by at this time.

Shen Tang invited the proprietress to sit down and drink, chat and play chess.

Brew tea, chat, listen to the sound of rain, play chess and talk about the world.

The boss lady was not good at chess, but Shen Tang did not take it seriously. The two of them played back and forth on the chessboard, but in the end, the boss lady herself gave up. She said, "The guest seems to be worried and his mind is not on the chessboard. It's boring to play."

"Please forgive me, Miss Shen. I have been troubled recently." Shen Tang cleaned up the messy chessboard. "To be honest, I am here to look for someone. I haven't heard from him recently, and I am worried that he might have an accident."

The proprietress who was helping to clean up also stopped.

She raised her eyes and looked at Shen Tang.

She happened to meet Shen Tang's calm gaze.

"I have inquired along the way, but there is little information about him. Miss Shen has been running a teahouse here for quite some time. I wonder if you have any impression of her?" Shen Tang took out the portrait of Tan Ting and revealed his cards while the other party was looking at the painting carefully. "To be honest, before coming here, I heard a piece of news from a beggar that he had met Miss Shen in a dilapidated temple."

The proprietress closed the scroll firmly and said, "I haven't seen it before."

The tone was much colder.

When he stood up and prepared to close the shop, he heard Shen Tang calling out a name: "Ms. Shen, have you really never seen Tan Mengyuan?"

The name stopped the proprietress in her tracks.

"who are you?"

She turned her head to look at Shen Tang, with a look of vigilance in her eyes.

Shen Tang bowed with a serious expression, full of righteousness and sincerity: "Tan Mengyuan is my colleague. He asked for leave to return home to visit his relatives. As soon as he entered the central region, he lost contact. I am here to find out his whereabouts on the orders of my lord. If Lady Shen knows anything, please be lenient."

"...So, you are from Northwestern Kangguo?"

Shen Tang nodded: "Yeah."

The proprietress looked like she was struggling, as if she was hesitating whether to tell the truth. After a long while, she said, "Forget it."

Some things can't be avoided. She didn't expect that after running here, she would run into people who were related to the past one after another. Maybe it was fate: "You can ask me anything, I will tell you what I know, and I can't help you with what I don't know."

Shen Tang asked the question carefully.

"When did you meet?"

"I don't know him."

"You talked a lot in the dilapidated temple, how come you don't know each other?"

Talking about the time at the ruined temple, the lady boss did not hide anything: "Before that, I really didn't know him. He had something to ask me, so he came to see me. I saw the secret code he left, so I went to the ruined temple to keep the appointment."

"What did he ask you about?"

"This involves his personal affairs."

Shen Tang said decisively: "It also involves his life and property."

Her tone was not harsh, but it revealed the authority of a superior who could not be refused. The proprietress was stunned for a moment, and re-evaluated Shen Tang's identity: "He came here to investigate a missing person case. The missing person was related to him, but he didn't say what the relationship was. He came to me because the missing person had contacted me... He came to ask some questions and left."

"Your connection with the missing person? Can you elaborate?"

It is really difficult to determine Tan Ting's whereabouts just by looking at the literal information.

The proprietress smiled bitterly: "We are both wanderers in this world."

Shen Tang frowned. It was the same as saying nothing. If the other party was deliberately hiding something, he would not be able to get any useful information with just an inefficient question and answer. Why not use some tricks?

This time, the proprietress did not wait for Shen Tang to ask further questions, but took the initiative to ask: "Have you heard of the Gods' Meeting?"

Shen Tang nodded: "I know."

"How much will you know about the gods?"

"About the same level as Meng Yuan."

The lady boss was sure that Shen Tang was also an important official in Kangguo, otherwise how could he know so many unknown secrets? It was good for her to know this, and she didn't have to explain too much: "The person Tan Mengyuan is looking for is the same as me. There are so many women in this world who have inherited a certain bloodline from an unknown generation of ancestors, and it has been passed down from generation to generation. This bloodline has attracted the covetousness of the inner society of the Gods Association. In order to protect ourselves, we can only do our best to hide from each other, and occasionally contact each other to remind each other."

Most of them don't know what's special about them.

Without this awareness, one naturally would not be alert to danger.

The same kind of people kept in touch with each other privately and exchanged information, and over time formed a small-scale group. The boss lady was also accidentally pulled into the group after entering the central area. In recent years, some members have lost contact and have not appeared since.

"No contact anymore? Did something happen?"

The proprietress nodded and said, "Yes."

Shen Tang was puzzled: "If it is so dangerous, why would Miss Shen take the risk to stay in the Central Region? Isn't she afraid of her life?"

"That's because I'm different from them." The lady boss sneered, "My bloodline is much purer than theirs, and it's harder for bad guys to discover my true identity. Although people with the same bloodline can sense each other, betraying me is like betraying themselves. We've been living in peace for all these years."

It is not innate, but acquired.

The culprit who did something to her was Neishe.

It is said that the only remaining "secret treasure" was used.

This "secret treasure" was extracted from the first generation.

It's a pity that the inner society collapsed too early, and almost all the relevant insiders died, so she could not grow up safely and live to this day. As for her own life experience, the boss lady would not want to be involved if she could choose: "Tan Mengyuan should have discovered that I have a connection with the missing person, so he used the code we used to lure me out..."

"that's it?"

Shen Tang was somewhat unwilling.

The clue ends here?

The lady boss said, "That's all the connection I have with Tan Mengyuan, but - I can tell you some secrets I know. Most of these missing people were detained to be used as mothers to give birth to more of their kind. Someone needs this."

"what?"

A flash of inspiration came to Shen Tang's mind.

She remembered the intelligence Luan Gongyi brought back.

Wouldn't the clues on both sides be completely connected?

The proprietress looked at Shen Tang, her tone a bit inexplicable: "You and I have a pleasant conversation. Since so many things have been revealed, I might as well remind you of something else - your master is closer to the first generation in terms of blood relationship, and his blood relationship is purer than mine."

I'm not saying this to sow discord or anything.

Just a reminder.

If Shen Youli fails, she will never be able to turn over. Her bloodline is extremely consistent with the first generation, and has not been diluted through generations. In the eyes of the crazy people in the Central Branch, this is a priceless treasure and the key to their eternal life.

"That's all I know."

The proprietress has said everything that should and shouldn’t be said.

Shen Tang was helpless: "We can't find Meng Yuan with just these."

The landlady said: "Tan Mengyuan must have gone to rescue people. Maybe we can find him by finding the people of the same kind who are being held. But that place is a dangerous place. If you go there alone, I'm afraid you will never come back."

It’s never wrong to push forward in this direction.

Shen Tang asked again: "How can we find a female monarch of the same kind?"

This is a big problem.

The proprietress pulled out a dagger and cut a deep wound without hesitation, then wrote some mysterious patterns on the scroll with her blood-stained fingers.

"As long as you carry it with you, there will be guidance from somewhere."

Shen Tang accepted the blood letter given by the proprietress.

The pattern has the same origin as the dark pattern on the high priest Jimo Qiu's robe.

She secretly contacted me and asked me to ask Jimo Qiu what was going on. I didn't dare to delay for a moment and was ready to get up and find someone. No matter whether he lived or died, I had to get Tan Ting out.

But before that—

Shen Tang still had something to say to the lady boss: "If you can save Tan Ting, you will have done a great deed. I will report this to the master and he will definitely reward me. I wonder if you have any requests?"

"I don't ask for anything, just to live a simple life."

"Just living?"

"Oh, being alive is better than having too many miserable lives." If she wanted to end this wandering life, she needed to eliminate the hidden dangers from the root. With her ability, how difficult would it be?

"When I come back, will the lady still be there?"

The only thing left is to ask the other party directly whether he will run away.

The proprietress: "I wonder what the guest means by this?"

Shen Tang played with the blood-letter and said meaningfully, "Nothing serious, I'm just worried that I won't be able to find the whereabouts of the lady when I repay her in the future."

Boss lady: "..."

She is an ordinary person, but she is also sensitive to the change in the atmosphere.

Just when she was so nervous that she held her breath and cold sweat broke out on her back, Shen Tang grabbed her hat and put it on: "Madam Shen, the mountains and rivers remain unchanged, and we will meet again if we are destined to do so."

The proprietress watched Shen Tang step into the rain.

A certain speculation was becoming stronger and stronger.

She made a blessing gesture: "I wish your country good fortune and prosperity."

Shen Tang paused after hearing this and disappeared in the rain.

According to what Madam Shen said at the beginning, an important person of Tan Ting was missing. He found a code to contact Madam Shen in the belongings left by the person, so he used the code to lure the other party out to ask for clarification. From beginning to end, it was clear that she was a pure outsider. In this case, why did Madam Shen say so many irrelevant things? So, Shen Tang had another guess.

Tan Ting, could it be that he was led over there by her?

Invite Meng Yuan into the game, and then use Meng Yuan to lure Kangguo's forces into the game?

Madam Shen herself said that she kept in touch with similar people in the central region, and the person Tan Ting was looking for was one of them.

Will she know the relationship between her kind and Tan Ting?

Do you know that Tan Ting belongs to Kangguo?

Moreover, from this blood letter, it can be seen that her perception of her kind is much stronger than her kind's perception of her. At the same distance, her kind cannot find her, but she knows the existence of her kind.

Mrs. Shen was the first to know that their kind were missing.

Kangguo could not remain indifferent to Tan Ting's disappearance. Firstly, Tan Ting himself was valuable, and his scholarly ways were Kangguo's "moat" against the central region. Secondly, Tan Ting himself was a member of the branch of the Society of the Gods and had a better understanding of the situation in the central region.

It is only moral and reasonable to send someone to look for him if he goes missing.

Madam Shen just needs to wait for someone to come to her.

Besides, there is another flaw.

Given Tan Ting's cautious character, the beggar in the dilapidated temple was either dead or had his memory erased. How could he clearly remember his secret conversation with the mysterious woman? What if Madam Shen intervened?

That makes sense.

And what was the purpose of her intervention?

Following this conjecture, some strange things can be straightened out.

What further confirmed Shen Tang's conjecture was the response of Madam Shen to Shen Tang's test. She directly revealed her cards with the words "prosperity of the country". She rubbed her eyebrows. In the final analysis, Wu You's body belonged to someone else, but Wu You and the original were of the same clan.

It is reasonable for the other party to guess his identity.

At this moment, the voice of the deity appeared in my mind: "I have a darker guess - what if the disappearance of the person Meng Yuan is looking for is also related to her? Use shrimps to catch small fish, and use small fish to catch big fish. Once the big fish is hooked, the goal is achieved."

Shen Tang paused.

I immediately chose to turn back.

From a distance, I saw a big fire in the direction of the teahouse.

Shen·Benzun·Tang: “…Oh.”

Shen Wuyou Tang: "...Oh my god!"

ヾ(*>＜*)(｀●)

Since the beginning, many readers have speculated that there will be competition between Madam Shen and Tang Mei. In fact, there was no competition at the beginning. The connection between the two was that Tang Mei used her identity, and she was one of the test subjects of the inner society of the Gods.

Her motivation was simple: to survive.