Knife splashing

Chapter 156: Jianghu affairs, Jianghu

The old man said this as he tremblingly turned up his sleeves.

There were black spots of various sizes on his arms.

Some of them have even festered.

There are little bugs crawling around...

Li Yan sniffed, his eyes filled with suspicion, and he shook his head and said, "Would a demon who dared to enter Chang'an City to cause trouble be greedy for your little business?"

"I'm afraid there's something else going on."

"Let's go, I'll take you to see someone first..."

…………

Lanlingfang, Renxin Hall.

Uncle Heidan puffed his lips, sat on the stool motionless, and stared at Li Shiqing's expression.

Li Shiqing took an egg and rolled it on his wound, and used silver needles to stimulate the bugs from time to time.

Half an incense stick later, Li Shiqing picked up the egg and cracked it into the bowl next to him. He saw that the egg yolk and egg white had turned into black mucus.

Countless white worms the size of rice grains are constantly wriggling in the mucus.

Li Shiqing had already made up his mind, but he didn't rush to make a conclusion. Instead, he asked, "Does it taste fishy?"

Uncle Heidan shook his head.

"Well, spit it out."

Upon hearing this, the old man immediately spat out what was in his mouth.

They were some softened raw soybeans. Ordinary people would smell a strong fishy odor, but he could not taste any flavor at all.

Not only that, all the soybeans that were vomited out also turned black.

"This is a Gu."

Li Shiqing shook his head and said, "Although the words 'gu curse' and 'gu curse' are often used together, they are actually two different things, not evil curses."

"Oh?"

Li Yan became interested, "Sir, can you give me some advice?"

Li Shiqing nodded and said, "'Curse' was originally '呪', which is also '祝'. The Book of Changes says: Dui means mouth and witch. The meaning of oracle bones is to pray to God, so it is to use the power of ghosts and gods to curse out loud through the mouth..."

"Not to mention the Gu, the insect in the utensils, which is also derived from the pictographic oracle bones, originated in ancient times and was popular in the Shang and Zhou dynasties..."

"Dog thief!"

Listening to the conversation between the two, Heidan's uncle had no idea that he had been tricked. He was so angry that his face turned red and his teeth were clenched.

Li Yan laughed dumbly, "Why are you in such a hurry? This is the trick of a charlatan. I guess your store has been transferred long ago. Even if you sue the government, the formalities are complete. You can only solve it by using charlatan tricks."

"Let's remove the poison first."

"Senior Li, what kind of poison is this? Can it be cured?"

Li Shiqing stroked his beard and smiled, "Of course it's easy to solve."

"This is an ordinary maggot Gu. It is made by taking the maggots from a dead woman's body, sealing them in a jar, and burying them deep underground. Every day, sprinkle pig, sheep, and cow blood to nourish them. It will be ready in ten days. This is considered an entry-level Gu."

"It seems that the other party is still holding back and has not done the whole thing. If I am not mistaken, as long as we can find them, this matter can be resolved on the spot."

Li Yan immediately understood, "It was done by someone from Fengmen!"

Uncle Heidan was confused and panicked. "Brother Li, Doctor Li, what's going on?"

As I said before, he is half a gangster.

After being kicked out of the shadow puppet troupe, he did not stay in the underworld for long, but came to Chang'an, worked hard and accumulated property.

Although I know some people from the Xuanmen, they are all honest businessmen and don't know much about the ways of the underworld.

Seeing that Heidan beside him also had a puzzled look on his face, Li Yan shook his head slightly and explained with a smile: "The business of a swindler is nothing more than bees, hemp, swallows and sparrows."

"Ma is a lone con man who often travels around the world disguised as a monk or Taoist priest. Once he succeeds, he disappears without a trace."

"Yan is using her beauty to deceive people, needless to say."

"The rest are bees and sparrows."

"Both are gangs that commit crimes, and each has its own division of labor. The only difference is that one only wants money, while the other wants to kill."

"Like this old man, it was made by the bee gate. They usually keep something back. If you can see through it and find the person, they will spit out the thing. If you can't find it, you can only consider yourself unlucky."

"Well, a little more."

Li Shiqing beside him also stroked his beard and smiled, "This thing called Gu has caused many major cases since ancient times. Therefore, the courts of all dynasties have laws on this, and the punishment is basically execution in the autumn."

"They used a Gu. If we find the person, not only can we get the things back, but we can also get hush money."

"I don't want hush money!"

The more Uncle Heidan thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. "I just want to report to the police and have all these people arrested."

Li Yan pondered for a moment and nodded, "That's fine, but doing so will make things more troublesome, and I have to be prepared to bear their revenge."

Uncle Heidan was stunned for a moment, "Do they dare to retaliate?"

"Why don't you dare..."

Li Yan laughed in silence, "These people are cheating wealthy families, even officials. They are influenced by the rules of the underworld, and the law is just a shackle to them."

"If we follow the rules of the underworld, this matter will be easy to resolve. We can get the full amount back once we find the person. If these people don't follow the rules, we can kill them and no one else in Fengmen will even look at them."

"If we follow the imperial law, then we should find the people, report them to the authorities privately, and arrest them all. Using witchcraft to harm others is enough to sentence them to death."

"Even if we fall out, the other members of the Fengmen will target you. We may have to fight several times to defeat them all."

“And it’s almost impossible to get your property back.”

"How...how could this be possible?"

Uncle Heidan found it difficult to accept.

Li Yan shook his head and said, "This is the rule of the martial arts world. Propriety, righteousness, benevolence, wisdom and trustworthiness are just gimmicks. In fact, there is no morality. It is just a comparison of strength and compromise."

"There must be people from their government in the government. Once they tip off the government, they will all run away. So we need to make some plans and get more people to block the door..."

Uncle Heidan hesitated for a moment after hearing this, "Then... forget it, I just want to get my things back, I really can't stand this trouble."

Li Yan nodded slightly, not surprised. The rules of the Fengmen scammers are based on this point.

Ordinary people live a stable life, so they would not be willing to make trouble. Moreover, they left a loophole so that they could return the money in full once they found the person.

This way, fewer people will want to resolve the issue officially.

Liar, thief, killer...

It has never been interrupted from ancient times to the present.

In this world, some people live on their own, while many others live by sucking blood from others, and they can never be killed off.

He just made things clear. Since the victim wanted to be more peaceful, he was too lazy to make trouble.

The detoxification process went smoothly.

This kind of maggot poison will not kill people, but it is difficult and disgusting. If you use the wrong method, it will still grow out even if you dig out all the flesh.

It's just like athlete's foot, it makes you uncomfortable.

The Fengmen scammers used this Gu as a warning.

Maggot poison comes from corpse maggots. Li Shiqing first applied glutinous rice mixed with Brucea javanica powder, and then used eggs to remove the poison. He used more than twenty eggs back and forth before completely removing the poison.

Uncle Heidan's wound is still festering, but there is no rotten flesh or insects anymore. After wrapping it with some golden wound medicine, he will recover completely after the wound heals.

He thanked Li Yan profusely before accompanying him out of the clinic.

Heidan also has the surname Li, and his full name is Li Heiga. His ancestors were military households that moved here from Longyou, and his uncle is called Li Laogan.

Li Laogan's original leatherwork shop was located in Yonglefang, which is in the central part of the city. It is better than the area where civilians live, but not as good as the wealthy towns in the north of the city.

Being able to buy a property here is considered a good thing.

They ran to Yonglefang to take a look.

Sure enough, the shop had been sold several times a long time ago, and now it has become a clothing store. The owner knows nothing about what happened before.

Li Yan was not in a hurry. He went to a nearby teahouse, said a few words to the broker who was drinking tea inside, and then waited quietly with Heidan and the other man.

"Young Master Li, you are looking for me."

After a while, Zhao Jiu from the brokerage firm came running to the inn, with a flattering smile on his face, but he was feeling very nervous.

He was leading Li Yan and others to Guodu Town. When he found something was wrong, he ran away quickly. Later, he learned that such a big thing had happened there.

Although he was secretly glad, he was also afraid of being in trouble by Li Yan and others.

"There is something I need your help with, Brother Zhao." Li Yan asked him to sit down, poured him a cup of tea, and told him the story again.

"Oh, I see..."

Zhao Jiu heaved a sigh of relief, then shook his head and said, "Young Master Li, it probably won't work if you try to find someone through the dental clinic."

"Firstly, the people at Fengmen are cautious. When they were reselling the shares, they must have used several layers of identity cover-up. Even the transfer record at the government office was done flawlessly."

"Secondly, the intervention of the pawnbrokers also breaks the rules of the underworld."

"Then...what should we do?"

Heidan's uncle Li Laogan suddenly became anxious.

Zhao Jiu glanced at him and said thoughtfully, "Since the other party can explain what happened back then, it must have been leaked by someone, maybe it was an old friend of yours."

"Did many people know about this incident back then?"

Li Laogan was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Back then, my master kicked me out, and almost all of my fellow students in the class knew about it."

"That's enough." Zhao Jiu clapped his hands and smiled, "Go ask around the Liu family. Some of your fellow apprentices must have come to Chang'an."

Li Laogan was a little bit unbelievable, "Impossible! Those brothers and I have a good relationship..."

"Hahaha."

Zhao Jiu's eyes were complicated, and he sneered, "There is no laughing matter, but there is hatred. Old man, at your age, don't you understand the evil of human nature?"

Li Laogan stood there for a long while, then sighed, "The shadow play troupe from that year is here, right over at Pingkangfang."

"The master has passed away, and my fellow disciples are all living in poverty. I even went to their homes to help them..."

"Pingkangfang?"

Li Yan was happy, "I live there."

…………

Pingkangfang, Qingyuan Tower.

Although this brothel is not as good as Hua'e Tower, it is still ranked among the best in Pingkangfang. It is quite large in size, with a pond and a pavilion in the water at the back. There are opera singers, willow-hai-hong players, and various performances non-stop.

Guests only need to open the window and throw out the reward money.

No matter what you want to hear or watch, there are various teams waiting for you at any time. It can be said to be a den of money.

"Young Master Li is here!"

Before he got close, the big teapot's eyes lit up and he shouted loudly.

"Hey, Mr. Li, please come up quickly!"

"You haven't been here for a while!"

The big teapot was very welcoming, and was followed by a brothel owner.

Li Yan's face darkened. "What nonsense are you talking about? Where have I ever been to your place?"

"You said that."

The madam smiled widely, "The first time is new, the second time is familiar. Miss Wanfang has been waiting for you for a long time."

Li Yan was speechless, "Who the hell is Wanfang?"

The madam complained, "Miss Wanfang would be sad if she heard what you said..."

Li Yan quickly shook his head, "I don't know her."

Heidan next to him opened his mouth wide, his eyes full of admiration.

"Brother Yan, this is really your territory..."

(End of this chapter)