However, there are still some people here, but most of them are in a hurry and don't talk much.
Wen Qingzhu led Jiang Yuanhan and speeded up his pace unconsciously.
Not long after, they chose a silver jewelry shop with a lot of people and went in.
After entering, some people were shopping for silver jewelry.
But most of them are elderly people, the youngest is twenty years old, wearing a different kind of silver necklace.
The boss at the counter saw them and came over quickly: "Girl, how dare you come out!"
As he pulled them in, he looked outside and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that no one was there.
Wen Qingzhu deliberately learned the accent here and said a little shyly: "I just came back from Cangzhou City. Wasn't Yuhua Town very lively before?"
Before going out, Xi'er told her everything she had inquired about.
Yuhua Town is the town closest to the Cangyun Mountains. A hundred years ago, this was the battlefield between the Wu Clan and Daqi.
Later, the Wu tribe surrendered, and this place became a hub of communication.
The arrival of businessmen has brought a lot of vitality to this place.
The Wu clan's silver and ore were one of the best producing areas in the Qi Dynasty.
The origin of Yuhua Town is that there are famous Yuhua stones here, which can be used as landscape stones and can also extract some necessary metal raw materials.
At least a year ago, there were still many people in Yuhua Town.
The boss sighed and said: "This is the same. Although Yuhua Town is not safe, it is much better than Cangzhou. It is normal for you to come back."
Wen Qingzhu was thoughtful. It seemed that the people in Yuhua Town knew something.
But the boss added: "Recently, the clan has been looking for Yunying's unmarried girl. Aren't you just waiting to be caught when you show up here?"
"Huh?" Wen Qingzhu frowned slightly, feeling a bad feeling in his heart.
Just as the boss was about to explain, an old woman with gray hair walked out of the room.
She was wearing the traditional clothes of the Wu tribe, her face was wrinkled, and she was leaning on a shiny black crutch. She interrupted the boss: "If this madam has something to do, why don't you come in and I'll have a word with you."
The boss was startled and looked at Wen Qingzhu, a little surprised: "Are you married?"
"Yes." Wen Qingzhu smiled shyly.
But the boss didn’t understand very well: “Why should I wear a girl’s clothes when I get married?”
"Waiter, you take care of the business in the store first, and I'll entertain this lady." The old lady interjected.
The boss nodded suspiciously and invited them in.
After going in and sitting down, Wen Qingzhu looked at the decoration in the house with interest.
Different from the usual antique calligraphy and paintings in Daqi, here are more musical instruments with the characteristics of the witch clan, as well as the furs of insect beasts, etc.
"Madam, are you from the capital?" The old woman spoke fluently in Daqi dialect.
Wen Qingzhu looked away and said with a smile: "Yes, my mother-in-law has good eyesight. Not only can she see that I am married, but she also knows where I am from."
The old woman laughed out loud, shook her head and said, "It's not that I'm great, it's that my wife has the smell of the witch forgetfulness poison. As a witch doctor, the old woman really can't ignore it."
After hearing this, Wen Qingzhu's smile faded and he became a little serious.
"The status of the witch doctor in the witch clan is not low! Who are you?"
The old woman smiled bitterly and said, "Madam, don't worry. I escaped from Cangzhou with my husband when I was sixteen years old. I came back to Cangzhou more than ten years ago."
Wen Qingzhu said nothing. It was not an easy skill for this old woman to see through her at a glance.
Seeing that she didn't speak for a long time, the old lady finally revealed why she guessed Wen Qingzhu's identity: "Madam, I have been to the capital before. Because of the relationship between my husband and my son, I have met some noble people. Madam has such a temperament. It is the old lady who has seen her." The most noble one I have ever lived, so I venture to guess that you are the Marquis of Pingguo."
When he said this, the surrounding air suddenly condensed, and instantly, murderous intent flashed in Jiang Yuanhan's eyes.
The old woman was frightened and looked at Jiang Yuanhan in surprise: "This, this is..."
"Mother-in-law, please tell us first if you have anything to ask us for." Wen Qingzhu interrupted the old woman.
Jiang Yuanhan lowered his head and stopped disturbing them.
The old woman looked at Wen Qingzhu with lingering fear. In fact, she was not sure.
This is already the third noble person she has come into contact with. If this lady can't do it, I'm afraid Zhao'er's fate will be like this.
"Madam also heard just now that the unmarried girls in Yunying are afraid to go out now, because the Wu clan is now looking for unmarried girls between thirteen and eighteen years old, and my granddaughter Zhao'er was also recruited by them as early as the beginning of the year. Captured."
The old woman couldn't help but get excited when she talked about this matter.
Wen Qingzhu thought of the sacrifices in Jinzhou and suddenly asked: "Wu Clan wants to use human sacrifices?"
"Madam, you actually know?" The old woman was also stunned. Only the top leaders of the Wu clan knew about the sacrifice.
She studied with a witch doctor for a period of time when she was young. Because of her talent, she met many noble people.
After going back and forth, I got to know some of the inside stories of the Wu Clan.
"Let's not talk about this matter. How many girls are needed for the sacrifice? How many people are they still short of?" Wen Qingzhu took a deep breath. Zhang Ke's letter also vaguely mentioned that the Wu clan was preparing for a sacrifice.
As for what it was, he had not confirmed it, and he was afraid that he would not tell Wen Qingzhu.
"Nine is the favorite number of the Witch Clan. Nine is impossible, so the most likely number is ninety-nine. If it were just an ordinary girl, they would have carried out sacrificial activities long ago and are still arresting people everywhere. , I’m afraid what they need is a girl from the Witch Clan!”
Hearing this, Wen Qingzhu remembered that the previous sacrifice held by Chief Teng seemed to have used members of the Wu clan.
"What about your internal map of the Witch Clan?" Wen Qingzhu felt that since the old woman came to find her, she must be prepared.
"Yes!" The old woman got up and went to the shelf.
Taking an ancient sheepskin scroll from the drawer, she unfolded it and showed it to Wen Qingzhu: "Madam, you despise it. This is the map I took with me when I escaped from Cangzhou."
Wen Qingzhu looked carefully and found that there seemed to be traces of rubbings around the parchment roll.
She was silent for a while, memorizing the map in her mind.
"Mother-in-law, am I not the first person you look for?"
The old woman didn't hide anything, and said in a calm voice: "It's true, there are two nobles in front of me, who are also from the capital. The old woman has good eyesight and provided them with news about the Wu clan, and they agreed to help me rescue Zhao'er."
"Zhao'er is just a girl. Do you value her so much?" In Wen Qingzhu's memory, his daughter was far less important than his son.
"Madam, our witch clan is different. Sons and daughters are all the same, and only daughters can become witch doctors."
When the old woman talked about this, she looked very disdainful.
Wen Qingzhu was slightly surprised, but she was cautious and did not agree to her directly. Instead, she asked: "Who are the first two nobles?"
"They didn't tell me my life, but they left me a token."
After the old woman finished speaking, she went to get two more boxes. After opening them one by one, Wen Qingzhu stood up suddenly.
What’s in the box in front is actually the Yang family’s brand!
The latter one was a piece of paper with a blank seal. Not only Wen Qingzhu knew that seal, but Jiang Yuanhan and Xi'er also knew it.
That is Jiang Yuancheng's personal seal. Only one person in Cangzhou can have this thing.
"I promise you." Wen Qingzhu stood up.
The old woman was about to thank her, but Wen Qingzhu held down the box, stared at the old woman and said, "But I must take these two things away!"
"No!" The old woman panicked and reached out to snatch the box back.
As a result, before she was about to meet Wen Qingzhu, Jiang Yuanhan took action faster than Xi'er, took out his sword and pointed it in front of the old woman.
The old woman shrank back in fright, but she kept staring at the two boxes.
Wen Qingzhu looked at her: "Mother-in-law, you'd better tell me, where did these two things come from?"
"Madam, I really don't mean any harm. They left these two things voluntarily. In fact, it would be best for Madam to leave something that she can carry with her for a year."
"Why?" Wen Qingzhu squinted his eyes and glanced around.
The musical instruments are quite normal, but there are those strange insect furs and some stones of unknown material.
Something doesn't look right.
The old woman pursed her lips tightly, and in the end she only said one sentence: "If Madam wants to take these things away, the old woman can't stop her, but no one knows whether they are alive or dead."
"Can you know their life and death through this thing?" Wen Qingzhu always felt that the Wu clan was somewhat mysterious, but not many people had this ability.
The old woman simply sat down again and stopped looking at Wen Qingzhu: "I won't say much else. With these two things here, I can at least know their life and death."
Wen Qingzhu hesitated for a moment and finally said, "Let me think about it for two days."
"It all depends on the madam's decision." The old lady actually didn't want to choose too much.
Wen Qingzhu looked at the two things on the table, but in the end he did not take them away, but left the shop with Xi'er and the others.
Not long after they left, the old woman breathed a sigh of relief and was about to put away the box when a sharp knife suddenly penetrated her heart from the back.
Blood overflowed, and the old woman slowly turned around to see who the murderer was.
But the next moment, her neck was cut off with a knife.
The strange thing is that there was no blood. The people in the house put away the old woman's head, plus the two boxes, and disappeared into the store.
After returning to the inn, Wen Qingzhu hurried back and drew the pattern of the token.
Then the drawing was sent back to the capital for comparison.
Why did the Yang family's token appear in Yuhua Town
It couldn't be Fu Lie, because Wen Qingzhu had seen the Yang family order held by Fu Lie.
According to what Fu Lie told her before, each generation of the Yang family has its own unique pattern.
She had seen the patterns of Fu Lie's generation, and they were definitely not the ones in the old woman's hands.
Is there anyone alive in the Yang family
After explaining the matter, someone suddenly came over to report that the old woman in the silver jewelry store had been stabbed through the heart and her head was cut off.
Wen Qingzhu stood up instantly. Who is it
She just opened the door and walked to the corridor. She saw the previous boss kneeling on the ground at the door of the inn, as if begging for something.
Lu Tao came over from the stairs and said seriously: "Madam, that boss wants to see you."
Wen Qingzhu thought for a moment, nodded, and turned to enter the room.
Not long after, the boss walked into the room with a confused look.
When he saw Wen Qingzhu, he knelt down and said, "Madam, this, this is what my mother left for you."
In the raised hand, there was a white stone.
"What is this?" Wen Qingzhu felt that this stone exuded an inexplicable warmth.
The boss couldn't help but shed tears, and said in a daze: "I don't know, I just know that my mother values this thing more than her life."
"Your mother was killed in a hurry. How did you know that she wanted you to give this thing to me?" Wen Qingzhu felt that the identity of this old woman might not be simple.
The boss lowered his head, looked at the white stone in his hand, and said quietly: "Actually, my mother knew she would die a long time ago, so she told me early to give this stone to the last person she saw. And the last person I saw was you, madam."