Chapter 260: Silk From Cocoons

Chapter 260: Silkworm Cocoons and Unraveling Silk

Sanniang must have her own purpose... or perhaps she was intentionally or unintentionally leaking information to visitors from the Central Plains.

Otherwise, why would she look at him differently the moment he arrived and asked about Jiangnan cuisine? When he expressed that he would just eat a mutton leg if there was no Jiangnan cuisine, she had found it utterly dull.

Regarding that drunkard who had loitered here for a month, Zhao Changhe estimated that Situ Xiao must have dug out quite a bit of the information he wanted before leaving.

Zhao Changhe glanced at Sanniang. She was still smiling as she drank, stretching out a hand quite stiffly: "What else do you want to ask? Ten taels for each question."

Zhao Changhe smiled, then suddenly said: "Hey, I now suspect you are using your organization's intelligence to make money for yourself."

"Do not speak nonsense!" Sanniang immediately sat up straight, her eyes darting all over the place: "What organization do I have? This is all intelligence I gathered myself through untold hardships!"

Saying this, she began to fake cry with whimpering sounds: "I am just a weak woman, all alone in this land of barbarians, do you know how hard life is..."

"Perhaps there are also people like Wu Balu who use their power to bully you, right? It must be very exhausting to deal with, right?"

"Yes, yes."

"I get it, I get it. Because of the way you treat guests, you just put on an innocent act, right."

Sanniang's fake crying vanished instantly, and she said with a giggle: "Life is not easy, life is not easy... Do you want to buy anything else?"

Zhao Changhe thought for a moment and asked: "The distribution of the experts in the prairie, do you have that?"

Sanniang's face fell: "No."

"Then are there any strange secret realms? For example, how was this lake in the desert formed, naturally or was it..."

Before he could finish, Sanniang's expression changed: "No. I say, why do you only ask about these bizarre things? Are you looking for trouble? I am not selling to you anymore."

Zhao Changhe tilted his head to look at her and sighed: "Fine, fine, I, Wang Daozhong, am just terrible at reading people's faces. I get scolded wherever I go."

Sanniang: "..."

"One last question." Zhao Changhe handed over another piece of broken silver.

Sanniang swiftly scooped the money into her embrace, beaming with joy: "Speak."

"Previously, did Yue Hongling not kill some Black Wolf King in the prairie? Is she still around now?"

Sanniang squinted at him: "Why, do you want to capture her to claim a reward from the Khan, or do you want to pursue the heroine?"

"I just came to buy information. Why do you care what I use the information for? A person who sells a pig-slaughtering knife would not ask whether the knife is used to kill pigs or people."

"Makes sense." Sanniang propped up her chin and thought for a bit: "But if her whereabouts could be found out here, it would prove she is in great danger. If you came to pursue the heroine, you should pray that no one knows her whereabouts."

Zhao Changhe also nodded: "Makes sense. So no one knows her whereabouts yet?"

"No... You should know, recently in this place, it does not matter if men come and go, but once a woman enters or leaves, she might be surrounded by a grand army immediately."

"Because of Yue Hongling?"

"Correct." Sanniang smiled faintly: "So Yue Hongling is in a tight spot right now; she probably has nowhere to resupply. Even if she goes to rob people as a horse bandit, what she robs might not be useful. Whether it is money or silk, robbing them cannot serve as food. She needs food, water, and horse feed. If this continues, she might take a risk and come to Huangsha Market again. If you squat here, you might actually see her. Whether you want to save the beauty like a hero or take advantage of the chaos to mess with her, that is your business. I said nothing."

Zhao Changhe nodded: "Understood. What Sanniang sells is not just information, but also analysis. It is well worth the money."

Sanniang beamed with joy: "Of course. If you want to buy anything else, just look for me!"

Zhao Changhe always felt that her words subtly implied waiting for him to reply "buy you," and then splashing a basin of foot-washing water all over him. Unfortunately, he would not cooperate with this scenario and merely said: "I want to go out and have some fun. Does Sanniang have any recommendations? For instance, to witness some unique things... I do not mean buying Western Region jewelry or spices, but the characteristics of this place."

Sanniang looked expectantly at his hand, but he did not pull out any money.

She sniffed her nose: "Fine, it is indeed embarrassing to charge money just for pointing the way. Why don't you go check out the beast arena in the exact center of the market?"

"What is a beast arena?"

"Just view it as a black market life-and-death match. Some underworld forces in the Central Plains also have this kind of thing, but here, it is slaves who fight."

"Understood. Then wouldn't calling it a colosseum settle it? Why call it a beast arena? Because the opponents are all ferocious beasts?"

"The opponents are basically humans too. The reason it is called a beast arena is that apart from fighting, there is also selling... Is it not true that humans are just like beasts?" Sanniang smiled faintly: "Whether it is those being sold, or those selling people."

Zhao Changhe sipped his wine and looked up at her.

Sanniang said calmly: "Among the slaves being sold, there are strong men

Thus, for the task entrusted by Cui Yuanyong, if the person was not dead, then eight times out of ten they would be in that caravan now; if the person was dead, one could still glean information from this caravan. Turning round and round, the point of entry was the Qiao family caravan encountered on the road—come what may, a night reconnaissance was imperative.