Chapter 89 A Spy
1476 Words
Chu Ying followed Yuan Huan. Because they took the plane last night, it was still nine o'clock in the morning. They had plenty of time.
They didn't hurry on with their journey, and Yuan Huan took Chu Ying to a small restaurant on the street.
This restaurant had an LED signboard but looked shabby. It was low-level even in this old and antiquated town.
Several cement stairs out of repair were in front of the door, and there were a few broken holes in the corner. Even the windows around were full of all kinds of advertisements. They walked in slowly.
Different from the bright space outside, there were only a few small dim oil lamps inside, which were ill-adapted to the modern era.
There was moldy odor in the room, which made Chu Ying cough involuntarily, yet Yuan Huan in front of him seemed to be used to this odor. He didn't turn to leave but led Chu Ying to a table adroitly and sat down.
"Waiter," Yuan Huan shouted.
There was no answer.
Chu Ying looked around, only to find that there was nobody in this dim restaurant. It was empty and surprisingly quiet with no sound except the two's breaths.
What a strange restaurant. Chu Ying thought, but he didn't say anything. He wanted to see how Yuan Huan would deal with such a situation.
At this time, there were slow footsteps upstairs from outside. Next second, an old man came into their sight. His hairs were white and black, and the eyes under his surprisingly thin brows were bright and piercing. The dense wrinkles were all over his face and showed the old man's real age.
He had a stoop and walked to them slowly, seeming to be murmuring, yet Chu Ying didn't understand anything.
He turned to Yuan Huan next to him, to see that the latter smiled at the comer and said casually, "We'd like to order food."
The old man didn't answer immediately but continued moving to their table unhurriedly.
Yuan Huan didn't get angry but waited quietly, and the scene confused Chu Ying.
When the old man walked to their table, he finally opened his mouth and asked, "What would you like to order?"
"Two liang of white spirit," Yuan Huan replied.
"There is no white spirit here." When the old man said that, surprise flashed in his sharp eyes.
"Then two liang of rice wine."
"The rice wine has been sold out," The old man continued, with more surprise in his eyes. Then he asked, "Will you have a taste of the liquor specially made in our restaurant?"
"Okay. We will order one liang to have a taste," Yuan Huan answered.
There was nothing wrong with this simple conversation in Chu Ying's eyes, and it was just like the procedure of ordering food in a restaurant at ordinary times.
However, what happened next made his calm face look astonished again.
The old man suddenly took two steps backward and bowed. "Lord Yuan, you have come. I don't have sharp eyes, so I didn't recognize you. Please forgive me."
"It doesn't matter," Yuan Huan waved his hand with a smile and responded impassively. "We haven't seen each other for nearly ten years, and we have many changes inevitably, so it's forgivable that you can't recognize me. Fortunately, we have secret signals, so we can recognize each other now."
Secret signals? What secret signals? Chu Ying was confused and carefully thought about their conversation. He suddenly realized something. They mentioned three numbers, two liang of white spirit, two liang of rice wine, and one liang of liquor, while he knew that the mountain where the Chu family lived was named 221.
He glanced at the two people again and gradually understood what role this old man played. Unexpectedly, since ten years ago, the warriors with ritual articles in the Elemental Star Headquarters had secretly spied into the Chu family.
Right, Luo Sen and Yuan Huan had arranged this old man in this small town then and disguised him as a local resident. He often went hunting on the mountain and secretly inquired about the information in the Chu family.
"We came to make the Chu family follow us, so we can be equal to the Bloodline Warriors in the Elemental Star Headquarters. Because of this, I need to know what has happened to the Chu family in the past ten years. Tell us some information helpful to us." Yuan Huan revealed his purpose of arrival and stated unhurriedly.
Some gentle energy burst out around the old man all of a sudden, and his hunchback became straight gradually, which made his momentum increase.
He looked at Yuan Huan and Chu Ying, saying respectfully, "In the past ten years, the Chu family has developed stably, and there are many powerful warriors with ritual articles. With the family's tremendous financial strength, they have got many awesome ritual articles in all kinds of ways, so it promotes their whole strength to a certain extent.
"The members of the direct line in the family have been promoted greatly, and the first young master Chu Tian has broken through the stage of bloodline and reached the Middle Term of Grade 3 at the Top Stage of Red Bloodline even though his strength in ritual articles is powerful, which is rare among the warriors with ritual articles, and he is called genius." After saying that, the old man seemed to think of something suddenly and then continued.
"Chu Tian is much more powerful than the second young master of the Chu family, and he has such great attainments at a young age, so he is admirable. I have heard that the second young master couldn't compare with his elder brother in strength in the past, but he was also gifted. Now he has left the Chu family and nobody knows where he is now." The old man sighed with emotion.
"Aha, is there other important information?" Yuan Huan asked with a smile. He didn't plan to reveal Chu Ying's identity to anybody else because it was pointless. With Chu Ying's current strength, he wouldn't even take his elder brother into account.
"Yes, there is one more important thing. The Chu family seems to have secret contact with another family, the Jin family recently. If the spy I hide in the Chu family didn't tell me secretly, we would never know it. It can be seen that this matter is not simple.
"The top three families don't interfere in each other's business, but they have contact. They visit each other by courtesy besides meeting in the elites' competition held every year, yet it is the first time to contact secretly, so I guess that there must be something wrong. Please be careful." The old man reminded them.
"Contact secretly?" Yuan Huan repeated, as if lost in thought. "This is an important message indeed. Thanks for your hard work, Elder Shen. After we finish our job this time, you will finish your job. We will give you rewards as we promised." Yuan Huan got up slowly and told Chu Ying to walk out with him.
"Thanks, Lord Yuan," The old man called Elder Shen said respectfully and watched them leave the small dim restaurant.
This restaurant was so crude because they wanted to fool public opinion. When a spy's residence was inconspicuous, it would be more difficult to be found, and they could collect information more successfully.
Yuan Huan and Chu Ying walked out of the restaurant, bathed in sunshine again. It was nearly at noon, and they found a restaurant to eat some food randomly. Then they left the small town and walked to Mountain 221 not far away.
"What do you think about the secret contact between the Chu family and the Jin family?" On the way, Yuan Huan asked Chu Ying and wanted to hear the unique opinion of this former member of the Chu family.
"I think that they must have observed the current situation or want to expand the sphere of influence and find allies. With the Chu family's style of doing things, they must be capable of dealing with all men, so we need to be careful," Chu Ying said in a deep voice. Although he had left his family for long, he knew something about the family's thoughts and style of behavior.
"It appears that we need to show our strength before we can persuade the Chu family," Yuan Huan expressed, with cold light flashing in his eyes indistinctly.
"You must be able to realize which is more important, the family bloodline or the interest of the warriors with ritual articles in the Elemental Star Headquarters, right?" Yuan Huan continued to ask.
"Of course. And I am not a member of the Chu family anymore," Chu Ying said coldly.
"That's great."
- Writer
