“I’ll certainly arrange it. But…” Fatso was caught in a bind. The Black Meeting… it’s full of murderers, robbers, burglars, thieves—people with shadows behind their smiles. If Brother Sheng got tangled in trouble there and ended up hurt, that’d be disastrous.
“But I better keep a low profile, right?” Lu Sheng smiled faintly. He understood the concern well.
He wasn’t just representing himself—he was carrying the name of the Lu family of Nine Links City. If anything happened to him, the Lu Manor would definitely hold Zheng Xiangui accountable.
“It’s best that you understand. Brother Sheng, your identity isn’t like anyone else’s. If it were someone else, I wouldn’t be this worried…” Zheng Xiangui sighed, shoulders slumping.
“I got it. Just make the arrangements. I must lay my hands on that thing.”
“Sigh…” Zheng Xiangui could only comply helplessly.
Lu Sheng confirmed the time of the Black Meeting with him carefully. Once Zheng Xiangui ordered a servant to fetch a VIP invitation, Lu Sheng waited in silence.
When the gilded invitation was finally handed over, Lu Sheng accepted it and stepped out of the restaurant.
“High-grade cosmetic powder! Ladies, come and take a look!”
“First-grade products from the Central Plains, freshly imported from Zi Hua City!”
“Blusher from Purple Sun & Floral Scent—nowhere else can you find it!”
Outside, hawkers wheeled their wooden carts along the roadside, their cries echoing through the damp evening air.
Lu Sheng’s gaze swept over them. The entire street was lined with stalls selling cosmetics—an area beloved by the city’s women and ladies of leisure.
A drizzle had passed not long ago, leaving the cobbled street slick and glistening. The setting sun cast its rays upon the wet stones, turning the street a delicate shade of red.
Lu Sheng exhaled softly. His breath came out as a pale mist, fading into the chill air.
Turning back, he glanced once more at the towering Goldfish Restaurant behind him. Under the amber glow, its massive shadow stretched across the street.
It was the largest restaurant in all of Nine Links City, and during these hours, it was alive with noise—diners coming and going, laughter and clattering dishes weaving into a lively symphony.
In that shadow, Lu Sheng stood still for a moment, eyes drifting to both sides of the building.274Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCHZsGOf9E
The surrounding alleys were quieter, dimly lit and sparsely visited.
Hawkers trudged through the shade, pushing their carts of powders and perfumes, the wheels creaking as they rolled on through the evening calm.
As Lu Sheng walked along the street, he considered buying a few gifts for his second mother and Yiyi. The cosmetic powders sold here weren’t expensive, and occasionally one could find fine-quality goods fit for presents.
He strolled slowly, glancing at each hawker in turn, searching for a decent stall.
As the afternoon wore on, the lively street began to fade into stillness. Shops shuttered one after another, their doors creaking closed. The crowd that once filled both sides of the street dwindled until only a few passersby remained.
What struck him as odd was that the hawkers, despite seeing the emptiness around them, continued to smile and shout tirelessly, their cries rising and falling across the desolate street.
Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes but thought little of it. Perhaps this was just one of those peculiar customs of this world.
His gaze drifted left and right until it landed on a cart painted in a faint shade of red. A wooden pole jutted upward from it, flying a small flag that read: “Central Plains’ Li’s Cosmetic Goods.”
The hawker pushed the cart forward at a leisurely pace, a wide grin on his face. He wore a coarse grey linen robe and a faded melon-skin cap of whitish grey.
Li’s Cosmetic Goods… if I recall correctly, that’s quite a reputable business from the Central Plains.
Lu Sheng followed him at a calm pace, intending to buy a few powders for his second mother and Yiyi.
A few children ran past the street ahead, laughing as they chased one another. The hawker’s cart rolled slowly beyond them and turned into a narrow alley shrouded in shadows.
Thinking the man was about to pack up for the day, Lu Sheng quickened his steps to catch up.
“Ai! Brother Sheng!”
A voice suddenly called out from behind him—familiar, almost intimate.
Lu Sheng turned around. Striding toward him was a tanned, broad-shouldered scholar, his robes slightly dusty from travel.
“Luo Sheng?” [1]
He hesitated a moment before recognition dawned.
Luo Sheng—more properly known as Luo Junyi—was a typical rich young master of Nine Links City, much like Lu Sheng himself. Yet unlike the other dandies of their class, he had actually achieved an academic title, having recently passed the prefectural-level examination to become a xiucai. Word around the city was that he possessed quite the literary talent. [2]
In truth, Lu Sheng’s relationship with him was nothing special. He simply remembered his name because it happened to be the same as that of a hero from Mount Liang.
“Brother Sheng, it’s an emergency—an emergency!” Luo Junyi rushed toward him, face flushed and breathing quick.
Lu Sheng immediately understood the situation. Despite being a wealthy young master, Luo Junyi was hopelessly addicted to gambling. It wasn’t the first time he had run out of money and gone around borrowing from acquaintances.
It seemed his luck had run dry again.
Lu Sheng chuckled softly and took ten taels of silver from his waist pouch, handing them over.
“How’s your luck today?”
“Acceptable, acceptable, hahaha… I knew I could count on Brother Sheng!” Luo Junyi snatched the silver with a grin and hurried off without another word.
Lu Sheng shook his head with a faint smile. The money was of no consequence—the Lu family’s wealth was vast. Even if one coin left his hands, ten more would circle back in due time.
Turning his gaze, he looked once more for the hawker selling cosmetic goods.
The cart had already disappeared into the nearby alley, only its rear corner visible from the street.
With long, steady strides, Lu Sheng made his way toward it and stepped into the alley’s shadowed mouth.
“Eh…?”
He froze mid-step. The narrow lane before him ended abruptly—a dead end.
The alley was utterly empty. No hawker. No cart. Not even a trace of footprints.
Lu Sheng’s eyes narrowed to thin slits, his body instinctively tensing.
He scanned the surroundings—every wall, every crevice. The alley stretched for barely ten meters, walled in by houses of dark grey stone. At the far end stood an aged, soot-black wall, sealed with several talismans.
The white paper, inked in crimson, had darkened with age; their corners fluttered faintly, half-detached and brittle under the dimming light.
“No trapdoors… no hidden gaps… where could the cart have gone?”
Lu Sheng racked his memory. He was certain the cart had turned into this alley between the houses.
He stepped back onto the street and spotted the few children still playing, chasing one another with carefree laughter. Their clothes were plain, simple, the kind worn by ordinary families.
He forced a friendly smile and fished out a few bronze coins from his pocket. Approaching a little girl who was darting past him in pursuit of another child, he crouched slightly.
“Little girl, can I ask you something?”
“What do you want to ask, brother? Please ask.”
She had two ponytails bouncing at her shoulders and looked no older than nine or ten, her cheeks round and flushed. Accustomed to playing freely on the streets, she met strangers without hesitation, speaking honestly.
“Brother would like to ask—did you see that Li’s Cosmetic Goods cart pass by here just now? Did it enter this alley?”
Lu Sheng pressed two bronze coins into her tiny hands. Her eyes lit up, and a radiant smile spread across her face.
“I didn’t see any cosmetic goods cart at all. We play here every day. The carts usually come only in the morning. In the afternoon, they all go over to the antique street.”
“You didn’t see it?” Lu Sheng’s brow furrowed. A flicker of doubt crossed his mind, suspecting she might be lying.
But the earnestness in her wide-eyed face made him pause.
“What I said is true. There really weren’t any carts on the streets today. If you don’t believe me, you can ask others. There’s nothing at all out there,” the other children chorused as they ran over, confirming her words.
“Yeah, yeah. My mum was even planning to come grab some stuff, but there wasn’t a single cart in sight. It’s really strange.”
“This brother says he just saw a Li’s Cosmetic Goods,” the little girl added, pointing at Lu Sheng.
“Where? Where?”
“I don’t see it. That’s all there is to this street.”
“Brother probably saw it in his dreams? Heeheehee…”
The children broke into laughter again, their noise bouncing off the empty walls around them.
The smile on Lu Sheng’s face slowly faded. He turned toward the Goldfish Restaurant.
From the shadowed street beside it, the restaurant bustled with business, its lively energy starkly contrasting the deserted streets surrounding him.
“In that case, did you all see—”
Lu Sheng’s voice faltered. He turned, only to find the children had vanished. Every single one of them.
The street around him was empty, utterly silent, as if swallowed by the evening. Not a passerby in sight. The laughter, the footsteps, the chaos of the children—all gone.
Logically, it was impossible for a group of kids that age to vanish without a sound.
Lu Sheng’s confidence wavered for the first time in a while. Trained in the Black Tiger Saber, he could track wild wolves by the slightest movement of the wind. Yet here, not a whisper hinted at their departure.
A chill crawled down his spine as he stared at the desolate street. He hurried toward the Goldfish Restaurant.
“Pitter, patter…”
His own footsteps rang louder than usual against the cobblestones. The closer he drew to the restaurant, the warmer the air felt on his skin, as if life itself was returning to the world around him.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the street erupted with motion and energy, as though he had broken through a hidden barrier. Warm-bodied customers brushed past him; one accidentally collided with him, then hurriedly apologized.
Ladies descended gracefully from horse-drawn carriages, their smiles soft and serene as they were led into the restaurant by attentive waiters.
Pausing before the restaurant, Lu Sheng glanced back at the cosmetic goods street. Where it had been deserted just moments ago, now people moved about, strolling or haggling at stalls—passersby who hadn’t been there before.
The difference was staggering. The street had transformed from a ghostly emptiness to a bustling slice of life.
Lu Sheng drew in a sharp breath of cold air and quickly hailed a horse carriage.
“To the Lu Manor!”
“Alrighty, please sit tight!”
The whip cracked, and the frail old horse lifted its hooves with effort, carrying him forward.
Seated inside the carriage, his mind churned over what he had just witnessed. The hawker, the children—all had been abnormal in ways he couldn’t yet define.
Thinking back, the hawker’s smile hadn’t shifted a single muscle. It had felt utterly fake.
His thoughts wandered to the Xu family case, and a sudden sense of foreboding crept over him, thick and suffocating.
This city… it’s getting more and more dangerous…
“This city is really getting more and more dangerous…” he murmured to himself.
The horse-drawn carriage came to a halt outside the gates of the Lu Manor. The moment the gatekeeper caught sight of Lu Sheng inside, he hurried forward.
“Young Master, you’ve returned?”
The gatekeeper, surnamed Wang, was the eighth-born among his siblings and thus nicknamed Little Eight. Only seventeen, he had already inherited his father’s post as the Lu Manor’s gatekeeper. Sharp and observant, Little Eight often shared the latest strange rumors and whispers circulating both inside and beyond the city—tales that Lu Sheng always found entertaining.
“Is the Old Master in?” Lu Sheng asked casually as he stepped down and settled the carriage fare.
“Old Master went to the yamen again. The Prefect summoned him. Something to look into, it seems,” Little Eight said with a small smile.
“Look into something?”
Lu Sheng frowned slightly. He had been preoccupied with his own affairs these past few days and had neglected the goings-on at home.
“What thing?”
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