Chapter 11: Ruyi

“Owner, why don’t you keep her?”

“If I keep her, she won’t be my Afu.”

“Why? Don’t you like her? If I were you, I would tie her up and keep her by my side for the rest of my life.” A girl with a baby face said these cruel words with an innocent expression. “I don’t know what love is, but I know that if it’s something I like, I have to get it without compromise. If I can’t have it, I’d rather ruin it than let it be cheap for others! Since the owner likes Shen Fu, just tie her up, abolish her martial arts, and then she can only follow you!”

“Yu’er, if you say you don’t understand love, you really don’t understand it. If love were as simple as you say, it would be easy.”

When Ruyi thought of Shen Fu’s ignorant eyes when she woke up, her heart softened by three points.

“When you truly like someone, you will know that when you are really moved, you are reluctant to hurt her even a little. Seeing her cry and feel sad will make you feel even sadder than she does. Not to mention, even if I confine her, I can’t confine her heart. I love her for her freedom. If she becomes a canary, if she is raised as a caged bird by me…”

She wanted to say that she might not love her as much anymore, but when she thought about it, if that person were Shen Fu…

She still loved her.

It’s just that she was reluctant to see her become like that.

So she put Shen Fu into the cage she built, and then released her.

The girl named Yu’er was startled when she saw Ruyi’s expression.

She had seen what Ruyi looked like when she was killing.

The woman twisted her neck gently, as if breaking a straw.

Although Ruyi often smiled, her smile was often cold and devoid of warmth, making people feel a chill run down their spines.

She had also seen Ruyi welcoming guests in Ruyi Building.

She smiled then too, but that gentle smile was full of estrangement. The men who received her attention left feeling as if they had found some kind of precious treasure, leaving them foolishly enchanted.

If those people saw Ruyi’s appearance at this moment, they would surely be shocked!

But apart from Shen Fu, no one else could make the owner smile like this.

Yu’er shook her head, dismissing the strange images that had appeared in her mind.

“By the way, the owner, Duan Kuan came today.”

Duan Kuan was the right guardian of Shunxin Lou.

Unlike Yu’er, who always stayed at Ruyi Tower and was next to Ruyi, Duan Kuan, as the right guardian, had to run errands from time to time.

Ruyi’s smile disappeared instantly upon hearing Duan Kuan’s name.

She asked, “What did he say?”

“It’s nothing more than salt and iron… He meant to let you serve snacks… The goods over there may not be enough… He hopes we can get more things out.”

Ruyi laughed angrily and said, “What does he think I am? Does he think I’m a sorceress who can conjure things out of thin air? The amount of smuggled salt and iron is not up to me. If the mining increases, the supply decreases. Am I supposed to make up for it from the official salt and official iron?”

Yu’er’s eyes rolled, and without hesitation, she added, “I see that the heart of the right guardian has been floating outside for a long time; I’m afraid it’s a little swollen…”

…

Shen Fu didn’t know how the right guardian felt when he was given the eye drops, but she was not in a good mood as she walked down the road.

She didn’t mind her friends hiding things from her.

People in the world were full of lies and deceit.

The young chivalrous girl who ran away from home had to write a letter to tell her family while fighting the bag on the dock that she would soon become famous in the rivers and lakes if she feasted on it. She could only drink cold water and make steamed buns, selling letters at a street stall to make a living. When she was with friends, she didn’t mention her embarrassment at all.

Even Shen Fu herself hid many untold secrets.

But…

Shen Fu searched the street.

It finally settled on the sign of a small candied fruit shop.

At this time, it was dinner time. There were not many pedestrians on the road, and even fewer people buying things in the store. There was only a sleepy shopkeeper in the fruit store, his chin supported on his hand, looking as if his head would drop onto the table at any moment.

Hearing the footsteps, he raised his head with a kind smile. “What can I get for you, guest?”

Shen Fu pulled out a jade card from her cuff.

A small Qin character was engraved on the jade plate.

The shopkeeper glanced at the jade card, and his smile suddenly became respectful. “It turns out to be a major customer. Your goods are in the warehouse. Please, allow me to assist you.”

…

The three characters “Xiuchundao” were daunting to most people in the world.

So that every time they went out, no matter how guilty they felt, they trembled.

There was no other reason; the things that this organization could find were too detailed and too extensive.

Take the last official who was arrested by Xiuchundao.

Among the crimes listed by Xiuchundao, he was even accused of abusing the emperor while talking in his sleep at night.

The level of detail in this kind of information truly made people feel as if someone was watching them.

No one could tell if someone they met on the road was a person embroidering a spring knife.

No one knew whether a word they said casually would be recorded on Xiuchundao’s blacklist.

Mysterious, vast, pervasive, omnipresent.

This was everyone’s impression of Xiuchundao.

It was also the reason why everyone was deterred by Xiuchundao.

“You have access to special products. Any information I have here, you can inquire about.”

In the preserved fruit shop, the one who saw Shen Fu was an old man with gray hair and a rickety figure.

He looked no different from an ordinary old man, but his bright eyes were not typical for his age—clear, transparent, and piercing. When these eyes were watching, it seemed that all secrets were laid bare.

When Shen Fu came in, he only raised these eyes, and when he looked at her like this, Shen Fu felt as if she were being seen through.

“I want to know the information about Ruyi Tower.”

Shen Fu said straightforwardly.

“There is a lot of information about Ruyi Tower. What do you want to know?” the old man asked.

Shen Fu replied, “Can you tell me what you know?”

The old man thought for a while and asked, “Have you ever heard the words ‘Shun Xin Ruyi, an adult?'”

Shen Fu was slightly startled. “…I’ve heard something about it.”

Shunxin Ruyi referred to a mysterious organization in the rivers and lakes.

Shen Fu had also heard about it while listening to people chat; she had heard so much that it was almost second nature.

It was said that this organization was very mysterious and quite large. According to rumors among the people of Jianghu, it was even more powerful than Xiuchundao. To a certain extent, it was even more influential than Xiuchundao.

Because Xiuchundao was an organization for the court after all; except for the emperor and a small number of people, few could command it. But it was different for Shunxin Ruyi. Their standards for use had no threshold. The only requirement was that you had to find them, or they had to find you. No one knew where Shunxin Ruyi was or what it could do, but as its name suggested, no one who found it was unhappy.

No matter how deep the secret was or how difficult the desire to realize, it was not a problem to get to Shunxin Ruyi.

As long as you could afford it.

It’s a pity that ordinary people from the rivers and lakes could neither find the liking nor receive the letter of invitation to Shunxin Ruyi.

And those who had achieved their wishes through Shunxin Ruyi would actively help Shunxin Ruyi to hide their existence. Therefore, it had been floating in the rivers and lakes for two years. Today, the level of understanding of this mysterious organization was limited to hearsay.

Xiuchundao obviously knew a lot more about its competitors than Shen Fu had imagined.

“Shunxin Ruyi is actually a collective term for Shunxin Tower and Ruyi Tower.”

Seeing Shen Fu’s pupils tighten slightly, the old man chuckled lightly and said, “My lord is right; it’s the Ruyi Tower.”

“They are so blatantly placed there; are you not afraid of being discovered…”

Shunxin Ruyi was so mysterious in the arena, yet one of its branches, Ruyi Tower, was so openly established. Who could imagine it?

“Here lies the brilliance of Ruyi Tower. Adults will know that in Ruyi Tower in different cities, there are actually different people standing behind them, and the madams in the building are almost ordinary people. The true members of Ruyi Tower are hidden within… So who can imagine that an ordinary brothel is actually part of Shunxin Ruyi?”

“The brothel is very busy. Even if there are strangers coming and going frequently, it will not attract the attention of others. The dynasty can’t help but host banquets and drinks, making it a good place to gather information. Therefore, Ruyi Tower serves as an excellent source of information.”

“Shunxin Lou, adults can be roughly understood as a killer organization, because the most common thing they do is to kill people. They kill different people; as long as they can afford to pay, the bad guys are killed, the good guys are killed, and of course, they also occasionally steal some things that ordinary thieves can’t get. It is said that Excalibur Villa has lost a sword, and it is related to them.”

Shen Fu asked again, “Then… where is Miss Ruyi?”

She wanted to know what the relationship between Ruyi and Ruyi Tower was.

The old man looked at Shen Fu and smiled softly.

“My lord has already guessed it, so why bother to say more?”

“The only person who would name himself Ruyi is the owner of Ruyi Tower.”

All the doubts were suddenly explained.

Why is it that the woman in distress whom Shen Fu rescued on the roadside, after being a prostitute for two years, is still a prostitute?

Why did Ruyi pour her a cup of warm tea, but the water Chu Baige drank the next moment was icy cold?

Why did Chu Baige, who clearly set out at the same time as her, board the Ruyi Tower’s pleasure boat only after Ruyi left?

And why…

When people are unwilling to think, their eyes will selectively ignore many problems.

But if you think carefully, you will find that the truth behind many things cannot be hidden at all.

She wished…

In a flash, a guess suddenly emerged in Shen Fu’s mind.

Did you never even think about hiding it from her?

Otherwise, how could there be so many loopholes?