Chapter 5 The Enemy You Can't Afford to Offend

When his beloved son was attacked and unconscious, He Chunhua also sent a message to the West Mountain Leopard Monster, but there was no reply.

He sighed: "In addition, the urgent reports from the mainland have been interrupted for ten days, because the Pingning area was occupied by the rebels, and then there was a flood. The post stations along the way were unusable and all communications were interrupted. Heishui City has been busy reorganizing the troops these days."

He Lingchuan was slightly stunned: "Are we going to join the war too?"

He did hear that there were some unusual movements in the military camp recently, but he didn't take it to heart. Qiansong County has not had a big battle for a long time, but sporadic battles around Heishui City are every other day. Most of them are government troops going out to suppress bandits and fight against blind thieves. The military and civilians are used to it.

"It's hard to say." He Chunhua's face was gloomy.

"Forget it." Looking at his slightly haggard face, He Lingchuan didn't really blame this cheap father in his heart. The county affairs are heavy, grain production, trade, border troubles, defense, natural disasters, all of which cannot be neglected, and they must also guard against the rebels from the mainland. He Chunhua gets up earlier than chickens and sleeps later than dogs. He is a diligent official.

Even though he has worked hard for Qiansong County, the worst news often comes from the heartland of Yuan Country!

This country is trapped in civil strife.

"What do you want to see when you call me here?"

"This." He Chunhua opened the leopard's mouth.

The mouth full of sharp teeth is chilling, but He Lingchuan immediately noticed the difference: "Are all the canine teeth gone?"

The four canine teeth were pulled out, leaving only blood holes.

"The leopard monster that attacked you also used canine teeth to hide things. In addition, the internal injuries of the leopard are very similar to those of this leopard king." He pondered, "Where did you keep the things in its canine teeth? Show me."

When He Lingchuan was found by the He family at the bottom of the cliff, he was unconscious and covered in blood, and the leopard had already died.

So the He family moved the two back together, and the living person was treated quickly, and the dead leopard was sent for autopsy. He Lingchuan only went to hunt mountain goats, but he brought back a leopard monster, so this can also be considered his prey. After He Chunhua saw the collection in the leopard tooth, he gave it to his eldest son as a souvenir.

Monsters also have storage needs, but most of them don't wear clothes, so where can they hide things? The general practice is to refine a part of their body into a storage space. Of course, this requires the support of talent. For example, crocodile monsters like to use their stomachs as treasure bags, and monsters such as tigers, leopards, wolves and jackals usually refine their canine teeth to hide things.

Humans who understand this characteristic kill leopard monsters and of course take their canine teeth as trophies.

And opening the storage space requires spiritual power. He Lingchuan, who had just crossed over, didn't know the reason and thought the leopard tooth was really empty.

"Put it in the house, turn around and get it." Now it was finally He Lingchuan's turn to talk about business, "Dad, I have something else to report to you."

Then, he told the story of the guards of Donglai Mansion tracking down the whereabouts of Sha Bao.

The more He Chunhua listened, the tighter his brows frowned. When he heard the three words "Donglai Mansion", he stood up suddenly: "What did you say?"

He turned pale and slapped him with his hand.

He Lingchuan subconsciously took a half step back.

However, He Chunhua's slap stopped in mid-air and did not really hit him.

After a few seconds, his palm shrank into a fist and slammed on the table with a "bang":

"Privately setting up torture is simply nonsense!"

He knew that his son was used to doing things recklessly and would hit the iron plate sooner or later if he did not change his ways. But he did not expect the iron plate to come so quickly and accurately.

Da Sima!

How did he offend Da Sima!

He Chunhua has always been evaluated as "calm" in the officialdom, but in He Lingchuan's memory, he often saw his father get angry with him, but he was not afraid. Instead, he argued: "Those two people are asking around. The city is full of talkative bastards. I'm afraid they will soon trace us."

At this time, he admired He Chunhua's caution. Regarding the matter of the leopard monster, He County Magistrate not only did not make it public, but also asked those who knew about it to keep silent. Otherwise, the news that the little tyrant of Blackwater City killed the leopard monster alone would have spread all over the city, and the two people would have known it without asking.

Of course, there is no wall that is impenetrable.

"The Zhang Hongbin case initiated by the Grand Marshal six years ago involved one duke, two marquises, and seven barons, implicating more than 2,600 people. How many people do you think will survive in the end?"

The old man's face was like a dark cloud, and He Lingchuan was cautious: "It seems... not many?"

"Seventy-three people!" He Chunhua said word by word, "How many women and children were there? Ha, in the end, only seventy-three people survived!"

A chill rose in He Lingchuan's heart.

Not to mention the common people, even the lives of the nobles were like cheap grass, and they could be chopped off if they wanted to.

"Compared to that, our family's experience is not the worst..." He Chunhua sighed and turned back to the topic, "Why didn't you come and report directly after receiving the message from the Red and White Road?"

"I want to find out something before reporting." He Lingchuan's expression was condensed, and his eyes were full of cruelty, "If these two people don't have much background, it would be best for me to take revenge; if their backers are too strong, then we must not let them know that the escaped Sha Bao is in our hands."

He Chunhua was originally full of anger, but after carefully thinking about his son's words, his expression gradually calmed down, and finally he actually agreed with two points: "It makes sense."

Whether these two people are caught or not is not the point. The root of the trouble is that the things that Da Sima wants may be in the hands of them.

He looked at He Lingchuan: "You can also use your brain to think about things."

Meeting his father's gratified eyes, He Lingchuan grinned to avoid: "I'll go get something."

A quarter of an hour later.

He Lingchuan had returned with the leopard tooth and poured all the stored things on the small table.

"That's all."

The relics of the sand leopard that attacked He Lingchuan include several demon pills of different sizes and colors, a set of hair-breaking daggers, several pieces of white jade, a string of pearl necklaces, some sundries whose uses are unknown, and even more than a dozen gold and silver ingots!

The demons are not just vicious, they also trade with humans. The appearance of gold and silver as hard currency is not surprising to the He father and son.

"It can't be this string of beads that the Sima wants, right?" He Lingchuan picked up the beads and held them up to the light.

The luster of the pearls is warm and charming, each one is slightly larger than a melon seed, and faintly glows blue in the sun. Just for a while, light water vapor began to condense around the beads, and people still felt cool in it, and even breathing was much smoother, as if they had come to a coast with a breeze.

"It has a little water condensation effect, nothing special." All creatures need water. In the dry desert, this string of beads can make the sand leopard feel comfortable, but the Sima should not be interested in it.

He Chunhua's eyes were on the pile of miscellaneous items. Last time he counted them, he had piled them aside, but now he wanted to take a closer look.

But these things were scattered, such as dried flowers and plants, half a piece of black musk, half-chewed bones, and a bloody ring that seemed to have been obtained from a human victim, a broken hairpin, a few packets of spices, a dozen feathers, a half comb, and...

A lot of dried insects, dried snakes, and dried lizards.