Chapter 419 Unexpected Disaster
The next morning.

Following the usual practice, Ling Qing led his men to Huashan Town to gather information. Liu Xunyi and Qin Ku stayed in the lobby of the inn, waiting for the man in white who left a deposit last night.

After tea and dinner, when the sun was high in the sky, the inn that had been quiet all night gradually became lively, with people coming and going shuttling upstairs and downstairs.

Greetings, shouts and yells came one after another.

"Will that person really come?" Qin Ku held his chin with both hands, lazily lying on the table, looking bored and drowsy, as if he was still sleepy.

"I don't know." Liu Xunyi shook his head, "But I'm very curious about him. You've been traveling around the world for many years and have seen a lot. Do you know where that person came from?"

"The Jianghu is so vast, and there are so many people. How can I know them all?" Qin Ku muttered, "He looks like a decent man, but he only has a penny on him. It's really a bit..."

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi and Qin Ku smiled at each other, the meaning was self-evident.

"If I had known that he would be late, I shouldn't have answered his call last night." Qin Ku complained, "It would be better to take a nap in bed."

"Speak of the devil, and here comes the devil." Liu Xunyi raised his eyebrows, looked into the distance, and reminded, "He's coming."

Qin Ku glanced sideways, and saw the man in white from last night, holding a one-foot square wooden box in his hands, walking towards the two of them with a smile on his face.

"boom!"

When he came closer, the man in white threw the wooden box onto the table and said with a smile, "Fatty, open it and take a look."

Qin Ku curled his lips, stretched out two fingers with an arrogant look, and slowly opened the lid of the wooden box.

In an instant, dazzling gold, silver, jewels and precious stones flew out of the box, causing Liu Xunyi and Qin Ku, who were caught off guard, to subconsciously squint their eyes.

Looking closely, the wooden box was actually filled with gold and silver jewelry, pearls and jade rings.

Seeing this, Liu Xunyi could not help but feel surprised. Qin Ku's eyes lit up, and the sleepiness on his face instantly disappeared. He fiddled with the gold, silver, pearls and jade in the wooden box with his hands, looking greedy and salivating.

"How is it?" the man in white said excitedly, "The things inside are worth at least five thousand taels, no more, no less."

Qin Ku ignored the man in white and quickly took out a golden hairpin from the wooden box. He put it in his mouth and bit it hard, as if he was trying to determine whether it was real or fake.

"Real gold and silver, all top-quality jewelry." The man in white smiled in a mysterious tone, "Guaranteed to be genuine."

"My dear, these are all women's jewelry." Liu Xunyi hesitated, "How did you ..."

"Who cares if they are men or women? They are valuable." The man in white interrupted, "These are treasures I have collected for many years. If I were not short of money, I would not be willing to use them to pay off the debt."

After saying that, the man in white threw a seductive glance at Liu Xunyi and said with a wicked smile: "Young man, you are so handsome. If you wear these jewelry, you will definitely be more charming than a woman."

Liu Xunyi was extremely embarrassed and didn't know what to say. Qin Ku quickly threw the golden hairpin in his hand back into the wooden box, showing disgust on his face.

"You have taken the money, but where is the thing I want?"

Hearing this, Qin Ku looked into the wooden box again, then took out an invitation from his arms and said seriously, "Check it on the spot. It will not be returned after the deadline."

The man in white took a quick glance at the invitation, then quickly stuffed it into his arms and nodded, saying, "The money and goods have been paid, we don't owe each other anything."

"You must look carefully." Qin Ku reminded, "If you walk out of the door of the inn, no matter what happens, I will not be responsible for anything."

"the same as you."

The man in white smiled heartily and turned away in a very casual manner.

"What a weirdo."

"Who cares!" Qin Ku pulled the wooden box closer with excitement and said excitedly, "Xun Yi, help me count how many treasures there are. We will exchange them for money later."

Liu Xunyi smiled helplessly and picked up a gold-inlaid jade pendant casually, but accidentally discovered that there was a strange pattern engraved on the jade pendant that looked like a dragon but not a dragon, and like a phoenix but not a phoenix.

When he looked through other jewelry, he found that each one had an identical pattern.

"This pattern... why does it look so familiar? It seems... I've seen it somewhere before?" Liu Xunyi stared at the jade pendant in his hand, recalling the past in his heart.

Seeing that he was distracted, Qin Ku, who was in high spirits, was stunned and exclaimed: "Is it fake?"

"No." Liu Xunyi frowned and shook his head, "I just think the patterns on these jewelry... look familiar."

"Women's stuff is either a dragon and a phoenix or a mandarin duck. They are all similar, nothing strange about it." Qin Ku let out a long sigh of relief.

"wrong!"

Liu Xunyi suddenly had an idea and said, "It's not jewelry, it's a zither."

"What?" Qin Ku looked confused. "What piano?"

"I've seen the same pattern on an ancient zither before." Liu Xunyi murmured thoughtfully.

At this moment, he had completely recalled that at Liushang Ferry in Jueqing Valley, in Xiao Zhirou's thatched cottage, there was an identical pattern engraved on the dusty guqin.

"What guqin?" Qin Ku's eyes lit up and he asked quickly, "How much is it worth? Does it mean it's valuable if it's engraved with this kind of pattern?"

It is easy to change the country but difficult to change one's nature. Qin Ku's three sentences cannot be separated from the word "money".

Liu Xunyi sorted out his thoughts, and under Qin Ku's expectant gaze, he explained: "Actually, that guqin is..." "Bang!"

Just as he said that, a palm suddenly slammed heavily on the table, shaking the cups, plates, and chopsticks, and at the same time, Liu Xunyi's voice stopped abruptly.

"Damn it! Why is it that whenever it comes to a critical moment, there are always blind bastards jumping out to interrupt?"

Qin Ku, whose curiosity was interrupted, flew into a rage and stood up with a bang, cursing and his eyes burning with anger.

However, the people standing behind Qin Ku at this time were not one or two people, but more than twenty people.

They were men and women, all holding swords, and each of them was furious, with a fierce look of bitterness and hatred.

Seeing that the other side had more people and more power, Qin Ku's momentum suddenly weakened a lot. The arrogance on his face instantly turned into flattery. He pretended to be honest and smiled apologetically: "Boss, what can I do for you?"

"Look! Those are our jewelry. He is the thief who sneaked into our room and stole our jewelry last night!"

Suddenly, a young woman pointed at the wooden box on the table and said angrily: "Not only did he steal our things, but he also... humiliated us..."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xunyi and Qin Ku's faces changed immediately, both looking shocked.

"Yes, it's him!" another woman shouted indignantly, "I knew Huashan Town was full of good and bad people, but I didn't expect that this thief would dare to sneak into the room of a Teng clan woman."

"It's the end of summer and the beginning of autumn now. We wear cool clothes when we sleep, but isn't that giving him a free ride?" an older woman said angrily, "We must dig out his eyes to serve as a warning to others!"

"and many more!"

Liu Xunyi finally heard a clue from the chattering and quickly interrupted, "Are you all disciples of the Xiangxi Teng Clan?"

"Bah! Why do you ask questions when you already know the answer, you bastard?" The young woman's face turned red with anger and her voice trembled a little.

"These jewelry...are they yours?" Liu Xunyi asked with embarrassment.

"Um..." Qin Ku coughed twice and interrupted with a smile on his face, "Excuse me for asking, but how did that man humiliate you sisters last night?"

Qin Ku's words surprised Liu Xunyi greatly. At the same time, they aroused the rage of the Teng clan disciples, and he almost got chopped down with swords and axes.

"Last night, someone sneaked into the guest room of the Teng clan's female disciples and stole all their gold and silver jewelry. They also painted flowers, birds, fish, insects, turtles and crabs all over their faces."

Suddenly, a deep voice sounded from behind the crowd. Then, Teng Sanshi came quickly, accompanied by Teng Cang and several disciples.

"Chief Teng?"

Upon seeing Teng Sanshi, Liu Xunyi quickly stood up and bowed respectfully to Teng Sanshi.

After Teng Sanshi saw Liu Xunyi's face clearly, a strange look appeared on his gloomy face, and his tone was slightly surprised: "Why is it you?"

After that, Teng Sanshi cast his angry eyes towards the grinning Qin Ku, frowned again, and said in a deep voice: "I recognize you, the fifth-ranked master on the Dragon Elephant Ranking, and you are known as 'Ghost-Seeing' Qin Ku in the martial arts world."

"The old hero's name is well-known to me. It's a pleasure to meet you today!" Qin Ku did not dare to be arrogant in front of Teng Sanshi and bowed quickly.

"What's going on?" Teng Sanshi cast a gloomy look at the gold and silver jewelry on the table and said unhappily, "One is the Black Fan of the Xianwang Mansion who is at the peak of his career, and the other is a world-famous hemp-robed swordsman. Now they have fallen to the point of stealing women's jewelry for a living? Or... is this your special hobby?"

"Misunderstanding!" Liu Xunyi explained, "We didn't steal these jewelry, it was..."

"As the saying goes, 'Catch the thief and seize the stolen goods.'" Teng Sanshi interrupted, "Now that we have caught the thief with the stolen goods, how can we argue? Come on, confiscate the stolen goods and capture Qin Ku. As for Liu Xunyi, I will personally argue with him when Luo Tianjin arrives in Huashan Town!"

"Wait a moment!"

Qin Ku's expression suddenly changed, and he hurriedly said: "Everyone, this is all the hard-earned money of my younger brother. The one who stole the things was not me, but my customer..."

"You mean... these jewelry are all yours?" Teng Cang asked back.

Qin Ku responded without hesitation: "Of course it's mine!"

"Just admit it!" Teng Cang said coldly, "Patriarch, I've heard that Qin Ku is very greedy for money. This matter probably has nothing to do with Liu Xunyi. It's all because Qin Ku was greedy for money."

Another Teng Clan disciple echoed, "Liu Xunyi is at least the Black Fan of the Xianwang Mansion. I don't think he would do such a dirty thing and ruin his future."

"What do you mean?" Qin Ku was stunned and said in astonishment, "You only pick on the weak? Seeing that I have no backing, you put the blame on me? This is too bullying..."

"Stop talking nonsense and catch him for me..."

"and many more!"

Before Teng Cang gave the order, Liu Xunyi quickly stood in front of Qin Ku and pleaded, "Chief Teng, there is indeed a misunderstanding in this matter. Please think twice."

Teng Sanshi's face darkened, and he said angrily: "Liu Xunyi, don't forget your identity! How dare you protect the person I want?"

"Whether I am Liu Xunyi or Hei Zhishan from the Xianwang Mansion, Qin Ku is my friend. He has been wronged, and I cannot sit idly by!"

"what do you mean……"

"Qin Ku, I must protect you!"

……

(End of this chapter)