Chapter 54 Clues
Five days later, in the evening.

In Pingjiang Prefecture, the largest silk and satin shop, Qingsifang, had just closed after another day of prosperous business. The shopkeeper and a dozen of his employees were busy in the shop. The abacus was clacking as the shopkeeper carefully calculated the profit and loss for the day, while the employees were ordering the carriages outside to carry the silk and satin cloth that would be sent to the branches tomorrow.

On the dim street, the dusty Liu Xunyi came riding a horse at full speed, pulled the reins in front of the Qingsi Workshop, and let out a loud neigh. Several guys who were moving goods were startled by the sudden appearance of the horse.

"Hey, who is this? Why is he riding a horse on the street in the dark?"

Liu Xunyi ignored the complaints of the waiters, dismounted, and walked towards the Qingsi Shop with big strides. Seeing this, the two waiters rushed forward to stop Liu Xunyi and said hurriedly: "Sir, we are closed. If you want to buy cloth, please come back tomorrow!"

"I'm not buying cloth." Liu Xunyi bowed to the two shop assistants and said, "I'm Mr. Zhou from the Qingsi Shop in Suwen Pingjiang Prefecture. He's a knowledgeable man who has been in the cloth business for more than 40 years. He's known for knowing the origin and place of production of any cloth or silk in the world, and even the year it was made. Today I have a favor to ask, so I've come to see Mr. Zhou. Please..."

"You don't want to buy cloth?" Before Liu Xunyi could finish his words, the two waiters had already pushed Liu Xunyi out impatiently, one of them complained, "Why are you causing trouble here if you don't want to buy cloth? We are busy and have no time to greet you. Go away!"

"I passed by more than a dozen silk and satin shops along the way from Quanzhou, and none of them was as ignorant of etiquette as your Qingsifang." Liu Xunyi said unhappily, "Forget it, I won't argue with you. You invited Mr. Zhou to come out, and even if he refuses, he should refuse, and it is not your turn to turn me away."

"I say, you are looking for trouble, aren't you?" A tall and fat clerk took off the cloth on his shoulders, walked up aggressively, and shouted, "Our Qingsi Shop is a place for business, not a temple or a Taoist temple, nor a school. If you want to find someone who knows etiquette, you have come to the wrong place. Get out of here quickly and don't delay our work."

"I can give you money, please let me know..."

Without waiting for Liu Xunyi to hand over the copper coins in his hand, the fat clerk waved his hand and knocked four or five copper coins to the ground, and shouted impatiently: "We don't need your two copper coins, get out! You don't even ask where Qingsifang is. If you dare to pester me again, I will let the government arrest you and put you in jail!" After that, the fat clerk ignored Liu Xunyi's entanglement and called other clerks, shouting, "Hurry up and load the goods onto the car, the master will check them in person later!"

Before he finished speaking, the fat waiter turned around and walked into the Qingsi Shop, panting.

Behind the counter, the shopkeeper with thin eyebrows and small eyes looked like a fox. At this moment, he was lying next to the candlestick, using his left hand to make a calculation, and holding a brush in his right hand to write something on the account book. When he saw the fat clerk coming in, the shopkeeper asked without raising his head, "What was the noise outside just now?"

"I don't know where this poor boy came from. He is wearing rags and wants to see our master." The fat waiter replied, "Looking at his poor appearance, I guess he can't even afford a piece of the worst cloth in our house."

"You are definitely not a distinguished guest?" The head shopkeeper looked up at the fat clerk, "Don't forget the lesson we learned last month. We lost a big business deal."

"Definitely not." The fat waiter smiled confidently, "I have memorized all our customers. Judging from the accent of the guy outside, he is not a local. He is probably a poor beggar from outside who wants to ask our master for some gold and silver."

The head shopkeeper nodded slightly and said, "Then let's move it away quickly, so that no one can see it and affect our business. If it doesn't work, just throw him a few copper coins..."

"Don't waste that money. I just scolded him and he's probably gone away in disgrace." The fat waiter said as he picked up a roll of black cloth and turned to go out, but suddenly he heard a loud commotion coming from outside the alley.

"what happened?"

The head shopkeeper hurriedly threw down his pen and walked out, but before he and the fat clerk could walk out of the Qingsi Shop, two figures screamed and flew in like kites with broken strings. The two figures hit the fat clerk directly, and the three of them were knocked unconscious and fell to the ground.

"Who?" The shopkeeper looked at the three waiters lying on the ground, curled up and rolling around in surprise. Just as he was about to raise his head, he saw a sword shining with cold light pointing directly at his forehead. The shopkeeper was so frightened that he trembled and almost collapsed to the ground.

The fat guy who rolled to the corner saw that the situation was not good, and struggled to get up and run outside. Liu Xunyi casually raised his foot and kicked the roll of black cloth that had just fallen on the ground. It flew towards the fat guy who had just stood up with a "whoosh" sound. With a muffled sound and a faint scream, the heavy black cloth knocked the fat guy to the ground, and he couldn't get up for a long time.

"This... this guest... what can we discuss..." the head shopkeeper begged tremblingly, "Do you want money or cloth? Just ask..."

Liu Xunyi sighed and shook his head gently, saying, "You guys are really ungrateful. When I was polite to you, you were rude. Now that I'm rude to you, you're polite instead. Where is your Master Zhou? I need to see him for something."

"I wonder what this guest wants from me?"

In the inner hall of Qingsi Shop, an old man in his seventies came out after hearing the voice. He was dressed in silk and satin, and wore gold and jade. He looked like a wealthy man. The old man saw the wailing shop assistants on the ground, and he couldn't help but frowned and asked, "Sir, what do you mean? There's no need to hurt people when doing business, right?"

"I'm afraid that if I don't hurt them, Mr. Zhou won't come out to see me." Liu Xunyi said calmly, "I have something I want to ask Mr. Zhou for help. Afterwards, I will pay to make up for the losses caused to your shop today."

Master Zhou looked at Liu Xunyi, pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "Please come to the inner hall to talk."

In the inner hall, Liu Xunyi handed the two pieces of cloth to Master Zhou and asked him to examine them carefully. He sat beside him with bated breath. Although he was extremely nervous, he did not even dare to breathe, for fear of disturbing Master Zhou's thoughts. "These two pieces of black cloth belong to the same robe, and the fabric is also very common fine cloth." Master Zhou said slowly while looking at the two pieces of black cloth on the table, "This kind of cloth can be found in any cloth shop in the world. It is not a rare thing."

"What Master Zhou said is the same as what the previous dozen shopkeepers said." Liu Xunyi nodded, "That's why I would like to ask Master Zhou to take a closer look. Can you tell more about the origins of these two pieces of cloth? For example... where are they produced? And what technique was used to determine the density of the weaving?"

Mr. Zhou shook his head and smiled, "This kind of fine cloth is everywhere in the world. This kind of warp and weft weaving is also the basis of women's work. Where does the guest say it is produced? What kind of technique is used?"

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi's face darkened and he muttered to himself, "In this case, it is impossible to find out the origin of that person from these two pieces of cloth..."

"hiss?"

Just when Liu Xunyi was feeling discouraged, Mr. Zhou suddenly let out a cry of surprise. He carefully brought one of the pieces of cloth to the candlelight and took out the glass lens to look at it carefully.

After a moment, Mr. Zhou picked up a long needle and carefully fiddled with the scraps of cloth. Then he slowly peeled off a piece of thread that was no more than two or three centimeters long and thinner than a hair from the cloth.

"Master Zhou, what is this?"

"Hush!" Without waiting for Liu Xunyi to ask, Master Zhou suddenly made a gesture to silence her. He carefully placed the almost inaudible blue thread in the palm of his left hand, and gently pressed the thread with his right index finger and rubbed it a few times. Then he held the thread to the candle flame to test it. Strangely, the hot candle flame did not burn it. Seeing this scene, Liu Xunyi could not help but show a look of surprise on his face.

"Master Zhou, this..." Liu Xunyi seemed to be infected by Master Zhou's cautiousness and asked subconsciously, "Why is it not on fire?"

Master Zhou held the thread in his palm and slowly extended it to Liu Xunyi, looking very serious. However, Liu Xunyi was completely confused and asked in surprise, "What is this?"

"Green silk!" Mr. Zhou answered solemnly.

"Silk?" Liu Xunyi looked at the small piece of green thread in astonishment, with even more confusion in his eyes, "Shouldn't silk be white? Why is it green?"

Mr. Zhou shook his head solemnly and said, "Didn't you hear what I said just now? This is not ordinary silk, but a rare treasure in the world, blue silk. Clothes made of blue silk are called blue silk armor. Legend has it that it is invulnerable to swords and guns, and is not affected by water or fire."

"Green Silk Armor?" Liu Xunyi was shocked when he heard this, then frowned, his mind quickly recalling what he had seen and learned in the Tianji Pavilion Library. He had indeed seen the name Green Silk Armor, but he couldn't figure out the origin for a moment.

Mr. Zhou continued, "Sir, can you please tell me frankly, what is this piece of cloth..."

"It was grabbed from a person." Liu Xunyi said, "If my guess is correct, the person was wearing a layer of green silk armor under his outer clothes, so when he grabbed the piece of cloth, he brought down a strand of green silk."

"That's right." Master Zhou nodded and said, "Anyone who can afford to wear blue silk armor must be either rich or noble."

"Rich or noble?" Liu Xunyi frowned, and carefully recalled all the scenes about the man in black in Lu's mansion that day, and thought to himself: "That man should not be a rich or noble person, otherwise he would never step forward and take the risk. Since the man in black is not rich, where did his black silk armor come from? Either he borrowed it, or he stole it, or someone gave it to him..."

Thinking of this, Liu Xunyi raised his eyebrows and asked, "May I ask, Master Zhou, you said that only the rich and the noble can own this kind of armor, then do you know how many pieces of armor there are in the world? Who owns this kind of armor?"

"As far as I know, there seems to be no nobleman in the world who possesses the Green Silk Armor. But this is not surprising. Even if such a treasure exists, it will be hidden very carefully. How could it be told to outsiders?" Mr. Zhou smiled bitterly, "So I don't know either."

Liu Xunyi replied with no objection: "Yes, how could such a treasure be easily lent to outsiders? If you have the Green Silk Armor, you will definitely wear it day and night for emergency use. How could it be easily stolen? Moreover, there has been no news of any disturbance in the martial arts world in the past few days, so it should not be stolen. Could it be that the Green Silk Armor belongs to the man in black..." After muttering to this, Liu Xunyi hurriedly changed the subject and asked, "Where can the green silk be obtained?"

Mr. Zhou smiled bitterly and said, "You are wrong, sir. There is only one place in the world that can produce blue silk, and that is the parasitic place of the snow mountain silkworm, the cold ridge of Tianshan Mountain."

"Tianshan Cold Ridge..." Liu Xunyi kept muttering to himself with a frown on his face. Suddenly, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and a look of sudden enlightenment appeared on his face.

"I remember now, the Cold Ridge of Tianshan Mountain, the Jade Dragon Peak. The Green Silk Armor is one of the three great treasures of the Tianshan Jade Dragon Palace, the leader of the four great heretical sects."

……

(End of this chapter)