Yuan Ming was taken aback by the old man’s words, somewhat puzzled.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. Please don’t take it to heart.” The old man apologized repeatedly, his eyes flickering.

“Take me to my room.” Yuan Ming waved his hand and said.

The old man quickly nodded and led the way, taking Yuan Ming through the back door of the lobby and down a corridor towards the inner courtyard.

The courtyard was filled with trees, providing a tranquil environment. However, the rooms they passed were all pitch black.

“There seem to be many people in this town, but this inn doesn’t seem to be doing well.” Yuan Ming thought to himself.

Upon reaching the backyard, he saw the young man who had been feeding his horse.

He followed the old man to the innermost guest room. The room was simply furnished but clean. Yuan Ming was satisfied overall. It was much better than the rural inns he had stayed in before, but naturally, the price was also much higher.

“Sir, please make yourself at home. Do you need dinner tonight?” The old man asked.

“No need. I don’t want to be disturbed at night.” Yuan Ming said, tossing a silver coin to the old man.

He had roasted beast meat in his storage bag, so he didn’t plan to eat the food provided by the inn.

“Alright, no problem. You should rest early.” The old man took the silver coin, his eyes lighting up. He bit the coin and was about to leave when Yuan Ming suddenly asked, “By the way, do you know of an old incense workshop in this town called ‘Jixiangfang’?”

Hearing this, the old man paused, took the silver coin out of his mouth and put it in his pocket.

“Are you asking because you want to buy incense? If you need these, I also run a general store. We sell them there, and I can give you a discount.” The old man asked with a smile.

“I’m not buying incense. I want to learn the craft of making incense. Do you know where the workshop is?” Yuan Ming shook his head and asked.

“Oh, I do know where it is, but it’s a bit out of the way. If you want to find it yourself, it might be difficult. How about this, I’ll take you there tomorrow morning?” The old man said with a hearty laugh.

“Thank you for your trouble.” Yuan Ming thanked him.

The old man closed the door behind him and walked into the courtyard.

The young man who had been feeding Yuan Ming’s horse was still there, seemingly waiting for him.

“Dad, how is it? Is he rich?” The young man asked, his expression still dull but his speech clear.

The old man immediately put a finger to his lips, signaling the young man to follow him.

After they left the backyard, the old man lit his pipe again, took a puff, and slowly said after exhaling a puff of white smoke, “What a pity…”

“What, is he a pauper? Anyone who can afford a horse can’t be a pauper, right?” The young man raised his eyebrows, surprised.

“If he had come half a year earlier, we might have been able to earn another bounty. But now… it’s a bit awkward.” The old man didn’t answer his son’s question, but mused.

“Dad, what are you talking about?” The young man asked, puzzled.

“Nothing, this young man is our benefactor. We must treat him well.” The old man finished speaking, took a puff of his pipe, and walked towards the front yard.

…

The next day, not long after the curfew was lifted.

Yuan Ming woke up from his cultivation, stretched, and went to the front yard.

The old man was sitting at the entrance of the lobby, watching the people on the street.

The city gate had just opened, and there were already many small traders on the street. However, there was no business to be had.

The old man was smoking his pipe, his eyes somewhat distant, lost in thought.

Yuan Ming greeted him, and he quickly stood up.

After a few words, the old man slapped his forehead and said, “Oh, I almost forgot. I promised to take you to the incense workshop yesterday.”

With that, he called his son to watch the shop, and led Yuan Ming down the street towards the town.

The bustling Tiehu Town was naturally far less lively than the Great Jin Capital that Yuan Ming had seen before. However, the surrounding buildings had a distinct southern border style, and the cries of the vendors had a different charm.

The old man was like a qualified tour guide, explaining the situation in the town to Yuan Ming as they walked. They occasionally ran into one or two acquaintances and exchanged greetings.

After walking down the main street for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the old man led Yuan Ming into a side alley.

They walked down this narrow alley for a long time, until they could no longer hear the noise of the main street. Finally, they arrived at the incense workshop.

However, Yuan Ming was greatly disappointed.

It was a medium-sized courtyard with a copper lock hanging on the gate. The lock was covered in cobwebs and a thick layer of dust.

The stone steps in front of the courtyard were also covered in leaves and debris. It seemed that no one had lived here for a long time.

“Is this the incense workshop?” Yuan Ming asked, frowning.

“Yes, it is. Look, their sign is still there.” The old man pointed to a dirty, old sign on the door frame with his pipe and said.

Yuan Ming took a closer look and could vaguely make out the characters “Jixiang”. As for the third character “Fang”, only the left part “Mu” was left.

“What happened? Did they move?” Yuan Ming asked, puzzled.

“I’m not sure either. Wait a moment, I’ll ask for you.” The old man said, and went to knock on the door of a neighboring house.

A woman in coarse clothes came out of the house, spoke a few words with the old man, and then went back inside.

“I’ve asked. The neighbors said that the owner of this workshop got addicted to gambling a year ago and lost all his money. After his wife ran away with someone else half a year ago, he was rarely seen.” The old man walked up to Yuan Ming and said.

“He’s a gambler…” Yuan Ming was stunned.

“What do you want to do? Should we go back, or should I ask around for you?” The old man asked.

“I still want to meet him.” Yuan Ming thought that since he was already here, he should at least ask.”Alright. I’ll ask around for you,” Old Pipe said.

“Thank you. If you can find him, I’ll certainly reward you handsomely,” Yuan Ming quickly expressed his gratitude.

Upon hearing this, Old Pipe’s eyes lit up.

“Do you think we should try our luck at the gambling house? Once a person gets addicted to gambling, it’s hard to quit. They might not go home, but they might not be able to resist the gambling house,” Old Pipe suddenly suggested.

“That’s a good idea. Even if we don’t run into him at the gambling house, we might meet someone who knows him,” Yuan Ming agreed, finding the idea reasonable.

“That’s the idea,” Old Pipe nodded in agreement.

“How many gambling houses are there in this town? Why don’t you tell me where they are, and we can split up to look for him?” Yuan Ming suggested.

“No need, no need. Although there are several gambling houses in this town, the nearest one is called ‘Mountain River Gambling House’. As the old saying goes, ‘gamble close, whore far’, if he were to go, he would most likely go there. It’s still early, let’s go there together,” Old Pipe chuckled.

Yuan Ming naturally agreed and nodded.

The two quickly left the alley and returned to the main street.

After walking a distance to the north, they soon saw a towering building.

The building had three floors, each floor was about twenty feet high, and it was built entirely of Phoebe zhennan wood. What was special was that on one side of the building, there was a fake mountain about thirty to forty feet high, and on the right side, there was a small river about twenty feet wide, semi-encircling the building, which seemed to be artificially excavated.

Outside the gate, there was a diamond-shaped wooden sign hanging, with the points of dice carved on one side and the words “Mountain River Gambling House” written in Southern Border script on the other.

Following Old Pipe, Yuan Ming walked up to the gambling house and saw two burly men standing outside the main entrance, with a heavy curtain hanging on the door.

Old Pipe greeted the two men familiarly and then lifted the curtain.

The moment the heavy curtain was lifted, a cacophony of shouting mixed with the sound of dice hitting the table and Pai Gow hitting the table came from inside.

There was also a stuffy, unpleasant smell that hit them in the face.

Old Pipe led Yuan Ming inside, where they saw nine gambling tables in the spacious first floor of the gambling house.

Yuan Ming took a quick glance and found that five of the tables were playing dice, three were playing Pai Gow, and the last one he didn’t recognize, only seeing that the gambling tools were a pile of black and a pile of white round stones.

“I’ll go ask around for you,” Old Pipe said, and walked over to a dice table.

Yuan Ming also didn’t idle, coming to a Pai Gow table.

There were only seven or eight people playing cards at the table, but there were a dozen or so people watching, their faces flushed with excitement and their hands itching to play.

However, some were short of money, and some didn’t have a spot to join in, so their expressions varied.

Yuan Ming patted a scruffy-looking middle-aged man on the shoulder, who turned around and asked impatiently, “What do you want?”

“Brother, can I ask you something?”

Before Yuan Ming could finish his sentence, the middle-aged man waved his hand impatiently and said, “I don’t know, I don’t know…”

After saying that, he turned his head back to the gambling table.

Yuan Ming had no choice but to pat a short man who was standing on his toes and craning his neck to see the table.

The latter turned his head to look at Yuan Ming, and although he wasn’t as impatient as the previous man, he still asked coldly, “What is it?”

“Brother, I want to ask you something,” Yuan Ming said.

“Speak quickly, I’m busy!” the short man frowned.

“Do you know where the owner of the ‘Auspicious Workshop’ in the town has gone?” Yuan Ming asked.

“Are you talking about Wu Sang?” the short man raised his eyebrows and asked.

Only then did Yuan Ming remember that he had assumed that finding such a long-established workshop would not be too difficult, so he had never thought to ask what the owner’s name was.

He instinctively wanted to ask Old Pipe, but when he turned his head, he found that the old man had disappeared.

(End of Chapter)