Li Xuan focused his mind, concentrating his attention on the di hong bone ring, and began to search for things inside.A blurry memory told him that there were things he had forgotten inside.After searching for a short while, Li Xuan found a small wooden box, and he immediately recalled this item he had obtained from Zhou Mama of Hu Yu House."When Zhou Mama was preparing to escape, she specifically prepared this item and stuffed a lot of papers inside."Li Xuan had guessed at the time that it probably contained the assets of Hu Yu House, and he had intended to open it and check later.However, he later became busy dealing with the two scoundrels and ended up forgetting about this matter."Oh, if this small wooden box contains the land deeds and property deeds of Hu Yu House, then what are they auctioning this time?"Li Xuan suddenly felt puzzled.Moreover, the authorities later found out about Zhou Mama's death in the secret underground passage of Hu Yu House, so why would they still auction off Hu Yu House's assets on the grounds that Zhou Mama had absconded with the money?Li Xuan immediately realized that there was probably something strange going on."Miss Li, are you also interested in the auction of Hu Yu House?""I heard it's in a few days. If you want to go, you'd better hurry."Xiao Cui said immediately when she saw that Princess Ankang seemed interested in the auction of Hu Yu House.Princess Ankang smiled and nodded, but she was more focused on observing Li Xuan's reaction.Seeing Li Xuan deep in thought, Princess Ankang did not disturb him and naturally continued to chat with Xiao Cui.Previously, Li Xuan had told Princess Ankang to ask Xiao Cui for more rumors from the West Market.But as he listened, Li Xuan himself became distracted.Then, Xiao Cui recounted many interesting anecdotes from the West Market.The West Market was a melting pot, and with a large number of Hu Merchants from the Western Regions, many new rumors circulated on the streets every day.However, the truthfulness of these rumors needed careful discernment.For instance, the story Xiao Cui initially told about a female ghost seeking revenge on a young scoundrel, while based on facts, had been greatly exaggerated.If the Three Little Ones hadn't been direct witnesses to the event, they probably wouldn't have been able to discern the basis of the rumor.And time always flew by quickly during idle gossip.Before they knew it, the carriage arrived at Baoning Ward, stopping steadily in front of the alley where Xiao Cui and her grandfather lived.The alley was too narrow for the carriage to enter, so they could only drop the grandfather and granddaughter off there.Xiao Cui and her grandfather got off the carriage and thanked Princess Ankang."Xiao Cui, don't forget what I told you earlier," Princess Ankang instructed.Xiao Cui pursed her lips and nodded seriously."Miss, please rest assured.""I will definitely try my best."Beside them, Xiao Cui's grandfather looked at his granddaughter, then at the luxurious carriage they had ridden back in, a complex look flashing in his eyes."Alright, Xiao Cui, when I return, I will go to the West Market to see you again."Princess Ankang said, waving goodbye to the grandfather and granddaughter, and the carriage slowly started moving again."Miss, be careful on the road—"Xiao Cui waved goodbye loudly, watching the carriage disappear into the flow of people on the street."Grandpa, let's go home."The grandfather and granddaughter walked towards the depths of the alley, where their home was located.The further they walked into the alley, the quieter it became.The grandfather and granddaughter were silent, and suddenly felt that the alley in front of their house had become much longer."Xiao Cui, about what Miss Li just said..."Xiao Cui's grandfather spoke with some worry."Grandpa, I want to try," Xiao Cui said, interrupting her grandfather's words."Isn't there a saying, 'The bigger the waves, the more valuable the fish'?""Miss Li is a good person and a capable person.""Helping her might allow us to live better lives."Xiao Cui lowered her head, but still expressed her thoughts."But that could be dangerous. People like us can't afford to take risks, and we can't afford to lose!"Xiao Cui's grandfather clearly did not want his granddaughter to be involved."Grandpa, we've long been unable to afford to lose," Xiao Cui said faintly."If it hadn't been for Miss Li that day, we would have died long ago."Xiao Cui's grandfather's body stiffened, and all the words he had intended to use to persuade her were stuck in his throat, unable to be uttered."Grandpa, profit comes from risk. It's impossible to win without taking risks."Xiao Cui suddenly looked up, her eyes shining.At this moment, Xiao Cui's grandfather seemed to see the fervent Hu Merchants who dared to cross the Black Windstorm on his granddaughter's face.He sighed silently, knowing he couldn't persuade his granddaughter.At this moment, Xiao Cui continued, "Grandpa, it's just recording some observations in the West Market, it's not that dangerous.""With my current ability, I probably won't encounter too much risk.""Please rest assured."As the grandfather and granddaughter spoke, they arrived at their doorstep.Xiao Cui immediately took out the key, opened the door and entered, then turned back and smiled innocently at her grandfather... In the carriage, only the Three Little Ones and Chief Steward Shang, who was driving outside the carriage, remained.Princess Ankang stroked Li Xuan in her arms and asked:"Li Xuan, are you trying to turn Xiao Cui into a secret agent?""She's just an ordinary girl; it won't cause her trouble, will it?"Li Xuan slightly opened his eyes and thought, "Perhaps it's also an opportunity."Li Xuan then wagged his tail, writing in mid-air, telling Princess Ankang not to worry.Xiao Cui would think it over these few days, and whatever choice she made would be her final decision.Li Xuan was simply acting on a whim, seeing if he could make more friends outside the palace.Although Xiao Cui and her grandfather only sold knotwork at a stall in the West Market, many rumors circulated there.What Princess Ankang asked Xiao Cui to do was very simple: record these rumors for Princess Ankang to review.Li Xuan simply wanted to plant ears and eyes for Jingyang Palace outside the palace. Even if he couldn't see and hear much right now, wasn't it a good start?After returning to Xingqing Palace, Princess Ankang, exhausted from a day's work, went to bed early with the service of Yu'er.Li Xuan greeted Chief Steward Shang, preparing to go out for a while.However, today Chief Steward Shang did not stop Li Xuan from leaving; he merely nodded and let him go."Sure enough, asking me to stay yesterday was more about letting me think things through."Li Xuan understood Chief Steward Shang's intention and turned to leave Xingqing Palace.After all, with Li Xuan's current strength, he wouldn't be able to do much if a true master attacked.What Chief Steward Shang couldn't stop, Li Xuan couldn't stop either."Still not strong enough."Li Xuan shook his head, wandering through the streets of the capital, which were already under curfew.For a cat like him, a curfew meant nothing.He headed straight for the East Market, while on the way, he fiddled with the small wooden box inside the di hong bone ring.The small wooden box was obtained by Li Xuan from Zhou Mama, and it seemed to contain something very important to Zhou Mama.However, this small wooden box was not simple; it was a very precise mechanical device with many small buttons arranged according to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, indicating that it was not easy to open.But Li Xuan had his own way.Li Xuan found a secluded, uninhabited corner, took out the small wooden box, placed it on the ground, and then, with a gentle sweep of his tail, all the contents of the small wooden box went into the di hong bone ring.The di hong bone ring had the ability to retrieve objects from a distance. Although the range of the ability was limited, it was more than enough to deal with the small wooden box.This ability was incredibly effective against locked wooden boxes and cases, directly transferring their contents into the di hong bone ring.Li Xuan didn't bother to gloat and quickly put away the small wooden box, then checked the documents that had appeared inside the di hong bone ring.As Li Xuan had expected, most of them were property deeds and land deeds. Besides the properties of Hu Yu House, there were quite a few others, all located in some famous wards of the capital, and their values were comparable.From the cheapest civilian household worth eight hundred taels of silver to a three-courtyard residence worth sixty thousand taels of silver, various types of properties were available, totaling over ten property deeds.In addition, there were also land deeds, field deeds, large-denomination silver notes, and more, with an incalculable value."Is Zhou Mama changing careers to speculate in real estate?"Li Xuan had never imagined that this Zhou Mama possessed so many assets."This, this must be tens of thousands of taels of silver, right?""Then why did Zhou Mama run away back then?"Li Xuan swallowed, recalling Zhou Mama's hurried escape, full of confusion.With so much money, any trouble should have been easily resolved, right?Even if Third Young Master Hou had died in her Hu Yu House at the time, with so much money to smooth things over, it wouldn't have left too much trouble.Thinking about it now, Li Xuan found it quite peculiar."Could Zhou Mama have owed even more money outside?""Running a brothel, was her business that big?"This time, Li Xuan carefully placed these contracts into a space within the di hong bone ring specifically for valuable items, no longer daring to be careless.If it weren't for hearing about the Hu Yu House auction from Xiao Cui this time, this small wooden box would have been forgotten by Li Xuan."Hey, wait a minute!""These bastards are going to auction off my Hu Yu House!?"Li Xuan finally realized the seriousness of the matter."Damn it, isn't this bullying Little Cat?!"Li Xuan was so angry that his eyes widened.But then he thought, this matter shouldn't be too difficult to resolve.In the worst-case scenario, he could ask Chief Steward Shang to step in and transfer all the properties to Princess Ankang's name.However, Li Xuan didn't particularly want to do that."If I can solve it myself, then I'll solve it myself."Ever since the rewards for renovating Jingyang Palace caused them a lot of trouble, Li Xuan had his own plans."Emperor Yongyuan is Emperor Yongyuan; he has his own agenda.""Jingyang Palace will ultimately have to rely on the three of us."After making up his mind, Li Xuan decided to try to resolve the impending auction of Hu Yu House himself first.And as he was organizing the documents Zhou Mama left behind in the small wooden box, he discovered that there were also some documents he couldn't understand, the writing on them seemed to be in a foreign script.In the West Market, Li Xuan had seen some similar scripts, which were very likely from the Western Regions."Most of the girls in Hu Yu House are from the Western Regions, so it's probably correspondence between Zhou Mama and that region," Li Xuan speculated.He planned to find an opportunity to learn the Western Region script himself in the future.He hadn't tried using his talent to learn a script yet, and he didn't know if it would work.If he couldn't learn it himself, he would find a trustworthy person to translate it then.After Li Xuan obtained everything from the small wooden box, he plunged into the alleys of the East Market.It was still the same as before; at night, it became even livelier, and one could hear a lot of noise from afar.Li Xuan followed his memory to the courtyard he remembered, quietly climbed onto the roof, and peered inside.A lamp was lit inside the house, and a young man was earnestly reading a book by the light, with a dirty cat lying beside him."Petting a cat and reading a book, he's living quite comfortably," Li Xuan grinned, and seeing that the main person was home, he unceremoniously climbed in through the window.The young man reading in the room was startled by the commotion, and seeing a cat had broken in, he breathed a sigh of relief, but after a closer look, he immediately became nervous again."You, why are you here?" Fang Muyang asked nervously."What? Not welcome?" Li Xuan's tail slowly swayed in the air.Looking at the playful expression on Li Xuan's face, Fang Muyang shivered.Although Li Xuan claimed to be an auspicious spirit beast, Fang Muyang always felt that this black cat was very eerie."You've been doing well lately, kid," Li Xuan said, jumping onto the table unceremoniously, greeting him.Gray Gray on the table got up, sniffed around Li Xuan, and then immediately started rubbing against Li Xuan."Hehe, Cat Brother is still the most enthusiastic," Li Xuan greeted Gray Gray, and incidentally asked him what had happened at home recently.Fang Muyang probably never imagined that Li Xuan would immediately try to extract information from Gray Gray upon arrival."Just living, you know," Fang Muyang said casually, putting down the medical book in his hand, then getting straight to the point and asking, "You came to me for something, right?"Li Xuan had, after all, helped him complete his revenge, and Fang Muyang had not forgotten this favor.Moreover, when Li Xuan helped him, he had made it clear that it was so Fang Muyang could repay this favor in the future.Li Xuan didn't waste any time and immediately asked:"I heard Hu Yu House is going to be auctioned off. Didn't Aymu ask you to help her get the property of Hu Yu House back then?""What's going on now?"Fang Muyang was surprised to hear Li Xuan ask about this, but he still honestly said:"We searched everywhere Zhou Mama might have hidden things, but we couldn't find the property deeds and land deeds.""Now that I think about it, they were likely burned along with Zhou Mama.""But without these documents, getting the property of Hu Yu House will be very troublesome.""Especially since Hu Yu House still has many creditors."At this point, Fang Muyang couldn't help but shake his head."Zhou Mama seemed to owe a lot of money outside. Even selling Hu Yu House wouldn't be enough to repay these debts. I don't know what these people were thinking at the time, lending so much money to Zhou Mama."Li Xuan's heart stirred upon hearing this.Those creditors weren't fools; they wouldn't lend money to someone unable to repay it.Moreover, through the documents in the small wooden box, Li Xuan already knew where most of Zhou Mama's properties were."If those property deeds and land deeds were bought with borrowed money, then it makes sense."At this moment, Fang Muyang continued, "Those creditors also don't want to suffer losses, so they teamed up with the authorities to auction off all the properties of Hu Yu House, including Aymu and the other girls, to compensate for their losses."Hearing this, Li Xuan couldn't help but smile.Aymu used to be quite arrogant, but now she's going to be auctioned off.However, with Aymu's strength, these shouldn't be problems.Moreover, Li Xuan was curious about Aymu's purpose in lurking in Hu Yu House, and this was a good opportunity to test her out.Surely, Aymu, with her impressive strength, wasn't just a courtesan in Hu Yu House out of a hobby, was she?Thanks to "Angel Loves to Laugh" for the reward and support.Thanks to all the fellow readers for your monthly ticket support.In the previous chapter, there was a plot error, which has been corrected. Please refresh to view.The place where Princess Ankang asked Xiao Cui to send a message was Ping An Trading Company, not Xingqing Palace.Xiao Cui knew Princess Ankang's identity as a princess because she went to the county yamen to report the case, but she didn't know which specific princess. Xiao Cui's grandfather, however, did not know Princess Ankang's identity.Thanks to the readers who helped catch the bugs, grateful ~