Qian Lai Inn - 38

Wu Xuan's voice came from her ear, with a very faint resonance: "The information network has begun to spread. The second batch of clients is expected to arrive within three days." Aso responded with a sound, without saying more. The butterfly ginger flowers on the windowsill were still blooming, their petals trembling slightly as if responding to a life yet to arrive. In the backyard of Qian Lai Inn, the morning mist had just receded. Aso rolled up her sleeves and began to simmer a pot of pork bone soup with perilla leaves, ginger slices, and mountain spring water over a slow fire. The aroma spread along the branches and leaves of the old banyan tree, all the way to the notice board where the "Bounty List" was hung. Shopkeeper Jin was busy reconciling the accounts of honey just delivered from the "Forest Community" at the counter. He looked up and saw two tall figures slowly walking from the corridor next to the dry well in the backyard—it was the White Tiger tribe woman and the Dragon tribe man "Xiao Long" who had accepted the task of finding the Queen Bee of the Spirit Bee tribe yesterday. The Dragon tribe man's steps paused slightly the moment he stepped into the courtyard. He took a deep breath, and his golden dragon eyes, which originally held the fierce heat and indifference of a volcano, flashed with an extremely rare look of bewilderment. "This smell..." Xiao Long murmured in a low voice. "What's wrong?" The White Tiger woman beside him turned to look at him. "The bounty for finding the Queen Bee is all here. Aren't you in a hurry to exchange it for black iron ore?" Xiao Long didn't reply. His gaze bypassed the noisy hall and fell directly on Aso, who was wiping her hands at the kitchen door.