Urban Seduction: Housewives Club

Chapter 2174 - 495: The Bond of Blood 3

Wang Yue didnʼt have any particular intention of cozying up to the Kaifeng Wang family, but this truly wasnʼt the place for a private talk. Without further hesitation, he followed Wang Qing into the manor.

They finished the typical small talk along the way. As soon as they reached the grand reception hall and took their seats, Wang Yue got straight to the point. ”Patriarch Wang, Iʼve come today because Iʼm hoping you can do me a favor.”

”Anything, brother. Donʼt hold back,” Wang Qing said with a boisterous wave of his hand. ”As long as itʼs within the Wang familyʼs power, your ʼbig brotherʼ here wonʼt refuse.”

”The Wang family dominates Kaifeng, so I assume your intelligence network is top-tier,” Wang Yue said bluntly. ”Does Patriarch Wang know the exact location of the Yang family?”

Wang Qingʼs expression shifted slightly. He instinctively lowered his voice and pointed a finger toward the ceiling. ”Are you talking about that Yang family?”

”Exactly. The Holy Land Yangs,” Wang Yue nodded.

”I have business with them, but I only know theyʼre in the general vicinity of Kaifeng. Iʼm lost on the specifics, which is why Iʼm turning to you. Of course, I wonʼt let you work for free. If you find them, Iʼll compensate the Wang family with a top-tier Earth-grade martial technique.”

”Ah... Iʼm afraid Iʼm going to have to disappoint you, brother,” Wang Qing said with a wry smile. ”I know theyʼre somewhere nearby, but to be honest, I havenʼt the slightest clue where. Itʼs a complete mystery.”

Wang Qing was genuinely tempted by the offer. A top-tier Earth-grade technique wasnʼt something you just found lying in the street.

Getting something like that just for pointing out a location would be a massive windfall. But as he said, he really didnʼt know where they were. As much as he wanted the reward, he couldnʼt deliver.

”Are they really that secretive?” Wang Yue muttered, disappointed.

Wang Qing sighed along with him. ”Sorry, brother. I canʼt help you directly. But you might want to ask around at the other big families. No matter how much of a ʼHoly Landʼ they are, they canʼt live on thin air. Someone in the city has to be doing business with them behind the scenes. Besides, people respect them for their power, not for being ghosts. Their location shouldnʼt be a state secret forever.”

”Iʼd rather not go through the hassle of dealing with multiple people,” Wang Yue replied. ”Iʼm a stranger in a strange land here in Kaifeng, so Iʼll leave this in your hands, Patriarch Wang. Regardless of where you dig up the info, once itʼs confirmed, that Earth-grade technique is yours.”

This was exactly what Wang Qing wanted to hear. Finding an address was just a matter of hitting the right connection; the cost to him would be minimal compared to the value of a top-tier technique.

Heʼd only suggested the other families to avoid looking like a greedy opportunist, but since Wang Yue didnʼt mind him playing the middleman, he wasnʼt going to say no again.

After agreeing that Wang Qing would notify him the moment he had news, Wang Yue declined an invitation to stay for dinner and headed back into the city alone.

Kaifeng was an ancient capital, but like every other city, its original architecture had been wiped out during the Great Cataclysm of the spiritual recovery. Any ”ancient ruins” left were just modern replicas.

Wang Yue had zero interest in tourist traps, but with the search entrusted to Wang Qing, he didnʼt have much to do. He couldnʼt just sit in his hotel room all day.

So, he transformed again—this time into ”Wang Tiezhu,” a face so generic heʼd vanish in a crowd—and began wandering aimlessly.

He strolled through markets, listening to the haggling of buyers and sellers. He stopped to watch old men play chess under the shade of trees. For lunch, he sat at a roadside stall and ate local street food seasoned with midday sun and city dust.

He had started the walk out of boredom, but as he immersed himself in the ”mortal world,” he felt himself slipping back into that ethereal state heʼd experienced during Chen Yingyingʼs class.

In a short time, he achieved sudden insights into various concepts. This, he realized, was likely what the old masters called ”tempering the heart in the red dust.”

By the afternoon, as he continued his stroll, a sudden jolt of intuition hit him—a pull from destiny, as if an invisible thread were tugging at his soul.

Following the feeling, Wang Yue turned his head. On a nearby street corner sat a small hardware and sundries shop. A small van was parked out front, and three people were unloading crates.

Two of the men wore jumpsuits with ”Dafa Wholesale Co.” printed on them—clearly delivery guys. The third was a girl who seemed to belong to the shop.

She wore a faded, grey-blue denim outfit and a black baseball cap. She moved with impressive efficiency, hauling crates with a speed that made it hard to even tell she was female from a distance.

It was mid-August, and the heat was brutal. Dressed in heavy denim and working hard, the girl was drenched in sweat. Strands of hair had escaped her cap and were plastered to her damp cheeks.

At a glance, she looked ordinary—lacking the pampered air of a rich girl, but possessing a grounded, hardworking vibe. In a world obsessed with looks, that didnʼt usually get you far.

But Wang Yueʼs eyes were far from ordinary. One look and he saw the staggering beauty hidden—perhaps even intentionally suppressed—beneath the grime and the baggy clothes.

However, he didnʼt stop because she was pretty enough to rival the ”Twelve Beauties of Jinling.” It was the feeling she gave him.

He remembered meeting Zhou Pinpin and Zhou Tingting on the boat to Tianhai—it had been an immediate sense of kinship, a bond of shared blood.

After dual cultivating with his mother, that sensory ability had sharpened significantly. Looking at this girl, he didnʼt just feel kinship; he could feel a direct, close blood relation.

This baffled him. Heʼd never heard of the Wang or Su families having relatives in the Central Plains. The only connection was his aunt, Su Mengchen, who had married into the Yang family.

Trusting his gut, Wang Yue didnʼt walk away.

The delivery truck finished up and drove off, and Wang Yue started toward the shop.

”Welcome! Can I help you find something?” The girl saw a customer and immediately stepped forward. As she spoke, she used the back of her gloved hand to wipe sweat from her face, leaving several dark smudges across her already soot-stained cheeks.

The simple gesture made Wang Yueʼs heart ache. Whether it was habit or a conscious choice, she was clearly hiding her beauty.

What girl doesnʼt want to look pretty? But when you lack the power to protect that kind of beauty, it becomes a curse. It told him she was a girl with a lot of self-respect; with her looks, she could have easily found a sugar daddy and lived in luxury.

As he walked through the door, his eyes caught a business card taped to the glass. His heart jumped again.

The card read: Cancan Hardware & Sundries. Manager: Yang Cancan.

”Are you the owner?” Wang Yue asked, making sure he hadnʼt misread the situation.

The girl smiled. ”Thatʼs right. This is my shop. Iʼm Yang Cancan. If youʼre looking for a large order, we can even handle home delivery.”

Confirmed. And her surname was Yang. Was the world really this small?

Could she be his auntʼs daughter? She looked to be in her early twenties; if his aunt had married young, the math checked out perfectly.

Keeping his thoughts to himself, Wang Yue replied casually, ”Iʼm doing some renovations at home. Just stopping by to see if there are any tools I can use.”