The little fox thought to himself, this wasn't something simple, like sending a text message on a phone.
Speaking of phones, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were no better off than Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping.
Because of the difference in eras, Nie Chongyang's large-screen smartphones couldn't be used. Similarly, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, who were from an even more distant past, had even less use for phones.
Let alone phones, it could be said that they couldn't openly use any electronic products.
However, since they had received a reply from Nie Chongyang and confirmed that Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping were fine and in a much safer situation than themselves, Ye Tiancheng and the others felt considerably more at ease. As there was nothing that required a reply at the moment, Ye Tiancheng pocketed the letter left by Nie Chongyang and took it with him.
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox left the ruins of the hotel under the cover of night.
The next day, Ye Tiancheng and the others went out as usual, primarily to bring back food for Lin Yanqin. This way, Ye Tiancheng and the others would have something to eat and wouldn't appear strange by not eating.
Taking advantage of the early hour, just after the breakfast stalls had opened, there wouldn't be many people gathered at the stalls, so there would be no need to queue.
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox went out together.
When buying breakfast, although there weren't many people at the breakfast stall, there were still quite a few. Ye Tiancheng and the others noticed many people gathered at the stall, whispering and talking in low voices.
This should have been a normal occurrence.
Naturally, people would chat happily with those they knew.
Moreover, most people's topics of conversation might not be something they wished everyone to know.
However, Ye Tiancheng inexplicably felt very concerned about their conversation.
Ye Tiancheng's steps involuntarily paused.
The little fox didn't know why Ye Tiancheng had stopped and asked him strangely, "Big brother, what's wrong? Why aren't you walking?"
Hearing the little fox's voice, Ye Tiancheng snapped back to reality.
"I can't help but be a little curious about what these people are discussing."
He quietly told the little fox his thoughts.
Upon hearing Ye Tiancheng say this, the little fox also unconsciously lowered his voice and said, "Then shall we stay and listen?"
This wasn't a difficult thing for them to do.
Ye Tiancheng thought for a moment and shook his head.
Although they could do it, their lingering there would seem strange. After all, without a reasonable explanation, people would find their stopping unreasonable.
If they were to eat breakfast, they couldn't eat the food from here.
Even more so, they couldn't just pull something out of their spatial dimension to eat for no reason.
If even one person noticed such behavior.
It would definitely cause a huge commotion.
Ye Tiancheng said to the little fox, "Let's go out for a walk first and talk about it when we get back. Besides, other places might not always have people discussing things. We need a reasonable excuse, otherwise, stopping here continuously would be too conspicuous."
The little fox realized and quickly nodded.
"Then let's hurry, lest they all disperse by the time we get back."
Ye Tiancheng took the little fox back first to deliver the breakfast to Lin Yanqin, then bought some oiled paper, found a hidden spot, wrapped some food in the oiled paper, and returned to the place where they had bought breakfast. There was a breakfast stall and a tea house.
Ye Tiancheng took a look, then took the little fox to the tea house, placed the food on the table, ordered a pot of tea, and pretended to eat with the little fox while actually pricking up his ears to listen to the conversations around him.
The tea was merely ordered as a pretense, to give them a reasonable excuse to sit in the tea house.
In any case, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had no intention of drinking the tea.
Sitting down and listening attentively, Ye Tiancheng and the others could clearly hear what those people were discussing.
After listening for a while, the two of them discovered that the content of their discussion was indeed what Ye Tiancheng and the others wanted to know, and it was directly related to the clues they were looking for.
This was a gathering place for ordinary vendors like tea houses and breakfast stalls.
A large number of ordinary migrant workers also gathered here. Although they had no good status or great abilities, their only characteristic was probably their sheer numbers.
However, people like them were very well-informed about any little bit of news.
Moreover, being bored on a daily basis, they had no way to entertain themselves, so they relied on chatting about strange and unusual things to start conversations and entertain everyone, including themselves. Therefore, in places where they gathered, one could always hear a lot of various news.
From the conversations of these people, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox learned that the Lin family had already found their way here.
It was said that a long, long time ago, some people who went to work had to pass by the ruins of that hotel.
Although not many people dared to go there now.
However, the location of that hotel was in a bustling area, and such a place wouldn't become deserted overnight. At least something would have to happen for a noticeable change to occur.
Therefore, with many people coming and going, they inevitably had to pass by the front and back of the hotel.
Someone going to work at dawn saw that the ruins of the hotel, which no one had dared to approach for some time, had new activity.
Some people headed straight there and then went inside for a look.
Later, after they came out, they grabbed people and asked for information. Subsequently, that vast group of people immediately left. Judging by their direction, they should have been heading to the police station. Not long ago, a fire had broken out at the hotel, and the police station had handled the aftermath.
Some people, with some insight and sharp eyes, immediately recognized them as members of the Lin family, and the leader was the head of the Lin family, Lin Yanshu.
Some people who were not clear about the situation asked curiously.
Which Lin family was the Lin family?
Who was Lin Yanshu?
Someone replied that it was a very large family, engaged in business both overseas and domestically. In short, it was a wealthy, prominent family.
As for Lin Yanshu, he was undoubtedly the head of that prominent family.
Then someone asked again.
What was Lin Yanshu doing here?
There were many answers to this question.
Some speculated that perhaps someone from the Lin family had died in the fire.
Others said that someone under the Lin family, who was running a business, had stayed at the hotel and was carrying a large amount of business funds, and then was completely burned in the hotel fire. Wouldn't the head of the Lin family be in a frenzy?
Even more people said that the Lin family had taken a liking to this area and wanted to take advantage of this good opportunity to acquire the land at a low price for business purposes.
In short, there were all sorts of speculations.
They were talking about everything.
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox understood more.
From the names, they could tell that Lin Yanshu and Lin Yanqin were related, and they were definitely of the same generation, most likely Lin Yanqin's own brother.
The possibility of being the child of Lin's father's lover was much smaller.
If they remembered correctly, the Lin family's business should indeed have been inherited by Lin Yanqin's own brother.
The possibility of being mistaken was not very high.
Lin Yanshu's arrival here at this time, and his first reaction being to head straight to the hotel where the incident occurred, likely meant that Lin Yanshu had learned that his sister had come here and then discovered that the hotel where she was staying had caught fire.
Unless their familial relationship was very distant, Lin Yanshu had no reason not to care about Lin Yanqin's life and death.
As for those other messy speculations, they were likely just people making wild guesses and talking nonsense, with little reference value.
If Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had been ignorant, they might have been confused at this moment, but they knew too much. They had personally rescued Lin Yanqin, so how could Ye Tiancheng and the little fox not know what was going on?
However, just as Ye Tiancheng and the little fox thought there would be no more new developments, they heard some even newer news.
Some people had just arrived from out of town, and some locals, while discussing matters, hadn't controlled their volume too well, and those nearby inevitably overheard what they were saying.
Thus, the rumors that Ye Tiancheng and the little fox could hear were once again escalated.
Some said that the reason Lin Yanshu rushed here was because he heard news about his sister. Lin Yanshu had a biological sister who was very beautiful, but it seemed that not long ago, she had eloped with her lover, which greatly worried her brother.
As soon as Lin Yanshu found out, he rushed over.
Some people were dumbfounded.
If Lin Yanshu was looking for his sister at the ruins of the hotel, wouldn't that mean that Lin Yanshu's sister had previously lived in that hotel, and perhaps… had been burned to death in the fire?
People outside were also aware of the tragic state of the hotel.
Coupled with the spread of rumors, some said the place was haunted. With so much true and false information overlapping, it was already difficult to get a complete picture.
In any case, one thing was certain.
The incident at the hotel that day had severe consequences, and very few people could escape.
If it was indeed the eldest daughter of the Lin family, a delicate young lady, it was hard to say what would have happened to her in the fire.
Then someone said that wasn't there a lover who eloped with the eldest daughter of the Lin family?
Someone sarcastically remarked, "They all say that husband and wife are like birds of the same forest, but when disaster strikes, they fly in different directions. What's more, a lover who eloped? It's possible that at that time, Miss Lin was directly abandoned."
What was the use of being beautiful? If it hindered escape, under the threat of life, one could never be sure what others would do.
Beauty couldn't be eaten, nor could it save lives.
However, besides that, there was also a very bizarre rumor.
This rumor was so outrageous that even Ye Tiancheng and the little fox couldn't help but frown.
But even so, the two of them still listened calmly.
Precisely because the rumor was so outlandish, it held some value for Ye Tiancheng and the little fox.
In such a ghostly place, the most illogical and outlandish things might be closer to the truth.
As for whether Lin Yanqin had eloped with her lover and come here, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were not sure. However, they hadn't seen any sign of that lover.
...They shouldn't have seen him, right?
Ye Tiancheng recalled the scene when he rescued Lin Yanqin that day.
The tall man who escaped by climbing out the window.
Could that man be Lin Yanqin's lover?
They had analyzed before that Lin Yanqin's subsequent resistance to Ye Tiancheng and the others continuing their investigation might be because Lin Yanqin knew the person who acted, or even intended to shield him. This possibility was indeed real.