The reason for this was because there were numerous people here that did cleaning-related activities. As such, the courtyard had expanded quite naturally with an increased member count.

There were certain tasks that only members of this courtyard could take up, so many were drawn here for the better wages and whatnot, explaining why the Cleaners' Courtyards usually had higher populations compared to the other courtyards in general.

Furthermore, since Side Branch members weren't really worth that much, it was possible for outsiders to become part of the clan by completing certain tasks. Depending on the field which they wanted to enter, be it cooking, or hunting, or fighting, or labouring, or cleaning, or managing, or housekeeping, there would be a courtyard for it.

Since the entry point into the Cleaners' Courtyard was quite low, people not born into the clan could easily enter the clan by becoming cleaners.

Currently, applicant cleaners had the least requirements to become official Side Branch members, so lots of people coming into the clan chose to do so by signing themselves up as members of these Cleaners' Courtyards.

Consequently, if Hua Yan had entered this courtyard by himself, due to the sheer size of the place, he would've quickly lost himself without any sort of directions.

With Hua Ci leading him around, however, he only had to travel the bustling place for a little less than two minutes before finally arriving at his destination, Hua La's residence.

Hua La was a man that wasn't born in the Hua Clan. He had no ancestry here because he was actually someone that had roots in one of the villages outside of Gin Town.

He had left his native area to try his luck in a town because he was no longer welcome there.

He had a lover back home and they had even created a child together, but ever since he was exiled, he was unable to go back to see them. He longed for the day he could return, but he knew that daring to do such a thing would only get him beaten black and blue.

He didn't let these things stop him, so he came to Gin Town in search of money. With money, he would be respected and some lowly villagers would not be able to even land a scratch on him. With money, he could give his lower and his child the pampered lives that they deserved.

Since he had some skills with creating cleaning solutions, he was immediately hired into Hua Clan. After all, people that could do such a thing were few in number.

But, though it was true that the Hua Clan had poached him and made him an important a.s.set of the Cleaners' Courtyard, the fact of the matter was that he wasn't respected that much. In the end, he was just a man that made concoctions for cleaning up filth on the side of the road. Coupled with the fact that he wasn't very strong, his status in the clan was not high.

No matter how much of a genius he was at what he did, no matter how much the clan could benefit off of him, he would not be respected. He was just a cleaner.

Subsequently, Hua La had developed a bit of a temper. Since he felt that life was unfair towards him, he would also try his hardest to make life unfair for others. This turned him into quite the bully.

Though he knew that oppressing others wasn't really a kind thing to do, and that he would hate it if someone were to do it to him, he felt really good while doing it. It seemed to strengthen his own spirits and help him to look forward to the future despite the many regrets he had in life.

Today was no different.

On seeing his little lackey return with someone along with her, he didn't have much of a reaction. After opening one of the boxes that Hua Ci was carrying, however, he exploded! This girl had actually broken some of the vials!

"You wench! How dare you! Were you too busy flirting that you forgot about the importance of your task? Any one of these vials are worth more than your life! Yet, you actually broke a total of 14 of them! What is the meaning of this!"

Hua Ci shrinked backwards as she heard him lecturing her. She was bound to suffer from some form of punishment today! Just as she was thinking on how Hua La would take it out on her, Hua Yan stepped up, blocking her view.

"Old man," Hua Yan called out, diverting Hua La's attention onto him, "Let's talk."

Watching Hua Yan "protecting her", Hua Ci felt that he was really cool, not giving even a figure like Hua La any face.

As for Hua La, seeing how Hua Yan came in the way of his screaming at Hua Ci, his anger began to surge.

How dare this n.o.body interrupt him? Moreover, that disrespectful form of address, "old man", also made his nerves twitch in indignation. That was by no means the way some random fool could talk to him!

"Scram, can't you see I'm busy?"

"Were you involved with the clean-up of courtyard 37 three months ago?" Hua Yan got straight to the point, not bothering with Hua La's words.

"Who do you think you are to question me?" Hua La barked, feeling that it was somewhat funny how this stray dog could waltz in here, into his own home, and put him on the spot like that.

As Hua La tried to move Hua Yan out of the way, so he could see Hua Ci again, he suddenly felt tremors in his legs. The aura in the room had changed.

Frenzy was awakening!

"So, you were involved?"

There was a dangerous threat in Hua Yan's voice. Hua La seemed to get a little suppressed by its mad, blunt edge.

"You…" Hua La stuttered, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the situation and the way it was headed, "What need do you have for that information? And, are you threatening me right now? Do you think there's no law in the Hua Clan? You think you can do whatever you want?"

By the end of his speech, Hua La had started screaming. Somewhere along the line, he seemed to have gotten his courage back. He didn't know what had gotten into him. He never thought that some kid could make him feel fear. Though this was the case, he told himself that he was just sleepy from overworking himself recently, so his body was acting up now.

There was no way that he was actually scared! Nope! No way in h.e.l.l.

Hua La didn't have to wait long before he was disproved however.

Bang!

Hua Yan slammed down on the table, causing Hua La to land on his b.u.t.t in fear.

"There's no need to prattle. I asked you a question. Just give me a b.l.o.o.d.y answer."

Though Hua Yan's tone was still the same as it had always been, the menace behind his words was so tangible that Hua La felt them stabbing into him, rendering him completely fear-struck.

"I-I was there. I was helping with removing the blood off of the pavement..." Hua La finally answered

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"Did you see any ashes?"

"How did you know?!" Hua La yelped in shock.

His surprise was just too great. No one was supposed to know about those ashes… the guards had made sure to shut everyone's mouths about the matter. Over the last few months after the incident, some of the lower level cleaners at the scene began to disappear because the clan did not trust them enough to keep the secret.

It was greatly speculated that the reason for this was because of the ashes! The clan wanted no one to know about them, so it killed off anyone that was a liability to exposing the secret.

"Where are the ashes now?" Hua Yan asked a little hurriedly.

He had also noticed Hua La's sudden s.h.i.+ft in att.i.tude at the mention of the ashes. The only explanation for this was that Hua La had some crucial information to tell Hua Yan.

It appeared that the ashes were not just swept away! Hua Yan felt that he was unbelievably lucky for this outcome!

"I-I don't know," Hua La began to beg, realizing he had spoken too much, "Please, don't ask about these things anymore! They'll kill me!"

"You can wait for them to kill you," Hua Yan began to say, picking up one of the shattered pieces of gla.s.s and placing them by Hua La's stomach, "Or you can die now."

Unsatisfied with his options, Hua La almost peed himself. Hua Yan's threat was super effective!

If it was the clan, as long as Hua Yan kept his mouth shut, they would not find about Hua La's involvement. But, if he dared to cross Hua Yan now, he had no doubt that he would be immediately killed off.

That was the feeling he was getting from Hua Yan's every gesture.

"H-Hua Gwan turned mad after interacting with the ashes. He caused a scene! After that, all the cleaners were chased away and told to keep their mouths shut if they valued their lives. I don't know anything else! The clan treats the issue as a big deal! Please, don't drag me into this."