First of all, talk with Nana

They enjoyed a few rounds of passionate sex and Ren made sure to give Mei her fill before they went to sleep, and the next morning he was the first to wake up.
Looking at the sleeping beauty at his side Ren smiled and caressed her cheeck, then got up and began to dress himself as he planned what to do.

They had too little money to waste and while they could rest another day in town, maybe it'd be better to head out to hunt heads and make some money before their funds ran dry?
Regardless, first he'd have to find a chance to talk with Nana and see what she could share about the town and the gangs.

Thinking so he let Nana sleep some more and went out on his own, intent on finding Nana... without much success.
It was early in the morning and she should have been running around preparing the inn for the day, and yet she was nowhere to be seen... Ren did spot her mother and she was pleasantly surprised to meet him again, but when he asked about Nana the woman made a troubled face and told him she had been busy all night and was now resting.

Since she couldn't meet her now, Ren decided to return to his room and rest some more before trying his luck again.
Two hours later, he and Mei left the room, both ready to head out but still hoping they'd manage to know something from Ren's childhood friend...

This time they had more luck.
As they went down the stairs they noticed Nana coming out from a room... she seemed tired and was unsteady on her legs, but nothing too surprising considering she should have been busy all night according to her mother.

When Ren called out Nana seems more surprised than he expected, or maybe was that panic?
As if she had been caught doing something shameful, though her expression she was quick to recover as she hurried to close the door she came out from behind her and hurry to meet her childhood friend.

"Good morning, have you slept well?" so she asked, and Ren nodded "That should be my question, you still have to work during the day so why did you overdo it last night? You're not gonna last"

She showed a somewhat melanchonic expression but still nodded "You're right, i shouldn't overdo it"

"Do you have some free time? I'd like to ask you something" noticing she didn't want to keep talking about her night activities, Ren moved on to what he really wanted to ask.
Nina nodded, and led them both to another room, apparently one the staff used for breaks. There were a few folded futons that looked out of place for a place where the staff shouldn't be sleeping, but the couple didn't care enough to ask about the incongruency and instead they began to chat about, soon reaching the topic of what happened to the town those years Ren didn't come to visit.

Apparently everything was still going well till a few years ago, but things went downhill after the demonic invasion.
Many demonic tribes made their nest around there and going out of town became more and more dangerous... there were also occasional raids, but the sects would always have someone to defend the place.

However things got worse when the war died down and the alliance between the righteous and unorthodox sects broke down.
There was still the threat of demons attacking from time to time and mountain bandits also began to raid them, but this time there was nobody to defend them!

It was at this time that the local troublemakers somehow got together and with the backing of some cultivators from an unorthodox sect they set up the Peach Flower Society and for a while it seemed like they'd fill the gap the sect army left once the war ended... but facts proved that it wasn't so, and that those troublemakers were thugs to their core.
The only reason they still didn't have the whole village under their thumb was because later on the White Gang moved in and while the two were at each other's throat the Soft Silk Thieves subtly took control of the brothels, turning their rivalry into a three-way stand-off. The three of them kept themselves in check and while there was still some minor skirmishes among them, it could be said that they reached a balance.

As for the inn... much like all the other inns, when this bunch of thugs led by cultivators forcefully took over their business they could only bow down and hand everything over.
Now her mother wasn't the owner anymore but just a cook, and she too had become just part of the regular staff...

Nana didn't mention about the sexual harassment, and the couple didn't press for it.
After all they already got a show of how those thugs treated their female staff, so there was no need to further embarrass her...

Nana's told her story and after she was done she spoke about the demon tribes and bandits living in the surrounding mountains and how murims made a living hunting them, confirming what they previously heard in the night market, though she also explained how the gangs may be trouble but still better than being overrun by external threats.
The gangs were bad, but if they weren't here things could only get worse.

Did this mean that Mei's will to clean them up couldn't be realized, or at least not till the surrounding area wasn't dangerous anymore?
It wasn't a pleasant revelation, but at least it showed they had done well in not picking a fight with the gangs... maybe they could win, but even if they did they could only leave the town since exterminating those villains would end up dooming the village.

They exchanged some more pleasanteries, and then the couple left the inn.
Now they had to choose how to spend their day...