Chapter 13
Chapter 13
The next day, the rain was still falling.
Xue Heting stood beneath the eaves, watching the Bixiu Demon Insect fly back to him, his expression grave.
Ming Caihua leaned against the wall and said with a careless grin, “Well, isn’t this perfect? Water everywhere, and this heavy rain has washed away every trace and scent. Finding that runaway Water Yaoguai of yours just got even harder.”
Xue Heting had been pursuing that Water Yaoguai for a long time. At first, a lack of information had allowed it to find a chance to slip away. Now Fangcun City was practically shrouded in mist and rain, making it even easier for the Water Yaoguai to hide.
In a low voice, he said, “For every day it remains uncaught, the people of this city are in greater danger.”
“How about this?” Ming Caihua sidled closer, sounding eager to help. “Undo the restriction on me, and I’ll help you find that Evil Yaoguai. I promise I won’t run. What do you say?”
Xue Heting held his sword in both arms and looked out at the curtain of rain, mercilessly seeing right through him. “I won’t be fooled by you again. Ming Caihua, you swindled far too many people out of their money. You have to return with me to Yunling Prefecture and confess to your crimes.”
Ming Caihua cursed him under his breath and flailed his arms and legs behind Xue Heting’s back. At the moment, making empty threatening gestures was the only way he could vent his anger.
Suddenly, a scream rang out from the rear courtyard. “Someone’s dead!”
Like a stone dropped into a still lake, it sent ripples through the entire manor. Everyone rushed to the rear courtyard.
The gatekeeper’s face was deathly pale. He could barely stand even with two people supporting him. “I… I heard some movement here, so I came over to take a look. Then I saw… I saw a body lying in the puddles.”
The Zhao family servants were badly frightened. They kept their distance and did not dare approach.
Xue Heting moved through the crowd and went straight to the corpse, crouching down to examine it.
It was the body of a man. His skin had been flayed off, and he had died a truly gruesome death.
“I heard the future Young Madam has such a hard fate that she cursed her parents to death. Could she have cursed someone else to death too?”
“Exactly. I heard people outside say her birth chart is extremely harsh.”
“Could this disaster really have been brought here by the future Young Madam?”
As the crowd whispered among themselves, Zhao Zhiyi arrived in a hurry, his face turning cold. “Anyone who keeps wagging their tongue will leave Zhao Manor immediately.”
Everyone shut their mouths, lowered their heads, and fell silent as mice.
Xue Heting also said, “This was the work of an Evil Yaoguai. It has nothing to do with anyone else.”
Zhao Zhiyi walked over and asked, “Heting, what happened?”
Xue Heting’s expression was extremely grim. “I’ve been pursuing an Evil Yaoguai. I wounded it, so it must be holding a grudge.”
Ming Caihua watched the commotion from the edge of the crowd. “Xue Heting, that Evil Yaoguai is provoking you!”
Zhao Zhiyi quickly reacted. “In that case, the Evil Yaoguai might still be inside the manor.”
He glanced at the people present. Almost everyone in the manor had come to watch the excitement. Only the people from Fenghua Courtyard had not appeared.
“Yunshu!”
With a cry of alarm, Zhao Zhiyi pushed through the crowd and ran off.
“I wonder what happened in the rear courtyard. Everyone seems to have run over there.” As Ah Yuan helped Mu Yunshu comb her hair, she muttered in puzzlement.
Mu Yunshu sat before the bronze mirror. She was not especially curious and only said lightly, “Since the one who wields the Qingshuang Sword is here, whatever has happened, I imagine he can resolve it.”
Ah Yuan took a moment to react before realizing Mu Yunshu was talking about Xue Heting.
“The new clothes from the tailor’s shop have arrived. I’ve put them here.” Qiao Ying set the items on the table. She still had work to do, so she had not gone to the rear courtyard to watch the excitement either.
Because she had not slept well the previous night, she felt somewhat unwell now. She must have caught a cold, as there was even a nasal quality to her voice when she spoke.
Just as Qiao Ying was about to leave, Mu Yunshu suddenly looked at her and smiled. “I heard your name is Qiao Ying, and that you have an elder brother who has difficulty moving and suffers from a serious illness.”
Qiao Ying nodded. “Yes.”
“You and your elder brother depend on each other to survive. I imagine life hasn’t been easy for you.”
Qiao Ying’s expression was difficult to describe. “It really hasn’t been easy.”
“But you’ve never thought of abandoning him.”
Qiao Ying had, in fact, thought about it. But her tone was quite grave as she shook her head and said, “I can’t abandon him.”
Mu Yunshu’s voice was soft and unhurried. “That is good of you.”
Qiao Ying only felt that there was something meaningful in Mu Yunshu’s words. Then a gust of wind suddenly slammed the window open, sending cold raindrops drifting inside.
Ah Yuan hurried over to close it. The moment she reached out, she felt a sharp blade graze past her cheek. As pain flared, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
The wind and rain that had poured in drenched the person standing in front of Ah Yuan instead.
Qiao Ying cried out, “Miss Mu!”
In the blink of an eye, Mu Yunshu vanished within the swirl of wind and rain. Mist still spread through the room. Qiao Ying tugged at the stunned Ah Yuan again. “Run!”
Ah Yuan’s legs had gone weak. She knocked over the vase on the table, and it happened to smash down onto Qiao Ying’s foot.
Qiao Ying collapsed to her knees. In the next instant, she was swallowed by the spreading mist and likewise disappeared without a trace.
Ah Yuan ran to the doorway and screamed.
Zhao Zhiyi rushed over. The longsword in his hand came out of its sheath, and a sweep of sword energy scattered the mist completely. Grabbing the terrified Ah Yuan, he demanded, “Where’s Yunshu!”
The wind quieted, but the rain was still falling.
Shen Qingyu was sitting in the storage room today. Knowing he liked to listen to the wind, Qiao Ying had deliberately left a tiny crack in the window before she left. He sat in the chair by the window, eating from a packet of dried plums in his arms, one piece after another at a leisurely pace.
Sour things, like those cloyingly sweet pastries, were not pleasant. They even made one feel a little irritated. Yet he had never wasted food.
Shen Qingyu’s eyes had feared light since he was young, and he could not see. After losing his sight, he had grown used to listening to the wind with his ears. Even the passing of a faint breeze could often deliver a great deal of information.
People were shouting, footsteps were chaotic, and everything had become noisy and clamorous.
In the wind and rain, her scent had also vanished.
Had she run away?
No. She would not do something so foolish.
Then something was trying to steal his person from him.
It would not hurt to let her suffer a little.
Shen Qingyu curved his lips, his smile warm and gentle. In the bleak wind and cold rain, it was like the morning sun of April, warm as spring. He ate another dried plum. It was still just as sour, truly unpleasant.
Perhaps this particular dried plum was especially sour. He felt for the teacup on the table. Qiao Ying had poured him a cup of water before she left, but only when he touched it did he remember that the tea had long since gone cold, making it difficult to drink.
Shen Qingyu sat quietly for a while. Before long, he lifted his face slightly toward the mist slipping through the crack in the window and murmured, “It’s time to go home for dinner.”
When the Youth in Blue lowered his head again, a strand of white hair slid down along his shoulder. As the words fell, he set down the sour dried plums in his arms, took hold of the ebony blind cane resting beside him, rose, and pushed open the door.
A cold wind rushed in, stirring his clothes and further outlining his thin figure.
Facing the wind and rain, he sighed. “What a bother.”
The tail end of his words carried the particular languor of a youth. He stepped into the wind and rain, his sleeves snapping loudly as the wind tugged at them. His slender silhouette slowly stretched out beneath the curtain of rain, then disappeared from sight.