Chapter 197
Chapter 197
Yu Lang stood beside a stall selling paper umbrellas, craning his neck to watch the other two across the street.
He saw Ren Fengjue hand something to Xia Ximo, though he could not tell what it was.
Narrowing his eyes, he clicked his tongue. “I truly guessed correctly.”
Yan Zhengchu joined in the excitement behind him. “The Young Marquis is far too stingy. How can he buy a gift for a young lady in a place like this?”
Yu Lang glanced at him and laughed. “You don’t understand, do you?”
“People of their status look for only two things in an object: elegance and novelty.”
“This place may not be elegant, but it is certainly novel.”
Yan Zhengchu truly did not understand. “It is only a pile of worthless junk. Fooling rich dupes like you is one thing.”
Yu Lang was about to argue when Ren Fengjue and Xia Ximo left the market and turned away.
Xia Ximo naturally accepted the silver comb. This time, she even commented, “You thought that through.”
She placed it in her pouch, and Wuyou’s teasing voice immediately sounded beside her ear.
“Oh my, ‘This silver comb should sit more comfortably in your hand when you throw it…'”
“Why does it feel as though the Young Marquis gave you a concealed weapon rather than a comb?”
“…”
Ren Fengjue struggled to suppress the rising corners of his mouth and considered what to say.
But Xia Ximo had already put away the gift and walked on.
Lord Ren was about to follow when he keenly sensed someone watching from behind…
He turned, only to see a stall selling umbrellas.
Just as the hawker had said, a narrow waterway appeared at the end of the street, and the surroundings gradually grew quiet.
A stone bridge crossed the river. Beyond it lay a sparse district of intersecting lanes and scattered houses.
Xia Ximo stood on the bridge, about to cross, when Ren Fengjue spoke behind her. “Wait.”
“Why?”
“With only the two of us, searching this entire eastern district will not be easy.”
Only now, after coming all this way, did he say it would be difficult?
Who knew what circuitous plan he was pursuing…
Xia Ximo remained indifferent. “Then I will go alone.”
“…”
Ren Fengjue instinctively reached out and caught her hand. “Do not rush.”
Xia Ximo lowered her gaze to his hand, a strange feeling rising inside her.
Still… she forced herself to be patient.
A gentle breeze crossed the bridge. Sunlight lengthened their shadows, reflecting them upon the sparkling water.
Her gaze paused with them.
After a short wait, footsteps sounded behind them. Xia Ximo looked back and saw Yan Zhengchu and Yu Lang.
Only then did Ren Fengjue release her hand without drawing attention to it.
Yu Lang had guessed from afar that their presence had surely been discovered when he saw the pair standing on the bridge.
He no longer hid and dragged Yan Zhengchu straight over.
“Vice Minister Yu’s skill at following people has not improved in the slightest.”
Yu Lang smiled awkwardly.
He grumbled inwardly, considering whom he had been following…
Aloud, he said, “You misunderstand, Lord Ren. We weren’t following you. We merely didn’t want to spoil your pleasant outing.”
As he spoke, he cast Xia Ximo a meaningful look and waggled his brows at Ren Fengjue.
Ren Fengjue understood perfectly but deliberately pretended otherwise. “What pleasant outing? We are going to search for Minister Zhong.”
Yu Lang drew out a long “Oh.”
“Then we truly had the same thought. Daoist Yan and I intended to do the same.”
Yan Zhengchu was still fiddling with his compass. He said solemnly, “I am mainly worried because we do not know this Vengeful Ghost’s origins. If it harms innocent people, we will have a disaster on our hands.”
Ren Fengjue asked, “Can you determine its exact location, Daoist Yan?”
Yan Zhengchu shook his head, confusion on his face.
“That is the strange part. The moment we approached the eastern district, the needle went wild…”
Yu Lang looked around from the bridge and suddenly said, “I think I see people from the Zhong Family…”
“Over there.”
He pointed. Downstream, they could indeed make out Zhong Dingyan in the distance.
Yu Lang asked, “My lord, should we follow and see what happens?”
Knowing Zhong Dingyan might not want him to intervene, Ren Fengjue nodded. “We will observe first and show ourselves only if necessary.”
* * *
By then, the Zhong Family and constables from the Beiding County office had split into several groups and searched the entire eastern district.
But after one or two hours, they still had not found Zhong Ming.
The chief constable grew doubtful. “Why are you certain Minister Zhong must be here, Young Master Zhong?”
The eastern district was home to impoverished commoners.
The large search party frightened them so badly that they did not dare leave their homes.
Under such circumstances, the searchers could only question households door to door, a slow and exhausting process that might still yield nothing.
Most importantly, why would a man of Minister Zhong’s stature come to a place like this?
Zhong Dingyan did not know how to explain. Just then, a dilapidated wooden door nearby creaked open a crack.
A woman stood inside and asked hesitantly, “Are you… looking for someone?”
Zhong Dingyan immediately stepped forward.
Only then did he realize that her eyes were dull and that she was blind.
He carefully asked, “Yes. Have any strangers come here recently?”
The woman hesitated, then opened the door wider and felt her way out of the room. “Come in and look. I don’t know if he is the person you seek…”
Acting on a private impulse, Zhong Dingyan asked the chief constable and the Zhong Family servants to remain outside, then entered alone.
The interior was dim. He could vaguely distinguish someone sitting within.
The figure’s build did resemble his father, Zhong Ming.
Nervousness rose in Zhong Dingyan. He stepped closer. When he confirmed that the person before him was indeed his father, he froze.
“Father?”
Zhong Ming leaned against a chair, his expression wooden and his eyes vacant.
Even at his son’s voice, he showed no response.
Zhong Dingyan stepped forward and seized his father’s hand, only to start in alarm.
It was terrifyingly cold.
“Father…”
Realizing something was wrong, Zhong Dingyan called again and again. “Father, it is your son Dingyan. What happened to you?”
“Your son… your son will take you out now!”
He meant to lift Zhong Ming from the chair and carry him on his back. But as he turned, he heard a sigh.
“Yan’er…”
“I have something to tell you…”
His father’s breath was barely a thread.
Zhong Dingyan grew even more anxious. “Whatever it is, tell me after we return…”
He was about to call the people outside when an icy hand closed around his wrist.
“Yan’er, I have little time left…”
“Listen to me first…”