Chapter 232
Chapter 232
When Ren Fengjue finished speaking, they were about to resume their search for clues.
But Axia, standing at the entrance, suddenly heard bells ringing.
His ears twitched. Turning, he glimpsed the faint figure of a woman beneath the covered walkway.
“Young master!”
Startled, Axia hurriedly called to Ren Fengjue.
Yet in the blink of an eye, the figure vanished.
Bewildered, he pointed down the corridor. “I just… clearly saw someone there.”
They all looked over at once.
Yu Lang had the sharpest eyes. “There seems to be something on the ground.”
He hurried closer and discovered another yellowed booklet.
It was exactly like the first.
“My lord, another ‘clue’ really has arrived.”
He immediately opened the booklet and began reading it carefully.
*
“This place is so run-down. Can anyone even stay here?”
“Master, shall we find somewhere else?”
Dusk settled around the foot of Mount Yuebei.
A carriage pulled up before the post station. At the sight before him, the driver hesitated, unwilling to get down.
He was clearly very dissatisfied with the dilapidated station.
Hearing him, his master lifted the carriage curtain and looked out. “Liangzhou City is still several dozen li away. Our horse is tired and needs to rest.”
“The station may be rather shabby, but look, there is a light inside. Surely it is still fit to lodge travelers…”
The driver knew he had no choice. He reluctantly climbed down and gave a deliberate sigh.
“Master, we may be traveling incognito on this inspection, but all these journeys by boat and carriage have been exhausting…”
“You still have maps to study by lamplight tonight. The conditions here are so poor, they may not even have hot water…”
Grumbling all the while, he helped his master down from the carriage.
His master merely smiled, entirely amiable. “It does not matter. All we need is somewhere to stop.”
The driver went to knock.
After quite a while, a fierce-looking attendant emerged.
He eyed the visitors up and down and asked rudely, “This is government property. Who are you?”
The driver disliked his manner and was about to announce his master’s official position.
But his master stepped forward and displayed the token at his waist.
One look made the attendant’s expression change. “Please come in, my lord! Please come in!”
He hastily flung the door wide and ushered them into the hall, nodding and bowing. “No one has visited this poor place in far too long.”
“I failed to recognize your importance and nearly offended you, my lord.”
The attendant was plainly an accomplished flatterer. After showing the master to a seat, he hurriedly served tea and asked solicitously, “You must be hungry, my lord. I went hunting on Mount Yuebei earlier today and brought back some game!”
“Shall I prepare some wine and let you sample my cooking?”
The driver had not eaten meat for days. At the mention of game, he could not help smacking his lips lightly.
He clearly wanted some very much.
But his master said, “There is no need to go to so much trouble. Two bowls of plain noodles will do.”
He took a string of coins from his waist and handed it to the attendant. “Please heat some water for us afterward as well.”
Delighted by the money, the attendant thanked him at once. “Rest assured, my lord! I will see to it right away.”
Once the attendant had gone to the kitchen, the driver could not hold back. “Master, why pass up game that is already here? This is a government post station, after all.”
His master replied, “Look at this station. There is only one attendant. He may not be able to manage everything alone. We are merely passing through and staying one night. There is no need to trouble him at every turn.”
The driver knew his master had always cared deeply for the country and its people. He lifted the tea from the table, took a sip, and nearly spat it out.
“Master, this tea is stale!”
His master drank it quite calmly. “Stale tea is still tea. We cannot be so particular when traveling.”
Helpless, the driver could only mutter, “Then I will go feed the horse first, before you say we are troubling someone else again.”
Before long, the attendant brought two bowls of plain noodles from the kitchen and said that he had heated the water as well.
After they finished eating, he led them upstairs to rest. He had even tidied the best room, on the right, for them.
It might be called the “best room,” but it smelled of mildew. The window would not close properly, the ceiling leaked, the floor was damp, and even the table and chairs were broken.
Anywhere else, a room in this condition probably would not even count as an ordinary guest room.
The driver had a bellyful of complaints, but his master went straight to the window and pushed it open. Gazing at the distant mountains, he let out a long breath. “When I retire from office and return home, I would be fortunate to spend my remaining years somewhere like this.”
“…”
The driver swallowed everything he had meant to say. Silently, he laid brush, ink, paper, and inkstone on the table, tended the lamp, and began grinding ink.
Throughout their travels, his master had studied maps every night until midnight, marking place names with ticks or crosses. The driver did not know what they meant.
He understood none of it and only longed to hear his master say, “If you are tired, go to sleep first.”
The wick had been trimmed again and again. It was nearly the third watch of the night.
His master studied the maps while the driver grew too sleepy to keep his eyes open.
Just then, the rasp of a knife being sharpened came from the kitchen below, especially grating in the quiet night.
His master stopped writing, and the driver became alert as well.
“Why is he sharpening a knife so late?”
Suspicion stirred in the driver. He quickly took out the blade he carried. “Master, I will go down and look.”
With that, he went straight downstairs to investigate.
Yet the moment he reached the rear courtyard, he saw blood all over the ground.
The attendant was squatting beside the well, sharpening a knife…
The driver immediately shouted, “What are you doing?”
The attendant turned at the sound, his eyes showing an eerie red tinge.
He had looked fierce to begin with. Now his face seemed even more hideous and frightening.
“I just… slaughtered a wild rabbit.”
Having offered this explanation, he put on an ingratiating smile. “Have I disturbed his lordship?”
The driver snapped, “Do you know what time it is? Sharpening knives and killing rabbits now? Are you going to let anyone sleep?”
The attendant smiled again as he explained, “I saw the light was still on in his lordship’s room. He has not gone to sleep yet, has he?”
“So I slaughtered the rabbit in advance, for a farewell meal tomorrow!”
It sounded pleasant enough. But with blood all over the ground and that cold, gleaming kitchen knife, everything about it seemed eerie…
The driver could not help glancing at the wooden basin beside the attendant. Inside lay a wild rabbit with its belly slit open…
A chill crept down his back. Suppressing his nausea, he ordered, “Keep the noise down!”
“Yes…”
The driver hurried upstairs and told his master what had happened.
His master frowned, but there was little he could say.
“Never mind. Leave him be.”
Yet he had barely finished speaking when the sound of the sharpening knife grew even louder…