Chapter 154: Sun Qingyi

One hundred and sixty taels.

No one spoke.

The dull voice that had just silenced the whole field didn't ring out again. She seemed to have accumulated strength for a long time and waited for a long time, but it only rang out briefly and not brightly, but it was completely cut off by this peaceful and firm voice.

"Cabinet A-12, one hundred and sixty taels of silver to buy the Ascension Pill! Three sings and it's settled—"

The whole field was quiet.

"Cabinet A-12, one hundred and sixty taels of silver to buy the Ascension Pill! Three sings and it's settled—"

Still no one spoke.

When this sentence was sung for the third time, the dull voice from just now suddenly rang out again, but this time it sounded a bit hesitant, and a bit difficult and stumbling.

"One hundred... sixty-three taels," she said, "plus four hundred wen."

"One hundred and seventy taels," Li Piaoqing's voice followed without the slightest gap.

And so there was completely no sound.

Sung three times on the terrace, the ownership of the Ascension Pill was settled.

After some concluding remarks, the guests left one after another. Bowang Garden had also prepared many other amusements for this singing sale, and everyone walked out in groups.

A green-clothed man came down to invite Li Piaoqing to trade.

Seeing Pei Ye poked the young girl: "I'll go see a friend first."

"Oh, wouldn't it be better to go together later?"

Seeing Pei Ye shook his head: "Let's meet up in a while."

He turned to find the dull voice from just now.

However, people dispersed a bit too quickly, or perhaps the woman had left early when the bidding failed. When Seeing Pei Ye arrived at the back, he could no longer see that broad figure.

He chased out the door and walked all the way with the crowd until below the Catch-Moon Building.

It was still a drizzle that felt like nothing outside. The crowd gradually diverged, and different people began to go to different places they were interested in. Seeing Pei Ye looked around, and a familiar grey-white flashed by in his field of vision.

Seeing Pei Ye's head immediately fixed in that direction—Catch-Moon Building.

He didn't know how many floors he could go up today, but many people were coming this way anyway. Seeing Pei Ye followed with big strides. This was his first time entering here, and he was surprised to find that this building was supported by a stone terrace, and the first floor was also more than a zhang off the ground.

Seeing Pei Ye went up the stairs to the first floor. This building was not as empty as the Wind-Watching Terrace; it had carved walls and winding corridors. Seeing Pei Ye strolled around several corners and didn't see Zhang Junxue, but was a bit stunned looking at the flowing spring and rockery in front of him.

Why was there such a thing inside the building?

Anyway, Zhang Junxue wouldn't be inside here. He thought about it; coming to this building must be to climb high, and the woman should have already walked up.

Seeing Pei Ye was somewhat worried about this taciturn friend. Her figure panting like a tiger in the courtyard when the morning and evening were uncertain, the cloth bag crudely and sturdily sealed at her waist, and her sparkling eyes when she got the reward silver, all left a deep impression on the youth.

She had never complained, but the weight she carried had long made Seeing Pei Ye feel the same. Now that this expectation, which had gathered who knows how many days, had fallen through so easily, Seeing Pei Ye was worried that she couldn't digest this emotion.

Especially since she was all alone—counting the ten-plus days they had spent together, the youth hadn't seen her receive much friendliness in this strange city.

She always endured quietly, climbing tenaciously toward her plan, as if she had long been accustomed to shutting everything away in her heart. But no one ever didn't need to vent.

The rockery in front was towering and extending to the second floor. Seeing Pei Ye looked left and right and saw no one. Feeling that the stairs were hard to find, he simply jumped up along the mountain.

He went around the second floor and didn't see Zhang Junxue's figure. And the rockery in the center of this floor continued to extend to the third floor. Although the space was much narrower and people couldn't pass outside the mountain, there was a hollow space in the middle of the mountain. Seeing Pei Ye estimated that the width could allow going up and down.

But after going around this circle, he had already seen the proper stairs, so he gave up this eye-catching passage.

He still didn't see the woman's figure on the third floor. This floor was full of books, paintings, and poems. Scholars were sitting cross-legged and talking loudly. Seeing Pei Ye guessed that she should be looking for a quieter place, so he continued to go up.

He went around the fourth floor and still didn't see her. Seeing Pei Ye was a bit confused, starting to doubt whether he had seen the wrong person just now. He stood in front of the railing, leaning against the rain outside the building, almost taking in the entire fourth floor, but there was no figure like Zhang Junxue.

Just then, a green-clothed man carrying a tray of wine pots passed by with his head down. Seeing Pei Ye stopped him and cupped his hands: "Brother, have you seen a tall woman wearing grey-white martial arts robes?"

The green-clothed man was stunned first, raised his head, and was stunned again, then hesitated and shook his head.

"Oh, good, sorry to bother you."

Seeing Pei Ye withdrew his hand and stepped aside. The green-clothed man carried the tray up the stairs leading to the fifth floor.

Seeing Pei Ye sighed, his brows slightly furrowed as he turned around, thinking there should be a taciturn figure leaning against the railing looking into the distance.

Just as he was about to lift his step to go to the fifth floor, a bit of familiar grey-white suddenly surged into the field of vision below.

Seeing Pei Ye immediately stepped forward and held the railing to look down.

——Zhang Junxue was downstairs.

She hadn't gone upstairs at all, just passed through the first floor to the shaded side of the building. It was indeed quiet here, and spacious enough, but the woman wasn't hugging her knees and sitting blankly.

Under the dark clouds, the sky was dim. Pine trees and small lamp cabinets were always hung with lamp fire. In this dark corner behind the beautiful light, the woman continued to wield that heavy saber, the sound of the wind roaring, just like she had done in the martial arts hall for the past ten days. The flowing light of the jade lamp avoided her clumsy figure.

Seeing Pei Ye looked down from a high position. The woman's hem danced like a big flower. Seeing Pei Ye watched for a while, suddenly smiled, lowered his head, and was about to jump down.

However, between the actions of lowering his head and jumping up, the youth's movements froze.

The footprints on the ground entered his field of vision.

The rain wasn't small this morning, and it slanted into the building. Seeing Pei Ye had come upstairs all the way, and there were wet footprints of varying depths on each floor. But the roads in Bowang Garden were quite clean, so there wasn't much mud, and the footprints almost disappeared once they dried.

And the footprints in front of him were still very clear. They could only come from one owner—the green-clothed attendant from just now.

And Seeing Pei Ye hadn't seen this pair of footprints for the first time.

Just that day on the second floor of Old Zhang's restaurant, before a living person turned into a bloody corpse, this pair of footprints had stood silently in front of the door for a long time.

Seeing Pei Ye suddenly understood the doubt at that time—the murderer had disguised himself as a waiter, so he could stand in front of the victim for a long time without being vigilant. At that time, there were few guests, and it was normal for the waiter to serve this guest in the compartment attentively.

And after the Lake Heart Gang, himself, and Commandant Zhao arrived one after another, the murderer still hadn't left. He wore a disguise and huddled under the wall, listening to everything they said.

A chill surged up, his body stiffened and then tensed. Seeing Pei Ye twisted his body violently and darted toward the fifth floor like a leopard.

I thought I was free today, but it turned out there were three hours of class in the morning! A meeting that required signing in for three and a half hours in the afternoon! Two hours of chores at night! F*ck!

The next 2000 words will be updated before 12 o'clock.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 155 =====