Chapter 54

Jia Cong asked in surprise: "Why is it you?"

That person's voice was elegant and cold: "I said, no matter how high the walls of your Rongguo Mansion are, they can't stop me."

It was Qu Hongxiu, who had parted ways with Jia Cong outside the city that day.

"I returned to the city to handle some business and heard that you had received family punishment and were not lightly injured."

Jia Cong didn't ask how she knew; people in the Hidden Sect were bizarre, and what was difficult about wanting to inquire about some news?

As she spoke, she undid Jia Cong's clothes, and seeing the whip wounds on his back, she also gasped.

"Black-hearted thing, actually using such a vicious hand!"

"You are a cunning ghost; how could you let someone beat you like this? Was it something you deliberately provoked?"

Jia Cong's face showed surprise; after all, they had killed people together, and his thoughts were seen through by Qu Hongxiu at a glance.

Qu Hongxiu rolled her eyes at him: "When you met those two people in the small woods that day, didn't you also turn and run, luring people into a trap? It's just repeating the same old trick."

In the backyard of a bookstore on Wenhan Street, there were two rooms, the slightly larger one containing new books in stock.

"Your maid is fine; I used some methods to make her sleep soundly, and she won't wake up for three hours."

"He forced my maid to her death, and I couldn't stay in the East Courtyard, so I could only use this method."

If he took that path, once the matter was exposed, there would be no place for him in the vast world; perhaps it was somewhat helpless, but the world he was in now was just like this.

"Lie still, I'll help you apply the medicine." As she spoke, she took out a black bottle with a long neck and a round belly.

"My medicine heals quickly and leaves no scars. I'll apply it for you once to repay your favor."

"If you don't have a suitable place to stay, I rented a house on Xinchun Street in the West City, the first one at the end of the street corner; it has been vacant. When my injuries heal, I'll go see you."

As she spoke, she didn't allow Jia Cong to refuse, unbinding the gauze on Jia Cong's back, clearing away the ointment from the wound, going outside to find clear water, and carefully helping Jia Cong clean the wound.

He was a bit strange; with such a commotion just now, why was Qingwen still sleeping on the table, unable to be woken up even like this?

He didn't dare to let Qu Hongxiu help; he thought her methods would be very simple, nothing more than buying human lives.

Qu Hongxiu smiled, her eyes filled with mockery, and her expression was actually somewhat charming: "You wouldn't be afraid of pain, would you?"

Jia Cong shook his head: "I can solve this matter myself. I won't let my maid lose her life in vain; the debts that should be collected will not be missed."

Jia Cong's face was bitter: "This medicine of yours is very precious, so don't waste it; the physician has already applied medicine."

Although he hated Jia She to the bone and couldn't speak of any father-son affection, he had been reborn into this body, and in terms of clan law and secularity, Jia She was his biological father, so he had to have some misgivings.

After applying the medicine to Jia Cong's back, Qu Hongxiu stuffed the black bottle to him: "Let your maid apply the medicine for you once every day, and you will be much better in two or three days."

Qu Hongxiu looked at him with a complex expression and sighed.

"Do you want me to help you?" Qu Hongxiu's voice was somewhat cold.

Finally, she applied her own ointment, and in the candlelight, Jia Cong only felt a piercing pain behind his back, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Qu Hongxiu looked at him, nodded, and walked out of the room.

One day he would walk out of the Jia family, but he couldn't use that method.

The other small room contained some old books from years past, as well as some unused sundries; even the shopkeeper Xiao Jindong rarely entered this room.

Only Old Qin, who was responsible for cleaning the shop, occasionally went in to clear out some old books to sell as waste paper for money.

A slender figure climbed over the courtyard wall, walked to the door, seemed to have discovered something unusual, quietly drew the curved knife on her body, and gently pushed open the door.

Qu Hongxiu saw an old man in a coarse cloth short jacket sitting in the room, his figure in the darkness straight, carrying a trace of inexplicable oppression.

"Qin Shu, why are you here?"

The old man asked: "It's so late, where did you go?"

Qu Hongxiu remained silent.

"You went to the Rongguo Mansion to find that Jia Cong, didn't you?"

Qu Hongxiu looked at Qin Shu in surprise.

Qin Shu said gloomily: "What's difficult to guess about this? We buried eyes in the Zhenan Prefecture."

"The news from there says Jia Cong was robbed by thieves on his way back from the Nanxi Literary Gathering, and the thieves were the murderers from the literary gathering, and he was stabbed in the back."

As he spoke, Qin Shu glanced at the somewhat uneasy Qu Hongxiu.

"The Zhenan Prefecture sent a large number of people to search outside the city, but there was no news, yet after you returned, you didn't mention a word about this!"

Qu Hongxiu defended herself: "He was just a boy; I only borrowed him to escape that day, a figure not worth mentioning."

Qin Shu's expression was somewhat cold: "Is that really so?"

"You have always been efficient, yet you let him live and return; it must be that you saw his appearance and discovered he was extremely similar to someone. Am I right?"

Qu Hongxiu's face was horrified: "Qin Shu, you... how did you know?"

Qin Shu said: "Two months ago, he came to the shop to sell calligraphy, and I saw him."

Qin Shu looked at Qu Hongxiu, who was trying to remain calm.

"During the day, that scholar surnamed Liu came to the shop and told the shopkeeper that Jia Cong had received family punishment and was seriously injured."

"You hid in the backyard and heard it, and your face didn't look good. I don't know what happened between you these past few days."

"But that boy's appearance is so similar to someone, there must be something tricky about it."

"It's just that that person lived in seclusion back then and very few people knew him; otherwise, that boy would have been seen through long ago!"

He stared at Qu Hongxiu, whose expression was changing, and said in a deep voice:

"If this matter leaks out, not only will people in the Hidden Sect want to kill him, but there are also many people who want him dead!"

Qin Shu stood up and walked out of the room, turning back to say: "Find another place to stay tomorrow; you can't live here anymore, to avoid being discovered by the shopkeeper, who knows Jia Cong."

"Stay away from that boy; it's no good for you..."

The sky was slightly bright, and Qingwen woke up lying on the table, rubbing her sore neck, her moving eyes filled with confusion—how did she fall asleep on the table?

Seeing Jia Cong still sleeping on the bed, she breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, the little girl sniffed, as if she had discovered something, and kept walking toward Jia Cong's bed.

Jia Cong was always alert when sleeping, and feeling the shadow moving in front of him, he woke up.

Seeing Qingwen leaning over his bed, she looked somewhat strange.

"Qingwen, what are you doing?"

"Third Master, why is there a fragrance on your bed?"

"What fragrance? Could it be the calming incense you lit yesterday?"

"The calming incense dissipated long ago; it's another smell, a woman's fragrance, right on your bed."

Qingwen narrowed her pretty eyes and looked at Jia Cong suspiciously.

Jia Cong's heart jumped; could this girl be a puppy? She could even smell this.

"What woman's fragrance? Aren't you a woman? Besides you, is there any other woman in this room?"

Qingwen scratched her head, thinking it was true; besides herself, where was there any other woman in this room?

But that woman's fragrance wasn't hers; hmm, and it smelled quite good.

She went outside to fetch water to serve Jia Cong for washing and went out again to arrange breakfast for him.

Walking to the courtyard gate, she ran into a middle-aged woman walking in, followed by a maid in a red damask jacket and a green satin vest, looking somewhat unfamiliar.

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(End of chapter)