Chapter 18: Traces and Clues

Inside Qingquan Lane, the two-courtyard mansion sat in silent stillness.

Lin Wanyi sat upright in lotus position on the bed, the sickly flush on her cheeks gradually fading. Because her skirt had gotten wet and was being dried by her body heat, a faint mist rose from it, and her gold-rimmed glasses had fogged over completely.

Meiqiu crouched at the head of the bed. Because the wait had dragged on a bit long, and Xie Jinhuan wouldn't let her bounce around, she had already fallen asleep, thoroughly transformed into a lump of black coal.

Xie Jinhuan sat on the stool by the bed, a cultivation technique manual in hand, seizing every spare moment to improve his martial skills.

In this silent waiting, no one knew how much time had passed. Lin Wanyi had not yet fully refined the poison when urgent knocking suddenly came from outside the courtyard:

Knock-knock-knock~

"Jinhuan? Jinhuan?"

……

Lin Wanyi immediately grew alert, withdrawing her cultivation and forcibly suppressing the poison. She raised her eyes and said:

"Who's there?"

"It's Constable Yang, probably here to ask about the case just now."

Seeing officials from the government office arrive, Lin Wanyi naturally grew nervous.

After all, as a witch of the Wu Sect, she absolutely could not be seen in the light of day. But if she stopped refining the poison now, she'd be injured by the Xue Ning San's toxicity—wasn't that being blocked on both sides?

Knowing Lin Wanyi needed time, Xie Jinhuan put away the manual and rose:

"I'll go send them away."

But as he rose, the shadow-like Ah Piao suddenly whispered in his ear:

"You're being watched. Someone may know where you live. She has no ability to protect herself—leaving her alone isn't safe. I'll cover her for you; you go send the constables away."

After a brief consideration, Xie Jinhuan decided to trust Ah Piao's ghostly words. He took off the Zhenglun Sword and left it at home to guard the house:

"Take this sword to defend yourself. If you're bored, talk to Meiqiu."

"Squeak~"

Meiqiu mumbled with her eyes closed, then went still again.

Lin Wanyi was still refining the poison and couldn't say much. She nodded her thanks and continued her meditation.

……

Creak~

Soon, the heavy front door opened from the inside.

Three figures stood outside the door: Linghu Qingmo in white as pure as snow at the center, with Yang Dabiao—looking like a French-door refrigerator—and a black-armored Wu Zu flanking her on either side.

Xie Jinhuan walked out with his usual expression and cupped his hands in greeting:

"Miss Linghu, Brother Yang. And this my lord is?"

Liu Qingzhi, who had been discussing Xie Jinhuan moments earlier and felt quite moved by his rough fate, replied:

"Fu Wei Liu Qingzhi, greetings to Young Master Xie."

Hearing the name, Xie Jinhuan felt a vague sense of familiarity. After a brief recollection, he remembered it was the fellow from "blowing that thing and putting Yu to sleep," and said in surprise:

"So it's my lord Liu, I've long admired you!"

Seeing that Xie Jinhuan didn't seem to be merely being polite but truly had long admired his name, Liu Qingzhi showed a puzzled look:

"Has the Young Master heard of my name before?"

The memory was still fresh for Xie Jinhuan, but matters of the bedroom weren't something to bring up. As he was pondering how to explain, Seeing Mo Mo in the middle spoke up:

"Save the pleasantries for later."

Linghu Qingmo glanced around the residence:

"I heard Physician Lin was poisoned by Xue Ning San. How is she?"

Xie Jinhuan replied evenly, "Miss Lin is a physician; she has a way to detoxify and is currently resting. If there's something to discuss, let's step outside to talk."

"Xue Ning San is no ordinary poison. I brought an antidote pill."

Saying so, Linghu Qingmo headed toward the main room, wanting to check on Lin Wanyi's condition.

But Xie Jinhuan certainly didn't dare let her go in. He blocked her path:

"She's really fine. She was sweating earlier and her clothes got soaked through—she's stripped down, so it's not convenient to see visitors."

Stripped down?

Linghu Qingmo's steps faltered, half-believing, half-doubting:

"You only arrived in Danyang yesterday, and today you're already with Physician Lin…"

Knowing it sounded a bit abrupt, but fortunately his old home was also in Jingcheng, Xie Jinhuan explained with a smile:

"I live in Jingcheng. I used to visit the Lin family clinic often, so we knew each other before."

So they're old flames…

Linghu Qingmo's brows knit slightly; her gaze seemed to say—You have a sweetheart and you still felt me up, you scumbag, right?

At that moment, Lin Wanyi's voice came from the inner courtyard:

"Lord Linghu, I'm fine. I've already taken the antidote pill and am circulating my cultivation to heal. I'll be all right after some rest. I'm injured and it's not convenient for me to come out and greet you in person; I hope Lord Linghu will forgive me."

Hearing that her voice seemed to indicate no serious harm, Linghu Qingmo set her mind at ease and turned back toward the lane:

"I heard Fu Dongping was hired by that wave of demon marauders from yesterday. Did you get any leads from him?"

Xie Jinhuan casually closed the courtyard gate and led the three toward the lane's exit:

"I only arrived yesterday and didn't expect Fu Dongping came to kill me. My hand was too heavy—by the time I wanted to interrogate him closely, he'd already stopped breathing."

Seeing this, Linghu Qingmo secretly fretted and sighed lightly:

"Slaying demons and vanquishing evil is a good deed, but you should leave some survivors appropriately—otherwise the government office's cases are hard to investigate."

Didn't I leave a survivor for the government office yesterday?

Who knew the government office was so useless that they didn't even stop the bleeding and rescue the marauder?

Xie Jinhuan couldn't really roast Yang Dabiao, so he could only nod:

"My father always said, when you run into demon bandits, kill them if you can, never harbor false hope, get used to it, and pay more attention next time."

Yang Dabiao had failed in his duty yesterday, and at this point cut in:

"That's right, but not being soft-handed doesn't necessarily mean you have to beat them to death. Next time leave a live one—you can just blast apart his qi sea, then chop off his hands and feet, turn him into a human stick, I guarantee he can't bite back, and the government office can keep interrogating him."

Xie Jinhuan furrowed his brow: "That's a bit too brutal. Killing is killing; torturing for fun is an evil-dao method."

"Brutal?!"

The three of them turned their heads in unison.

This time even Liu Qingzhi couldn't hold it together, and seriously reviewed the situation:

"Yesterday that monk was beaten to pieces on the spot, blood and flesh smeared half the alley, the government office runners haven't even finished cleaning up today; today this Fu Dongping, his guts were picked out and thrown on the ground…"

"Enough!"

Linghu Qingmo, who was discussing the case, raised a hand to stop the idle chatter and asked:

"How did these demon bandits find you?"

Xie Jinhuan spread his hands: "Not sure. I stayed here last night, didn't step out the whole night, after breakfast with Brother Yang this morning, I went to the medical clinic, and ran into the assassins when I came out. Counting the time to hire the killers and tail me, I should have been spotted last night."

"Last night…"

Yang Dabiao crossed his arms and thought it over seriously:

"In such a short time, to pin down your movements, the government office must have a mole."

Xie Jinhuan sensed there was a mole, but was still puzzled:

"They have a mole in the government office, they know I killed everyone at the warehouse and came to retaliate—how could they not know my strength? Sending a few stinky fish and rotten shrimp to feed me for free doesn't make sense."

Linghu Qingmo also felt the matter was fishy, and thought for a moment:

"Maybe the mole doesn't know much, only knows you slaughtered the warehouse crew, not the specifics. Fu Dongping isn't exactly stinky fish and rotten shrimp either—swap him for any other twenty-year-old, they'd be dead eight times over."

The four were discussing this when a Constable suddenly came running from the end of the street:

"Lord Yang! Lord Yang!"

Yang Dabiao furrowed his brow: "What? More trouble in the city?"

"No."

The Constable came up to the four of them and held out a bottle:

"Just now we were collecting bodies on Jinmen Street, and we found a bottle at the scene. Have a look, my lord."

Xie Jinhuan glanced at the black bottle: "It's something from Fu Dongping's person, I saw it earlier, it should have Xue Ning San inside."

Linghu Qingmo took out a handkerchief, took the empty bottle to examine it, and carefully sniffed it:

"It really is a container for Xue Ning San. Is there something off about this bottle?"

Yang Dabiao, who spent years making the rounds in the marketplace, frowned tightly and tried to recall:

"This bottle… isn't this the kind of bottle the government office seized 'Deng Xian San' in?"

Liu Qingzhi rubbed his chin: "Seems like it really is. I used to catch a few poison insects in the beggars' kiln, and they had this kind of bottle on them—supposedly bought from Sanhe Lou."

Xie Jinhuan had heard of 'Deng Xian San'—it has hallucinogenic effects, makes one feel as if soaring to the heavens after taking it, but damages the mind, and the addiction is hard to kick. It was explicitly banned when Daqian was founded; his father used to crack down on this all the time.

Seeing Liu Qingzhi knew the source, he asked in confusion:

"The government office knows there's a place selling Deng Xian San, and they don't send people to wipe it out?"

Liu Qingzhi's expression turned awkward: "Not certain if Sanhe Lou is selling this on the side. The owner behind Sanhe Lou is the Li family on Wencheng Street—the Li family are clan relatives of Huang Menlang Li Gongpu, a current favorite by His Majesty's side…"

Xie Jinhuan gave a slight nod at this, and understood the reason.

Li Gongpu, because he hung around the Emperor all day flattering and fawning, was privately mocked by court officials as 'Eunuch Li'. Though his reputation wasn't great, he held the rank of Vice Second Grade and had the Emperor's deep trust. Someone like that—not to mention the county government office, even a Pill King wouldn't casually offend him—no wonder the government office didn't dare investigate.

Linghu Qingmo carefully recalled for a moment, then asked:

"In Deng Xian San, isn't there an ingredient called 'Dragon's Beard Grass'?"

Yang Dabiao was stunned, and his expression grew solemn:

"Dragon's Beard Grass is yin-cold in nature, it can muddle the mind. Seems like Deng Xian San really does have it. Could it be that Sanhe Lou is secretly colluding with demon bandits to gather Dragon's Beard Grass, and after their warehouse was raided, they secretly hired killers for revenge?"

Linghu Qingmo had found a lead, and could be called swift and decisive:

"Having a lead, we can't ignore it—let's go to Sanhe Lou first and see."

Xie Jinhuan also wanted to know who was hiring killers to kill him. Lin Wanyi had Meiqiu and A-piao protecting her, so there was no problem, and he followed behind…

(End of this chapter)