weddingnovel Chapter 368 - 215: Who Did They Kill? (2)
Chapter 368 - 215: Who Did They Kill? (2)
But it’s been such a long time and still no return, it seems a bit strange.
He gently nudged Gentle, and Gentle opened her eyes to look at him.
"Come with me to find someone."
Chu Qing said softly:
"Liu Sanniang is missing."
Leaving Wuchen to wait there, Chu Qing and Gentle went to search for her together.
On one hand, Gentle had a keen sense of smell and could follow Liu Sanniang’s scent, and on the other hand... it was ultimately pitch black, and Liu Sanniang was a woman, so taking Gentle along was more convenient.
However, after searching all the way, they finally arrived at the water source.
Hearing breathing, Chu Qing realized Liu Sanniang had entered the water.
Chu Qing was greatly shocked for a moment.
In such icy and snowy weather, could it be for a bath? Or... did she finally give up, planning to end her life?
They quickened their pace, and in the blink of an eye, they were at the pool.
From afar, they saw a woman washing in the water—it was indeed Liu Sanniang.
Chu Qing glanced quickly and then immediately averted his gaze, feeling at a loss for words.
To bathe in such cold weather, how strong must one’s obsession be?
Gentle, on the other hand, stared unblinkingly as if she had never seen anyone bathe before.
Chu Qing couldn’t help but tap her forehead:
"Stop staring, let her come up quickly."
"You tell her."
Gentle shrank back.
"...I’m a man."
"I am now too."
Chu Qing was speechless for a moment, so he coughed and said:
"Miss Liu, the cold weather and such disregard for your body, aren’t you afraid of dying before Shen Juke?"
"Ah!"
Liu Sanniang, startled by the words, hurriedly covered her chest.
She looked towards the direction where Chu Qing and Gentle were, but they were hidden behind the bushes, out of her sight.
After a moment of silence in the water, she gritted her teeth and said:
"You all... you go first, I’ll come later."
"Alright."
Leaving just this word, Chu Qing took Gentle and went back first.
After a while, Liu Sanniang returned, tottering, her face deathly pale.
She came before the campfire, hugging her legs and sitting down, her figure hunched.
Chu Qing glanced at her:
"Miss, why do you do this?"
"...For the past ten years, I often feel this body is filthy, if I don’t wash for a moment, it’s unbearably stinky."
Liu Sanniang sighed softly:
"But don’t worry, sir, I won’t die before Shen Juke, even if I die, I have to let him pay for my Chen Lang’s life first."
Chu Qing was silent, and after a moment, he said:
"Rest early, we have to travel tomorrow."
"Hmm."
Liu Sanniang lay on her arm and slowly closed her eyes.
There was nothing more that night, and early the next morning, the group continued their journey, reaching Brahma Shock City by noon.
The group did not enter the city but followed Liu Sanniang to another place.
It was a nameless lake outside Brahma Shock City, but the scenery was beautiful.
By the lake stood a grass hut, which seemed to have been renovated, with its doors closed tight.
Liu Sanniang pushed open the gate of the fenced courtyard and led everyone in.
"This is where my Chen Lang lived years ago. When I found it, this grass hut was in ruins.
"I had it repaired afterward and have been living here ever since.
"Make yourselves comfortable, I’ll go talk to Chen Lang."
She pointed to the hut, indicating for everyone to sit inside, and then went to a solitary grave in the corner of the fenced yard.
Chu Qing quietly followed Liu Sanniang, listening to her talking endlessly at the grave.
She was fervently telling her lover that she had found someone who could avenge him...
Chu Qing listened silently, but his eyes turned to look around.
After a while, he retracted his gaze and came to wait by the hut.
Soon, Liu Sanniang returned and looked at Chu Qing and the others:
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Not at all."
Chu Qing waved his hand:
"This place can’t accommodate so many of us, so we’ll part ways here for now.
"When the matter is settled... I’ll come to you for the secret you mentioned."
"Alright."
Liu Sanniang didn’t keep them:
"Then I’ll trouble you all. However, I hope this matter can be handled quickly.
"Because in two days, it will be Shen Juke’s forty-fourth birthday.
"I don’t want him to live past forty-four."
Chu Qing clicked his tongue, but still nodded and agreed.
...
...
All afternoon, Chu Qing gathered a lot of information.
First, the Chen family’s massacre ten years ago.
This was not a secret; anyone who had lived in Brahma Shock City for a few years would have heard of it.
The situation was almost exactly as Liu Sanniang had described.
That year, the Chen family had a wedding, and that night, villains came and slaughtered the entire Chen family.
The difference was that, according to legend, it was Shen Juke who turned the tide, not only saving the bride but also rescuing the groom, who had been taken away by the bandits, thanks to Hero Shen.
But the bride was not a virtuous person; she fancied the highly skilled Shen Juke and disdainfully rejected Chen Sheng, who had lost all his family in one night and could not carry a burden.
Ultimately, she stayed at the Shen Family, and Chen Sheng was initially heartbroken; later, perhaps he went mad, claiming everywhere that Shen Juke had killed his whole family.
The situation escalated quite a bit, and several batches of people from the Blazing Hall came, but in the end, nothing came of it.
Overall, aside from Shen Juke saving people, which didn’t match Liu Sanniang’s story, there wasn’t much discrepancy.
After figuring out these matters, Chu Qing focused on investigating the few people Liu Sanniang had mentioned earlier.
The shopkeeper of Yulin Tower, the second son of Hongfa Money Shop, and the head of Zhang’s Cloth Shop.
But upon inquiring, he discovered that these three were no longer in Brahma Shock City.
Yulin Tower had long gone bankrupt, and the shopkeeper had left with his family, dying on the mountain road to Guang’an City, reportedly intercepted and killed by mountain bandits, with no survivors in the family.
Hongfa Money Shop was still there, but now it was run by the third young master.
The second son had married a concubine five years earlier, but a notorious thief set his sight on her. One night, intending to steal her away, he ran into a trouble. The second son tried to call for the guards, but was beheaded by the furious thief.
The concubine was also taken away, and her whereabouts remain unknown.
As for the head of Zhang’s Cloth Shop, his story was a bit more complicated... Ten years ago, a crucial batch of cloth was burned by some unknown calamity, leading to compensation that began the shop’s decline.
For about two or three years afterward, this man was missing.
He resurfaced when Chen Sheng cried out for justice.
He actually testified for Chen Sheng!
But unfortunately, it was later discovered that Chen Sheng had paid him two hundred taels of silver to appear and give false testimony.
This matter ultimately came to nothing...
After that, he went mad and died in a fight with wild dogs, torn to shreds by a pack of dogs.
"Out of the four people Liu Sanniang mentioned, three died unnatural deaths."
In the inn’s main hall, Chu Qing poured himself a cup of tea and felt speechless.
"So now, only one person is left."
Gentle said softly:
"The Chen family’s young servant, who is now Shen Juke’s third disciple, Ye Feifan."
Chu Qing nodded but first glanced at Wuchen:
"You wouldn’t happen to be like Ling Beichen, with your mind sometimes clear and sometimes muddled.
"Were you here ten years ago? Watching others get married, and you, as a monk, never having such an opportunity, felt anger arise in your heart, and thus evil came forth from courage?"
"...The benefactor should not speak nonsense."
Wuchen couldn’t help but roll his eyes:
"I have never broken my vow to not kill in my life."
Chu Qing glanced at him, feeling he didn’t quite live up to the name ’Ghost Lamp.’
The group casually discussed in low voices, while the inn was bustling with people occasionally spreading tales from the Martial World.
Just then, someone said:
"Do you know? Ghost Lamp Wuchen, who hasn’t been seen for years, suddenly appeared within Luochun Manor’s sphere of influence!
"And he killed someone!"
Chu Qing smirked, glancing at the supposedly never-killed Wuchen.
Wuchen sighed, his face filled with a familiar expression.
At that moment, someone asked:
"Who did Wuchen kill this time?"
"He killed the eldest son of the Chu Family in Celestial Dance City, Chu Tian!"
Chu Qing sharply raised his head, feeling for a moment as if his ears were deceiving him.
They said, Wuchen killed who?