A mantis caught a cicada, and a fat mouse followed behind
Before them lay a large, pitch-black courtyard, with only two lanterns that could be extinguished in a breeze hanging under the porch.
Because the paper pasted on the outer walls was too thick, the light was dim, illuminating only a small area.
All four eaves were good places to hide, but precisely because they were too good, Meng Qi could not choose them; otherwise, he would come face to face with the rabbits waiting to crash into the stump.
As for the stumpโโ
In the cellar beneath this courtyard lay a place that was habitually used to store corpses.
The patrol yamen usually had no major cases, but Ning Tai, after all, was the richest place in Jiangnan aside from Qiantang County, attracting many foreign merchants and scholars. Typically, when murders happened, they happened to these people, whose money and valuables were looted, and their bodies were placed in the cellar, waiting for the cityโs merchant guilds, native-place associations, or literary societies to take turns identifying them.
Those identified with wealthy families would have a coffin bought and transported out.
The others, after being placed there for a while, would be taken to the charitable graveyard and thrown into a mass burial ground.
Qiu Siโs attendants, all without family or kin, would have no one to prepare a coffin for them.
Mo Li took out his money pouch, looked at the scattered silver inside, and sighed.
โDoctor๏ผโ
โโฆโฆNothing.โ
In truth, Mo Li did not care too much about the custom of burial. Given the circumstances at the time, not killing those attendants was impossible. Yet in this cold and silent late night, thinking of those attendants drifting through life in confusion only to end up abandoned in the wilderness, he felt an inexplicable complexity.
Those attendants whom Qiu Si kept around after various screenings, even if not as clever as Cheng Jingchuan, definitely did not lack martial talent.
Set loose in the Jianghu, not to mention anything else, they would certainly surpass that Bai Yu Zhenren of Feng Xing Pavilion who colluded with the Thunderbolt Hall.
โI was just thinking, if there had been no Qiu Si, would they have lived as ordinary folk, maybe calmly, maybe with difficulty, or drifted across the land like Jianghu people๏ผโ
Neither of these lives would have been ideal, and might have faced calamities and misfortune, but both would have been better than dying silently as someoneโs vassal.
Mo Li soon discarded these feelings and laughed at himself: โSaying these things is too dull and somewhat laughable. It was I who killed themโฆโฆโ
A hand reached out and covered his mouth.
Mo Li stared in astonishment.
He had seen people scold others to shut up, seen people interrupt others, even seen people tap someoneโs mute acupoint, but never had he seen anyone directly โuse their hand.โ
โA Li, I knew you disliked killing, unless it was absolutely necessary, or that person committed unforgivable crimes.โ Meng Qi glanced at his own pocket. It was empty, no money, no pastries. Otherwise, he would have stuffed a piece into the doctorโs mouth, not only sweetening his mouth but also sweetening his heart. โFrom now on, leave these matters to me.โ
Mo Li was speechless, feeling that Meng Qi was coaxing him like a child.
After leaving Zhushan County, he became more easily immersed in the tragedies of life and death in the world, unable to see through worldly principles as openly and calmly as he had a year ago. This was probably the trouble of entering worldly affairs.
Before, he could persuade Meng Qi, but now, Meng Qi had to console him.
โโฆโฆWhat difference was there between what you did and what I did๏ผโ Mo Li blurted out.
Upon hearing this, Meng Qiโs eyes lit up, and that faintly smug expression made Mo Li regret it immediately.
Such words should not have been said to let someone show off.
โPavilion Master Qiu spoke truly, when people died, all grudges vanished. Keeping corpses for sad lamentations was meaningless. Feeding them to snakes, insects, ants, and beasts, it would be better to burn them clean.โ Mo Li changed the subject and focused his mind back on the matter at hand, โAfter things here were settled, we would cremate them.โ
Meng Qi was about to speak when faint noises came from afar. Someone approached.
The sound came from the roof tiles, which ordinary people could easily ignore.
Several figures swiftly swept over the rooftop, peering down.
The night-walkers on the roof saw no one around and jumped into the courtyard. They cautiously spread out, some guarding the gate, some looking around, and others preparing to push the door open.
Meng Qi watched and shook his head. How could they be so careless? What if the door was rigged with a trap๏ผ
Besides, he and Doctor Mo were not the only ones waiting for those silly rabbits to crash into the stump!
In fact, from the moment he arrived, Meng Qi discovered that there were people in ambush here. But the other party was stationed inside the courtyard, and even arranged some non-martial archers outside the gate, far from the hiding spot he fancied, making no difference to him.
Wasnโt this a ready-made โstumpโ๏ผ
Meng Qi immediately turned a blind eye, letting them set their ambush right under his nose.
At this moment, these night infiltrators let their guard down and prepared to break in. In an instant, they were struck by darts shot out by hidden mechanisms, screaming miserably.
These darts penetrated deeply into flesh, their barbs making them extremely hard to remove. The intruders were immediately wounded and unable to stand.
โDrag them down.โ
Someone in the dark ordered disdainfully.
Those night infiltrators tried to resist with knives, but were knocked down by flying pebbles hitting their acupoints, collapsing heavily and no longer moving.
Several soldiers dressed as bailiffs timidly entered, dragged the unexpected guests out, and thoughtfully cleaned the courtyard, wiping away the blood and carefully collecting the darts from the walls and ground.
Meng Qi shifted his position under the eaves, watching the show. The second wave of arrivals was even more pathetic. Their lightfoot skills were poor, and they could not get onto the roof. Trying to climb the wall, they were captured outside the courtyard.
Mo Li: โโฆโฆโ
Enough. Without Meng Qi saying anything, he already knew that these two groups could not possibly be King Wuโs spies they were waiting for.
Having personally experienced the tight scrutiny of Feng Xing Pavilion, Mo Li was sure that without a route pass and a perfect cover identity, no one could slip past so many eyes.
The more Mo Li thought about it, the more he suspected that Ning Tai City concealed another resourceful and shrewd person of unknown allegiance.
Perhaps not as troublesome as Qiu Si, but maybe skilled in martial arts๏ผ
Where had Qiu Si truly lost? Was it not because he did not know martial arts? If he had been like his daughter and had learned a decent level of internal arts, though he still could not have avoided dying of old age, at least his body would not have been so poor, nor would it have deteriorated so quickly. He could have lived another five or six years.
When Meng Qi and Mo Li came knocking, perhaps he could still have escaped in time and would not have been trapped in that other courtyard.
If a martial arts master wanted to hide away unseen, he might have been even more slippery than a loach, and combined with local advantages, it would not have been so easy for Meng Qi to dig him out.
Mo Li, with a solemn expression, earnestly proposed this idea to Meng Qi. Intelligence alone was not frightening, but having martial arts and a nimble mind was deadly.
Looking at the enemies they had encountered all along, none possessed both qualities.
They need not mention Qiu Si, nor the Ancestor Qingwu. As for Ayanpuka, in fact both his mind and martial arts had been decent, but his vision was limited, he lacked capable people by his side, and his luck had been unfavorable. One could sum it up in a single word: miserable.
If there really came a counselor of King Wu who possessed both martial skill and cunning, and also knew how to act low-key, it would be quite troublesome.
Meng Qi felt troubled upon hearing this.
Fortunately, he quickly reacted. Just because King Wu had capable people did not mean that person would be squatting right here in Ning Tai City.
Martial arts masters were not like cabbages, not so easy to encounter! It was only because they had been stirring up trouble along the way, or trouble had been finding them, that they had run into so many masters. The average person drifting in the Jianghu would not meet even one in a lifetime.
โA Li, that was not the right way to put it. Apart from exceptional cunning, there is another possibility for wanting to hide oneโs identity.โ
โHm?โ
โHis identity might have been extremely special, so much so that no one thought to verify or suspect him. Or perhaps the person in charge of investigating his identity was also not clean, held by some leverage. Such things were not uncommon.โ
Mo Li found Meng Qiโs words very reasonable. Just as he was about to think more deeply, another group of people arrived.
These peopleโs approach was completely different from the previous ones. They first climbed onto the roof, observed all around for a while, and then quickly fought with the hidden archers and yamen runners in ambush.
They seemed very familiar with the terrain. Before long, they took care of the outside ambushes and cautiously probed into the courtyard.
Just as they dismantled the trap at the entrance and prepared to enter the cellar, an unexpected change occurred.
โAhem.โ
The sound coming from the corner frightened everyone, and they almost attacked with their weapons and hidden darts at the same time.
โOur stump has shown itself.โ Meng Qi said to Mo Li with great interest.
Mo Li: โโฆโฆโ
The person who had intercepted the night intruders earlier by only making a sound and not showing himself finally stepped out of the concealing darkness.
He had a pale face with no beard, wearing a half-smile, and looked at people as if staring at flies on rotting flesh.
Just by looking at his clothing, one knew he was not an ordinary person. In this weather, wearing full brocade with embroidered patterns was something only a fool or a master with profound internal arts would do. Since the embroidered patterns were so thick, almost like a second layer of fabric, heavy and non-breathable, it would be enough to make an ordinary person faint from the heat.
โAttendant Huang?โ
An โAttendantโ was a high-ranking assistant official in a prefecture or a princeโs residence. The government structure in King Ningโs territory was chaotic, and Meng Qi did not know what official rank the patrol yamenโs Biejia held. He raised his eyebrows and said softly: โSeems like this stump is quite famous.โ
Mo Li almost laughed but managed to hold it in.
โAll of you are the seventh wave of guests Huang has received tonight.โ Attendant Huang said unhurriedly. Only then did Mo Li realize that before he and Meng Qi came, this place had already been bustling in the first half of the night.
Attendant Huang held in his hand an iron-ribbed folding fan, but its fan surface was now missing, making it look strange.
The leader of the night intruders let out a cold snort and said in a muffled voice: โIt seems one of those previous groups was more troublesome, damaging Attendant Huangโs fan. The capability of this patrol yamen is no secret. Without hidden mechanisms, archers, and those living off Feng Xing Pavilionโs scraps, whatโs left are all useless fools. Perhaps only you, Attendant Huang, barely count as worth anything. Those who visited before might not have been as polite as we are, I wonder if Attendant Huang was injured?โ
โHa.โ
Attendant Huang laughed once, looking askance. โPoliteness and courtesy are as they should be. After all, we see each other so often. If someone killed their way in without even a greeting, wouldnโt that be embarrassing? Thanks for the concern, but I donโt know about you, who receives a salary under the same yamen as me. Were you sent by Feng Xing Pavilion to earn a living, or are you just another useless fool?โ
โYouโโ The night intruder leader was shocked but immediately concealed it. โWhat nonsense are you spouting?โ
Meng Qi was about to speak, but Mo Li covered his mouth first, saying:
โDonโt say the rabbit turned into a stump.โ
Meng Qi looked innocent.
Over there, Attendant Huang obviously did not plan to let the night intruder leader off, pretending to sigh regretfully: โThere is one thing I donโt understand. Why is it that some people, who clearly have no talent for lying and not much wit, always want to do big thingsโvery big things, such as betraying their fellow disciples to Bai Yu Zhenren, secretly contacting Thunderbolt Hall to join the Heavenly Bestowed Kingโฆโฆโ
โNonsense!โ
The night intruder leader roared in fury, but the people around him revealed astonished looks and unconsciously took two steps back.
This made the leader even angrier. His face was covered by a black cloth, showing only a pair of eyes that seemed to spark with fire.
Attendant Huang tapped the fanโs ribs in his hand, smiling: โBetrayal is true, and as for joining the Heavenly Bestowed King, I just said that casually. There were too many visitors tonight, I am truly tired, and I donโt want to argue endlessly about who you are or who you are not. Constable Jinโฆor Mountain Startling Tiger, your disguise was inadequate. I already knew you were sent by Feng Xing Pavilion. Letโs be frank. You wholeheartedly want to follow those elders of Feng Xing Pavilion to the bitter end, ignoring your masterโs orders. But your senior brother and your master, Old Man Bao, are not to be trifled with. How long do you think you can hide it? I heard your masterโs temper was not good, and he was stubborn by nature. Even Mister Qiu couldnโt persuade him to come to Ning Tai, only managed to lure his painstakingly taught disciples away. For someone like Constable Jin, whose heart was set on wealth and glory, forgetting your masterโs kindness, the ending usually wasnโt good.โ
The night intruder leader panted heavily. If his gaze could turn into blades, Attendant Huang would have been stabbed into a sieve by now.
Meng Qi gently freed himself from Mo Liโs hand and whispered into Mo Liโs ear: โNot a rabbit, but a tiger that canโt get over the mountain.โ
Mo Li could not help smiling bitterly.
Then they heard Attendant Huang continue maliciously: โFeng Xing Pavilionโs people had already been here once. Constable Jin, now that you have come again, who are you investigating for?โ
โYou actuallyโฆโฆโ
Constable Jin could not help wanting to ask how his identity was exposed. As soon as he spoke, he felt he had lost composure and immediately fell silent.
Attendant Huang laughed at his words, tapping the fanโs handle against his palm playfully: โWhen people are frightened, what they blurt out most easily reveals themselves. If you were truly a Jianghu person, you would not have called me โAttendant Huang.โ Just as you said, there were not many decent martial arts experts in the patrol yamen. Even if I were a fool, I could guess it by eliminating one after another.โ
Constable Jin simply tore off his face covering and said coldly: โI betrayed my master, but what about you, Huang Yang? When Mister Qiu was around, you were not at ease. You hurriedly sought refuge with King Wu, changing your allegiance. Did you think no one knew? We are all people looking for ways to attain wealth and glory, so there is no need to speak so harshly.โ
Oh-ho.
Meng Qi rubbed his fingers, thinking that indeed, there was no need to catch a rabbit. Pulling out the stump was enough.
