Qin Fang shot up. “Brother-in-law must’ve gone crazy!”
For the next few moments, Bai Shui listened to Qin Fang toss insults at a person she revered like an immortal. She scowled, “You’re insulting people again. Lord Su reminded me not to get too close to the marquis, but I didn’t expect him to move so fast. If I had dodged any slower, I would’ve lost my arm.”
Qin Fang went quiet as Bai Shui spoke. His face bore no expression; he simply stared at her until she felt guilty and pushed his face away. “I’m fine now, aren’t I? It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“To think that you are still insisting that you are fine…” Qin Fang hugged her and sighed. “I’m glad you are fine.” Then, Qin Fang asked, “Is there anything else Su Yunkai had you do? If not, I’ll take you to get healed up first. Now that they’re busy chasing assassins, they won’t have time to pay attention to us. “
“No, I don’t have anything left to do. Everything else is left to Lord Su.”
Qin Fang couldn’t help harrumphing. “When you mention my brother-in-law, your entire person changes. How come you’re not like that when you talk about me?”
His jealousy was so strong that Bai Shui could almost taste it. She went on her tiptoes to give him a gentle peck on his cheek, which caused Qin Fang’s soul to take flight. Happily, Qin Fang lowered his head, “Kiss me again.”
“Where is your virtue? Let’s go quickly. Those people will be back soon.”
Qin Fang crouched, turning around so that his back was to her. “I’ll carry you.”
Bai Shui paused. Her arm was indeed in great pain. “Wait a minute.” She took off her outer garment, revealing another outer garment underneath. She completely removed her assassin gear. She threw the clothes she had taken off onto the roof. Then, she climbed onto Qin Fang’s back. Bai Shui breathed a sigh of relief.
“Walk slower. It hurts.”
Qin Fang said gently, “Mhm. I just figured out the terrain. I’m going to walk on the smaller roads, which are not as smooth as the larger ones. It might be a little bumpy. Just endure a little longer.”
Carrying Bai Shui on his back, Qin Fang took the small path at a slow pace, heading to his room to grab some medicine. When Bai Shui was angry, she was very fierce. She could even lift his entire body up with a single hand. Now that she was so frail, Qin Fang found himself missing her spirit and her energy as well as her ability to lift him up with a single hand.
“Qin Fang, after you send me back to my room, you need to do the next thing as soon as possible.”
“Mhm. I know. Don’t talk anymore. Sleep now.”
Bai Shui mumbled a response. Lying on Qin Fang warm back, she slept despite the throbbing pain.
*
At around 3 PM, the sunlight on the mountain began to weaken. It was no longer as poisonous as it had been at noon. Shen Wei was sweating and his clothes were all damp. He had thought about a lot of things while panicking. The more he thought, the more he thought he was wrong. He trembled and turned to Yu Fenglin. “It seems that Su Yunkai really isn’t the murderer.”
Yu Fenglin chuckled. “He never was. He doesn’t have any reason to attack you. You, on the other hand, have a guilty conscience, randomly accusing people. You even locked up the person who has the ability to help you the most. Why don’t you think carefully about who you might have offended along with the other victims?”
Shen Wei paled. He shook his head. “I didn’t…I have a clear conscience.”
Yu Fenglin was not stupid. He obviously didn’t believe Shen Wei. “If you really want to live, go to find Su Yunkai. The most recent death was really quite strange. Su Yunkai, who doesn’t know the murderer’s motive, has no way to guess what will happen next. I can tell from the event today that the murderer wants to kill you.”
Shen Wei suddenly paused, avoiding Yu Fenglin’s sharp gaze. At a loss, Shen Wei stared at the door for a long time.
Then, there was a bang outside. Shen Wei jumped up and backed into the corner with a scream.
At the door, a servant said, “The people in the next room were carrying their shadow puppet boxes out to dry. Someone slipped and dropped the box on the ground.”
Shen Wei immediately scolded the people outside. He still did not dare to go out. The more he insulted them, the less energetic and the more frightened he became. Witnessing this, Yu Fenglin felt like Shen Wei was actually becoming a madman.
“Su Yunkai is not the killer… But he can find the killer. Once we catch the killer, I won’t die.” After repeating these words to himself, Shen Wei suddenly turned to Yu Fenglin and said, “Marquis, I have an fabulously rich industry throughout the entire Song Dynasty. You know that, right?”
Yu Fenglin blew at the tea leaf floating in the teacup and looked up at Shen Wei. “Of course I know. Although you are not the richest person I know, your money could build five mountains of gold. That would move the heart of anyone who saw it.”
Shen Wei’s eyes were fixed on the marquis. “I am willing to give you three golden mountains.”
Yu Fenglin smiled. “The way I see it, your life is worth five golden mountains.”
Shen Wei paused. “The marquis knows what I am going to say next?”
“I’m not stupid. You are near death’s door, yet you still refuse to confess to Su Yunkai what happened. It must be because disclosing the details of that event will also take your life. Just now, you suddenly mentioned money to me. Obviously, you want me to protect you and ensure that you stay alive. In my eyes, your life is worth five golden mountains. If you give it over, I will most definitely save you.”
Of course, Yu Fenglin knew that Shen Wei’s wealth consisted of more than what Shen Wei had just mentioned. At the same time, Yu Fenglin also knew that asking for too much would be akin to taking Shen Wei’s life. He didn’t want to waste time bargaining.
Shen Wei thought for a long time and nodded weakly. “All right. I’ll listen to you.”
Yu Fenglin’s features smoothed. “Let’s go, then. I’ll bring you to see Su Yunkai.”
In his heart, Shen Wei cursed Yu Fenglin a thousand times. However, if he had acted later, then he might never have the chance to use the money at all.
With Yu Fenglin escorting him, Shen Wei was extremely safe the whole way. Once he reached Su Yunkai’s room, Shen Wei ordered a maid to knock on the door, so that the people inside wouldn’t hear his voice and refuse to see him.
“Lord Su, Lord Su?”
Su Yunkai heard the voice and looked over at the door. Seeing about seven or eight people standing outside, he smiled. Ming Yue pursed her lips, motioning for him to not answer.
“Lord Su, are you in there?”
Ming Yue retorted, “Where else would we be? Flying in the sky?”
Shen Wei was embarrassed. “Didn’t the lord always want to know what myself and Jin Fugui and the others did? I have come to confess.”
Su Yunkai finally stood up and said, “You want to talk to me alone?”
“Yes.”
“But now, I am a prime suspect. If you tell me the information and you die in the future, wouldn’t I seem more like a murderer? I cannot be the only one present when you speak.”
“I’ll have the marquis act as a witness, then. Lord Su can rest assured.”
The door in front of him opened slowly. Shen Wei felt as the action of opening the door was the same as opening a way to live. He looked at Su Yunkai the way one might behold a lifeline. Even his shuddering heart calmed a little. “My lord…help me. The murderer even had the guts to run to my door and attempt to assassinate me.”
Su Yunkai’s expression was indifferent. “This person disregarded their own safety in order to attempt to kill you. What could you have done to this person?”
Shen Wei didn’t speak. After he entered the room, the door was closed. Only four of them were left in the room.
Ming Yue was still injured, but she stood to Su Yunkai’s left out of habit. She wobbled a little on her feet. Seeing this, Su Yunkai pulled her over to sit down with him.
Shen Wei knew that Su Yunkai still harbored some grudge against him. Right now, Su Yunkai was the only person who could save him. It was said that Su Yunkai was the best at tracking the truth from clues. Shen Wei hoped that this was so. Otherwise, his confession would have been for nothing. “The Shen family, the Jin family, and the Liang family have been close for generations. Thus, Jin Fugui, Liang Fangdong, and I have known each other since we were born. Later, as we grew up, we had similar interests and constantly played together. Aside from doing business together, we often eat-drink-play and make merry together. Twenty years ago, we were young and vigorous. We went to many brothels and had many concubines in our homes. We thought it was boring, so we found something more exciting to do.”
Su Yunkai was able to gauge the meaning behind the word “exciting.” His face grew dark.
“This ‘excitement’ was to hurt the girls a little during intercourse. The girls in the brothel like money. We have money, so they are willing to play with us. After a while, we became bored again.”
Su Yunkai asked coldly, “So you started looking for respectable women?”
Shen Wei was surprised. He hadn’t said anything, but Su Yunkai already knew. He felt guilty under Su Yunkai’s stare. He hesitated. In the end, he decided to continue. “Yes…At first, we only used our own maids, but since the maids are from our families, it would harm our reputation if the elders found out. Therefore, we could only look for other women. At that time, we were well-known among the locals. We feared accidentally meeting acquaintances, so our fun was always interspersed with brief breaks. Then, twelve years ago…”
Twelve years ago… Su Yunkai was silent. It was the year that Su Xiu died.
“I like to listen to music and watch operas. What I love most is the puppet opera, so I raised a puppet troupe. At that time, the leader of the troupe was Yu Xianghong. I never liked meeting lowly people, so I didn’t know who was in the troupe. One day, I saw Yu Xianghong whipping a girl. The hits were painful, but to me, her cries were as wonderful as birdsong…”
Both Su Yunkai and Yu Fenglin could guess the meaning behind his words. Ming Yue was embarrassed and angry. Disgusting scum!
Shen Wei sighed, “At night, I went to Troupe Leader Yu. He refused at first, saying that she wasn’t an orphan and that she had a family. The girl had secretly run away in order to learn skills. He worried about getting in trouble with her family, but after I gave him money, he agreed. Thus, I brought her away. However, because she resisted too much and scratched Liang Fangdong, he couldn’t help it. He killed her by mistake.”
Yu Fenglin smiled coldly. Pressing the murder charge on a dead man, Shen Wei had indeed left himself a hand.
“Later, we were afraid that we would get implicated, so we went to find Troupe Leader Yu. He said that she had no parents. Instead, she had two brothers who were menial laborers. They sent money back every month and loved her very much. After this event, we were afraid that the two brothers would take revenge. We went to the government and bought the local officials in advance. Sure enough, the two men went to report to the officials after they heard about the girl’s matter, but because we had made arrangements ahead of time, the brothers were the ones who were arrested, locked into prison, and then sent to the frontier with felons. We never saw them again.”
Shen Wei was nervous as he continued. “I think it is very likely that they have come back to take revenge! My lord, I didn’t kill anyone. It was Liang Fangdong who did it. I just lost myself for a moment and followed along.”
Su Yunkai asked slowly, “What was the name of the dead girl?”
Shen Wei looked gloomy. “Su Xiu…”
Su Yunkai sneered, “You said that she was killed by Liang Fangdong, but the truth is that she was tortured before her death. There wasn’t a single intact place on her entire body. Even her skull was broken. The most serious was done to her lower body. Shen Wei, do you think that if you press all the charges upon Liang Fangdong, you can hide the truth from the world?”
Shen Wei was stunned. His heart sank. How did Su Yunkai know this?!
.
A Hint of Spring 
So sad how they tortured the girl before killing her. So sick. Thank you for the update.
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