Chapter 047: Picking Mulberries (IV)
"Master Xiao Zhou, among the dead, there was a Hu man who was in disguise."
Chao Yisong waited for Zhou Ting to go upstairs and then reported immediately.
Hu people?
The elegant room was in a mess . Zhou Ting saw only Han people's faces, except for the dead body lying on the table, whose skin was damaged. He walked forward and tore it with his fingers, revealing the deep bones underneath more clearly.
"Can anyone see who did this?"
Zhou Ting turned around and asked in a deep voice.
"I asked the spectators who were standing at the railings at the time, and some of them said that they seemed to have seen a figure in white, but that person was wearing a veiled hat, so they didn't look closely..." Chao Yisong answered truthfully.
Everyone who comes to the tile house is busy watching the fun. How many people pay attention to anything else?
White clothes and veil hat.
Zhou Ting frowned. He almost immediately remembered the person who had just stood with his back to him. "Chao Yisong, search."
"yes!"
Chao Yisong immediately walked out of the elegant room and ordered his men to gather all the spectators in the tile house downstairs.
Zhou Ting turned around and looked again at the dead Hu man.
Although the war between Da Qi and Danqiu has temporarily ceased, it cannot be said that there are no turbulent undercurrents underneath. The appearance of such a Hu man in Wanzi, Yunjing at this time is indeed strange.
"Master Xiao Zhou, there are people wearing white clothes, but no one wearing a veil hat," Chao Yisong ran upstairs breathlessly. "I looked around and saw that they were all weak and frail people who couldn't carry anything. No matter how you look at them, they don't look like the kind of people who can kill all eight of them."
"Tried?"
Zhou Ting asked.
"We tried them all, but none of them had the foundation to learn martial arts." Chao Yisong rested one hand on his waist and waved to the waiter beside him. "He said he had some impression of the man wearing a veiled hat. At that time, the man was listening to the pipa with a young woman over there."
Zhou Ting first looked in the direction Chao Yisong pointed. He saw an empty table and two cups of cold tea. Then he stared at the waiter, "What does that woman look like?"
"I didn't pay much attention to what you said, sir. It was just that the man next to her came into such a bright place with a lamp in his hand. I thought it was strange, so I looked at him twice more. As for the rest... I don't know anything." The waiter answered tremblingly.
Zhou Ting thought for a moment with a cold face , then ordered Chao Yisong:
"First, take these eight bodies back to the Night Palace."
The moonlight is bright and the snow is fine like dust.
The back alley of the theater was dark and quiet. Ni Su broke free from Xu Hexue's hand and landed on the ground, but she heard footsteps and voices in front of her, and a cold hand covered her lips.
Her hair was covered with flying snow. Xu Hexue followed her lowered gaze to the back of her hand. She didn't know when there was a wet bloodstain on it.
The voices faded away and he suddenly let go.
"Even if I can get away, what about you? You appeared here with me. Once Zhou Ting asks in detail, he will always be able to find out some words from those people in the tile house. But if you were not here, this matter would have nothing to do with you." Xu Hexue explained to her.
Xu Hexue leaned forward slightly, "I know you don't want to, so I just..."
He didn't finish his words, but they both remembered at the same time that he bent down in the theater and picked her up while she was squatting in the corner. In just a moment, his body turned into mist, and her figure also disappeared silently in front of everyone.
Ni Su had never known before that despite his gaunt appearance, he was actually very strong. He bound her arms, ignored her struggles, held her tightly in his arms, and walked out of the theater.
"I know you don't want me to go to the nightclub again."
Ni Su finally spoke, but she didn't look up. "I was just wondering why you transformed into a ghost and gained such an extraordinary ability, but Youdu wanted to punish you for using it."
"Because this is not an ability that can be used here."
"Then where can we do it?"
Ni Su raised her eyes.
The crystal snow flakes gently brushed her eyebrows. Xu Hexue was silent for a moment. The blood on his palms and the dirt on the edges of his sleeves slowly turned into floating dust under the moonlight. He raised his head and saw the stars in the night sky. "It doesn't matter where it is, because I won't go there."
He spoke calmly.
Ni Su actually didn't understand, but she knew that the so-called punishments inflicted on him were hideous and profound. Although she didn't see more injuries on his body, she knew that they must be like the scars on his arms, visible to the naked eye, the sharpness of the blade and the damage to his flesh and blood.
It was as if each of those tortures was the one he had personally endured during his lifetime.
"Let's go back."
The wind and snow made Ni Su's nose ache. "I still have a lot of candles. I'll light them for you when we get back."
The words "go back" actually brought great peace of mind to Xu Hexue. He turned around and looked at the girl beside him. Just by hearing her say these two words, he wanted to follow her back.
"How did you recognize that Hu man?"
Ni Su supported him and asked as they walked.
"The Hu people live on the plateau and make a living as nomads. There are frictions between tribes from time to time in order to seize pastures and fight for cattle and sheep. They have the tradition of wearing swords since childhood. The way and habit of wearing swords are different from those of the Han people. The man just now had no ornaments on his waist, but he unconsciously touched his waist."
Not only that, but because Xu Hexue had fought against the Danqiu Hu people at the border for five years, he had a more detailed understanding of the Hu people.
"You asked me to hide General Miao because you were sure that he didn't know this person. The military patrol came so quickly, which means someone was waiting for General Miao to fall into a trap."
General Miao was the general of the Great Qi. On the Lantern Festival, he came to Wazi alone to meet a Hu man. If this matter were to be spread out, General Miao would be unable to defend himself.
"But why do you trust General Miao so much?" Ni Su remembered that he made the decision almost immediately when she recognized General Miao.
"The fight between him and the Hu people will end until death."
The first year after Xu Hexue gave up his status as a Jinshi and joined the border, he served in the Huning Army under the command of General Miao Tianzhao. That was the most important moment in his life. He witnessed the bloodshed on the battlefield with his own eyes and witnessed what could be gained and lost from the failure and victory of a war.
Miao Tianzhao had killed countless Hu people in his life. If he entered the elegant room of Washe, he might be able to recognize the identity of the Hu man. But as soon as he entered, it would no longer matter whether he recognized the man or not. What mattered was that the storm was coming, and he would have no way to avoid it.
"Didn't you ask those people? Who are they and why did they want to harm General Miao?"
"They are determined to die, so they won't say anything."
Xu Hexue shook his head.
Ni Su lowered his head for a while and said, "I also saw someone, Censor Jiang. When I took General Miao to change clothes, he also came in. I saw that he didn't want to be discovered by the military patrol and the night watchmen."
"Perhaps, there is some light on the account book."
Xu Hexue's expression moved slightly.
"Then wait until you feel better, and then we'll go to Censor Jiang's house."
Ni Su said.
Xu Hexue was almost stunned when he heard this. He turned his head to look at her, but the remaining light went out unexpectedly. His eyes returned to darkness. He could only hear her voice: "The candle is burned out. I will take you away."
There was no one sweeping the snow in the back alley and the light was dim. Ni Su threw away the lantern, pulled Xu Hexue's sleeve, stepped on the thick snow, and groped towards the light source at the end.
The dead branches were broken by the heavy snow, and a large piece of ice and snow fell without warning, hitting Ni Su's head and body. She sniffed and sneezed loudly.
"Ni Su?"
Xu Hexue couldn't see anything, he just heard the noise. He tentatively reached out his hand, but she suddenly turned around and his palm touched her cheek.
Her face was very cold, and Xu Hexue could even feel tiny snow particles between his fingertips. The temperature of an ordinary person was enough to melt them, but Ni Su saw that the ice and snow between his fingers were crystal clear and would not melt at all.
"What’s wrong with you?"
He withdrew his hand.
"fine……"
Ni Su shook her head, and a lot of the snow between her hair was shaken off, but there was still a lot in the hood of her cloak, mixed with her lapels. She simply turned around and said, "There's a lot of snow in my hood, can you help me out?"
Hearing this, Xu Hexue had no choice but to reach out and touch the material of her cloak. He patiently moved his hand up, slightly lifted the edge of the hood, and gently patted off the snow that was clinging to it.
Ni Su secretly turned around to glance at him. The faint moonlight and the cold mist intertwined, and his face was not very real.
"Xu Ziling."
She suddenly called.
"Um?"
Xu Hexue focused on the movements of his hands.
"I think General Miao will definitely ask me about you. He wanted to ask when he was in the tile house, but he didn't expect Censor Jiang to barge in. But I think General Miao will definitely look for me again."
Ni Su stood obediently, "Tell me, if he asks me who you are, how should I answer him?"
Xu Hexue's palms were covered with snow. The cold wind blew open his sleeves, revealing a bright red wound. He bent his finger bones and was distracted by her words.
"Xu Ziling?"
Ni Su called again, "Are you in too much pain? Let's go back quickly."
She didn't dare ask him for help anymore and quickly grabbed his hand.
In the empty alley on a cold night, the sound of footsteps on the snow grows louder.
Xu Hexue was attached to the man who had called him back from Youdu, his eyes empty and lifeless: "If he asks you, just say that we just met by chance and we can't reveal our names."
We met by chance and I won’t reveal my name.
Ni Su looked at his jaw in the night fog, "You didn't come back to look for old friends, did you?"
"You don't want to see your teacher, and you don't want to see General Miao, whom you clearly know. Then... how can you be willing to see your old friend?"
She said, "The person you want to meet is not someone who has done you a favor, but someone who has done you a grudge."
He cherishes all the friendships, life and death, teachers and friends from the past, and dares not destroy them with his remaining soul, so he would rather walk his own path in this world.
"When I met you, I thought about meeting him."
Xu Hexue was silent for a while before she said softly, "But Ni Su, I think they may not want to see me."
In fact, his words didn't sound sad at all. His tone was so calm that he was just stating a fact, but Ni Su felt a little uncomfortable.
Why don't you want to see him?
Because he has been dead for more than ten years and no one has paid tribute to him?
Ni Su felt that the friendship that he cared so deeply about seemed too cruel to him. From the moment he left this world, it seemed as if all people and things had cut ties with him.
"But,"
Ni Su held his hand tightly, the snowflakes brushing against her cheeks like dust. She led him step by step to the warm yellow light at the entrance of the alley. The bustling sounds not far away became very close to them. "But I always feel that you shouldn't be treated like this."
