Chapter 054: Walking on the Grass (V)
After leaving Manyu Bank, soft spring rain fell, dotting tiny crystal drops of water in Ni Su's hair. "Xu Ziling, look at yourself. You are already in this state. Do you really have to go to see Censor Jiang at this time?"
Without the umbrella to shield him, Ni Su stood facing the pale young man with blood on his sleeves. The rain washed away the blood dripping down his sleeves. His lips were pale. "Did you hear what the manager said? When the shopkeeper Hu Li Yuanxiao went out that night, he took something with him."
"...a book?"
Ni Su remembered.
Xu Hexue hummed, "I overlooked one thing before. Although Du Cong's account book recorded his money transactions, the officials in the account book, whether they were below or above, were not named."
"But that money came from all over the country through Manyu Bank. It's impossible that Manyu doesn't have a secret account book."
"So, the book Hu Li brought with him is most likely the secret account book?" The sound of rain rustled as Ni Su recalled what happened in the tile house on the night of the Lantern Festival. "But who was he going to see when he brought the account book to the tile house?"
Whoever it is, he is probably related to the person in the account book.
"If Wu Dai's epilepsy was really caused by his own will, then he must have been worried that even if the government didn't sentence him to death, someone would always kill him. Rather than sit and wait for death, he might as well set up a trap first and lead the Night Police to investigate the Manyu Bank."
The flame of the candle in the lantern was extinguished by the rain, and Xu Hexue's eyes returned to darkness. He paused for a moment and then said, "But what on earth is there in Manyu Bank that is worthy of the midnight police's investigation? Only this secret account book."
"Hu Li's body was just found in the tile house and taken away by the Night Guard. Although you and I have no chance to examine Hu Li's body, we can see from the Night Guard's reaction that they did not find anything on Hu Li's body. And during the inspection of Manyu Bank this time, they did not find what Wu Dai wanted them to find."
Xu Hexue only heard the sound of rain. His empty eyes moved slightly, and he could not help but call out softly, "Ni Su?"
"So you think that the secret account has already fallen into the hands of Censor Jiang on the night of the Lantern Festival?"
Ni Su spoke up.
"I'm just guessing that Jiang Xianming didn't tell me the truth that night, and the Night Bureau released the manager of Manyu Bank tonight, which is tantamount to telling those anonymous people in Du Cong's account book that the Night Bureau did not find the secret accounts of Manyu Bank."
But who had the account book? Xu Hexue believed that those people must be getting restless and trying their best to find the whereabouts of the account book.
"I must confirm this as soon as possible, otherwise something might happen."
Xu Hexue couldn't see what Ni Su's expression was at that moment. It was a rainy spring night. He stood up straight, followed her direction, and bowed to her. "Ni Su, please - help me."
"In my life..." He just opened his mouth and suddenly realized that he had said something wrong. He was no longer a living person, so how could he talk about this life?
He lowered his eyes slightly, "Just as you said before, I came back, although I wanted to find my old friend, but people and ghosts are different, I thought, what can I do if I meet him? It will only add to his sadness and will not benefit him. But I still have something more important, which is the only reason for me to be in Youdu, or even to return here."
"Ni Su, you called me back. This is the only and most precious opportunity I have encountered in the hundred years in Youdu. I dare not delay. I am afraid that if I delay, I will have to wait for another fifteen years in the human world."
Fifteen years in the human world, nearly a hundred years in Youdu.
"And I don't know if I can still wait for you next time."
As time goes by, will anyone in this world still care about the injustice suffered by the 30,000 heroic souls trapped in the pagoda? Xu Hexue knew clearly that this was his only chance and the meaning of his existence as a remnant soul.
Ni Su watched him salute, which was upright and elegant, but his back seemed straighter than that of the literati she had seen. It was not that those literati were not straight enough, but that his back was as sharp as a blade.
"But your eyes."
Ni Su's throat felt dry. She accurately grasped the emotions in her heart. She felt sorry for the man in front of her. In fact, the fragmented details of the time she spent with him were enough to build a real him in her heart, but she had deliberately avoided going into details.
She wanted to wait, hoping that one day, he would tell her.
"You will hold my hand, right?" Xu Hexue gently raised one hand. His joints were slender, and the rain could not wash away the bloodstains on his wrist.
Ni Su looked at his hands.
The night rain was hazy, and she didn't know whether the lantern under the eaves of the house in front was flickering. She pursed her lips and held his hand.
The touch of cold and warm.
The blend of rain and water.
"Thank you, Ni Su."
It was hard for Xu Hexue not to think about what had just happened in the warehouse of Manyu Bank. In the cabinet, she lowered her eyebrows and blew gently on his wound.
The intense pain didn't seem to hurt so much at that moment.
"Don't be mad at me. I didn't mean to make you mad."
Xu Hexue was led by her, and he could hardly avoid the warmth of her fingers.
"I know."
Ni Su wiped the rain off her face and walked quickly forward with him, "I'm not angry, I just..."
How could she explain to him the pain in her heart?
Ni Su didn't know. She stopped talking for a while before speaking again, "I was thinking, I once advised you to be nicer to yourself if you can avoid so much pain, but now I find that what you want seems to be exchanged only by hurting yourself."
He was just walking alone.
Just as he was only willing to accept her help in lighting the lamp and guiding the way, but did not want her to risk her life and do anything for him, he certainly did not want his relatives, friends, and teachers to be involved.
A dead person wants to protect the living so much.
"Have you ever thought about giving up practicing medicine?"
Xu Hexue asked her.
Ni Su shook her head, "Never."
The rain was not as cold as his body, and the wet water drops fell on Xu Hexue's face, "I am the same as you."
Although the journey is difficult, it is also enjoyable.
It was a rainy spring night. The night market was not open and there were few pedestrians on the street. The horse-drawn carriage rolled over the loose stone slabs, stirring up a cloud of turbid water.
Jiang Xianming sat in the car with his hands on his knees, looking solemn.
The carriage drove to a more secluded place, and the lights outside dimmed a lot. Jiang Xianming was thinking carefully, but he didn't expect the horse outside to suddenly neigh. Then the carriage shook violently. He leaned his back against the wall of the carriage and immediately asked, "What's going on?"
"grown ups!"
The coachman outside called out in panic, and then there was a dull sound of a blade entering flesh, and the curtain of the carriage was heavily pressed down by a figure.
Jiang Xianming saw the young coachman half-fallen into the carriage with his eyes wide open, his chest soaked in blood, and motionless. His face changed and he looked up into the rain. Several dark shadows like ghosts were approaching.
Jiang Xianming saw a flash of cold light, and he acted decisively. He rolled up his sleeves, grabbed the reins, and whipped the horse's back hard. The horse felt pain, neighed loudly, and ran away wildly.
The man in black chased him relentlessly and pierced the wall of the carriage with a long knife. Jiang Xianming barely dodged it, and he whipped the horse's back hard and galloped towards .
Several black shadows were flying over the eaves and running on the walls. The sound of their footsteps on the green tiles and the sound of rain intertwined, making Jiang Xianming's eardrums feel like they were about to explode . He did not dare to relax at all, but suddenly he felt a loud noise on the roof of the car, as if someone had fallen.
With a start in his heart, he immediately loosened the reins, turned over and fell off the carriage. Quick footsteps were approaching. Jiang Xianming was about to get up, enduring the pain in his body, when the blade covered with rain was already across his neck.
"Who are you? How dare you assassinate an imperial official!" Jiang Xianming said sternly.
Several faces were covered by black scarves. One of them waved his hand and the blade across Jiang Xianming's neck was about to cut his throat. At the critical moment, a long sword broke through the rain and accurately pierced the wrist of the person holding the knife. The man felt pain, his fingers loosened, and the blade fell to the ground with a "bang".
The killers looked back vigilantly, only to see a man in white clothes stained with blood, a lantern in his hand, and a wet veil that covered the face underneath. Several killers stepped forward, and the leader kicked the long knife on the ground and hit it hard on the knee of Jiang Xianming, who was thrown more than ten steps away.
Jiang Xianming fell into a puddle, the dirty water almost covering his entire chin. He turned around and saw the killer had raised the knife behind him.
Jiang Xianming instinctively put his hands in front of his eyes, but he heard a "clang" sound, a very crisp clanging sound. He almost held his breath, raised his eyes, and saw through his fingers that the falling blade had been blocked by a long sword.
Jiang Xianming saw the hand holding the sword. There seemed to be a red mole on the pale back of the hand. He looked up along the hand, but only saw the veil covering the man's face.
His movements were extremely fast, and his sword moves were sharp and unyielding. Within a dozen moves, the killer was defeated and immediately called out to the people behind him: "Go!"
Several killers rushed towards the man.
Jiang Xianming's heart tightened when he saw this, and he couldn't help but shout, "Young Master, be careful!"
Xu Hexue stabbed a man in the chest with a sword, and then he pulled out the sword and fought with several long swords one by one. The rain washed away the blood on the sword tip. The long swords worked together to resist the sword body. He immediately let go of the hilt, and the sword body turned with the help of their blades. He quickly dodged behind the man, grabbed the hilt in time, and cut one man's neck.
The night rain could not suppress the bloody smell. Jiang Xianming was originally worried that this man could not handle these dozen killers, but he sat in the rain and watched the figure move like flowing clouds and water, calmly from beginning to end.
There were several corpses lying in the alley, with diluted blood flowing through the cracks between the floor tiles. Apart from the sound of rain, there was no other sound of fighting.
The lamp in Xu Hexue's hand was made of colored glass and remained undamaged by the rain. The moment he relaxed his grip on the sword, the intense pain almost engraved itself into his bones.
"Who is your Excellency?"
Jiang Xianming looked at his back.
Xu Hexue turned her face away.
The blood almost soaked his entire sleeves, and his always clean and neat collar was also red . He stepped over the dead body on the ground and walked very slowly to Jiang Xianming. Through the wet veil, he looked at this middle-aged man with a frosted face:
"Censor Jiang, you don't recognize me, but do you remember the statue of the horse stepping on the flying swallow? It seems that you deceived me that night."
