Volume 2 Chapter 8: No Road, No Flowers
"Three days..."
Lin Jianlan sat with his eyes closed in the mourning tent prepared for the Kuang Yi Gang. Just now, he bent over and walked into the tent. Although the surroundings were covered with felt cloth, whispers could still be heard.
Most people did not know who this young man who was being treated with courtesy by several Beggars' Sect elders was. Now that they saw that he was from the Kuang Yi Gang, it caused even greater discussion. Although the Kuang Yi Gang had undergone major changes over the years and most people did not know the inside story, the leading figures were all famous in the martial arts world. Now that this young man had a high status but had never shown up in the martial arts world, everyone could not help but speculate secretly in their hearts.
Lin Jianlan wanted to meditate and practice, but he couldn't calm down. Tang Zimu's somewhat cold words kept echoing in his ears. Although he didn't think Lei Kan was the villain who killed the old gang leader, the blood words were definitely not forged, and the wounds were all consistent. Moreover, Qi Fan was also present at the time, so Tang Zimu had no reason to deceive himself.
"What can I do in three days? Am I going to watch Lei Kan being used as a scapegoat? Alas, I can't do it alone? I wonder if Uncle Qing has received my letter. I'm afraid the Beggar Gang's invitation will arrive too. Who will come to pay homage to the old leader then?" The more Lin Jianlan thought about it, the more upset he felt. However, he knew that overthinking was useless, so he simply took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Finally, he calmed down a little, tidied the bedding in the mourning shed, blew out the lights, and gradually fell asleep.
He practiced two methods at the same time. When he slept every day, the yin and yang of his body naturally circulated and harmonized. Although it was chilly in spring, he did not feel cold when he lay on the ground. He was sleeping soundly when he felt as if he was holding a very heavy ice cube in his arms. The ice cube kept moving around. He was terrified and thought that he was possessed by a demon, but he did not know how to save himself. When he was anxious, his chest was chilled to the bone again. This shock made him sober up a lot. He closed his eyes and circulated his internal breath for a week. It turned out that there was no sign of possessing a demon, so he slowly opened his eyes.
In the dark night, he only saw a pair of pupils, black and white, looking at him. When their eyes met, the pupils blinked. Their owners seemed unaware that Lin Jianlan had woken up. They placed a small hand randomly on his face and chest, which was very cold.
Lin Jianlan was surprised at first, then he couldn't help but chuckle and stood up. He held the "ice cube" in his arms, motionless, with eyes still open.
Lin Jianlan smiled and said, "Can you see clearly? Let me light a lamp."
The "ice cube" shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter whether the light is on or not. I can't see."
Lin Jianlan was about to light the lamp, but when he heard this, he put away the fire folds and thought for a moment before saying, "Are you cold? Can I carry you out for a walk?"
The "ice cube" remained silent, and nodded after a while. Lin Jianlan put him down, turned around and took a blanket to wrap him up, then put him on his shoulders, gently tore open a corner of the felt, and looked around. It was already late at night, and except for the bright candlelight in the mourning hall, the mourning shed next to it was silent.
Lin Jianlan slipped out with the wind under his feet. Not long after, he arrived under the city wall. The cold wind was howling, and he could feel the "ice" on his shoulder trembling constantly. He could faintly hear the sound of teeth knocking against each other. He looked up and saw that there was a sentry tower above him. He took a long breath and flew into the air with force, leaped to the branch next to him, and then used the force to flip over and jump onto the city wall. He put him in a corner of the sentry tower and said, "Wait for me." Then he turned around and jumped down. After a while, Lin Jianlan went in again with a bunch of dead branches, lit them, and there was a crackling sound of burning fire. The sentry tower became slightly warmer.
In the firelight, the "ice block" sitting opposite Lin Jianlan was actually the little beggar who was drunk away from the altar by Tang Zimu during the day. At this moment, he seemed to sense some warmth in front of him, and he could not help but move his body closer, and stretched out his little hands like dry wood to warm himself by the fire.
Lin Jianlan added a few more branches. Seeing that the little beggar was just roasting the fire silently, he smiled and said, "You have never roasted a fire like this with Elder Tang, have you?"
The little beggar nodded, still silent, and after a while he said softly, "I don't like him."
Lin Jianlan was surprised: "But you listen to him very much."
The little beggar wrapped himself in a blanket and said in a childish voice, "I'm afraid of him."
Lin Jianlan was somewhat confused after hearing his answer, and said with a smile: "He doesn't know martial arts, why are you afraid of him?" Seeing that he just pursed his lips and didn't speak, he stopped asking. The sound of firewood came into Lin Jianlan's ears, and it seemed as if a trace of fire flashed in his mind. At first, it was a little bit, bright and dark, and it became more and more intense in a moment. Although his heart was surging, his face became calmer, but the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, and he said slowly: "If you are afraid of him, do n't get too close to him."
Seeing that the little beggar was silent, Lin Jianlan said, "Old Man Tang is very smart and thoughtful. If you get too close to him, you will be seen through in less than an hour."
The little beggar shrank back, curled up tighter, and asked, "What did you see through?"
Seeing that he was pretending to be confused, Lin Jianlan sighed and said, "You can't even fool me, how can you fool him? Most of the Beggars' Sect are careless men. You have just arrived and they will not pay attention to you. They will just treat you as a child who knows nothing. But Elder Tang is different from others." After a pause, Fang continued, "You are not blind, right?"
The little beggar shuddered when he heard that. He looked up with fear on his face, and asked in a terrified tone, "Will you kill me?"
Seeing him like this, Lin Jianlan felt a little guilty. This child had become a beggar at such a young age. He must have had a harder life before the Nian Gang Leader took him in. So he said softly, "Why should I kill you? Where are your father and mother?"
The little beggar frowned and said, "I don't have any parents. Ever since I can remember, that evil man has been taking me with him. He told me to pretend to be blind and beg for money from people. He also told me to steal their money when they are not paying attention. If I can't get it, he will beat me."
Lin Jianlan thought, "This child was probably abandoned or abducted by human traffickers when he was very young, and ended up in the hands of a bully who made him make money for himself." He then asked, "What's your name?"
The little beggar looked up and said, "My name is Little Blind Man."
Lin Jianlan couldn't help but smile and said, "This is not a name. For example, my last name is Lin and my first name is Jianlan."
The little beggar shook his head and said, "Then I have no name. They all call me the little blind man. The evil man also has a little cripple and a little mute under his command." He saw that Lin Jianlan looked very kind, and after thinking for a while, he said, "You are different from grandpa. I climbed on you to keep warm at night, and you didn't hurt my hand."
Lin Jianlan thought that the "grandfather" he was talking about must be the Nian Gang leader, and asked: "Does grandpa's pinch hurt you? So you don't like him?"
The little beggar hurriedly shook his head and said, "No, no. Grandpa is a very good person. I was beaten by that bad guy, and grandpa beat him for me. Then I escaped from the bad guy and followed grandpa all the way. Later, it snowed at night, and grandpa just lay on the ground, but the snowflakes didn't fall on him. I felt cold, so I rubbed over to him. Grandpa thought it was a bad guy, so he pinched my hand, but when he saw it was me, he hugged me in his arms..." When he said this, he was already sobbing.
Lin Jianlan couldn't help but feel sad. He moved to his side and rubbed his hair and said, "The old man was very kind to the master, so he took you back to the headquarters, right? But why do you continue to pretend that you didn't see it?"
The little beggar sobbed and said, "I'm afraid that after my eyes are healed, Grandpa will no longer take me in."
Lin Jianlan secretly felt lucky and breathed a sigh of relief. He said, "Grandpa's last name is Nian. Others call you Little Blind Man. I will give you a name. How about calling you Nian Xiaoxia?" But he felt bad saying it out loud. He thought that if the child really became a knight, others would call him "Daxia" and that would be very strange. He was about to change the name when he saw the little beggar's expression was extremely happy. His eyes were shining with excitement and he asked, "Really? Is this the name you gave me?"
Lin Jianlan's heart warmed up, and he thought to himself, "I used to complain about being an orphan, but compared to him, I am much more blessed. I have my grandmother's love and Uncle Qing's care, but he has fallen into the hands of bad people since he was a child, and he doesn't even have a name." Then he said, "This name is for you. The word Xia means chivalry, do you understand?"
Seeing the little beggar nod, Lin Jianlan gently held his hand in his and said seriously: "Xiaoxia, why are you afraid of Elder Tang? Your grandfather's murder is related to him?"
When Nian Xiaoxia heard the words "Elder Tang", he shuddered, but said, "I am very afraid of him, but he was not the one who killed my grandfather."
Lin Jianlan was shocked. He didn't expect that his judgment was wrong. He saw the middle-aged hero in the dim firelight with a pair of black and white pupils. His tone was also very firm. He said: "You said it wasn't him who killed him. Do you know who it was?"
Nian Xiaoxia shook his head and said, "I didn't see it."
Lin Jianlan couldn't help but feel disappointed, but suddenly remembered something and said, "Did you witness what happened that night?"
Nian Xiaoxia was silent for a long time before he said, "Since my grandfather brought me back to the headquarters, if he stayed in the headquarters, I would live in that room with him, otherwise I would sleep alone on the pile of weeds in the corner."
Lin Jianlan thought back to what he saw today. It seemed that there was indeed a pile of weeds in the corner of the house, but the house was messy and the light was very dim, so it was not easy to remember.
"That night, my grandfather wouldn't let me stay in the same room with him and kicked me out. I was very cold in the middle of the night, so I sneaked back in. I was afraid that he would scold me, so I hid in the haystack by myself."
Lin Jianlan thought: "With Gang Leader Nian's martial arts skills, how could he not know that someone had sneaked in? He might have noticed something and that's why he didn't let the kid share the room with him. But now that he's in, he couldn't bear to kick him out."
"Grandpa was lying on the other side snoring, and I also fell asleep in a daze. I don't know when I felt something pressing down on me, covering the straw on my side, leaving only a crack. But the room was dark and I couldn't see anything. I heard grandpa say: 'I thought I saw the wrong person, it turns out it was really you!' His voice sounded very angry, so I didn't dare to move."
"At this time, another person in the room spoke, and his voice was very pleasant, cheerful and gentle. He said, 'What do you plan to do if you see someone you shouldn't see?' Grandpa said angrily, 'I have sent someone to Hangzhou to invite him over and tell him in person.' The man sighed, but his voice was full of joy, and he said, 'I really admire the old leader for this. Before the matter was confirmed, he was so cautious and refused to spread it everywhere to avoid causing trouble. Alas, now that you are sure, I am afraid you can no longer say it.'"
Although Nian Xiaoxia was very young and could not speak fluently, he was just trying to learn his language, but Lin Jianlan understood roughly what was going on. His heart tightened, and he thought to himself, "The death of the old gang leader is indeed related to the matter that Uncle Qing asked him to investigate. Although he was generous by nature, he was concerned about the overall situation, so he was unwilling to make it public rashly, which gave the murderer an opportunity to take advantage of it."
Nian Xiaoxia sniffed and continued, "Then I heard Grandpa groan, as if he was in great pain, and asked, 'What did you use?'"
Lin Jianlan asked: "Isn't it poison?"
Nian Xiaoxia said: "The man chuckled, but I didn't hear the word he said clearly, something about brocade and blue."
Lin Jianlan thought to himself, "I'm afraid it's the miasma. Uncle Qing was poisoned by that Taoist priest that day. There are many disciples in the Beggars' Sect. If there were any fights or cries for help, they would have been heard. It's clear that the old leader was poisoned and died." He said in a deep voice, "Don't worry about that. What happens next?"
The thin and dirty face of the young hero Nian had two lines of white streaks from tears. He cried out loudly, "Then I heard a 'pop' sound like something breaking. At that time, I could see a little bit, and saw Grandpa fell to the ground, spitting out a large mouthful of blood, and no longer made a sound. I hid in the straw, I didn't know what was covering it, I didn't dare to move, and I didn't dare to breathe, I just hoped that he would leave quickly so that I could call the uncles to come in and save Grandpa. The man didn't leave, but was silent for a while. I could only see his legs through the gap, and he murmured: 'Hangzhou? I don't know how many days he has been walking.' Suddenly I heard a light cough outside, and the man was very horrified and said: 'Who is it?' I was startled in the corner, I didn't know who was outside, I just hoped that the man would leave quickly and call for help, but I heard a few light footsteps outside, as if he walked into the room."
Lin Jianlan was surprised, "The murderer must have killed the old gang leader to silence him, but he was worried, so he intended to chase Lei Kan along the way. But he was caught by someone at this time. The man coughed outside the house, as if he wanted to be noticed. He didn't hide or shout for help, and he even dared to walk into the house. It seems that he is not afraid of the murderer. It's really too weird."
Looking down, he saw that Nian Xiaoxia's anger had turned into fear, so he picked up a few firewood and threw them into the fire. The fire started to burn again. Lin Jianlan patted his shoulder gently and said, "If you are afraid, I won't ask you."
Young Nian shook his head, stretched out his hands and rubbed them towards the fire, calmed down a little, and said, "That man came in and saw Grandpa injured and lying on the ground. He didn't cry out, and said, 'What should we do? You actually killed the leader of our gang. I think you came here to silence us. Now that I've caught you, do you want to kill me to silence me too?' Although he said that, he didn't panic at all, just like Grandpa used to joke with me in the past."
