Chapter 64 For Xiao Hui, life itself was the origin…

Li Jian turned around following the sound and found a young girl dressed as a maid. He immediately thought to himself, "Oh no!" Killing an official of the imperial court is a capital offense!

However, Ji Heng never intended to let him live, did he? In any case, he was going to die anyway, and it would be difficult to quell his hatred if he didn't kill the man in front of him!

Thinking of this, the last bit of struggle in his heart disappeared, and he took the candlestick next to him and prepared to hit Li Yu on the head.

The candlestick was sharp; this blow would surely kill him.

Seeing this, Er Gou stamped his foot and rushed forward in desperation. After all, Shen Guitang hadn't found what she wanted her to find yet, and Li Yu couldn't die now.

Just as the candlestick in Li Jian's hand was about to fall, Er Gou, with an unexpected burst of strength, jumped up like a monkey and hung on him, using his weight to tightly pull on Li Jian's arm, making it impossible for him to move any further.

Li Jian hadn't expected this maid to be so loyal to her master, and in a fit of anger, he swung his arm, trying to throw her away. But this little girl had an inexplicable strength; although her legs were swinging wildly in the air, her two thin arms firmly locked onto his forearms.

Having no other option, Li Jian had to temporarily release Li Yu, whom he was holding with his other hand, to subdue this troublesome little girl. At this moment, Li Yu, who had been in a daze, finally regained her senses. It wasn't a hallucination; the silly child was really right in front of him.

Realizing that Li Jian was about to swing the candlestick at Er Gou, who was clinging to him, Li Yu hurriedly shouted, "Don't worry about me, run!"

As he spoke, blood flowed from his nose into his mouth, and after an uncontrollable cough, his stomach churned, and he collapsed to the ground in agony.

Er Gou sensed the approaching danger and quickly jumped off him, struggling to dodge.

Li Jian sneered at her ridiculous appearance, "Let's see how long you can hide." With that, he stopped paying attention to Li Yu, who was lying on the ground, and focused all his attention on dealing with Er Gou, who was as slippery as an eel.

After a burst of energy, Er Gou was already panting. After narrowly dodging Li Jian's attack once again, his legs gave way and he fell to the ground, unable to stand up for a moment.

Seeing the terror on her face, Li Jian sneered, "You lowly hussy, you dare to ruin my plans? Today, I will grant you the wish of a loving master and servant."

As he approached step by step, Er Gou could only move her body back little by little, and in her heart, besides the fear of facing death, she was filled with regret.

Who could have imagined that after living in fear for so long, she would not die at Li Yu's hands, but would die on the way to save him?

When she came to Li Yu's room to stake out as usual today, she suddenly heard the sound of something heavy hitting and two men arguing. Taking advantage of the fact that the two men were not paying attention, she peeked through the crack in the door and saw Li Yu being forced to slam his head against the wall by Li Jian.

Seeing that Li Yu was about to die, she didn't have time to hesitate and didn't even bother to call for Hengbo to come to her rescue before rushing in alone...

However, seeing the sharp weapon about to reach his face, Er Gou subconsciously closed his eyes, feeling only boundless regret.

However, the expected pain did not come; instead, a groan of pain reached her ears first. She opened her eyes slightly and found that Li Yu, who had been lying on the ground to the side, had suddenly appeared in front of her, and the cone of the candlestick was now firmly stuck in his chest.

Li Yu turned his head, and a mouthful of blood gushed from his mouth: "Let's go."

Er Gou had never seen such a scene before. Tears welled up in her eyes. She wished Li Yu would die sooner, but when he was about to die so hastily in front of her, she felt inexplicably terrified.

Her hands, which she used to support herself on the ground, clenched tightly. Her eyes were stubborn and fierce, but her voice choked with sobs: "I didn't want to save you! I'd be happiest if you died!"

Li Yu was taken aback, then coughed softly and chuckled: "That's only natural."

Li Jian's eyebrows almost furrowed when he heard their conversation.

He had only thought the girl was a protector of her master, but now, upon closer inspection, he noticed a resemblance between her and Xiao Wu. Coupled with the memory of Li Yu's stillborn child, his suspicions grew even stronger.

He stepped past Li Yu in the middle, grabbed Er Gou's chin with one hand, and examined him closely. His guess was finally confirmed: "You didn't die after all!"

He then questioned Li Yu, his tone chilling: "You really are hiding many secrets."

“However,” he kicked Li Yu, who was barely breathing, aside, pulled the hairpin from Er Gou’s head, and pointed it at her throat, “you two, father and daughter, will take these secrets with you to the Yellow Springs today.”

Seemingly to torture Li Yu, he did not finish off the person in his hand directly. Instead, he stabbed in a little bit at a time, pulled out, and then moved to another position to repeat the action, which could be described as torture.

Seeing the blood trickling down the girl's pale neck, he burst into laughter: "Li Yu, admit it, you're nothing but a piece of trash. You killed your wife back then, and now you're going to kill your own daughter."

Er Gou was in so much pain that her whole body trembled uncontrollably, but she kept quiet and refused to make a sound. Li Yu was no good, and Li Jian was even more vicious. She would rather die than let him have his way.

Li Yu struggled to stop him, but as soon as he got up, he fell heavily back down. His eyes were completely bloodshot: "Let her go, and I'll give you the things."

"Oh?" Li Jian stopped what he was doing, but then thrust in with even more force. "It's too late now, too late!"

Li Yu's pained expression greatly pleased him, and after poking her a few more times, he finally got tired of it. "Don't rush, send my good niece on her way first, you're next."

After saying that, he exerted force, and the hairpin in his hand was about to completely sink into Er Gou's neck.

Li Yu shouted hoarsely, "Stop!"

Er Gou was already in despair, but in the blink of an eye, a thin, snow-white sword flew past her cheek. After an unexpectedly cold touch, Li Jian cried out in anguish, "My hand!"

With a heavy thud, Er Gou opened her eyes, and on the ground in front of her, next to a stray lock of hair, lay a blood-soaked forearm.

At the same time, Li Jian, no longer able to restrain her with his other hand, clutched his severed arm and wailed incessantly. A figure flashed into the room, and Er Gou felt himself fall into a warm embrace. Looking up, he saw Heng Bo's fierce and cold face.

"Sister Cuihua?" she called out weakly, her voice hoarse.

Hengbo touched her pale face, pale from blood loss, her lips pressed tightly together. Thankfully, she had been coming to this courtyard every now and then; if she had arrived even a moment later today…

Li Jian's roar interrupted Heng Bo's lingering fear: "You audacious thief, how dare you attempt to assassinate me!"

He questioned her while taking small steps back, his bluffing attitude evident in his words.

Hengbo picked up the sword from the ground and approached step by step. Li Jian said, his tone fierce but his voice weak, "I advise you to stop immediately, otherwise..."

However, before he could finish his sentence, another heavy object fell to the ground. He looked down in disbelief and saw that his other arm had also vanished.

Everything happened so fast that he only belatedly felt the pain after witnessing it firsthand.

"You bitch! I'm going to kill you!" He had completely lost his mind and charged straight at them, disregarding the disparity in strength between them.

Hengbo frowned slightly, then decisively raised her sword horizontally. Since this person was courting death, she wouldn't blame her for being merciless.

Just as she was about to make her move, Er Gou in her arms tugged at her sleeve. "Sister Cuihua, no, don't get into trouble because of him." Cuihua knew that Hengbo's identity was special, and if Li Jian died at her hands, it would inevitably attract Ji Heng's attention.

After pondering for a moment, Hengbo ultimately just knocked the person unconscious.

Er Gou then gestured to Heng Bo to place him in front of Li Yu. Li Yu was leaning against the corner of the table, a pool of bright red blood had accumulated beside him, and his breathing was barely audible. However, he still tried his best to keep his eyes open and look towards Heng Bo, or more accurately, towards Er Gou in Heng Bo's arms.

The father and daughter looked at each other, each more miserable than the last, yet they both laughed. Er Gou, looking at his shockingly ugly face, mimicked his earlier tone and said, "So ugly."

Seeing that she was still in the mood to tease him, Li Yu felt a sense of relief. His gaze drifted elsewhere, and his voice, broken and feeble, betrayed his despair: "Luckily, you don't look like me."

For some reason, Er Gou felt a pang of sadness. Her eyes were filled with tears. "It's such a pity you didn't die by my hand."

Li Yu smiled with relief: "Don't let me cause you any karma; it's not worth it."

He finally lost even the strength to keep his eyelids open, and his body, which had been leaning against the table, gradually slumped down. "Go see your mother, she has what you want there..."

After saying that, a dull thud sounded, and Li Yu closed his eyes completely.

Seeing this, Er Gou closed his eyes as well. When he was alive, she lived like an orphan without a father's protection. Now that he is dead, she is an orphan without a father.

...

"This, this..." The scene before him left Qiu Yun, who had been summoned, dumbfounded. "How am I supposed to explain this to His Majesty!"

Shen Guitang said indifferently, "The evidence against Li Jian, the prefect of Quzhou, for plotting to murder Li Yu, the disaster relief and pacification commissioner, is complete. What's so difficult about that?"

Qiu Yun felt that he was talking without understanding the situation, "But this involves two high-ranking officials of the court, and they both have the surname Li..." Moreover, His Majesty wanted to execute Li Jian secretly, that is, to prevent the matter from being publicized, but now Li Yu's life has also been involved, which is not easy to handle.

Shen Guitang said innocently, "Perhaps it was just a quarrel between brothers that led to a murder in a fit of anger. Why does Lord Qiu have to think about it so complicatedly?"

Qiu Yun rolled his eyes at him, about to say, "How is that possible?", when suddenly a thought struck him. "What Lord Shen said is not impossible, no, it should be said that it is reasonable. I have been overthinking it."

He stroked his beard, his eyes gleaming. If this matter was characterized as a fratricidal conflict, then there would be no need to worry about the situation in Quzhou being exposed to the court. At the same time, it would also provide a pretext to deal with the main branch of the Li family.

You ask, if this wasn't Li Jian's fault, what does it have to do with the Li family? Why not just accuse them of instigation? Killing a court official, especially one appointed by His Majesty as a disaster relief envoy, deserves a harsher punishment.

"Lord Shen is a promising young man!" This was the first time Qiu Yun had shown such satisfaction towards Shen Guitang since they had known each other.

Shen Guitang was filled with trepidation. "I just didn't know that Cui Cui had injured the disgraced official Li Jian while trying to save someone out of kindness..." Qiu Yun's lips twitched. He shouldn't have thought too highly of Shen Guitang. This guy really only had his fiancée on his mind. "Don't worry, Lord Shen. Miss Cui Cui was doing a good deed. I'll just send someone to ask her a few questions as a formality. I won't touch a hair on her head."

Shen Guitang patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief: "With such a guarantee from you, sir, I am relieved."

Inside the room, Er Gou lay quietly on the couch, a thick bandage around his neck.

Seeing Shen Guitang approach, Er Gou tried to get up but was pressed down by Heng Bo. She could only lie there, barely breathing, and report to Shen Guitang: "Li Yu said he hid the things at the place where my mother is buried."

After a moment's thought, Shen Guitang said, "That should be their old residence in Quzhou. I will send someone to look for it, so you don't need to follow up anymore."

Seeing that Er Gou hesitated to speak, Shen Guitang, considering that she had been injured on the job, finally compromised and said, "Once you're healed, I can take you to see a doctor."

Before marrying Xiao Wu, Li Yu was just a minor county magistrate in Quzhou, but he was handsome and quite talented.

Xiao Wu was not actually Xiao Pingjiang's biological sister. However, the Xiao family had only had boys in that generation, so the arrival of a girl naturally made her the most coveted child in the family. Xiao Wu grew up pampered by her six older brothers and was quite naive. She fell deeply in love with Li Yu after he helped her out of a predicament when she was being harassed by a young nobleman, and said that she would marry no one but him.

The Xiao family naturally looked down on Li Yu, let alone marrying off their only daughter.

But Xiao Wu had been spoiled since childhood, which made her exceptionally stubborn. She pleaded with Xiao Pingjiang, the man whose words carried the most weight, and said, "Brother, if I cannot marry Li Lang, I am willing to spend my life with the lamp."

Xiao Pingjiang had no choice but to grant her wish, and even helped Li Yu in many ways after their marriage.

Unfortunately, Xiao Wu's sincere feelings were ultimately misplaced. After realizing that she had brought trouble upon herself and caused the deaths of her entire family, Xiao Wu felt ashamed to live in this world and took her own life after giving birth.

The two characters “Xiao Hui” represent her repentance for her profound sins.

For Xiao Hui, being born was the original sin.

After Shen Guitang and Hengbo left, Ergou touched the layers of gauze around his neck and asked, "Mother, has this been my atonement?"

That night, the prefect's residence suddenly caught fire, causing chaos and commotion.

After everyone finally managed to put out the fire, they discovered that it had started in the room where Li Jian was being held.

Qiu Yun's expression immediately changed. "Where is the disgraced official Li Jian?"

"They either burned to death or escaped," the man said hesitantly.

Qiu Yun's face was so dark it could drip ink. "This time, I was indeed careless."

It's not entirely his fault. Quzhou was originally a place ruled by the Li family, and now it's flooded, so everything is in chaos and it's really inconvenient to manage.

Shen Guitang, standing to the side, was thinking even further ahead. Given the current situation, Li Jian could be considered useless. Who would go to such great lengths to save him? And what did the person behind it want to get out of him?

In a flash, he suddenly remembered Gui Xiang, who hadn't returned home yet...

He hurried back to his courtyard, and Hengbo, seeing his hurried manner, also became serious.

"Chen Yu should have been taken away by Li Jian's men. Has Black Wind sent any news?"

They were short-handed in Quzhou, so they only sent one person to secretly escort Chen Yu and Gui Xiang's carriage. Shen Guitang hadn't expected Li Jian's nose to be so sharp, or rather, he hadn't expected his connections with the Japanese pirates to be so deep…

Before Hengbo could answer, a figure used his light-footed skill to leap and bound towards them between the houses. Landing on the ground was Heifeng, his face filled with annoyance.

"My lord, I have failed in my duty and was tricked and evaded by Kazama Noko."