Chapter 180

Yin Qiu looked surprised.

Seeing that he was about to leave after saying this, Yin Qiu quickly stopped him, saying, "Wait—you mean, the ones who shot the arrows weren't you?"

“Of course not,” the young man paused by the window and said in a low voice, “My godfather wants to kill her to avenge the Ruyi Sect. After all, we all heard her conversation with you. My godfather would never let such a scourge live, and he would definitely have to get rid of her with his own hands to feel satisfied. As for the person behind the secret guard disciple you are looking for, to be honest, my godfather doesn’t know who he is either, and we are still investigating him in secret.”

Yin Qiu immediately said, "Go find Meng Wugui! She knows who that person is, but I can't have any contact with her. It's appropriate for you to handle this. That person probably doesn't know that Fanxin Valley is also involved. I haven't told anyone except my uncle about my adoptive father curing my poison. You are still safe."

The young man frowned: "In the past, when my godfather came to see you, he could do so without anyone noticing, even managing to deceive Man Jiangxue. But this time, it's uncertain whether I'll be noticed. If I hadn't come here with my godfather once and become familiar with the route, your Yunhua Palace wouldn't be such an easy place to infiltrate. But since you've said so, I will pass on my message to my godfather. In fact, we should have already made contact with Master Meng."

“If you meet with Meng Wugui, you must contact me again,” Yin Qiu said. “It’s not a solution to keep waiting for you to find me. My godfather is seriously injured now, and I will only be able to meet with you from now on. How can I find you?”

The young man pondered, “My whereabouts are unpredictable. If you want to find me, it will be difficult to meet me.” As he said this, he took out a jade pendant from his pocket and handed it to Yin Qiu. “This is a token of our Fanxin Valley. Take this to Lotus Street in Shangyuan City and find a perfume shop. Tell them my name, and someone will greet you.”

Yin Qiu took the jade pendant, examined it, and asked, "What's your name?"

“Forget it,” the young man nodded, “forget it without thinking about it, it’s hard to forget.” [1]

Upon hearing this, Yin Qiu frowned, sized him up, and asked, "Your surname is Chen?"

“The children in the valley all share the surname Shen,” the young man said. “We are all orphans who were adopted by our godfather from various places.”

Yin Qiu was greatly surprised and guessed, "Could it be that my godfather also..."

“That’s not it,” Shen Wang said. “My godfather’s surname isn’t Shen, but we don’t know what his surname is either.”

Yin Qiu couldn't help but wonder: "Since you were raised by him, do you really know nothing about him?"

Shen Wang said, "The so-called 'don't ask what you shouldn't ask' means that we won't ask about things that our godfather won't tell us on his own initiative. And even if I know something about our godfather, I can't tell you without his permission right now."

Yin Qiu indicated that he understood, and after a moment of silence, he handed the medicine bottle back to him, saying, "Then you should keep this antidote. I trust my godfather."

“Miss Yin, whether you trust me or not is entirely up to you. I still cannot accept this medicine,” Shen Wang said. “My godfather has repeatedly instructed me that I cannot go against his wishes. You will meet again someday, and then Miss Yin can personally give the antidote to my godfather. Don’t worry, he is doing well now, and there are many people in the valley taking care of him. Whether the poison is cured or not is not a big deal for now.”

Yin Qiu had no choice but to put the medicine bottle away again, sighing, "Well... that's fine too."

“I have delivered the message and I must go now,” Shen Wang said. “Miss Yin, you are in a dangerous situation, so please take good care of yourself. We cannot protect you at all times, so please be careful before that person reveals his true colors.”

Yin Qiu clasped his hands in gratitude and said, "Thank you. Be careful when you go down the mountain. Don't let others see you, and be sure to watch out for anyone following you."

“I understand,” Shen Wang returned the greeting, then jumped out of the window and looked back, saying, “Then I will no longer come to Jingyue Peak to find you. If there is anything, we can discuss it at the perfume shop.”

Yin Qiu nodded in agreement, watching Shen Wang walk towards the maple forest until his figure completely disappeared. Only then did she close the window, take the jade pendant, and head to the Chenxing Palace.

·

“So, although it was Gongzi Fan who killed Zhilan, he didn’t order the shot that was fired.” Man Jiangxue put on her clothes, lit the lamps in the bedroom one by one, and sat down opposite Yin Qiu at the low table.

“That's exactly what the young hero said.” Yin Qiu placed the jade pendant on the table and pushed it in front of Man Jiangxue.

The night was deep and quiet, the air filled with the fragrance of unknown wildflowers. Manjiangxue rinsed her mouth and drank a cup of strong tea to refresh herself. She glanced at the jade pendant and said, "That day, we both fell off the cliff. I didn't see what happened, but Wanshu mentioned it after I woke up. After Zhilan was shot by an arrow and fell off the cliff, she immediately tried to track down the person who shot the arrow, but the rain was too heavy and visibility was poor. She couldn't find the person, and she couldn't find any trace of him either."

Yin Qiu said, "With traces of the rain, that person would naturally hide very well, and even Senior Sister Ji would have a hard time catching him."

“Fortunately, Gongzi Fan did not make a fuss about detoxifying you,” Man Jiangxue said. “Otherwise, once that person found out, he would have taken the opportunity to shift the suspicion onto him.”

Yin Qiu got up, washed her face with cold water, and said, "Yes, thankfully we were cautious. Now that we can confirm that our godfather has no connection with the Dark Guard disciples, then Fanxin Valley is a good place for us to connect with Meng Wugui. They are low-key and have not yet come into the public eye. We have finally ushered in another opportunity to turn the tide."

“And if Young Master Fan is willing, he can lend Meng Wugui a hand,” Man Jiangxue said. “If Meng Wugui can get her hands on Mingyue Tower and has the secret support of Fanxin Valley, I think she will start to take action after she gets through this current difficulty.”

Yin Qiu handed a damp handkerchief to Man Jiangxue, gesturing for her to wipe her face as well, and said, "But the premise is whether the Ziwei Sect will create chaos at this crucial point. If Nangong Min takes the opportunity to find Meng Wugui, she might not even be able to rescue Fu Xiang before she herself suffers an accident. Martial Aunt, I've thought a lot these past few days. No matter what, Meng Wugui is my aunt. She's in such a bad situation, besieged on all sides. I really want to help her, but I don't know how."

Man Jiangxue said, "Actually, you don't need to worry about her too much. The fact that she survived the Ruyi Gate Incident and became the head of the Nine Immortals Hall proves that she is a capable person. And the fact that she has been lying low for many years to seek revenge naturally has her own plans. She must have long anticipated the difficulties and dangers that she would encounter on this path of revenge, but she still chose this path. It can be seen that her determination to seek revenge cannot be easily broken. So, for you to do nothing now and ensure your own safety is a great help to her."

Yin Qiu stared at the candle on the table, her eyes flickering with firelight, and said softly, "If only she only wanted revenge... I asked my godfather to persuade her not to target Yunhua Palace, but I don't know if she listened to him. I am, after all, a descendant of the Shen family. Meng Wugui and my godfather are both secretly working hard for what happened back then, but there is nothing I can do."

“That’s because I found you before they did,” Man Jiangxue said. “Otherwise, you would have had to go with one of them. Think about it, you would have had to face these complicated and unbearable hatreds from a very young age. You certainly wouldn’t be happier then than you are now. Besides, the fact that neither of them took you away from me shows that they don’t want you to get involved in all sorts of conflicts too early. Since they both want to protect you, why should you be saddened by this?”

Yin Qiu said, "Of course I know their good intentions, but the more they do, the more I feel useless. I feel powerless to do many things, and I don't know when this will end."

Man Jiangxue looked at her for a while, then suddenly asked, "You said before that the young valley master's name is Shen Wang?"

Yin Qiu nodded: "I was surprised when I first heard it, but he said that all the orphans adopted by his godfather had the surname Shen, and he wasn't the only one."

"Why does it have to be the surname Chen?" Man Jiangxue pondered. "Since Young Master Fan himself doesn't have the surname Chen, why would he give his adopted sons and daughters the surname Chen?"

"Perhaps it's because of my mother?" Yin Qiu said. "He was an old member of the Ruyi Sect, and he had a deep affection for my mother. Even if I don't think about it, I can't forget it. The reason he gave that young hero that name must also be a way of remembering my mother." [2]

Upon hearing this, Man Jiangxue's expression subtly changed, as if she had suddenly realized something. However, she glanced at Yin Qiu but didn't voice her thoughts. Instead, she brought up something else: "We can find out about Gongzi Fan's identity later, so there's no rush. Right now, as long as we're certain he won't harm you, that's enough. Do you know what we need to do next?"

After a moment's thought, Yin Qiu replied, "I can't help Meng Wugui with that; I can only wait and see. Now that we know the person who shot the arrow wasn't our godfather, we need to find out who that person really is."

Man Jiangxue asked, "How do we investigate?"

Yin Qiu frowned slightly and replied, "I've also heard Bai Ling recount what happened that day. There's something I find very suspicious now." She looked up at Man Jiangxue and said, "Is it possible that the person who fired the arrow wasn't hiding far away at all, but was actually lurking among the disciples present, firing the arrow when no one was paying attention, and then pretending that nothing had happened?"

Man Jiangxue said, "That is indeed possible."

Yin Qiu continued his analysis: "That person can even organize his own secret guards, so it's not surprising that he has his own subordinates in the palace. In that case, all the archer disciples who went to the cliff that day should be investigated."

What she said was exactly what Man Jiangxue was thinking.

The next day, Yin Qiu got up early and went with Bai Ling to the disciples' courtyard in the palace. The person in charge of personnel mobilization that day was a disciple from Wu Hui Peak. Upon hearing the purpose of their visit, the disciple summoned all the archery disciples who had participated in the siege of Ye Zhilan to the courtyard according to the roster.

Yin Qiuli stood on the steps, counting the number of people one by one in front of the roster. Bai Ling said to her, "After you and your martial uncle were sent to the medical pavilion, Senior Sister Ji had already checked this group of disciples and found nothing unusual. Why did she think of checking them again today?"

Yin Qiu said with some reservation, "I'm still not at ease. It wouldn't hurt to check it out."

Bai Ling said, "It's probably not very useful. When we came back that day, we checked their quivers. No one fired any arrows that day, and their quivers were all full. We didn't see anyone with more or less arrows. Even if the person was hiding among these disciples, it would probably be difficult to find them."

"Hmm..." Yin Qiu looked at the booklet in her hand, her fingertips tracing the end of the list, when she suddenly paused.

"What's wrong?" Noticing her unusual expression, Bai Ling quickly asked in a low voice.

"Why is one person missing?" Yin Qiu looked up, her voice clear and bright. "Didn't you say everyone was here?"

The disciple from Wu Hui Peak, who had been waiting below, stepped forward upon hearing this and said, "Reporting to Senior Sister, a junior brother surnamed Chen died of illness before the New Year."

Yin Qiu slammed the booklet shut, frowning as she asked, "Dead?"

Perhaps noticing her pale face, the disciple hurriedly looked at Bai Ling. Bai Ling was stunned for a moment, then slapped her forehead: "Oh dear! I forgot to tell you about this. I went to the medical pavilion to find you that day to tell you, but as soon as I entered, you asked me to deliver a letter to Fu Xiang. I've been running back and forth so much that I've completely forgotten about it!"

Yin Qiu couldn't help but feel suffocated.

It's truly amazing how coincidences happen; everything seems to be happening at once!

What illness does he have?

Bai Ling said, "It was an acute illness. When Senior Sister Ji came to check on him, he suddenly turned pale and broke out in a sweat. He died just like that. The medical disciples said he had acute abdominal colic. Although Senior Sister Ji thought he was suspicious, there was nothing she could do since he was already dead, so she buried him right away."

Yin Qiu asked, "How good is his archery?"

Bai Ling said, "I heard that he is one of the best among these disciples."

"That's terrible! He might be the one who shot the arrow!" Yin Qiu said. "Are you sure the man is dead?"

The disciples below all nodded in unison.

"Reporting to Senior Sister, we saw it with our own eyes; the person did indeed die on the spot."

"Yes, there's no way to save them."

"We were being questioned by Senior Sister Ji when he suddenly collapsed behind us and died very quickly."

...

Yin Qiu sighed and had no choice but to order his disciples to leave. He said to Bai Ling, "Although I knew the hope was slim, at least I had a direction to follow. I didn't expect the person to be dead already."

“The enemy is in the dark, while we are in the light,” Bai Ling said. “We are always difficult to defend against. For now, we can only wait and see how Meng Wugui will counterattack.”

Yin Qiu could not hide her disappointment and said in a deep voice, "That's all we can do."

·

Meng Wugui changed his clothes, put on his veil, walked through the corridor to the front hall, looked around for a while, and asked, "Is everything arranged?"

More than twenty disciples of the Nine Immortals Hall stood in the hall, and upon hearing this, they all replied, "Hall Master, rest assured, everything is in order."

The room was simply furnished, with nothing unusual in sight. Behind the beaded curtain, on the bed, lay a corpse, disheveled and filthy, its features barely discernible, only its shape suggesting it was a woman.

Meng Wugui glanced at it from afar, lifted the beaded curtain, stood in front of the bed, and lightly tapped the ground twice with his toes.

The sound is empty.

“Bring a thick carpet,” Meng Wugui said, “and spread it out here.”

The disciples quickly did as instructed.

"While there's still plenty of time, do a thorough check," Meng Wugui said, stepping back into the hall and taking a sip of tea. "No detail can be overlooked. You must be careful, or something terrible could happen tonight."

The disciples dared not hesitate. After laying out the carpet, they dispersed and repeatedly checked various key points in the room. After a while, Afu flipped down from the eaves and entered the room while reporting: "Master, just like the past few days, Master Fu went to Qunfang Courtyard to drink before nightfall. I'm afraid he won't come out until the middle of the night again."

Meng Wugui raised his eyes and smiled: "Then, did you do what I asked you to do?"

Afu lowered her head and whispered, "It's done..."

“Very good,” Meng Wugui put down his teacup, walked over to Afu and patted her head, “Then let’s go.”

"Where to?" Afu asked, looking at her.

“Naturally, we’ll go to Mingyue Tower,” Meng Wugui said softly, a smile in her eyes as she looked at Afu. “Let’s go wait for him and prepare to help him sober up.”

The author has something to say: [1] and [2] are quoted from Su Shi's "Jiang Cheng Zi: A Dream Recorded on the Night of the Twentieth Day of the First Month of the Year Yi Mao".

My cold medicine is like a sleeping potion; if I take it at noon, I sleep until the afternoon, and if I take it in the afternoon, I sleep until night. When I wake up, I feel completely drained...

I'm not feeling well, so I'd like to wait until tomorrow, when I'm clear-headed, before taking my medication and writing the important plot points seriously. It's not that I'm intentionally experiencing writer's block.