The cat demon appears

Yuanli felt annoyed watching the two people singing the same tune. They had already accused her of a false crime before she even heard a word.

"The master of the family is seriously ill and needs care day and night, and the wound is under his clothes. My cousin is still unmarried. If we undress and change the medicine for the master of the family, and the news gets out and affects the marriage proposal, then our Qi family will be guilty of a great sin."

Anyone with a discerning eye could understand what she meant. She said that Zhao Qingrui was an outsider and that Qi Heng would not marry her.

"It is Rui'er's blessing to be able to share Aunt's worries. If I can't find a suitable marriage in the future, Rui'er is willing to serve Aunt for the rest of her life."

When the old lady heard the passionate and grateful speech of the filial son, she looked at Yuanli with even more dissatisfaction.

"I'm just too worried about my cousin's injury. You're from the Miao village, and you might not be familiar with the care matters in the imperial capital. That's why I want to take care of him myself. Please don't overthink it."

"I'm staying here of my own accord. I'll leave once my cousin recovers. I won't beg you to stay, nor will I expect anything I shouldn't have." Zhao Qingrui, not minding the hassle, lifted her skirt and knelt at her feet, pleading in a low voice, "My cousin's recovery is a big deal. You and I will each take a back seat and take turns day and night. Is that okay?"

Qi Heng on the bed was probably disturbed by the noise and slept a little uneasily. In addition, the pain from his wound made him frown slightly, which was noticed by Yuanli's sharp eyes.

Seeing him like this, Yuanli felt a little distressed and didn't want to tolerate her any more. "What if I don't give in?"

The old lady was covering Qi Heng with a blanket, and her face changed when she heard this. "Chi Li! Is this the time to be jealous? You haven't even married into the family yet, and you're already monopolizing the head of the family, afraid that someone else will snatch him away."

Before Yuanli could speak, Qi Heng half-closed his eyes and reached out to pull the old lady's sleeve, "Mother..."

The old lady wiped away her tears quietly, patted the back of his hand with heartache and said, "Mother is here, mother is here, does it still hurt? Is it bothering you? Tell mother what you want."

"Don't make things difficult for Li'er."

"Li'er, Li'er, you only know Li'er. When will you understand your mother's worries?"

After all, the old lady loved her son dearly. Although she looked unhappy, she was just angry at his lack of fighting spirit and patted his shoulder with extremely light force.

Zhao Qingrui shut up and turned her attention to her dear cousin Qi Heng, with no time to care about Yuanli.

After staying in the room for a while, the old lady left early for the first time and returned to the old house. Before leaving, she did not forget to take Zhao Qingrui, who was busy, away silently.

Qi Heng struggled to push himself up and tried to sit up, but accidentally pulled the wound with too much force and lay back down in pain, "Come here, hold me."

Sitting down near his bed, Qi Heng's hand automatically reached out from under the quilt and held her hand, the fine calluses on his fingertips caressing the back of her hand.

"The doctor said you need to lie down and rest."

"I've been sleeping all day and want to sit down. There's dirt in my clothes and they're uncomfortable. Please call a servant for me."

Looking at his lips which were pale due to blood loss, making him look haggard and weathered, Yuanli turned away and blinked quickly to suppress the tears of heartache.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, put on a faint smile, took out an extra thick quilt from the closet, asked someone to bring a charcoal brazier closer to the bed, closed the window, and then Yuanli sat back down beside his bed.

She took off her shoes and socks, climbed to the innermost side of his bed, knelt in front of him, folded the quilt and placed it behind her, then Yuanli carried him up.

Yuanli untied the belts on the man's clothes. Her hands moved skillfully and quickly. When all the belts were untied and only his inner clothes were left to be opened, Yuanli's hands froze for a moment.

Carefully peeling off his inner clothes, a large area of ​​white cloth wrapped around the wound came into view. His waist, chest, and left shoulder were all covered with white cloth.

After helping him change into his inner clothes, Yuanli simply stopped letting him wear the outer clothes which were both cumbersome and uncomfortable.

Wearing a thin inner garment and leaning against a thick and soft quilt, the warm charcoal brazier made the room cozy and I didn't feel cold at all.

"How did you get hurt?"

"Nothing serious, I just accidentally got hurt while investigating a case."

"Don't try to scare me. I've heard all the rumors about the cat demon. Was it that thing that hurt you?"

Perhaps because Yuanli looked serious when she spoke, Qi Heng couldn't hide it from her anymore and told her everything.

Last night at midnight, the Dali Temple received a report from the public that traces of a cat demon had been discovered.

Based on the idea that it is better to believe it than not, and fearing that it might cause trouble, Qi Heng and his team went out to stake out the place in the early morning.

At first, the subordinates they brought with them did not take it seriously until they heard the miserable and sharp meow of a cat at the end of Changyue Street.

Everyone then took it seriously and acted separately. Those with low martial arts values ​​had to work in pairs, while those with high martial arts values ​​like Qi Heng and Chu Xiao could act alone more quickly.

Shortly after they separated, everyone divided into several groups and gathered towards the center of the cat's meow, but Qi Heng's attention was attracted by a dark shadow on the roof wall.

It moved extremely fast, but its sharp claws and the long, bristling tail behind it were not difficult to see through its distorted shadow on the wall.

Qi Heng realized that this was a trick of the cat demon to lure the tiger away from the mountain, but the cat demon's whereabouts were so elusive that it was rare.

The flare would alert the enemy and cause panic among the people. After hesitating for a moment, Qi Heng left a mark and chased after him.

The direction of the cat demon's movement is unpredictable, making it impossible to guess its beginning and end.

But the familiar scenes in front of him gradually increased, and he returned to the starting point and was led away again. He could never catch up completely, and could only see the afterimage on the wall around the corner, as if it was deliberately teasing Qi Heng.

After several rounds, Qi Heng's physical strength was exhausted and he could hardly hold on.

Seeing that there was no hope, the cat demon suddenly slowed down and was blocked in a dark dead end.

This dead end has the same characteristics as the dead end with the wall of corpses.

It stood like a human, with its furry tail swaying behind it, and its eyes emitting a faint green light in the darkness.

Qi Heng quickly took out a tinder from his waist to illuminate the area. Just as he could see the outline of a big cat, it rushed towards him.

Fortunately, Qi Heng had a knife prepared in advance for defense in his hand, which blocked its sharp claws.

Qi Heng and the cat demon started fighting in a dark alley. The harsh sound of fingertips grabbing the blade kept ringing in the dark alley, making people feel uncomfortable.

Logically, the cat demon would not fight with a mere mortal, but it did not use any magic power at all.

If Qi Heng had not seen the cat's face when the fire stick was lit to illuminate the alley, he would have suspected that the cat on the other side was artificially fake.

After several rounds, Qi Heng was exhausted and fell into a disadvantage.

The cat that was luring the tiger away from the mountain in the distance stopped crying. The cat demon's attack became more and more fierce. Qi Heng could only pray silently that Chu Xiao would come quickly.

The cat demon was not in a hurry either, and his attacks were sometimes slow and sometimes fast.

It was not until Chu Xiao's cries were faintly heard in the alley that the cat demon began to attack fiercely, and every move was almost fatal.

Even if a mortal has extraordinary wisdom, how can he defeat a monster?

The cat demon's sharp claws fell on him, and the huge scratch extended almost from his left shoulder to the lower right abdomen.

The torn skin/flesh curled up at the edges, and the wounds from the previous fight were aching slightly.

The cat demon left the wall only when Chu Xiao and his group arrived.

In an instant, Qi Heng felt that all the strength in his body was drained away, his legs became limp, and he fell down with everything going black in front of his eyes.

At that time, the only thought that supported him was to survive, survive and marry her...

When Qi Heng opened his eyes again, he was forced awake by severe pain.

The doctor needs to open the needle in front of him. There is not much Ma Fei San left, and saving his life is urgent.

He watched the doctor stitching him up numbly without even saying a word.

It was not until the stitches were completed and Qi Heng fainted from the pain that Chu Xiao realized that his uncontrollable tears had wet the pillow.

Yuanli listened to him attentively without saying a word, the pain she endured in her eyes almost overflowing. An ordinary person would hardly be able to bear the pain of getting a few stitches, let alone such a long wound.

But Qi Heng's expression was relaxed as he recounted the incident, as if it were just a rumor he'd heard while handling a case. Even as he spoke, he didn't forget to hold her cold fingers tightly in his palm.

"You knew you were trapped but you still rushed in. If you want to die, you have to wait until you get married. Then I can legitimately take control of your inheritance. Otherwise, I will suffer the consequences."

Qi Heng was amused by her angry remarks. "Even if I don't die, everything I fought so hard for can be yours, from the moment you step into the gate of my Qi Mansion."

"I won't waste any more time on you. Are the ministers who died in the court related to the cat demon incident?"

"Yes, their fatal wounds all occurred in areas with thin skin, such as the neck and abdomen. There were at least a hundred scratches, both deep and shallow, beneath their clothing. Ministers had more or less had some contact with each other in some cases, but it's difficult to find any common ground among them."

Qi Heng's face was filled with worry when he mentioned it. If it was just those important officials of the court, it would be easy to deal with. He could always find some clues by checking old cases and private dealings.

But among the dead there were common people, merchants and dignitaries, and there was really no common point to connect them all.

"Do you think that cat demon is just a pervert who kills people for fun?"

Yuanli had more or less heard about the living habits of ordinary cat demons. For example, when they hunt and catch mice, they usually torture the mice before they die. This habit is consistent with this case.

They are caught and released, released and caught again, making them jump back and forth on the brink of life and death, suffering both physical and mental torture.

"If you were a demon who had cultivated into a human, would you come out and kill so many people for fun, attracting the attention of the Heavenly Dao and thus bringing about your own destruction?"

Yuanli shook her head and said, "No."

"So the cat demon wouldn't do that either. Killing for fun can often be done more covertly. And that day, it didn't kill me. It clearly wanted me to thoroughly uncover the hidden story behind it."

As to whether it is injustice or hatred hidden behind it, it is unknown.

As night fell, Xiang Yao brought two bowls of black medicine, which seemed to have been freshly served, steaming hot and still emitting wisps of smoke.

The strong smell of medicine soon filled the tightly closed room. Yuanli smelled it and looked at Qi Heng with a worried expression.

But Qi Heng took it, just smelled it, and drank it in one gulp.

Perhaps the medicine was too bitter, Qi Heng almost couldn't force himself to swallow it and nearly vomited it out.