19 Lvzhuang (Part 3)
◎A wedding turns into a funeral◎
The next moment, she heard the voices of Qu Lingfei and Manor Master Lu talking from afar:
"Master Lu, according to what you said, this young master Sikong is handsome and has a good family background. This is indeed obvious to everyone, but where is his superb martial arts skills?"
Lu Chengfeng hummed a few times, but before he could reply, he saw Sikong Yi fold up his folding fan, turn around and say with a smile, "Young Master Qu, that's a good question. I just happened to have prepared a set of sword techniques. If you don't mind, I'd like to show you my skills."
Qu Lingfei was just joking, but after hearing what he said, everyone stepped aside and made room for him.
Sikong Yi walked to the foot of a peach tree, used his fan as a sword, and soared into the air with a graceful movement. Suddenly, he quickened his pace and swung the fan in his hand, sending a strong wind rushing towards him. If these blows had hit someone, they would have been riddled with holes.
He stood firmly, put away the folding fan in his hand, and peach blossoms fell all over the sky. He reached out and picked up one, walked to Lu Suye with a smile, and handed the peach blossom to her.
Lu Suye was slightly startled and blushed amid the sighs of the crowd. However, when she took the peach blossom, her expression was not as natural as when she was at the dinner table.
Does dancing with a fan for a while count as martial arts prowess? Li Jintang leaned against the window pane and looked out, remembering Xie An, who had also danced under his window last night. Although he wasn't dancing with a sword, his speed and posture were more than twice as good as Si Kong Yi's.
"Kid, are you fascinated by him?" The fortune teller suddenly said, without any emphasis: "Are you attracted to him? Do you think this guy is handsome?"
Li Jintang raised her hand, which had been numbed by the pressure. The image of Xie An practicing swordsmanship last night was still replaying in her mind. At first, she didn't think anything was wrong. She rested her hand on her chin and blurted out, "Then I think Xie An dances better."
As soon as she said this, she caught a glimpse of the young man under the peach tree suddenly raising his head, and she accidentally met his deep eyes.
Her heart suddenly started pounding - if the fortune book hadn't guaranteed her, she would have almost thought that he could hear what she had just said.
"You have no taste," the fortune teller said suddenly, angrily, "Do you think this boy isn't as handsome as that one? To me, it's clearly this boy who dances better."
"What about 'this kid' and 'that kid'?" Li Jintang asked curiously. Suddenly, he realized that it was not a good idea to comment on others so casually, so he turned his head and ignored the topic.
Si Kong Yi then danced a few more times, earning applause from the people around him. Every time he stopped, he would break off a branch of peach blossoms and hand it to Lu Suye. After such a long time, Li Jintang was worried that he would pluck out all the peach trees.
She was tired of looking and was about to close the window pane when she turned around and suddenly caught a glimpse of someone huddled in the corner.
It wasn't really a corner. Lu Qingzhu was standing behind a stone pillar, with only a pair of listless eyes showing, staring at them without blinking.
Dusk fell again, and Sikong Yi and his group left the manor in a carriage. At dinner time, only they and Lu Chengfeng sat around the table.
Li Jintang noticed that this time Lu Qingzhu sat next to his sister and seemed to be in a much happier mood. The two of them were very affectionate, as if the gap between them during the day had never existed.
As night fell, everyone returned to their rooms. Only Qu Lingfei was forced to stay by Master Lu, who said they would be parting the next day and wanted to take advantage of the last night to hear more interesting stories from him.
Li Jintang closed the door and slept exceptionally soundly that night, not knowing if there was any figure flashing outside the window.
The next morning, at daybreak, a carriage tied with red silk slowly set off. The morning mist enveloped the manor like a thin veil.
After they had packed their bags, they were ready to set off as soon as Nangong Xiu returned from the town with his sword. Unable to dissuade Lu Chengfeng, they had no choice but to stay at the manor to have breakfast while waiting for Nangong Xiu.
Suddenly, a muddy man came crawling and rolling over, fell to his knees on the ground with a plop, and stammered, unable to utter a complete sentence.
Recognizing the man who had just escorted Lu Suye and the others away, Lu Chengfeng stood up and shouted, "If you have something to say, just say it. Didn't I ask you to escort the Second Young Lady? Why are you in such a state?"
It really made him lose face in front of several people.
The man rested his head on the ground, his body trembling for a long time, and he was unable to speak.
Seeing this, Qu Lingfei quickly stood up and tried to help him up: "Don't panic, little brother. Tell me the truth about what happened."
But when the man saw him, he turned pale with fear, his lips trembling, and he pointed at him tremblingly: "Yes, it's him, he's the murderer... No, they are all murderers!"
"What do you mean by murderer or not?" Qiuyan was furious at his disrespect towards her senior brother. Frowning, she stood up, hands on her hips, and said, "If you want to say something, just say it clearly. Why are you pointing at me? Hasn't anyone taught you etiquette?"
Her words were originally directed at the man, but they caused Lu Chengfeng's face to change. He said in a calm voice, "Stand up and talk. Don't let others laugh at me, Lu."
“Yes, yes…”
The man climbed up from the ground using his hands and feet, and pounced on the people beside him like a moth. When everyone's patience was about to be exhausted, he trembled and said, "Something...something happened. The second young lady was killed!"
Everyone present was shocked. Lu Chengfeng frowned even deeper, but he didn't believe it in his heart - with his good son-in-law with superb martial arts skills protecting him, how could Lu Suye be killed so easily?
"If you don't believe me, just follow me." After the man said this, he looked at Qu Lingfei again - this look was full of fear.
"It's my fault. I needed to relieve myself on the way, so the Second Young Miss let me go. If I hadn't gone, maybe, maybe the son-in-law and the young lady wouldn't have died..."
As the man spoke, he raised his hand and slapped himself furiously until his face was red and blood could be seen. Li Jintang couldn't bear to watch and couldn't help but say, "Why did you do this? If you were there, you might not have been able to prevent this from happening. If even your own son-in-law couldn't beat him, how could you possibly do that?"
Before she finished her words, the man suddenly fell silent, turned around and stared at her, his expression was the same as when he looked at Qu Lingfei just now.
Li Jintang was slightly startled—why was he so afraid of her? Or rather, afraid of them.
So no one spoke anymore. When they reached the place the man pointed, everyone followed his gaze and looked in horror.
I saw that the carriage that had just carried Lu Suye to her wedding had overturned to the ground, with a human hand lying underneath. There were several corpses lying around, and even the horse that came with the dowry was not spared.
Seeing so many innocent people die for no reason, their expressions changed and there was sadness in their eyes when they looked at each other.
"Where is my Ye'er?" Wei Lu Chengfeng rushed towards the carriage like crazy. He forgot about his leg injury for a moment and his posture was funny when he ran. However, everyone was immersed in grief and no one noticed this.
He tried hard to lift the carriage with both hands, but it was useless after several attempts. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the carriage was lifted up suddenly, then fell heavily to the ground and was smashed to pieces.
"My condolences." Xie Changyan withdrew his hand and said two words briefly.
The person lying underneath was not Lu Suye, but a bloody corpse of a man.
When the man who had been leading the way saw this, his eyelids rolled up and he fainted.
Lu Chengfeng stood up tremblingly and ordered his men to carry him back. At this moment, there was a sudden rustling sound in the bushes nearby. Several people put their hands on the hilts of their swords, staring at it with their eyes fixed, in a defensive posture.
The next moment, a dusty figure emerged from the crowd. Everyone drew their swords and prepared to charge, but Lu Chengfeng rushed over first, muttering, "Where's my Ye'er? Where's my Ye'er?!"
That person turned out to be Sikong Yi. He lowered his head, his lips trembling, and then he said slowly: "Su Ye she..."
Lu Chengfeng interrupted him impatiently, still holding on to a glimmer of hope: "She's with you, right? Bring her out quickly."
He was so anxious that he even forgot to address his beloved Langxu.
"She's already dead," Sikong Yi seemed to hesitate for a long time before sighing and saying this, "I've made the decision to bury her on my own initiative. I hope the owner of the manor will forgive me."
Li Jintang had just been looking at the corpse lying on the ground in grief, and was slightly shocked when he heard the words - his wife was killed by someone, but how come there was no trace of tears on his face, and he buried the person without permission regardless of Master Lu's wishes?
Lu Chengfeng still had complete faith in his Langxu. After hearing what he said, he suddenly raised his head and roared in grief: "Who killed my Ye'er? Who killed my Ye'er?!"
"I didn't see the man's face clearly," Sikong Yi sighed. "I only knew he was masked. His figure looked familiar, but the situation was so dire at the time that I couldn't recall who he was."
“It’s them, it’s them!”
Suddenly there was a scream behind them. Everyone was startled and turned around. They saw that the man who was carried away had run back at some point, followed by several people who were chasing him breathlessly.
"When I came back from the toilet, the son-in-law and the second young lady were gone. I only saw..." He paused for a moment, then strode forward to pick up a neglected piece of clothing on the ground. The pattern on it gleamed in the sunlight. "This piece of clothing was accidentally dropped by the murderer during the fight. Can you recognize it?"
Qu Lingfei looked at the collar, and a figure appeared in his mind, and his face suddenly turned pale.
"This is..." Lu Chengfeng had already taken the collar, his expression twisted. He suddenly looked up at Qu Lingfei: "If I'm not mistaken, this was left by the person who was traveling with you, right?"
Qu Lingfei closed his eyes - that was exactly what fell from Nangong Xiu.
Nangong Xiu hasn't come back yet, which makes him even more suspicious. No wonder the man was so scared when he saw them just now, as if he had seen a ghost, and actually thought they were accomplices.
"Master Lu, I know you're grieving," Qu Lingfei said, never expecting he'd one day be labeled a murderer. He steadied himself and said, "But my friend couldn't possibly have done such a thing. Besides, we have no grudge against you, so why would he commit such a crime?"
At just the right moment, the sound of horse hooves echoed, and the man on horseback was none other than Nangong Xiu. Seeing everyone gathered, he leaped from his horse, his left hand clutching the sword he had just retrieved. The mark of a missing piece of his shirt on his chest was very noticeable.
"What's wrong……"
Before he could finish his words, he heard Lu Chengfeng shout "Catch them!", and then dozens of men surrounded them, weapons flashing in their hands.
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