Chapter 23
County government.
Fan Changyu was detained in a temporary interrogation room. The doors and windows were closed, and the tables, chairs and benches inside seemed to be slightly cold.
After sitting for so long, the coldness seeped up through the double-thick-padded soles of my shoes, and my feet were almost numb from the freezing cold.
Fan Changyu rubbed his hands, blew a breath into his palms, and stamped his feet slightly, trying to warm himself up.
There were two yamen runners on duty outside the interrogation room. Fan Changyu tried to talk to them through the door, but they were obviously not Captain Wang's men and ignored her.
The wait was unbearable. Finally, the door of the interrogation room opened, and the dark room was filled with daylight. The guard at the door said, "You can leave now."
Fan Changyu thought that Captain Wang had brought people to search and came back with evidence that he was innocent, so he felt relieved and left the interrogation room.
When he saw Captain Wang, he was anxiously giving orders to his runners. Only then did Fan Changyu notice that even the ordinary runners who served tea and water were equipped with knives, as if everyone in the yamen was ready to go out at any time.
Captain Wang saw Fan Changyu and nodded to signal the runners to leave. His brows were almost wrinkled into the shape of the Chinese character "川" as he spoke: "Someone just came to report to the authorities. In addition to Fan Da's tragic death today, several other families were also killed. The knife and sword wounds on their bodies were the same as those on Fan Da's body. The murderer should be the same group of people. But only your family was visited by the murderer. I don't know if they got something out of Fan Da's mouth. When I took people to your house, there were dead people all over the floor..."
When Fan Changyu heard the last sentence, his head buzzed, as if there was tinnitus in his ears. He could only see Captain Wang's mouth opening and closing, but he could not hear clearly what he was saying.
After a while, she managed to calm down: "My sister..."
As soon as I said this, I was shocked to find that my voice was extremely hoarse and my hands and feet were cold.
Captain Wang said hurriedly, "We haven't found the bodies of your husband and your sister. We have searched inside and outside the house. I don't know if they were captured by the criminals or ran away. I have ordered the yamen runners to search, but the heavy snow has covered up many traces. So far, no news has been sent back."
Fan Changyu felt only half relieved, and walked out of the county government office in a hurry: "I'll go look for it too."
Her parents are already gone, she can’t let anything happen to her sister again!
Although Yan Zheng was injured, he was also a martial artist. Even though he was seriously injured before, he was still able to deal with Jin Laosan's gang. Those people who died in his own yard as mentioned by Captain Wang might have been killed by him.
Then he must have taken Changning away. His injuries won't last long, so I must find them before that!
-
The wind blew up the fine snow and also carried the smell of blood far away throughout the pine forest.
The sword flashed, and a handful of hot blood spurted out from the neck, spilling onto the frosty and snow-covered conifer trunk. The man holding the knife fell straight into the snow, and the sticky blood on the trunk was slowly dripping down, creating one pink pit after another in the snow under the tree.
Xie Zheng didn't even look at the man. He shook his wrist slightly, and all the blood beads on the long sword were thrown away.
There were dead bodies within ten meters of his feet.
Little Changning and Haidongqing huddled together, not knowing whether they were frightened or frozen, their faces turned pale and they couldn't even cry.
Xie Zheng took the sword and walked back. Seeing this, he frowned, leaned down and touched the back of the child's hand with his knuckles. Sure enough, it was as frozen as an ice cube.
He glanced at the shirt on his body, which was almost soaked with blood and did not feel warm at all. He then turned his gaze to the man whose throat he had cut not far away.
That dress doesn't look dirty.
He walked over and used his sword to pry open the leather jacket on the man. He kicked the dead man like a sack and made him roll around. He then raised the tip of his sword and the leather jacket was in his hand.
He had snatched the sword from a masked man, and since it worked quite well for him, he kept it with him.
Xie Zheng threw the fur jacket to little Changning. His bloodstained face was a little paler than the snow on the ground. He then leaned against a cedar tree with some weakness. His eyes were half closed, revealing obvious fatigue. His tone was still cold: "Put it on and wait for your elder sister to come and find you."
In the distance, there were footsteps coming from several groups towards the pine forest. I didn't know if they were in the same group as the masked men or from some other force.
Xie Zheng didn't plan to go any further. He was so exhausted that he couldn't walk far with a child.
Stay where you are for a while and recover some strength, maybe you can hold on a little longer.
"Zheng'er, is the osmanthus cake delicious?"
The sky and pine forest before my eyes were both in afterimages, and in a trance I could hear the gentle and dignified woman's smiling voice.
Xie Zheng's eyelids twitched.
Little Changning saw him covered in blood, leaning against a pine tree with his eyes closed. Fearing that he was dead, she called out to him in a hoarse voice, "Brother-in-law..."
"Stop making noise."
When Xie Zheng regained consciousness, his brows furrowed, his eyelids became heavy, and his limbs felt as if they were filled with lead.
He was not unfamiliar with this feeling. The last time he escaped from the hands of Wei family's assassins, he lost consciousness and fell in the snow.
He forced his eyelids open, grabbed the sword with his hands that were wrapped in cloth and stained with blood, and slashed down with force.
The blades on both sides cut deep gashes in his palms. Blood soaked the cloth again, and flowed out from his clenched fists, splashing on the snow like fallen plum blossoms.
The stinging pain finally made him regain some consciousness.
The sound of chaotic footsteps approached, and when the sword tip flashed with a cold light and stabbed straight at the child, he blocked it with his backhand, making a crisp "ding" sound.
The two swords rubbed against each other, and even sparks flew.
Xie Zheng's eyes became fierce, and when the long sword reached the hilt, he turned his hand and cut a bloody mark on the masked man's shoulder and arm, then kicked the man more than a meter away.
"Hide behind the tree." He ordered coldly, the whites of his eyes had turned blood red, like a lone wolf that had been forced into a desperate situation.
A dozen masked men were obviously frightened when they saw the dead bodies of their companions scattered all over the ground. They looked at each other, raised their swords and rushed forward to fight Xie Zheng. Each move was fierce and went straight to the vital points.
Little Changning hid behind a tree. Although Xie Zheng had reprimanded her many times for not crying, she couldn't hold back her tears when she saw this. She almost instinctively took out the whistle hidden under her collar and blew it hard.
This whistle was made for her by her elder sister. One time, she was playing hide-and-seek with the kids in the alley and accidentally fell into a dry well. She cried until her voice became hoarse, but no one could find her.
When her family went to look for her, she had cried so hard that her voice was hoarse and she couldn't make a sound.
Later, her elder sister made a whistle for her so that she could blow it whenever she encountered danger, so that people at home could find her.
During the journey when she was being led by her brother-in-law to escape, she was so scared that she blew the whistle once. However, it attracted a bad guy and was bullied by her brother-in-law. After that, she didn't dare to blow it anymore.
The situation was urgent at the moment, and Little Changning had no time to care about the other party's teachings.
The sharp whistle sounded throughout the pine forest, like a chick crying blood.
A masked man noticed Chang Ning and walked towards her with a knife in hand. Chang Ning stood up and wanted to run, but the masked man's leather jacket wrapped around her body was too long, and she tripped after running a few steps.
The masked man raised his knife and was about to swing it, but a gray falcon suddenly appeared from nowhere and flew straight towards the masked man. Its hook-like claws failed to grab his neck, but it scratched his face to pieces, and even the black scarf on his face was pulled off.
From the dense forest in the distance came the faint sound of dogs barking, one after another, and it seemed that there was more than one dog barking so ferociously that all the birds living in the forest flew up, making the entire snowy sky dark.
Changning's eyes sparkled, and he quickly puffed up his cheeks and blew the bamboo whistle a few times.
The masked man swung the sword to drive away the gray falcon and was about to grab Chang Ning. The sound of wind breaking through the air came from behind him. He almost leaned back instinctively and avoided the bone-chopping knife that was thrown towards his head.
Most of the black iron blade was embedded in the trunk of a coniferous pine tree behind him. The tree was shaking, and the snow on the pine cones was shaking off, blocking his view for a moment.
It was at this moment that the masked man felt a chill in his heart, and the moment the knife was pulled out, blood gushed out from his chest.
The masked man had killed many people, but when he saw the amount of blood flowing from the wound on his chest, he was still stunned for a moment.
What a brutal knife technique.
This knife can drain the blood from a person's body in the shortest possible time.
Through the rustling snow, he raised his eyes with difficulty, and his sight fell on the black iron weapon with blood dripping from it.
Pig-killing knife?
Looking up further, my dilated pupils could no longer see the other person's face clearly.
But it was obvious that it was a woman.
The masked man knelt in the snow with his head lowered softly. The blood that gushed out melted most of the snow beneath him, almost the same amount of blood that the other two masked men who died here had lost.
The first time Fan Changyu killed someone with the pig-killing knife in his hand, he subconsciously used the method of killing pigs and just bled as much as possible.
The extreme tension and desire to protect made the blood in her body rush to her head, her fingertips felt numb and hot, and she didn't even have time to have any other emotions related to murder.
Chang Ning pursed her lips and wanted to cry the moment she saw her elder sister, but the situation was really urgent at the moment.
Seeing that Yan Zheng was seriously injured and had a bloody cut on his arm, Fan Changyu didn't even bother to say a word to his sister. He took the bone-cutting knife from the tree trunk and threw it at one of the masked men.
Unexpectedly, the man was pulled away by his companions, and behind him was Xie Zheng. The bone-cutting knife was chopped straight at Xie Zheng, which scared Fan Changyu so much that his heart was in his throat.
Fortunately, Xie Zheng reacted very quickly and immediately turned his head, and the heavy bone-cutting knife was nailed into the pine tree trunk behind him.
When the other party looked at him, Fan Changyu looked a little embarrassed.
When the snow on a tree fell, she had no time to think about it. She used the same trick again and approached them in an instant. She stabbed several people in succession with the same method as killing pigs, while Xie Zheng cut their throats with a sword.
Mixed with the snow foam, there were handfuls of blood scattered on the ground.
After the snow on the tree fell off, Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng exchanged glances. She explained awkwardly, "I just... threw it at the masked man."
Xie Zheng said nothing.
Most of the dozen or so masked men had been killed, and he had time to catch his breath. He stood with his sword in his hand, his hair hanging down in disarray, his face as pale as snow, with blood on the corners of his mouth. He was so weak that he seemed like he would faint at any moment, but the remaining masked men who were waiting for an opportunity did not dare to act rashly.
The barking sound was getting closer. Three or four hunting dogs jumped out from the dense forest, baring their fangs and barking at the masked man.
Fan Changyu borrowed these hunting dogs from hunters in the town. Thanks to these hunting dogs, she was able to follow the smell of blood and find the pine forest outside the city.
After hearing Changning's whistle, she abandoned the hunting dogs and rushed here first.
Fan Changyu threatened the other party: "The county government's officers and soldiers will be here soon!"
The masked men exchanged glances and seemed to have decided that they would not get any benefits from Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng if they continued the fight, so they quickly retreated.
Xie Zheng said: "Catch him alive."
Fan Changyu rushed out almost the moment he finished speaking.
This group of people were dressed like bandits. They killed Fan Da and broke into her home. They might be the same group of people who murdered her mother.
She untied a rope from her waist, quickly tied a noose while running, and threw it hard towards the masked man who was running at the end. After the noose gripped the masked man's neck, Fan Changyu pulled back with all her strength, and the noose tightened instantly.
The masked man held the rope around his neck tightly with both hands, and was dragged backwards in the snow by Fan Changyu like a rag bag.
Xie Zheng looked surprised when he saw this scene.
Fan Changyu leaned one foot against a cedar tree and pulled the rope back as hard as if he were dragging a dead pig, explaining, "This is a rope snare commonly used to snare wild horses or bison. Once you are snared, it is almost impossible to escape, because the harder you struggle, the tighter the rope will be."
Captain Dehuo Wang was afraid that she might get into danger if she followed him out to search, so he asked his runners to get her a set of constable's weapons.
The constable's equipment is actually just a knife and a coil of rope.
The knife is used for self-defense, and the rope is used to tie up the criminals.
She was not as familiar with the yamen's knife as her own pig-killing knife, and she didn't want to refuse Captain Wang's kindness, so she took a roll of rope.
Xie Zheng was silent for a moment. It was clearly a life-threatening moment, but it seemed that as long as she spoke, the tense atmosphere would suddenly relax a little.
When the masked men saw their companions being captured, after a brief eye contact, one of them directly picked up his sword and threw it at his companion.
The masked man who was trapped by Fan Changyu was covered in blood in an instant.
Fan Changyu was so angry that he swore, then immediately dropped the rope and chased after him with his pig-killing knife.
Xie Zheng coughed up a mouthful of blood. He was afraid that she would not be able to defeat him and would be seriously injured, so he wanted to chase her together. However, the moment he raised his foot, he stepped on a hard object in the snow. He removed his black boots and saw that it was a waist badge.
Seeing the emblem on it, Feng's eyes froze for a moment.
He picked up the badge and put it in his arms. When he looked at the masked men who were caught up by Fan Changyu, they were no different from dead objects.
Several masked men were being chased and bitten by three or four hounds, and with Fan Changyu, a freak with infinite strength, chasing and beating them, they were quite overwhelmed for a while.
However, they soon discovered Fan Changyu's weakness. She often relied on strength and speed, but had little experience in fighting at the risk of her life. When several people surrounded her, she could not defend herself and was soon injured.
The wounds from the sword were burning with pain, and Fan Changyu's attack speed slowed down by several beats. She was already trying hard to learn how to block, but this little progress was not enough for her to instantly match several masters.
Seeing a masked man slashing at her wrist with a sword again, Fan Changyu became anxious, but her moves were old and she couldn't dodge it at all.
Once the wrist is injured, at best you won't be able to hold the weapon in your hand, and at worst the entire hand will become useless.
She gritted her teeth and decided to perish together with her.
At the critical moment, a large bony hand grasped her knife-holding hand from behind. Compared with the warmth on the back of her hand, that hand was as cold as a piece of lake ice.
She didn't know how he used his skill, but with a flip of her wrist, the blade of the pig-killing knife in her hand instantly pointed upwards, and chopped fiercely at the masked man's elbow from below. Then the blade scraped the flesh upwards along the bone with a domineering force, and pressed against the tendons and cartilage under the armpit and lifted it hard.
The sword in the masked man's hand fell out in an instant, and his whole bloody arm fell limply down. The masked man let out a heart-wrenching scream.
Fan Changyu often scrapes bones and removes flesh, but her scalp tingles when she thinks of the knife-wielding technique just now. She couldn't help but look back, and only saw half of the man's pale jaw. He held her hand and attacked again to block the remaining killing moves of the masked man.
His strength was more like a guide to teach her how to avoid the opponent's moves, and when he attacked, Fan Changyu did not control his brute force at all.
Her only weakness was gone, and the masked men on the opposite side were unable to resist.
Fan Changyu did have some talent in martial arts. While remembering the moves that Xie Zheng was using to block her attacks, she was also able to find opportunities to kick the masked man.
A masked man was kicked so hard by Fan Changyu that he flew backwards and hit a cedar tree. The tree trunk shook and a pine tree collapsed with a loud bang, stirring up a cloud of snow foam.
At the same time, the person behind him took Fan Changyu's hand and made a knife flower, then sent the pig-killing knife in his hand into the heart of another masked man.
Fan Changyu clearly felt the wound on his palm split open, and warm blood gushed out, wetting the back of her hand where his palm was pressed against hers, but his palm was still cold.
Looking at the chaotic sword lights in front of her, her heart seemed to tremble like the fallen icy tree.
"Don't be distracted." His cold and hoarse voice came from her ears. Because of the way she held the knife, the two of them were quite close. Fan Changyu could almost feel his breath with just a hint of warmth.
The entire earlobe felt numb.
She resisted the urge to rub her ears and focused all her attention on her moves.
When the pig-killing knife, stained with blood, was pressed against the neck of the last masked man, Fan Changyu was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
She had noticed it before. This man should be the leader of the gang. The masked man she trapped was killed by him with one sword.
Fan Changyu pressed down the blade of his knife, leaving a bloody mark on his neck, and asked coldly, "Who are you? What enmity do you have with my Fan family?"
However, he did not look at her, but kept staring at Xie Zheng who was standing behind her, as if he was trying to identify something. When Xie Zheng raised his eyes and looked at him, he seemed to finally recognize him. His pupils shrank violently, and a look of dismay appeared on his face. Then, one hand suddenly grabbed the pig-killing knife that Fan Changyu was holding against his neck.
Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng were standing very close to each other and did not realize that the other was looking at Xie Zheng. When she saw his action, she was shocked and thought that he was going to grab the knife. She hurriedly pressed down with force on the blade of the knife in an attempt to control him. Unexpectedly, the other party grabbed her knife and pushed it towards his neck.
A trail of blood spilled onto the trampled snow.
The masked man cut his throat and fell down.
Fan Changyu looked at this scene and was so shocked that he was speechless for a long time.
She looked at the blood-stained pig-killing knife in her hand and murmured, "Why did he..."
They would rather commit suicide than explain anything. Who are these people?
Could it be that these were the enemies her father made when he was a bodyguard?
Fan Changyu looked at the dead leader and thought of the death of his parents, and his heart was in a mess.
Xie Zheng also frowned when he saw the masked man committing suicide, but with all his injuries, he had already reached his limit by holding on for so long. Once the crisis was resolved and he no longer had the strength to support him, he felt dizzy almost instantly.
He spat out the blood that had been held in his throat, and finally he could no longer hold up the long sword in his hand.
When Fan Changyu heard the movement behind him, he turned around and saw that he had fainted in the snow, his face and lips almost turned pale. He didn't care about anything else and rushed over to check his injuries.
Not only did the old wounds reopen, but many new wounds also arose.
The more she thought about how he had to go to the gates of hell again because of her family, the more guilty she felt.
She didn't have any medicine on her, but thought that the people dressed as bandits should have some, so she searched the dead leader's body and found a bottle of medicine powder.
Because she was not sure whether this was a hemostatic medicine, she first poured a little on the chief's wound which was still bleeding. After she found that the blood had coagulated, she gave it to Xie Zhengfei with confidence.
The moment the strong wound medicine was sprinkled on his flesh, the burning pain like a knife cutting or fire made Xie Zheng regain some consciousness, but he was still extremely weak and couldn't even open his eyelids.
After Fan Changyu gave the man a simple bandage, he carried him on his back and went back to pick up Changning.
There were shallow cuts on her arms from the initial fight with the masked men. Although the wounds were not serious, they still caused a thick and burning pain when she exerted force.
Fan Changyu wanted to say something to distract himself, and half-jokingly said to the man on his back, "This is the second time I've carried you back from the snow."
The person on his back didn't respond, as if he had fainted.
The pain caused a thin layer of sweat to appear on Fan Changyu's forehead. She whispered, "Thank you."
Thank you for saving Changning for me.
If she lost her sister, she would also lose her last relative in this world, and she would not know what to do in the future.
The wind and snow were raging, and she carried the man on her back, leaving a series of deep footprints in the snow.
Little Changning was waiting under the conifer tree with the Saker Falcon in her arms. When she saw Fan Changyu coming back with Xie Zheng on her back, she hurried over and said, "Sister."
Fan Changyu was carrying someone on her back, and couldn't hold her sister. A drop of sweat ran down her forehead, soaking the scratched part of her face, which was burning with pain. She looked Chang Ning up and down and asked, "Is Ning Niang injured?"
Chang Ning shook her head and saw that the person on her back was already unconscious. Her eyes turned red and she choked up and said, "My brother-in-law was injured while protecting Ning Niang..."
The blood that had flowed from his palm when he helped her break the move was still on her hand, hot as if it had been burned by fire. Fan Changyu felt a little sad, and she said, "Don't cry, we'll take him back to see a doctor."
She always seems calm and steady.
But as long as Changning heard her elder sister say this, she felt at ease and was no longer afraid of anything.
When her parents passed away, she cried so much that she became sick and could hardly breathe. It was her eldest sister who hugged her by the bed and said, "Don't be afraid, you still have your sister."
Little Changning looked at her elder sister's bent back, wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and followed Fan Changyu's steps in the snow, holding the Saker Falcon.
-
"This is the second time I've carried you back from the snow."
"thank you."
Xie Zheng heard someone talking to him in his chaotic state. He was very familiar with the voice, but he couldn't remember who it was.
My eyelids were too heavy, and my mind was like a mess. I couldn't think anymore. I felt like I was sinking into endless darkness, and the chill was penetrating into the cracks in my bones.
It was really difficult to resist the force of this fall, but if I just let it go, the whole person seemed to relax instantly.
"Zheng'er."
Someone was calling him again.
In fact, he could no longer remember the gentle woman's voice or appearance, but every time he dreamed of her, he knew it was her.
What is she doing in the dream?
Didn't she want him anymore?
Xie Zheng didn't want to answer her, but his eyes looked forward uncontrollably. The woman was standing in the back garden of the mansion, holding a child's hand with a smile, and watching the heroic man practicing boxing in the yard.
"Zheng'er's father is a great hero. In the future, Zheng'er will also become a person like your father."
When Xie Zheng saw the woman looking at him with a smile on her face, he was shocked to find that he had become that child.
He still didn't say anything, just stared at the woman's face, which was so clear in his dream but only a blurry outline in his mind when he woke up.
He missed her, but she had gone too early, so early that he couldn't even remember what she looked like.
The man who was practicing boxing in the yard disappeared and turned into a coffin that was sent back from the Jinzhou battlefield.
The woman, dressed in plain mourning, lay in front of the coffin and cried bitterly. All the maids and servants in the room were unable to stop her.
The scene changes to show her wearing new clothes and sitting in front of a bronze mirror, drawing her eyebrows. Her dark eyebrows, like distant mountains, are slightly frowned. She has a very beautiful face, but anyone can see that she is unhappy. She says, "Why doesn't he keep his promise? He said he would come back to draw my eyebrows for me."
It's like a girl makes an appointment with her lover, but the other party breaks his promise and does not show up, making her feel upset.
She saw him and smiled, calling him over. Xie Zheng did not move. A child about four years old wearing a small golden crown ran past him. She handed the child a plate of osmanthus cake, her voice as gentle as ever: "Zheng'er, is the osmanthus cake delicious?"
He finally spoke, almost with hatred: "It's not tasty."
The woman seemed to be completely deaf to his words. She picked up the child and sat him on her lap. Her gentle voice became very distant, "Zheng'er, you will become a great hero like your father in the future."
"Be good, let's go outside and eat some osmanthus cake."
Then she put on some makeup, dressed in her most beautiful clothes, left her eyebrows bare, and hung herself on the beam with a white silk.
Her general did not keep his promise and did not come back to draw her eyebrows, so she went to look for him.
The maids pushed the door open, crying. The child stood at the door, and all he could see was the gorgeous skirt that was half hanging in the air.
Xie Zheng struggled to wake up from this nightmare once again, his whole body drenched in cold sweat.
A medicinal smell that numbs the root of the tongue lingers between the lips and teeth. What comes into view is the patched bed curtains and a person standing beside the bed in the backlight.
Xie Zheng glanced to the side and saw Fan Changyu looking at him in shock and confusion, holding a medicine bowl in one hand, but the medicine spoon in the other hand was nowhere to be seen.
Xie Zheng lowered his eyes and saw the medicine spoon that had been smashed into pieces on the ground.
The other party mumbled: "The medicine must not taste good..."
Xie Zheng: “…”
After the nightmare, my breathing, which had been much more rapid than usual, suddenly became less breathless, and the bad emotions trapped in the dream were miraculously suppressed by her words.
He frowned and glanced at the woman sitting beside the bed with a subtle mood. He forced himself to sit up and stretched out his pale and thin hand to her: "Give it to me."
His face, even though he looked sickly, was still very handsome.
Fan Changyu was stunned for a moment before she realized that the other party wanted the medicine bowl in her hand.
She glanced at the gauze wrapped around his hand and kindly reminded him, "The sword has left two deep cuts on your hand, and the base of your thumb is also torn. The doctor said you can't exert any force right now."
He changed to his other hand and Fan Changyu handed the medicine bowl over.
Xie Zheng drank the bowl of disgusting medicine in one gulp and returned the bowl to her.
Fan Changyu recalled that he had forced medicine into his mouth when he was semi-conscious, and he had yelled out "It doesn't taste good" through gritted teeth. He thought that this man, who usually kept silent, turned out to be afraid of suffering.
She fished in her sleeve pocket and took out a piece of candy to comfort Changning and gave it to him: "Eat a piece of candy and it won't be so bitter."
Xie Zheng had taken medicine so many times, and this was the only time she gave him candy. Even a fool could guess why. His face suddenly turned unhappy, and he closed his eyes: "No need."
But the next moment, someone grabbed his jaw and used force to force him to open his mouth, and the piece of candy was fed into his mouth.
"You!" he glared.
Fan Changyu smiled and sat back: "Sweet, right? It's not shameful to be afraid of bitterness. You are always inexplicably stubborn!"
Maybe it was because the warm light of the winter sun was shining through the window behind her that made her smile look particularly bright and warm.
——At least it was much warmer than the smile of the woman whose face he could no longer remember in his dream.
The sweet taste of maltose melting between lips and teeth dispels the bitter taste lingering on the tip of tongue, just like the sun shining into the gloomy land covered with moss.
Xie Zheng suddenly stopped talking, turned his head away, pursed his lips and stopped talking.
He hadn't eaten sweets for a long time, ever since that woman coaxed him out to eat a plate of osmanthus cake, and when she came back she had already died with a white silk thread.
All these years, he has been harboring resentment and self-loathing deep in his heart.
If only he hadn't taken the dish of osmanthus cake out to eat, he would have stayed by her side all the time, and maybe she would have been reluctant to leave.
He hated osmanthus cake and sweets in general, and as time went by, people around him stopped serving them to him.
Fan Changyu noticed that he was in a low mood, but he didn't know why, so he just said: "Your injury this time is no less serious than the last time. The doctor has repeatedly told you to rest well. At least you can't lift heavy objects before your injury is healed. Many people in your family have died, and the government is investigating the case. You can't go back to live for the time being. You can stay in the attic of Aunt Zhao's house to recuperate first."
When Xie Zheng woke up, he saw that this was the attic where he had recuperated in the Zhao family. Hearing this, he just nodded slightly.
Fan Changyu paused and said, "Thank you for protecting Changning."
This voice overlapped with the one Xie Zheng heard before his consciousness became chaotic. Only then did he confirm that it was not an auditory hallucination.
She seemed to say something at that time.
"This is the second time I've carried you back from the snow."
The first time he was injured, Xie Zheng was unconscious. This time, although he was dazed, he was still vaguely conscious.
He could feel how thin the back supporting him was.
So much so that when he looked at Fan Changyu again and saw her thin shoulders and the piece of gauze vaguely showing under her sleeves, his heart felt like it was blocked by a ball of wet cotton, feeling suffocating and damp.
When she carried him back, she was also injured.
He moved his pale, cracked lips and said, "You saved me first."
There was no further words after this one sentence, as if subconsciously he didn't want to make a clear distinction between the two.
When those people broke into the house, he thought that Zhao had been exposed and attracted the killer. However, in addition to wanting to kill him and the child, those people only wanted to dig up the Fan family's house three feet underground. It was obvious that they were looking for something.
Thinking of the badge he picked up from the snow, Xie Zheng's eyes became even darker.
He asked, "Have the government found out anything?"
Fan Changyu shook his head and told him that many other families had suffered the same misfortune that day.
Fan Da's death had nothing to do with her anymore, as the county government had successfully allowed her to transfer all the house deeds left by her parents.
She now had more money, which was probably the only thing that made her feel at ease at the moment. At least she wouldn't have to worry about hiring a doctor for Yan Zheng.
When Xie Zheng heard that there were other people who had suffered in the county, he frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What do those people who were killed like Fan Da have in common?"
Fan Changyu thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "A total of seven families were killed. The dead included men and women, old people and children. They had nothing in common."
Xie Zheng frowned and did not respond for a moment.
Those people searched seven households in total, but finally targeted Fan Changyu's family. It was obvious that they were looking for something on a large scale at first, and only found Fan Changyu and her sisters after they got what they wanted from Fan Da.
He inferred the situation of the Fan family and guessed a reason, asking: "Are there any people in those families who used to make a living outside and later returned to Lin'an Town?"
Fan Changyu felt that if this was really the case, then they were most likely seeking revenge on her parents. However, she couldn't understand why those people would not stop even though her parents were already dead. She said, "I'll go back and ask Captain Wang."
After Fan Changyu left the attic, Xie Zheng forced himself to stand up and took out the waist badge he had picked up from the snow from the pile of blood-stained clothes on the stool beside the bed.
He held it in his hand, frowned and looked at it for a while, then squeezed it back into his palm.
That badge belongs to the Wei family's assassin.
The heaven and earth are dark and yellow, and the ones who came this time are actually the assassins with the Xuan character brand.
But these people were not there to kill him, and they didn't even notice that he was hiding here. The leader only recognized him at the last moment.
But why did he look like that after recognizing him and commit suicide immediately?
The mystery before us is getting bigger and bigger, and it seems that the only thing that can solve the mystery is the true identity of the girl's parents.
Her martial arts skills were so advanced, so her father must have been no ordinary man. I'm afraid he didn't die at the hands of an ordinary bandit, but at the hands of a assassin disguised as a bandit.
Is there any secret behind the name without a surname on her mother's tablet?
Xie Zheng pressed his brows, wanting to send a message to his old subordinates, asking them to secretly investigate the background of the woman's parents. At the corner of his eye, he glanced at the Saker Falcon with gauze wrapped around its wings, lying on the floor and feasting on a bowl of chopped pork.
That bowl of minced meat was cut by Fan Changyu. Saker Falcon saved Changning, and the companions' food was upgraded from pig offal to fresh minced meat.
It rolled in the snow for several times, and its fur finally turned white again. At this moment, it opened its beak and picked up a large piece of meat. When it looked up, it saw Xie Zheng staring at it.
The Saker Falcon stared at its owner with its small eyes. After a moment's stalemate, the meat in its mouth finally fell back into the bowl with a "pop". It looked at him stupidly and innocently.
Xie Zheng looked away with a cold face.
Forget it, Wei's eagle-dog has noticed this, and there is no hope of using this stupid thing to send letters anymore.
If the merchant surnamed Zhao really came to seek refuge with him, he could use the shop under his name to send the letter without anyone noticing.
There were still a few days before the New Year, so he asked the other party to exchange the banknote for 200,000 dan of rice before the New Year, thinking that he would get a reply soon.
The maltose in my mouth has melted away, leaving only a faint sweetness on the tip of my tongue.
He then looked out the window and found that he had finished the candy, but the person who gave him the candy had not returned yet.
-
Fan Changyu went to the county government office and informed Captain Wang of Xie Zheng's thoughts and her ideas. However, Captain Wang just shook his head in silence and said, "The case is closed."
Fan Changyu was surprised: "How come the case is closed when the murderer hasn't been found yet?"
Captain Wang said, "Those who died in the pine forest were the murderers. They were bandits from Qingfeng Village. It is very common for bandits to commit murder and robbery during festivals."
Fan Changyu thought to himself how could they be bandits? It was obvious that they came prepared. He wanted to argue a bit, but when he saw Captain Wang's eyes, he swallowed back all the words that were on his lips.
It was not difficult for her to guess why the county government was so anxious to close the case.
The New Year is coming soon, and suddenly so many murders have occurred. Not to mention the complaints from the people, it is also difficult for the county magistrate to report to the state government. He must find a reason to close the case as soon as possible.
It just so happened that those masked men were dressed like bandits, and now there was no evidence, so saying that they were bandits who committed murder for money was naturally the best excuse.
The county magistrate only needed to post a notice saying that bandits were rampant recently and asking all the people in the city to be careful when going out, and he would appease the people. Then he would write a letter to the state government requesting the suppression of the bandits, and he could easily shirk other responsibilities.
After all, the bandit problem in Qingfeng Village has not been eliminated for many years and has become a major problem in Jizhou.
Captain Wang was just a small-time captain. What could he say when the county magistrate put pressure on him to close the case?
Fan Changyu said goodbye to Captain Wang with a heavy heart. When Captain Wang saw her off to the door, he said, "Why don't you sell your pig shed and house in the countryside and go somewhere else to hide. I think your father offended someone when he was escorting people outside in his early years."
Fan Changyu knew that Captain Wang had good intentions, so he thanked him and said he would go back and think about it carefully. However, he felt confused for a moment.
Leave?
She has lived in Lin'an Town for more than ten years. She is familiar with everything from a stone in the east end of the town to a tree in the west end.
If she stayed here, she might have a chance to find out the real cause of her parents' death, but if there was another assassination attempt, she and her sister couldn't guarantee their survival.
She was not afraid of leaving her hometown and going out to wander around, but her parents were buried here, and her and Changning's roots were also buried here, so she would definitely be reluctant to leave.
After walking out of the county government gate, Fan Changyu's chaotic thoughts calmed down. She looked at the sky after the snow and exhaled deeply.
As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood.
When Yan Zheng's injury healed, she would tell him to leave Qingshui County. If he was not afraid of his enemies coming to seek revenge, and was willing to go with her, she would take him with her. If he had other plans, she would write a divorce letter and give him some excuses, and then the two of them would be even.
-
After Fan Changyu returned to the town, he went to the butcher shop to pack up some things. After the New Year was the best time to transfer the shop. Since he was planning to leave, he first sold the shop and the pig shed and land in the countryside.
Fan Changyu planned to keep the house so that she would have a place to return to if she came back in the future. That was where she and her parents had lived for more than ten years, and Fan Changyu was reluctant to sell it.
She was busy packing things in the shop, and passers-by thought that Fan's Butcher Shop was open again. When they saw that there was nothing on the chopping board, some people even poked their heads out to ask when the shop would reopen.
Fan Changyu was afraid of complications, so he did not announce the transfer of the shop at this time, and only said that he planned to reopen it after the New Year.
As he was packing, someone knocked on the door. Fan Changyu said without raising his head, "No business today."
An old voice came from the door: "Are you going to quit your business as an old man?"
Fan Changyu looked up and saw that it was Chef Li from Yixianglou. He said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Chef Li. Something happened at home recently. I don't plan to open this shop by the end of the year."
Chef Li waved his hands and said, "It's our boss who wants to see you."
The author has something to say:
Mini-theater:
Xie Zheng: I have finished all the candy. When will you come back?
Changyu: I’m buying you some candy!
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Let me talk about the update time. The author's three-dimensional is not very stable. After V, the update is usually after midnight and before 6 o'clock the next day. The time is not fixed, but it will definitely be updated every day. Stable day 3, hard work day 6, challenging day 10,000 (getting quieter and quieter...)
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