Chapter 25
The night was deep, and the north wind made the worn window leaves creak.
Weather like this always makes people want to get into bed.
Especially since this quilt has been warmed up by someone sleeping in it, it is emitting an alluring warmth.
Fan Changyu folded his arms, leaned against the bedpost and took a nap with his eyes closed, but his ears were always listening to the movements downstairs.
After Aunt Zhao and Carpenter Zhao went to bed, she hurried home to get the land deed and came over carrying a quilt to make the floor.
She had hardly slept since the accident with Fan Da yesterday. Her body was actually very tired, but her mind was tense all the time and she dared not relax for a moment.
The person next to him had been breathing very shallowly. Perhaps it was because he had eaten chenpi candy, but Fan Changyu could vaguely smell a faint chenpi fragrance on him.
She subconsciously recalled the time in the pine forest when he held her hand and taught her the moves and the breath he left when he spoke in her ear.
My ears felt a little hot for some reason, but luckily I couldn't see anything in the darkness.
Fan Changyu wanted to rub her ears, but before she raised her hand, the person next to her suddenly sat up silently. Before she could react, a slender finger with just a little warmth was already touching her lips. The other person's long hair fell down and brushed against the back of her hand, bringing a slight itching and cool feeling.
He got very close to her, and the scent of dried skin on his body became stronger.
Fan Changyu was startled at first, but then he pricked up his ears when he heard the light footsteps of a cat coming from the tiles.
Seeing this, Xie Zheng said nothing but withdrew his index finger from her lips.
The red that the fingertip touched was warm, soft, and delicate, like a petal with dew in the morning.
He frowned slightly, rubbed the hot and numb skin at his fingertips, and suppressed all the strangeness in his heart.
The footsteps coming from the roof were light and chaotic, as if there was more than one person. After a while, some of the footsteps stopped not far away. Judging from the distance, it was the roof of Fan's house.
Some continued to move forward and stopped on the roof of Zhao's house. Then there was a slight sound of tiles being plucked, and a very thin bamboo tube stretched out from the gap between the tiles, emitting a puff of green smoke.
The two of them covered their mouths and noses with their collars and looked at each other in the dark with the dim light coming in through the window.
There was a noise from the dilapidated window, and a dark shadow sneaked in silently.
Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng stood on either side of the bed curtain, silently planning how to kill each other without anyone noticing when the dark shadow approached the bed. However, after seven or eight people sneaked in through the window one after another, the two had no plans anymore.
The room was small and the other party would quickly spot them.
Fan Chang pursed her lips tightly and calmly took out a boning knife that she kept close to her body.
A man in black swung a knife at the bed. The blunt feeling of the knife cutting into the quilt made his face change color instantly: "It's a fraud!"
Immediately afterwards, I felt a chill in my waist and abdomen, and a figure quickly slipped past the side of the bed curtain and rushed towards the window with a sudden headshot, making a loud "bang".
A man in black who was outside sliding down a rope tied to the roof but had not yet entered the house was knocked away by the figure who sneaked out of the house. He was smashed into the yard like a meat cushion, and several blue bricks on the ground were cracked.
The person got up quickly and turned out to be a woman.
She took advantage of the black-clad man on the ground who was dazed and slapped him hard. The man was knocked unconscious on the spot. The woman picked up the black-clad man's sword and ran out of the yard.
All this happened in an instant. The men in black in the room were stunned. When they realized what was happening, they shouted, "Chase!"
A group of people jumped out of the window like dumplings and chased after him.
Xie Zheng, who was hiding on the other side of the bed curtain, did not expect that Fan Changyu would take the risk alone. He then realized that she deliberately led away these men in black in order to protect herself, the old couple downstairs, and her sister. He felt a little heavy in his heart.
When the last few men in black in the house were about to jump out of the window, a crystal clear chenpi candy popped out from his fingertips.
The man in black who had just jumped out of the window was hit in the knee, and he lost his balance in the air and fell down.
When the others heard the movement behind them, they were surprised to find that there was another person in the room. They were already the best among the death squad, but they had not noticed his existence for such a long time after entering the room. How extreme must his ability to hold his breath be?
Not daring to let his guard down for a moment, he turned around and chopped at him with his knife.
A few more stale candies popped out from Xie Zheng's fingers and hit the acupuncture points on the men's elbows, knees, waists and abdomens, slowing down their movements for a beat. Just this one beat was enough for him to snatch their swords and kill them.
After taking care of the two men in black, he placed the knife he had snatched on the neck of the injured man in black.
The man in black was holding his waist, his hands were covered in blood.
The sharp weapon that had just slashed across his waist and abdomen was pointed and long, not like a dagger. It was unknown what kind of weapon it was. At this moment, the bloody blade was pressed against his neck, and he dared not move for a moment.
Xie Zheng was just about to knock the man unconscious and leave him alive to help Fan Changyu.
But suddenly, there was a blazing fire on the street outside the alley. The sound of horse hooves broke the silence of the night. The sound of armor colliding and footsteps as the infantry ran intertwined into a web. The whizzing sound of arrowheads made people feel cold.
The men in black who were chasing Fan Changyu were shot into a sieve by the random arrows.
Xie Zheng frowned slightly, feeling full of doubts.
There was no garrison camp in Qingping County. How did these officers and soldiers appear in a small town under Qingping County so quickly?
Seeing that Fan Changyu was safe, he gave up the idea of chasing him. He clamped his five fingers on the jaw of the man in black, forcing him to spit out the poison sac hidden between his teeth. He pressed down with the blade and asked in a cold voice, "What did Wei Yan send you to look for?"
Seeing that he knew the secrets of the Wei family's assassins so well, the man in black carefully distinguished his voice and asked uncertainly, "Lord Marquis?"
The sharp knife pressed down a little further, and the firelight came in through the broken window frame, refracted through the blade and onto Xie Zheng's face, cutting out a bright arc in the sticky, wet and cold darkness. The corners of his mouth slightly drooped, cold and impatient: "Answer me."
The cold wind blew in snowflakes, which landed on the neck of the man in black. Even colder than the flying snow was the sharp blade that had already cut through the thin layer of skin on the side of his neck.
Fear and oppression flooded over him like a tide. The man in black swallowed hard and begged, "My Lord, please understand the methods of the Prime Minister. Why do you have to embarrass me..."
The next moment, the knife had stabbed into the cut on his waist again. The man in black groaned in extreme pain and curled up.
Xie Zheng lowered his eyes, and his pale, scabby fingers turned the knife handle, almost tearing a mass of flesh from his abdomen. He spoke in a casual and cold tone: "The mouths of the spies in the army are harder than yours. Zhang Su, the vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, watched a military interrogation and almost vomited bile when he left the camp. He also fell seriously ill after returning. Do you want to try the punishment in the army?"
Zhang Su, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, was well-known for his harsh punishments. It was said that anyone who fell under his control would be skinned alive if not killed. Everyone called him the "Living King of Yan".
The man in black couldn't help but scream, his forehead was covered with sweat, all his senses were almost focused on the blood and flesh that was shattered in his abdomen, and he couldn't tell whether it was blood or sweat that soaked his clothes. He didn't ask to live, but only to die quickly. He said exhaustedly: "Letter... The Prime Minister asked us to find a letter..."
Xie Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly: "What letter?"
The man in black just shook his head, collapsed to the ground, and begged, "I really don't know..."
The sword blade slashed across the neck, and the man in black was bleeding all over the ground.
letter?
Xie Zheng frowned. What kind of letter could that woman's family have that could make Wei Yan so fearful?
He looked out the window at the entire street with burning torches. The woman was standing on the roadside, apparently explaining the situation to the officers and soldiers. The old couple probably felt safe, but were still worried about Fan Changyu, so they took the child to the gate of the courtyard to watch.
The officers and soldiers were dragging the bodies of the men in black. A few who were not completely dead bit through the poison sacs very quickly and committed suicide.
The general on horseback shouted: "Find a living person and bring him back!"
Xie Zheng only glanced at the man at first, but when he saw his face clearly, his eyes narrowed.
Zheng Wenchang?
He was a favorite general of He Jingyuan, the governor of Jizhou, who was also a member of the Wei Party.
Was it a flood that washed away the Dragon King Temple tonight, or was it that He Jingyuan was also helping Wei Yan find the letter and had deliberately arranged this incident to intercept him?
But looking at the posture of those men in black, it is clear that they have not found anything. The fact that the officers and soldiers from Shuzhou came at such a coincidence is really intriguing...
Xie Zheng suddenly realized that there might be more hidden behind this inconspicuous butcher family in Lin'an Town than he had imagined.
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The general on horseback was instructing his men to quickly take away the bodies of all the men in black when he suddenly felt a cold gaze falling on him, as if he was being stared at by a wild wolf in the wilderness on a snowy night. His back unconsciously straightened a little.
Zheng Wenchang looked around, but he could no longer see the sight that had sent chills down his spine. He noticed that the windows of the Zhao family's attic were empty, so he asked, "Is there anyone upstairs?"
In order to protect Aunt Zhao and her husband and younger sister, Fan Changyu jumped out of the window to lure out most of the men in black. She had planned to leave without returning, but unexpectedly a group of soldiers suddenly appeared on the street. They said that they had received a report about the bandit problem in Qingping County from the county order yesterday, and a troop was specially dispatched to inspect. At night, scouts discovered the unusual movement, and a group of soldiers came to investigate, and they happened to save her.
When the military officer asked, she thought of Yan Zheng's injuries and wondered if any of the men in black had discovered him. She hurried upstairs and said, "My husband is seriously injured and is still upstairs."
Zheng Wenchang did not order his men to do anything, but dismounted himself, put one hand on the sword at his waist, and followed him up to the attic: "I will go with you to take a look."
When Fan Changyu rushed into the attic with a torch, he saw many dead men in black lying all over the room. Xie Zheng was also lying in a pool of blood, his clothes were torn in several holes, and the upper half of his face was covered in blood, making it almost impossible to see his original facial features.
Fan Changyu had not expected that there were still so many men in black in the house. Seeing Xie Hun covered in blood, he was afraid that he was dead. His heart ached and he rushed over to check his injuries: "Yan Zheng, how are you?"
In panic, he reached out to feel his breath again, and only when he found that he was still alive did he breathe a sigh of relief and shouted outside: "Uncle Zhao, come and check on Yan Zheng!"
Zheng Wenchang walked into the attic with two soldiers and took a look at the dead bodies in the room. His eyes fell on Xie Zheng's half-bloody face. He seemed to be trying to identify something. He frowned and asked, "Did your husband kill all these people?"
The author has something to say:
Xie Zheng: This is the first time in my lifetime that you are pretending to be dead... I will kill you when I return!
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