Chapter 97: About Catching the Catch
The female disciple sent by Shi Guanyin to impersonate her was named Qu Wurong. After being captured by Ren Ci and Lu Xiaofeng, she knew that Shi Guanyin was dead. Instead of feeling despondent or showing any fear of the future, she breathed a sigh of relief, as if the sword that had been hanging over her head for many years had disappeared, and she felt relieved.
Then, under Lu Xiaofeng's persuasion, she readily revealed everything she knew.
This was also a girl with a tragic fate. Her original name was Qu Wusi, and her experience was very similar to that of Qiu Lingsu. Although she was a disciple of Shi Guanyin, she was envied by Shi Guanyin because of her unparalleled beauty. Shi Guanyin cruelly destroyed her face, leaving her with a devilish and hideous appearance. From then on, she changed her name to Qu Wurong, and she could no longer face this world.
Even after all that, having survived under Shi Guanyin's rule for so many years, Qu Wurong gritted her teeth and refused to give in. Although she was subservient and had to do things for Shi Guanyin, she still maintained her bottom line. Only with Shi Guanyin's death could the shackles that had plagued her for half her life break, and she could finally begin a life that truly belonged to her.
The moment they saw her face, Ren Ci and Lu Xiaofeng believed most of what she had said. Lu Xiaofeng, unable to bear looking any longer, let out a long sigh and handed Qu Wurong a handkerchief.
The location of the Stone Forest Cave and the rest of Shi Guanyin's forces were completely revealed by Qu Wurong, leaving nothing out. This rendered Shi Guanyin's remaining disciples worthless. After careful consideration, Ren Ci decided to hand them over to Xie Huailing for disposal. However, Xie Huailing promptly passed the buck back to Ren Ci, letting him make the decision, while she would only take Qu Wurong with her.
Yes, Xie Huailing had her eye on Qu Wurong's abilities. In her view, Qu Wurong's temperament, martial arts skills, and intelligence were far beyond outstanding, making her perfectly suited to work for her. She was planning to cultivate another Yang Wuxie herself; if she couldn't poach Su Mengzhen's talent, she'd have to find another way. In short, after meeting her once, Xie Huailing became even more determined and sent Qu Wurong a job application.
Qu Wurong, who longed to live openly under the sunlight, had been waiting for this day for more than ten years, so she readily agreed. Little did she know that her future colleague, Shaman, had already given her a look that was a mixture of sympathy and pity, wishing she could stand on a tall building and hold up a wooden sign that read "Run!"
But I digress. Let's get back to the point. With Qu Wurong around, Shi Guanyin lost her value. She became a favor Xie Huailing bestowed upon Qiu Lingsu, firmly using her own life as a rope to bind the Beggars' Sect and the Golden Wind and Fine Rain Pavilion. Xie Huailing didn't need to guess what Qiu Lingsu, who had hated her for half her life, would think when she saw Shi Guanyin again after so many years. The hatred for disfigurement and the hatred for her seriously injured sister combined, and it wouldn't be surprising what Qiu Lingsu, once known as the "Witch," would do.
Shi Guanyin may die today, or she may live for a while longer; she may be able to leave with dignity, or she may have to repay the debts she once owed tenfold, but what is there to lament about?
One of her sons died before her, and perhaps she would still have the chance to visit his grave. The other son had long used her as a stepping stone to atone for his sins. What she wanted to impose on Qiu Lingsu, after so many years of twists and turns, still ended up being retribution on herself.
Xie Huailing doesn't believe in the cycle of karma, but she would say this to Qiu Lingsu.
She wiped away Qiu Lingsu's tears of relief at her revenge, and under Ye Erniang's watchful gaze, she took Qiu Lingsu's hand and said, "I told you, and you see, you've finally gotten what you were waiting for. You no longer need to hate."
Qiu Lingsu wept silently for a long time.
.
The events of that night were so dramatic that they would take several days to tell a story, keeping everyone on edge all night, except for one person—Hua Manlou.
He was just a listener. After all, he was the only one who slept soundly until dawn after listening to Xie Huailing's words. Lu Xiaofeng, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, spoke sweet words, but he betrayed their friendship the moment he closed his eyes. He knew nothing and could only listen.
Lu Xiaofeng speaks with dramatic intonation, always exaggerating everything. He describes how astonished he was when he saw Qu Wurong disguised as Shi Guanyin, and how powerful Ren Ci's blow was; how terrified he was when he realized Shi Guanyin was an imposter, truly believing Xie Huailing's scheme had been exposed; and how relieved he was when Xie Huailing appeared unharmed at the end, learning that she had manipulated Shi Guanyin.
Hua Manlou listened to the whole thing with a thirst for knowledge in his eyes, then sighed, his words flowing like a gentle stream: "It was truly an extremely dangerous night, and your storytelling skills are becoming more and more profound. However, although Shi Guanyin was poisoned, she was not an easy person to subdue. How did Huailing manage to subdue her?"
Lu Xiaofeng shrugged and replied, "So she didn't tell me." Then he turned to the person who was drinking tea and asked, "I'm asking you a question, speak up."
Xie Huailing swallowed a mouthful of tea, and calmly and casually explained to the two of them, "I didn't subdue him; someone else came from the building."
"Which expert has arrived?"
"Su Mengzhen".
"Oh, so it's Su—Lord Su?!"
The side dish that hadn't even been swallowed was almost spat out by Lu Xiaofeng like a fountain of water. His nickname was Lu the Chicken, and at this moment his voice was no different from that of a crowing rooster. He jumped three feet high in the room, as if he had just sprouted from the ground: "Ah?! He's here? How did he come all the way from Bianjing? Can he leave Bianjing before?"
Xie Huailing complained, "Is he some kind of local deity in Bianjing? Why can't he leave Bianjing? And if there really is a local deity, shouldn't he be surnamed Zhuge?"
"What's your opinion on Zhuge Shenhou? It sounds like you have a really strong opinion... Wait, you still haven't answered me." Lu Xiaofeng slammed his hand on the table and stood up, racking his brains but still unable to come up with an answer. "Why did Master Su come?"
Xie Huailing took another sip of tea and asked him, "Well, just tell me what kind of reason you want to hear, and I'll make it up for you myself right now."
Hua Manlou laughed mercilessly, his eyebrows curving slightly. Considering that this might not be good for Lu Xiaofeng, he turned his face away to cover his eyes, but in the end he gave up on protecting Lu Xiaofeng's dignity and laughed out loud.
Lu Xiaofeng glared at him: "Fine, fine, you're not even going to pretend anymore, are you? You tell me a few first, and I'll see how it goes."
He realized that Xie Huailing wasn't good at explaining things, so he went along with it and started joking.
Xie Huailing tapped her hand on the rim of the cup. Without even thinking, she skipped the part about organizing her thoughts and blurted out a bunch of nonsense: "Let me start with a few, they're simple. If you want to talk about the deep bond between siblings, it's that my cousin couldn't let go of my safety, fearing that I might be injured and worried that others couldn't protect me, so he put aside his official duties and rushed over; if you want to talk about something more pragmatic, it's that I can still do more for the building, and it would be too much of a waste to fall into Shi Guanyin's hands, so he didn't hesitate to come in person."
Hua Manlou asked, "What other styles are there?"
Xie Huailing answered fluently: "There are also conspiracy theory versions, children's literature versions, the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars version, and vulgar, melodramatic short stories from the martial arts world. But I need to think about the last one more."
Hua Manlou was genuinely intrigued. Even setting aside his personality, which could almost be defined by the word "gentle," he was a very tolerant person. Otherwise, how could he have been such a close friend of Lu Xiaofeng for so many years? As soon as he opened his mouth, he pointed to the most important one: "Since you've put it that way, why don't you tell us about the last one as well?"
Whether he was driven by curiosity or simply wanted to tease or challenge her, Xie Huailing didn't care and replied, "Okay." She had read quite a few plays, but this was no challenge. She cleared her throat, opened her lips, and began to recite a passage:
"People say that marriage is unpredictable, and cicadas often lament the passing of willows. There is no end to the sorrow here. It is also often said that good times are hard to find, and beautiful scenery makes one's heart yearn for a beautiful woman. I fear that if I miss the blooming season, all that will remain is sorrow."
"A sickly, resentful wanderer, who would rather die than live in the mortal world, is a man who has mistakenly and unknowingly given his heart to someone he cannot suppress; a beautiful, intelligent woman, like duckweed floating on the water after the rain, is a woman who is cold, weary, and abandoned, accustomed to separation and reunion, her heart as thin as ice. He pities her for falling in love at first sight but unable to express it, fearing that she will be ignored and thus delaying in every way; he remembers that she has been silent and unasked for several days since they parted, yet his heart is filled with longing and he cannot forget her every day..."
The play was genuinely a play, and it was also genuinely vulgar. They actually created a little story about cousins chasing each other, combining stomach-ache-inducing unrequited love with the angst of youth literature, sparing neither herself nor Su Mengzhen, and their personalities were so distorted that it was unbearable to watch.
Hua Manlou asked that one unnecessary question, unsure whether to admire her or say something else. Lu Xiaofeng, who was standing to the side, was speechless and simply started clapping.
Xie Huailing gladly accepted his applause. Coincidentally, at that moment, a thunderclap sounded outside the door. It was as if one of the Beggar Clan elders had just finished visiting Shaman and happened to pass by, so he shouted a greeting.
"Master Su, why are you just standing there and not going in?"
The room fell into a deathly silence, so quiet you could hear your own breathing.
Lu Xiaofeng's chopsticks fell to the ground, and Hua Manlou's smile gradually faded. All the words he had spoken fell to the ground, echoing in his ears—a kind of silent understanding. The entire world pushed them away. What they had just laughed and joked about became something to be forgotten immediately, but how could they forget? Perhaps they would never forget this moment, even after a lifetime.
The quick-witted Lu Xiaofeng, the Lu Xiaofeng who could talk the dead back to life, desperately wanted to say something more, at least to avoid looking so awkwardly suffocating. He forced a smile, trying desperately to find another topic, but to no avail. It was as if he had suddenly become illiterate and speechless.
The heavy, suffocating silence continued. Lu Xiaofeng stared at Xie Huailing, his mouth agape for several breaths before finally skipping over the self-inflicted pain of bringing up the matter and shifting the topic to something else. He managed to utter a sentence from his throat: "...Can you...can you still come out with us tonight? What are you going to say?" He remembered that Xie Huailing hadn't informed Su Mengzhen yet.
“Yes, he can.” Xie Huailing, the one who had made the mistake, was surprisingly the calmest. “Needless to say, his hearing is very good. Even if he turned around and left, he should have heard you now.”
Unable to rise again, Lu Xiaofeng sensed the presence of a fourth person and felt utterly disgraced, his soul completely emptied, losing all courage to see Su Mengzhen or go to Bianjing for the rest of his life.
Xie Huailing remained calm as if he hadn't done anything, fully demonstrating that shamelessness is invincible. He even had a good attitude and could comfort him: "It's okay, he won't hold it against you. If he does, we'll have to bring it up again, and he's easily embarrassed."
As soon as he finished speaking, the elder outside called out again, "Hey, Master Su! Aren't you going in, Master Su? Why did you leave?"
Lu Xiaofeng was even more desperate.
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