Chapter 3: Late (Revised) "You are late, Dawn."...
"You're late, Dawn."
The old man wearing a pig-head mask spoke in a tired voice, his drooping eye folds obscured his cloudy eyes, and his tone was so flat that it seemed as if he was just chatting about ordinary family matters.
"I'm not as idle as you. I'm very busy." A crisp metal collision sound was heard. Wen Ying took out the dagger in her arms and threw it on the table. She pulled out a chair and sat down directly. "This dagger is a personal item of the target of the commission. Please check it."
"It shouldn't be long before you receive news of their death."
The old man raised his hand and picked up the dagger. The patterns carved on the scabbard were intricate and exquisite. Its decorative function was more prominent than its functional use.
He stroked the bumps and grooves on the scabbard with extremely slow movements, as if he wanted to see the passage of time on this dagger.
After a while, the old man laughed, and his laughter sounded like sparks from burning wood: "Evil has its consequences, and he is finally dead. Now, I can comfort the spirits of Master Wen and Madam Wen in heaven."
Wen Ying's expression suddenly changed, but her tone remained calm: "I don't have much time. I've already given you what you wanted. What about what I want?"
The old man laughed so hard that he coughed repeatedly. It took him a long time to catch his breath and he looked up at Wen Ying. The funny pig head mask and the old eyes showed a strange sense of harmony: "What do you want to know?"
"Don't play dumb with me, old man." Wen Ying's brows were knitted together, and her fingers kept tapping the table impatiently. "Don't tell me you don't know about the news of the late General of the Cavalry."
The old man leaned back, looked up at the ceiling of the hotel, and uttered four words lightly: "I don't know."
Wen Ying's figure was as fast as lightning. She stepped onto the tabletop and crossed it to grab the old man's neck. She used her strength and looked at him like a knife: "Are you kidding me? Where did you get your jade pendant?"
The old man's face turned red from being pinched, but he still managed to squeeze out a sentence: "I. Don't. Know."
Wen Ying laughed in anger and threw him to the ground. She looked at the old man retching and coughing uncontrollably and said in a bone-chilling voice, "Are you crazy? You should know the consequences of going against Dawn."
The old man panted rapidly, but he could not hide his smile in his intermittent words: "I don't have much time left. Telling the news about Master Wen to an assassin whose background is unknown to me? I would rather die."
Hearing this, Wen Ying stood there in a daze.
She chewed on this sentence and couldn't help asking, "Who are you?"
The old man did not answer, but just fell to the ground, gasping for breath, staring straight into Wen Ying's exposed eyes.
Wen Ying pulled out a short knife from her sleeve, took a few steps forward, squatted down, looked the old man in the eye, and asked again: "Who are you?"
The old man still kept silent and just looked at Wen Ying calmly.
His eyes were full of calmness.
A cold light flashed, and Wen Ying raised her hand to cut the string connecting the pig head mask. The mask then slipped off, revealing a white beard and eyebrows behind it. It was extremely ordinary, but it made Wen Ying stunned.
Wen Ying's mouth slightly opened, her eyes full of disbelief, and even her tone of voice became distorted:
"Uncle Liu?!"
The old man's originally scattered eyes suddenly focused, and he propped himself up and sat up, his voice trembling: "You, you are..."
There was only one person in the world with his name, but he didn't dare to confirm it.
Wen Ying's eyes were complicated. She raised her hand and took off her mask, revealing a face that Uncle Liu was very familiar with.
"Miss!"
Uncle Liu hurriedly stood up from the ground and wanted to help Wen Ying sit down, but when he stretched out his hand, he saw the filth between his fingernails and retracted his hand, at a loss for a moment.
Wen Ying was amused by his appearance and couldn't help laughing, but tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.
Uncle Liu is the housekeeper of the Wen family. He has been working in the family since Wen Ying could remember. He is like a family member to her.
Every time she was scolded by her mother, she would secretly run to Uncle Liu's house out of anger and sleep in the same bed with Uncle Liu's daughter. When her mother came to the house the next day, the Liu couple helped to persuade them and the mother and daughter would reconcile as before.
She still remembered that Mrs. Liu was a plump and kind woman, and that the Liu family's daughter was a few years older than her and was raised with love and was lively and cheerful.
"Is Sister Liu okay?" Wen Ying wiped the tears from her eyes and asked casually, "Sister Liu should get married, right? Which family has she chosen?"
Uncle Liu's body stiffened. He rubbed the black mud on his fingertips and lowered his head without saying a word.
Wen Ying realized something, her heart sank, and after a moment of silence, she asked softly, "Because of the troubled times?"
"Because of the troubled times."
Uncle Liu let out a long sigh.
The atmosphere fell silent.
The border has been in turmoil, and because of Wen Jian's death in battle, the enemy in the north is getting more and more restless. In such a situation, everyone is helpless and insecure.
Wen Ying broke the stagnant air and asked, "Uncle Liu, how did you escape?"
She had martial arts skills to rely on, so she could find a way out in the swordplay. But at that time, she was not well-trained, so she could not take everyone away, and she only had time to save Chuntao, who was closest to her.
This has also been the nightmare that has kept her awake at night in the past few years. Sometimes when she closes her eyes, she can hear the wailing and questioning of those she could not save.
Uncle Liu is just an ordinary man. How can he escape from the swords and axes of the bandits?
At this point, Uncle Liu hesitated and said, "Actually, we don't know either."
Uncle Liu recounted his experiences over the past three years.
At the beginning, they also felt that they were doomed to die.
But for some reason, the bandits only took him and other servants in the mansion back to the camp in the mountains.
After they spent a day trembling in a house in the village, no one came to take care of them. Some of the brave ones tried to push the door, but found that it was not locked.
Then they escaped.
Ever since the news of the confiscation of property and exile came out, Wen Ying returned all the servants' indentures to them, and those who wanted to leave the Wen family had already gone their separate ways.
Therefore, those who were able to go into exile with Wen Ying were all people who were loyal to the Wen family.
Over the years, they have never given up looking for Wen Ying's whereabouts.
While he was on the move, Uncle Liu's wife and daughter died of illness one after another, leaving him alone.
He knew that he didn't have much time left, so he thought that before he died, he should at least take his master's enemies with him.
Therefore, he used the jade pendant that Master Wen had given him in his early years as a token of trust and entrusted it to "Liming", who did not accept gold or silver.
The master of the Du family who was commissioned to be killed by "Dawn" was a junior whom Wen Jian had promoted in his early years. However, as soon as he received the news of the Wen family's downfall, he immediately added insult to injury, which made him hate him ever since.
"Back then, I could have brought more valuables with me to make life easier for everyone, but I was stopped by that bastard Du San, who even said something like, 'You are a guilty subject, so don't have any evil thoughts.' Bah! Without Master Wen, who would respect Du San?"
When it comes to Master Du, Uncle Liu's emotions instantly rise: "He also relies on his status as a new noble to bully people in the capital, forcibly abducting women, taking bribes, and committing all kinds of evil. He is dead several times over."
Listening to Uncle Liu's indignation, Wen Ying began to think about another question: According to Uncle Liu, the bandits did not seem to have any intention of harming them, and even intended to let them go.
Someone is helping the Wen family.
But who is that?
ยท
Yan Jing stood in front of the bronze mirror, carefully adjusting his collar and cuffs.
The robe is light in texture, with delicate cloud patterns hidden on the surface, which seem to flutter in the wind as the light changes.
Yan Jing stroked the collar of his clothes with his slender fingertips, and looked in the mirror. The figure in front of him was a little more lively than his usual calm and reserved appearance.
Another person's color.
Liu Qing is completely different from him, and their color preferences are very different.
She liked delicate and light colors, even her eyes were light amber, and sometimes when she looked at him, her eyes were filled with overflowing luster.
"Amber..." Yan Jing suddenly woke up and walked quickly towards the door.
When he looked up from downstairs just now, the girl's face was half covered by the railing, but her eyes could still be seen.
At that time, her eyes were light brown.
The person who begged him to change into clothes of the same color was not Liu Qing.
"Master Yan?" The waiter waiting outside the door was confused when he saw the man's gloomy face.
Before he could ask, Yan Jing had already quickly walked to the other side of the corridor.
Over there is the women's locker room.
The guy was shocked and followed quickly.
"Sir, it's against the rules to go over there! Sir!" the man shouted as he chased after the man, but he could not catch up with him.
This man looks thin, how could he walk so fast?
Yin Yue, who was guarding the door of the locker room, looked at the man walking quickly, tilted her head blankly, and called softly: "Master Yan, is there anything I can do for you?"
Yan Jing was so overwhelmed by his emotions that he only regained some of his sanity when he stood in front of the door of the women's locker room.
He gently closed his eyes, took a long breath, and knocked on the door twice: "Miss Liu, are you changed?"
No one responded.
Yan Jing's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot, and he knocked on the door again: "Miss Liu, is there something wrong?"
Still no one spoke behind the door.
Yin Yue looked at the man's behavior, wanting to say something but stopping herself, and looked at the waiter next to her in surprise.
Yan Jing knocked on the door a few more times, and finally lost his patience and pushed open the door of the locker room.
Yin Yue was shocked and made a sharp explosion: "Master Yan, what are you doing?!"
Yan Jing ignored Yin Yue's scream, quickly glanced around the room, then turned his gaze to Yin Yue, his voice as if covered with frost:
"Where are the people?"
"Isn't the person right here..." Yin Yue was confused by the question, she turned sideways to look inside the house, and her voice suddenly stopped.
The house was empty.
Yan Jing didn't hesitate for a moment and turned around and walked down the stairs.
Yin Yue and his men reacted quickly and chased after him.
They are in trouble.
The shopkeeper downstairs heard the noise upstairs, but he just regarded it as a lover's habit, pretended to be deaf and dumb and did not stop it.
It was not until Yan Jing came down from upstairs with a sullen face and a menacing look on his face that he realized something was not right.
"Has anyone come out?" Yan Jing asked the coachman guarding the door.
He brought out four secret guards and surrounded the entire clothing store. Theoretically, Liu Qing should have no way to escape.
But the driver shook his head slightly.
Yan Jing's mood sank to the bottom. He took a deep breath and was about to give instructions. Suddenly, a doubtful voice sounded from behind him:
"Lord Yan?"
Yan Jing's eyes narrowed and he slowly turned around.
I met a pair of smiling amber eyes.
Liu Qing put his hands behind his back and said with a smile: "Are you looking for me, sir, because you are worried that I might be missing?"
Yan Jing's expression was obscure. His eyes stayed on Liu Qing for a moment. His voice was soft, like an embroidered cloud floating on his robe: "Where have you been?"
The coachman standing by shuddered. Every time his master spoke in this tone, it meant something bad was going to happen.
"I..." Liu Qing didn't hear the undercurrent in his tone, and lowered his head shyly, "I went to buy you a gift. I went secretly to give you a surprise."
After saying that, he took out an extremely gorgeous wooden box from behind, unlocked it, and a jade pendant lay quietly on the velvet lining.
The willow trees in the pond are exquisite and are a rare and top-quality jade carving.
But Yan Jing never looked at the jade pendant, and kept looking at the girl who was lowering her head.
Liu Qing didn't get an answer for a long time, raised his eyes to look at Yan Jing, and asked carefully: "Do you like it?"
Don't like it? No way, the male protagonists in the romance novels can't resist the surprise of the girls.
After a long while, Yan Jing curled his lips and curved his eyes, revealing his usual gentle smile:
"I like it. I like it very much."
Within a few breaths, he was able to change his appearance and identity, come and go freely in the encirclement, and even had the leisure to bring him a jade pendant when he returned.
She has such ability, but she only comes here to get close to him.
What is the purpose?
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