Chapter 9 Undercurrent
Li Nuo finally knew where his beautiful handwriting came from.
He looked at the code floating in front of him, as if he could invisibly acquire a skill from the criminal in the code, such as the calligraphy of the female assassin or the stealing skills of the goateed thief, and even use them without his knowledge.
But forget about the calligraphy. What the hell is this skill of stealing things that even the two martial arts masters, Butler Wu and my wife, were unaware of? Even if their true energy is not released, their perception should be much stronger than that of ordinary people.
If he is caught for mindless theft in the future, it will be so unfair to him...
I don't know if this skill is permanent or temporary. From now on, he has to be careful. It would be very embarrassing to be caught stealing in public.
Thinking this in his mind, Li Nuo glanced at the code and found that the number on the cover had been refreshed.
"Name: Li Nuo."
"Lifespan: ten days."
His remaining lifespan has been reduced from eleven days to ten days. Li Nuo doesn't know the exact time now, but he thinks it has passed midnight. It seems that the time on the code is refreshed at midnight every day.
Li Nuo turned off the lights and climbed into bed to sleep.
For him in his previous life, midnight was still early for going to bed, and it was common for him to work all night.
So here he is.
Say no to staying up late, start now.
After a busy day, Li Nuo fell asleep quickly, exhausted both physically and mentally.
At the same time, in another courtyard of the Li Mansion, the lights in a room were still on.
Butler Wu placed a bag of cakes on the table and said with a smile: "Thank God, the young master has become smarter after this collision. He can easily tell the answer to the addition of thousands and thousands. And the way he acted in the county court today was quite similar to the demeanor of the young master. It's a pity that the young master didn't see it..."
A middle-aged man was standing in front of the desk in the room.
The middle-aged man had an upright stature, a dignified and handsome appearance, an angular face, and a look of majesty and wisdom between his eyebrows. The three strands of long beard between his upper lip and chin had clear lines and were trimmed very neatly, adding a bit of calmness and stability to him.
He picked up a piece of cake and put it into his mouth, chewing slowly. There was no expression on his face, and there was a hint of fatigue between his brows. Only when Butler Wu mentioned the young master, a rare tenderness appeared in his eyes.
Butler Wu said, "The young master is really different now. Would you like to go see him, old master?"
The middle-aged man looked towards another dark courtyard, shook his head gently, and said, "He has already gone to bed. There is no need to disturb him. Let him have a good rest."
"The master rarely comes back, and always comes very late, and leaves early. I haven't seen the young master for a long time..." Butler Wu sighed and said, "But the young master has indeed been disturbed a lot today, so it would be better for him to have a good rest."
The middle-aged man asked, "Has the assassin's identity been determined?"
Butler Wu knelt on the ground with a thump, and said self-reproachfully, "She was the daughter of Gu Wenhan, the magistrate of Qinghe County, who was sentenced to death by the master a year ago. It was all because of my negligence that I let her sneak into the mansion, and she almost caused a disaster. Please punish me, master!"
The middle-aged man helped him up and said, "You don't have to blame yourself. There are so many people who want to kill me. Even if I am careful, I will still make mistakes. It's not your fault... It's getting late. Go back and rest."
The old man nodded and reminded, "Master, you should also rest early."
When he reached the door, the middle-aged man suddenly asked, "There should be no shortage of maids in the mansion. Who summoned her into the mansion?"
Butler Wu was stunned for a moment, and said, "A month ago, three maids in the mansion saved enough money to redeem themselves and wanted to leave the mansion. The master once said that he would not make it difficult for the servants to stay or leave, so I gave them the indentures and let them go. After the three maids left, the mansion was short of manpower, so I recruited three more from outside. I didn't expect that the female assassin would be among them. She had no martial arts foundation, and I was not prepared..."
The middle-aged man stroked his long beard and asked, "Are you going to recruit people yourself?"
Butler Wu shook his head and said, "I was accompanying the young master to catch crickets at that time, and asked Wang Ma to pick them out at the cricket shop."
"How long has the maid from Li Mansion been here?"
"Let me think about it... it's like two three-year periods and one four-year period."
The middle-aged man said slowly, "When the maids entered the mansion, they were penniless. They received one tael of silver per month, twelve taels per year. The mansion's expenses were very small. Apart from rouge and powder, they occasionally went out to buy some cakes and candied fruits to satisfy their cravings. They spent almost nothing. If they saved ten taels per year, thirty taels in three years, forty taels in four years, and one hundred taels for their redemption... Have you ever thought about where the money for their redemption came from?"
Butler Wu was stunned, scratched his head, and said, "I really haven't thought about it so much..."
The middle-aged man shook his head and asked, "Where is Aunt Wang?"
Butler Wu said, "She should be asleep now. Speaking of Aunt Wang, it seems like I haven't seen her much today..."
The middle-aged man sighed softly and said, "Ah, Aunt Wang..."
Butler Wu finally realized something. He looked up suddenly and said in shock, "Master means that someone gave the three maids money to redeem themselves in order to cause a shortage of manpower in the mansion, and then took the opportunity to let Wang Ma recruit the assassin to assassinate the young master..."
He suddenly slapped his thigh, then said, "Damn Aunt Wang, I was wondering why she was so attentive that day, it turns out she had planned this all along, what a traitor! I'm going to find her!"
After saying that, he rushed out like the wind.
The middle-aged man stood in front of the table, picked up another piece of cake, and put it into his mouth calmly.
After a while, Butler Wu came back and murmured, "Auntie Wang is gone. That damned thing, she ran away..."
The middle-aged man's expression remained unchanged, and he didn't seem surprised by the result.
He walked slowly, took out three incense sticks from the cabinet beside the desk, lit them with the candlelight, and inserted them into the incense burner. He said with some emotion and regret: "If I remember correctly, Aunt Wang has been at home for ten years, right?"
Butler Wu said angrily: "For ten whole years, I have raised an ungrateful person. It would be better to raise a dog than her!"
The middle-aged man shook his head slightly and said, "In life, many things are beyond our control."
Watching the three incense sticks burning slowly in the incense burner, he bent down and bowed to the incense burner.
Wu Guanjia asked curiously, "Three incense sticks, sir, who are you offering sacrifices to?"
The middle-aged man did not explain, but just said: "It's getting late, go and have a rest."
…
That night.
Outside Chang'an City, somewhere by a river.
The boat rocked slightly, creating ripples on the water that spread out into the distance.
A plump middle-aged woman carried a box into the cabin. A man who had been waiting there for a long time could not help but open the box. The moonlight shone into the box, reflecting golden rays, making his eyes turn golden as well.
The middle-aged woman showed a greedy look on her face and said, "This much money is enough for us to enjoy for the rest of our lives..."
The man said fearfully, "What if your master finds out? If you're caught, you'll be skinned alive..."
Speaking of the master, the middle-aged woman's face turned pale, but she still pretended to be calm and said, "What are you afraid of? As long as we don't get caught by him, we will leave Chang'an tonight, leave Daxia, go to Dachu, go to Daqi, where can he reach his hands... You, what are you doing?"
Before she finished speaking, her voice suddenly became sharp and painful. She lowered her head and looked at the dagger stuck in her heart in disbelief, then raised her head with difficulty and looked at the man opposite her.
The man pressed the hilt of the knife with his palm and pushed the dagger into the middle-aged woman's heart until the blade was completely inserted. Then he grinned and said, "Who wants to spend the rest of your life with you? With so much gold, you can find any beautiful woman. Why bother with an old and ugly woman..."
The middle-aged woman's eyes were wide open, her eyes full of unwillingness, and her hands gradually fell down weakly.
Just as the man hid the wooden box and was about to push the middle-aged woman's body into the water, a voice suddenly sounded in his ears.
"You men are really bad. She risked her life to earn so much gold just to elope with you, but you had the heart to kill her. Are you still a human being..."
"who!"
The man was startled and turned back suddenly, only to find that a slender figure had appeared on the bow of the boat.
The moonlight was dim and he couldn't see the man's face clearly. He only felt that his voice was feminine, but probably not a woman's.
The man's throat moved, and he was about to speak when he suddenly saw a white light, and then he felt dizzy. He saw the moon was up, then down, then on the left, then on the right...
Plop!
It seemed like something fell into the water, and then he knew nothing.
clang!
The slender figure standing at the bow sheathed his sword, looked at the bodies of the two men, and said calmly: "This is quite satisfying. With your abilities, you won't be able to escape. Once you fall into that man's hands, it won't be so easy to die, so you should thank me..."
Then, he stepped over the headless body of the man and the corpse of the woman with her eyes open, walked into the cabin, picked up the blood-stained wooden box with some disgust, tapped his toes, and left the boat, disappearing on the rippling water.
Soon, a raging fire broke out on the boat, engulfing everything...
It was late at night, in a secret room underground in a mansion somewhere in Chang'an.
Two figures were talking in low voices.
"Didn't you say you had succeeded?"
"Yes, we succeeded. I sneaked into Li's mansion and destroyed his heart meridian with my own secret method. I confirmed that he had no breath and pulse. Then I sent a false message to the little maid and asked her to do it that night. By then, no one would suspect us. Even that sissy master would probably think it was us who did it. Then we would leak the news and let Li Xuanjing fight them. We would sit back and watch the tiger, and be the fishermen behind the scenes..."
"But he's still alive."
"It's really a ghost!"
"How are you going to explain this to His Highness? Or are you going to assassinate him again?"
"You go if you want to. After this incident, the Li guy will definitely be on guard. If I go now, wouldn't I be walking into a trap? You know Li Xuanjing's methods. I have to tell you in advance. If you fall into his hands, don't blame me for betraying you..."
"Just pretend I didn't say anything."
“Hiss, I still can’t figure it out. How did that idiot survive? He clearly had no breath or pulse at the time. Could it be that he hadn’t used the secret technique for many years and his hands were rusty…”
(End of this chapter)
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