Chapter 18: Jade-faced Scholar (Part 2)
At that time, she was not yet of marriageable age. She did not get along well with other students in the academy and was often bullied. Her mother felt sorry for her, so she let her stay at home and invited a teacher to come to her house to teach her.
Hearing that the young master of the Xie family next door was both talented and virtuous, and had passed the imperial examination at a young age, and that the Du and Xie families were old friends with close relations, she specially invited the young master of the Xie family to her house to be her teacher.
This young master of the Xie family was Xie Sui. Xie Sui's teaching was extremely strict, and he would often hit her hands. Thinking of this, it had been buried deep in her memory, and that clear voice echoed in her ears like a nightmare:
"You forgot the poem I taught you yesterday? Stretch out your hand."
"You can't even play such a simple note right? Show me your hand."
"Erzhi, hand."
"Du Erzhi."
“…”
Just listening to it made her palms feel vaguely painful. Du Ruozhi shook her head, throwing away those responses, covered her ears with her hands, and curled up into a ball.
Du Huaizhi felt strange. Even if he didn't like the name, he wouldn't react so strongly. Thinking about how long he would have to get along with this sister in the future, he couldn't make the relationship too awkward. Du Huaizhi gave in, patted her head, and said:
"Zhizhi."
Du Ruozhi raised her head, her eyes regaining their previous brightness, "Sister!"
Seeing his excitement, it seemed as if he was deliberately deceiving her. Du Huaizhi sighed, "How old are you?"
Du Ruozhi blinked and answered honestly, "Almost seventeen."
This naive look made Du Huaizhi swallow back the words "You still have such a childish mentality".
Forget it, just think that she is stupid and don’t bother with her.
That night, the two sisters had a great time talking to each other, although only Du Ruozhi was happy.
In the middle of the night, a man dressed as a servant came to the inn with a lantern, supporting a man who was drunk, flushed, and staggering.
The two men had booked a room in the inn before, and the innkeeper knew them. Seeing that the man was very drunk, the waiter was thin and had a hard time supporting him.
Upon seeing this, the innkeeper rushed forward to help.
After sending the man to his room and settling him down, the servant said gratefully, "Thank you, young man."
The waiter waved his hand generously, "It's okay, it's my duty. I'm on guard tonight and can't leave the lobby alone, so I'll go downstairs first."
"Wait a minute, young man." The servant stopped him. "Excuse me, where is the kitchen? I want to get some hot water for my master to wipe himself."
The waiter pointed the boy in a direction.
The servant thanked him again and took the basin to the kitchen to fetch water. As he was going downstairs, a glimpse of green passed quietly behind him.
After a while, a shrill scream suddenly rang out in the inn.
"ah--!!!"
Then there was the creaking sound of a door opening and the sound of someone running back and forth in the corridor outside the door.
"What's wrong?"
"What happened?"
As soon as a few curious questions came out, they were blocked by a stern scolding.
"The authorities are investigating the case! Everyone, please return to your rooms! Anyone who disobeys will be treated as a suspect!"
Xue Feiheng rushed to the room where the incident happened almost immediately. When he arrived, he found that Tang Lang was already guarding the door, and Xie Sui was questioning him inside.
"Sir! Sir, please help my master!" the servant knelt on the ground, pleading with a mournful face. After fetching water, he saw the man, who had been fine just now, bleeding from his head, as if he had died. He was so frightened that he knocked over the basin. There was still a trace of water on the ground next to him.
Xue Feiheng entered the room and first checked the body. The deceased was a middle-aged man. Judging from his clothes, he looked like a wealthy businessman. As soon as he approached, he smelled a strong smell of alcohol.
The body was intact and his face looked peaceful. The fatal wound was a narrow bloodstain two fingers long that went through his forehead. He had never seen such a wound before and it was not known what kind of weapon had caused it.
"Tell me the whole story first. Who is your master? When did you find out that your master was dead? Where were you before you found out?" Xie Sui asked.
The servant wiped his tears and replied, "My master is a merchant from Hezhou. He came to Shaoping a few days ago to discuss business. My master was in high spirits today and drank with his friends until midnight."
"When I brought my master back to the inn, it was already midnight. There was only one night watchman left in the inn, and he helped me out. Then I went to the kitchen to get some hot water, and when I came back, I found... wow wow wow... I found that my master was dead!"
The servant covered his face and cried bitterly, as if his father had died.
Hearing this, Xie Sui looked at Huang Que who was standing beside him and said, "Bring the night watchman here."
"Yes." Huang Que responded and went out.
Xie Sui called Tang Lang in again and said, "Go and inform the local prefect that the inn has been surrounded. All guests must be carefully checked before they can be released."
Tang Lang: "Yes."
Soon, the inn waiter was brought in.
"Sir..." After hearing that someone died in the inn while he was on guard, the waiter felt as if the sky had fallen on him and his eyes were blank and at a loss.
Xie Sui: "Have you ever seen this person?"
The waiter glanced at the boy next to him, and caught a glimpse of the dead man lying on the bed. He shuddered all over and said, "I have seen... I have seen..." The waiter explained truthfully.
It is true that he had seen the two people at midnight, and his testimony was exactly the same as that given by the merchant's servant.
"After the two of them came back, was there anyone else entering and leaving the room? Did you find anything unusual when you were on guard?" Xie Sui asked again.
"Unusual?" The waiter replied carefully, shaking his head. "I've been guarding the lobby the whole time. After the two of them came back, no one has come in or out, and I haven't heard any unusual noises."
Upon hearing this, Xie Sui's expression darkened slightly, as if he was thinking about something.
Back in the room at midnight, the servant had only been fetching water for a moment when the murderer had quietly sneaked in and killed someone. The wound was so strange. To know what weapon caused it, we'd have to wait for the coroner to perform an autopsy.
Upon hearing about the accident, Xue Feiheng immediately thought of Xi, but after examining the body, he dismissed the idea. Unable to determine who had done this, he wandered around the room, stopping at the window.
The window was tightly closed, with no signs of prying and no marks on the window edge. The room was on the second floor, with the street outside. If the murderer had climbed in and out from here, there would have been no way there would have been no traces at all. The only explanation was that the murderer did not come in from here.
The waiter claimed that no one had entered or left the inn, and the murderer had killed someone so quietly and quickly, leaving no trace. The killer must be quite powerful. The innkeepers were just ordinary people. If the man had been hiding, the waiter might not have been able to detect him. Therefore, the murderer was very likely still hiding in the inn.
Perhaps because she didn't get enough rest outside in the past few days, Du Ruozhi slept well today and slept very soundly. The noise outside didn't wake her up.
Du Huaizhi hadn't fallen asleep yet. When he heard the noise outside, he roughly guessed what had happened, but he didn't intend to go out and meddle in other people's business.
But unfortunately, some things are not up to her to decide.
The locked door was pried open, and in the darkness, a hint of green quietly peeked in.
Du Huaizhi: “…”
Thinking that the murderer might be hiding in the inn, after questioning, Xie Suibian ordered his men to search the inn first.
As if he had thought of something, Xie Sui suddenly focused his attention and looked at the innkeeper, "Do you remember that there is a guest in your inn wearing a green robe?"
The waiter thought for a moment. If it were any other time, he wouldn't pay attention to what the guests were wearing. But it just so happened that he had a memory of the guest in green clothes that Xie Sui mentioned.
It was because the man was extremely outstanding in both temperament and appearance, and he was wearing eye-catching clothes, so it was hard not to pay attention to him.
"The little one remembers."
"Where does he live?"
Xie Sui and Xue Feiheng followed the waiter all the way to the door of the room of the guest in green clothes. The waiter knocked on the door, but no one responded for a long time.
The waiter glanced at Xie Sui and the others, then shouted inside, "Sir, the government officials want to check your room. Please open the door."
Another long while passed, and there was still no response. With such a commotion outside, it was impossible for a normal person to sleep so soundly.
Xie Sui realized something was wrong and kicked the door open. The waiter hurried in and turned on the light.
The dim light came on, and the items in the room were neatly arranged, but no one was there.
Xie Sui turned around and saw the candlelight on in the room where Du Huaizhi was across the corridor, and his heart sank suddenly.
Here, the green-clothed guest they were talking about was sitting on a chair beside the bed, flipping through a book in one hand and playing with a green leaf in the other.
After looking at it for a while, he suddenly frowned and leaned over to ask Du Huaizhi and the others, "How do you pronounce this word?" His fingertips landed on a word on the book certificate.
At this time, Du Huaizhi and Du Ruozhi were sitting on the bed. Du Ruozhi was curled up in Du Huaizhi's arms, with tears on her face.
Du Huaizhi's expression remained normal. He glanced at where he was pointing and replied, "Good."
The man said "Oh" in understanding, "So this is the word 'Shan', 'Shan'." He repeated the word silently, holding the leaf and tracing the way to write the word in the air.
After that, he smiled gently, "You are worthy of being a lady from a noble family. You remain calm in the face of danger and know many words. I should have come to you directly." If I didn't know his true face, I would have been deceived by his gentle appearance.
Du Huaizhi: “…”
Du Ruozhi was so scared that she shrank into Du Huaizhi's arms and said weakly: "Sister..."
Du Huaizhi patted her on the back and said to the man calmly, "You broke into a woman's bedroom late at night just to learn calligraphy?"
When she appeared as "Xi", she often wore a mask. Apart from the pervert and the arrogant one, no one in the Tiandihui knew what she looked like.
The person in front of her was the "Tong" in "Tong Xi Xia" (Tong Xiang), known as the Jade-faced Scholar, and was based in the southwest. She could only say that she knew him, but didn't know much about him.
All I know is that he liked to catch people from the Tiandihui to learn how to read and write, but those people couldn't recognize many words, otherwise they wouldn't have joined the Tiandihui.
He couldn't expand his vocabulary much by talking to those people, and he didn't bother to ask the people of the same level. Anyway, they were not normal people.
The man chuckled at the words and gently turned the green leaf on his fingertips. "What else can I do?" He raised his eyes, his gaze passing over Du Ruozhi's trembling appearance, and his smile deepened. "I have no interest in this kind of weak and powerless rich lady."
He looked at Du Huaizhi again, his smile still gentle, "But you are quite interesting. What's your name?"
Du Huaizhi remained silent. Seeing this, the man narrowed his eyes slightly. A chilling look flashed through his smiling eyes, causing the air pressure in the room to drop suddenly.
Du Ruozhi couldn't bear it at all. She was so scared that tears came to her eyes, but she tried her best to restrain herself from making any sound, and her body trembled slightly.
Du Huaizhi raised his sleeve to cover Du Ruozhi's head, "My name is Du Huaizhi."
The man silently recited the three words, "Du, Huai, Zhi, which ones are they?"
Du Huaizhi patiently demonstrated to him.
After finishing, the man nodded. "So that's what you mean. That's a good name. I'll remember it." He traced his fingers on the scroll a few times. "I don't have a name yet. You know a lot of characters. Why don't you give me one?"
Du Huaizhi: "..." If he knew who he was, he wouldn't think so.
"I think the word 'Shan' is a good word and suits me." Just as he finished speaking, the door was kicked open.
"bump--!"
Amidst the flying wood chips, Xie Sui stood with a knife in his hand. His eyes were cold and fierce. He glanced at Du Ruozhi, who was curled up in Du Huaizhi's arms. Seeing that she was fine, his brows relaxed slightly. He looked at the man and asked coldly, "Who are you?"
The man calmly closed the book. He looked up at Xie Sui with a gentle smile on his face. "This young man broke into my house so late at night. How rude!"
This remark of putting the blame on someone else made Du Huaizhi couldn't help but secretly give a thumbs up, and thousands of words turned into one word: six.
Xie Sui gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, his eyes as cold as ice.
"Why say so much to him? Death befalls you, traitor." As Xue Feiheng spoke, the blade had already arrived.
The green leaves from the man's fingertips shot out and hit Xue Feiheng's sword accurately. This blow forced Xue Feiheng to take several steps back.
"Why are officials always so impetuous?" The man showed a hint of helplessness on his face and put the book in his pocket. "I just wanted to learn a thing or two."
Xue Feiheng's knuckles were numb from the shock, and he was horrified that someone could use green leaves as a weapon. Suddenly, he understood how the wounds on the corpse were caused.
Xie Sui also realized that the man in front of him was the murderer, and immediately ordered: "Come, arrest this man."
The man suddenly flicked his sleeves, sending several green leaves flying out. Xue Feiheng and the other man swung their swords to block, but were still slashed by the fish that slipped through their net.
Several people were forced back by a few sudden green leaves. The man took the opportunity to jump out of the window, and his green figure disappeared without a trace.
After he left, the tense atmosphere in the room eased. Du Ruozhi suddenly collapsed, her face as pale as paper: "Sister..." her voice was filled with tears.
Xie Sui stepped forward quickly, but as he got closer, he saw Du Ruozhi shrinking into Du Huaizhi's arms like a frightened deer. His hand paused in the air, then slowly withdrew, saying to Huang Que who had rushed over, "Send someone to chase them."
He glanced at the two of them again and said, "Have a good rest." Then he didn't disturb them anymore, walked out, and closed the door.
Du Huaizhi comforted him, "He's gone, everything is fine now." He sighed secretly in his heart. This was the only time he had comforted others in his life.
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