Chapter 38 Chapter 38 Li Xuanbai is too arrogant.
The question Nan Qiong Shuang is asked most often these days is, "How did you fall?"
She couldn't explain it either, so she took advantage of the time when no one was around to use telepathy to secretly ask Mist Blade.
Wu Dao: "I really don't know. When you suddenly jumped down, I thought you did it on purpose. You didn't?"
Nan Qiong Shuang: ...
Nan Qiong Shuang: "Is it related to Li Xuanbai?"
Wu Dao: "No. He was catching fish. Very fat fish." As he said that, he swallowed.
Nan Qiong Shuang: ...
Nan Qiong Shuang: "Was there anyone next to me at that time?"
Wu Dao: "No. I really thought you jumped down on your own accord."
Nan Qiong Shuang: ...
Nan Qiong Shuang: "Since you thought I went down on purpose, why didn't you come down with me?"
Wu Dao chuckled for a while. "Secret Chamber, where can you run to? Either come up or die there. I'll wait for you at the door. If you can't get out, we'll die together."
Nan Qiongshuang curled the corners of her mouth.
really.
She suddenly felt something strange: "It wasn't you who pushed me down, was it?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Dao laughed strangely for a moment, then said sinisterly, "You're right."
fart.
She knew Wu Dao. If he wanted to kill her, he wouldn't be so leisurely chatting with her. He didn't waste words.
If it wasn't Wu Dao, nor was it Li Xuanbai, and there was no one around, then what pushed her down?
She couldn't explain it.
Since even she herself couldn't explain it clearly, the matter became even more suspicious in the eyes of Huide and Song Yaojie.
After she was rescued from the underground palace, she recuperated for a few days.
One day, Li Xuanbai seemed to think that her injury had healed, so he came to Muxueyuan to look for her again.
Gu Zhi was not there that day, and Asong, as usual, was unable to stop this arrogant ancestor. She was pulled out from behind Asong by Li Xuanbai. After chatting for a few words, suddenly a strange face stood beside them respectfully and saluted.
"Brother Xuanbai, Miss Chu, Elder Huide invites you to come to Bodhi Pavilion to speak."
Li Xuanbai glanced at her, pushed her behind him, and said, "Master is looking for her?"
Qing Deng lowered her head, her face a bit like a bodhisattva, and she said respectfully, "Yes."
*
After entering the Bodhi Pavilion, not only Huide sat in the upper seat, but Song Yaojie also sat beside him.
Nan Qiongshuang knew at a glance that today was a Hongmen Banquet.
Huide sat on the Arhat bed with a bead curtain hanging down, looking intently at a Buddhist scripture on the table through the round and crystal clear beads.
Beside her, Song Yaojie lowered her eyes and scraped the tea foam in circles with the lid of the teacup, her expression unclear.
The two men pushed aside the beaded curtain and walked in. The servants who were serving them all bowed their heads and left at the same time. Suddenly, there were only four people left in the room.
The incense burns quietly, curling in the air peacefully.
Nan Qiongshuang glanced at Li Xuanbai anxiously and stood behind him.
It's so quiet, no one is talking.
The more silent I was, the more uncomfortable I felt.
Li Xuanbai saw her hiding behind him, and understood, and said, "Master. Senior Sister."
Upon hearing this, Song Yaojie raised her eyelids and glanced at Huide's expression.
Huide was still reading the Buddhist scriptures without looking up.
She understood what he meant, so she spoke, "Master summoned you two today to inquire about the incident that happened when Miss Chu fell into the Hidden Dragon Pond. May I ask, Miss Chu, what exactly happened that day?"
When asked this question, she got a headache: "...I don't know. That day, Master Li told me that the well could reveal where people go after death, so I went to take a look. Unexpectedly, something pushed me from behind, and then..."
"What is it?" Song Yaojie's eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. "Xuanbai, did you see it?"
Li Xuanbai's eyelashes drooped for a moment, he adjusted the pigeon blood red earring, raised his eyes and smiled, "Of course."
Nan Qiong Shuang's expression remained unchanged, she just pricked up her ears and listened.
Huide looked over leisurely, and Song Yaojie asked anxiously, "Who is it?"
"I didn't see clearly." He smiled carelessly and gestured at his head and body. "He was wearing the clothes of a mountain disciple, but he wasn't an inner disciple of any elder. I didn't see his face clearly, just for a moment."
Song Yaojie asked doubtfully, "Was it really the disciples on the mountain who pushed it?"
Li Xuanbai spread his hands and said, "It's hard to say. It's also possible that he sneaked up the mountain and pretended to be one of us."
Nan Qiong Shuang lowered her head with a submissive look, staring at a diamond-shaped brick on the ground, but she felt a little smile in her heart.
Li Xuanbai's brain is much more active than Asong's.
"No one pushed it," this is what Wu Dao said, and it can't be wrong.
But if she honestly said "no one pushed her," then Song Yaojie could insist she had jumped into the well on her own, plotting to get the Star Pavilion key. Even if Li Xuanbai tried to defend her, saying she had fallen into the water accidentally, the responsibility still lay with her.
But if you say that he was pushed by someone, then the matter is different.
Besides, it was so ambiguous. I saw it, but I didn't see it clearly; maybe it was someone from the mountain, maybe not. Who can convict her?
Song Yaojie and Huide exchanged glances silently.
Huide nodded and spoke slowly: "But the girl is just an outsider, why are you pushing her?"
She lowered her head and said nothing.
She couldn't answer this question. Was she saying that Master Gu favored her, repeatedly breaking his vows for her, and thus causing the jealousy of the people in the mountain?
Li Xuanbai in front of him smiled and said, "Then you have to ask that person, ask her?" He shrugged and said, "If you really want to know, you have to find that person."
Song Yaojie turned around and glanced at Huide's expression as he sat in the upper seat.
Huide's gaze lingered on Li Xuanbai's calm face for a moment, then turned back to look at her.
At that glance, Nan Qiong Shuang felt as if someone had seen through her entire body, and goosebumps broke out all over her body.
People who are nearly seventy years old are smart no matter how dumb they are.
Although Li Xuanbai had blocked almost all the probing and questioning for her, that one look, though understated, was filled with 100% suspicion.
Even... more than just suspicion.
——That means he has already determined in his heart that her identity is questionable.
——Although, so far she has hardly any major flaws.
Huide said, "Okay. Let's investigate this matter first. I'm afraid the mountain's access control system needs a thorough check. Last time, Yao Jie, that maidservant... died in strange circumstances. Perhaps the access control system should have been thoroughly checked long ago."
Li Xuanbai nodded and said, "That's right. Only by tightening the security can the Tianshan School's pearl-controlling method be safe."
Nan Qiongshuang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Having said that, there was probably nothing more to discuss.
But Huide, sitting at the head of the table, looked down at him, but nonchalantly, and slowly turned a page of the book, and continued:
"What's going on with those carp in Hualong Pond? A disciple reported that someone started a fire near the pond. Xuanbai?"
Li Xuanbai's figure standing in front of her paused.
Nan Qiong Shuang finally understood this question.
A matter that could be big or small, but they chose to make it a big deal. Huide and Song Yaojie weren't trying to punish Li Xuanbai today; they were trying to punish her.
Li Xuanbai never took this matter to heart, not to mention he already had a criminal record, so he laughed and said, "I love eating fish."
Song Yaojie laughed angrily and some tea spilled out.
"The fish in the Hualong Pond are edible? They are all spiritual creatures that will transform into dragons soon. You have a stomach in your head and you refuse to change despite repeated warnings. How many times have I punished you?"
Li Xuanbai bowed calmly and said, "Master is right. I will go down and accept the punishment now." He took a step and prepared to leave.
Huide leaned on the table, slowly turning the pages of the book, "Three Days in the Water Prison."
Li Xuanbai paused, "Water Prison?"
It’s not like he had not been punished before for eating fish from the Lingtan Pond, but before that, at most he had only been punished by sitting under a cliff and reflecting on his mistakes for a few days.
Huide, still looking at the scriptures, said, "Miss Chu, you will be punished together. Let's go together."
Nan Qiong Shuang smiled inwardly, but her true intentions were finally revealed.
Li Xuanbai said anxiously, "Master, I was the only one who caught and killed the fish that day. I was catching fish when she fell into the well. What did she have to do with it?"
Nan Qiongshuang didn't bother to waste time talking. If he wanted to punish her, he would punish her. He could always find a pretext to accuse her of a crime. She grabbed his sleeve and tried to retreat.
Li Xuanbai glanced at her anxiously, thinking she was so calm only because she didn't know what the Water Prison was. He continued, "The Water Prison is bone-chillingly cold. It's a pool formed by the underground river in the cave, and it houses over a hundred water snakes. Three days?! I can handle it, but how can she survive it?"
Huide shook his head and sighed, "I also pity Miss Chu's frailty. What a pity—the mountain rules are like this."
"Mountain rules?" Li Xuanbai was truly annoyed by such blatant targeting. He sneered, "I'd like to ask Master, which mountain rule would punish someone who just watched someone catch fish? Could it be that everyone who saw it is also subject to punishment?"
"Li Xuanbai!" Song Yaojie shouted.
Li Xuanbai wasn't as good-tempered as Gu Zhi. The more he was scolded, the more he refused to bow his head. So he smiled and said, "Sister, what's wrong? You seem to be behaving yourself more these days. Isn't it time to indulge your maidservant in assassinating the Young Master's guest?"
Song Yaojie was furious, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as she pointed her index finger at his nose, "You're being unreasonable! You're slandering me! If you have even a shred of evidence, I'll be punished along with both of you today!"
"Evidence?" Li Xuanbai laughed coldly. "If you want to prove Senior Sister's innocence, the only evidence is a suicide note found in her own yard. I don't know who wrote it, when, and where!"
Song Yaojie threw the teacup in her hand to the ground, scattering broken pieces of porcelain everywhere. "What?! That case file was already reviewed by Gu Huaijin and approved by Master. What? Master acknowledged it, but you don't?! Li Xuanbai, who do you think you are?"
"I don't know who I am," Li Xuanbai laughed. "I just want to know which mountain rule I've broken by just watching people catch fish."
Song Yaojie frowned and ordered, "Qi Zhu, bring the complete volume of the Mountain Code and let him take a good look at it."
"Don't look at me, it's useless. Do you really think I'm as good-tempered as Gu Zhi?"
Li Xuanbai hugged his shoulders, and the thin golden sunlight shone through the window screen, making him look even more lawless and domineering, like a sharp sword.
Point your hand to the ground.
"I'm going to leave this out today."
"Chu Jiaojiao cannot be punished."
"I'll find whoever punishes me."
"If the mountain rules don't allow it?"
Chuckling:
"Then—change the mountain rules."
Song Yaojie suddenly jumped up from the stool and flicked the bead curtain with force:
"You are talking nonsense and have no respect for the law! Someone, take Li Xuanbai away and whip him in front of the hall!"
Li Xuanbai smiled, and with a "ding" sound, the sword was unsheathed.
Huide sighed deeply behind the pearl curtain.
After hearing this sigh, Song Yaojie stopped talking immediately, turned around and took a look. Knowing that she had lost her composure, she stood there thinking for a long time. Finally, she bit her lip tightly, endured the trembling all over her body, her eyes bloodshot, and glared at Li Xuanbai with hatred before returning behind the curtain.
Huide said, "You are too arrogant, boy."
Li Xuanbai raised his eyebrows, refusing to retreat even a little. He reluctantly put the sword back into the scabbard, "Master, just say yes or no."
Nan Qiong Shuang did think that Li Xuanbai was not someone to be trifled with, but she did not expect that a spy would be so reckless. Wasn't he afraid of causing real trouble?
The emperor is not anxious, but the eunuch is. Li Xuanbai is not afraid, but she is.
So he stepped forward and grabbed Li Xuanbai's arm, trying to persuade him to speak less.
Suddenly, another person lifted the bead curtain in front of the door and walked in. His voice was steady and gentle, as if no matter how chaotic it was, the situation would be stable as long as he was there.
"Uncle Master."
The fallen petals stain my clothes, which are broad, elegant and graceful.
It was actually Gu Zhi.
After entering the door, he looked at her, his eyes first falling on her hand holding Li Xuanbai's arm, and stayed there silently for a moment.
She turned away again, looking at the furious Song Yaojie, and said gently, "I heard that Junior Brother came to Bodhi Pavilion to talk, and Senior Sister was so angry that she threw the teacup. What happened?"
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