Chapter 770 The Secret of the Han Family (Second Update)
The Han family.
As night fell, the servants lit candles in Master Han's courtyard, and lanterns were hung up one by one under the eaves.
Master Han was meditating inside the house.
Old Master Han sat in the hall to the side, where Han Lei and Third Master Han were also present.
Han Lei paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back and his brows furrowed.
Han Sanye said helplessly, "Brother, please stop wandering around. You're making my eyes blurry!"
Han Lei said bluntly, "If you don't want to stay here, then go back!"
Third Master Han glanced at the old man who was resting with his hands on his cane and his eyes closed, and muttered to himself, "I would like to go back, but if I don't care about Fifth Brother, won't the old man strangle me?"
After an unknown amount of time, a long, deep breath finally came from Master Han's room.
Han Lei's eyes lit up: "It's the fifth brother!"
Old Master Han slowly opened his aged yet sharp eyes and said in a deep voice, "You two go next door and check on the situation."
"Yes, Father," Han Lei replied.
Han Lei and the carefree Han Sanye went next door.
There was no one else in the room except for Master Han, who was sitting cross-legged, meditating and healing his injuries.
These past few days, not only has Gu Jiao been recovering from her injuries, but Fifth Master Han has also had a brush with death.
Han Lei hurried to the bedside and asked with undisguised concern, "Fifth Brother, how are you feeling?"
Fifth Master Han took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, opened his eyes and said, "Much better."
Han Lei was still a little worried and looked him up and down, saying, "Are you sure there's nothing wrong? Should we call a doctor to come and take a look?"
Master Han said calmly, "My brother knows my condition very well. There's no need to call a doctor; it wouldn't make a difference anyway."
Han Lei was speechless.
That's right, Han Ci's condition was indeed incurable, but it didn't need treatment either; he recovered extremely quickly.
This story begins when Han Ci was poisoned in his youth. At the time, Han Ci was only eleven or twelve years old. He went hunting with his elders and got separated from his family along the way, and was accidentally poisoned.
Several of Han's guards were also poisoned at the time.
When the elders of the clan arrived, all the guards had died from the poison, and only Han Ci had survived by sheer luck.
The elders asked Han Ci what had happened and why he had been poisoned. Han Ci remained silent.
Since then, Han Ci has undergone incredible changes. First, his punches and kicks became faster, and then his internal energy became even more powerful.
The internal strength of martial artists is measured in years, but Han Ci's internal strength increases every month.
He instantly became the most talented boy in the clan.
Logically, such good news should be celebrated with fanfare and spread throughout the world, but just as the Han family was about to do so, they unexpectedly discovered that Han Ci had a strand of white hair on his head.
They had only ever seen stories of young people turning gray, and never imagined it would happen to Han Ci.
Han Ci's sudden emergence of talent came at the cost of overdrawing his lifespan. This strange event occurred after Han Ci was poisoned, and the Han family speculated that it was a side effect of the poison.
The stronger Han Ci's skill became, the faster he aged. In order to save his life, Han Ci had no choice but to give up pursuing a higher level of martial arts.
His path to genius ended there.
Even so, Han Ci still aged faster than normal people.
If Han Ye hadn't gotten into trouble, the Han family would never have let Han Ci take action.
"Fifth Brother..." Third Master Han stared at Han Ci's hair, his eyes wide with surprise.
Han Ci's hair was originally only silver on the surface, but now, the inside is much whiter.
Han Wuye said nonchalantly, "I'm fine, Third Brother."
"Ah." Third Master Han remained silent.
Han Lei voiced his doubts: "Speaking of which, Fifth Brother, how did you end up losing to Xiao Liulang?"
Han Ci paused for a moment, then told the truth: "I was distracted during the fight."
Han Lei was shocked: "Distracted thinking is a major taboo. Fifth Brother, how could you make such a basic mistake during a fight?"
Han Ci remained silent for a long while before saying softly, "That's right, I just remembered someone."
"Is it that person from the Xuanyuan family? Fifth brother, you..." Han Lei didn't finish his sentence. He sighed and said earnestly, "Fifth brother, you should let it go. All these years, my third brother and I have kept things about you from Father, but don't make things difficult for your older brothers."
Han Ci said in a low voice, "Thank you, elder brother and third brother."
Third Master Han waved his hand: "Brothers don't talk about this. It's just that the eldest brother didn't want to keep it a secret anymore. I didn't say anything. I could keep it a secret for a lifetime!"
Han Lei glared fiercely at the prodigal son.
Third Master Han shrank back dejectedly, not daring to say another word.
Han Lei continued looking at Han Ci: "But fifth brother, tell your elder brother the truth, is Xuan Yuan Xiao Liu really dead back then?"
Han Ci looked into his elder brother's scrutinizing eyes and said solemnly, "He's dead. I killed him with my own hands."
Han Lei chuckled awkwardly, "It's not that I suspect you, I just feel that you were too close to him back then. After the Xuanyuan family's incident, you secretly hid him. If the guards hadn't discovered it in time, our Han family would have been accused of harboring a traitor to the court..."
Han Ci said, "Brother Corpse also saw it; he is indeed dead."
Han Lei felt a chill run down his spine from his younger brother's gaze. He smiled and said, "Alright, let's not talk about those unpleasant things anymore. You should focus on recovering. Strictly speaking, this incident wasn't your fault. It was that Xiao Liulang who was too cunning. We'll find an opportunity to get rid of him later. The Black Wind Riders will eventually return to the Han family's hands!"
Han Ci stopped talking about the previous topic and said, "I heard that Qi Xuan is dead."
Mentioning this made Han Lei angry: "I was kept in the dark about Qi Xuan's assassination attempt on Xiao Liulang, which almost caused him a major disaster. It's not a big deal if he dies, but it would be bad if he implicated our Han family."
Han Ci asked, puzzled, "How did he die?"
Han Lei replied, "He died from being pierced through the internal organs by a long sword. None of the Han family guards he brought with him survived either; they all died under the long sword. The coroner deduced that he died at noon that day."
Han Ci recalled, "At noon I was fighting with Daoist Qingfeng... no, that's not right."
"What's wrong?" Han Lei asked, looking at him.
Han Ci frowned: "At noon, Xiao Liulang should have been being chased by Long Aotian. How could Xiao Liulang have escaped unharmed when there was Long Aotian and Qi Xuan involved? Long Aotian is suspicious! He killed Qi Xuan!"
Han Lei exclaimed in surprise, "He's from the Crown Prince's residence! Why did the Crown Prince kill Qi Xuan?!"
Han Ci clenched his fist: "Of course the Crown Prince won't kill Qi Xuan! This Long Aotian is a spy! He deliberately approached the Crown Prince! Brother! Quickly inform the Crown Prince to kill Long Aotian!"
...
The Crown Prince's Residence.
Gu Changqing was playing chess with the Crown Prince in the pavilion.
The Crown Prince had just placed a white piece when Gu Changqing's black piece followed closely behind, instantly cutting off the Crown Prince's path.
The Crown Prince was greatly shocked: "I didn't expect that you were not only good at martial arts, but also so good at chess."
You only learned the basics from your sister; I've had enough of tormenting you.
"Are you alright now?" the crown prince asked with concern.
"It's just a minor injury, nothing serious," Gu Changqing said.
The Crown Prince said regretfully, "I thought that with your help, we could lend a hand to the Han family. Who would have thought that Xiao Liulang would be so lucky!"
Gu Changqing said, "It was my dereliction of duty."
The Crown Prince shook his head: "This is not your fault. Even Han Ci was defeated by Xiao Liulang, so I'm afraid you will also have a hard time getting the better of him. By the way, how is your investigation of this fake Xiao Liulang going?"
Gu Changqing said without changing his expression, "He is very cautious, and I haven't found many useful clues."
The Crown Prince frowned: "I'm afraid only Nangong Li knows who this fake Xiao Liulang really is, but unfortunately Nangong Li is dead."
If he hadn't died, the fact that his sister was Gu Jiao would have been exposed. Good riddance.
Gu Changqing said calmly, "Your Highness, I can assassinate the deposed Crown Princess and the eldest grandson of the Emperor to clear the way for you. Please allow me to atone for my crimes through meritorious service."
The Crown Prince quickly raised his hand to stop him: "No, things are too tense lately. Let's wait until this period has passed before we talk about it."
The two continued playing chess.
Suddenly, a guard walked over hurriedly and whispered a few words to the crown prince.
The crown prince frowned and waved for him to leave.
The Crown Prince then said to Gu Changqing, "I have other matters to attend to. Let's play chess another day."
After saying this, the Crown Prince led his servants to the study.
Gu Changqing then returned to his own courtyard.
Little Nine flapped its wings and landed on his windowsill.
Xiao Jiu remembered the location after being brought by him only once. These past few days, since he couldn't visit Gu Jiao, Xiao Jiu was the one who relayed the information.
He opened the note; it was Xiao Heng's handwriting.
Seeing that Gu Jiao had woken up and was recovering well, he felt relieved.
The note also had two colorful stamps on it, which were obviously stamped by Xiao Jingkong.
The appearance of this whimsical little stamp on Xiao Heng's serious and earnest handwriting makes it easy to imagine the two of them, one big and one small, arguing endlessly with grumpy faces.
Gu Changqing couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Knock knock knock.
There was a heavy, urgent knocking on the door.
Gu Changqing clenched his fist, used his inner strength to turn the note into powder, and threw it out the window before speaking, "Come in."
With a creak, the door was pushed open.
It was the little mute servant from the courtyard who came to bring him dinner.
The little mute servant is only ten years old this year and is still a child. He was rescued by Gu Changqing from the hands of the steward of the Crown Prince's residence by chance and has been following Gu Changqing ever since.
He placed the food box on the table and gestured anxiously to Gu Changqing for a while.
Gu Changqing didn't understand: "I taught you to write, can you write it now?"
The little mute servant grabbed the brush, scratched his head, racked his brains for a long time, and finally wrote two characters with missing strokes on the paper in a crooked manner—危 (danger) and 险 (danger).
Gu Changqing pondered for a moment, then asked the mute servant, "Are you saying the Crown Prince's residence is in danger?"
The little mute servant nodded, anxiously pointed outside the door, and hurriedly ran a few steps.
This time, Gu Changqing understood; the little mute servant was telling him to run away quickly.
Gu Changqing stood up, grabbed the sword on the table, and stormed out the door.
However, just as he stepped across the threshold, a gleaming longsword came straight at him and pierced his chest with a thud!
(End of this chapter)
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