Chapter 30
Bai Xinrong had been rejected, but that didn't stop her from becoming a regular at the inn in the evenings.
She herself found it absurd that someone she had only met twice was more receptive to her voice than her family, senior classmates, and fellow students she lived with.
When Shen Yu wasn't busy, Bai Xinrong would pester her, telling her about her suspicions and discoveries.
Shen Yu realized that this person was also clueless, but curiosity killed the cat, and she really wanted to hear it.
After all, this is something everyone's talking about on the streets, and hearing news from an insider gives you a secret thrill.
"Don't you have a more precise explanation for the familiarity you mentioned about Qin Yi's death?" Shen Yu finally couldn't help but ask after hearing her give the same ambiguous explanation five times.
"...If I could recognize him, I wouldn't say I just felt familiar with him." Bai Xinrong also felt wronged. She was only half-baked in martial arts, which was enough, but in the world of martial arts where there were many masters, she was really not among them.
"Then... what do you think it's like? Tell me everything."
"How can I say such things without any evidence?"
"...Then why don't you have a go at me?"
Forced into a corner, Shen Yu pulled Bai Xinrong to the backyard. Before it got completely dark, they quickly began training.
Grandma Chen has recently taken a lot of time to spend with Maiya, and when she's not working, she sits side by side with the monkey.
One person picks vegetables, and a monkey eats them.
The two, one human and one monkey, occupied the best viewing spot, and Grandma Chen gradually got used to the fact that her little shopkeeper was an extremely capable young man.
Martial arts and chivalrous figures, which were once completely unrelated to her life, have now become commonplace. Even if the leader of the martial arts alliance stood before her, she would remain unmoved, especially since she genuinely didn't know him.
She watched it with great interest.
Life is so strange now. Before, we were always carrying water and farming. We had never seen such a beautiful young girl practicing martial arts.
Bai Xinrong's technique wasn't particularly refined, but it was one she had meticulously considered in her mind hundreds and thousands of times.
She memorized the state of Qin Yi's death, simulating the angle of wrist strength and the sequence of footwork—
First, they approach head-on, then take a half-step to shift their position, turn around and bend back, concentrating all their strength on the side of their wrist.
Shen Yu began to parry the move, but at first she did not recognize what kind of style it was.
The flow is interspersed with very short pauses, as if borrowing momentum, or as if concealing it.
"Wait a minute." Shen Yu called out, went to the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and handed it to her. "Try it again."
Bai Xinrong had never cooked before, nor had she ever used such a terrible weapon, but at Shen Yu's urging, she still performed it again.
The kitchen knife looked clumsy and heavy in her hands, and she barely managed to recreate it.
"Huh?"
She realized something was wrong halfway through the trial.
When that force reached the wrist, the blade actually slipped slightly.
She looked at Shen Yu, her mind a mess, unable to understand why this was happening.
Shen Yu took the cleaver and traced the same path through the air, tentatively shifting the force to her wrist. The blade cut an almost straight line in the air, lacking the proper curve.
"This person knows how to use an awl, but he is not entirely proficient."
"And then what?"
"This is the habit of using a knife. A person who uses a knife for many years will have developed old habits in their arms and wrists. Even if they change weapons, the movement of the shoulder and arm to generate force and the wrist to follow the shape will have long become instinctive."
Bai Xinrong tried it a few more times on her own.
She wasn't very skilled with a knife, so every move she made seemed clumsy, even her grip on the knife was awkward. But the more she practiced, the more she could feel the accuracy and ease with which Shen Yu had executed that move.
With a single move, Shen Yu almost perfectly restored the vague impression in her mind.
She truly understands.
"Are you really good at kung fu?" she asked without much hope.
"I haven't played against many people."
She received a vague answer, but Bai Xinrong was already convinced that she was a master.
If she can deduce differences from a single exercise, then surely others can as well.
But no one stepped forward.
Or rather, no one was as eager as she was to find out who killed Qin Yi.
A sense of desolation welled up from the bottom of her heart. The kitchen knife slipped from her hand and fell to the ground, startling Maiya so much that she jumped onto her grandmother's back.
Without a word, she turned and ran out.
"What's wrong with this girl?" Grandma Chen asked. She was perfectly fine and hadn't said anything, so why did she suddenly look so sad?
Shen Yu picked up the kitchen knife, wiped the dust off it, and said in a low voice, "She came here with the answer in mind, but she can't keep deceiving herself anymore."
"Oh dear, that...poor thing." Grandma Chen didn't know the whole story, but hearing these words made her feel bad.
It was completely dark when the oil lamps at the street corner went out one by one, plunging the entire alley into darkness.
Shen Yu inspected the inn thoroughly before turning off the lights and went to sleep.
Bai Xinrong never came to the inn again.
Shen Yu deliberately delayed for a while before closing the door, but the figure still did not appear.
However, she didn't bother to inquire.
She didn't know whether this was a matter of the martial arts world or a family matter. Besides, who could she ask? Bai Qing'e?
She showed no unusual behavior on a normal day, but Yao Liuliu slept with her every day, so how could she not know that the person next to her was acting strangely?
"Are you really worried about that young lady?" Yao Liuliu propped her head up and began their bedtime chat.
"Do you think her father really knows what's going on, but he's just keeping quiet about it?"
"How would I know?" For some reason, Yao Liuliu wasn't interested in this matter, probably because it was that person who got involved in the first place.
Shen Yu lay flat on her back, her hands folded over her stomach: "I really can't understand it. They were all brothers who lived together every day. They died, and that's it. But there was only one person who insisted on finding out the truth no matter what."
“You just haven’t seen it yet. There might be many kind and righteous people.” Yao Liuliu had hope for them, but then she thought again, “However, the result we’re seeing now can only be blamed on those in power. If they don’t allow it, what can the people below do?”
"Because of face?"
"Perhaps... they didn't want to cause panic? After all, those who died were all top candidates for the next sect leader. Successors can be cultivated, but if people think they are weak and easy to bully, then we're doomed."
The candle beside the table flickered slightly, and Shen Yu sat up abruptly.
Yao Liuliu was slow to realize it.
The two men crept up and pulled out the daggers that had been hidden under the basin of water.
With a soft creak, the window frame opened, and a dark figure instantly vaulted over the windowsill, landing silently.
"...Yifeng?"
Yao Liuliu was stunned for a moment, then quickly wrapped herself in the blanket and got into bed: "Are you crazy! Sneaking into a girl's room in the middle of the night!"
"...I didn't mean to do anything..."
Yifeng sat down at the table as if he were at home and poured himself a glass of water.
"Why are you here again?" Shen Yu sat back down on the edge of the bed.
"So, you two aren't welcoming me at all?" Yi Feng sneered. "I never left!"
"Your Moonshadow Sect moved?"
“…”
Yi Feng pulled a piece of cloth from his pocket and threw it to Chen Yu in an annoyed manner.
"There's something that's been bothering me for a long time, and I won't rest in peace until I get to the bottom of it."
Shen Yu held the piece of cloth, looking at it from left to right, but couldn't figure it out: "What is this?"
"The Guanzhong Knife Society, on Fan Junwen's clothes."
Why are you tearing his clothes?
"He was guilty and ran into a corner of the wall when he left, and a piece of it was blown off." Yi Feng suddenly slammed his fist on the table in anger. "I've always been upright and honest, and I'd admit to killing anyone. But now someone wants to pin this on me, that's unacceptable!"
Yao Liuliu: "Give me a break, your line of work has absolutely nothing to do with the words 'upright and honest'."
"That's exactly what I meant!" Yi Feng scoffed. "Those two from Zhenyue Hall and Guanzhong Knife Society died mysteriously. They couldn't figure it out on their own, so they secretly tried to make up a story and spread rumors to ruin my reputation. Dream on!"
"...Why are you so angry? How many people have you killed?"
"These are two different things!" Yi Feng, true to his principles, shook his finger in denial. "Besides, because of this mess, Yao Liuliu blamed all the troubles your inn has encountered on me. I can't stand it!"
After saying that, he pointed to Yao Liuliu, who was shrinking back guiltily: "Even though you didn't say it, don't think I don't know."
Shen Yu understood after he finished speaking: "So, you saw the person he was meeting?"
“Of course. I’ve been keeping an eye on these two sects lately. Until the day before yesterday, Bai Qing’e’s daughter caused a huge scene and was locked in her room. Just now, I discovered that Chen Lang from Zhenyue Hall went out under cover of darkness to see this Fan Junwen.”
"Do they...know each other?" Yao Liuliu hugged her knees, having listened attentively, and asked thoughtfully.
"I'm afraid it's more than just knowing each other," Shen Yu said in a deep voice, casually rubbing the finer fabric fragment.
"You guessed right."
Neither of them explicitly stated their meaning, but when their eyes met, they both understood each other's intentions.
"What?" Yao Liuliu's heart itched, and she pounced on him. "Which of them killed someone?"
"Is it possible to kill them all?" Yi Feng asked jokingly, leaning back lazily in his chair and swiping the table with his knuckles.
Yao Liuliu was stunned for a moment before she realized: "Fan Junwen killed the people from Zhenyue Hall, and Chen Lang killed the one from Guanzhong Sword Society!"
She knelt on the bed, then half-stood up: "Rumor has it that although they all died from cone-shaped weapons, the wounds don't seem to be the work of a skilled fighter. This suggests that the killers each used different weapons and disguised them, which is why they can't be traced!"
Shen Yu hesitated, "I don't know anything about the Guanzhong Knife Society, and I don't know what their knife techniques are like."
Yi Feng slammed his cup down: "What's with the formalities at a time like this? Go tell your head constable right now! Clear my name!"
"...Now? What am I supposed to say? That the Moonshadow Sect Master saw this while peeking out from behind a wall?"
"...Skip my part and polish your words." Although Yi Feng was arrogant, he still dared not be too presumptuous now that the leader of the martial arts alliance had arrived in Sanhe Town.
Shen Yu pondered for a moment: "Then let me think about it."
"Hurry up, treat this as a serious matter."
Shen Yu wasn't in such a hurry at first, but Yi Feng pushed her out.
She was more cautious when she went to the government office today, since there were too many people.
But who would have thought that the members of the Six Doors would stay up late at night, burning the midnight oil to gather together?
Shen Yu had no choice but to jump down and land in front of the three of them.
“There are many gentlemen on the roof, but it’s rare to see a lady on the roof who doesn’t take anything.” Xiao Wuhen crossed his arms and looked at Qiu Chiyan.
He had noticed someone on the roof earlier, but he never expected to see this.
"...Why are you here?" Qiu Chiyan walked over, turning his back to block the two people's view.
"Yifeng said he saw Fan Junwen and Chen Lang meeting late at night, so he believed that they were working together to kill for each other."
On her way over, Shen Yu couldn't think of a suitable explanation, so she decided to pass the question on to Qiu Chiyan.
Who is Yifeng?
Shen Yu's voice was neither too loud nor too soft, and the two people behind her could hear it.
Upon hearing the keywords, Xiao Wuhen naturally asked a few more questions.
Qiu Chiyan: "...My informant."
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