Chapter 45 The Wind Comes (To be continued) The Missing Person
Xun Shu eventually left with Li Xuanhe, not because she believed he was kind, but because she knew in her heart that if Li Xuanhe really wanted to forcibly take her away and lock her up, she would have no ability to resist.
There are so many people outside, she can't escape nor fight, so it's better for her to be a wise man and suffer less.
Naturally, they couldn't return to the coffin shop. Li Xuanhe took Xun Shu to the official inn and put her up in a second-floor guest room. Looking at the comfortable, tidy room before her, Xun Shu felt like she was standing on a deserted island, surrounded by surging waves. She felt lost and helpless, and the grimy bed beneath her bed was more reassuring.
Just when he was at a loss, there was a knock on the door. Xun Shu was startled and approached the door cautiously without saying a word.
"Ah Shu, it's me. I'm here to bring you some clothes."
It was Li Xuanhe's voice.
Xun Shu opened the door a narrow crack and saw Li Xuanhe outside holding a piece of clothing. She reached out and pulled the clothing into the room, saying softly, "Thank you."
Li Xuanhe sighed, a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Ah Shu, there's no need to be so polite between you and me."
"Of course I do." Xun Shu insisted, "You're the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple, and I'm a clerk in the coffin shop. You're an official, and I'm a commoner. This is how it should be."
"It's true that I'm the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple, but I'm also a young clerk in a coffin shop! I studied coffin making seriously with Uncle Jiang..." Li Xuanhe didn't dare to argue loudly and could only mumble his defense. At the end, fearing Xun Shu's rebuttal, he added, "The shop will bring hot water soon. Ah Shu, don't be afraid. After you take a bath, you should rest well. This official post is full of people from the Dali Temple. I live next door. If anything happens, I'll be able to hear you. You won't be in any danger."
Li Xuanhe closed the door for her and left. Xun Shu stood in front of the door, silently listening to the footsteps gradually fade away, without moving for a long time. When the door closed, she lowered her eyelashes and looked at the exquisite clothes in her hands, sighing softly.
That night, Xun Shu slept restlessly again, waking up almost at dawn. She stuffed all her things into her small bag, packed up, and tiptoed out of the room.
There was no one outside the door, so Xun Shu walked to the railing and looked down at the entire inn.
It was still early, and the candles in the corner of the lobby were still burning. The window paper was a misty gray, faintly reflecting the sunlight. A clerk dozed behind the counter at the entrance, and two guards stood guard at the first-floor staircase. They heard a noise, looked up, and when they saw Xun Shu, they calmly looked away, as if they hadn't seen anything.
The wooden stairs were very old and creaked slightly when stepped on. Xun Shu carefully went down the stairs holding the handrail, trying to make his steps as light as possible, but he still woke up the sleeping waiter.
The waiter rubbed his eyes, walked forward, and greeted vaguely: "What do you need, sir?"
Xun Shu waved his hand: "You go and rest, I have to go out for a while."
The waiter didn't ask any more questions and went to move the door panel that was blocking Xun Shu. Xun Shu turned around and looked at the two guards standing there and said, "I want to go back to the coffin shop, is that okay?"
The two guards looked at each other, and one of them smiled and said, "Miss Xun, you are not a prisoner. You can go wherever you want."
Xun Shu was stunned. She hadn't expected Li Xuanhe to actually not lock her up. Just as she was about to say something, another person spoke up, "Miss, Chaozhou City is not peaceful right now. There may still be thieves hiding in the shadows. Please allow me to go with you and protect your safety."
...Well, it’s still a disguised form of house arrest.
Xun Shu knew that what they said made sense, so he stopped talking and turned to walk out the door.
Dawn was breaking, the darkness blending with the morning light. Everything was shrouded in a thin gray, a cold and solemn atmosphere. Although it was a scorching summer, it was still a bit chilly. Xun Shu wrapped himself tightly in his clothes and walked forward in the dawn. By the time he reached the coffin shop, the sky was already bright white. The sun slowly rose between the mountains on the horizon, and the morning glow dyed half the sky.
There were people guarding the door of the coffin shop. They were all familiar faces. When they saw Xun Shu, they didn't ask much questions. They opened the door and welcomed her in.
The coffin shop still looks the same as before.
Yesterday she was in a panic and did not stay long, so she did not look carefully. Today she seized the opportunity and started to check carefully from the coffin shop in the front yard, from big things like whether the layout of the room had been changed to small things like whether the things in the cabinet had been turned over, and she did not miss any details.
He didn't notice it yesterday, but after entering her room today, Xun Shu immediately realized that things in the room seemed to have been turned over.
Back then, she had been driven down the mountain by her master, leaving nothing behind except a few personal belongings. Now, those belongings were in her small bag, following her everywhere she went, save for a useless mirror that Jiang Zheng had taken to his room. He must have found nothing in her room related to the Si Tian Pavilion, and so he was certain the mirror belonged to Jiang Zheng, the man connected to the Si Tian Pavilion.
Xun Shu went to the room where Li Xuanhe was staying temporarily.
Li Xuanhe's residence was the cleanest, with no clutter and no signs of having been disturbed.
The man only searched her and Jiang Zheng's rooms. He must have known that Li Xuanhe had only arrived half a year ago and confirmed that he had nothing to do with Sitian Pavilion, so he didn't waste time.
Xun Shu walked out of the room and sat on the stone steps by the door. She took out the coin and tossed it again. It was still Kan, the water hexagram. She then took out the copper plate and held it in her palm, staring at the blackened scale on the plate. She didn't know where to start, and could only sigh.
"But what did you see?"
Xun Shu raised his head and saw Li Xuanhe, who had arrived at some point and was standing under the tree.
Today he was wearing a dark crimson official uniform, with a white jade ornament and a sachet embroidered with gold thread hanging around his waist. He was tall and graceful with an extraordinary bearing, and there was no trace of "He Xuan" in his appearance.
Li Xuanhe and He Xuan have never been the same person, so how can they be confused?
Xun Shu felt depressed, lowered his eyelashes, and said slowly: "I don't know when Uncle Jiang was captured. I can't arrange the map or calculate the location."
"It should be after the beginning of the ten-day period." Li Xuanhe walked over to Xun Shu and sat down at arm's length. "Yesterday, at the beginning of the ten-day period, a neighbor who came home late saw Uncle Jiang standing outside the shop, seemingly waiting for someone. The person spoke to him for a few words before leaving."
Xun Shu was silent for a moment, then said softly, "I was waiting for you. Before I left yesterday, I told Uncle Jiang that you would be back for dinner that evening... Uncle Jiang must have seen that you hadn't returned for a long time, so he waited for you at the door."
Li Xuanhe hadn't expected this to happen and was stunned: "Sorry..."
He felt a wave of regret. Yesterday, he'd considered asking someone from the Dali Temple to pass on his message, but he didn't want to have someone else reveal the truth. After much hesitation, he decided to wait until the matter was settled. He would return to the coffin shop in person to sincerely apologize. He hadn't expected so much to happen...
If I had known this earlier...
The food on the distant table had already soured and stank, with countless small insects flying around it, annoying everyone. Xun Shu was upset, no longer looking at the people around him. He stood up and ran to the kitchen, fetched a bamboo table cover, waved it to disperse the flying insects, and then covered the rotting food with it, isolating the insects from the food. He muttered, "It can only block the big ones, but there's nothing I can do about the smaller ones."
Li Xuanhe walked to the other side of the table and comforted him, "It's okay. Wait until we find Uncle Jiang and ask him to make a new one."
"No, wait until we find Uncle Jiang, and I'll cook him a delicious meal!"
"Can you cook?" Li Xuanhe asked in confusion.
"No." Xun Shu said confidently, "Uncle Jiang can teach me. Besides, he will definitely not mind."
This scene seemed a little scary, and Li Xuanhe couldn't help but suggest: "... Let's go to the restaurant to buy it."
Xun Shu snorted coldly, not bothering to argue. Her gaze shifted to the two empty bowls on the table, her brow furrowed in thought. "Last night, after the first hour of the tenth hour, someone must have come to the coffin shop and dined with Uncle Jiang. I thought it was you, but you denied it... If it wasn't you, who else could it be?"
"It should be someone who is familiar with Uncle Jiang." Li Xuanhe said.
After the words were spoken, both of them fell silent.
Coffin shop owners are in the business of dealing in the dead, so they're not always welcome. But Jiang Zheng is an exception. He's kindhearted and always willing to lend a hand to any neighbor who needs help. He's also always smiling and chatting with everyone he meets, so over time, he's become friends with quite a few people.
Although it is unlucky to eat at a coffin shop, it has happened over the years... With so many people involved, where should I start investigating?
Li Xuanhe knew what she was thinking and said confidently, "The government has sent more personnel to search for this person, and we will have news soon. However, the person who came to eat may not be the one who kidnapped Uncle Jiang."
"But he must have been the last person to see Uncle Jiang. Maybe he knows something."
"Don't worry, Ah Shu, I will definitely find it."
Can it really be found? Xun Shu inexplicably had a thought in her mind: this person will not be found for a while. She swallowed this dejected thought, not wanting to disappoint the kindness of the person opposite her, and walked again to the pool of blood at Jiang Zheng's door.
The bloodstain was small and had long since dried. There were splattered spots of blood around it, suggesting it had fallen from a great height. Xun Shu looked at the bloodstain and murmured, "I wonder if it's Uncle Jiang's blood, or if the injury is serious."
"Don't worry, Ah Shu. This little bit of blood definitely didn't hurt anything vital. Maybe it was just a cut on the hand during the struggle."
Xun Shu bit his lip lightly: "I hope so."
After that day, the Dali Temple and the county government spent three days searching almost every corner of the city where people could hide and questioned every resident in the city, but they still could not find Jiang Zheng's whereabouts.
He seemed to have disappeared out of thin air, leaving no trace.
The officers guarding the city gates meticulously searched everyone trying to leave the city. Over the next few days, this led to widespread complaints from the people. After discussing this with Li Xuanhe, Qu Zhubu, and others, they decided to remove the guards from the city gates and restore normalcy.
Xun Shu didn't react when she learned this. After so many days, she'd already expected Jiang Zheng to be out of the city. But hearing this almost-conclusive news still left her heart pounding. She returned to the coffin shop and locked herself in her room, flipping coins and examining copper plates. She even went over Jiang Zheng's horoscope countless times.
Perhaps it was God's blessing that when she was about to give up in despair, her third eye finally opened a little.
After a whole day and night, the tightly closed door opened again. Xun Shu walked out of the room, and the first person he saw was Li Xuanhe who was guarding outside the door.
He was leaning against a tree in the courtyard, dozing off. His nose was straight and his brows were handsome, though there was a slight frown between his eyebrows, indicating that his sleep was not peaceful. Hearing the sound of the door opening, he opened his still confused eyes and saw Xun Shu in front of him, a bright smile spreading across his eyes.
Today he was wearing old clothes from when he worked as a boy in a coffin shop. The sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting tiny specks of light on his hair and shoulders, blurring his outline and melting his fierce aura. He actually looked a bit like his former self.
The confusion in his eyes gradually dissipated. Li Xuanhe stood up straight and looked at her worriedly: "Do you want something to eat? I bought your favorite food. It should still be warm. Do you want some?"
Xun Shu interrupted him, his eyes lighting up again. "He Xuan, I've figured out where Uncle Jiang is! I calculated all the hours from that night until noon the next day, and I analyzed Uncle Jiang's horoscope. I can roughly conclude that Uncle Jiang was abducted from the city and headed north or northeast. I don't know the exact distance, but if I keep following this path, I'll find him one day!"
Xun Shu turned around and went back into the house, stuffed his clothes and the little money he had saved into his bag, and then robbed the place where Jiang Zheng kept his money, as if he was ready to leave immediately.
Li Xuanhe saw her excitement, delighted that she was finally no longer as lifeless as she had been a few days ago, but a tinge of worry lingered within him. Xun Shu had a turbulent life, but she had been fortunate. With the support of noble people, she hadn't encountered any major challenges, and her heart was pure and kind. She had never traveled far alone, wasn't good at socializing, and didn't know how many people might harbor ill will towards her along the way.
He pondered for a long time, racking his brains, and finally came up with a perfect reason.
"Ah Shu, I'm heading north back to Beijing. Would you mind coming with me? The Dali Temple has taken on Uncle Jiang's case, and I can't stand by and watch. If you come north with us, we can keep an eye on each other if we discover anything along the way. How about that?"
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Author's note: The first part of Si Tian Ge is over~ The Chaozhou part has also come to a temporary end~ The next case will be opened tomorrow~
Ah Shu will get better and better!
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