Chapter 44!
As the morning light streamed through the carved windows of the Xie family's old mansion, Hei Xiazi was awakened by an itch on the side of his neck. Zhang Qiling's breath brushed lightly against the red marks on his collarbone, his eyelashes occasionally brushing against his skin. He couldn't help but tilt his head and nuzzle the other's head, earning a low, hoarse question in return: "Awake?"
Zhang Qiling propped himself up on his arms, the soreness in his back making him pause for half a second. Last night's indulgence had left crisscrossing red marks on his pale skin, disappearing into his loose pajamas along his waistline. Hei Xiazi stared at that skin and laughed, reaching out to touch it, but Zhang Qiling pressed his wrist down, his fingertips landing precisely on the faint marks on his wrist.
"Stop fooling around." Zhang Qiling's fingertips were calloused, and he pressed down with a moderate force, but there was no fierceness in his eyes. Instead, when he noticed the bruise on Hei Xiazi's side, he gently rubbed it with his thumb. "Be gentler next time."
Hei Xiazi grabbed his hand and pulled him towards himself, his nose almost touching the teeth marks hidden behind the collar on the other's neck: "I've already begged for forgiveness. So next time..." Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Hua's urgent knocking on the door interrupted their tender moment.
The two instantly held their breath. Hei Xiazi hissed as he put on his jacket; the soreness in his side distorted his movements. Zhang Qiling immediately reached out and zipped it up for him. As his fingertips brushed against his abdomen, Hei Xiazi raised an eyebrow and gave him a teasing smile. When Zhang Qiling put on his shirt, he deliberately pulled the collar up, but as he turned his head, the red mark on his neck still caught Hei Xiazi's eye.
Upon opening the door, they bumped into Xiao Hua standing in the corridor, clutching a cowhide envelope. Her eyes were dark and swollen. Her gaze swept over the traces that the two hadn't concealed, and after a moment, she whispered, "There's something fishy about Ninth Master's old things. Wu Xie is waiting in the study."
In the study, Wu Xie was frowning at the list of Xie family members spread out on the table. He immediately straightened up when he saw them come in: "Xiao Hua said that the list is not right. Many records do not match." Yellowed pages were spread out on the table, densely written with the early personnel and affairs of the Xie family, with many blurry annotations at the edges.
Xiao Hua slammed the letter from the envelope onto the table. The handwriting was messy but forceful; it was Xie Jiuye's own handwriting. "Look," he said, "it says here, 'Seventeen male members of the Xie family faked their deaths to avoid disaster, leaving only an orphan to cover their tracks.'" He pressed his fingertips hard against the paper, his knuckles turning white. "The so-called migration to Southeast Asia was a complete lie. Jiuye deliberately made everyone 'die,' leaving only me to stand in the open."
"Deliberately keeping you as a cover?" Wu Xie suddenly looked up. "Then what about Wu Jia? Am I really the only heir? And what about the medicine people they're talking about?"
Hei Xiazi picked up the teacup and handed it to Zhang Qiling, his fingertips lightly brushing against Zhang's palm—the signal they had agreed upon to "be alert for anything unusual." "Don't rush," he gestured with his chin toward Wu Xie, "Master Xie's schemes never have just one layer; perhaps the answer lies in these piles of papers."
Zhang Qiling took the teacup, his fingertips knuckles turning white as he pinched the cup's surface. His gaze swept across the roster on the table, then suddenly fixed on a blank page: "There are scratches here; something must have been written underneath."
Xiao Hua immediately found some iodine and applied it to the scratch. As the alcohol evaporated, several lines of light blue writing gradually appeared: "Using the innocent and wicked as bait, to bind Zhang Qiling; using the Xie family's wealth as a rope, to lead the blind man."
"What do you mean?" Wu Xie froze on the spot, cold sweat instantly breaking out on his back. "They kept me around just to keep Xiao Ge under control? And Xiao Hua, you..."
"Ninth Master wasn't having his clansmen fake their deaths to avoid disaster; he was paving the way for the Wu family!" Xiao Hua's hands trembled as she held the note. "The Wu family's past events are probably also related to him. Leaving me alone to control the Xie family's finances was because he knew I would investigate the truth and could use money to keep the blind man in check!"
Hei Xiazi suddenly laughed, walked to Zhang Qiling's side, deliberately showing the red marks on his collarbone, and raised his hand to straighten the collar that had been ruffled by the wind: "Trying to use Wu Xie's naivety to trap Xiao Ge, and use the Xie family's wealth to tie me down? Master Xie's plan is really underestimating us."
Zhang Qiling turned his head to look at him, the coldness in his eyes lessening slightly, and his fingertips secretly intertwined with Hei Xiazi's hand under the table. He checked Wu Xie's pulse and, after confirming that there was nothing abnormal, spoke: "The matter of the medicine man should be a scheme targeting your constitution, but so far there are no signs of tampering."
Xiao Hua said, "When I took over the family business, there was no money in the accounts, only visible cash and assets. How could they have known there would be money later?"
Hei Xiazi: "Qi Ba Ye of the Nine Gates, known as Qi Tiezui, is the most accurate fortune teller. He once said that Xiao Hua is a benefactor, not someone who benefactors herself. Perhaps this is why Xie Lianhuan wanted to adopt you."
Xiao Hua: "Aren't they afraid I'll die at the hands of my family and those people?" Hei Xiazi sighed and said, "When you were little, he planned for you to become Er Yuehong's apprentice so he could protect you for a while, and he also took care of me protecting you in secret." Xiao Hua: "So it turns out that when I was little, you were the one who saved me from death many times. They really went to great lengths to help 'me' grow up." Xiao Hua gave a bitter smile.
"Then why did they do this?" Wu Xie clenched his fists, his tone full of resentment. "Just because I am a nobody, and Xiao Hua has the Xie family's wealth, does that mean I have to be used as a pawn to control you?"
“Because they’re afraid.” Hei Xiazi’s smile faded, and his eyes sharpened. “They’re afraid of Xiao Ge’s skills, afraid of the combined abilities of me and Xiao Hua, so they can only resort to such underhanded methods.” He gripped Zhang Qiling’s hand, feeling the warmth of his touch on his fingertips. “But Master Xie forgot that a chess piece can also turn the game upside down.”
Xiao Hua put the roster and the note into her bag, her eyes cold and sharp: "No matter what his plan was back then, I will find out the truth. The Xie family's debts and the mystery of the homeless must be resolved."
Sunlight streamed through the window into the study, casting long shadows of the group. Zhang Qiling and Hei Xiazi's hands were clasped tightly under the table, the warmth of their palms dispelling the chill of the conspiracy. Wu Xie, watching their unspoken understanding, felt his panic gradually subside. He wasn't bait to be manipulated, and Xiao Hua wasn't a puppet on a string. These two, seemingly the victims of a scheme, had already transformed each other into their strongest armor. The conspiracies hidden in the piles of old papers ultimately couldn't withstand the most unwavering bond between people's hearts.
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