A quarter of an hour ago.
Shen Jianhe, who lived next door to He Sui’an, took a bath and intended to go downstairs to gather information. The best places to gather information in the jianghu are threefold: inns, taverns, and brothels.
Since he was staying at an inn, he naturally chose to inquire there first.
Having just arrived in Fengling Town, Shen Jianhe was blinded by the excitement of nearly discovering the King Yan’s tomb. He was eager to proceed, unlike his previous cautious approaches with his master, where they would scout the area for days before entering a tomb.
As the saying goes, “As long as the green hills last, there will be wood to burn.” Since he managed to come out of the King Yan’s tomb alive today, he decided to be more restrained and gather relevant information from the locals in Fengling Town over the next few days.
Without delay, Shen Jianhe went downstairs to the inn’s first floor and caught hold of a young attendant to ask for information.
The young attendant knew very little.
His responses were consistently vague.
He shook his head no fewer than ten times that night.
Remembering the innkeeper’s advice to avoid people like Shen Jianhe, the attendant quickly found excuses to greet new guests as they arrived.
Shen Jianhe, munching on a plate of sunflower seeds, seemed oblivious to the attendant’s deliberate distancing. He leaned against the table and chairs with a languid posture, his legs crossed, scanning the people coming and going in the inn.
The innkeeper was diligently keeping accounts.
Until a plate of sunflower seeds was pushed to the innkeeper’s side, his abacus-clicking hand paused, making him lose count, and he had to start over. Shen Jianhe reached over to press down the abacus and smiled, “Innkeeper.”
Politeness is hard to refuse, especially since Shen Jianhe was a guest of the inn. The innkeeper appeared to warmly smile, “What can I do for you, young master?”
Shen Jianhe kept smiling, “Nothing much, I just wanted to chat with you.”
The innkeeper seemed very busy.
Shen Jianhe showed no guilt about interrupting the innkeeper’s work. Seeing the innkeeper turn to move a wine jar, he swiftly took it from him, kindly saying, “You’re quite elderly now; let me handle the heavy lifting.”
The innkeeper, who had intended to use the wine jar as an excuse to leave the counter, was helpless and had to say, “You’re a guest; how could I let you do such work? Let me…”
Shen Jianhe replied, “It’s no problem.”
The innkeeper could only let him carry the wine jar to the wine cellar.
Putting aside Shen Jianhe’s shady occupation, the innkeeper truthfully liked this young man who was willing to help and had a way with words.
What a pity.
He was good-looking and had a fine demeanor, but why did he choose tomb raiding?
The innkeeper had run the inn for decades, was half-buried in the ground, and had seen all kinds of people. He could tell from Shen Jianhe’s attire that he was a tomb raider, an occupation the common people considered life-shortening.
Shen Jianhe placed the wine jars as the innkeeper instructed, then pulled him to sit down in the wine cellar, as if he was ready for a heartfelt conversation.
Tomb raiders not only had short lives, but they also brought misfortune to those around them.
The innkeeper secretly thought this wasn’t good.
Suddenly, Shen Jianhe grabbed the innkeeper’s hand, trying to get close: “Innkeeper, you actually look a bit like my father. I feel very familiar and warm around you.”
The innkeeper found it very unlucky to be touched by a tomb raider and tried to pull his hand back, but Shen Jianhe’s grip was astonishingly strong. He couldn’t pull away and forced a smile: “I look like your father? That’s quite a coincidence.”
Shen Jianhe nodded, “Yes.”
Seeing that he still didn’t let go, the innkeeper politely asked, “Where is your father now?”
“Dead long ago.”
The innkeeper awkwardly replied, “…Sorry to bring up such a sad topic.”
Shen Jianhe waved it off nonchalantly: “It’s not a sad topic for me, you can mention it anytime. But really, innkeeper, you look so much like my late father that I don’t even want to leave this inn.”
The innkeeper, smiling bitterly, didn’t know what to say. He could only laugh dryly. Running an inn meant he couldn’t drive away guests, but he really didn’t want to deal with someone like Shen Jianhe.
Finally, the innkeeper managed to pull his hand back as Shen Jianhe relaxed his grip.
The wine cellar was very dark.
The innkeeper felt a bit scared.
People in the tomb raiding business were usually not kind-hearted. They had many tricks up their sleeves and most were in it for wealth; otherwise, they wouldn’t risk entering tombs. What if this person was the kind who killed indiscriminately for profit?
The more the innkeeper thought, the more fearful he became. He regretted entering the wine cellar alone with Shen Jianhe, but he was also a sly old fox and wouldn’t show his fear.
Shen Jianhe tapped a low stool beside him.
“Please sit.”
At that moment, Shen Jianhe seemed more like the innkeeper than the actual innkeeper. The innkeeper, unconsciously obedient, lifted his robe and sat down. It was only after he sat that he realized why he was so compliant.
But since he had already sat, it wouldn’t be proper to stand up again. Despite this, the innkeeper still felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, occasionally glancing at Shen Jianhe.
Shen Jianhe casually picked up a small wine jar.
He always had a carefree and unrestrained demeanor. He pulled out a silver ingot and tossed it to the innkeeper, removed the wine stopper, and took a few swigs: “Innkeeper, you’ve been in Fengling Town for a long time, haven’t you?”
The innkeeper had nothing to hide in this regard. He said that he indeed grew up in Fengling Town and that his ancestors had lived there for generations.
Shen Jianhe took another sip of wine and wanted to pour a cup for him as well, but there were no wine cups in the cellar.
The innkeeper politely declined.
“Innkeeper, you mentioned that your family has been in Fengling Town for generations. You must be very familiar with it. I have some questions I’d like to ask you. Can you answer them for me?”
The innkeeper immediately sensed that Shen Jianhe had ulterior motives and hesitated. “Well…”
Shen Jianhe focused intently on the innkeeper’s face, trying to discern any hints of dishonesty. “Have you ever heard of someone named Yan Wuheng?”
Yan Wuheng.
The innkeeper muttered the name a few times, then looked up in confusion. “I think I heard my great-grandfather mention this person when I was a child.”
Realizing that the innkeeper might hold clues about the King Yan’s tomb, Shen Jianhe was about to ask more when a young attendant stumbled in, shouting that something terrible had happened.
Before the attendant could explain, someone chased after him and tackled him.
The innkeeper couldn’t react in time.
With quick reflexes, Shen Jianhe hurled a wine jar, hitting the man who had tried to bite the attendant. The jar shattered with a crash, buying the attendant some time to escape.
The innkeeper came to his senses and helped the attendant up.
Despite a bleeding wound on his head from the wine jar, the man seemed unfazed by pain and tried to bite them again. Shen Jianhe picked up a rope used for tying up miscellaneous items and bound the man’s hands and feet.
The young attendant stammered a chaotic explanation of what was happening outside, which left the innkeeper confused.
But Shen Jianhe understood.
He shed his usual carefree demeanor, becoming serious as he looked at the bound man, who had lost all self-awareness and only wanted to bite them. “You said there are many people like this outside now?”
The young attendant trembled violently.
“Yes.”
*
Upstairs in the inn, He Sui’an gazed at the horrific scene on the long street, feeling as if she were dreaming. When she saw a somewhat familiar face below, she turned and ran out of her room.
Reaching the stairs, He Sui’an glanced toward the inn’s main hall and saw a ragged woman with bloody teeth wandering around.
Her heart raced.
He Sui’an wanted to retreat back to her room.
But then she saw a man with gouged-out eyes groping along the corridor. His face was veined and contorted, with his mouth agape, drooling blood mixed with barely visible insect eggs.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, He Sui’an decided to go downstairs, stepping lightly. She saw the woman turn toward the inn’s front door and took the chance to run to the back door, her legs feeling weak.
At the end of the long street stood a person.
It was because she saw this person that He Sui’an had run out of her room.
Jiang Xuewan no longer looked like she did when they first met in Weicheng, with her clothes in tatters. Now, she wore a chest-high ruqun dress and held two skewers of candied haws. Her eyes and nose were red, as if she had been crying.
She was jostled by the fleeing townspeople, stumbling and tearfully wiping her eyes, sobbing incessantly, and repeatedly calling out for her third uncle.
Everyone was busy fleeing for their lives and paid no attention to her.
Some people did rush towards Jiang Xuewan, but they were all those who had lost their sanity.
He Sui’an hurried towards Jiang Xuewan. Jiang Xuewan saw her as well and seemed to remember their encounter in Weicheng. She rubbed her slightly swollen eyes and tried to walk towards He Sui’an.
Jiang Songwei, panting heavily, ran out from an alley, showing signs of having fought. He grabbed Jiang Xuewan and hurriedly led her away from the long street, not noticing He Sui’an at the other end.
He Sui’an didn’t dare to call out loudly because two crazed people had suddenly appeared between them.
Moreover, He Sui’an’s purpose in leaving the inn was to get Jiang Xuewan out of danger. Now that Jiang Xuewan was safe, there was no need for her to pursue further.
Finding a safe place to hide was the priority.
He Sui’an retraced her steps, intending to return to the inn and wait for Qi Buyan. Unexpectedly, Jiang Songwei, holding Jiang Xuewan’s hand, returned to the long street to find her. He probably couldn’t refuse Jiang Xuewan’s insistence that He Sui’an was also there.
He held a long sword, having killed several crazed people. They could hardly be considered human anymore. If he didn’t kill them, he would die, and they would continue to spread the infection.
Jiang Xuewan happily hugged He Sui’an.
He Sui’an was momentarily stunned.
“Third Uncle,” she called to Jiang Songwei.
Jiang Songwei, highly alert and tense, glanced around and then responded to Jiang Xuewan, “We found her. Can we leave now?”
Jiang Xuewan tugged at Jiang Songwei’s sleeve with one hand and held onto He Sui’an with the other.
“Third Uncle, can we take her with us? Xuewan likes her.” The Gu poison hadn’t been cured, so she still stuttered, unable to speak fluently.
He Sui’an was flattered.
Jiang Songwei looked at He Sui’an. Counting the encounter in Weicheng, they had only met twice, yet Jiang Xuewan said she liked her?
He considered for a moment, “If you have nowhere to go, you can come with us.”
He Sui’an looked up.
As soon as he finished speaking, a sound like silver bells drifted on the wind, ethereal and blending into the breeze, reaching their ears like a delicate and enchanting melody that seemed to bewitch their hearts.
They all turned to look.
A young man appeared, his robe stained with blood, and his silver ornaments splattered with blood as well. At his feet lay several corpses of crazed people, with blue butterflies appearing on his neck, as if ready to take flight.
Qi Buyan casually wiped the blood from the bell chain on his wrist, as if it were just dust, not someone else’s blood.
He smiled warmly.
Then, his gaze lingered for a moment on the hands held by He Sui’an and Jiang Xuewan before slowly moving away. His tone seemed utterly innocent, and so did his expression, as he asked, “What are you two doing?”
