Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Young Servant

The young servant, who had been awkwardly laughing, finally remembered something he could say: "Ah! Sir Bai, Sir Mei, after your duel, you must be tired. Let me take you to the main hall, where you'll find a hot breakfast waiting for you."

As his voice fell, the young servant looked up at the two men on the roof with an expectant expression.

However, he didn’t get the reaction he was hoping for.

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan simply glanced at him before quickly looking up toward the outside of the county magistrate's residence.

Although Bai Zhengliu had felt that the streets and buildings outside had appeared blurry and chaotic last night, he had attributed that to the night’s darkness. But now, with the sky barely lit, he was still unable to see clearly the scene outside the residence.

In contrast, the interior of the residence had become gradually clearer. Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan made a brief assessment and realized they should currently be in the southwestern part of the residence.

The young servant below began to subtly rub his neck, as if holding his head up to look at the two great heroes was starting to make him uncomfortable.

Then he remembered something, hesitating before adding, "The breakfast here is really great! The master, in order to make sure the esteemed heroes are comfortable during their stay and can relax while dealing with matters, has brought out all his best food! I asked in the kitchen, and just the soup noodles inside, they’re made from ten pounds of chicken, ten pounds of pork, and ten pounds of lamb for the broth, and it's so fresh!"

As he said this, the young servant even swallowed a bit of saliva.

At that moment, Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan exchanged a glance.

"Shall we go outside and have a look?"

"It may be unwise."

"Then..."

"..." With a glance at the young servant below, "Isn’t this the perfect opportunity to get some information?""True."

The two of them used their lightness skills to jump down from the roof.

The young servant watched, his mouth wide open as if a chicken egg could fit inside.

"Good!" He clapped his hands. "The two great heroes' movements are so skilled! And you're so young, you'll definitely achieve great things in the future!"

As he spoke, the young servant even swallowed a bit of saliva, as if too excited.

Bai Zhengliu looked at him for a moment before breaking into a smile. "It's just a little trick that everyone in the Jianghu knows. Why make it sound so exaggerated?"

The young servant chuckled awkwardly, leading the sword and knife experts while saying, "How is it just 'something everyone knows'? The master had invited a few people before," he frowned and rubbed his arms, "and each of them was just a show-off! Besides posturing, they couldn't do anything. After a whole night... they just..."

Bai Zhengliu's gaze sharpened. Although he had already suspected the young servant’s identity was questionable, the servant's words clearly indicated that he and Mei Yinghan were no longer in the Guang'an County Magistrate’s residence.

Bai Zhengliu asked, "What do you mean by 'just'?"

The young servant inhaled sharply, stamping his feet. "Just—just got killed by that thing!"

As he spoke, he looked around, as if afraid his words would be heard by "that thing," bringing some disaster.

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan were both stunned.

They hadn’t expected to hear something so important so soon.The knife master and sword master exchanged another quick glance. This time, it was Mei Yinghan who asked the question.

His expression was calm, looking like an immortal from the outside world. Paired with his white robes, it really made him quite intimidating.

Mei Yinghan: "Since you're so afraid of 'that thing,' why not leave?"

The young servant’s expression darkened a bit as he heard the question. "Leave? Now the master is also bedridden, and most of the people have already scattered. Someone has to stay and manage the reception, right? Besides, I'm just a lowly servant with a signed contract. Even if I wanted to leave, where could I go? I probably couldn’t even leave the city without being caught by the authorities for the crime of 'running away.' And then, who knows what would happen."

Mei Yinghan looked him up and down: "You say most of the people have left? That makes sense. My friend Bai and I were wondering, since we entered, how come we haven’t seen many people in this huge residence."

The young servant showed a pained expression, as if he didn’t want to say more.

But no matter how reluctant he was, Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan continued to ask questions in a roundabout way, gradually drawing out what they needed to know.

Without revealing that they didn’t actually know him or how the residence was structured, the two learned: they, along with a few others, had been hired at a high price by the "master" to handle the strange occurrences in the house.

What were these strange occurrences? That takes us back a month ago.

The master, who was in charge of such a large residence, was obviously not a solitary man. He had a wife, and the two shared a very close relationship, always in perfect harmony.

On regular days, the master would manage business outside, while the wife stayed home, managing the inner part of the house—though when they said "inner house," it only referred to the wife as the only woman there.

When the young servant reached this point in his story, he added, "Our master treats his wife very well! No surprise there, though. After all, this residence was called the 'Huang Residence' just a few years ago."

"Huang" was the wife's surname. This meant that the master originally came to this place as the son-in-law of the Huang family. But it wasn’t a formal marriage contract; later, when the father-in-law passed away, the residence changed its name.

Now, it was commonly known as Chang Residence.Chang Laoye was in the prime of his life, and his wife was only in her twenties. She was normally healthy and never suffered from any illness. However, one month ago, she suddenly passed away!

According to the young servant’s account, the wife had fallen into the pond while watching the fish. By the time she was discovered, she was already dead.

Chang Laoye was devastated, and the servants began to spread many rumors. The most common one was: how deep could that pond be? If a person stood in it, even someone tall, the water would only reach their chest. Even someone like the wife, who had been raised in seclusion and was petite, would have only been submerged to her neck. How could such a small amount of water drown someone?

It was strange, too strange!

At first, when Chang Laoye heard these rumors, he flew into a rage and punished the servants.

Afterwards, the servants lay low for a while and worked quietly. But then, more strange things began to happen!

The young servant, terrified, told Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan, "Originally, the servant who took care of the lady, Sister La Mei, also died! She died in her room, and it looked like she hung herself. But under her feet, there was a puddle of water!"

"Sister La Mei had grown up with the lady and was her most trusted confidante. After the lady passed away, she was the most heartbroken, aside from the master. We didn’t expect that before the lady was even buried, she…"

"And where did that water come from? I saw it with my own eyes! There was only water under her feet, nothing else to step on! You two heroes, tell me, could this be a case where a living person hung themselves?"

By the end, the servant’s voice was trembling. His fear was palpable, as if he had returned to the scene of the incident.

Bai Zhengliu responded calmly, "Hmm, it could be. I’ve seen something similar before."

The servant: "…"

The servant: "What?"

Bai Zhengliu continued: "There was a case many years ago in the martial world. The leader of a small sect died in his own house, and the situation was very similar to what you're describing. Later, it was discovered that he had embezzled half the sect’s money. When it was about to be exposed, and he couldn’t come up with the money to cover it, he hung himself.""The reason he chose this method was to frame one of their elders. The embezzlement issue was discovered by that elder. The two had a conflict not long ago, so if the sect leader's death looked suspicious, the elder would definitely be the first one to be suspected."

The young servant appeared somewhat dazed.

Bai Zhengliu: "His method, which was later discovered, was—"

The young servant asked: "What was it?"

Bai Zhengliu shrugged: "He placed a block of ice under his feet."

He demonstrated as he spoke.

It was about a foot in height.

The young servant listened, dryly: "There are even such things?"

Mei Yinghan said: "Alright, Bai brother, let's let this young man continue."

Bai Zhengliu: "Ah, Mei brother, you're right."

Under the urging of both of them, the young servant swallowed and refocused, continuing to talk about the events after the maid La Mei’s death.

Normally, with people dying one after another, and all within the span of a month, it should have been a terrifying situation. But with Bai Zhengliu’s earlier comments, the atmosphere of fear had largely dissipated.

The young servant’s narration became more objective, no longer as if he were reliving the events.

"After Sister La Mei died, a few days later, another maid in the lady’s courtyard also died.""After that, everyone doing miscellaneous work in the lady’s courtyard, both men and women, all died. Oh, and they always had water on them."

The young servant tried to make this part sound scarier.

But the responses from Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan were only: "Hmm, and then?"

"Mm, what happened next?"

The young servant had no choice but to continue: "We were all scared by the scene, but some people said, maybe after the people in the lady’s courtyard died, it would be over. But it wasn’t over—other people started dying!

"At that point, everyone thought maybe the lady had turned into—cough," his voice lowered, "that thing. And, unintentionally, a few words were overheard by the master. The older men and women who were gossiping nearly wet their pants. But after a while, the master became quiet, then ordered that a message be sent out to find someone who could perform rituals."

"The first time, a few monks came," the young servant said. "They chanted scriptures in the lady's room all night, and by the next day, they were all dead, their bodies covered in water."

"The second time, a few Taoist priests came, performed rituals all night, and by the next day, they were all dead, their bodies…"

"The third time, a few people claiming to have some powerful traditions came, and the next day..."

"Great heroes," the young servant’s eyes were shining brightly, "You two are the fourth group of people to come! And now, you’re standing here in good health! It seems that you must be real experts. To save our Chang residence, it’s all up to you!"

At this point, they had arrived at the main hall.

The young servant hadn’t lied to them. Before they even entered, Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan could already smell the rich, fresh aroma wafting out from inside.

Additionally, there were faint sounds of people talking.It was a familiar voice, sounding gentle, trying to persuade: "Miao Miao, you should eat a little. I see the food here isn’t bad. You didn’t sleep well last night, and then you ran into that kind of situation this morning. If you collapse again, what will we do?"

Then another familiar voice replied: "Brother Fu, please stop, I really can’t eat."

Fu Ming sighed.

Gu Miao’s tone was full of worry.

Outside the main hall, the young servant was once again in that hesitant state, asking: "Great heroes, why don’t you go in?"

Bai Zhengliu observed Mei Yinghan’s reaction again.

He saw Mei Yinghan first close his eyes, his face showing a trace of pain, helplessness, and then resolve.

Afterward, he took a step forward and walked toward the main hall.

Bai Zhengliu followed behind him.

As their footsteps drew near, Fu Ming and Gu Miao both looked up.

Upon seeing them, Fu Ming and Gu Miao’s expressions subtly changed.

First, it was Gu Miao. He bit his lower lip, looking at Mei Yinghan, and his eyes quickly filled with tears. The whole person exuded an aura of wanting to approach yet being afraid of being pushed away.

He whispered: "Senior Brother."

As soon as he spoke, he realized that Mei Yinghan’s gaze had fallen on him.Gu Miao immediately straightened his back. He looked like a young swordsman waiting for his senior brother’s judgment.

Had he practiced well? Could he rest now?

After everything that happened last night, would his senior brother still want to stay with him?

Mei Yinghan looked at Gu Miao, his eyes wavering for a moment.

He slowly sighed and said, "You’ve only gotten close to Prince Nine, you haven’t betrayed the sect. I’m not your master, I can’t deny your place. So, let’s return to being brothers again."

"No!" Gu Miao was struck like lightning. "Senior Brother, I put so much effort into being with you. How can you—!"

Mei Yinghan glanced at him, then looked at Fu Ming.

Afterward, he said nothing, but instead turned to Bai Zhengliu.

Bai Zhengliu, who had been observing, didn’t expect Mei Yinghan to suddenly shift the focus of the entire scene onto himself.

He paused for a moment before saying, "Fu Ming..."

Fu Ming had been focused on Gu Miao, seeming to frown slightly at how much Gu Miao cared for Mei Yinghan. When he heard Bai Zhengliu call his name, he remembered that there was such a person and shifted his gaze.

The actions were too clear, and Bai Zhengliu saw it all clearly.

A pang of bitterness rose in his heart.

They had been through so much last night. So much so that, on the way to the main hall with Mei Yinghan, Bai Zhengliu never even considered that he would encounter Fu Ming here. He hadn’t thought about what he would say when he saw him again.After a long silence, he said, “You always liked Gu Miao. What happened between you and me was just an accident. Since it was an ‘accident,’ let it end here.”

They were children of the martial world, not bound by love!

Bai Zhengliu comforted himself slightly, and soon felt a wave of relief.

He was momentarily dazed: Back when I was wandering, I met Gu Lang, I met Fu Ming—

Although Fu Ming was Bai Zhengliu’s first lover, the one Bai Zhengliu first longed for was actually Gu Miao.

Fu Ming harbored the same feelings, which led to a direct confrontation between him and Bai Zhengliu. For a time, Bai Zhengliu thought Gu Miao would choose Fu Ming, but then Mei Yinghan, the eldest disciple of the Tian Shan sect, suddenly appeared, and both Fu Ming and Bai Zhengliu had to step back in defeat.

Afterward, the two of them drank together and slowly grew closer. By today, Bai Zhengliu thought he had completely let go of the unclear feelings for Gu Miao. But unexpectedly, Fu Ming still couldn’t forget the young Master Gu.

This was more than just "old debts," it was a "messy debt."

At this moment, Bai Zhengliu originally thought that, after hearing his words, Fu Ming would definitely appear relaxed. However, Fu Ming actually showed a surprised expression.

After the surprise came anger.

Fu Ming scolded Bai Zhengliu: “Now you say this, does it mean everything you told me before, about having feelings for me, was a lie? I thought, even with Miao Miao, I would never let you down.”

“I knew it, from the beginning to the end, you’ve only seen me as entertainment. All along, you’ve been fixated on—”

Bai Zhengliu: “???”

The swordsman’s feelings of melancholy faded away, leaving only confusion.Listen, is this even human language?!

Author’s note:

After finishing this chapter, I sent it to a friend.

My friend circled the last sentence and commented: Trash!