Chapter 43 - As If He Was Dead
Chapter 43 As If He Was Dead
“What happened?” Su Muge asked in a low voice, which was particularly abrupt in a strange and silent street.
She frowned and quickly pulled out the dagger on her leg in a state of full alert.
Opening the carriage curtain carefully, she clearly saw her driver lying on the ground with a light moonlight.
Suddenly, there was a violent gust of wind which startled her. She quickly pulled the curtain aside and jumped off the carriage. After several rolls on the ground, she finally found her balance.
A dark figure went in front of her, and there was blood dripping from the sharp sword in his hand.
“What do you want!”
“Hand it over, or you’ll die!”
Su Muge frowned, obviously confused by those words. Hand it over? What does this man mean?
The man in black took her silence as a rejection and was irritated. He raised his sword with a snort and was ready to fight.
Su Muge had only learned some self-defense skills of close combat in her previous life, which was barely enough to deal with a warrior. But when facing a master with internal power, she would stand to lose!
The moves of the man in black were very cruel. Although they were not fatal, they were fierce enough to make her arms and legs apart!
After dozens of moves, Su Muge was a little invincible. She forgot to bring any self-defense powder with her today!
Damn it!
While she was fighting back the man, she kept an eye on the surrounding environment. The streets of Zhou county were not wide, and there were many small alleys.
She dodged the sword of the man in black with a roll on the ground and ran to the nearest alley.
The man in black followed her quickly.
“Want to run away like that? No way!”
Su Muge didn’t expect herself to be so unlucky that she had run into a dead end!
Seeing the man in black getting closer, she could only try her best to defend, with her teeth grinding in anger and fear.
The alley was so narrow that one could hardly stretch out. The moves of the man in black became fiercer and more violent. For several times, she was only able to avoid his attacks at the last moment.
Suddenly, the man in black stabbed the sword towards her face. She was shocked and dodged away by turning aside.
What unexpected was that the direction of the sword in the black man’s hand changed, aiming at her arm.
There was no time for her to avoid it, and she stayed still waiting for that stab to come.
“Uh!”
“Bang!”
Suddenly, there came a strong wind. Su Muge saw the man in black in front of her flew out and hit the ground heavily as if he was being held by a strong force.
He groaned with pain, grabbed his sword and ran away immediately. Two other figures rushed out after him.
There was a tall and slim man standing at the entrance of the alley when Su Muge raised her eyes.
He stood against the light, and the cold and hazy moonlight was covered by him. She could not see his eyes, but when he moved towards her, her tense nerves seemed to relax slowly.
Su Muge stepped forward, and when the black boots came into her sight, she stopped.
Though she knew this man was tall, she was still surprised at the height difference between them when she stood beside.
At least she was disguised as a man now.
It was weird when she was standing in front of the man and looked like a bean sprout!
“Thank you for saving me just in time, Lord Xia.”
“Your defensive skills were not too bad, Lord Su,” Xia Houmo said in a faint tone.
She grabbed harder with the dagger in her hand.
He was trying to test her again!
He should have been there before the man in black appeared, and he just didn’t show up to help her because he wanted to see whether she could find a way!
She wasn’t quite sure about other things except that Su Lun knew nothing about martial arts!
Damn it!
“Sorry to fool myself in front of you, Lord Xia. When people are about to die, they will make a final fight in any case. If it were not for your coming, I would become a ghost under that man’s sword.”
Donglin showed up just as she finished her words.
“Lord, we have caught the man.”
Xia Houmo moved his sight away from the top of Su Muge’s head. “Take him back, interrogate him strictly, and find out why he attacked Lord Su.”
“Yes.”
Donglin left, leaving only the two of them in the alley.
“Lord Xia, it’s getting late. Let’s go back.”
“Sure.”
They walked out of the alley one after another. Su Muge was stunned when she came out only to find an empty street.
Xia Houmo walked in front of her straightaway, and she had to follow up.
There was no carriage nor horse in the street, which meant they had to walk back!
It was on purpose! This man must be on purpose!
Su Muge started to wonder if this man knew about her being disguised as Su Lun.
Xia Houmo was tall with long legs, and he walked at his normal pace. However, for Su Muge, who was not well physically developed and could only reach the chest of him while she was standing, it was too fast!
With Xia Houmo walking casually in the front, she had to run to keep following after him!
It would take a carriage half an hour to get to the county yamen from here, and it would take at least one hour by walk.
Su Muge followed at his pace for a while. Then she became so tired that she slowed down. After all, there was no rule telling her that she must follow closely after him!
The King of Jin in front didn’t notice these kinds of details at all. But after walking for a while, he found that it was too quiet behind him. He stopped and looked back. Then he saw a thin figure moving forward with struggle.
Usually, he used his “light skills” at night, which was a martial arts skill that helped him fly on eaves and walk on walls. It could be much faster. But now he had to walk because of Su Muge, who dragged him back like trouble!
With a whole day of high-intensity work and a fight in the evening with great tension, she now had to walk for another hour to get back. The anger was fueled inside her.
Unexpectedly, she saw Xia Houmo not far away in front of her when she looked up.
Is he waiting for her?
Su Muge was a bit surprised and followed up with her teeth grinding.
“Sorry for keeping you wait, Lord Xia. My legs are a bit short.”
After a glance at her legs, Xia Houmo turned around and kept walking. “They are indeed a bit too short.”
“!!”
…
When they returned to the county yamen, Su Muge washed her face simply and lay down. Perhaps she was too tired, she soon fell into a deep sleep.
In the room of Xia Houmo, the light was flickering.
Donglin went in quietly. “Lord, the man said he didn’t have it with him,” he said in a low voice.
“He took it out from Yanxia pass, and he said he didn’t have it?”
“Yes. He still refused to confess, and my people are still questioning him.”
“Good.”
“Lord, my people have found out that Su Lun had been kidnapped by someone, and the dead bodies of the people who went with him were all found expect him.” If that person wanted to kill Su Lun, then there was no need for him to carry the dead body away. Since the bodies of other people were discovered within such a short time, Su Lun probably was still alive.
“Keep searching.”
“Yes.”
…
In the Su Mansion far away in Shunyang prefecture, the atmosphere was also not quite normal.
In Flowery Brook Courtyard, An had been looking at a table of cool dishes in a daze.
Li Mama came in with a cup of tea and asked the maids to went out when she saw An like that.
“Madam,” Li Mama approached An and called her gently.
With a sudden startle, the letter which was grabbed tightly in An’s hands fell to the floor. An looked up at Li Mama in surprise and quickly bent down to pick it up.
“Mama…”
Li Mama pretended to see nothing and only brought her with the hot tea.
“Madam, you haven’t eaten anything for several days. How can keep yourself well?”
An took a sip from the teacup in her hands and sighed.
“Li Mama, my father wrote me back.”
Hearing this, Li Mama waved her hand to ask An to pause and told all maids outside the door to leave. She then went back to An.
“Madam, what were you saying?”
“My father wrote to me, and said, said…”
“Said what?”
An’s face turned pale, as well as her fingertips holding the letter.
“My father said, on the way to Zhou county, the Lord met mobs, and, and he was killed. His body has also been washed away by the flood!” An choked with sobs upon the last few words.
“What?” Li Mama was in astonishment. “Lord, the Lord, how could he…”
An wiped her tears with an embroidered handkerchief. “My father said he had sent someone to look for the Lord. The person also told him that he found the relics of the Lord…boo hoo hoo…Li Mama, tell me, why my life is so suffering? First, I thought I married my dream man and only to find he already had a wife. And now we’ve been through so many years…why now…why he left me at this moment…”
Li Mama hurried forward to comfort An, who was crying bitterly. “Don’t cry, Madam. Although, although people were sent to find the Lord, the result, the result is uncertain. Even if, even if the Lord was killed, we, we still need to see his dead body, right…”
“But my father said the body was washed away by the flood. Where, where can I find his body…”
Li Mama disagreed a bit with her eyebrows frowned.
Minister An was far away in the capital. The people he sent could not get to Zhou county faster than theirs. Moreover, they had been stayed in Shunyang prefecture for so many years, which meant their people should be much more familiar with the situations around them.
Why couldn’t they find any trace of the Lord, whereas the people sent by Minister An could?
Though Li Mama had been in the mansion most of her life, she had married a good helper of Lord Su, and thus usually had her unique thoughts towards the matters outside.
Now there was such a big thing happening in Zhou county of Shunyang prefecture, and no matter what it turned out to be, Su Lun would be responsible for it. If the emperor got angry, Minister An might also be involved. In this case, it would be better for Su Lun to be dead. And the emperor might forgive them for the sake of the elderly and the children in this mansion.
When An had calmed down, Li Mama told An about her thoughts in a euphemistic way.
As expected, after hearing this, An was completely sane and sober.
“You mean, my father wanted to keep the safety of the whole Su Mansion through this way?”
In other words, he wanted to protect himself!
Li Mama thought so to herself and didn’t tell An. After all, he was the real father of An.
“What did Su Muge went to Zhou county for? Did you send anybody to check this?”
If An indeed wanted to cope with this according to her father’s wishes, she would need to prepare a mourning hall for Su Lun these days as if he was dead!
Li Mama shook her head. “The carriage driver who had gone with her came back. It’s in chaos there, so I send nobody.”
“Go and send someone right now. I keep having this feeling of restlessness.”
“Yes. I’ll arrange it now.”