20demayo Chapter 186 The real murderer
Chapter 186 The real murderer
They set off from Chongming Island to Suzhou, traveling light and simply. Qin Jiu and Xue Yunting each drove a carriage, side by side.
Unaware that he was peering out of the carriage, Qin Jiu simply pulled him onto her lap, unbuttoned her coat to cover him, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Xue Yunting looked at him blankly and suddenly asked, "Ninth Brother, what's it like to be a father?"
Qin Jiu was slightly surprised: "Weren't you supposed to be quick?"
Xue Yunting said, "How fast?"
Qin Jiu said, "Do you know what it feels like to be a father?"
“I just feel…” Xue Yunting thought for a moment and then uttered a word: “…guilt.”
Guilt? Qin Jiu glanced at the carriage slightly: "Why?"
Xue Yunting said, "If I were just a spoiled brat indulging in eating, drinking, and having fun, I would be letting down my parents who raised me. But if I were like me, I would feel that there is not much joy in living."
I've traveled to many places, seen different customs, and experienced different seasons. What Mingzhu longs for is all ordinary to me. Now, as I'm about to bring a child into the world, I lack the confidence to be a good father…
Qin Jiu pondered for a moment and said, "Yun Ting, when you reach my age, you'll know that life is just about studying, getting married, having children, raising the young, and seeing off the old, repeating itself generation after generation, with nothing special about it. It is precisely this ordinariness that allows all things in the world to endure."
Xue Yunting said, "So what if it doesn't last forever? Besides, there are countless people in this world who are eager to continue the family line, so it doesn't make a difference if I'm not one of them."
Qin Jiu was speechless. He stared at Xue Yunting as if he didn't recognize him, then, noticing the turn ahead, he cried out, "Dad, it's going to fall."
Qin Jiu quickly tightened the reins, and the horse veered off course, almost plunging into the roadside farmland. Qin Jiu wiped his sweat: "Yun Ting, you're so young, how could you have such thoughts?"
Xue Yunting gazed ahead without speaking. On one side were green mountains, on the other farmland, and a few white clouds hung in the sky.
The two quieted down, staring at Xue Yunting, and asked in a childish voice, "Uncle, don't you like children?"
Xue Yunting said, "...I wouldn't say I like it."
I don't know: "Why?"
Xue Yunting said, "Many things don't have a reason, for example, why is your name 'I don't know'?"
He said seriously, "To know what you know, and to know what you don't know, that is true knowledge! Knowing is a kind of wisdom, and not knowing is also a kind of wisdom. That's why I'm called 'I Don't Know'."
Xue Yunting casually brushed it off, assuming that such a young child couldn't possibly make any sense. Little did he know, his words were so earnest that Qin Jiu couldn't help but burst into laughter.
The birds in the nearby woods were startled by the laughter and took flight, and Xue Yunting couldn't help but smile as well. Before their laughter had even subsided, countless cold arrows flew out of the woods.
As the two men soared into the air, their longswords slashed through the rain of arrows. When they landed on the ground one after the other, they were already surrounded by a circle of men in black.
Xiaoya and Liang Qingcheng landed next to Qin Jiu. Nianyao carried Duan Mingzhu to Xue Yunting's side and pushed Duan Mingzhu into Xue Yunting's arms: "You protect her, I'll take care of her."
Xue Yunting, holding Duan Mingzhu, consciously took two steps back. Nian Yao hadn't expected that the group of men in black were all quite skilled, seemingly well-trained experts.
Nianyao continued her attacks, shouting, "Ninth Brother, are they coming for you or for me?"
Qin Jiu tossed Bu Zhi to Liang Qingcheng, who then blindfolded Bu Zhi with a face towel and held him close to her chest. Xiao Ya's martial arts skills were indeed impressive, and she coordinated perfectly with Qin Jiu, while Nian Yao appeared to be in grave danger.
Xue Yunting watched for a while, then stepped forward to stop Nianyao: "Since you're going to your deaths, I'll grant your wish."
Xue Yunting's attacks were all deadly, his moves were ruthless and vicious, which made Nianyao somewhat frightened.
They fought and moved, gradually leaving the carriage. Without the carriage to separate them, the men in black surrounded them in a circle. Xue Yunting and Bang Jiu were the main fighters, with Xiao Ya and Xue Yunting assisting them, and Duan Mingzhu and Liang Qingcheng back to back in the middle.
Xue Yunting kept a sliver of his gaze on Duan Mingzhu throughout. When Liang Qingcheng turned her wrist and clenched her fist, an almost innate sense of crisis compelled Xue Yunting to withdraw his sword, pull Duan Mingzhu over, and stand behind her.
The black-clad man's longsword slashed across Xue Yunting's arm, and blood immediately spurted out. Liang Qingcheng's silver needles, hidden in her sleeve, shot out in all directions, some embedding themselves in Xue Yunting's back, and several piercing Nian Yao's arm.
Qin Jiu turned around in shock, and Xiao Ya's sword was right at his neck. She took the sword from him, and the surrounding men in black fell silent.
Duan Mingzhu was unharmed. She supported Xue Yunting with all her might, her eyes red-rimmed: "Yunting, don't force yourself. Lie down in the carriage."
Liang Qingcheng put down her ignorance: "Miss Duan, my silver needles and their swords are both coated with the most potent poison in the world. Don't waste your energy."
Duan Mingzhu's heart skipped a beat, and her breathing became erratic. She clutched her chest, closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths.
Xue Yunting smiled reassuringly: "Don't panic, I'm fine."
Duan Mingzhu nodded and emphasized, "I'm not in a panic. You go lie down in the carriage."
Xue Yunting didn't try to be strong and, with Duan Mingzhu's help, walked towards the carriage. As soon as Xue Yunting climbed onto the carriage, he immediately fainted.
Nianyao used her sword to support herself: "You were the one who attacked me that night, weren't you? You even gave me a sleeping potion. Although the amount you used was enough to put an ordinary person to sleep for a day and a night, it was useless against me."
Liang Qingcheng, contrary to her usual gentleness, asked in a cold tone, "Would arsenic be of any use to Chief Xue?"
Nianyao looked at Qin Jiu: "Brother Jiu, explain yourself. Are you an accomplice or a victim?"
“He is neither an accomplice nor a victim; he is the perpetrator and the culprit.” Liang Qingcheng walked up to Qin Jiu, her voice gradually becoming agitated: “Who do you think I am? Liang Qingcheng? Liang Qingcheng is long dead. I am Liang Qingguo.”
Liang Qingcheng walked up to Nianyao and kicked her in the knee, causing Nianyao to fall to her knees with a thud. Feeling humiliated, Nianyao sat on the ground, looking at Liang Qingcheng defiantly.
Liang Qingcheng squatted down and pinched Nianyao's chin: "Someone like you, in what way are you better than my sister? Why would Luo An choose you over my sister? If it weren't for Luo An, would my sister have ended up like this today?"
Nianyao's gaze gradually became unfocused: "Ninth Brother, don't you even recognize the child's mother?"
Qin Jiu stared at Liang Qingcheng. He went to Bianjing every year and had never heard that Liang Qingcheng was a twin.
Qin Jiu said, "You killed me and the gang leader, so the grievances have been settled and the debts have been repaid. But why did you kill the young general?"
Liang Qingcheng said, "I just can't stand him being too good to his wife."
Nianyao spat and said, "Pervert."
Liang Qingcheng kicked Nianyao in the chest, and Nianyao fell to the ground without moving.
Qin Jiu said, "Why didn't you just kill the gang leader on Chongming Island?"
Liang Qingcheng said, "It was because Xu Lai stopped me that I had to drug her, planning to let her sleep for a day and a night, and then, after you've searched, take advantage of the chaos on Chongming Island to send her to Haidong County to be locked up."