-(゜-゜)A Local Powerhouse?
"Heh!"
After hearing that, Liu Sandao let out a strange, clicking laugh, and the smile on his face took on a deeper meaning.
Then he stopped playing coy. As he paced, he spoke slowly, his words crisp despite the faint Wu dialect lilt in his voice:
"Brother Cao, you're mistaken."
"Some things aren't so easy to avoid, even if you want to."
"It's good to know a little more."
He paused, then continued explaining the subject they'd been discussing:
"That Lin Ruhai was the top third-place graduate in the imperial examinations, with a cultivation level in the late Jindan stage. He held the important fourth-rank post of Salt Inspector in the Heavenly Court and was also in charge of the Jianghuai spirit veins... You naturally know all that, Brother Cao."
"But do you know the name of his wife, who died many years ago, or where her family was from?"
At that, Liu Sandao set down his cup, stopped walking, and turned to look at Cao, who stood beside him.
Back then, they'd had at least a little to do with the death of that dead man Lin Ruhai's wife. It had been a warning to him!
But Lin Ruhai had ignored it and stubbornly carried on. Otherwise, why would he have died so young? And why would things have come to this today?
"Lin Ruhai's wife?"
"Well..."
"That was so many years ago. I've forgotten!"
Cao thought hard, but in the end he could only shake his head blankly. He truly couldn't remember.
"Heh!"
"Fair enough. It was years ago, after all."
Hearing this, Liu Sandao didn't reproach him. He tipped back his head and drained the last of the wine in his cup, then turned his gaze toward the view of Yangzhou outside the window,