Hearing that Houye was there too, Tang Qisheng and Zhu Jie raised their brows slightly. This did not match the clues Jiang Cheng had brought back. If Houye was still at the manor, then what exactly had been carried away in the coffin last night?
But they had no time to think it over. The group followed General Yuwen to the funeral hall outside the manor. Many people were already waiting there. An extravagantly decorated sedan chair stood in the center, sheltered beneath a huge gauzy canopy. Night had fallen, and there was no sunlight left. The person inside the sedan seemed to live in another world.
Through the gauzy canopy, they could just make out a figure sitting inside the sedan. The figure was very thin, and gave off much the same impression as Houye.
Seeing this, Jiang Cheng hurried forward, but a guard beside him blocked his way. The guard wore a saber and was surrounded by a murderous aura. Jiang Cheng did not try to force his way past. Instead, he bowed from a distance toward the sedan and called out, "Greetings, Houye."
The person inside the sedan seemed to hear Jiang Cheng's greeting and gave a slight nod. Then they waved toward General Yuwen.
Every movement of the person in the sedan seemed to betray weakness, as if their end were near.
At Houye's signal, General Yuwen immediately led Jiang Cheng and the others to push open the funeral hall's doors.
With a creak, the funeral hall's old wooden doors swung open, and everyone tensed. Perhaps it was the fading light, but the hall looked even more dilapidated than before. Withered plants lay hidden in the darkness around it, their branches splayed like skeletal arms pointing helplessly at the sky.
The Fatty warily surveyed their surroundings.