Leaving Evidence

With a muffled thud, Yuan Chengji's chest caved in, his ribs shattered. He flew backward and never got up again.

The foul-smelling room finally fell quiet.

Chu Ming stood where he was, his heartbeat slightly quickening.

He had expected a much stronger reaction to killing someone for the first time. After steadying himself for a moment, he quickly came to his senses.

He walked steadily over to the constable and confirmed he was dead before going to the lifted floorboard and looking down.

Inside lay three or four ruined, rotting organs, along with a bundle.

Chu Ming rolled up his sleeve, covered his nose and mouth, picked up the floorboard beside him, and used it to fish out the bundle.

There wasn't much inside: seven pieces of broken silver and a book stained with filth.

He looked around, found a garment that was reasonably clean, wiped the silver and book with it, then wrapped them back up.

He searched the room carefully again. Aside from some writing brushes, ink, and paper, he found nothing else.

The paper was a little moldy, probably because it hadn't been used for a long time, but thankfully it was still usable.

Moonlight spilled down as Chu Ming held a brush in his left hand and wrote quickly.

He needed to put down what he had uncovered that night and send it to Steward Fang.

He had never shown anyone his left-handed handwriting. Steward Fang wouldn't recognize it.

The constable Yuan Chengji was a mole and a murderer. Behind him were the Teahouse Owner, whose strength was unknown, and a little girl who seemed to be the Young Master of an organization that practiced some kind of Bloodthirsty cultivation technique.

He listed the people and two addresses, labeling them in detail.

The constable's corpse here, and the rotting organs beneath the floor, would serve as evidence for Steward Fang.

Taking advantage of the night, Chu Ming hurried back to the area near Wheat Valley Alley.

He chose an unoccupied spot, climbed onto a roof, and crept through the darkness toward the eaves by Wheat Valley Alley. Steward Fang was still there, though he had moved to a more concealed hiding place.

Chu Ming crumpled the evidence he had written into a ball, aimed toward where Fang Xiao was, and flicked it with his fingers.

"Hm?" Fang Xiao was startled. He sprang up and was about to give chase when something came flying straight at him. He quickly drew his saber and held it up to block. The paper ball only tapped the blade lightly before dropping straight to the ground.

Fang Xiao had no time to examine it. He looked around, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

"Agile movement, remarkable stealth... Just who is this person?!"

He searched below and found the concealed object at the edge of the eaves.

He picked it up and opened it. Fang Xiao's expression changed dramatically.

At the end of West Street, the lamps in the small courtyard were still lit. Xiao Shan stood by the gate, her face anxious and a little frightened as she waited.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the dark path in the distance.

"Young Master!" Xiao Shan's eyes reddened, and she immediately hurried over.

Chu Ming paused, then looked at the little maid huddled in his arms and sighed inwardly.

"Is there any food left?" he asked softly.

"Yes, yes..."

Xiao Shan hurried into the main room, then expertly carried the dishes into the kitchen.

Before long, the aroma of food drifted out, and the reheated meal was brought back to the table.

Chu Ming watched quietly. The food had been reheated, but he could tell it hadn't been touched.

Xiao Shan had been waiting for him to come home and eat...

Chu Ming stood, picked up the rice scoop, filled a bowl, and handed it to the little maid who had served him for more than twenty days.

Xiao Shan instantly grew flustered, her small face turning red. "Y-Young Master, this is what Xiao Shan is supposed to do."

Without giving him a chance to refuse, she pushed the bowl of rice back toward Chu Ming and served him some fragrant hot dishes. "Young Master, eat."

In the dim, swaying candlelight, Xiao Shan's flustered, frail figure was reflected. Chu Ming looked away and watched her calmly.

In this world, if anyone had truly treated him well, Steward Fang would only come second. As for the first...

If this girl knew I'd be leaving for Baiyuan County in a couple of days...

He picked up his chopsticks and took two slices of cooked meat. "Eat."

"Y-Young Master... I don't like meat..." Xiao Shan grew even more nervous, and a bad feeling stirred in her heart.

She didn't like meat?

Chu Ming sighed inwardly.

Xiao Shan was only a year older than him. She was still growing, just like he was.

In his previous life, girls aged sixteen or seventeen were in the bloom of youth, and delicious food was one of their favorite pursuits.

Xiao Shan didn't dislike meat. She just wanted to save it for him.

"Eat. You won't grow if you don't eat meat."

Chu Ming's gaze turned slightly stern as it swept over the little maid.

A healthy slenderness was beautiful, but Xiao Shan's thinness was unmistakably caused by malnutrition.

Intimidated by his look, Xiao Shan dared not say anything more. She could only take tiny, cautious bites of meat, chewing each one slowly.

Her face looked pained, as if she really didn't like meat, but her act was stiff.

As though if she ate slowly enough, the slices would be left over, and she could naturally say: Xiao Shan really doesn't like it. Young Master, you can have it.

Chu Ming watched for a moment, then lowered his head and ate.

Halfway through the meal, Xiao Shan suddenly asked, "Young Master, when are you going to Baiyuan Academy?"

She set down her bowl and chopsticks, tucked both hands beneath the table, and lowered her head. "Could you... could you take..."

Xiao Shan summoned all her courage, but in the end, she couldn't finish.

Chu Ming paused. Seeing the rice and meat untouched in her bowl, he felt a slight stir in his heart.

But it rose and fell in an instant, and he suppressed it.

He was going to Baiyuan County. It wasn't suitable, and he couldn't take Xiao Shan with him.

Baiyuan Academy was a boarding school. Xiao Shan couldn't come along.

Besides, the waters in Baiyuan County ran too deep. There was the Chu Family, the force that practiced Bloodthirsty cultivation, and many other unknown dangers...

He didn't even dare claim he could protect himself. How could he want Xiao Shan to leap into the fire pit?

Perhaps one day, when he was strong enough, he could think about keeping this girl by his side.

"Eat. I'm not leaving tomorrow. I'll leave the day after."

Chu Ming planned to stay another day or two and wait for news from Fang Xiao.

He spoke calmly, but to Xiao Shan, his words were like a blade of ice piercing her heart.

Young Master was leaving tomorrow or the day after—and he wasn't taking her!

The tears in her eyes welled like spring water, impossible to hold back.

"Does Young Master want more? I'll get some more rice."

Xiao Shan clutched the rice basin, pressing her lips together with all her might as she rushed out of the main room.

Her disordered footsteps, the clatter of the wooden basin falling, her faint, barely audible sobs...

Chu Ming looked outside with an impassive face.

The moon was bright and the stars sparse. The night breeze brushed gently by.

Ever since he had come to this world, some things had already been destined.

He no longer felt like eating. He stood and walked out of the main room. After pausing outside the kitchen for a moment, he returned to his own room.

He lit a lamp and read through the night.

After a long while, Xiao Shan brought the rice back. There was no trace of crying on her face. Seeing the empty main room, she quietly gathered the bowls and chopsticks.

Then she heated some water and carried it to Chu Ming's room.

"Young Master, the water is ready."

"Mm."

At Yuan Chengji's home on East Street in Willow Town, two figures entered quietly.

"It stinks!" One of them wore a Flying Fish Robe, with an Embroidered Saber at his waist.

The other had slightly graying hair and a deeply wrinkled face.

"There's a smell of blood." Fang Xiao's brows knitted. "It's inside."

The two gently pushed open the wooden door.

Creak—

Moonlight shone through the window, spilling across the floor.

Both were martial artists who had refined their blood and possessed exceptional eyesight. They took in the room's condition almost at the same time.

A corpse leaned against the corner, its eyes wide, as though it had witnessed something unbelievable before death.

Not far from it was a pit in the floor, with a wooden board beside it.

"The constable, Yuan Chengji!" Shao Pengshu, a constable of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, said quietly. "The information on that paper was true!"

"Not necessarily." Fang Xiao surveyed the room and, after confirming there was no danger, went over to the corpse and crouched to examine it.

Shao Pengshu, meanwhile, looked toward the pit.