Night Talk at the Yamen, Grudges Between Master and Disciple

Night Talk at the Yamen, Grudges Between Master and Disciple

Staring at Xiao Zihua's corpse, the corpse mover stood there leaning on his pole, with nowhere to vent even if he still had breath in him!

If it came to deception, the Ghost-Faced Man truly had not lied to him. Xiao Zihua had indeed been in the room.

It was just that this man was not alive.

"Damn it, we should've thought of it earlier. This guy came to this godforsaken place in the middle of the night—he couldn't possibly have come to cultivate his body and mind, could he?"

The corpse mover smacked his forehead and sighed, but the pent-up frustration in his heart still would not disperse.

—What had he come here for tonight?

Without a doubt, to capture Xiao Zihua.

But in truth, he had not taken this so-called mission to heart at all. The corpse mover had come tonight hoping for only one thing.

—To kill.

From the moment he learned Xiao Zihua had broken out of prison, his entire being had been caught in a state of excitement.

Though it did not show on the surface, the corpse mover knew there was fire in his heart.

Only an enemy's blood could quench that fire.

But when he arrived today—hey, the man was dead!

It was like on one's wedding night, after stripping the clothes off a coy bride who was pretending to resist, just as one was about to mount the horse and gallop toward Mount Wu together, reaching down for a touch—

Well then!

It was bigger than his own!

"You Ghost-Face! This guy was my prey..."

Furious, the corpse mover turned to look into the courtyard.

But in that wrecked little courtyard, where was there even half a ghostly shadow left?

That Ghost-Faced Man had long since vanished without a trace!

"Damn it, he ran fast!"

The corpse mover spat, then helplessly released a carrier pigeon to notify the others.

At daybreak, a night of wind and snow had draped all of Weishui in a layer of pristine white.

Whether common folk or merchants, everyone got up and went about their business. It was nothing more than an ordinary morning.

In the Weishui yamen's morgue, everyone had been sent away. Only two people remained in the room.

A fat man in official robes, a slovenly corpse mover, and Xiao Zihua kneeling on the ground while holding his own head.

—If the dead counted as people, that made three.

"It wasn't you, was it?" Only after staring at Xiao Zihua's corpse for a long while did the fat man speak.

"Nonsense. If I'd done it, I wouldn't have let him die so cleanly." The corpse mover rolled his eyes and muttered.

But his expression immediately turned grave. "Actually, by the time I got there, this bastard was already like this."

"This manner of death... the same as the Ji Family's Three Brothers?" The fat man frowned. "Could it have been that Head-Taking Ghost from the rumors again?"

"It was him. I even ran into him!" The corpse mover patted his head. "We fought too!"

"You didn't go all out, did you?" The fat man frowned.

"You think far too highly of me!" The corpse mover shook his head. "We fought, but I wasn't his match—but he was strange. He clearly seemed to have little experience in deadly combat, yet whether his physique or his techniques, both were first-rate!"

For the first time, the fat man revealed a look of horror—when he had first seen Xiao Zihua's miserable state, his expression had not changed in the slightest.

He sized up the corpse mover.

Though this fellow looked simple and honest, truly like some dull, lowly corpse mover, the fat man knew what terrifying power lay beneath that honest exterior.

Just one step short of Innate Grand Perfection!

A peerless expert who could trade blows evenly with Blackwater's notoriously fearsome chief!

And he still was not a match for that headless ghost?

"Just who is he?" the fat man murmured.

"Who the hell knows?"

The corpse mover spread his hands. "All I can say is that he should be investigating something—Xiao Zihua's limbs were all broken, and there were signs he had been interrogated. Oh, and he seemed to have some connection with Xie Qing of the Zhengqing Gang. When I asked how he'd found him, he told us to go find Xie Qing.

"Besides, this fellow seems to have a grudge against the Blackwater Gang. After learning that we were at odds with the Blackwater Gang as well, he exchanged a way to contact him with me."

"Oh?" A trace of interest appeared on the fat man's face. "An expert no weaker than you, who bears a grudge against the Blackwater Gang? That is truly excellent!"

After a pause, he nodded. No longer looking at Xiao Zihua's corpse, he turned and left. "Continue making preparations. The prefectural inspection will soon arrive. There can be no mistakes."

"Yes, my county magistrate!" the corpse mover said in a strange, mocking tone before vaulting out the window and disappearing.

Only the fat man remained, with a trace of self-mockery on his face.

"County magistrate?"

"Don't call me that."

"We remain in Weishui for only one thing."

"To make that bastard pay the price!"

On Qingfeng Mausoleum, while the corpse mover and Xiao Zihua were "reminiscing," Yu Chen drifted away. Using Yu Steps, he returned to Qingfeng Mausoleum.

After washing up, hunger gnawed at his belly. He cooked himself something to eat, sitting as he ate and recalling the information he had gained tonight.

First, he could be certain that his parents were absolutely not the culprits behind the Chen Household Massacre. The true murderers were several chiefs of the Blackwater Gang. The autopsy records had been altered under threats against Deadmouth, while Xiao Zihua had stolen his parents' weapons to frame them.

Looking at it this way, those who gave false testimony in Deadmouth's memories had most likely either been threatened as well or tempted by money.

Second, Xiao Zihua and his parents had long had a grudge against one another.

—During the interrogation after entering the room, Yu Chen had obtained even more information from Xiao Zihua.

At the beginning, seeing that Xiao Zihua had extraordinary bones, his father had accepted him as a disciple and arranged a position for him at the constabulary.

But Xiao Zihua had no other thoughts at the time. His head was filled with making money, making money, making money! Yet Yu Chen's father was upright and incorruptible, refusing to skim even a drop of profit. Xiao Zihua grew dissatisfied.

Then, one month before the Chen Household Massacre, the conflict between the two finally erupted.

—Xie Qing's earlier investigation had revealed that before the Chen Household was exterminated, one of their daughters had already been murdered. Yu Chen's father had handled that case.

As for who had murdered the Chen family's daughter, Xiao Zihua did not know. He only knew the man was both wealthy and influential. He had once brought gold and silver to seek out Yu Chen's father, but Yu Chen's father had been away at the time. Xiao Zihua had received the man instead and accepted the money, intending to pull some strings and set the murderer free.

Later, Yu Chen's father learned of it and bluntly declared that Xiao Zihua was unfit to be a constable, stripping him of his post.

Xiao Zihua bore a grudge because of this.

Then, just one month later, the Chen Household Massacre occurred. The Blackwater Gang found Xiao Zihua and told him to frame Yu Chen's father.

At the time, Blackwater's chief seemed prepared to use both carrot and stick, but that ungrateful wretch Xiao Zihua did not utter a word of nonsense. He took the benefits and agreed.

That was how all the later events came to pass.

Third, Xiao Zihua's position as chief constable also seemed to have been one of the rewards the Blackwater Gang had promised when framing Yu Chen's father.

This was something Yu Chen had not expected. Could the Blackwater Gang's power have already seeped into the yamen? Could they decide who became chief constable? Or had people from the yamen also taken part in framing his parents?

This would have to be investigated slowly.

But one thing was certain: the Blackwater Gang's chiefs were his enemies.

And from Xiao Zihua, Yu Chen had also learned that Blackwater's chief had seemingly left Weishui with gold and silver some days ago, headed for an unknown destination.

By the time his meal was finished, dawn was faintly breaking. Only then did Yu Chen rise and lie back on his bed, staring blankly at the old, broken rafters.

The truth of fifteen years ago was beginning to emerge.

And Xiao Zihua, who had brought his parents' weapons to the scene of the Chen Household Massacre, was one of the chief culprits who had indirectly caused the couple to lose their heads.

Today, he was dead.

Xiao Zihua was the first, but absolutely not the last.

Amid the howling wind and snow, the grave-watching youth seemed to hear the vow he had once made.

—Leave not a single one alive.

Since his parents had lost their heads because of these bastards' framing—

Then the killers' heads could rest anywhere, but they could not remain on their necks.

(End of Chapter)