What Does His Wife Dying Have to Do with Me?

Song Xuan was not annoyed by those snide words. Instead, he nodded earnestly.

"You have a point!"

With that, Song Xuan raised his left hand, pressed two fingers together like a sword, and lightly swept them across the courtyard ground...

Ssshh~~

A crimson streak of Sword Qi over three feet long whistled out, a startling flash of lightning that plunged into the ground with a sharp hiss.

Then, before their very eyes, a long pit appeared in the ground, large enough to bury a person with ease.

Song Xuan spoke coldly. "There are only a few of us here. If any rumors spread outside, they can only have come from you two old hags.

"I have a rather bad temper. If I hear so much as a whisper of gossip, someone will definitely be lying in this pit!"

As he spoke, his gaze lingered on the faces of the two old women, who were trembling with fright. "Who do you think would fit best?"

At those words, the two old women could no longer hold themselves up and dropped to their knees with a thud.

"Young master, we're only servants, here to attend to the young lady. How would we dare spread rumors about her..."

"Young master, please be magnanimous. Don't lower yourself to quarrel with us old women..."

"Young lady, please say something! We don't want to die, we really don't want to die..."

The two old women sobbed, thoroughly terrified. His young cousin, dressed in a long emerald-green gown and as serene as a lovely blossom reflected in water, seemed startled too. She stood staring at the great pit in the ground, momentarily dazed.

Song Qian was the first to react. She circled the pit, looking it over from every angle, then exclaimed excitedly, "Brother, have you advanced to the Xiantian realm?"

"Not yet!"

Song Qian pouted in disbelief. "That was Sword Qi! You have to be a Xiantian martial artist who's at least condensed the Flower of Qi to use it, don't you? You're really not at Xiantian?"

Song Xuan waved a hand. "We'll talk about it later. I'm a little tired, so I'm going back to my room to rest."

As he passed Lin Daiyu, he paused. "Your constitution is too frail. You have the look of someone destined for a short life. If you have time, you could learn some body-strengthening martial arts from your older cousin."

Without waiting for her reply, he strode into his room, leaving his young cousin still somewhat bewildered.

"That boy doesn't know how to talk to people at all!"

Mother Song sighed helplessly. She had hoped to have Daiyu marry into the Lin Household, but judging by her son's attitude, he seemed to have no such interest.

They had barely met a few times, and he opened his mouth only to tell her she looked destined for a short life. What woman would like such a blockheaded man?

Song Yuanshan, however, gazed thoughtfully at the pit in the ground.

He knew that although his children had always kept a low profile, they were certainly not weak. But he had never imagined this. They were far beyond merely not weak-their strength was downright outrageous.

That evening, Song Qian pushed open Song Xuan's door and entered with a food carrier.

"You didn't knock again!"

Song Xuan sat cross-legged on his bed with his eyes closed and his longsword resting across his legs. Hearing the noise, he slowly opened his eyes and sighed helplessly.

Song Qian stuck out her tongue and hurriedly promised, "Next time, for sure!"

She set the food carrier on the table. "You didn't eat dinner, so I made you something in the kitchen. It's nothing fancy, but have some while it's hot."

Song Xuan rose without standing on ceremony, picked up a steamed bun, and began eating it with the two side dishes.

Song Qian poured him a cup of tea with practiced ease. "Brother, you really haven't broken through to the Xiantian realm?"

Song Xuan shook his head. "I'm still a little short!"

At that, Song Qian immediately grew excited. "You're already this powerful before breaking through. Once you reach the Xiantian realm, won't you be invincible?"

"You're getting carried away!"

Song Xuan took a sip of tea. "This world is full of powerful people. It's nowhere near as simple as you imagine."

Song Qian murmured an acknowledgment and dropped the subject. She knew her brother had always been modest and cautious. Even if he really were invincible, he would never admit it.

"Brother, that sword strike of yours really frightened our little cousin today. After she went back to her room, she kept staring into space. She barely responded when I spoke to her."

Song Xuan smiled. "She's spent all these years in the women's quarters at the Jia Mansion, surrounded by talented young ladies and scholars. This was probably her first time meeting people like us who wield swords and spears. It's only natural that she couldn't take it in right away."

"If she really wants to learn martial arts from me, should I teach her?"

Song Xuan considered for a moment. "Go ahead!"

For some inexplicable reason, an image of Lin Daiyu uprooting a weeping willow flashed through his mind. The picture was so beautiful that he even began looking forward to it.

The next day,

After breakfast, Song Xuan prepared to report to the office for duty.

He had been fairly idle lately. Since he finished the last case involving a serial rapist, the office had not assigned him anything new. Naturally, Young Master Song was happy to enjoy the leisure.

At the Inspection Office, Song Xuan and Zhao Dezhu each held a handful of sunflower seeds, cracking them as they drank tea.

"The Imperial Capital has felt pretty quiet these past few days," Song Xuan said, spitting out a seed husk.

"The Tian Household has fallen. Those bigwigs at court are busy dividing up the spoils, and the emperor wants to use this opportunity to reshuffle and balance certain factions."

Zhao Dezhu took a leisurely sip of tea. "There are plenty of powerful nobles in the Imperial Capital, and none of them are fools. The struggle for power and profit at court is at its fiercest right now. Nobody dares stir up trouble at a time like this.

"When those privileged young masters aren't causing trouble, the streets naturally become much quieter."

Song Xuan nodded.

Great Zhou had stood for three hundred years, and the Imperial Capital had no shortage of dukes, marquises, and counts. He knew all too well what their descendants were like.

The better ones at least knew to secure a position as a Third-Rank Black Robe Guard at the Black Robe Guard Office. They were still just coasting through life, but at least they had a job instead of spending every day with nothing to do.

The worse ones did nothing remotely decent. Bullying men, forcing themselves on women, and getting into brawls were practically everyday occurrences.

When Song Xuan had been a Third-Rank Black Robe Guard, he had rarely dealt with those spoiled scions. Now that he had advanced to the second rank, however, cases would come his way from time to time, and he would probably have to interact with them sooner or later.

The mere thought of dealing with that bunch who looked down their noses at everyone left Song Xuan feeling sick.

He feared that if he lost his restraint even once, he would end up burying a few of them!

After they chatted for a while, Old Zhao had business to attend to. Song Xuan got up to leave and was about to take a stroll through the streets when he saw Lu Xiaoliu jogging in from outside the office.

"Brother Xuan, hurry and come with me."

"What happened?"

"A wealthy gentleman outside the city lost his wife."

"What does his wife dying have to do with me? I don't share Meng De's tastes."

"It has to do with Song Qian!"

Lu Xiaoliu spoke rapidly. "There was nothing to do at the office, so Song Qian slipped away after roll call today. She took my second sister and your cousin out of the city for a spring outing."

Song Xuan's expression changed, and he frowned. "So they hacked someone's wife to death outside the city?"