The gossiping women in Longfeng Village who could not stand seeing his family prosper began pointing fingers and wagging their tongues. Their stories grew ever more outlandish, spreading from ten mouths to a hundred and snowballing until, by the time they reached his ears, neither child was supposedly his.
As ill luck would have it, each time his wife became pregnant, it had been just a few days before he went hunting in the mountains, leaving the timing somewhat ambiguous.
It had been fine as long as no one pierced that paper-thin veil.
But when everyone kept whispering the same thing in his ear, a story that was nine parts lies became the truth.
Nearly a year passed like this.
Qi Dashan went drinking at a brothel with his disreputable friends. After several rounds, they began chiming in about how neither of his children was his own. The girls drinking with them added fuel to the fire, offering example after example of men who were actually raising someone else's children.
As ill luck would have it,
when Qi Dashan returned home, his wife was nowhere to be found.
It was the dead of night.
Only his two children lay fast asleep in bed.
That
snapped the last taut string holding Qi Dashan together.
In a fit of rage, Qi Dashan actually grabbed the kitchen cleaver and hacked his son and daughter to death.
The day after the murders, his wife returned home to find her two children chopped into pieces, while her husband lay snoring soundly in bed!
Qi Dashan's wife could not bear the shock.
She went mad on the spot.
From then on, she stripped whenever she saw a man, regardless of his age, muttering only that if she slept with men, her children would come back to life.
The bitter irony was
that only after sobering up did Qi Dashan learn why his wife had been absent that night. His own mother had suddenly fallen gravely ill, and his wife had carried the old woman on her back into town to find a physician, saving her life.
To escape pursuit by the Martial Suppression Guards, Qi Dashan fled straight into the Qilian Mountain Range.
With such a vast mountain range, dragging him out would undoubtedly be extremely difficult.
However,
because Qi Dashan was at the Body Tempering Realm Second Level, the reward was correspondingly higher. Bringing him to justice, or bringing back his corpse, would earn three Ninth-Rank Merit credits.
Fu Shaoping's thoughts raced.
He had to return Heavenstone Archery in three days.
Before then, he needed to kill Qi Dashan and earn enough points to master the thirty-six key principles of Heavenstone Archery.
But the Qilian Mountain Range had hundreds of peaks. Searching just one would take most of a day. There was simply not enough time.
"Uncle Zhan, could you help me borrow a hunting hound from the hunting team?"
"I could, but even an early first-tier Wind Spirit Hound costs one Low-Grade Essence Stone a day to borrow. Have you thought this through?"
Fu Shaoping nodded and handed over his last five Low-Grade Essence Stones.
After taking the spirit stones, Old Zhan made a trip to the Hunting Hall.
Half a cup of tea's time later,
a series of woof, woof, woof! came from outside the door.
Fu Shaoping opened the door and looked out.
Old Zhan was riding slowly toward him on a Wind Spirit Hound that looked almost like a wolf. The hound stood as tall as a person, with a striking pair of ears jutting outward and flecks of red on his long nose.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
The Wind Spirit Hound barked several times at Fu Shaoping.
Old Zhan climbed down and steadied himself with his walking stick, then handed Fu Shaoping a jade whistle.
"This is the Wind Spirit Hound's jade whistle. Take it."
Old Zhan also explained the precautions.
After committing each one to memory, Fu Shaoping left the Hundred Households Office with the Wind Spirit Hound.
When he reached his new home on East Street,
he called over Zhou Pan'er, who was selling tofu.
"Pan'er, change your clothes and come out with me."
"Right away!"
Zhou Pan'er immediately left Zhou Xinxiang in charge of the shop. He was already eight, and children from poor families learned to shoulder responsibilities early. Having accompanied Zhou Pan'er to her stall since he was little, he knew arithmetic. After they acquired the storefront, Zhou Pan'er had spent over a month training him, and he could now mind the shop and conduct business on his own.
By the time Zhou Pan'er came out,
Fu Shaoping had already rented a carriage.
Fu Shaoping drove. To conserve the Wind Spirit Hound's strength, he specifically had him ride inside the carriage as well. They left Green Ox Town and, after traveling for over two hours, finally reached Longfeng Village.
Chen Dashan's home was easy enough to find.
It was the large compound with blue-brick walls and red roof tiles at the village entrance.
From a distance,
Fu Shaoping heard pipes and percussion playing inside the compound. As he drew closer, he saw white lanterns hanging out front and a large red coffin resting inside.
In the mourning hall,
a beautiful young woman in hemp mourning clothes sat with her hands bound. Upon seeing Fu Shaoping enter, she immediately rose and lunged toward him, her manner intensely seductive.
"Good sir, these ropes hurt so much. Could you loosen them for me? Once you untie me, I'll do anything you want!"
"Sister-in-law, you're acting foolishly again!"
A quick-eyed man in the mourning hall promptly pulled the young woman into his arms.
Taking a closer look,
he saw that the newcomer was one of the Martial Suppression Guards. He trembled in fright and hurriedly dropped to his knees.
"My lord, has my elder brother been brought to justice?"
There was a faint note of anticipation in his voice.
Fu Shaoping had read the case file. Chen Dashan was an only child, so the man before him was probably a younger cousin from a branch descended from his great-great-grandfather. He glanced at the large red coffin in the mourning hall, its lid still open, and saw an old woman lying inside.
His brow furrowed slightly.
"How did the old woman die?"
"My lord, my aunt was already in poor health. She had only just returned from death's door when she woke and learned that her two darling grandchildren were gone. She couldn't bear it, and her illness flared up again. They-they couldn't save her. Boo-hoo-hoo!"
The young man let out a couple of dry wails.
Just then,
Zhou Pan'er returned after asking around the village and whispered into Fu Shaoping's ear.
"This is Chen Dafu, Chen Dashan's younger cousin from the same clan. The clan records have already been amended to list him as a son of Chen Dashan's father, and he'll inherit Chen Dashan's property. As for Chen Dashan's mother, she died last night. A physician was with her at the time. Her old illness really did flare up again, and she died despite treatment."
Fu Shaoping nodded slightly.
He had Chen Dafu bring out several pieces of Chen Dashan's clothing and placed them before the Wind Spirit Hound's nose.
The Wind Spirit Hound sniffed a few times,
"Woof, woof, woof!"
The hound barked wildly and left the courtyard. Stopping and sniffing along the way, he soon reached the foot of the Qilian Mountain Range.
Clearly,
Chen Dashan probably did not know that his mother had died. Otherwise, he would surely have returned to see her one last time.
Fu Shaoping raised the jade whistle and blew softly. The wildly barking Wind Spirit Hound gave a few whimpers, then fell silent. Fu Shaoping said to Zhou Pan'er,
"Pan'er, once we enter the mountains, watch our right rear. I'll cover the left front. Be careful. He's a Body Tempering Realm Second Level martial artist and an experienced hunter. These deep mountains are his home ground."
After refining several packets of Blood Qi Powder, Zhou Pan'er had successfully broken through to the Body Tempering Realm Second Level. With the two of them and the Wind Spirit Hound, their lives should not be in danger as long as they did not venture deep into the forest.
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