Xu Fang
It was the dead of night.
Xu Fang wrapped her head tightly in a black cloth, stuffed a piece of bread into her bosom, and went out.
After wandering through the streets and alleys, they soon found a house in front of their door.
He peeked through the crack in the door at the light in the yard, squatted down in a corner diagonally opposite, took out a hard, flatbread, and began to eat it piece by piece.
As dawn broke, after finishing a piece of bread, the courtyard gate creaked open, and two women saw a man out.
Xu Fang shrank back into the corner, watching the man leave and disappear from sight. Then she chuckled, touched the cloth bag containing the dragon balls at her waist, and went to the outside of a courtyard wall.
Listening to the sounds inside the wall, he took out a cloth from his pocket, covered his face, took a few steps back, took a running start, stepped onto the wall, climbed up, and landed in the courtyard.
The courtyard where Bai Mudan lived was not large, with only one main room and two side rooms on the east and west sides. At this moment, the kitchen in the corner room next to the east side room was lit up. He went over to take a look and saw a maid boiling water inside.
Xu Fang took out the dragon pearl, entered the kitchen, walked behind the maid, and suddenly slammed her to the ground, then struck her a few more times, accompanied by a few muffled groans, before falling silent.
Xu Fang came out of the kitchen and strode towards the main room. Just as she reached the door, it was pushed open, and Bai Mudan, dressed in a light jacket, stepped out.
"Chun'er..."
She seemed to have heard a noise and came out to investigate. Before she could even speak, she saw a masked man holding a bloodstained weapon and immediately screamed, "Thief! Ah..."
The words had barely left his mouth when he was struck hard on the forehead and fell to the ground.
Xu Fang kept smashing the dragon pearl down until the Bai Mudan stopped moving, then she stopped.
"Damn, that woman has such sharp ears, she almost startled the whole neighborhood!"
Xu Fang cursed, reached out to check Bai Mudan's breath, and seeing that she was no longer breathing, she was about to leave. However, after taking only two steps, she stopped again, her gaze lingering on Bai Mudan's smooth skin.
"The girls from the Golden Branch Pavilion are so fair-skinned!"
He licked his lips, his lust flaring, and dragged the corpse into the room.
Just as they were enjoying themselves, the courtyard gate was pushed open, and the man who had left earlier returned, calling out into the house, "Mudan, have you seen my document pouch?"
After calling out twice without response, Second Master Zhao was about to call out again when he turned his head and saw Chun'er lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen.
Startled, he strode towards the main room, his eyes sweeping over the bloodstains in front of the door before he entered the house.
"Hey!"
A loud shout rang out, and a gust of wind rushed past the back of my head as a dark figure attacked from behind the door.
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Second Master Zhao shrank down to dodge the sneak attack, and at the same time stood up, thrusting his right elbow diagonally backward, hitting the man squarely in the chest.
With a 'crack', the man's chest collapsed, and he fell straight to the ground, still clutching the stone ball tightly in his hand.
Second Master Zhao glanced at the thief on the ground, then quickly went to the bedside and saw Bai Mudan lying motionless on the bed, completely naked.
He was startled and stepped forward to check her pulse. The next moment, his eyes turned red, "Mudan..."
With a roar, Second Master Zhao turned and stood before the thief, striking him repeatedly with his fists and feet until the man's bones were broken and he was no longer alive. Only then did he manage to vent his anger.
After a moment, Second Master Zhao tore off the cloth covering the thief's face, wanting to see who this thief was who had come to his villa to commit murder and rape his beloved concubine.
The cloth was torn open, Second Master Zhao saw the thief's face clearly. He was immediately shocked, "How come it's ' Plum Blossom Fang '?"
He had intended to report to the authorities later, but he recognized the man in front of him. He was a vagrant in the yamen named Xu Fang, nicknamed "Plum Blossom Fang." He had an affair with Cui'er, his wife's personal maid, and was a notorious rogue in Bei'an County.
If it were just an ordinary thug, killing him wouldn't be a big deal. But this man was a hanger-on in the government office and had a formidable younger sister. Now that he's been killed, he certainly won't let it go easily.
Moreover, Xu Fang was Xu Ning's subordinate. This man usually roams the streets and always causes trouble. If he finds out that I killed his subordinate, he will definitely extort money from me and might even distort the truth to seize my family business.
If this matter is reported to the authorities, the truth will depend entirely on the official's word, and the risk is simply too great.
Second Master Zhao immediately abandoned the idea of reporting to the authorities and looked towards the garden in the courtyard.
As dawn broke, the sounds of pedestrians could gradually be heard outside the courtyard. Second Master Zhao, holding a shovel, dug two large pits to bury people.
"Mudan, I'm afraid I'll have to make do with you for now. I'll give you a proper burial once things are settled!"
Second Master Zhao dressed Bai Mudan and placed her in a separate pit. Then he threw Chun'er and the thief's corpse into another pit.
A moment later, he covered the soil with it, tamped it down, and then quietly went to the door. Seeing that no one was outside, he opened the door, walked out, closed the gate, and left.
Spring and summer bring abundant rainfall, leading to the growth of lush vegetation.
In just over ten days, the neglected yard was overgrown with weeds, and they grew exceptionally lush.
On this day, thunder rumbled and rain poured down. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, igniting the lush weeds in the yard, which then burned amidst the heavy rain.
Strands of lightning formed tiny arcs on the ground, drilling into the earth.
Another bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, hitting the courtyard and creating a large crater in the ground, loosening the soil.
The weeds around the pit were quickly burned away, and the water slowly flowed into the pit, soon forming a small puddle.
"Splash!"
Suddenly, a skeletal hand emerged from the murky puddle, its fingertips clutching a thunder pearl.
At the same time, another bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, striking with a skeletal hand.
Lightning, guided by a bead of lightning at the fingertip, traveled through the palm of the hand and into the ground. A wisp of flesh sprouted from the bone crevice, covering the bone area, and soon formed a hand as white as a baby's.
The hand clenched and opened repeatedly, then pressed down hard on the ground, causing a puddle to rise and a decaying head to emerge, followed by a skeleton crawling out from the ground.
"Click... click..."
Fang Yu shook his neck from side to side, looked up at the sky, and let out a piercing shriek. "Thunder God, help me!"
"Boom!"
Lightning struck down, landing on the white bones. Countless lightning snakes and arcs of electricity roamed across the skeleton, and fresh flesh and blood regenerated. After being struck by lightning seven more times, Fang Yu took a deep breath and smelled the fragrance of grass and charcoal.
"I'm finally alive!"
Fang Yu sighed, and with a slight twitch of his fingers, the Lightning-Warding Pearl that could ward off heavenly lightning in the Great Scarlet Heaven was completely reduced to dust after he used it in reverse.
The torrential rain washed Fang Yu's newly reborn body clean. He strode into the main room, found a set of Second Master Zhao's clothes to wear, grabbed an umbrella, and headed home.
After being missing for more than ten days, it's time for him, Xu Fang, to go home.