He Xiaolan 4

Sure enough, events unfolded just as he had expected. He had only just told his master and mistress what his senior brother had done, and before they had even had time to take in the news that had caught them off guard, He Xiaolan came knocking.

When He Xiaolan met Qi Mushan, she gave him a perfunctory bow and went straight to the point. "Li Xiangyi must have already told you everything about Shan Gudao?"

Qi Mushan's expression was grim. "In this matter, I have wronged you, miss. Whatever you wish to do, we of Mount Yun Yin will accept it."

He Xiaolan said magnanimously, "It seems you are a reasonable man, Senior Qi. In that case, I have already taken Shan Gudao's life, and I've had my vent. There is just one matter on which I would still like to consult you, Senior."

Hearing He Xiaolan mention Shan Gudao's death so lightly, then seemingly decline to pursue the matter further out of great magnanimity, Qi Mushan couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.

This young woman was just as Xiangyi had said. In her actions, she was very, well, very self-centered.

But Shan Gudao had done worse things besides betraying the young woman and deceiving her out of both her body and her heart. Qi Mushan truly had no grounds to pursue the matter, so he could only continue in a good-natured tone. "Please go ahead, miss."

He Xiaolan said, "When I was with Shan Gudao, I happened to discover that he had a mysterious force at his command, and that he had also been investigating Nanyin all along. I killed Shan Gudao, and I fear that force might seek revenge for him and harm my Heavenly Secret Manor. Might you know what connection Shan Gudao had to Nanyin, Senior?"

Li Xiangyi muttered inwardly, If Master weren't so righteous, did you come to Mount Yun Yin intending to pull the grass up by its roots too?

Qi Mushan looked startled. He asked gravely, "Are you certain, miss? Nanyin people and Nanyin affairs?"

He Xiaolan nodded. "I saw some letters. The writing in them was indeed Nanyin script. He also asked me about some mechanical devices and treasures, and I discovered that some of them were Nanyin treasures as well."

Qi Mushan's expression gradually changed. He exchanged a glance with Qin Po, then suddenly asked, "Forgive the abrupt question, but I heard you once had a son, miss. Was he Gudao's blood?"

He Xiaolan looked disgusted. "Unfortunately, yes. Luckily, though, he takes after me."

Li Xiangyi muttered inwardly, Just how much does she dislike Senior Brother's looks?

Qi Mushan thought for a moment, then said, "That wretched disciple Shan Gudao really was nothing more than a beggar by birth. These Nanyin matters do indeed have some connection to Mount Yun Yin. As for whether he was involved, my wife and I will need to verify that. This matter is top secret, so I hope you can give me some time to think it over, miss."

Seeing that He Xiaolan still wanted to press for answers, Li Xiangyi cut her off before she could speak. Though he did not know what his master was hesitating over, he did not want to put him in a difficult position. "Miss He, I suspect the people who wiped out the He Household back then were the subordinates of my senior brother you mentioned. Why don't you and I investigate that force together, and give my master some time as well?"

He Xiaolan turned to look at him. "What He Household is this? How can you be sure their massacre had anything to do with Shan Gudao?"

Li Xiangyi felt somewhat helpless. "Do you remember the little boy you saved, miss? He is the sole surviving orphan of the He Household."

In He Xiaolan's eyes, Shan Gudao was nothing but a jumping clown. Apart from his false identity as a Nanyin crown prince, which made her laugh, she had simply finished him off with a single stroke of her sword in her previous lives. As a result, she had devoted no effort at all to investigating what he had done before.

Thus, she also had no idea that Shan Gudao had once wiped out an entire household for Cloud Iron.

After thinking it over, however, she decided that if Shan Gudao really had wiped out the He Household, she could follow the vine to find the melon and track down Feng Qing and his people all the same. So she agreed to Li Xiangyi's suggestion.

Only after He Xiaolan and Li Xiangyi had left did Qi Mushan, his mind full of worries, say to Qin Po, "I remember that when Shan Gudao first came to Mount Yun Yin, didn't he have a jade pendant that belonged to Xiangxian? Do you think Shan Gudao might have been mistaken for a surviving Nanyin orphan because of that pendant?"

Qin Po thought back. She had indeed seen that jade pendant on Xiangxian when they visited the Li Household; it seemed to be a family heirloom. "It was Xiangxian's pendant, all right. But now that the wretched disciple is dead, what are you still worried about? Let them go on mistaking him. Xiangyi will be safer for it.

"As for the Heavenly Secret Manor, if Xiangyi takes extra care of them, he should be able to keep them safe."

"Have you forgotten what He Xiaolan said? She bore Gudao a child. Those Nanyin survivors are all terribly single-minded. What if they seek out that child, still harboring their wicked ambitions? What will we do then?

"I fear we can't keep this matter hidden."

Hearing Qi Mushan say this gave Qin Po a headache too, but she still said, "Let's search that wretched disciple's room first and see if there are any clues."

Shan Gudao had later lived with Qin Po, so after learning what he had done, she found it even harder to accept emotionally. She was no longer willing even to mention his name.

Afterward, the two of them did indeed find letters exchanged between Shan Gudao and the Nanyin people in his childhood room, as well as a box of gifts Li Xiangyi had given him that he had ruined and discarded.

Not only Qin Po but even Qi Mushan trembled with anger. "That wretched disciple! Not only was he wildly ambitious, it seems he was also full of hatred for Xiangyi. Wretched disciple, wretched disciple!"

Leaving aside how Qi Mushan and Qin Po blamed themselves on Mount Yun Yin for failing to teach Shan Gudao properly, Li Xiangyi and He Xiaolan rode together at full speed to the former site of the He Household.

Li Xiangyi felt a little awkward on the road. After all, the last time they had met, he had drawn his weapon against her without knowing right from wrong. Now, however, he had discovered that she was the injured party, and that she had even saved an innocent child who had nearly died at his senior brother's hands.

Thinking of the child He Xiaolan had mentioned, he took the initiative to speak. "Miss He, your child must be three by now. Has he begun practicing martial arts?"

He Xiaolan answered perfunctorily, "My elder sister has always looked after Xiaobao. I'm not sure myself."

Li Xiangyi thought, It seems she hates Shan Gudao to the bone, so much so that she can't even bear to look at his child.

Li Xiangyi continued, "If the child wants to learn martial arts, he can come find me in the future."

Li Xiangyi was not simply being a softhearted do-gooder. It was just that Shan Gudao had wronged He Xiaolan, and He Xiaolan did not seem to pay much attention to the child called Xiaobao either. His senior brother had already gone down a crooked path, and he did not want his senior brother's child to take the wrong path in the end as well.

After all, unlike in the previous life, although Shan Gudao had done evil, he had not yet betrayed his master and disgraced his lineage. Li Xiangyi felt that he deserved to die, but he still acknowledged him as his senior brother.

He Xiaolan thought for a moment and replied only, "We'll see."

She herself had no patience for raising a child, and once her elder sister He Xiaohui had children of her own, why add to her burden? Once He Xiaobao was a little older, it would be rather good to toss him onto Mount Yun Yin. In any case, apart from Shan Gudao, everyone there was decent enough.

And so, in this life, the master Fang Duobing had begged for in vain in his previous life was, just like that, more or less delivered to his door with a few casual words.