Looking around, he suddenly noticed that a few words had been carved into the ground beside him. The writing was deep and crooked, and the words made Chen Xiao's expression turn strange.
The first sentence is: "You killed the Onmyoji, be careful not to cause trouble, pay attention to safety, and go home early."
The second sentence is even stranger:
Someone's got jealous! Good luck to you!
Chapter 209 of the main text: [Old man, you're ruthless!]
Zhang Xiaotao felt that none of her dreams had ever been as bizarre as today's experience. First, her girlish feelings were fulfilled; the person she had longed for day and night finally appeared beside her and embraced her. Then, that very night, she encountered this terrifying event: the strange man in red robes wearing a bronze mask. Although Zhang Xiaotao tried her best to remain calm, it would be a lie to say that she wasn't afraid.
In her dazed state, she didn't know how many dreams she had. One moment she dreamed that she was lying in Chen Xiao's arms, and the next she suddenly looked up and saw Chen Xiao holding her. Then suddenly he turned into that strange man in the bronze mask and red robe, which terrified her so much that she broke out in a cold sweat...
If Phoenix knew that her threats had actually left her rival with psychological trauma, she would probably be secretly gloating.
Zhang Xiaotao woke up as Chen Xiao gently massaged her with his fingers.
When she woke up, the first thing she saw was Chen Xiao. After confirming that she was being held in Chen Xiao's arms, she felt a sudden sense of relief and reached out to hug Chen Xiao's neck. But as soon as she raised her hand, she cried out in pain, feeling a dull pain in her neck, just like the feeling she used to have after sleeping with a stiff neck. Her head also felt a little dizzy.
Chen Xiao smiled and gently rubbed several parts of Zhang Xiaotao's head with one hand, saying with a smile, "Don't move around. You were knocked unconscious. When you wake up, your neck will be a little sore. Just lie quietly for a while, and it will naturally get better."
Zhang Xiaotao was indeed in considerable pain and dared not move. She obediently lay down, but her fingers were still tightly gripping a corner of Chen Xiao's clothes.
This was indoors, and the room had typical Japanese tatami seating. A stick of calming sandalwood incense burned in a burner nearby, its delicate fragrance filling the air and bringing Zhang Xiaotao a sense of peace.
"Tell me what happened," Chen Xiao sighed.
Zhang Xiaotao looked somewhat frightened as she lay there, recounting how she waited under the big tree and then encountered the red-robed man with the bronze mask.
The process was simple. After Zhang Xiaotao recounted the threats made to her by the bronze-masked man, how could Chen Xiao, with his intelligence, not guess who that man was?
He smiled bitterly to himself: It seems I was right. That person must be Phoenix.
Thinking about this, I couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
To be fair, Phoenix's actions in frightening Zhang Xiaotao seemed a bit excessive. However, she didn't truly have malicious intent. Otherwise, if Phoenix really wanted to harm Zhang Xiaotao, she could have easily killed her with a flick of her little finger. That intimidation was probably just the result of a girl's jealousy and resentment.
Although Chen Xiao felt sorry for Zhang Xiaotao being knocked unconscious by Fenghuang, he knew even more clearly that he was the one to blame. From his perspective, he had no right to complain about Fenghuang. "...Uh..." Chen Xiao's tone was somewhat unnatural: "I...I owe her a very, very big debt."
"That person said you owe them a life," Zhang Xiaotao said worriedly, looking at Chen Xiao with a troubled expression. "You...you don't have some kind of blood feud with them, do you?"
"No..." Chen Xiao shook his head and quickly said, "Don't overthink it. This matter is over, and I will find a way to handle it."
He paused, then added, "When I came to find you, there were two lines of writing on the ground. Who wrote them?"
Judging from those two lines, Chen Xiao was certain that Phoenix herself did not write them—Phoenix herself would not openly leave a message like "someone is jealous."
But Zhang Xiaotao couldn't answer that question either—she had already fainted when Lao Tian appeared.
The two talked for a while but couldn't come up with anything, so Chen Xiao simply stopped asking.
"Your head must hurt a lot. Sigh, why don't you sleep a little longer? Your head won't hurt anymore after you wake up." Chen Xiao took out a bottle of ointment from the side. This ointment was from Takeuchi Fumio. He gently applied a little to Zhang Xiaotao's neck and rubbed it in. Finally, after coaxing Zhang Xiaotao to sleep, he stood up.
His face was full of helplessness...
This is indeed a rather troublesome matter. Phoenix...sigh, Phoenix is, after all, just a young man not even twenty years old. Faced with this kind of emotional turmoil, he really has no clue what to do for the time being. He is still troubled, but cannot find a suitable solution. He also feels a bit guilty, which makes him even more depressed.
Seeing that Zhang Xiaotao was already asleep, Chen Xiao tiptoed out of the room.
This is a royal villa. Chen Xiao didn't know the specifics. He only knew that after the attack on Prince Akikichi last night, it seemed to have caused quite a stir, alarming the high-ranking officials in the Imperial Household Agency, and he heard that even the Emperor was alerted.
After all, Kyoto is the headquarters of the Japanese Imperial Family. In such a place, the residence of a member of the Imperial Family was attacked, and most of the Akikichi Palace was engulfed in flames. It is said that less than a third of the buildings were barely preserved intact.
This is the largest "terrorist attack" the royal family has experienced in many years!
This villa is located in a secluded place a few kilometers away from Akikichi Palace.
This place seems to belong to Takeuchi Bunzan.
This villa is surrounded by water on three sides and faces the mountains on the other, offering excellent scenery.
It was already past ten o'clock in the morning when the sky outside was bright. Chen Xiao walked out of the room and stood in the yard, stretching vigorously.
This separate courtyard was specially reserved for Chen Xiao by Takeuchi Bunzan. Takeuchi Bunzan's villa covers a vast area, even larger than Akikichi Palace, but the architecture is more rustic, lacking the elegance and refinement of Akikichi Palace, and instead exuding a sense of solemnity and grandeur.
Perhaps because the owner of this place is a martial artist, even the sound of the wind chimes coming from the corridor seems to carry a hint of killing intent.
Chen Xiao stood in the courtyard for a while when someone arrived. Chen Xiao recognized the person's attire as the same as the secret guards from the palace who were supposedly responsible for protecting the royal family, whom he had seen the previous night.
The visitor didn't say much, but directly expressed his purpose with the simplest gestures and a broken Chinese voice: Takeuchi Bunzan invites you.
Chen Xiao nodded; this conversation with Takeuchi was an unavoidable part of the process.
The newcomer was very respectful, but Chen Xiao could sense the indifference in his expression, and even a hint of arrogance and hostility towards Chen Xiao—it was only natural for a secret guard protecting the royal family to have such arrogance.
Stepping out of the small courtyard, Chen Xiao noticed that Takeuchi Bunzan's villa was quite different from other official residences. Two tributaries of the surrounding streams had been artificially diverted, dividing the original villa into several "田" (field) shaped sections. The flowing water naturally created several courtyards with multiple entrances and exits, dotted with several rustic stone bridges. Looking at it, Chen Xiao couldn't help but admire: This old Takeuchi certainly knew how to find a place to enjoy his retirement.
Following the guard to the gate of a secluded mansion, the man hesitated to go in and gestured for him to enter.
Chen Xiao noticed that there were four other guards standing around the mansion. Although the four men clearly saw Chen Xiao approaching, they didn't even glance at him, instead looking in different directions with their hands on the hilts of their swords.
"What era are we living in? Bodyguards still use knives..." Chen Xiao shook his head, muttered a couple of words, and strode into the courtyard.
In the courtyard, a small patch of chrysanthemums was planted, though it wasn't their peak blooming season. Nevertheless, stepping inside still gave one a sense of understated elegance. However, Chen Xiao couldn't help but feel a little strange: in Japan, chrysanthemums are a symbol of the imperial family, but according to Chinese custom, they are used to offer sacrifices to the dead…
Behind a large expanse of chrysanthemums in the courtyard, in a hall with its doors and walls wide open, Chen Xiao saw Old Takeuchi sitting there.
Old Takeuchi seemed to have taken a bath; the flush on his aged face from the steam masked the pallor from the intense battle the previous night. His hair was casually disheveled, and he wore only a loose white linen robe with no buttons on the front, just a thin sash tied loosely around his waist. Barefoot, he sat cross-legged on the tatami mat. Seeing Chen Xiao enter, Old Takeuchi simply raised his hand and said, "Please sit down."