Snow falls and the wind blows

Chapter 82

Zhan Yun slowly closed his folding fan, a hint of worry appearing in his handsome eyes: "I haven't slept at least one night."

On the street, Zhou Yufei walked beside Duan Chen, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. He glanced at Duan Chen's profile, then looked ahead and teased slowly, "What's wrong? Who dared to upset our young master Duan? Come on, tell me. We're government employees now. Anyone who dares to mess with young master Duan is messing with me, Zhou Yufei..."

So much happened yesterday. First, there was the mysterious, elusive man at the foot of Yu Liu Mountain, his words carrying hidden meanings. Then came Li Lingke's handwritten letter and the white sandalwood hairpin with its profound significance. At the restaurant, he learned that the case might be related to the Western Xia or Liao Dynasty. After an exhausting afternoon of examining the body and questioning, he returned to the Prince's Mansion. Finally, a mysterious woman claiming to be a descendant of the Jiang family appeared… Most importantly, Duan Chen took a deep breath. How could that person look so much like his mother? And although she couldn't produce a white jade bracelet or write in the Liu style of calligraphy, she knew many inside stories that ordinary people could never possibly know!

Seeing Duan Chen remain expressionless and silent, Zhou Yufei simply crossed his arms and squinted at the distance. After walking casually for a while, Zhou Yufei put away his usual carefree expression and whispered, "You should know that those two are crazy about you, right?"

Duan Chen was engrossed in the tangled web of clues, desperately trying to find the most crucial thread, when he suddenly heard someone speak beside him. He turned his head slightly, somewhat confused, but after realizing what the other person was saying, he quickly turned back, his eyes half-closed, and didn't reply.

Zhou Yufei chuckled: "Looks like you know! What, are you just going to drag this out like this?"

Seeing that Duan Chen remained silent and the corners of his lips were slightly upturned, Zhou Yufei couldn't help but feel annoyed. He turned to the side, put his arm around Duan Chen's shoulder, and turned the whole body of Duan Chen to face him. His words were tinged with a hint of gritted teeth: "You little brat, why are you so annoying!"

“Those two have known each other since they were seven, almost twenty years now. Zhao Ting is arrogant, but I’ve never seen him and Xingzhi even exchange a single glance. Don’t be fooled by the fact that Zhao Ting and I seem close; they’re always the ones ganging up on me. They’re practically brothers who would risk their lives for each other!” Zhou Yufei became more and more agitated as he spoke, his grip on Duan Chen’s shoulder tightening unconsciously. “Let them know who you like and who you don’t like as soon as possible. It’s okay if you don’t like either of them; the sooner they know, the sooner they’ll give up. Can’t you see they’re serious? After so many years of being best friends, can you really bear to see them turn against each other for your sake?”

Duan Chen looked at Zhou Yufei quietly for a long while before slowly saying, "I understand."

Zhou Yufei still didn't believe it, and pursed her lips as if she wanted to say something more, but Duan Chen spoke first: "I know what to do. I won't make things difficult for you, and I won't let them turn against each other. Even though you don't like me, you should still believe that I will do what I say."

Zhou Yufei had been staring intently into Duan Chen's eyes, so focused on her passionate words and trying to get her to listen that he hadn't noticed her expression. Now he realized that although Duan Chen's phoenix eyes were badly swollen and red, her gaze was clear as a mountain stream, serene and calm, yet filled with emotions he couldn't decipher. Realizing his grip on her shoulder was tight, he quickly released her, his expression somewhat embarrassed: "I..."

Duan Chen still had a slight smile on his lips: "You've said everything, you can go now."

Zhou Yufei nodded hurriedly, touched his nose, and followed. While reflecting on himself, he realized he might have been a bit too fierce... Young Master Zhou felt a pang of guilt, but kept comforting himself, for the sake of those two guys' future happiness, he should just consider himself the villain.

Zuo Xin had sent a letter inviting the four of them to lunch together, the location to be chosen by the group. Knowing they were busy investigating the case, they agreed to meet at the gate of Kaifeng Prefecture at noon. The four of them had been busy all morning, managing to interview all the relatives and friends of the four deceased, and then meticulously comparing and organizing multiple clues, and they actually made some discoveries.

Around noon, as soon as Duan Chen stepped out of the Kaifeng Prefecture gate, he saw a figure in smoky purple rushing towards him. Ignoring the expressions of the two people beside him, Xiao Changqing smiled and took Duan Chen's arm, leading him directly to the carriage, chattering on and on about what delicious food he had eaten and what interesting places he had visited in the past two days.

Duan Chen maintained a slight smile, seemingly enjoying the conversation. Although Xiao Changqing was talkative and mischievous, he was also very observant. He noticed Duan Chen's unusual expression immediately, and after glancing at the expressions of the other two, he guessed what was going on, but remained calm and continued recounting his interesting experiences from the past two days.

Zuo Xin watched from the side with a smirk, then turned her head to glance at Zhou Yufei: "Where are we going?"

Zhou Yufei lifted the curtain, gave the driver his name, and then grinned at Zuo Xin: "We'll treat you to this meal. That place is nice, but it's not the best."

Zuo Xin sensed something was amiss in those words and raised an eyebrow at the other three: "Is it related to the case?" He had heard about the recent deaths of several high-ranking officials in the capital.

Zhan Yun nodded: "We should gain something from this trip, but we'll have to trouble Master Zuo and Senior Xiao to accompany us. Here's what we'll do: once this case is solved, I'll treat you two to drinks."

Zuo Xin waved his hand, glanced at the person beside him with a hint of indulgence, and said with a smile, "It's alright. Anyway, we're quite curious about this case. We've known each other for so long, so let's not be too polite."

Xiao Changqing was gesturing enthusiastically as he spoke when he heard this. He immediately turned around, shook his finger at Zuo Xin, and retorted seriously, "You can't say that. We have to give Xiao Yunyun face for his hospitality." Then, he winked at Zhan Yun, "Besides, the places Xiao Yunyun likes are all good places, right?"

Zhan Yun understood the unspoken meaning in Xiao Changqing's words, and smiled shyly. She glanced at the person diagonally opposite her, then swallowed the words that were about to come out.

Seeing this, Xiao Changqing tugged at Duan Chen's sleeve and the two of them moved to one end of the carriage. He whispered in her ear, "What's wrong? Did one of them bully you?"

Duan Chen shook his head slightly, his lips still slightly curved, but his eyes were colder than usual.

Xiao Changqing was unwilling to give up and continued to whisper in her ear: "Did Xiao Yunyun bully you? If he did anything to wrong you, just tell me and I'll have Zuo Xin bite him to death!"

It was noon, and the streets outside were bustling and noisy. The carriage was quite spacious, so Xiao Changqing spoke in a very low voice, and even the others, with their profound inner strength, couldn't hear her clearly. Zhou Yufei and Zuo Xin didn't care much, but the other two were suffering. They vaguely heard words like "bullying" and "sorry," and all four pairs of eyes were fixed on the beauty's face, trying to glean some clues from Duan Chen's expression.

Zuo Xin didn't pay attention to anything else, but he heard the last sentence clearly, probably because it contained his name and came from that person's mouth. His lips twitched, and Zuo Xin raised an eyebrow to glance at the person, signaling him to behave himself.

Xiao Changqing didn't take it seriously, waved his hand, and continued to mutter in a low voice, "Before she left, Sister Yiyi told me that if anyone bullied you, I had to stand up for you... Don't be upset, at worst you can come back to Muzhou with me after we finish investigating this case, okay? We have a lot of books at home, all rare copies, and a lot of other interesting things..."

Xiao Changqing was shrewd; he spoke very softly for the first two sentences, but his breath became slightly heavier at the last two. If the people in the carriage had held their breath and listened carefully, they would have heard him clearly. Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the two men's expressions changed.

Zhao Ting clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and forcefully suppressed the urge to yank the person away. He thought to himself, "We've been so close all this way, and now you're trying to instigate Chen'er to go back to Muzhou with him after solving the case? What's so good about that wretched, impoverished place!"

Zhan Yun frowned, observing Duan Chen's expression, a sense of unease creeping into her heart. Yesterday morning, things had progressed considerably between them; Duan Chen's gaze towards her was noticeably different. He had replayed in his mind countless times the sweet words she had spoken, the blush that appeared on his face when she held his hand, even dreaming of it with a smile. But how could everything have regressed this morning? He hadn't even glanced at her all morning, barely responding when she tried to talk to him, his expression consistently indifferent. Zhan Yun felt a pang of resentment; she thought that experiencing sweetness only to be plunged back into suffering was far more unbearable than the constant torment she had endured before—it was truly agonizing!

Duan Chen considered Xiao Changqing's suggestion quite seriously and nodded slightly: "Okay."

Duan Chen's nod of agreement stunned Xiao Changqing. It wasn't that he didn't want Duan Chen to return to Muzhou with him, but his earlier words were meant to test her and Zhan Yun! Now, things had backfired. Even the usually quirky and clever Mr. Xiao was somewhat bewildered, his eyes wide as he stared at Duan Chen: "Ah? But, that..."

Duan Chen was somewhat puzzled and waited for him to continue. Xiao Changqing was so anxious that his intestines were tied in knots. He subconsciously turned his gaze to Zuo Xin—what should he do?

Zuo Xin hadn't really approved of him getting involved in this kind of thing in the first place, but seeing his pitiful and helpless look, she could only try to smooth things over: "I'm going back to Jingzhou in a few days. Didn't you promise me you'd come with me?"

Xiao Changqing glared, inwardly cursing Zuo Xin, "You despicable scoundrel, taking advantage of my misfortune!" But for now, he could only grit his teeth and continue the charade: "Right, right, hehe, I was wondering why I seemed to have forgotten something... Xiao Duan, that..."

Looking at the chaotic relationships among the people in the car, and remembering that today was the last day of the deadline set by his mother, Zhou Yufei immediately felt a headache coming on. He lifted the curtain and glanced outside, then whispered, "We've arrived." His words were like heavenly music, and everyone in the car immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Yishaohui is a restaurant. It's not large, but it's quite famous in Bianjing (Kaifeng). Especially among fish lovers, few are unaware of Yishaohui. The whole fish feast at Xixi Reservoir is unparalleled, but few in Bianjing can afford it. Yishaohui is different; ordinary people can enjoy a delicious meal there if they want to treat themselves.

The four men spent the entire morning comparing the victims, and the only small connection they found was that all four had visited the same restaurant, "One Spoon Fish Stew." Two of them were frequent customers, while the other two had happened to be there the day before their deaths. To be honest, even with this clue, the four men weren't sure what they could uncover. But so far, this was the only commonality among the victims.

Upon entering the restaurant, the group chose a table by the window. A waiter quickly approached, cheerfully asking what they would like to eat. Zhou Yufei and Xiao Changqing ordered from the menu on the wall, while Zhao Ting and Zhan Yun were still arguing about their conversation in the carriage, each somewhat anxious and worried, glancing at Duan Chen with hesitant expressions. Zuo Xin, having nothing else to do, leaned back in his chair and looked out the window.

Duan Chen sat by the aisle, subtly glancing around. He saw a young man standing at the next table, bowing respectfully. The young man picked up a piece of snow-white fish with chopsticks, put it in his mouth, chewed it twice, swallowed it quickly, bowed to the guests at the table, whispered something, and then quickly retreated.

Because he was facing away, Duan Chen couldn't see the person's face. Seeing that several other tables were in a similar situation, he looked up at the waiter waiting on the side and asked, "Um, what does this mean?"

The waiter followed Duan Chen's gaze and asked, "Oh, young master, would you like to eat pufferfish?"

Duan Chen frowned slightly and shook his head.

Zhou Yufei casually chimed in, "I'll eat. What's wrong?"

The waiter chuckled and explained, "It's like this. Our shop has a new dish this year called 'Pufferfish Sashimi,' which involves rinsing the pufferfish testicles once in cold well water and then eating them raw with a dipping sauce." He then glanced at Zhou Yufei, "Since this young master often eats pufferfish, he should know that while this method produces an extremely delicious flavor, it carries some risks..."

Duan Chen recalled what the owner of Xixi Reservoir had said earlier, and his expression darkened slightly: "Those people were tasting the food for the customers?"

The waiter nodded, looking completely matter-of-fact: "Our boss pays them wages separately. They can earn a string of cash a month, which is more than what we waiters make!"

Everyone present except Duan Chen had eaten pufferfish, and they all felt somewhat awkward upon hearing this. People say, "You'd risk your life to eat pufferfish," but in most cases, the risk is borne by the person eating the fish, or perhaps the cook is the one who tastes it first. There's no reason for an unrelated person to suffer the consequences. Seeing Duan Chen's slight frown, seemingly displeased, Zhao Ting waved to the waiter, "Alright, just those dishes from before, bring them quickly."