La lluvia escarlata inunda la ciudad

Capítulo 23

A gentle spring breeze softly ruffled the stray hairs on her forehead, and the young master's expression softened for a moment. His amber eyes, like a boundless sea, gazed intently at Chu Xia as he quietly said, "With me by your side, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Chu Xia suddenly stopped in her tracks, her eyes filled with complex emotions. She did not avoid the young master's gaze, but her body trembled slightly: "Young master, I feel... uneasy."

She didn't continue, and the young master didn't ask any further questions. He simply led her into a teahouse on the street, sat her down in a private room on the second floor, and instructed Qinglong, "Go and take a walk around the street."

Qinglong understood immediately, disappeared into the crowd on the street in an instant.

The shopkeeper claimed to be selling Longjing tea made before the Qingming Festival and after the rain, but whether it was genuine or not was unknown. Chu Xia took the teacup and held it with her fingertips. It was so hot that it stung a little, but she seemed not to notice and was lost in thought.

“Early summer.” The young master took the teacup from her hand, and with a little force, pried open her palm, revealing a large expanse of scalded red skin. His delicate brows furrowed slightly.

“Young Master, Madam’s death seems quite complicated.” Chu Xia came back to her senses but didn’t notice that the young master was holding her hand. She was focused on saying, “At first, I thought that He Butuo was the one who had an affair with Madam. Perhaps Madam discovered something and that’s why he killed her. He cut off Madam’s hair to vent his anger and make her death look terrible. But now… that reasoning doesn’t hold true.”

The young master chuckled softly: "Who told you that He Bu Tuo is the one who had an affair with the lady?"

Chu Xia's eyes widened: "Isn't that right?"

The young master sighed: "Girl, have you ever met my father?"

"Old master?" Chu Xia was somewhat confused. "Never."

The young master smiled and said, "My father's name is Jun Tianyou, and almost everyone in the martial arts world knows him."

Chu Xia said "Oh," and couldn't help but ask, "Then, between you and him... who's more famous?"

The young master smiled and said, "Perhaps it's him."

Chu Xia was slightly surprised: "So... you really are very famous."

"Back then, on the summit of Wudang Mountain, he sparred with the Wudang Sect Leader, Duanmu Daoren, and won within a hundred moves. From then on, the Jun family's swordsmanship became famous throughout the world. That's one thing." The young master looked at her childlike expression and continued, "Besides that, women who travel the martial world also admire his dashing and heroic spirit. In addition, his personality is somewhat romantic, so there are many anecdotes about him in the martial world."

As Chu Xia listened to him recount his father's philandering past, she couldn't help but interject, "Young master... you—"

A glint flashed in the young master's narrow eyes, and he asked, "What about me?"

Chu Xia wanted to say, "You are very much like your old master," but she hesitated because of his somewhat sarcastic expression, and could only awkwardly say, "Go on."

The young master changed the subject, a half-smile on his face, and said, "Girl, you didn't understand what I meant. I'm asking you, what do you mean by 'why not describe it properly'?"

Chu Xia paused for a moment and said, "Tall and thin, and his speech is somewhat... sleazy."

The young master then said, "This is it."

The twilight light fell on the young master's face, casting varying shades of shadow. His gaze drifted softly to the street beyond the railing, as if lost in thought. Chu Xia, looking at his profile, suddenly realized and exclaimed, "You mean, 'Having seen the ocean, one finds it hard to be satisfied with a mere stream'?"

Indeed… how could she not have thought of that? Judging from the young master's appearance, his father must also be a handsome man. How could a proud and beautiful woman like Lady Wangyun have become intimate with that lewd-looking He Bu Tuo after the death of the old master of the Jun family?

“That’s right. Tiangang is Tiangang, but the death of Lady Wangyun is a separate case. There may be no connection between the two.” The young master said in a deep voice, “Think about this…”

Chu Xia interrupted him, her voice trembling, "Does this mean... you have another enemy?"

The young master finally looked at her, his eyes filled with a faint tenderness: "Early summer, in one's life, lovers and friends are always more important than enemies. If you think this way, you will be able to let go of many things."

Chu Xia paused, startled. Struggle, death, betrayal—if one cannot avoid these things, even if one doesn't care deeply, it will still be very painful, won't it?

The young master looked at Chu Xia's still worried gaze and smiled deeply.

Everyone thinks they are omnipotent and no one ever questions them, as if whatever they say is right and right—only this little girl would call me a "liar" and look at me with such worry.

"If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have stayed at Little Mirror Lake and never come back," she muttered to herself. "This is so tiring..."

“Early summer…” His smile deepened, a faint, elusive affection brushing against her lips. He reached out to tidy her hair and whispered, “I just hope that the people I care about won’t be sad and can live carefree.”

Chu Xia hesitated for a moment before turning away, but she couldn't hide her increasingly red cheeks, which spread out like the sunset at dusk.

She hurriedly took a sip of tea, then tried to make her tone sound a little stiff: "Hey, I was just saying that casually... I wasn't really concerned about you."

The young master smiled with his eyes lowered, but did not reply.

In this bustling teahouse, only this place has fallen silent, as if everyone is pondering their own thoughts.

Suddenly, a commotion arose outside the teahouse's private seating area. Someone sat down and called out, "Waiter, a bowl of tea and a plate of crystal cakes."

"Hey, Officer He, you're off duty so early?"

"No way! I just took some time out to grab a bite. Damn it, another girl died in Zhulin Lane."

"Yeah, yeah, so, did you catch them?"

"The higher-ups are pressing us hard, but where can we find the murderer in this short time?" The head constable sighed. "The dead had their heads shaved—and their deaths were so bizarre."

Chu Xia listened intently, and looking through the bamboo curtain, she saw more and more people gathering around Constable He, obviously out of curiosity, and they began to ask questions all at once.

Having become the center of attention, Constable He took a sip of tea, a hint of smugness appearing on his slightly chubby face, and slowly said, "You all don't know... this case is not simple."

"How is it not simple?"

"Officer He, stop keeping us in suspense! Tell us quickly."

He, the head constable, coughed and deliberately lowered his voice: "Yesterday, an old constable came to the county office. He happened to hear about the recent series of murders in Zhulin Lane. His face turned ashen, and he kept saying it was a ghost."

The teahouse grew increasingly quiet. Someone was so engrossed in listening that they spilled hot water on their hand and cried out in pain, immediately drawing glares from many.

"Guess what happened? It turns out that more than ten years ago, this Bamboo Grove Alley was called Green Willow Alley. Back then, a girl died in the same way—and someone set fire to the entire alley. According to the old constable, more than ten years ago, several people witnessed a vengeful ghost claiming lives that night!"

Chapter Twenty-Two (Part Two)

Someone gasped dramatically, asking in a trembling voice, "What... a vengeful ghost?"

“You vengeful ghost, take one breath and your life is over!” Officer He recounted vividly. “Alas, the night after that girl died, this strange fire was lit, and within two days, eighty-seven people died in the alley. Some of those who saw the ghost were neighbors from the neighborhood, and they all died on the third day.”

Chu Xia listened intently, almost moving half her body off the stool. As more and more people surrounded Constable He, she could barely hear clearly, and she became increasingly anxious.

call……

On this warm spring day, Chu Xia suddenly felt a slight chill on the back of her neck. She remembered the description by Constable He of the vengeful ghost sucking away people's vital energy, and her hair stood on end. Trembling, she turned around and glanced back, only to find the young master calmly drinking tea, and there was no one else around.

Chu Xia reached out and touched the back of her neck, then sat up slightly and continued to listen to what Constable He was saying.

"Hey Officer He, Green Willow Lane is such a long alley, didn't a single person survive?"

"Well..." Officer He pondered for a moment, then began to keep everyone in suspense again.

"Huff... huff..."

This time, Chu Xia truly felt a chill on the back of her neck. Her whole body stiffened, and she only dared to glance at the strands of hair at her temples out of the corner of her eye, which were indeed trembling.

"ah--"

A piercing scream startled everyone in the teahouse into a panic.

The scream came from a private room. The waiter rushed to the door and asked in a panic, "Sir, what's wrong?"

Through the bamboo curtain, a deep, pleasant male voice came out, calm and undisturbed: "It's nothing."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and surrounded Constable He, saying, "Continue."

Officer He glanced at Chen Guang and shook his head, saying, "Next time, next time, I have to go on duty. Alas, this world is truly not peaceful."

The private room was in complete disarray.

Chu Xia clung to the young master's neck, refusing to let go. The young master put an arm around her, whispering comfortingly, "It's not a ghost, it's just the Azure Dragon teasing you..."

Chu Xia turned around and, sure enough, saw Qinglong standing behind her with a startled expression. She was immediately filled with shame and anger, grabbed a large pear from the table, and threw it at him.

Qinglong caught it easily, took a bite, and said with a grin, "Chuxia, you're still so timid... There are no ghosts in this world!"

"You...you!" Chu Xia straightened up, her face flushed. "Did you blow that first breath just now?"

"Uh..." Qinglong glanced at the young master. That's right, he had quietly climbed in through the window and gently blew the first breath. Of course, the young master had noticed, but he didn't say anything, seemingly giving his consent.

"Is that so?" Chu Xia asked again.

"It's me. By the time you turned around, I had already crawled under the table." Qinglong was quite proud of his agile skills.

Chu Xia glared at him coldly for a long time before turning her head and looking directly at the young master: "You're not a good person either!"

The young master raised his eyebrows slightly, his smile unusually innocent.

"You clearly saw it! Why didn't you tell me!" Chu Xia said angrily, then turned and left.

"Uh, young master... her temper is getting worse and worse..." Qinglong looked at Chuxia's back with lingering fear, thinking to himself, she even dares to yell at the young master.

The young master held a peanut between his slender fingers and flicked it lightly. The peanut, like an iron bodhi seed, shot straight toward the Azure Dragon's chest with a gust of wind.

The force and the precise location of the acupoints were far superior to the fruit that Chu Xia had carelessly tossed out earlier. Qinglong was terrified, but then he saw the peanut hurtling towards his Xuanji acupoint with incredible speed, forcing him to lean back to avoid it. The second peanut followed immediately, and this time Qinglong had no chance to dodge. His Juque acupoint was struck, and he stood frozen in place, unable to move.

The young master stood up and walked straight out the door.

Qinglong stared at him longingly, and as he passed by, she pitifully said, "Young Master..."

The young master stopped in his tracks: "What is it?"

"You're just going to abandon me like this?" Qinglong asked with a mournful face, estimating the young master's strength; he knew the pressure points wouldn't be released for at least half an hour.

The young master showed no mercy, saying calmly, "Your city gate is on fire, but I've become a fish in the moat." With that, he turned and left without looking back.

Qinglong was truly helpless; he could only stand motionless in the private room with a bitter face and a ridiculous posture.

The waiter came in to tidy up, but seeing him standing there, he exclaimed in surprise, "Sir, what... what's going on?"

"Damn it, what are you looking at? Get out!" Qinglong roared in a fit of rage.

The waiter was startled and quickly went outside.

Just then, a sweet laugh rang out from outside, and a girl in a lotus-colored dress darted in. She looked at Qinglong's embarrassed posture, glanced around slowly, and said, "Young master, your skills have improved greatly again."

"Untie me now!" Azure Dragon glared angrily.

Bai Xue sat down in the armchair, supporting her chin with one hand, and leisurely tasted a green plum.

"Hey, are you blind!"

The setting sun fell on the snow-white snow, and the girl smiled radiantly. She sipped a green plum and said softly, "Little Green Dragon, one day, you'll die of stupidity."

Qinglong simply closed his eyes and ignored her.

"You said you went to provoke Chu Xia, why didn't the young master stop you? Now he's acupunctured you and left you here?"

"How could I possibly guess what you're thinking, young master?" Qinglong, having held back for so long, finally roared.

"Sister will tell you what happened." Bai Xue smiled gently. "Young master, we're just waiting for you to scare Chu Xia. As for him, with a beauty in his arms, why wouldn't he be happy?"

Uh… Qinglong’s face turned pale and then red. How could the young master be this kind of person?