El mundo de las artes marciales es un pozo

Capítulo 24

“That’s right,” Li You nodded, “but someone witnessed her hitting someone that day.”

Yang Nianqing did not question their insight and judgment, but pondered and said, "If she doesn't know martial arts, she naturally wouldn't know the Ten Thousand Poison Blood Palm, and she is definitely not the murderer, but she has been with Zhang Mingchu for so long, so she might know some clues."

Li You said, "I have already told her that we live here."

Yang Nianqing shook her head again: "What if she insists on not telling us?"

At this very moment—

The door suddenly opened, and a person walked in.

With a gentle smile always in her noble phoenix eyes, Nangong Xue straightened her clothes slightly, sat down, and winked at everyone, saying, "I just took a walk on the street. Guess who I ran into?"

He Bi was taken aback when he saw him suddenly become playful.

Li You picked up his teacup and said without thinking, "Mr. Chrysanthemum."

Nangong Xue was stunned at first, then shook her head and smiled wryly, "It's rare for me to tell a riddle, but I didn't expect you to guess it right away."

"For Brother Nangong to be so interested, it must be something unexpected, and someone unexpected," Li You said with a smile. "In autumn and winter, why is Mr. Chrysanthemum not tending to his chrysanthemums at his Leisure Residence, but instead coming to Jinling?"

"He was invited to make a medical visit to Prefect Wu's residence."

"What?" Li You immediately put down his teacup, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. "He actually makes house calls?"

Seeing his surprise, Nangong Xue smiled: "To be honest, I didn't expect him to agree at first either."

Li You was stunned for a long time, then smiled bitterly: "To be honest, I still don't believe it."

Nangong Xue actually blinked, a rare occurrence, and a playful expression appeared on his handsome face: "But then I heard something, and it didn't surprise me at all."

"What is it?" This time, the two asked in unison.

"Prefect Wu persuaded him with a pot of 'Spring Wave Green'."

Upon hearing this, Li You immediately leaned back in his chair, his long, slender eyes full of smiles: "So that's how it is. I only guessed it was a rare chrysanthemum, but I never expected it to be this one. It is said that there are only three pots of 'Spring Wave Green', no wonder he was tempted by it."

That's Qiu Bailu, the "Chrysanthemum Gentleman," the stingy fellow who kicked out his friend who had come all this way to visit, leaving him hungry. Yang Nianqing couldn't help but scoff, "He has such excellent medical skills, yet you still have to give him gifts and beg him to save people..."

Li You shook his head: "Even if we send him something, he might not be willing to help."

“He’s still the same old him. If it weren’t for that pot of chrysanthemums, he definitely wouldn’t have come,” Nangong Xue said with a smile. “He only said that he didn’t want that rare ‘Spring Wave Green’ to fall into the Wu family’s residence and be tainted by the atmosphere of officialdom.”

"What a hypocrite!" Yang Nianqing rolled her eyes.

Li You looked at her: "Do you know how the Nanshan Formation came about?"

"You grew them yourself?"

Nangong Xue smiled: "That's for the medicine."

"Medicine money?"

With a look of pity and compassion in her noble and gentle phoenix eyes, Nangong Xue sighed softly, "Whenever poor people fall ill but have no money to see a doctor, he tells them to plant some chrysanthemums to pay for their medicine."

Li You also laughed and said, "Since he became famous at the age of fifteen, those chrysanthemums are now enough to form a magnificent array of Nanshan formations."

Yang Nianqing was stunned.

"I was so engrossed in talking about these things that I forgot about the important matter!" Nangong Xue suddenly remembered something and said regretfully, "Just now when I was going upstairs, I vaguely saw Miss Liu Yanyan. I guess she didn't trust us and came to test us on purpose?"

He Bi immediately frowned and asked, "Where is she?"

Nangong Xue said, "As soon as she saw me, she darted into the street corner to hide."

After a long pause, he shook his head, a look of doubt on his face: "Strange, as you all probably know, she actually has no martial arts skills, but just now..."

He paused here, seemingly hesitant.

Li You looked at him: "How is it?"

He sighed: "When she dodged just now, from a distance, it looked like the movements of a martial artist. It's really puzzling, and I'm starting to doubt my own eyes."

Have you practiced?

The three of them were dumbfounded.

Although Nangong Xue couldn't practice martial arts, no one in the martial arts world would doubt his judgment. But what about Liu Yanyan? Was her martial arts skill intermittent, or was she truly possessed, as the madam Wang said?

He Bi suddenly stood up: "Let's go take a look."

Volume One: Why Find a Reason for a Night Visitor?

Lao Liu Lane was a quiet place to begin with. As soon as you entered the lane, the noise of the night market outside immediately subsided, and the air became calm. Not far away, a lantern hung in front of a house, and the dim light cast long shadows of four people, making the place seem even more deserted.

As she reached the courtyard gate, Nangong Xue raised her hand to knock, but then froze.

The courtyard gate was ajar.

Light shone brightly from the slightly ajar door, indicating that the person inside was still awake. But why wouldn't a woman's house be locked at night?

Nangong Xue hesitated for a moment, then knocked on the door a few times and called out loudly, "I wonder if Miss Liu is at home?"

No one answered.

He couldn't help but turn to look at the three of them and shake his head—this Liu Yanyan was clever enough; could it be that she knew they were coming and did this on purpose? Breaking into a woman's place at night—even the most shameless men would never do such a thing.

Immediately, all six pairs of eyes turned to Yang Nianqing.

Looking at the half-open door in front of her, Yang Nianqing couldn't help but shudder. It wasn't that she was afraid of Liu Yanyan, but ever since she entered this alley, she had felt that something was very wrong, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

With a heavy heart, she was about to reach out and push the door open—

On the ground, the figure suddenly began to sway, and a thin breeze seemed to seep through the crack in the door, carrying a faint smell of fish.

"not good!"

He Bi frowned, and with the hilt of his knife in hand, he swiftly flung open the courtyard gate and slipped inside first.

Four lanterns hung high on the door and eaves, making the entire courtyard very bright. However, looking at the scene before them, the four of them were stunned, like wooden statues.

Three corpses were lying on the ground!

On the ground closest to the door, two girls who looked like maids lay on their sides. Their young faces held the expressions of their dying moments: fear and panic. They must have wanted to escape but didn't have time. They had both been killed by a single sword through the heart. It seemed that the murderer couldn't bear to cause them too much pain.

The next moment.

Four pairs of eyes simultaneously turned to another corpse not far away.

She wore a purple top and a bright red skirt. She lay on her back, and on her familiar face, her once bright and lively eyes had lost their sparkle, staring blankly with a hint of fear and resentment.

From his chest to the ground around him, there was dark red blood that had not yet fully congealed.

Willow smoke!

Liu Yanyan is dead too!

The four stood there, speechless for a long time.

Finally, He Bi looked at Li You and said coldly, "It's a sword wound."

Li You clenched his fists, staring silently at the corpse on the ground. Beneath his long eyelashes, a rare rage flickered in his eyes. He had witnessed countless innocent deaths throughout his life, and no matter the circumstances, he always maintained a calm and collected mind, analyzing the situation with composure. Who would have thought that he would ever lose control like this?

The reason is simple, yet strange: it's harder to forgive a friend's mistake than someone else's.

“This definitely wasn’t his intention,” Nangong Xue suddenly patted his shoulder, then looked at the corpse on the ground, her face darkening. “We’ve ruined her. What did she know…”

Unfortunately, the dead will never have the chance to speak again...

Half a day.

Yang Nianqing, her face pale, said softly, "Shall we... go?"

He Bi nodded: "Go back first, I'll go to the yamen tomorrow."

Li You didn't say a word, and turned to leave.

Nangong Xue glanced at He Bi and shook her head. Just as the four of them were about to step out of the courtyard, a slender figure suddenly rushed in from outside.

"Who's here!" came a sweet, crisp voice.

The four of them were stunned; something unbelievable had happened!

Another Liu Yanyan!

Big eyes, small mouth, and the same purple blouse and red skirt.

Seeing that it was the four of them again, Liu Yanyan's expression became somewhat displeased. However, when she saw the three corpses on the ground, a look of fear quickly rose on her beautiful face.

"Xiaoqiao? Xiaoyue!" Nannan was stunned for a long time. When she came to her senses, she immediately rushed towards the woman on the ground who looked exactly like her, crying out, "Sister! Sister! What's wrong with you..."

Sister? Which one is Liu Yanyan?

The four people were speechless.

After a long while, Liu Yanyan finally stopped crying and stood up, her eyes red. She grabbed He Bi and dragged him outside, shouting, "You bastards! You couldn't get any information out of me, yet you dared to kill someone! Come on, let's go see the magistrate! I'll make you pay for my sister's life!"

He Bi glanced at her but didn't say anything.

Seeing that she couldn't move him, Liu Yanyan cried out again, "Murder! Quick—"

However, she could only utter half a sentence before she could no longer make a sound.

Li You let out a long breath, looked at her and shook his head: "Miss, why don't you listen to me say a few words first?"

Although Liu Yanyan's pressure points were sealed, she still glared at everyone with resentment in her eyes and an angry expression. It seemed that she had already decided that these four people were the murderers.

Yang Nianqing hurriedly explained, "Don't misunderstand, we definitely didn't kill your sister."

After saying that, she immediately pointed to the three people next to her: "His name is He Bi, and his name is Li You. You must have heard of them, right? 'Why bother finding a reason'—how could the number one detective kill someone? Also, that's Brother Nangong Xue. Do you know about the bloodbath at Nangong Villa? We're here to investigate the case. How could we harm your sister?"

Celebrities are indeed different. Upon hearing these names, Liu Yanyan's gaze indeed shifted from anger to surprise. She stared at everyone with wide eyes for a long time, then looked at He Bi suspiciously, seemingly disbelieving.

Li You didn't say anything, but patted He Bi on the shoulder, and a black iron plate appeared in his hand.

Nangong Xue smiled and said, "I've heard that Miss Liu is exceptionally skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Even if you don't believe us, you should at least recognize the words on this sign."

Liu Yanyan stared at the iron plate for a long time before finally exclaiming, "You really are..."

She paused, stunned, because she discovered that she could speak and shout again.

He Bi looked at her, his voice unusually less cold: "You must have heard about the massacre at Nangong Villa. I wonder how many more people will lose their lives in the future. Are you still unwilling to tell the truth?"

Liu Yanyan was stunned for a moment, then squatted down next to the corpse and started crying again: "If you hadn't come looking for me, my sister wouldn't have died. It's all your fault..."

Everyone fell silent.