Семь снежных ночей

Глава 6

Xiao Xun shook his head.

Ye Xiao smiled smugly: "If it were because Shen Rujun died here, and they were afraid someone would find any clues, they could just clean it up once and for all, and having someone live there could cover up the previous traces. Obviously, that's not right. The fact that no one lives there, and they clean so frequently... there's only one possibility: they're looking for something. They haven't been able to find it... and they're afraid someone will find it and take it, so they dare not have anyone live there anymore... and they're unwilling to give up, so they clean and tidy up carefully almost every day..."

"What could it be?" Xiao Xun asked.

Ye Xiao shook his head: "I don't know... A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime. Perhaps this is the reason why Shen Rujun died. It's also why I was in such a hurry to return to this room. Finding this thing might solve many mysteries."

"If such a thing really existed, it should have been taken away long ago..."

Ye Xiao shook his head again: "Shen Rujun isn't stupid. If the things have already been taken, there won't be anyone cleaning and searching for them every day."

Xiao Xun seemed to be deep in thought, and began to look around.

“If such a thing truly exists, it must be in an unexpected place. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been preserved until today,” Ye Xiao prompted him.

Xiao Xun glanced at the beam.

"They won't be there. They're all martial arts practitioners; who can't fly over rooftops and scale walls? It's easy to imagine them on the beams."

Xiao Xun looked at the gradually brightening dawn outside the window: "Should we wait until it's fully light before we start looking?"

Ye Xiao nodded: "That's interesting. Normal people would think of looking for something when it's well-lit. I've observed Wan San's movements. He disappears from the counter for about an hour every day around noon. I guess he's coming to the room to look for something like this... It's a pity that when it's bright daylight, even though the visibility is good, there are still some things that you won't see..."

"What is that?" Xiao Xun asked, puzzled.

"Far away, yet right before our eyes. The most unexpected places are often right under our noses. What is there that we don't need during the day?"

Xiao Xun finally realized: "The lamp!"

Ye Xiao nodded approvingly: "It's a lamp... I just pushed the gauze lamp on the table and found a small gap in one of the shades... It looks like it was taken apart and then put back together."

Xiao Xun immediately picked up the gauze lamp on the table and examined it carefully. However, to his disappointment, there was nothing inside. It was an ordinary oil lamp, shrouded in two thin layers of pink gauze.

Ye Xiao sighed, "The murderer isn't stupid. They must have checked inside the lamp. But you can't see something like this during the day." With that, he slowly lifted the gauze cover, lit the lamp with a tinderbox, and then covered it with the lampshade again.

The soft pink light immediately illuminated a corner of the room.

"Look at the lampshade." Ye Xiao seemed to be captivated by the somewhat enchanting pink light, and her voice suddenly became soft and melodious.

On the inner wall of the lampshade, some shadows appeared faintly, seemingly patterns on the gauze, or perhaps dust and dirt on it.

Upon closer inspection, they were characters outlined with extremely light vermilion ink on a pink background, barely visible without a light.

It seems to be just a random scribble, sixteen characters with no logic, a jumble of long and short characters piled together.

Ye Xiao spent a long time trying to decipher it before finally recognizing it: "Nianmei, not full, digestion, not wanting, stirring up waves, hitting the head, sideways, water." "Boss, what does this mean?" Xiao Xun noticed Ye Xiao's sudden drop in mood and asked cautiously.

"I don't understand..." Ye Xiao was annoyed, then suddenly gasped, almost dropping the gauze lantern in his hand.

Behind the two, a figure stood like a ghost.

Expressionless and silent.

It was that man in black.

"What... are you doing?" Even though Ye Xiao was usually bold, his voice still trembled.

The man said coldly, "When the young lady was pulling on me just now, she dropped something." With that, he held up an object in his hand.

It was a small silk flower on Ye Xiao's hair.

Ye Xiao tremblingly accepted it, thanked him, and then asked, "When did you come in?"

The man remained expressionless; in fact, his mask couldn't reveal his expression either. He didn't speak, but simply turned and walked away.

"This guy's lightness skill is superb; I didn't even hear him come in..." Xiao Xun muttered. "Boss, what should we do next?"

Ye Xiao watched the man in black leave thoughtfully, and after a while said, "My intuition tells me I should follow this man..."

Xiao Xun looked at her suspiciously: "Is your intuition accurate?"

Ye Xiao nodded vigorously: "It always works."

Xiao Xun said "Oh," and asked with concern, "Boss, can I ask again, how many times have you tried?"

"This is the first time..." Ye Xiao tore off the lampshade and stuffed it into his clothes before hurrying out the door.

Xiao Xun stopped in his tracks: "Boss, I won't fall for it this time..."

"How many days can we last with our money? If we can't find a rich patron, we'll be starving in a few days..." A voice drifted over from afar, which immediately made Xiao Xun quicken his pace to follow his boss, or rather, to follow the man in black.

Deceit and treachery

I followed that man for several days, but I couldn't find anything suspicious about him, nor could I strike up a conversation with him.

Perhaps because he was wearing a human skin mask, the man remained cold and taciturn. Ye Xiao tried to create opportunities for small talk, but the conversation stalled due to the man's brief and indifferent remarks.

Heading north.

Soon his purse was empty.

During dinner, Ye Xiao searched around for a while and finally found two fish that had slipped through the net in the corner of his pocket.

It was just two small copper coins.

Somewhat embarrassed, they handed the money to the restaurant owner, who glanced at them disdainfully, pocketed the two coins, and turned to go into the kitchen.

The two stood anxiously at the door, waiting hopefully for the owner to bring out some leftovers.

The boss finally showed up and unexpectedly threw over a large piece of something.

The two were delighted to take a closer look and discovered that it was a large amount of soybean cake used to feed pigs.

That night, Ye Xiao was still hungry, painfully enduring the rumbling in her stomach, while Xiao Xun had a rare, hearty meal, afterwards feeling bloated.

The next morning, they woke up with one side bulging and the other deflated, and they made the same decision in perfect unison: no matter what, they had to get close to that masked man today!

The two hadn't eaten anything in the morning, and by noon they were both so hungry they were dizzy. The man actually found a window seat in a high-end restaurant, ordered a few dishes and a pot of good wine, and enjoyed a delicious solo drink.

The two stood pitifully downstairs watching the man eat with relish, as if they could smell the enticing aroma of the food. Their eyes were glazed over, and they finally lost their minds and decided to go all out.

Driven by a sudden impulse, the two exchanged an encouraging glance and strode confidently into the restaurant.

He rushed straight to the table where the person was and sat down casually.

The waiter, seeing Xiao Xun's shabby clothes, originally intended to block him, but seeing the two men's imposing manner and their apparent familiarity with the diners, he held back for a moment. This moment of restraint almost cost him months of financial pain.

After they sat down, the two of them proudly refused to look at the food on the table.

Xiao Xun turned his face away, pretending to admire the calligraphy and paintings on the wall, while Ye Xiao smiled sincerely at the man and said, "Thank you for picking up my silk flowers last time."

The man didn't look up: "You've thanked me seven times along the way."

Ye Xiao was not discouraged at all: "I still have to thank you for your honesty in returning lost property..."

"Your silk flowers aren't worth much... I don't need them, otherwise... I wouldn't have returned them to you..."

Ye Xiao turned around and called over the waiter, asking the chef about his best dishes with great interest, and ordered a whole table of food.

The man watched Ye Xiao order with interest, and finally asked, "Aren't you going to another empty table?"

The waiter immediately looked at Ye Xiao suspiciously, but Ye Xiao was not intimidated at all. He looked at the masked man warmly and said, "It's been a long time since we last met, old friend. We should chat a little longer..."

The waiter finally left, and the man looked at Ye Xiao: "Don't we see each other every day?"

Ye Xiao nodded nonchalantly.

The hot and fragrant food was finally served.

The two devoured their food with tremendous gusto, until the shopkeeper finally came over to check on them.

Soon the bowls and plates were empty, and the two had no choice but to stop eating.

"Who's settling the bill?" The waiter sensed something was wrong and secretly prayed that his luck wouldn't be too bad.

Ye Xiao looked up and stood up, pointing at the masked man: "This friend will pay the bill together."

The man said expressionlessly, "I don't know them."

A wave of dizziness washed over him, and the waiter's voice trembled as he spoke: "...Are you trying to dine and dash? Don't you even know the reputation of Qiuyue Tower...? Our owner is..."

Ye Xiao glanced at the man in black, adopting a defiant attitude: "I just don't have money, so what? I don't want to hear your boss's name... I'm still young, I don't want to get married..."

The waiter was stunned; he had probably never seen such a tyrannical tyrant before.

Fortunately, the innkeeper was experienced and snorted behind her back: "What? You just want your meal money back! The girl's clothes are worth some silver... take them off to pawn... if that's not enough... sell her to a brothel... even though she's not very pretty, there will still be people willing to buy her in a lower-class brothel..."

Encouraged, Xiao Er charged aggressively at Ye Xiao.

Xiao Xunjun glared and was about to step forward to stop him, but when he received a dissuading look from Ye Xiao, he hesitated for a moment and shrank back.

So the waiter rushed in and grabbed Ye Xiao's arm without any resistance.

Ye Xiao looked frightened and gave the masked man a mournful look.

The man remained expressionless, but his eyes held a smile. At this moment, he finally accepted Ye Xiao's explicit and implicit suggestions.

"Wait a minute." A cold voice said.

The waiter obediently stopped and looked at the man with expectation.

“I can pay this money for both of you.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"However..." Everyone's hearts clenched again.

"My money is hard-earned, and I will never waste it meaninglessly."

The man spoke slowly, glancing at everyone, and each person listened intently.

"When I get home, I will repay you tenfold..." Xiao Xun said, immediately receiving a big eye roll from Ye Xiao.

I don't accept IOUs.

"Then...we...work for you for a while?" Ye Xiao finally asked the question that had been brewing in his mind for a long time, hesitatingly.

"Okay!" the man answered readily.

Ye Xiao felt a weight lifted from her heart, and soon a piece of paper was handed to her.

"Huh? A contract of servitude? You... seem to have... been prepared for this?"

The man nodded: "I've been planning this for a long time. You're in a tight spot right now, and I happen to need a couple of helpers."