Семь снежных ночей

Глава 33

"Let's look at it tomorrow and then we'll talk about it. If all else fails, we can just search for it tree by tree..." Xiao Xun was quite optimistic.

It was noon. The former site of Tianbao Inn was now a bustling construction site. Dozens of people were rebuilding the silk-refining workshop. Slow and steady wins the race, and to ensure quality, they dug three feet into the ground, carefully searching every inch of the land.

"Excuse me, is Mr. Wan here?" a male voice called out from outside.

A foreman-like man supervising the scene immediately turned around and saw a tall man with a憨笑 (a kind of simple, honest smile).

"What do you want with our boss, Mr. Wan?" the foreman asked with a forced smile, secretly making a gesture behind his back with his right hand, and whispering to one of his men, "Report to Chief Qin immediately."

"Oh, it's nothing. I just asked someone to pass on a message to Boss Wan." The man said blankly, "Is Boss Wan here or not?"

The foreman moved swiftly, already gripping the man's neck. "Who are you? What message are you carrying for him?"

The man seemed taken aback, his face turning a deep purplish-red. He struggled to utter a few incomplete words: "I... my name is Zhang Laoshi, a local... someone just gave me three taels of silver... and asked me to come and deliver a message to Boss Wan, saying to wait for him at Hanshan Temple outside the city... sir, I didn't do anything... I'm innocent..."

The foreman loosened his grip and twisted the man's arm, and the man, clutching his neck, coughed violently and fell to the ground. He stared in fear at the foreman's burly face, opened his mouth as if to accuse him, hesitated for a moment, and finally didn't dare to speak.

The foreman sneered, "You can earn three taels of silver without doing anything? Damn it! I work hard all day and don't even earn three taels of silver..." Suddenly, an idea struck him. He bent down and searched Zhang Laoshi's body. Sure enough, he found a silver ingot worth about three taels. He spat at Zhang Laoshi with a hint of jealousy and happily accepted the silver.

Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps sounded in the arena, and a man with a hooked nose appeared: "Old Chang, someone's here looking for Wan San?"

The foreman, known as Lao Chang, respectfully addressed Chief Qin in a low voice and reported to him exactly what had just happened.

Chief Qin ordered Lao Chang to take Zhang Laoshi to the woodshed and wait for him to return so he could deal with him. He quickly selected about twenty elite men and headed straight for Hanshan Temple.

The pitiful Zhang Laoshi hung his head, being dragged into the woodshed by Lao Chang. "Zhang Laoshi, you're not honest at all! Still thinking there'll be a free lunch? Now you stay here obediently! We'll deal with you, you idiot, when Chief Qin comes back!" Lao Chang said, kicking Zhang Laoshi to the ground viciously. He turned to close the woodshed door, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck and lost consciousness.

Zhang Laoshi strolled over, looked at the unconscious man on the ground, and sighed: "My mother taught me from a young age that I would never be greedy for small gains. You know that there's no such thing as a free lunch, so how can you believe that the enemy will come to you on their own?" After saying that, he tiptoed out, muttering to himself, "I wonder how things are going with the eldest and second eldest brothers?"

Fathead Fish, a waiter at Yulouchun, laboriously drove an oxcart loaded with food boxes through the cobblestone alley. Although Yulouchun was just a restaurant, it was said to have a powerful background and connections with many people in the martial arts world. Therefore, this time they received a fairly large order to deliver meals to the workers in the renovation workshops of Tianbao Inn every day.

Fathead Fish had heard about what happened at Tianbao Inn, as it had once been a competitor of Yulouchun. However, he was still somewhat surprised that Tianbao Inn was to be transformed into a silk-refining workshop. The location was convenient, and the surrounding scenery was beautiful; it would be a waste of such a good location and auspicious feng shui not to be used as an inn!

However, even if it's all wasted, it's not his loss. Fathead Fish thought the owner who took over Tianbao Inn was a real sucker. When he delivered the food, he found that there were about forty or fifty strong men working, and they were all slacking off. For two whole months, the entire building was almost unchanged, except that the soil in the yard had been dug up! Anyone who didn't know better would think they were going to plant potatoes! But the owner wasn't angry at all, letting them dawdle, and even serving them good food.

"Everyone has their own fate," Fathead Fish sighed with a hint of envy. Unlike the waiters at Jade Pavilion, who worked from dawn till dusk every day, their monthly wages were still meager. Thinking this, Fathead Fish drove the oxcart into an alley. Just one more street away, he suddenly felt a numbness in his waist and lost consciousness.

Ye Xiao and Luo Qingcheng arrived at Tianbao Inn in their oxcart. The gatekeeper stopped them. "Bring the food," Luo Qingcheng said in a deep voice.

The man scrutinized Luo Qingcheng closely: "Isn't it always Fathead Fish who comes? Why the change today?"

"The bighead carp caught a cold; it'll only need to rest for a day or two." Knowing that too much talk could lead to mistakes, Luo Qingcheng tried to keep his story brief.

The man said "Oh," but remained highly vigilant: "The owner of this place doesn't like strangers coming into the yard. You wait here, I'll bring the food in."

Luo Qingcheng gave a lazy "oh" with a blank face, handed him the whip and the oxcart, and led Ye Xiao to a corner far away, where they squatted down and waited.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a person poked their head out from the door and whispered to the two men, "It's all settled. Eldest brother, second brother, come in quickly!"

Ye Xiao and Luo Qingcheng quickly slipped through the door. About twenty or thirty people were sprawled on the floor, many snoring loudly. "This sleeping potion is quite effective," Ye Xiao murmured.

"Hurry up and head to the east hilltop," Luo Qingcheng said, taking the lead and walking eastward.

The dawn redwood forest had shed all its leaves, and the trees stood straight and tall in the bright midday autumn sun. "There really are over a hundred trees. Perhaps we should divide the work and search for them one by one!" Xiao Xun sighed.

Ye Xiao quickly scanned the area and said, "Fortunately, the metasequoia trees are all straight, and now that the leaves have fallen, they are easy to spot. Otherwise, it would have taken some time to find them."

Xiao Xun turned his head in surprise: "The boss has been found?"

Ye Xiaoyang pointed smugly: "Shanxin, Shanxin, it must be a tree hole in a cypress tree. Living metasequoia trees don't attract many insects and rarely have tree holes, but dead trees are easily hollowed out by borers. Besides, Shen Rujun was very meticulous. Since he could think of hiding those sixteen characters so well, he must have sensed the danger before he died and foresaw that he might not see Qingcheng again. He should also have anticipated the hardship Qingcheng would face in finding the things. So he would hide the things in a conspicuous way so that Qingcheng could find them at a glance. There may be more than one tree hole among so many metasequoia trees, but only one is so special."

Xiao Xun followed his finger and saw a half-dead tree in the middle of the metasequoia forest. It was unclear whether it had been cut down or broken by the wind.

The three of them quickly walked to the tree, and sure enough, the entire withered tree was almost hollowed out by insects, with a large hole inside. It was a mess of dead leaves and wood chips, much of which were already rotten and emitted a foul smell.

Ye Xiao reached out and parted the dirty things, and sure enough, something was lying quietly inside. It was a package, wrapped in light blue cloth.

"This shows Master Shen's meticulousness. It's very safe to put it inside these dirty things; very few people will bother with them," Ye Xiao said in a low voice. "I just wonder what's inside? Is it worth so many people fighting over? Why does it require such elaborate protection?"

The real winner

Ye Xiao opened the package, revealing a delicate little box. Just as she took the box out, she heard a low shout: "Don't move! Throw the box over here!"

The three turned around at the sound, and in the corner not far away, a man had appeared out of nowhere. In broad daylight, his face was covered with a black cloth, and his bulky clothes concealed his figure, making him appear as if he were encased in a shell, with only a pair of sharp, piercing eyes visible. Even within this shell, the man exuded a chilling and intimidating aura, like a swift sword sheathed.

Xiao Xun let out a soft "oh" and sighed.

The man was holding a child in his hand, with one hand around her neck, like an eagle grabbing a chick.

"Shan'er!" Luo Qingcheng lightly touched the ground with his toes, and before he could finish speaking, he was already almost pressed against the person. The person didn't dodge, but only tightened his fingers. Shan'er's face flushed purple, and fear filled her eyes, but she still stubbornly refused to utter a word for help. Luo Qingcheng swiftly retreated an arrow's length away, his gaze complex.

"You think I'd actually fall for such petty tricks as luring the tiger away from the mountain and substituting the beams for the pillars? I mobilized many people and spent months without getting a single clue about this thing, but you found it right away and solved my urgent problem! It's truly a stroke of luck!" the man said slowly, his voice filled with undisguised smugness.

"You knew everything? You saw through our plan, but pretended to fall for it?" Ye Xiao screamed, her mind racing.

The man glanced at Ye Xiao warily, then didn't answer. He hissed again, "Throw the thing over here right now! Otherwise, I'll kill this child immediately!"

Ye Xiao sighed, then suddenly tossed the small box high into the air with all his might. The box traced a long arc, flew over the man, and rolled to the ground behind him.

The man cleverly tossed Shan'er at him, flipped backward, picked up the small box, and suddenly took off running. Luo Qingcheng darted forward, caught Shan'er, and tossed her lightly to Ye Xiao. Without stopping, he was soon close to the man. Luo Qingcheng gave a low shout and struck out with his palm. The man snorted coldly, turned around, and caught Luo Qingcheng's palm.

Both of them swayed slightly and exclaimed in unison. Before Luo Qingcheng could resume his attack, a chaotic thud of footsteps erupted. The men who had been lying haphazardly on the ground and those who had gone to Hanshan Temple in front of the three of them appeared, and led by their hook-nosed leader, Qin, they rushed straight towards Luo Qingcheng.

Luo Qingcheng sneered, about to leap past the crowd and strike the man carrying the box as he ran, when he suddenly heard Ye Xiao scream. He was instantly terrified, turned around, and flew back to Ye Xiao's side, barely able to speak: "...Xiao Xiao, you...are you injured?"

Ye Xiao smiled mischievously: "It's nothing, I was just joking..."

Luo Qingcheng felt suffocated and almost fainted: "Just kidding...you...I..." Thinking that the cooked duck had flown away, he was angrily choosing his words when he received a big slap on the head for the first time.

"Stupid! When did you become so dumb?! The situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse. We're clearly outnumbered and it should be our turn to run for our lives... Why are you still chasing us?"

Luo Qingcheng was stunned. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Xiao Xun was already having a great time fighting with that group of people, while not far away, the person in the trap stood calmly and leisurely, watching from the sidelines.

With a sigh, Luo Qingcheng finally realized that he was destined to be a pariah and had no choice but to take action. He joined forces with Xiao Xun and managed to get Ye Xiao and Shan'er away from danger before more enemy reinforcements arrived.

Xiao Xun and Luo Qingcheng walked ahead in silence, focused only on their journey. Ye Xiao finally noticed their low spirits and decided to reveal some good news.

"Actually, we didn't really lose this time," she said loudly to encourage everyone.

"Yes, yes. At least we rescued Shan'er!" Xiao Xun echoed, but his expression showed no relief. "But... how come all our carefully devised plans were exposed? We've lost what we were about to get. I'm afraid that from now on, the martial world will be filled with endless fighting, with no peace ever again..."

Luo Qingcheng simply shut up and remained silent.

Ye Xiaomei laughed, her eyes sparkling, "I really didn't lose. You guys forgot, there are still eight more characters left in the sixteen-character phrase. 'Full but not hungry, water ripples not'... those also correspond to two characters, 'bao------pi'!"

Xiao Xun looked at his boss in astonishment, then glanced guiltily at his pants. He had just been fighting and his pants had been ripped. Could someone have seen something in them?

Luo Qingcheng quickly shifted his gaze to the distance, coughed, and said, "Hmm, the green hills are faintly visible, the waters stretch far and wide, autumn ends in Jiangnan, the grass and trees are withered, the autumn scenery of Suzhou is indeed..."

"Don't interrupt!" Ye Xiao was clearly very displeased that his authority had been challenged. "The 'bao' means 'wrapping cloth'! The small box inside that package is obviously a smokescreen set up by Master Shen! The real important thing is actually this wrapping cloth! It's still in our hands and hasn't been taken by anyone!"

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As he spoke, Ye Xiao unfolded the bundle he had been clutching tightly in his hand, and examined the light blue cotton cloth closely in the sunlight. Unfortunately, apart from some stains he had made in the tree hole, there was nothing else on it.

"Shen Rujun was a great hero, surely he wouldn't play a trick on us before he died?" After searching for a long time and finding nothing, Ye Xiao finally made a frustrating assumption that even he himself thought was impossible.

“It’s a secret writing solution. Uncle Shen taught me how to use it when I was a child. It only becomes visible after soaking in a special solution,” Luo Qingcheng said.

"Oh? Then why were the words on that lampshade written with cinnabar ink instead of secret writing ink?" Xiao Xun rarely asked such an insightful question.

“When Uncle Shen died, I suspected he might have written something to me using secret writing. But I tried everything to get the sheets and papers he used in his room, soaked them in the solution, but I couldn’t find any clues. Secret writing is complicated to prepare. Maybe he didn’t have time to prepare it because of the emergency. Another possibility is that he realized he was being watched and was afraid that leaving traces of the secret writing in the room would alert the enemy.” Luo Qingcheng thought for a moment and then answered.

Ye Xiao chuckled and said, "That's possible. So, Master Shen is truly very meticulous..."

Luo Qingcheng glanced at Ye Xiao, hesitating to speak. He turned back to Shan'er: "Shan'er, weren't you staying at the inn perfectly fine? How did you get captured by that person?"

Shan'er shrank back, looking timidly at Luo Qingcheng, and hesitated, "Brother Qingcheng, you can't scold me if I tell you..."

After Hou Luoqingcheng agreed, she whispered, "I... when I woke up this morning, I saw that there was no one in the house... I was worried that something might have happened to you. I heard you keep talking about Tianbao Inn these past few days, so I thought you might have gone there and asked around. I couldn't find you, so I just kept looking around nearby. Not long after, someone suddenly appeared and tied me up..."

Ye Xiao was stunned for a moment, her chest tightening: "You... you've been looking around here since this morning?"

Shan'er lowered her head and nodded with a blush on her face.

"Ah! No wonder all our plans were exposed! You're just a bell hanging on the old cat! Before we even started, the enemy could hear you jingling! What secrets can we keep? What plans can work?" Ye Xiao almost fainted.

Shan'er lowered her head sadly and murmured, "I'm sorry..."

Luo Qingcheng glared at Ye Xiao with some displeasure: "Xiaoxiao... alright, she's still a child. Besides, nothing was lost, right? Uh, by the way, Shan'er, isn't Sister Shen Wan here? Didn't I tell her to stay with you at the inn?"

"I waited for a long time, but there was no one there. I didn't see Sister Shen Wan."

Luo Qingcheng gave an "oh," then stopped abruptly, alert. "Xiaoxiao, you stay here with Lao San and don't move. I'm going back to check on Xiaowan; I'm a little worried..."

Before he finished speaking, the person was already several feet away.

Fortunately, Luo Qingcheng quickly brought Shen Wan back safely. Shen Wan had only gone out to buy breakfast. However, just to be on the safe side, the group didn't dare return to their original residence and quickly left Suzhou City.

Having learned his lesson, Luo Qingcheng found an acquaintance in the suburbs and asked him to take care of Shan'er. He originally wanted to settle Shen Wan as well, but Shen Wan insisted on coming with them, so he had to give up on that idea.

After Luo Qingcheng tried several different medicines, the writing on the bundle cloth was finally revealed. It was a detailed map, clearly indicating the location of an item.

Following the map, the four arrived at an abandoned earth god temple at the foot of West Mountain. They finally unearthed something at the base of a rotten statue. The entire process was smooth and uneventful, which made everyone somewhat uneasy, especially Ye Xiao, who always seemed to thrive on chaos, feeling a great sense of being a hero without a purpose. Upon seeing what it was, she was even more disappointed.

It was a small box, in fact, almost identical to the one used to make smoke bombs last time. It was an exquisitely crafted wooden box with a very delicate and sturdy silver lock. Ye Xiao had to exert a tremendous amount of effort to pry the lock off the box and throw it away. Everything else went surprisingly smoothly. The box opened safely, revealing a golden dragon cast in pure gold, heavy in the hand and sculpted with lifelike detail.

Ye Xiao tossed and turned in disbelief, always thinking that the golden dragon must hold some secret, but in the end, he was greatly disappointed. There were no mysterious symbols or perplexing riddles on it; it was just a smooth, red-gold dragon. The only words were on the base: "Two catties and twelve taels of red-gold." This was presumably the weight of the gold used to forge the dragon.

"Is this what so many people risked their lives for? A golden dragon? Although rare, it can't be considered priceless. Could Shen Rujun have died because of murder for money? Impossible! The man who took over Tianbao Inn seems to be very rich. Would he go to such lengths for such a petty gain?" Ye Xiao was completely baffled.

Xiao Xun was even more disappointed: "It turned out to be a golden dragon! I thought it was... But you never know, my mother once said that some people become stingy the richer they are."

Luo Qingcheng's gaze swept over a spot on the ground, his eyes flashing: "It's not exactly a pittance. It's a total of forty-four taels of gold..."

Ye Xiao shook his head suspiciously and wrapped the golden dragon in the bundle: "Let's take the things with us first. I don't believe there's no secret hidden inside this golden dragon."

Luo Qingcheng smiled, a rare occurrence, and said nothing more.

Shen Wan remained silent from beginning to end.

About half a mile from the land temple, the narrow mountain path wound its way past a dense forest. Luo Qingcheng suddenly stopped, his eyes slightly sharp: "Third brother, you protect the eldest brother and Xiaowan and go first. I'll cover the rear."

Xiao Xun, with his keen senses, had already detected the presence of lurking figures in the dense forest. He nodded and said, "There are quite a few. Second brother, be careful!" With a sudden tightening of his grip, he lifted Shen Wan up and used his lightness skill to disappear into the distance.

"Qingcheng, you..." Ye Xiao looked at Luo Qingcheng with concern, when suddenly she felt light as he threw her away, much to her embarrassment. She somersaulted in the air, and with the force of Luo Qingcheng's throw, she quickly overtook Xiao Xun, who was carrying the burden, and soon climbed to the top of the not-so-high and steep mountain.

As Ye Xiao returned to the foot of the mountain amidst her busy schedule, a gloomy feeling welled up in her heart, a faint ache stirring within her. The sky was overcast, the autumn wind whistled, and withered leaves filled the air. Luo Qingcheng, dressed in a plain, somewhat shabby black outfit, stood tall against the wind, surrounded by a dense crowd of about a hundred people.

"Second brother's situation is a bit troublesome, I'll go see if I can help! Third brother, you protect Shen Wan and Jinlong and go first. Remember, wait for us in Shuanglong Town! Don't be late!" Before Xiao Xun could react, Ye Xiao quickly threw the package in his hand to him, turned around, and ran back the way he came.

Xiao Xun sighed, glancing worriedly at his leader's retreating figure. Suddenly, he felt a sense of bewilderment, like a wild goose separated from its flock. After a moment's hesitation, he finally obediently crossed the mountaintop and sped off to the other side.

When Ye Xiao arrived, panting, he was surprised to find that everything was already over. For the first time ever, Ye Xiao wasn't disappointed at missing out on the excitement. However, he was quite astonished; in the short time it took Ye Xiao to run down the mountain, all of the hundred or so people had fallen to the ground, lying there silently.