Outside the city gate, where the coffin was placed, only traces of blood were left, which looked rather conspicuous. Because of the taboo*, villagers walked around the place. Jinxia squatted on the spot where the blood was, her hands smeared a little of the blood that had been mixed with dust, slowly rubbing it, her eyebrows tightened, “This person has died no more than three hours ago.”
*[They didn’t specifically mentioned what is the taboo but back then, witnessing death was considered unlucky, TN]
YangYue tried to estimate the size of the coffin from the traces on the ground.
At the edge of the coffin, there was definitely blood because it left a deep impression on the ground. Jinxia walked around him and picked up a horseshoe out of nowhere, attentively examining the ground. She stopped several times, squatted and continued to investigate…
“The coffin wasn’t dragged here but possibly pushed off from a horse carriage.” Jinxia pointed at the trail on the ground and said to YangYue, “If you look at this trail of blood, there is so much blood, which indicates that the person was just dead and was immediately brought here. Judging from the trail of the horse carriage, the distance from the crime scene and here should be less than two miles. Da Yang, let’s go take a look.”
YangYue hurriedly grabbed her, “It’s better to report this to Lu Daren first.”
“It’s only two miles away, we’ll go look at it first and then report it. If the pirates are there then they will be long gone by the time we’re back, then won’t they blame us? Let’s go take a look.”
YangYue hesitated while looking at her, sighing, “Again, we’re only going there to take a look…”
Jinxia with one hand was pulling him, while with the other raised up the horseshoe, “Da Yang, you should pay attention to the ground. It should be a two-wheeled horse carriage. Maybe while lowering the coffin, the carriage tilted, this horseshoe must’ve fallen when the horse kicked something.”
The two of them walked along the path while occasionally stopping to look for clues, continuing to chase towards the northeast direction as they walked. Less than two mile later, they spotted a village.
A very ordinary village, with chimneys blowing, dogs barking at chickens, families of farmers taking turns getting the well water, and children playing and running. Everything looked perfectly normal.
“It doesn’t look like there are pirates here.” YangYue said in a low voice.
Jinxia furrowed her eyebrows and continued to follow the track of the carriage on the ground. “I can’t be wrong, the track definitely comes here.”
The track ended at a turn, in front of a villager’s house. They looked around and passed the bamboo wall, noticing a carriage and a brown horse, who was eating grass quietly on the side: on his left leg, there was no horseshoe.
A middle-aged village woman came out. Seeing YangYue and Jinxia peeking inside, she asked in surprise, “Do you need any help?”
Seeing her, YangYue was convinced they could’ve misinterpreted the clues, hence he quickly pulled Jinxia to leave and said, “It’s nothing, nothing.”
“Ma’am, I’ve picked up a horseshoe and was wondering if it belonged to you.”
Jinxia didn’t want to leave. She smiled at the woman.
The woman was surprised, “A horseshoe?”
“Yes, did your horse drop a horseshoe?” Jinxia looked inside the gate and raised the horseshoe to show her.
The woman didn’t bother to look and waved her hand, “It doesn’t belong to me, you should go.”
“Come on, let’s go….” YangYue pulled Jinxia away.
Jinxia didn’t resist and obediently followed YangYue. After walking for about ten steps, she let out a sigh and whispered, “Da Yang, do you also feel something is wrong?”
YangYue tried to lower his voice when speaking,“When you were talking to her, there were about three or four people staring at us. This is definitely a den of thieves, we better leave quickly.”
“This village is filled with weak women and small children, can pirates hide here?” Jinxia couldn’t help but think.
“Don’t think anymore, listen to the footsteps behind us.”
“There are about seven or eight of them, huh?” Although Jinxia’s footsteps were neither slow nor fast, she was feeling cold chills running down her back and up to her neck. In front of her, several women quickly carried their children away.
“It seems like they’re trying to eliminate witnesses… Do we fight?”
“We must go home to deliver this information.” YangYue said.
The two of them looked at each other, agreed in silence and then simultaneously ran away.
After running for a few feet, an unknown weapon flew towards them. Both of them were forced to stop, right at that moment. Several people had started chasing them.
YangYue and Jinxia’s backs leaned on each other. In front of them there were people holding flying weapons and behind them some other men were wielding their swords.
“Still want to run?” One of the men said fiercely, “Kill them!”
“Wait!” Someone yelled out. He seemed to be the leader of this small group, “How did you guys find us? Have you led soldiers here?”
“Big Brother, it doesn’t matter if they brought soldiers or not, the important thing is to kill them first.”
The group leader raised his hand, “There’s no need to rush, they can’t run anyway, it’s better to ask questions first.”
Jinxia tried to guess what he wanted to do because she wasn’t sure whether he would release them after asking questions or still try to kill them.
“This is all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!” Jinxia said with a laugh.
“Do you need to see blood to be honest?” The group leader said, then a few flying weapons fell from his sleeves, suddenly thrown toward YangYue and Jinxia’s direction, who quickly moved to avoid them.
While YangYue was turning around, the LiuShanmen badge hanging from his waist dropped on the ground and the group leader was quick to notice it. He said fiercely, “You guys are government officials! No need to hesitate, kill them!”
“Wait!” Jinxia yelled. “In order to take revenge for Wang Zhi, you kidnapped Xia Zheng, then slaughtered him. Do you think General Hu will let you go? Soldiers and officers will be coming here very soon!” She wanted to scare them and find a chance to escape.
The group leader laughed out loud. “When General Hu sent Xia Zheng here, he should’ve foreseen today. He killed our leader, yet he wanted his son back alive?!?”
‘General Hu sent his son to the pirates?’ Jinxia was stunned.
“Quickly! Kill them, before they escape and report us!” The group leader raised his hand.
One person rushed forward with his short sword and started slashing, Jinxia tilted her body to dodge, quickly grabbing the man’s wrist and trying to take over the sword. Those people didn’t seem to have high kungfu skills but the moves they executed were extraordinary all the same, their feet strength and energy were stable. Maybe they were influenced from living in the wild sea for a long time. Jinxia was punched by someone’s elbow in the chest… Enduring the pain, she continued to charge forward and grabbed the sword from his hand.
YangYue also obtained a sword while kicking two people at once.
YangYue and Jinxia quickly glanced at each other and, at the same time, they rushed forward and started attacking the leader. To stop that chaos, they first needed to capture the leader, then use him to stop the group. Due to the close proximity, it would be difficult for the pirates to use their flying weapons without missing the target, so they wouldn’t dare to recklessly shoot them out.
The two blades were about to slash the group leader, when from the side appeared a shiny and big katana sword , firmly suppressing both of their swords, its strength was so powerful that Jinxia’s hands trembled in pain.
A Japanese Ronin!
*[Japanese Ronin = A ronin was a samurai (a Japanese warrior) with no master during the Japanese feudal period (1185-1868), TN]
The group leader faced the Japanese warrior and started chatting with him in Japanese, Jinxia and YangYue didn’t understand anything at all, but only saw the group leader waving his hand. The people who were attacking them took a few steps back and only the Japanese man walked forward alone.
“He wants to fight us alone, he has a lot of guts.” Jinxia knew that Japanese Ronin studied Kendo and they were especially arrogant and violent.
YangYue whispered to Jinxia, “There is no need to compete with him, it’s better to run away.”
“Huh….”
The two of them pretended to take their stances to fight, as if they were ready for an attack.
The Japanese Ronin drew his sword and slowly walked forward a few steps, then he looked at them as if he were looking at helpless baits.
A moment later, Jinxia unexpectedly threw the horseshoe at him, hitting him right in the middle of his face and using this opportunity to run away, even before the Ronin could understand what was happening.
After being hit by the horseshoe, the Ronin was so annoyed that he started to yell and, at the same time, the group leader was fuming in rage watching the scene.
Several flying weapons were shot in the air in Jinxia and YangYue’s direction.
Jinxia quickly reacted and dodged one of them, then used her sword to slash the rest but not fast enough to block them all… Two of the weapons managed to hit one of her legs; it was painful to the point she couldn’t even walk.
The shiny Ronin’s blade appeared once again and slashed at her.
***
Inside the city of Hangzhou.
Cen Shou couldn’t help but keep pacing back and forth. Chun Yumin displayed uneasiness on her face, then she opened her mouth, “I am safe here with the maids and the old servant. If you have something to do, please just do it.”
“Ms. Chun, what are you talking about? I have absolutely nothing to take care of. The Young Master instructed me to take good care of you, not to leave your side.” Cen Shou responded respectfully.
“You… You’re worried about Constable Yuan, right?” Chun Yumin guessed.
Everything was fine without mentioning it but once the topic was touched, his anger burst, “The Young Master gave orders for them to stay in the inn. Right now, their shadows are nowhere to be seen. What do I say to the Young Master when he comes home?”
Chun Yumin thought for a while then said, “I remember Miss Yuan said that she will only be out for a little bit and will come straight home. Maybe, the East gate is far, so they’re just not back yet.”
“That girl’s mouth can’t be trusted. Who knows if she’s only out to take a peek or taking a long walk at the West Lake.” Cen Shou said, irritated.
While they were talking, Lu Yi and Cen Fu stepped into the courtyard.
“Who went for a walk at the West Lake?” Cen Fu asked with a laugh.
“Constable Yuan.” Cen Shou grumbled, “Constable Yuan and Constable Yang have gone out.”
“They went to the West Lake?” Lu Yi asked. Lu Yi had thought about wanting to take Jinixa out, especially since they were in Hangzhou, yet Jinxia had decided to slip away by herself.
“No, they said they wanted to go to the East gate, outside the city, for a while. I don’t know why but they haven’t come back yet.”
Lu Yi frowned, “When did they go? Why didn’t you stop them?”
“They went out while I was feeding the horses.” Cen Shou felt wrongly accused, “They headed out as soon as Young Master left.”
Cen Fu looked at Lu Yi, his eyebrows already tightened, and quickly tried to calm him down by saying, “It’s their first time in Hangzhou, they’re still at a young age, maybe they’re just out exploring new things, enjoying the bustling atmosphere and forgot about the time. How about I go out and take a look to see if they’re on the road? Young Master, don’t worry too much.”
Lu Yi understood Jinxia very well, remembering that time when Jinxia had almost lost her life in the Taohualin Forest, yet she had still tried to break in again afterward. At that time, if she had found a clue outside the city, she would definitely have continued to follow the lead. The only thing that was calming him right now was YangYue: if she was with him, at least when in trouble they could help each other out.
“Cen Fu, come with me to the East gate.”
Lu Yi said slowly, turning fast on his back and going out the door, even forgetting to bid farewell to Chun Yumin.
Cen Fu glanced at Cen Shou with a blaming look for a moment, then followed Lu Yi in a hurry.
Outside the city gate, where the coffin was placed, only traces of blood were left, which looked rather conspicuous. Because of the taboo*, villagers walked around the place. Jinxia squatted on the spot where the blood was, her hands smeared a little of the blood that had been mixed with dust, slowly rubbing it, her eyebrows tightened, “This person has died no more than three hours ago.”
*[They didn’t specifically mentioned what is the taboo but back then, witnessing death was considered unlucky, TN]
YangYue tried to estimate the size of the coffin from the traces on the ground.
At the edge of the coffin, there was definitely blood because it left a deep impression on the ground. Jinxia walked around him and picked up a horseshoe out of nowhere, attentively examining the ground. She stopped several times, squatted and continued to investigate…
“The coffin wasn’t dragged here but possibly pushed off from a horse carriage.” Jinxia pointed at the trail on the ground and said to YangYue, “If you look at this trail of blood, there is so much blood, which indicates that the person was just dead and was immediately brought here. Judging from the trail of the horse carriage, the distance from the crime scene and here should be less than two miles. Da Yang, let’s go take a look.”
YangYue hurriedly grabbed her, “It’s better to report this to Lu Daren first.”
“It’s only two miles away, we’ll go look at it first and then report it. If the pirates are there then they will be long gone by the time we’re back, then won’t they blame us? Let’s go take a look.”
YangYue hesitated while looking at her, sighing, “Again, we’re only going there to take a look…”
Jinxia with one hand was pulling him, while with the other raised up the horseshoe, “Da Yang, you should pay attention to the ground. It should be a two-wheeled horse carriage. Maybe while lowering the coffin, the carriage tilted, this horseshoe must’ve fallen when the horse kicked something.”
The two of them walked along the path while occasionally stopping to look for clues, continuing to chase towards the northeast direction as they walked. Less than two mile later, they spotted a village.
A very ordinary village, with chimneys blowing, dogs barking at chickens, families of farmers taking turns getting the well water, and children playing and running. Everything looked perfectly normal.
“It doesn’t look like there are pirates here.” YangYue said in a low voice.
Jinxia furrowed her eyebrows and continued to follow the track of the carriage on the ground. “I can’t be wrong, the track definitely comes here.”
The track ended at a turn, in front of a villager’s house. They looked around and passed the bamboo wall, noticing a carriage and a brown horse, who was eating grass quietly on the side: on his left leg, there was no horseshoe.
A middle-aged village woman came out. Seeing YangYue and Jinxia peeking inside, she asked in surprise, “Do you need any help?”
Seeing her, YangYue was convinced they could’ve misinterpreted the clues, hence he quickly pulled Jinxia to leave and said, “It’s nothing, nothing.”
“Ma’am, I’ve picked up a horseshoe and was wondering if it belonged to you.”
Jinxia didn’t want to leave. She smiled at the woman.
The woman was surprised, “A horseshoe?”
“Yes, did your horse drop a horseshoe?” Jinxia looked inside the gate and raised the horseshoe to show her.
The woman didn’t bother to look and waved her hand, “It doesn’t belong to me, you should go.”
“Come on, let’s go….” YangYue pulled Jinxia away.
Jinxia didn’t resist and obediently followed YangYue. After walking for about ten steps, she let out a sigh and whispered, “Da Yang, do you also feel something is wrong?”
YangYue tried to lower his voice when speaking,“When you were talking to her, there were about three or four people staring at us. This is definitely a den of thieves, we better leave quickly.”
“This village is filled with weak women and small children, can pirates hide here?” Jinxia couldn’t help but think.
“Don’t think anymore, listen to the footsteps behind us.”
“There are about seven or eight of them, huh?” Although Jinxia’s footsteps were neither slow nor fast, she was feeling cold chills running down her back and up to her neck. In front of her, several women quickly carried their children away.
“It seems like they’re trying to eliminate witnesses… Do we fight?”
“We must go home to deliver this information.” YangYue said.
The two of them looked at each other, agreed in silence and then simultaneously ran away.
After running for a few feet, an unknown weapon flew towards them. Both of them were forced to stop, right at that moment. Several people had started chasing them.
YangYue and Jinxia’s backs leaned on each other. In front of them there were people holding flying weapons and behind them some other men were wielding their swords.
“Still want to run?” One of the men said fiercely, “Kill them!”
“Wait!” Someone yelled out. He seemed to be the leader of this small group, “How did you guys find us? Have you led soldiers here?”
“Big Brother, it doesn’t matter if they brought soldiers or not, the important thing is to kill them first.”
The group leader raised his hand, “There’s no need to rush, they can’t run anyway, it’s better to ask questions first.”
Jinxia tried to guess what he wanted to do because she wasn’t sure whether he would release them after asking questions or still try to kill them.
“This is all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!” Jinxia said with a laugh.
“Do you need to see blood to be honest?” The group leader said, then a few flying weapons fell from his sleeves, suddenly thrown toward YangYue and Jinxia’s direction, who quickly moved to avoid them.
While YangYue was turning around, the LiuShanmen badge hanging from his waist dropped on the ground and the group leader was quick to notice it. He said fiercely, “You guys are government officials! No need to hesitate, kill them!”
“Wait!” Jinxia yelled. “In order to take revenge for Wang Zhi, you kidnapped Xia Zheng, then slaughtered him. Do you think General Hu will let you go? Soldiers and officers will be coming here very soon!” She wanted to scare them and find a chance to escape.
The group leader laughed out loud. “When General Hu sent Xia Zheng here, he should’ve foreseen today. He killed our leader, yet he wanted his son back alive?!?”
‘General Hu sent his son to the pirates?’ Jinxia was stunned.
“Quickly! Kill them, before they escape and report us!” The group leader raised his hand.
One person rushed forward with his short sword and started slashing, Jinxia tilted her body to dodge, quickly grabbing the man’s wrist and trying to take over the sword. Those people didn’t seem to have high kungfu skills but the moves they executed were extraordinary all the same, their feet strength and energy were stable. Maybe they were influenced from living in the wild sea for a long time. Jinxia was punched by someone’s elbow in the chest… Enduring the pain, she continued to charge forward and grabbed the sword from his hand.
YangYue also obtained a sword while kicking two people at once.
YangYue and Jinxia quickly glanced at each other and, at the same time, they rushed forward and started attacking the leader. To stop that chaos, they first needed to capture the leader, then use him to stop the group. Due to the close proximity, it would be difficult for the pirates to use their flying weapons without missing the target, so they wouldn’t dare to recklessly shoot them out.
The two blades were about to slash the group leader, when from the side appeared a shiny and big katana sword , firmly suppressing both of their swords, its strength was so powerful that Jinxia’s hands trembled in pain.
A Japanese Ronin!
*[Japanese Ronin = A ronin was a samurai (a Japanese warrior) with no master during the Japanese feudal period (1185-1868), TN]
The group leader faced the Japanese warrior and started chatting with him in Japanese, Jinxia and YangYue didn’t understand anything at all, but only saw the group leader waving his hand. The people who were attacking them took a few steps back and only the Japanese man walked forward alone.
“He wants to fight us alone, he has a lot of guts.” Jinxia knew that Japanese Ronin studied Kendo and they were especially arrogant and violent.
YangYue whispered to Jinxia, “There is no need to compete with him, it’s better to run away.”
“Huh….”
The two of them pretended to take their stances to fight, as if they were ready for an attack.
The Japanese Ronin drew his sword and slowly walked forward a few steps, then he looked at them as if he were looking at helpless baits.
A moment later, Jinxia unexpectedly threw the horseshoe at him, hitting him right in the middle of his face and using this opportunity to run away, even before the Ronin could understand what was happening.
After being hit by the horseshoe, the Ronin was so annoyed that he started to yell and, at the same time, the group leader was fuming in rage watching the scene.
Several flying weapons were shot in the air in Jinxia and YangYue’s direction.
Jinxia quickly reacted and dodged one of them, then used her sword to slash the rest but not fast enough to block them all… Two of the weapons managed to hit one of her legs; it was painful to the point she couldn’t even walk.
The shiny Ronin’s blade appeared once again and slashed at her.
***
Inside the city of Hangzhou.
Cen Shou couldn’t help but keep pacing back and forth. Chun Yumin displayed uneasiness on her face, then she opened her mouth, “I am safe here with the maids and the old servant. If you have something to do, please just do it.”
“Ms. Chun, what are you talking about? I have absolutely nothing to take care of. The Young Master instructed me to take good care of you, not to leave your side.” Cen Shou responded respectfully.
“You… You’re worried about Constable Yuan, right?” Chun Yumin guessed.
Everything was fine without mentioning it but once the topic was touched, his anger burst, “The Young Master gave orders for them to stay in the inn. Right now, their shadows are nowhere to be seen. What do I say to the Young Master when he comes home?”
Chun Yumin thought for a while then said, “I remember Miss Yuan said that she will only be out for a little bit and will come straight home. Maybe, the East gate is far, so they’re just not back yet.”
“That girl’s mouth can’t be trusted. Who knows if she’s only out to take a peek or taking a long walk at the West Lake.” Cen Shou said, irritated.
While they were talking, Lu Yi and Cen Fu stepped into the courtyard.
“Who went for a walk at the West Lake?” Cen Fu asked with a laugh.
“Constable Yuan.” Cen Shou grumbled, “Constable Yuan and Constable Yang have gone out.”
“They went to the West Lake?” Lu Yi asked. Lu Yi had thought about wanting to take Jinixa out, especially since they were in Hangzhou, yet Jinxia had decided to slip away by herself.
“No, they said they wanted to go to the East gate, outside the city, for a while. I don’t know why but they haven’t come back yet.”
Lu Yi frowned, “When did they go? Why didn’t you stop them?”
“They went out while I was feeding the horses.” Cen Shou felt wrongly accused, “They headed out as soon as Young Master left.”
Cen Fu looked at Lu Yi, his eyebrows already tightened, and quickly tried to calm him down by saying, “It’s their first time in Hangzhou, they’re still at a young age, maybe they’re just out exploring new things, enjoying the bustling atmosphere and forgot about the time. How about I go out and take a look to see if they’re on the road? Young Master, don’t worry too much.”
Lu Yi understood Jinxia very well, remembering that time when Jinxia had almost lost her life in the Taohualin Forest, yet she had still tried to break in again afterward. At that time, if she had found a clue outside the city, she would definitely have continued to follow the lead. The only thing that was calming him right now was YangYue: if she was with him, at least when in trouble they could help each other out.
“Cen Fu, come with me to the East gate.”
Lu Yi said slowly, turning fast on his back and going out the door, even forgetting to bid farewell to Chun Yumin.
Cen Fu glanced at Cen Shou with a blaming look for a moment, then followed Lu Yi in a hurry.
