Xia Yunting's face immediately darkened.
The two on the bed paused their movements. The one sitting by the bed slowly turned his head, saw Xia Yunting's murderous gaze, and jumped up as if scalded.
"Don't misunderstand! We didn't do anything."
Chu Qingze pointed at Liu Hong on the bed.
"I came to find Lin Mo, and I found him lying here covered in wounds. I was just changing his dressing."
Liu Hong's face turned green, then white. He was originally happy to see Xia Yunting return safely, but after Chu Qingze's words, it seemed like there was something between them. He didn't know whether to speak or not.
Fortunately, Xia Yunting wasn't led astray by Chu Qingze and asked Liu Hong, "Are you alright? How did you get back that day?"
"I... ran back."
Seeing Xia Yunting look at his wounds, Liu Hong felt a bit embarrassed.
"I ran too fast and fell off a cliff."
"It's good that you're okay."
Xia Yunting was a little surprised. He had expected Liu Hong to arrive home later, and by then, he would have found some information, and Xiao Mo could have gone to meet him. He didn't expect him to be so fast.
After attending to Liu Hong, Xia Yunting then asked Chu Qingze.
"What do you need Xiao Mo for?"
"I'm looking for her..."
"Chu Qingze!"
Before he could finish speaking, an angry voice came from the doorway. A figure swept in like the wind and tackled Chu Qingze to the ground.
"I was looking for you, and you dare show up at my doorstep. Tell me, why did you betray me that day!"
Rong Zhi straddled him, one hand at his throat, her eyes sharp and her tone icy.
"I... I... get off me and we can talk!"
Chu Qingze's face instantly turned red, veins popping on his forehead. He seemed to have seen something terrifying.
This was the first time a woman had been so close to him. It was terrifying!
"You'd better confess clearly, or I'll choke you to death!"
Rong Zhi didn't get off and even increased the pressure in her hands.
Xia Yunting and Liu Hong were both surprised. What was going on?
"I'll... I'll tell you..." Chu Qingze closed his eyes, trembling like a sieve.
"I just wanted to test you. Li Hao doesn't trust me, and I was afraid you were sent by him. If I made a mistake, I wouldn't be able to continue the investigation. So I wanted to see if you were his person. Now I'm sure you're not with him. Please let me go, my good auntie!"
He spoke rapidly, without taking a breath.
Only then did Rong Zhi slowly release him. As soon as she let go, Chu Qingze clutched his chest and began to retch, tears streaming down his face, his body shaking more and more violently, like a patient having a seizure.
Liu Hong's mouth hung open, Rong Zhi frowned, and Xia Yunting looked on with curiosity.
After a long time, Chu Qingze finally recovered. He didn't even have the strength to stand and crawled to the wall on all fours.
"Stay that distance away, don't come any closer!"
He drew a circle in the air with his bare hands, as if to enclose himself within it forever. Then, hugging his knees, he asked strangely,
"Where did you guys go?"
"We went to Swallow Mountain to investigate the case."
Rong Zhi ignored his seemingly ill behavior and recounted everything she had seen and heard at Swallow Mountain.
"You were right. There is a group of martial world assassins there, and they are very powerful."
"What organization?"
"The Blood Drinking Pavilion."
The moment these three words were spoken, Chu Qingze and Liu Hong were greatly shocked.
"The Blood Drinking Pavilion?"
"That legendary most ruthless assassin organization in the martial world, what is it doing in our small town?"
After speaking, Liu Hong glanced at Xia Yunting, feeling even more fearful. If he had been a little later, would he have endangered brother Xia?
"That's something we need to ask him." Rong Zhi turned to Chu Qingze.
"Tell us carefully, after cooperating with the Zhang family for so long, what intelligence did you discover?"
Chu Qingze didn't speak, but a rumbling sound came from the room.
"I'm sorry, I haven't eaten for several days." Liu Hong's voice was low.
"I'll go make food first." Rong Zhi seemed to overlook this. Before leaving, she said to Chu Qingze, "Please help my husband with his treatment."
"Alright."
When the food was on the table, Xia Yunting's wounds had also been bandaged. The few of them sat around the kitchen, eating and chatting.
"I accidentally overheard people from Swallow Mountain asking Li Hao for money, so I deliberately approached them. At that time, the Zhang family needed a doctor to help them develop an antidote. So I went along with it. The people they captured seemed to be for testing the effectiveness of this antidote. The people from the Blood Drinking Pavilion you mentioned were likely helping them keep this secret, preventing outsiders from getting close. And Zhang Chu was also involved with them."
"What? People from the Blood Drinking Pavilion are actually working for others? Who could hire people from the Blood Drinking Pavilion? I heard that assassins there aren't just hired with money." Liu Hong asked.
Chu Qingze's expression changed, and he lowered his voice.
"Whispers say it's someone from the imperial court, the general guarding the border, Xia Yunting."
As soon as he finished speaking, Rong Zhi paused her eating, her gaze falling on Xia Yunting before quickly retracting.
If it were really him, he wouldn't have to go through so much trouble to investigate.
She now understood the purpose of Xia Yunting's trip – it was to investigate this matter.
"Xia Yunting, him again!"
Liu Hong angrily slammed his bowl onto the table.
"What's wrong, Brother Liu? Do you have any grudges with Xia Yunting?"
"Everyone here has a grudge against him." Liu Hong snorted coldly.
"If it weren't for his war, and for capturing so many people, the villagers wouldn't have lost their homes and families. I thought human traffickers were detestable, but it turns out it was Xia Yunting's doing in the end. He's more detestable than human traffickers and deserves to be cut into a thousand pieces!"
"Shh!" Chu Qingze made a shushing gesture.
"The matter isn't clear yet, it might not be him."
"You're right, we need to investigate first. Let's not hate the wrong person." Rong Zhi chimed in.
Unexpectedly, Chu Qingze was quite rational about such matters. Rong Zhi finally felt a bit more favorable towards him.
Then she asked Chu Qingze again, "What exactly is this medicine?"
"I haven't seen it before. It's a slow-acting poison. After people consume it, their internal organs will gradually fail. There are some samples in the mass grave. I'll take you there to see later."
"Okay." Rong Zhi's eyes lit up.
After dinner, Rong Zhi and Xia Yunting followed Chu Qingze.
Liu Hong had been recuperating at Rong Zhi's house for two days, and his injuries had lightened, so he also prepared to go home.
On the way, Liu Hong heard an anxious voice from afar.
"Xinlan, come down quickly! Do you want to drive your mother crazy?"
Liu Hong was startled. He saw Wu Guixiang jumping up and down by a large tree by the roadside, shouting at the tree. The branches and leaves of the tree were shaking, and he could vaguely see a figure with large areas of exposed skin.
He hesitated, considering whether to take a detour, but he had already been spotted by Wu Guixiang.
"Hunter Liu, you're here just in time. Help me persuade Xinlan! She refuses to come down no matter what. What if she falls?"
"...Alas."
Liu Hong had no reason to refuse, so he walked to the base of the tree, looked at its height, grabbed the protrusions on the trunk, and climbed up with his hands and feet.
Gu Xinlan was holding a steamed bun, stuffing it into her mouth frantically, her cheeks bulging. Seeing Liu Hong climb up, her large eyes revealed a defensive look.
"Eat slowly, don't choke. I'll take you down after you finish."
Liu Hong sighed and could only comfort her in a soft voice.
Gu Xinlan didn't speak, but she sped up and finished a steamed bun in no time. Just as Liu Hong was about to take her down, Gu Xinlan took out another one from her embrace.
"..."
There was nothing he could do but wait.
"Auntie Wu, you should go home first. I'll take Xinlan back later."
"Then... alright. Thank you, Hunter Liu. Come to my house for lunch later."
"You're too kind, Auntie Wu."
Seeing Wu Guixiang leave, Liu Hong breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the person in front of him who was still wolfing down food, feeling a pang of guilt.
If he had brought her back sooner, perhaps she wouldn't have become like this. But he also felt a guilty sense of relief. Because Gu Xinlan had become like this, she wouldn't reveal the secret.
"Xinlan, promise me you'll never tell anyone what happened back then, okay?"
Gu Xinlan swallowed the last bite of the bun and leaped down from the tree, more agile than a monkey. However, the tree was too high, and she stumbled after jumping down.
"Xinlan!"
Liu Hong quickly went down to help her up and checked her hand, finding a large scrape on her palm.
"I'll take you home!"
He pulled Gu Xinlan, intending to take her home, when he felt a gaze on him. Turning his head, he saw Lu Yuanxiu looking at the two of them with disdain.
"Improper."
He snorted coldly and walked past them, deliberately keeping a distance, as if touching these two would be tainted by something dirty.
But before he could walk a few steps, Gu Xinlan, who was being held by Liu Hong, suddenly broke free and grabbed Lu Yuanxiu's hand.
"Ah! What are you doing? So dirty!"
Lu Yuanxiu was alarmed and shook Gu Xinlan's hand away, but she grabbed his sleeve again.
"Get lost!"
Lu Yuanxiu kicked her, and Gu Xinlan grunted and fell to the ground.
"Xinlan!" Liu Hong quickly helped her up.
"Still calling her Xinlan, so intimately. Aren't you afraid of gossip with a man and a woman alone?"
Lu Yuanxiu's expression grew more disgusted.
"Lu Yuanxiu, she was engaged to you after all. You can dislike her and ignore her, but why are you being physical? She's so frail, can she withstand such a kick from you?"
Liu Hong's voice turned cold, which made Lu Yuanxiu a little wary.
After all, with Liu Hong's physique, one punch could take down three Lu Yuanxius.
He softened his tone slightly, but his words were still stinging.
"She's the one who came to pester me. If no one offends me, I won't offend them. If you're willing to stand up for her, why don't you just marry her!"
"You!" Liu Hong was somewhat angered by Lu Yuanxiu's attitude.
"See? You dislike her just as much as I do. Why are you pretending to be a hero saving the damsel?"
Lu Yuanxiu sneered and left. Liu Hong's chest heaved with anger, and he blurted out.
"You've stuffed all those sage books into a dog's belly."
"Xinlan, I'll take you home."
Seeing the person next to him still staring blankly in the direction Lu Yuanxiu had left, Liu Hong became even more annoyed.
"Why are you still thinking about someone like that? No matter what you become, there are still better people who will marry you."
Gu Xinlan turned her head upon hearing this, her eyes curiously fixed on Liu Hong.
Her gaze carried no resentment, which only deepened Liu Hong's guilt. He remembered the countless nights he dared not bring Gu Xinlan home, making her hide in the mountains, living like a wild monkey.
He had ruined this young girl's future.
Suddenly, his mind raced, and a sentence slipped out.
"At worst, I'll marry you. I'll take care of you for the rest of my life."
"What!"
Gu Xinlan didn't speak. A sharp voice came from behind them. Liu Hong and Gu Xinlan both turned their heads and saw Wu Guixiang standing there, stunned, as if she couldn't believe her ears.
Countless emotions flashed through her eyes, including excitement and surprise. She slowly walked forward, glanced at Liu Hong, then at her daughter beside him, her voice trembling slightly.
"Hunter Liu, did you just speak the truth?"