Zou Yunting, stabbed through the chest, showed no sign of pain. Instead, he revealed an expression that even Song Pingping, who was breathing her last, could not understand. It was a strange, sinister smile.
“Don’t…” Two unclear words came from Song Pingping’s mouth. She said them for Wen Xin to hear, referring to the sword Wen Xin had thrust at her senior brother.
Wen Xin did not understand, nor did she take it in. Her whole emotional state was in a state of huge abnormality.
The two martial siblings finally fell while embracing each other. Song Pingping half lay on top of her senior brother.
Zou Yunting was also coughing up blood. The sinister smile on his face remained. He wanted to climb up, but his body had lost its strength. He was also bleeding heavily. Pressed down by Song Pingping, he could not get up. He only repeated the same motion of trying to rise.
A large pool of blood quickly appeared beneath the two siblings. Hiss, hiss. It extinguished the light of the two torches on the ground.
“Don’t come over. All of you, don’t come over!”
Wen Xin, her face covered in blood, suddenly breathed rapidly. Her voice trembled. The hand holding the sword also trembled.
Madam Wen Guo, with a sinister smile on her face, walked toward her. The six guards holding torches did the same.
Facing Madam Wen Guo, who had personally killed Song Pingping, and seeing her approach, Wen Xin’s breathing grew more and more rapid. She did not retreat either. Finally, she closed her eyes and forcefully thrust out the sword in her hand.
Puff. The long sword pierced through Madam Wen Guo’s chest, but Madam Wen Guo showed no reaction to pain. She continued walking forward.
Wen Xin’s legs were already weak. She fell as Madam Wen Guo pounced on her, landing on the ground.
The unbalanced Madam Wen Guo also fell on top of her. Trying to stand up, it looked as if she was crawling on Wen Xin’s body.
Wen Xin kicked her feet repeatedly. Seeing the six guards approach again, she hurriedly grabbed the sword hilt in Madam Wen Guo’s chest and pulled out the sword. Sitting on the ground, she closed her eyes and swung the sword wildly with both hands.
The six guards injured by the sword blade did not pause at all. Their faces carried foolish, strange smiles as they continued forward, even though the wounds on their legs were bleeding.
Her hands full of blood, her hands very slippery. Wen Xin’s grip was not strong to begin with. The sword slipped from her hand and flew out, clanging as it hit the wall and fell to the ground.
She was pressed down again by Madam Wen Guo, who was climbing up while clinging to her. So she immediately twisted her body and crawled two steps, grabbed the sword again, twisted her body to kneel, and thrust down at Madam Wen Guo, who was grabbing her skirt to climb. She stabbed into her back.
Pull out the sword, thrust down again.
Madam Wen Guo seemed unafraid of death. She still wanted to grab her as a foothold to stand up.
Wen Xin trembled. She seemed completely stunned. With both hands desperately gripping the sword, she knelt there thrusting down again and again.
Thrusting until the end, when Madam Wen Guo had already completely stopped moving, she was still thrusting down again and again, like pounding garlic.
Until her hands lost strength, until she no longer had the strength to pull out the sword again, did she finally fall sitting on the ground.
The six guards holding torches limped along, their firelight gradually moving away.
Song Pingping, about to breathe her last in the pool of blood, watched them leave. She seemed to detect the abnormality of the six guards. She let out a weak voice, “Xin…”
Fortunately, the tunnel was very quiet. Otherwise, it might not have been heard.
This call was like the sound of heavenly music. It also instantly awakened the dazed Wen Xin.
But before her eyes there was no light now, only darkness. Wen Xin shouted, “Sister Pingping.” Then she crawled over, feeling Madam Wen Guo’s corpse, feeling the blood on the ground. She groped about and found Song Pingping, grabbed Song Pingping’s hand, “Sister Pingping, hold on. I’ll find someone to save you.”
Song Pingping seemed to use her last remaining breath to let out a relatively clear sound, “Don’t go out. Wait for the Sect Leader…”
Before she finished speaking, there was no more sound.
“Sister Pingping, Sister Pingping…”
Wen Xin wept bitterly in the darkness.
After a long while, she stood up and left the bloody place. But she herself was already covered in blood. She felt along the stone wall in the darkness, moving forward by memory.
Behind her on the ground there was still the sound of lingering life. Zou Yunting had not yet fully died.
Later on, she saw light. She saw the oil lamp on the steps, an oil lamp that was about to go out.
She felt greatly relieved. She hurriedly stumbled and climbed up. With trembling hands she adjusted the wick, making the flame bright again.
She sat down against the wall in her original position. Seeing her hands full of blood, she wiped them on her clothes. But her body was also covered in blood everywhere. Her pair of hands could not be wiped clean no matter what. So she stopped wiping. Feeling cold, she curled up against the wall, hugging herself.
She did not run out in fright. Instead, she continued waiting here. She also could not see her own ferocious appearance with her face covered in blood traces.
Before noon the next day, outside the main gate of the Wen residence, dozens of riders clattered past the great archway. All dressed in green robes with large sleeves billowing in the wind, their momentum was extraordinary. The group dismounted directly at the main entrance.
Fan Wuchou and the others, as well as Wen Kui with bandages wrapped inside his clothes and whip marks on his face, were all waiting outside the gate. They had been respectfully waiting for a long time.
The leading elder with a distinguished bearing and long beard was also the Green Lotus Mountain Sect Leader, Ren Tianjiang. He dismounted and looked at Wen Kui.
He knew Wen Kui. He did not ask how his injuries were. Instead, he directly asked, “How is Wen Xin?”
Wen Kui, “Unharmed.”
“Bring her to see me.” Ren Tianjiang threw down these words and strode inside. A group of people followed him in.
Wen Kui bowed to receive the order.
He did not go to Jade Garden. Instead, he went to the main courtyard, entering the secret passage from the master’s study. He was also the one who had sent Wen Xin into the secret passage from here.
The master’s main courtyard was adjacent to Jade Garden, so it was not far from the Jade Garden exit.
But he still saw corpses in the tunnel.
He saw Madam Wen Guo with a sword in her back. He saw Song Pingping with a dagger in her back. He also saw Zou Yunting lying there with a sinister smile on his face.
The fact that three people had died shocked him. The key point was that it was rare to see such a manner of death in the secret passage. Logically, they should have died completely cleanly. How could they have died so bloodily?
Something might have gone wrong. Even Song Pingping was dead. He immediately grew anxious.
His bandaged hand held an oil lamp and shone it everywhere. He saw bloody footprints on the ground leading away along the wall. They looked like a woman’s footprints. He hurriedly rushed toward the place where Wen Xin had been placed.
Before long, he saw Wen Xin curled up on the steps.
The oil lamp had run out of oil. It had been out since last night, burned dry. Wen Xin remembered her grandfather, Wen Kui, and Song Pingping’s instructions. She did not run around. She did not go out. Despite being afraid, she still endured waiting alone in this pitch-black underground.
She had eaten the food placed on the steps. When she was truly cold and hungry, she groped about in the darkness and ate. She had eaten all the buns.
The living conditions of the Wen clan were too luxurious. This was the first time in her life she had eaten leftover food from a previous meal. Her blood-covered hands grabbed the buns and she slowly nibbled them in the darkness.
At that moment she thought of the situation of raising Purple Dragon. She starved until Purple Dragon opened its mouth. She also therefore thought of that very special person, the one who could make Purple Dragon eat obediently without starving.
Her hair, face, and clothes were all dried blood. It almost made people unable to recognize her.
Wen Kui almost thought she was already dead.
Who would have known that Wen Xin’s eyeballs moved. After clearly seeing who had come, she showed no excitement either. Instead, she carefully and weakly uttered a sentence, “Grandpa Kui, I killed someone.”
If not for the separation between men and women, Wen Kui very much wanted to touch her. He asked anxiously, “Miss, are you yourself alright?”
Wen Xin shook her head. She hugged herself even tighter, curled up at the base of the wall, and softly and weakly said, “I killed Second Mother.”
Actually, no matter how she said it, she just wanted to say one thing. What should I do now?
Wen Kui half knelt before her and comforted her gently, “It’s fine, it’s fine. Miss, what exactly happened?”
“Yesterday, Sister Pingping brought food. Later, somehow Young Master Zou broke in. It seemed he had followed her.”
Wen Xin’s thoughts were very clear. She narrated the entire course of events in an orderly manner, including the bloody life and death scenes which she also calmly recounted. Only when speaking of Song Pingping’s death did she cry again. She also hugged herself even tighter, her voice very gentle.
After listening, seeing her appearance, and comparing it to her former appearance, Wen Kui suddenly shed old tears. He let out a long sigh toward the sky, “Master, what sins you have committed.”
He suddenly understood why Wen Mao had suddenly arranged for Song Pingping to deliver food before his death. At the time he had felt it was abrupt.
Since he wanted the young lady to stay alone in this darkness, there was no need to send any food. Could the Wen residence not prepare one or two days of dry rations and meals? Sending a person to deliver food was clearly something easy to expose.
Wen Xin, her bright eyes flashing with clear light amidst the blood traces on her face, stared at him and asked, “Grandpa Kui, how did you also get injured?”
Wen Kui raised his sleeve to wipe away his old tears and smiled bitterly, “I’m fine. It was also my own meddling. If I had followed the master’s arrangements before his death, I would not have these injuries. This was truly self inflicted, and I nearly ruined matters.”
Seeing the corpses of several people, and hearing the course of events, he understood. He had done something extraneous.
There had been no need at all to arrange five carriages for some kind of diversion tactic.
People with ill intentions toward the young lady would not act openly against her. The situation he worried about would not occur. So what if they found the tunnel entrance? Anyone who sneaked into the tunnel would have to die.
Anyone who entered the tunnel and found the young lady would not directly kill her. They would inevitably want to know something. With this time, the mysteries within the tunnel were enough to kill any ill intentioned person.
The matter of poisoning at the banquet, the master clearly did not believe until death that it was unrelated to Green Lotus Mountain people.
Song Pingping delivering food was actually bait arranged by the master. It had the intention of clearing the emperor’s side for the future new master of the Wen clan. It had several layers of meaning.
At the time he had thought the master had not had time to make proper arrangements before his death, so he had supplemented some methods. The result had harmed himself and also terribly harmed Little Hong.
Wen Xin suddenly asked, “Grandpa Kui, how could Second Mother and Zou Yunting be colluding together?”
Wen Kui sighed, “This is a long story. Madam Guo and Zou Yunting had a secret affair several years ago.”
“An affair?” Wen Xin was surprised. She could not imagine how Zou Yunting could get involved with Madam Wen Guo. She asked, “Did Grandfather know?”
Wen Kui nodded, “He knew. As for why he did not deal with it, the master said, it was not that he did not deal with it, but that he was not in a hurry. The Wen clan has profited from Green Lotus Mountain for many years. Actually, there have always been dissenting voices within Green Lotus Mountain. It is impossible for there to be none. Some people in power also have descendants in the secular world. It is the rule for the elder stationed at the Wen clan to keep distance from the Wen clan, but he cannot be too aloof. That would not be good for the Wen clan. Elder Fan was unable to properly discipline his disciple. Once the Wen clan needs, Miss, some matters are very complicated. This old servant cannot explain them clearly for the moment. The things the master left for you in the secret room should have detailed explanations.”