“Yes.” Meng Wei accepted the order in a deep voice.
You Lingluo, swaying slightly in the carriage, slowly closed his eyes. His thoughts were still entangled with that Tanhua Scholar.
After the Jianyuan Mountain incident, he had thought that the Tanhua Scholar had met with an accident and perished in the Guanfengyang ancient tomb. Who would have thought he would suddenly hear news that the Tanhua Scholar had appeared in Ningzhou again.
How could this be? He had witnessed the collapse of the Guanfengyang ancient tomb with his own eyes. Afterwards, it had been surrounded by demon realm troops, and they had dug deep into the ground without finding any survivors. How had that Tanhua Scholar escaped?
Disbelieving, he sent people to verify. The report from Ningzhou confirmed it. It was indeed Tanhua Scholar A Shiheng who had appeared. A Shiheng’s fellow graduate Yin Jizhen had met and spoken with him. There could be no mistake.
With this answer, he inevitably thought of that old idea again. That lad had dared to enter the Guanfengyang ancient tomb alone and vulnerable, so he must have had something to rely on. He dared to assert this because A Shiheng’s father had been a Director of the Yu Bureau and had personally been in charge of large numbers of people excavating the ancient tomb.
Based on various signs, that Director of the Yu Bureau must have grasped some special information in the ancient tomb back then that he did not report. This was probably the important reason his son dared to explore the tomb again, and presumably also the important reason his son had escaped death when the ancient tomb collapsed.
Why had “A Shiheng” appeared in Ningzhou?
Among the various forces that had participated in the Guanfengyang ancient tomb incident, You Lingluo and Qin Jue were the only two who knew Yu Qing’s true identity. So the two of them had the same thought, and their first notion was of the Immortal’s cave dwelling.
The logic was simple. The Guanfengyang ancient tomb was not the Immortal’s cave dwelling. A Shiheng’s purpose in going to the ancient tomb was to find clues to the Immortal’s cave dwelling. They did not know exactly what had happened inside the collapsed ancient tomb, but they could imagine that once A Shiheng found clues to the Immortal’s cave dwelling in the ancient tomb, his next stop would inevitably be to find the location of the Immortal’s cave dwelling.
Therefore, they absolutely had to track down A Shiheng’s whereabouts.
That Clan Chief Wen Mao of the Wen clan had actually wanted to conceal it and not come clean. Was this a joke? How could You Lingluo let this go? The value of the secret Wen Mao was hiding was enough to bring total destruction upon the entire Wen clan. They would deserve whatever methods were used against them.
Fortunately, to conceal the truth of the matter, he had to pretend to keep the situation controlled as a commercial conflict. For the time being, he could only use pressure to force the Wen clan. Otherwise, he would have already used ruthless methods directly against the Wen clan.
At an inn, a waiter carrying a bucket of hot water came to a superior room and knocked on the door.
The door opened, and Cui You appeared behind it.
The waiter bowed and said, “Sir, I’ve brought hot water for your bath.”
Cui You sized up the bowing waiter vigilantly. Seeing that it was indeed the waiter he had seen before at the inn, he then stepped aside to let the man in.
After entering and putting down the hot water, the waiter suddenly took out a letter from his chest and handed it over. “Sir, someone downstairs just asked me to give this letter to you.”
Cui You was startled. Qin Jue, who had been standing with his hands behind his back before the window, immediately turned his head to look.
Seeing that neither person in the room reacted, the waiter held the letter and looked left and right, not knowing what to do.
After Qin Jue nodded slightly, Cui You then took the letter. After chasing the waiter out, he immediately opened the letter to check. After reading it, he was quite surprised, and then quickly went over and handed it to Qin Jue.
After Qin Jue finished reading the letter’s contents, his brows rose slightly. He suddenly asked, “When we entered the Wen residence, how many people knew our identities?”
Cui You thought for a moment. “When we announced ourselves outside the main gate, we did not reveal our identities. We only disclosed them when we saw Fan Wuchou and the others. So, those present at the time who knew our identities were Wen Mao and his servant, as well as Fan Wuchou and his disciple. It should be just these four people.”
Qin Jue’s gaze fell on the contents of the letter, and he examined it once more. “Logically, these few should not casually publicise that people from Chilan Pavilion had come to their door. We had only just left the Wen residence, and someone was already asking us to a secret meeting, saying they had a way to let us know what we wanted to know. It seems there is an interesting person among those four.”
Cui You asked suspiciously, “Could there be some trap?”
“What trap could there be? If the Wen clan did not want to help, they could simply refuse us. There is no need to cause trouble for people from Chilan Pavilion.” Qin Jue scoffed. His gaze moved across the letter, and a smile suddenly curved at the corner of his mouth. “Rather interesting. Make preparations. I want to see who is so considerate.”
“Alright.” Cui You agreed.
Soon, he obtained a set of inn waiter clothes.
After everything was prepared, Cui You waited until a target waiter with a build not too different from Qin Jue’s appeared, and immediately called him into the room.
The waiter who entered had not yet reacted to what was happening before he fainted.
Qin Jue, disguised and made up as a waiter, thus went out. This was also what the letter had instructed. The other party was very careful, worried that the Wen clan had sent people to watch this lodging place. It was understandable that the other party did not want the Wen clan to discover they had met.
Leaving the inn, after mixing into the crowd on the street and walking far away, Qin Jue then ducked into a black awning boat by a river alley, and thus sailed away.
About half an hour later, the boat stopped beside a temple with flourishing incense. Qin Jue, who had gone ashore, looked around, then mixed into the crowds coming and going and entered the temple.
By the time he came out of the temple again, the sky was already nearing evening.
He boarded a boat and left again. On the way, he changed his clothes at a clothing shop, and only then returned openly to the inn.
He was not afraid of people knowing he had left the inn. He just did not want people following him, did not want people knowing where he had gone and whom he had met. In fact, not long after he left, Cui You had woken that waiter up, without delaying that waiter’s work at the inn.
Cui You, who had been waiting for a long time, accompanied him back to the room and immediately asked, “How was it?”
Qin Jue said mockingly, “The thousand year foundation of the Wen clan is no trifling matter. Relying solely on us within this Ningzhou city, I’m afraid we really have no way to deal with the Wen clan. Fortunately, some people’s daring is something even you and I cannot match. Contact the second master immediately. This matter probably only he can accomplish. Have him think of a way to help. We must obtain a poison that is colourless, tasteless, undetectable, and can kill people, and moreover it must be a poison that cannot be cured without a specific antidote. It must be delivered here within three days.”
Cui You was astonished. “This… sir, isn’t this too rushed? Even if we used flying, the round trip would take nearly half the time. We also need time to find a poison that meets these requirements. The second master might not be able to manage it.”
Qin Jue said, “Inside the Wen residence, every month on the night of the full moon, the whole family gathers once. This time it is in three days. If we miss this, we will have to wait until next month. Some things must be done quickly, otherwise it is easy for others to get there first.”
Cui You was slightly shocked. “You want to poison them at the Wen residence family banquet? The letter writer is a member of the Wen family themselves?”
This suspicion was simple. A colossus like the Wen clan naturally had its self defence capabilities. It would be very difficult for an outsider to succeed.
Qin Jue did not deny it, and temporarily did not tell him who it was. “Wen Mao’s usual drinking all goes through strict inspection, not to mention the day of the whole family banquet. So the poison definitely must not be detectable. This requirement must be made clear to the second master.”
Cui You said, “The Wen clan is wealthy and powerful. Their defensive capabilities cannot be too weak. They definitely have their own set of powerful detection abilities. Antidotes and such they certainly do not lack. The likelihood of successfully poisoning someone is probably not great.”
Qin Jue said, “This is a rare opportunity to pry open the Wen clan. We must think of a way to try it no matter what. Tell the second master that he must help accomplish this.”
Bright moon and sparse stars, a grand family night banquet.
In the blink of an eye, the Wen family’s monthly reunion day had arrived again. This was also a rule Wen Mao had established after taking over as clan head.
Back then, to compete for the position of clan head, brothers had fought against each other and flesh and blood had been spilled. Wen Mao, moved by this, established this family rule for the purpose of letting the younger generation of brothers be closer and letting the descendants value family affection more.
This time, the attendees were especially complete. The Wen clan had just won the position of main sacrifice for this term, after all. Even the daughters married out had brought their husbands and children to rush over and attend this family banquet, rushing over to congratulate the old master.
In the open air courtyard, descendants filled the hall, and there was a scene of laughter and joy.
“Grandfather, for this great sacrifice, you must also let that old man Wan make a fool of himself.”
These words from the eldest grandson Wen Yanxing drew a burst of hearty laughter from the scene.
Once this topic was opened, a group of younger generation members were indignant and also emotionally stirred. They discussed one after another how to make the Wan family clan chief make a fool of himself.
Wen Mao, sitting in the seat of honour, stroked his beard and smiled happily, treating it as listening to the younger generation tell jokes. His gaze glanced from time to time at Wen Xin, who was sitting below with low spirits and slowly sipping her drink. Seeing his granddaughter occasionally force a smile to perfunctorily deal with others, he knew his granddaughter probably still had not been able to walk out from the matter of the Tanhua Scholar.
For this kind of thing, he had no solution either. Some knots in the heart could only be resolved by time.
On a pavilion building, Zou Yunting, who had climbed high, stared tightly at the movements of that family banquet in the courtyard, his expression complex as he stared at that melancholy Wen Xin.
Suddenly, his gaze moved slightly, fixing on Second Branch Madam Wen Guoshi in the banquet.
At Wen Guoshi’s signal, her maidservant went over to help pour wine, then turned and walked towards outside the courtyard.
Zou Yunting’s cheeks tensed forcefully for a while. Finally, as if he had made a major decision, he turned and quickly went downstairs.
At the family banquet scene, a half outsider suddenly appeared. Song Pingping had come. She circled around to behind Wen Xin and whispered gigglingly in her ear, “Xin’er, come, follow me. I’ll show you something fun.”
Wen Xin was exactly unwilling to force a smile here, so she stood up. First she informed her grandfather, saying she would be right back.
Wen Mao nodded his assent and watched his granddaughter leave with Song Pingping.
Wen Guoshi, who was sitting at the same long table as her husband Wen Jianming, saw this situation. While watching Wen Xin leave, she bit her lip secretly and furrowed her brow.
At this time, Wen Yan’an spoke up, “Grandfather, what’s wrong with Xin’er recently? She always seems listless and unhappy.”
Wen Mao smiled faintly, “A young lady, having reached the age of being sentimental, it is inevitable. It will be fine after she marries.”
These words drew laughter from the whole hall.
In the pavilion, Wen Kui, the steward standing at Wen Mao’s side, suddenly flared his nostrils. He smelled smoke and looked towards where the scent came from, discovering that upwind there seemed to be faint smoke drifting over.
Soon, everyone present smelled it one after another.
Wen Kui immediately left the scene quietly, wanting to see what was going on.