Chapter 20#

Futu Fortress.

In the silent White Tiger Room, a carrier pigeon fluttered its wings and rushed in, heading straight for the seat on the jade steps. The man in the blood-red robe and vermilion crown glanced sideways, slowly extended his right hand, and grabbed the pigeon rushing towards him. He tightened his grip suddenly, splashing a huge mist of blood in mid-air. With his left hand, he gently picked up the bamboo tube that had fallen to the ground, picked up the rice paper with his index and middle fingers, and slowly unfolded it. A line of small seal script suddenly came into view.

“The whereabouts of the Young Master have been ascertained. Hope Your Honor will make a trip. Meiniang pays respects.”

Huanzhen Villa, Handan Courtyard.

The sun was slanting west.

Separated by a bead curtain, three gold threads gently rested on the wrist of the young girl on the bed, trembling slightly. Gu Qingcheng lowered his eyebrows slightly, raised his right hand lightly, and the gold threads wrapped around his wrist again. He turned his head and saw Shen Pinzhen sitting upright at the Eight Immortals table, frowning and sipping tea. He said in a low voice: “Young Master Shen, Miss Yi just needs a little rest. I have already applied medicine to the wound on her face, and it will recover in about four or five days. It’s just that Young Master Ruan…”

A trace of weariness floated in Shen Pinzhen’s eyes, and he sighed low: “Uncle and Aunt passed away in this calamity, Xiyu naturally won’t feel good in his heart. I have given him soothing medicine and persuaded him to sleep first. I really didn’t expect that knowing this batch of silver was of great importance, someone still dared to rob it—after that, although I raised silver again and sent it, it was still a few days late. Alas, let’s not talk about it. However, when I find out who did it, I will definitely sacrifice his head to Uncle and Aunt.”

Gu Qingcheng smiled faintly: “That little brother in your villa is truly capable. Not only did he bring Miss Yi back alone, but he also remained unharmed in the slaughter where everyone else was silenced…”

Shen Pinzhen’s face condensed, and he whispered: “I will ask him properly about these doubts.” As he spoke, he patted his clothes and stood up, looked at Gu Qingcheng sitting in the wheelchair, suddenly bowed, and said respectfully: “Brother Gu, you truly live up to the name of practicing medicine to help the world. Pinzhen will definitely find an opportunity to thank you in the future.”

Gu Qingcheng moved the mechanism on the wheelchair with both hands, and the wheels rolled forward slowly. Except for the steps, gentle slopes for wheelchairs were built everywhere in the backyard of Huanzhen Villa. Hearing this, he just waved his hand gently: “It’s just a small effort. I haven’t thanked Young Master Shen for taking me in yet.”

Shen Pinzhen watched him go away coldly, used a hairpin to dim the lamp wick, making the whole bedroom with hanging curtains and warm fragrance flicker with reassuring light. After doing all this, he clapped his hands and instructed the servant who came upon hearing the sound: “Call Fang Kai in.”

Not long after, a young servant wearing earthy yellow cloth clothes walked quietly into the room, hesitated for a while, and slowly knelt down. Shen Pinzhen glanced at him and asked with a smile: “I heard you are a mute. Can you read?”

The servant nodded silently. Shen Pinzhen waved his hands and shouted: “Bring paper and pen.” Several servants quickly placed the four treasures of the study in front of the servant’s knees. Shen Pinzhen pondered for a while and asked in a low voice: “I heard that everyone else was silenced. How did you escape?”

The servant was stunned, his fingers trembling slightly, which could only be distinguished by careful observation. He hesitated and wrote on the paper: “This lowly one went ahead to scout the path, so I escaped the calamity.”

Shen Pinzhen chuckled and asked again: “Then, Qiuyi, ah, that is your Miss Yi, since the entire escort team died, how did she escape?”

The servant lowered his eyelids slightly and continued to write: “A masked man knocked her out, saved her, and then—handed her to this lowly one.”

Shen Pinzhen’s pupils jumped slightly. He took another sip of tea and said: “You are not bad. The suburbs of Xuanzhou are thousands of miles away from Bizhou, yet you were able to bring her back safely.”

The servant’s pen tip trembled, and he wrote gently: “Miss’s kindness to me is as heavy as a mountain.”

Shen Pinzhen looked at him for a while, and the servant also raised his face to look at him. Shen Pinzhen sighed slowly: “Qiuyi owes you a lot this time. The scouts who went ahead reported that the wounds on the corpses were left by major sects. However, rest assured, I will definitely avenge this.”

The servant knelt respectfully. Shen Pinzhen looked at him for a while longer before waving his hand to dismiss him. He reached out and picked up the rice paper on the ground, seeing the lines of characters with ink not yet dry. The handwriting was crooked, but the brushstrokes were extremely handsome when turning, carrying a hidden sharpness, so he laughed coldly. After the person had been gone for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, Shen Pinzhen whispered to the darkness lurking behind him: “You, go follow him. Tell me truthfully what you see when you come back.”

The servant left Handan Courtyard, a layer of cold sweat already on his forehead. He turned back to the servant’s room in a few steps. The room was not lit and was pitch black. He pushed the door open softly and entered, then turned to bolt the door. While he was still panting lightly, a hand suddenly reached over from behind and patted his shoulder vigorously. The servant was startled and threw a backhand punch at the face of the person behind him, but the person took advantage of the momentum to turn sideways, grabbed the servant’s pulse gate with a backhand, twisted his arm back, and pressed him onto the hard pear wood table.

“Who?” he asked hoarsely, but received no response. If not for the warm breath and palm of the person behind him, he would have almost thought he had encountered a ghost on a night road to be subdued within one move. He bit his lower lip tightly, pressed his forehead hard against the table, used the leverage to kick back with both legs, felt the restraint behind him loosen, so he pushed off the table with his right palm, flipped in the air, and landed silently on both feet. He rushed a few steps to the candlestick at the end of the room, twisted the lamp wick hard with his index finger and thumb, and the candle flame instantly ignited in the remaining lamp oil. He turned around holding the handle of the candlestick with his right hand to illuminate, but unexpectedly illuminated a pair of eyes as sharp and deep as a beast in the darkness.

“What, don’t recognize me?” The visitor sat upright on the large communal bed. In the candlelight, his chiseled features could be vaguely seen, appearing even more cold and severe in the large shadows. Time had not worn away half of his charm, but instead made his evil charm and deterrence even more perfect.

“My son.” The man sneered, watching Hua Jinian almost unable to hold the candlestick handle in an instant. “Seeing me, still not saluting?”

Hua Jinian panted for a while, suddenly turned around, and said quickly with his back to him: “My humble abode has nothing to treat guests, Your Excellency please return.”

The man looked at him and sneered: “That’s right, you said you would never see me again. However, Jinian, do you know what happened to the last person who didn’t want to see me?” He paused, a bloodthirsty light appearing in his pupils: “That time when the Qingzhou branch was in turmoil, after I quelled the internal strife, the original old Hall Master Fang of Tiehong Hall stared fixedly at a pillar. I ordered someone to set up a cauldron of oil behind him. When the oil boiled, I ordered someone to cut off his nose and throw it into the pot to boil. Afterwards, I ordered someone to cut open the corners of his mouth all the way to his ears, and then stuff his cooked nose into his mouth. I asked him: ‘Is it delicious? How does it taste?’…”

Hua Jinian’s face was pale, almost about to vomit. Hua Qianjue continued with interest: “And his daughters, one I awarded to the servants on the spot. The old man still refused to turn his head, and finally died with blood flowing from his eyes listening to the cries for help one after another. The other one I brought back to the fortress…”

Hua Jinian giggled and cried: “You… haha, are you going to punish me like this too?”

Hua Qianjue sneered: “Of course I’m going to punish you.” Before Hua Jinian could react, he felt his body being lifted by the collar. He had grown tall in these three years, but was still half a head shorter than the man. The young man shouted in horror: “What are you doing!” Before his voice fell, he was turned horizontally face down, his stomach hitting the man’s knee hard, his head hanging in the air, and his lower back forced up.

While the young man was in panic and helplessness, he immediately felt a large hand on his waist. Then his buttocks felt cool, his pants were actually pulled down. Hua Jinian felt his eyes moist, blood rushing to his head, his face flushed with anger and shame, and his ears buzzing. Just as he was about to struggle hard, a fierce slap suddenly landed on his buttocks. Hua Jinian screamed, and a palm print a finger high immediately rose on his buttocks.

Hua Qianjue shouted grimly: “This slap is for your leaving without saying goodbye!”

Following that, another harder and more forceful slap landed, using a force that was simply unbearable for a human. Hua Jinian couldn’t scream from the pain, only feeling that his lower body had lost sensation. His hand subconsciously grabbed into the air, only catching Hua Qianjue’s left hand, but was tightly held by the man. Sticky with sweat, there was actually a bit of warmth from interlaced fingers.

Hua Qianjue cursed even louder: “This slap is for your self-debasement!”

Finally, Hua Qianjue raised his palm high again. Hua Jinian shrank his whole body, crying and grabbing the man’s thigh and left hand tightly. Then a slap that was neither light nor heavy landed. Compared to the previous two slaps, it could almost be considered a gentle breeze.

Hua Qianjue finally cursed in a low voice: “This slap is for you actually daring to make me worry about you.”

The weak candle flame had long been extinguished by the wind from the palm.

In the darkness, silence flowed soundlessly.

Only heartbeats were clearly audible.

Hua Jinian trembled for a long time before struggling to turn his head to look, but his head was pressed down by the man. After struggling meaninglessly like this a few times, the young man finally gave up, wiped the water stains off his face in embarrassment, and then bit hard on the man’s thigh.

Hua Qianjue roared low, lifted the young man by the collar, and saw Hua Jinian’s mouth full of silver teeth bleeding from the recoil of his protective divine skill. He finally laughed dumbly, reached out his sleeve to roughly wipe the blood stains for him, and threw him back onto the bed. Unexpectedly, Hua Jinian suddenly screamed, clutched the injured part, crawled up awkwardly on the large communal bed, put his pants back on, and then lay there stiffly like a corpse.

The young man lay depressed for a while, turned his head to see the man’s sharp eyes in the darkness, suddenly remembered the pair of big lanterns floating in the air in the night, and suddenly burst into laughter. He turned his head and asked: “You worry about me, how much do you worry about me?” Hua Qianjue raised his eyebrows and said coldly: “As heavy as the last slap I hit you was, that’s how much I worry about you.”

Hua Jinian giggled for quite a while before keeping a straight face again and saying: “Alright, punishment is done, what else do you want?” He saw a cold light flash in the man’s eyes and said slightly displeased: “I’m not afraid to tell you, I haven’t even opened the mental cultivation method you gave me. I have neglected all martial arts in these three years. I… I kowtow incessantly to everyone I meet. Presumably you don’t want to recognize me anymore, and Futu Fortress won’t miss a servant like me who does a lot of odd jobs.”

Hua Qianjue looked at him for a while, lay down beside him, crossed his hands behind his head, and suddenly chuckled low: “You kowtow to everyone you meet now? Do you remember at the very beginning, I wanted you to kowtow to me, but you refused even if you died.” Hua Jinian lowered his eyes to think, rolled his eyes, and smiled: “Don’t remember.”

Having said this, he couldn’t help but raise his head slightly to look at Hua Qianjue’s expression, but saw a wicked smile on the man’s lips. He couldn’t help pushing him and asking: “What are you laughing at?” Hua Qianjue smiled wickedly: “I suddenly remembered that sentence you cried and said to me back then, ‘If you kill me, my father will definitely not let you go…’”

Hua Jinian let out an “Ah”, blushed with anger, and cursed: “You person!” Hua Qianjue looked at him steadily in the darkness and whispered: “My son, those who forced you to kowtow in these three years, I will definitely not let them go.”

Hearing this soft sentence, the young man felt as if he had been struck by lightning. It took a long time before he said: “In this world, only you have forced me to kowtow.” After saying this, he suddenly felt the tone was inappropriate, so he glared at that person, prepared to climb up from the bed, but was pulled by the sleeve by that person. He only heard him say: “Geng Yong had another son last year…”

Hua Jinian paused and couldn’t help listening to him continue. “I went to see them and found Geng Yong extremely happy, throwing that little thing in swaddling clothes up and down. I was actually somewhat envious…” Hua Jinian was stunned, and suddenly said anxiously: “No way, I’m already an adult!”

Hua Qianjue actually had a somewhat resentful look on his face, his eyes full of unbearable bloodthirst: “I threw you too when you were little, but I didn’t catch you that time. Afterwards, whenever I wanted to touch you, there was always a bunch of maids kneeling and begging me not to throw you!” The young man was frightened quite a bit, imagining himself falling into a pile of mud, when he heard Hua Qianjue say: “Geng Yong told me that sons, besides being used for beating, are also used for loving. Carrying on the family line, inheriting the incense, nothing is more important… Su Meiniang also told me that every son is the father’s lover from the previous life…”

Hua Jinian finally couldn’t hold his breath and roared: “That’s a daughter, not a son!” Hua Qianjue stared at him and said affirmatively: “But I don’t have a daughter, so if my lover from the previous life reincarnated, they could only be my son.”

The young man looked at him and couldn’t help mocking: “You believe that too.” He only felt that from their reunion until now, every time they met, they would degenerate into two brainless animals, fighting at the slightest disagreement. He originally thought only he would lose all his wits in front of him, but unexpectedly he was equally foolish. The two stared at each other fiercely with eyes as big as copper bells in the darkness, like blown-up nougat, majestic. Blame it on the reunion after three years of long separation, difficult to control oneself for a moment… This son was finally somewhat grown up, and the father had not aged, so the more they spoke, the more they lost etiquette. This was the first time they could argue with flushed faces like equals.

Hua Qianjue glared at him for a long time, waved his hand as if not bothering to argue with him, and said seriously: “I’m too lazy to argue with you. I originally thought that after three years, you would at least have achieved some success in martial arts. Now I have to make other plans. In the Jianghu, every twenty years, the emerging young heroes of various sects will compete. Futu Fortress will naturally participate. Fortunately, there is still about a month left before the date of the assembly. You will set off with me right now to find a secluded place to concentrate on cultivation. My teaching for a month is enough for you to overcome the heroes.”

Hua Jinian hesitated for a moment, then suddenly whispered: “I’m not leaving.”

Hua Qianjue’s eyes instantly became sharp, a layer of blood light faintly emerging in his deep eyes. He repeated coldly: “You’re not leaving?”

Hua Jinian frowned and looked back at him, sensing the man’s sharp killing intent. He couldn’t help but feel angry in his heart, stiffened his body, and repeated loudly: “I’m not leaving.”

Hua Qianjue was about to slap him, but suddenly remembered Geng Yong’s words, put his hand down fiercely, and suddenly smiled wickedly again: “You’re not leaving, that’s fine too. I’m not afraid to tell you, there is someone outside who has been eavesdropping on our conversation. If you go with me, I will kill him now; if you don’t go, you can enjoy the fun of your identity being exposed right here.”