mesbooks Chapter 14 Lost
Chapter 14 Lost
“Because I didn’t want to stay in the dilapidated temple all the time, I begged my senior sister to take me into the mountains today. She was worried that something might go wrong and the ‘blood letter’ might be lost, so she thought of hiding it first. After we entered the mountains, we met our benefactor, you…”
Xiao Yue couldn't bring herself to say what followed, since the two sisters had been discovered by the police and Jiang Ruolan had been arrested because they had protected Liu Shan and brought him back.
"Why did that purse end up in Yang Lian'er's hands?" Liu Shan finally asked.
Xiao Yue started wiping away tears again, "Ever since Chen An committed the crime, not long after, Sister-in-law Lian'er's house was raided."
The house didn't even have a decent piece of furniture; they were so poor they didn't even have rice to cook. Seeing how pitiful Sister-in-law Lian'er was, I begged my eldest sister to leave her the purse. Who would have thought…
"My dear son-in-law, what do you think?" Li Polu asked.
"There are many suspicious points surrounding Yang Lian'er's death. We must retrieve the 'blood letter' as soon as possible before we can intervene and clear Miss Jiang of suspicion."
Liu Shan already had an idea in mind. "Father-in-law, I'm afraid things might change if I wait too long. I'm willing to set off immediately to retrieve the 'blood letter'."
“My benefactor, I’ll go with you.” Xiao Yue wanted to go with him.
"No." Liu Shan was worried that someone had already started monitoring the Li residence, so he decisively refused.
“With your physique, you probably can’t accomplish anything alone. I’ll go with you.”
After the events of the day, Li Wanqing's attitude towards Liu Shan had changed significantly.
“Cangzhou Prefecture has lifted the curfew in the past two years, and many couples are going out at night. It’s good for you two to go together; it will be less likely to attract attention.” Before Liu Shan could refuse, Li Polu made the decision directly.
So Liu Shan and Li Wanqing washed up and changed into clean and comfortable clothes. Then, pretending to be a newlywed couple in the throes of new love, they strolled around the streets.
As evening approached and more people began to travel, the two successfully blended into the crowd and slipped out of the city gate. They mounted the horses that had been prepared beforehand and galloped towards Cangshan Mountain.
Liu Shan and Li Wanqing rushed to the outskirts of the hunting grounds and accurately located the dilapidated temple according to Xiao Yue's description.
However, while the dilapidated temple was found, getting onto the roof beam proved difficult for Liu Shan.
Although he was skilled in fist and foot techniques, he knew nothing about light footwork.
Therefore, the task of climbing the roof beams naturally fell to the agile and healthy Li Wanqing.
Xiao Yue had previously only said that Jiang Ruolan placed the "blood letter" on the roof beam, but did not specify which beam it was placed on.
Of course, it was also because they didn't ask in detail, which led to Li Wanqing acting like a clown, jumping up and down in the dilapidated temple.
The light was already dim in the desolate mountains and wilderness, so Liu Shan and his companion only lit one candle to be on the safe side.
With barely any vision, finding the "blood letter" was even more difficult, but perseverance paid off. Finally, after Li Wanqing climbed the roof beam for the nth time, she found a crumpled piece of rag.
Both were very excited and hurriedly moved closer to the light source to confirm, "Ge Yuniang is framing someone, the county magistrate is using torture to extract a confession..."
The blood-stained words, one by one, are starkly clear, as if weeping and lamenting.
After examining the entire tattered cloth, Liu Shan felt somewhat heavy-hearted. If what the "blood letter" said was true, Chen An was very likely to have been wronged.
Historically, it was not uncommon for people to be forced to confess through cruel torture. Examples include "Sun Bin's leg amputation" and "King Zhou of Shang's branding torture." Any one of these tortures would be considered a major form of torture. Thinking of this, Liu Shan felt that there was a high possibility that Chen An had been tortured into confessing.
Liu Shan hurriedly told Li Wanqing to leave, but after walking three or four meters ahead, he seemed to remember something and turned back.
Seeing Liu Shan return, Li Wanqing thought to herself: This guy still has a conscience; he even knows to wait for me when it gets dark.
"Let me keep the 'blood letter' for now."
Before Li Wanqing could react, Liu Shan had already snatched the rag from her hand and stuffed it into his own pocket.
Then she lifted her foot again, but before she could take a step, she fell back to the same spot.
"your hair……"
He turned around and reached out to smooth Li Wanqing's hair a couple of times. "It probably got some white ash on it earlier, now it's clean."
Liu Shan's entire set of movements was fluid and graceful, and his turn to leave was extremely decisive.
Li Wanqing was left with a confused and distraught heart...
Because they had spent some time searching for the "blood letter" in the dilapidated temple, the night was now deepening, and the desolate mountains and wilderness were pitch black on all sides, with only a crescent moon hanging high in the sky.
On the way back, the two remained silent, but the silence was not awkward.
Li Wanqing even felt inexplicably at ease, even though not long ago, right here, she had almost been eaten by a tiger.
Li Wanqing stole a glance at Liu Shan beside her. Seeing him riding his horse seriously, she found that he wasn't so bad after all, and even looked somewhat pleasing to the eye.
When Liu Shan turned his head, he met Li Wanqing's gaze, which she hadn't had time to look away from.
But he didn't think much of it, because there was a more pressing issue to deal with at that moment.
"Wanqing, I have some good news and some bad news to tell you. Which would you like to hear first?"
Li Wanqing was taken aback at first, then replied, "Bad news!"
"We're lost."
Liu Shan tightened the reins, and the horse stopped.
"what?"
Li Wanqing was greatly surprised, and even tightened her grip on the reins, causing the horse to become quite flustered and shake a few times before finally coming to a complete stop.
"It's dark, and we can't see the road ahead."
Liu Shan was also quite helpless. At this moment, he suddenly missed the brightly lit, bustling, high-tech era.
"Then, what is the good news you mentioned?" Li Wanqing asked, clinging to her last glimmer of hope.
"We can embrace nature tonight."
Liu Shanli landed, flipped over, and dismounted.
"Who wants to hug you? Let me tell you, if you dare do anything to me, you'll see what happens..."
Li Wanqing hurriedly drew her waist knife from her waist, her posture indescribably fierce.
Liu Shan caught a glimpse of that fleeting glint of cold light and couldn't help but blurt out, "Tsk tsk~ It's terrifying to be uncultured."
Who are you calling uncultured?
Li Wanqing was truly angry this time. She jumped off her horse and charged straight at Liu Shan.
"Heroine, heroine, I was wrong, wrong, wrong."
Liu Shan readily admitted defeat.
Li Wanqing: "What did you do wrong?"
"I was wrong in every way, don't stoop to my level. Quick, heroine, put away your precious sword, lest you scare the horse away."
After saying that, Liu Shan hurriedly stepped forward and pulled the horse back from its leisurely stroll.
"Let's rest on that earthen slope over there for a while."
After restraining the horses, Liu Shan made a suggestion.
Li Wanqing's emotions came and went quickly.