After a brief report, Shen Xiuhan finally understood the whole story.
Madam Shi, a cook in the inner courtyard kitchen, had been busy preparing lunch when her family members suddenly ran in crying to deliver the news. They said her youngest son had been playing at the street corner, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone!
The neighbors were all talking. They said they feared the group of child-snatchers from some time ago had returned to cause trouble.
Madam Shi had fainted on the spot. After waking up, she collapsed on the ground, weeping and wailing uncontrollably.
Mei Shuangfeng was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. If not for this, she would not have allowed Madam Shi, whose culinary skills were mediocre, to stay in the kitchen for so many years.
She immediately lowered her voice and ordered, “Ding Qing, pick a few swift-footed outer courtyard disciples and go search the streets!”
“Yes!”
Ding Qing did not dare to delay, taking the order and leaving immediately.
Child-snatchers, abducting young children...
Shen Xiuhan furrowed his brows.
The Bai family!
This method was definitely the work of the Bai family!
Last time, by a twist of fate, he had sparked a feud between the Bai family and the Tongbei Martial Arts Hall, which indeed put a temporary stop to the child-snatching activities in the county.
Who would have thought that as soon as the heat died down, these beasts would come out to commit evil again?
Shen Xiuhan's gaze turned cold, and he cupped his hands to Mei Shuangfeng. “Master, your disciple believes that the previous child-snatching cases in the county and today's incident are likely the work of the same group, and they probably have the backing of an influential, wealthy family.”
Mei Shuangfeng paused in her movements and looked up at him. “What are your thoughts?”
Shen Xiuhan took a deep breath and recounted exactly what had happened the day Bai Fufeng and his men tried to abduct Shen Momo at Xiaojing Bay.
He also pointed out that although the county magistrate's office had offered a reward to capture the child-snatchers, it was all talk and no action, and the matter was swept under the rug after a while.
Furthermore, the Bai family and the family of County Magistrate Luo had been related by marriage for many years...
Hearing this, Mei Shuangfeng frowned deeply. “This alone is not enough to conclude that the Bai family is behind this.”
She stood up and looked at Shen Xiuhan with a solemn expression. “The Bai family is one of the Five Great Families, with a Huajin expert backing them, and their roots run deep. The water in this matter is too deep. For now, pretend you know nothing about it and do not act rashly to avoid bringing trouble upon yourself... Let me investigate this secretly first.”
Shen Xiuhan lowered his head, cupped his hands, and replied, “Your disciple understands!”
Leaving the main room, he walked to the inner courtyard kitchen.
The vegetables on the cutting board were only half-chopped, and the firewood in the hearth was still crackling.
Madam Shi had been too frantic to think straight and had already run into the streets to look for her child, leaving the stove completely unattended.
Seeing this, Shen Xiuhan rolled up his sleeves and took over.
The meals for the outer courtyard disciples were easy enough to handle.
He added some firewood to the stove, set two tiers of white flour buns to steam, and then called over a few outer courtyard disciples to carry the steamers out and distribute them.
However, the lunch for his master and senior sister could not be thrown together so casually.
Shen Xiuhan scooped up two fresh fish, scaled and gutted them, heated some oil in the wok, and tossed in scallions and ginger to release their fragrance. With a loud sizzle, the fish hit the wok, and white steam billowed up.
Before long, a pot of rich, milky-white fresh fish soup was simmering.
Then, with a few quick tosses of the wok, he stir-fried two vibrant side dishes.
He scooped out a portion to serve to his master, left the rest warming in the pot for the yet-to-return Ding Qing, and quickly ate a few mouthfuls himself. Afterward, he cleaned up the stove and stepped out of the martial arts hall.
The sun had already passed the third quarter of the hour of Wei, and the autumn sun was slanting in the west, painting the streets and alleys with a layer of pale gold.
Shen Xiuhan was about to head home when, as he turned a street corner, he ran straight into a dozen or so broad-shouldered, robust men.
Each of them wore grey practice robes, with their sleeves rolled up high to reveal solid forearms, their expressions grave and solemn.
They were split into small teams of three to five. The leaders held wet, freshly inked sketches, stopping passing vendors and pedestrians to question and search them one by one, throwing the entire street into chaos.
People from the Tongbei Martial Arts Hall...
Shen Xiuhan's gaze shifted slightly.
“Kid!”
At that moment, a tall, sturdy man strode over and rudely blocked Shen Xiuhan's path. He shoved a sketch right in front of Shen Xiuhan's face and barked, “The Tongbei Martial Arts Hall is capturing a criminal! Keep your eyes peeled. Have you seen this thief?”
Shen Xiuhan's brows furrowed slightly. He swept his gaze over the paper, and his heart leaped in shock.
The sketch depicted a man in a green robe with a black cloth covering his face, leaving only his eyes exposed.
The features were far too ordinary, capturing perhaps only half of his actual likeness.
But the silhouette from this morning instantly flashed through Shen Xiuhan's mind...
There was no mistake!
The person in the drawing was definitely Han Li!
“Erhu, this is my brother. Let me question him.”
Before Shen Xiuhan could speak, a familiar voice called out from the side.
Shen Xiuhan looked up, slightly startled. “Chen An?”
“Brother Han...”
The newcomer was indeed his childhood friend, Chen An.
He was also wearing a grey uniform, with a thick-backed single-edged saber hanging from his waist. As he walked over and looked at Shen Xiuhan, whose bearing was as calm and deep as an abyss, his lips twitched dryly, his expression carrying an indescribable complexity.
There was astonishment.
There was envy.
And hidden deep down, a hint of loneliness.
“Brother Han, I've heard all about your matters from the neighbors,” Chen An rubbed his hands together and grinned. “Tempering your blood qi in just sixteen days, entering the Mei Family inner courtyard, and even getting connected with the Ji family of the Five Great Families to become a Patrol Envoy on Yunyi Island. Even Auntie Zheng has settled down in the Inner City and opened an eatery...”
At this point, he sighed with emotion. “Our Xiaojing Bay in the Outer City... has truly produced a soaring dragon!”
“Cut the crap!”
Shen Xiuhan rolled his eyes and gave him a playful punch. “Tell me, why such a massive commotion? What happened?”
Despite taking a punch, Chen An wasn't angry at all. Instead, he chuckled, and the slight awkwardness between them mostly dissolved in that laugh, as if they had returned to the old days.
But his smile quickly vanished. He warily scanned his surroundings, and seeing that no one was paying attention, he leaned in and lowered his voice.
“I don't know much either... I only heard that early this morning, someone broke into the martial arts hall while my master and mistress were away. That person was incredibly ruthless. Not only did they severely injure my first senior brother, but they also broke into the secret dungeon and rescued two traitors who had been locked up for years!”
“Half an hour ago, when Master and Mistress returned to the hall and found First Senior Brother unconscious and the cell empty, they went absolutely ballistic on the spot.”
“They immediately sent Senior Brother Feng and Senior Brother Ma to lead the inner and outer courtyard disciples to block the Inner City gates and the West Market Pier. They also dispatched all of us venue-guarding disciples to search house by house...”
Having said this, Chen An shook his head helplessly and curled his lip. “The brothers are all whispering that the thief struck this morning, and since more than two hours have passed, they've probably fled back to the Outer City long ago. Why would they still be lingering in the Inner City?”
Shen Xiuhan's expression shifted slightly upon hearing this.
In his mind, a piece of intelligence he had previously read suddenly surfaced.
Tongbei Hall Master Yan Xiao, instigated by his wife Song Yanrong, poisoned his father-in-law and imprisoned Song Huatang and Madam Han in a dark room to force them to reveal the location of the original Huajin manual of the Tongbei Stance...
...
Outer City.
Xiqi Village, the Han family estate.
A disheveled, maddened young man was kneeling on the muddy ground.
His tattered undergarments were completely soaked through with blood. Through the torn fabric, one could see countless overlapping knife wounds on his body, curling outward like fine scales.
Looking further down, seven of the ten toes on his feet had actually been chopped off.
His facial structure had originally been handsome, but now it was disfigured beyond recognition.
The bridge of his nose had been sliced off flat against his cheeks, leaving two horrifying, bloody holes that wheezed with every breath.
His right eye socket was empty, reduced to a sunken, hollow pit.
Only his bloodshot left eye remained, the eyeball bulging, radiating a bone-deep, unforgettable malice.
“Song Yanrong...”
“Yan Xiao...”
The young man dug his fingers deep into the mud, letting out a savage, beast-like roar:
“You treacherous thieves, you adulterous scoundrels!”
“Just wait to die!!!”
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