Chapter 20 The Assassin's Secret
Chapter 20 The Assassin's Secret
Xiao Xia was frightened and quickly took a few steps back. He thought it was Liu Erhu who was coming to kill him.
"Koshichiro!"
The man shouted, "Where are you?"
"what!"
This was Zhang Jue's voice, and Xiao Xia hurriedly raised her hand.
"I'm here!"
Zhang Jue lit a tinderbox and walked in front of Xiao Xia. He suddenly widened his eyes and asked, "Why are you covered in blood?"
Xiao Xia was trembling all over, "Uncle Zhang, I...I killed someone!"
Zhang Jue raised the fire starter and looked behind Xiao. The scene in front of him stunned him.
The oil lamp in the room was lit again. Xiao Xia had slowly calmed down from the fear of murder and looked at Zhang Jue's back with uneasiness in her heart.
Zhang Jue had already pulled away the thief-catching net and was squatting on the ground examining Wang Huiming's body.
"You're right, he is definitely not Wang Huiming!"
"Uncle Zhang went to capture Wang Huiming these two days?" Xiao Xia asked cautiously.
Zhang Jue frowned, "Why should I arrest him? He didn't do anything wrong!"
Xiao Xia suddenly felt something was wrong. Zhang Jue didn't even know that Wang Huiming had committed a crime. Then what did he mean by leaving a note for her?
Xiao Xia quickly found the note and handed it to Zhang Jue, "Isn't this what you gave me?"
Zhang Jue was also stunned. Someone actually imitated his handwriting?
He suddenly realized that he had fallen into a trap.
Zhang Jue said slowly, "I was away for the past two days because I found an enemy. I tracked him all the way to Hailing County, but he still escaped. I hurried back."
"Then how did Uncle Zhang know that something bad happened to me tonight?"
"because this!"
Zhang Jue spread out his palm, and there was an arrow in his hand. "This is called the Mountain Worship Arrow. The owner of the arrow said that he was doing something and hoped that friends in the martial arts world would not interfere. I found it stuck on your roof."
"Ah!" Xiao Xia was stunned.
Zhang Jue squatted down again and looked at Wang Huiming carefully. He suddenly cursed in a low voice, "Damn it!"
Zhang Jue stood up slowly, his face turned ugly, staring at Xiao Xia and said, "You are so daring, but you are so lucky. You got lucky. With your trivial swordsmanship, you actually killed a sixth-rank martial arts master."
"Sixth-rank master!"
Xiao Xia was so frightened that he trembled all over. He thought it was a first-level warrior.
Zhang Jue's face became more and more ugly. Someone used his trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain and imitated his handwriting, and actually sent the Red-faced Night Owl to assassinate Xiao Xia.
It's never simple.
"Tell me what happened in the past two days. The more detailed the better!"
Xiao Xia told Zhang Jue in detail what had happened in the past two days, and finally told him about Li Zhen informing her of the news.
Xiao Xia asked again: "Uncle Zhang, what's going on? Did you write that note?"
Zhang Jue wanted to discuss it with the head of the family, Xiao Cong, first. He didn't want to tell Xiao Xia the truth for the time being.
He pretended to be relaxed and laughed, "This man's nickname is Red-faced Night Owl. He is a famous thief in Henan. He pretended to be Wang Huiming and sneaked into the Xiao Mansion, intending to steal the Xiao family's famous spear and official porcelain. But you found out, so he was angry and wanted to assassinate you. That should be the case. But you are lucky. Unexpectedly, another group of people wanted to harm you. Although Li Zhen wanted to use you, he still helped you at the critical moment. You should thank him later."
Xiao Xia said nothing.
Zhang Jue stood up again and checked Xiao Xia's arrangements, nodding repeatedly and praising him.
"No wonder this guy fell into your hands. The arrangements were very thorough, even preparing catching nets and animal traps.
Not bad! You even found a human head shape for the winter melon on the bed, painted it skin color, and put on a wig. No wonder you can fool a master like the Red-faced Night Owl.
"Very good! This kid is really a genius."
"Uncle Zhang, the note was not written by you!" Xiao Xia stared at Zhang Jue with cold eyes.
"Someone forged your handwriting and used a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain. The assassination of me was not for revenge. It was a trick used by the planner to cover up the real purpose of killing me. Are they the same people who killed the princess's eunuch chief steward?"
Zhang Jue was stunned. After a while, he sighed, "I don't know if it is true or not, but the other party is so deliberate and scheming. It's really scary!"
"Uncle Zhang, let's solve the problem at hand first!"
Xiao Xia said calmly: "What should we do with this person? He told me that the tea set is in Wu Shaoan's hands. Maybe Wu Shaoan knows who is behind this?"
Zhang Jue shook his head. "Wu Shaoan must have been silenced. The assassin didn't know why he wanted to kill you until his death. This is their strength. Even if the assassin was caught, he would know nothing."
"How does Uncle Zhang know that he doesn't know?"
Zhang Jue sneered, "He lives next to you. If he knew, he would have killed you long ago. His job is to steal treasures for others. He must have received the order to kill you this afternoon. He must have thought that it was because of you that they lost their spearhead. The other party's strategy is linked together."
Xiao Xia nodded gently, "Uncle Zhang is right, the mastermind behind the scenes is indeed powerful, but they never dreamed that Xiao Jiangu would accidentally break the plan. This is the will of heaven."
Zhang Jue glanced at the corpse in the corner and said, "This Red-faced Night Owl is not scary, but his brother is an eighth-grade martial arts master and a very difficult underworld boss. If he knows that you killed his brother, he will hunt you down for the rest of your life."
Xiao Xia sighed helplessly, "Uncle Zhang, things have come to this point, there is nothing I can do!"
Zhang Jue nodded, "You only have one way, that is to practice martial arts hard and become a master, then kill his brother in the future, and then you can put an end to it all."
Xiao Xia nodded silently.
Zhang Jue found a large cloth bag from the box, put the body in it, along with the trap and weapons. He put the bag on his back and said to Xiao Xia, "I'm going to go out of town to bury the body. You clean the room and I'll talk to the master of the house. Remember, don't tell anyone about this!"
"Uncle Zhang, will Liu Erhu come?"
Zhang Jue smiled slightly and said, "You underestimate Liu Erhu. Can a mere Xiao Jiangu drive him? Don't worry! Liu Erhu is very scheming and will never do anything stupid. As for why he didn't go to Qingcheng Mountain to deliver the letter, I will investigate it in the next two days."
After saying that, Zhang Jue opened the door and left, his figure quickly disappearing into the darkness.
Xiao Xia felt relieved and quickly fetched water to flush the room. He then cut the thief-catching net into pieces and burned it, throwing the ashes into the toilet. He was busy until dawn when he finally cleaned up everything. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep on the bed.
It was already noon when Xiao Xia woke up. He sat up and stared at the corner in a daze. There was a dead body lying there last night, but now there was nothing. The ground was washed clean and there was no trace at all, as if nothing had happened.
Was it just a nightmare last night? Nothing happened?
Xiao Xia's hand suddenly felt a bulge on the side of the bed. Then he remembered something and quickly lifted the quilt and pulled out a cloth bag from underneath.
It wasn't a dream, it really happened. It was what the red-faced night owl entrusted to me last night.
He opened the cloth bag and found a lock of hair inside. It should be the hair that the Red-Faced Night Owl cut off when he pretended to be Monk Wang, but it was not all of it, only one lock, tied with a rope.
There was a note inside. Xiao Xia opened it and saw that it said, Shan Xiongying, Shanjiazhuang, Heze, Jiyin County.
Oh shit, this guy’s called Shan Xiongying, could it be... could it be that his brother is Shan Xiongxin?
(End of this chapter)