Chapter 236: Encounter at the Banquet 1
Qi Qingyao glanced at Si Jin one more time before turning to ask Heir Pei, “How strong must the culprit be to ma.s.sacre everyone in Lingyun Restaurant?”
Heir Pei did not say a single word in reply. Instead, he turned to look at Li Qing, who hurriedly bowed and said, “There wasn’t enough time, that’s why the local government still hasn’t given us any concrete results. However, Lingyun Restaurant has always been a well-known place of chaos in the Upper East for over a hundred years. Some Jianghu people from the East District enjoyed frequenting the place and among those who came, the highest rank is rank eight.”
“How many casualties?” Qi Qingyao asked again.
Li Qing replied, “About fifty and more…”
“To be able to hack down over fifty people without letting anyone escape…they must be strong,” Qi Qingyao said while thinking that even Si Jin might not be that powerful.
Li Qing tapped the map heavily.
Qi Qingyao was curious. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“They must at least be of rank nine.” Li Qing pondered for a moment before saying cautiously.
Heir Pei shook his head. “Not just rank nine.”
Qi Qingyao’s eyes lit up with curiosity. “Then, what rank would they be?”
Li Qing was about to say something.
However, Heir Pei motioned for him to stop and Li Qing kept his mouth shut. Since Heir Pei did not want to talk about it, Qi Qingyao naturally asked no further questions.
After Li Qing prepared the carriage, Heir Pei was the first to climb into it. When Qi Qingyao and Si Jin were getting into the carriage when she lowered her voice and asked secretly, “You sure you’re not the one who did it?”
“Sister, it’s not me! I think my strength is at most comparable to those of rank eight!” Si Jin pursed his lips and replied with a pitiful voice.
“Really?” There was suspicion on Qi Qingyao’s face but internally, she somewhat believed him.
“It’s true!” Si Jin pressed heavily once again.
After that, Si Jin followed Qi Qingyao onto the carriage weakly. He said nothing more after getting onto the carriage, only sitting to the side, alone and silent.
He sensed that Qi Qingyao was confused but also somewhat angry. What she was angry about, Si Jin dared not ask.
Sweeping a glance across the snack table in the carriage, he picked up a piece of rice candy from the silk-wound green jade dish, stuffed it into his mouth, and began chewing.
Heir Pei was also thinking about something and did not say anything.
Jiang Yeqian was left alone in the room. He grabbed the stack of intelligence reports that Bai Mei had handed to him the night before, sat down, and began browsing through them. Suddenly, an inconspicuous sound of a flute reached his ear, the rhythm rather unusual. Bai Mei?
Jiang Yeqian got up and said to the children who were playing cat’s cradle beside the brazier.
“You lot stay here and play for a bit, I’m going to the toilet.”
The children turned to him and nodded obediently. They continued playing cat’s cradle.
Once Jiang Yeqian reached the backyard, like a ghost, he left the house in one swift leap with an ox-head mask on his face as he rushed to the nearest alleyway. There was a Gingko tree at the entrance of the alley and during this season, the leaves have fallen off, leaving it looking somewhat bleak.
There was someone in the alleyway. They were dressed in tight black clothes.
Jiang Yeqian entered the alleyway and glanced at the black-clad woman.
“You were looking for me?”
“Master, I have something very important that I need to report immediately,” said Bai Mei as she bowed slightly.
“Speak,” Jiang Yeqian said.
“A total of 59 people died at Lingyun Restaurant yesterday night. 2 were of rank eight, 8 of rank seven, 16 of rank six, 23 of rank five, and for the remaining…the local government is still looking into it. Everyone who died had their heads chopped off. The scene was terrifying,” Bai Mei reported.
“2 rank eights and 8 rank sevens??” Jiang Yeqian’s brows immediately scrunched into a tight frown. He had only gone out and looked for Tan Xiangdie for a bit the night before and had a chat with him. Tan Xiangdie had also been wanting to leave Qingzhou City and return to the restaurant. He had been worried that Si Jin would catch him and so did not dally much before going back.
“I felt this situation needed to be reported to you, Master,” said Bai Mei.
“Are there no survivors?” Jiang Yeqian asked.
“Apart from a chef from the back kitchen and a server, the rest are dead. Not a single soul survived.”
“Why was the server spared?’” Jiang Yeqian questioned about the most important point.
Bai Mei cupped her hands and replied, “According to the information given by our spies in the government office, he was deliberately spared considering where the server was. However, the server has lost all memory of what happened that night. He said his mind was blank and that he couldn’t recall anything. As for the others…the news is that even those who were standing close to the door had their heads cut off.”
“The perpetrator is likely a master level if they managed to let no one escape.” There were two rank eights and eight rank sevens, yet even they did not have the power to fight back against their opponent. This was definitely not the level that an average rank nine could reach.
Bai Mei paused. “This is also what they thought at the government office. But given that there is no evidence to prove that there is an expert killer in Qingzhou City, they did not dare draw this conclusion for now.”
“Go and look into it then!”
“Yes.”
After Bai Mei left…
Jiang Yeqian stood where he was in silence for a moment. “A master-level expert…interesting.”
However, if an expert of the master-level had come to Qingzhou City and committed such an atrocity, it was likely that the situation of the world was about to change…
…
After the carriage had been traveling for a while, Qi Qingyao shouted, “Stop the carriage for a bit.”
Naturally, the carriage did not stop since Heir Pei said nothing.
Pei Fengtang asked, “What are you doing?”
“Just stop for a bit,” said Qi Qingyao.
Heir Pei could only signal to Li Qing to stop the carriage for a moment. When the carriage stopped, Qi Qingyao said to Si Jin, “You, get off the carriage.”
“Sister?” Si Jin, who had been eating rice candies, immediately had tears of grievance in his eyes. He looked like a pitiful bug.
Qi Qingyao kicked his leg. “Get off the carriage. Go back and accompany the children.”
“But who will protect you?” Si Jin wiped off the rice grains at the corners of his mouth.
“It’s just a banquet, I’ll just pretend to be his maid. Nothing’s going to happen.” Qi Qingyao just felt that Si Jin could not possibly be on the master level, but after what happened last night, something was really off. She vaguely recalled seeing someone’s head fly before losing consciousness…
“But…” Si Jin was still thinking of an excuse.
Qi Qingyao put her foot down. “Get off the carriage.”
“…”
Si Jin pursed his lips and cautiously alighted the carriage.
After that, the carriage continued onward.
Si Jin watched the moving carriage quietly, his head filled with questions. What did he do to provoke her?
He just ate some rice candies.
Heir Pei was a little dumbfounded when he witnessed this scene. Deciding that the carriage had traveled far enough, he then looked at Qi Qingyao’s stern expression. “You were both fine before. What happened?”
Qi Qingyao clenched her jaw. “Nothing.”
Si Jin could only walk back silently. Since Qi Qingyao had spoken, he could only head back and accompany Jiang Bai to play with the children.
However, after walking a few steps, Si Jin sensed that there was someone nearby. Raising his head, he immediately saw a black-clothed shadow, flitting across the rooftop in broad daylight.
He was dumbfounded.
Qingzhou City was indeed a metropolis.
There were people actually climbing up walls in night clothes in broad daylight!
How awesome…