Chapter 17: Hong Yu
“Will you let me go?”
The liquor tasted mellow and fragrant upon entering the mouth, with a hint of astringency lingering in the aftertaste.
Xuan Rui found it somewhat novel to watch her sip delicately, like a little kitten.
The hall was dimly lit, with crystal glass lamps casting shadows across his sharply defined face, his features as distinct as if carved by a knife and axe.
Li Youqing suddenly noticed two fresh scars on his left brow bone and near the corner of his eye. Leaning closer, she asked, “You’re injured? Is it serious? Have you applied any medicine?”
The very person responsible for his injuries stood before him. Xuan Rui’s throat tightened slightly, and he averted his gaze. “None of your business.”
Li Youqing didn’t take offense. Gently swirling her wine cup, her voice sweetly murmured, “The General is a pillar of the state. My concern for you is merely loyalty to the nation—how could that be considered meddling?”
“You have quite a silver tongue,” Xuan Rui remarked, setting down his cup as his eyes drifted toward the second floor.
Just a quarter of an hour earlier, the second-floor corridor had been crowded with numerous guests, but now it stood silent and empty.
His sharp senses caught a faint trace of blood in the air. His expression remained unchanged, though the knuckles of his right hand tapped lightly against the table.
Glancing down, he noticed her also staring at the second floor, a look of confusion on her face as if lost in thought.
Xuan Rui asked her, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s so strange. There were so many people on the corridor earlier, but now there’s not a soul in sight.” Feeling something was amiss, Li Youqing deliberately stood up to get a better look.
Xuan Rui moved to her side. Under the refracted light, his tall frame cast a shadow that enveloped her completely.
Out of the corner of her eye, Li Youqing noted how unusually tall he was, sturdy as a bear.
This innate physical dominance made her feel somewhat suffocated, and she found herself missing the eunuchs in the palace, whose builds were more comparable to women’s.
Several dark figures flashed across the second floor. Xuan Rui’s lips pressed into a tight line as he gripped the back of her neck and pulled her behind him.
Before Li Youqing could react, her nose was already pressed against his back. All she could see were the dark cloud patterns embroidered on his black robe, nothing else.
There had clearly been a loud “thud” just moments ago—what had happened?
The music and dancing in the hall came to an abrupt halt, plunging the space into dead silence. Servants and dancers huddled in corners, trembling with fear.
Just then, Tubar, the owner of the dance hall, had been thrown directly from the second-floor corridor.
The portly old man’s chest was impaled with half a vase. As his body twitched, blood gushed from the wound, quickly staining the Persian carpet with its golden patterns a dark crimson.
Li Youqing caught the scent of blood. Carefully clutching a bit of fabric from Xuan Rui’s back, she tugged lightly and asked, “What happened? Did someone die?”
The man didn’t move, but his steadfast posture exuded a strangely reassuring strength.
Li Youqing thought to herself, though this man was rough and domineering, being with him at least meant no one else could bully her.
“Who’s skulking in the shadows? Show yourself!” a burly man shouted, stepping into the center. When he found no culprit upstairs, his eyes swept across the room.
Amid the cowering, scattered crowd, only Xuan Rui stood calmly in place, his cold, handsome features tinged with a trace of mockery.
Infuriated, the burly man strode over, snatched a wine pot from the table, and roared, “Stop acting so high and mighty! I’ll teach you a lesson today!”
Li Youqing tightly clutched his clothes with her small hands, nervously saying, “General, that person seems to want to attack you.”
Then, Li Youqing realized her worry was completely unnecessary.
Without even seeing how Xuan Rui made his move, the burly man was already kicked to the ground, his face being ground against the floor by the other’s leather boot.
At that moment, a waiter hurried over and, seeing this scene, collapsed to the ground in terror, muttering, “What do we do? Many people upstairs are dead, and all exits are blocked. We can’t escape.”
Xuan Rui increased the pressure with his foot, watching the fat man’s face contort in pain, and said indifferently, “Escape? Where would you escape? A bunch of traitors. I’m in no hurry today—I’ll deal with you one by one. Speak if you have something to say. If not, that’s fine too. I’ll keep you company for some fun.”
After saying this, he curled his lips, bent down to pick up a wine jug from the ground, and directly stabbed it into the burly man’s face, grinding it in slowly and thoroughly.
Flesh mixed with glass shards looked particularly gruesome. The big man opened his mouth slightly and soon stopped breathing.
Just then, Xiao Ziqi jumped down from the second floor. Seeing an additional corpse on the ground, he kicked it away in disgust.
He moved a chair to the center and said, “Boss, the list has been compiled. Please sit first. I’ll call them over one by one for questioning.”
Xuan Rui suddenly frowned, turned to glance at the pale-faced young girl in the crowd, and walked over to her. “Find a quiet place and wait for me. I’ll take you to see Bai Yao’er later.”
“No, that won’t be necessary.” Li Youqing looked at his blood-stained hands, covered her nose, and took a few steps back.
Why look for Bai Yao’er? It would be more like rushing to her death. She had to seize this chance to slip away quickly.
“I… I feel a bit dizzy at the sight of blood. Could you let me leave?” Seeing his expressionless face, as if he agreed, Li Youqing lifted her skirt and turned to run.
Xuan Ziqi kept his head lowered, not daring to make a sound. Only when the boss withdrew his gaze did he venture to say, “An Shiyi said she came by carriage herself. We wanted to stop her, but we were just a step too late.”
“Focus on the task.” Xuan Rui swept his robes aside and sat down, coldly eyeing the first person being brought forward.
The innkeeper, Bai Jiu, had a shrewd appearance, was in his forties, and both his children worked for the Bai family.
Two years ago, after Bai Yao’er took over this place, the first thing she did was remove the previous innkeeper and install Bai Jiu here.
“Speak.” Xuan Rui leaned back, slightly narrowing his eyes.
“Speak? About what?Bai Jiu looked bewildered, staring at the man before him who was as cold as the King of Hell.
Xuan Rui had never liked wasting time with pointless chatter. He averted his gaze, his tone growing impatient. “Since you have nothing to say, let’s start by cutting out your tongue.”
Just as Bai Jiu was about to open his mouth, Xiao Ziqi covered it from behind. A flash of a dagger followed, and Bai Jiu collapsed to the ground, convulsing violently.
Xiao Ziqi gripped his jaw firmly, forcing his face downward. “Useless fool, spit it out.”
Bai Jiu spat out a mouthful of blood, in the middle of which lay a bright red tongue.
Xuan Rui watched coldly, the image of the terrified young girl surfacing in his mind. His tone grew even more detached. “Next.”
The next man to come forward was in charge of security at the dance hall, his physique as robust as the previous one’s.
The scene from moments ago had been too horrifying. He hesitated slightly and said, “What would you like to know, sir? I’m but a humble man of little importance—I’m not sure if I can answer properly.”
This was hardly a satisfactory answer.
A wild glint flashed in Xuan Rui’s eyes. “Hang for a while, and perhaps you’ll understand what you ought to say.”
Then, the man’s feet were bound, and he was hung upside down from a beam in the ceiling.
The surroundings grew so quiet one could hear a pin drop. Half an hour later, the dance hall that had been filled with music and revelry had turned into a living hell.
The courtesan Xian’er, clad in a light purple gauze dress, stepped forward slowly, one hesitant step at a time, and knelt gracefully at Xuan Rui’s feet.
“Sir, this humble one has something to say,” she said, lifting her head. Her tear-filled eyes evoked boundless pity.
However, the other party clearly had little patience. Xian’er, being quite perceptive, immediately got straight to the point: “Over the past month, Bai Gugu has often claimed illness and refused to leave the residence. The affairs of the dance hall have all been managed by Young Master Bai. There is a friend by Young Master Bai’s side—this humble one finds him highly suspicious.”
Xuan Rui’s gaze fell upon the woman’s head, where an exquisitely crafted jade hairpin was nestled in her hair. It was made of the finest red jade, a material rarely seen even in the Rou Lan royal court.
The woman prostrated herself on the ground. The gauze could not conceal her curvaceous figure, which carried a charm that young maidens secluded in their chambers lacked.
“This humble one recognizes that person. He is Xiao Ziyan, the garrison commander stationed in Wu City by the Zhenbei Army. Moreover, he has come three times in total, each time going directly to a private room with Young Master Bai, as if discussing something—”
Before Xian’er could finish her words, Xiao Ziqi interrupted coldly, “How dare you spout such nonsense!”
“Ah… This humble one speaks nothing but the truth, sir! You must stand up for me!” Xian’er crawled forward on her knees, hiding beside Xuan Rui, and said pitifully, “Sir, there is more that this humble one knows. Would you like to hear it?”
Xuan Rui leaned down, drawing closer to examine her face.
Just as Xian’er thought he was captivated by her beauty, she heard a voice as cold and venomous as poison slowly say, “Since Ziyan gave you such a precious hairpin, why don’t you go keep him company underground?”
Xian’er froze, and then she saw the hairpin she had been wearing now held in the man’s hand. Her entire body felt as if it had been plunged into an icy cellar.
Xiao Ziqi looked closely and saw that the red jade embedded in the hairpin, from its shape to its texture, was identical to the piece of jade the General had once bestowed upon Ziyan.
“Boss, Ziyan, he—”
He suddenly fell silent, his mind racing. What if his younger brother had truly been deceived by treacherous individuals?
“Take her away and interrogate her thoroughly,” Xuan Rui said, rubbing the hairpin thoughtfully, his expression inscrutable.
The red jade glowed like blood, emitting a radiant and captivating halo from the hairpin’s head.
People may lie, but objects do not.
The blood on the hairpin proved its dubious origins.
“Bring the next one,” he said in a low voice, his expression cold and unyielding, leaving no room for doubt.
Next, Xian’er’s maid stepped forward and knelt directly, saying, “Sir, this humble one knows the origin of that red jade.”
Xiao Ziqi’s heart tightened. He stared intently at the maid, listening quietly as she spoke: “It was gifted by an officer of the Zhenbei Army. Because such pure red jade is rarely seen in Rou Lan, Sister Xian’er had it set into a hairpin.”
A knot of frustration tightened in Xiao Ziqi’s chest. Unwilling to let it go, he pressed further, “Explain clearly. Why did that officer give her the jade?”
The maid took a deep breath, raised her head, and said solemnly, “That lord is kind-hearted and often helps the common people in the city. He is an excellent man. When he gifted Xian’er the red jade, it was not out of lust for her beauty but to exchange it for information passed through the dance hall.”
“Do you have any evidence for what you say?” Xuan Rui stared at the bloodstain on the hairpin. If Xian’er had used it to injure someone, who could it have been?
The maid bowed deeply and replied, “These are all things I witnessed while serving by Xian’er’s side. If you require evidence, you might start with Young Master Bai, as that official always visited the dance hall upon his invitation, with Xian’er accompanying them.”
After a moment’s thought, the maid added, “Moreover, he always brought many gifts with him each time. If you check the storeroom now, you should still find some remaining.”