Chapter 130: The Oriole Lurks Behind

The atmosphere was slightly awkward. Wen Jing looked at Ji Changge, who was empty-handed, and asked, "Didn't you go to ask Ruan Qinglian for the roster? Where is it?"

It would have been fine not to mention it, but at the mere mention of Ruan Qinglian, Ji Changge's face darkened even more than the bottom of a wok. He stammered, "She wouldn't give it to me."

She wouldn't give it... Wen Jing pondered these three words, then glanced at Ji Changge's unfriendly expression. Recalling Ruan Qinglian's previous remark that it would be sheer perfection if she could have a handsome man like Ji Changge lying in her bed, Wen Jing guessed a fair bit of what had happened. A faint sense of displeasure unexpectedly arose in her heart; she had originally thought Ruan Qinglian was just used to speaking carelessly in daily life, but she hadn't expected her to be such a brazen and dissolute person in reality.

"What did she do to you?" Wen Jing raised an eyebrow and asked.

Ji Changge's face flushed slightly, and his gaze drifted into the distance. "Noth... nothing much."

"Really nothing?" Wen Jing let out a cold laugh. Judging by Ji Changge's appearance, he must have been taken advantage of. Various scenes instantly flashed through her mind: Ruan Qinglian walking towards Ji Changge with a lewd smile, while Ji Changge tightly clutched his clothes...

"Really nothing, otherwise how could I have come back so quickly?" Ji Changge hurriedly explained, feeling a slight surge of secret joy in his heart—Third Sister-in-law still cared about him after all.

Who knows, maybe you're just a quick shooter... Wen Jing muttered inwardly, though naturally, she couldn't voice those words aloud.

"Are you jealous?" Ji Changge stroked his chin, casting a sly glance at Wen Jing.

Wen Jing forced a smile to show that she didn't care at all, then squatted down and resumed her unfinished grand enterprise of piecing together the bones.

While piecing them together, she asked, "What should we do now?"

"Ding Wu is already searching for the roster. We'll discuss it again if we can't find it," Ji Changge said, looking at the skeletal remains on the ground.

"These skeletons are all female. They must be the Taoist nuns from the temple," Wen Jing observed.

Ji Changge contemplated for a moment and murmured, "If we can figure out their identities, we'll know what the killer is trying to tell us."

After piecing together the remaining four and a half sets of remains, Wen Jing tried to stand up, only to find that her legs had gone numb from squatting for too long.

Ji Changge helped her over to a chair outside to sit down. Upon seeing the two of them emerge, Dong Sheng cast a strange, knowing look their way.

Once Wen Jing's legs had regained their mobility, Ji Changge offered to walk her back.

"There's no need to trouble Lord Ji, it's merely a few dozen paces away," Wen Jing politely declined Ji Changge's kind offer. Firstly, she didn't want to appear too close to Ji Changge; secondly, she was returning to the Qinglian Residence, and running into Ruan Qinglian would only stir up more trouble.

"No. The killer is very likely still within the temple. It's too dangerous for you to go back alone. I won't be at ease," Ji Changge said in a tone that allowed for no refusal.

The last four words touched both Wen Jing and Dong Sheng deeply.

"Alright," Wen Jing compromised. In truth, she harbored some misgivings in her heart as well. There was no telling what these madmen might do, and she certainly didn't want to leave her life behind in this Taoist temple.

Night winds blew in gentle gusts, and a full moon hung in the sky, casting its gentle light upon the two of them.

"If the killer truly is one of the Taoist nuns, wouldn't the rest of them be in grave danger?" Wen Jing asked.

Ji Changge turned his head slightly, thinking to himself: *You're worried about the safety of others, yet you don't even worry about your own.*

"I have already dispatched men to patrol in shifts and instructed them to stay inside their respective rooms. Aside from meal times, no one is allowed to wander around. This is the only method we can use for now, otherwise, their safety cannot be guaranteed."

Wen Jing nodded. Although this method was somewhat crude and heavy-handed, the Dali Temple guards only numbered around twenty odd men in total, making this temporarily the most effective approach.

Suddenly, Ji Changge yanked Wen Jing aside, spinning around on the spot as he did so.

In the moonlight, Wen Jing saw Mingxia's ferocious, contorted face. Ji Changge had intercepted the dagger in Mingxia's hand with his bare palms.

"Clang!"

The dagger in Mingxia's hand broke into two pieces and clattered to the ground.

"You murderer! Give me back my master's life!" Mingxia roared, lunging fiercely toward Wen Jing.

With a single palm strike, Ji Changge knocked her to the ground. "Have you lost your mind? Wen Qiniang is not the murderer of your master at all!"

"Someone told me she is the killer! You corrupt official are cut from the same cloth as her! You conspired to murder my master!" Mingxia cried out tearfully.

Looking at the dagger broken into two halves, Wen Jing let out a sigh of relief, a lingering fear gripping her heart. Had Ji Changge not insisted on walking her back, she probably would have been pierced into a honeycomb by this crazed young girl by now.

Ji Changge looked at the girl, who appeared to be only twelve or thirteen years old. It seemed she had merely been misled and instigated by someone else.

"Who told you that?"

"No one." Mingxia stubbornly turned her head away.

"If you don't tell me, I'll treat you as a murderer, lock you in the dungeon, and have you executed in the autumn," Ji Changge said coldly, staring at Mingxia.

Seeing the serious look on Ji Changge's face, a trace of fear appeared on Mingxia's face. "Someone... wrote a note and gave it to me, saying that she was the murderer who killed my master. As soon as she arrived, my master died, and she had even argued with my master!"

"Where is the note?" Ji Changge pressed further.

"I burned the note," Mingxia said, lowering her head.

Ji Changge whistled twice, and a shadowy figure suddenly materialized before them.

"Take her away and lock her up."

The figure in black hauled the young Taoist nun Mingxia away.

Wen Jing stared at the dark-clad person who had seemingly dropped from the heavens, unable to suppress her astonishment.

"That's a guard from my household," Ji Changge said indifferently, noticing Wen Jing's look of excessive surprise.

Wen Jing glanced once more at the pitch-black bushes surrounding them, instantly feeling a chill creep up her spine. She wondered how many more men in black were hidden out there, watching their every word and every move with countless pairs of eyes...

"Then why didn't they come out to block Mingxia just now?" Wen Jing asked curiously.

"Uh, well... because the person Mingxia wanted to kill was you... not me, so that wasn't within their scope of protection," Ji Changge offered a dry, awkward laugh.

Wen Jing's face instantly darkened. *Right, right,* she muttered inwardly, *this young lady's life is cheap, not like your precious young marquis's noble and delicate body!*

Seeing the speechless look on Wen Jing's face, Ji Changge suddenly smiled and said, "If you were to become their mistress, naturally you could enjoy this kind of treatment too."

Mistress... Wen Jing stumbled and almost fell flat on her face. This fox had absolutely no sense of shame.

"We're here. Go on back."

Otherwise, if Ruan Qinglian were to see them, it would take a lot more wasted breath to explain.

Ji Changge nodded, just about to turn around, when a voice dripping with seductive charm rang out from behind. He furrowed his brows; truly, speak of the devil and she shall appear.

"Has the Young Marquis come back again? Could it be that you've missed this humble concubine?"

Wen Jing felt goosebumps break out all over her body. Did this Ruan Qinglian treat her as if she didn't exist at all?

"Has the Daoist Priest Ruan not fully woken up yet?" Ji Changge turned around and offered a faint smile.

Ruan Qinglian laughed even more merrily. "The Young Marquis is bullying this humble concubine. You said you'd go and return shortly, yet your token was left behind right here with me."

Watching as Ruan Qinglian drew a longevity lock from her bosom, Ji Changge's expression instantly turned furious. "How did this longevity lock end up with you?!"

With an aggrieved expression, Ruan Qinglian used a handkerchief to dab at the corners of her eyes. At the neckline of her robes, which hung somewhat loosely, a reddish bruise was faintly visible. She whimpered tearfully, "So the Young Marquis turns out to be a heartless man who wipes his hands clean and refuses to acknowledge the debt afterward. This humble concubine never expected the Young Marquis to take responsibility; I'll just treat it as a fleeting romantic encounter. Take care, Young Marquis."

Watching Ruan Qinglian's desperate departure, Wen Jing stood frozen in place, then looked at Ji Changge's speechless expression. With Ji Changge's formidable martial arts prowess, how could he possibly have allowed Ruan Qinglian to steal his personal longevity lock?

Looking at the longevity lock in his hand, Ji Changge was equally baffled. He recalled that Ruan Qinglian had merely placed her hand against his chest for a moment—did she actually manage to steal his longevity lock right then and there? Why hadn't he sensed it at all?

"Third Sister-in-law, you must believe me," Ji Changge said, looking at Wen Jing with earnest eyes.

Wen Jing offered a faint smile. "The Young Marquis flatters me. You do not need to account for anything you do to me. Thank you for walking me back, Young Marquis; please hurry along and return."

Hearing Wen Jing address him formally as 'Young Marquis' over and over again, Ji Changge felt his heart plummet into an icy abyss. He had finally managed to slightly shift her attitude toward him, and now what on earth was this damned Ruan Qinglian trying to pull?

Without waiting for Ji Changge to speak, Wen Jing turned and walked toward her room, casting a sideways glance out of the corner of her eye toward the青衣 (cyan-robed) figure of Ruan Qinglian lurking in the corner.

Ruan Qinglian watched Ji Changge's forlorn and wistful retreating figure, a bitter, unsightly smile twisting the corners of her lips. What she could not have, no one else would ever be allowed to have either; she would rather destroy it with her own hands.

Pushing open the door to her room, Wen Jing opened her mouth, instinctively wanting to call out for Qingliu, only to be abruptly struck by the realization that Qingliu was no longer around.

There would no longer be anyone following closely behind her to call her 'Madam', nor anyone who would openly嫌弃 (disparage) her for not being pretty.

Lying alone on the bed, though her body was exhausted to the extreme, her mind raced with endless thoughts. Closing her eyes, all she could see were the tragic, lifeless faces of Qingliu and Mingqing, alongside those eight skeletal remains. *Qingliu, I will most certainly clear your name.*

Just as she was drifting off to sleep, a rustling noise instantly jolted Wen Jing wide awake. She quickly gathered her wits and peered toward the source of the sound.

A sliver of moonlight filtered into the room, and a figure was climbing in through the window.

Wen Jing reached for the dagger hidden beneath her pillow.

"Hush," the figure signaled to her with a gesture.

Through the moonlight, Wen Jing recognized the intruder as none other than Mingzhi, the Taoist nun afflicted with hallucinations.

"In the middle of the night, what are you doing here in my room?" Wen Jing pressed a hand to her chest. She had nearly been scared to death by this nun just now; coming over in the middle of the night without knocking and instead climbing through the window—what kind of rules were these in any Taoist temple?

Mingzhi whispered, "They wouldn't let me out, so I sneaked out. I wanted to tell you that on the night the Abbess died, that man was truly with the Abbess. He must be the one who killed her! Why won't any of you believe it?"

Was this all she came for? Wen Jing collapsed back onto the bed, her mind fuzzy with sleep as she muttered, "I know, I know. We will investigate that man thoroughly. Off you go now."

"You must remember, you have to find that killer," Mingzhi mumbled to herself, and then scrambled back out through the window.

Wen Jing was rendered speechless. She had intended to tell the nun that she could just use the door to leave, but then second-thought that this was probably just how a mentally unstable person operated—if she wanted to climb, she could go ahead and climb.

*Why does she keep bringing up that man over and over again? Could that man possibly be Zhu Chengde?* Wen Jing thought to herself as she slowly drifted into a deep sleep... (To be continued...)