Editor: Xu Xian
Chapter 66 Keep Secret
Gu Shenwei had been worrying that Shangguan Nu would kill him to silence him, he never expected that the one who would stab him was Big Head God’s daughter.
It was a weird feeling for Gu Shenwei. Although the Qi deviation was unspeakably painful, his mind was sharper than normal. Even when he was reciting the sword manual, many thoughts automatically arranged themselves so he could see details he never noticed before.
Miss wanted to kill us. Gu Shenwei understood right away once Lotus said it.
“She’s afraid we’ve learnt something from Xue Niang that we can use against her.”
“I've finally gotten rid of her.” Miss’s words still echoed in Gu Shenwei’s ears. Thinking back on Xue Niang’s relationship with Miss and Xue Niang’s style of dealing with things, he knew Xue Niang must've held a terrible secret of Miss.
The two became silent again. Xue Niang always kept everything to herself, she never revealed a word.
But Miss wouldn't believe this, she would rather kill the servants to remove any danger.
Gu Shenwei quietly distributed his internal Qi, his balanced power showed its might for the first time now that he reached the third level of both yin and yang energy. He felt his internal energy had increased several fold, it was very handy to use. As long as he had a few more days in a quiet place, he could use the shortcut manual to fuze the yin and yang energy, then his internal energy would definitely improve significantly again.
By that time, even if he couldn’t be a top-level expert, he would still be much better than the average kung fu practitioner and could assassinate many of his enemies in the Shangguan family.
He pressed his xuanji acupoint again, the burning sensation was still there, even the third level of balanced power couldn’t remove all that finger energy.
While Gu Shenwei was wondering how to buy more time, Lotus spoke seemingly to herself, “I asked her, she wouldn’t tell me.”
“She?”
“Tsui Nü.”
Gu Shenwei was stunned but instantly understood. Tsui Nü didn’t have a tongue or eyes, but she was Miss’s most trustworthy maidservant. She might have had a chance to eavesdrop and learn Miss’s secret, but it was difficult to get her to reveal something. She couldn’t speak, didn’t know how to write, so could only communicate with gestures. No one except those closest to her would understand her.
Gu Shenwei suddenly remembered something and blurted out, “It was you betrayed Servant Qian!”
On that night, separated by a wall, Gu Shenwei talked to Servant Qian. The one who sent the message was Tsui Nü. He had been wondering how Servant Qian managed to form a relationship with the little maidservant, he now understood that the one behind the scenes was actually Lotus.
Lotus snorted slightly, disdainful of Servant Huan’s fuss. “I just wanted him to remind you, but he freaked out and wanted to report everything, including the Desolate Finger Energy we received. I had no choice but to shut his mouth with Xue Niang’s help.”
Lotus was only 14 or 15 years-old, Gu Shenwei was surprised how mature and sophisticated she was. The fact that their internal Qi was controlled by Xue Niang should never be revealed since they were just servants, Golden Roc Castle wouldn’t spend time curing them, killing them all was the most simple and effective method, just in case they could be controlled by Xue Niang’s fellow disciples.
Gu Shenwei had once learnt kung fu from Lotus and they'd stayed together for a while, but he couldn’t read her at all. He even had a moment of understanding with his enemy Shangguan Yushi, but he had to fully focus to deal with this girl.
“Not bad, have you found a solution to the Desolate Finger Energy?” Gu Shenwei pretended to ask casually.
“No,” Lotus replied coolly.
The two were silent for a while again. Sharing the same fate, they became closer. But just now, they became alienated again. In the end, Gu Shenwei thought it was better to speak frankly.
“I have a suggestion.”
“Mmm?”
“Let’s find the solution together, no matter who finds it first, he or she should tell the other.”
“Why?”
“Because once the three-year deadline arrives, this'll be widely known by people of the castle who probably won't like it.”
Lotus’s indifferent expression was surprisingly similar to Xue Niang’s, she looked at Servant Huan and paused to think for a while. “Well, it’s fair.”
“We won't snitch on each other or stab each other in the back, right?” Having learnt a lesson from Servant Qian, Gu Shenwei couldn’t help but ask for a promise, even if it was a verbal promise.
“Of course, I’m expecting you to find the solution first.”
The two of them were accomplices now, though this couldn’t remove their wariness completely, it definitely relaxed the tense atmosphere.
It was bright now, the sound of the door unlocking and a man's voice could be heard from outside. “Just a short while, do not stay long.”
The door opened to let Tsui Nü in. It seemed she had come to deliver food as she was carrying a food container.
The killer shut the door, guarding outside.
With her incredibly sharp senses, Tsui Nü accurately found the small table near the window and put the food container down. She then walked over to Lotus and made a series of complicated gestures. She looked very anxious.
Lotus held Tsui Nü’s hands and whispered, “I know.” The she turned to Servant Huan and spoke in an even lower voice, “Lord has left, Miss will see us soon.”
Miss was very short-tempered, she decided to immediately strike regardless of her husband’s reaction.
Lotus whispered something into Tsui Nü’s ears, but Tsui Nü seemed very scared as she merely shook her head.
The guard waiting outside became impatient and start urging Tsui Nü to come out. Gu Shenwei couldn’t wait anymore either, Lotus and he were in a life or death situation, he had no choice but to grasp at straws to save his life.
“Tsui Nü, listen to me, Servant Qian died because of you, do you want Lotus and I to follow in his footsteps?” Gu Shenwei kept his voice low.
His accusation was not fair, though Tsui Nü had delivered a message for Servant Qian, she didn’t snitch on them.
Tsui Nü’s expression suddenly changed after hearing this, she seemed very determined and made a series of gestures. She turned and fled the room before Lotus could ask anymore questions.
The killer outside relocked the door and left.
Looking at the ground, Lotus thought quietly. She seemed unsure about the meaning of the information Tsui Nü had revealed, after a long while, she said in a low voice, “Miss has killed someone before, only Tsui Nü knows this, Xue Niang didn’t tell anyone this.”
Big Head God’s daughter had killed someone before, this wasn't enough to damn the Miss. The two discussed some more and came up with several possibilities, for example, Miss killed Big Head God’s favoured woman or subordinate. But they had only stayed at the Iron Mountain camp for a few days so didn't have any strong evidence.
At that moment, the door opened again, the killer said in a restrained tone, “Don’t put the blame on me when eighth young lord asks.”
Two maidservants walked inside, Little Sui said, “No worries, Miss will explain everything.”
But Gu Shenwei and Lotus started to become worried.
“Miss wants to see you.”
Gu Shenwei and Lotus glanced at each other and walked to the door, but Little Sui stuck out her hand, “You go first.”
She pointed at Gu Shenwei, apparently Miss wanted to crush them one by one.
Another maidservant stayed behind, Little Sui led Servant Huan to the backyard.
Miss was already seated behind the screen, Tsui Nü was not around, there were only two maidservants guarding the door.
The four women wanted to lay their hands on the servant, but little did they know he was not the same poorly skilled servant from a year ago. Miss didn’t know kung fu, those maidservants’ kung fu skills were average, Gu Shenwei had full confidence he could defeat them, even kill them. But this kind of killing was meaningless to him, his enemy was surnamed Shangguan, not Luo.
“Servant Huan, do you know your crimes?”
Asked Little Sui, Miss only listened from behind the screen.
Gu Shenwei kneeled down. “Little servant doesn’t know his crimes.”
“You’ve swore to follow this lord surnamed Luo, but you informed eighth young lord behind lord’s back and put Miss in a weak position, even a thousand deaths will not atone for your crimes!”
“Xue Niang was the traitor, she was always at Miss's side, preventing little servant from meeting Miss. Little servant had no alternative but to report to eighth young lord.”
What Gu Shenwei said was not a complete lie, he hadn’t ‘seen’ Miss for almost over half a year.
“Humph, it's all just excuses, dig his heart out, I want to see if it’s black or not.”
This voice was not the humble Miss from last night, but the arrogant, vicious Luo Ningcha.
Three maidservants approached in unison, each producing tools like ropes and knives.
Gu Shenwei pressed his head against the ground. “Little servant knows his crimes now, little servant is willing to accept any kind of punishment. When little servant meets Xue Niang little servant will tell her the secret is still a secret.”
“What did you say?” Miss shouted from behind the screen as she quickly stood up.
“Little servant said the secret is still a secret.”
“You dog slave really dare say that, cut his tongue then dig his heart out.”
“Even if little servant’s tongue is gone, there are others who still have tongues. But little servant assures Miss, even if little servant dies, the others will still keep the secret.”
Miss sat down again. “You have told others?”
“In the past year, little servant made several friends at the castle, we talked about anything with each other, they are all willing to keep the secret for Miss.”
It was quiet behind the screen for a long time, those three maidservants looked at each other, they didn’t know if they should continue to cut out his tongue and dig out his heart.
“All of you, go guard outside,” Miss ordered, all the maidservants were stunned, but obediently retreated out of the room.
Only Miss and the servant were left in the room, Gu Shenwei really wished all of his enemies were as stupid as her.
“I remember you, Xue Niang once valued you a lot, she said you are cunning, and … you sneaked into the castle for revenge, didn't you?”
Miss had forgotten about Servant Huan a long time ago, now she remembered him after his threats, it was rare for her to still remember the blackmail material about a servant.
“Yes, with a single word from Miss, little servant will die without a burial place, so little servant will keep that secret for Miss forever and won't let anyone else know it.”
“Who have you told, say who and I’ll spare your life.”
“Little servant is willing to speak, but little servant’s friends are in awe of Miss, once they hear Miss is looking for them, they may babble, so it’s better not to say who.”
Miss didn’t say anything, she was wondering how reliable this servant’s words were, but she was more used to taking swift and ruthless actions instead of thinking carefully. She was already at her limit patiently talking to Servant Huan, she couldn’t bear it anymore.
From behind the screen, a teacup flew over Gu Shenwei, falling and shattering into pieces. “Secret, secret, what on earth do you know? I’ll chop you into a thousand of pieces if you can’t speak.”
Gu Shenwei hadn’t guessed what it was that damned Miss yet, but he was sure about one thing, he was who had the power to kill in the room. The worst ending would be to kill Miss and cause a fight between Golden Roc Castle and Big Head God of Iron Mountain.