The night was very peaceful, but people would never think that in the brief serenity was just the prelude to the tempest.
Inside Thousand Jade Hall's ancestral hall, there were two people conspiring over a frightening plan, but were caught by someone red-handed. Unfortunately, that someone was one with a short-circuited brain!
Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang were discussing over how to combat Luo Qian Qi, but was overheard by Li Yan Xin who happened to be passing by.
Li Yan Xin heard their conversation, and not only did she not immediately leave, but instead ran in to argue with Luo Qian Ping and company.
Li Yan Xin furiously rushed into the ancestral hall. Pointing at Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang's noses, she yelled, "Are you two insane, did Brother Qian Qi wrong you before? How can you be so terrible to him?"
Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang were scared out of their pants from the way Li Yan Xin had suddenly rushed in.
Luo Qian Ping smiled as he looked at Li Yan Xin, "Little Sister Yan Xin, what are you talking about, how come we don't understand a thing?"
Li Yan Xin stared down at Luo Qian Ping indignantly, "Hmph, I heard every word you said, I'm going to tell Brother Qian Qi!"
Luo Cheng Guang blocked Li Yan Xin's path, he smiled, "Little niece, it is okay to eat random things, but you cannot spout random talk, or else……"
Luo Cheng Guang drew his hand across his neck, "you will die!"
Li Yan Xin's face was of alarm as she watched the ever-approaching Luo Cheng Guang and Luo Qian Ping, saying meekly, "What are you trying to do?'
Luo Cheng Guang laughed darkly, "You know too much!"
Without giving Li Yan Xin a chance to talk, Luo Cheng Guang had already put his hand against her forehead. Li Yan Xin's face bore a sliver of pain.
Luo Cheng Guang forcefully drew out Li Yan Xin's soul from her body, leaving Li Yan Xin to fall onto the ground.
Li Yan Xin's soul was in Luo Cheng Guang's grasp. She glared at Luo Cheng Guang in furor, "What are you planning, quickly release me, if Brother Qian Qi knows of this matter he definitely will not let you go!"
Hearing Li Yan Xin's words, Luo Qian Ping laughed heartily as if he had heard a funny joke, "He won't let me go? Let me tell you, Luo Qian Qi already is powerless to defend himself. The three houses of Yang, Lu, and Peng all already agreed to help me go against Luo Qian Qi; you really think he'll be able to protect you?"
Li Yan Xin glared at Luo Qian Ping and said vehemently, "Luo Qian Ping, he is your blood brother, how can you treat him like this?"
Luo Qian Ping chuckled, "Who let him sit on the position of Hall Master, if I was Hall Master, I think he definitely would treat me like this!"
Li Yan Xin refuted, "No way, I believe that Brother Qian Qi isn't that type of person!"
Luo Qian Ping smiled coldly at her, "You can say whatever, in any case you don't have any chance of spilling the secret!"
Saying this, Luo Qian Ping waved towards Luo Cheng Guang, "Second uncle, I'll give her over to you to handle!"
Luo Cheng Guang nodded, "I'll take care of it, you can rest your worries!"
Luo Qian Ping nodded, then left the ancestral hall.
"Hey, Luo Qian Qi!" I hit Luo Qian Qi's shoulder as I called.
Luo Qian Qi looked at me questioningly, "Is anything the matter?"
I laughed mischievously, "Yesterday I already had people to tail Luo Cheng Guang, Yang Sheng, and Luo Qian Ping. I just received four pieces of news, three of them are bad, one is good, which one do you want to hear first?"
Luo Qian Qi said unhesitantly, "Bad news!"
I smiled a little, "You will have to prepare yourself well!"
Luo Qian Qi looked at me and nodded. I cleared my throat and said, "The first piece of news is, the Yang Sheng by your second uncle's side is the noble son of the Yang house of the three houses Yang, Lu, and Peng, and also those three houses have agreed to help them deal with you!"
Luo Qian Qi nodded, his voice normal as he said, "Then the second piece of bad news?"
I smiled slightly, "The second piece of news is that Luo Qian Ping isn't a good guy either, my people tailing him found that Luo Qian Ping is the real orchestrator behind the scenes, it was him that had your second uncle Luo Cheng Guang to find someone to kill you; as for the reason why Yang Sheng helped your second uncle, I think you already know!"
Luo Qian Qi's face was a little unsightly, "What is the third piece of bad news?"
I stared at Luo Qian Qi for three seconds, "This piece of news is a little heavy, you better prepare yourself well!"
Luo Qian Qi nodded, "You can say it!"
I nodded my head and said, "The last piece of bad news is Li Yan Xin died!"
"What?" Luo Qian Qi said in shock.
"She died in the ancestral hall, I think that in just a moment there will be someone looking to bring you to the ancestral hall!" I said.
Luo Qian Qi inhaled deeply, "Who killed her?"
I watched Luo Qian Qi and said, "Your second uncle Luo Cheng Guang and Luo Qian Ping!"
Luo Qian Qi looked at me interrogatingly, "Then why didn't you save her?"
I watched Luo Qian Qi and smiled coldly, crossing my arms as I said unhappily, "You've really thought of me as your subordinate huh, my agreeing to help you keep an eye on Luo Qian Ping and the others is already giving you a lot of face 1, plus, it wasn't me that was tailing them, I was in the nether world, she was in the living world, how could I save her!"
Luo Qian Qi understood his tone was not right, so he said, "My apologies, what is the good piece of news?"
"The good news is that your second uncle Luo Cheng Guang asked Yellow Springs Inn to help him kill you!"
Luo Qian Qi looked at me, "This counts as good news?"
I smiled coldly, "I didn't agree to it, is it not good news?" I watched Luo Qian Qi and said indifferently, "If I didn't know you, I definitely would have taken the deal, after all, he offered quite an attractive sum of money!"
Luo Qian Qi looked at me, "How much did he offer?"
I counted my fingers for a moment, then replied, "Five million RMB!"
Luo Qian Qi nodded his head, "It is indeed an attractive offer. While he may not have been able to get your Yellow Springs Inn to agree, I think that there will still be others that would help out for this sum of money!"
I nodded, "That is a given, I can only guarantee that our Yellow Springs Inn will not help them kill you, as for others, that I have no control over!"
Luo Qian Qi sighed, "Ever since the first day I rose to this position, I just knew that there would be that day; my grandfather had it, my father also had it; I think that I also am not far from that day!"
I watched Luo Qian Qi, chuckling, "Humans have so many worries, is this position of Hall Master really so desirable?"
Luo Qian Qi smiled bitterly, "His reason for wanting to be in this position is only for an object, the location of which is only known by Thousand Jade Hall's Hall Master!"
I asked, "What is it?"
Luo Qian Qi looked at me and didn't speak, and I understood that perhaps it was not convenient to disclose this information.
I coughed twice, "Then do you know where this object is hidden?"
Luo Qian Qi nodded, "Our Luo family's ancestor was a great general that godly assassin Bai Qi had appointed for the seat of Hall Master. When Bai Qi was approaching death's door, he gave our Luo ancestor a map, telling our Luo family to help him through the generations to protect it!"
I nodded, "Your Luo family really sticks to their promises, even after two thousand years you still do not break it!"
Luo Qian Qi laughed, "And it is because of this that Thousand Jade Hall was able to persist until today!"
I looked at Luo Qian Qi in befuddlement, "If this position is so dangerous, how come you still…"
Luo Qian Qi looked at me, and with a bitter smile, said, "Since the Qin Dynasty, Thousand Jade Hall's position of Hall Master is only given to the son of the first wife, and like this the address of the object is also passed down from one person to the next!"
I nodded, then asked, "What time is it?"
Luo Qian Qi glanced at his phone, "It's ten now, is something the matter?"
I looked at Luo Qian Qi and laughed mischievously for a bit, "It's already ten, we should eat now!"
Luo Qian Qi blankly stared at me for a while, then with a sudden "pft-" he started to laugh.
I watched Luo Qian Qi unhappily, "What is there to laugh at, do ghosts not need to eat?"
Luo Qian Qi laughed and shook his head, then from a drawer pulled out three incense sticks, lighting them up for me.
Still in my tantrum, I viciously sucked up a bit of incense 2, then showed a face of satisfaction.
Luo Qian Qi watched me, smiling, "Zhang Xiao Qi, how long have you gone without eating?"
I glowered at Luo Qian Qi, saying unhappily, "Isn't all because I'm helping you sort out your problems, causing me enough trouble to the point where I didn't even get to eat midnight snacks 3!"
Luo Qian Qi laughed and said, "In the evening I'll go with you!"
I looked at Luo Qian Qi happily, "Really?"
Luo Qian Qi nodded his head, "Would lying to you bring any benefits to me?"
I shook my head. Luo Qian Qi watched me and laughed a bit more, before again continuing to read his book.
Suddenly, I asked Luo Qian Qi, "Luo Qian Qi, will you die?"
Luo Qian Qi froze, then he looked at me and laughed, "Why would you ask this way?"
I laughed and shook my head, "No, I didn't mean it like that!"
I didn't know why, but suddenly I was very afraid of Luo Qian Qi dying. This feeling also suddenly made me feel very afraid.
Luo Qian Qi put down his book, pulling my hand as he smiled, "Don't think too much about it!"
I nodded my head, immediately after I thought of a very important question.
I stared at Luo Qian Qi, "Luo Qian Qi, why the hell are you pulling my hand?"
Luo Qian Qi hurriedly let go of my hand, laughing in embarrassment, "I guarantee that it wasn't on purpose!"
I mumbled to myself a bit and didn't say anything, then asked for Luo Qian Qi's phone and ignored him after that.
"Knock knock knock!"
I only had played with the phone for a little while before hearing someone knocking on the door.
I glanced at Luo Qian Qi. Luo Qian Qi looked at the door and said, "Come in!"
The door opened, and Luo Qian Ping walked in.
Luo Qian Ping's entire face was full of sweat as he walked over to Luo Qian Qi's desk, saying, "Hall Master, it's bad, something happened!"
I watched Luo Qian Ping, muttering, "What Hall Master it's bad, isn't Luo Qian Qi still alive?"
Luo Qian Qi gave me a warning look, while Luo Qian Ping couldn't hear my words.
I grumbled a little before pretending that nothing happened.
Luo Qian Qi said to Luo Qian Ping, "Qian Ping, what happened, say it slowly!"
Luo Qian Ping nodded, calming himself down before saying, "Li Yan Xin died!"
Luo Qian Qi already knew that Li Yan Xin died, but pretended to be shocked, "What?"
I grinned as I watched Luo Qian Qi, "What great acting skills!"
Luo Qian Qi ignored me, instead asking Luo Qian Ping, "How did she die?"
Luo Qian Ping hesitated for a moment, then answered, "Her soul disappeared, right now she is still lying in the ancestral hall!"
Luo Qian Qi didn't say anything more and stood up to walk with large strides towards the ancestral hall.
Luo Qian Ping watched Luo Qian Qi's leaving figure and exposed a strangely smiling face.
Although Luo Qian Ping only showed this smiling face for a split second, I caught sight of it.
I sat on Luo Qian Qi’s bookshelf stroking my chin, a cold smile on my face as I watched Luo Qian Ping.
After Luo Qian Qi left Luo Qian Ping quickly followed after, and I also followed behind them.
Following Luo Qian Qi into the ancestral hall, I saw that inside, a lot of people had gathered, all crowding around a girl with both eyes closed.
With one glance I recognized the girl lying on the ground. She was the girl from yesterday who, the moment Luo Qian Qi walked in, pulled on Luo Qian Qi's hand.
My impression of her was very deep, but I never thought that when we met again she would be lying here.
Li Shi saw that Luo Qian Qi arrived and clutched onto Luo Qian Qi's hand, saying mournfully, "Qian Qi ah, I only have my daughter Yan Xin, you must find the murderer and help Yan Xin take revenge!"
Luo Qian Qi looked at Li Shi and comforted, "Uncle, rest your worries, since this matter happened in Thousand Jade Hall, then as Thousand Jade Hall's Hall Master, I definitely will find out who was the murderer of Li Yan Xin and give the late Li Yan Xin an explanation!"
Footnotes1. To have face or to give someone face: a fairly common concept in c-novels. If you don't know it yet, basically, if you have face, you have respect garnered towards yourself; to give someone face is to do something to preserve the person's pride or dignity, or it is to give them respect. Having or preserving face is very important in China, and is a recurring theme in c-novels, especially when one's cultivation or image is involved. ↩
2. If you are confused about Xiao Qi sucking in the incense, you know how in Chinese ancestral rituals you are to put incense sticks by the gravestone (like in chapter 2)? That's basically the idea; she's getting her "meal" from the incense sticks that are offered to the dead. ↩
3. midnight snacks (宵夜): not really like getting up in the middle of the night and sneaking into the kitchen to stuff your face with ice cream and cookies. Basically, xiao ye (宵夜) is when you go out to the night stalls and eat street food like lamb skewers (羊肉串), which are my personal favorite, but you can find a ton of different other dishes, like skewered seafood, fruit, fried foods, and most of those dishes are skewered. Of course, that's just the food that is usually sold at night; as for the day, there's even more…but maybe I'll talk about those another day.↩