“Later, my son and I returned home, only to realize that three days had passed since we fell off the cliff. During these three days, the old man searched for us frantically and ended up exhausted.”
“If we had come back a moment later, the old man would have lost his life.”
“He can’t live without us. We are his only family, and he can’t bear the thought of both of us dying together. So, I’ve been living here with my son, planning to leave together after the old man’s natural death.”
“Master, although my son and I are ghosts, we have never harmed anyone. We stay home every day and never go anywhere. Please believe me.”
Fanjia: “You don’t carry the stain of murder. In this world, there are countless kinds of living beings and spirits. I only collect the spirits stained with blood.”
“Thank you, Master!” The elderly woman looked at the two of them gratefully and continued, “Speaking of which, I have something strange here, since you are a venerable monk, I’d like to trouble both of you with it.”
Bai Lixin: “What is it?”
“This thing,” the elderly woman took out a bead from her pocket and handed it over, “it was left behind that night when that strange corpse passed by the wonton stall.”
“I sensed the old man was in danger and went to rescue him.”
“Later, the old man changed locations, and our stall was robbed twice. I thought it might be because of this thing.”
“Do you two know what this is?”
Bai Lixin took the bead in his hand. This bead was slightly smaller than the one given to him by the black fox, and its color was different too—it was a pale golden color.
He took out the other bead from the system backpack, and when the two beads were placed together, they seemed to trigger some connection and suddenly lit up simultaneously.
The elderly woman looked surprised. “So, this bead can also glow. It seems giving it to you was the right choice.”
The system’s voice suddenly rang out in Bai Lixin’s mind: [Ding! Congratulations, player, on obtaining a mysterious bead x1.]
It was just a fleeting sentence; there was no introduction or explanation about the bead’s properties.
How increasingly perfunctory!
Bai Lixin: “Who is looking for this bead? Did you see them?”
Elderly woman: “It’s the group of cultivators staying at the Tongfu Inn. That’s why I couldn’t confront them directly. Fortunately, they haven’t come to our house, probably afraid of being seen.”
“By the way, may I ask,” Bai Lixin looked at the elderly woman, “you mentioned falling off the cliff to escape the mountain bandits. Do you remember where you fell from exactly?”
If they were ordinary humans at first and suddenly acquired powers that other ghosts didn’t have after death, it’s very likely that there was something strange with the place they died.
Elderly woman: “I know, it was at Qingcheng Mountain. There’s a main road on Qingcheng Mountain. If you follow the road, you’ll see a magnificent sect, which is Qingcheng Sect. However, don’t go inside the sect. Instead, take the eastward path from the sect’s intersection and keep going until you reach the back mountain of Qingcheng Sect. There, you’ll find a cliff. I fell from there.”
She paused: “If you happen to find our remains in the water, please don’t fish them out. Let them continue sleeping at the bottom of the lake.”
“I’m worried that if the bodies are fished out, the old man might discover we are not alive. I don’t know if he can handle such a shock.”
Bai Lixin nodded: “Alright, I promise.”
After leaving the elderly woman’s house, Bai Lixin connected all the clues he had gathered in these days.
Miss Song, her lover the scholar, Qingcheng Sect, divine meat, corpses, black fox, beads, demons, scales…
All the fragmented clues kept swirling rapidly in his mind. Some stayed, and others were filtered out.
Suddenly, all the clues stopped.
Bai Lixin ’s mind raced, and he suddenly turned to Fanjia, grabbing his sleeve urgently: “Let’s go!”
Fanjia, taken aback by his sudden movement, “Where to?”
Bai Lixin didn’t stop walking: “The yamen!”
….
The yamen was already closed. The two climbed over the wall, and as they landed on the other side, they heard a stern voice, “Who’s there?”
It was Zhang Biao.
Zhang Biao approached with his sword drawn, and upon realizing it was Bai Lixin , he relaxed and sheathed his sword: “Sir, why are you here? Why climb the wall? And who is this master?”
Bai Lixin: “I didn’t want to disturb your rest, but I didn’t expect you to be awake. You haven’t yet gone home tonight?”
Zhang Biao held a wine jug in his hand. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“As for going home…” He hesitated for a moment. “I’ll be going home tomorrow during the day.”
When he mentioned “going home,” his tone was particularly heavy.
“Why did you come at the yamen so late?”
“I couldn’t sleep either,” Bai Lixin replied casually, then started walking towards the study. “I was thinking about the case and remembered a detail. Since you’re here, help me think it through.”
Seeing that it was related to the case, Zhang Biao’s melancholy vanished instantly. His dull eyes lit up, and he eagerly grabbed Bai Lixin’s arm. “Sir, have you found something?!”
Seeing Zhang Biao’s hand, Fanjia frowned slightly.
He walked between the two without leaving a trace, waving Zhang Biao’s hand away with a gentle wave of his hand.
———————————
In the live broadcast room:
[Oh, it’s starting, it’s starting! The Big boss’s jealousy and protectiveness of his wife!]
[He belongs to the big boss, no one else can take him away.]
[Zhang Biao: ? This monk seems to have some issues.]
———————————
Zhang Biao didn’t notice the monk’s displeasure. He thought he had blocked the monk’s way and instinctively moved aside. Then, he continued to stare at Bai Lixin with sparkling eyes.
Bai Lixin walked as he spoke, “Come, let’s go to the study.”
The three of them quickly arrived in the study. Bai Lixin took out all the case files from the bookshelf and spread them out in front of them. “Search for information on the relationships of the deceased in the case. Find out where they frequently went before their deaths. Mark those places. If there are none, we’ll look into it later.”
Zhang Biao didn’t know what Bai Lixin had discovered, but he promptly agreed. He immediately lowered his head and began searching.
Fanjia didn’t want to get involved in mortal affairs, but now there was a thick stack of files in front of him, and the stack in front of the young man seemed even bigger.
If he didn’t look into it, he wouldn’t be able to help with his part. Then won’t it end up in the young man’s hands? Won’t that increase the workload for the young man?
Forget it, let’s just see.
Fanjia silently opened the case files. In the flickering candlelight of the study, the three of them remained silent. The only sound in the room was the rustling of paper being turned.
Time passed, and soon, Fanjia finished reading the case files and listed the clues Bai Lixin wanted on a piece of paper.
After closing the last case file, the monk glanced up and saw the young man had already finished reading. He was resting his chin on his hand, staring at him. It was unclear how long he had been staring.
The monk blushed imperceptibly. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing, just admiring,” Bai Lixin switched hands and continued resting his chin on his hand. “Master, has anyone told you that you look particularly handsome and focused when you’re concentrating on something?”
Fanjia blushed again. “Amitabha, appearances are illusory, benefactor.”
“I know,” Bai Lixin continued to smile. “That’s why I meant your aura and level of seriousness. It’s very charming and attractive, at least, it’s very attractive to me.”
“Ahem ahem ahem!”
From not far away came the sound of Zhang Biao coughing.
What was this, what had he heard?!
Master Bai Lixin, are you trying to flirt with the monk?!
This… couldn’t be what he was thinking, right?
Damn, a forbidden love story, wasn’t this too exciting!
Was this something he could hear?
Master Bai Lixin wasn’t treating him like an outsider!
“There are others here,” Fanjia said somewhat uncomfortably, adjusting his sleeve. “Stop talking nonsense.”
“I understand,” Bai Lixin said with a playful tone in his voice. “I’ll listen to you. I’ll wait until there’s no one around, then I’ll say something more exciting.”
Zhang Biao: “Ahem ahem ahem ahem!”
‘Save me, save me, save me.’
———————————
In the live broadcast room
[Haha, Zhang Biao is now acting out the ‘I really want to escape’ scenario.]
[God Xin: Want to leave? Not allowed. Stay and listen to my sweet talk!]
[God Xin: If you leave, how will I see the big boss’s shy and coy appearance?]
[Haha, after all this, Zhang Biao is just a tool man.]
——————————
After another cup of tea’s time, Zhang Biao brought the neatly organized papers in front of Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin spread out the three different papers with various handwriting and quickly circled a few places on them.
Zhang Biao looked over curiously. “Hmm? Qingcheng Sect?”
“Sir, are you saying they all visited Qingcheng Sect? Could the case be related to Qingcheng Sect?”
“But these people didn’t.” Zhang Biao quickly pointed to two of them. “For example, him, he slaughters pigs in town, he has never been to Qingcheng Sect, and doesn’t believe in ghosts and gods. And her too, she rarely leaves her house. how could she go if she can’t even take two steps out?”
“Their deaths happened later. By then, Qingcheng Sect had already arrived in town. If Qingcheng Sect was in town, wouldn’t everyone have more opportunities to come into contact with them?” Bai Lixin pointed to the man who slaughtered pigs. “For example, him. Although he didn’t go to Qingcheng Sect, the case files mention that a few days before his incident, his wife once grabbed a bowl of divine meat and shared it with him.”
“As for this young lady, I truly don’t know. This requires further investigation.”
“Wait a moment.”
Zhang Biao was stunned for a moment and then nodded quickly. “Okay!”
“Also, there’s another question,” Bai Lixin looked at Zhang Biao. “You must have come into contact with these corpses before. Think back, did these corpses have anything special on them, like beads or something?”
After thinking seriously for a while, Zhang Biao suddenly exclaimed, “Yes, there was! One of the deceased had a bead inside their mouth. I don’t know what it is, but I thought it might be physical evidence, so I kept it.”
“Why wasn’t it mentioned in the case files?” Bai Lixin frowned slightly.
“It wasn’t?” Zhang Biao scratched his head. “Then I don’t know, the scribe wrote the case files.”
Bai Lixin: “Where is that bead? Show me. Besides this bead, were there any other beads?”
“No, there were no others, just this one. It’s also possible that the mortuary attendant thought it was mud and garbage, so he didn’t tell the scribe. Who knows, the scribe was actually quite careless, he didn’t record the case files seriously every time. Sometimes, he would casually write after drinking.”
After saying this, Zhang Biao paused for a moment. “Hey, how dare I talk about him, I’m not much different either.”
Bai Lixin: “By the way, regarding the case of Xiao Cui, the courtesan, has there been any progress in the investigation of the earrings?”
Zhang Biao sighed. “No, today my brothers and I secretly asked around, but no one knows about these earrings. Maybe that person hid the earrings.”
“Hmm,” Bai Lixin murmured. “It’s been a long time, the clues won’t be easy to find. Let’s take it slowly.”
“Alright. By the way, County Magistrate Lin came by this evening, and he was very angry. He said if he sees you, I should relay a message to you.”
Bai Lixin blinked his eyes curiously. “What message?”
Zhang Biao: “Ahem, he said, do you still remember you have to go to the prince’s house to teach the crown prince?”
County Magistrate Lin’s original words were, of course, not like this.
County Magistrate Lin’s original words were, “You two have really lost your minds! Each one of you is more stubborn than the other. You don’t listen to me, and he directly defied the prince! Does he still want to work? If he doesn’t want to, then he can leave! I’m so angry! People die every day, where does he think he’s going to end up!”
Ahem, anyway, he didn’t want to say it out loud in front of Master Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin was stunned for two seconds. “I really forgot!”
Although he intended to use reverse psychology, this time he genuinely forgot!
Blame it on him being too happy in the temple during the day, he was a bit indulgent and forgot about less important matters.
Thinking about it, the crown prince won’t be angry, right?
“Ah-choo!” Far away in the prince’s mansion, the crown prince sneezed heavily.
He stared at the lonely tea table with a gloomy face, his lips trembling with anger.
‘That scribe, he really didn’t come!
He didn’t just play hard to get with me, he really didn’t want to stay here and teach me?
I’m so mad!
I am the only one who drives people away, no one drives me away!’
…
“Zhang Biao,” Bai Lixin looked at the case files on the desk and said in a deep voice, “Was the scribe always this careless?”
Zhang Biao: “Not always, just occasionally.”
“Memory fades as time goes by, and even the best mind can’t compare to a lousy pen. As people’s memories gradually fade, written words are important for providing us with the truth. So, the process of recording in writing must ensure its accuracy.”
“For important case files like these, didn’t anyone double-check them after the scribe recorded them?”
Zhang Biao froze in place with some embarrassment. Faced with Bai Lixin’s question, he nodded and shook his head guiltily: “It’s not like we didn’t check. Whoever is free will check with the scribe later.”
Bai Lixin: “To put it bluntly, no one took it seriously. This isn’t your fault, don’t blame yourself. This kind of thing, shouldn’t the county magistrate bear the primary responsibility? Like that bead, such a piece of physical evidence didn’t appear in the case files. If I hadn’t asked you today and just relied on the case files, I wouldn’t have found this clue.”
Isn’t this too careless for a matter that should have been treated seriously?
