CH 9

Chapter 9

A Scream

When Coldblooded turned to look he saw Xi Meihong rush out.

In the split second that Coldblooded looked back, that person had already went past Coldblooded and was face to face with Xi Meihong.

If that person had attacked Coldblooded when flitting by, then even though Coldblooded was distracted looking the other way, that person would still not have been able to do anything to him.

Because Coldblooded’s sword was even sharper than a pair of eyes.

But that person seemed to know that he was no match for Coldblooded, so he didn’t attack but did his best to flee.

If Coldblooded struck now to stop him, he’d certainly have time to do it, but he saw that Xi Meihong already had her sabre raised and slashed three times with one stroke at the masked person.

Coldblooded hesitated, for one because with Xi Meihong’s Third Miss temper, he didn’t know if she would appreciate someone coming to help her, and second because it looked like Xi Meihong was already prepared to fight. Even though her martial arts probably wouldn’t be enough to defeat that person, it would still take one or two hundred rounds for her to lose.

Coldblooded’s hesitation, only a split second, was enough for an unexpected change to occur.

Xi Meihong’s sabre slashed at the masked man, who blocked it with an iron fan, the two of them seemingly pushing at each other with all their might, but the masked person hmphed and did something.

He removed the black cloth mask from his face with his free hand.

As soon as he took the mask off he let go and the facemask once again covered his face, but in that split second when his face was revealed, Xi Meihong let out a scream.

The person had his back to Ironhands and Coldblooded, so they couldn’t see his face, but they could see Xi Meihong’s face, which in that instant was brimming with surprise, puzzlement, doubt, and disbelief.

Then Xi Meihong retracted her blade, clearly wanting to say something, but as soon as she opened her mouth her opponent pressed three of her acupoints on her chest, and when Coldblooded and Ironhands rushed in full force, the masked man grabbed Xi Meihong by the throat and spun around behind her. Ironhands and Coldblooded were about to rush in to save her, but the masked man’s sharp sawtooth iron fan fanned out and pressed against Xi Meihong’s snow white neck.

Ironhands and Coldblooded couldn’t help but secretly catch their breaths and stop in their tracks.

The four of them stood their deadlocked, no one saying anything.

Now Xi Qiuya’s earlier fright had abated and she saw Third Sister fallen into the hands of the enemy and she blurted out, “Don’t kill her—“

The person sneered, “You all ought to know what I want without me saying it.” It turned out to be a low, deep, charming woman’s voice.

Ironhands took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright, go on, we won’t give chase.”

The masked woman sneered, “You think I’ll believe it just cause you said it?”

Ironhands spread his hands. “What will make you believe it?”

The masked woman let out a low, deep laugh. “You all get far away from here. I’m up high, I can see far. Keep going till I can’t see you anymore. If you so much as linger in a spot where I can still see you,” she pressed harder with the fan and a line of blood appeared on Xi Meihong’s neck.

Coldblooded blurted out, “Don’t—“

The masked woman laughed sharply, then stopped. “If you don’t want me to kill her then get out of here!”

Ironhands and Coldblooded looked at each other, not at all sure: since the three assassins were trying to kill Xi Qiuya, then they very well might not let Xi Meihong go for the same reason, plus once they were far away, the masked person could kill Xi Meihong, who had seen her real face, and then leisurely escape.

The masked woman seemed to know what they were thinking. She urged in a shrill voice, “Well? If you’re not decided—I’ll kill her now!”

Coldblooded and Ironhands couldn’t make up their minds what to do. The masked woman had a hostage and was in no hurry to flee, but rather wanted each of them to leave. It was a really brilliant plan.

The masked woman sneered, “You don’t have any other choice, else she dies at once!”

A panicked and angry look appeared on Xi Meihong’s face, extreme terror in her eyes, as if she wanted to say something, but her “mute acupoint” had been pressed. Coldblooded saw the look in her eyes and sighed inwardly and stamped his foot. “Alright.”

Ironhands weighed the situation, really not able to think of a way out of this one. He just now noticed that in addition to the corpse of Guo Qiufeng hanging from the beam, and the body of the burly man on the ground, there were also two people dressed as soldiers in a haystack on the platform. They had breathed their last some time ago, presumably garrison troops on lookout duty who happened upon this situation and intervened, only to be killed.

In addition to this, there was a corpse prone by the stone window, dressed as a family retainer, a yellow sash around his waist. Ironhands and Coldblooded were very familiar with this getup, it was the garb of the retainers of Xi Family Village.

Indeed, this Xi Family Village retainer had come looking for Xi Qiuya, and she had just happened to come here as well, completely unawares, and they ran into each other. The retainer had either been exposed by Guo Qiufeng and killed, or had been eliminated by his own people to get rid of witnesses.

Ironhands thought all this in just a short moment, but the masked woman was already really impatient and shrilled, “Alright, if you’re not going, I’ll kill her—“

Coldblooded tugged on Ironhands’ sleeve, gesturing for them to leave. Ironhands arched his brow and said evenly, “Madame Xi…”

Those two words dumbfounded Xi Qiuya and Coldblooded. Xi Meihong’s big eye winked, but the masked woman was completely shook. From the way the cloth mask contracted it seemed she was greatly shocked at how Ironhands had been able to ascertain her identity.

Just then, a scream erupted from behind her.

The scream had been made with all one’s might. Although the screamer did not know martial arts, the suddenness of it, and the extremely flustered state the masked woman was in, made her tremble and spin her head around suddenly.

This shock and spin was just like when Xi Meihong had appeared behind Coldblooded before.

How fast is the turn of one’s head?

But her turn was forever.

Because her head could never turn around again.

In the instant she turned her head, Ironhands dashed forward and clamped his hands down on the iron fan.

The iron fan seemed to be fused to stone, not able to move at all.

At the same time, Coldblooded drew his sword.

The sword passed right by Xi Meihong’s neck and ran through the masked woman’s throat, popping out the other end a bloody swordtip!

The four of them were stopped there, not moving at all.

Till Xi Meihong’s panic-stricken eyes slowly calmed and Xi Qiuya cried out and leapt over and pulled her third sister away and unsealed her acupoints. Only then could Xi Meihong collapse against her shoulder, wailing, “…It was… Sister-in-law—“

Six bodies were laid out on the ground.

Two garrison guards, a retainer, Guo Qiufeng, the burly man, and Madame Xi.

Loyal or traitor, good or bad, lowly or respectable, once dead it was just a lifeless carcass, completely equal, completely the same.

Xi Qiuya, fear not yet subsided, related what he’d been through—

“Xi Gan (that is, the dead Xi Family Village retainer) went to Constable Guo’s place looking for me, saying Sister-in-law wanted me back at the manor, that Second Master Tie and Fourth Master Leng had already revived Big Brother and could go back, nothing was amiss… So I went with him, but Constable Guo was uneasy so he came along. We got to here and suddenly these three masked men came out to kill me. Constable Guo guarded me while fending them off and told me to get to the lookout tower where the guards could protect me, but they came after me, and Constable Guo gave his life to save me, sacrificed himself. The two guards entered the attack and they were killed. Xi Gan didn’t know what had happened and came to protect me, and was also… killed by the masked woman… Sister-in-law. And then at you all showed up.”

And the one who had screamed behind Madame Xi’s back was Little Pearl.

After Ironhands and Coldblooded left Little Pearl and rushed up the tower, Xi Meihong was impatient and told Little Pearl to wait there while she went on ahead, only her lightness skill was no match for Ironhands’ and Coldblooded’s, so she was a bit slower arriving. That delay was when Ironhands rescued Xi Qiuya and Coldblooded killed the burly man.

By the time Little Pearl got there, Madame Xi already had hold of Xi Meihong, and because Madame Xi was fully focused on her enemies, she didn’t notice Little Pearl creeping up the steps behind her, closing in.

But Little Pearl didn’t know martial arts at all.

Once she understood the situation, she used all her energy to scream as loud as she could.

She trusted that if she could distract the masked person, then Ironhands and Coldblooded would be able to do something.

Her scream sure enough was effective.

Ironhands only released his breath once he saw Madame Xi dead on the ground. He rushed to the steps and saw Little Pearl. He smiled, and when he saw the frightened and naughty look on her face, he couldn’t help but pat her on the head. “Who knew you could yell so loud.”

Little Pearl smiled. That smile brought a loving, tender look to Ironhands’ eyes, but in an instant the look was gone and he resumed his normal businesslike expression. He pulled his hand back.

A few moments later, Little Pearl slowly went up the steps and bandaged Xi Qiuya’s wounds.

After hearing Xi Qiuya’s story, Ironhands and Coldblooded knelt together before Guo Qiufeng’s body and kowtowed three times.

Ironhands expression was as heavy as a block of iron. “Brother Guo, you died fulfilling your duty, you died for a friend. Rest in peace, we’ll carry out your wishes for you.”

Coldblooded said pointedly, “Brother Guo, though you didn’t die because of us, you could say we got you into this. Rest easy, we will take care of all your unfinished business.”

Actually, “White Cloud Soaring” Guo Qiufeng had two main pieces of unfinished business: one was that he hoped that his only relative, his little brother, could impartially enforce the law to eliminate public scourges; the second was the unsolved case of his uncle’s murder. Ironhands and Coldblooded’s words were spoken to a dead man, but their word was as good as a thousand pieces of gold, life or death didn’t change anything. It was tantamount to taking these two matters on themselves.

Xi Qiuya couldn’t help but ask, “Second Master Tie, Fourth Master Leng, I don’t get it… how did you all know… that the masked person was…”

Coldblooded said, “I didn’t know, he knew.” He turned to Ironhands.

Ironhands smiled. “I didn’t know either, it was just a guess…” His eyes took on a deep expression. “First of all, I saw the body of the Xi Family Village retainer and assumed he had come to bring Second Young Master Xi back home… Of course, the one who wanted Second Young Master back home wasn’t those three assassins. If so, they wouldn’t have been worried about you recognizing them and would have no need to cover their faces. It would take someone at Xi Family Village who had some authority to order the retainer, and this person would not want to reveal their identity, so it very well could be one of the three masked killers.”

He paused, then said, “Third Miss Xi was seized by that person because she was so surprised by seeing the person’s face that she put up no resistance, so I reckoned that the masked person was someone Third Miss knew, perhaps even an elder. Given Xi Meihong’s wild temper, if it were not an elder, she might just turn around and give them a beating. All this led mt to think of the missing Madame Xi. So I just said it, intending to make her lose her concentration. I didn’t expect it to hit the mark—it’s just that if Miss Little Pearl had not screamed, I’m not sure we would have been able to save Third Miss Xi.” Saying that, his appreciative gaze settled on Little Pearl.

Little Pearl hung her head. the nape of her beautiful, well-proportioned neck had a curve to it that gave one a happy, gently, tranquil feeling.

Xi Qiuya caught hold of her hand that was bandaging him up and with deep feeling said, “Little Pearl, I never imagined you could yell so loud.” He didn’t notice Little Pearl quickly frown.

Xi Qiuya said, “That’s the first time I’ve heard you yell, I thought something had happened…”

Xi Meihong covered her face, at a loss. “Sister-in-law, she… she wasn’t missing?… Why would she do this?” She opened her big eyes questioningly at Ironhands, clearing taking Ironhands as a know-it-all.

Ironhands said calmly, “I don’t know why, nor did I ever expect that your sister-in-law was Li Luyu, disciple of the Divine Fan.”

Xi Meihong was shocked. “What… Sister-in-law… was…”

Xi Qiuya was also horrified. “You’re saying Sister-in-law was the Iron Fan Yaksha?”

Ironhands said, “Li Luyu committed murder and arson, robbed people’s homes, loved money as much as life. She did indeed have this unpleasant-sounding nickname.”

Xi Qiuya cried out, “I only knew that Sister-in-law’s surname was Li. Two years ago, Second Steward introduced her to Big Brother…”

Xi Meihong was also surprised. “I never knew that Sister-in-law… that she knew martial arts!”

Ironhands frowned. “Your big brother’s new wife surprisingly was Li Luyu. There must be… something more behind that.”

Xi Qiuya said, “Who… who was the other one? His wrist power was ferocious. My sabre was knocked away by his staff.”

Ironhands said, “Of course his physical strength was ferocious, because he was Lü Zhong.”

Xi Meihong was shocked. “Lü Zhong? ‘Strongman’ Lü Zhong?”

Xi Qiuya mumbled, “No wonder his one stroke was able to send my sabre flying.” He seemed to be looking for an excuse for his sabre getting knocked out of his hands and had forgotten that Lü Zhong had struck his staff on Ironhands’ arm with the result that the wrought-bronze staff had broken in two.

Coldblooded said to Ironhands, “Two coldblooded bandits like Lü Zhong and Li Luyu here, couldn’t be a coincidence with Yue Jun and Tang Chao who we ran into three days ago, could it?”

Ironhands nodded and said to Coldblooded, “Luckily Xi Family Village is the head of this region of the martial world, much weighter than those eight manors that were destroyed.”

Ironhands’ and Coldblooded’s conversation was a mystery to the other three. Finally, Ironhands coughed and said, “Third Miss.”

Xi Meihong cocked her head. “Hmm?”

Ironhands said, “You heard about us hiding out at Constable Guo’s place, didn’t you?”

Xi Meihong didn’t understand what he was getting at. She inclined her head and scrutinized him, smiling. “Yeah.”

“Then,” Ironhands asked, “did you tell Sister-in-law once you heard the news about us and Constable Guo?”

“Why would I tell her?” Xi Meihong said, wide-eyed. “She’d been missing for several days already, and I thought… I thought Big Brother had done something to her. Who knew that… I did tell someone else though.”

“Who?”

“Third Manager, Uncle Liangwu.”

Ironhands and Coldblooded just happened to look at each other at the same time.

Ironhands said, “You only told him?” Xi Meihong nodded.

Ironhands said, “Three masked people, one was Lü Zhong, one was Li Luyu, and the other one, I feel their body shape is familiar, but I can’t place it…”

Coldblooded continued, “It was Xi Liangwu’s figure, we’ve seen it already, plus only he knows best that if you and I are not at Constable Guo’s place it would be very easy to lead Second Young Master away and take care of him elsewhere—the question is, why does Xi Liangwu want to kill Second Young Master? What does all this have to do with Headman Xi? And does this have anything to do with the witnesses murdered by those bandits recently?”

Xi Meihong’s eyes were wide and brightly looking at Coldblooded, but they had a hazy luster about them. She really didn’t understand how this reticent person could give such spirited analysis.

Ironhands said, “These mysteries will not be solved until we visit Xi Family Village.”

Coldblooded said, “If we’re gonna go we should go now. If we wait, it will be too late.”

Xi Meihong wasn’t convinced and couldn’t help but ask, “What do you mean too late?”

Coldblooded answered not the least bit impatient, “Because when we figure out that Third Manager had something to do with the assassination plot is the same time that they expect us to figure it out.”

Third Miss Xi Meihong still didn’t look convinced, arms akimbo, big beautiful apricot eyes glaring, “So what if they figure it out? You mean they’re just gonna buy a turtle shell and hide our heads inside it?”

Coldblooded said coldly, “If they hide it’s no problem, it’s if they don’t hide and instead take active measures. For example, dealing with your brother—“

Xi Meihong and Xi Qiuya leapt up and cried out at the same time, “Let’s go! Let’s go now!”