CH 91

Chapter 91 Wild Cat

There was a distance from the Lantern Market, so Qu Chenzhou naturally followed Liu Zhongming’s carriage. 

After walking around, Liu Zhongming first asked: “Have you eaten?”

“I ate before coming.”

Although he relied on the heavens to eat, facing so many people, divination also required physical strength. Qu Chenzhou did not answer much, he just closed his eyes and leaned on the soft bed, trying to recall the divinations that went just like a revolving door.

Liu Zhongming didn’t bother him any more, he just ordered the carriage to go slower. From the looks of it, there should be something worth exploring.

Candles were lit in the carriage, and as the carriage shook slightly, erratic shadows swayed back and forth.

He stared at Qu Chenzhou for a moment without blinking, then suddenly realized that there was something different from before.

Even though he was wearing a mask, there was a deep scar extending from the center of Qu Chenzhou’s eyebrows, between his star-like eyes; it was particularly conspicuous at first.

In the next few months, he gradually got used to the plaster that looked like a ghost, and he was so numb to it that he turned a blind eye.

But under the light of the candlelight, the smooth skin extending from the forehead to the inside of the face, was so delicate that it made one’s heart skip a beat.

With a thought, he remembered that he hadn’t seen Qu Chenzhou’s real appearance for a long time.

Without the unsightly plaster between the brows, with only this half of his face, even he, whom he saw almost every day, couldn’t help his heart beating faster.

A little expectation floated up, and he felt that his guess was almost delusional, but the more he looked at the silhouette under the lamp, the more he couldn’t stop his extravagant thoughts, and finally asked in a shy voice: “Chenzhou, your…”

“En?” Qu Chenzhou was woken up in his contemplation. Thinking that he was impatient to wait, he hurriedly said: “Don’t worry Shizi, it’s just that person just now… I don’t know him, and the words were vague. If it is possible, I hope Shizi will let me see him in five days. “

Liu Zhongming put away his thoughts ashamedly, and asked, “Do you still remember anything obvious about his appearance? Any related divination?”

“There is a small mole on the neck downward from the root of the ear,” Qu Chenzhou gestured, and explained: “It was Shilei who pulled him in from the crowd. The time was too short, I only vaguely saw something related to Jinxiu Ying. If you have a chance, you can inquire about Pan He’s news.”

Liu Zhongming probably had an idea in his mind.

Every family has a few poor relatives, and the Anding Marquis Residence was the same. Since it was outside the crowd, they should be inconspicuous. Thanks to Bai Shilei’s warm and thoughtful attitude, he did not neglect anyone.

“Okay, since it’s about Jinxiu Ying, I’ll ask someone to find him quietly.”

Qu Chenzhou nodded slightly, was silent for a moment, and thought of something: “Why didn’t I see Qingchi?”

Liu Zhongming was used to him calling them so naturally and responded casually: “He said he didn’t like the excitement, so he went back to read books, it’s like this every year.” 

In fact, Qingchi’s complexion was even worse this year, and Bai Shilei’s storytelling contributed a lot.

As if carelessly, Qu Chenzhou leaned back on the couch again, closed his eyes and said: “Although Qingchi is young, he also has the same wishes as Shizi, and he is very concerned about your brother’s affairs, but he hates himself for being powerless, and also hates Shizi who only wants to make money, he doesn’t know the real painstaking efforts made by Shizi, so he is alienated.”

“Qingchi likes to study, he will make a difference when he goes to the Imperial Academy in the future. As the saying goes, to fight tigers, one has to be brothers, to go to battle, father and son will fight together*. For the sake of the future, Shizi should resolve Qingchi’s heart knot.”

* matters of life and death can only be done by people who are as close as brothers, father and son

“There are some things that should be discussed.”

“Qingchi, he…” Liu Zhongming hesitated: “He is still young, I don’t want him to be involved in these matters.”

“Shizi’s words are wrong.” Qu Chenzhou said: “You are just not honest, there is still room for Qingchi. If Shizi enters the officialdom in the future, Qingchi will not understand even more.”

“The Liu family is Shizi’s foundation, not only Qingchi, but also the Marquis, they are the ones that Shizi needs to win over first.”

“Forgive me for saying something unlucky, but Shizi misses a person who had passed away. If one day Qingchi is no longer here, and Shizi thinks about the current neglect and concealment, how should you deal with yourself?”

Liu Zhongming thought of the “Previous life” mentioned. He could feel his whole body in a cold sweat, he thought about it for a long time, then had to say: “You are right, I will have a good talk with Qingchi some other day. Thank you.”

After it got dark, the carriage arrived at the place. Walking forward a little was the most lively place, selling lanterns, juggling, releasing river lanterns, blowing sugar figures, all of it was most concentrated here.

The crowd came neither early nor late. Since there were many people, the servants surrounded them so as not to let them be hit by others.

Naturally, Liu Zhongming didn’t want to walk with Qu Chenzhou anymore, so he ordered two people: “Go and watch Qu Chenzhou.”

He was a little worried, but he didn’t babble like he was at home, so he could only add as a joke: “Be careful he won’t run away again.”

Qu Chenzhou looked up at him, nodded slightly, and put on the hood – his eyes were too eye-catching, appearing in this kind of place, he was afraid it would attract people to look.

The farther you went, the more people there were. There were children running amok and playing, and there were shouts and noises everywhere.

The crowd gradually stopped gathering together and walked away in twos and threes. Fortunately, the distance between the front and the back was not far, and they could still see each other.

Bai Shiyan walked with Liu Zhongming, he couldn’t help turning his head when he saw him. He didn’t say anything, as if he had something on his mind, he just bumped him with his arm.

Liu Zhongming avoided the frolicking crowd, looked back again, worried: “I can’t see him.”

“He’s not a child, there are people following him.” Bai Shiyan really hated seeing him like a mother-in-law: “Coming out to play but being so stifled and not talking, are you just thinking about him?”

Facing Bai Shiyan, Liu Zhongming didn’t shy away from it, and said bluntly, “Yes, I’m thinking about him.”

“What are you thinking about? What did he just tell you?” Bai Shiyan knew that the two of them would not waste their time in the carriage: “Is there something wrong with this group of people?”

“No, it might be good news, I am just thinking about…”

Liu Zhongming stopped, and caught a glimpse of a candy seller on the side of the road.

A young couple with two children were shopping for candies. One of the two children was crying because the candies were of different sizes.

The father hurriedly bought two more.

The two children were satisfied and stopped fighting. They raised one in each hand and happily chased and played around their parents.

Everyone was happy and harmonious.

That string of candies… Liu Zhongming couldn’t help but think, when will he get rid of those nightmare-like candies?

Sweetness is such a wonderful taste, he wanted Chenzhou to taste it too.

“I was thinking, how could a person like him die?”

Bai Shiyan was puzzled: “Wasn’t it said? Time is life and destiny, everyone will die.”

“Really? So many people just now passed by him with all kinds of divinations flashed in front of him, not only did he find something that might be useful, but he also quickly observed a small mole on that person’s neck.”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to do it, what about you?”

Bai Shiyan thought for a while, shaking his head.

“He is really powerful. Even if he didn’t have those eyes in the past, he is a bold, careful, and well-rounded person; he was smart and tenacious. He knew what to ask for and what not to ask for, and he would not fall into the abyss because of greed.”

Liu Zhongming raised his head, asking: “It is enough for such a person to protect himself and die of old age, but why did he die at such a young age?”

Bai Shiyan couldn’t answer, so he could only pat him: “No matter how smart a person is, he may capsize in the gutter, don’t even think about it too much.”

Liu Zhongming could only smile wryly.

For some reason, thinking of Qu Chenzhou’s calmness when talking about his previous life, he always felt that that death… seemed to be under Qu Chenzhou’s control.

Although he said that he would not explore his past life and pay attention to Qu Chenzhou’s real identity, he always felt that there seemed to be a thread leading him here from the unknown world he had never experienced.

He can guess the existence of this line, but he didn’t know how to catch it.

Not long after, walking down most of the street, both of them ordered the people around them to go to the river together and prepare to release the river lanterns.

The scattered people quickly gathered again, but Qu Chenzhou was nowhere to be seen. Only the two who followed Qu Chenzhou hurriedly came back to report.

Qu Chenzhou disappeared again.

Qu Chenzhou stood in the crowd in a daze, looked around at his feet, but didn’t see a familiar figure.

“Oops…” he muttered to himself.

The heavens really like to tease people.

In the past, he tried every means to escape, and even risked the possibility of being beaten to death time and time again, with no hope at all. Now that he has settled down, he has been left behind again.

He was originally walking between the two of them, following at the end of the team.

Although there were many people on the street, they could not fail to take care of each other, but after passing the intersection just now, there was some extra performance or something, and it suddenly became crowded.

After walking a few steps, a group of people who had just finished drinking and came to visit the Lantern market bumped into him noisily, and he was pushed and shoved aside.

There were many tall people around, and when he raised his eyes at first, he could still see the top of the head of the person accompanying him, but soon they were all submerged in the crowd, and he didn’t know where the two were pushed.

Maybe it was the first time he was left alone, maybe because he suddenly lost contact with Liu Zhongming, he panicked for no reason, then calmed down quickly, pinching the collar of his cloak, trying not to attract attention. He walked along the crowded road, moving forward.

Liu Zhongming and the others should be right in front of the crowd.

Narrow alleys extended on both sides of the street in the Lantern Market. Every time he walked to the entrance of the alley against the wall, there were shaking figures in front of him, dazzling lights, and endless darkness behind, like a monster with its mouth open. 

He had a greater fear of the dark than ordinary people, and whenever he passed the alley, he stuck to the wall tightly, for fear that the crowd would squeeze him into the depths.

Precisely when you are afraid of something, it will come.

After passing only one alley, there seemed to be another crowd on the opposite side. The two faced each other, and he had to retreat into the alley, turning his head back from time to time, so he didn’t mind what was in front of him.

But it was only for a moment that he suddenly realized that something was wrong – the people around him were clearly pushing him deeper on purpose.

Before the person in front took another step back, his figure sank and his hands reached his waist.

Liu Zhongming gave him a retractable flying thorn, with thick fingers and sharp ends, which can be used for self-defense in an emergency.

The stabbing point was sent forward silently in the dark night. From the eyes of others, it seemed that it was just pushing and shoving as before, but it was pierced by a miserable scream.

The person who had already squeezed to Qu Chenzhou’s left immediately reacted, quickly covering his mouth with one hand, and was about to clasp his wrist with the other.

With just this one action, Qu Chenzhou immediately realized that these people didn’t want his life, but wanted to capture him alive!

He was thin and light, unable to pick up the man who fell. Since the other party was unwilling to kill him, he simply went all out in a desperate position. Instead of breaking free, he slammed into the man’s arms with all his strength.

The two crashed into the wall of the narrow alley together, and just as one end of the flying thorn was pulled out bloody, another pierced into the heart of the man.

The man didn’t expect that he was still carrying a weapon, and he didn’t even make a warning sound, he just fell sideways against the wall.

The power that restrained him disappeared immediately.

Without waiting for anyone to react, he stepped on the body of the person who had just fallen down, kicked off the opposite wall with his strength, and then threw himself up, with his hands on the eaves.

In the blink of an eye, he had already climbed onto the roof and ran forward without looking back.

“Grab him!”

Someone behind him also climbed up to the roof, making the tiles rattle.

“That lowly slave wants to escape! Catch him! There’s a reward!”

This shout completely cut off Qu Chenzhou’s idea of ​​jumping into the crowd to escape. If he was handed over to these people, he wouldn’t even have a chance to defend himself. 

There was a surging crowd under his feet, and the enemy was chasing after him. The eaves that he can jump on was about to end, and he will be blocked by a big tree.

Qu Chenzhou was cornered, he only knew he was running like h*ll, and when he calmed down, he was already climbing the tree.