Chapter 125: The Dragon's Reverse Scale

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Thanks to “zgzheng_1976” and “Awkwardly Divine 1” for the pink votes~

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When Wen Jing reached the edge of the cliff, she saw no sign of Qingliu. She walked to the precipice and gazed into the distance, but all she could see were clouds and mist floating halfway up the mountain.

She carefully examined the edge of the cliff. There were no marks suggesting friction or footsteps. Could it be that Qingliu had never come here?

Wen Jing swept her gaze across the entire forest. With only her own strength, she was afraid she could neither save Qingliu nor escape unscathed herself. It seemed she had no choice but to seek help from Ji Changge’s guards. There was no time to lose, so Wen Jing hurried back, praying all the while that Qingliu’s poison would not take effect too quickly—and that the girl would not do anything foolish.

When Wen Jing arrived at Lingyun Hall, she found Dongsheng and Ji Changge discussing something. She only caught Ji Changge seemingly persuading Dongsheng to return as soon as possible, saying that he would handle matters here.

“If I go back now, how am I supposed to explain it to—”

“Ahem.”

Ding Wu suddenly coughed several times.

“How can I possibly feel at ease?” Dongsheng continued, his gaze intentionally—or perhaps unintentionally—flicking toward Wen Jing as she entered.

Wen Jing inclined her head slightly. “Seventh Lady has a favor to ask of Lord Ji.”

“Go ahead.” Ji Changge regarded Wen Jing with faint surprise. As far as he remembered, this was the first time she had ever asked him for help.

“Qingliu… went out to gather herbs this morning and has not been seen since. Could Lord Ji send someone to look for her?” Wen Jing asked, somewhat awkwardly. She knew it was inappropriate to make such a request at a time like this, but she had no other choice.

Ji Changge had yet to speak when Dongsheng frowned slightly. “Who is Qingliu? That little maidservant at your side?”

“That is correct.”

A mocking smile appeared on Dongsheng’s face. “Little lady, do you understand what matters more and what matters less? You want all of us to set aside a bloody murder and go searching for a mere maidservant? Your face…” He gave a cold laugh. “You think rather highly of yourself, don’t you?”

Ji Changge’s expression changed, and he was just about to say something when Wen Jing spoke first.

“Buddha teaches that all living beings are equal. A maidservant, too, was born of a father and mother. Young Master Dongsheng, let me ask you this: Which is more important—the dead or the living?” Wen Jing looked calmly at him.

Dongsheng’s gaze turned cold.

There was a trace of disdain in the way this little lady looked at him. In the past, whenever other young ladies saw him, they either fawned over him or trembled in fear. Yet this Seventh Lady Wen dared to look down on him so openly. Unfortunately, he could not lash out. As the saying went, ignorance was no crime; he had never revealed his true identity.

Dongsheng fell silent. After glancing at the eyes turned toward him from every side, he forced several words through clenched teeth.

“Obviously, the living.”

This Seventh Lady Wen was always making arguments that seemed to defy common sense, yet were impossible to refute. It left Dongsheng unbearably irritated.

Wen Jing smiled faintly and said nothing more.

A helpless look flickered in Ji Changge’s eyes. He then ordered, “Ding Wu, go tell Abbess Mingqing to bring every nun from the temple and have them search the mountain with you for Miss Qingliu. Be quick.”

Dongsheng stared at Ji Changge in astonishment. He had never expected Ji Changge actually to agree to Wen Jing’s request. In Dongsheng’s mind, Ji Changge had always been a man who clearly separated public and private matters and never involved himself in affairs that did not concern him. Yet now he was sending all his guards to search for a mere maidservant, even after Dongsheng had made his position perfectly clear.

It was utterly absurd.

Ding Wu’s eyes flickered uneasily. He glanced at Dongsheng, then accepted the order and left.

“Thank you, Lord Ji.” After speaking, Wen Jing followed Ding Wu. Even if they found Qingliu, they would still need an antidote.

Once everyone had gone, Dongsheng looked at Ji Changge in confusion.

“What exactly is so special about this Seventh Lady Wen?”

Ji Changge smiled faintly. “I am merely repaying a favor.”

Dongsheng neither agreed nor disagreed, but it was obvious he did not believe the explanation. Still, he did not criticize it further.

As Dongsheng swept his sleeves and returned to his room, a trace of weariness and bewilderment flashed through Ji Changge’s eyes, vanishing almost at once.

…

Ding Wu and Mingqing divided the more than two hundred nuns into over twenty smaller groups. Each group was led by a guard, and they set out in different directions to search. This would save time; whichever group found Qingliu first would signal the others with a flare.

Wen Jing followed behind Mingqing and Ding Wu. Their thirteen-member group wound its way up the mountain path.

“Little Lady Wen, are you certain Qingliu did not simply grow tired of the hardships at the temple and leave on her own?”

Mingqing could not resist complaining. Her plump body had barely walked for a short while before she was already panting heavily.

“She certainly would not. Besides, the road down the mountain is guarded. How could she have done something so foolish?” Wen Jing replied.

Mingqing said no more. She wiped the sweat from her brow and continued forward with great reluctance.

Ding Wu was a martial artist, and his footwork was naturally swift. Wen Jing was anxious as well, so she hurried along at his side. Before long, the two of them had left the nuns behind by a short distance.

“It is a pity that Seventh Lady did not take part in the interrogation earlier,” Ding Wu said softly.

Wen Jing raised her head. “Who was interrogated?”

Ding Wu hesitated. “That… is difficult to explain. You could say it was one person, but in truth, two people were interrogated.”

Seeing the confusion in Wen Jing’s eyes, Ding Wu lowered his voice further.

“And one was a man, while the other was a woman. Seventh Lady, have you ever witnessed anything so strange?”

“Are you saying that a nun suddenly turned into a man?” Wen Jing asked.

“Exactly. You should have seen the scene. Even a stage play could not have been more entertaining.” Ding Wu clicked his tongue twice.

Looking at his fussy, gossiping manner, Wen Jing was speechless. Away from Ji Changge, Ding Wu’s true nature as a gossiping old wife was fully exposed.

What he described should have been a person with a split personality in the modern world—a remarkably rare mental illness, a hysterical dissociative psychological disorder that was almost impossible to cure. Even in modern times, Wen Jing had only heard of such patients; she had never actually encountered one.

“Did you find anything out during the interrogation?” Wen Jing continued.

Ding Wu shook his head, his brows drooping. “Just when we reached the important part, the man suddenly disappeared and turned back into the nun. He only managed to say one thing…”

As he spoke, Ding Wu glanced back from the corner of his eye. Then he lowered his voice.

“He told us to beware of that thief-nun Mingqing. He said she was very likely the murderer.”

Mingqing? Wen Jing’s heart gave a slight jolt.

Mingqing…

Ding Wu suddenly stopped. Wen Jing nearly walked into him. She looked up and saw his face had gone deathly pale as he stared ahead.

Following his gaze, Wen Jing saw a figure hanging from a tree, its body swaying gently in the mountain wind…

“Ah!”

Several terrified screams rose from the nuns behind them.

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Wen Jing and Ding Wu quickly reached the great tree. The moment she saw that familiar face, all color drained from Wen Jing’s features.

She had never imagined the outcome would be this. How could Qingliu have died? Had she hanged herself, or had someone murdered her and staged the scene to look like suicide?

Turning to Ding Wu, she said, “Brother Ding, please bring her down as gently as possible.”

Ding Wu pushed off with one foot and flew up into the tree. He cut through the strip of cloth around Qingliu’s neck, caught her body, and gently lowered her to the ground.

Wen Jing crouched down and confirmed that Qingliu was dead. Yet judging from the body temperature and rigor mortis, it seemed she had been dead for a long time. Her corpse was unnaturally cold and stiff. This should have been caused by the poison in her body. Even if Qingliu had died the previous night, rigor mortis could not have progressed to this degree. Such an extremely low temperature could only normally be achieved in an icehouse.

Unless the poison was responsible, someone must have refrigerated Qingliu’s corpse before staging the hanging. But there had been no reason to go to such lengths.

Without revealing anything, Wen Jing swept her gaze around the area. The box containing the sword was nowhere to be seen.

Mingqing also came forward. Several timid nuns had seen Qingliu from a distance—blood flowing from all seven orifices, her face blackened and purple—and did not dare approach. They merely stood far away.

A few of the bolder nuns followed Mingqing, their curiosity overcoming their fear.

“How did she die…?” Mingqing asked as she approached. There was an unusual trace of sorrow on her face.

“Everyone, move back. Do not destroy any evidence.” Ding Wu shouted at Mingqing and the other nuns.

The nuns hurriedly retreated, and Mingqing withdrew several yards as well.

Once Mingqing and the others had moved away, Wen Jing said, “Brother Ding, please check whether there are any signs of friction where the cloth was tied to the tree.”

Ding Wu climbed back up and examined the spot. He then shook his head at Wen Jing below.

Wen Jing understood. She began examining Qingliu’s corpse.

Qingliu’s entire body had swollen. Her face was black and purple, and the blood seeping from her seven orifices had already congealed into clots. There were no other wounds on her body. At first glance, it appeared that she had died of poisoning.

But Wen Jing was certain Qingliu had not died by suicide. There were no signs of friction on the branch. If Qingliu had been poisoned and then hanged herself, she would certainly have struggled before dying, leaving marks where the cloth rubbed against the branch.

Qingliu had unquestionably been murdered first and then hung from the tree. The murderer had taken the treasured sword.

Could it have been Liancheng? Wen Jing wondered.

Apart from him, no one knew that Qingliu possessed the sword. After handing it to Wen Jing, Liancheng would never have felt safe simply leaving. He must have followed Qingliu, killed her, and taken the sword back.

But why had Liancheng waited until they reached the forest to act? His purpose had been to use Qingliu to threaten Wen Jing. Killing Qingliu and taking the sword offered him no benefit at all.

Wen Jing felt as though her mind had become a tangled skein of thread. Whatever the truth was, Qingliu would never return.

Seeing the extraordinary grief on Wen Jing’s face, Ding Wu did not know how to comfort her. Qingliu was only a maidservant, but he could see how deeply Wen Jing cared for that plain-looking girl.

“I did not kill Bo Ren, yet Bo Ren died because of me. Could this be my fault?”

Wen Jing kept asking herself the same question. If she had not repeatedly chosen to endure and yield, would Qingliu still be alive?

She had always been a carefree person. After crossing into this world, she had only wanted to live a quiet, comfortable life. She had never wished to become entangled in schemes and struggles for power.

But simply because she was unwilling did not mean others would leave her alone, or spare the people around her.

Madam Wen had acted this way. Prince Xuan had acted this way. Liancheng had acted this way.

How many more people would die because of her in the future…?

“Seventh Lady, you… are you all right?” Ding Wu asked, looking at Wen Jing’s face as it gradually twisted with fury.

She had always seemed utterly unruffled to him. He had never seen her wear such an expression before.

“If you insist on forcing me this far, then do not blame me…”

To be continued…

P.S. Baili Moran is a guest character contributed by “Good Girls Walk Sideways”~

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