Peerless ( Meng Xi Shi )

The weather at this time of the year was cold; therefore, even though Little Maiden Lu had slept in the coffin for two whole days, her corpse had yet to rot. However, separated by life and death, to let her corpse see the light once again, all the people of the Lu family could not help but take two steps back, all but Su Xing who did not take a step back; in fact, he moved forward to look at the person sleeping in the coffin.

Seeing this, Madam Li's eyes suddenly brimmed red.

Lu Ti could not suppress his regret. If he had not been so blinded, how would this pair of lovebirds fallen into such a state?

His heart was both pained and regretful, but he could not find an outlet to vent them, so he only glared at Pei Jingzhe and Cui Buqu's backs angrily, furiously wanted to fight him, but he was easily held down.

Cui Buqu walked towards the coffin, looking at the young lady lying in it with both her eyes closed.

Her face was already wiped clean and had makeup put on; her clothes were also new. It was impossible to imagine the sorry state when she was fished out from the river.

Under everyone's eyes, Cui Buqu reached out a hand and touched Little Maiden Lu's face for a moment, he even opened her collar and flipped the corpse over to examine a few more places.

Lu Ti's eyes almost cracked; if someone had not held him down, he would have rushed forward and thrown a fist at Cui Buqu.

Even if he could not do that, he, along with the Lu family people, scolded him in thundering, enraged voices.

Cui Buqu did not even raise his head, but he said impatiently, "Aside from Lu Ti and Su Xing, silence the rest."

Lu Ti angrily, "Do not think I will be grateful for this! My daughter is already dead, do you want her to die without peace?! I will not let you off, Jiejian Bureau!"

Pei Jingzhe almost choked, he coughed twice, "This Lord Cui is from the Zuoyue Bureau; he is not of the Jiejian Bureau!"

Cui Buqu's back was facing him; he said slowly said, "I am displeased to hear that; if Feng Xiao had not given me the authority to investigate, how would I be standing here? Old Lu, you are right to pin this blame on the Jiejian Bureau."

Lu Ti, "I do not care whether it's the Jiejian Bureau or the Zuoyue Bureau, in the end, the shame I have received today will definitely be remembered!"

Cui Buqu, "Do not get over yourself, even if people from the Fanyang Clan came; I, from the Jiejian Bureau, would not be afraid of you!"

Qiao Xian, Zhangsun Bodhi, "…"

Pei Jingzhe twitched his lips, feeling wronged at Cui Buqu's manner of 'investigating' the corpse; he felt that he was only using the opportunity to sully the name of the Jiejian Bureau. He wanted to stop him but could not help widening his eyes.

Cui Buqu bent down and inserted a hand into Little Maiden Lu's mouth, stretching his fingers down her throat!

"You…"

He squeaked a word out before Cui Buqu recoiled his fingers and looked at him as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, "Do you have a napkin?"

Pei Jingzhe reluctantly took a napkin out from his sleeves and passed it over to Cui Buqu. The napkin was something he had found cute while shopping the day before; he had bought it so he could give it to someone else as a gift.

Cui Buqu took the napkin and wiped his fingers.

Pei Jingzhe felt sick as he saw Cui Buqu wiped the grease on the napkin.

Yet Cui Buqu acted as if it was nothing strange; instead, he told Lu Ti, "Your daughter did not drown, someone murdered her."

Fury had already brimmed in Lu Ti; he could not believe what he had just heard, "Don't you just say whatever you want!"

Cui Buqu extended a hand; on top of the napkin, there was something yellow.

"Before Little Maiden Lu died, what did she eat?"

Lu Ti did naturally did not know, he turned to his wife, and Madam Li, too, did not know. Wealthy families like them did not often live with their children; other than every evening, they were seldom together.

At that moment, Madam Li called for her daughter's nursemaid and maidservant for questioning.

The nursemaid was around forty years old and looked like an honest woman; the servant looked fifteen or sixteen, and she looked like any young female wearing pink. She did not have any makeup on her, and she wore no ornaments either, but on her clothes was a big lotus flower sewn onto it, this was enough to make her shine.

Cui Buqu allowed them to speak about what happened to Little Maiden Lu on the night she died, and what they were doing at that moment.

The nursemaid said that she was in the kitchen brewing a bird's nest soup for her, and that soup needed up to two shichen to boil; it was meant for her to drink before she slept, so at night she did not show up and had no idea what Little Maiden Lu ate.

The maidservant said, "That night, my lady ate green beans cake; I am the one who served it to her."

Since Little Maiden Lu was the only daughter of the Lu family, she was addressed as 'my lady'.

Cui Buqu, "Was anything different with her?"

The maidservant looked at Lu Ti, "In the morning, my Lord summoned for my Lady, she looked unhappy when she came back, so I asked, she refused to speak; Master Su invited her to see some flowers, she refused, and remained in her residence alone."

The nursemaid added, "Lotus is right, that morning, my lady went to greet my lord in the morning, as she always did, but even after almost two shichen were up she was not back yet, so I felt strange and even sent someone to urge them, but my lord said my lady had already left his place."

Just now, Lu Ti was blinded by anger and felt a little dizzy, but as he heard the servants speak, he suppressed his fury and struggled to recall, "That's right. That day my daughter and I discussed about Taiyuan royal family, my daughter refused to marry him, said she and Su Xing loved each other; I…if I knew this would happen, I would not have forced her!"

Cui Buqu, "How long was the duration of the discussion?"

Lu Ti, "Around half a shichen; her mother came to make peace, so I allowed her to go back and think for herself, who knew she would…."

Cui Buqu asked again, "From your manor to hers, how long does the journey take?"

The one who answered was the nursemaid, "The servants are swifter, we can reach in less than half a cup of tea1, but my lady walks rather slowly; she would need around one cup of tea."

Cui Buqu, "You discussed for half a shichen, added with the time of half a cup of tea, where was she during the other half a shichen?"

Everyone turned towards the servant that was always by Little Maiden Lu's side, who stuttered, "My Lady said she wanted a breath of fresh air, so she walked a little slower."

Cui Buqu asked her back, "Is that so? Did she go elsewhere, and you are refusing to say where?"

Lotus shouted, "I would dare not lie!"

Cui Buqu said coldly, "Bring all the servants of this manor here, ask them who had seen Little Maiden Lu that day, and then we would know whether you lied!"

Pei Jingzhe did not understand why Cui Buqu jumped from examining bodies to questioning Little Maiden Lu's servant girl. He could see that Lotus panicked and stuttered, seeming as though she was hiding something; so he did not stop him and just watched silently.

Lotus really yielded and knelt to the ground, "Little Maiden Lu went to look for Young Master Su!"

Lu Ti knotted his eyebrows, without waiting for Cui Buqu to ask, he asked himself, "Why did she go to look for Su Xing? Why did you lie?"

Su Xing, "Uncle, I was drawing when cousin sister suddenly barged in, crying, she told me that you wanted her to marry someone else, so I tried to convince her, it was not easy to calm her down, and then I let her go back; at first, I thought she had already got over it, but I never expected her to just…"

He could not continue his words, his breath was dark and sullen, and he looked tired and lifeless.

Lu Ti's eyes were red again with tears practically flowing out, "I have failed you both…"

"Do not despair yet." Cui Buqu cut him off, "Lotus, Su Xing had formerly lived in the Lu manor, and he also often hung out with them. If Little Maiden Lu wanted to vent to him, it was rather normal for her to do so, why then did you conceal the truth?"

Lotus began stuttering, so Su Xing confessed himself, "I am the one who allowed her to hide the truth. Since cousin sister and Uncle were fighting, if Uncle knew that she came to look for me after, he might think that I am persuading her to oppose the marriage, I wanted to avoid suspicion."

Pei Jingzhe could not help saying out loud, "She argued with her father because of you, but you wanted to save your skin?"

Su Xing laughed bitterly, "You people do not know the hardship of living under someone else's roof. Cousin sister and I were in love, but I am a man with no achievement, no business, and had nothing in life. Compared to me, the Taiyuan royal family is more suitable for her than I can ever be. If I am in Uncle's place, I would have also wished for my daughter to marry into a good house!"

Lu Ti did not know what to say, but regret flashed over his face.

Madam Li was worse off; she lowered her head and cried bitterly.

But Cui Buqu was unmoved.

"You said you were painting. What were you painting?"

Su Xing, "A picture of 'Autumn Lotus'."

Cui Buqu, "Bring the art to me to take a look."

Su Xing's eyebrows furrowed, "Master Daoist Cui, this seems to be unrelated to my cousin sister's death."

Pei Jingzhe also thought that Cui Buqu's question was rather far-fetched, but Cui Buqu remained firm, "Bring all the art from your room to me, even the Autumn Lotus, bring them all here."

Madam Lu could not bear it anymore and said, "Master Daoist Cui, my daughter…"

Cui Buqu, "It is related to your daughter's death."

Lu Ti did not know what to think, so he simply gestured for the servants to follow his orders.

The art pieces were all brought to the hall swiftly.

The art pieces filled an entire chest. These were what Su Xing painted on normal days. Cui Buqu allowed Qiao Xian to unroll them one by one, and inside them were mostly different types of lotus flowers, there were fresh lotuses and even lotuses that had wilted.

Pei Jingzhe was unfamiliar with art, but even if that was the case; at the very least, he knew a little bit. He could tell that Su Xing's artistic abilities were quite average; in other words, he had some charm, but perhaps not that much talent. Otherwise, he would not have been a ward under the Lu family for so many years. He would have made his way into the world.

With the coffin as the centre, more than ten scrolls of different lotus flowers were opened, yet Little Maiden Lu slept peacefully in the coffin, making the scene look like an extraordinary sight.

"Lotus." Cui Buqu asked suddenly, "Does your Lady treat you well?"

The maid servant was taken aback; she quickly said, "The Lady treats me very well."

Cui Buqu, "Then why would you betray her, and help the man who killed her keep a secret?"

As he said that, everyone present let out a sharp breath.

Lu Ti said disappointedly, "Master Daoist Cui, what are you talking about?"

Cui Buqu, "Your Lady's death, is not an event for you to wear pink, and to think you even wore a pink robe with lotus flowers sewn onto them, and your name is also Lotus, is it not a coincidence that Su Xing also liked to paint lotus flowers? Speak for yourself, would there be anything that happened so coincidentally?"

Su Xing said coldly, "Master Daoist Cui, watch your tongue! Lotus likes lotus flowers, only because her name is Lotus, how does that have anything to do with me!"

"Is that so?" Cui Buqu laughed and asked the housekeeper and Madam Lu, "Was Lotus called lotus even before she became a servant of the Lu family?"

Madam Li shook her head, she still cared a lot for her daughter's servants, "She used to be called Ten because she was the tenth among her siblings, her family was poor, so she was bought when she was six years old, just two years ago and Little Maiden Lu changed her name to Lotus."

Cui Buqu turned towards Su Xing, "Then, two years ago, you were already in this mansion."

Su Xing, "What does that prove?"

Cui Buqu, "Just now when I put my fingers into Little Maiden Lu's mouth, she ate green beans cake on the night she died, some leftovers of it remained in her mouth. If she drowned, water would enter her mouth and nose and would have washed away all those leftovers, but her mouth had no water or dirt, even the leftovers of her food were still present, this meant that she was already dead before she was tossed into the water, so her mouth and nose were shut, and the water could not enter."

Lu Ti started struggling suddenly, under Cui Buqu's orders, he let him go. Lu Ti fell to the ground but rose again and bent over the coffin to look.

Cui Buqu turned towards Su Xing, "On the night Feng Xiao brought the jade back from the auction, and all the top martial artists gathered in the Qiushan manor, the one that wore black and hid in the dark was you, was it not?"

Su Xing said coldly, "Master Daoist Cui if you wanted to frame me; of course, you would push everything onto my head!"

Cui Buqu, "You were the one who brought that jade to the Linlang. Your goal was to test the response of everyone, draw your accomplice out, so you were not the same with the others; you weren't there for the jade, but you were hiding in the dark and observing. Once you acknowledged that your accomplice was not present, you left immediately. You did not stop even for a second. Do you know why I was able to recognize you? Because that night, that man used his left hand to hold the wrist of his right hand, the same as you are doing now. You can hide your face, but the actions of your body would never lie!"

Su Xing was unmoved by his words, "That was because I paint too often and used my wrist too much, so sometimes it hurts a little. Scholars are also mostly like this; if you do not believe me, you can simply look for any scholar and ask!"

Once he finished speaking, Zhangsun promptly attacked him from behind; the wind from his palm strong and full of force. He used eighty per cent of his strength as if he wanted to kill Su Xing on the spot.

Su Xing knew he was in danger, but he remained where he stood and did not move, allowing Zhangsun to do whatever he wanted, but at the last moment, the latter retreated his palm.

Su Xing knew he did the right thing. They just wanted to test him.

But Cui Buqu would not let him off so easily today, "No need to keep pretending, just now when you wanted to avoid it, it already proved that you knew martial arts and are a very skilled fighter."

Su Xing laughed coldly, "You are only adding more blame onto me. Why should I remain here to be humiliated by you people? Goodbye!"

He flipped his sleeves and turned around to leave, but Qiao Xian moved, sword thrusting towards his back, killing intent brimming in the air, bringing the wrath of a thousand soldiers on the battlefield.

This sort of killing intent was easy to detect and was different from Zhangsun Bodhi's method of attacking. Su Xing could no longer bear to pretend, so he could only leap into the air and avoid it.

Once he moved, he had already exposed the fact that he was a practitioner of the martial arts!

Since he was already exposed, he no longer hesitated, his hand reached to his waist, pulling out a long blade into sight. Su Xing turned around and turned towards Qiao Xian, but switched his direction midair and took Lu Ti as a hostage instead, the soft blade gloating over Lu Ti's throat.

"Do not come here or I will kill him!"

Cui Buqu shook his head, "So what if you held him hostage? Anything that my Jiejian Bureau wished to solve will be solved; no one shall come in our way!"

Pei Jingzhe, "…"

Second Commander, this man is using a feather and treating it like a sword, putting all the blame and bad reputation on the Jiejian Bureau; why did you ask him to help? Are you afraid that the Jiejian Bureau did not have enough enemies yet?!

Author's Note:

Cui Buqu: I, Jiejian Bureau, trying to farm gold.

Pei Jingzhe: Help me.

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[1] One cup of tea equals 15 minutes.