Chapter 78

It takes about a week by carriage or four to five days by horse to travel from the capital to Huzhou. Ye Zhizhou endured the jolting horse ride and laid in Shen Tingwei’s arms while calculating the timeline.

The son of the wealthy merchant and his family should have been slaughtered now. At this time, Zhan Xuemi was still in Qianzhou, meeting up with some friends. He meets Zou Lan on his way back to the capital. Right now, it was probably two days since Zou Lan healed from his wounds. Although Zou Lan faked his death, his wounds were not very serious at all, he only needed to rest for about four days before he recovered.

He couldn’t help turning his head and urging, “Tingwei, go a bit faster. When we get to Luzhou we can stop for a bit."

Shen Tingwei glanced down at him, tightened his cloak again and then sped up.

They went as fast as they could. Ye Zhizhou was finally a step ahead of Zhan Xuemi and arrived first at the inn where Zhan Xuemi and the protagonist had sex. He chose the room next to Zhan Xuemi and then collapsed on the bed and began to put plasters on his sore legs. It’s precisely this part of the ancient era that sucked—transportation was just too far behind. The tenderness of a ger’s skin in this world was also too similar to females' skin, it’s such a nuisance. He really preferred the rough and thick body of the first few worlds much more.

Shen Tingwei frowned, sat down next to him and grabbed the plaster. He rubbed it on silently with gentle movements but his expression was scary.

“Angry?” Ye Zhizhou poked him, feeling a little guilty. This trip was his shameless request and Shen Tingwei had pushed a lot of official business aside to make it happen. At first, he wanted to go alone, but with his lover’s personality he certainly wouldn’t be allowed to go alone, plus he was anxious at that time… He should’ve just snuck away. Oh well…

“What are you thinking about?”

A chilly voice and a gloomy tone. He was frightened and threw out the idea of sneaking away from his mind. When he saw that the plaster had been put on, he quickly put on his clothes and rushed over to hug and kiss his lover. He assured him, “Don’t be angry, I'm just in a hurry because I have something I need to do. It's just this one time, I swear, there won't be another.”

Finally, Shen Tingwei’s expression improved a bit. He held onto Ye Zhizhou’s waist and asked seriously, “What exactly do you need to do? At first, you anxiously wanted to go to Huzhou, but now we stopped in Luzhou. This matter of yours… Is it related to Zou Lan?" He remembered that Zou Lan married the son of a wealthy merchant in the countryside of Huzhou

Ye Zhizhou hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “It really does have something to do with Zou Lan. If there were no accidents, my father should have received a letter from Huzhou. Two days after Zou Lan’s wedding, his husband and his entire family were slaughtered by a gang of bandits.”

“The entire family was slaughtered?” Shen Tingwei’s expression was extremely heavy. “Doesn’t his husband’s family live in Huzhou city? What kind of bandits are so savage that they would sneak into the city and commit such crimes! Are the guards of Huzhou city just there for decoration?”

“I also thought it was strange…” He pondered over the plot during his entire trip here and found many instances that didn’t make sense. Firstly, why did the wealthy merchant family suddenly encounter bandits? Moreover, the bandits didn’t ask for money and only killed people. There was no trace of them and even the government couldn’t find anything. Secondly, there was also that divine doctor who appeared suddenly and disappeared immediately after rescuing Zou Lan, as if he only appeared to save him. Finally, the matter of Zou Lan being registered as deceased by the government. When Zou Lan found out about this, he could’ve gotten rid of the status simply by appearing at the local government. With Zou Qing’s position, Zou Lan didn’t have to make the long and exhausting travel to the capital. As long as he revealed his identity, the local government would’ve surely helped him. He just needed to wait for Zou Qing to send someone to pick him up.

In short, it’s all very strange. From the original plot and the changed plot, Zou Lan didn’t seem like an idiot, so why would he torture himself like this?

Shen Tingwei frowned and contemplated for a bit before he suddenly released Ye Zhizhou, got up and left the room to find a waiter to get a brush, paper, and inkstone. Then, he quickly wrote a letter and whistled for a guard. He gave him the letter and told him a few instructions before signaling for him to leave.

“There are guards still following behind us?” Ye Zhizhou was astonished. This entire time he had been dispersing his spiritual power and didn't notice anyone was following them, but that guard just now…

“I left marks along the road. A few close guards were always following behind us,” Shen Tingwei explained briefly, and called for the waiter again to get some bath water and food. He went to the bedside and stroked his hair, "Mingming, whatever you want to do, just tell me. I'll help you do it so you don't have to tire yourself.”

The strokes on his head were very gentle. Ye Zhizhou raised his head to look up at Shen Tingwei, his mood that was a mess because of the rising love probabilities suddenly calmed down. He couldn’t help but lean over and hug Shen Tingwei’s waist. After thinking about it, he said, “I do happen to have a pressing matter at hand. In about four days in the temple behind Hufeng mountain, outside of Luzhou city, there will be a poisoned assassin. You can go and catch him."

“Assassin?” Shen Tingwei sat down next to him but didn’t ask him why he knew this. He naturally put trust in Ye Zhizhou’s words, but thought about them and began to worry for his safety. “How did you get involved with an assassin? Is someone trying to kill you?”

“That’s not it. The assassin matter is just something I happened to know. It has nothing to do with me.” Ye Zhizhou soothingly took Shen Tingwei’s hand and pinched it, squinting for a moment before asking, “I’m curious… Is there a way for assassins, who have dozens of kills, to live after being caught by the government?”

“No,” Shen Tingwei answered affirmatively. After a brief pause, he added, “Unless the people that were killed were guilty of terrible crimes. Then, the government has a policy of recruiting these types of special assassins. If their identity isn’t a problem, they can even join the army or some secret governmental organizations, but they will certainly not have freedom.”

Ye Zhizhou went over the list of Kang Run’s targets in his mind and found that this male lead’s three views were crooked, and took tasks entirely based on his preferences. Although most of the people he killed were villainous, a few kills didn’t make any sense.

Half of this and half of that, how was he supposed to figure it out?

The sound of the waiter knocking on the door to deliver something interrupted his thoughts. He returned to his senses and shook his head to clear out all the thoughts about the plot from his head. He ate a meal with his lover and then took a harmonious bath with him.

The guard who went to send the letter during the day came back at midnight. The news he brought back blew away all of Ye Zhizhou’s drowsiness.

“What did you say? The person suspected of slaughtering the wealthy merchant's family is Zou Lan?"

“The local officials are just suspicious and are trying hard to suppress this matter.” The guard handed over the report written by the local officials and respectfully said, “The main gate did not have any signs of being broken into. There were no traces of the entry or exit of the bandits on the walls, and there was also some residue of Menghun poison in the well. Most of the corpses were burned in the fire and the specifics of death couldn’t be determined, However, judging from the knife marks on the few intact corpses, the killer’s strength was rather weak and there were no signs of struggle from the victims. They must have been killed while they were unconscious from the Menghun poison."

Shen Tingwei wrapped Ye Zhizhou in a cloak before getting up to take the report. He looked at it for a bit and then continued to ask, “Have you found Zou Lan?”

“No.” The guard lowered his head even more and answered, “The Huzhou government is afraid of the Zou family and…of the general’s power. They didn't dare to say anything suspicious about Zou Lan. At the scene, there was a burned corpse wearing Zou Lan's clothing and jewelry, so they…"

“So they conveniently registered Zou Lan’s death directly and intended to cover this matter up, even if they discovered that the body was strange?” Shen Tingwei received his report with a frosty face and then threw the report onto the table. “This is ridiculous! How can a case that involves human lives be settled so carelessly? Just because of their fears of offending the Zou family and Shen family?”

Ye Zhizhou took the report from the table and skimmed over it once. His expression turned extremely grave. He didn’t think that the destruction of the wealthy merchant’s family could’ve been Zou Lan’s doing. If he didn’t come here immediately after seeing the plot change, and Shen Tingwei didn’t send anyone to investigate it… Then this case, where the wealthy merchant’s family was exterminated, would’ve probably been regarded as a bandit attack as described in the plot.

So from the start, he didn't fake his death, there was no divine doctor coincidentally burying someone at the mass grave and then saving him, nor was there Zou Lan returning to the wealthy merchant’s manor to find his husband’s family ravaged by bandits that led to his sad and helpless trip back to the capital to find his father. It was merely a murder plan, a crafty escape plan and a ploy to use a pitiful and sorrowful image to return to the Zou manor as the second young master of the Zou family, living a good life. Shen Tingwei’s power and influence unexpectedly became a prop for Zou Lan to get rid of the murder suspicions in Huzhou.

The hand that was holding the report unconsciously tightened. Ye Zhizhou thought that this new plot was just a story of a slightly ruined protagonist sleeping with the male leads all the way back to the capital. He didn’t expect that after ripping off the beautiful exterior the plot had given the protagonist that he’d find a blood-stained murderer fleeing for his life.

“That wealthy merchant’s family… how many people died?”

“Including the servants, 73 people. Of those 73 people, there were two babies and five children, none survived.”

73 lives…Even the children and babies weren’t spared… His spiritual power raged around him uncontrollably. He set down the report and touched the small mirror tucked in his robe. No wonder it’s difficult mode. The level of maliciousness from this world’s protagonist really deserves the difficulty rating… Damn it!

Shen Tingwei keenly sensed his emotional instability so he moved towards Ye Zhizhou and pulled him into his embrace. He waved to the guard, "You can go rest. Send someone else to Huzhou. There’s no need to hide their presence, so they must strictly investigate this matter."

The guard responded affirmatively before backing out of the room. Shen Tingwei gave him a princess carry to bed before covering him up with the quilt. He lowered his head and kissed him on the forehead while coaxing, “Don’t think about it. Sleep. I’ll deal with this.”

Ye Zhizhou reached out to grab his sleeve and frowned, "You're not sleeping? What are you going to do?"

Shin Tingwei held his hand and said in a warm voice, “I’m going to organize some nearby troops, they could be useful later on. There’s someone standing guard outside the door. Don’t be afraid. I’ll be back tomorrow morning at the latest."

He frowned and slowly released his hand as he buried his head into the covers while saying sullenly, “Then you can go. Pay attention to your safety.”

Shen Tingwei stroked his hair and then left after putting on his clothes.

When there was no one else in the room, he sat up in bed and brought out the little mirror that was under his pillow. He asked with a serious face, “Tongtian, what the hell is 'difficult mode'? I didn't ask this in any of the previous worlds, but what does the soul flag above the protagonist’s head represent?"

[Host does not have enough authority. Unable to retrieve information.]

Damn it, he doesn't have enough authority!

He angrily dug at the jewels on the small mirror, his heart feeling terrible and depressed. 73 human lives! Right now, he doesn’t even want to pull out the damn soul flags at all. He just wants to catch the protagonist and kill him! But unfortunately, external forces can’t directly kill the protagonist!

[Asking host to calm down. ]

How the hell was he supposed to calm down! He stuffed the mirror back under his pillow and tapped his forehead as he began to think about countermeasures for dealing with the protagonist. As the plot changes, the decreasing love probabilities can rise again. There’s no use in just pulling out the soul flag in this world. He needs to find a way to solve the problem directly at the source.

…. He must seize the protagonist and send him to prison. 73 human lives, that's enough to have him beheaded ten thousand times!

When he thought of this, he couldn’t sit still. Tomorrow morning, Zhan Xuemi will arrive in Luzhou. The protagonist will then meet him at this inn and during that same night, they have sex. Should he risk it and wait here, or should he go one step ahead and catch the protagonist first?

“Who are you?”

“This big brother, I'm a guest that has a room next to you. Not a bad person. You…your knife…”

“Who is the person you're holding!”

“It-it's my elder brother. He’s drunk. I'm sending him back to his room.”

“Staying awake and wandering around in the middle of the night, even wrapping up your face so tightly… Where did you come from? Is it Huzhou!"

“No, no, we came from Qianzhou. Big brother, take a look at this…”

“… You turned out to be people from the Hou family in Weiyuan. Alright, go in. There's been a case of a whole family being slaughtered in Huzhou. The criminals haven’t been caught yet. Don’t stay outside in the evening. You might get into an accident."

His surging spiritual power conveyed the conversation outside clearly. Ye Zhizhou was shocked and rushed to the door. Coming from Qianzhou… The Hou family from Weiyuan… How did Zhan Xuemi arrive in Luzhou now?! Moreover, Zhan Xuemi went outside alone and didn’t bring along a younger brother. Who was the man beside him?

The author has something to say:

Thank you Jun Shi for your landmine! Love you so much = 3=

PS: It didn't become fatter, it actually became shorter… I will continue to work hard this afternoon!

So….here’s another plot twist, Zou Lan is probably a mass murderer…and I wonder who that man is….