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Proceeding to the steps under the corridor, Qi Shan lifted his bamboo hat and bent down to place his wooden clogs neatly side by side. He then raised his robes and stepped onto the steps with bare feet. Taking the dipper hanging on the wooden pillar, he scooped rainwater from the stone basin under the corridor, washing away the mud clinging to his feet.
Shen Tang also took off her wooden clogs, subconsciously looking for indoor shoes. She scanned around but found no alternatives. Qi Shan rolled up his dirty robes, tying them above his calves, and took out a special cloth from his sleeve to wipe his feet clean. He then handed the dipper to Shen Tang. The two moved quite quickly, while the middle-aged man had already taken off his ill-fitting, worn-out wooden clogs, stepping onto the wooden steps barefoot, leaving several wet footprints stained with mud—though the courtyard was swept clean and many areas were paved with pebbles, heavy rain would still create muddy puddles, easily dirtying one's feet—seeing Shen Tang and Qi Shan busy themselves, he spoke with a smile.
"Please make yourselves at home, no need for such trouble."
Upon hearing the man's words, Shen Tang, after two scoops to clean her feet, smiled and tossed the dipper into the stone basin with two clang sounds, then stepped onto the wooden steps. Qi Shan's tone held a hint of sternness.
"Youli, where are your manners?"
Shen Tang smiled and waved at him: "Didn't you say guests should follow the host's convenience? Brother is just too polite. Why don't you hurry up and come in to shelter from the rain?"
Qi Shan took a deep breath, seemingly at a loss for Shen Tang's behavior, and turned to apologize to the middle-aged man. The middle-aged man, however, had good composure. He maintained a smile, repeatedly saying "it's nothing," showing no trace of displeasure. Instead, he praised Shen Tang for her genuine and lively nature.
Qi Shan sighed: "But my younger brother is already twelve, yet still so wild and impetuous. I worry he will suffer greatly in the future..."
The middle-aged man's expression stiffened slightly. "Younger brother? This is a young lord?"
Qi Shan nodded: "Yes, my younger brother. His appearance takes after my mother; because he looks like a girl, he's often misunderstood." The middle-aged man chuckled twice, saying he had clearly mistaken a young man for a young lady. He then led the two to a side room, letting Shen Tang and Qi Shan wait out the rain there. If the rain didn't let up, they could even stay for the night.
The middle-aged man suddenly said, "I just remembered there's a pot of ginger soup warming in the eastern kitchen. Would the two of you like some ginger soup to warm yourselves?" Qi Shan clasped his hands and thanked the middle-aged man. The man said, "Please wait a moment."
As the footsteps gradually receded, Shen Tang put away her cynical smile, her expression serious and solemn: "This person is lying. He's full of holes. Whether he's going to the eastern kitchen for ginger soup or not, we need to be careful."
Qi Shan: "Naturally, we must be vigilant. The village chief said A'yan has a brain illness and was abandoned in the manor since birth, neglected to the point where the servants were often remiss. This can be seen from the child's clothes drying in the courtyard. Yet this person claims A'yan is his son. Ha!"
Shen Tang moved around the room, occasionally touching the furnishings with her fingers. She rubbed her fingers; they were clean and dust-free. Near the lattice window, two neatly arranged desks, one large and one small, were placed. A bookshelf served as a partition, dividing the room into several different areas. Shen Tang casually picked up a bamboo slip from the desk and opened it, finding it to be for a child's enlightenment, with both adult handwriting and childish scribbles.
She said, "The cleaning is quite thorough. It seems the servants aren't entirely idle... But in such heavy rain, strong enough to blow away a thatched cottage, no one has come out to collect the clothes drying in the courtyard. That's highly illogical."
Qi Shan said indifferently, "Also, that man, despite being dressed as a scholar, has a fierce look, sharp eyes, and carries a scent of blood. He resembles a bandit more than a scholar, and he's full of lies—I suspect it's not that he doesn't want to collect the clothes, but that he can't..." Or rather, he wouldn't live to collect them.
Shen Tang raised an eyebrow: "Is he a bandit?"
Qi Shan said, "With the current turmoil, becoming a bandit and robbing homes is not uncommon." Not only was it not uncommon, it had even become some people's only means of livelihood, and they would even lead an entire village to "get rich."
"So it's more likely than not that they met a bad end."
"Most likely, no one survived. If not bandits, then thieves. In any case, not the owners of this manor." They hadn't found A'yan, but instead stumbled upon a murder case. Shen Tang gasped.
Qi Shan chuckled, "Young lord Shen, are you afraid?" Even he himself didn't believe what he was saying.
Shen Tang sat down on the mat, blinking. "I am a law-abiding citizen. How could I not be afraid of such vicious criminals who likely wiped out an entire family? Mr. Qi, we've entered a wolf's den; we are prey on a hungry wolf's plate..." As she spoke, she pulled out the wood-chopping knife tucked into her waistband. The knife had been hidden by her clothes and not seen by the middle-aged man. Qi Shan's sword hadn't been brought in, so their only reliance was this wood-chopping knife. Gripping the handle, she felt a slight sense of security. In truth, she still couldn't understand why she, an otaku artist who preferred staying home, had to experience such thrilling things. Though—though she had killed an officer, and calmly accepted the reality afterward, she considered it self-defense. Coupled with the residual factors in this body, it had given her, a weak, unathletic otaku, such a fierce and cold-blooded side. She herself was a very friendly person. After all, what malicious intentions could an artist who was rushed and yelled at by her editor, yet dared not speak out, possibly have?
Qi Shan: "..."
"We've entered a wolf's den, but who will be the prey on the hungry wolf's plate remains to be seen." His expression became numb when Shen Tang said "law-abiding citizen." He directly contradicted her, chuckling, "A law-abiding citizen wouldn't be an escaped prisoner."
Who knew Shen Tang would retort, "Mr. Qi, you don't understand. I have been greatly wronged. If I were to die inexplicably on the road of exile, or on a bed in the Jiaofang of Xiaocheng, and later some righteous official reopened my case and discovered that I was an innocent person, by then I would be long gone, leaving only regret. To prevent this from happening, and to uphold the fairness of the law, I must save my own life. Being an escaped prisoner is perfectly reasonable."
Qi Shan: "..."
He looked at the eloquent young lord Shen, lamenting that despite his advanced age, his skin wasn't as thick as this young man's. He was about to say something when Shen Tang's smile abruptly vanished. She stood up, looking towards the door, and raised a hand to her lips, signaling Qi Shan to be quiet. A moment later, heavy footsteps grew closer, and the middle-aged man returned, carrying two steaming bowls of ginger soup.
"I apologize for the wait, both of you."
Qi Shan and Shen Tang nodded in thanks. Under the middle-aged man's watchful eye, Shen Tang and Qi Shan took their respective bowls, lowered them to their lips, and were about to drink. Seeing them completely unguarded, the middle-aged man's heart rejoiced. But, just as a sneer was about to form on his lips, the next second, a bowl of steaming ginger soup was splashed across his face. Immediately after, the small table flew up, smashing towards his face.
Qi Shan splashed the soup, Shen Tang overturned the table.
And then—
Qi Shan quietly retreated behind Shen Tang, saying calmly and composedly, "Know the strong, guard the weak. When things cannot be done, withdraw oneself. This is the way of self-preservation."
Shen Tang: "???"
Shen Tang: "!!!"