Wen Mingtang turned onto Chunfeng Street when she came out of the back door of Jiaofang Pavilion. She passed through Chunfeng Street and entered Yongjiafang, then crossed the main road and entered Zhuquefang.

Dali Temple was right at the entrance of Zhuquefang. It was very close. Guards were coming and going all day long. It was always the safest place.

So… it was better to go back later.

Wen Mingtang crossed Chunfeng Street and entered Yongjiafang, she slowly wandered around Yongjiafang.

Strolling from one shop to another, when she emerged from a spice shop run by Hui people, Wen Mingtang walked to the queue in front of a mung bean soup stall near the entrance of Yongjiafang, joining the line behind other pedestrians.

…

…

After eating the morning meal, Liu Yuan and others left Dali Temple.

Although Steward Song was arrested yesterday, it was only confirmed that he was the murderer of Manager Huang. And instead of the whole case not being solved, there were even more mysteries.

The most important thing now was to ask the people in the military camp near Salt Lake City what happened twenty-five years ago.

Of course, Liu Yuan and others would not make a special trip to Salt Lake City for this purpose. The journey to Salt Lake City was far away, tens of thousands of miles away, and the round trip took several months. Even if there were any clues, they must have been wiped out, so naturally it won’t work.

Several people came out this time for two main reasons: one was to send a message to the Salt Lake City military camp, and the other was to inquire about the situation from the old soldiers who served in the Salt Lake City military camp years ago.

If they wanted to ask if there were any veterans from Salt Lake City in Chang’an City, they needed to go to the Ministry of War office to find out where the retired veterans were.

They were lucky. They went to the Ministry of War and learned that there were indeed several veterans who had retired from Salt Lake City in Chang’an City. They copied down the addresses of those veterans and planned to find a place to have lunch first. After lunch, they could follow the list and go to the addresses to find the person and investigate the situation.

Looking at the nearby shops, there were quite a few grocery stores, but not many restaurants. Liu Yuan turned to look at Lin Fei who came out with them and asked: “Lin Shaoqing, there are no outstanding restaurants or eating places in Yongjiafang. Why not walk a few more steps to the main road, we have a few good restaurants in Zhuquefang.”

Lin Fei didn’t say yes or no immediately, but just stopped and talked with Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu. Standing in the middle of the road, he looked up at the sun above his head, and suddenly said: “It’s almost noon.”

Liu Yuan looked down at the shadow under his feet which was so short that it was almost negligible and casually agreed: “Yes. It’s almost noon!”

The sun’s peak time of the day was almost here. At this time, the sun shined directly above the head, and the shadow was the shortest.

Of course, it is not only the shadows of people that were short but also those of the streets and buildings. All the shadows almost dispersed, revealing the people hiding in them.

The pedestrians in front took the mung bean soup and left, and it was Wen Mingtang’s turn.

“Five cents,” said the mung bean soup vendor.

Wen Mingtang said “Hmm” and reached into her sleeves.

…

Shangfeng raised his head to look at the sun seriously. Liu Yuan looked around the slightly empty surroundings and suggested: “Lin Shaoqing, should we move to the side? We are standing in the middle of the road, in case, there is a carriage aren’t we blocking the way?”

As soon as he finished speaking before Lin Fei could say anything, he heard Bai Zhu on the side say “Huh” and said: “Master Wen!”

The words “Master Wen” not only startled Wen Mingtang, who was reaching into her sleeves to take out her purse but also surprised Lin Fei and Liu Yuan, who were watching the sun.

Seeing Wen Mingtang who was buying mung bean soup, Liu Yuan instinctively waved to her and said hello: “Master Wen…”

Before he finished speaking, he saw Wen Mingtang, who had just smiled when she saw them a moment ago, change her expression instantly.

Before Liu Yuan could react, a powerful force pushed him backward. He stumbled forward and fell to the ground. A cold light flashed in front of him. When he realized something, Liu Yuan instinctively exclaimed: “Oh, I’m gone!”

Wen Mingtang, not far away, also expressed the same emotion.

She originally thought that meeting them was an unexpected surprise, but before she could be happy she saw the masked man suddenly rolling down from the roof of a nearby shop. Wen Mingtang realized that something was wrong. Then she saw not far ahead, a man with the same expression on his face looking at her. When Lin Fei, who was calm and composed, looked behind her and a trace of surprise flashed across his face, she knew something was wrong.

Because of Lin Fei’s expression, Wen Mingtang knew what was going on without looking, subconsciously hid in the mung bean barrel nearby.

A long knife was thrown at the crowd. The shocked mung bean soup stall owner and the pedestrians who were queuing up to buy mung bean soup screamed and ran away.

Wen Mingtang took out the sharpened boning knife from her sleeves and held it in her hand.

Looking at the five sturdy men who jumped out from the opposite side, and then looking back at the two masked men on her side, Wen Mingtang suddenly felt that she was at a slight loss.

She originally thought she was lucky when she met Liu Yuan, but she didn’t expect that the other person, like her, was also using his body as bait to lure the murderers who were chasing him.

Don’t hide in the shops on the street. Going in there was useless except for catching turtles in the urn¹, and it would also kill the people in the shops.

Not everyone would dare to use one’s body as bait, but Lin Fei, who usually had Zhao You at his side, suddenly pulled out a soft sword from his waist and faced the murderer. The sword was decorated with precious stones. The soft sword that looked like decoration was not weak at all in his hand. Under the light of the sword and the shadow of the sword, he actually successfully stopped the five burly men.

Even Wen Mingtang was somewhat surprised by this. Meanwhile, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, after a moment of confusion, quickly rushed towards Wen Mingtang as they realized what was happening.

The two murderers who were chasing behind her were knocked away with one blow. Seeing Wen Mingtang hiding behind the mung bean barrel, he slashed at the mung bean barrel again.

Wen Mingtang rolled on the spot, dodged, and joined Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu.

The five assailants chasing them were temporarily held back by Lin Fei, leaving these two for them to deal with. The thug who knocked over the mung bean wooden barrel came back, brandishing his weapon once again.

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu each picked up a wooden stick on their way here and stood in front of her to greet her.

It was just that the two of them were just weak scholars after all. When faced with such professional assassins, they were at a disadvantage. The wooden sticks were easily chopped by the opponent, and the huge force of the split made the two of them numb. The two wooden sticks were immediately broken and flew out of their hand.

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu’s faces turned pale as they saw the ferocious murderer opposite them slashing at them again.

Oh no! They won’t be left behind here, will they?

Just as they were thinking this, they saw a figure suddenly appear behind the murderer. She raised her hand towards the murderer and stabbed him.

The sharp boning knife was inserted into the brain stem from the back of the neck, neatly cutting off the murderer’s life.

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu were stunned.

Before the two assailants could react, Wen Mingtang threw the bone-cutting knife used earlier to end a thug’s life. She picked up the long knife from the deceased thug, turned around, and killed the other thug who was chasing her. She then rushed towards the ongoing skirmish between Lin Fei and the five assailants on that side.

(End of chapter)

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Footnote

1. It means that she will be a sitting duck i.e. get caught easily.