Chapter 130: Strange Things in the Mansion

The fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, noon.

Liu Xunyi, Luo Ningyu and Lin Fangda returned to Luoyang. After experiencing a series of misfortunes in the Pan family, they felt a little depressed. Compared with the high-spirited state they had when they left Luoyang, it was completely different.

"Little sister, you are back!"

As soon as Liu Xunyi and the other two stepped into the Xianwang Mansion, Luo Hongxuan hurried out to greet them. Before Liu Xunyi and Lin Fangda could greet them, Luo Ningyu, with a tired look in her eyes, quickly rushed forward and said in a tender voice, "Brother, I missed you so much!"

Faced with Luo Ningyu's intimacy, Luo Hongxuan was a little absent-minded, with a hint of worry faintly emerging between his brows.

Seeing this, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but feel worried and asked hurriedly, "Why are you so worried, sir? Did something happen in the mansion during the time we were away?"

After these words were spoken, Luo Ningyu and Lin Fangda were both stunned. The three of them looked at Luo Hongxuan, who was hesitant to speak, and their curiosity was self-evident.

Luo Hongxuan looked at Luo Ningyu with complicated eyes, hesitated for a long time, suddenly sighed, and then nodded slightly.

"Brother, what happened in the mansion? Why don't you tell us quickly? Do you want to make us anxious to death?" Luo Ningyu couldn't wait to grab Luo Hongxuan's arm, shaking it desperately, and kept urging, "But what happened to Dad and Mom?" At this point, Luo Ningyu's eyes were almost filled with tears.

Luo Ningyu had witnessed Pan Wu's sudden death with her own eyes, so while she was lamenting the impermanence of life and the fine line between life and death, she also felt an inexplicable concern and worry for her loved ones.

"Don't worry, little sister, Dad and Mom are fine." Luo Hongxuan comforted him with kind words, and then looked at Liu Xunyi and Lin Fangda, who looked solemn. He wanted to speak several times, but he couldn't say anything. He sighed again and said quickly, "You should go into the mansion first. Dad has asked several times."

After saying that, Luo Hongxuan didn't wait for the persistent Luo Ningyu to ask again, but turned around quickly and left in a hurry as if escaping.

Faced with Luo Hongxuan's strange behavior, Liu Xunyi and the other two couldn't help but look at each other, all of them with a look of confusion.

In the central hall, General Lin Fang told Luo Tianjin and Ling Xiaoxiao about the current situation of the Pan family and what had happened in the past few days. The two were surprised to learn that the Pan family was in such a miserable situation. Ling Xiaoxiao even bluntly denounced the East Lake Gang for being lawless. In contrast, Luo Tianjin's reaction was much calmer and more sophisticated.

Luo Tianjin listened to Lin Fangda's talk in silence, with no expression of joy or anger on his face, making it impossible to see what he was thinking.

"And this letter was given to me personally by Senior Pan before I left, asking me to pass it on to the Palace Master." Liu Xunyi took out Pan Chuba's letter from his arms and presented it to Luo Tianjin.

Luo Tianjin opened the letter suspiciously and read it silently. When he finished reading the last word of the letter, he glanced at Liu Xunyi casually. Although it was just a glance, it made Liu Xunyi feel inexplicably flustered.

He could clearly see suspicion, consideration, speculation, and even... scrutiny in Luo Tianjin's eyes.

"Brother Jin, what does the letter say?" Ling Xiaoxiao asked curiously, "Does it want us to send someone to Yingchuan to help him?"

Luo Tianjin did not hand the letter to Ling Xiaoxiao as usual. Instead, he suddenly folded the letter and hurriedly stuffed it into an envelope.

Facing Ling Xiaoxiao's surprised look, Luo Tianjin chuckled and said, "Master Pan is an old hero with backbone. He would never ask for help from others unless he was at his wit's end. This letter... is just some greetings and words of thanks."

Since Luo Tianjin had spoken, Ling Xiaoxiao naturally did not ask any more questions. She had been with Luo Tianjin for more than 20 years, how could she not know his personality? Her intuition told her that the content of the letter must not be as simple as Luo Tianjin explained. The reason why Luo Tianjin avoided talking about it must be that he had some concerns, so he just made excuses.

"You've been through a lot on this trip to Yingchuan, and you've experienced a lot of changes. You've worked hard." Luo Tianjin smiled at Liu Xunyi and the other two. Although his words were quite lighthearted, his tone gave people a feeling of depression as if he was worried about something.

It seemed that Luo Tianjin was troubled by something else at the moment and had no time to look around.

"Master, the Pan family's affairs...should we still take care of them?" Lin Fangda was a straightforward man. Seeing that Luo Tianjin didn't seem to care much about the Pan family, he couldn't help feeling anxious. Therefore, he had to ask Luo Tianjin in person to get things clear before he could be content.

"Mind!" Luo Tianjin chuckled, "If I don't want to care, why would I let you go through all this trouble?"

"Then I will ask for permission now." Lin Fang said bluntly, "Please allow me to lead people to Yingchuan and destroy the Donghu Gang's lair. Let that 'fake tiger' know how powerful the 'real tiger' is, humph!"

Facing the indignant Lin Fangda, Luo Tianjin suddenly sneered and asked, "You are so anxious, do you want to avenge the Pan family? Or do you want to vent your anger?"

"It's all the same!" Lin Fangda defended, "Dealing with the Donghu Gang will not only bring justice to the Pan family, but also allow me to vent my anger."

"Nonsense!" Ling Xiaoxiao frowned and shouted angrily, "Lin Fangda, what do you think my Xianwang Mansion is? A den of bandits? You always want to take people to kill this and that, do you have any rules in your eyes?"

"I……"

"Shut up and listen to me!" Ling Xiaoxiao waved her hand to interrupt Lin Fangda and continued, "The East Lake Gang is just a bunch of rabble. If my Xianwang Mansion fights with them, wouldn't that be degrading? Not to mention that it's disgraceful, how will the martial arts heroes make fun of us in the future? Moreover, the East Lake Gang has been operating in Yingchuan for many years and has deep roots. How can a reckless man like you easily deal with it? Maybe not only will you fail to deal with them, but you will be dealt with by them instead. Wouldn't it be even more embarrassing then?"

"Madam is right. I...know I was wrong." Lin Fangda muttered in reply, then he changed the subject and said in a hurry, "Let's not talk about the East Lake Gang, let's just talk about the Pan family. Now Pan Wu is dead, Pan Chun is nowhere to be found, and the only person the Pan family can rely on is He Hu. Letting He Hu fight the Qin family alone is like hitting a rock with an egg. Lord, how should this matter be handled? Otherwise, we send someone..." "How can outsiders interfere in the feud between the Pan and Qin families?" Luo Tianjin shook his head and said, "They have already made an agreement that only family members can be selected to compete, and they cannot borrow the power of outsiders. Mr. Pan is a rule-abiding person, so even if I want to take action, he will definitely not agree."

"That……"

"Let me think about this matter." Luo Tianjin waved his hand impatiently, then turned his gaze to Liu Xunyi and asked meaningfully, "You said that the Qin family also sent people to Yingchuan?"

"Yes." Liu Xunyi nodded and said, "Li Bao was killed, Pan Wu died, it was the Qin family behind the scenes." After that, Liu Xunyi looked at Lin Fangda and Luo Ningyu with guilt, and smiled bitterly, "To be honest, before leaving Yingchuan, I was so angry that I tracked down the real culprit overnight, wanting to capture him so that I could confront the Hexi Qin family face to face next year. But... in the end, he ran away..."

"That's strange." Ling Xiaoxiao looked at Luo Tianjin with puzzled eyes, and said suspiciously, "Based on the current situation of the Hexi Qin family, there is no need to fear the Pan family. Why bother to do this and give people a reason to criticize? Could it be that Qin Ming is a suspicious person who has to make sure that everything is foolproof before he will give up?"

Luo Tianjin did not answer Ling Xiaoxiao's question, but stared at Liu Xunyi with deep eyes, as if thinking about something. After a while, he asked, "He showed up at the inn where you were staying on the first day you arrived in Yingchuan? So he went after you at first, but when he failed to frame you, he turned his attention to the Pan family?"

"Yes." Liu Xunyi replied.

"What's this man's name?" Luo Tianjin asked, "Since you fought him, what does he look like? How is his martial arts?"

"His name is Qin Tianjiu." Liu Xunyi said bluntly, "He is not good-looking and is a cripple. As for his martial arts skills... they are acceptable."

"Qin Tianjiu?" When Liu Xunyi said this, Luo Tianjin and Ling Xiaoxiao were both stunned. After a moment of silence, Ling Xiaoxiao asked suspiciously, "Did he really say he was Qin Tianjiu?"

"Yes." Liu Xunyi asked in surprise, "I wonder what's wrong with that?"

"There is indeed such a person in the Hexi Qin Clan, and he is a cripple." Ling Xiaoxiao explained, "But his martial arts skills are by no means what you call 'just fine', but he is an expert among experts. In the Hexi Qin Clan, if we only talk about martial arts, Qin Tianjiu is probably not much inferior to Qin Ming, and they are even on par. If he had taken action, there would be no need to go through all this trouble. Because it is easier for Qin Tianjiu to kill a person than to crush an ant."

"This..." Hearing this, Liu Xunyi was shocked, his eyes flickered, and he repeatedly recalled the process of fighting with Qin Tianjiu that night. But no matter how he recalled it, Qin Tianjiu's martial arts were not as profound as Ling Xiaoxiao said.

"Did we underestimate your martial arts? Or did we overestimate Qin Tianjiu?" Ling Xiaoxiao looked Liu Xunyi up and down and said in a strange tone, "This person has been living in seclusion for many years. In fact, we have never seen his true strength. Maybe... he is just famous for nothing."

"Or maybe that person is not Qin Tianjiu at all." Luo Tianjin suddenly said, "Someone is deliberately making trouble behind the scenes and framing the Hexi Qin family."

"If that person is not Qin Tianjiu, then wouldn't it be slandering others if we rashly accused the Hexi Qin family of despicable behavior next year?" Liu Xunyi reacted very quickly and figured out the key point at once. He said hurriedly, "If we spread the news, outsiders will think that we are doing whatever it takes to help the Pan family, or even wrongly accusing the Qin family. In this way, wouldn't it be a great loss to the reputation of the Xianwang Mansion?"

Lin Fangda was completely confused and said blankly: "Does that person want to deal with us? Or does he want to deal with the Pan family? Or does he want to deal with the Hexi Qin family? What does it mean? I didn't understand a word you said just now..."

"All these are just our wild guesses. If we are not careful, we will fall into others' traps. We need to be careful." Luo Tianjin shook his head tiredly and waved his hand, saying, "Let's stop here today and discuss this matter later. Xunyi, Fang Da, you can leave!"

"Yes!" Liu Xunyi and Lin Fangda agreed and bowed to say goodbye. But just as they were about to turn around and leave, Luo Tianjin suddenly spoke and shouted: "Liu Xunyi!"

"exist!"

Liu Xunyi was stunned, and quickly turned around, looking at Luo Tianjin with a puzzled look. On the other hand, Luo Tianjin just stared at him silently with an indescribable complex look, and remained silent for a long time without saying a word.

The two looked at each other for an unknown amount of time, and then Luo Tianjin, with a gloomy expression on his face, waved his hand and asked Liu Xunyi to leave.

"Oh, right!" After Liu Xunyi and Lin Fangda left, Luo Ningyu seemed to suddenly remember something and asked hurriedly, "Dad, Mom, I just met my eldest brother in the front yard. I saw that he was acting strangely and seemed to have something on his mind. But no matter how I asked, he refused to speak directly. Do you know what it was?"

As soon as Luo Ningyu said this, Luo Tianjin and Ling Xiaoxiao's faces turned ugly in an instant. The couple looked at each other, hesitant and sad, as if they didn't want to speak themselves, so they were both encouraging the other to speak first.

"Dad, Mom, what are you doing..."

"Yu'er." Ling Xiaoxiao was the first to break the silence and said hesitantly, "There is something... Dad and Mom want to discuss with you."

"What's the matter?"

"A few days ago, the Luoyang General's Mansion sent someone to deliver some betrothal gifts, wanting to... propose marriage to us." Ling Xiaoxiao's speech speed became slower and slower, and her face became more and more embarrassed.

Luo Ningyu's expression changed, and she asked softly, as if thinking about something: "Propose a marriage? For whom? And to whom?"

Facing Ling Xiaoxiao who was having difficulty speaking, Luo Tianjin sighed and simply took over the conversation, saying bluntly: "They are here for the Mongolian prince Wang Qingshu, and they want to propose to... to your daughter."

……

(End of this chapter)