Chapter 836: Pond Fish and Cage Bird (Part )

"It's me! It's me!"

Seeing that Liu Xunyi recognized him, Ding Chou was so excited that tears filled his eyes and he nodded repeatedly.

Compared to his appearance in the Tianji Pavilion in the past, Ding Chou today is not only thinner, but even his eyes have become a little empty, and he is far less shrewd than before.

"You...you are..."

Looking at Ding Chou, who had a pale face and a thin waist, Liu Xunyi was shocked and stunned.

He could never have imagined that he would meet Ding Chou here, let alone that he would fall into such a predicament.

Liu Xunyi stared blankly at Ding Chou, who was in tears. For a moment, he was overwhelmed with mixed feelings and could not recover for a long time.

"Master Liu, you are finally back... I thought I would never see you again in this life..."

Perhaps out of excitement, grievance, or grief, Ding Chou threw himself into Liu Xunyi's arms in front of everyone and burst into tears desperately.

Seeing this scene, Chu Mao and the other three, who realized it later, suddenly changed their expressions, and a hint of panic welled up in their eyes. They stood up in a hurry and walked towards Ding Chou in a hurry.

"Where did you come from, you little beggar? Get out of here!"

Before Liu Xunyi woke up from his trance, the furious Chu Mao suddenly grabbed Ding Chou's arm and dragged him out without saying a word.

"Master Liu, save me..."

"Chu Mao, what are you doing?"

Unaware of the truth, Liu Xunyi quickly embraced the panicked Ding Chou, and at the same time waved his hand to push Chu Mao away, asking in surprise: "Don't you know him?"

"Sir, there are beggars like this everywhere in the street. They are lazy, greedy, and wicked. They are good at pretending to be innocent and gaining sympathy. You must not be too soft-hearted. Be careful that they will stick to you like a dog-skin plaster."

For some reason, Chu Mao and his four companions reacted as if they were facing a formidable enemy when facing the frail Ding Chou. They ignored Liu Xunyi's attempts to stop them, and while making perfunctory remarks, they rushed towards Ding Chou again.

"Master Liu, save me..."

"Where did this little bastard come from? How dare you disturb the adults' drinking pleasure?"

As soon as Ding Chou opened his mouth, the worried Chu Mao immediately raised his voice, instantly drowning out Ding Chou's voice.

At the same time, the strength in his hands suddenly increased, and he wished he could break Ding Chou's arm alive. His facial features were distorted in pain and he wailed incessantly.

"stop!"

Seeing Chu Mao's vicious attack, Liu Xunyi flew into a rage and kicked a lieutenant who was holding Ding Chou by the waist to the ground. Then he moved as fast as lightning and instantly grabbed Chu Mao's wrist. With a little force from his five fingers, Chu Mao suddenly felt an unbearable numbness and pain all over his arm, making him unable to exert any strength to hold Ding Chou's hand anymore, and he slowly loosened his grip tremblingly.

Almost at the same time, the drunken Feng Tianba stopped the other two golden sword captains who were eager to try and prevented them from coming forward to help.

Seeing a fight breaking out in the tavern, the drinkers fled in panic, scrambling to get away from the place of trouble.

"Lord Liu, they are obviously your subordinates, why are they so presumptuous?" Feng Tianba asked in surprise.

"I also thought they were my men, but now it seems... not." Liu Xunyi tightly grasped Chu Mao's wrist, and remained indifferent to his desperate pleas for mercy, and asked in a deep voice, "What on earth do you want to do?"

"Sir, we...we are just helping you drive away the beggars..."

"Nonsense!" Liu Xunyi's eyes turned fierce, and the strength between his fingers increased suddenly, strangling Chu Mao's wrist so that the blood could not flow, and the color of his right hand turned from red to white, and he gradually lost consciousness. "I noticed that you were behaving strangely since we came out of the cemetery. If you don't tell the truth, your hand will be useless!"

"Please forgive me, sir. I... speak from the bottom of my heart..."

Chu Mao was sweating profusely and panting like a cow. He looked anxiously at his increasingly paler right hand. He felt anxious and angry, but helpless.

"From the bottom of my heart?" Liu Xunyi sneered, "You block everything I want to do, and you perfunctorily follow my orders. Not only do you follow me everywhere, but you also interfere with my every word and action. What exactly does that mean?"

"Master Liu, they are monitoring you!" Ding Chou, whose mood was gradually calming down, interrupted angrily, "They don't let me get close to you because they are worried that their secret will be exposed..."

"Shut up, you little bastard..."

"you shut up!"

Before Chu Mao finished speaking, Liu Xunyi's left hand suddenly stretched out and instantly grabbed his throat, stopping his chattering abruptly.

"Master Liu, this..." Feng Tianba looked around in confusion, "What is going on?"

"Brother Feng, you asked a good question. I also want to know what happened." After saying that, Liu Xunyi cast a suspicious look at the haggard Ding Chou and asked curiously, "Little Ding, haven't you already found your distant relatives and left Lin'an with them? Why are you here today? And why are you... begging on the street?"

"What distant relative?" Ding Chou looked confused. "Lord Liu, who told you these words? Was it Qin..."

"Ding Chou!"

Chu Mao's voice suddenly rang out. As Liu Xunyi was pinching his throat, his voice sounded very strange, sharp, thin, and a little hoarse: "The Marquis has taken our friendship into consideration... He has given you enough money to leave... Please don't repay kindness with enmity..."

Ding Chou was still young, and faced with Chu Mao's ferocious and terrifying roar, he was frightened and at a loss.

"What did you say?" Liu Xunyi heard a clue from Chu Mao's words and asked anxiously, "What do you mean by 'remembering the old relationship'? Is the 'Marquis' you mentioned Qin Wei?"

"I... cough cough..." "What's going on? Tell me quickly!"

Liu Xunyi relaxed his grip a little, allowing Chu Mao, whose life was hanging by a thread, to catch his breath.

"They... they are all 'old ministers' of Tianji Pavilion. They are unwilling to be inferior to the Marquis, so they repeatedly rebel and cause trouble..." Chu Mao explained intermittently, "The Marquis repeatedly advised them with kind words, but they regarded the Marquis' kindness as a donkey's liver and lungs... In the end, the Marquis could not bear the humiliation and had to part ways with them, and gave them enough money for them to make a living in the future..."

"So, they were driven away by Qin Wei? Rather than leaving on their own initiative?" Liu Xunyi turned pale and was extremely horrified.

"If they stay in Tianji Pavilion, they will only cause trouble..."

"You're lying!" Ding Chou was so angry that he was shaking all over. He pointed at Chu Mao who was speaking confidently and refuted, "Things are not what you said at all. The Marquis died in an unclear way. We just want to seek justice for the Marquis. How can we call this a riot?"

"The cause of the previous Pavilion Master's death is clear, and even the Emperor has no objection. Yet you are shouting that it is 'unclear'. What is your intention?"

"You are all in the same group, so of course you will protect each other..."

"enough!"

Seeing the situation becoming increasingly chaotic, the confused Liu Xunyi suddenly became irritated and shouted, interrupting the argument between the two.

"Xiao Dingzi, why do you insist that the Marquis died unclearly?" Liu Xunyi asked in a deep voice, "Is it because you don't accept Qin Wei as the new owner of Tianji Pavilion?"

"Of course we don't accept it. He is indifferent to the death of the Marquis and is only thinking about consolidating his own position..."

"Just because you don't obey him, you make a big fuss about the Marquis' death?" Liu Xunyi's tone became increasingly hostile.

"Of course not!" Ding Chou was stunned, his excited thoughts became more and more confused, and he quickly denied it, "We don't obey him because the Marquis died in an unclear way..."

"What he said doesn't make sense, it's just nonsense." Chu Mao sneered, "Master Liu, Ding Chou is just a brat who is always outspoken and likes to make up stories. You must not believe what he says."

"I am still a child, so what I say is not worthy of trust?" Ding Chou was ashamed and angry, and he gritted his teeth and stamped his feet anxiously, "Master Liu, I will take you to see someone. I may speak without restraint, but he will definitely not make up stories."

"Who?"

"Lord Qiu!"

"Qiu Han?" Liu Xunyi's eyes changed, and his expression became more intriguing. "Qiu Han is also in Lin'an?"

"Others left or dispersed, but Lord Qiu and I returned and sneaked back to Lin'an. We were unwilling to see the Marquis die in obscurity, and we were even more unwilling to see the bad guys succeed and the good guys suffer injustice."

"hiss!"

Ding Chou's words had a profound meaning, which shocked Liu Xunyi's heart. An indescribable worry quickly rose from the bottom of his heart.

"You little bastard, Lord Liu and the Marquis are brothers who share life and death, and he will soon be the deputy leader of the Tianji Pavilion, so don't spread rumors to confuse the public..."

"What?" Ding Chou was startled, his eyes instantly filled with horror, "Master Liu, you...you want to go along with Qin Wei?"

"Asshole..."

“Shut up!” Liu Xunyi interrupted Chu Mao’s threat, stretched out his hand to pull the uneasy Ding Chou in front of him, and said word by word, “Take me to see Qiu Han!”

"Master Liu, you can't go..."

As soon as Chu Mao said this, he was frightened by Liu Xunyi's sharp eyes and trembled.

"Are you...are you still the same Lord Liu?" Ding Chou looked at Liu Xunyi, whose face was as gloomy as water, and asked timidly, "Will you...kill us?"

"Why should I kill you?" Looking at the timid Ding Chou, Liu Xunyi suddenly felt sad.

Ding Chou swallowed hard and answered cautiously: "Kill us for Qin Wei..."

"This..." Liu Xunyi was stunned and hesitated, "Why did he kill you?"

Facing the suspicious Liu Xunyi, Ding Chou hesitated again and again before slowly nodding: "I can take you to see Lord Qiu, but... it can only be you alone."

"can!"

"Master Liu..."

"Brother Feng!"

Without waiting for Chu Mao to dissuade him, Liu Xunyi suddenly attacked and sealed the acupuncture points of Chu Mao and the other three at lightning speed. He then turned to the confused Feng Tianba and asked, "Can you keep an eye on them for me for a while?"

"What?" Feng Tianba was shocked. "You are worried that they will go back and tip off the authorities. Do you really suspect that there is something else behind Tianji Hou's death?"

"I don't know..." The upset Liu Xunyi shook his head slowly, "But since I returned to Lin'an, I always felt that something was wrong. Therefore, I must find out the truth, otherwise I will be sorry for the Marquis's spirit in heaven, and even more so for his kindness in raising me!"

"Can……"

Before Feng Tianba could finish his words, Liu Xunyi waved his hand impatiently, dragged the restless Ding Chou and quickly left the tavern, disappearing in the bustling West Lake Langyuan in the blink of an eye.

……

(End of this chapter)