BSI Chapter 30: Is Widow Liu really dead or not?
Chapter 30: Is Widow Liu really dead or not?
Chapter 30: Is Widow Liu really dead or not?
The blood was drained?
Lu Jinghe became interested, sat down against the wall, and pricked up his ears.
"You saw it?"
A man asked curiously, "If the blood is drained, what comes to suck people's blood?"
Normally, shouldn't they kill them and eat their flesh? What's the point of sucking their blood?
"I didn't see it myself, I heard it from my cousin."
"Didn't you see how creepy it sounded! I knew you weren't reliable, Lao Zhao."
Lu Jinghe nodded. Why did you need to go into so much detail if I didn't see it?
It made him think there was some real clue.
"Well, Lantian has been quite unsettled lately, and even after reporting it to the authorities, no one seems to care."
"Why should we care? Widow Liu is alive and well. She just recently held a memorial service for her deceased husband and children."
"I saw it yesterday."
The businessman surnamed Sun laughed and said that he would just take this as a joke that Old Zhao had heard from the sidelines.
After all, it's quite normal for rumors to circulate that a widow who went out of town alone to pay respects to her family and didn't return for two days to be dead.
Some people are just so idle. If someone they know disappears for a day or two, they can spread the news that they've died, and they can even make up an obituary.
"What?!" Old Zhao slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Are you sure Widow Liu is still alive?"
The businessman surnamed Sun was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Of course, I saw her at the east end of the city yesterday."
"Hey, are you trying to prevent me from making money? We're childhood friends, you can't cheat me."
Sun Qi and Lao Zhao grew up together and played together as children. A few years ago, in order to seek development, he went to Chang'an to do cloth business.
Although the process was difficult, he managed to make it happen and earn some money. As the saying goes, "Returning home in glory is like wearing fine clothes at night."
Sun Qi decided to go back to his hometown of Lantian. Firstly, he had gained a foothold in Chang'an to some extent and could be considered a person from the capital, so he wanted to show off a bit when he returned.
Secondly, business competition in Chang'an was quite fierce. His rival had some connections with an official in the imperial court, and he felt he needed a backup plan, so he thought of his hometown, Lantian.
Sun Qi knew Lao Zhao fairly well. As soon as he returned to Lantian, he contacted him and arranged a dinner meeting today, wanting to ask him how business was in Lantian.
Although we hadn't seen each other for many years, we were still childhood friends. As soon as I finished explaining why I came, Lao Zhao told me this outrageous story.
He saw Widow Liu yesterday morning; she greeted him with a smile and was very warm.
They said they wanted to order a bolt of cloth to make clothes, and the deposit had already been paid to him.
Now Old Zhao is saying that Widow Liu is dead, and that something sucked all her blood out, turning her into a dried corpse. What a joke!
"Old Sun, you're wrong about that. How could I possibly cheat you?" Old Zhao said, putting his arm around Sun Qi's shoulder.
"My cousin did tell me that Widow Liu died and was sucked dry by some strange thing."
Old Zhao was immediately enraged and said viciously, "That damned brat dared to lie to me! If you hadn't told me you had met Widow Liu, I would have really been fooled by that kid."
"That kid told me such a vivid story that I believed him. He's never lied to me before. I never expected him to go astray."
Old Zhao shook his head, took a big gulp of wine, and then started talking to Sun Qi about business issues in Lantian.
He was a businessman in Lantian, but his business was small and barely enough to make a living. He promised to help Sun Qi establish himself in Lantian and hoped that Sun Qi would give him a helping hand once he had established himself.
Old Zhao is getting on in years, but he is still unmarried. He asked Sun Qi for help, wondering if he knew any suitable girls to introduce him to.
Lu Jinghe lost interest, got up, walked away, lay on the bed, and closed his eyes to think.
There seems to be something wrong with this old Zhao. His heart was racing when he heard the businessman surnamed Sun say that he saw Widow Liu alive.
My heart was pounding even harder when I tried to shift the blame onto my cousin.
It's obviously something fishy.
Take a nap first, and after these two leave, stop this businessman surnamed Sun and ask him some questions.
He wanted to see if this widow Liu was really dead or not.
Lu Jinghe had a premonition that Widow Liu was dead, but why was the merchant surnamed Sun able to see her and even do business with her?
There must be some reason behind this.
Lu Jinghe casually covered the door of the next room with a wisp of spiritual energy, so he could sense when the two of them left.
Before going to sleep, Lu Jinghe activated the Feng Hou Qi Men and silently recited:
A divine dragon carried a map out of the Luo River, and a colorful phoenix carried a book in the blue clouds. Feng Hou was then ordered to develop it into a written text, and thus the art of divination and mystery began.
A flash of blue light revealed a favorable hexagram: Thunder over Earth (豫). There was no need for further divination of the future.
Calculations like this are very costly, and because they involve oneself, they are not accurate. Without a doubt, even if he calculates with all his might, the future he observes will be hazy.
After all, this is different from chess. In chess, you only need to predict where the pieces will be placed. It's the same for anyone. There are only a few paths you can take, so it's very simple to calculate and there's no cost.
But calculating this is impossible, as almost the entire Lantian County is affected by this matter, making it very troublesome and tiring to calculate.
He didn't want to suffer this hardship. Anyway, it was an auspicious omen, the kind that brings joy to everyone, so he figured he might as well handle it himself.
Thinking about it, Lu Jinghe pulled the blanket over himself and started to sleep.
About an hour later, the door next door was pushed open.
Lu Jinghe got up and left unhurriedly.
His acting was pretty good. He glanced at Sun Qi and Lao Zhao, who were about to go downstairs, and went to the next room to find Gao Yang, who was making Xiao Sizi happy. He said, "Here are these talismans for you. Don't be afraid if you encounter danger. Just throw them in his face."
Lu Jinghe flipped through several talismans containing lightning magic and handed them to Gao Yang, warning, "These things are very powerful, don't throw them away carelessly."
Although he made slight modifications that wouldn't harm Gao Yang and Xiao Sizi, he still gave them a heads-up.
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"Um, where are you going?"
Gao Yang asked, wanting to go with him, but seeing that Lu Jinghe seemed to want to act alone, she didn't say anything.
"We've made some progress on the matter in Lantian County, let's go take a look." Lu Jinghe closed the door and slowly followed Sun Qi, who hadn't gone far.
This man wasn't a good drinker; Old Zhao was fine, but he was already flushed with alcohol.
Lu Jinghe followed silently behind, and soon the two arrived at Sun Qi's house.
Although he had drunk too much, Sun Qi still remembered to close the door.
However, closing it wouldn't do any good, so Lu Jinghe simply climbed over the wall and went inside.
Once inside, Sun Qi fell asleep immediately. Lu Jinghe moved a chair and sat down beside Sun Qi's bed, crossing his legs and fiddling with his fingernails.
After a long time, Sun Qi made some noises as if she was dreaming, and then suddenly woke up with a start.
"Oh, you're awake?"
"A ghost!!!" Sun Qi sprang to his feet and fell straight off the bed.
"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Lu Jinghe smiled and introduced himself, "My name is Lu Jinghe, and I'd say I'm a Celestial Master, the Celestial Master of the Tang Dynasty."
Li Shimin nodded and acknowledged him as the Celestial Master, so there was nothing wrong with him calling himself the Celestial Master of the Tang Dynasty.
"I'm asking you, is Widow Liu dead or not?"
"Is he dead or not?" Sun Qi was stunned for a moment. He hadn't paid much attention to Lu Jinghe's self-introduction. He was so scared that he lost his mind and had no mind to listen to the other person's self-introduction.
However, it was the widow Liu mentioned by Lu Jinghe that caught his attention.
"Is Widow Liu dead or not?!"
Suddenly, Sun Qi burst into tears.
He dreamt of Widow Liu, who had turned from a pretty widow into a dried-up corpse with bulging eyes, covered in blood, emaciated, with grayish-black skin and an aura of death.