— maybe not.
Fu Wenjie stared at Shan Chao with undisguised sarcasm and sadness, like a dying person looking at a child full of courage because of his innocence: "You will know later."
Without waiting for Shan Chao to answer, he asked again: "--Then if this is the case, how did you start to doubt me?"
Shan Chao was silent for a while, and said: "When I first met you by the West Lake, your words and deeds made me feel wrong..."
"Oh, what's wrong? Didn't I immediately apologize to you in public on behalf of Chen Haiping?"
"This is the problem." Shan Chao said slowly, "The poor monk has practiced in Chang'an Ci'en Temple for two years. Although the master is strict and has always been feared by his disciples, he never blamed his disciples indiscriminately when others came to complain. It’s all because most people in the world protect their shortcomings, even if their family members and friends behave inappropriately, they are more or less partial.”
"And Young Master, when you saw us, you didn't ask what happened, and you didn't even see what happened by the lake. The first sentence was: 'My brother's debauchery is absurd, please make amends'! The implication is , to blame Mr. Chen for the fault without even understanding the matter..."
"What's more, when the disciples of the major martial arts sects gathered in Jianjianzhuang, the master of the young village opened three doors in a row and held a banquet in the main hall to make Mr. Chen apologize to us—although the behavior seems to be upright, it is too solemn and exaggerated. , the love in the world really doesn't agree with each other, and the young master did not hesitate to confess in public that Miss Fu was spoiled by Ling Tang, etc., I had to have an absurd idea."
Fu Wenjie stared at Shan Chao blankly, only to hear him give a slightly complicated meal:
"You seem to be deliberately insulting the face of Forging Sword Village."
Fu Wenjie snorted in his nasal cavity: "...to observe such subtleties, you are indeed a master."
—he actually admitted it!
Shan Chao was also a little surprised, he frowned and said, "Do you hate Forging Sword Village?"
"Hate?" Fu Wenjie said without hesitation, and laughed loudly: "Don't you think I shouldn't hate?!"
He suddenly turned his head to look at the coffin, tremblingly said: "Of course I hate it! Do you know when my leg recovered? It was the day Wanjuan died of dystocia!"
Shan Chao said in amazement: "You are not pretending..."
"of course not!"
Fu Wenjie took a deep breath, with a heavy and hoarse voice:
"... I am an old son of my mother. I have been doted on and indulged in all kinds of ways since I was a child. Whenever my father strictly forced me to practice martial arts, my mother always stopped me from doing hard work, so that I didn't learn about the unique school of Yin and Yang until I was twelve years old. Zhenqi'. At that time, I was too old, my bones were not good, and because of my impatience, I went crazy, so I... "
"I thought I would be a useless person in this life. I was already disheartened, and I only wished for this remaining life. Who knew that when I met Wanjuan, the husband and wife sang and played harmoniously with the harp, I also had all kinds of happiness and expectations in the world... The place where Wanjuan went One day, I almost wanted to die outside the delivery room. I passed out due to emotional agitation. When I woke up, I found that the meridians that had been blocked for many years were unblocked. I tried to practice walking, but within a few months, I completely recovered to the level of normal people's activities. "
Shan Chao said, "You didn't tell anyone..."
"Of course not!" Fu Wenjie sternly said, "If I tell others, how can I pretend to be a ghost in Jianjianzhuang? I just want to make everyone feel uneasy and let everyone remember that Wanjuan is still alive. One day she will Come back for revenge!"
"..." Shan Chao frowned: "In this case, you were the one who pretended to hear the female ghost's voice outside when the servant girl walked in the water?"
"Yes," Fu Wenjie said without hesitation, "Do you know how happy I was when you revealed that the corpse was fake in front of everyone in the main hall the next day? Although being discovered or not doesn't affect my next plan. , Fu Xiangrong in the backyard is also dead, but I don’t know how happy I am to unravel the veil of this filthy place of the Fu family in front of those respectable and decent people who have always prided themselves on themselves!"
Shan Chao didn't know what to say for a while:
"...The one who killed Fu Xiangrong, was it you or the Shenguimen?"
"It's the one surnamed Jing." Fu Wenjie said coldly, "They want the family wealth of Jianjianzhuang and the secret method of sword refining, as well as the last remaining snow lotus flower in the world, and they are afraid that they will push me to burn everything. The snow lotus was destroyed, so they agreed to cooperate with me—it was also the safest and easiest way for them. Therefore, on the day when Xiulou was flooded, I tried to send a message to the people of Shenguimen, asking them to help me go to the back mountain to say goodbye. The courtyard killed Fu Xiangrong..."
"But I dug out the baby's body in the ancestral grave with my own hands, and I did it on purpose when I fell off the cliff. I just didn't expect that someone would jump down to save me."
He took a deep breath and said, "Actually, I'm not worth saving."
There was silence in the basement, with no sound at all.
This place is already far away from the ground, and the suffocating silence seems to submerge people to the top like a tide.
"I saved you just because..." Shan Chao stopped speaking, sighed for a long while, and then said: "You came back from the cliff to the back mountain courtyard, and you sneaked into the back hall through this tunnel, planting saltpetre and sulfur , did you personally blow up the old lady and all the servants to death?"
Fu Wenjie didn't answer but asked instead: "How do you know this?"
"Floor tiles," Shan Chao said.
"Lightning strikes from the top, smashing the roof beams first, and often stops abruptly after killing people, and will not blow up the kang surface and floor tiles. But the gunpowder comes from the bottom up, first smashing the floor tiles, and shattering the kang surface. After being crushed, it impacts the beams and roof, and the degree of fragmentation of the tiles is lighter than that of the floor tiles. A comparison between the two can naturally lead to obvious differences."
Fu Wenjie nodded without saying a word, and there was some appreciation in his expression.
Shan Chao said: "I only have two doubts. I wonder if the owner of the village is willing to answer. First, although sulfur, saltpeter, saponins, etc. can be made into gunpowder, the explosive power of gunpowder is limited. How can it blow up most of the back hall? ?”
Fu Wenjie said indifferently: "Dianjianzhuang is very good at using fire to make swords with the secret method. This is one. Second, this gunpowder was given by the Shenguimen. Back then, the Shenguimen used to be... Forget it, the master was a monk. It doesn't matter if you know these old things about Tang Jianghu or not."
Shan Chao didn't ask further, just nodded and said: "There is one more question, don't blame the Young Master. I just want to know that Fu Xiangrong is your sister and the old lady is your biological mother. When you did these things, didn't you Any... any tenderness?"
Fu Wenjie stared at Shan Chao, showing that extremely sarcastic smile again, as if laughing at why he was so persistent on this stupid question.
However, after the sarcasm, more twisted bitterness full of hostility gradually appeared in his eyes.
"Soft?" Fu Wenjie repeated hoarsely, and asked: "Then when they made things difficult for Wanjuan, did they ever have a soft heart? Did Fu Xiangrong ever have a soft heart when he recommended that quack doctor to my mother? My mother When you forced Wanjuan to drink the so-called female-to-male soup, did you feel a little soft-hearted?"
"Do you know why I used such a dangerous and laborious method of burying gunpowder? It was just to let everyone see that it was the thunder that killed her! It was my mother's actions that attracted the thunder and killed her. ! Otherwise, I will poison and set fire, plot to assassinate, what method can I use? There are many ways to kill people in this world!"
Fu Wenjie's face was red and distorted, and he couldn't help coughing violently again. His voice was sharp and hoarse, like a howling, which made people shudder from the bottom of their hearts in the light of the jumping fire in the basement.
Shan Chao felt very uncomfortable, and said in a low voice: "That is your biological mother after all..." As soon as the words fell, he felt that his words were weak.
"What's wrong with the mother? How many biological parents kill their children in this world, do you know?! There are cruel ones who kill their parents and children by beating and scolding, some foolish ones who kill their parents and children by spoiling them, and those who are obstinate and ignorant. Stubborn, using a poison called motherly love to kill everyone around her own child except herself, and let the child live in suffocation, loneliness and despair, which is more terrible than death, do you know?!"
"..."
Shan Chao panted slightly, and shook his head for a long while: "I don't know, since I was born... I have never seen my mother."
Fu Wenjie sneered resoundingly: "That's very good, I hope you will never experience this heart-piercing and hatred-filled pain in your life!"
This remark was obviously out of character, Shan Chao smiled self-deprecatingly, thinking it was nonsense, I don't even have a mother, what's the use of your blessing
"Why, what is Master going to do now?" Fu Wenjie looked Shan Chao up and down, his eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was a little crazy and terrifying: "You know everything, I am here too, are you planning to kill me to pay for those wronged people?" Are you going to take revenge on the dead, or are you planning to drag me to the court?"
"..."
Shan Chao hesitated for a while, only to hear Fu Wenjie sarcastically said: "Maybe the master also has secrets and doesn't want to see officials; or the master's monks don't want to commit murder, so they can't kill me with their own hands... Then you might as well escort me out How about announcing my crimes to the world, making me unable to gain a foothold in the Jianghu martial arts world, so that I will be replaced by other righteous heroes one day in the future, so that I can become famous?"
Shan Chao intuitively felt that this was quite absurd: "Why would I do such a thing!"
"Then," Fu Wenjie said with a sneer, "since you can't kill me yourself, and you can't use someone else's hand to kill me... It seems that you can only let all this pass and let me leave here leisurely?"
Shan Chao subconsciously wanted to refute, but he choked slightly.
He escaped from the Ci'en Temple, and currently he doesn't know what the situation in Chang'an is. It is true that he cannot easily expose his whereabouts, and it is absolutely impossible to report to the officials.
Escort Fu Wenjie out and hand it over to everyone in the martial arts? The gate of gods and ghosts is just outside, and it is still unknown who killed who by then!
Fu Wenjie seemed to see Shan Chao's hesitation, and raised one corner of his mouth and said, "Master, if it's difficult, I might as well give you a third choice."
He walked to the corner of the secret room, where there was a dressing table according to the layout of the boudoir, on which there were neatly placed diamond mirrors, small flower pouches, rosewood dressing boxes, etc., which must have been items used by his wife during her lifetime. Fu Wenjie seemed to cherish it very much, and opened the makeup box carefully, and saw that the inside was divided into three layers, the upper and lower layers, full of pearls, jade, and emerald greens; the bottom was a mahogany square box, and after taking it out and opening it, the room was filled with a strange fragrance.
There is a flower in that box.
Shan Chao's pupils narrowed slightly—it turned out to be the snow lotus that everyone was looking for!
"If Grandmaster is undecided, you might as well let me go, and then take this flower and exchange it with Shenguimen—although Shenguimen is an evil way, but it is indeed powerful. For some reason, it is now struggling to pursue this A snow lotus flower that can detoxify all kinds of poisons. With this as a bargaining chip, presumably the rest of the master's life will be full of prosperity and wealth, all of which can be easily obtained... "
Fu Wenjie pinched the snow lotus with two fingers, squinted his eyes, and stared at Shan Chao with interest.
"How about it, master? Only money can buy the prosperity of this world. I see you, master, are handsome and full of righteousness. After you have tasted the happiness of the world, you probably don't want to live in the ancient Buddha with blue lanterns again." How about the day of penance?"
He didn't even bother to hide the strong irony in his words, as if he was very sure about the choice the young monk in front of him would make.
Shan Chao's sharp eyebrows twitched slightly.
—With the antidote, the poison of the prince of the East Palace can be cured. It is impossible to say that Ci'en Temple can also be safely liberated from the power struggle between Empress Wu and the prince.
However, Fu Wenjie...
"Why are you still hesitating, master? Oh, it must be that the master has a righteous heart and looks down on such dirty and worldly things."
The sneering light in Fu Wenjie's eyes was fleeting, he deliberately and slowly lifted the snow lotus to his lips, and said with a smile: "In that case, there's no point in keeping it, I might as well eat it myself..."
Shan Chao shouted: "Stop!"
Fu Wenjie turned a deaf ear and opened his mouth to swallow the snow lotus.
Shan Chao immediately strode forward and reached out to snatch it, but Fu Wenjie was also skilled, and immediately turned to avoid it. The two went through a few tricks in this low secret room. Shan Chao was obviously much better at his hands than Fu Wenjie, but thanks to his tricks, he was dodged by the opponent several times, and his heart sank.
Fu Wenjie sneered: "Very well, it seems that this snow lotus is indeed what everyone wants. If so..."
Shan Chao stretched out his sword, attached to the scabbard, and touched Fu Wenjie's hand holding the flower.
At this moment, Fu Wenjie caught a glimpse of the long sword that Shan Chao had been holding in his arms since just now, and his expression suddenly changed: "Seven Star Dragon Yuan?!"
Shan Chao didn't answer, the scabbard head went around the block and went to touch the snow lotus flower, but Fu Wenjie grabbed the flower roughly in the palm of his hand, and rushed forward to grab his sword: "Bring it! How do you have the seven-star dragon? !"
— How could such a delicate thing as snow lotus be held tightly in both hands, Shan Chao suddenly constricted his pupils, and in the confusion, the opponent grabbed the scabbard tightly.
"How is it possible!" Fu Wenjie yelled angrily, "What is the relationship between you and the secret door!"
Whoosh—
boom!
A small stone the size of a fingernail flew towards him like lightning. Fu Wenjie immediately screamed and covered his ribs, staggered and fell backwards, spitting out a mouthful of blood!
Shan Chao froze suddenly, only to hear a soft, low, and slightly magnetic young male voice coming from the tunnel behind him, and there seemed to be a very nice, slightly upturned smile in the end of the voice: "He has nothing to do with the secret door, he has nothing to do with the hidden door. I have something to do with it."
Shan Chao turned his head slowly. At that moment, the lonely moonlight and the boundless desert, accompanied by the sound of the desolate wind, whizzed past, and disappeared in the distance of the night in the memory in an instant.
An extremely familiar yet extremely unfamiliar, thin and tall figure was standing with a smile in the dim light not far away.
"..." Shan Chao opened his mouth, his voice was very strange because of his hoarseness and forbearance: "What should I call you, Miss Long, Commander Xie, or..."
"... Master?"