Chapter 17: Kill

Chapter 17: Murder

The mountains were shrouded in mist and fog, and cold frost silently descended.

As the days grew colder, fewer people visited the temple to offer incense. However, today was the Cold Clothing Festival, and many, like Xin He, braved the chill to visit Ciyun Temple and offer prayers for their loved ones.

The monks in the temple had already donned their winter robes, moving through the layered halls and corridors, guiding and assisting the worshippers.

Just as Xin He and her companions stepped through the temple gates, they encountered Huiming.

Huiming clasped his hands, recited a Buddhist verse, and with a benevolent smile, asked, "Is the madam fully recovered now?"

"Thank you for your concern, Master. I am fully recovered."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Huiming kindly advised, "Since the madam is pregnant, perhaps it would be best to rest in the guest courtyard before offering incense."

Xin He agreed.

Huiming arranged for Xin He to stay in the same guest courtyard she had occupied before.

Previously, when Xin He had come with Wei Mingjin, only Qiong Hua had attended to her personally. But today, with Wei Mingjin absent, the maids and matrons assigned by Nanny Dou stayed by her side, never leaving her.

They took meticulous care of Xin He, but she felt extremely uncomfortable.

She needed to shake them off to meet Zhou Shuisheng.

But these women were all sharp, not as easily fooled as Qiong Hua. One misstep could arouse their suspicion.

So, even though she had reached Ciyun Temple as planned, Xin He did not act rashly. She calmly sat at the table, drinking ginger tea, waiting for an opportune moment.

Heavy gray clouds hung low in the sky, and the howling cold wind set the eaves' bells tinkling, while also stirring the grayish-white forests behind the layers of temple buildings.

After resting, Xin He went to offer incense in the hall where her parents' spirit tablets were enshrined. By the time she emerged, sleet was falling outside.

"Madam, the mountain path is dangerous now. Perhaps we should rest awhile and wait for the rain and snow to stop before descending?" a matron inquired.

Xin He, wrapped in a fox fur cloak, stood under the eaves and reached out her hand. Clear snowflakes landed on her palm, instantly melting into droplets.

Not far away, worshippers walked with umbrellas. Xin He answered off-topic, "What time is it now?"

"Just past 2:45 PM."

"This rain and snow might not stop anytime soon, and even if it does, the mountain path will surely be slippery and difficult to navigate. We won’t be able to descend immediately." After a moment of thought, Xin He turned her head and instructed, "Find a quick messenger to return to the estate and inform Young Master Wei that we will stay at Ciyun Temple tonight and return tomorrow."

With Xin He pregnant, if anything were to happen on the road in such weather, none of them could bear the responsibility. The matron, hearing this, immediately sent someone to carry out the order.

Another matron went to find the monk in charge of accommodations to arrange guest quarters for Xin He.

Xin He had hoped to take this opportunity to send everyone away so she could meet Zhou Shuisheng.

Unfortunately, one particularly alert matron remained on guard outside. Unable to act, Xin He had no choice but to continue waiting.

She waited until nightfall.

Shortly after 6 PM, Xin He used the pretext of needing rest to dismiss all the maids and matrons. She locked the door from the inside, extinguished the lamp, and climbed out through the window.

The afternoon rain and snow had only lasted for less than half an hour before stopping, and by night, the moon had even emerged.

A lone crescent moon hung in the vast sky. Xin He held up her dress, avoiding others, and made her way familiarly toward the back mountain.

Tree shadows danced around her, and the surroundings were utterly silent.

As Xin He hurried along, she faintly felt as though someone was following her.

But whenever she turned to look, there was nothing behind her—only emptiness.

The entire shaded path was filled with nothing but her hurried footsteps and quick breaths.

The back mountain was now within sight.

Xin He took a deep breath, suppressing the unease in her heart, and turned to continue inward.

For now, she had to calm Zhou Shuisheng down and prevent him from blabbing to Wei Mingjin. Otherwise, all her efforts would be in vain.

When Xin He reached the agreed-upon spot, she saw a flickering glow in the distance. She hid behind a tree to look and immediately became furious.

"Are you insane? Lighting a fire here—are you trying to draw everyone over?" Xin He lifted her skirts and rushed over, breaking off a branch to smother the flames.

Zhou Shuisheng, wrapped in a thick monk’s robe he had likely stolen from somewhere, leaned against a tree trunk with two wine jugs rolling beside him. Hearing her, he shot back defensively, "You took so long to get here. If I didn’t light a fire, would you rather I freeze to death?"

"The people Wei Mingjin sent were watching too closely. I couldn’t shake them off."

Fearful that the fire would attract attention, Xin He was bent on extinguishing it.

Zhou Shuisheng supported himself against the tree trunk, swaying as he stood up, and stretched out his hand: "Enough talk. Where’s the money?"

The stench of sweat and alcohol wafted from him, causing Xin He to retch repeatedly.

Zhou Shuisheng’s face turned grim, and he impatiently pressed again: "Where’s the money?"

Xin He took two steps back, putting distance between them. While desperately breathing in fresh air, she tossed a money pouch over to him.

Zhou Shuisheng caught it gleefully. In the faint firelight, he saw that it contained only small pieces of silver, totaling less than thirty taels.

"Xin He, you’re cheating me!" Zhou Shuisheng clenched the money pouch, his expression suddenly turning fierce.

But this time, Xin He was not afraid of him: "Last time, I pawned everything I could just to scrape together two hundred taels for you. It hasn’t even been ten days, and you’re asking for three hundred taels again. Where am I supposed to get that?"

"If you don’t have it, you should’ve said so earlier. I’ll ask Young Master Wei—I’m sure he has it."

Zhou Shuisheng once again used this threat against Xin He. He expected her to yield immediately, as she had the previous two times.

But this time, Xin He stood her ground, her face showing no anxiety: "If you tell Wei Mingjin about this, he’ll give you at most one hundred taels. Once that money is spent, you, Zhou Shuisheng, will still be broke. But if you keep this secret to yourself, you’ll have a steady flow of money in the future. It’s your choice: kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, or secure your future."

Zhou Shuisheng paused mid-step, thought for a moment, then turned to look at Xin He: "You think I’m stupid! Right now, you can’t even come up with three hundred taels, yet—"

"I can’t produce a large sum of money right now," Xin He interrupted Zhou Shuisheng. "But if the child in my womb is born safely, we’ll be able to claim half of the late master's inheritance. Will I lack money then?"

That seemed to make sense.

Moreover, as long as he held this secret, Xin He, for the sake of her future wealth and comfort, would naturally have to keep funneling money to keep him quiet.

Just thinking about it made Zhou Shuisheng’s heart swell with excitement, almost beyond control.

Xin He saw this and pushed further: "It’s your choice: destroy each other or prosper together."

Zhou Shuisheng without hesitation chose shared prosperity.

"Since you’ve chosen shared prosperity, then until this child is safely born, we should not meet again."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Shuisheng was immediately annoyed.

But Xin He didn’t give him a chance to speak: "Last time you went to the Wei residence, you already aroused Wei Mingjin’s suspicions. That’s why he arranged for so many older women and maids to keep an eye on me during this trip to Ciyun Temple. If we meet again and he catches us, he will surely accuse us of adultery. By then, forget about sharing wealth—I’m afraid neither of us will even be able to keep our lives."

"Isn’t it widely rumored that Wei Mingjin is a man of high moral character? A gentleman surely wouldn’t do something so despicable, right?" Zhou Shuisheng was half-convinced, half-skeptical.

Xin He, however, smirked mockingly: "Reputation is just talk; only a fool would take it seriously."

Zhou Shuisheng, who had taken it seriously: "..." (He was one of those fools.)

"Besides, no matter how noble his character, he is still human. Who doesn’t want more money? What’s more, if it weren’t for this child showing up unexpectedly, the family fortune the old master left behind would belong to Wei Mingjin alone."

That was true.

Putting himself in Wei Mingjin’s place, if he were in that position, he would definitely want to eliminate the child as soon as possible.

Zhou Shuisheng was persuaded by Xin He. He nodded and said, "Alright, we’ll do as you say."

Xin He had been about eighty percent confident, but it wasn’t until Zhou Shuisheng agreed that her anxiety finally eased.

Zhou Shuisheng had drunk quite a bit earlier, and now the alcohol was starting to hit him. His gaze unconsciously fell on Xin He.

The fire hadn’t yet gone out, and the flickering flames cast shifting light and shadows across Xin He’s face.

Xin He was the prettiest girl in their village, and even in the surrounding eight villages, she was the most beautiful.

Everyone around their age in the village wanted to marry Xin He.

But every single person who went to the Xin family to propose marriage was turned down.

Xin He, with her stunning beauty, naturally wasn’t willing to spend her whole life stuck in the poor backwater of Shili Village.

Although Zhou Shuisheng liked Xin He, he knew better than to embarrass himself by trying.

Until that night, when he had argued with his mother over money at home. Thinking of stealing a few chickens from the neighbors to sell and cover his gambling debts, he instead ran into Xin He, who had escaped.

Xin He said that if he was willing to take her away, she would marry him.

The moonlight that night was very bright.

So bright that Zhou Shuisheng could clearly see the seriousness in Xin He’s eyes.

But in that moment, the Xin He in Zhou Shuisheng’s eyes was no longer the girl he admired from afar but unattainable—she was shiny silver money.

So he agreed to take Xin He away, but then turned around and sold her to a brothel.

Then he took the money from selling Xin He and went back to the gambling den.

He thought that once he won his money back, he would go back and redeem Xin He. He wouldn’t hold it against her that she had been in a brothel; he would marry her and treat her well for the rest of his life.

He thought he had a solid plan, but his luck was terrible.

In the end, not only did he fail to win back his losses with that money, but he also ended up owing the gambling den a huge debt.

While being chased and hiding from debt collectors, Zhou Shuisheng regretted it: he shouldn’t have been unable to control himself, and he especially shouldn’t have sold Xin He.

But it was already too late.

Yet Zhou Shuisheng never expected that, by some twist of fate, Xin He would end up back in his life.

Xin He didn’t notice the change in Zhou Shuisheng’s emotions. She only thought that since Zhou Shuisheng had already agreed, she didn’t need to keep pretending with him here any longer: "It’s getting late, I should go back to avoid being discovered."

With that, Xin He turned to leave. Zhou Shuisheng suddenly spoke up: "But I have one condition."

Xin He frowned and looked at him.

"You have to stay the night with me." Zhou Shuisheng’s gaze locked onto her face.

This was the person he had once most wanted to marry.

Back then, to sell her for a good price, he hadn’t touched her, but now things were different.

"Have you gone mad? I’m pregnant right now." Xin He was so frightened by Zhou Shuisheng’s lecherous and disgusting stare that she stepped back several times.

She tried her best to steady her nerves and attempted to use money to snap Zhou Shuisheng out of it: "The doctor has always said my pregnancy is precarious. If I don’t take good care of myself, it’s very easy to miscarry. Do you want to end up empty-handed in the end?"

But Zhou Shuisheng, now too consumed by lust, couldn’t take in any of this.

"There are plenty of ways to please a man. Weren’t you at Zuiyue Lou for several days? Didn’t the madam there teach you?" At this, Zhou Shuisheng snickered, "If she didn’t teach you, it’s fine—I’ll teach you."

With that, Zhou Shuisheng made a grab for Xin He.

Xin He, of course, resisted. As the two struggled, Xin He’s mind went blank for a moment.

By the time she snapped out of it, a dagger was stuck in Zhou Shuisheng’s stomach.

It was the one Wei Mingxuan had given her earlier for protection.

Zhou Shuisheng was also stunned.

He looked down at the dagger in his stomach, then at Xin He, his face instantly contorted with rage: "You bitch! You actually tried to kill me!"

Zhou Shuisheng lunged at Xin He again.

Xin He dodged in a panic.

As Zhou Shuisheng tried to grab Xin He, his foot accidentally stepped on a wine jar he had discarded earlier. His whole body swayed, and he fell right down the hillside.

Xin He was in shock and terror, taking a good while to come back to her senses.

She leaned over to look down but saw only complete darkness; she couldn’t make out anything.

Xin He collapsed to the ground, dazed, her hands covered in blood.

"Caw, caw—"

In the quiet mountain forest, the cry of a crow suddenly rang out.

Xin He, as if snapped out of a trance, immediately stood up in panic and staggered away.

After Xin He’s figure had completely disappeared, someone emerged from behind a tall ancient tree.

Moonlight shone on that person’s pale, frost-colored robes but could not illuminate the dark, unreadable expression in their eyes.

That person picked up the blood-stained dagger from the ground and ordered, "Go down and take a look."

Chi Yan obeyed, and immediately headed down to search in the direction where Zhou Shuisheng had fallen.