Chapter 275: Song

Chapter 275: Song

Meng Wan had initially planned well: finish the meal, rest, and then sneak over to the male guests' quarters with Chi Yu to check on Lord Shen.

But unlike the relaxed and peaceful atmosphere among the women, the men's side was entirely different—patrolled by guards everywhere, allowing people to leave but not easily enter.

It would have been fine if Chi Yu went alone, but bringing Meng Wan, who was not very athletic, made things difficult.

"Forget it. Go find Xiao Ci after you get there, and be careful," Meng Wan told Chi Yu, concerned.

"Don't worry, husband!" Chi Yu slipped out silently, using the darkness and rain as cover.

He found Chu Ci without any trouble in Xia Yuan's courtyard, and without letting Xia Yuan or the others know, they headed straight for Lord Shen's residence.

The layout on the male guests' side was similar to that of the women's, except the courtyards were farther apart and not clustered together.

Moreover, the male guests' area was divided into two main sections: the South Courtyard and the North Courtyard. Those who had visited Cat Ba Island before stayed in the South Courtyard, while first-time visitors like Xia Yuan and Chen Zhenlong were housed in the North.

Chi Yu helped Chu Ci climb over the wall into Lord Shen's courtyard. They arrived just in time—the place was in a chaotic uproar.

With only five people present, it was more chaotic than a pig slaughter during New Year's.

"Please calm down, Master!"

"Master, stop breaking things. These aren't even our belongings. What's wrong with you?"

"What are you all doing standing there? Come help hold down the Master!"

Lord Shen's room was total chaos, full of constant shouting.

In the middle of the racket, Chi Yu and Chu Ci crept onto the main building's roof. They lifted a gray tile and peered inside—there was Lord Shen, who had seemed so refined and scholarly during the day, now red-eyed and raving, going berserk and smashing everything in the room.

Three servants tried to hold him down, but they couldn't manage it. One of them got choked and couldn't move.

The other two wanted to help but dared not use force against Lord Shen. Helpless, they watched their friend kick his legs once and then go limp—dead.

In the corner knelt a young woman with disheveled hair, a swollen cheek, and vacant eyes. When the dead servant was flung aside by Lord Shen, he crashed into a table, and porcelain shattered everywhere.

A tiny porcelain shard struck the young woman's pale face, leaving a thin trickle of blood.

"Ah... ah!!!"

The pain finally snapped Miss Shen awake. Terrified, she stared at the man before her, now like a demon, unable to believe this was her respected father.

Fear, helplessness, shame, anxiety—emotions too heavy for a fourteen-year-old girl to bear flooded her. She staggered to her feet, using her numb legs, and stumbled toward the door to get away.

But her scream seemed to rouse Lord Shen. His eyes, now clouded, locked onto her, and in three quick strides, he was upon her, grabbing her by the collar.

Miss Shen's heart jumped into her throat. She stared at Lord Shen in panic, terrified she'd end up like the dead servant on the floor.

With a loud bang, Lord Shen kicked the door open from inside.

The servants and guards in the yard saw Lord Shen's strange state and didn't dare approach, just kept pleading uselessly.

"Master, that's the Second Miss you're holding. Please let her go."

"Second Miss, don't worry. The Master will come to his senses in a bit."

"Master, where are you taking the Second Miss?"

"Follow him! Quick, let's see where he's going."

"Xiao Ci, should we go back and report to husband?" Chi Yu thought that apart from Lord Shen's crazy behavior, there wasn't anything useful. Seeing it was getting late, he wanted to go back to Meng Wan.

They were afraid of being discovered on the roof, so Chi Yu spoke softly. When Chu Ci didn't respond, he thought he hadn't heard and leaned in to ask again in a low voice, "Xiao Ci? What's wrong?"

Chu Ci seemed nailed to the rooftop. His eyelids twitched involuntarily, and red bloodshot lines spread across his eyes.

His face, so similar to his father Chu Yujing's, was stiff and cold, faintly revealing the features of another man.

Chu Ci's eyes were locked on Lord Shen's retreating figure, dragging Miss Shen away, as if through him he saw Chen Yong.

Meng Wan had never seen Chen Yong's rampage, but Chu Ci had. He knew well that a single tiny pink pill could turn a man into a beast.

It could lift one to paradise or plunge them into hell.

Controlling life, manipulating death.

The veins on Chu Ci's wrist bulged. His clenched fists made the smooth white jade bracelet on his wrist tremble. Unconsciously, he touched the bracelet with his right hand. The cool sensation instantly snapped him back to reality. He gestured to Chi Yu, who was waiting, to follow him.

The two followed Lord Shen out of the Shen family's temporary courtyard, across the large platform, and up the stone steps leading to the mountain. Their destination was the massive Daoist temple.

At the temple gate, several young Daoists stood guard, completely ignoring the frenzied Lord Shen while blocking the Shen family servants from advancing.

Meanwhile, back in his room, Meng Wan waited alone. He had put out the oil lamp and was lounging on a soft daybed, still fully dressed.

The small courtyard he was staying in had four or five rooms, but only he and Chi Yu were staying there. The yard was quiet. Meng Wan stayed still, barely even breathing, perfectly silent.

Suddenly, a faint, otherworldly song drifted into the courtyard. Meng Wan turned his gaze to the window—he'd heard this same sound last night too.

Hurried footsteps came from the courtyard gate, mixed with angry grumbling: "Why didn't you go after them? How could you just let the young lady..."

Meng Wan couldn't make out the rest.

His window was pushed open from the outside, and Chi Yu climbed in with Chu Ci. Chu Ci looked serious, while Chi Yu chattered away, telling Meng Wan about Lord Shen's freak-out.

"...We followed them from another path up the mountain, but once they went through a certain door, we couldn't go any further."

Meng Wan plucked a hair from Chi Yu's head, carefully placed it on the window frame, and closed the window again. "No more following. We're going out now."

With Chu Ci and Chi Yu with him, Meng Wan felt more sure of himself. The women's side had lax security—the supervisors just seemed like regular employees who didn't patrol at night.

The three of them left the yard and reached the large platform, looking up at the temple on the mountain. It was pitch black inside, not a single lamp lit.

The faint sound got even softer but could still be followed.

Meng Wan asked Chi Yu, "Do you hear singing?"

Chi Yu, being trained in martial arts and having sharper senses, nodded hesitantly. "Is that singing? I thought it was someone sobbing."

Sad and mournful—you might as well call it crying.

Meng Wan patted his arm. "Whether it's sobbing or singing, just follow the sound."

"Okay, husband."

Chi Yu led the way, carefully figuring out the direction, and they headed downhill. Halfway down, the song had faded completely, but the path they were on was the same as the one they'd taken during the day to the merperson tomb. Retracing their earlier steps, they finally heard the song again near the tomb.

"It actually is here." Meng Wan looked surprised.

Chi Yu was puzzled, "How could the sound travel that far from here?"

Meng Wan followed them into the tunnel from earlier that day and explained, "Sometimes in special environments, this phenomenon can indeed occur; it's not unusual."

Chi Yu didn't understand, but he stopped asking.

The deeper they went into the tunnel, the clearer the sound became—shapeless and mournful, like crying.

Chi Yu walked at the front, cautiously poking his head out to survey the area before retreating. "Husband, it looks like no one's inside?"

"No one?" Meng Wan instructed, "Go check it out, but keep quiet."

Chi Yu went in, found the daytime lake, circled it, and came back. "Husband, there's really nobody inside. No clue where the sound's coming from."

Meng Wan and Chu Ci followed him. The lakeshore had nobody, but the singing got louder, echoing everywhere.

Meng Wan sat by the lake for a bit, listening carefully, then suddenly asked, "Is the sound coming from the lake?"

"From the lake? I'll go check." Without a second thought, Chi Yu stripped off his shirt and dove into the lake with a splash.

Meng Wan was startled.

"Chi Yu, keep it down!" His whisper echoed faintly across the lake.

The ripples faded, and Chi Yu was already deep underwater.

Chu Ci's fingers trembled slightly as he signed. Meng Wan looked at his grim expression. "What's wrong? You've been acting weird since earlier."

"My master might really be on this island."

Seeing his distress, Meng Wan hugged him and spoke softly, "Xiao Ci, listen to me. As long as I'm here, there's nothing to fear. Forget about some poison-making Taoist. Even if that surnamed Chen crawled out of the ground, I, your godfather, would stomp him back down."

Chu Ci let out a deep breath, buried his face in Meng Wan's shoulder, and nodded heavily.

"Husband, what are you two up to?" Chi Yu surfaced silently from the water and climbed ashore, staring at Meng Wan and Chu Ci with a complicated expression.

Meng Wan kicked his arm. "Don't get any funny ideas. This is my son."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot." Chi Yu climbed out of the lake and scratched his head.

It's just that his husband was so good-looking that people were always after him. Master saw everyone as a thief, so he got used to it too. Suddenly seeing some handsome guy hugging his husband, his first thought was that their home was about to be raided.

"Oh yeah, husband, nothing was singing down there, but I found a hidden passage."

Meng Wan understood. "No wonder you took so long. Is it dry in there?"

Chi Yu nodded. "Yeah, it goes upward, but I didn't go far. The singing was coming from the other end of the passage."

"Don't go in yet, we don't want to tip them off. I've got a good idea where that passage leads."

Exhausted from the night, Meng Wan didn't even have energy to bathe. He just washed up quickly with some water and went to sleep.

The next morning, he was woken too early by the noise from the neighboring courtyard.

"Chi Yu, what's the ruckus outside?" Meng Wan asked, eyes still closed, sleepy.

Chi Yu replied, "It's about Miss Shen. Her head maid found out."

Miss Shen was missing, and her maids were freaking out. They didn't dare ask Lord Shen about her.

"I see. We're not going anywhere this morning. Rest." With that, Meng Wan lay back down and fell asleep again.

When he woke up, on the women's side, except for half of Miss Shen's maids still worrying in the yard, everyone else had gone out sightseeing with their masters.

Apparently, today the Island Lord was taking the guests up the mountain from the platform to visit the big Taoist temple.

Meng Wan took Chi Yu and carried a bag of silver out, like a walking god of wealth, catching the attention of the low-level stewards.

After eating their fill and picking up some "inside info" about the temple, Meng Wan was pretty satisfied.

In the afternoon, everyone came back. Dinner that night was by the seaside, with bonfires and stoves set up. The island servants brought out endless precious and fresh seafood.

Servants like Meng Wan weren't allowed to sit with the masters; they had to stand by and serve.

Anyway, even if they gave it to him for free, Meng Wan wouldn't eat anything sketchy. But Xia Yuan ate with gusto, chowing down like a rich country bumpkin, playing the part perfectly. The other rich merchants couldn't stand him; only Chen Zhenlong bothered to talk to him.

In contrast, Lord Shen, who was from a rich family, had much higher status. Even though there were some bad rumors about him on the ship, other merchants still wanted to chat with him.

Chi Yu couldn't believe his eyes seeing Lord Shen acting all proper. "Husband, yesterday he was, you know..."

"I know," Meng Wan said calmly, also glancing at Lord Shen. The guy looked like he'd popped some super tonic—face red, super excited, bursting with energy, as if he'd downed a hundred-year-old ginseng.

Well, confirmed—definitely on drugs.

"Zhenlong, why are you here? Want to come chat with us?" A light brown-haired woman came over warmly to greet Chen Zhenlong.

She was Lina, who had invited Chen Zhenlong onto the island—a petite woman with big, round eyes and a charming appearance, said to be in the aquatic products business.

Chen Zhenlong couldn't refuse his friend's invitation, so he smiled apologetically at Xia Yuan and followed Lina to mingle.

Not only that, even Xia Yuan, who was ignored at first, got approached later.

"Tang Er! Long time no see. You've changed so much!" A middle-aged man called out cheerily from a distance, greeting Xia Yuan.

Xia Yuan reacted quickly, putting on a flawless, surprised smile. "Qi Xiu! So you've been on the island? How come I didn't see you the past two days?"

Guo Qixiu looked delighted, like an old friend. "Why wouldn't I be on the island? Just had some errands, couldn't come to pick you up right away. You're not mad, are you?"

"Mad, no. But you invited me here—you can't let me leave empty-handed, right? If you can get me a dozen or so of those mermaid pearls you mentioned in your letter, that would be worth all the silver I brought from home." Xia Yuan twirled the emerald green ring on his finger, acting like a clueless, cocky new money guy.

Guo Qixiu paused, then laughed heartily. "You, you! Still the same as ever!"

Meng Wan stood nearby, quietly pouring tea for Xia Yuan.

Oh, looks like today's a reunion of old friends.