Chapter 119 - 98: The Snipe and the Clam
The rumors in Benma County hadn’t been overblown.
After two days, they had more or less died down.
During those two days, Jiang Ran remained with Master Ma.
After several days of contemplation, Gui Shisan finally decided to join forces with Li Tianxin and Jiang Ran.
However, he now found himself with nothing to do, forced to wait in his room each day for the right opportunity.
Master Ma’s investigation into the person who met the old drunkard that day had yielded no progress.
It wasn’t just him; even Chang Nian had failed to uncover any clues.
This struck Jiang Ran as strange.
Judging by the man’s description, anyone who had encountered him should have remembered something.
And yet, with the combined resources of Master Ma and Chang Nian in both official and underworld circles, they couldn’t find the slightest trace. That meant one of two things: either no such person existed...
...or the man was far more capable than they had imagined.
However, while the investigation into this person yielded nothing, the other matter Heterodox Manor had asked Chang Nian to look into was proceeding with unusual smoothness.
This was even more baffling.
After all, twenty years had passed. The so-called clue was merely that a swordsman with a child had passed through Benma County.
He had borrowed milk to feed the child.
After twenty long years, how could one even begin to investigate such a trivial matter?
And yet, against all odds, the moment they started investigating, they found a lead.
After just two days, Chang Nian had discovered that the family in question had moved out of Benma County three months ago.
They had now settled in a place called Wenxiang Forest, ten li outside Benma County.
"The trail is too obvious."
Inside the county yamen, in Chang Nian’s room, Jiang Ran said thoughtfully,
"However, Lord Chang, if it were you, you wouldn’t actually care whether the trail was obvious or if someone might be plotting from behind the scenes, right?"
Chang Nian smiled.
"Precisely. Not only would I not care, I would also pretend that it was a difficult task.
"I’d wait another two days before telling them what I found.
"That way, they wouldn’t find out how easily I investigated the matter."
"In that case, the person behind this dared to be so bold and reckless with the clues because he had accurately predicted your mindset, my lord.
"It’s just that he also predicted that people from Heterodox Manor would come..."
Jiang Ran sighed softly.
"What’s more, he deliberately leaked his own whereabouts."
’The one plotting from the shadows... it must be the old drunkard, right?’
’What is he trying to accomplish with this?’
’Is he just trying to deal with Heterodox Manor?’
’No, that’s not right... Twenty years ago, he fought his way through the entire Heterodox Manor by himself and stole the Autumn Moon Cicada Shell.’
’If he wanted to deal with them, why go to all this trouble?’
’Or perhaps something happened to him over the last twenty years? Maybe his martial arts aren’t what they used to be?’
’Is that why I didn’t see it for two decades? He’s been hiding it that well?’
’But if that’s the case, why would he leak clues about himself? A wise man doesn’t court disaster. His motives are impossible to understand.’
After mulling over the old drunkard’s intentions for a while, Jiang Ran realized that with the information he currently had, it was impossible to guess what the old codger was thinking.
So, he decided to stop overthinking it.
Instead, he asked Chang Nian about something else.
"Lord Chang, do you know of any dangerous places near Benma County?"
"Dangerous places?"
Chang Nian thought carefully for a moment before saying,
"Well, there are a few... North of Benma County, less than twenty li away, there’s a valley.
"The valley is perennially filled with a toxic miasma. Any person or animal that wanders in collapses and eventually dies inside.
"The locals call it the ’Valley of Rebirth.’ It’s considered a very inauspicious place.
"Besides that, there are a few villages left behind after the wars.
"Only crumbling walls and ruins remain. I’ve heard that many people who stumbled into them late at night got trapped inside, as if by a ghost wall...
"But it’s hard to say if that’s true or not. Just rumors, you should take it with a grain of salt.
"Then there’s ’Dragon Slope’.
"Disappearances often happen there. It’s clearly just an earthen slope, you can see from one end to the other, but people who pass by it just... vanish.
"The previous County Magistrate went to investigate personally. What he discovered, I do not know, as he never filed a report.
"However, after that, Dragon Slope was declared off-limits.
"If you’re asking about dangerous places, those would be the three."
Jiang Ran was a little surprised. ’Benma County isn’t large,’ he thought, ’but it’s full of danger.’
After a moment of thought, he nodded.
"Thank you, Lord Chang. Um, about the Wenxiang Forest matter, please hold off for now. Don’t give Heterodox Manor the details yet.
"But in two days at most, I will give you an answer."
"Alright."
Chang Nian nodded. "Then I’ll be counting on you, Young Hero Jiang."
"You’re too kind, my lord."
Jiang Ran stood up, cupped his fists, and took his leave.
For the next two days, Jiang Ran was no longer enjoying a life of leisure at Master Ma’s.
He was busy for two consecutive days, leaving early in the morning and returning late at night.
Li Tianxin and Gui Shisan watched him come and go each day, but they had no idea what he was busy with.
When they asked, he would only say that the time wasn’t right.
It made the two of them so angry they wanted to team up, pin him down, and torture the information out of him.
Their only fear was that they couldn’t beat him and would end up getting beaten up by him instead.
Another two days passed in the blink of an eye.
On the morning of the third day, in the inn, Liu Wenshan, who had been unconscious all this time, opened his eyes.