Yellow Springs Inn (Zhang Xiao Qi) Chapter 7

Having returned to the Lu family, Lu Xiu was in a rage. Originally, he thought that bringing Qing Ping would make it safer, who knew…

Lu Xiu sighed heavily, then turned to Qing Ping, "Elder, what should we do first?"

Qing Ping sneered, "Does he really think that a ghost pill can take care of us, really too naïve!"

Lu Xiu looked at Qing Ping in surprise, "Elder, you mean… …"

Lu Xiu did not finish his statement, but the meaning was clear.

Qing Ping looked at Lu Xiu and laughed, "It's merely a ghost pill, to get rid of it is a trifling matter!"

Hearing Qing Ping's words, Lu Xiu released a pent-up breath.

The sky changed rapidly: what was originally brightly s.h.i.+ning sun high in the sky with just a moment's turn became a drizzle of fine rain, the sky a sheet of cloudy gray.

Luo Qian Qi and I walked along a small pathway in Thousand Jade Hall. Luo Qian Qi did not bring an umbrella, so raindrops stuck to his hair and eyelashes.

I looked at Luo Qian Qi and laughed merrily, "Luo Qian Qi, you look like an old man right now!"

Luo Qian Qi watched me and laughed, "Then you must be the old wife that stayed by my side and grew old with me!"

"Ghosts do not get old!" I didn't think at all before replying.

"Ha ha ha!" Luo Qian Qi watched me and laughed heartily.

It was only then that I realized what I had just said.

"Luo Qian Qi, you rascal, you really think I'm cheap!" I pointed at Luo Qian Qi and said unhappily.

Luo Qian Qi spread out his hands, his face one of complete innocence as he said, "I didn't do anything though!"

Upon finis.h.i.+ng his sentence, Luo Qian Qi ran away.

"Luo Qian Qi, you stop right there!" I quickly chased after Luo Qian Qi.

"If you have the skill, catch me!" Saying this, Luo Qian Qi even wittily made a face1.

"Luo Qian Qi, you underestimate me!" When I finished saying this I had already blocked Luo Qian Qi's path.

I looked at Luo Qian Qi and laughed, "Luo Qian Qi, us ghosts can walk a thousand miles any day, you really think you can outrun me?"

Luo Qian Qi laughed mischievously, "Do you want to try?"

Saying this Luo Qian Qi already disappeared from my view.

I looked all around but could not see any traces of Luo Qian Qi.

"This can't be!" I put my hands on my waist and said skeptically.

"Pat," I felt someone pat my left shoulder. I didn't hesitate for even a moment as I sent a fist towards that person.

"Ah!" Luo Qian Qi cradled his head, "Zhang Xiao Qi, you even said you weren't violent!"

I looked at Luo Qian Qi cradling his head and laughed nervously, "Sorry, it wasn't on purpose!"

Luo Qian Qi waved his hand, smiling, "It's no problem, I can really handle a beating!"

I looked at Luo Qian Qi and laughed, "Let me warn you, never pat my shoulders from behind, or else you might be beaten to death!"

Luo Qian Qi watched me and smiled slightly, "You’re still like you were before, hating other people patting you from behind!"

I watched Luo Qian Qi in confusion, "What do you mean like I was before? Did we meet before?"

Luo Qian Qi smiled, shaking his head, "It's nothing!" Saying this, Luo Qian Qi turned and left.

I was dazed for a moment, then hurriedly followed, yelling, "Luo Qian Qi, say it clearly, how come I don't remember us meeting before!"

The night was calm, but the lightning of the night sky foreordained that the night would not be a peaceful one.

Luo Qian Ping, Luo Cheng Guang and Yang Sheng at this time were in Luo Cheng Guang's room discussing the matters of Luo Qian Qi and Li Yan Xin's death.

Yang Sheng said, "I received news saying that Luo Qian Qi went to find Lu Xiu!"

Luo Qian Ping froze, "How could he know of our plans?"

Luo Cheng Guang shook his head, "There's no way, he couldn't know of our plans, his looking for Lu Xiu is probably because of other reasons!"

Yang Sheng nodded, praising, "You're right, but I hope that Lu Xiu doesn't spill anything!"

Luo Qian Ping laughed coldly, "No matter what, we have to quickly come up with a perfect, flawless plan to counter Luo Qian Qi, we absolutely cannot be careless!"

Luo Cheng Guang and Yang Sheng both nodded their head, thinking to themselves: when countering a person like Luo Qian Qi, you can never be careless.

At this moment Li s.h.i.+ arrived outside Luo Cheng Guang's room. His looking for Luo Cheng Guang was to discuss how to find the murderer of Li Yan Xin.

He saw that the candles inside Luo Cheng Guang's room were still lit and was very happy.

Originally, Li s.h.i.+ was worried, feeling it rude to come this late to bother Luo Cheng Guang, but seeing now that the candles inside Luo Cheng Guang's room were still lit, he quickly felt very much at ease.

When Li s.h.i.+ had prepared to knock on the door, he heard the conversation inside, moreover he heard the keywords "counter Luo Qian Qi,” making him unable to help hiding outside the door to eavesdrop.

Luo Qian Ping said to Luo Cheng Guang, "Second Uncle, what did you do with Li Yan Xin's soul, we definitely cannot let Luo Qian Qi find it!"

Luo Cheng Guang laughed out loud merrily, "Little nephew, you rest your worries, when your second uncle is taking care of the matter, you still worry?"

Luo Qian Ping laughed, "Second Uncle, that wasn't what I meant!"

Yang Sheng watched Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang asking, puzzled, "Who is Li Yan Xin?"

Luo Qian Ping chuckled, "Li s.h.i.+'s precious daughter, a distant cousin of mine!"

Yang Sheng nodded, "Then why did you take her soul?"

Luo Cheng Guang put his hands behind his back, harrumphing coldly, "Can only blame Li Yan Xin's luck being too good, overhearing the conversation between Qian Ping and me!"

Yang Sheng laughed coldly, "Then her luck really is exceedingly good!"

When Li s.h.i.+, who was outside eavesdropping, heard his own daughter was actually killed by Luo Cheng Guang and the others, he was furious, itching to rush into the room and kill those people.

But he couldn't. Li s.h.i.+ and Li Yan Xin were not the same, he was an aged man who knew how to go about matters, understanding the weight of the matter.

What he needed to do now was not to rush into the room to seek revenge for Li Yan Xin, but to eavesdrop on Luo Cheng Guang and the others' plan, then go back and report to Luo Qian Qi.

"Isn't it!" Luo Qian Qi laughed, then asked Luo Cheng Guang, "Second Uncle, where did you hide Li Yan Xin's soul?"

Luo Cheng Guang laughed and patted Qian Ping's shoulder, "I hid Li Yan Xin's soul at Ten Li Slope's cave2, I set up many layers of spells, we don't have to worry about her escaping, plus, that deep into the mountain and that old of a forest, no one would even go there, so we don't have to worry about anyone saving her!"

Luo Qian Ping nodded, smiling, "Right now we won't bother with Li Yan Xin, but I think that sooner or later Luo Qian Qi will find out about us, so now that it's still early we have to plan well!"

Luo Cheng Guang and Yang Sheng nodded their heads in unison.

When Li s.h.i.+ found out about Li Yan Xin's soul's hiding place, he was very excited, turning around to leave.

"Crack!" When Li s.h.i.+ turned to leave, he accidentally stepped on a tree branch. Li s.h.i.+ inwardly cried, “trouble!”.

"Who is it?" Yang Sheng was the first to run out, followed by Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang who also walked out of the room.

Li s.h.i.+ was alarmed, then prepared to quickly leave, however Yang Sheng was a step ahead of him and blocked his path.

Yang Sheng watched Li s.h.i.+ and smiled coldly, "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

Li s.h.i.+ stared at Yang Sheng coldly without saying a word.

Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang walked out of the room, Luo Qian Ping looked at Li s.h.i.+ and smiled coldly, "Uncle, when did you start liking acting as a spy?"

Li s.h.i.+ pointed at Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang belting, "You guys want to harm Qian Qi, even killing my daughter, you guys really are, really are……"

Luo Qian Ping spread out his hands, laughing, "Really are what, worse than beasts? Ha ha ha!"

Luo Cheng Guang laughed at Li s.h.i.+, "Cousin Li, let me warn you to be a little more tactful, not like that blockhead daughter, asking for trouble!"

Li s.h.i.+ disdainfully spat on the ground, and he said coldly, "Don't even think for a second that I’ll be like you guys, scheming against Luo Qian Qi!”

Yang Sheng said coldly, "If you refuse to drink the toast, you can only drink defeat!"

Saying this, Yang Sheng clenched his fist and attacked Li s.h.i.+. Li s.h.i.+ leaned to one side and dodged it, then easily caught Yang Sheng's fist.

When Yang Sheng's fist was caught by Li s.h.i.+, he used his free hand to take out a dagger and stabbed towards Li s.h.i.+'s lower abdomen; however, his movements were not noticed by Li s.h.i.+ at all.

"Little doll, you are not my……" Li s.h.i.+ hadn't finished his sentence, and Yang Sheng's crafty laughter sounded.

Li s.h.i.+ slowly released Yang Sheng's hand, then clutched his lower abdomen, the expression on his face one full of pain.

Yang Sheng retreated back to Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang's side. Luo Cheng Guang watched Li s.h.i.+ and smiled coldly, "Tsk, tsk, Cousin Li, you didn't need to do this."

Li s.h.i.+ clutched his abdomen, which bled profusely, saying in his pain, "Despicable, you will definitely face retribution one day!"

Luo Cheng Guang watched Li s.h.i.+, sneering, "Face retribution, yes, we will definitely face retribution, but, so sorry, I'm afraid you won't be able to see it!"

Saying this, with a change of Luo Cheng Guang's expression his palm hacked towards Li s.h.i.+. Li s.h.i.+ watched Luo Cheng Guang's face and let slip an expression of despair; this one palm, he definitely will not be able to dodge.

"Slap!" Palm met palm, Luo Cheng Guang's palm met with a palm of a red silhouette.

It was only after Luo Cheng Guang was forcefully pushed back three steps that he regained his footing, while that red silhouette took away Li s.h.i.+ with the fastest speed possible.

Luo Qian Ping and Yang Sheng walked up to Luo Cheng Guang, Luo Qian Ping asked Luo Cheng Guang, "Second Uncle, are you alright?"

Luo Cheng Guang shook his head, "The person who came was too powerful, I am not their match!"

Luo Qian Ping said, "If the mysterious, high-level person that saved Li s.h.i.+ was from Luo Qian Qi's side, that would spell trouble!"

Luo Qian Ping's voice just fell when Yang Sheng quickly refuted with, "That can’t be, right now Luo Qian Qi doesn't know of our plans, so that mysterious high-level person is probably not with him!"

Luo Qian Ping nodded. Luo Cheng Guang said, "No matter what the situation is, we have to plan for even the most miniscule of details!"

Luo Qian Ping and Yang Sheng nodded. Yang Sheng said, "When I get back I'll get in touch with the two houses Lu and Peng to have them get ready as soon as possible, at the same time I'll ask Lu Xiu for what matter did Luo Qian Qi speak to him!"

Luo Cheng Guang said, "It's getting late, you go back first, if you are seen here at my place by other people it would be hard to explain!"

Yang Sheng nodded, "Then I'll take my leave!"

Luo Cheng Guang and Luo Qian Ping nodded. Yang Sheng turned around and left.

After Yang Sheng left, Luo Qian Ping supported Luo Cheng Guang into the room.

Luo Cheng Guang, clutching at his chest, sat down on the chair. It was clear to see that the wound inflicted by that mysterious red-clothed person was not light.

Luo Qian Ping poured a cup of water for Luo Cheng Guang. After Luo Cheng Guang had finished drinking the water, Luo Qian Ping asked, "Second Uncle, was the mysterious person moments ago that powerful?"

Luo Cheng Guang put the cup down onto the table, clutching his chest as he coughed twice, "Yes, it could be said that within three moves I would definitely be defeated!"

Luo Qian Ping put his hands behind his back, sighing, "Then this matter has gotten a bit complicated!"

Luo Cheng Guang nodded, "Yes, if that mysterious person really is on Luo Qian Qi's side, then they are, without a doubt, our biggest threat!"

Luo Qian Ping nodded, an expression of yearning on his face, "If we could have had Yellow Springs Inn to help us, that would really give us an incredible amount of power, only, I don't know why they wouldn't agree, is it because the money I offered was too little?"

1. ghost face: pulling your eyelids and sticking out your tongue↩
2. Ten Li Slope: A Li (里) is around half a kilometer, or 500 meters, and is an ancient system of measurement. I was considering using a modern English measurement, but I decided to just use pinyin in the end. Also, in the original text it was written as Seven Li Slope. However, I changed it from seven to ten because seven was used only once (in this chapter) whereas ten is used much more, but later on. I think this was just a mistake on the author’s part, since the characters seven (七) and ten (十) look somewhat similar in Chinese.↩