Strong Winds Return Home

Perhaps because Liang Shu’s body was still a bit feverish, in his dreams, Liu Xian’an also fell into a bottomless hot spring.

He closed his eyes and slowly sank into the water, his outer robe fluttering in all directions like a huge, flirtatious flower. And in this moist and sticky world, he seemed to have completely fallen into the palms of another person. The rough, light callouses fit to his waist, bringing a strange and indescribable trembling, and his thin white toes were slightly raised as he stepped through the rippling water.

When his body reached the highest crest of the waves, Liu Xian’an clenched the pillow tightly with his fingers and sat up suddenly. A-Ning was also laying on the bedside to sleep, but at this moment, he also awoke. When he opened his eyes and saw Liu Xian’an sweating profusely, he quickly grabbed his arm and shook it. “Young Master, wake up, are you having a nightmare?”

The room was very dim, and there was noise outside the window. Liu Xian’an was sluggish for a long time until he realized where he was and heaved a sigh of relief, leaning back on the bed. He asked drowsily: “What time is it?”

“Chen shi,” A-Ning said. “Before leaving, the prince said that the young master worked hard last night, so he can rest at the inn today without going to the government office.”

While he was talking, he went to lift the quilt, but Liu Xian’an held on tight and would not let go. A-Ning didn’t react at first, thinking that he wanted to continue sleeping, so he said: “Then I’ll go get clean night clothes first. Young Master, please change out of the ones you’re wearing, they’re all soaked through.”

Liu Xian’an sat cross-legged on the bed, wrapped in the quilt. He said faintly: “You fetch them, I’ll change myself.”

The lazy young master wanted to change clothes by himself. A-Ning stopped in his tracks and looked at him suspiciously for a moment, then asked: “Did you just……dream about something?”

Liu Xian’an let out a muddled “En.”

A-Ning immediately sat back on the bed and grabbed his shoulders, very pleasantly surprised: “Really, then I will write a letter to the Master and the the First Young Master!”

Although Liu Xian’an was usually comparable to Buddha, where life and death were both fine, he was also shocked at this time. Why tell Father and Da-ge about this sort of thing?

A-Ning thought that of course he had to tell, ah! Because the entire family thought that the young master was desireless, but it seemed that wasn’t the case — anyway, Second Young Master Liu was mentally abnormal, and people all over the country knew it. Master Liu and First Young Master Liu were mainly concerned about whether his body would also have some disease in that certain area, and were anxious and distressed.

Liu Xian’an: “…….”

No desire to speak.

He changed the subject and asked: “When did the prince leave?”

“At Mao Shi. He left in a hurry, as if something had happened over at the government office,” A-Ning said. “It seemed that he didn’t have a fever any more, just a little cough.”

Liu Xian’an didn’t ask further questions. He lay back on the bed and slowly changed his clothes, still thinking in bewilderment about the erotic dream from last night. After thinking about it for a while, he simply covered his head with the quilt and fell asleep again. It was never too early or too late. He slept until his head ached and his muscles and bones were soft. In the afternoon, he got up in a daze and sat on the edge of the bed, closing his eyes as he searched for his shoes with his feet, and a chuckle sounded in his ear.

“…….”

Liang Shu crouched beside the bed and held his ankle, putting on the soft shoe: “Are you awake?”

He was awake, but still seemed to be in a dream. Liu Xian’an’s body froze, and he swallowed: “Your Highness.”

“A-Ning said you weren’t feeling well.” Liang Shu rose and sat by the bed. “Did you get too cold last night?”

Their arms touched, and body heat transferred to one another. Liu Xian’an’s heart thumped. Where was he cold, he was obviously scalded to death. Then he reached out and checked the other’s temperature: “No more fever. What about your heartbeat?”

Liang Shu opened his arms: “I don’t know, come and listen?”

At a normal time, he would have listened to it. It wasn’t that he hadn’t heard it before, but he had that wild dream last night and now couldn’t look directly at this embrace, so he just stretched out his hand to perfunctorily take his pulse: “En, it’s good.”

While speaking, he got up and walked quickly to the table, wanting to drink some overnight water to cool down. He poured it into the cup, but it was warm scented tea with some milk mixed in. Liang Shu said behind him: “Seeing that you asked A-Ning to buy this a few days ago, I simply invited the shopkeeper over.”

With him being so considerate and attentive, Liu Xian’an felt that this dream didn’t seem to come completely out of nowhere. Milk tea couldn’t calm down and clear the fire, it would only nourish it more as he drank, so he asked: “I heard from A-Ning that the prince went in a hurry to the government office this morning. What did the Imperial guards discover?”

Liang Shu said: “Tong Ou went to Yu Cong’s residence.”

Yu Cong was the renowned Master Yu in Huaizhen City, who had been assisting the government in promoting the ghost hunt. It was not surprising that Tong Ou went to look for him, but the strange thing was that he didn’t go to the door in the daytime, but spied on him at night.

Liu Xian’an was also surprised: “Spying?”

Liang Shu nodded: “Yes.”

In the middle of the night, Tong Ou dressed in dark clothing and sneaked into the heavily guarded Yu Manor, heading in the direction of the main house. His martial arts were actually fairly good, but no matter how good they were, they couldn’t compare to the Yu family’s guard troops. The patrols were so numerous that torches were lit almost everywhere, and ordinary people would have nowhere to hide. He was about to be discovered, but at the critical moment, an Imperial guard flew over and lifted him up, hiding in the dark.

“W-who’s there!” There were sparse footsteps and shouts.

“There’s no movement, ah. Could it be that we saw wrong?”

“Go, go. Go to the other side.”

The patrols dispersed, and Tong Ou was brought to Liang Shu by the Imperial guards.

Liu Xian’an continued to ask: “What did he say, why did he rush to Yu Cong’s house?”

Liang Shu put a robe on him: “That’s why I came to you, Tong Ou’s confession is related to that corpse. Wash your face first, I will wait for you outside.”

Liu Xian’an nodded. There was no time to think about the dream, so after washing up, he went out to find Tong Ou with Liang Shu. The other party was temporarily imprisoned in an empty room at the end of the corridor. He already knew Liang Shu’s identity at this point, so when he saw the two come in, he knelt down and saluted: “Royal Highness Xiao Wang.”

“Rise.” Liang Shu said, “Repeat everything you said this morning, including your identity and that of the corpse.”

“Yes.” Tong Ou got up and said, “Young Master Liu, I am the hunter in the rumors, and the owner of those bones is indeed Wan Yuan.”

Liu Xian’an’s heart tightened slightly.

Heresy was rampant in the Southwest, but the Imperial court was constrained by the Northwest in the past few years, and was unable to send troops to suppress it on a large scale. However, a lot of money was still allocated to the area, and there were orders to find ways to contain it so that it couldn’t develop too rapidly. At that time, Tong Ou was just a new recruit in the barracks, but because of his courage and skill, he was still entrusted with important tasks. He pretended to be an ordinary hunter and wandered around collecting information about the Baifu Sect.

“Once, when I was following some believers of the Baifu Sect, I was accidentally discovered by them. While avoiding pursuit, I stumbled and fell off a cliff. It was Wan-guniang who rescued me.” Tong Ou said, “She was chivalrous and upright, straightforward and lovely. I fell in love with her and we later made a private decision to stay together. But I still had important work to do at that time, so after the leg injury healed, I said goodbye to her and agreed to come and propose marriage in two months.” 

Liu Xian’an said: “But you didn’t come.”

“The Baifu Sect had too many disciples.” Recalling the past, Tong Ou felt great regret. “It was also my carelessness. Not long after leaving the mountain, I was ambushed by them and seriously injured once more. This time, a garrison heard the commotion and rescued me, sending me back to the camp. I lay in bed for three whole months and couldn’t remember anything clearly. Later, I met a miracle doctor from Baihe Mountain Village, who cleaned up the blood in my brain.”

But when he went to Huaizhen City again, he heard the news of Wan Yuan’s death. Tong Ou said: “I didn’t believe that she would commit suicide, so I always suspected that it was the disciples of the Baifu Sect who knew of our relationship and secretly killed her.”

Liu Xian’an asked: “Was Wan-guniang ever pregnant?”

Tong Ou hesitated for a second and said, “Maybe.”

During those three months on the mountain, the two had already crossed the line between men and women. Wan Yuan did not menstruate that last month, but she also said that she was never on time, so Tong Ou didn’t take it to heart.

It wasn’t until the day before in the autopsy room when Liu Xian’an said that the skeleton had been pregnant that he suddenly remembered this matter.

“Wan-guniang lived in the mountains since she was a child and had many old wounds on her body. The skeleton is indeed hers.” Tong Ou’s eyes were red, and he had to calm down for a moment before continuing. “But the child……can you tell if she had only been pregnant for two or three months?”

“It was more than two or three months,” Liu Xian’an said. “The child was born full-term.”

As soon as these words were spoken, even Liang Shu frowned, and Tong Ou was even more shocked: “This……is it true?”

Liu Xian’an nodded: “It is true.”

According to Tong Ou’s confession, when Wan Yuan went down the mountain, the child in her stomach was at most two months along, and her two months spent in the city were far from enough time to give birth at full term. Thus, the only explanation was that Wan Yuan didn’t commit suicide immediately by bashing her skull on the wall when she was taken to prison. Instead, she was quietly transferred to another place, and after she gave birth, she was……

Tong Ou murmured: “When she gave birth to a child, those people killed her and put her body back into the empty coffin.”

In this way, all doubts about the case were explained clearly, including why the coffin was empty and why it was later filled with bones. The truth was far more bloody and cruel than people had thought. Tong Ou put his head in his hands, not daring to think about what had happened to her in the time she lived. Liu Xian’an sighed and reached out to pat his shoulder: “Do you want to take a rest for a while?”

“No……no need.” Tong Ou lowered his head and reached up to wipe away his tears, gritting his teeth. “I want to avenge her.”

“Why did you go to Yu Cong’s residence last night?”

“Because it was Yu Cong’s son who went to persuade Uncle Wan, saying that he had cleaned up Wan-guniang’s remains and there was no need to look at them. He also said that the coffin was the best one, and was nailed shut in case the soul of the deceased should become uneasy. Every word was urging for a burial as fast as possible.” Tong Ou said, “I have been looking for Uncle Wan since I learned of Wan-guniang’s death. Later, he was found in a dilapidated charity hall that was soon to be abandoned. He was already unconscious, and was brought back to the military camp for recuperation for more than half a year before he could speak.”

Liu Xian’an said: “So you think there is a problem with Yu Cong’s son?”

Tong Ou said: “Not just for this reason. I have been investigating the Baifu Sect for so many years. Although the Yu family claims to be kind and generous people to outsiders, the source of the family’s money is unknown. We placed a lot of bait around this father and son. In fact, I should have waited for a while before going to look, but after learning yesterday that Wan-guniang was pregnant, I really felt…..I lost my head for a while, but fortunately the prince rescued me.”

“No need to thank me. After the matter is settled, you will go back to the military camp to ask for punishment yourself,” Liang Shu said. “First, let’s talk about the clues you discovered about the Baifu Sect and Huaizhen City over the years.”