(11)
After a chaotic morning, Nie Yun and others finally caught the culprit and returned to Shi Mansion. In front of the living room, there was still the tree covered with talismans, but this time there were a few more people walking with it.
Shi Renjie tied his hands in front of him and knelt on the ground in the center of the hall, with Nie Yun beside him. Behind him are Zhao Kuo, Ajuan, Bai Feng, Murong Yan, Zhao Xiaomei, Hu Yan and Su Qing. They are waiting for Shi Hongtu to arrive to hold a public trial of Shi Renjie.
Zhao Kuo, whose forehead was wrapped in white gauze, asked Ajuan beside him with great confusion: "Aren't those two people the thieves who injured me and kidnapped you? Why are they not the same as Shi Renjie? Bind your feet?"
"Um..." Ajuan scratched his cheek and said hesitantly: "I don't know the reasons, but the two of them did catch Shi Renjie later..."
Nie Yun, who was in front, turned around and interrupted: "Brother Zhao, let's talk about the matter in detail together later after the adoptive father arrives!"
After a while, Shi Hongtu wiped the corners of his mouth with his sleeve and walked to the seat in the middle of the hall with the help of Mrs. Xun. The chair was made of red locust wood. Like the table next to it and the empty chair next to the table, there was nothing special about it at first glance. But after knowing the cause and effect, we can trace the cause: Mrs. Xun could only stand beside Shi Hongtu instead of sitting aside when entertaining guests. This is probably one of the manifestations of her low status. That empty seat must be the seat of another owner of the Shi family - Shi Hongtu's first wife "Xue'er". Deep in Shi Hongtu's heart, Xun Yuxue has always been just a substitute, perhaps even just a "good medicine" to relieve his lovesickness and fatigue. All in all, it is unlikely that there is the hot love that an innocent girl expects, but only a cold touch.
"Father, have you taken any medicine today?" Nie Yun looked at the frail Shi Hongtu worriedly and asked.
"Xue'er just made me take it. The prescription prescribed by the Taiping Taoist is really effective." Shi Hongtu wiped the medicine stains from his mouth and said, "These two are..."
"Oh! This is Su Qing, the famous 'big thief', and that is Tiger Eyes from 'Longhu Villa'."
Su Qing raised his hands and said in respect, "My Su Qing, I have met Mr. Shi."
"Hu Yan." Hu Yan looked at Shi Renjie who was kneeling on the ground with disdain and sneered: "Shi Hongtu, who is famous all over the world for his benevolence, righteousness and heroic spirit, actually gave birth to such a son who betrayed his ancestors and ignored etiquette."
Shi Renjie gritted his teeth and retorted angrily: "You two traitors, how much benefit did that Nie give you!"
"There aren't many benefits. I just thought about it for a moment." Su Qing replied: "If we stand on Mr. Shi's side, we will not only go against morality and etiquette, but we will also have to deal with the masters of the Shi family. But if we stand on Mr. Nie's side, Young Master, we only have to deal with you, Mr. Shi. It’s hard for me, Su Qing, to refuse such a cost-effective deal..."
"Brother, if you have a better attitude, your foster father will remember his old relationship and deal with everything lightly!" Nie Yun said, stroking Shi Renjie's shoulder.
Shi Renjie suddenly turned around, shook off all this concern, and replied: "Nie Yun! Since you were a child, you have always dominated me, and now my father has even given you the position of young master. Obviously I am the one who is the master. The biological blood of the Shi family!"
"Stop, evildoer!" Shi Hongtu, who was sitting on the seat, roared: "Don't you have any intention of repenting for what you have done? Dozens of lives on the ship, as well as the life of your second uncle... ahem... Cough." Halfway through his words, he coughed a few times and stopped shouting. Then Shi Hongtu covered his mouth and coughed a few times, and found that he coughed up blood!
Upon seeing this, Nie Yun hurriedly stepped forward to take care of him. But instead of showing any signs of relief, Shi Hongtu's body began to tremble due to spasms.
"Mrs. Xun, what on earth did you serve your adoptive father?" Nie Yun asked, glaring at Mrs. Xun beside him eagerly.
"I...I don't know either..." Mrs. Xun was afraid of Nie Yun's expression, so she nodded in panic and took half a step back.
At this time, Bai Feng and Murong Yan looked at each other in silence for a moment. They couldn't help but think of the conversation between Shi Renjie and Mrs. Xun in Xunxiang Pavilion that night.
"How many doses of the old man's medicine are left?"
"Almost... will you keep your promise..."
Then, the two of them looked at Shi Renjie in front of him at the same time. Seeing his father in great pain and on the verge of death, he didn't show any concern or worry. Instead, there was a smile on the corner of his mouth, as if he was looking forward to what would happen next.
"Cough... cough... ugh!" In a moment, a large mouthful of blood spurted out from Shi Hongtu's mouth, causing his clothes and the brick floor in front of him to be soaked in the dark blood.
"Father!" Nie Yun was shocked and stepped forward to help the old man who was already slumped on the chair.
"Yun'er...this Shi family...leave it to you...Renjie...leave it to you...uh!" After these intermittent words, Shi Hongtu breathed his last.
"Blood...is that blood?" Zhao Xiaomei in the audience said swayingly while stroking her forehead. Zhao Kuo on the side saw that she was about to faint and fell to the ground, so he hurriedly helped her.
Zhao Kuo murmured: "Tsk, I almost forgot that this silly girl was born unable to see blood, and she fainted when she saw it."
Suddenly, Nie Yun, who was sitting next to him, picked up his knife and walked straight towards Shi Renjie. As everyone looked, they could see sporadic tears shining on his face, which was distorted by extreme grief and anger.
"You...you can't kill me!" Shi Renjie, who was originally kneeling on the ground, was so frightened that he cowered back when he saw the other person looking like a ghost demanding his life. The image of the noble young man in gold silk robes has disappeared. He then said: "I am the only descendant of the Shi family. Don't forget that without the Shi family, you, Nie Yun, are nothing!"
Nie Yun didn't respond. He just grabbed his collar with one hand and swung the knife away. However, the right hand holding the knife was entangled by the hands of Mrs. Xun behind her.
"Please, please let us go!" Mrs. Xun fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. I don't know whether he shed tears of fear because he saw Shi Hongtu die an unexpected death, or whether he shed tears of fear because he was worried that his lover would be killed.
The air seemed to be condensed, and several outsiders remained silent because it was inconvenient to interfere in other people's family affairs. There was a stalemate between Nie Yun and Mrs. Xun for a moment. The only sounds that could be heard around him were the sobs of Shi Renjie and Mrs. Xun. Other than that, it was as silent as death. After a while, Nie Yun used his strength to entrust Mrs. Xun and moved her in front of him. Due to the sudden attack, Mrs. Xun lost her balance and fell towards Shi Renjie.
"Yu Xue! Untie me quickly!" Shi Renjie burst into tears. Seeing that his only comrade still supported him like this, he was deeply moved.
Seeing that Nie Yun was unmoved, Xun Yuxue hurriedly untied Shi Renjie's restraints, then kowtowed to Nie Yun and said, "Thank you, Master Nie, for not killing me!"
"Mr. We're back to Wandeng Town, let's go somewhere else!" After saying that, Nie Yun turned to face the direction of Shi Hongtu's body, sent someone to prepare the coffin, and then remained silent for a long time.
After Xun Yuxue heard this, he was happy, helped Shi Renjie up, and left. But Shi Renjie broke away from her help and said to Nie Yun: "Nie Yun, don't think that I will thank you! Sooner or later, the foundation of the Shi family will return to the hands of the Shi family. You are just taking care of it temporarily!" Xun Yuxue, who was beside him, was afraid of angering Nie Yun and hurriedly stopped Shi Renjie from continuing to talk nonsense. The two stepped out of the gate of Shi Mansion together and were never heard from again.
After the two people left, everyone watched Shi Hongtu's body being carried away, and no one spoke in the hall for a long time. The silence was not ended until Zhao Xiaomei, who had fainted due to haemorrhage in Zhao Kuo's arms, regained consciousness.
"Brother, where is the big bad guy?" Zhao Xiaomei asked in a daze.
Zhao Kuo looked at Nie Yun helplessly and did not answer. Then he walked over, patted Nie Yun on the shoulder, and said, "Brother Nie, are you okay?"
"Why?" Nie Yun said sadly: "He and I grew up together, why did we get to this point today?"
Su Qing stepped forward and said inappropriately: "Well, Master Nie, when will you settle the account?"
After Nie Yun heard this, he reached for his waist, took out a round token carved from gold, and threw it towards Su Qing. The latter caught it and said in confusion: "This... this is different from what was promised!"
"You worked for Shi Renjie and harmed many people. The shipwreck and the death of Shi Er's family would have been difficult to accomplish without the help of two experts." Nie Yun faced Su Qing and said solemnly: "For half of the family property, use this token to pay for the dozens of lives! As for the wanted order, I will help Brother Su handle it."
Tiger Eye snatched the token from Su Qing's hand and shouted: "How much is such a little thing worth? How dare you fool us!"
"Brother Huyan, if you hold this token, you are a member of my Shi family, and your colleagues in the world will give you a little favor. At that time, no matter how much money you take from various chambers of commerce, it will all be counted on my Shi family. In this way, Isn't it more appropriate to have the two of you carrying dozens of boxes of gold and silver jewelry on a road where thieves are rampant?"
Su Qing observed the little baby intently and suddenly said: "Oh! So that's it! Then I really want to thank Young Master Nie... No, it's time to call me Master Nie."
Nie Yun was silent.
"Then we two will take our leave first." Su Qing cupped his hands and said, and immediately left Shi Mansion with Hu Yan.
At this time, only Zhao Kuo and his party were left to accompany Nie Yun in the living room. In any case, the matter has come to an end, but the result is unacceptable. Everyone present thought so. But if Shi Renjie's conspiracy is not stopped, the power of the Shi family will fall into his hands, and those who will be affected will be all the civilians in Wandeng Town. People always think there is a perfect way to solve everything, but in the end, you still have to face the imperfect result.
Seeing that the matter was over, Bai Feng stepped forward and said to Nie Yun: "Brother Nie, you are a few years older than me, and you handle things very steadily and convincingly. I believe you will run the Shi family better!"
"This matter can not be solved without the help of Brother Bai and everyone else. I know that gold and silver treasures cannot be discerned by a few people, so I prepared a special thing to express my gratitude. "Nie Yun waved his hand and motioned for several distinguished guests to follow.
Several people left there and moved to another place, and happened to pass by the lotus pond in Shifu again. Seeing these little lotus flowers, but not hearing the beautiful music, I always feel like something is missing. This reminded Zhao Kuo and others of the first time they met Xun Yuxue. How unpredictable things are!
After a while, everyone arrived in front of a building called "Jinbao Pavilion". Nie Yun ordered someone to unlock the door and took out a long sword with an exquisite and special appearance.
"This sword is called 'Long Ming', and it was made by Yuan Fengzi, the world's best swordsmith, who is known as the 'General' in the world." Nie Yun held the sword and said: "This sword should be regarded as The thank you gift I gave to Brother Bai just replaced your old sword that was destroyed."
The scabbard of this sword is painted with exquisite textures, which look like dragon patterns when viewed from a distance. But looking closely, there is another mystery: "White Snake Immortal?!" Bai Feng said in shock. Then he drew the sword out of its sheath, and the sword emitted a dazzling silver light. It seemed that this sword should be unsheathed for the first time.
"It is said that this sword was originally made by Yuan Fengzi specifically for one person. However, after it was made, that person was never found. Maybe 'White Snake Immortal' is the name of that expert?" Nie Yun said.
Bai Feng sheathed the sword, held it in her hand and said gratefully, "Thank you so much, Brother Nie, for the gift of the sword!"
"Tomorrow is the last day of Lantern Festival, don't you plan to stay longer?"
Zhao Kuo said: "Of course we will not refuse Brother Nie's kindness."
"Yes! Yes! I have never seen a sacrificial ceremony!" The younger sister also said beside her.
Murong Yan looked at Bai Feng's absent-minded look and was very worried. She recalled that she had seen traces of the "White Snake Immortal" in his memory, so she asked curiously: "Brother Feng, what's wrong with you? "
"Me?" Bai Feng evaded: "Well... after attending the festival tomorrow, let's leave!"
Ajuan said happily: "Okay, I can finally have some fun!"
