Edited by Elanor and Namizaki
The Moon View Pavilion was shrouded in silence; the bedroom was the only place that was lit with an oil lamp, and the slight breeze that entered from the cracks of the window panes caused the flames to waver, continuously casting distorted shadows on the window.
Yun Yifeng stopped in his tracks as he suddenly felt that something was amiss but he couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong, it was just too quiet, or… His eyebrows furrowed slightly and he glanced at Ji Yanran. However, he saw the other was already looking at him and mouthed a word.
“Blood.”
Yun Yifeng reacted immediately, the traces of the abnormality that was floating around the courtyard — was blood, the smell of blood; it was the smell of blood that had spread and been diluted by the winter wind.
“Dad.” Jin Huan still hadn’t noticed anything wrong and was still moving forward with the help of the walls, “Are you asleep?”
“Brother Jin!” Yun Yifeng pulled on his arm, “Don’t move.”
“… What’s wrong?” Jin Huan was stunned for a short moment, but he quickly had a faint guess of the situation. His expression changed from ignorance to horror, his knees turned weak and he nearly fell to the ground. He cast everything aside and shouted, “Dad! Dad, where are you?”
Ji Yanran pushed open the bedroom door, and all he saw was a drooping, half-drawn bed curtain. Jin Manlin was lying on the bed facing upwards, there was a bloody cut on his neck, he had been dead for quite some time.
“Dad! Where’s my dad!” Jin Huan stumbled around trying to find a door, Yun Yifeng couldn’t hold him back, instead, he was thrown around till he couldn’t walk straight. Jin Huan was blind in both eyes, he was already at a loss. At this moment,there were clearly people with him, but none of them would say anything about the situation. When paired with the piling murder cases happening in Snow View pavilion, this strange silence made it very obvious on what had happened.
“Dad!” He stumbled and crawled, and his forehead started to bleed as he bumped into something.
“Brother Jin, Brother Jin calm down!” Yun Yifeng held him tightly, he hesitated for a moment before saying, “Elder Jin, he… He has passed on, my condolences.”
“No, this can’t be happening. When I left, my dad was still recuperating, he was still nagging at me to return early. How could this happen? No, I don’t believe it. My dad, where’s my dad?” Jin Huan was emotionally overwhelmed, his face was utterly pale as if completely drained of blood. It was as if his bones had been taken out from his body, he stood paralyzed in the snow. Ji Yanran went forward to help him up and brought him to the bedside.
Jin Huan’s voice was hoarse, “Where is my dad? Is he on the bed? Or is he on the…The floor?”
“Elder Jin is lying on the bed.” Yun Yifeng said, “Right in front of you.”
“Dad…Dad!” Jin Huan shakily reached out a hand, but stopped mid-air when he was about to touch. He turned his head backwards, his expression one of fear, “Sect Master Yun, my dad, was he like the rest of the Qi family, was he… Was he also mutilated?”
“No, he was not.” Yun Yifeng heard the underlying meaning behind that question. However, he didn’t know if his words were going to be heartbreaking or comforting, he sighed, “Elder Jin’s body has no scratches from the metal claws, and he didn’t bleed much. His expression is… Very peaceful.” He probably died without even knowing.
Jin Huan was at a loss for words for a moment, and then he finally draped himself at the bedside and started crying. His voice was hoarse and shrill and one couldn’t bear to listen to it.
Ji Yanran and Yun Yifeng made eye contact, and could see from each other’s eyes that they both thought of the same thing.
Who was the perpetrator this time?
Although people’s pain and joy were not the same, the pain of losing one’s parents, even if one had never experienced it, they would at least understand the feeling of grief and being torn apart. Yun Yifeng couldn’t bear to watch on, he stepped forward and said, “Brother Jin’s eyes have yet to heal from the poison. If you keep crying like this, your eyes will never heal. If Elder Jin hears about this in the afterlife, he will only worry more, so why don’t you stand up first.”
“Who was it? Who killed my Father!” Jin Huan muttered, he held that pair of icy cold hands then turned around to grab onto the hem of Yun Yifeng’s clothes and seethed, “Sect Master Yun, I beg of you to help find that murderer. I’m willing to give you my entire family’s assets as payment. So long as I can get revenge for my dad, I’m willing to do anything!”
“Don’t worry Brother Jin. Elder Jin was innocently killed, and this whole situation is strange, Brother Ji and I will definitely not leave it as it is.” Yun Yifeng helped him onto a chair, then glanced at the bed again, “As for Elder Jin —”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Jin Huan’s vision was pitch black, he could only listen to what people were saying, but he didn’t know what else he could do; he only hated that it just had to be this moment that he lost his vision.
Ji Yanran stood by the bedside alone and carefully examined Jin Manlin’s corpse. Unlike the Young Master and the servant of the Qi family, the injury that sealed his fate was only the single cut on his neck; the cut was so deep that his head was nearly severed from his neck and rolled onto the ground. Though, for such a serious injury, there should be a lot of blood, it should have pooled onto the ground. However, the area surrounding Jin Manlin barely had any bloodstains, there was also no indication of a struggle judging from the state of the bed. What if… He was killed somewhere else, then someone moved his body onto the bed?
Suspicions arose in his heart. He raised his head and was about to call Yun Yifeng over, when he saw Jin Huan had fainted on the ground, crimson red eyes staring wide open, his face covered in bloodstains, it was a terrifying sight.
Thus, he was frightened, “What happened to him?”
“He was overwhelmed with grief, together with the poisonous smoke made from heliconia flowers; hence he is prone to dizzy spells, the red tears are blood.” Yun Yifeng responded, “What I said just now wasn’t to scare him, if he really did continue to cry, I’m afraid he will really become blind, might as well let him have a rest first.”
Ji Yanran placed Jin Huan onto a bed in the adjoining room, then he told Yun Yifeng about the abnormalities he discovered earlier on, he asked, “What do you think?”
“At first glance, the bedroom indeed does not look like the first location.” Yun Yifeng took out a silver needle from his sleeve, he poked the needle into the wound on the neck, when he pulled it out, the tip of the needle had a faint blue coloration.
Ji Yanran spoke up, “He was poisoned?”
“Yes, but the time when he was poisoned cannot be determined, and I also can’t tell which poison it is.” Yun Yifeng said, “Do you still remember what Jin Huan said before? Elder Jin was sabotaged and poisoned during one of his earlier escorts, causing him to be struck by a chronic disease. He had to keep relying on nourishment pills to nurse himself back to health, so this may be the old poison that has yet to clear from his body.”
“Logically speaking, if the murderer had found the chance to poison him, then killing him would be a piece of cake and there is no reason to risk entering the residence again to slit his throat.” Ji Yanran stated, “Besides, everyone has been eating from the same pot these few days, finding the opportunity to poison just his meal shouldn’t have been easy.”
“Who said that the neck doesn’t have to be wiped after getting poisoned?” Yun Yifeng sat beside the table, “Isn’t there a lot of black magic in the desert? Has Your Highness never heard that only fresh, flowing blood can feed ghosts? Dying by poison isn’t the entire reason for his demise.”
Ji Yanran was puzzled, “Are you referring to the Malevolent Mansion?”
“That’s the only possibility.” Yun Yifeng continued, “Also, regarding about the wound, there was no blood gushing out from the slit on the throat: Besides the possibility that he died somewhere else, there is also the possibility that he had died earlier due to poisoning and his corpse stiffened on the bed, naturally it would not bleed as much. It’s hard to say, but it needs to be investigated more thoroughly to know conclusively.”
Ji Yanran nodded his head, then said, “Coincidentally, Di Wugong’s intrusion caused a ruckus. At first glance, no one seems to be suspicious, but taking a closer look, if the murderer is really within Snow View Pavilion, then anyone is a possible suspect.”
There was only one person who had not revealed himself until now and then abruptly appeared; someone who arrived late because of a fight and waited alone in the garden… Putting the motives aside, everyone had more than enough time to silently kill a person.
Ji Yanran asked, “Who do you think did it?”
“How can this type of thing be guessed randomly?” Yun Yifeng leaned against the table top, using a hand to prop his head up, “As a court official, shouldn’t you be following the evidence?”
Ji Yanran raised his eyebrows, “It’s just some idle chatter.”
“I’m not guessing.” Yun Yifeng raised his eyelids, “Your Highness already has someone in mind but doesn’t want to say it. Instead, you want me to say it. What’s the meaning of this?”
Ji Yanran looked at him for a while, then smiled and shook his head, “It’s been a long night, go back to rest first, I’ll keep watch here.”
“The sun has already risen outside, it’s going to be chaotic again in about two hours.” Yun Yifeng yawned, “I won’t even be able to sleep properly so I won’t go to sleep now.”
Ji Yanran shrugged off his cloak, shook it out and wrapped it around him. Yun Yifeng laid on the table for a while but felt that it was uncomfortable. Seeing that Ji Yanran was still sitting at the side and thinking about things, he forcibly pulled the other party’s arm over to use as a pillow.
Although it was a little harder, it was still better than nothing.
Ji Yanran was caught off guard, he felt complicated.
You really do make yourself at home.
— The person looked very slender and thin, but his head was very heavy.
This was the precious conclusion that His Highness Prince Xiao managed to make after more than two hours.
Yun Yifeng moved his sore neck around and said in a husky voice, “Go and get the others here.”
Ji Yanran reminded him, “Did you realize, recently, you’ve been ordering me around a lot?”
Yun Yifeng was very straightforward and quick to answer, “Nope, that’s impossible, I didn’t notice.”
Ji Yanran smiled, “Then go do it yourself.”
Yun Yifeng placed a hand onto his chest and scrunched up his eyebrows, “Your Highness, the cold wind is still blowing outside.”
Ji Yanran was quick-witted, he zipped his mouth and admitted defeat, “Fine, I’ll go.”
Yun Yifeng sat up straight, “En.”
You see, I didn’t even order you to do anything, you volunteered yourself to go.
After a while, a white snow ferret carefully wriggled its way into the hall. Seeing that there was no one else around, it jumped into Yun Yifeng’s embrace and curled up. It used its fluffy head to nuzzle him, seeming to know about the unforeseen events that were about to take place. It wasn’t until it heard the shuffling of footsteps from outside that it jumped out through the window.
Everyone rushed into the courtyard, even Mu Chengxue was there this time. At first he had wanted to go see the vines at the back of the mountain, but he met Ji Yanran along the way there.
Liu Qianxian was the first to speak up, “Elder Jin is really dead?”
“The corpse is inside, although his body wasn’t covered in bloody scratches, he still died wretchedly.” Yun Yifeng replied, “Brother Jin was overwhelmed with grief, he cried till he fainted, I lit some calming incense for him in the next room to let him rest well.”
“This…Why did someone have to die again.” Aunty Yu was also scared, she thought that since the thief who had broken in had been caught, maybe there wouldn’t be any more fatalities in the future, but when they turned around, Elder Jin had died.
“Why are all of you looking at me? I didn’t do anything!” Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Di Wugong wanted to cry but no tears came out, “I’m just a thief, all I do is dig up graves, why would I kill someone without any reason, it’s not like anyone would pay me to do that!”
Bringing up the topic of getting paid to kill, Liu Qianxian immediately interjected, “So what you’re trying to say is, this was done by an assassin?”
“I didn’t mean that!” Di Wugong couldn’t use his words alone to convince this crowd of people, his tears were about to flow down his face, in the end, he simply sat down onto the ground and begged for mercy, “Masters and Miss, please spare me, don’t let me get caught up in this revenge plot, okay?”
Maybe his wailing was a little too loud, causing Jin Huan, who was in the room next door to wake up. He ran out with the help of the walls, his eyes unfocused, “Sect Master Yun, are you here?”
“I’m here.” Yun Yifeng hurriedly went to hold him up, “Everyone is here.”
“What about Mu Chengxue…Is Mu Chengxue here too?” Jin Huan asked in a trembling voice, a red hue once again forming under his eyes.
Di Wugong quickly shifted back a bit, just in case these Martial Artists start fighting without warning, bringing disaster to the innocent.
Mu Chengxue said coldly, “I did not kill your Father, I don’t kill without getting paid.”
“You say you didn’t, you expect me to just believe you like that?” Ji Huan was getting agitated, “Who else could it be if it’s not you!”
Mu Chengxue answered him, “You should go ask the government officials for these kinds of things, or you can investigate it personally. Your father won’t rest in peace if you just stand here and wail.”
“You!” Jin Huan’s voice was shrill, the hand that was gripping onto Yun Yifeng was trembling, “Just how much dirty money did that Yue guy pay you before you agreed to kill to feed the Malevolent Mansion, such, such indiscriminate killing of innocent people, aren’t you afraid of retribution!”
“What!” Di Wugong was originally watching the chaos from the sidelines, when he heard the words ‘killing to feed the Malevolent Mansion’ he was immediately frightened to the bones, “Someone on this mountain is raising a Malevolent Mansion? I, I, I…I don’t have anything valuable, and all I do is rob other people’s houses, this kind of ghost cannot be raised, cannot be raised!” He spoke while kowtowing in Mu Chengxue’s direction, indirectly admitting that he thought of him as the murderer as well.
Yun Yifeng had gotten a headache from all the noise, he exclaimed, “All of you shut up!”
“Sect Master Yun…” Di Wugong wore a mournful expression and stammered out, “You have to save me, I… Oh right, I still have to bring you all down the mountain!” Halfway through his fake crying, he suddenly remembered his mission and immediately became overjoyed, he hastily stood up from the ground, “Who cares about the ghosts being raised, we are getting down this mountain today!”
When he heard the words ‘getting down the mountain’, Jin Huan retracted his hand suddenly.
“Let’s go to the cliff first.” Yun Yifeng could sense his unwillingness and said softly, “No matter what, we still have to solve the current predicament first. The thing that I promised you before, I will definitely fulfill it.”
Jin Huan hesitated for a moment before nodding his head, “Many thanks to Sect Master Yun.”
“Let’s go together.” Yun Yifeng spoke again, “Until your eyes recover, stick close to me.”
While the two were talking, Mu Chengxue and Di Wugong had already left the small courtyard. Ji Yanran had thought of following them, however, in his peripheral vision, he caught a glance that Jin Huan was about to grab onto Yun Yifeng again.. He recalled those bruise marks from last night caused by those fingers and immediately drew out his longsword to block him, “I’ll support Brother Jin instead.”
Suddenly, his hand was stuffed into a block of cold iron, Jin Huan was at a loss, “Ah?”
“Come.” Ji Yanran took him by the shoulder and moved forward, “Careful of your steps.”
Yun Yifeng: “…”
Liu Qianxian was nosy, using her uninjured arm to nudge him, “Sect Master Yun, why do I feel that Young Swordsman Ji doesn’t like letting people touch you?”
Yun Yifeng’s face remained unchanged, “En.”
Liu Qianxian continued to look at him, “What else, just an ‘En’ and that’s it?”
Yun Yifeng found it funny, “If not, what else should I say?”
“At least tell me the reason.” Liu Qianxian muttered under her breath, then she thought of a daring possibility, thus, she lowered her voice and said in fear, “Does Young Swordsman Ji suspect that Jin Huan killed his dad?”
Aunty Yu heard this and became frightened, “Ah?”
“You little girl, you better not marry a magistrate next time, if not, even an honest and upright official will be driven crazy by your pillowtalk.” Yun Yifeng’s eyelid twitched, he patted her meaningfully, “Move along, bring Aunty with you to see the back of the mountain.”
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
DAMNNNN, I didn’t even consider the possibility of Jin Huan killing his own dad 😵💫
ty for the translation! ❤️
I can’t wait until the grand reveal! I can think of one or two possibilities, but I’m not sure. 🧐
This story gives Detective Conan/ Agatha Christie vibes
Don’t worry, I had that thought flashing through my mind too lol But I have no idea who killed who and why and yeah, will just wait for the answers xDD
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
Theres something with the ferret only sticking to Yun Yifeng…hmm sus
For a second there I thought it was a white snow fairy hugging Yun Yifeng instead of a ferret! 😅 (I was using speech mode to listen while having dinner).
And that scene of his resting his head on Ji Yanran’s shoulder for two hours, so romantic!💕
I’m getting tired of this setting though, hope they can get away soon…
Thanks for the chapter!
Oof. We are subtracting characters as fast as they are added. 😬😅
I could not guess who the murderer is at all. Atp my only guess is Yun Yifeng and that guess is solely based on the novel preview where the prince was frightened when he saw him cooking
sometimes the murderer is always the person you least expect🤭
Thank you for reading! 💙
Is it the girl cuz she sure is sus 😅i was always sure that the killer was cooking lady but it was proven in last chapters that she wasn’t 😜
Thank you for your hardworking ❤️
Bro that my dad is resting he shouldn’t be disturbed its not because he knew something is it? 😀