The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#307 - People in the Painting

Lu Jing left Ma Liang's residence and went to find Li Er, asking him if he had recently had any conflicts with anyone.

The result was a rather unexpected answer.

About half a month ago, Li Er did have a small conflict with someone, and that person was none other than the Master Miao who was frightened by the nine-tailed fox he picked up on the road in the second case.

That day, Li Er led his ox to graze, and accidentally trampled on Master Miao's chrysanthemum field when passing by his house, resulting in Master Miao having no chrysanthemums to admire during the Double Ninth Festival.

The two quarreled, but were stopped by a village elder who happened to pass by, and the situation did not escalate. Li Er didn't take it too seriously, and even forgot about it soon after returning home, until Lu Jing asked about it, and he remembered it again.

After listening to Li Er's words, Yan Yun asked Lu Jing, "Do you think Master Miao lied? He never encountered any nine-tailed fox, and he only said that to clear himself of suspicion?"

Lu Jing shook his head, "Even if he was willing to part with that fighting cock, it is true that he encountered that beggar woman on the road. Many people saw it at the time, and no one has seen that woman since."

"Master Miao fainting in the bridal chamber is something everyone in his mansion knows, so I personally tend to believe that the nine-tailed fox is real."

"But if the nine-tailed fox incident is true, then the person holding that strange object is clearly at odds with Master Miao," Yan Yun continued Lu Jing's words, "Then why would he help Master Miao punish Li Er? According to Li Er, he hasn't had any conflicts with anyone else during this time besides Master Miao."

Lu Jing closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, "I'm more curious about how Ma Liang got involved in this matter. He and Li Er are considered acquaintances, but according to Master Miao, the two have never met, so what exactly connects them together?"

As soon as Lu Jing said this, he already had the answer in his heart. He exchanged a glance with Yan Yun, and the two said almost in unison, "Master Miao's youngest son!"

When Lu Jing went to find Master Miao before, he heard the latter say that he had a young son born to a concubine who was learning to paint with Ma Liang.

If there are no surprises, the two of them had just seen Master Miao's youngest son outside Ma Liang's thatched hut.

Lu Jing recalled slightly, and a face of a boy of about eleven or twelve years old flashed in his mind. The reason for suspecting that person was because the other party was obviously a little nervous when he saw him.

However, Lu Jing's attention was mainly on Ma Liang at the time, and he didn't pay much attention to the little devils who were learning to paint with him, but he vaguely remembered that the boy painted a branch of chrysanthemum, and his painting skills were very good.

He painted that branch of chrysanthemum vividly.

If that strange object is on him, then the reason for him to paint a cow to punish Li Er can be explained, because Li Er trampled on his family's chrysanthemum field, and it is not difficult to understand why he would deal with his own father.

Master Miao is naturally amorous and always wants to find women from outside, and his birth mother is Master Miao's concubine.

Men are mostly animals who love the new and tire of the old. If Master Miao takes another concubine, his mother's position will become precarious sooner or later. It is obviously a good idea to use the nine-tailed fox to scare his own father and make him restrain himself in the future.

"This young man's scheming is not simple," Yan Yun said.

Lu Jing nodded, "It seems we have to speed up our actions. Since he saw us coming to find Ma Liang, he should be able to guess our intentions."

Before he finished speaking, Yan Yun and Lu Jing raised their heads together and looked at an old locust tree on the left side.

Then they saw a flash of cold light, and two throwing knives shot towards the two of them one after the other!

However, neither of them moved. Yan Yun drew out the sword from her waist and flicked the throwing knife away with a light flick.

As for Lu Jing, he simply didn't move until the throwing knife hit him and bounced off. Then he reached out and grabbed the handle of the knife, but threw it back the way it came.

Unfortunately, Lu Jing had not practiced hidden weapon techniques, and this throw was quite off, flying past the tree trunk, but it also startled the assassin on the tree.

He obviously didn't expect that the two targets he was going to deal with this time would be so tricky, one with superb swordsmanship, and one who was simply invulnerable to swords and guns.

Realizing that his skills were no match for the two monsters under the tree, he also had the intention of retreating.

Unfortunately, before he could move, there was a blur in front of him, and then he saw the woman with the sword under the tree had already jumped onto the treetops, stepping on a thin branch no more than two fingers thick in front of him and said lightly to him, "Come down!"

The assassin couldn't help but feel horrified, but he was unwilling to be captured so easily and wanted to struggle a little. Seeing this, he planned to cut off the branch under the woman's feet first, but as soon as the throwing knife in his sleeve was revealed, the acupoints on his body had been tapped all over by the woman, and he couldn't move at all.

His body stiffened, like a bear that had been given an anesthetic and fell from the tree.

Seeing that his head was about to hit the ground and break into a red and white mess, the next moment, his body was lifted into someone's hand.

Yan Yun threw the assassin she had just caught in front of Lu Jing, and then took off the black cloth from the other party's face, and couldn't help but let out a soft exclamation.

"Do you know him?" Lu Jing asked.

Yan Yun nodded, "He is a killer from Yan Yu Tower, a third-rate master, with ordinary martial arts, but he has killed several court officials. The Imperial City Division was anxious to catch him. It happened that I was also in the capital at that time, so I helped catch him and sent him to the Imperial City Division. I heard that later he and several other serious criminals were dragged out to be publicly executed together. I didn't expect to see him here again."

"In this case, his situation should be similar to that of Han Erlang's wife, and they are both resurrected from the dead," Lu Jing's eyes flickered, "It seems that someone is already getting anxious."

Yan Yun unlocked the assassin's dumb acupoint so that he could speak, and then asked, "Who asked you to kill us?"

The assassin gritted his teeth and said nothing, and judging from his appearance, he didn't seem to remember Yan Yun either.

The latter shook her head and could only draw her sword and end his life. As the assassin's heart stopped beating, the corpse and blood on the ground also disappeared together, turning into a painting.

"It really is a person from the painting," Yan Yun put away her sword and shook her head.

Lu Jing took two steps forward and collected the painting on the ground, planning to confront Master Miao's youngest son later. After that, the two of them didn't delay any longer and went straight to Master Miao's mansion.

When they arrived at the door, they happened to meet Xia Huai, who was planning to come here to investigate the case, so Lu Jing pulled Xia Huai over as well, preparing to meet Master Miao's precious son together.