Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 80 The Tianying Incident
Having agreed on the terms, no one dared to linger and they all dispersed and left.

Zhou Zhao led Liu Huang around the streets for a few hours, bought two more jars of wine, and then leisurely headed towards the inner city.

"Master, it's easy to find you. The city lord has ordered all the masters to be summoned, saying there is an important matter to discuss."

Just as he reached the top of the steps, he encountered a young disciple of Tianji Hall who was running up panting. Zhou Zhao recognized him at a glance as one of the two who had survived the day he entered the city with Qi Ming. He had no surname and was simply named Lvsong.

Zhou Zhao handed the wine jar to Liu Huang, saying, "You go back first, I'll be right back."

Liu Huang wanted to say more, but then he felt two thin wads of silk cloth in his palm. Without making a sound, he tightened his grip on the hemp rope on the wine jar and nodded.

Zhou Zhao smiled, lightly touched the ground, and almost instantly arrived in front of Qin Tianying's farmhouse.

Unlike the last time, when she had to observe the terrain of Tianying Mountain, this time she knew the terrain by heart.

She wasn't early; everyone else had already arrived except for Yuheng.

Tian Shu remained seated to Qin Tianying's left, staring intently at Su Changying as if she wanted to burn a hole in his clothes. The stray hairs hanging by her ears were twisted into braids.

Zhou Zhao glanced around and saw Xu Yuan sitting nervously in the second seat. He raised an eyebrow and then sat down confidently in the empty seat next to Tian Shu.

As soon as she sat down, she smelled a peculiar fragrance. Thinking about it, she raised her sleeve to cover her mouth and nose.

Tian Shu wanted to roll her eyes at her, but seeing her actions, she hesitated for a moment before slamming her hand on the table and lunging at Zhou Zhao's face.

Zhou Zhao flicked her wrist, her two fingers clamping down on Tian Shu's wrist like crab claws. "What's wrong with Aunt Tian Shu? Why are you hitting me for no reason?"

Tian Shu instantly exploded, "What did you call me?"

Zhou Zhao blinked her eyes wide open. "Auntie! If I hadn't killed my father, he would have called you 'sister' if he saw you here."

Tian Shu was furious. She raised her other hand and swung it towards Zhou Zhao's forehead. Zhou Zhao just watched without moving, but his eyes were on Qin Tianying in the main seat. Just as the palm wind was about to reach him, Qin Tianying gently flicked her sleeve.

Zhou Zhao felt a gust of wind, which made the stray hairs on her forehead fly up. Tian Shu's amazing strength was neutralized by this gentle wave.

She stumbled and fell back down, glaring angrily at Zhou Zhao.

So strong!

Zhou Zhao felt a chill run down her spine; Qin Tianying was definitely the most skilled martial artist she had ever seen.

"Yuheng is here, sit down!" Qin Tianying said calmly toward the door, as if he hadn't seen the quarrel between the two.

Zhou Zhao followed his gaze and saw Yu Heng walk in with a deathly pale face, looking even weaker than she had been the night before. The scent of perfume on her body was even more pungent than that of Tian Shu.

"Tianquan, please stay for a moment. I have an important matter that I need you to handle outside the city."

Tianquan was taken aback, then cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Qin Tianying, and said, "Yes."

As Zhou Zhao listened, her right eyelid twitched again. Plans can't keep up with changes. If Tian Quan leaves the city today, he won't be able to verify whether the token drawing she made is correct.

"As you've probably heard, recently that hothead Zhao Yizhou led the Dai Army to besiege my Tianying City. I've already given the order that from today onwards, all four gates of Tianying City will be closed, and no one may enter or leave at will. We'll talk about it again once things have calmed down."

“We, the people of Tianying, are all rootless duckweed, far from our hometowns and unable to return. I plan to hold a lantern festival on the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month this year, the Ghost Festival, where the whole city will come together to commemorate our ancestors. Firstly, this will dispel their unease caused by the actions of the imperial court. Secondly, it will also prevent those troublesome fellows from having nothing to do and wandering around the city causing deaths every day.”

Qin Tian spoke English at an extremely fast pace, and as he spoke, Zhou Zhao felt an increasingly bad premonition.

“Apart from Tianquan who is leaving the city, the remaining six of you will be responsible for the inner city. Tianshu and Kaiyang will be in charge of the inner city. Zhou Zhao, since you came from Xuanwu Hall, you will continue to be in charge of Xuanwu Hall. Yuheng, since your nephew is the head of Qinglong Hall, you will go to Qinglong Hall. Yaoguang will go to Baihu Hall, and Xu Yuan will go to Zhuque Hall.”

"It's not just about arranging the lantern festival, but also about ensuring the safety of the city. We need to guard against a sudden attack by the Dai army and find out any spies hiding in the city."

As Qin Tianying spoke, she looked around and said, "You all usually eat the offerings from the outer hall, now it's time for you to protect them."

Zhou Zhao listened, suppressing the urge to exchange glances with Su Changying.

She inwardly cried out, "Oh my god!"

Qin Tianying's sudden stroke of genius scattered them all, disrupting all their original plans.

Moreover, according to this statement, the patrol arrangements in the inner city caves have most likely changed, since Tianquan left the city and Yuheng was assigned to the outer hall.

If she weren't so confident that she hadn't been discovered last night, and if she hadn't known that she and Su Changying not only had no relationship on the surface, but had even fought a life-or-death battle together, she would have suspected that the cunning Qin Tianying had already seen through everything they had done.

"The city lord is wise!" Zhou Zhao's mind raced, and his mouth echoed the sycophant Tian Shu's praise.

Qin Tianying nodded in satisfaction and clapped his hands.

The closed kitchen door opened, and six elderly men dressed in identical gray cloth robes walked out with their heads bowed and eyes downcast.

“These are the craftsmen I have found. They are all very skilled at making lamps. I know that you are all good at fighting, but when it comes to making such mundane things, you are no match for these craftsmen.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the six people seemed to have been given an order and stood behind the other six people, excluding Tianquan.

Zhou Zhao glanced at him and saw an elderly man standing behind him, who was about fifty years old. He was dressed neatly and cleanly, with his calloused hands crossed in front of him. At first glance, he really looked like a real man.

But she knew that Qin Tianying had sent them to monitor them.

He suspected there was a mole in Tianying City, but didn't know who it was, so he suspected everyone equally.

Zhou Zhao lowered his eyes; this was bad news.

After Tianquan left, she, Su Changying, and Xu Yuan were sent to the outer city, where an old man kept a close watch on them. There was no time for them to activate the mechanism.

"Thank you, City Lord. Your thoughtfulness is truly remarkable. When we heard about the mission, we were all sweating profusely. We're no match for making lanterns, but we're quite good at killing people."

Everyone laughed.

Qin Tianying waved her hand, "In that case, everyone go and get busy."

As Zhou Zhao left, he exchanged a glance with Su Changying. Both of them were thinking that they should remain unchanged and deal with any changes as they went along, completing their previous arrangements before looking for an opportunity.

But by July 13th, the opportunity still hadn't come, and even Tianquan hadn't returned.

The crescent moon was closing in on the full moon; if we didn't act now, it would be too late.