I became the tyrant's only belief.

Chapter 356 By the way
"A young scholar, whose name I do not know, was someone Qin Kai met when he went to Taotie Pavilion for a meal," Du Qian said. "Qin Kai found the scholar to be quite eloquent and decided to befriend him. He shared a table with the scholar and they had a meal together. The two chatted happily, and Qin Kai offered to pay for the meal. The scholar said he couldn't eat for free, so he asked Qin Kai to write a character and told his fortune."

Now, whenever Xiao Jingfan hears the word "scholar," he thinks of the Thousand-Handed Scholar.

It's quite like something a Thousand-Handed Scholar would do to offer fortune-telling after eating someone's meal.

He hurriedly asked, "What does that scholar look like?"

Du Qian did ask, but Uncle Fu didn't go with him that day and never saw the scholar in person. Judging from Qin Kai's description, he should be a handsome young man in his early twenties.

He was in his early twenties, the right age. Xiao Jingfan was increasingly convinced that this was the Thousand-Handed Scholar, and asked again, "Do you know where that scholar went?"

Du Qian shook his head: "Qin Kai made an appointment with that scholar to go to the opera hall the next day, but the scholar did not go. Qin Kai even sent people to look for him in the city, but they did not find any trace of the scholar."

Although he had somewhat anticipated it, Xiao Jingfan was still inevitably disappointed.

Chu Liuzheng silently crossed out yet another alias of the Thousand-Handed Scholar, secretly marveling at how fast this guy could run; it felt like he was everywhere.

Du Qian said, "Uncle Fu also mentioned something. Lord Jiang once gave Qin Kai a box to keep and told him not to open it under any circumstances. Not long after, he dismissed Qin Kai but forgot to take back the box."

"After Qin Kai bought the house, he put the box in a hidden compartment in his study. Only he and Uncle Fu knew about the compartment. When Uncle Fu was looking for the note, he opened the compartment and found that the box had disappeared along with Qin Kai. He suspected that the reason that group of people came after Qin Kai was because of the box he had."

“That doesn’t make sense.” Chu Liuzheng shook his head. “Since Qin Kai has been bewitched by that group of people and doesn’t even care that his wife was poisoned to death, if they want the box in his possession, why don’t they just make him hand it over?”

We can't be obsessed with something one minute and then not be obsessed the next, can we?
“I asked Uncle Fu the same question just now,” Du Qian said. “Uncle Fu isn’t sure either whether those people asked Qin Kai for the box. In the end, it’s all just his guess. If we want to know the truth, we probably have to find Qin Kai first.”

Feng Jing curled his lip: "I'm afraid by the time we find him, he'll already be a corpse."

The words were filled with dislike for Qin Kai.

Whatever the reason, Qin Kai actually trusted the person who killed his wife; even a pig wouldn't do something like that.

Although these words were spoken with some emotion, given that group's ruthless killing style, it might really become a reality.

Just then, Chen Xing and Lü Fei, who had returned from paying their respects at the Qin residence, walked in one after the other.

"Young Master." Chen Xing bowed to Xiao Jingfan, and only then did everyone notice that she was holding a round, bulging object wrapped in a cloak, so they couldn't see what was underneath.

Xiao Jingfan waved for her to get up and asked, "How is the situation?"

Chen Xing said, "The person in the coffin is still breathing; they must still be alive."

Lü Fei also said, "I saw that person's eyelids trembling."

Since both of them said so, the fake Qin Kai in the coffin must be a living person without a doubt.

"That's strange," Du Qian said. "What were those people trying to achieve by going to all that trouble to create a fake Qin Kai just so he could fake his death?"

Others were also thinking, surely it couldn't be just to hold a funeral so they could collect gifts?

While everyone was making their own guesses, Chu Liuzheng poured a glass of water for Chen Xing and the other person.

Chen Xing smiled and thanked him, then put the things in his arms on the ground and gulped down the drink from the cup.

Chu Liuzheng glanced at the round, bulging lump at her feet and asked curiously, "What's this?"

"This?" Chen Xing bent down and pulled off the cloak covering her, revealing what was underneath.

It was a round, reddish-brown jar, barely reaching knee-high, which, in the pale moonlight, looked strangely as if it were covered in a layer of blood. Chu Liuzheng's eyelids twitched, and his voice involuntarily became shrill: "Where did you get this jar?"

"It was taken from the Qin family." Chen Xing blinked. "Can't we take it?"

Chu Liuzheng: "..."

Is it a question of whether or not to take it?
Chen Xing thought Chu Liuzheng felt bad about taking it for free, so she quickly added, "I'm just curious about what's inside. I'll return it after I've seen it."

She really didn't intend to steal the jar; it wasn't worth much.

Feng Jing pointed to the jar: "Have you opened it and looked at it?"

"We didn't have time, did we?" Chen Xing noticed that everyone's expressions were a bit strange and asked suspiciously, "Is there something wrong with this jar?"

"Perhaps." Siyue repeated Fu Bo's words to her.

The corpse didn't frighten Chenxing at all; instead, her eyes lit up, and she bent down to open the jar to take a look. Siyue quickly stopped her and asked, "Why did you suddenly bring a jar back?"

"Well, it's a long story." Chen Xing kicked the jar with his toe, the sound crisp. "Isn't it strange to put a living person in a coffin? I always thought there must be something going on in the Qin family. Now that we're here, shouldn't we take this opportunity to investigate?"

Everyone nodded; it was indeed worth investigating.

Chen Xing said, "So I made an excuse to go to the outhouse and secretly wandered around the Qin residence. I didn't find anything and was about to leave when I suddenly saw a man and a woman coming out of a side room, saying something about it being almost time. They also had a strange smell on them."

"I was curious, so after they left I climbed through the window to see what was in the room. But it was pitch black inside and I couldn't see anything. I didn't bring a luminous pearl, so I had to use a tinderbox to light it up."

She stopped there, not continuing, so Chu Liuzheng couldn't help but press, "And then?"

"Then I was discovered." Chen Xing pouted and kicked the jar at his feet. "I heard footsteps coming this way, so I had to grab a jar and climb out the window. The jar was hard to hide and it wasn't convenient to go through the main gate, so I had to signal to Guard Lü and climb over the wall."

Everyone: "..."

Even after being discovered, you still managed to sneak a peek at the forum. You're something else.

Du Qian worried, "Won't losing one jar alert the enemy?"

Chen Xing said confidently, "No!"

The way everyone looked at her seemed to ask, "What did you do now?"
Chen Xing said, "Sister Liu Zheng said she wanted to eat pickled fish. When I passed by the kitchen, I saw a jar of pickled cabbage. The pickled cabbage tasted very good, so I just grabbed a jar."

She added specifically, "I left some money."

Everyone stopped looking at her and started looking at Chu Liuzheng.

Chu Liuzheng had an innocent face.

She lost her appetite from the jolting of the carriage, so couldn't she just want something sour?
Chen Xing said, "I've checked. The sauerkraut jar is about the same size as this jar, and they look similar too. It's hard to carry both jars, so I left the sauerkraut jar there, thinking I'd bring it back when I returned this jar."

Chu Liuzheng: "..."

Although she was touched, it was just a jar of pickled cabbage; there was really no need to specially bring it from the Qin residence!

Chen Xing picked up the jar again and looked at everyone: "Can we open it now?"

"We'll open it again in a bit," Xiao Jingfan instructed Zhou Yuande. "Go and invite Abbot Jiang over."