Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 220 Black Hand
A figure in official robes walked into the government office in Lianzhou City.

The clerk guarding the door hurried forward and called out, "Captain Pei."

Pei Nian was lost in thought, and only raised his head when he heard the words and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Captain Pei helped His Highness with disaster relief, offered advice, and benefited the people. This morning, some people specially sent some local products to repay Captain Pei for saving their lives."

"No, send it back."

"The person has already left, so we can't send it back. Captain Pei, just accept it. It doesn't look like a valuable item."

Pei Nian then took the vegetable basket handed to her by the clerk, and saw more than a dozen eggs in it. They were heavy in her hands, which made her feel inexplicably relieved.

As an official providing disaster relief these days, she often forgot whether she was in Yong or Rui. She only knew that the drought had affected the people of fourteen states, and every day when she opened her eyes, she thought about how to provide relief.

But now that Gu Jingnian is back, these days are probably coming to an end.

She could no longer be a spy. Her father was still in Switzerland, and she could not really betray her country and surrender to the enemy. She could only leave this place and escape back to Switzerland.

There is nothing to regret. As an ordinary person, she has tried her best to do the best she can.

Before leaving, she had already handed over her official duties. Although she was a spy for the Rui Kingdom, she had done her job conscientiously when she was an official for the Yong Kingdom.

The last thing she planned to do was say goodbye to Gu Jingnian.

As a companion who went to Yong State together, Gu Jingnian failed to rescue his elder sister in the end, and she felt sorry for him.

When he arrived at the inner hall of the government office, Pei Nian was stopped.

"Captain Pei, please stay. His Highness is busy at the moment and I'm afraid he can't see you."

"Then I'll wait outside the yard."

"please."

Pei Nian knew that Gu Jingnian was talking to Yin Jinggeng, so he sat down in the courtyard and placed the basket of eggs on the stone table.

She hasn't had this much free time for a long time.

The weather was still dry and hot, and the sun shone on the basket of eggs.

Suddenly, Pei Nian narrowed her eyes and saw a scene that surprised her.

An egg cracked open with a slight "click" sound, and an ugly, strange chick came out of it. It staggered towards Pei Nian without even opening its eyes, opened its mouth, and made two unpleasant noises.

Pei Nian saw a roll of paper in the chicken's mouth and took it away calmly.

She looked around and saw no one, so she unfolded the note.

There were more than ten words written on the note in beautiful handwriting, obviously written by a woman, who was obviously very good at calligraphy.

However, these words do not form a sentence at all and are incomprehensible.

"Kennon Yuangu's most courageous method?"

Pei Nian repeated this sentence in his mind. He was confused at first, but suddenly he understood.

This is clearly a secret language created by Gu Jingnian and Gu Caiwei. Apart from the two siblings, she is the only one who knows it, and the content of this sentence is "I'm not dead yet, so don't be impulsive."

Gu Caiwei is not dead?
Then, this letter was sent by Kaipingsi.

At this moment, an even more magical scene happened. The newly hatched chick actually started to speak.

"Pei Jishi, I'm from Kaiping Division."

Pei Nian was startled and looked around.

"Don't worry." The ugly chick said, "This is where the Prince of Yong is on official business. He has set up a mourning cloth, so no one can hear us talking."

Pei Nian asked: "What are you?"

"I was sent by Kaiping Division to assign tasks to you."

"Why can you speak human language?"

Pei Nian has gradually seen a lot of alchemy techniques in recent years, but this is the first time she has seen such a strange thing. It must be a new research by Kaiping Division.

"Then you don't have to worry about Pei Ji." Chuji was a little proud. "You just need to give the letter to Gu Jingnian and let him know that Gu Caiwei is not dead. Don't let him escape the control of Kaiping Division."

Pei Nian couldn't help but wonder, "How do you know Gu Jingnian is back? He just arrived today and you sent him on a mission. Does Yongguo have other spies?"

The chick said, "I was just following orders, I don't know anything else."

Pei Nian asked, "What's going on with Gu Caiwei?"

"Pei Jishi, you have developed a habit of asking too many questions now."

As the chick spoke, it walked to the stone table, looked down, flapped its pitiful little wings, jumped onto the stone bench, then jumped off the stone bench and ran unsteadily to the flower bed next to it.

"Goodbye, we'll see you again."

Pei Nian held the note in his hand, speechless for a long while.

After waiting for a while, Gu Jingnian and Yin Jinggeng came out from the inner hall. Pei Nian stepped forward and first bowed to Yin Jinggeng before looking at Gu Jingnian.

"You two can talk first." Yin Jinggeng said, "I still have things to do."

"Yes."

Soon there were only three people left in the courtyard, because Gu Jingnian did not send Yingyao away. Pei Nian said, "You finally found her."

"Yeah, what about you? Have you decided what to do next?"

"I have a letter for you to read." Pei Nian handed over the note he had just received.

She was a little worried that Gu Jingnian would think that she had imitated it, because she did not report the fact that Gu Jingnian taught her the secret language to the Kaiping Division, and the Kaiping Division did not think of this.

Unexpectedly, after reading the letter, Gu Jingnian did not have too many doubts and only asked: "What do you want? Continue to use me?"

Pei Nian said: "For the time being, I just ask you not to act impulsively."

"Okay." Gu Jingnian said, "I won't reveal your identity for now, but I have a condition. I want to see my sister with my own eyes. If I can't see her within half a month, you and Han Youxin will be buried with me."

Hearing this, Pei Nian vaguely felt that Gu Jingnian was a little different after returning from Lian Xi Mountain.

Over there, Ying Yao walked to the stone table and saw an eggshell on the table. She couldn't help wondering and muttered to herself, "Is this egg cooked?"

She picked up an egg and knocked it on the stone table, and the egg liquid quickly flowed out.

"ah."

Yingyao quickly flicked it with her hand, and the egg liquid was cooked before it flowed onto the stone table.

Just as Ying Yao was about to return the baked egg to Pei Nian, she suddenly felt something, turned around to look at the flower garden, and exclaimed, "Huh?"

The chicks were so frightened that they quickly dived deeper into the flower bed.

however.

"come over."

Yingyao just shouted softly, and the chicks retreated involuntarily.

It itself didn't know what was going on. Perhaps it was out of its natural obedience to the phoenix, the king of birds. Anyway, it crawled in front of her.

"what are you?"

"I...I am the messenger chicken refined by the caged man."

On the other side, Gu Jingnian saw this and came over, asking Ying Yao to ask him a few questions.

"Why do you say my sister is still alive? What exactly is going on?"

“I really don’t know about this.”

"Then how did you know I returned to Lianzhou?"

"The cage owner said that you are not dead yet and will be back soon."

After hearing this, Gu Jingnian guessed that there were only two possibilities as to why Long Minzhi knew that he was fine.

Either Huang Hu fell into Long Minzhi's hands and she sensed that he was not dead yet; or Liu Yuchuan was in cahoots with them. If so, their target was actually the couple of Womin.

--------

"reconciled?"

When Yin Jinggeng saw Gu Jingnian and Pei Nian again, he said, "I saw it before. You two had a quarrel. Now that you have reconciled, don't delay the business and talk about the abyss."

Gu Jingnian did not reveal Pei Nian's identity to Yin Jinggeng, but only described in detail the abyss where he encountered Liu Yuchuan.

Finally, he said, "It is almost impossible to restore the Xihe River by digging and changing its course with human power. Your Highness should summon Bai Yuze and others to discuss this matter."

"You don't know yet." Yin Jinggeng sighed, "General Bai has passed away."

"What? When did he die?"

Gu Jingnian was indeed surprised. He had personally experienced how powerful Bai Yuze was, and yet such a person died so quietly.

Yin Jinggeng said, "At the same time you set out for Lianxi Mountain, General Bai also led people to investigate the cause of the drought from another direction, and he never came back. I only learned of his death a few days ago."

Gu Jingnian asked, "How did he die?"

"I'm afraid you won't believe it." Yin Jinggeng's eyes were solemn, and he slowly said, "He was... drowned."

"how is this possible?"

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it... Come with me."

Yin Jinggeng stood up and took Gu Jingnian and others out of the government office and came to a well guarded by soldiers in Lianzhou City.

There were many people carrying buckets and queuing up to fetch water around, which was one of the few lively places in the city.

Yin Jinggeng walked to the well and looked down.

"This is the 119th well I dug after arriving in Lianzhou. It is the seventh well that produced water, and it has the most water. But on the day when water was produced, someone found a body in the well. When they fished it out, they found it was General Bai."

Gu Jingnian asked, "Where does this well lead to?"

"It doesn't make sense anywhere. Someone must have killed General Bai and sent his body back. The strange thing is that his heart is gone and all the blood in his body has been drained."

Hearing this, Gu Jingnian suddenly recalled a figure in his mind: Liu Yuchuan, who was sitting cross-legged in the abyss and under the magnificent waterfall.

(End of this chapter)