There is a god in the sky

Chapter 53 The Murder of a Wealthy Family in Jianzhou (Part 16)

Shen Lan followed the two like a ghost, overhearing their conversation.

"It's a good thing the Wu family was wiped out, otherwise if Master Wu found out what we did today, we would definitely be torn to pieces."

"Who says otherwise? Back then, we didn't even have a chance to meet this concubine. Now, hehe..."

The other man chuckled lewdly, “Although he’s crazy and stupid, he has a really good figure. If he were a few years younger, that would be great.”

"Don't even think about it. If we were a few years younger, it wouldn't be our turn. I heard that Liu Zhuangtou has already taken advantage of her."

"Let's go, let's leave him behind in the back mountain and go back quickly. There are wolves in the back mountain at night."

Shen Lan's chest heaved violently, and she gripped the wooden carving in her hand very tightly.

For the first time, she harbored murderous intent towards someone who was not her enemy.

The two men carried the body up the mountainside, then randomly chose a spot and dumped it there.

Shen Lan saw that Wu was only wrapped in a tattered straw mat.

Upon landing, the straw mat unfurled, revealing her naked body.

Before leaving, one of the men even pinched her breast.

Another person joked, "What? You don't even spare corpses?"

"It's still fresh, but it's cold and boring. Let's go."

Shen Lan let her hair down, used her lightness skill to float in front of them, and reached out her hands to grab them, "Don't go..."

The two grown men froze for a moment, then turned and ran up the mountain, shouting, "A ghost..."

Shen Lan was faster than them, and she would occasionally slash them with her knife.

The cut wasn't deep, just enough to break the skin and cause bleeding.

The two were terrified, feeling pain all over their bodies where they had been touched.

"Heroine...no, fairy, we have not offended you, please, please spare us!"

The two ran while begging for mercy.

Shen Lan floated behind them, grabbed one of the men by the hair, dragged him for a while, then broke his leg and threw him into the bushes.

The other person, while running, realized that his companion was gone and screamed in terror.

"Don't look for me! Don't kill me! I'll give you anything!"

Shen Lan jumped onto a tree branch above his head and asked from above, "What dirty things did you just throw at my doorstep?"

The man knelt down and kowtowed, "Great Immortal, spare our lives! We didn't know that place was your home! I'll go and move the body right away!"

"A corpse? Where did it come from?"

"It was... a woman who had just passed away from illness in our village."

"Snap!" Shen Lan lashed him with a branch and said coldly, "Lies will have their tongues pulled out."

The man shrank back, trembling as he confessed, "Yes, we smothered him to death, but it wasn't our idea. It was Liu Zhuangtou! He gave the order!"

"Oh? Why kill a woman?"

The man fell silent, probably thinking that she, a "female ghost," was meddling in his affairs.

Shen Lan sighed, "If you don't want to talk about it, then so be it. Anyway, you'll be keeping each other company in the underworld soon."

These words truly terrified the man. He dared not go down to see Madam Wu, for he would surely be skinned alive.

"Great Immortal, spare me! I...I'll talk, I'll talk...Mrs. Wu went crazy today and tried to break out, saying she was going to find someone. But Liu Zhuangtou thought it was too much trouble, so...he killed her!"

That's why!

Shen Lan's mood plummeted.

If she had known that Ms. Wu would be treated this way, she would have taken her away yesterday no matter how difficult it was.

She stared at the man below, her eyes filled with murderous intent.

She jumped down, grabbed the man's arm and pulled hard, the thin scalpel slicing open his artery.

The man's screams attracted a wild boar.

Shen Lan leaped onto a tall tree and saw the wild boar charging rapidly toward the man.

The man clutched his neck as he was knocked away by the wild boar; the rest is history.

Even if the wild boar didn't eat people, he would still surely die.

Shen Lan put her own clothes on Wu's body and carried her down the mountain.

She carried Wu on her back all the way into the city, and no one noticed that the person on her back had already stopped breathing.

Back in the courtyard, she picked out a new set of clothes that Wu had never worn before and dressed her in them. She then combed Wu's hair again, tied a red ribbon in her hair, and applied beautiful makeup to her face.

"May you be reborn into a good family in your next life and live a peaceful and safe life," Shen Lan whispered.

After cleaning up the body, Shen Lan was at a loss, not knowing where to bury Wu Shi.

In the past, corpses found were simply buried on any patch of land in the mountains, but Wu was different; she wanted her own grave and tombstone.

Shen Lan took out all her belongings and counted them, only to find that she could only afford a coffin, and buying a burial plot was out of the question.

She sighed: "We're still too poor."

Seeing that it was getting late, she washed up and went to lie down in the next room.

I thought I would fall asleep quickly after a long day, but I had one nightmare after another.

She dreamt that the two men were being devoured by wolves on the mountain, their faces mangled beyond recognition, and she dreamt of their painful howls.

She covered her ears and curled up in bed, trying to clear those images from her mind.

Finally, she had to open her eyes and stare at the ceiling until dawn.

As the first rays of light shone into the room, Shen Lan quickly got up, washed and changed in an orderly manner, then locked the door and went to the yamen.

She needs to ask today when the Wu family members' bodies will be buried, so that Wu can be buried with her family.

"Make way, make way..." Someone pushed Shen Lan from behind.

She spilled some of the tofu pudding in her hand and turned around to glare at the person who had come in.

As it turned out, the two realized they were acquaintances and simultaneously put on textbook smiles.

"Officer Lei."

"Coroner Shen".

"What are you doing here?" the two asked in unison.

Shen Lan pointed ahead and said, "I'm going to the yamen."

"Me too." Lei Dajiang's eyes were dark and he looked haggard.

Behind him followed a group of yamen runners, escorting a middle-aged man.

Shen Lan asked in surprise, "This is... Lu Yaxuan?"

Lei Dajiang laughed smugly, "Yeah, we finally caught him after tracking him for two days. We're going to send him to the yamen too, shall we?"

"it is good."

Shen Lan followed beside him, sometimes sizing up the man surnamed Lu, and sometimes exchanging a few words with Lei Dajiang.

It turned out that Lu Yaxuan had indeed run back to his hometown and hid in the mountains for several days before daring to return home.

Lei Dajiang was clever; after catching up with him to his hometown, he did not immediately reveal his identity, but instead secretly searched the village as a passing merchant.

Then they found Lu Yaxuan sleeping in the cellar.

Needless to say, this person must have done something wrong to think of going back to his hometown to seek refuge.

Shen Lan glanced at him again and noticed that his age was quite different from Wu's.

No wonder he was kicked out when he went to ask for Wu's hand in marriage. If she were Wu Zhongjin, she probably wouldn't have agreed to the marriage either.

Lu Yaxuan looked listless, exuding a sense of weariness.

He saw Shen Lan, but showed no emotional fluctuation whatsoever.

When Shen Lan walked up to him and said something, his expression changed drastically. He stopped in his tracks and wouldn't move no matter how much people scolded or beat him.

Shen Lan told him that Wu was dead.

It's clear from his reaction that he hasn't let go of this relationship.