r18novel Page 33
Page 33
"I don't know, we haven't seen her since we came out."
Hearing this, Jiang Ning said nothing more.
The missing maid must have been suspicious, but now that she's vanished, there are no clues left.
"She, she seems to be one of our master's guests."
Just then, the same maid who had spoken before spoke again.
guest?
A thoughtful look flashed in Jiang Ning's eyes. He turned to look at her and asked, "Explain in detail."
"Yes."
Hearing Jiang Ning's question, the maid shrank back in fear. After thinking carefully for a moment, she said, "I don't know when she arrived, but three days ago when I was serving tea to the master in his study, I noticed a woman there. The master seemed to be very polite to her. I didn't dare to look too closely at the time, but I accidentally glanced at her as I was leaving. She was wearing a veil, only revealing her eyes. Those eyes were particularly beautiful, and I remembered them. I haven't seen her since."
"She suddenly appeared again today when the master instructed us to serve tea. She was also dressed as a maid. I didn't think of her at the time, but now that I think about it, I realize that her eyes are very similar to the person I saw in the master's study."
Jiang Ning frowned slightly upon hearing this and asked, "Then do you know what her name is?"
The maid shook her head blankly.
"what."
After she finished speaking, the maid next to her seemed to remember something: "I think I've seen that veiled girl before. Once I accidentally bumped into the young master talking to that girl. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but the young master seemed to call her 'grandma'."
"I was puzzled at the time. She didn't look old at all, and her hair was black. Why did the young master call her 'grandmother'?"
"A while ago, when I was cleaning the study, I saw a letter on the master's desk that was covered up. The envelope had the words 'mother-in-law' written on it. I found it strange at the time. Where did the master get a mother? But I forgot about it later. Now that Xiaoyue is telling me, I remember that it must have been written to the master by that young girl."
Jiang Ning's eyes narrowed, and he looked directly at her: "Where is that letter?"
Seeing Jiang Ning looking over, the maid who had spoken shrank back a little and whispered, "It should be in the study. Master usually puts the letters he writes to and receives from his friends in the bookcase."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning turned to look at Liang Fa, who was the one who had just searched the study.
Liang Fa said blankly, "I did find some letters in the study, but they were all greetings from Hu Anyu and some friends. I didn't see any letters signed by my mother-in-law."
Liang Faren is honest and usually quite meticulous. If he couldn't find it, then it doesn't exist.
Jiang Ning looked at the other Huashan disciples and asked, "Senior brothers, have you found any letters in other rooms? Especially in Hu Anyu's and Hu Shi's rooms?"
"No."
"never seen it."
Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, and other Huashan disciples all shook their heads.
They only found some banknotes and house deeds.
Jiang Ning frowned and remained silent upon hearing this.
At this moment, the maid spoke up, "Could it be hidden in the secret room of the study?"
Jiang Ning turned to look at her: "You knew there was a secret room in the study?"
The maid nodded: "I usually clean the master's study. Once, when I was cleaning the bookshelf, I tripped and fell. I accidentally bumped into an antique on top. The antique was actually connected to the bookshelf. After I bumped into it, the bookshelf turned into the wall, and there was a passage inside."
“I was terrified. I was afraid that if I discovered some secret, the master would kill me. I quickly tried to turn the antique again, and the bookcase was restored to its original state. After cleaning it up, I ran away as fast as I could.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning immediately said, "Take me to the study to find that secret room."
Jiang Ning told Liang Fa and the others to stay there and watch over the others, while he had the maid lead the way.
On the way, Jiang Ning kept thinking about the identity of the mysterious girl. The maid led the way, her expression hesitant and afraid, but she finally couldn't help but speak.
Will you kill us?
His tone carried a hint of fear.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning looked up at her and said, "As long as you don't harm the people, there will be no problem."
Hearing this, the maid felt somewhat relieved, but then asked, "Is the Huashan Sect a sect that helps us and protects us from being bullied?"
His eyes were filled with curiosity.
Jiang Ning thought for a moment and nodded.
The maid's eyes brightened slightly: "Wu Yong borrowed twenty coins from me the month before last and hasn't paid them back. Can you help me get them back?"
"hehe."
Jiang Ning couldn't help but laugh and nodded.
"can."
Although the maid didn't know why Jiang Ning was laughing, the chilling murderous aura around him dissipated considerably with that laugh, and he didn't seem so scary in the maid's eyes anymore.
Upon entering the study, the maid walked to the bookcase, grabbed a vase on the second shelf, and spun it to the side. The bookcase immediately began to rotate, revealing a hidden entrance to a secret room to Jiang Ning.
Without wasting words, Jiang Ning picked up his sword and walked into the dark room.
The darkroom wasn't very spacious, about the size of a normal bedroom. It was very simple, with nothing but a desk in the center.
There was a box on the desk.
Jiang Ning went to the desk. There was a box on the desk, more than a foot long, that was locked. He didn't know what was inside. Jiang Ning looked at the lock on the box, then inserted his sword into it and twisted it hard. With a snap, he broke the lock. Then he raised the tip of his sword, inserted it into the crack of the box, and lifted it up. The box opened, revealing a thick stack of silver notes inside. Next to it were some envelopes with the words "Grandma" written on them.
These are letters written by Hu Anyu.
Jiang Ning wasn't particularly interested in the silver notes. He picked up the envelopes and opened them to take a look, but the contents inside made his eyes widen in surprise.
"Holy Maiden?"
Looking at the last words on these envelopes, Juanyu referred to the girl as the Holy Maiden.
In the martial arts world, there is only one person who is known as the Holy Maiden.
Ren Yingying.
That girl is Ren Yingying?
Jiang Ning couldn't help but be startled.
Below these letters were several replies, written by the Holy Maiden to Hu Anyu.
After Jiang Ning opened it, he became even more certain of his thoughts.
These replies stated that the cult needed a lot of money recently and asked Hu Anyu to raise the funds as soon as possible. However, it seems that Hu Anyu did not raise enough money or for some other reason. One of the last two letters reprimanded Hu Anyu for his poor performance. The last letter stated that the Holy Maiden would come to Xiangyang in person and asked Hu Anyu to welcome her.
Chapter 55: Which family's disciple goes on a rampage down the mountain and hacks down an entire street?
Holding these letters, Jiang Ning's face remained expressionless.
Looking at the silver notes in the box, they totaled 20,000 taels. Adding the property deeds outside, which were worth about 30,000 taels, the total came to more than 50,000 taels.
This is all of Hu Anyu's possessions.
Jiang Ning took the silver notes and envelopes and walked out of the dark room, where the maid was still waiting.
Are there any other dark rooms here?
Upon hearing Jiang Ning's question, the maid quickly shook her head.
"I don't know."
That's normal. She was just a maid, and she only discovered the secret room in the study by accident. Jiang Ning only asked about it casually.
When Jiang Ning and the maid returned to the open space they had been in before, Liang Fa and the other Huashan disciples were still guarding the maids and the Iron Palm Sect members.
"Junior brother, have you discovered anything?"
Upon seeing Jiang Ning return, Gao Genming approached and asked.
Jiang Ning put the silver notes and letters into his pocket.
Jiang Ning nodded.
"We found some letters and 20,000 taels of silver inside."
Gao Genming's eyes widened in surprise.
Twenty thousand taels?
Jiang Ning ignored his reaction and instead looked at the people in the open space not far away, asking the maid, "Are the people who owe you money inside?"
"Uh-huh."
The maid nodded like a chick pecking at rice, and pointed to a burly man in the crowd.
"it's him!"
The burly man who was called was startled, not knowing what had happened. He panicked even more when he saw Jiang Ning walking towards him.
People nearby quickly moved away.
"You...what are you going to do?"
As Jiang Ning walked up to him, the burly man swallowed hard, his voice trembling slightly.
Jiang Ning looked at him and said, "You owe her twenty coins?"
He pointed at the maid.
"what?"
The burly man looked blank for a moment, then came to his senses and hurriedly nodded.
"Yep."
Jiang Ning said, "Give her the money back."
The burly man was stunned for a moment, then quickly nodded: "Yes, yes."
He then hurriedly went to the maid, grabbed a handful of copper coins from his pocket, and placed them in the maid's hand without counting them. He then turned back to Jiang Ning with a fawning smile and said, "I have already repaid it."
Jiang Ning didn't even look at him, and asked the maid, "Is the number correct?"
The maid was stunned; she hadn't expected Jiang Ning to actually get her money back.
Upon hearing Jiang Ning's question, the maid finally snapped out of her daze, counted the copper coins in her hand, her eyes lit up, and nodded repeatedly to Jiang Ning.
"Yes, yes, there are five extra coins."
"Consider it interest."
Jiang Ning didn't ask her to return the five coins.
"..."
"..."
Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, and other Huashan disciples, along with the maids, were stunned when they witnessed this scene.
What's going on?
After further questioning, Jiang Ning and Lu Dayou and the others discovered that neither the maids nor the Iron Palm Sect members knew about any other secret rooms. They then escorted the maids and members back to the inn.
On the way, Liang Fa couldn't help but ask Jiang Ning why he didn't kill all these disciples. The maids were one thing, after all, they were just servants and unlikely to follow the Iron Palm Sect to do anything immoral. But these disciples were different; killing them all wouldn't be unreasonable.
He was enraged by the fates of the women he had seen in the brothel.
Jiang Ning smiled and said, "Senior brother hates evil as if it were his enemy, junior brother admires you."
"These people may all deserve to die, but is there really not one among them who doesn't deserve to die? Even just one?"
Liang Fa, Lu Dayou, and the others fell into deep thought.
"Hey, why did that person suddenly help you get your money back?"
At this moment, a maid quietly asked the maid who had led Jiang Ning to the study earlier.
The other maids also looked at her curiously.
The maid then recounted her conversation with Jiang Ning.
The others were taken aback.
When Jiang Ning returned to the inn, he found a Huashan disciple standing at the entrance. Upon seeing their large group, the disciple rushed over to Jiang Ning and said, "Junior Brother, Master has been waiting for you for a long time. He said you should go to his room when you return. He has something to tell you."
Jiang Ning was also looking for a talk with Yue Buqun when he heard what this Huashan disciple said. He nodded and said, "I understand. Thank you for informing me, Senior Brother."
After saying that, Jiang Ning walked into the inn and found that the first floor was full of people, most of whom were women who had been rescued from brothels, and some of them were their family members.