Narration System for the Journey of Martial Arts

Chapter 433 Lu Xiaofeng's Question

"Is there something special about his clothes?" Lu Xiaofeng asked.

Hua Manlou patiently explained:

“Deep in the Tianshan Mountains in Northwest China, there is a type of silkworm called the Tianshan Ice Silkworm, and the silk it produces is called Ice Silkworm Silk. This silkworm is extremely cold and has its own cold poison. If ordinary people are not careful, they may be crippled or even die. It is also very difficult to collect.”

"But the ice silk produced by it is warm in winter and cool in summer, and it has excellent toughness and a certain degree of defense. It is the emperor's favorite fabric. In the past, the production was scarce, and only the emperor and empress dowager could possess it. Even the empress and the head of the harem could only wear it if it was bestowed by the emperor."

“Every year, the imperial palace sends many people to the depths of the Tianshan Mountains to collect ice silkworm silk, so it is basically impossible for it to be circulated in the market.”

Lu Xiaofeng asked, "Could it be that Jin Jiuling was wearing this kind of silk?"

Hua Manlou nodded: "In recent years, due to the needs of the palace and noble families, the imperial palace and noble families have sent people to the depths of Tianshan to raise ice silkworms and increase production. However, the production is still scarce, and the amount of silk produced each year will definitely not exceed five pieces."

Lu Xiaofeng had no doubts; the Hua family was the richest family in Jiangnan, so it wasn't surprising that they knew about such rare treasures. But he couldn't help asking, "You can tell by smelling the spices, but how did you tell by the clothes?"

Hua Manlou rolled up his sleeves, revealing a thin layer of silk fabric clinging to them, and said, "I am blind, so my family inevitably has some preferences. I happen to have this kind of fabric."

As he spoke, he gently turned his arm, and in the sunlight, the silk fabric shimmered with a crystal-clear brilliance, like a streak of glass light flashing by, or like a shooting star streaking across the sky.

"This fabric has another characteristic: at certain angles, you can see a crystal-clear light," Hua Manlou said.

Lu Xiaofeng looked at Hua Manlou in surprise and asked, "You... can see?"

Hua Manlou lowered his sleeves, nodded, and said, "We can only see blurry phantoms. There is still a long way to go before we can fully recover."

"Does the 'Longevity Manual' also have detoxifying effects?" Lu Xiaofeng asked Su Yuchen.

Su Yuchen shook his head and said, "The Longevity Manual can only enhance the five senses, improving eyesight and hearing. Of course, in certain situations, it can also detoxify."

Lu Xiaofeng smiled happily and said, "That's good. You can finally get your wish and see this wonderful world that you think is beautiful."

………………

Only after descending the mountain and seeing the passenger boats moored in the river did Lu Xiaofeng ask, "So... you saw it?"

Hua Manlou nodded and said, "From the angle where I'm sitting, I can just see some blurry shadows."

Lu Xiaofeng remained silent for a long time before sighing, "Jin Jiuling only served as the chief constable of the Six Doors for a few years. Even if he took out all his wealth, he still couldn't afford the Ice Silk Robe worth ten thousand taels of gold."

Hua Manlou said softly, "As far as I know, there are definitely no more than fifteen garments woven from ice silkworm silk, and that includes those in the imperial palace. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they are worth a fortune."

Lu Xiaofeng asked, "According to you, where did Jin Jiuling's ice silk robe come from?"

Su Yuchen said calmly, "In this world, the family whose servants have the greatest audacity is the one from which they come."

Lu Xiaofeng asked in surprise, "You mean the palace? Yes, only the palace has the discarded ice silkworm silk, and those eunuchs, as long as they are willing to pay, they would not be afraid to do such a thing."

Su Yuchen continued, "Although I don't know Jin Jiuling well, I do know that he likes to drink the best wine, wear the most expensive clothes, and use the most expensive spices. Even when he goes to brothels to find girls, he won't accept anyone who isn't the top courtesan."

Hua Manlou said, "I also know that Jin Jiuling is an expert in antique appraisal and horse judging, and is a guest of honor of many aristocratic families and nobles. But..."

Lu Xiaofeng said bitterly, "But these two skills are not enough to buy the honey dragon incense and ice silk robe you mentioned."

Hua Manlou nodded and said, "Unless he owns a gold mine."

Lu Xiaofeng was in even more distress, as it was clear that Jin Jiuling couldn't possibly own a gold mine. Furthermore, Shaolin's wealth needed to support the monks' martial arts training, and they couldn't allow a lay disciple to squander it at will.

“But we have no evidence,” Lu Xiaofeng said. “The three people who have seen that Embroidered Bandit, Chang Mantian, Jiang Chongwei, and Hua Yifan, are all blind. Without evidence, if we identify the former chief constable of the Six Doors, people will probably think I’ve gone mad.”

Su Yuchen said calmly, "But I believe you always have a way. Lu Xiaofeng is always clever."

Lu Xiaofeng said, "I feel like you're insulting me."

"You don't need to feel it, I'm just embarrassed to say it. Your taste in friends is really not very good," Su Yuchen nodded.

Lu Xiaofeng: ...

………………

Inside the city of Gusu.

The three of them returned to the city and first found an inn. Lu Xiaofeng took a nice bath and then watched Hua Manlou and Su Yuchen have dinner.

"Now that you know it was Jin Jiuling who committed the crime, aren't you worried?" Lu Xiaofeng finally couldn't help but ask.

Su Yuchen said calmly, "Although Jin Jiuling committed the crime, the stolen goods are no longer in his possession, but in the hands of the person who disposed of them."

Lu Xiaofeng's eyes lit up, and he said, "Do you know who the person who received the stolen goods is?"

Su Yuchen said, "A woman."

"What woman?" Lu Xiaofeng asked.

Su Yuchen said, "There's a woman called Erniang. Now, I need you to help me find her."

Lu Xiaofeng asked in surprise, "Could it be that Jin Jiuling can't find that woman either? Don't lie to me, you must have a way to get Jin Jiuling to confess without anyone noticing."

Su Yuchen nodded and said, "I do have a way to get him to confess. However, that woman is a bit special. I'm afraid Jin Jiuling might not know where she is. I'm worried that if she gets frightened, it will take some effort to find her again."

Lu Xiaofeng asked, "Does she have some special identity?"

Su Yuchen said, "Besides being Jin Jiuling's lover, she is also a loyal bodyguard of the Southern Prince's Mansion. Whether that wealth still belongs to Jin Jiuling is now an unknown."

Lu Xiaofeng couldn't help but ask, "The assassins of the Southern Prince's Mansion? How do you know?"

Su Yuchen said, "I guessed!"

Lu Xiaofeng: ...

"Does that mean the Prince of Nan's mansion already knows that Jin Jiuling committed this crime?"

Su Yuchen shook his head and said, "Not necessarily. Just look at Jin Jiuling still roaming freely outside, and you'll know that the Southern Prince's Mansion doesn't know yet. Otherwise, just because he dared to provoke the Grand Prince, the Southern Prince's Mansion would have dared to kill him directly, without needing any evidence."

Hua Manlou nodded and said, "The former chief constable of the Six Doors is nothing to the Southern Prince's Mansion. They can kill him without a second thought. Even Shaolin doesn't dare to go and ask why, and they are in a hurry to distance themselves from him."

Su Yuchen smiled and said, "Love is something that always makes people blind and foolish. Although that woman is a loyal bodyguard of the Southern Prince's Mansion, I'm afraid she may not still be of one mind with the Southern Prince's Mansion when it comes to Jin Jiuling's matter."

Chapter 434 The Answer from Old Madam Xue and Sikong Zhaixing

The next morning, after having breakfast at the inn, Lu Xiaofeng hailed a car and left the city.

"Aren't you going to ask me how I plan to investigate?" Lu Xiaofeng said to Hua Manlou and Su Yuchen from inside the carriage.

Hua Manlou laughed and said, "You just said yesterday that you were going to find the tigress of the Xue family. When did your memory become so bad?"

Lu Xiaofeng smiled wryly and said, "I thought you would give me some advice. After all, this is the path that Jin Jiuling arranged for us. I just hope that the final result won't surprise me too much."

Su Yuchen said calmly, "If you can still get a question wrong when the answer is already known in advance, that would be surprising to us."

The Xue family of the Divine Needle is located on a hillside outside Suzhou City. After driving to the foot of the mountain, Lu Xiaofeng looked at the wildflowers covering the mountain and sighed, "Jin Jiuling really went to great lengths to save us a lot of trouble."

Having said that, Lu Xiaofeng got out of the car.

A moment later, he lifted the carriage curtain and said, "Aren't you going up?"

Su Yuchen shook his head and said, "I have no interest in watching you flirt."

Hua Manlou said softly, "Knowing there's a tigress on the mountain, I don't want to be accidentally hurt."

Lu Xiaofeng: ...

………………

Watching Lu Xiaofeng and the beautiful tigress disappear down the hillside, Hua Manlou asked, "What kind of answer do you think Old Madam Xue will give?"

Su Yuchen smiled and said, "Whatever the answer, it will definitely be unexpected. Perhaps Lu Xiaofeng will think that he made a mistake."

After a long time, when Lu Xiaofeng came down from the mountain, his face was completely black, but the tigress behind him was very happy.

When the tigress saw that there were still two people in the carriage, she became unhappy, while Lu Xiaofeng became happy again, but he dared not show it and was also very hard to hold back.

"Hello, I'm Xue Bing." Although the tigress was unhappy, she was still reasonable with others.

"Flowers fill the building".

"Su Yuchen".

Xue Bing nodded and said, "I know you."

Su Yuchen said calmly, "As long as you don't mind that we're getting in your way. But I think Lu Xiaofeng is very happy."

Xue Bing smiled and used the martial art that women are most proficient in, a martial art that men can never avoid. Even though Lu Xiaofeng's Lingxi Finger was very powerful, he could only grit his teeth and endure the pain in his waist.

"Thank you so much," Lu Xiaofeng said through gritted teeth.

Su Yuchen waved his hand: "No need to be polite."

"Guess what Old Madam Xue said?" Lu Xiaofeng asked, taking out the embroidered handkerchief.

Hua Manlou said softly, "Old Madam Xue is the successor of the Needle Goddess Madam Xue, she can't be wrong."

Lu Xiaofeng couldn't help but say, "She certainly wouldn't be mistaken, but she told me that this embroidered handkerchief was embroidered by a woman, and definitely not by a man."

"So?" Su Yuchen asked.

Lu Xiaofeng couldn't help but raise his voice and said, "But according to our previous analysis, that person is definitely not a woman, unless he castrated himself."

Su Yuchen smiled and said, "Even if it was embroidered by a woman, what about the man?"

Lu Xiaofeng paused, as if he had thought of something.

Hua Manlou sighed, "If the embroiderer is a woman, then it can't possibly be a man. Conversely, if that man could never be embroidering, then..."

Lu Xiaofeng looked at the embroidered handkerchief and said incredulously, "If he's not embroidering, then he's taking apart the flowers?"

As he spoke, he opened the window and held up the embroidered handkerchief to the sky outside. With his sharp eyesight, he could naturally see the dense stitches on the handkerchief, which were the marks left after the threads were removed.

Lu Xiaofeng put down the embroidered handkerchief and said with a wry smile, "So, in the end, the one who did the embroidery must have been a woman?"

"What are you talking about?" Xue Bing asked, puzzled.

Lu Xiaofeng said with a wry smile, "Right now, all I want is to find a place to have a drink."

Xue Bing smiled sweetly and said, "I know a place with very good wine. I'm sure you'll be satisfied."

Lu Xiaofeng nodded, and the carriage then took a detour in another direction.

………………

In a roadside tavern.

Lu Xiaofeng was in a bad mood, so his temper was also not good. After he poked several holes in the table with his fingers and smashed two steel knives from Taihang Mountain with a slap, the perceptive passers-by had already gotten up and left.

Xue Bing sweetly raised the wine pot, clearly wanting Lu Xiaofeng to drink more, and Lu Xiaofeng was obviously happy to drink more, finishing about seven or eight tenths of the pot of wine...

"Even if he could guess that I would go to Madam Xue to confirm certain things, there are so many women in the world, even if he did, Madam Xue couldn't possibly guess which woman embroidered it, could she?"

Hua Manlou said, "So he must have a backup plan, a plan to guide you to find that woman."

As they were talking, Xue Bing had already called the waiter to bring another pot of wine. The waiter eagerly carried the tray over with a smile.

Just as the waiter bent down to serve the wine, Lu Xiaofeng sat up straight, one hand protectively covering his chest, the other grabbing the waiter's neck.

"Lu Xiaofeng is still Lu Xiaofeng."

The waiter chuckled, without moving his body or feet, yet he had already moved three feet away, and said with a grin.

“Sikong Zhaixing is still Sikong Zhaixing; he’ll never change his thieving ways,” Lu Xiaofeng said.

With a flick of his wrist, Sikong Zhaixing sent the tray in his hand gliding lightly across the wine shop and landing on the counter. His lightness of movement and his skillful technique were truly exceptional.

He stepped forward and sat down opposite Lu Xiaofeng, saying, "There's no other way. I'm a thief. Someone hired me to steal something from you, so naturally I had no choice but to come."

Lu Xiaofeng's spirits lifted, and he asked, "What are you stealing?"

Sikong Zhaixing said with a grin, "A handkerchief."

Lu Xiaofeng couldn't help but ask, "A red handkerchief with black flowers?"

Sikong Zhaixing nodded.

Lu Xiaofeng asked, "Who hired you?"

Sikong Zhaixing rolled her eyes and said, "I'm a thief, how could I possibly reveal my employer?"

"Can't even tell friends?" Lu Xiaofeng asked.

Sikong Zhaixing nodded and said, "Friends are friends, and business is business."

"You can't refuse?" Lu Xiaofeng then asked.

Sikong Zhaixing sighed, "Business deals can be refused, but favors are hard to repay."