Chapter 24: Brothers for Life

“What’s happening? What’s going on?”

“A corpse! Oh heavens, it’s a corpse!”

“Quick, quick, get back! Could it be some kind of plague?”

Liang Guang arrived in a hurry, leading Old Zhang the bailiff, Xiao Jia, and several others. He barked out, “What’s all this commotion and noise about?”

Mao Hu-zi sat slumped on the ground, his legs trembling. He pointed at the large stone used for resting. “Gou-zi... Gou-zi... it’s Gou-zi.”

They had spent half the night searching for Gou-zi, but hadn't found so much as a single strand of hair.

Who could have guessed that when they opened their eyes this morning, in a half-dreaming state, they would be met by Gou-zi’s deathly pale face?

Thinking back to just a moment ago, when he had his arms wrapped around Gou-zi’s neck, his face pressed against that lifeless countenance, lip to lip!

Mao Hu-zi could no longer suppress the churning in his stomach; he rushed to the side and began to retch violently.

He prayed to the heavens and all the gods—who could endure such a thing!

Xin Nian almost lost her composure. She curled into her mother’s embrace, covering half her face with her hand to suppress her endless laughter.

“Mom, did you see that man’s expression? Hahaha, it was hilarious. I could laugh for three whole days. It was so fun.”

They kept bothering her every single day! They deserved it.

She had dug the corpse out in the middle of the night, swiped all the money from Gou-zi’s body, and even kindly helped the brothers "embrace" each other in a display of brotherly love. Wasn't that wonderful?

What a kind girl she was!

She was so kind-hearted and considerate that it was almost criminal; even she felt moved to tears by her own virtue.

Wasn't Mao Hu-zi pining to find his brother? Well, she found him and arranged for them to be right by his side, sleeping together in brotherly harmony. And yet, he was unhappy!

Humans truly are contradictory.

Looking at that magnificent expression on his pancake-shaped face—it was absolutely delightful!

Just the thought of Mao Hu-zi’s features flying about in terror made Xin Nian unable to stop laughing.

Xie Ninglan felt quite helpless. She hugged her little daughter closer to her chest to prevent her from laughing too ostentatiously and being noticed.

Then again, her daughter was still young in this life, only at the age of a middle schooler. It was normal for her to do something a bit eccentric, especially since she was teaching a bad person a lesson. It was harmless.

Xin Nian’s shoulders shook uncontrollably. As she slightly lifted her head from her mother’s embrace, her gaze collided with the two young masters of the Earl of Yongkang’s manor.

To be precise, the people from the Earl of Yongkang’s manor and the Marquis of Enyi’s manor were always discreetly observing them, and they had just happened to catch the interaction between Xie Ninglan and her daughter.

It didn't matter if they saw her stifling a laugh.

Xin Nian shot them a glance, then withdrew her gaze as if no one were there, continuing to giggle while tucked into her mother’s arms.

Han Li leaned toward his elder brother and whispered, “Brother, did you see that? I told you that girl from the Xin family was a bit strange.”

“Someone who can be treated with such formal courtesy by Gu Lao is naturally no simple figure,” Han Zhao replied, nodding thoughtfully.

When their eyes had met just now, the young girl hadn't shown a shred of guilt for being caught; instead, she had swept a gaze over him quite boldly.

That look... it made one feel as if they were looking at a lifeless object...

Han Zhao’s shoulders involuntarily shivered.

“Brother, do you think the death of this bailiff might be related to this girl?”

After careful consideration, Han Zhao shook his head. “I don't know, and we must not speculate wildly. We shall observe further. Do not offend the Xin family along the way.”

On the other side, Liang Guang had already led his men forward to inspect Gou-zi’s body, and his expression was incredibly grim.

“What exactly happened?”

Several bailiffs helped the pale, vomiting Mao Hu-zi over to sit on the side.

“How did you find him?”

One of Mao Hu-zi’s followers said with a face full of terror, “Chief Liang, the moment our Brother Mao opened his eyes, he saw Gou-zi hugging him.”

“Don't... don't say another word!” Upon hearing this, Mao Hu-zi’s face turned even whiter. His stomach churned again, and he couldn't help but lunge to the side to vomit.

Liang Guang glanced at him, then looked at the shaken follower. “You saw it?”

“Yes, yes, I saw it clearly. Gou-zi’s two hands were draped over Brother Mao’s shoulders. Brother Mao screamed in terror and tried to pry Gou-zi’s hands off. The hands were stiff, and with a *crack*, they snapped off.”

Old Zhang the bailiff rubbed the goosebumps on his arms. “Alright, alright, don't be so detailed. Just tell us how Gou-zi’s corpse ended up next to Mao Hu-zi?”

“That’s what we don't know! We searched for Gou-zi until the middle of the night last night and didn't even see a shadow of him. This morning, it was as if he appeared out of thin air, just lying there next to Brother Mao!”

“Bullshit! Stop with that superstitious nonsense,” Liang Guang barked. “Hurry up and find a place to bury him so we can get back on the road.”

“Chief!” The follower was shocked. “Aren't we going to investigate?”

“Investigate? What do you have to go on to investigate? I’m not from the Ministry of Justice or the Court of Judicial Review. Investigating, investigating—don't you know we have to travel? Is today's task finished? If we don't finish, we won't reach Heng County in four days. Do you want me to fly there to handle the handover and the seals?”

The follower was rebuked so harshly that he slunk away, scurrying back to Mao Hu-zi to help him up.

The bailiffs efficiently lifted Gou-zi’s stiff corpse and began digging a grave and burying him in an orderly fashion.

Judging by their well-trained manner, this certainly wasn't the first time they had done this on the road of exile.

Xin Nian smiled inwardly, touching the two condensation beads attached to her wrist.

The beads didn't require anything to tie them; as long as they were against her wrist, they wouldn't fall off. By pulling her prisoner's sleeve down to cover them, no one could see.

After ascending to the second rank, her physical fitness had improved significantly, making ordinary travel no problem for her in the future.

However, due to the current limitations of her spatial power level, she could only make ten beads at most, and she couldn't let her parents use them for the time being.

But it was fine; she had great confidence in herself. She estimated that once she reached the third rank, she might touch upon some profound truths of space and be able to tear open rifts to search for the space she had lost in the past.

She wasn't greedy; it would be enough if she could just recover some of her former supplies.

Xin Wenyuan, having just been fitted with his stocks, hurried over to his wife and daughter. “Daughter, I just saw your elder brother’s eyelids twitch. Is he about to wake up?”

Xin Nian took her father’s hand, which was bound to the wooden stocks, and channeled some healing energy into him. “Not that fast. He still needs to take four doses of medicine. I reckon he’ll wake up tomorrow or the day after.”

“Dad, does your shoulder still hurt?”

“It’s alright.”

“I’ll apply some medicinal salve to your shoulder again at noon.”

Xin Wenyuan grinned, looking at his "little padded jacket" (daughter) with increasing joy.

He had become accustomed to walking around during the day with the ten-pound stocks, and combined with the absorption of energy into his body, his constitution was gradually strengthening. Carrying them today was clearly not as exhausting as it had been the first two days.

But unable to resist his daughter's care and affection, the old father's heart melted.

“Then I’ll be going. You two take care of yourselves.”

“Hey, hey, hey, Old Xin, Old Xin!” Xie Ninglan winked at him and took hold of Xin Mohan, who was standing nearby. “Take good care of your son. Come over together when it's time for lunch.”

Xin Wenyuan:...

What a sin. He always forgot about this poor little son; the concept simply didn't exist in his brain.

Seeing how pitiful the child looked, Xie Ninglan reached out to pat his head. “Han’er, be good. Don't be afraid to follow your father.”

Little Xin Mohan nodded and obediently followed behind Xin Wenyuan as the father and son walked forward together.

Xin Nian slid over to her mother's side. “How novel. Being in her thirties and having a younger brother.”