In the bright moonlight, one could see that the man was about forty years old, short but sturdy.
The man lingered at the doorway for a moment, then tucked the cleaver into his chest and strode into the night.
“Young… Young Miss, is that man going to kill someone?” A-Man whispered, barely concealing her nervousness. “Or… did he just kill the people in this house?”
“There’s no smell of blood,” Jiang Si said softly, watching the man who was about to disappear completely into the darkness.
A-Man bit her lip hard. “Then that means… this man is indeed going to kill someone!”
Saying this, A-Man became a bit flustered, unconsciously clutching Jiang Si’s sleeve tightly. “Young Miss, what should we do?”
This sudden situation was something even Jiang Si hadn’t anticipated.
She had considered many scenarios for her night investigation of Wang Family Village, but she never imagined stumbling upon an ongoing murder case.
“A-Man, can you handle that man?”
“This servant can handle him. Although he looks sturdy, I can tell from his gait that he hasn’t practiced martial arts. I can easily deal with two or three men like him.”
Jiang Si pondered for a moment. Seeing that the man’s shadow had disappeared, she finally made up her mind: “Let’s follow him and see.”
Encountering such a situation, and ignoring it would weigh on her conscience, but all of this had to be premised on being able to protect themselves.
Jiang Si was very clear on one point: kindness beyond one’s abilities isn’t kindness, but foolishness, especially if it endangers those around you. That would be even more foolish.
“Alright!” Hearing Jiang Si say this, A-Man’s eyes flashed with excitement.
A-Man was, after all, a young girl who hadn’t experienced much of life. Even with her martial arts skills, she would still be nervous in such a situation, but this nervousness didn’t mean fear.
For the skilled and daring little maid, following a potential murderer was far more thrilling than searching for some tofu beauty in the dark.
“Young Miss, I don’t know where that man went,” A-Man said with a troubled expression after walking a few steps.
“That way,” Jiang Si walked in a certain direction.
A-Man looked around and asked quietly, “How does Young Miss know?”
Jiang Si replied softly, “That man has been drinking.”
The strong smell of cheap white liquor, even at a distance and through the thick night air, wouldn’t let her lose direction.
Jiang Si’s answer confused the little maid even more.
How did Young Miss know the man had been drinking?
Never mind, following Young Miss was surely the right choice.
The mistress and maid walked arm in arm for a short while before Jiang Si stopped first.
A-Man stopped right after, pointing ahead, “Young Miss, look, that man is over there!”
The man was about ten zhang away from them, now pacing outside the courtyard wall of a house.
A-Man pulled Jiang Si to hide behind a large tree in front of a house, observing the man’s movements.
The man finally made his move, stacking some mud bricks to climb over a part of the wall that had a gap.
The mistress and maid exchanged a glance and followed quietly.
“Young Miss, this house looks even more run-down than that man’s,” A-Man muttered, standing at the base of the wall with the gap.
Jiang Si, however, showed a complex expression.
Through the wall, she could already smell the astringent scent of beans. This smell seemed to have permeated every brick and tile of this household, something that couldn’t have formed in a short time.
If there wasn’t a second family selling tofu in Wang Family Village, then this house was very likely to be the home of the tofu beauty, Miss Xiu.
At this moment, Jiang Si suddenly felt somewhat emotional.
Perhaps good deeds do bring good rewards.
If she had chosen not to get involved earlier, by the time they found this place, the tofu beauty might have already met with misfortune, which would have greatly increased the difficulty of what she wanted to accomplish.
“A-Man, you go in first, then open the door for me from the inside. Hurry!” Jiang Si urged.
A-Man nodded, stepped on the mud bricks the man had placed at the base of the wall, grabbed the top of the wall with both hands and with a strong push, her entire body rose into the air, landing silently on the other side of the wall.
Soon, the courtyard door was gently opened, and Jiang Si, who had been waiting there, slipped in nimbly.
“Young Miss, that man has gone into the house!” A-Man said in a low voice.
Jiang Si quickly moved inward, with A-Man hurriedly following in front.
There was no light in the house, and even the moon in the sky was hidden behind clouds. The stars had dimmed, and the inky darkness of the world seemed to have suddenly intensified, much like the mood of the mistress and maid at that moment.
Suddenly, there was a sound, and the two involuntarily stopped, looking at each other in bewilderment.
“Damn it, can’t see a thing in this darkness!” The grumbling voice, though not loud, clearly reached their ears.
It turned out that the sound was from the man accidentally bumping into something.
The door to the main hall was wide open, with only half a curtain hanging between the main hall and the inner room. The man had already gone inside, and it was temporarily quiet.
At this point, A-Man didn’t dare to speak anymore and inquired with her eyes to Jiang Si.
Jiang Si, on the contrary, showed no nervousness and calmly lifted the curtain to look inside.
In the low, dim room, the man stood by the kang bed, staring motionlessly at the person on it.
The person on the kang suddenly turned over, and a voice filled with tears mumbled, “Niu Niu—”
A-Man’s eyes widened instantly, her eyes shining like stars in the darkness.
This was the tofu beauty’s home!
She couldn’t help but tug at Jiang Si’s sleeve, quite excited by this unexpected discovery.
Jiang Si shook her head slightly, signaling her not to make a sound.
A-Man quickly nodded.
At this moment, if anyone were to see this scene, they would surely find it spine-chilling.
On the kang lay a woman mumbling in her dreams, by the kang stood a man with a cleaver in his chest, and just half a zhang away behind the door curtain, two young women stood silently.
Such an absurd and bizarre situation would be enough to make anyone’s heart grow cold upon seeing it.
The man, as if his nerves were numbed by alcohol, hadn’t noticed the presence of Jiang Si and her maid at all.
In the light filtering through the window, he stared at the person on the kang with an infatuated, almost greedy look.
After a while, the man took out the cleaver from his chest and placed it by the kang, then rubbed his hands together.
A-Man tilted her head, looking at the cleaver in confusion.
Wasn’t this man going to kill someone? Why did he put down the knife?
A-Man soon got her answer.
The man suddenly lifted the thin blanket covering the woman and squeezed onto the kang.
Jiang Si quickly pulled A-Man back, making a chopping motion with her hand.
A-Man understood. With one hand, she grabbed the back of the man’s clothes, and with the other, she swung hard, striking the back of his neck.
The man let out a muffled groan and passed out, dragged off the kang by A-Man with one hand.
Jiang Si pointed towards the door outside, and A-Man understood, throwing the man, who was like a dead pig, into the main hall.
Jiang Si followed her out and lightly flicked her fingernail, sending a fine powder, almost invisible to the naked eye, into the man’s nose.
Having inhaled this mind-numbing powder, it was enough to ensure the man would sleep like a dead pig until dawn.
Just then, the woman on the kang suddenly sat up, screaming hoarsely, “Niu Niu, my Niu Niu—”