Chapter 54: You Might Not Believe It If I Told You

Due to the delay caused by the ambush along the way, it was already midnight when the group finally arrived at the post station.

The elderly man's guard stepped forward to knock on the gate. After a long while, a sleepy-eyed post station attendant holding a lantern emerged, rubbing his eyes. The moment he caught sight of the array of people outside the gate, he instantly snapped wide awake.

After opening the large wooden gates to let the horses and carts inside, he trotted over to a nearby courtyard. Soon, another man emerged hastily, tying his robe as he walked straight toward the carriage. "I am Yang Shuzheng, the keeper of this post station, paying my respects to Master Wei."

"Indeed. Master Yang, please go and help settle the people in that carriage first," Master Wei said as he descended from his carriage.

Master Yang immediately acknowledged the order and hurried toward the mule-drawn cart.

Just as he was about to ask how many people were in the cart and how many rooms were needed, the carriage door swung open. A child of about eight or nine hopped down, followed by another, and then another...

The last one seemed the youngest, whom the young woman driving the cart scooped up into her arms.

One, two, three, four... seven? The station keeper looked inside the carriage once more to make sure no more children were coming out, and then turned to ask Hong Xiaoduo, "Young lady, there are eight of you in total. Would two people per room be suitable? Or would you prefer a room for four?"

"Is there a heated kang dormitory? We'd like to stay together," Hong Xiaoduo said.

"A shared dormitory?" the station keeper asked uncertainly, then turned his gaze toward the elderly man.

The elderly man nodded, signaling that they should follow her wishes.

"Then please follow me," the station keeper said hurriedly, leading the way. Another attendant came over to lead the mule cart to the stable.

Tianxiu followed along out of habit. Hong Xiaoduo initially wanted to call him back, but seeing the elderly man's guard following closely with the horses, she decided to let him be.

Entering a room with a row of sleeping platforms, the station keeper mentioned that someone would soon bring water for washing, pointed out the location of the outhouse, and added that if they needed anything else, they only had to tell the attendant outside.

It was clear that the man was anxious to go and attend to Master Wei.

Although the children appeared as they usually did, expertly spreading out the bedding and arranging the pillows, Hong Xiaoduo knew they had been deeply shaken by tonight's events.

Even though they had previously lived in daily fear of beatings while trapped with those wicked people, the nature of tonight's ordeal was entirely different, and it was also unlike the encounter with the three bandits on the road earlier.

Out in the desolate wilderness, in the dead of night, so many men in black had appeared all at once.

Even though it was dark and they were too far away to see the gory details of the slaughter, the sounds of clashing blades and the agonizing cries of the wounded were exceptionally clear in the quiet night air of the wilderness.

Moreover, the two scumbags she had dealt with had met their end right beside their mule cart.

In fact, it wasn't that she hadn't considered luring those men further away before taking action; however, the intentions of those two bastards had been crystal clear: they wanted to seize the children to use as leverage against Master Wei.

Yuheng, having finished spreading the bedding, noticed that Yaoguang was still curled up in Hong Xiaoduo's arms, and quickly reached out to lift her down. "Shall Big Sister help you wash up?"

Usually so obedient, Yaoguang shook her head and refused to budge upon hearing this.

"Be a good girl, Yaoguang. Mother is very tired today," Tianquan chimed in from the side.

Hearing that Mother was also tired today, little Yaoguang finally reached out and allowed Yuheng to pick her up.

Hong Xiaoduo knew that Yaoguang was acting this way because she had been frightened by tonight's events. As for the other children, it was obvious that they had all grown much quieter than usual.

At that moment, an attendant delivered a shoulder pole carrying two buckets of water—one cold, one hot.

Tianxuan first mixed some lukewarm water and invited Hong Xiaoduo to wash up first. After washing her face, she wiped it dry with a cotton cloth. Then Tianji placed a foot basin filled with hot water by her feet and moved a small wooden stool over.

When Tianxiu returned, Hong Xiaoduo noticed an unusual expression on his face and softly asked him what was wrong.

She learned that on his way back, he had happened to run into Master Wei's guards escorting several battered men in black, reportedly taking them to the innermost courtyard of the post station for interrogation.

One of the men in black, slung across the back of a horse, had a severe facial injury that was covered in blood and looked quite terrifying.

"Mother, why don't you sleep in a room by yourself tonight? Some of us might have nightmares again tonight and disturb your rest."

Inside a spacious, empty hall in the back courtyard of the post station, several guards were interrogating the captives who had been brought back.

Xu Cheng'an, who used to be a coroner, was dragged into a corner of the hall by A-Dian, who pointed at two men in black on the floor and asked, "Help me take a look at what's wrong with this fellow. I couldn't find any wounds, but he simply cannot move."

Hearing this, Xu Cheng'an stepped forward, crouched down, and began inspecting the man. Indeed, there were no visible injuries. After scratching his chin and pondering for a good while, a possibility suddenly occurred to him. He stepped forward and flipped the man over so that he was lying face down, exposing a back that showed no signs of external trauma except for a few old scars from past injuries.

Hmm? Xu Cheng'an squinted at the regions of the man's thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, motioning for A-Dian to bring the lantern closer and shine it more clearly.

A-Dian also stared closely, but couldn't spot anything unusual. Suddenly, he saw Xu Cheng'an narrow his eyes and, with a trace of excitement, slowly slide his finger down from the man's thoracic vertebrae all the way to the coccyx.

"So that's how it is." His voice carried an unmistakable thrill.

Unable to see what was happening, A-Dian anxiously asked, "What is it?"

Xu Cheng'an signaled for him to repeat the exact same motion he had just performed.

A-Dian did so, and before his finger had slid even an inch, he understood what had happened.

The vertebrae below the man's thoracic spine were completely shattered.

"Why didn't I think of that?" A-Dian was filled with frustration.

Although he wasn't skilled in medicine, he had once heard others say that if a person's spine suffered a blunt force trauma, it would damage the meridians there, and in severe cases, result in paralysis.

"But, how was this even done? A-Dian, was this your doing?" Xu Cheng'an pointed at A-Dian.

A-Dian hurriedly shook his head. "It wasn't me. By the way, come and take a look at the injuries on this other fellow." He pointed toward another man in black.

"Which of our brothers did this? Did he lose his weapon and have to resort to a whip?" Xu Cheng'an muttered in deep curiosity as he examined the injuries on the second man's face and his limp, flaccid forearm.

"And what about this?" A-Dian pointed to a bloody hole in the man's knee.

Xu Cheng'an looked at it closely from every angle. "The wound isn't regular at all. I can't tell what caused it."

With that, he straightened up, paused, and thought it over—something wasn't right. "This... this doesn't seem to be the handiwork of our brothers."

A-Dian replied softly, "Indeed, it really wasn't done by any of our own men."

"What? Then who on earth did this? Could there be some martial arts master secretly helping us in the shadows?" Xu Cheng'an guessed aloud.

He looked at his sworn brother A-Dian, whose expression had turned rather peculiar.

"You don't mean to say you know who did this, do you?" Xu Cheng'an immediately demanded.

A-Dian sighed. "You might find it hard to believe if I told you..."