Chapter 245: Chapter 161: "Reverting to an Ordinary Person
"Or what?"
A cold snort came from the treetops. Chu Chengfeng’s expression changed, his shoulders twitched, and his sword popped half an inch out of the Sword Box. A faint dragon’s cry echoed from within. But the blade quickly slid back into place. Chu Chengfeng laughed and cursed in the direction of the voice, "Or what? If something happened to you, who would I tell about your heroic feat of abducting a married woman all those years ago?"
A figure dropped from the treetops. It was none other than the elegant, scholarly-looking adulterer, Xiao Buping. Hearing this, Xiao Buping flew into a rage. "Others might not know the real story, but you do! Do you have to go around boasting that I have a thing for sheltered, married women? Do you want everyone in the Jianghu to hunt me down?"
Chu Chengfeng’s expression suddenly hardened. He looked at Xiao Buping’s bloodstained shoulder. "You’re injured?"
Xiao Buping sneered. "Aren’t your injuries just as bad as mine? Otherwise, with your skills, how could you not even notice someone was following you?"
Chu Chengfeng forced a smile. "You’re always walking on walls. You have a deep foundation. It’s no disgrace to be tailed by you."
The two looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Just then, Zheng Xiu felt his head ache again. This time, he clutched his forehead but said nothing. ’I’ll get used to it.’
Xiao Buping’s laughter trailed off, coming to an abrupt halt. "The person I was talking about... is her."
A slender figure walked out from the woods.
CLANG!
A flash of cold light left its sheath and landed in Chu Chengfeng’s hand. When he saw the newcomer clearly, his wrist trembled, and he nearly dropped his longsword. "How can it be you!" he exclaimed in shock.
’Oho~’
Zheng Xiu clutched his head without a word. He glanced back, amused despite his headache. As the saying goes, "if it’s not your business, hang it up high." Once he calmed down and detached himself, completely separating the memories of Gongsun Mo from his own as Zheng Xiu, he adopted the mindset of a mere spectator, no matter what happened.
The person who walked out of the woods was none other than the one he’d briefly met at the teahouse, the companion who had shared hardships with Chu Chengfeng at the base of the cliff, spending every day and night with him—Wen Shishan.
Both in pain and enjoying himself, Zheng Xiu began to watch the show. Gongsun Mo also remained silent, either because he was unfamiliar with the affairs of the Jianghu and couldn’t interject, or because he was simply stunned.
CLANK.
The shackles clanked, the sound crisp and clear.
Chu Chengfeng lowered the National Preceptor from his shoulder.
"You’re with them?" Chu Chengfeng’s gaze was fixed on Wen Shishan.
Xiao Buping gave a bitter smile from the side. "Not originally. Not until she held her sword to my neck."
Wen Shishan’s lips were pressed tightly together. After a few moments of silence, she looked into Chu Chengfeng’s eyes. "Just as I thought. That half-scroll of the ’Late Fall Maple Scene’ is on you."
Hearing this, Xiao Buping’s jaw dropped. He trembled, his breath catching in his throat. After a long moment, he said, his eyes wide with fury, "The legends say that whoever collects all of Gongsun Painting Saint’s Four Seasons Map can crack the secret of Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault. And you have it?"
Gongsun Mo said in surprise, "My grandfather’s Four Seasons Map is on you?"
The air suddenly fell silent.
Wen Shishan pointed at Gongsun Mo in shock. "Your grandfather’s... Four Seasons Map? You’re from the Gongsun Family?"
Xiao Buping was furious. With a SWISH, he snapped open his Iron Fan. "You dishonorable Chu the Dog! How could you hide something so huge from me! And here I was, treating you like a brother, risking my life to help you attack that Prisoner Transport Vehicle! We swore a blood oath over a chicken’s head! Hah! If this is how it is, then we’re no longer brothers!"
Chu Chengfeng glared at Xiao Buping. "Shut the hell up! You think a leaky mouth like yours can keep a secret? When I brought you in on this, didn’t I tell you there’d be a huge reward waiting for you afterward?! Did you really think that if I found Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault, I wouldn’t give you a share? You’ve known me for over a decade! You probably even know which of my underpants have holes in them! Do you really think I’m that kind of selfish, shameless bastard?"
"Reward?" Xiao Buping snorted. "How was I supposed to know if you didn’t tell me? I thought you were just asking me to go whoring with you!"
"No! You are!" Wen Shishan could no longer maintain her masculine facade. In an instant, she was a woman again, tears streaming down like a bursting dam, her voice choked with sobs. "You heartless man! You knew all along that I am a descendant of Pear Blossom Manor!"
Chu Chengfeng was stunned. "I didn’t..."
"You knew, you knew, you knew!" Wen Shishan’s voice drowned out Chu Chengfeng’s. "You knew all along that your father and my father committed a shameful deed together years ago!"
"You knew all along that my father and your father murdered an innocent family over a copy of the ’Late Fall Maple Scene’!"
Chu Chengfeng’s jaw dropped. "Huh?"
’My dad never told me!’
Wen Shishan continued her tearful accusations. The moment she saw the "Gongsun Descendant," everything clicked into place. She cried, "You knew even earlier that my father and your father came to blows over the Late Fall Maple Scene, and in the end, they accidentally tore it in half!"
Chu Chengfeng was even more shocked, his mouth agape. "HUH???"
’My dad never told me about that either!’
Xiao Buping said, "I never knew your dad was that kind of dad!"
Wen Shishan gave a tragic, teary-eyed laugh. "Heh, no wonder your father was so ruthless when he dueled my father back then. No wonder when your father asked mine where the remnant scroll was hidden, my father said he’d burned it, and your father gravely wounded him in a fit of rage! At the time, I thought he was asking about the Pear Blossom Sword Manual! No wonder before he died, my father warned me over and over never to open the hidden compartment in the seventh book on the sixth row of the ’B’ bookshelf in the Library Pavilion!"
"So Meihua Manor has been plotting this all along! You knew about this from the start!"
Chu Chengfeng spat out a mouthful of blood. "So it wasn’t burned? No, wait, let me explain, I absolutely did not know..."
"You don’t have to lie to me anymore!" Wen Shishan stared at Chu Chengfeng with the look one gives a "scumbag," her eyes filled with despair. She pointed angrily at Gongsun Mo. "If you weren’t plotting something, why would a descendant of the Gongsun Painting Saint be here, at this very time and place? If you didn’t bring him here to crack the secrets hidden in the Late Fall Maple Scene, what, did he just happen to be passing by?"
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