Chapter 12 – A Long Blade in Hand (2/2)

Seeing Li Qingshan approach him, Li Fugui slurred, “Come, drink, drink.” The stink of alcohol assaulted Li Qingshan’s nose.

Li Qingshan frowned and grabbed Li Fugui, dragging him into the courtyard. Without a single word, Li Qingshan scooped up a ladle of water and poured it into his mouth, which choked him into a coughing fit. He leaned over the threshold of the door and vomited.

Li Qingshan studied the courtyard and the house. It was a mess everywhere. Spider webs covered all the window lattices. It was truly run-down. In the past, Li Fugui’s family had been renowned in the village for their wealth, and the amount of fertile farmland in their possession was second to only caretaker Liu’s family. He had lived up to the name his parents had given to him.1 The whole family lived happily.

However, who could help that the world was unpredictable? It had all been reduced to this after sudden misfortune, which made Li Qingshan sigh emotionally. The mere happiness of ordinary people was just too fragile. However, with his unswerving determination and great ambitions, he despised people who sank into depravity and dejection and let themselves go the most. As a result, he was not particularly kind to people like this either.

Li Fugui was furious. “W- w- what are you doing?”

“Uncle Li, are you sober?”

Li Fugui saw Li Qingshan’s hostile gaze and shivered all over. He was not blind or deaf. He knew exactly what Li Qingshan had done in the village over the past few days. He was a real person of misfortune. “W- what’s the matter?”

“Do you know how Xiao Mao’s mother died?” Li Qingshan got straight to the paint.

“I don’t know, I know nothing.” Li Fugui paled from fright as soon as he heard that, making his way out quickly.

Li Qingshan grabbed his skinny wrist. “Is this what your wife would have wanted you to become?”

Li Fugui halted. “Erlang, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you. That’s trouble that you can’t afford to get involved with. Do you want to just lose your life for nothing?”

“I don’t want trouble either, but the trouble has already come knocking. If I have to live like you, I would much rather lose my life. I just want you to tell me what happened in the past.”

Li Fugui was startled by that. “What? It has already come knocking?” After quite a while of hesitance, he exhaled deeply and began narrating.

“After Xiao Mao’s mother shouted abuses in the streets outside the witch’s home, she came home and went to sleep. She was unable to get up the next day. Her body became cold and blue. So many strange things happened that night, a- and I saw…”

“What did you see?”

“A child!”

Li Qingshan finally confirmed that the murderer really was the witch.

Moreover, the witch had even said to Li Fugui sinisterly that not only did Xiao Mao miss his mother, but he also missed his father as well. It scared Li Fugui into giving a huge offering.

Li Qingshan slammed the wall with his hand. “She has gone too far. Haven’t you ever considered avenging your wife?”

Li Fugui reddened from frustration due to the contempt in Li Qingshan’s voice. He rushed into the house and pulled out a long, wrapped package from the bottom of a great big wooden box.

He opened the package and inside was a blade, a well-made blade of steel.

Li Qingshan drew the blade from its sheath and a certain coldness flooded out. The blade reflected his face perfectly.

The hilt was around a foot long, slightly curved and wrapped in black silk. It felt extremely pleasant in his hand. The single-edged blade was around two feet long and four inches wide. Compared to Li Qingshan’s knife that was only a foot long and had been made with shoddy craftsmanship, this blade was far superior.