After Jing Minghe dodged the attack, he saw a bamboo pole piercing through the town mayor's son's neck. He recognized the pole; it was the one that had fixed He Duo's corpse earlier.
The bamboo pole was held in Chi Hao's hand.
Impaled like a candied haw, the town mayor's son finally stopped moving, but his expression grew increasingly ferocious.
"My goodness, he's still not dead?" Jing Minghe exclaimed, inching towards the exit.
Chi Hao forcefully shoved the human-shaped candied haw he was holding into the floor. "Go!"
Jing Minghe didn't hesitate and ran out of the house with Chi Hao.
As they ran, Jing Minghe asked, "Chi Hao, do you know how to get out?"
"I wasn't carried in."
"Ah?" Jing Minghe paused before realizing, "Oh."
He had been carried in a sedan chair and couldn't see outside, so he naturally didn't know how he had entered or how to leave. But Chi Hao was different. Asking him that was indeed a pointless question.
Jing Minghe glanced around and confirmed with Chi Hao, "This is the mayor's house, right?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't we find the mayor's son yesterday?"
Jing Minghe remembered that he and Chi Hao had split up to search the mayor's house yesterday, and the half he searched had yielded no results. When he asked Chi Hao later, the other man had also said he hadn't found him.
The longer he spent with Chi Hao, the less Jing Minghe wanted to suspect him. He hoped Chi Hao could be his partner, not a hidden threat he had to eliminate.
He wanted to ask Chi Hao if he had encountered any unusual circumstances yesterday, which prevented him from finding the mayor's son.
After all, he had only finished searching his half not long before hearing the mayor leading people to search the house. Perhaps Chi Hao hadn't found the target because of that.
However, he never voiced the question until they had successfully escaped the mayor's house.
"We're safe," Chi Hao said, stopping. As Jing Minghe reached out to steady himself against a wall, Chi Hao grabbed his wrist. "Don't touch anything."
"No, I..."
"I lied to you yesterday," Chi Hao released Jing Minghe. Before Jing Minghe could ask, he confessed, "I found him, but I couldn't save her."
So he had been lied to.
Jing Minghe was displeased and asked with a hint of accusation, "Why didn't you say so?"
"Trouble."
"What? Trouble?"
Jing Minghe curled his lip. Although he had received the expected answer he least wanted, it was still a reason, even if it felt a bit perfunctory.
He could somewhat understand Chi Hao's notion of "trouble." If others had known the specific location of the mayor's son while sorting through clues yesterday, who knew what they might have done, especially Chen Yi.
The two walked down the deserted street. It was so quiet that apart from their footsteps, no other sound could be heard.
"Right," Jing Minghe suddenly remembered, "We made such a commotion just now. Why didn't anyone from the mayor's household come out? Yesterday, when we were searching, they even came out to search the house."
"They couldn't hear."
"What? Couldn't hear?" Jing Minghe asked, bewildered. "How do you know?"
Chi Hao stopped and turned to look at Jing Minghe, sighing softly with a trace of helplessness. It wasn't helplessness towards Jing Minghe, but towards himself. He never liked explaining things to people, feeling it unnecessary. The outcome would remain the same, always developing as he predicted and achieving the desired effect.
But he couldn't help but say a few more words to Jing Minghe. This peculiarity made him uneasy; anything he couldn't control made him feel endangered.
Jing Minghe stopped as well when Chi Hao did, and they stared at each other.
Seeing Chi Hao staring at him for a full three minutes, Jing Minghe assumed Chi Hao still had something to hide and was unwilling to tell him. He cleared his throat and said with a smile, "Brother Chi, I think that in a place like this, surviving requires everyone to work together. No matter how strong you are, there are always things you overlook. Actually, I understand you, but everyone..."
"I killed him once yesterday."
Jing Minghe's words were suddenly interrupted by Chi Hao. He didn't immediately understand what Chi Hao was saying.
"Killed him? Whom did you kill?"
"The mayor's son," Chi Hao explained. "When I found him yesterday, He Duo was already dead. Yesterday, the commotion I made killing him was even greater than just now. Until I found you, no one in the mayor's house went to his room."
Jing Minghe took a deep breath. He desperately wanted to ask Chi Hao how many clues he had withheld, but he had dealt with the mayor's son for half the day and had just gone through a life-and-death escape. He was genuinely tired and didn't want to play word games with Chi Hao.
"Alright, let's go back first," Jing Minghe rubbed his temples. "That guy's crying made my head spin."
Chi Hao nodded and turned to continue walking.
As they neared the ancestral hall, Jing Minghe couldn't help but ask Chi Hao, "Why aren't you asking me what clues I got from the mayor's son?"
Chi Hao glanced at him, his tone indifferent. "When you want to say, you'll say it. Why should I ask?"
"Minghe? You're back?" Youmi and Shen Yue walked towards them. Youmi looked at Jing Minghe excitedly. "I'm so glad you're alright. I knew that with Mr. Chi here, you would be fine."
Youmi glanced at Chi Hao as she spoke. This man, though strange and terrifyingly cold in personality, was incredibly reliable.
Jing Minghe tugged at the corner of his mouth. Even though he was very reluctant to admit it, he knew that without Chi Hao, it would have been very difficult for him to escape.
"By the way, Sister Youmi, are you going out at this time? Isn't it too early for people in town to be out?"
"We're not going out," Youmi explained. "I was worried about you, so I waited here. Shen Yue is accompanying me."
"Ah, I see," Jing Minghe smiled. "Thank you for your concern. I'm fine now. You have things to do later, so it's best to rest for a while."
"Okay."
Youmi nodded, and the four of them walked back together.
The two women walked ahead, whispering to each other. Jing Minghe couldn't help but want to discuss something with Chi Hao again.
He turned and found Chi Hao staring intently at Shen Yue ahead with an unfriendly gaze.
"Chi Hao?"
As Jing Minghe spoke, Chi Hao suddenly moved forward and pulled Youmi towards Jing Minghe, while simultaneously blocking Shen Yue and demanding, "Who are you?"
Youmi, spun around, paused before recovering and asked in confusion, "Mr. Chi? What are you doing? This is Shen Yue."
"Oh?" Chi Hao said coldly. "Are you sure?"
If anyone other than Chi Hao had asked this question, Youmi would have confidently answered him. But it was Chi Hao, who, no matter what he said or when, always made others unable to refute him or feel confident enough to do so.
Youmi didn't know how to answer Chi Hao, so she looked at Shen Yue, the one being suspected.