In the dark passage, Yin Chenming was still damp, his hair dripping with water. The jade ornament hanging from the tip of his hair caught the light and reflected a faint glow.
Yin Chenming glanced at Wen Qingchen.
Wen Qingchen also glanced at him.
The two turned their backs to each other simultaneously, without a word.
Yin Chenming dried off the water on his body, while Wen Qingchen began examining the passage, wondering where they were.
A strange atmosphere lingered between them.
After a while, Wen Qingchen turned back to look at Yin Chenming.
By then, Yin Chenming had dried off the water from his clothes.
Wen Qingchen looked him up and down and asked, “I say, big brother, which ditch did you crawl out of?”
Yin Chenming: “…”
Yin Chenming’s lips pressed into a thin line beneath his mask, and his tone was icy: “It was a pond.”
Wen Qingchen shrugged: “Alright, a pond, not a ditch.”
After speaking, Yin Chenming’s brows furrowed again beneath the mask.
Mentioning the pond reminded him of the woman taking his three pieces of personal clothing…
He cast a deep, fleeting glance at her.
Wen Qingchen, however, didn’t think of that at all. In fact, she was a bit surprised and asked, “What were you doing in a pond? Is there a pond nearby?”
This dark and ominous cave had countless paths leading who knows where. Could there be an underground pond?
Yin Chenming didn’t answer but asked in return, “You?”
His tone was so cold and indifferent that if one word sufficed, he would never say more.
Strangely, Wen Qingchen understood exactly what he meant—it was a question asking why she was here.
She replied, “If you’re here for a reason, then naturally I am here for the same reason.”
Wen Qingchen was clever.
This “big brother” showing up in the middle of the night must have a purpose!
Of course, she kept her own intentions to herself.
Yin Chenming remained silent, his eyes, dark as the surrounding shadows and bottomless, emotionless beneath the silver mask, staring at Wen Qingchen.
This time, Wen Qingchen didn’t look away. She stared right back at him.
The two of them locked eyes, as if whoever looked away first would lose.
A silent battle unfolded in their gazes.
“Master…” At this moment, the cautious voice of Sixteen sounded: “We have new findings. Do you want to come and take a look?”
Sixteen was worried.
He had returned and immediately noticed the strange atmosphere between Master and Wen Qingchen. He couldn’t shake the odd feeling.
Of course, what bothered him even more was how Wen Qingchen had ended up here.
Yin Chenming withdrew his gaze and swiftly turned, his black outfit blending into the dimly lit passage like a shadow, moving swiftly.
Wen Qingchen, seeing this, turned her eyes and followed him.
Sixteen asked, “Miss Wen, when did you discover this cave?”
Yin Chenming walked ahead, seemingly indifferent to the two behind him.
Wen Qingchen smiled and said, “It’s a funny coincidence. I went up the mountain to gather herbs and accidentally found this cave, so I came in.”
Sixteen hesitated. “…Gathering herbs in the middle of the night?”
Wen Qingchen blinked. “Little brother, don’t you know that some herbs must be gathered at dawn?”
Sixteen, not understanding medicine, naturally didn’t know, so he let that question pass and asked, “Then how did you know there was a cave under the pond?”
Wen Qingchen stopped in her tracks. “Wait, a cave under the pond? You guys…”
Wen Qingchen’s mind quickly turned, and she soon understood the surprise in his words.
“You mean, you and this big brother came here from the bottom of a pond?”
Sixteen was also surprised. “Aren’t you?”
“No,” Wen Qingchen replied. “Which pond are you talking about?”
For some reason, Wen Qingchen had a vague sense of unease in her heart.
Sixteen’s expression turned subtle. He gave Wen Qingchen a deep look and said, “The pond on Qingcheng Mountain.”
Wen Qingchen: “…………”
Qingcheng Mountain, the pond!
Why was her heart racing like this?!
Could it be… Could it be related to the three pairs of underwear she found?
74
Perhaps it was the subtle expression on Sixteen’s face that made Wen Qingchen connect the underwear to the two people in front of her.
She took a deep breath, planning to play dumb: “So… Qingcheng Mountain’s pond, huh, so familiar, haha…”
Nope! Not listening!
When she picked up the underwear, there was no one around! No one knew it was her!
But, but they all went to the pawnshop and had the pawnshop owner tell her to ‘return it to its rightful owner.’
Doesn’t that mean they knew it was hers when they came to Cai Hua Tuo’s medical clinic?
Sixteen, with a complex expression, said, “That’s right, the pond where you took those three pieces of intimate clothing.”
Wen Qingchen: “…………”
She stared at Sixteen in disbelief.
Sixteen calmly met her gaze.
Wen Qingchen spoke slowly, “Really, little brother, one should always leave a line when dealing with others. It’s better to leave things unsaid, or you might end up dying because of your loose lips. Do you understand this, little brother?”
Sixteen: “……”
Now, Sixteen felt embarrassed. At first, he had thought Wen Qingchen had taken the master’s intimate clothes for some bad purpose, but it turned out she had only pawned them for some silver.
After finding out about Wen Qingchen, they went to investigate her identity and learned about her and Wen Huan’s siblings’ experiences, so they felt a lot of sympathy.
“Miss Wen, have you returned the items to their rightful owner?”
Wen Qingchen, irritated, snapped, “Of course! What do you think I wanted to keep them for?”
Then, feeling a bit disgruntled, she added, “I say, little brother, those clothes wouldn’t happen to be yours, right? Looking at your size, you don’t seem like someone who could fit into them.”
Sixteen: “…………”
His face immediately turned bright red, and he jumped up in anger, “Stop spouting nonsense! Those belong to our master!”
And what’s with her comment about his size! When did she even look at him like that?! She’s a woman—does she have to be this vulgar?!
Wen Qingchen whistled, “Oh, so they’re your master’s, huh? Well, I thought you couldn’t fit into them. As for your master…”
Wen Qingchen said with a meaningful glance, “He’s still… quite presentable.”
Sixteen: “?????”
What does that mean?
Did you already see it?!
No, no, wait!
Why am I thinking like this? I should be sternly telling her to mind her words and not make assumptions about the master!
Finally, Yin Chenming, who had been walking ahead, couldn’t take it anymore. He turned around, his cold gaze settling on them.
“Are you done talking?”
Sixteen immediately fell silent, silently covering his mouth.
Wen Qingchen, after feeling awkward, decided to embrace the situation with shamelessness. After all, the more she cared, the more embarrassing it would be for herself, so she boldly said, “Big brother, don’t be angry. Actually, this is my fault. Since I know it’s you, I’ll definitely apologize. Don’t worry, in the future, I won’t touch it if I see it again. But big brother, you should also be careful. You can’t blame it all on me. I mean, you left your clothes lying around.”
Yin Chenming: “…”
Sixteen quietly said, “Miss Wen, every time our master goes to the pond’s cave, his clothes get wet. These were the spare clothes we prepared for him.” Moreover, the master always sets up restrictions, and usually, not even animals can enter. Who would have thought someone like her would appear?
Wen Qingchen recalled that the man in the mask was also soaked just now. It seems there has been a misunderstanding.
“Alright, it’s my fault. I’ll treat you to a meal to make up for it, how about we let this go?” Wen Qingchen said generously, “Now, we should figure out where this place is. I won’t hide it from you—I came from the mountain next to Qingcheng Mountain… There’s a cave full of ghosts, called the Night Cold Cave, and I came here from that cave.”
It seems that the two caves are connected. Yin Chenming furrowed his brows. No wonder so many ghosts appeared in Tang City; it turns out they came from that place called Night Cold Cave.
