Chapter 169: Chapter 84 Sunken Boat_4
Murder, framing, slander, acting...
Every single matter was done purposefully by her.
"Yin Zheng." She suddenly called out Yin Zheng’s name.
"What’s the matter, Miss?"
Lu Tong turned around, walked over to Yin Zheng, and whispered a few sentences into her ear.
Yin Zheng was visibly shocked, looking at her in surprise.
Lu Tong nodded slightly. Yin Zheng bit her lip, glanced at the small kitchen, and ultimately didn’t say anything before she turned around and left.
After Yin Zheng had left, Lu Tong stood in the same spot for a moment, then took a lamp and walked into the small kitchen.
There was no one in the small kitchen, bamboo trays stacked with dried herbs covered the countertop and the floor. Upon entering, the dense scent of herbs was overwhelming.
After Xia Rongrong had departed, the previously occupied empty room could now be cleared out to store more herbs. In a few days, the kitchen would be more spacious.
Lu Tong placed the candle on the tabletop, bent down, and dragged a large bamboo basket from under the counter. The basket was filled with dry grass, and she reached in, pulling out a black porcelain jar.
The jar was as big as a large flowerpot, pitch black with not a single pattern. She removed the lid of the porcelain jar, leaning slightly over and reaching into the jar, appearing to carefully inspect something within.
The courtyard was empty, Yin Zheng had gone out at some unknown point, and only a faint light filtered out through the narrow windows of the kitchen. From the entrance of the kitchen, the woman’s back was turned to the door, and what exactly she was concentrating on was not discernible. One could only see the silhouette of the pitch-black porcelain jar in the night, like a chaotic dream.
She stayed in the kitchen for a while, for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, before standing upright. She took the lid, secured it on the jar, and put the jar back into the basket, covering it meticulously with dry grass until no trace could be seen. Only then did she push the basket back under the counter.
Having completed all this, Lu Tong took the lamp again and left the small kitchen, returning to her own room.
The door to the room was closed.
The last sliver of light disappeared from the courtyard, and only the gray, muted light of the moon, obscured by thin clouds, gradually illuminated the withered plum branches by the window.
In the midst of this silent darkness, suddenly, a shadow leaped down from the top of the wall, floating into the pitch-black kitchen like a cloud.
The door to the small kitchen wasn’t closed, a sliver of moonlight slipped in, casting everything in an unclear glow.
The arriving figure cautiously entered the kitchen, standing at the counter where Lu Tong had just been, and silently bent down, inching out the bamboo basket full of dry grass.
After rummaging for a moment, they felt the cool corner of something. Thus, they reached in the dark and pulled out a black porcelain jar.
The porcelain jar seemed heavy, yet it was very light when picked up, making it unclear what was inside. The figure sat down on the ground on the spot, hesitated for a moment, then forcefully pried open the lid of the jar.
The gap in the lid was stuffed with a cloth, and with some force, the lid was abruptly pulled off.
"Sssss—"
A black shadow shot out of the jar like lightning, biting viciously onto the arm of the figure.
A cry of shock reached their lips but was suddenly swallowed down. Caught off guard by the attack, the shadow violently flung their arm, sending the thing clinging to it flying forcefully against the far wall, where it slowly writhed by the door.
A sliver of thin moonlight slipped in from outside, illuminating the thing on the ground that looked like a tangled bunch of rope but was soft and limp.
A snake.
It was a barely breathing black snake, still wriggling.
The figure froze for a moment before hearing footsteps outside. Their expression suddenly hardened, and instinctively, they looked ahead.
The old wooden kitchen door creaked open as if unsteady, decaying teeth teetered on the edge of collapse, the sound itself carrying a sense of decay.
"Creak—"
"Creak—"
Gently swaying, it was finally pushed all the way open.
A stream of bright light lit up the kitchen.
The woman stood with the lamp at the entrance, the night wind blowing in from the courtyard, causing the dim light in her hand and the hem of her dress to flicker like a floating cloud, her clear eyes rippling slightly.
"Young Master Duan."
She looked down, her gaze falling on the round-faced youth slumped on the ground, and she smiled faintly, her tone as calm as it was chilling.
"Were you looking for me?"