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A man can see without his eyes, but he cannot see without his heart.
Hua Manlou learned this truth after his sense of sight was taken away from him at a young age. But he's for...
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The constable froze. Never did he expect to have been accused by a woman. Even after all the kindness he had treated her with, she dared throw this sort of attitude at him?
He would have moved closer toward her, daring her into a fight had Hua Manlou not been standing right in front of her. "You —!"
"Enough, enough," Lu Xiaofeng shooed him away. "Both of you, there's no need to argue. I want to reveal something. As you all might know, Zhu Ting is my good friend. Unfortunately, because of his business, he's ignored me for quite some time now. But, a few days ago, before the banquet, he sent me a pitcher of wine."
Hua Manlou tilted his head in curiosity, recalling many of the pitchers of wine that were sent to his good friend over the past few days. Weeks. "That's nothing out of the ordinary," he pointed out. "You are very popular, and you love to drink. Anybody would send you wine. Maybe he wanted to start anew, to ask for forgiveness."
"That's what I thought too," Lu Xiaofeng said. "But when I uncorked the top of the wine bottle and drank it, I immediately regretted it. Inside the bottle wasn't wine, but instead, it was vinegar."
Jin Jiuling laughed, imagining the alcoholic's rapid disappointment at the described scene. "He caught you in a prank!"
"If it was any other person, that might be true," Lu Xiaofeng said. "But I know him. He would never try to make fun of me like this, or prank me. He's not that type of person, and he's a very serious, intentional man. So I tried to find him, to have it all explained. I then discovered he was missing, and what was even odder was that his wife had also gone missing."
Chief Jiang nodded slowly, a sound of understanding on her lips. "They both disappeared right before the banquet, right before we were all poisoned," she realized. "The iron-boot bandit may have captured his wife, a non-martial artist, to blackmail him into helping him with the tunnel system."
"Exactly," Lu Xiaofeng agreed. "Zhu Ting doesn't mind dying, but if his wife is held hostage, that's a different matter entirely. On the other hand, he would never betray his friends, so he would only tell the bandit half of the way in, not the entire way. He would still be fearing for his wife's safety, so he requested my help to come here."
He turned towards Hua Ruling, a regretful look in his eyes. "I'm sorry to tell you, Uncle Hua, but I didn't come here to celebrate your birthday," he apologized. "I came here to help my friend."
As he spoke, one of the small candles flickered out, only smoke leaving its wick. "What happened?" Lu Xiaofeng asked, feeling for a breeze of any kind.
"Does it have to be explained?" Hua Ruling asked in desperation. "This room is sealed -- once the candles die out, we'll all suffocate to death, too!"
At that moment, the rest of the candles snuffed out, leaving the room in total darkness. Panic set within the group. "Actually, now is the best time to catch the bandit," Lu Xiaofeng declared.
