[Featured on Wattpad's Asian Fantasy and Wattpad's Undiscovered Gems!]
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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Through the rising dawn, the two beggars led the group of warriors and soldiers down Black Street, and they soon left it behind them, trading the chaotic and messy paths for a group of residential family homes. These homes were humble, but alleyways wrapped and coiled around them — without prior knowledge of the area, any individual with even the best sense of direction could be easily lost.
"Here," one of the beggars declared, pointing down one of the alleys toward a small courtyard. "It was around ten in the evening when we accompanied Miss Xue to this area. She insisted on going inside and told us to wait for her out here. We weren't sure about that, so we followed her in quietly. And then, we were knocked unconscious. When we woke up, Miss Xue was nowhere to be seen. And . ."
The beggar's words trailed off as he rubbed his neck with his fingers. "And then . . you all know the rest."
"Thank you. You two did well as men and as disciples."
Jiang Qing reached into her coin purse, pulling out ten taels for each of them. "Spend them wisely, alright?" she asked with a small smile, as they held out their begging bowls to her.
"Thank you for your generosity, Chief!"
The two quickly dismissed themselves with her permission, counting the coins to themselves as they left. "I'm sorry, everyone," Jiang Qing said, watching the two disciples of the sect leave. "I should have been more attentive to Xue Bing. We shouldn't have left her by herself."
"No. Miss Xue was Lu Xiaofeng's responsibility," Constable Jin insisted. "Qing'er, don't worry yourself over it."
Lu Xiaofeng's nose scrunched up, faint wrinkles appearing by his eyes and upper cheeks as Constable Jin seemed to simply brush away his opinion and his input before he even could make out a single word. "Constable, you —"
"Either way, we still have a case to solve," Constable Jin continued, once again glossing over Lu Xiaofeng's words. "Let's move on, shall we?"
While Hua Manlou and Jiang Qing agreed to the constable's suggestion to investigate, Lu Xiaofeng had no choice but to push down his words and thoughts, to remain professional both in front of his closest friend and a man of the law.
"Ah, sir, I recognize this area, back from when we were doing census calculations!" one of the constable's soldiers announced as they approached the alleyways closer. "There are four families living here, and all of them are quite decent. The person who captured Miss Xue should not be around here."
The constable lifted a single index finger, dismissing the man's words. "Not necessarily," he said. "They could be somehow messing with our minds, if that's the case and the families have not moved away."
As the areas seemed to be residential homes, the constable requested for his men to wait outside for their return, not wishing to spook the residents of the homes with their admittedly invasive presence. But with four people, all with impressive techniques in their arsenal, the constable was sure that the risk of entering the alleyway further was minor, if anything.
