Chapter 1343 - 1019: The Mysterious Young Master Jia

"What are you doing!?"

This low cry immediately woke up Wo Xue by the bedside. She opened her eyes in surprise, and her first reaction was to look down at the bed. She saw that Shang Ruyi still had her eyes tightly closed, sleeping deeply. Wo Xue furrowed her brow slightly but breathed a sigh of relief.

At least, Shang Ruyi was okay.

So, what happened?

Her mind was still a bit muddled and couldn’t react, but she still looked up, and her face immediately showed an expression of astonishment.

Because this small wooden hut was too small and evidently not prepared for guests, everyone had to find a place where they could barely settle each night. Wo Xue herself sat by the bed, always watching over Shang Ruyi, Lei Yu sat at the foot of the bed leaning against the wall, and Lu Xiao was sitting by the wall not far from the bed. Nobody spoke, and they fell asleep, losing consciousness with the faint sound of a wooden fish tapping, consumed by fatigue.

As for the other two men, they seemed to have always been by the eastern room.

But when Wo Xue looked up, she saw Wang Shaoqiu, not knowing when, had walked over to their side, standing in front of Lu Xiao, bending down to look at her; moreover, his eyes full of bloodshot veins, rumored to be from staying up all night, seemed filled with a desire to swallow the person in front of him!

Wo Xue couldn’t help but gasp: "You—"

Finally, their voices woke Lu Xiao.

She came to slowly, her eyes just partly open, seeing the silhouette of the person in front of her, and immediately widened her eyes as if startled by something, and said in terror, "You, what are you doing!?"

"..."

Wang Shaoqiu said nothing, nor did he show the embarrassment of being caught, just slowly straightened up, without explaining a word, and turned to walk to the other side.

The three women were stunned for a moment.

Especially Lu Xiao, who was long accustomed to the myriad abilities men used to evaluate and hunt her, and could handle them all with ease. However, against a man like Wang Shaoqiu, whose intentions were cunning, which she couldn’t understand or predict, she felt an inexplicable fear, as if her heart was about to jump out of her chest when she first opened her eyes and met his gaze.

Seeing him leave, Lu Xiao hurriedly got up from the ground, her breath turbulent, looking towards Lei Yu and Wo Xue.

Their expressions were also somewhat complex.

None of them intended to protect Lu Xiao, but being women too, they could somewhat feel Lu Xiao’s unease and fear. Lei Yu stood up with her stiff legs, trying to comfort her, "It’s okay. He—"

She wanted to say, "He doesn’t dare do anything," but her gaze inevitably moved past Lu Xiao to Wang Shaoqiu’s shoulders as he turned his back to them, and she immediately noticed that the whole hut was brightly lit and due to its small size she could see through to the hall and eastern room, realizing at once that the eastern room was empty; no trace of the Young Master Jia who knelt on the cushion to tap the wooden fish and chant yesterday night!

She immediately said, "Where is he!?"

Upon hearing this, Wo Xue also came to her senses and immediately stood up, "That Young Master Jia, how come he’s gone?"

With lingering fear, Lu Xiao wanted to turn her head, but seeing Wang Shaoqiu’s back still standing in this small hut, she couldn’t calm herself immediately. Just as she took a deep breath, preparing to look back, Ashina Zhuxie’s voice came from outside: "Is he not here?"

Wang Shaoqiu had already walked into the hall, looking around again, his eyes scanning over the three women.

"He’s indeed not here."

It was then that everyone realized the brightness inside the hut was due to the door being opened, and Ashina Zhuxie walked in from outside as they spoke. Originally, they planned to guard the Young Master Jia all night and discuss the Left General’s Tomb at dawn, but due to the toil of these days, especially Wang Shaoqiu’s frail health, and Ashina Zhuxie having hardly climbed a mountain before, the climb yesterday had indeed worn him out, so the two of them had fallen asleep shortly before dawn.

Upon opening their eyes, they realized Young Master Jia was missing.

Ashina Zhuxie immediately went out, searched around the hut, found nothing but a clay stove for cooking behind the hut, and enquired with the Turkic soldiers and Shang Ruyi’s attendants who were stationed outside the hut. They had not seen Young Master Jia come out all night; Ashina Zhuxie sensed something was wrong. He continued to search himself while worrying about whether Young Master Jia was hiding in the hut somewhere, so he had Wang Shaoqiu come back to inspect carefully again.

However, Wang Shaoqiu, for some unknown reason, was staring at Lu Xiao.

After saying this, Ashina Zhuxie looked at the confused and solemn expressions of the people inside the hut, his brows furrowed even more tightly.

Lei Yu said: "Could he have left while we were all asleep?"

Ashina Zhuxie said: "Indeed, everyone inside the hut was asleep, but the soldiers outside were not. According to the rules, two people would get up for patrol every hour, and they did not see him leave."

"If he didn’t leave, where could he go?"

"..."

At this moment, Lu Xiao finally calmed down, slowly turned around, instinctively ignoring Wang Shaoqiu, and said to Ashina Zhuxie and Lei Yu: "Since those outside didn’t see him leave, he should still be in this hut."

Ashina Zhuxie turned his face to look at Wang Shaoqiu: "Did you find anything?"

Wang Shaoqiu shook his head.

But he continued: "She’s right, those outside couldn’t be mistaken, especially with so many people out there. It’s unreasonable that he could leave without disturbing anyone. He must be hiding somewhere in this hut."

"Why would he hide?"

"I fear it’s for the Left General’s Tomb."

Mentioning the Left General’s Tomb again, Ashina Zhuxie’s gaze became even sharper. He stared at Wang Shaoqiu intently and said: "Do you mean—"

Wang Shaoqiu said: "We shouldn’t be mistaken, Zuo Chen An must have set up his real tomb on Skytop Mountain. This so-called ’Young Master Jia’ must know the truth about the Left General’s Tomb!"

Actually, last night, everyone had already had such speculation in their hearts, and the night passed with Young Master Jia’s mysterious disappearance seeming to confirm this suspicion.

Lei Yu said: "But the hut is only so big. If he hasn’t left, where can he be hidden?"

"..."

Wang Shaoqiu did not speak immediately but turned around again and slowly paced towards the eastern room, where the shrine and cushion sat quietly, but the wooden fish in front of the cushion was overturned on the ground, perhaps due to Young Master Jia’s hasty departure.

He walked to the front of the cushion, bent his head in contemplation for a while, and suddenly reached out and flipped over the cushion!

Beneath it, a wooden board was exposed!