Chapter.13
It was about six o'clock when TaiFeng got back. But she wasn't going to go to sleep just yet. She had to gather information to make a compelling case.
With that thought in mind she headed to the library. There were still three hours until curfew, so she thought she could gather enough info by then.
Walking into the building she looked around and saw Wangji sitting down and reading scriptures.
Slightly bowing at him, she then went over to the bookshelves.
"YueYang Chang Sect. YueYang Chang Sect. Where are you." She muttered under her breath.
"What are you searching for?" Wangji said from behind, scaring the heck out of her.
Jumping, she turned around.
"Oh, it's just you." She said letting out a breath.
"I'm looking for any information about the YueYang Chang Sect. It's quite important."
Nodding Wangji went over to a few bookshelves and took out five or so books. He handed them over with that stoic expression of his.
"Thanks." She replied going over to the desks and taking a seat.
Opening one of the books she got to work.
After about ten minutes she found a family tree of the sect.
Chang HanYu, the former sect leader was much loved by the people and under him, the sect prospered.
However, a while back he got sick with an unknown illness. The First young master, Chang PingYun also got sick along with his wife, Chang Meili, who was pregnant at the time. After four days, the three succumbed to the illness and passed away, leaving the Second Young Master Chang, Chang Li Huang, as the current Sect Leader.
"That's hella sus." She whispered under her breath.
After looking through the records she managed to find some notes that the doctors took regarding their condition.
Their symptoms were muscle pain, dilated pupils, increased salvation, abnormal heart rate, loss of speech and convulsions.
'Something sinister happened here. And Shangguan Zhu knows something about it.'
"Hold on a minute!"
She said, startling Wangji in the process.
She then opened her qiankun pouch and pulled out a small book labled 'Poisons and Their Symptoms.' It had her name stitched onto the spine in red thread.
Wangji stared at her with curiosity.
After flicking through the pages she stopped.
'Water Hemlock.'
It made perfect sense! All the symptoms matched up and it grows near water. Since YueYang is a river side town, it wouldn't be hard to acquire.
The puzzle pieces finnaly fit together.
Chang Meili, Chang PingYun and Chang HanYu never contracted an illness.
They were murdered.
This was a inheritance killing.
Since Chang Li Huang wasn't the main successor of the sect, he chose to murder his father and older brother. Chang Meili was most likely collateral damage in his plot to take over YueYang Chang.
After looking through the records again, she found a list of people that worked there during the time of the murder.
And on that list was none other than Shangguang Zhu.
He was working as an assistant healer at the time, and he quit shortly after the deaths.
She was thrust out of her reverie by a knock at the door.
"Oi, tiger, are you in here?" Jin Zixuan said, walking in to the door.
"What's up, peacock?" She said massaging her temples.
"Young Lady Jiang invited us for soup, remember." He said, twiddling his fingers.
"Oh, right!" She said getting up.
'I was so preoccupied with the YueYang Chang Sect, that I forgot about my side ship.'
"Well then let's go."
As she walked out the door Wangji went over to her desk to clean up.
Noticing she left her book, he turned around to stop her, but she had already left.
Intrigued, he flipped through the pages.
'Water Hemlock?'
He looked down at the Chang Sect Records in confusion.
'What exactly is she up to?'
He thought as he slipped the book into his sleeves.
"Oi, peacock, did you take my advice?" She asked on their way to the dorms.
"I got her a hairpin, but I don't know how to tell her how I feel." He said pulling the hairpin out from his robes.
"Well, at least you have good taste in jewellery. But, don't worry about it, just keep calm and speak from your heart. I'll help you out from the sidelines."
She said encouragingly.
"JieJie! I brought the peacock with me. I've also got some beef jerky and spicy pork." She said, dragging the nervous peacock into the courtyard.
"You brought meat!"Wuxian said, over the moon.
"And it's spicy too! A'Hong your the best!"
He gave her a thumbs up.
"A'Hong, it's nice to see you."Yanli said pausing, her gaze lingering on Jin Zixuan.
"Um, the peacock wanted to come, so." She said as they sat down and she took out the pork and jerky from her qiankun pouch.
"I still don't know why you hang out with him." Jiang Cheng grumbled.
"Because he's an awesome person! And peacocks are my favourite bird, so." She said.
"Thanks a lot, Tiger. I am pretty awesome." He laughed.
"No problem, peacock."
"A'Hong, stop calling Young Master Jin a peacock." Yanli chuckled.
"Its fine, I don't really mind." He said with a smile.
"Oi, peacock." Wuxian said.
"You on the other hand can't call me that!" He yelled.
"How come you let TaiFeng call you that then?" Wuxian remarked while Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow.
"That's beacase he calls me Tiger, it's a give and take situation. Besides, it's different when I say it." She said, taking a spoonful of soup.
"Different how?" Jiang Cheng scoffed.
"It just is."
"So, A'Hong, what have you been doing lately? I haven't seen you anywhere today." Yanli said as she poured some more soup.
"Oh, nothing much, just solving a triple murder."She nonchalantly replied.
"....The worst part is, I can't even tell wether or not she's joking." Jiang Cheng deadpanned.
"I wouldn't be surprised." Zixuan added.
"This soup is great." Zixuan said, distracting from the weird conversation.
TaiFeng took this as a sign.
"Ah! I almost forgot." She said standing up, getting everyone's attention.
"What did you forget?" Yanli asked.
"Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, we were supposed to do that thing you promised , remember."
"What thing? We've barely seen you all week, when did we promise you anything?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"You know! The thing!" She said, gesturing towards the exit.
'For the love of god, just take the hint and give these two some privacy!'
"I'll tell you once we leave, so please."
She practiclly had to drag them away from the table.
She winked at Zixuan and mouthed out 'don't mess this up!'.
"Why did you drag us away like that?!" They both screamed.
"Will you two keep it down! I'm trying to arrange for JieJie's happiness and I don't need you two getting in the way and messing it up! So if you guys aren't going to keep quiet, you might as well just leave, I can handle thus all on my own!"
She scolded them.
"Jeez, now I know why Jin Zixuan calls you Tiger." Wuxian groaned.
"Just activate this talisman." She said shoving a talisman written with purple ink at Jiang Cheng.
"What kind of talisman is this? Why is the ink a different colour?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"Activate it and you'll find out."
Doing as she said, he activated the talisman.
Nothing happened for a few seconds, until little purple fireflies started appearing and flying off in Yanli and Zixuans direction.
"I've set the mood, now all we can do wait and see."She said dragging the boys along with her to give them some privacy.
"So, Young Master Jin, it seems you've been spending a lot of time with A'Hong recently. I'm glad to see she's making friends." Yanli smiled.
"Uh, yeah, she's great. Although I'm starting to believe she really can see into the future." He awkwardly laughed.
The fireflies soon made their way to the pair. Floating around them beautifully.
"How beautiful. I never knew fireflies came in purple." Yanli gasped, putting her hand out to touch them.
'I've got to tell her how I feel! It's now or never!'
"Um, Yanli, I, uh, have something for you." He said, hands shaking with nervousness as he pulled out the hairpin from his robes.
"I know I wasn't the greatest person to you before this, but, well, I'd like to make it up to you. Since hanging around with TaiFeng, she helped me realize my feelings. And, well, uh, if your willing, I'd like to give this marriage a shot. If you'll still have me that is." She said ducking his head, avoiding eye contact.
"I'd love to." She grinned.
"Thank God! TaiFeng would kill me if I messed this up." He said, earning a laugh from Yanli.
"She really is a typhoon at times, isn't she?" She giggled.
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