The blood-stained finger on the ground suddenly beckoned to her.
This beckoning made all the hair on Jing Hengbo’s body stand on end.
She stared unblinkingly at that finger, slowly backing away—this scene was too eerie. Only a fool would approach on invitation.
However, her steps soon stopped, because after that finger beckoned, it pointed downward, landing on the muddy ground and began to write.
Jing Hengbo stared blankly at the finger. Well, the finger was quite slender. Well, the handwriting seemed pretty good too. Well, she seemed to be focusing on the wrong things…
A line of characters appeared in the dirt. She blinked, not quite understanding why the owner of this hand, who could clearly stand up and communicate with her directly, insisted on hiding behind the wall corner and playing ghost.
Soon she understood why.
The finger suddenly paused on the ground, then pointed behind her, pointed at the writing on the ground, and then suddenly disappeared.
At the same time, a voice slowly sounded behind her.
“What are you doing?”
The voice was clear and cold, like plucking harp strings in falling snow on a quiet night. Jing Hengbo sighed.
That persistent ghost Gong Yin had still come after all.
But had he seen that eerie hand or not?
Gong Yin’s tone remained calm and distant, with no discernible change. “Had enough fun?”
Jing Hengbo hummed a response.
“If you’ve had enough fun, then come back.” Gong Yin didn’t mention the street murder at all, as if such matters were trivial.
Jing Hengbo made another acknowledging sound and hurried to crouch down to help Cui Jie, but seemed to lack strength. After getting Cui Jie halfway up, she slipped from her arms. Jing Hengbo turned to look at Gong Yin.
Gong Yin waved his hand, and a guard appeared like a ghost and shouldered Cui Jie.
Jing Hengbo glanced toward the ground from the corner of her eye—with all that helping and shuffling just now, both the writing and bloodstains on the ground were gone.
Jing Hengbo was wondering if they would be discovered by pursuing soldiers when leaving, when she suddenly heard a loud shout in the distance: “Found that murderous woman! Come quickly!” She could hear chaotic footsteps and voices all heading in that direction.
A simple diversion tactic, but very effective. At least when Jing Hengbo was surrounded by Gong Yin’s guards and emerged, no one paid attention, and they returned to the inn quite smoothly.
At the inn entrance, Jing Hengbo saw the still-unwell Jing Jun anxiously looking out at the door. When she saw her, Jing Jun seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and hurried forward saying, “Are you all right? I just heard something happened on the street…” As she spoke, her eyes swept behind Jing Hengbo, and her cheeks suddenly took on a faint blush.
Jing Hengbo was looking around at the street activity and didn’t notice her expression. Hearing the concern in her voice, she felt warmth in her heart, took her hand and smiled, “Don’t worry, with so many people around, how could anything happen?”
Suddenly a cool breeze passed by, white robes fluttering—Gong Yin had already entered first. Though he said nothing, his body language was full of “you’re all so talkative.”
Jing Hengbo pursed her lips and followed with cat-like steps. Jing Jun pressed her lips together, stepped aside, and looked at Gong Yin’s retreating figure.
Gong Yin and Jing Hengbo’s rooms faced each other. As long as Gong Yin was willing, he could split open Jing Hengbo’s door from across the hall at any time. Jing Hengbo’s protests against this arrangement were ineffective, so she could only quickly rush past him and slam her door shut with resentful force.
She sat in her room for a while, thinking about the words she had seen written on the ground, feeling irritated and restless. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly opened her door again and peered toward the opposite room.
As soon as the door opened, the white-robed figure who had been standing with his back to the door and hands behind his back slowly turned around. His eyes were fixed like deep-sea pearls in the twilight sunlight. The pale golden sunlight danced at his hair tips, making his face appear even more snow-like.
Jing Hengbo hadn’t expected him to be standing at her door the whole time and couldn’t help but freeze.
“What are you doing here?”
Gong Yin’s gaze was light, looking past her shoulder. “What are you opening the door for?”
Jing Hengbo paused, raised an eyebrow, “…I want water to wash my face!” She looked around, “Hey, why did you transfer away the two guards at my door? You won’t let me go out, but you transferred them away—what if I have needs?”
Gong Yin extended his hand toward her.
Jing Hengbo was stunned again—what was this for?
“Basin.”
Jing Hengbo almost wanted to clean out her ears—had she heard wrong?
She looked down at his hand—delicate and white, with clear lines, slender fingers, and beautiful joints… the hand belonging to Dahuang’s number one person.
This hand was waiting for her basin?
“Don’t you want to wash your face?” His tone was cold and natural. “How can I fetch water without a basin?”
This time Jing Hengbo really wanted to clean out her ears.
It wasn’t that she was belittling herself or elevating Gong Yin, but someone like Gong Yin personally fetching face-washing water for her?
Besides, anyone could see he’d never done such servant work before. Didn’t he know that inn servants would bring up hot water in large jugs, with no need to take a basin to fetch it?
He had properly sent away the guards just to stand at her door and do menial work?
Unfortunately, after she stared at the nobly dignified Master Gong for a long time, he showed no intention of withdrawing his hand. Jing Hengbo could only go back to get a basin and slap it into his palm.
“I want it scalding hot! Bring it to me quickly!”
Use power while you have it—it expires if unused.
Gong Yin glanced at her, took the basin, turned and walked to the railing. Below the railing was the first-floor courtyard, where a servant was laboriously carrying a large jug of hot water as he passed by.
Gong Yin beckoned.
The jug flew from the servant’s hands, soaring upward and landing lightly and cleverly in his palm.
The servant looked up with his mouth agape, his expression like he’d just seen a deity fall from the sky.