Chapter Thirty-One: Lin Ruochen's Whereabouts

  Mo Wen was stunned, he had been stunned since the night when he discovered the belly band before, Ah Jiu would occasionally go to his room to ask questions, and the fresh smell on his clothes belonged to her.

  "Don't ask, whose thing is this?" Ye Xiao Yao held her belly and laughed loudly.

  "Ajiu left half an hour ago." Qiansui said with a smile.

  After being stunned for a moment, Mo Xun finally came to his senses, picked up the clothes on the ground, snatched the bellyband from Ye Xiao's hand and turned around to run out. He was gentle in nature, disliked noise, and rarely quarreled with people on ordinary days. Today's incident was just a sudden whim, curiosity got the better of him, wanting to see the thousand-year-old original form, but unexpectedly grabbed the wrong clothes. Thinking back to his actions and words by the spring earlier, he felt extremely embarrassed in his heart, this matter would surely become everyone's laughing stock later on, most importantly, Ah Jiu would definitely take him as a fool again, and it would be extremely awkward when they met again.

  After running a few steps, Mo asked to stop and went alone to return the clothes, which seemed inappropriate, but bringing a companion seemed even more inappropriate. After hesitating, he still ran towards Dongshan by himself.

  At a distance of ten zhang from the hot spring, he began to apologize, "Ajiu young lady, I thought it was Qiansui in the water and mistakenly took your clothes. The Taoist robes are similar in style, I absolutely did not do it on purpose."

  After shouting three times in a row, Mo asked arrived at the spring and put his clothes back in their original place before turning around and running away.

  On the way back, Mo Wen started to get annoyed. She was annoyed with herself for being careless, and also annoyed that Dao Xiang had taken her Daoist robe away without a word. However, after thinking about it carefully, she couldn't blame Ah Jiu either. It's only natural for girls to be shy.

  Near his residence, don't ask how much more ashamed he is in his heart. At this time, people like Ye Niang will definitely gather together to discuss this matter. If he goes back, he can't help but be ridiculed. He wasn't a frivolous person originally, but what he did was indeed frivolous. Even if it wasn't frivolous, at least it was rash. It's really laughable, and he has no face to show himself.

  It was unexpectedly quiet in the Taoist temple, without any chatting or laughing sounds. On the contrary, the people standing outside the door made him very happy, Laoji had returned.

  "Lao Wu, when did you come back?" Mo Wen walked towards Lao Wu.

  "Master, I know where your wife is!" Lao Wu heard his voice and quickly ran over.

  "Don't ask, when? Where?"

  "Seven days ago, in Ye City," said Old Five.

  "Go inside and talk." Mo didn't ask, pulling Lao Wu into the yard. The lame Taoist priest turned his head to one side, pretending not to see, as everyone's cultivation had made rapid progress, he didn't dare to offend them casually.

  There was no one in the courtyard, and the candlelight in the room had also gone out. Mo Xun brought Old Fifth back to his own room, and after entering the house, Old Fifth poured water from the teapot to quench his thirst. Mo Xun lit a lamp and waited anxiously by his side.

  Lao Wu put down his cup of water, wiped his mouth and began to speak: "Seven days ago, we were staying at an inn in Ye City. At the third watch, I got up to relieve myself and heard someone playing the zither. The tune sounded familiar, and after some thought, I realized it was the same one your wife played on your wedding day. I followed the sound of the zither outside and found that it came from a very large mansion."

  "Haven't you seen it with your own eyes?" Mo didn't ask, but his heart suddenly felt a chill. Feng Qiu Huang was a famous melody, often played when men and women were mutually infatuated. But relying solely on the sound of the zither couldn't confirm that the one playing was Lin Ruochen.

  "No, the courtyard wall of that house was very high. I had a hard time climbing up, but was chased out by several guards and beaten badly. Those people were all skilled in martial arts. If it wasn't for Daozhang, who heard the commotion and came to check, I would have been beaten to death." Old Five shook his head and said.

  Mo Wen was deeply moved, patted Lao Wu's shoulder and didn't care if the person playing Feng Qiu Huang was Lin Ruo Chen or not. Lao Wu's loyalty was precious anyway.

  "Old master, I haven't finished yet. The next day, I asked the inn's servant and found out that the mansion belonged to a general of the Hu people. The servant also said that the sound of the qin had not been there before, but only appeared more than a month ago, and each time it stopped halfway through." Laowu said.

  "When did we stop at which section?" Mo asked with a frown, referring to the day when Hu Bing went south and their duet of Feng Qiu Huang was forced to stop halfway.

  "I don't know." Old Wu shook his head repeatedly. He didn't understand music, and neither did the inn's waiter, so naturally they didn't know where the sound of the qin had stopped.

  "Is it a guzheng or a guqin?" Mo asked again.

  Lao Wu shook his head again.

  He stood up with a frown, pacing back and forth in his room, deep in thought. He had never given up searching for Lin Ruochen, and now that he had a lead, he was eager to go find her. However, the clue Old Five provided wasn't very reliable, and it would be reckless to rush off just because of an incomplete melody played on either a guqin or a guzheng. The most likely outcome was that some rich family's daughter was learning to play the instrument and had stopped halfway through because she couldn't remember the tune. Moreover, Lin Ruochen had been kidnapped, so even if she were still alive, she would probably have been sold into servitude as a low-ranking servant, with no access to refined musical instruments.

  "When did you come back?" Mo asked Lao Wu after a moment of hesitation.

  "Just now." Old Five didn't understand why Mo asked this question suddenly.

  "Is the carriage still there?" Mo asked, and regardless of whether the one playing the piano was Lin Ruoxuan or not, he decided to go and investigate. If he had a clue, he couldn't let it go, and if the pianist was really Lin Ruoxuan, finding her a day earlier would mean rescuing her from suffering a day earlier.

  "The horse carriage has been driven away, sir. Are you going to look for your wife?" Old Five finally understood Mo's intention.

  "Right." Mo Wen furrowed his brow and nodded. This place was over 300 miles away from Ye City, if they didn't have a horse carriage, the two of them would need at least seven days to get there on foot.

  "Master, you can't go, those barbarians are very ferocious, you're no match for them in martial arts." Lao Wu shook his head repeatedly.

  "We still have some silver coins, we can buy our way out." Mo Wu said.

  "Master, I'm telling you this so that you can be at ease. You absolutely cannot go now. Moreover, the Taoist priest in the Taoist temple won't let you out either." Old Five shook his head repeatedly.

  Mo Wen didn't speak immediately, instead he rubbed his forehead and furrowed his brow in deep thought.

  "Running away is definitely not possible, the lame man will report it." Old Five guessed what Mo Xun was thinking.

  Mo Wen heard this and became even more anxious, pacing back and forth in his room, deep in thought.

  "Old master, if the one playing the piano is indeed the madam, then she must be living a pretty good life now. Otherwise, she wouldn't have time to play the piano. Don't worry, wait until you've learned martial arts before going, otherwise it'll be more harm than good when you go. The barbarians don't understand reason, after all." Lao Wu advised once again.

  "Knowing his whereabouts from now on, can he deceive himself and others, and put his wife in a sea of fire?" Mo asked, stopping in his tracks and speaking seriously.

  "Old master, a gentleman takes revenge after ten years, it's not late. Now is not the right time to go, you must think carefully. If we leave now, we can't come back and you won't be able to learn martial arts either." Lao Wu tried to dissuade him again.

  Mo Wen heard this and let out a long sigh, but didn't say anything.

  "Besides, it's not certain that the one playing the piano is the mistress either. What if she isn't? Then we'll both have nowhere to eat or live," said Lao Wu.

  "How could I not know what you're saying?" Mo asked, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

  "Master, it's getting late, I'll head back first, you should get some rest too." Old Five hastily got up and left the house, closing the door behind him.

  Lao Wu left and didn't ask again with a sigh, Lao Wu was in such a hurry to leave because only Lao Wu knew the clue, Lao Wu didn't bring the way, he had no way to find it.

  This night, he didn't ask for a thorough sleep, constantly weighing the pros and cons in his mind. At dawn, he finally made up his mind: after mastering martial arts, he would go to find her. Now was not the time; he could give up practicing martial arts and magic to search for his wife, but he couldn't let an uncertain clue drag Old Five along with him, wandering and suffering.

  It was already early morning when he made the decision. He didn't ask about sitting in meditation and reciting scriptures for his morning practice, but after finishing his morning practice, he began to circulate his Qi around his body. At this time, all sorts of distracting thoughts arose in his mind, and his breathing was disordered. If it weren't for Xuan Yuanzi's previous severe pain that had helped him remember the location of the heavy holes, with this state of mind, practicing Qi would inevitably lead to deviated Qi entering the wrong paths and causing madness.

  After washing up, don't ask if he hasn't gone out yet. Last night's affair has probably already spread, and everyone who sees him will inevitably mock and tease him, and embarrassment is unavoidable.

  The box left by Xuan Yuanzi is still there, and he doesn't ask again to hold it in his arms and pinch the beads with his fingers. After practicing, he can now pinch eight beads at the same time, but although his pinching skills have made great progress, he still doesn't understand the profound meaning behind Xuan Yuanzi's actions.

  Some things can't be avoided, he doesn't go out, and people like Bai Li Kuang Feng can come in and laugh, Ah Jiu's intentions towards him are no longer a secret, this time everyone catches the conversation and naturally won't let it go easily, they tease him to the extreme, making Mo Wen have nowhere to hide his face, feeling ashamed and embarrassed.

  "There was thick fog there, I really didn't see anything, if I had seen her, how could I have taken away her clothes?" Mo Wen argued with a red face.

  "Otherwise, maybe you were originally following Ah Jiu and went to observe in secret, but was discovered by Ah Jiu, so he pretended to mistake you for someone else and used this trick to escape with his clothes." Ye Xiao Yao laughed wickedly.

  "We all went to the pool at the foot of the mountain to bathe, why did you go to the small pond in the valley?" Bai Li Kuang Feng fanned the flames.

  "When something goes against the norm, it's considered evil. I never thought that Mo Wen, who looks so upright and proper, would also do something as despicable as stealing jade and snatching fragrance." Liu Song also sneered with a wicked smile.

  "Ajiu has a crush on me, if I have the intention, things will naturally happen, why bother sneaking around?" Mo didn't ask, and in his haste, he spoke without thinking.

  "Haha, don't be coy, speak up quickly, what does Jiu look like?" The crowd burst into loud laughter.

  "Don't bother with them, let's go, let's go." Mo Wen started chasing.

  "Several masters, breakfast is here." Old Five entered the house and bowed to everyone, then turned to Mo Xiang and said, "Master, someone has taken up residence in the Western Hall."

  "Who is it?" everyone asked in unison.

  "A Taoist nun in a green robe, quite beautiful." said Lao Wu.

  "I didn't expect that the one teaching me medical skills would be a young woman, wonderful, wonderful." Ye Xiao Yao was overjoyed upon hearing this.

  "It's probably not good." Liu Shaokui looked worried.

  "What makes you say that?" asked Ye Xiangyang.

  "Qingyangzi once said, we medical students have been wronged..."