Chapter 28: The Snake King

  Just as Lu Xiaofeng was at a loss for words in response to Ye Guicheng's question, Li Yunfei continued, "Actually, wine isn't a bad thing."

  Ye Gu Cheng said: "Oh?"

  Li Yunfei smiled and said: "Wine can harm the body, but it can also disturb one's nature. This is not false, however, wine can boost courage, wine can dispel worries, as the saying goes, 'one drunkenness solves a thousand worries'."

  Lu Xiaofeng smiled and said: "That's right, so I often drink wine."

  Li Yunfei asked: "Lu Xiaofeng, what information did you get this time when you went to Shen Zhen Mountain Villa?"

  Lu Xiaofeng smiled and said: "Alas! That embroidery is not of good quality, Old Lady Xue could embroider such goods when she was six years old."

  Li Yunfei said gloomily: "I'm not asking that, I mean what clues can be found from this embroidery."

  Lu Xiaofeng burst out laughing: "How would I not know? This satin is from Furuixiang in the capital, and the silk thread was sold by Fumemorabilia. The two shops have the same owner. They're just next door to each other."

  Li Yunfei asked: "Can this kind of goods only be bought at their main store in the capital?"

  Lu Xiaofeng said: "That's right, there is only one branch of this family, no other branches."

  Li Yunfei asked: "Is this stuff sold outside?"

  Lu Xiaofeng shook his head and said: "This store sells all high-quality goods. The quantity of self-made and self-sold products is not large."

  Li Yunfei said: "Then those who bought this stuff are almost all people from the capital. So to speak, this embroidery thief is in the capital. Do you have any other clues?"

  "Ah, a secret you'll never guess?" Lu Xiaofeng smiled and said.

  Li Yunfei laughed and said: "Don't play dumb anymore, spit it out!"

  Luk Siu-fung smiled and said: "The Embroidered Flower Thief is a woman!"

  Li Yunfei said: "What nonsense are you talking about? That's clearly a big beard. How can it be a woman! Who told you that?"

  Lu Xiaofeng smiled and said, "What Madame Xue said must be true. She told me that the person who embroidered the black rose is a woman. Madame Xue's words are naturally not wrong. Moreover, this satin is used to make shoe uppers."

  Li Yunfei said: "Red shoes, there are many women who wear red shoes, aren't there?"

  Lu Xiaofeng said: "Not bad, what have you found."

  Li Yunfei smiled and said, "My discovery is not much, I just know that the Embroidered Flower Thief's kung fu is impressive, even Jiang Chongwei is no match for her in one move. This has shortened our search process. A woman with such high kung fu skills, I couldn't think of who it could be!"

  Hua Manlou also said: "That's right, I'm now in a fog. What kind of person can enter the treasure house of this palace? I see that even a mosquito can't get in there."

  Lu Xiaofeng said: "That's right, you can't get in from anywhere else, but Jiang Zhongwei has the key to the Wangfu treasure house."

  Li Yunfei said: "Do you suspect Jiang Chongwei or someone around her?"

  Lu Xiaofeng said: "Not bad, have you seen Jiang Chongwei's sister Jiang Zixia?"

  Li Yunfei said: "It's true that she has seen it before, but she can't possibly blind her own brother with those bright pearls!"

  Lu Xiaofeng said, "I've already investigated, Jiang Zhongwei doesn't have a sister. And that Jiang Zixia is actually Jiang Zhongwei's fiancée. Later, when Jiang Zhongwei became inhumane, Jiang Zixia left home to become a nun."

  Lu Xiaofeng sighed and said: "I also found out that Jiang Zixia was wearing a pair of red shoes."

  Li Yunfei said: "Lu Xiaofeng, you must have tried her martial arts. Does she have such high martial arts?"

  Lu Xiaofeng said, "Although I've tested her martial arts skills, she doesn't have such high-level skills, but those red shoes seem to be an organization. Not just one person. This time I came to investigate whether it's possible to enter the treasure trove by other means."

  Li Yunfei said: "You have verified it, there is no other way to enter the treasure house."

  Lu Xiaofeng said: "That's right, we should go to the Wangfu treasure house now and take a look. If we miss any clues, it won't be good."

  Li Yunfei nodded and said to Ye Gucheng, "Master Ye, we need to go to the treasure house to investigate. The master will not go, so let's part ways here."

  Ye Gu Cheng nodded and began to drink water by himself, while Jin Jiulian took Lu Xiaofeng, Li Yunfei, and Hua Manlou towards the Wang Fu treasure house.

  The treasury's heavy gate is tightly locked, with three iron gates each one foot seven inches thick. The lock was also specially configured by a master craftsman, and without the key, no one can enter.

  Jin Jiuling finally opened the last door, and a gust of cold wind blew in his face. This place was like most treasuries, cold as a tomb, except that tombs had dead people, but here there wasn't even a single dead ant.

  Li Yunfei had a strange idea in his mind, if one person possessed all the treasures in this treasure house, and lived here every day, what was the use of it? Even if he gave him all the treasures in the world, he would not be willing to live here for a day.

  They walked in, Li Yunfei looked around, and everywhere was gold, silver, and jewels. A few people searched around, but there was nothing. No trace at all. No clue at all.

  Li Yunfei said, "Now it seems that there is only one possibility, which is that someone used a key to enter the treasure house. It seems that what Lu Xiaofeng said was not wrong. Jiang Zixia has a great deal of suspicion."

  Lü Xiao Feng nodded and said: "That's right, apart from using a key to get in, there is no other way."

  Li Yunfei said: "Then we'll follow this lead and see what we can find."

  Lu Xiaofeng nodded and said: "Li Yunfei, come with me. I'm going to the Snake King's place to find someone."

  Li Yunfei smiled and said: "You're looking for your little lover, Leng Luochensu Xuebing."

  Lu Xiaofeng smiled awkwardly: "How did you know?"

  Li Yunfei smiled and said: "Who in the world doesn't know that Xue Bing of Shen Zhen Mountain Villa likes a four-eyebrowed bastard."

  It was very late at night, Lu Xiaofeng took Li Yunfei to the residence of Shi Wang, the old snake king of the city.

  The snake king had not yet fallen asleep and saw Lu Xiaofeng and Li Yunfei coming, but he was not surprised.

  The Snake King looked at Lu Xiaofeng and said: "I've been waiting for you."

  Lü Xiao Feng said strangely: "Waiting for me, you know I'm coming." The Snake King nodded.

  Lu Xiaofeng asked again: "Xue Bing has been here, where is she?"

  The snake king looked at Lu Xiaofeng with shame, opened his mouth and muttered something, then closed it again, as if there was something difficult to say.

  Lu Xiaofeng hastily asked: "Where is Xue Bing? Tell me."

  The king of snakes sighed and said: "She came to find me at that time, drank a lot of wine here, and said a lot of things."

  "What did she say?"

  The king of snakes smiled and said: "He has been saying that you are neither a thing nor a person." Although he was smiling, his smile carried some melancholy.

  Lu Xiaofeng sighed and said: "She must have been drunk, that's why she said something like that."

  The King of Snakes said, "Yes, she got drunk. I didn't want to let her go, but she insisted on leaving. She had to find you. I wasn't at ease with her walking alone and couldn't stop her, so I sent two people to protect her from behind."

  "Have those two people come back?"

  "The King of Snakes sighed and said: 'They can't come back anymore.'"

  "What's the reason?"

  The king of snakes' expression became even more solemn, and he took a deep breath before saying: "Someone has already found their corpses, and Miss Xue is also nowhere to be seen. The bodies were found in an alleyway, with fatal wounds on their eyes; they had become blind by the time they died."

  "Embroidered Flower Thief" Lu Xiaofeng was stunned, he thought of Xue Bing, and the girl who loved to bite his ear. A pang of sadness in his heart.

  The Snake King poured a cup of wine for Lu Xiaofeng and Li Yunfei, but Lu Xiaofeng picked it up and then put it down again, apparently not in the mood to drink.

  Li Yunfei comforted him, "Lu Xiaofeng, we're on the right track now. As long as we continue to investigate along this line, we'll catch the Embroidered Uniform Thief. By then, we'll definitely find Xue Niang, don't worry too much."

  Lu Xiaofeng forced a smile and said, "It's nothing, I just want to be alone." His smile was uglier than crying, and Li Yunfei saw Lu Xiaofeng so sad for the first time.

  The king of snakes also comforted: "That's right, I have three thousand brothers under me, as long as Miss Xue is in the city, I will definitely be able to find her."

  Lu Xiaofeng suddenly asked: "Have you ever seen a big-bearded man who can embroider flowers?"

  The snake king nodded and said: "Although I have never asked you, but I know that you are here for this matter."

  The King of Snakes looked at Lu Xiaofeng and said, "I have been suffering for ten years. In these ten years, I haven't slept a single day with peace of mind. I've lost sleep for ten whole years. How many decades does one's life have?"

  The snake king was very excited, as if he wanted to swallow a person whole.