Lin Chong's Women's Cuju Team

Chapter 69 Du Rushuang's Older Brother

When Lin Chong and Du Shiniang emerged hand in hand from the misty entrance of the Mingfu Cave, they discovered that the theater outside was also engulfed in flames and in complete chaos. Lin Chong noticed that Wu Song hadn't followed them out of the cave, and asked Du Shiniang worriedly, "Shiniang, why didn't Wu Song come out with us?"

“Wu Song might have gone to look for my sister Shuang’er. Don’t worry too much. Both of them are as skilled as Wu Song, and they are both brave and resourceful. There might be something fishy about Shuang’er taking Ning Zhanyan’s body earlier. Let’s go back to Zixiang Pavilion first. This isn’t the place to talk; we might have eavesdroppers.” Du Shiniang reassured Lin Chong as she pulled him away from the fire. Chen Jinhuan caught up with Du Shiniang and Lin Chong, and the three of them left the Mingfu Cave, which was burning fiercely.

About a hundred paces outside the circle of fire was the Ministry of Justice's office. All the officials and soldiers had already been dispatched to fight the fire, so only two figures remained in the main hall. The person sitting in the hall was dressed in red robes with a white jade belt around his waist, his expression relaxed and composed, occasionally glancing outside as if waiting for news. Standing beside him was what appeared to be his guard, a silver sword at his waist.

After a while, a man who looked like a yamen runner ran into the hall, bowed to the person sitting in the hall, and said: "Lord Gao Yanei, we have arrested all the people from Mingfu Cave. Some of them could not be rescued and probably died in the fire. The brothers are now doing their best to put out the fire."

"Alright! I understand, you may leave." Lu Minggu gave the order to the constable, but as soon as he finished speaking, he remembered that he had forgotten to ask the constable an important matter, so he asked again, "By the way! Have you found Ning Zhanyan's or the Cold-Faced Queen's body?"

The constable blinked and quickly replied, "Reporting to Lord Lu, the two brothers guarding outside the cave have not seen Lord Ning or the Cold-Faced Queen escape from the cave. They probably died from being burned or suffocated by the smoke inside."

At this moment, Gao Can couldn't help but rebuke, "I want to see them alive or dead! Continue searching for the bodies of Ning Zhanyan and the Cold-Faced Queen. I have an imperial order to capture Ning Zhanyan, so you need to be more careful, or how will I explain this to His Majesty?"

"Yes, sir! Please calm down, sir. I will take care of this task immediately." The constable knelt on the ground, trembling as he answered the advisor's question.

After the constable left, Lu Minggu poured Gao Can a cup of tea and said to him, "Sir, I estimate that Lin Chong and Du Shiniang should have taken Chen Jinhuan out of Mingfu Cave by now. You are truly a reincarnation of Zhuge Liang, sir, to have come up with the idea of ​​using someone else to do your dirty work, getting Lin Chong and the others to help you get rid of Ning Zhanyan, this thorn in your side."

"Ning Zhanyan has managed the Mingfu Cave very well these past few years, and he handles his duties with ease. The Emperor treats him with special favor, and my adoptive father always protects him, regarding him as a confidant. I would never allow Ning Zhanyan to surpass me and become my adoptive father's right-hand man. I've long wanted to get rid of him and take his place, but I've always lacked a breakthrough. Du Shiniang and Lin Chong recruiting female Cuju players gave me the idea to use the Cold-Faced Queen to kill Ning Zhanyan." The high-ranking advisor said triumphantly to Lu Minggu beside him in the tone of a victor.

“Lord Gao, Ning Zhanyan is indeed overestimating himself, actually trying to compete with you for Grand Commandant Gao’s favor. Doesn’t he even know his own worth? It’s just a pity that the famous Mingfu Cave in the capital will disappear without a trace starting tonight,” Lu Minggu said somewhat awkwardly to Gao Can.

"The Mingfu Cave is destroyed, so be it. I don't care. It's just that Ning Zhanyan is cunning and ruthless. I'm afraid I won't be at ease until we find his body. I always feel that he didn't die so easily!" Gao Can bit his lip and said with some unease.

“My lord, you are overthinking it. The poison Ning Zhanyan was afflicted with was a uniquely developed poison by Zhang Ruowen, the steward of Zixiang Pavilion. If it isn't neutralized within three hours, even a miracle won't save him. His body is probably already ashes by now,” Lu Minggu said decisively to Gao Can, his eyes flashing with a sinister light. Gao Can pursed his lips and said nothing more, secretly hoping that his adoptive father could obtain the imperial decree to transfer him to the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice as soon as possible.

In a grove of trees on the outskirts of Beijing, the shadows of the moon and the rising sun alternated on the horizon. Night was about to end, and the sun was about to rise. A solitary woman stood on a small hill in the grove, with a long-cold corpse lying on the ground.

Suddenly, several wild geese flew past the treetops. The woman immediately turned and scanned her surroundings, her expression wary. Sure enough, a strong, masked man dressed in black jumped down from the top of a large tree. The woman was Du Rushuang. Seeing the mysterious person she had been waiting for arrive, she coldly said to him, "I have brought you Ning Zhanyan's body. Now, can you keep your promise and tell me about my background?"

It turned out that the night before Du Rushuang and Wu Song were to go to Mingfu Cave to meet Chen Jinhuan, Du Rushuang received a note stuck in the door of her room with a dart. The dart, of course, had an eagle pattern, and the note had two lines of clerical script written on it:

"If you want to know your origins, bring Ning Zhanyan's body to Green Slope on the outskirts of the city before dawn the day after tomorrow."

Because Du Rushuang was still troubled by her past, she couldn't refuse the bait offered by the mysterious organization. That's why she stole the body after confirming that Ning Zhanyan had been poisoned by Chen Jinhuan. However, Du Rushuang wasn't faking madness or a relapse of an old illness. She genuinely felt a splitting headache, and some vague memories flooded her mind. That's why she went to look at the mole behind Ning Zhanyan's ear.

The mysterious man crouched down and, using the faint light of the rising sun, carefully examined Ning Zhanyan's face. He even picked up his left wrist and examined it for a while, discovering a black vein pattern on the corpse's wrist. After this ordeal, the mysterious man finally confirmed that the Ning Zhanyan lying on the ground was indeed a dead man.

"Well? The goods have been inspected. Can our transaction continue?" Du Rushuang asked the mysterious man anxiously again. The mysterious man, however, was not in a hurry. He merely glanced coldly at Du Rushuang and asked her tentatively, "You really don't remember who Ning Zhanyan is?"

Upon hearing this, Du Rushuang felt a sudden tightness in her chest, but she remained calm and said, "I have amnesia, how could I possibly remember having any interaction with Ning Zhanyan before? If I remembered who he was, how could I have just watched him fall into Chen Jinhuan's trap of tenderness?"

The mysterious man sneered and said to Du Rushuang in a low voice, "It seems you really have forgotten everything, completely forgetting your family, your lover, and your comrades who have risked their lives with you."

"What relatives? What lovers? What are you implying? Could it be that my past relationship with Ning Zhanyan..." Du Rushuang frowned and muttered, "Given my familiarity with the underground passage of Mingfu Cave, could it be that I was also a person from Mingfu Cave before? Or was I Ning Zhanyan's woman before, and had a similar experience to the Cold-Faced Queen?"

Seeing Du Rushuang's thoughtful, speculative expression, the mysterious man burst into laughter. His laughter echoed through the quiet dawn forest, sending a chill down Du Rushuang's spine. Du Rushuang felt there was definitely a connection between Ning Zhanyan and herself, but she wasn't sure what kind of connection it was, or just how intimate it was.

At this moment, a familiar male voice pulled Du Rushuang back to the awkward scene before her: "Shuang'er, I've finally found you? What are you doing here? Is this man in black your friend?"

Du Rushuang looked closely and saw that the person who came was her lover, Wu Song. She quickly stepped forward, put her arm around Wu Song's shoulder, and explained, "This person is from the Eagle Pattern Darts organization. He left me a note the night before last, asking me to bring Ning Zhanyan's body in exchange for information about my background."

"So that's how it is! No wonder you insisted on taking Ning Zhanyan's body just now. Brother Lin, your sworn sister, and I all thought you had gone mad. It turns out you were instructed by someone to do such an absurd thing." Wu Song gently patted Du Rushuang's hand to comfort her and said to her in a gentle voice.

Du Rushuang blushed, blinked her bright eyes, and said to Wu Song in a coquettish tone, "Brother Wu, please help me ask this mysterious man why he wanted me to snatch Ning Zhanyan's body. He seemed to have just hinted that my relationship with Ning Zhanyan was not simple."

"What is your relationship with Ning Zhanyan?" Wu Song repeated the last few words in a low voice after hearing Du Rushuang's words, frowning slightly. He was extremely puzzled, wondering who Du Rushuang was and what her past relationship with Ning Zhanyan was.

Wu Song gritted his teeth and decided to ask the mysterious man in front of him for the answer to his doubts. So he said loudly to the mysterious man, "Why did you instruct Du Rushuang to steal Ning Zhanyan's body? Tell us the truth now, or don't blame me for being impolite to you."

The mysterious man sensed the threat in Wu Song's tone, but he showed no fear. He simply said to Wu Song and Du Rushuang in a mocking tone, "Shouldn't Ning Zhanyan's body be taken back by his own sister for burial? It's a pity that this girl has even forgotten her own brother. I was just kindly reminding her."

"What? Brother?" Du Rushuang exclaimed in surprise. She frowned and exchanged a glance with Wu Song, only to see that Wu Song's previously gloomy and suspicious face had now relaxed. At this moment, a great weight was lifted from Du Rushuang's heart. In her mind, she connected the word "brother" with Ning Zhanyan's appearance, and scenes of the two of them eating together, raiding bird nests together, going to school together, and playing hide-and-seek in the passageway of Mingfu Cave flooded her mind like a tide.