A Shocking Dream

Chapter 202

He took a few steps forward, his hands gripping Yang Zishi's shoulders like iron pliers. His voice was quick and low, like a cold blade unsheathed in the silence of the night: "I actually hope she's dead. Otherwise, if she's rescued and the secret between you and me, which we kept from Xie Yuan, is known, we'll both die."

His words were like a curse, resounding through the darkness of the night, shattering the thin peace. Yang Zishi froze, his eyes wide and panic-stricken. Cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead, and beads of sweat slid down his temples and dripped onto the cold stone floor. His lips trembled, and it took him a long time to find his voice. "Don't... don't say that. That girl is innocent. How can we wish her dead? Let's be careful. Whoever saves her may not know of our relationship." Despite this argument, his confidence was weak and vulnerable.

Zhou Junze let go of his hand, staggered back a few steps, and leaned against a pillar in the hall. His body seemed to have suddenly lost its strength, and his usual calm and capable appearance was gone. He raised his hand to wipe his face, smiled bitterly and shook his head: "You think too much. Xie Yuan has spies everywhere. Any slight movement will not escape his grasp. The place where the girl appeared was not far from where we met. If she had seen you and me, or if someone with ulterior motives found out that we had inquired about her whereabouts, Xie Yuan would definitely follow the clues and our heads would be on the line."

Yang Zishi's heart was in turmoil, and he paced back and forth in the hall, his steps unsteady, as if he were treading on piles of cotton. His mind kept flashing back to the moment he first met the girl, her face huddled in the street corner, eyes full of panic and helplessness. How could he bear to curse her life? But Zhou Junze's words were like a hammer, hammering down on his rationality. The choice of life and death, like a hideous demon, forced him to face it. "Is there no way to have it both ways? To save her and keep the secret?" Yang Zishi looked at Zhou Junze, his eyes full of pity, hoping for his wisdom.

Zhou Junze closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried his best to calm his turbulent emotions. After a long moment, he opened his eyes, a flicker of determination in his eyes. "Now I can only take a gamble. If I find her, and she's unaware, I'll find a way to send her far away and hide her identity. If she notices..." He paused, his Adam's apple rolling as he uttered a few words with difficulty. "I'll have to silence her and never let the secret leak out. Even if it means bearing the sin of life and death, I have to keep both of us safe. In this chaotic world, there's no room for softness in the face of life and death."

With that, the hall fell silent, the only sound being the mingling of their heavy breathing. Outside the window, the cold wind howled, a mournful wail. For this cruel decision, for the girl whose life or death lay uncertain, the gears of fate quietly shifted in the dark night, unsure whether to embrace the dawn or plunge into an abyss. Only the two, gripping the reins of fate tightly, stumbled forward in fear, trying to carve out a glimmer of hope amidst the thorns, to avoid being crushed by the relentless tide of doom.

The night was as dark as ink, weighing heavily on the Marquis's residence. Zhou Junze sat in a carved pearwood chair, his fingers tapping the armrests irritably. The candlelight flickered in his eyes, as if it could be extinguished at any moment by a hidden anger.

The servants sent out to search for the girl filed in, heads bowed, steps unsteady, a sense of fear hanging over them like a dark cloud. The leader trembled as he stepped forward, holding out a bloodstained handkerchief. The delicate embroidery on the handkerchief was now mottled with blood, like a withered flower in its prime. "Master, we followed her all the way and saw with our own eyes that girl, panicking and losing her way, fell off a cliff. We found this handkerchief hanging from a branch on the cliff edge. It must have belonged to her."

Zhou Junze clenched the handkerchief fiercely, his knuckles turning white, and squeezed out words from between his teeth: "A bunch of rubbish! Have you searched thoroughly under the cliff?" Everyone nodded and stammered that the valley was deep, the forest was dense and the fog was thick. Those who went down did not find the body, so it was difficult to go deeper.

Yang Zishi hurried in, glanced at the handkerchief, and frowned. "Are you so sure she's dead? Brother Zhou, this is very strange. That girl is very clever. She might be deliberately creating confusion."

Zhou Junze stood up suddenly, his robes rustling. "Dead or alive, you must find her! She knows too many of the mansion's secrets. If even a little bit of it leaks out, we'll both be in big trouble. Keep sending people down the cliff, and don't let go of the surrounding villages and post stations on the official roads. I want her alive, or her body dead!"

Inside the mansion, a solemn atmosphere hung heavy, like a leaden cloud, weighing heavily on the mind, making it almost impossible to breathe. Zhou Junze paced back and forth within the limited space of the study like a trapped animal, the blue bricks beneath his feet clunking under his repeated treads, seemingly unable to bear the weight.

The veins on his forehead throbbed like snaking snakes, and he cursed non-stop, his words like poisoned arrows: "This is truly bizarre! A mere girl could just vanish into thin air like that, as if she had evaporated from the face of the earth!"

Yang Zishi sat slumped on the carved armchair. His usual dashing and unrestrained appearance was completely gone. He looked like an eggplant hit by frost, completely wilted.

His fingers convulsively dug at the armrest, leaving scratches all over the fine sandalwood. His voice trembled like a falling leaf in late autumn, "Brother Zhou, this is a real disaster! We've been carefully planning for so long, and now this girl is about to ruin everything. The area around that cliff is so desolate that not even birds ditch it. We brothers saw her fall with our own eyes. Could it be that she's been carried off by some hungry wolf or tiger, being gnawed until not even a bone is left?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the servants returned one after another, looking like dogs that had lost their homes, covered in dust and dirt. The leading servant fell to his knees with a plop, his face as pale as paper, and cried wailingly, "My two lords, we have turned the area around the cliff upside down, our eyes almost popped out, and we didn't see even a piece of cloth! The grass in that area is covered in blood. Wild animals must have swarmed there after smelling blood. But the body is really nowhere to be found. It's possible that it was dragged into the dark forest and eaten clean, leaving nothing behind..."

Zhou Junze instantly leaped to his feet, kicking the stool beside him. The stool shattered into pieces against the wall with a whirring sound. His eyes widened with anger, like a demon ready to devour anyone, and he roared fiercely, "Everyone, go back and search again! Even if you have to dig up every inch of the ground, you must give me a clear answer. I want her alive or dead! That girl has our vital evidence on her. If she's still alive, there will be endless trouble in the future, and we will all be buried with her!"

Everyone retreated tremblingly, as if granted amnesty. Yang Zi, however, frowned, as if bent by a heavy burden. He leaned closer to Zhou Junze and spoke in a voice so low it barely hummed a mosquito's ear. "Xie Yuan's got some rumors going around, saying we're acting suspiciously and constantly inquiring about adopting a girl. If he takes advantage of this opportunity and colludes with the authorities to launch a thorough investigation, we're truly finished. This girl's mysterious disappearance might be a calamity sent by the heavens, a deliberate attempt to sever our path."