Would this ever end? Thought Murong Yun Shu, grudgingly she asked, "All three of you came to kill me too?"

The three men looked at each other, befuddled for a little bit, the short middle-aged man with what looked like a bull horn protruding near his right ear asked in a surprised tone, "How did you....?" Half way through his sentence he caught sight of his companion on the floor and shouted out, "Fourth sister!" The others also noticed the masked woman after his shouting, they all pulled out their weapon and ready to engage.

Nie Qing, who was in the middle of tying up the woman chucked aside the rope and wrapped his hands around her neck. He proceeded to looking at the intruders coldly as if to say "I will strangle her if you dare move."

Murong Yun Shu was relieved to see that, "I was worried that you also won"t kill woman."

The veins on Nie Qing"s forehead quivered, but he didn"t say a word.

"Let her go, I, Old Tuo1 will let you live." The hunchback called out.

Murong Yun Shu smiled lightly. She was just about to say something when she felt woozy and wobbly.

"Miss, here," said Lu"er as she brought over a chair.

Murong Yun Shu was pleased Lu"er knew exactly what she needed. She slowly sat down as thought nothing was out of the ordinary, smiling, she said, "I am wondering what have I ever done to offend the four of you that warrant visits at this time of night to have me killed."

"Oh, you have done a lot more than "offending" us," said the one-eyed man angrily.

"Is that so," Murong Yun Shu"s smile was still amiable and innocent, "Well, I have too many enemies and can"t think about it off the top of my head. When have we crossed path?"

Lu"er was sweating, did she not get that they hate her guts?

"Jiang Zhou2 Four Odds!"

Murong Yun Shu raised her brows and searched her memory, "Nope, never heard of it."

Her words angered one-eyed man and hunchback man, only bull horn man seemed unaffected. He blocked the others from attacking and said, "Miss Murong doesn"t belong in jianghu, so it"s not out of the ordinary that you have never heard of us."

Murong Yun Shu was alarmed that he referred to her as "Miss Murong". She quickly recovered from her bewilderment and laughed, "It seems the enmity wasn"t implacable."

"That"s right, we have no beef with you. Your fiancee, Chu Changge, on the other hand, is our mortal enemy! He was the one who lopped off this horn on my head!" said the horned man while angrily pointing at the symmetrical spot by his left ear.

Murong Yun Shu looked at him, then with greatest sincerity and humility, she asked, "You are mad at him for not lopping off the other one too?"

The horn man was about to blow when he heard her continued to say, "It really gives you more characters with just one horn." He was shocked beyond words, this crazy woman couldn"t possibly be the leader of the Jinling Murong House who held control over all the banks in the country. Perhaps they had the wrong person......?

"But, needless to say, every injustice has it perpetrator and every debt its debtor. If Chu Changge was the one who lopped off your horn, you should take it up with him. Getting to me is not helping with your goal of avenging yourselves." Murong Yun Shu tried to talk some sense into them.

The horn man was still speechless from bewilderment. Yep, definitely got the wrong person....

"Chu Changge will be over at the Jianghu Inn at the foot of Mount Shaolin all the way up to August 15. You can find him there."

Is she giving them a roadmap to him.....?

"I do ask you to release Miss Feng Ling before you take off though."

Finally, the normal line from her brought the horn man back to normal, "What Miss Feng Ling?"

"The girl that you took from the room next earlier earlier in the day," said Nie Qing heavily.

Murong Yun Shu lowered her pretty face and pondered for a few seconds, then looked up and said, "Nie Qing, let her go."

"But Feng Ling...."

"They don"t have Feng Ling."

Nie Qing wanted to disagree, but the determination in her eyes made him gave up. Grudgingly he returned the masked woman -- nicknamed Pockmark Woman -- to Jiang Zhou three odds.

"Miss Murong is b.a.l.l.sy!" Praised the horn man.

Murong Yun Shu nodded lightly, accepting his praise, then indifferently added, "Good luck with your endeavor."

"Miss Murong is not worried about becoming a widow?"

"You even said so yourself earlier, he is my "future" husband. We are not wedded yet, I can always marry someone else if he"s killed. I won"t become widowed."

"HAHAHAHAHA.... Chu Changge, even your fiancee is not on your side. This is all your own doing!" He laughed maniacally.

"When you run into Chu Changge, can you relay a message for me?"

"Sure, what is it?" The horned man was very agreeable.

A smile appeared on Murong Yun Shu"s pretty face, she looked at him for about three seconds, then slowly she said, "Ask him to.... be extra ruthless."

The horned man thought he had heard wrong. Her expression looked like she was the wife telling the husband to "don"t stay out too late", instead what he heard was.....

*

Soon as Jiang Zhou Four Odds walked out of the inn, hunchback man grumbled immediately, "Older brother, why didn"t we grab Murong Yun Shu as hostage for Chu Changge?"

The horned man replied, "Didn"t you see what happened to fourth sister? And we were only a few minutes late. Obviously Murong Yun Shu wasn"t ask weak as what others think of her. Did you remember how readily she was when she returned fourth sister back to us? She was so confident the entire time, clearly she wasn"t afraid of us. Plus, she told us where to find Chu Changge. That was like doing us a favor and we should return the favor as well."

"Older brother is right."

*

After Jiang Zhou Four Odds took off, Murong Yun Shu walked wobbly into Lu"er"s room across the hallway. She was just about to collapse on the bed to get some much needed sleep when she was "ambushed" by Nie Qing, "What"s our plan about Feng Ling?"

"Play it by the ear," said Murong Yun Shu, then she closed her eyes and feel asleep immediately.

Miss, if you are sleeping in my bed, where am I going to sleep? Lu"er was crying inside. Miss"s room has no bed sheet, Miss Feng Ling"s room was..... bad luck. And Master Nie Qing.... never mind, she might as well just sleep on the floor.

Nie Qing just stood there, with his eyes he had killed Murong Yun Shu tore her up into pieces... for a long... long.... time....

***

Next scheduled update: Thursday, Oct 2 (Pacific Time) - Ch 22.1 - Secret of the Earrings

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