Cold Blooded Wife

50 The Masked Man (2)

For a few minutes, Wu Xingxie sat in silence, pondering over the situation.

Why would the masked man set the books in my room? To frame me of theft?

No, otherwise the authorities would have been sent.

Once Wu Xingxie couldn't come up with a  valid reason, she stopped thinking about it before deciding to get more information on the other clans.

Leaving a note, Wu Xingxie left her chambers to sneak into the streets of the capital. She disguised herself as a traveler from a foreign land. Her appearance was very simple and it seemed like she had been traveling for a long time.

Waking into town, Wu Xingxie looked around as if to buy food.

A restaurant owner caught sight and quickly thought business.

"Miss, are you looking for a place to eat? Come, come, my restaurant is very great! You won't find any other place like it."

The woman pulled Wu Xingxie in and brought her to a table.

"You don't look like you're from around here. Are you visiting someone?" The restaurant owner asked to lighten up the mood. The restaurant was busy but not so much that it was completely packed.

Wu Xingxie nodded before telling her what she wanted and the owner left to tell the chef.

Waiting for her food, Wu Xingxie carefully listened to the other people in the restaurant.
Most were gossip until she heard two men mention the Bao clan.

"Did you hear? The Bao clan suddenly appeared in the streets of the capital. They've always been mysterious, why would they show themselves?" One of them started the topic.

The second man whispered lowly,
"Maybe, they're in search of a wife for one of the young masters."
He meant it as a joke but the other man gasped.

"If that's true, then won't that woman be unlucky? I heard that whoever marries a son from their family will be cursed."

Wu Xingxie listened some more until they went on to a hew topic and her food arrived. She paid for the meal and ate a third of it before asking for it to be packed up.

Continuing to more public places, Wu Xingxie realized how the commoners loved to talk about the royal family and especially the five main clans. She heard rumors about herself, some which she didn't even know existed.

Though these were the words of ordinary citizens, some were very useful and shows how each clan influenced the empire.

So far, she learned that the usually secretive yet ruthless Bao clan was starting to make an appearance. It appeared as if they were looking for someone or at least, something. That meant something major must have happened for them to do this.

The Feng clan had been planning to marry one of their females into the royal family. Especially since the Crown Prince was still unmarried. Many families were training their daughters to be a potential candidate.

She also hear that the Hu clan planned on choosing a new head for the family since the current Young Master had no interest in running the family.

About the Wu family, there were rumors going around that General Wu might get promoted to Grand General but Wu Xingxie knew better.

Grand General? As if! That man is aiming for the Prime Minister position but actually wants the throne.

Despite hearing a lot of stuff about those clans, Wu Xingxie didn't hear a lot about the last of the main clans at all. The Lang, or Wolf clan was the clan people rarely talked about.

This was because despite being one of the founding clans, the Langs resided in the countryside where there were more forests. So, people didn't know what was really going on with them.

It was said that when a full moon comes, members of the clan turned into their wolf form.

Once this happened, they lose all senses of being human and become a true beast. That was why they had to live far away from large cities like the capital.

On the full moon, those affected are chained and locked up until it is over. For those who escape, they are sealed by a spell that prevents them from going on a rampage.