THE CUNNING VIGILANTE

9. The Incident

Jiang Hua couldn't help but to gulped his saliva from the anxiety after he treated Li Jie. He didn't know what's the cause of Li Jie's sickness and examined him in circumspect. However, he checked all the pulses and he discovered none but only a headache and a hasty panic attack.

"A-jie, what happened from your way here? Did you get bullied from someone or have you eaten stranger's food?" Jiang Hua consulted him as he rested his right palm to Li Jie's forehead. Li Jie antsy shook his head and shut his eyes, sweat kept falling due to his fast heart rate. Jiang Hua was so nervous that he barely managed himself to calm down.

'Why is he becoming like this? His heart rate keeps getting faster every second.' Jiang Hua speculated about this matter and hastily acupuntured his calming points. At first, Li Jie furrowed his brows and then he was grown accustomed about it and finally calmed down. Li Jie fell asleep and his heart rate returned to normal.

Jiang Hua thought his heart flew from his ribs, knowing his brother fell ill because of the trauma or maybe more than that. Because of his little brother's illness that Jiang Hua sent a letter from the manor, telling that he couldn't make it for tomorrow since his brother fell ill.

Lim Hao hastily read the letter and his face show a hint of inquisitiveness, then immediately told the General about the doctor's response. Delun cogitated and sighed. The consultation was tomorrow at twelve, but this doctor seemed so avid about the brother of his and thought maybe his brother's condition was fatal.

Lim Hao somehow find it quite amusing. He merely witnessed that Jiang Hua's brother which is his sneaky and clever concubine who ran away from the palm of his hands seemed perfectly fine when he left the clinic. Why is Li Jie fell ill so suddenly? Of course, he didn't bother to tell the General that the doctor he was about to hire was Li Jie's brother. He believed that this episode was out of his reach and told himself not to bother about it.

Besides he was an assistant, not a love expert. He was not sure if Delun was clearly in love with Li Jie, or Li Jie reminded him of someone else. Lim Hao heaved a sigh and went back from his table inside the General's office, checking the schedule of the General's affairs.

As the two began sorting out the scrolls, a guard was jittery as knocked on the door resulting Delun and Lim Hao stopped their movement and locked their gazes where the sound resided.

"Come in." The guard came in and kowtowed, he kneeled his right leg in front of the General and reported the matter he encountered during the day.

"General, a corpse was found in Xi'An this morning. It looks like the person died due to a knife that fiercely stabbed his stomach. According to our inspection, the murderer was so vicious that almost his intestines went out from his body."

"A corpse? Stabbing? What did this person did that the murderer tortured him so severely?" Lim Hao said and looked at the Guard with a tense expression.

"That... This servant and the other inspectors found out that this person was a bandit. And also, I found a pouch in the bandit's waist. It has a peony embroidered in the middle of the pouch."

Now that the guard had told them about the gory scene that happened earlier, it was crystal clear that the bandit was hired by the Liu's. The Liu's symbol was a peony, symboling the richness and prosperity. All of the clans had a flower symbol on their tradition. One of the powerful clans such as the Feng clan had a symbol of Narcissus, the new beginning and rebirth, also a heavenly beauty.

They chewed over thoughts of why Minister Liu had negotiated with the bandits, no one knew what's behind of the Liu's motive. As the General-in-chief who was always out in the battlefield, he always sorted out all the pests in just one swoop of his sword.