章 32: Celebrating the death of a child

"As someone once said, A beautiful lady can always make drunk men talk," Chen Qiao chuckled as he whispered to Fu Jie.

Fu Jie only pursed his lips and didn't bother commenting anything as he heard this. He didn't agree to it, nor did he refute it. He simply looked at the two men who were suddenly all energetic as they looked at Xu Yifen with their mouths hanging open in awe of her beauty.

It was clear as day that they had never been approached by such a beautiful woman in all their lives.

The one sitting beside Fu Jie eagerly responded, "Beautiful little sister, where are you from?"

"Me?" Xu Lifen chuckled as she answered, "I'm from a place far away. There was a grand celebration, so I wanted to check it out."

"Is that so!"

Xu Lifen nodded as she continued, "But no matter how much I asked around, nobody was willing to tell me anything about it."

"Eh? How could anyone refuse to answer you?!" One of the men cried out, "Don't worry! This big brother would tell you everything. Just ask!"

Fu Jie and Chen Qiao were amazed at Xu Lifen's skills at making men talk so easily. Maybe next time, they should also dress up as a girl and try to interrogate people, as soon as this thought entered Fu Jie's mind, he immediately shook it away and shivered. There was no way he would be willing to dress up as a girl!

Xu Lifen smiled brightly as she looked at the two men and Fu Jie was thoroughly shocked to know that this woman could smile this brightly. For a minute there, he almost thought it was Senior martial sister Yao Meirong sitting in front of him.

"This Brother is so nice! I'm so lucky to have run into you both!" Xu Lifen beamed. She opened her eyes wide in an eager manner, making her look cute as she asked, "Can you tell me more about the thing you were talking about?"

The man sitting beside Chen Qiao straightened his back as he smiled and volunteered to be the first to spill the tea.

"The Mayor's daughter was recently found dead. Three days ago, her body was discovered on a deserted street around the corner of this Tavern." The man started speaking seriously, using voice modulations to make the story sound even more interesting, "Someone gauged her eyes out, pulled her tongue out and sucked all the blood from her body."

Xu Lifen gasped in exaggeration as she listened to this and this got the man even more excited to continue the story.

"I was walking by and happened to see her body and let me tell you..." The man shook his head as he took a dramatic pause before continuing, "It was horrifying! Nobody deserves such a death! Whoever did it is certainly a monster!"

Xu Lifen nodded as she commented, "That poor girl."

The other man suddenly spoke up, as if trying to forcefully enter the conversation and not let his friend take all the credits from him, "Some say that she was killed by her own father, the city mayor."

"Why would a father do something like that to his own daughter?" Xu Lifen pouted as she questioned.

"Beautiful sister is not from here so you don't know, but the mayor had never liked his daughter. When she was born, his wife died in childbirth, and ever since then, he had blamed his wife's death on his daughter. If his daughter had never been born, his wife wouldn't have died so soon."

"What bullsh*t!" Fu Jie tried his best to keep his mouth shut but he still couldn't help it. Something from inside was bugging him and he had to speak his mind, "If they didn't want to have a child, they shouldn't have had a child! How come it's the child's fault?!"

Xu Lifen looked at Fu Jie as if stunned that he had suddenly spoken up against this but when the initial shock had settled in, she smiled as she patted his arm and responded, "Some people are just like that."

Fu Jie frowned. These so-called minority of hypocrites were people who Fu Jie hated the most.

The man nodded as he agreed to both of them at once, "Some people do that. It's not the child's fault but they would still blame the child in order to not feel guilty about their own mistakes."

Xu Lifen, "So the Mayor is such a man?"

One of the two shook his head as he answered, "The Mayor isn't a bad man. He is good to us and he's a model father to his son."

"Ah! His son is the one whose birthday everyone is celebrating?" Xu Lifen clapped her hands as she asked eagerly.

The other nodded, "The young master has recently turned sixteen but..."

"But what?" Fu Jie questioned with a frown.

"His birthday was a few days ago. Before the death of his sister."

"!!!"

The frown on Fu Jie's face deepened as he heard this, "So why are you celebrating right now?"

The man shook his head as he answered, "People are saying that it's not really his birthday that the Mayor wants us to celebrate."

"It's his daughter's death that he wants to celebrate."

"..."

Fu Jie had never seen the Mayor nor had he ever seen his daughter, but he was still greatly mad at the man who could be so cruel to his own flesh and blood.

Fu Jie thought his father was harsh on him but when he saw a father who was worse than his, he couldn't help but feel his blood boil in hatred.

To celebrate the death of your own daughter, this mayor was the real monster!

Xu Lifen also frowned, not liking what she was hearing, "And nobody is saying anything about it?"

"How can we?!" The man shouted, "He's the mayor! He isn't a bad man. He has always been kind to us and our city has always been peaceful! Why would we point our finger at him for his own personal matters?!"

"Ya!" Someone suddenly shouted and Fu Jie turned his head to look at the man who had stood up from the other table and walked over to theirs. This man looked strong. His muscles had been well built and although he was wearing common clothing, he didn't look like a commoner. He looked like the guards that were patrolling in front of the city gate.

"Who are you?" The man who was sitting with them and feeding them information rudely asked.

The buffed-up man who had approached them so suddenly had a disgusted facial expression as he questioned, "What do you mean good man?! His personal matters?! A good leader?! Takes good care of the people?! What nonsense are you spouting?!"

The man stood in front of their table and shouted at them angrily as he glared at the man who had said all of these things.

The two who were sitting with Fu Jie and their group stood up and glared back at the man, not being scared by his built at all, "We only said the truth."

"The truth?!" The buffed-up man scoffed as he pulled the other by the collar and asked, "If he was really a good leader and took good care of the people, so many of us wouldn't have died at the hands of that ferocious ghost!"

Fu Jie suddenly felt like this man had a valid point there.

If the Mayor was really that good at his job, the maple passion pavilion and the Jade pavilion wouldn't have had to come all the way over here to help them get rid of a ferocious ghost.

"The ferocious ghost isn't something the Mayor can stop!"

Fu Jie was unsure if these two men who had given them so much information were against the mayor or on his side. Sometimes they would criticize the mayor and help fan the rumors while at the same time, they would also stand up for him and call him a good man.

These two really needed to pick one side and stick to it.

"He can't catch it nor can he beat it but the killings have been happening for more than six months now! So many innocent people have lost their lives and you tell me that he's a good person who treats everyone well?! Why didn't he call out for help from the big sects before this?!"

Six months?!

Ah Bai and Ah Lu had clearly told Fu Jie that according to the reports received, the killings had been going on for just a few weeks and definitely not six months!

It seemed that the reports that came in could no longer be trusted.

"How do you know that the Mayor didn't try calling them sooner?! Maybe he did and they ignored it since our city is so small!"

Dai Xiaobo who had originally not moved from his seat when everyone went over to the other table suddenly stood up, "If reports were made, the sect that receives it would naturally not ignore it."

The two who were busy fighting each other looked at the man who had interrupted them.

"Who the hell are you?!"