Chương 32: Killing two birds with one stone.

"Because of you?" Hua Tianshu's eyes narrowed down on the man as he repeated with a bit of confusion.

"If it was revealed that Bai LiuXian was a demon, then I wouldn't be blamed for the death. On the contrary, I might even be rewarded. The murderer only had two motives, one was to screw me over and the other was to kill Bai LiuXian. By doing what he did, he was able to kill two birds with one stone."

That oddly made a lot of sense.

"If Bai LiuXian is a demon then... Bai YiJun is probably one too, isn't that right?" Hua Tianshu asked as he looked at Jie Fu Lian with a little bit of excitement.

"You look more than ready to kill him if that were the case," Jie Fu Lian couldn't help but comment with a soft chuckle, "But I'm sorry to disappoint you. Bai YiJun isn't a demon. He has no traces of demonic Qi inside him. I already checked when we met each other today."

It wasn't that Jie Fu Lian didn't trust Bai YiJun, it was just that since they hadn't seen each other in a long time, Jie Fu Lian wanted to make sure that his friend was doing alright or not. If it were eight years ago, he would have probably never checked, but with everything that was happening around him recently, he felt that it was better to be a little extra careful.

"If one brother is a half-demon and the other is not, then Bai LiuXian was adopted?"

Jie Fu Lian shook his head as he revealed, "It's probably the mother that was a demon. Bai YiJun and Bai LiuXian were born to different mothers."

Hua Tianshu had once heard about their messy family relations but since the whole story was never patiently explained, he had no idea about the details of the family relations.

Jie Fu Lian, on the other hand, was Bai YiJun's best friend so it was only natural that he would know all the ins and outs of the Bai family.

"Bai YiJun was the first son of the family and was born to Bai Yaling, Bai Guanyu's first wife. They had been childhood sweethearts and they were said to be deeply in love with each other. However, Five years after giving birth to Bai YiJun, she caught a fatal heart disease and passed away. Everyone thought Bai Guanyu would never get married again but surprisingly, not only did he get married again, he also got married on the very next day of Bai Yaling's funeral."

Jie Fu Lian suddenly paused to sigh before continuing, "He got married to a woman whose name and origins were both unknown to the public. Everybody referred to her as Bai BaoShi since she was considered as the Bai family's hidden gem. There were rumors about her being very beautiful but none of the rumors could be proven since she never appeared before the public. However, due to my close relationship with Bai YiJun, I once had the chance to see her face and I must admit... She really did have an ethereal face worthy of all the praises!"

Hua Tianshu slightly frowned as he saw Jie Fu Lian's enthusiasm.

"But her face is really a waste on her personality," Jie Fu Lian sneered as he continued, "She wanted her own son to become the next city head and hence, she broke Bai YiJun's legs and disabled him forever. Bai YiJun was quite smart so even with his legs being rendered useless, his potential as the next head of the city was still quite high. Bai BaoShi absolutely hated him and in order to eliminate any threats that might come in the way of her son's success, she tried to kill Bai YiJun. By then, Bai YiJun had finally understood her intentions and hence, when he survived from that assassination attempt, he started acting like a lunatic."

"A crippled lunatic was no threat to her so she let him go?" Hua Tianshu asked with a small frown.

"That's right," Jie Fu Lian nodded his head as he confirmed it, "I had always thought she had a evil heart but I would have never guessed that her actual identity was of a demon."

"Then could it be Bai YiJun?" Hua Tianshu suddenly asked as he pointed out, "Both the mother and son made him suffer a lot so wouldn't it be logical for him to take revenge on them like this?"

Jie Fu Lian suddenly put on a serious expression on his face as he admitted, "I would be lying if I said I didn't think about the possibility of him being the culprit. But..."

"But?"

"It can't be him," Jie Fu Lian sighed as he added, "Bai BaoShi was the only problem. If Bai YiJun had wanted to take revenge, he would have directly taken revenge on Bai BaoShi. In the first place itself, his relationship with his bother wasn't that bad. Although I don't recall the name 'Bai LiuXian', I do recall Bai YiJun mentioning his brother in our conversations and from the way he spoke, I could sense that he really cared for his brother, although he refused to openly show it."

For some reason, Hua Tianshu looked a little disappointed as he heard this. He had really hoped that it would be Bai YiJun since he could then find a reason to get rid of the man in the name of justice.

"In any case, have you heard anything about Bai BaoShi after her son's death?" Jie Fu Lian gulped as he raised his head and looked at Hua Tianshu with an expectant gaze.

"To the best of my knowledge, the city head's wife is still alive but... After her son's death, she broke off the relationship with her husband and blamed him for not being able to protect Bai LiuXian. Later on, she left the Bai manor and her whereabouts are currently unknown. It is possible that she either went back to the demon realm or took on a new identity."

"What about the city head?"

"Bai Guanyu collapsed a few years after his wife left and is still bedridden."

Jie Fu Lian frowned as he asked, "Then is Bai YiJun looking after the city affairs?"

Hua Tianshu shook his head as he replied, "Bai YiJun is still pretending to be a crippled lunatic. The city affairs are being handled by Fan Xue, the financial minister of the city. His relationship with Bai Guanyu and Bai YiJun is quite good."

"Uncle Fan Xue...?!" Jie Fu Lian's eyes widened and he repeated the name with a slightly higher voice as he expressed his shock.

"You remember him?" Hua Tianshu raised his eyebrows as he asked.

"It would be more shocking if I didn't remember him!" Jie Fu Lian exclaimed as he revealed, "Uncle Fan Xue used to be a prestigious disciple of the Pheonix clan. He was later thrown out of his clan for having a romantic relationship with his Master. Of course, his master was also thrown out with him. The two got married and later came to Xiujiang and decided to settle down here. Since they had once been master and disciple, their relationship wasn't seen under a positive light. However, Bai Guanyu treated them very politely and even offered Fan Xue a position as the financial minister of the city."

The Pheonix clan was one of the prominent eight sects and when Jie Fu Lian had first found out about Fan Xue's past, he had been very shocked by the man's actions and later, he even felt a little admiration towards the man's courage. It was clearly not easy to leave such a clan and future behind for just a single person.

"He left his reputation, status, future and dreams for just single person. Such love is hard to come by," Jie Fu Lian sighed as he spoke, "So I used to admire him for it."

Hua Tianshu's eyes narrowed down on Jie Fu Lian.

"But of course, that was before I saw his husband!" Jie Fu Lian suddenly added, looking to be quite excited as he spoke, "Uncle Fan Xue wasn't that special. If I had a master that handsome and charming, I would have also left everything behind! You'd be a fool if you didn't chase after such a beauty!"

Hua Tianshu felt a little bitter as he heard this and immediately spoke, "His master really is special. In the end, didn't he leave more things behind for Fan Xue? Fan Xue was a disciple who had a lot of potential but his master was somebody who had probably achieved everything he had desired. He left that position for his beloved, I think that is more amazing. His love must have been far greater." -In other words, His master probably loves Fan Xue a bit too much so you better not have improper thoughts about somebody else's man.

"You are probably right," Jie Fu Lian light-heartedly laughed, failing to detect Hua Tianshu's jealousy.

"In any case, such a love isn't all that rare," Hua Tianshu coughed as he added, "I was also ready to do the same for the one I loved."

"..."