Qiu Ling stared at Xin Lan with an unhappy expression. In fact, he would have liked to give this guy a piece of his mind. Unfortunately, he currently couldn't do so. After all, this guy had come with a darn good explanation for why he was here. With Jing Yi right next to him, he really couldn't turn his so-called help down when he offered it.
Thus, he could only force a smile and pretend to be grateful. "It's so nice of you to come over and try to help us figure this out. It was really such a tragedy for my beloved's family." He was holding Jing Yi's hand, slightly turning toward him and giving a faint smile. Even though he didn't like Xin Lan and would love it if he could leave, it would still be good if somehow this guy did indeed help them out. Jing Yi would definitely be happy with that.
Xin Lan gave a low hum. "Why don't you first tell me what you know already?"
"I'm afraid there isn't much to tell. When the body was found, the two of us were in the teahouse. We only heard of what had happened when we came back in the evening."
Xin Lan raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, you might not have known that he was dead but you certainly know why he was tied up in a storage room, don't you?"
Qiu Ling turned back and blinked his eyes at him as if he had no idea at all what Xin Lan was talking about. "No? Why would I know about that?"
Xin Lan just continued to look at him, not saying anything.
Hua Lin Yu was confused though. "Why do you think he would know?"
Since it was his own lover that asked, Xin Lan naturally wouldn't ignore it. He turned to him, brushing through his hair while his lips curved up in a gentle smile.
On the other side of the table, Qiu Ling shivered. This really … wasn't nice to watch. It was bad enough to see this guy salivate over the old geezer but this was even more concerning. Why was his guy pretending to be gentle?
Xin Lan continued to ignore him and focused on Hua Lin Yu instead. "Well, as I mentioned before, Qiu Ling is actually of the dragon race as well and a few days ago, I coincidentally saw two other people of the dragon race carry a tied up man over to this house. I'm pretty sure that this guy happened to be that son-in-law of the Zhong family."
Both Hua Lin Yu and Jing Yi turned to look at Qiu Ling with surprise and some doubt. Hua Lin Yu didn't really know anything about the family so he didn't dare to speak up but Jing Yi slightly furrowed his brows.
"Is this true? Why would you do something like this?" Even though Xin Lan hadn't said it outright, he could imagine that Qiu Ling had given the order. After all, he knew that his lover happened to be the dragon king.
Qiu Ling really wanted to curse. This damned old fogey! Why did he have to get involved in something that had nothing to do with him? He sighed and then turned to Jing Yi, taking his other hand as well and looking at him apologetically. "It's really the truth. I���m sorry. I would've told you but … this was just after mother-in-law …"
Jing Yi looked away, his mood dropping when he was reminded of his mother's death. "What does that have to do with anything so?"
"I asked Fu Min and Fu Heng to bring your cousin over when she was still in the Hei Dian Sect because I didn't want to waste any time waiting for her to come over in the usual way. When they went there, they also found her husband. As it turns out, he is at least partly demon. I was afraid that he would disrupt things so we threw him in that storage room."
Xin Lan wasn't surprised at all. This was definitely Qiu Ling's way of dealing with things. He just got rid of the problem in the simplest way. "So, did your people kill him as well, or was that just a coincidence?"
Qiu Ling shot him an angry look. "Of course, they didn't kill him! In fact, I was thinking that he would be released as soon as the procession was over. I never even wasted another thought on him because that guy certainly would've run away as soon as he got the chance. He definitely wouldn't have stuck around if he knew he was running the risk of meeting me. After all, by that time, he could be pretty sure that I knew what he was."
Xin Lan slightly leaned back, his arm snaking around Hua Lin Yu's shoulders and he brushed his arm with his fingertips, making Hua Lin Yu lean closer to him. "Well, I guess it's true. In that case, maybe that servant found him there and since he was tied up, used the opportunity to kill him. That would make sense."
Qiu Ling scoffed. "You really think so? Even if he wasn't a half-demon, he was at least a cultivator as well. What was that servant? Just a common mortal. He wouldn't be able to kill him at all. I don't believe this."
Jing Yi felt lost, having no idea what was up with the story. He didn't dare to make any assumptions either so he could only look at Qiu Ling, hoping that he would be able to figure it out. Anyway, while he didn't like Guanyu too much, she was still his cousin. He wanted her to at least get an answer for what happened. She deserved as much.