"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."
"..."
Jie Fu Lian looked at the man with a mixed expression of both confusion and shock as he repeated the man's words through his head.
It would have been alright if he had said something along the lines of 'I would have also done the same for the one I love'. In that case, it would seem as if he was talking about a hypothetical situation.
But what was this?!
'I was also ready to do the same for the one I loved'?!
Wasn't this like admitting he had once loved somebody to the point of being blinded by that love?!
Even with the gruesome corpse of Bai LiuXian lying in front of him, Jie Fu Lian still couldn't help but feel greatly interested in Hua Tianshu's love story.
He had always considered Hua Tianshu to be the type that would look down on words and feelings such as 'love'!
Who could have guessed that the man was actually quite experience in it?
Damn it, even Jie Fu Lian hadn't loved anyone like that!
"I'm just saying," Seeing Jie Fu Lian's shocked and speechless reaction, Hua Tianshu coughed again as he felt shy and avoided eye-contact, "There is nothing rare about such a love."
Jie Fu Lian gulped as he heard this and immediately jumped as cried out, "This is definitely rare!"
Hua Tianshu snapped his head towards the man and looked to be quite surprised with this reaction.
"Hua Tianshu, how can somebody like you fall in love?!" Jie Fu Lian questioned and for some reason, his face looked as if he was disgusted with just the mere thought of it.
Hua Tianshu frowned and glared at Jie Fu Lian as he asked back, "What do you mean 'somebody like me'? Am I not a normal man? Why can't I fall in love?"
"..."
To say that he was a normal man... It really didn't feel right.
However, Jie Fu Lian couldn't voice out his honest opinions and hence, he tried to improve Hua Tianshu's mood as he spoke with a small awkward laugh, "Brother Hua, I didn't mean to offend you. It's just that you look more of the type to break a girl's heart. Like an unreachable immortal that wouldn't spare a second glance at others. Do you get what I mean?"
Hua Tianshu frowned and suddenly moved a step closer to grab Jie Fu Lian's wrist before pulling him closer as he gently spoke, "I am not an unreachable immortal. Haven't I spared you a lot more than a second glance? When I'm standing this close to you, can you still look into my eyes and tell me I'm unreachable?"
Jie Fu Lian gulped and his eyes looked as if they were ready to pop out of his sockets. At the moment, all he could think about was how close their faces were and as soon as his eyes trailed down to Hua Tianshu's moving lips, that were speaking something he wasn't paying attention to, his ears flushed red.
Hua Tianshu wasn't holding onto his wrist too tight and if he had wanted, he could easily take a step back and put a little distance between them but for some reason, Jie Fu Lian didn't bother doing that. His body froze up like a wooden stick and he kept staring at Hua Tianshu with the same dumb expression.
A minute passed and Hua Tianshu had finally calmed down his mind. With a sigh, he let go of Jie Fu Lian's wrist and turned away as he spoke, "It's pointless to make you understand."
"Brother Hua, Now I'm really curious," Jie Fu Lian spoke up as he looked at the man with twinkling eyes, "Just who was it that managed to capture your heart like that? Just a mere mention of the person and you are already acting like this. It looks like you really loved that person a lot!"
Hua Tianshu narrowed down his eyes on Jie Fu Lian and didn't respond to that answer.
The answer was obvious and yet, Jie Fu Lian was perhaps the only one who couldn't see it... Hua Tianshu felt a little disappointed.
In this life, there were only two incidents in which Hua Tianshu had put his reputation, future and dreams at risk. Jie Fu Lian was probably familiar with both of those incidents.
The first incident happened eight years ago when Hua Tianshu had stood against all the eight prominent sect and dared to speak up for Jie Fu Lian. If Jie Fu Lian hadn't jumped into the abyss that day, Hua Tianshu had planned on running away with the man to start a new life, away from the eyes of the eight prominent sects.
The second incident was when he abandoned his duties and went to the demon realm seeking out Jie Fu Lian who possessed the body of the Demon King. If the news were to be spread, it would become quite a scandal and there would be no need for him to go back to the HuiXue sect.
Jie Fu Lian awkwardly chuckled as he waved his hand and spoke, "Brother Hua, if you don't want to speak then don't speak. There is no need to glare at me like this."
"..." Hua Tianshu couldn't help but wonder, 'I was clearly looking at the one that you were so curious about. How can that be considered glaring?'
Hua Tianshu had always been quite a talkative person. However, whenever Jie Fu Lian came into the picture, Hua Tianshu no longer knew what to say and was so worried about the words that might come out of his mouth that he always just chose to stay silent for the most part of it.
Jie Fu Lian always misunderstood the man for it and had come to the conclusion that Hua Tianshu probably hated him.
Although Hua Tianshu had made it clear that he never hated the man, Jie Fu Lian still couldn't abandon his original beliefs and continued to misunderstand Hua Tianshu's ever little action.
With a sigh, Hua Tianshu spoke, "Let's just continue on with the investigation."
Finally, Jie Fu Lian was reminded of Bai LiuXian's corpse that had started to smell.
As he looked down, he couldn't help but frown as he asked, "Hua Tianshu, didn't you say the maid who came in early thought Bai LiuXian was sleeping?"
"Since he was on the bed and there was no blood in sight, that's what she assumed."
"But how can one mistake a dead man for a sleeping one?"
"Huh?"
"The smell," Jie Fu Lian pinched his nose as he spoke, "If she found him in the morning, he would have already been dead for at least five hours. The smell of the corpse should have spread all around the room and even with no sight of blood, the maid should have still been able to smell and know that something was off."
His words made perfect sense and Hua Tianshu had also wondered this.
"Could she have been lying?"
Jie Fu Lian shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know but we can find out."
"How?"
"Let's first put him on the bed and cover him with a blanket," Jie Fu Lian quickly spoke and without even waiting for Hua Tianshu's help, he picked up the corpse and placed it over the bed as he spoke, "We'll wait for the maid."
Hua Tianshu simply nodded his head as he agreed to this plan. The two went outside the room and pretended to continue on with their duties as the guards stationed at Bai LiuXian's door.
They only needed to wait for a little over two hours before they saw the maid approaching the room with a pot of morning tea.
She knocked on the door and announced her presence before she opened the door.
As soon as the door was opened, the disgusting smell of the corpse spread out and the woman immediately closed the door.
The two guards side-glanced at her and noticed her every little action.
The woman turned to look at Hua Tianshu and gulped as she nervously spoke, "It seems that young master Bai LiuXian is still sleeping."
Hua Tianshu didn't give a response and the woman also didn't bother staying around for a conversation as she turned and left.
"There's no way she didn't notice," Jie Fu Lian commented as soon as the women left.
"En," Hua Tianshu nodded his head as he agreed.
"They why didn't-" Jie Fu Lian didn't even continue his own question as he hurriedly turned and opened the door to the room.
He peeked inside with a guess and was quite shocked to see that his guess had actually been right.
On top of the corpse, there was a man sitting quite comfortably in a position that would in no case be considered decent.
Hua Tianshu also peeked inside the room and frowned as he looked at the killer that had returned.
The killer turned his head and stared at the two guards that had interrupted him.
At that very moment, Jie Fu Lian felt as if his heart had stopped and he finally understood why he had been accused of Bai LiuXian's murder.