Chapter 141 - Trouble Follows Your Wife

The person landed on Qing Chen and they both dropped on the ground in a mess of arms and legs. The flashlight and dagger had been long forgotten. Qing Chen was at the bottom and felt punches on both his cheeks. He made a hard swipe in front of him and the person above him toppled to the other side.

He quickly rolled on top of the person and was about to land a blow on the face and the stomach. When the face was illuminated, he drew back. "Ma Min?"

The short-haired girl glared at him through the moonlight. "What are you doing here, traitor?"

"What?!" Qing Chen got up and dusted himself.

Ma Min produced a long sword from her back and pointed it at Qing Chen. "What are you doing here in the woods?"

He did not mind the blade. "I saw someone walking here the night before, I thought I'd check it out."

"How did you get out of the building?"

Qing Chen rolled his eyes. "It's not exactly rocket science, is it?" He took a look at her. She had not changed out of her day clothes. "Why are you here?"

"Same as you. I saw some light here the night before."

Both their eyes cut to the sound and a moment later, it was as if Master had appeared out of thin air. He was walking with both his hands behind him. "I got awakened and had been told that two of my students were out of the building."

It was Ma Min who turned to face Master. "I had been seeing someone sneaking out of the building after lights off."

"How many times had you been out here, Ma Min?" Master asked.

The woman only bowed her head. Probably more times that she could count.

Master turned to Qing Chen. "And you?"

"My first."

"Same as her then? You saw someone walking in the woods last night?"

Qing Chen only nodded. 

"And who is this person who's walking around after dark, defying my rules?" Master was smaller than the both of them but he had managed to stare them down, willing them to crack under pressure.

Ma Min and Qing Chen exchanged a look. Both of their lips did not move. Was it because they did not want to put another student in trouble? Or was it because they were afraid they would not say the same name?

"I see," Master concluded. "Come with me, both of you."

The walk back to the training grounds was already torture in itself. The sounds of the woods filled the silence between them—the crickets, the occasional snap of twigs, the soft crunch of the leaves under their foot, and the whistling of the wind.

Qing Chen was trying to commit everything to memory so that he could go back here tomorrow or some other night. But all the trees looked the same to him. He was so tempted to run his dagger on one of the trees to leave a mark, but he knew that Master would hear it. The least thing he wanted right now was to aggravate the situation.

The clearing appeared and the three of them walked on the asphalted ground bathed in the shine of the moon. "Up," said Master when they passed by the two pillars of slim tree trunks. "You two are going to stand there until morning. Every fifteen minutes. Switch foots. Have a good night."

Without another word, Qing Chen climbed the twenty-foot slab and balanced himself on his right leg, splaying his arms to the sides to help. He was already cursing inside his mind. Now he would not be able to get to Feng Xuan. But there had to be some answers to the questions on his mind. 

"How long had you been sneaking out to find out who it was?" he asked her.

"About a month. Just about the time Feng Xuan had gotten here," Ma Min answered him, her tongue like blades out to cut him. "Maybe it's her."

It could not be her, Qing Chen thought. He was with her when he saw Shao Fang last night. "What did you see?"

"A small dot of light, like a firefly's. I almost convinced myself it was. Or there were some E.T. in these grounds. But that's even more impossible. It's just a human being carrying a light."

Qing Chen gave it some thought. He would not be able to rest not unless he knew what was going on in the middle of the forest. Or maybe… it was Shao Fang AND Ma Min. Maybe they were just having a midnight rendezvous. 

He shrugged in his mind. They must be bored here. They ought to do some other activities other than trying to stab knives at each other.

He groaned. There was just too many possibilities. He needed information on these students. He needed to narrow down the options. He stared at the old man retreating back to the building with his slow and easy pace. Qing Chen had to go to his office and look for his phone so he could send a message.

"Why didn't you say a name earlier?" Ma Min asked.

"Because I would've said yours. You?"

"I would've said YOU," she laughed and shook her head. "We were in peace right before that pretty girl got here. There were whispers among the other students. See, we didn't all start at the same time. Some had been able to stay in the city."

He didn't want to ask, but he wanted to know what they knew. "What did the whispers say?"

"That you are her husband. And that she's wanted by some people and even got in an accident."

That was too recent, Qing Chen thought. Who was the newest recruit? "Is that so?"

"Yeah." Ma Min bended her legs a little to stretch. "It seems like trouble follows your wife. Why don't we just hang her and end everything?"