Chapter 1118 - A Family He Knew

Since the opportunity to eat with their junior had been lost, Huo Cheng and Huo Hai didn't bother to eat themselves. Instead, the four people left the guesthouse as soon as Hua Lin Yu and Xin Lan were finished eating and then went through the streets, in the direction of where they had seen the fire last night.

Arriving in front of the yamen, Hua Lin Yu curiously looked on while the yamen runners were investigating what had happened while also cleaning up the place.

There was a row of onlookers already gathered outside, spiritedly discussing what was going on. Xin Lan glanced at them, finally pulling Hua Lin Yu slightly closer to himself. There was no way these humans could do anything to him but he still didn't want to get separated. Anyway, it should be a nice feeling to be cared for by your lover. At the very least, his previous lovers had always appreciated this kind of thing.

Hua Lin Yu did indeed look up and gave a smile, snuggling up to his side. "What do you think happened?"

Before Xin Lan had the chance to make any guesses, a middle-aged man looked over to them, raising his brows. "Haven't you heard yet?"

Hua Lin Yu blinked his eyes and shook his head. "No, do you know what happened?"

The man nodded as if it was a matter of course. "You don't know but this is actually a big issue. You know how yesterday, there was a murder committed in one of the houses in the capital city?"

Hua Lin Yu once again shook his head, having never heard of that even though they had been outside yesterday.

Seeing that he had no idea what was going on, the man was happy to supply him with some more information. "Well, the family in question is quite well-off and actually owns two businesses here in the capital. The victim is their son-in-law. From what I've heard, he hadn't been living in the capital city for some time but recently returned for the funeral of his wife's aunt.

"Somehow, he never made his way over to the procession and was found dead yesterday. The yamen runners brought him here and started to investigate but come night, the building where the body was kept suddenly caught on fire. They haven't said so yet but it's pretty obvious that this wasn't just some mere coincidence but arson instead. Somebody must have been trying to tamper with the evidence!"

Hua Lin Yu's eyes widened, almost unable to believe that something like this could happen in the capital city. "Such a thing happened?"

"Yes, of course!" The man's gaze darkened a little and he furrowed his brows. "Don't you believe me?"

The Huo brothers already wanted to jump out to defend their junior but Hua Lin Yu just smiled, his eyes turning into little crescents. His cute face made the man stop even though he had wanted to scold him for having no eyes. It really was difficult to scold somebody this young …

Hua Lin Yu immediately continued to reassure the man. "How could that be? If you say that is what happened, then that must have happened. I just feel that …" He pondered for a moment and glanced at the yamen, trying to find the right expression. "It's hard to believe that people would actually do something like this. Who would go so far?"

The man felt even better when he heard that it wasn't his words that were doubted but just people's morality these days. "Mn! People these days … I could hardly believe it either when I heard what happened. But it's all the truth.

"Anyway, they have no idea yet who might've done it. If you ask me, then that would either have to be somebody in the family itself or maybe a competitor. You see, the family isn't very big and the family head is also getting old. They only have one daughter so who will inherit things if there's no son-in-law anymore? I think there's a nephew around or something. So either it's him who was trying to make sure that everything would go to him or somebody else hoped that nobody would inherit and he would be able to get some well-running businesses at a low price."

Hua Lin Yu nodded slowly but since he didn't know any of these people, he didn't really have an opinion on this. He turned to Xin Lan only to find him with a thoughtful expression on his face. "What's the matter?"

Xin Lan gave a low hum. "I feel like I have a faint idea who he is talking about." Two well-going businesses? Only one daughter and a nephew? A family member had recently died? That sounded like the family that the Son of Heaven had reincarnated into. What was this about a dead son-in-law though?

Hua Lin Yu wasn't quite sure what to make of that. "You know them? Then … do you want to go there?" If he was close with them, he would probably want to help out, right?

Xin Lan shook his head though. "It's a family matter. Not something that I should get involved in. Anyway, it's just some distant acquaintance. I think it would be better to leave this kind of thing to the authorities. They'll surely figure it out." He leaned down and gave Hua Lin Yu a kiss, feeling that this chapter could be closed.

Hua Lin Yu couldn't help but look at the destroyed building in front of them though. He didn't know why but he had a strange feeling about this. Maybe that was because he had grown up in the Jian Yi Sect. Nobody there would ever do something like this. Killing somebody, destroying the evidence, trying to profit off another's death … This really was difficult for him to imagine.