"You guys take your time chatting, I still have things to do, so I'll get going first," Old Bo said upon seeing Qin Shi agree to see them, and he took his leave first.
Su Mo and Xia Miaomiao followed Qin Shi into the room.
The room was somewhat messy, with drawing paper scattered on the floor and table, and many paintings arranged on the desk.
Despite it being broad daylight, the doors and windows were shut tight, and candlelights were lit in the room.
The entire room exuded an air of creepiness. Su Mo couldn't help but knit her brows, subconsciously grabbing Xia Miaomiao's hand and pulling her to her side protectively.
Xia Miaomiao also felt rather uneasy seeing the state of the room.
"Please excuse the mess, young ladies. I live alone so I don't clean up much," Qin Shi bent over to gather the drawing papers on the floor.
"Why do you keep the doors and windows closed despite it being daytime?" Su Mo couldn't help but ask.
Qin Shi's movements stilled briefly. "I don't like sunlight."
Su Mo felt that there was something off about Qin Shi.
Xia Miaomiao looked around the room. There were also quite a few paintings hanging on the walls.
"What kind of painting would the young lady like?" Qin Shi's voice rang out.
"Can we...take a look at the paintings in your home?" Xia Miaomiao tentatively asked.
Qin Shi paused before replying, "Go ahead."
Xia Miaomiao walked over with Su Mo to look at the paintings hanging on the wall.
Su Mo didn't understand these. She couldn't make heads or tails of them.
As Xia Miaomiao was looking over them, a portrait of a lady caught her attention.
The painting was done in ink wash painting, the entire picture pitch black in ink color, but the lady's lips were painted red, standing out glaringly from the rest of the painting.
Noticing that Xia Miaomiao had been staring at that painting, Qin Shi walked over and took it off the wall.
"I'm afraid this painting is not for sale, Miss."
Xia Miaomiao was taken aback. She looked at him and asked, "I see Mister Qin's portraits are very good. Could you paint one for me too? Would that be possible?"
Qin Shi looked at Xia Miaomiao. "Are you certain you want a portrait painted?"
"Is that inconvenient?"
"No..." Qin Shi turned and walked away, tidying up his desk. "I have your looks memorized. Please let me know where you're staying. I'll deliver the painting to you in two days."
Su Mo glared at him in disbelief. She walked over and rapped the desk. "Hey! Are you saying you can paint it just from looking once?"
"If the young lady does not believe me, you need not come to me for a painting," Qin Shi spoke gently as always, with hardly any expression on his face.
"Please have it delivered to the Four Beauties Pavilion when you are done painting, Mister Qin," Xia Miaomiao smiled at him. She placed a tael of silver on the table. "We'll get going first."
Just as Xia Miaomiao was about to leave, she caught a glimpse of a corner of a painting on the table that revealed a woman's forehead, with a flower-shaped hairpin painted on it.
It was a hairpin that Xia Miaomiao recognized - the very same one Yu Jiaojiao used to have on her forehead.
Catching on, Xia Miaomiao swiftly pulled out that painting!
"Miss, you..."
By the time Qin Shi reacted, the painting was already in Xia Miaomiao's hands.
"Isn't this Yu Jiaojiao?" Su Mo exclaimed in surprise.
There was a clear flicker of abnormality in Qin Shi's eyes.
Su Mo immediately pulled out a dagger from her waist and held it against Qin Shi's neck. "Speak! Did you capture Yu Jiaojiao?!"
Qin Shi showed no hint of cowardice. "Young ladies, did you not come to buy paintings?"
"Miaomiao, stop..." Xia Miaomiao pulled at Su Mo. "Let him go first."
Su Mo hesitated before lowering her dagger.
"Mister Qin, I do appreciate your paintings, however...the woman in this painting is our friend - her sister has gone missing recently and we've been looking for her. If you know anything about her whereabouts, please tell us."
"So...you're Jiaojiao's friends?" Qin Shi's eyes dimmed. "I've been looking for her these past few days too..."
"What do you mean? So you know she's gone missing too?" Su Mo asked.
"She came to me for this portrait a few days ago and said she'd come collect it two days later, but it's been so many days and she still hasn't shown up. I went to the Tianxiang Tower to look for her but was chased out. Later, I bribed one of Tianxiang Tower's handymen to tell me secretly that Jiaojiao has gone missing..."
"When was the last time you saw her?" Xia Miaomiao asked.
Sorrow permeated Qin Shi's voice. "Six days ago...she came to see me and even brought me lots of snacks..."
"We heard that Yu Jiaojiao had feelings for you?" Su Mo asked.
Qin Shi lowered his eyes. "With the way I look, how could I be worthy of her?"
"Did she confess her feelings to you before?" Xia Miaomiao continued asking.
Pain flashed across Qin Shi's eyes. "She did...but I rejected her. I don't want to drag her down...I'm neither capable of redeeming her. It's I who have let her down..."
......
On the way back, Su Mo couldn't help asking, "Miaomiao, do you think Qin Shi's words are credible? There's just something off about him. And with a burned face like that, would Yu Jiaojiao really have liked him?"
Xia Miaomiao smiled. "Somo, not everyone is as looks-oriented as you. Maybe Yu Jiaojiao admired his talents instead. However..." Xia Miaomiao pondered for a bit.
"Judging from Qin Shi's behavior, it's likely he has very low self-esteem."
"With a face like that, it'd be weird if he didn't have low self-esteem!"
Just as Su Mo spoke, a black silhouette suddenly landed in front of them with a swoosh.
Seeing who it was, Su Mo immediately went up to him. "Wu Ying, what are you doing out here?"
Wu Ying hesitated briefly. "I spotted a suspicious figure near Qin Shi's place, but...I lost sight of him in the end..."
"Even you lost track of him?" Su Mo exclaimed in surprise.
"Mm," Wu Ying nodded. "That man had very formidable martial arts. I suspect...it may have been Hua Wuyue."
Xia Miaomiao's brows furrowed slightly. "The flower thief? Then could Yu Jiaojiao have really been captured by him?"
"If she was truly captured by him and according to what Yu Yifan mentioned previously about the flower thief's modus operandi, then wouldn't Yu Jiaojiao already be..." Su Mo conjectured tentatively.
"Let's head back first. We need to come up with a way to lure Hua Wuyue out..." Wu Ying said.
The three returned to Qinglin Academy and relayed everything they found out today to Sang Li and the rest.
"If my sister has truly fallen into that flower thief's hands, I'm afraid things don't bode well!" Yu Yifan said anxiously. He grabbed Wu Ying right away. "Master, you are so powerful. Please hurry and save my sister!"
"The only way now is to get Hua Wuyue to show himself," said Wu Ying.
"How do we get him to appear?"
"A flower thief...naturally calls for...luring him out with a beauty." Sang Li remarked.
"Let me do it then! I know martial arts. I'm not afraid of him!" Su Mo volunteered readily.
Yu Yifan took a glance at Su Mo and stated a harsh fact, "Teacher...that flower thief's targets have almost all been talented and accomplished young ladies from prestigious families. You're pretty...but other than fighting, you don't seem to possess many talents..."
Su Mo: "..."
Su Mo knocked Yu Yifan on the head. "If you've got nothing nice to say, keep quiet!"
Yu Yifan quickly shielded his head, not daring to speak anymore.
"I'll do it," came Xia Miaomiao's voice.
The others looked at Xia Miaomiao in surprise. Xia Miaomiao had always been rather timid. This was the first time she had volunteered so resolutely for something so dangerous.
"I've always felt I was useless deadweight to you guys. At the very least I can be of some use this time." Xia Miaomiao smiled.