Nightwatcher

# 9. A Berserk Aunt

"I- I..."

The little girl's face instantly turned red, as she was embarrassed in front of her family. So, her beautiful apricot eyes were covered with a layer of mist while she glowed in the candlelight.

Although I like my sister, It's really fun to bully a little child like her who cries for a long time due to a small issue.

Xu Lingyue bulged her cheeks and raised her head like a smashed jar to look at Xu Qi'an," I just want to know how elder brother solved the case from the paper."

Xu Xinnian, who pretended to not exist, couldn't pretend anymore and raised his head silently.

He was proud of being smart, and he had read the dossier, but he had no clue even after repeated research. But Xu Qi'an immediately solved the case the day he asked him for the file.

Auntie didn't speak, but her chopsticks holding the dish stopped and she stopped chewing her food.

"There's no perfect crime in the world except for coincidences, since every man-made case leaves behind clues that can be found." Xu Qi'an said.

Xu Xinnian straightened his back and listened carefully.

"First of all, I checked the route and timings of the escort, and through that realised that the weight of the silver had problems..." Xu Qi'an recounted his reasoning Process.

The more Xinnian listened, the brighter his eyes became as if he was listening to a lecture by a master in a private school.

He clenched his hands beneath the table.

When Xu Qi'an finished speaking, Xu Erlang's[^1] face was calm, "Not bad."

Xu Erlang had always been like this, and the family was long used to his antics.

The beautiful sixteen-year-old sister lowered her head and showed admiration in her eyes.

Xu Pingzhi slapped the table with excitement, and swore, "So it was like this! I didn't even notice."

Xu Xinnian glanced at his father, and thought, *It'd be strange if you did.*

Xu Qi'an glanced at his second uncle and remembered a sentence: *You say that I have no culture to behold, well with one "fuck you" I can travel the world.*

Second uncle Xu was a martial artist, and his literacy was limited to writing his name, even if it was crooked and looks like a chicken scratch.

"How simple you are, don’t you even know how to estimate weight?" Aunt dissed her husband.

Xu Qi'an asked, "Did they wear a hand guard when they counted the money?"

Xu Ershu recalled the scene and said surprisedly, "It seems they did, How did you know?"

*It really was Sodium?* Xu Qi'an looked at his uncle quietly and asked, "Why didn't you say this in the confession?"

"It's such a trivial matter, Why should I say it?" At this point, Xu Ershu scolded, "It's all due to Lu handing me a pot of sweet-scented osmanthus honey at the time. You also know that the second uncle's good at drinking. I drank a cup and didn't care about these matters. I would have forgotten these matters if you didn't say it."

I'm most afraid of a pig teammate like you... If the dossier had this detail, I could have analysed the truth of the case quickly. Why would I push so many of my brain cells... Xu Qi'an sighed.

To second uncle, it probably had as much significance as what clothes they wore, how they tied their hair.

He didn't realize it was an important detail.

"Most likely, The Lu person should be the one who framed dad." Xu Xinnian pointed out.

"It’s all my fault, for being confused and almost harming the entire family." Xu Pingzhi suddenly became sad, "Ningyan, your father and I fought back in the ‘Mountain and Sea Campaign’ back then, and said that we would survive and thrive together."

"I survived, but your father died in battle. At that time, I thought that I had to change my way of life if I wanted to live better."

He could no longer be just cannon fodder.

"So I let Nian'er go to school and let you practice martial arts. I had my selfish plans in this."

Aunt rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, Your sincerity is towards your nephew."

More than 100 taels of silver a year.

"According to my aunt, Erlang is not cherished?" Xu Qi'an swore that that was not what he wanted to say, but his instinct suppressed his brain.

The original owner had a lot of resentment toward his aunt.

"What do you mean by this." Aunt patted the table angrily.

Xu Erlang and Xu Lingyue bowed their heads and devoured their rice, They seemed to be used to this.

Xu Ershu's scalp was tingling, " That's enough, I finally got my life back. If I have to listen to you quarreling, I'd better have died."

Everyone bowed their heads to eat.

Xu Qi'an had an impression of the Mountain and Sea Campaign.

The world was vast and boundless, and the Great Feng dominated the Central Plains, was the orthodox power in the world.

The country was established by military might and governed by Confucianism. At its peak, all nations came to pay tribute to Great Feng. So far, the national calendar has stretched for 600 years.

Twenty years ago, Great Feng joined forces with countries in the Western Regions to fight against the Plains Barbarians in the North and the Southern Barbarians in the Southwest in Shanhai Pass.

Counting the military of all the parties, the number of soldiers reached millions.

The war took half a year to end, but a million people died at that time.

This was one of the worst wars in history. The records called it: *The Campaign of Mountains and Seas*.

Xu Qi'an's father died in that battle.

"... With my knowledge as a keyboard warrior and the law summarized by online literature, no dynasty could escape the three-hundred-year law."

The so-called three-hundred-year law was named as such by Xu Qi'an himself.

As an Alternate History lover, He summed up a set of laws from the 5000-year history of his previous life. Leaving aside the backward and feudal Zhou Dynasty with its Separatist Princes, No country had the fortune to last three hundred years uninterrupted.

The two Songs and two Han dynasties were also reorganized dynasties.

Thinking about it, the Great Feng lasting for six hundred years was surely due to the power system in this world.

Little Pea was brought to the table by Lü’e. She was hungry, so stopped crying. She was too small to reach the dining table, so she sat on Lü’e's lap and was fed by her.

"Mother, why did we live in a dark house? We couldn't eat enough every day." Little Pea remembered what happened to her the other day.

She called the prison a dark house.

The people at the table didn't speak and the aunt showed a look of pity.

Xu Ershu sighed," Daddy did something wrong."

Little Pea said "Oh!", and then said, "I woke up due to hunger yesterday and caught a bug. It was on my head." She put two short fingers over her head.

It was a cockroach, and the kings in the prison, alongside the mice.

The faces of all the people at the table quickly changed, and all of them were ashamed and pitied the little child. It was their failure to make a child suffer so.

"You, did you eat.." Li Ru's lips trembled and her eyes were red. She gave birth to this young girl in her early thirties. Although she was a little stupid, She loved her child.

Little Pea Xu Lingyin said crisply," I later heard mummy's belly rumbling."

The atmosphere was silent for a while, and everyone's hearts sank.

Auntie's pretty face turned pale, and she trembled," Then?"

"Then I stuffed it into mummy's mouth, and mummy ate it so quickly." Little Pea said with an inviting expression.

Auntie trembled.

Xu Xinnian slowly put his chopsticks over his bowl, "I'm full."

Xu Lingyue, "Me too."

Xu Qi'an, "I'm full, pfft..."

Uncle Xu, "..."

Aunt stayed for a few seconds, then fluttered to the bottom of the table, retching.

"Waah waah waah...." Soon after, cries similar to slaughtered pigs echoed in the night.

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[^1]: Erlang (second son), Dalang (big/eldest son)