The night was dusky, silver moonlight spilling down from its high perch in the heavens.
Within the courtyard.
Li Che furrowed his brow and set down the wine cup in his hand.
Older brother's wife, Liu Chunming's face was somewhat darkened.
"Zhengran has not come home for two days now, and this has never happened before, so I'm worried that something may have happened to him..."
Zhang Ya hurried over, pulling Liu Chunming to sit down on a chair, comforting her while pouring tea.
Liu Chunming, upon seeing everyone, could no longer restrain the injustices and panic in her heart, and wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.
"Big sister-in-law, don't worry too much, maybe cousin has been delayed by something. Do you know what cousin was going to do before he didn't come home?" Li Che asked.
"Zhengran said he was going to the marketplace to look for a job, as the silver taels we brought from Fei Lei City are almost spent, so he also wanted to find a living; we can't always rely on your support, A Che."
"Going to the marketplace to look for a job?"
Li Che nodded.
"Don't worry, big sister-in-law; finding a job in the marketplace is not easy, maybe big brother found a job and couldn't notify you in time. You go back first, take good care of Chengzhou, and I will go to find big brother to see what has kept him delayed," Li Che said gently.
Liu Chunming, hearing this, couldn't help but nod.
"Big sister-in-law, why don't you eat before you go back?" Zhang Ya quickly said.
Liu Chunming waved her hands repeatedly, having no appetite at all.
After Liu Chunming left, Zhang Ya looked at Li Che.
"Husband, big brother won't really be in trouble, will he?"
Big uncle and his family had been a great help to them, so Zhang Ya didn't want anything bad to happen, hoping for everyone to be alright.
"It should be nothing serious, and besides... big sister-in-law and big uncle may also have their suspicions," Li Che said softly. "If big brother really was involved in something dangerous, big uncle would have come earlier."
"Letting big sister-in-law come now... it's very likely... big uncle feels it's not good to show his face, or that he thinks it's humiliating."
Li Che understood big uncle's character quite well; the old scholar... cared a lot about face.
Big brother Li Zhengran not returning home for two days might be due to having done something that their elder would find humiliating; thus, he was unwilling to come and see Li Che and instead, the sister-in-law, unable to sit still any longer, came to seek Li Che's help in resolving the issue.
"Ah?" Zhang Ya was stunned, not expecting there to be so many intricacies.
Li Che, seeing his wife's adorable expression, couldn't help but pinch her small face.
Old Chen, Xi Xi, and Big Head Lu by the side were already accustomed to Li Che and Zhang Ya's occasional public displays of affection.
After dinner, Li Che returned to his study.
Sitting in a chair, his face showed little emotional change.
The [Chess Saint] Dao Fruit beat suddenly, and the next moment, a small Heaven and Earth chessboard floated in front of Li Che.
Lifting his hand, he flicked his finger, and a chess piece trembled.
It was the Divine Chess Piece Li Che had left on his cousin Li Zhengran.
He flicked his fingers again, the image started to widen, and the full coverage brought by Master Go-chess Saint locked onto the Divine Chess Piece placed on cousin Li Zhengran.
"A gambling den?"
Li Che opened his eyes, his brow furrowing even tighter.
He understood cousin Li Zhengran's temperament; why would he go to a place like a gambling den, a breeding ground for squandering a family's fortune?
With another flick of his fingers, the image expanded again, and there he saw inside the gambling den, cousin Li Zhengran, his face flushed, wedged among a group of gamblers before a gambling table, his eyes reddened, yelling, "Big, big, big!"
Li Che was taken aback.
Seeing with his own eyes, it can't be false.
"Someone has deliberately led cousin Li Zhengran astray..."
The thought flashed through Li Che's mind instantly.
Firstly, big uncle Li Liang's family discipline was strict and never allowed gambling or indecent involvement; cousin Li Zhengran had also been raised upright since childhood. Although he had never achieved much, he had never strayed from the right path.
Half a month into arriving at Golden Light Prefecture City, Li Zhengran had gotten involved in gambling.
In theory, if Li Zhengran was truly a gambling man, then he should have frequented the gambling dens back in Fei Lei City.
Li Che exhaled deeply; no wonder big uncle didn't come to seek his help himself; perhaps big uncle... had already been aware of this situation.
And he had always kept it from his big sister-in-law.
"The environment can change a person, but it's not possible to change so much so fast... So did someone deliberately guide him?"
Li Che narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flickering within.
While Li Che cared most about his wife and daughter, big uncle and cousin's family had been kind to him, there was a debt of upbringing, and naturally, they were also very important to him.
It was fine to target him, but using such despicable methods to influence the people around him was a bit too much.
"After I became a Third-class Guest Official of the Qintian Observatory, the Qin Family and the Temple Control Bureau became much warier of me, and according to Lu Chi, the Gold Split Gate also had no motive to deal with me..."
"In fact, they merely speculate and doubt my identity, with no concrete evidence. Due to my status as a Third-class Guest Official of the Qintian Observatory, combined with the predestined identity of the Spirit Child in the Xixi Divine Sect Branch, they naturally dare not act rashly."
Li Che pondered, slowly sorting through the current situation.
Zhang Xiangyang indeed provided the Temple Office with information affecting him, but it wasn't significant.
Because even Zhang Lianhao, the Temple Office's Chief Divine Envoy, couldn't confirm whether Li Che was really the Bull Demon or the mysterious cultivator who shot Qin Yuqing.
Despite continued suspicion, they couldn't be sure.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent two Divine Envoys to secretly shadow him.
"In fact, they don't care who the Bull Demon is... What they care about... is the Horse Face who shot Qin Yuqing."