“Where are
we going?” Xia Ling Mei asked, gaze falling on Hei Zi.
“Our
responsibility is to ensure the lady’s safety, please don’t voluntarily put
yourself at risk.”
Hei Zi said, once again drawing the group to him: “Lady, you
already have no connections to Lord w.a.n.g.”
Xia Ling
Mei brows lifted, pursing her lips, without a word she urged her horse on to
the bend of the road they had just come from. Not long after, the broken
carriage could be seen again. The carriage light had already diminished, laying
in despair on the floor covered with fragments. The carriage ought to have been
forced into from the roof top as it was travelling, the floor was still
completely intact, only the blanket on top and the small table had a few
fragments of letters which had been riddled with holes by swords, if you look
at the letters carefully, you can tell the letters had been opened before, there
was even a yellow brocade satin in memorial of the emperor torn in two.
“It’s
clear, he has offended someone in the bureaucracy, that’s why he was forced to
Chenzhou.”
“Lady,
you’ve been in the Jianghu, matters of the bureaucracy has got nothing to do
with
you.
“Maybe, he
accepted a secret imperial decree from the emperor, he came to investigate some
important matter. Matter involving an influential family or court councillor.”
“Lady,
matters of the country are arranged by the emperor, the officials go carry them
out, and has nothing to do with a commoner like yourself.”
Xia Ling
Mei tied the small Tibetan Mastiff and kitten on the horseback, beaming as she
said: “Tell me, if I know his life is hanging by a thread, should I still not
help, afterwards, wouldn’t the patriarch say I… got someone else to do my dirty
work, murdering an official of the court.”
Hei Zi
rolled his eyes up to the sky: “Lady, I believe the people of Beiding City will
only say you ---- murdered your husband.”
Xia Ling
Mei paused, suddenly raising her horsewhip brandis.h.i.+ng it once, hatefully
saying:
“Then I’ll just let him die.”
Everyone:
“……”
Didn’t she
just say she was going to rescue him, how can she just turn around and curse
him to die? This was too quick a change, those standing around watching was at
a loss at the sudden turn of her mind, dumbstruck they stared at their angry
mistress, before staring
at Bei Zi with blame: Look at the good you’ve done!
Bei Zi
emotionally held his ponytail: “Lady, I was wrong. Let us go rescue Lord w.a.n.g.”
Xia Ling
Mei used all her strength hitting the horse’s b.u.t.t: “I’m not going.”
“Lady, I
beg you.”
“Get lost.”
“Lady, then
we won’t rescue Lord w.a.n.g, we’ll rescue Xiao Bai. Not only does that idiot
still lose his way, he definitely must have fallen into an evil person’s trap,
dead without an intact corpse.”
Xia Ling
Mei turned her head: “You like him?”
Tears
streamed down Hei Zi’s cheeks, he had no choice but to lie: “This servant likes
him to the extent that he doesn’t think of tea or food, if he leaves me beyond
a foot, I would be short of breath.” As he spoke, he wrested control of the
reins, pulling the empty worded big mistress to rescue a certain thoughtless
Lord w.a.n.g w.a.n.g.
Xia Ling
Mei still held that slip of paper with the b.l.o.o.d.y word on, Hei Zi took the
paper and examined it closely, feeling a bit of dried mud on the corner of it.
He automatically jumped to an elevated position to sweep his eyes over the
entire Chenzhou at night, with a whistle, birds came flying from all
directions, one by one he touched these bird’s claws, selecting several places,
making the secret guards split up to search. He himself again bought Xia Ling
Mei and the rest of the men following the way Xiao Bai had just left.
Bai Zi had
received the order to protect Xia Ling Mei for many years, he soon had a secret
signal with Hei Zi to communicate with each other, along with the excellent
tracking skills of the Xia family secret guards, not long after they had been
around half of Chenzhou.
Hei Zi
could not help but sigh: “That idiot, he must have gotten lost again.”
Luckily,
the people he had just dispatched had already sent news. By the time everyone
had found the location of that house, just by chance they saw Bai Zi leading
his subordinates in a fierce battle against the kidnappers, everywhere was the
sound of weapons in fights at close quarters, what’s more not a single family
peeked out from the densely packed single storey houses on the street.
Hei Zi lead
several people to lend a hand to Bai Zi, Xiu Yu and Ying s.h.i.+ had already deftly
searched the ins and outs of the abandoned house. Finally, from the thickness
of the dust on the floor they found a path leading down to the cellar.
Carefully they moved the floorboards away, several secret guards took the lead
in sliding down, Xia Ling Mei martial arts wasn’t weak, but everyone surrounded
her to protect her, but they have never thought for her to genuinely not get
involved.
The cellar
was a mess, things piled up in disorder everywhere, there were wine jars,
casks, hay that sort of junk, there were also cotton wadding, clothing which
could be used as cleaning rags, cobwebs hung across everywhere, behind numerous
broken planks and bamboo poles there was a faint ray of light, the crack of a
whip sounded.
“Where is
the secret decree?”
Xia Ling
Mei signalled everyone to stop, she herself pulled back into one corner, looking
through the thin wood at the gleam of light she saw a man suspended, it was
w.a.n.g Yun Feng.
He had his
eyes half closed, the new clothes he had changed into that evening was once
again in tatters from a thras.h.i.+ng, exposing the greenish blue chest infused
with beads of blood inside, on top of the crisscross pattern there was a part
which was the handiwork of
Xia Ling Mei that afternoon, another part were newly
added marks. The new wounds covered the old scars, it was horrible to see. And
with his head hanging down, it looked like he already stopped breathing.
Xia Ling
Mei suppressed her heavy breath, again looking closely at the depth of the
surroundings in the cellar. There were only three people, the short one
squatted on the floor rummaging through a pile of goods looking for something, in
the middle was the skinny and tall man still brandis.h.i.+ng a whip, a large full
bearded man actually had a wine cup held in his mouth drinking as he half leant
against the wall drunk. In this sort of situation, the tall lanky one ought to
be the best at martial arts. However, relying on her many years of experience
in the Jianghu, Xia Ling Mei attention remained fixed on the drunkard.
“I say,
this imperial censor officer still won’t talk even if he’s beaten to death, skinny
why don’t you be a bit more vicious, he won’t talk.”
At this
moment, w.a.n.g Yun Feng already kept his mouth shut that he wouldn’t even groan.
“d.a.m.n it, I
want to be vicious, but I don’t know when this scholar had already been beaten
before. He’s used to it, if I keep on forcing a confession he’ll die sooner or
later, we still haven’t obtained it, we can’t report back to Lord Gu.”
“Don’t
scare me, I’ve followed him for many days, apart from us, no one else has
discovered he’s carrying the emperor’s secret decree on him. Those injuries on
his body could well be from that steamy young lady for amus.e.m.e.nt, simply, we’ll
grab that lady from the tavern to try and threaten him.”
“That lady
has a lot of people protecting her, if you want to die you go.” Speaking, that
person picked up a rusty nail from the floor, seemingly thinking of a plan,
unexpectedly he took that nail facing w.a.n.g Yun Feng he placed it in his finger.
Scream.
w.a.n.g Yun
Feng almost woke up from the pain, that old rope was long ago no longer
reliable, while he struggled it split into two, the man rolling about in pain
on the floor cried out without tears, the blood which had coagulated with great
difficulty once more busted open, rubbing into the dust, black gra.s.s floor.
The short
person looked with interest, to go so far as to crouch down staring at w.a.n.g Yun
Feng in pain saying: “Lord w.a.n.g, if you want to still write memorials so the
emperor in the future, you best tell us where you hid the imperial decree and
your secret reply, that way you can suffer less pain.”
w.a.n.g Yun
Feng stopped rolling around, afterwards he violently shuddered. That skinny
person stepped forward and grabbed his other hand, picking out his smallest
finger, without hesitation he stabbed the bloodstained rusty nail in once more.
Xiu Yu
tightly clung onto Xia Ling Mei’s arm, burying her ears, she didn’t know, why
her lady was indifferent.
w.a.n.g Yun
Feng gasps for breath carried a clear meaning, gasping he said: “That’s what I
should be saying to you. I know I won’t live, don’t think if you get the
imperial decree and secret message you would achieve great success. You killed
a court official, and took the imperial decree, that Lord Gu would also not
believe you did not look at the content of the secret message. If you’re not
his left and right hand men, but know too many secrets, I don’t need to think
and I know what will happen to you.”
Before the
two men had time to be surprised, the drunkard who had been drinking all this
time opened his mouth: “Then what does Lord w.a.n.g mean? You want us to betray
Lord Gu, to be under your command? What benefits can you give us.”
w.a.n.g Yun
Feng grinned and asked: “Your Lord Gu secretly opened a gold mine, how much
profit did he split with you?”
“A gold
mine!?” The shorty immediately jumped three feet high, “Where did you get this
information?”
“The
emperor made me come here to investigate the place where the gold mine is. It
seems, Lord Gu isn’t generous to everybody, normally he pretends to be honest
and love the people, secretly he’s acc.u.mulated quite a bit of wealth.”
The
drunkard said: “A gold mine, Lord Gu basically took it all.”
w.a.n.g Yun
Feng apparently forgot his pain, looking up at the fierce drunkard: “There is
someone behind him, maybe it’s a court official, maybe an influential family,
or perhaps it’s… some relative of the emperor.”
The
drunkard eyes flashed, his posture suddenly changed, his whole body rushed over
to the corner of the room, dust rose from where he originally was, a red long
whip with countless spikes exploded the stone floor. Then, innumerable shadows
with lightening speeded forced entry, and instantly captured the two people.
The chaotic
eyes of the drunkard suddenly became clear, striking out with the wine cup in
the air, he clutched w.a.n.g Yun Feng by the throat knocking him into his arms:
“If you move I’ll kill him.”
Xia Ling
Mei gently swung her whip: “Kill him, apart from my people, everyone here needs
to die.”
The
drunkard was doubtful: “Aren’t you here to rescue Lord w.a.n.g?”
Xia Ling
Mei sneered, saying to w.a.n.g Yun Feng: “Hey, tell him who is itching to flay
your tendons and skin, ground your bones to dust.”
w.a.n.g Yun
Feng returned to his senses from his shock, he shook his head with a bitter
laugh: “You.”
Xia Ling
Mei continued: “And who would trample over your grave a few times when your
dead, who would plant a ring of endives around it?”
w.a.n.g Yun
Feng chokingly coughed a few times, blood spitting out on the corner of his
mouth which he also forgot to wipe clean: “It’s…you.”
“On this
earth the person who wanted to curse you to suffer eighty-one difficulties in
h.e.l.l, never reincarnated?”
“Its
----you.”
Xia Ling
Mei large eyes widened, her whip already ahead of her as it advanced towards
w.a.n.g Yun Feng: “Then why aren’t you dead!”
w.a.n.g Yun
Feng wanted to smile, but his heart wanted to cry, he no longer knew what
expression to face Xia Ling Mei with. The numbness of his body did not stop his
body shuddering, the throbbing pain at the bottom of his heart nevertheless froze
over every thread of blood vessel , he
closed his eyes…
“Master!”
Bai Zi who had forced the door open cried out.
“Woof,
woof.” The small Tibetan Mastiff rose from the back of Bai Zi’s head, four
st.u.r.dy dog legs flew past the door towards the drunkard’s face.
“Meow----“
a ball of black and white shadow rolled on the floor, advancing on the
drunkard’s big toe, taking aim, it took a big bite.
At Bai Zi’s
shocked shout, Xia Ling Mei’s long whip fell to the ground, everyone with their
mouth wide open, looked at the dark brown puppy hanging off the drunkard’s
face, as well as the kitten biting not let go as he hopped around in pain, embarra.s.sed.
Blood tells
us the truth, you cannot look down on the potential attack of any house pet.