Volume 11.5 Chapter 50
It wasn’t common to see three horses pulling a carriage along through the night as though they were running from danger. Even stranger was the fact that three carriages split into different directions.
“Zhuo Fengru is a wretched old man, yet his wife is perfect from head to toe. What a lucky old fart.”
Lady Zhuo, joined by five more people in a carriage, kept her teeth dug into her bottom lip.
“Show my mother some respect!” Zhuo Yupin guarded his mother behind him despite his words and actions provoking their kidnappers into bas.h.i.+ng him.
Although Lady Zhuo was bitter over the fact that she was separated from her daughter whilst having to raise someone else’s son and groom him into her daughter’s husband, she always fulfilled the duties of a mother for the sake of it. That was why she felt a warm and fuzzy feeling when she saw him defending her as she reflected on the times she held his hands to teach him to write, the times she taught him to speak and so on.
“Pin’er, I’m fine. Don’t deign to their level.”
As criminals who only joined Miguo Branch for the benefits Lord Miguo offered, the group had no sense of discipline to speak of.
The bald man cackled. “Missy, if you don’t mind, how about alleviating our boredom.”
“Put a sock in it.” The swordsman lying with his sword in his arms separated himself from his five comrades, seemingly considering himself in a league of his own.
The bald man chortled again. “Master Liu, we’ve been working nonstop for months. It’s not like we’re going to kill her; we’re just seeking some relief. Zhuo Fengru is a stuck-up p.r.i.c.k who’s constantly offended us… Hehe, we’re avenging His Excellency, too, n-?” He suddenly folded over in silence.
Long Taoyuan, nicknamed Skyhead, once bounced his opponent’s sharp broadsword off his head without a scratch. Yet, blood could soon be seen running down from his forehead, without him ever knowing how it happened.
“Don’t lump me in with you.” The swordsman threatened, “Whoever makes a fuss will be next.”
Breaking the silence that followed, Zhuo Yupin said, “… Leng Jingliu, I’m not thankful for that. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place.”
All of Leng Jingliu’s “comrades” gulped. The solo swordsman was known amongst “allies” and enemies as a man of his word. He just warned everyone to keep their mouths shut, yet Zhuo Yupin was already mouthing off. Zhuo Yupin may not fear death, but the cronies certainly feared Lord Miguo’s wrath if they couldn’t bring him back alive.
“Had you not involved yourself with us too much, Zhuo Estate’s security wouldn’t have crumbled so fast. When it comes down to it, the fault lies with you.”
“If I didn’t trust you…”
“We’ve only known each other for three months. Every piece of information on Ming Feizhen was worth five hundred taels. Your father’s information was worth three hundred taels per piece. You’ve earned a decent amount in the last year. How does it have anything to do with me? If Lord Miguo didn’t spot traces of a Mystic Era discipline from you, he wouldn’t have any interest in a brat like you. On the other hand, you implicated your father. Unlike you, however, he only feigned cooperation to collect incriminating evidence on us. Had Xu Clan not been killed off, perhaps he wouldn’t be silenced so soon. While I’m on the topic, if your father really dies, the information collected will give you the biggest merit.”
Leng Jingliu disclosed all the things Zhuo Fengru had been doing to Zhuo Yupin while they were travelling, much to Zhuo Yupin’s exasperation and guilt. Of course Zhuo Yupin could detect his father acting besides himself, but he never thought it was because of his mistakes.
Lady Zhuo: “Is everything you say a lie? My husband is someone you hooligans can touch! Pin’er, don’t believe their baseless claims. Don’t you have any faith in your father?”
“Apologies,” expressed Leng Jingliu. “Hero Zhuo certainly is an aspiration of many. Howbeit, man only has so much power. Shennong is home to plenty of adepts. It’ll be hard for two hands to win against four hands, let alone more. Either way, it’s not something Young Master Zhuo can do something about. Nonetheless, please forgive this one’s rudeness.”
Two men opined, “Master Liu’s swordplay is first-rate. That old fart won’t be your match.”
“I’m not suggesting I could dominate him. I’d only barely beat him.” Leng Jingliu opened his eyes as though he sensed danger. “Impossible. Already?”
“What? Something outside?” The guard brushed aside the window curtain for a look to see a black streak cross the firmament to the ceiling of their carriage. Once he made out it was a meatless, shoulder bone, he blurted, “The h.e.l.l?”
Upon contact making contact with the carriage, the wheels splintered, dropping the carriage to the ground. Subsequently, the horse reins split with the sound of someone slas.h.i.+ng them, allowing the horses to careen in different directions. There was nothing the coach could do when he hadn’t come across such a phenomena in his decades-long career.
“What did I tell you? They kidnapped the two while I was fighting Hero Zhuo, then fled for Shennong. They might as well have given us a map to tell us which route to take. There’s no way anyone can run from Hero Zhuo and I.”
“Mm.”
“Come to think of it, we’re pretty lucky. I mean, we caught with them after running dozens of kilometres and until the sun went down, right? Guess Hero Zhuo wasted his time going in his direction.”
“Mm.”
“Hua Gezi, say something. Hey, where are you going?”
Hua Qing broke Ming Feizhen’s hold to go puke by a tree.
“How useless,” Ming Feizhen insulted.
“Shut up! Can’t you give me a heads up?! I didn’t expect you to run so fast, not to mention how far we travelled!” Hua Qing resumed hurling.
Ming Feizhen reached into the carriage to check since he believed everyone inside should’ve had their accupoints sealed. “Hey, hey, everyone dead? Lady Zhuo? Punk Zhuo? I’m coming.”
“Quiet.”
Ming Feizhen back flipped away. “Oho?”
Leng Jingliu stood up.