Meanwhile, on the main road leading to Jiangzhou.
“We should arrive in Jiangzhou before noon,” said Wang Xingfeng.
After hearing this, Ling Xingzhong looked at the guard named Xie Shi, who had been assigned to protect them by Yuwen Tong. In an undertone, Xie Shi informed Ling Xingzhong, “There is a branch not far away ahead. We may take it and head for Yanzhou.”
Ling Xingzhong gave a nod. Before departure, they had consulted with each other and decided that they would part from Wang Xingfeng and others when they reached the fork.
“I’m sorry, my dear friend, but I’m afraid we have to take another road and go to Yanzhou first.”
Wang Xingfeng was stunned. ‘Go to Yanzhou?’
“Ur… Old Master Ling, did anything happen? Why did you suddenly decide to go to Yanzhou?” Zhou Gaoyi couldn’t help but ask.
“No more questions, my friends. We have some urgent business to attend to and must go to Yanzhou. Please pardon us,” said Xie Shi flintily with a sulky face.
From their departure from Tanyang until now, Xie Shi had caught the attention of Wang Xingfeng and Zhou Gaoyi many times, because Xie Shi seemed very different from other security guards. There was an air of sternness and callousness about him, which was impossible to ignore and also deterred people from messing with him.
Seeing that Xie Shi stated his stand, Wang Xingfeng and Zhou Gaoyi exchanged glances. “Well, Old Master Ling agreed to come with us to Jiangzhou.”
“I did agree to go with you to Jiangzhou. How about this? We’ll go to Jiangzhou after we return from Yanzhou. What do you say?” said Ling Xingzhong.
Xie Shi flicked a glance at Ling Xingzhong. ‘As far as I know, Childe Ling seems to dislike these two traveling merchants very much, as if he holds some kind of hatred towards them, but why does Ling Xingzhong seem to be unaware of this?’
“This–” Zhou Gaoyi wanted to insist.
But Wang Xingfeng interrupted him, “We got it. Then we shall wait for Old Master Ling in Jiangzhou. May I ask what kind of urgent business that Old Master Ling has to go to Yanzhou to attend to? Is there anything we can do to help?”
“That’s very kind of you, but there’s nothing we have to bother you with for the moment,” replied Ling Xingzhong.
“Then I wish you a safe journey, Old Master Ling. We’ll go to Jiangzhou first to await you,” said Wang Xingfeng.
Zhou Gaoyi intended to say something but eventually swallowed back the words on the tip of his tongue.
As soon as Ling Xingzhong and others took the branch heading for Yanzhou, Zhou Gaoyi blurted, “What is wrong with Ling Xingzhong? He agreed to come to Jiangzhou with us. Why did he suddenly want to go to Yanzhou?”
Wang Xingfeng said, “Stop it. Let’s go back to Jiangzhou and wait.”
“What is this fucking thing? All circumstances conspired against us in Tanyang. First we were rudely asked to leave by that Ling Zhang, and then when we believed that they had finally changed their minds, they decided to go to Yanzhou halfway! They are clearly toying with us, don’t you think? Maybe we should give up inviting Ling Xingzhong and find someone else to help us with the appraisal instead,” said Zhou Gaoyi angrily.
Wang Xingfeng frowned, “I’m afraid people of Ling family have never meant to help us from the very beginning.”
“Why did they leave the city with us if they had no intention of helping us?” Zhou Gaoyi was puzzled.
“Their destination should have been Yanzhou all along,” responded Wang Xingfeng.
“Ah?” Zhou Gaoyi was completely baffled. “Why did they do this? Were they really toying with us?”
After thinking for a while, Wang Xingfeng shook his head. “It puzzles me as well, but no matter what, we’d better not offend Ling family. Did you not see that security guard? He is by no means just a security guard. The look in his eyes was cold like hell, as if he once killed anybody.”
Zhou Gaoyi was taken aback. “Killed anybody?”
Wang Xingfeng gave a bob of the head. “If we had dared to stop them just now, he would no doubt have killed us unhesitatingly.”
Zhou Gaoyi broke out in a cold sweat. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Wang Xingfeng said, “Let’s go. It’s money that we are after. There’s no need for us to risk our lives. We should return to Jiangzhou first and figure out the rest of this matter after that.”
Scared by the speculation of Wang Xingfeng, Zhou Gaoyi made no further remarks and returned to Jiangzhou with Wang Xingfeng and their men.
Right at the moment when Ling Xingzhong and others took the turn heading for Yanzhou, another team brushed past them, galloping in the direction of Yanzhou.
One of those people on horseback was very arrogant. He rode in front of others and, when approaching Ling Xingzhong’s team, yelled, “Move aside! Get out of our way!”
Since Ling Xingzhong and others needed to keep a low profile on their way to Yanzhou and couldn’t afford to attract anybody’s attention, it was advisable for them to try not to have any disagreements with anybody.
Seeing that those people were so aggressive, the carriage drivers hurriedly drove the carriages to the side and made way for them.
Those people left clouds of dust in their wake.
Xie Shi, who had been slightly keeping his head down, darted a cold glance at the team of people and faintly knitted his brows.
“What is the matter, Guard Xie? Are there any problems with those people?” Yang Liuzi riding side by side with him hurriedly asked after seeing this.
All of them had been recalled from the herb farm and assigned to escort Ling Xingzhong and others to Yanzhou. They didn’t know much about Lord Yuwen, who was an honored guest, or any of his bodyguards, but during this journey, the air about Xie Shi had brought them into an instinctive realization of the difference between them and Xie Shi. Added to this was Ling Xingzhong’s trust in Xie Shi, which had left them thinking highly of Xie Shi all along.
“Nothing. Keep heading for Yanzhou. If we encounter that team again, try to stay away from them,” replied Xie Shi.
Yang Liuzi, who had become somewhat wary of that group of people after hearing this, said, “Okay.”
At noon, they arrived in a small town of Yanzhou and found themselves an inn.
The inn was very small and also rather far away from the town center, so there were few customers. The inn-keeper was very happy to see people of Ling family and received them with warm hospitality. “Greetings, Master. Is it accommodations or a meal that you are seeking?”
“A meal. Please prepare some food for us,” a personal servant of Ling Xingzhong told the inn-keeper.
The inn-keeper was somewhat confused. He had thought that these people would spend the night in his inn. Unexpectedly, they were just here to have a meal.
He could see it a mile off that these people were visitors from the south, the likes of whom would, ordinarily, check into the large inn on the main street after entering this town. Only when there were no rooms available in the large inn would they come to his inn to seek accommodations. If these people just wanted a meal, any restaurant on the main street was a better alternative for them than his inn.
The inn-keeper couldn’t help mumbling in his mind, but he was not a fool who would say no to money, so he didn’t show any suspicion on his face but just hurriedly bade the waiter to tell the chef to prepare food.
When the meal was ready, Xie Shi was gone.
Yang Liuzi and others were somewhat dismayed, having no idea how he suddenly came to disappear. They didn’t even notice when he had left. ‘He’s indeed a kung fu expert!’ he exclaimed in his mind.
Xie Shi, the kung fu expert that Yang Liuzi thought he was, had scouted all of the several large inns and restaurants in the town, and eventually located the targets. They were in a restaurant.
Those people paid for a private room. The door was closed and there were two guards on duty at the doorway.
“… Second Young Master, why did Marshal suddenly want you to leave Tanyang? We had already received your message and were about to enter the city,” said one of the men.
An angry snort was heard. Then someone replied, “Who the fuck knows? It was already unlucky enough of me to have been spotted by him, and now he even evicted me from Tanyang. The task my father assigned me still stands unfinished. You think I’m willing to return to the capital city like this?”
“Then, what does Second Young Master plan to do?”
“Going back to Tanyang is not a choice for the moment. Who knows what that maniac is going to do?” said Yuwen Qi in an indignant tone of voice. Though bitterly unreconciled to the situation, he didn’t dare to rashly challenge the authority of Yuwen Tong.
“But what about Ling family? Master wants us to do whatever we can to have people of Ling family call off the engagement on their own account.”
“Currently, Ling Zhang is under his protection and my hands are tied. I have to switch to a different target,” said Yuwen Qi in a fidgety tone of voice.
“Who?”
“Ling Xingzhong. He was the one who concluded the marriage contract with my father. If he objects, Ling Zhang will definitely listen to him.”
“But Marshal is living in the residence of Ling family. What should we do to prevent Marshal from making contact with Ling Xingzhong?”
Yuwen Qi paced up and down in the room for a while and eventually replied, “Have someone deliver a letter to Ling Xingzhong. Invite him to somewhere and talk about this. Do it yourself. I cannot go back to Tanyang for the moment, so you’re on your own. Don’t be spotted by him again.”
“Yes, Second Young Master. I’ll go back to Tanyang right now. You may just stay in this town. I’ll keep you informed of any developments.”
“So be it.”
After eavesdropping on their conversation, Xie Shi left with a cold face.
“Guard Xie is back. Where have you been?” Yang Liuzi asked Xie Shi the moment he returned to the inn.
Xie Shi flicked a glance at him and then said to Ling Xingzhong, “Lord Ling, after this meal, we should leave here immediately without any delay.”
Seeing the serious look on his face, Ling Xingzhong couldn’t help but ask, “Is there a problem?”
Xie Shi shook his head. “I must escort you, your wife and your youngest son to Yanzhou where it’s safe. And I’m perturbed because the job stands undone.”
Ling Xingzhong believed him and nodded. “All right. Then we depart after the meal.”
But Yang Liuzi felt that there was more to this matter than what Xie Shi had just said. He had an intuition that this had something to do with the group of people they had met on their way to this town.
After the meal, Ling Xingzhong and others got on the carriages. While riding side by side with Xie Shi, Yang Liuzi asked him, “Guard Xie, is the team we met halfway in this town as well?”
Xie Shi cast a glance at him and grunted, “Yeah.”
Yang Liuzi asked nervously, “Who are they?”
Xie Shi replied in a bland tone of voice, “Just a bunch of loafers. Yuan… Marshal will sort them out. We can just ignore them and keep going.”
Yang Liuzi had only a vague notion of this matter, but when he persisted with his questioning, Xie Shi made no further reply, which made Yang Liuzi very confused.
The group of people soon left the town heading directly in the direction of Yanzhou.
At the same time, a couple of Yuwen Qi’s men departed from a large inn in the town going back to Tanyang.
In Tanyang, Ling Zhang and Ling Zhaowen had just returned from the residence of Lu family.
Lu Fengnian had indeed been in concern, since Lu Kui seemed to have lost a lot of weight these days, appearing rather haggard, while Zhang Chong looked pretty well. Not knowing anything specific about the plan of Ling family, Lu Fengnian was very worried that Lu Kui might fall ill before Zhang Chong was brought down.
Ling Zhaowen had had to spend a lot of time consoling Lu Fengnian, telling him that all he had to do was wait for another couple of days.
“Alas. I’m afraid Lu Fengnian has to endure another several days’ wait. Fortunately Zhang Chong has never been to Lu family lately. Otherwise he will definitely have noticed that something has been bothering Lu Fengnian,” Ling Zhaowen observed.
“Rest assured, uncle. Soon Zhang Chong will be too busy to spare any time making trouble for Lu family, and Uncle Lu will be rid of the pressure,” said Ling Zhang.
The deadline was drawing near. News from the capital city would definitely arrive during the next several days. When informed of Yuwen Tong’s presence in Tanyang, Zhang Chong would surely be alarmed and brush these matters aside.
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