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“His Highness should still be in the study,” he replied, his eyes lowered.

"Are you a new retainer? I've never seen you before."

Upon hearing the dignified and gentle voice, He Tingfang bowed and explained, "Your Majesty, that is indeed it."

He waited until the elegant lady had left gracefully before standing up. Watching the Second Prince's wife's departing figure, he couldn't help but sigh. The Second Prince's schemes were far-reaching; just considering the order to destroy the daughter of the Governor of Yunzhou if he couldn't have her, he realized he might have made a mistake.

But just as I had thought, it was easy to go in but difficult to go out. If I had even the slightest thought of disloyalty, I was afraid I wouldn't even be able to see His Highness. Instead, I would be met with poison or swords from the secret guards.

After thinking it over, he shook his head and left.

The Second Prince's Consort, who had just led her maid to the door of the study, was stopped and waited for half an hour without being allowed to pass.

"Your Highness, His Highness has important matters to discuss. He asks you to go back and rest, and not to wait for him."

This servant has been by the Second Prince's side since childhood, having been brought from the palace with him, and is highly valued. Sometimes, her words carry more weight than those of the princess consort.

“In that case, I’ll trouble you to take the soup in.” The Second Prince’s Consort did not linger. “I’m always worried that Your Highness might harm your health by not eating.”

"Your Majesty has gone to great lengths; this servant will certainly convey your message."

As she turned away, the Second Prince's wife's smile vanished, her eyes filled with complex emotions as she pondered something. Once back in the palace, she instructed her trusted maid, "Have our people in the front courtyard test that new retainer of today. Make sure to find out his background and see if we can win him over. If there's an opportunity, find a pretext to have him come and see me."

The maid understood her meaning instantly, "I'll go right away."

"Be discreet and don't let His Highness find out. Also, I'll write a letter; have someone deliver it to my father."

After the maidservant had received her order to leave, the Second Prince's Consort rubbed her aching temples, her eyes filled with even more gloom. She was truly fed up with all the intrigue and backstabbing in the inner quarters.

"I've had enough!" In the main hall of Qinglong Village, the third leader had been cursing and swearing for nearly half an hour. "Big brother, say something! What right does the second brother have?"

The head of the gang, sitting at the head of the table, finished his wine, rubbed his forehead which was throbbing from the noise, and said, "Why don't you scold me too, third brother, to calm your anger down?"

Although the third leader was a bit reckless and short-tempered, he still listened to his eldest brother. After all, without his brother saving him back then, there wouldn't be the Scarface he is today.

"Hey, big brother, stop playing with me." Scarface angrily downed half a jar of wine, casually wiping the wine off his chin, and said indignantly, "Second brother, his attitude is terrible. He even asked my men for help, and he turns his back on me like this. I think he's just after that little wench and is afraid I'll steal her from him."

"Third brother, that's going too far."

The man's voice grew louder as he approached. Dressed in white, he walked forward with his hands behind his back, first bowing to the leader, "Brother, people from Yunzhou have arrived."

"Oh?" The leader immediately stood up. "Did you bring enough ransom?"

The man nodded and smiled, "In that case, my Qinglong Village has at least a few months to catch its breath." As he spoke, he looked at the third leader, who had a rather sour face, and said, "Third brother, are you still going to slander me? It really hurts my feelings."

Scarface's anger had subsided somewhat when he heard that the ransom money and silver had arrived, but seeing the second brother's smiling tiger-like face, he mustered his anger again. "Second brother, don't push your luck while I'm not ready to fight!"

"Third brother, that's going too far." The leader came down and started to smooth things over. "Second brother is the same. He knows the third brother is stubborn, but he always teases him. We're all brothers, let's not do those silly things."

"Come on, let's go see what kind of gold nugget we've tied up."

Although Qinglong Village was infamous outside, only the villagers knew that its leader was originally from an honest family. He was framed and forced to go to the desolate mountains at night to be hunted down. He was just a small fry at the beginning.

Because the original leader was incompetent, committing all sorts of atrocities such as arson, murder, and looting, he was hated by both the government and the people. The current leader was also ostracized everywhere back then, and was forced to kill the original leader as a sacrifice to save the flag when he had nowhere else to go. That's how Qinglong Village came to be what it is today.

The local people all know that Qinglong Village is no longer the same Qinglong Village it once was. The leader no longer robs the poor and leads his gang to kill the rich and help the poor. Instead, because of his bad reputation, he has protected the people within dozens of miles.

But this was during a time of famine, with refugees and bandits everywhere. Merchants had stopped trading, so where could they find so many rich people to rob? In addition, Qinglong Village had destroyed two more mountain strongholds in the past two years, bringing together the old, young, women and children. Feeding this large village had become a problem. In ordinary households, they would have been struggling to make ends meet.

Having finally found such a good deal, I certainly can't let it go.

Song Ling reported to the chief that, after interrogation, he learned that the group was from a wealthy family in Yunzhou. Meanwhile, he secretly relayed the news of the wedding procession's capture to the Yunzhou governor's office and Luoyang.

As she expected, given the Second Prince's nature, he would never part with money to save someone. Unexpectedly, Governor Wang still didn't abandon his daughter.

From Yunzhou to Jingzhou, carrying gold, silver, valuables, and grain, and having to guard against the invasion of refugees and the looting of other bandits, it took more than a month to reach Qinglong Village. The few people who were transporting the goods were disheveled, dusty and travel-worn, and even their eyes were dark and bruised.

However, Song Ling was an expert and could tell at a glance that these people had human skin masks on their faces and their mannerisms indicated that they knew martial arts. They were not as simple as ordinary servants.

"The thousand taels of silver, along with the grain and valuables requested by the chief, are all here and can be presented in full," the leading man said. "We need to see our young lady and take her back with us."

The chief raised his hand to signal the men behind him, "Go, bring the person back." His eyes were fixed on the grain.

When Wang Zhiyan came over, she was calm and composed, not at all like a woman who had been captured and brought up the mountain. "I have to thank the chief for taking care of me these days."

The leader was somewhat regretful; he should have asked for more, and he figured he could have given it to her. He hadn't expected such a woman to be so valuable, but he always kept his promises and wouldn't go back on his word.

Only Scarface pulled the leader into a corner and hatched a wicked plan.

"Brother, are we just going to let such a gold nugget go?" He frowned and said, "This little bit of food will be gone in a few days. Since this young woman's family is wealthy, why don't we take advantage of her again?"

"Who knows when we'll encounter another situation like this? We can't let our brothers starve, can we?"

"This..." Although the leader hesitated, the scales in his heart had already tipped in his favor.

The third brother is right. Who knows how many years it will be before we can kidnap someone like that again? What will the brothers eat and drink then?

He walked out with a cold expression. "You gentlemen have come from afar and are considered distinguished guests of my Azure Dragon Stronghold. Why don't you stay and rest for a while?"

The men transporting the goods immediately declined. "We thank you, Boss, but our master said we can set off as soon as we see Miss. Are you going to go back on your word, Boss?" The leader asked coldly. "Along the way, we have heard that you rob the rich to help the poor, that although you are a mountain king, you are also charitable, and that you use the power of your mountain to protect the people around you."

"In my humble opinion, the chief should not have committed such a treacherous act."

"Shut your mouth!" Scarface couldn't help but step forward, picking up his broadsword and holding it to Scarface's neck. "This is Qinglong Village, our territory. It's none of your business to interfere. Trying to threaten me with your morals? Let me tell you, I'm a bandit!"

"Third brother!" The chief thought for a moment and decided to let it go. "Let's just forget about it and let them go."

"No way!" Scarface shouted angrily, "These guys all have to stay here today. I have to think about these dozens of brothers under my command! Brother, you have a kind heart, but I don't have any of that kind of compassion. Today, you either leave your men here to be redeemed, or you leave your lives to die!"

Before he could make a move, the dozen or so people who had come to ransom him suddenly changed their expressions, drew their soft swords and began to slash at him, even throwing Scarface's broadsword aside.

Those present, including the leader and Song Ling, had no choice but to join the chaos. One after another, members of the stronghold rushed in, but most of them were just showy but had never learned any military tactics or how to use knives and spears. Apart from a few leaders, most of the other henchmen were just there to die.

"Third brother!" the chief shouted angrily, but he was too busy to help himself.

The third leader was being cornered against the wall by one of the men and was putting up a fierce fight.

The long blade in front of him was only inches away, but he used the blade of his longsword to block it, and cracks appeared on the nearly half-inch-thick blade, which showed how deep this bastard's inner strength was.

Just as he was exhausted and could no longer hold on, the person in front of him suddenly stopped advancing, followed by the sound of a long blade falling to the ground. When the third leader opened his eyes with difficulty, he saw that the enemy in front of him had wide eyes and a dagger that had been pierced through his neck, with blood still flowing from the edge. He immediately fell to the ground.

What was revealed next was a calm woman's face—the gold nugget they had kidnapped.

Scarface's heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would jump out of his chest; he had almost died, but this woman had saved him. "Why?"

He asked in a hoarse voice.

These people came to rescue her.

“These people are here to kill me.” Wang Zhiyan coldly drew her dagger. “We should deal with these people first.”

Scarface watched in astonishment as she mingled into the crowd like flowing water, rescuing one of his Green Dragon Village men after another. He picked up his longsword and propped himself up. Damn it, he couldn't be outdone by a woman, could he? With that thought, he rushed back in.

At the same time, nearly ten more men in black suddenly rushed into the crowd. The leader's heart skipped a beat, and he felt that his Green Dragon Village was doomed.