On her way back to Kyoto, Li Xi was enjoying the scenery along the way. Suddenly, she heard the sound of horses' hooves. Lifting the curtain, she saw a group of men in black, wielding sharp blades, rushing towards a man.
Li Xi looked closely and realized that the man was someone she knew—Qin Xiaolin. She was stunned for a moment, then immediately drew the long sword that was lying to the side and rushed towards the group of men in black.
Seeing the enemy closing in, Qin Xiaolin, though wielding a sword, felt overwhelmed by their numbers. The men in black attacked fiercely, and Qin Xiaolin, struggling to defend himself, was on the verge of defeat.
Just then, Li Xi rushed into the battle like the wind. Her swordsmanship was fierce and her movements agile, and she immediately knocked several men in black to the ground. Qin Xiaolin was overjoyed at the sight. He seized the opportunity to join forces with Li Xi to fight against the remaining enemies.
After a fierce battle, the men in black finally retreated. Qin Xiaolin thanked Li Xi, "Brother Li, thanks to you, otherwise I would probably be in grave danger today."
Li Xi looked around and, seeing that the danger had passed, breathed a sigh of relief. "Brother Qin, are you alright?" she asked worriedly, looking at the bloodstains on Qin Xiaolin's body.
"It's nothing, just a minor injury. I was poisoned by their Yanxi and caught off guard. Thank you for your help, Brother Li..." Before he could finish speaking, Qin Xiaolin felt dizzy and was about to fall forward when Li Xi quickly stepped forward to support him.
"Brother Qin, Brother Qin," Li Xi put his hand to his nose to check, thankfully, he was not dead.
"Xiaoxi, what happened?" Chairman Wang opened the curtain and looked at the two of them. "Chairman, Young Master Li and the other man are fine. The man in black has already left," the coachman replied.
Li Xi picked up Qin Xiaolin and walked to the carriage. "President, this is the young master of the Duke's mansion. I happen to know him. He may have been drugged and is unconscious. May we ride back to the city together? We need to find Lan'er to check on him as soon as possible."
"Quickly, get him up here!" the guild leader said anxiously. The coachman and Li Xi together carried Qin Xiaolin into the carriage. The coachman kept shouting "Giddy up!" and accelerated towards the city. Fortunately, they were not far from the Bright Gate.
A quarter of an hour later, the carriage stopped at the back door. Li Xi picked up Qin Xiaolin and said, "President, I'm leaving now. We'll talk in detail tomorrow." "Okay, hurry up," President Wang waved his hand.
"Sweetie, open the door!" Li Xi shouted at the back door. Hearing Li Xi's voice, the people inside opened the door and came out.
"What's going on? Xiao Xi, why are you hugging Young Master Xiao? What happened to him?" Meng Zhelan exclaimed.
"We'll talk about it later. He seems to be poisoned. Let's take a look at him quickly," Li Xi said, walking into the room and putting Qin Xiaolin on the bed.
Meng Zhelan also arrived with her medicine kit. She took his pulse for a while before saying, "Fortunately, he only inhaled a little bit of the poisonous smoke, which is why he fainted. A few antidote pills will do the trick. Let him rest well."
Meng Zhelan looked at the lingering poisonous smoke on his nostrils, carefully scraped some off and placed it on a handkerchief, a flash of ferocity in her eyes.
"Lan'er, this pill is so big, how are we going to feed it to him? Won't he choke to death if we just stuff it down his throat?" Li Xi pondered, looking at the pill in her hand. Meng Zhelan's thoughts were interrupted by her, "You fool, dissolve it in warm water and feed it to him."
Li Xi looked at the unconscious man in front of her, pinched Qin Xiaolin's cheeks with one hand, forcefully pried open his teeth, and scooped up some medicine with the other hand and poured it down his throat. After several repetitions, he finally drank quite a bit.
"Brother Qin, don't blame me, I'm doing this for your own good," Li Xi said apologetically, looking at the finger marks on Qin Xiaolin's cheeks. He really had no choice but to use some force to open his mouth.
"Lan'er, what are you thinking about?" Li Xi asked, puzzled, looking at Meng Zhelan who was sitting at the table staring blankly at the handkerchief. "Xi'er, this poison smoke is unique to my father. When he was traveling around, he always carried some sleeping pills and poison smoke with him."
"Huh? Logically speaking, your father wouldn't know martial arts. I think it must have been someone sent by the person who captured him. This person's power is extraordinary; they even dared to assassinate a young master from the Duke's mansion," Li Xi frowned, looking at Qin Xiaolin on the bed. What kind of person had they offended? Someone who could travel thousands of miles to capture Lan'er's father and assassinate Qin Xiaolin near the capital—she suddenly realized she had been dragged into this mess without even realizing it. The original owner's death wasn't an accident, and then there was the missing Uncle Zhao…
There were three people in the room. Two were sitting at the table deep in thought, while the other was unconscious. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door being pushed open.
"Lan'er, Xi'er, come and have a bowl of sweet soup," said Ling'er, who had just finished her work. By this time, the restaurant had also long since ended its busy day. Ling'er had just cooked sweet fermented rice with eggs for her two friends to nourish their bodies.
"What happened to Young Master Qin?" Ling'er asked in surprise. "He was drugged, but he just took some medicine and is fine now," Lan'er replied haphazardly, already engrossed in the sweet soup. There was no point in thinking about it now; she'd ask Young Master Qin when he woke up.
Li Xi shared a room with Meng Zhelan tonight. "Lan'er, perhaps Young Master Qin has some clues. After all, he is the son of the Duke's mansion. If he is assassinated, the investigation will definitely follow. Let Tian Tian go to the Duke's mansion to report the news first thing tomorrow morning. It's not safe to go so late at night." "Okay, I'll listen to you. I trust you to handle things." After saying this, Lan'er fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, Qin Xiaolin groggily opened his eyes. Remembering that Li Xi had saved him, he relaxed and looked around. The candlelight on the table flickered, and he seemed to be deep in thought, his long, thick eyelashes drooping. He hadn't expected Li Xi's appearance. Tonight, he had come to find the lost account books, but little did he know he had been ambushed; he had fallen into a trap.
"My lord, we failed to capture Young Master Qin. Someone appeared and rescued him. That person is highly skilled in martial arts, and we are no match for the two of them." "What? You bunch of useless trash? That Qin Xiaolin is just a showy but incompetent fighter. You couldn't even beat him. Who saved him?" The man in the brocade robe was tall and imposing, with a furrowed brow and an air of authority.
"My men followed them, but the coachman seemed to have noticed. He followed them all the way, even into the city, but then lost them," the man kneeling below said anxiously. "I understand, you may leave," the man in the brocade robe waved his hand.
Meanwhile, Qin Xiaolin's servants waited until midnight but their young master did not return. They panicked and went to find Young Master Shen Xu, as their young master was familiar with Young Master Shen and sometimes stayed overnight at his house.
At the hour of Chou (1 a.m. to 3 a.m.), Qin Xiaolin's servant Zhao Zhan rushed to the Marquis's residence. Upon hearing that Qin Xiaolin was missing, Shen Xu hurriedly stood up. "Your young master did not come to see me today. Yesterday, he seemed to say that he was going to the casino to find someone and wanted me to go with him to cover for him. However, I went to the palace today and did not accompany him."
"Let's go check out the casino in the south of the city," Shen Xu said, leading a few men on horseback...
The casino in the south of the city was still bustling with people, operating day and night. Shen Xu identified himself and explained his purpose. The casino manager was apprehensive: "Young Master Shen, Young Master Qin asked me a few questions today and then left."
"Oh, he seemed to have told someone he was leaving the city," the person in charge tried to recall...
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