"Fellow villagers, you be the judge! He promised to marry me, but he hasn't come to my house to propose yet!" Xiniu cried out to the crowd of onlookers, tears welling up in her eyes.
Standing at the back of the crowd, looking at Xi Niu, if he hadn't already known that she was acting, he would have really been fooled by her.
“Young man, since you made a promise, you can’t go back on your word.” An old man in the crowd stood up and spoke a “fair word” for Xiniu.
"Thank you all. We should make our own decisions. Please continue to worship Buddha and offer incense. Don't delay the auspicious time for us!" Xiniu saw that Fourteen had returned and was standing at the back of the crowd, so she immediately cupped her hands to the onlookers.
"What a wonderful girl! She doesn't know how to cherish him. She's so ungrateful!" Some people, seeing that Xiniu was still pleading for the "heartless man" at this time, said that Xiniu was truly a good girl.
Once everyone around had left, the man stared at Xi Niu and said, "What exactly do you want? If you don't get out of my way, I'll get rough with you!"
"Who are you? I don't know you. Why are you being so mean to me?" Xi Niu stared at the man in surprise, then her expression changed instantly.
"You!" The man was so angry that he turned red in the face and his neck became thick with anger. He didn't expect Xi Niu's expression to change so quickly.
"Bang!" A dull thud struck the man's head from behind. Taking advantage of the man's attention being drawn to Xiniu, Fourteen rushed forward and delivered a blow to the back of the head.
The man immediately fainted and collapsed to the ground.
"Haha, I deserve credit for your arrest!" Xi Niu clapped her hands and winked at Fourteen.
"Yes, you definitely deserve credit." Fourteen smiled at Xi Niu, genuinely finding this little girl quite interesting. He wanted to give her a large sum of money, enough to ensure she and her family would be well-fed and clothed for the rest of their lives, no longer needing to make a living by selling lotus lanterns by the river.
"Help me carry him away!" Fourteen said to Xiniu with a smile.
Meanwhile, the Fourth Prince had already learned from the lean man named "Camel" the physical characteristics and clothing of the twenty-five assassins who had entered the temple to kill Emperor Kangxi. Soon, the assassins fell into the Fourth Prince's hands one by one, and they accurately captured those former Ming dynasty remnants who were mixed in with the worshippers in the crowd.
Fourteenth Master and Xiniu tied the man up with hemp rope, then blindfolded him and put him in a secluded courtyard. They couldn't very well carry him far in the open.
Seeing that more and more assassins were being captured by him or the monks from the temple, Fourth Master gradually felt more at ease. He was even less worried about the five men on the back mountain, because with Cui Da and Cui Er there, dealing with that rabble would be no problem. From Camel's confession, Fourth Master learned that they all came from an organization called the "White Lotus Sect," and were composed of vagrants with no legitimate livelihood. Their so-called leader was likely that pseudo-former Ming prince.
"Fourth Prince, we've arrested almost half of them. There are a few left, but they're no threat." Qin Gang, seeing how smoothly things were progressing, was already filled with admiration for the Fourth Prince. If it weren't for the Fourth Prince's severe torture of those two, it would have been impossible to eliminate the threat so quickly. If these people had been hiding in the temple, and the Emperor hadn't been on guard, his safety would have been truly uncertain.
"We must capture them all, without exception. And that White Lotus Cult, I will raze them to the ground," Fourth Master said firmly.
Kangxi's double and the abbot were praying for the winner in the main hall. Standing among the crowd was a man who stood out from the rest. He was the leader of Kangxi's group. He and nineteen others had agreed to meet in the main hall, but none had shown up. He was worried something had happened, but dared not leave. Kangxi was inside, and his hand repeatedly reached for his robes. But outnumbered and outmatched, he refrained from making a move.
As the prayer ceremony was nearing its end, none of his brothers had shown up. At this point, he was almost certain that something must have happened to them, otherwise none of them would have turned back.
He decided to take a gamble and try it alone. He stood in front of the crowd, looking at the abbot's back. There were several people standing around the back, who were clearly not ordinary worshippers, but probably the emperor's guards.
He stared at that back; if looks could kill, he would have killed him hundreds or thousands of times over.
"This humble monk has already prayed for everyone's well-being before the Buddha. Please offer your incense and then you may depart." The abbot had been filled with worry. He feared the assassin would recklessly wreak havoc in this sacred hall, defiling the Buddha's peace and tranquility. However, even after he had successfully finished reciting the Ksitigarbha Sutra, the assassin had not yet appeared. He sighed deeply, relieved for the Buddha and for the world. He couldn't understand how people could become tools for murder for a corrupt and decadent ideology. The Ming Dynasty no longer existed; even when it did, the bureaucracy was a mess, and the people suffered. But what the abbot couldn't understand was why they would be loyal to such a Ming Dynasty!
“Master, it’s time for the open Q&A session. May I ask you any questions?” a young man asked.
"Please speak, benefactor. I will answer any question that I can." The abbot said, looking at a young man with regular features and a clean and heroic appearance.
"My question is, since the person next to the abbot is a highly skilled person invited by the temple, why don't he also answer our questions?" The abbot hadn't expected him to make such a request, so he could only say, "This person is also invited by the temple, and no one else should disturb him. Please feel free to ask me any questions you have."
And so, the assassin hidden among the worshippers began a question-and-answer exchange with the abbot. The temple, of course, didn't want anyone to come into contact with the emperor; otherwise, if anything happened, they would be implicated.
At this time, the Fourteenth Prince had already headed south with the maid Xiniu. Having captured that person, they naturally wanted to inform the Fourth Prince.
"Fourth Brother!" Fourteenth Brother was the first to step into the room where Fourth Master and Qin Gang lived.
The two men were sitting facing each other. Upon seeing Fourteenth Prince return, Fourth Prince was genuinely pleased with the merits Fourteenth Prince had rendered. Fourteenth Prince had truly grown up; he was no longer the carefree, impulsive young man he once was.
"Xi Niu, say hello to my fourth and thirteenth brothers," Fourteenth Brother immediately said to her.
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