Chapter 131 Leaving the Capital (15) I will definitely make the Chen family compensate Zhong'er...
Logically, as soon as the three jumped down from the stable, the six men in straw raincoats came upstairs, kicked open the door, and looked around the room but couldn't find anyone. The leader then pulled the courier holding the lantern to his side and shouted, "Didn't you say he was upstairs?!"
The courier hurriedly said with a pained expression, "It really is in this room! How could I dare to lie to you gentlemen? Our Sanhe Post Station is a small post station, far from any village or inn, and we're always short of people. Today, we only have this one group staying here. I gave them this room, how could I have misremembered?!" As he spoke, he looked at the bed board opposite and saw a person lying on it, so he pointed and said, "Gentlemen, look, there's a dead person over there!"
A man in a straw raincoat went to check Du Zhong's breathing, then turned his head and saw that the right window was open. He took three steps at a time and looked over. He saw several figures running out of the back door of the stable. Outside the door was a meadow, and not far away was the river.
The boat was moored on the bank in front of the post station. Xu Bai, pulling Jiu Li along, ran to the right along the riverbank. When they reached the boat, they called out to the boatman, but there was no response. Xu Bai thought to himself, "This is bad. It seems that the boatman and his son have been killed by those six men. It seems that these people were indeed after them."
Fortunately, the boat wasn't too big. Although the three of them couldn't sail, paddling wasn't a problem. Wherever they rowed, getting off the shore was the priority. Xu Baiyin said, "Let's get on the boat!"
So Jiuli Xiuzhi hurriedly ran onto the boat, and Xu Bai pulled away the long plank and began to untie the mooring ropes in the river. Before they could even untie them, they saw the six men rushing towards them from the front gate of the post station, each wielding a goose-feathered saber, the blades already drawn and gleaming coldly in the moonlight. In desperation, Xu Bai untied the ropes and pushed the boat forward with all his might.
At that moment, Jiuli pounced on the deck, reaching down from the railing, "Come on up!"
Unfortunately, the deck was too high and the bow was slippery, with nowhere to grab onto. Xu Bai tried to climb up twice but slipped down both times. He simply let go and continued pushing the boat, shouting, "Don't worry about me! Go down there and help Aunt Guo row!"
Before the words were even finished, the six men had already run into the river and captured Xu Bai in no time. Three others then stabbed their knives into the side of the boat and used the momentum to flip themselves onto the boat. Finally, they captured Jiu Li and Xiu Zhi and brought them ashore, asking them their names.
Jiuli was being held by the hand behind her back by one of the men. She was puzzled. There were clearly three people, but they only asked for the woman's name. Were they robbers who raped and kidnapped her? In her panic, she calmed down a little and tried to see the faces of the men clearly, but they all had cotton scarves wrapped around their necks, which were pulled up to half-cover their faces.
She splashed the river water all over her head, and instead of answering, she asked, "Who are you people? What do you want with us?! Even if we die, we have to die knowing why!"
A hint of amazement flashed in the eyes of the leader. He then ordered one of his men to light a candle, pinched Jiu Li's chin to lift her face, looked at her through the candlelight for a while, and chuckled in a deep voice, "Your name is Yu Jiu Li?"
It seems they weren't robbers; they came prepared. Jiu Li didn't answer, but Xu Bai shouted from the side, "Don't hurt her!"
The man turned and looked him up and down, then smiled and said, "So you're Qi Xubai?" With that, he turned and walked away, ordering his men, "Kill the men first."
Just then, the man escorting Bai raised his knife behind her. Jiu Li felt a chill on her neck, forcing her to look up as well. Terrified, she instinctively closed her eyes tightly. Suddenly, she heard a whoosh, followed by two whimpers. The man escorting Bai collapsed to the ground. Jiu Li looked down and saw a dagger stuck in his forehead!
The other five panicked and looked around frantically, while Jiuli struggled to shout, "Uncle!"
The man holding her panicked and grabbed her tightly, haphazardly holding a knife to her neck. Just then, two men emerged from the darkness along the river. The one behind was broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, while the one in front was tall and imposing. As the men in straw raincoats were sizing them up, a flash of silver appeared. The man in front had snatched the knife from the man behind and instantly darted forward, plunging the knife into the chest of the man next to Jiu Li, pulling her into his arms.
The leader exclaimed in surprise, "Such a fast blade! Who are you?" Then he heard Jiu Li call out "Uncle," and said, "Are you Yu Qi?"
Yu Qi stared intently at him, and while he was pondering and examining him, he suddenly pulled the knife from the man's chest and threw it at him. The leader hurriedly blocked it with his own knife, but at that moment Zhang Da picked up a knife from somewhere, lunged forward, and with a swift stroke, sliced open the leader's abdomen. The leader glanced at his stomach and fell straight backward.
Taking advantage of the moment, Yu Qi flashed over, snatched the knife from the leader's hand, turned and pounced forward, slashing at the man who was facing him. The man had no time to dodge and was slashed diagonally.
Zhang Daye had already killed one person, and another person had run a few steps away. Yu Qi swung his knife, which spun rapidly in the air and suddenly severed one of the man's legs. The man fell forward and collapsed on the grass, howling incessantly.
Yu Qi walked over, squatted down, turned the man over, and pulled off the cotton scarf covering his face. He saw old scars on his face and what appeared to be writing on his neck, so he tore off the scarf completely. Seeing this, Zhang Da also tore off the scarves of the others on the other side. He saw that each person had their name and the year and month of their crime tattooed on their neck.
Xu Bai said, "These people seem to be a bunch of criminals who have committed numerous crimes. According to the inscription, they should all be sentenced to death and await execution next autumn. Why would they come here?"
Jiuli said, "They know our names, could it be that they hired someone to kill us?"
Yu Qi glanced at them, then turned to stare at the man on the ground. "Who sent you here?"
The man grimaced in pain, but still managed a low growl: "In this business, if you can't get things done, so be it, but how can you betray someone?!"
"If you won't tell me, then I'll guess. Your master's surname is Chen, isn't it?"
The man stared wide-eyed but dared not answer. Yu Qi could tell from his eyes that he had guessed correctly, so he stood up, picked up the knife from the ground, and swung it downwards. The knife plunged straight into the man's chest. The man let out a muffled groan and then died.
Yu Qi walked over, and Zhang Da stepped forward to greet him, asking, "How did you know, sir, that they were acting on orders from the Chen family?"
“It’s not hard to guess. Anyone who dares to release a group of prisoners from death row must be very powerful. The fact that they were able to ambush him on the road means they must have guessed that Prince Zhao was involved in a case and was under house arrest, and that Second Master Qi would definitely come to the capital to rescue him.” As he spoke, he turned to look at Xu Bai, a cold smile appearing on his face. “However, this is your business, Second Master Qi, and has nothing to do with our Yu family. Second Master Qi, I’ll take my leave.”
After saying this, he turned around, took two steps toward the end of the post station, and said, "Yu'er and Zhong'er, rest here for the night, and come back to Nanjing with me tomorrow."
Hearing no response from Jiu Li, he stopped and turned around. Seeing that Jiu Li was still standing there, he took a few more steps back and saw that the moonlight reflected on Jiu Li's teardrops, making them shimmer. He looked around and realized that Du Zhong was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is Zhong'er?"
“Uncle,” Jiuli cried out, her voice choked with grief, “Du Zhong, he—”
"Where is he?" Yu Qi had a bad feeling and shouted urgently, "Speak!"
Xu Bai moved his cheeks and walked closer to him, saying, "Mr. Yu just said that the person the Chen family wanted to kill was me, and that it had nothing to do with the Yu family. But why don't you think about it? If it really had nothing to do with you, why would these people know Yu'er's name? In fact, the Chen family has been lying in wait for assassins in Nanjing. They have wanted Du Zhong dead for a long time. If you don't believe me, you can ask Yu'er and Aunt Guo."
Yu Qi suddenly glared at him, then grabbed Jiu Li's arms, "What's wrong with Zhong'er?"
Jiuli looked at him with tears streaming down her face, "He's dead—"
Xiuzhi was already terrified by the sight of Yu Qi killing so many people in such a short time. She only came to her senses when she heard Xu Bai's words. Seeing Yu Qi's gloomy face, she knelt down in the grass with a thud and cried out in a pitiful voice, "Master, it's all my fault!"
Xu Bai glanced at her, then took over the conversation, recounting the whole story of Du Zhong's murder in detail. As he spoke, he observed the changes in Yu Qi's expression. Seeing the murderous intent flashing in his eyes, he knew that Yu Qi would not be able to escape unscathed this time, and he felt somewhat relieved.
As Yu Qi listened to him speak, he thought of the man he had seen at Huailing Post Station. It turned out that the man was a servant under Chen Jia's orders. No wonder he had changed his route back to the capital by land, because he was afraid of being caught on the waterway.
In the dim light, his voice was unusually calm as he stared intently at Xu Bai, "Let's not worry about your intentions for now—fine, this time I'll go to the capital with you."
Xu Bai breathed a sigh of relief, just about to confess his feelings, when he suddenly heard Guan Youjun's voice in the darkness. Turning around, he saw her and Niang Zhuang coming along the shore. Seeing the corpses all over the place, she was inevitably frightened. She quickly went to Yu Qi's side and pulled Jiu Li to look at them. "Just now, when we were on the boat, your uncle said he heard you shouting. I didn't expect it to really be you! Luckily, your uncle came in time. Who are these people?"
Looking around, Yu Qi had already headed towards the post station. Seeing this, Jiu Li wiped away her tears and followed. You Jun could only listen to Zhang Da's slow explanation from behind. After everyone entered the post station, they sat down in the main hall downstairs.
Yu Qi went straight upstairs to his room and saw Du Zhong sleeping on the bed. He couldn't help but take a deep breath before slowly walking to the bedside. After waiting for a while, he still didn't see Du Zhong turn over to greet him. He just lay quietly on his back, his face devoid of any life, completely different from his usual lively self.
He felt as if someone had squeezed his heart; anger welled up in his nose, a sour feeling rose within him, and tears streamed down his face. He slowly sat down at the foot of the bed. "Zhong'er, it's all Master's fault. Master shouldn't have scolded you—"
Jiuli had never heard him speak like that before. Her chin trembled as she cried again. Her body went limp, and she sat on the footstool in front of the bed, her head resting on the edge of the bed as she looked at Du Zhong. Tears streamed down her nose and onto the bed. "Master, it was my fault. If I hadn't been so willful and run away, he wouldn't have been poisoned."
Yu Qi sat at the foot of the bed in silence for a long time before speaking, his voice choked with emotion, "It's not your fault. If Jiang Xu wanted to poison someone, he would have found an opportunity to do so in Nanjing."
She shook her head. "I know I'm the one who ruined him; my background is what dragged him down—"
He couldn't see her face, but he could hear her voice full of self-blame, so he could only raise his hand to touch the top of her head. "I didn't even know about your background. It was the Chen family who were willing to think this way to ensure everything was in order. It's not your fault. Get up and go get Zhong'er's bundle. He needs to change into some clean clothes."
The two of them helped Du Zhong change into a blue round-necked robe, then put a black fur coat on him, and placed him back on the bed. The wind rattled the window twice, and Yu Qi realized that the window was open. He felt cold inside, but it was the same inside and outside.
He pulled the window shut, then walked back to the foot of the bed and sat down, still looking at Du Zhong's face, and squeezed out a sentence through his teeth, "I will definitely make the Chen family pay with their lives for Zhong'er."
Jiuli sobbed, "What about Sister Guo?"
A few days ago, Du Zhong had argued with him several times because of Xiu Zhi, which was unprecedented. Although Du Zhong was young and impetuous, he thought that Xiu Zhi was the first woman he had ever fallen in love with. He was afraid that Du Zhong would blame him even more in the afterlife if he did something to her.
He hesitated for a moment, then sighed, “Tomorrow, I will have the postman prepare a coffin and a boat to send Zhong’er’s body back first. I will also send the bodies of those other people, along with Guo Xiuzhi, to Lord Yan and your Uncle Zhao, so they can do whatever they want with them.”
Nothing more was said that night. The next morning, the local postmaster brought a coffin. Zhang Da put Du Zhong into the coffin, looked at him for a while, and then closed the lid. He also told the postman to be careful on the way and not to bump into or hurt him.
He turned around and patted the coffin lid, saying, "Brother Du Zhong, don't worry, I will definitely avenge you this time I go to the capital!"
Yu Qi gave the courier a few more instructions, then led Jiu Li onto the Ding family's cargo ship. Two days into the journey, the atmosphere was somber. Yu Qi, who was usually a man of few words, barely uttered five sentences a day. Even Zhang Da, who was usually jovial, had lost his smile.
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Author's note: Thank you for reading.
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