Chapter 129 Blackmail
The two men turned pale with fright at the sudden turn of events and screamed. Just as a large snake's fangs were about to lunge at them, Xiao Songyan hardened his heart, grabbed Zhao Da next to him and used him as a shield. The snake's sharp fangs instantly pierced into Zhao Da's thick neck.
The area where Zhao Da was bitten turned from white to black, and his body began to tremble violently.
This snake is poisonous!
Xiao Songyan dared not delay any longer, abandoned Zhao Da, and quickly fled outside.
He ran downstairs in one breath, where the remaining five thugs greeted him with smiles, chuckling slyly, "Young Master Xiao, is that all? Now that you've had your fun, how about the beauty...?"
"Shut up!" Xiao Songyan's face was completely black. "You've botched things. That beauty has run away, and your brother was bitten on the neck by a poisonous snake she released! Now we don't even know if he's alive or dead."
"What? Let's all go upstairs and take a look." Zhao Er's smile vanished, his eyes turned cold, and he led his brothers upstairs.
"She dared to hurt my brother, I'll kill her!"
Xiao Songyan waited downstairs with a sullen face. After a series of wailing and screaming from upstairs, the remaining five thugs carried the half-dead Zhao Da down.
"Young Master Xiao, it must have been that woman's scheme. Otherwise, why would there be a poisonous snake on the bed in her room? Now that our boss is seriously injured, you'll have to pay for his medical treatment!"
"Yes, if it weren't for working for you, Young Master Xiao, our brother wouldn't have gotten into this mess."
"Being bitten by a venomous snake is a real problem. It's uncertain whether the victim can recover. Even if it can be treated, it would cost several hundred taels of silver..."
The five thugs were talking amongst themselves, and all they could say was that they wanted money.
Xiao Songyan impatiently untied the purse from his waist and threw it next to Zhao Da.
"Here are five hundred taels of silver, all of it is yours. Send two men to take him to see a doctor, and then bring me the woman I want."
The thugs took the purse with beaming faces.
Zhao Er took out one hundred taels from his purse and handed it to his two youngest brothers.
"Alright. Fifth brother, sixth brother, you two take the eldest brother to find a doctor."
Zhao Wu and Zhao Liu agreed and carried Zhao Da away.
Zhao Er looked troubled and said to Xiao Songyan, "Young Master Xiao, that young lady injured my elder brother, and I also want to catch her and teach her a lesson. But this young lady is too cunning, and now we don't know where she has run off to. How can we catch her?"
Xiao Songyan cursed the idiot in his heart, but showed no emotion on his face.
"They are a group of three women and two men, traveling in a carriage. The woman I want is exceptionally beautiful, so it wouldn't be difficult to investigate her if I really wanted to. Besides, they probably won't be traveling at night, so they will definitely stay here for another night. There are no more than twenty inns in this market."
Zhao Er suddenly realized, gave a thumbs up and said, "Young Master Xiao is indeed much smarter than us roughnecks. We'll go right now. You stay here and wait for good news."
Zhao Er, along with the remaining Zhao San and Zhao Si, disappeared into the night to investigate other inns.
Xiao Songyan's eyes were dark and gloomy, filled with deep anger.
He has an innate stubbornness; the more unattainable something is, the more he will risk his life to get it.
Having suffered two losses at Meng Lingge's hands, he has decided to go after her head-on. Even if it means following her all the way to Jiangnan, he is determined to get his hands on this woman.
Xiao Songyan waited until dawn before the exhausted Zhao brothers finally arrived.
“Young Master Xiao, as you instructed, we have inquired at all the inns in this market, and there are no guests with three women and two men staying here. No one has seen that stunningly beautiful lady either. I estimate that they must have left overnight.”
"Yes, that woman's face is unforgettable. If she really lived in these inns, the innkeepers couldn't possibly not remember her."
Xiao Songyan waited all night only to find nothing. Just as he was about to get angry, he turned around and saw Zhao Wu and Zhao Liu carrying Zhao Da back.
Zhao Wu plopped down on the ground, wiping away tears with his hands.
"Second brother, eldest brother is crippled. The doctor at the clinic said the snake venom he was poisoned with was too potent. Although he has survived, he can't move anything below his neck and will be paralyzed from now on."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Er was shocked and threw himself to the ground, wailing, "My elder brother, elder brother... what are we going to do... you have an eighty-year-old mother to support and a three-year-old child to raise. If this pillar of the family collapses, the sky will fall..."
The remaining thugs followed suit and all clung to Zhao Da, wailing loudly.
"My poor brother, if it weren't for your loyalty and willingness to help your brothers, things would have turned out so badly..."
"What can a few hundred taels of silver do? My brother's life is ruined..."
Zhao Da was still unconscious. His neck and lower body were swollen, and he looked lifeless. Surrounded by his brothers, they were howling like they were mourning a funeral.
The five brothers were crying for Zhao Da, but they all winked and winked at Xiao Songyan. The five burly men's cries were earth-shattering, but they didn't shed a single tear.
Xiao Songyan was furious, but he couldn't vent his anger.
After all, it was he who shielded Zhao Da from the snake bite yesterday; if it weren't for Zhao Da, he would be the one paralyzed now.
It seems these five thugs are unaware of this matter; otherwise, things would be even more out of control.
Right now, they're just asking him for money; if they find out about this, they might make him pay with his life.
It's not that he's broke, it's just that he feels it's not worth it.
He hasn't even touched a single hair on Meng Lingge's head yet, but he's already spent over a thousand taels of silver.
That price is enough for him to sleep with several top courtesans in brothels.
Last night, the shopkeeper also heard the noise in that room. When he sent people to catch the snake and clean the room, he found out that Xiao Songyan had been in that room. The shopkeeper suspected that he had put the poisonous snake in there and wanted to drag him to report to the authorities. Xiao Songyan was afraid that his bad deeds would be discovered, so he had no choice but to pay the shopkeeper several hundred taels of silver to get rid of him.
Zhao Da thought he could finally catch Meng Lingge after spending over a thousand taels of silver, but instead of catching her, he was paralyzed. His five local thugs, all with greedy eyes, treated him like a sucker and extorted money from him.
A bunch of idiots ruined his good deed and now he wants to pay them back. Xiao Songyan is furious, but he's all alone. If he doesn't go along with these people, things might not end well.
Thinking of this, Xiao Songyan swallowed his anger and said all the nice things. In the end, he took out all the more than three thousand taels of silver in his pocket before the five thugs let him leave.
Xiao Songyan left the inn dejectedly, the more he thought about it, the harder it was for him to shake off his pent-up frustration.
A young and strong servant would only cost a few dozen taels of silver at a brokerage firm. How could a local ruffian like Zhao Da be worth that much?
Instead of catching the beauty, Xiao Songyan lost all the money he had saved over the years. Unwilling to accept this, he had no choice but to find his men, beat up the five thugs, and take back his money.
Xiao Songyan's round trip took an hour or so, but of the more than three thousand taels of silver, only one thousand taels remained. No matter how hard he ordered his men to beat the remaining thugs, they refused to hand it over, preferring death to death. Not wanting to cause any deaths, Xiao Songyan had no choice but to leave dejectedly.
Xiao Songyan gave his other subordinates some loose silver and told them to return to the capital first.
He continued to pursue Meng Lingge along the route she was most likely to take, along with his two most trusted men. He blamed Meng Lingge for the loss of several thousand taels of silver, and his hatred and anger towards her for his unrequited love for her intensified.
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