Chapter 303 Mask
Ever since Guan Yi'an was taken away by Meng Xingyuan's two guards, not a day has passed that he hasn't thought about escaping.
However, both guards were Meng Xingyuan's confidants and acted cautiously. Since he couldn't speak for the time being, his silver tongue was useless, and he couldn't find a chance to escape for several days.
Left with no other choice, he had to feign compliance.
Not only did he give some of his jewelry to the two guards as a token of respect, but he also obeyed their every command.
At first, the two guards secretly observed him cautiously. After a few days, seeing that Guan Yi'an was indeed honest, they relaxed and not only improved their attitude towards him, but also removed his bracelet at night.
They simply chained Guan Yi'an's anklet to the corner of the bed.
Guan Yi'an soon got his chance.
The two guards pawned the jewelry he had presented as a tribute for several hundred taels of silver, bought two bottles of fine wine that night, and fell into a deep sleep. Guan Yi'an seized the opportunity, picked up a pillow, and prepared to smother the two men to death.
He did succeed. However, one of the other guards was very strong and managed to break free, scratching his face.
Damn it, why did I have to grab his face of all places?
Guan Yi'an felt a deep hatred for this. In the end, the guard was too drunk and weak to continue, so he was strangled to death. But before he died, his strong will to live made him frantically scratch with his hands, tearing off a piece of Guan Yi'an's face.
Zheng Qingshan's face, the face he would rely on for survival in the future, was thus brutally torn off.
Guan Yi'an was in extreme pain and hatred. After strangling the guard to death, he cruelly chopped off his opponent's hands, peeled off his entire face, and carefully preserved it together with the face that had been peeled off.
He had originally planned to go to the Princess's residence after returning to the capital and ask Old Master Fu to reattach the noodles for him, using either Zheng Qingshan's noodles or the guard's noodles. However, on the way back to the capital, the two noodles rotted and smelled bad, making them unusable.
His face was now just a bloody mass of flesh. Although Old Master Fu had used a miraculous medicine to prevent it from festering, his appearance was still nauseating. No one could look at him calmly. Wherever he went, screams of alarm would follow. It was common for him to be mistaken for a demon or monster.
Guan Yi'an exchanged all the remaining jewelry he had for silver notes and spent a lot of money on a fake face on the black market. But it wasn't real human skin after all; it was pale and dull, looking like a dead person's face, and had no aesthetic appeal whatsoever.
Left with no other choice, Guan Yi'an bought another tin tiger head mask and wore two masks whenever he went out.
Having dealt with the two guards, Guan Yi'an had lost all the face he had worked so hard to gain. Besides anger, Guan Yi'an was filled with hatred for Meng Xingyuan and Meng Lingge.
He rushed back to the capital, even having already written the complaint against the Meng family, waiting to find a suitable official to introduce him so he could personally expose the Meng family before the emperor.
Thinking that once the Meng family was completely destroyed, he would go to the Princess's Mansion and ask Old Master Fu to give him a new face.
Despite rushing, he still got back a little late.
The Northern Frontier King's offensive was too fierce, and he had already approached the capital. The ministers were summoned to the palace by the emperor to discuss matters, but he could not find anyone to introduce them.
Upon hearing that Meng Xingyuan had died while suppressing bandits, Guan Yi'an decided to go to the Meng residence to witness its desolate state. However, he unexpectedly discovered Meng Qingyu carrying a small bag and climbing over the wall to leave.
Guan Yi'an thought that since he couldn't see the emperor for the time being, he might as well follow Meng Qingyu and find an opportunity to capture him.
If the King of Northern Frontier is defeated, he will take Meng Qingyu directly to the Emperor and expose the Meng family's crimes. If the Emperor is defeated, Meng Qingyu will be in his hands, allowing him to control the King of Northern Frontier and Meng Lingge.
Anyway, he doesn't need Zheng Qingshan's face anymore, and now he can have a completely new identity.
He followed Meng Qingyu all the way from inside the city to outside, but before he could make a move, Meng Qingyu was captured by another group of bandits.
Hearing that the thief intended to cut off Meng Qingyu's tongue, Guan Yi'an felt a surge of satisfaction. That old bastard Meng Xingyuan had rendered him mute for a year, and now the retribution had come so quickly for his son.
What goes around comes around.
Watching the thief gently scrape the knife up and down Meng Qingyu's face, enjoying Meng Qingyu's terrified and desperate screams, he even wanted to rush in, snatch the knife, and do it himself.
Just then, he heard a dense sound of footsteps approaching the dilapidated house. Guan Yi'an turned his head and saw that there were many soldiers approaching from not far away. Although he had never seen the Tiger Soaring Army before, he had heard the common people in the city talking about them and could recognize their clothing characteristics at a glance.
At this point, the Tiger Soaring Army came here, and Guan Yi'an couldn't think of any other reason besides looking for Meng Qingyu.
It seems that Wen Zhiming has already entered the capital and knows about Meng Qingyu's runaway, which is why he sent people to search for her overnight.
The thief inside was engrossed in his game of cat and mouse, oblivious to the noise outside and unable to cause any real harm to Meng Qingyu.
Guan Yi'an cursed the bunch of good-for-nothings in his heart. The next moment, he rushed into the room, grabbed a wooden stick from the corner of the room, and started hitting the thieves.
The five thieves were having a good time when they realized someone was coming from behind. One of them was hit with a stick. They turned around in shock, only to find that the person who came was just a thin young man wearing a mask.
"Where did this idiot come from, daring to ambush my brother? I'll break your arm first!"
Guan Yi'an knew that reinforcements would arrive soon, and he had to gain Meng Qingyu's trust before they arrived. So he endured the punches and kicks and rushed to Meng Qingyu's side, frantically fighting back with a wooden stick while completely protecting Meng Qingyu behind him.
Taking advantage of their numbers, the five thieves quickly pushed Guan Yi'an to the ground and swarmed him, assaulting him in various ways. The thief who had been hit by Guan Yi'an even slashed Guan Yi'an's hand twice.
The scene was chaotic and brutal.
This is the scene that Tiger Soaring Army saw when they rushed in.
After making numerous inquiries, they learned that a group of local ruffians had taken away a young boy of about eight or nine years old that day, so they searched for him all night in the nearby dilapidated houses and temples.
Several hours have passed since the young master left, and they are all getting anxious, worried that something might have happened to Meng Qingyu and they wouldn't be able to explain to the King of the Northern Frontier.
Upon seeing a young master in the center of the melee, the leader immediately gave an order, and the group rushed over to pull the other six people away and restrain them, then held up the portrait and carefully compared it with Meng Qingyu's.
"You look exactly like the portrait, young master. Are you Meng Qingyu, young master Meng?"
Protected by Guan Yi'an, Meng Qingyu was not seriously injured, only somewhat disheveled. Having just experienced the robbery, he was wary and instead of answering, he asked a question.
Who are you?
"I am a general under the Northern Frontier King, and I have come on his orders to find Young Master Meng and bring him back." The young general was already certain that this was the person he was looking for. After speaking, he pointed to Guan Yi'an and the five bandits and asked.
"These people are all villains who bullied and hurt you, right? I will take them all back and hand them over to the King of the Northern Frontier for punishment."
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