Chapter 426: One meal less, don’t be polite to me
The man who came to report the news was in a state of disarray, a mess of black smoke and blood, looking like a rat that had just been pulled out of a fire. He rolled and crawled, shouting, "Something terrible has happened!"
"Qi Jie was kidnapped!"
"What did you say?!"
Chen Xiu looked at the person in disbelief, picked him up from the ground and shouted, "How could someone be robbed for no reason?!"
"What the hell is going on?"
The man was strangled by the neck and couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time. He grumbled for a long time before he could barely explain the whole story.
The blood color on Chen Xiu's face instantly drained away. He was beaten to a pulp by the coldness whipping up from the soles of his feet. He stood there motionless as if he had lost his soul.
In order to properly send the two imperial envoys off, Bai Chengren felt uneasy about handing such a matter over to others, so he left Ancheng last night.
Before leaving, Bai Chengren repeatedly emphasized that they should take Qi Jie away from the inn today and send him to a more secluded place for guarding, and then make other plans after finding Qi Yan'er's whereabouts.
But Qi Jie was lost.
In broad daylight, a group of mysterious people who appeared out of nowhere set fire to the inn and killed people, trying to kidnap Qi Jie before he was taken away.
The hijackers didn't even spare Hu Wei, who was half dead, and took everyone away at once.
The messenger fell to the ground, crying in fear, "There weren't many people at the inn, and we were suddenly attacked and had no power to fight back."
"Once the fire started, some died and some were injured. In the end, I could only watch helplessly as people were taken away. If I hadn't gotten there first..."
"Where did the kidnapped people go?"
Chen Xiu suddenly interrupted and said anxiously, "Where are you running to?!"
"Have you given the order to chase them?"
"I...I...I have no one..."
The person being yelled at said with lingering despair, "The inn suddenly filled with white smoke. It was completely poisonous. Anyone who smelled it would die. Then the fire started, and the neighboring houses were also engulfed in flames, turning half the sky red."
"Our people were either poisoned or killed, and many were burned alive. This..."
"waste!"
Chen Xiu kicked in frustration, then turned around to see Sang Zhixia and Bai Ziqing standing up. Fueled by anger, she instinctively asked, "Is it you?"
"You guys forced me to mobilize my people outside the city, so..."
"You can eat as you please, but you can't say as you please."
Bai Ziqing's always smiling face suddenly turned a bit colder, and every word he said was urgent: "Master Chen, if you say something like this and it causes any misunderstanding, it won't be cleared up in a few words."
"But it's clearly..."
"What is it?"
Sang Zhixia looked incredibly embarrassed, and said coldly, "Your Lord Governor personally agreed to let us leave the city today. Are you trying to say that Lord Bai did something wrong?"
"besides……"
Sang Zhixia looked at Chen Xiu, who was completely defeated, with an ambiguous expression, and said with a playful smile: "We are the guests of Lord Bai. We didn't know what tricks you were playing before we accepted the invitation."
"You're so angry, could it be something shameful and dirty?"
Chen Xiu was already furious, and after being choked by Bai Ziqing and Sang Zhixia, his face and neck turned red and he was gasping for breath, so he really couldn't say anything.
Bai Ziqing looked at Chen Xiu's uncontrollable trembling hands with an icy expression, and said word by word, "If you don't want those claws you can't control anymore, I can chop them off for you."
"you……"
"Sir, it's important to arrest him!"
Military Advisor Hao, who had managed to save his life, was extremely anxious. He rushed over and pulled the unconscious Chen Xiu, saying, "It has come to this. If we don't chase him now, it will be too late!"
"Someone come! Quickly!"
"Gather everyone here and chase them!"
Chen Xiu suddenly threw Advisor Hao away, glared fiercely at Sang Zhixia and Bai Ziqing, and roared with anger that made him want to spit blood: "Chase!"
"Send someone immediately to inform the Governor-General of what happened here! And you..."
"The good deeds we have agreed to do have not yet been completed. You can go or stay as you wish. You don't need to meet us."
Sang Zhixia suddenly became very easy to talk to, but her smile pierced Chen Xiu's eyes like a needle: "After we finish our business here, we will go back on our own."
Bai Ziqing looked disappointed and sighed, "Didn't you hear that just now, elder sister? The inn where the Governor invited us to stay has been burned down. Going back there will only cause us more trouble."
"I have a private house in Ancheng. It's not big, but it's decent. Why don't you just go back to my place? It's more convenient that way."
Chen Xiu was about to say no, but Sang Zhixia reacted faster: "Okay."
"Just go to your place."
Chen Xiu felt like she was on fire, with both ends of her body being stuck.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, he couldn't spare the energy or the courage to dwell too much on the matter of where to stay. He let out a loud cry and, desperately, pointed at Xu Yu and the others who were closest to Sang Zhixia and said, "You guys follow me closely!"
"Don't make any more mistakes, understand! We must serve the Governor's distinguished guest well!"
"Got it?!"
Chen Xiu shouted hurriedly and rushed forward as if an old house was on fire.
He shouted and yelled all the way, his voice so sharp and piercing that it was unclear whether he was scolding his subordinates who couldn't read his expression, or taking advantage of his anger to mock noble people like Sang Zhixia and Bai Ziqing whom he couldn't afford to offend.
Bai Ziqing snorted sarcastically, then turned to face the submissive Xu Yu, and with a malicious thought in his mind, he kicked him: "Didn't you hear your master scolding you?"
"I'll let you guys be more considerate and serve me now. Go and make some tea for me!"
Xu Yu let out a sigh in pretended panic, and when the tea was really served, Bai Ziqing just held it and didn't dare to drink it, and his eyes kept glancing at Xu Yu's face.
Xu Yu was still curling up his long legs to crack walnuts. Each walnut was crispy with his big hands, and he could break three with one palm.
Bai Ziqing's scalp tingled as he listened to the crunching sound of walnut shells. He calmly put down his teacup, coughed, and said for the sake of conversation, "Eldest sister, don't you feel a little cold?"
Sang Zhixia glanced at the scorching sun that the awning couldn't block, and asked playfully, "Cold?"
Bai Ziqing rubbed his arms and raised his chin towards Xu Yu, which was full of hints.
Seeing this, Sang Zhixia just smiled and said, "This is not my business."
The brotherhood that allows them to help each other at the risk of being beheaded, whether they kick each other's feet or slap each other, that is their business, she doesn't care.
Bai Ziqing felt guilty as he had nowhere to turn for help. Just as he was wondering whether he should give face to Xu Yu and lower his head slightly, a plate of crushed walnut kernels with shells and kernels suddenly appeared at his hand.
The scene was so brutal that those who didn't know would think that Xu Yu was pinching his own head with his bare hands.
Bai Ziqing smiled with difficulty: "I was born not to like this kind of food, so I won't..."
"eat."
Xu Yu looked at Bai Ziqing with a smile, raised his eyebrows and said, "One meal less, one meal less. Don't be polite to me."
Bai Ziqing: “…”
Bai Ziqing swallowed hard and said in disbelief, "Is the price of being naughty such a terrible one?"
"You are such a person that can't stand jokes?"
"I can't stand it."
Xu Yu placed the whole walnut kernel next to Sang Zhixia's hand, and with a flick of his finger, a walnut shell appeared on Bai Ziqing's plate. "If you want to say that I didn't serve you well, you are that walnut."
Bai Ziqing was so angry at Xu Yu's arrogance that he sneered. Then he saw Xu Yu turned his head to look at Sang Zhixia's thoughtfulness, and he couldn't help but grumble: "Look at your character."
"But after all this commotion, Bai Chengren must be getting anxious. Do you still need to proceed with what you agreed to do?"
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