Chapter 22: Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he hugged her tightly, the two...
Chapter 22
"When you offer advice, you also need to hold onto something for yourself." Qing Guiyu sighed. "Aren't those Cao Gang members your allies? Are you always ready to backstab even your friends?" "Raising a scholar is like raising an eagle, Miss Qing." Young Master Jinsheng sat by the window, gently lifting the curtains. His features were blurred by the backlight, reflected from the river. "If they're starving, they'll fly away, but if you feed them too much, they'll bite their owner."
He covered his mouth and coughed lightly a few times, then raised a hand wrapped in golden silk thread. "Chen Juansheng has had bad luck in this life, so I have to tie a few more threads in my hand. Only in this way can I survive."
He also left some countermeasures among his allies. Truly meticulous, but also truly cold and indifferent.
A gentle breeze from the river lifted a few strands of his hair, but not enough to stir the boat curtains. On the surface of the river, a few gulls drifted sparsely among the waves, looking somewhat lonely. As the two spoke, a sharp cry suddenly pierced the sky. A gull swooped down, snatched up a silvery-white fish, and flew towards the shore.
It was around afternoon when the boat reached the main altar of the Cao Gang. However, Shen Jiansheng deliberately ordered the boatman to delay for a few hours, and only when dusk fell did the two men disembark.
Although his Chilling Marrow Skill had been severely damaged by the blood sealing, his Lightness Skill was still there. With a light leap, he landed steadily on the shore, a few feet away. He turned around and stood still, looking up slightly.
"Miss Qing." The young man in black clothes smiled and opened his arms towards her, as if to welcome her.
There was no way Qing Guiyu could jump into his arms. But glancing at the several-zhang distance, she couldn't help but secretly estimate that it wasn't something she could cross in a single leap. While the Yaowang Valley Canhe Tingyu Step excelled at maneuvering within a radius of several zhang, leveraging momentum to continue moving forward, leaping such great distances was truly beyond her ability without a deep foundation in internal martial arts.
She noticed that Shen Juansheng turned his head slightly, and quickly restrained her expression to prevent him from seeing her thoughts.
Qing Guiyu ignored him and jumped off the boat, standing on the shore. Chen Juansheng was not disappointed, his smile did not fade, and he took her hand and continued to move forward.
The Cao Gang's main hall was ablaze with lights, casting a crimson glow on the river. She heard a whistle from a boat on the distant shore, followed by a flurry of whistles. On the shore, men on horseback passed by with torches. Chen Juansheng gently shook her hand and gestured for silence, urging her to remain silent.
The two quietly hid in the shadows of the nearby woods. From a distance, they saw several carriages slowly approaching the tower. As the carriages approached, Qing Guiyu took a closer look and found that the carriages were packed with goods, all covered with red silk, with a large "Shou" character clearly written on them.
"You've arrived just in time," Chen Juansheng said happily, raising his hands. "It seems someone in the Cao Gang is celebrating a birthday today, so it's a good opportunity to create some excitement for Miss Qing."
Qing Guiyu didn't feel any coincidence at all. He held the bamboo flute tightly and glanced at Chen Juansheng suspiciously.
The two of them waited for their chance when suddenly another carriage drove up. When Qing Guiyu saw it clearly, he was startled. The flag hanging from the carriage read "Yufeng Escort Agency".
This escort agency was exactly the key location related to the nine golden needles' lives mentioned by the escort master she had treated in Yuzhou City. The day before yesterday at Baidukou, she had been unable to track down the personnel of the escort agency involved in the murder, and she had never imagined that she would find the clue here.
If the Yufeng Escort Agency had some connection with the Cao Gang, and if they had some kind of favoritism when traveling by land and water, it would make sense. However, Baidukou was clearly the Cao Gang's sphere of influence.
She blushed with embarrassment as she recalled that day's events, covering her forehead with her hands. Shen Juansheng had publicly performed his love-inducing trick on her, right in front of the inn run by the Cao Gang. Could the Yufeng Escort Agency also be run by the Cao Gang?
Maybe the two are actually one.
Suddenly, a cool hand touched her cheek, and a golden hair hung around her neck. Shen Juansheng looked at her intently and asked, "Hmm. Miss Qing blushed. What are you thinking about?"
This young master Jin Sheng chuckled softly, his expression as charming as a spring breeze. "Is it because of me?"
She was quite articulate, but at this point, she was speechless. It seemed as if his words were perfectly acceptable, so she could only reach out and slap his hand away from her cheek. Shen Juansheng seemed a little sad, dropping the silk thread in his hand and muttering to himself, "Gu slaves are like this. I can't help but wish the young lady would think more of me."
Qing Guiyu couldn't stand his love poison disguise any longer, so he took out his bamboo flute and opened his mouth to refute him, but suddenly he remembered something.
Chen Juansheng mentioned on the boat that those grain transport boats had secret compartments and were equipped with water tanks. In a critical moment, as long as water flooded in, all the smuggled goods could be destroyed.
Valuable items, such as gold, silver, porcelain, jewels and jade, can't be destroyed by just being soaked in water.
She had actually seen the goods that the Cao Gang secretly transported, which could be destroyed by water, on the day she was falsely accused of using the love poison. She had even used it. Qing Guiyu turned her head and looked directly at Chen Juansheng, her eyes shining.
"Saltpeter," she said hastily. "They are transporting saltpeter privately."
At this time, Master Jinsheng stopped talking, smiled, took her hand and walked towards the dark path.
Qing Guiyu was pulled by him, smoothed her hair, and sighed, "Will I die if I just say it directly? It's exhausting to keep people guessing like this."
Shen Yansheng turned around and said, "I told the girl before, and she said I betrayed my friends and got angry. Now I let her make her own conclusions, which is fair. But she blamed me for not speaking directly."
He led her into the dark woods, squatted down, and brushed the ground. A rusty iron door was revealed under the soil, with a dragon pattern coiled on the door knocker.
"Tianji Pavilion planted a secret stake ten years ago..." Chen Jiansheng ran his fingertips over the groove of the door knocker, stood up, and spread his hands, "It's a pity that the key sank into the river a long time ago."
Qing Guiyu stood beside him, holding a bamboo flute, narrowing his eyes and sneering, "I don't believe it. Shen Tianji? You have no other options, so why would you bring me here?" Shen Juansheng nodded, turned around, and said softly, "There aren't any fellow disciples from the Tianji Pavilion here. That's good too, let's go through the main gate and join in the fun of the birthday banquet. I'm sure the Cao Gang will give my Tianji Pavilion some face."
Qing Guiyu grabbed him and reached for the crack in the door. There was a wide gap in the keyhole. She was silent for a moment, then shook some powder from the medicine bag beside her and sprinkled it into the keyhole. The powder heated up when it met the iron, and in a few moments, the lock core snapped and broke.
"Hmm." Shen Jiansheng examined it carefully and smiled, "Miss Qing's preparations are really thorough. The jewelry used to cut my gold thread in the Jiang Temple was probably quenched with this kind of medicinal powder, right?"
Qing Guiyu didn't answer him. After being expelled from Medicine King Valley, she had truly lived in poverty for several years. This was the recipe she had created back then, but outsiders didn't know about it.
Ever since she'd been traveling with Young Master Jin Sheng, every word he said had been a test for her. It was strange to be associated with such a dangerous person, and Qing Guiyu secretly resolved to get rid of him.
She'd always been adept at escaping and hiding, but this time, it might not be so easy. When she disembarked, Chen Jiansheng tried to catch her from a distance, as if to gauge her skill. Now, he was using the metal door to check her, to see if she could escape from the confined space. It was clear that Young Master Jinsheng was genuinely worried she might escape.
Qing Guiyu opened the door. Behind it, a dark passage twisted downward, the faint sound of water lingering. She was led through a series of twists and turns until suddenly, a light appeared ahead. Chen Jiansheng pulled her along, and with his lightness skills, they followed the heavy mast of an old ship.
Outside was a large, elevated open-air platform, lit with torches everywhere. The platform was magnificent, surrounded by a dozen massive, towering banners. In its center stood a massive stone sculpture resembling a coiled dragon, its head held high and its tail winding.
Hundreds of Cao Gang disciples sat densely packed around the platform. The coiled dragon in the center, shimmering in the firelight, was a brilliant stone sculpture, a fine, round piece of stone. Looking to the side, the river surface was the same as the one we had come from. A thin mist enveloped the vast expanse of blue water, and a few ship masts could be seen in the distance.
The two of them crept over from the darkness at the side, and Shen Jiansheng arrived at the base of a huge flagpole, tilting his head towards her. Qing Guiyu looked at the height of the flagpole and showed a bit of embarrassment.
Young Master Jinsheng smiled slightly, and as his black sleeves fluttered, a pair of cold hands gently wrapped around her body, silently carrying her up the flagpole, pulling the flag and hiding the two of them inside.
Their ears rubbed against each other, the cool fragrance of his body covered her clothes, and he carefully placed his cheek on her neck, as if all the perfection in the world was complete at this moment, his fingertips hooked the ends of her hair, entangled with the crystal silk in his hand.
Qing Guiyu didn't have time to care about him. He was worried and tried to look at the center of the crowd.
In the center sat an old man with a white beard and brocade clothes, approximately sixty years old. Below him sat three elder-like figures of higher status, each with a different appearance. These four took their seats in the center, while all the Cao Gang disciples stood up, crossed their hands over their chests, and bowed in greeting.
The white-bearded old man bowed to the audience and said in a clear voice, "I, Long, am grateful for your kindness in hosting this birthday celebration. However, the Cao Gang has been plagued by many disasters recently. More than a dozen of our brothers were killed recently, unjustly and unclearly. How can this not be heartbreaking? How can I, Long, host this birthday banquet?"
When the crowd heard this, they all started to make a commotion. Someone shouted, "Why did Old Gang Leader Long do this?" "Let Yaowanggu pay with his life!"
Qing Guiyu listened to this, gritted his teeth, tightly grasped the bamboo flute in his hand, and grasped the flag next to him with his other hand.
The old leader, Long, raised his hand and gestured to the crowd. Everyone on the stage fell silent. The old man said, "If we allow this to continue, I'm afraid our Cao Gang's reputation in the martial arts world will be completely ruined." He waved his hand and said, "This is not intentionally difficult for me, Long, but I would like everyone in Yaowang Valley to give our Cao Gang an explanation."
Her heart nearly skipped a beat as she saw several people approach the stage, led by none other than Han Shu, the elder of the Medicine King Valley Law Enforcement Hall. The elder himself, followed by Li Mo and the other two, looked extremely alert. Another figure in bright yellow shimmered, and Murong Qing followed, sword in hand. Seeing this scene, the young girl's face showed a hint of uneasiness.
The last person was wearing white clothes and a white hat, and it was Lu Guiyan holding the Wuwang Sword.
She was so worried that she was in a state of panic. She noticed from the corner of her eye that Chen Juansheng beside her put his hand on his lips, smiled, and winked at her.
The high platform was bathed in flowing light and shimmering lights. The golden thread on Young Master Jin Sheng's wrist was illuminated by the light and flickered. It was unknown when it had been wrapped around the flagpole beside him.
——Don’t. Don’t.
The fingers entangled in her hair hooked up, and she instantly cursed him seventeen or eighteen times in her heart, and suddenly pulled out the bamboo flute.
There was a loud bang at the edge of the stage, and the towering flagpole broke in the middle.
Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of people, Young Master Jin Sheng held her tightly, and the two of them fell down together.
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