"Is everything taken care of?"
Fan Chuanji pushed open the study door and let the group of people in.
Upon entering the study, Fan Bing and the other six men knelt before him with a thud, pleading, "Please punish us, sir! We are guilty!"
"Get up and speak. What happened?"
Fan Chuanji took the tea that the servant had prepared, poured a cup, and handed it to Fan Bing.
Fan Bing took the tea and drank it all in one gulp. After wiping his mouth, he began to recount what had happened outside Shigong City that day.
"Oh, so according to you, that thing can explode like a firecracker and even kill people?" Fan Chuanji paused in his pouring of water, seemingly unaware that the tea had spilled.
Fan Bing said, "That's right. When I saw things were going badly, I quickly told my men to retreat, but it was too late. Four of my men were killed inside. However, before we left, I also saw the guards of the Yu family escorting the eldest daughter of the Yu family away in a panic."
I remembered seeing Yu Xunmei, who looked travel-worn, in the outer courtyard of the Yu family home. It turned out she had just returned as well.
Coming to his senses, Fan Chuanji downed the tea in one gulp. It was those guys from Longtan again!
"These next few days, you will stay in the manor to recuperate. Before the storm passes, you must not leave the Fan manor even a step."
Fan Bing was worried that the Yu family would pursue the matter, "Sir, what about the Yu family?"
"Don't worry, they won't dare to come back."
He must avenge the murder of his sister!
"Sir, among those who fought against Longtan this time, two of them were found to be extremely similar to the assassins who attacked you on the day you were assassinated." Fan Bing hesitated for a moment before finally voicing his doubts.
"I see."
Why did we choose to cooperate with the Yu family this time?
The biggest reason was that the Yu family presented him with evidence of Longtan and others' assassination attempt on his father, and he was tempted to avenge his father.
In the end, they still lost miserably!
Fan Bing stared intently at Fan Chuanji, making a gesture as if to strike with his knife. "Master, how about I gather my men and head to Dragon Pool to avenge you?"
"Your group is so powerful, how many men do you think we need to send to defeat them? Our priority now is to guard against Longtan's retaliation."
He didn't believe that the bandits would remain indifferent after they had kidnapped their women.
"Yes, that's what I'll arrange right away!"
Fan Chuanji waved at him weakly.
Slumped in his chair, Fan Chuanji smiled wryly as he reminisced about the past.
Perhaps the matter concerning my sister was orchestrated by someone from Longtan.
Is this a warning to him, and to the Yu and Fan families?
Three days later, the Yu family held a grand funeral for Yu Shicheng.
Fan Chuanji sent people to the Yu residence multiple times to retrieve Fan Yuejia's body, but each time they were turned away.
It wasn't until after Yu Shicheng's burial that the Yu family returned Fan Yuejia's disfigured and swollen body. For the increasingly weakened Fan family, they had no choice but to swallow this insult.
The Yu and Fan families of Nanzhou Prefecture became enemies from this point on.
In the past three days, the Yu family has been too busy arranging Yu Shicheng's funeral to attend to the matter of sending people to kidnap Longtan's family members.
As rumors about the two families grew louder, no major or minor family in Nanzhou Prefecture would form an alliance with the Yu family anymore.
When the Yu family realized what was happening and tried to trace the source of the rumors, they discovered that the original source had already disappeared.
Right after Yu Shicheng's funeral, the two servants who had been his personal attendants were no longer in the Yu residence.
After some investigation, it was learned that they had all received Yu Shicheng's permission to redeem themselves before Yu Shicheng's accident.
When Yu Xunmei reported the matter of Shigong City to the two men, they wanted to ask them about the guards who had returned with them, but they found that the guards had disappeared after Yu Xunmei returned to the mansion.
When asked, the gatekeeper in the back courtyard said that the carriage passed by the back gate that day but did not enter; instead, it sped away into the alley on the other side.
"Are you sure you saw that guard?" Yu Xunmei was very puzzled, as she had clearly instructed them to do so.
"That's right, I saw it for sure. There was an unfamiliar guard sitting next to him, and the two of them even smiled at me," the gatekeeper recalled the scene with a serious expression.
Yu Shida was puzzled. "Could it be that he knew the mission had failed and was afraid that the Yu and Fan families would hold him accountable, so he fled in advance?"
“Impossible. On the way back, they all seemed perfectly normal to me. Besides, we still have their families in our hands. They would never run away,” Yu Xunmei said.
People were sent to inquire with their families, but they all said they had not returned.
They searched both the military camp and the village outside Yujiacheng, but the group seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Yu Xunmei sat on the veranda, holding a glass of fine wine in her hand, glancing sideways at Yu Shida, who was sitting opposite her.
"Don't you feel as if there's an invisible hand pushing the Yu family to become enemies with the powerful families of Nanzhou Prefecture?"
"Has my sister noticed who's manipulating all of this?"
Yu Shida was not good at strategy and lacked political acumen; his father had never taught him these things since he was a child.
Yu Xunmei snorted coldly, "Besides those people from Longtan, I can't think of anyone else?"
"He actually possesses such extraordinary abilities? Now even the Fan family has severed ties with us. How should we respond next?"
“If Nanzhou Prefecture is not an option, brother, you can contact the families of your half-sisters’ husbands. Considering the kinship ties, I believe they will not refuse.”
"My sister is so thoughtful!"
Yu Shida's eyes lit up. How come he hadn't thought of that?
He reached out to stroke her cheek, but Yu Xunmei turned her head away, a faint smile on her face.
"You'd better hurry up and get on with your business!"
She knew that this round had ended in a draw between her and Longtan.
The woman from Longtan was ruthless and showed no mercy. They needed to prepare in advance in case she had any other tricks up her sleeve.
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