Punishing evildoers and clearing the house on a moonlit night
Chapter Quote: Unable to bear watching his master suffer injustice, he angrily wields his sword to slay the wicked. With evidence in hand and the case still unsolved, he ventures alone into the dragon's den in the dark night.
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The night was as dark as ink, and Daming Prefecture fell silent. Only the torches of the patrolling officers and soldiers around the Lu Mansion flickered like will-o'-the-wisp. Yan Qing blended into the deep darkness like an insubstantial shadow. He changed into a tight nightgown and covered his face with a black scarf, revealing only a pair of eyes that shone startlingly bright in the darkness.
According to the intelligence Yan An had risked his life to send, Liu Kongmu and Jia Shi were indeed incredibly bold, often taking advantage of Lu Junyi's "serious illness" and imprisonment to meet secretly in a secluded courtyard within the Lu Mansion. Tonight, Liu Kongmu had once again stayed at the mansion under the pretext of investigating a case, and was currently in that courtyard.
Yan Qing knew the Lu Mansion very well. He avoided the sentries and sneaked through the familiar pavilions and towers like a civet cat, and sneaked to the outside of the villa.
The courtyard was brightly lit, and the faint sounds of flirting between men and women could be heard.
Yan Qing lay in the shadow of the courtyard wall, listening attentively.
Jia's charming yet caustic voice said, "...That bastard is in jail now. I'm afraid he's still dreaming that Xiao Yi will come to save him! Humph, he doesn't know that his loyal brother Xiao Yi can't even save himself!"
Liu Kongmu's proud voice rang out, "My lady, don't worry. With the Liangshan heroes secretly helping us this time, the evidence is solid. Lu Junyi will not be able to escape the charge of colluding with Liangshan! We just need to wait for the approval from above, and then we can sentence him to death! Then, the Lu family's vast wealth, as well as your beautiful wife, will all be mine! Hahahaha!"
"He looks like he's going to die!" Jia spat, her tone tinged with joy. "But... Yan Qing is ultimately a nuisance. I'll be uneasy until he's eliminated."
"What are you afraid of?" Liu Kong said disapprovingly, "He's a dead rat now. If he dares to show up, he'll be dead! Besides, Liangshan won't let him go! He might have already been exposed in the wilderness by now!"
Outside the wall, Yan Qing listened to the adulterous couple's shameless conversation, especially when they mentioned that "the heroes of Liangshan were secretly helping them." The last shred of doubt in his heart disappeared. Surely, Liangshan had colluded with this corrupt official and this vicious woman to frame their master!
Murderous intent, like a cold flame, rose in his chest.
He no longer hesitated. He took advantage of the gap when the guards in the courtyard were changing shifts, and his figure was like a wisp of green smoke. He climbed over the courtyard wall silently, landed silently, and sneaked under the lighted bedroom window.
He moistened the window paper with his saliva, poked a small hole, and peered in. Inside, he saw red candles burning brightly. Jia and Liu Kongmu, disheveled, were embracing each other, drinking and reveling. Some documents were scattered on the table beside them.
Right now!
Yan Qing suddenly kicked the door open and rushed in like lightning!
"Who?!" Liu Kongmu was horrified and hurriedly grabbed the sword on the bedside.
Jia was so frightened that she screamed and shrank to the corner of the bed.
How could Yan Qing allow him to resist? With a flick of his wrist, a flash of cold light passed by, and just as Liu Kongmu touched the hilt of the sword, he was hit by a small silver gall. In severe pain, the sword fell to the ground with a clang!
"Someone come! There's a thorn..." Liu Kongmu shouted in pain, but before he could finish his words, Yan Qing had already approached like a ghost, and the cold blade of the dagger was against his throat, forcing the rest of his words back.
"If you scream again, I'll send you on your way immediately." Yan Qing's voice was cold and emotionless.
Liu Kongmu felt the stinging pain in his throat and the chill of death. His face turned pale and he trembled like a sieve, not daring to utter a word. Jia Shi, who was sitting at the corner of the bed, was also terrified and silent, staring in horror at the black-clad evil spirit that seemed to have descended from the sky.
Yan Qing glanced at the documents on the table. Several of them were secret letters between Liangshan and Lu Junyi, imitating Lu Junyi's handwriting! Another one was a accusation against Lu Junyi fabricated by Liu Kongmu! The evidence was irrefutable!
He grabbed the documents and stuffed them into his arms. Then, his cold gaze turned to Liu Kongmu, who was slumped on the ground, and Jia Shi, who was lying on the corner of the bed.
"Good...good man...please spare my life...the money...the women...are all...all given to you..." Liu Kongmu begged for mercy incoherently.
Jia Shi also reacted, squeezed out a few tears, and said in a sad voice: "Brave man...it was this bastard official who forced me...I...I was forced..."
Yan Qing looked at this ugly couple with only endless disgust and murderous intent in his heart. It was they who framed the loyal and honest man and almost killed their master!
He thought of the miserable state of Lu Junyi in his previous life, and the trust and reliance his master had on him in this life, and the rage in his heart could no longer be suppressed.
"Mr. Lu is not satisfied with you." Yan Qing's voice seemed to come from the underworld. "You repay kindness with resentment, collude with foreign enemies, and frame the master. You are worthy of death!"
Before he finished speaking, a flash of knife appeared!
Liu Kongmu's terrified eyes lost their luster in an instant, a line of blood spurted out from his throat, and he fell to the ground without even a groan, dead.
Jia, who was lying in the corner of the bed, was so frightened that her soul was about to be shattered. She was pissing and shitting, and she screamed, "Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I... I'll tell you a secret! It's about Yan Qing!"
Yan Qing paused the knife in his hand and looked at her coldly.
Jia, grasping at a lifeline, said anxiously, "It was Liangshan! It was the people from Liangshan who came after me! They... they not only asked me to testify, but also... they gave me a slow-acting poison to put in Lu Junyi's food, making him look like he was seriously ill... They said it was safer this way..."
Chronic poison?! Yan Qing's pupils shrank sharply! It turned out that the master's previous "strange illness" was not accidental, but the result of the combined efforts of this poisonous woman and Liang Shan! If it weren't for Doctor Xue and himself discovering it in time...
Fear and rage erupted in his chest like a volcano!
"Evil woman! I can't let you stay!"
The knife flashed again! Jia's screams stopped abruptly, and her head, still with an expression of horror and disbelief, fell to the ground, and blood dyed the brocade quilt red.
Even after killing the two treacherous men, Yan Qing's anger did not completely dissipate; instead, it grew even heavier. He quickly searched the room and found the unused package of slow-acting poison and some gold and silver jewelry.
He carefully kept the poison and the incriminating letters, which were key evidence in overturning Lu Junyi's case. As for the gold and silver, he did not take a single cent.
After doing all this, he glanced at the two bodies on the ground with a cold look in his eyes. He then blew out the candle and flashed out of the courtyard, disappearing silently into the night just as he had come.
The whole process was clean and neat, and did not alarm the guards outside the courtyard.
However, just when Yan Qing thought he had succeeded and was about to sneak into the government jail to investigate the situation, he had just left the Lu Mansion and stepped into a secluded alley when something strange happened!
Torches suddenly blazed brightly on the surrounding rooftops, and dozens of soldiers armed with powerful bows and crossbows appeared instantly, completely blocking his retreat! The leader, dressed in prefectural robes and with a gloomy expression, was none other than Wen Wenbo, the prefect of Daming Prefecture! Beside him stood a smiling scholar in a green robe, holding a feather fan. Who else could it be but Wu Yong?
"Yan Qing! We have been waiting here for a long time!" Prefect Wen shouted sternly, "You have murdered an official of the imperial court. This is a heinous crime! Why don't you surrender?"
Wu Yong waved his feather fan and said leisurely, "Brother Yanqing, you are indeed loyal and righteous, but... you are a little too impulsive. Do you think that by killing Liu Kongmu and Jia Shi and destroying the evidence, you can save Lu Junyi? Little do you know that this is exactly my trap."
Fallen in a trap! Yan Qing's heart sank. It turned out Wu Yong had already predicted that he would return to rescue them, and even predicted that he would first settle accounts with Jia and Liu Kongmu! That villa was simply bait! Liu Kongmu and Jia were just two chess pieces that could be discarded at any time!
I acted in anger and fell into his trap, confirming the crime of "killing an imperial official"!
What a great Wu Yong! He really has a plan that is perfect for everyone!
Yan Qing looked at the dense array of bows and arrows around him and Wu Yong's wise smile, and knew that tonight would probably not end peacefully.
He slowly tightened the dagger in his hand, glanced at Prefect Wen and Wu Yong, and suddenly a cold arc appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Wu Yong, do you think... you can defeat Yan Qing just like that?"
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Chapter 25 End
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